Fate's Request: A Harry Potter FanFiction

After David finished creating his Map, he was free to start using the Room of Requirement more frequently.

He requested the Room to recreate the very same training room he used back at Cross Manor, he much preferred the familiar underground training room his home had, compared to the generic one the Room had created on his first try.

Rather than learning a wide variety of spells, David continued to focus on the battle spells he'd been focusing on and wanted to truly master.

The deadliest spells he currently had in his arsenal were the Blasting Curse and Severing Charm.

The Blasting Curse, Confringo, resulted in the target exploding and depending on the strength David put into the spell, prove to be fatal.

The Severing Charm, Diffindo, while used primarily for wizarding trades, can also be quite lethal if used incorrectly, or correctly, in the case of a duel.

With two spells of a decent amount of lethality, David practised casting these verbally until he was able to expertly control the amount of magic he poured into them. He hadn't moved on to non-verbal casting just yet.

Another aspect he focused heavily on was Defence. While the best defence was to probably simply move out of the way of incoming spells, sometimes a powerful shield would be needed in various situations. Thus, he practised the spell, ready, for when the day arrived, where he would be required to use it.

As David had no witch or wizard as a partner to practise with just yet, he was forced to attack his own Portego shield. Slowly but surely, he began understanding the intricacies of the spell and soon found himself using Portego Maxima, the stronger version of the Shield Charm.

As Portego Maxima had a blue hue to it, therefore being quite visible, if he was ever in a situation where he needed to cast an invisible shield, David would be forced to return to the use of a much simpler, Portego. As such, he made sure not to forgo the practice of this spell, as it also had the added benefit of being faster to cast.

As he had defence and offence settled, for now, David also worked on the Stunning Charm, Stupefy, for non-lethal takes downs, deciding that Petrificus Totalus, was an inferior spell due to how long it took to cast, verbally or non-verbally.

The Disarming Charm was, of course, a given, as taking away a witch or wizards wand, crippled them.

There where only two spells David had trouble with, the first being, Incarcerous, a conjuration spell that bound the target in ropes. As it was a NEWT level spell, David struggled a little with it's casting, but still made progress.

The second spell David had trouble with was the Tempest Jinx, Tempestas, an atmospheric spell that rained down lightning bolts from the sky.

The first problem he had with this was the requirement for being outdoors, for using the spell indoors would just result in it crashing into Hogwarts' wards, alerting the headmaster. Luckily the Room of Requirement was surprisingly, more than able to remove the ceiling and place a faux sky in its place, allowing David the use of the incredibly powerful spell. He decided not to focus on just how that was possible.

And the spell was just that, incredibly powerful. The spell being locked away in the restricted section was not for novelty's sake.

The main problem David had with the Tempest Jinx was the number of bolts he could call down, currently, it was random. This proved to be quite dangerous as his first attempt at casting resulted in him almost being struck. All following attempts at the spell were done under a powerful, Portego Maxima, but he still couldn't get the number of bolts under his control.

As he was making an effort to be more sociable with his house-mates, David didn't spend every afternoon in the Room of Requirement but did spend a couple of hours every night in there, using his trusty Map to get around Hogwarts, unimpeded by Prefects, Professor's and Argus Filch, alongside Mrs Norris.

David continued his routine of training in the Room throughout the week, and soon found himself awaiting Hermione near Gryffindor tower, their first duelling lesson was upon them.

---

"Excellent! You've both learnt the material in the texts exquisitely!" squeaked Professor Flitwick excitedly.

Seeing Hermione beam, and David smile at his praise, he continued, "Now, wands out, please! We shall begin with the proper duelling stance!"

David whipped his wand out of his new wand holster with a snap of his right wrist, this caused Hermione to redden in shame, as her wand had gotten stuck in the pocket of her robe.

Chuckling at Hermione's distress, which only embarrassed her further, Professor Flitwick eyes soon found David, who had taken the duelling stance perfectly. Hermione soon followed, her form was a little off, it was clear she had been practising and would only need a slight adjustment to achieve the correct form.

"A little higher with your wand arm, Miss Granger. Yes, just like that, now your legs are a little too close, footwork is everything!" he enthusiastically said, for it had been decades since he had taught anyone how to duel.

As he looked over their already prefect forms, he started reminiscing about what spurred on his own d.e.s.i.r.e to become a Master-Dueller. It was the contempt and bullying he received at the hands of Hogwarts students, of all houses. His half-goblin heritage, especially in those times, was looked upon in disgust, he was quite fortunate to even be allowed to wield a wand and attend Hogwarts.

Shaking himself from the thoughts that resulted in him growing to become a wizard with dual-masteries, he continued on with his lesson.

---

It was after an intense two-hour duelling class with Professor Flitwick that Hermione and David sat together in an unused classroom, eating the lunch Mel made and discussing what they had learnt.

"I was so embarrassed, David! Really, how could I have gotten my wand stuck… ugh!" she shouted in self-contempt.

David decided not to say it was okay, for it would be in her best interests to purchase a wand holster as soon as possible and practice proper wand maintenance and retrieval techniques.

"Well, easily remedied. Just give Mel some galleons and she can pop off to Diagon Alley to purchase you a wand holster," he said, offering Mel's services, "They're dreadfully useful," he added, fl.i.c.k.i.n.g his wand into his palm easily.

Nodding in agreement as she munched on a sandwich, David grabbed one for himself, pastrami and mustard it seemed, and began devouring sandwich after sandwich. All with proper table manners, of course, he was no Ronald Weasley.

As soon as Hermione overcame her shame and finished her sandwich, she began rattling off about the lesson, "The Disarming Charm Professor Flitwick asked us to practice, how do you aim it so well David? I only managed to hit you with it once! You didn't miss a single time!"

"I do live in a warded wizarding home, Hermione. I practise during the holidays, in fact, Mel forces me to stop…" David explained, not revealing the existence of the Room of Requirement to her.

~Maybe in fourth year, she can use it to help Harry train for the Triwizard Tournament, and they don't have to waste any time searching for a room for the D.A.~

"Its so unfair, the amount of school-work I could get done if I could use magic at home…" she said, fantasising about not having her magic restricted.

Talking about the trace got David thinking about the work he had Dawlish doing, his report was still a few weeks away, hopefully, it held some answers into the traces workings.

"I'm very interested in learning parrying," David said after a short pause, "It's hard to practice alone and being able to flick away incoming spells has got to be dead useful in duels," he finished, explaining his reasoning.

Nodding, Hermione said, "I agree, it seems like really advanced magic though, and the books Professor Flitwick gave us only mentioned them, not how to pull it off, think he doesn't want us practising unless he's around?"

Giving a nod in return, for he read all about that art form from books in the restricted section, he decided to explain a little of what he learnt to Hermione, "I've actually read a little more on how it's accomplished."

Seeing that David had taken a pause, Hermione nodded and said, "Go on David."

"The most basic form is hearing what spell your opponent just cast, understanding said spell, it's counter and whether you need to use a counter-jinx or shielding-charm. You then fill your wand with the intention to parry the spell and use your wand itself to deflect it as it nears your body. It seems you need a really high level of theoretical knowledge and the hand-eye coordination to deflect the oncoming spells," David explained, his enthusiasm to learn such advanced magic showing by his lengthy explanation.

Hermione was deep in thought about what David had just told her. All the while David was thinking about the more advanced and effective version, what Professor Snape would use on Harry after killing the headmaster, invading one's mind to know which spell they were going to use before they even cast it. While he was confident of his mental shields, he really needed to start using Legillimency on others to practise.

"Just how would someone react fast enough to parry the spells though? I mean, David, some of these spells move incredibly quickly!" she asked, being stumped.

David, of course, knew the answer to this, as he read heavily into magical theory with Mel.

"There are two parts to it. One is that witches and wizards are assisted by their magic passively," David started to explain.

Immediately, Hermione interjected, "Wait, what do you mean, 'assisted' passively?!"

Snorting at her enthusiasm, David answered, "I was getting to that," admonishing her slightly and continued, "Witches and wizards are assisted by their magic in varying degrees. The most basic of which is 'cushioning' when they are hit by blunt force trauma or something along those lines. Why do you think Quidditch has such a low death-rate, you do realise how dangerous it is to fly around at those speeds with only a broomstick?"

"Right… that makes sense… I think Neville told me once his magic manifested by letting him safely bounce downstairs after being pushed or something like that…" Hermione replied, latching onto every word.

"Yeah, just like that. Now the theory is that this varies in intensity and area, depending on the witch or wizards parentage," David explained, but soon caught onto Hermione's dismay and remembered that this was also apart of the 'pureblood' superiority complex.

"Of course, there are outliers and such and Hermione, the effects aren't always physical," he added, hinting at her intelligence.

Seeing as that got her to cheer up a little, David continued, "One example of it being passed down through the family would be Harry. He's got incredibly fast reflexes, Quidditch shows this and his father, I think, he was also a Quidditch player, right?"

"Yeah, he was, so what you're saying is… being able to parry these spells depends on your magics pre-determined or random, manifestation of 'assistance'?" Hermione concluded with a question, clearly a little down.

"Yeah, but that's where the second part comes in, we actually start our magical education after eleven for a good reason, its when our magic has, on average, m.a.t.u.r.ed to the point where it can safely handle the strenuous spells we start to learn and cast," David explained to a rapturously listening Hermione.

Taking a breath, he continued, "So, I guess you can say, our first 'maturation' is at eleven, after awakening our magic at around six or seven. Our second would be when we turn seventeen, this is a much greater and final maturation and apart from the increase in magic, it also increases the passive 'assistance' we receive."

Seeing as Hermione was not going to cut in this time, he continued after a pause, "While one's magic might not have given them reflexive prowess, the theory is, if the magic they've used while growing required it, once you turn seventeen…" David finished, letting Hermione come to an understanding herself.

As realisation soon hit her, she added, "If the magic you've used required faster reflexes and such, once you've come of age, it will give you that 'assistance'…" Hermione finished with determination in her eyes.

"Right, but don't forget, we're also human, we can train our hand-eye co-ordination and reflexes Hermione, magic isn't the answer to everything. We're muggle-born, we should know better," David added with a grin, bringing a smile to Hermione's face.

"Right, repetition is the mother of learning after all," she finished, nodding.

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AN: So, I know I've mentioned these spells in an earlier chapter, but I wanted to stress that David intends to be a force to be reckoned with. As such, he wants to really master a core set of spells he can use to duel and save people during the final war.

His decision to learn the spell I read about on the wiki, 'Tempestas', is because he's almost thirteen, a kid still. (His birthday is around the same time as Hermione's) I mean, who could resist summoning down lightning bolts from the sky?!

I've clearly gone off canon with some of the magical theory like 'assistance' and parrying methods, but I think it adds something interesting to the story. What do you guys think?

Btw, the explanation of the magical theory I made up, that he explained to Hermione, is mastery level stuff (is mastery canon? or fandom?). I just wanted to show how smart and dedicated to reading and learning he is.

Also, for those wondering what David's 'assistance' is, it's his magic slowing down and repressing his malediction. All above decent hand-eye and reflexes are obtained from hard work, and will only get better as time goes on while getting a 'boost' when he turns seventeen.