"Eleven inches is nothing," Ron said carelessly. "You just need to write bigger letters, make the spacing between lines and words wider, then you can use the least words to meet the eleven-inch requirement, right?"
"Oh thank you, Ronald." Hermione rolled her eyes. "You can't seriously think Professor Snape is an idiot who wouldn't notice your little tricks?"
"Maybe not Professor Snape, but Professor Bin is definitely not clever," Ron said with a cheeky grin. "I bet when Professor Bin collects the homework, he won't bother marking it—because he can't even touch the papers!"
This joke was a bit too Hell-tier; Hermione laughed for a moment, though with a touch of sadness.
"I think—"
Ron hadn't finished speaking when there was a knock at the compartment door.
"Come in," said Hermione.
The compartment door slid open, and standing in the doorway was a Hufflepuff boy.
"Oh, Cedric." Harry greeted him.
"Harry, Ron, Hermione." Cedric smiled brightly, completely at ease, looking at the trio and asking, "Can I sit here?"
"Of course you can," they all said together.
Cedric sat down next to Harry, looked at him, and said, "Actually, Harry, I came to talk to you about something."
"What's up?" Harry opened a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, pulled out a brown one for himself, and handed the bag to Cedric so he could pick one, too.
Cedric picked out a fiery red bean, studied it, then said, "I... well, I heard you've started a Dueling Club in Gryffindor? Is that true?"
"Yep." Harry popped his bean in his mouth and bit down carefully.
Chocolate flavor—pretty tasty.
"Oh, I see." Cedric ate his jelly bean too, but immediately made a grimacing face; his handsome face turned bright red.
Ron snorted and giggled, a bit pleased at Cedric's misfortune.
Hermione nudged Ron with her elbow, telling him not to be so obvious.
"Chili flavor," Cedric said, sniffling.
Harry grabbed an unopened can of cola from the table and passed it to Cedric; Cedric took it, cracked it open with a pop, and gulped two big mouthfuls before finally getting rid of the spicy sensation.
"Alright, I have to admit, Muggle drinks are kind of magical—look at these bubbles." Cedric sighed, then said, "So, here's the thing: I wanted to ask, would you let Hufflepuff students join your Dueling Club?"
"No problem." Harry didn't mind inviting a few Hufflepuffs. "Just one thing—don't tell any professors. Since the Dueling Club practices Inoffensive Minor Curses on each other."
Hermione's eyes widened at "Inoffensive Minor Curses."
Oh, Merlin! Are you really planning to teach that stuff in the Dueling House?!
Poor Cedric hadn't caught on to what Harry meant yet—his handsome face was all smiles.
"Thank you, Harry, thank you." He said. "I can't believe you agreed—honestly, before I came, lots of people doubted my judgment. They thought you wouldn't accept students from other Houses."
Harry laughed.
"We're all Hogwarts students, Ced—can I call you that?"
"Of course, Harry," Cedric said, even more cheerful. "I think for dueling, practicing some Inoffensive Minor Curses isn't a big deal. After all, if you don't know them, how can you counter them properly? Plus, we need practical spells to fight the bad guys among wizards, right?"
"Definitely," Harry smiled. "Just like you said, the purpose of our Dueling House is to give students a reality check on the dangers of society."
"Alright, Harry, thank you." Cedric got up. "I should head back; everyone's waiting for me to bring back the answer."
"Alright, bye, Ced," Harry nodded, smiling.
Ron and Hermione both said goodbye to Cedric; the sunny, cheerful boy waved at them one by one and walked out of the compartment.
Once Cedric shut the door, Hermione couldn't hold it in anymore.
"Merlin! Harry, are you seriously going to teach us those... those evil curses?"
"What are you so worked up about, Hermione?" Harry gave her a puzzled look.
"Am I worked up?" Hermione planted a fist on her thigh. "No, Harry, I just need to correct you—don't let certain families influence your thinking..."
Certain families?
Harry thought, She must mean the Gaunt Clan.
"You've got it wrong, Hermione. They really are just Inoffensive Minor Curses," Harry said with a laugh. "Don't let your imagination go wild all the time!"
"Oh? Oh!" Hermione froze for a second, then realized what Harry meant.
"So it's just minor curses—I thought it was..." Hermione flailed her fingers in the air, too nervous to say the name of those spells, "...that."
"The Soul-snatching Curse, you mean?" Harry raised an eyebrow.
Hermione shot him a look. "Did you have to actually say that spell name, Mr. Potter?"
"Hey, it's all part of my curriculum," Harry told Hermione. "Soul-snatching Curse... That's what you'll learn next phase."
Hermione was stunned; her Licorice Wand fell to the floor with a thud.
"Wait, what did you just say?" she asked in disbelief.
"Soul-snatching Curse—that's our upcoming subject," Ron repeated carelessly. "If I heard correctly, anyway."
Hey—studying is studying; doesn't matter what you study, right?
Ron had totally made peace with it. Keeping pace with Harry could never go wrong—after all, not even the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor or You-Know-Who can handle him, right?
"Won't learning that spell get us in trouble with the Ministry of Magic?" Hermione said desperately. "Merlin, if someone finds out, we could be expelled..."
"As long as we don't get caught, it's fine." Harry crossed his legs and told Hermione. "That spell is special, Hermione. You see, multiple exposures builds resistance. I'm not asking you to master the spell itself, but to toughen up your minds, so you become immune to it."
This is what you call the art of conversation.
After hearing Harry explain, Hermione felt learning this Small Spell wasn't so impossible after all.
"Alright, if that's the case, I guess I should try practicing it. After all, Dark Wizards won't play nice with us, right? Ron?"
"Exactly," Ron agreed, quick and firm.
Seeing that the train was about to arrive at the platform, Harry and the others changed into their robes.
At last, the train slowly pulled into Platform 9 3/4.
Exiting was slow—they spent ages shuffling forward in a long queue until they finally left the platform.
A shriveled old guard stood at the ticket checkpoint, only letting two or three people through at once so a whole crowd wouldn't suddenly walk through the solid wall and attract the Muggles' attention.
"You have to come to my house this summer, Harry," Ron invited. "You have no idea, my mum's been going on about you all year..."
"Alright, no problem."
Harry patted Ron's arm; he'd planned for this ages ago anyway.
"As soon as I finish my chores, I'll come over."
On the way out, Harry spotted Mrs. Weasley, who had Ginny with her and was waiting for Ron, the twins, and Percy.
Harry thanked her again for the Christmas present, and promised he'd visit the Weasley family over the summer.
Walking out of the station, he took a deep breath.
Mmm...
Next stop, should I go to the Broken Cauldron Bar?
No, I should head to Diagon Alley for supplies—if we're going to practice Inoffensive Minor Spells, how can we not prepare a second Magic Wand?