Weasley looked nervous. "Well, okay then, but just this once. We can't risk making this a regular thing. Not here."
Alex nodded. "Fine." She turned around and walked towards the other end of the clearing. She smiled. Here at last was a chance to really test herself. She turned back around and brought her stunner half-way to her fingertips. If Weasley also couldn't beat Luna then she was sure she could beat Weasley. Alex watched the leaf slowly fall to the ground and smirked. Weasley wasn't even pre-loading her spells.
The leaf hit the ground, she made to cast her stunner, and THREE WHOLE SPELLS shot towards her. She gasped, made to move, got hit, and blacked out, hitting the ground with an un-ceremonial thud.
Alex barged into Luna's bedroom sat down on the edge of the bed, folded her arms and sulked. "You've been going easy on me."
Luna looked up from where she sat, cross legged, on the bed. "Alex?"
"I just duelled Weasley and she said she can't beat you and then she pounded me into the dirt."
"Alex, I have not been going easy on you." Her voice rose an octave, anger starting to show. "Then how do you explain—"
"Alex, I have not been going easy on you, I have been teaching you."
That brought her up short.
"Me and Ginny have been duelling each other for over a year. If I just pounded you into the dirt every time we duelled like Ginny did, you would never have time to get better, just like with the quintaped."
Alex slowly deflated again. "A year…" she almost whispered.
"Yes," Luna said, scooting down the bed to sit beside her. "And you will get better like that too, but you have to be patient and listen to me." She suddenly felt rather small. "I-I'm sorry." She fiddled with the hem of her robes. "It's just so frustrating knowing how behind I am."
Luna smiled softly. "That's okay, Alex. Me and Ginny are probably the only people our age you're behind."
Alex stared at the wall.
The two of them sat in silence for a moment.
"Um, Luna?"
"Yes, Alex?"
"I understand if you don't want to, but…" She hesitated. "But could we learn the banishing charm next instead of the stinging hex? It's just that it was so cool when you and Harry used it and I really want to know it too."
Luna tapped her chin and looked thoughtful. She smiled. "We can do that."
Heiress Black,
Regarding the memory of the troll fight… You're most welcome. I'm glad you enjoyed watching it.
As for your question about my ability to guarantee places in Slytherin House… The method Hogwarts uses to place students takes into account the wishes of the student in the placement. So long as you choose to go to Slytherin, the sorting will place you there, although it may try to persuade you otherwise if it sees sufficient non Slytherin qualities in you. I personally have no doubt you will end up in my house. I also have to thank you for your willingness to occasionally look through the Black Library for me. I actually have a project that I'm working on right now that could use such assistance. I am friends with a rather special ghost who is currently bound to a certain tree in Wales. I'm looking for a method to rebind her to something rather more portable, possibly a cutting of the tree, possibly something else entirely.
I've no idea if you can find anything, but if you can it would be most helpful.
Yours,
- Lord Slytherin
Alex re-read the owl again and again. This was it. This was her chance to prove herself to Lord Slytherin. She dashed from her bedroom down to the library, and immediately headed for the section towards the back — the same section she'd originally found the book with the inferi ritual. She perused the first book on the shelf. No luck. She tried the second. Nada.
Several hours later, Alex felt tired, grumpy, and was no closer to finding anything that could help.
"Why don't you check the Black family magic section?" her grandfather replied when she asked him.
Alex winced. She'd spent so much time in here with Luna, or else practising occlumency and wandless magic, that she'd barely looked through the Black Magic in the several months since her birthday. The hidden Black family magic section was almost as dusty as when she'd first opened it, although now obviously free of doxies.
Alex read up and down the shelves. Her finger fell on a dusty tome in burgundy leather. Spirit Necromancy — Ghosts, Poltergeists, Shades, and Paintings. Alex grinned.
She was just about to leave when her eyes fell on something else. The Dendromancer's Doomsday Book — the book she'd tried to read before the doxies first attacked her. Curiosity getting the better of her, she carefully slid it out, opened it up, and her eyes went wide. Thousands of tiny entries filled the pages. The book was a magically updating record of all the magical trees in the country. She bit her lip. Oh, magical Merlin, the things her family must have been able to do with something like this! A lightbulb went off in her head. The things she could do with something like this, now.
The weather outside was getting colder, but Alex and Luna hardly noticed, buried as they currently were in their twin beanbags in the Black Library.
"Luna?" "Yes, Alex?" "I was thinking…"
"Gooood."
Alex snorted. "I was thinking, magical trees have magical cores, don't they?" "They do." "And trees can't move, can they?"
"Some trees can — like the whomping willow."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do you enjoy reading? Visit my site on Tiendup! There you will find the advanced chapter in PDF format, ready for your convenience.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
https://fictiontopia.tiendup.com/