Still half doubtful, George and Fred officially began training with Leonard.
It didn't take long for them to understand where Leonard's confidence came from.
Because the training was just too hard.
"Alright, get ready," Leonard said, standing across from George and Fred with a small stone in his hand.
George and Fred, their heads covered in bumps, stared fixedly at the stone in Leonard's palm, their eyes bloodshot like two enraged bulls.
The first stage of Leonard's training was simple in concept. When Leonard threw a stone, they were to lock onto its trajectory and use the Spider Banishing Charm at the right moment to knock it away.
It sounded easy enough. Leonard didn't throw the stones particularly fast, and it seemed like all they had to do was raise their wands in time and cast the spell.
In practice, it was nothing like that.
The moment a stone came flying toward them, even knowing it would only cause minor pain if it hit, George and Fred would panic. Their hands shook, their minds blanked, and they even managed to mess up the incantation.
The results spoke for themselves. After half an hour of training, their biggest realization was just how absurdly accurate Leonard's throws were.
Worse still, Leonard was infuriatingly smug about it. He only threw one stone at a time, with no pattern whatsoever. Sometimes it was aimed at George, sometimes at Fred.
That uncertainty made the training miserable. They had to stay fully focused the entire time, bracing themselves for a stone that could come at either of them at any moment.
"Come on, you two," Leonard said lazily. "So far, your hit count is still at one. And I seriously suspect that one was pure luck. With skills like that, you want to hunt Acromantula? What, rushing off to become spider food?"
His casual tone only made it worse. George and Fred gritted their teeth, glaring at the stone in Leonard's hand as if they wanted to bite it in half.
Watching their expressions, Leonard found it amusing. These two really were persistent. They'd been getting pelted for half an hour straight and still hadn't called it quits.
That said, their combat instincts were lacking. Their reactions were slow, and they moved cautiously, almost stiffly, as if they were afraid to commit.
That wasn't how these two normally were. Leonard suspected this wasn't just their problem, but something common among Hogwarts students as a whole.
Even Cedric Diggory, one of the school's top students, wasn't an exception.
It wasn't a good thing, but it also wasn't unfixable. With proper training, the issue would fade quickly. Unfortunately, Hogwarts offered nothing of the sort. The students didn't even have a proper Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, let alone real combat training.
George and Fred were nearly numb from being hit, but the fact that they refused to quit proved their determination. Leonard was more than happy to keep training them.
After most of the day had passed, their accuracy still couldn't be reliably measured, but the number of times they successfully knocked stones away with magic had clearly increased.
The next day, their heads still covered in bumps, George and Fred finished their classes and went straight back to Leonard to continue training.
This time, they drew quite a crowd.
"Is training like this actually useful?" Harry asked, unable to stop himself as he watched George and Fred yelp every time a stone hit them.
"I… I don't know," Neville said nervously, watching Leonard throw stones and shaking his head.
Those rocks really hurt when they hit.
Hermione said nothing. She watched George and Fred closely, her eyes following every movement, clearly thinking hard.
"I think it's very effective," Cedric Diggory said in surprise. "It improves spell proficiency much faster and trains your ability to react on the spot. How did I never think of this?"
"Uh… you're Hufflepuff's Seeker?" Harry asked, looking at the unfamiliar boy beside him, momentarily taken aback.
"That's right," Cedric said with a smile. "Hello, Potter. I'm Hufflepuff's Seeker. Looks like we'll be opponents in the next match."
"That's not quite that serious, is it?" Harry muttered quietly.
"Haha, just kidding," Cedric said, scratching his head.
"You're here to watch Leonard's training too?" Hermione asked. "Do you think it's really useful?"
"I do," Cedric replied seriously. "Especially for dueling. Training like this can significantly raise your chances of winning."
"So Leonard's so strong because of this kind of training?" Harry asked in surprise.
"Well… not exactly," Cedric shook his head. "Leonard's strength comes more from his knowledge and magical foundation. Technique is secondary for him."
The group stopped talking and instead watched Leonard happily pelting George and Fred with stones, each of them quietly wondering whether they could join the training as well.
On the third day, Harry finally went to Leonard himself.
"If you want to train, then just train," Leonard said, shrugging. "What's there to ask me? It's not like I've patented the method."
"You could train with Neville," Leonard added.
"But Neville's throws aren't accurate," Harry said. "And George and Fred could train with each other, couldn't they?"
"That's true, but…" Leonard glanced at Harry, and a sudden, mischievous idea crossed his mind.
"Alright," Leonard said seriously. "I'll train with you personally."
"Really? That'd be amazing!" Harry said excitedly.
"Don't get happy too soon," Leonard said with a menacing grin. "There's no quitting once we start. Even if you try to back out halfway through, you'll still get hit by stones."
He fully intended to pelt the Chosen One with rocks right in front of Dumbledore.
"Gulp." Harry swallowed when he saw Leonard's expression.
That look was genuinely terrifying.
"Uh… on second thought, never mind," Harry said awkwardly. "I'll just go train with Neville."
He slipped away with a forced laugh, clearly afraid Leonard might stop him.
Leonard watched Harry retreat with some regret, shrugged, and turned back to George and Fred, continuing to torment them with stones.
Half a month passed like this.
Under Leonard's careful guidance, George and Fred's hit rate climbed to an astonishing seventy percent.
They even managed to figure out, on their own, how to replace full incantations with shortened syllables.
This was already the rudimentary form of silent casting. Leonard hadn't been wrong about them. They truly were talented, and that talent extended far beyond their love of pranks.
Soon after, their training smoothly entered the second stage.
Casting spells while dodging attacks and launching counterattacks.
Only now did they truly begin to touch the threshold of real combat.