Ginny sat with her hands under her chin, listening to Lady Lily drone on and on about muggles, the ministry, how the obliviator squads worked, and how they prevented muggleborn parents from spreading knowledge of the magical world.
So boring.
She slipped into her occlumency and idly started pooling magic in her body, feeling it slosh around and wildly form little eddies and uncontrolled streams. She withdrew her hands from under her chin, reached under the desk, out of sight of the front of the classroom, and started crafting intent to switch. She was getting better at it. She'd put in a good hundred hours over the last two weeks, snatching practise time whenever she could, just like now, and she could start to feel the results.
She pushed the spell through her system, up into her hands and held it there. It felt solid. Not solid enough to let loose, but solid enough for the next phase. She firmed her jaw while Lady Lily turned and wrote a particular point out in large capital letters on the black board. She pushed and felt the tips of her fingers start to tingle.
Yes.
She pushed a bit more. Yes.
She pushed a bit more and… No! Her heart lurched. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught someone watching her from the other side of the back row.
The spell died, starved of intent.
She glanced to the side and quickly looked away from the narrowed gaze of the Black Heiress who was now staring at her the way a hawk stares at a mouse.
As soon as class ended Ginny bolted for the door, but Alexandra followed her.
"Weasley!"
Damn. Ginny stopped halfway down the Potter Manor stairs. "Yes, Black?" Alexandra caught up with her and pinned her with her violet stare. "You're being taught by 'him', aren't you?"
Ginny panicked. They were in the middle of Merlin damned Potter Manor and this was where the girl wanted to talk?!
"You are aren't you?"
"Not here!" Ginny hissed. She grabbed the Black Heiress by the very expensive robes and dragged her down the remaining stairs, out the main doors, out across the garden, and into the small copse where John had sometimes brought her and Ron, and which powered the Potter Manor wards.
She looked around furtively. "Right, what is it?"
"You're being taught by him, aren't you." Alex said, as though they'd never stopped their original conversation.
"That depends on who him is."
Alexandra lowered her voice to a whisper so low Ginny had to lean in to hear.
"Lord Slytherin."
Ginny leaned back and regarded the Black Heiress. Harry was courting her as Lord Slytherin. He wanted her to join them. She was also Luna's friend and, quite apart from anything else, she was probably going to have to spend the next seven years sharing a dormitory with her.
She slowly nodded.
Alexandra breathed in sharply. "I knew it!" she whispered. "That exercise you were doing in class. You were practising wandless magic, weren't you?" "Are you practising wandless magic?" she asked, eyes still narrowed.
Alex nodded. "Luna's teaching me."
Ginny relaxed somewhat. "Oh. Well, if Luna's teaching you, you must be doing quite well." Alex shifted her weight, clearly uncomfortable. "Well, I'd like to say I am, but I've never beaten her once."
Ginny scoffed. "You mean in a duel? No kidding. I can't beat Luna and I've been busting my ass trying to."
Alex's eyes started to sparkle. "Duel me, then." "I'm sorry?"
"Duel me!"
Ginny nervously looked around the woodland clearing. It was probably okay… She turned back to the excited witch in front of her. "Well, okay then, but just this once. We can't risk making this a regular thing. Not here."
"Fine." Alex turned and made her way back to the other edge of the clearing, expensive robes fluttering around her ankles in the wind.
Ginny took a deep breath and drew herself into her own mind. Calm. Focus. Magic. Pool it. Wield it. Command it. She closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them again. She looked around and saw a particularly large oak leaf on the ground. She picked it up and called out to her opponent, "When the leaf lands, we start."
Alex nodded, clearly also bringing herself into focus.
Ginny saw the witch's fingertips start to glow red.
She held the leaf between thumb and forefinger, took a deep breath, and regarded her opponent. Just like a normal duel Dodge to the sides, pound magic into her shields, break them down, dart away, swat anything that makes it too close, rinse and repeat as many times as needed to win.
She threw the leaf into the air.
Both pairs of eyes followed the leaf's descent. The leaf hit the ground.
Ginny leaped to the side, shot off her chain, shielded, turned on her heel, not waiting to see the result, and dashed away, all the while straining to feel the first cast, leaped behind a nearby tree, and waited.
And waited.
And waited some more.
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