Harry and Hermione had spent the first half of the morning going through their spell books for all their wand-based classes at Hogwarts, revising the practical side of the work. They transfigured for Transfiguration, they charmed for Charms and moved onto hexes, curses and shielding for DADA.
When Hermione began to flag, Harry called on Willy to organise a morning tea for them - one the little elf insisted they partake of in the informal dining room. And then they moved onto theory revision.
That led to lunch, again in the informal dining room, before returning to the duelling room to practice more hexes, curses and shielding; this time against each other, rather than the training dummies.
However, they only did that for about ten minutes before the auror with them in the room called a halt and offered to teach them and provide better training for the rest of the day.
That had the two of them then practicing against he. And he'd hit them with stinging hexes if they weren't trying their best against him.
"You're not going to hurt me," he firmly declared. "I hold a dual Mastery in Combat Magics and Defence! I might only hold the rank of Senior Auror within the aurors, but part of that is because I cannot be promoted any faster than I am now. I spent the first five years out of Hogwarts working on my Masteries, so I'm probably the most highly skilled of all the aurors on the force; and I include Mad-Eye Moody and Bones herself in that!
"So, either try your best, or be prepared to need plentiful application of soothing balm on your welts! Because, as from now, stinging hexes is what I'm going to hit you with, if I see an opening in your defences I can exploit.
"Your next issue," he continued, looking to Harry, "Is that you have a tendency to go 'all out' right from the start. I noticed that when you whittled down that rock on the banks of the Black Lake at Hogwarts. That's all well and good when you're up against a mediocre wizard, but is unwise against anyone who has a firm grasp of strategy and tactics. All I had to do was spend most of my time shielding and dodging, waiting for you to tire yourself. Once you did, you became a much easier target. That's when I had you beat. Don't do that, in future.
"Next, you tired out too fast. While Quidditch gives you some added fitness, it's nowhere near enough for what you need when facing someone of my calibre. You need to get more aerobically fit; to build stamina. That is, you need to become fitter in the style that allows you to keep going beyond a mere couple of minutes. You need to get your fitness to a level where you can keep going at near full speed for at least fifteen minutes. With developing finesse and strategy you could easily take me on within a year or two. At the moment, I can easily keep wiping the floor with you.
"Now, let's go again." And the auror, who barely showed any fatigue, gestured for both of them to stand and ready themselves.
Once they were, he snapped, "Begin!"
By the end of the training both teens were quite exhausted, Hermione more so. But it showed Harry, now that he'd recovered from the effects of malnutrition and an unhealthy lifestyle, needed to dedicate more time into getting physically fit. Hermione then stated she'd be joining him.
"But, where?" she asked.
"The Room of Requirement," he firmly replied.
She sighed and said, "Of course."
The auror, after rehydrating a little himself, came over and said, "You, Lord Potter, have power to spare. However, your focussing more on that power, rather than on finesse, is your weakness. Power versus power you had me beat, hands down, on your own. Now you need to focus on strategy and, as I mentioned, finesse."
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
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Returning to the Granger residence in time for Harry to make a start on dinner - he was determined Dobby wasn't going to rob him of the chance to cook the last dinner before they returned to Hogwarts - they were home well before Wendell and Monica were due.
He had no idea Hermione had already had a word with Dobby to alert him to letting Harry cook dinner that night. "It's his last night here, Dobby," she explained. "You know he'll want to; need to, even. Let him."
That also meant, once he had the dinner in the oven, he was able to head up to his room to take a quick shower.
Hermione also took a shower, seeing as both returned quite sweaty from their exertions, but must have spent longer under the water as she was a little while before she came back down.
When she walked into the kitchen to find him doing something with raw vegetables, she looked beautiful and her bushy hair was significantly tamed.
He practically goggled at her, which made her blush.
He exclaimed, "What happened to your hair?!"
With a light jut of her chin as if in defiance, she replied, "Betsy used her magic on it. She also used some potion she collected from Pottermore that's supposed to tame unruly hair."
He stood staring back in shock for a moment more before he realised he was doing it and gave himself a shake. "Must be Sleak-Ezy," he suggested. "The Potters were involved in developing and initially marketing it."
Getting her blush under control, she smiled back and said, "Yes. She told me that, too."
"Hunh!" he exclaimed. "I was about to send one of the aurors up to see if you'd slipped and disappeared down a drain hole or something."
She gave a snort of amusement and said, "So. I take it, you like?"
"Yes!" he immediately declared. "But, that's if you like it, too. You don't have to go to the trouble if you don't want to. But, it's very nice to see you looking so beautiful."
She smiled back. "Well, then," she said. "It looks like Betsy is coming to Hogwarts with us. That is, if you don't mind."
"Nope!" he happily declared.
As she helped him prepare dinner, he said, "You know... your father's going to take one look at you, looking as beautiful as you do now, and be thinking about threatening me to keep my hands off you again."
She giggled.
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