Vanishing Act (Anastasia)

[parvati patil macmillan]

March 2027

"Thank you for this, Ana."

The similarities between the room into which she had just walked and the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts when it had served as the meeting location for Dumbledore's Army in her youth were clear, though this one was clearly equipped for more thorough training if necessary. Naturally, it needed to be. The Ministry had to ensure that the employees who worked in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and in Magical Interpol were ready to handle whatever was required of them, and it showed.

There were numerous training dummies lined up against the wall opposite her, along with a number of mats that had been folded up against the wall over to the side. (Those probably weren't a bad idea.) The space was plenty large enough to duel, which was the most important factor.

Parvati hadn't been looking for law enforcement levels of training at her age, though she once could have qualified to become an Auror on the basis of her fighting in the Battle of Hogwarts. Instead, her desire had stemmed from feeling utterly useless during Elaine Dupree's attack on Hogwarts, and Anastasia Karkaroff had been kind enough to offer to spend some time with her after hours at the Ministry to get in some dueling practice in a controlled environment. As much as Parvati felt the need to prove to herself that she wasn't yet as old as she felt, getting in some self defense training would be beneficial regardless.

Still wearing the same robes that she had worn to the Ministry that day had been intentional on Parvati's part, though she had taken the time to pull her hair into a ponytail and away from her face. Should she need to fight again, she wouldn't be able to guarantee that she would be dressed for it. Wearing what she typically wore would be more useful, especially when robes weren't completely practical in combat. Making sure that she had a good understanding of how to move despite not wearing something more fitted was part of it all, too.

"Should I take off my heels?" Parvati wondered. Wearing stilettos wasn't ideal, either, yet there was more of a risk of injury with those. She had to remind herself that there was no way to prepare for everything, and she couldn't get too caught up in that.

anastasia marie karkaroff

[anastasia marie karkaroff]

maybe i'm too obsessed
with retribution

somebody has to pay

March 2027
parvati patil macmillan

Ana glared at the sole inhabitant of the training area. He looked like a boy that still belonged at school, perhaps a trainee. Though Ana figured that by now, the trainees would have built up some nerves and not let their eyes get so wide so easily. While the Law Enforcement trainees didn’t have to deal with Ana, they had to deal with Bianca instead—who was about as frightening of a force. But Ana had just felt her irritability grow day by day, her exhaustion catching up with her. And at some point, she simply was so tired she slept dreamlessly, which was all she wanted.

When she closed her eyes, she saw the flames. She saw people’s faces and the Purifiers she had met while trying to infiltrate their group. Ivy’s pleading eyes appeared now and then, though nobody knew what happened to the middle Burke in the aftermath. Ana didn’t blame her for hiding. Even Ana looked over her shoulder constantly due to her work and the society she was born in. But as much as Ana carried the heavyweight of failure from that day—others carried heavier things such as grief. She wasn’t as close to Parvati or anyone in her family as Cas was, but even someone as cold as Ana could only wonder what pain Parvati was carrying with her.

And Ana was not known for her kind and comforting nature, so she offered one of the only solutions she really knew. And here they were in the Ministry Training area. Ana would make sure they had some privacy. Many stayed away if they knew she was in there. As a master duelist, they stayed far away. Only the arrogant ever tried to challenge the youngest Karkaroff. And they learned very quickly. Ana nodded in response to Parvati’s gratitude. ”I’d recommend it to start.” She strode to the front of the room, she wouldn’t have Parvati face her just yet, but Ana looked at the training dummies. Without magic, they would have been blown to bits decades earlier, but with the help of former Cursebreakers and other personnel, they had become quite useful.

”The training dummies are enchanted.” She began, arms crossed out of habit. ”They’re for defensive magic training. Sending basic spells or physically moving against you but are destroyed easily.” Ana demonstrated by taking her wand out, pointing it at the farthest dummy, and a jet of red light shot out from her wand. The dummy appeared to explode into dust. It was more like sand, and with another wave of her wand, the piles reformed into the training dummy. A simple enchantment to quickly reconstitute them. She looked back to Parvati, taking her lead on where she wanted to begin.

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[parvati patil macmillan]

March 2027

As Ana advised her to do, Parvati removed the stilettos she was wearing, her hand up against the wall to steady herself so she wouldn't fall over while unbalanced and feeling as though she looked like a flamingo. It only took her a few moments to take off her shoes, though, and she was back on two feet. She moved her shoes to the side and out of the way, listening as Ana explained the training dummies to her.

"The training dummies are enchanted," noted Ana, her demeanor similar to her brother Cas's in its businesslike nature, Parvati thought. "They're for defensive magic training. Sending basic spells or physically moving against you but are destroyed easily." Illustrating her point then, Ana took out her wand. She pointed it at the farthest dummy, reduced it to dust, and then reformed it as though it hadn't suffered any damage at all.

"We used to use these during Dumbledore's Army meetings," Parvati told her, pulling her own wand from her robes but keeping it at her side. Very quickly, she realized how ancient she must have sounded because Ana had to have been born after the end of the war. "But ours weren't quite so nice," she added. They had worked well enough to prepare them to fight back then, though; there was no doubt about that.

She inhaled, looking between Ana and the dummies as she wondered where to begin. The whole purpose of their being there was to get her to feel comfortable with dueling again, not that she wanted to have to duel anyone. Even though many people did duel for sport, there was something that felt wrong about it to her. It wasn't enjoyable when it was a matter of life or death, and even a simulation of that didn't sit right with her.

There was nothing that she had to worry about; Parvati knew that, and she knew that being so apprehensive about attacking a dummy was pointless. She had taken down Death Eaters as a teenager. She was kidding herself to pretend that she didn't know what she was doing. In her head, she knew that she was doubting herself for no reason.

With her wand, Parvati pulled one of the mats away from the wall and unfolded it, placing it on the floor lengthwise. She did the same with a second mat, positioning it after the other one so that she and Ana would have a longer space on which to duel one another. "Does this look alright?" she asked Ana, wanting to get her feedback before doing anything more.

anastasia marie karkaroff

[anastasia marie karkaroff]

maybe i'm too obsessed
with retribution

somebody has to pay

March 2027
parvati patil macmillan

Ana nodded. Of course, Parvati knew the drill—or most of it. She supposed it made sense as Dumbledore’s Army was trained by Harry Potter himself. She thought of the trainees that walked through the door of the Interpol offices and how they varied from arrogant to meek. The complete lack of will and fortitude that Harry and Parvati’s generation must have had at Hogwarts. It was no wonder the Durmstrang alumni scoffed at Hogwarts for being too ‘soft’. Ana herself felt as if she’d been on the defensive and kept on her toes since she first stepped foot on her school's frozen grounds.

Parvati pulled some from the wall space, designed when people were dueling one another. Not that Ana needed one on her side, few could match her full force though a few had tried and walked out with their tail between their legs. It was easy to underestimate her as she stood just a few inches over five feet. ”Yes, it's fine.” Ana moved to one side and stopped before stepping on the mat. ”Would you like to practice on the dummies first?” Ana motioned to the wall. ”As I’m sure you know—speed is just as important as accuracy in a duel. The most powerful hexes are useless if you miss your target or are incapacitated first.”

Trainees always stepped up to the mat with their chests puffed out and eager to start. But a lightning-fast disarming spell would always beat their fanciest fire charm or combative spells. ”I assume you have no issue with nonverbal spells?” A veteran of a Wizarding War who fought the likes of her father and his colleagues working with Potter and also a member of Hogwarts staff—it was likely a rhetorical question, but a question nonetheless. Any Witch or Wizard could perform a nonverbal spell under pressure and distracted? Well, the odds were different.

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[parvati patil macmillan]

March 2027

In a real combat situation, they wouldn't have the benefit of having mats underneath them to cushion any falls. On that basis, they probably could have gone without them, but there was no harm in having them there. Most of the injuries that were likely to result from falling could be healed with relative ease using magic but it would be better to avoid those altogether if they could. Parvati wasn't getting any younger, and there was little point in not taking an added precaution or two if she could.

With Ana's confirmation that the placement of the mats was fine, they could get started with what they had come there to do. She asked her if she would like to practice on the dummies first and mentioned that speed was just as important as accuracy when dueling. As she explained, there wasn't much point in dueling if one's spells weren't hitting their intended target.

"I assume you have no issue with nonverbal spells?" Ana added.

"No," Parvati replied. "Those won't be a problem." She looked to the dummies. Being that they were more advanced than the ones she'd trained with in her youth, she was curious to see just what they could do. "I might try them out…" she mused. "Should I just cast something?" Parvati hadn't considered that this practice session could turn out to be fun, but there was always something invigorating about Dumbledore's Army meetings that had been lost to her after years of the Order of the Phoenix and Ouroboros.

anastasia marie karkaroff

[anastasia marie karkaroff]

maybe i'm too obsessed
with retribution

somebody has to pay

March 2027
parvati patil macmillan

Ana had heard the stories. She’d even seen some of the mentioned in practice. At Hogwarts, she had run side by side with Harry. That normally calm and caring look in his eyes was gone and, instead, something more stern and focused. It was the type of experience to shake one’s beliefs all the way down to your core. Her father and uncle had been cowards. Hiding behind masks and working for essentially a bully who was a little better at dark magic than them. While she never really knew him like her older brothers did, Ana had the sense that he would have never fought as hard that day as Harry and others had for their children.

”Whatever you like.” Ana took a step back. Different spells caused various effects on the dummies. Some focused on accuracy and precision, while others focused on maximum damage. Ana was a fan of accuracy herself. It was important in her line of work. And that way, she didn’t end up on Border Patrol for taking down an entire building in pursuit of a suspect. ”Did you have a specialty? Back then?” She’d always been a little curious. Harry had mentioned his wife’s Bat-Bogey Hex. It seemed like a silly spell, but any spell was as dangerous as the person casting it. Then again, there were Interpol Agents who were talented in defensive magic, which helped balance the more offensive Wizards and Witches like Ana.

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[parvati patil macmillan]

March 2027

As Anastasia told her that she could do as she liked, Parvati stepped on the mat to get accustomed to the way that it felt beneath her feet. It was firm and not too squishy but still soft enough to cushion a fall as intended. She would still have to be mindful of her footing, but it would be less of an issue than she imagined it would be.

"Did you have a specialty? Back then?"

With how Anastasia had phrased her question, was hard for Parvati not to feel as though she were some twenty or thirty years older than she really was. Parvati knew that she very likely hadn't intended for it to come across in that way and wanted to let it slide. It was strange, though, in that she felt both horribly underprepared and as though she actually had some advice to give.

"We were well-versed in everything we could do," she replied, thinking over what she should cast first. "We didn't have much choice, really." Between the joke of a Defence Against the Dark Arts "curriculum" that they had been provided under Dolores Umbridge and everything else that had happened in short succession after that, they couldn't afford not to know everything they could that they weren't being taught. The Ministry was far more corrupt at that time, and they knew that they were being kept in the dark about far more than they should have been.

"I suppose it's less effective to cast a Full Body-Bind Curse on a dummy to start?" she laughed. Obviously, the dummy was enchanted enough that it would be capable of fighting her back, but temporarily paralyzing it before she could see what it could do. That would also rule out a Stunning Spell, potentially.

When she came to a decision on what she wanted to do a few seconds later, Parvati held her wand up to point it at the dummy that was most directly opposite her. "Fulgari!" She wasn't ready to use her full force against it, waiting to see what it could deliver.

anastasia marie karkaroff

[anastasia marie karkaroff]

maybe i'm too obsessed
with retribution

somebody has to pay

March 2027
parvati patil macmillan

Ana had difficulty feeling like the authority figure she was next to such a regarded individual. Parvati had trained with Harry during the war in their youth. With everything Ana had seen over the past year through the Order and her work, she couldn’t imagine being younger than she was now. Twenty-six was not the same as sixteen. But Parvati didn’t specify anything, but Ana wasn’t surprised. Ana had seen Harry fight when they’d run into the castle. She could only imagine that the rest of his former classmates were at a similar level.

Her mouth upturned in a small grin, it wasn’t entirely useless. The trainees might have thought so because it wasn’t something ‘impressive’ in their books. But when she trained the Interpol trainees, she made sure to instill that function was the most important. A disarming spell could be the difference between life or death just as much as the most powerful blasting curse. ”Not entirely.” Ana shrugged as she moved to watch Parvati from a different angle. ”You’d be surprised how many trainees miss when casting binding spells.” It bordered on embarrassing, though she hardly felt bad for the ones that walked in with their chest puffed out as if they were at the top of their training class already.

The dummy took the hit, there wasn’t much it could do against one of those spells, but after a few moments, the bindings came off through an automatic counter-spell so the dummies could continue to be utilized.

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[parvati patil macmillan]

March 2027

Anastasia corrected her that she would be surprised at how many trainees missed while casting binding spells. Parvati knew that a few decades of experience separated her from the newest trainees, but she had to hope that the trainees would learn how to cast those sorts of spells effectively. They were exceptionally useful for dueling—and for catching criminals, no doubt—and it wouldn't bode well for the law enforcement agencies of the magical world if a whole cohort of future officials couldn't detain others effectively.

Luckily, Parvati hadn't encountered the same problem. The training dummy was temporarily affected by the spell that she had cast but became unbound by it without her having to cast the counter for it. It looked like it wouldn't matter what she did to the dummy; it would only take the effects of what she did to it for a very short duration before recovering. The dummy wasn't going to behave completely as another human would, but it would keep her on her toes in a way that a human probably couldn't.

She didn't want to waste any time if the dummy might attack her first, so she quickly moved on to another incantation. Beginning to treat it more as she would have treated an actual duel felt appropriate. "Flipendo!"

anastasia marie karkaroff

[anastasia marie karkaroff]

maybe i'm too obsessed
with retribution

somebody has to pay

March 2027
parvati patil macmillan

Ana had high expectations for herself, if not higher than what her family had set. In her mother’s book, the idea of her only daughter dueling and winning was abhorrent. Her possible pureblood suitors now sitting in the dirt while Ana stood tall. Mastery was always her goal. Strive for perfection, and you might reach it one day. But then, events like Hogwarts happened. If there was ever a way to knock someone off the pedestal they created for themselves, that was it. These weren’t thoughts Ana would share so easily, however. For now, she focused on rebuilding. Whether that meant herself, the school or helping the woman in front of her.

What Ana did know was that success in dueling relied on instinct. Knowing what to do or could do at a moment’s notice. In her training, she didn’t focus on power, on how much one could blow up at once. But reflexes. Reflexes brought speed and letting your body react, and your mind focus brought power. Parvati didn’t pause and followed up her curse with another spell. The dummy shot back into the wall, creating a cloud of dust where it made contact. Ana nodded in approval, but another dummy began moving forward, although not very quickly.

She didn’t want to send them all flying at her at once, not that Ana doubted Parvati couldn’t handle it. Warming up was practical in the sense of stretching old muscles to prepare for dueling. It was all in muscle memory at some point, but it needed to be awoken. It wasn’t practical in the real world, but training was training. She would give it a few more minutes before modifying the enchantment to increase the difficulty.

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[parvati patil macmillan]

March 2027

The Knockback Jinx that Parvati had cast worked as it was supposed to, sending the training dummy that she had targeted backwards from where it had been positioned. She had delivered the jinx with enough force that the dummy didn't just move backwards; it hit into the wall.

Although proud of herself for a moment as Ana gave her handiwork a nod of approval, Parvati quickly noticed that another dummy was beginning to move forward in place of the one that she had just attacked. It was realistic, of course. Even in structured duels, each party often had another person designated as their "second" in the event that the first person were rendered unable to continue on for themselves.

It had been a long time since she had had the freedom to use any spells that she wanted to fight against an opponent, and Parvati almost wished that she had the time to stop and think about it. If she were to have the ability to choreograph something like that, she had no doubt that she would do things differently than she was in the moment, but she didn't want to see what the training dummies were capable of doing to injure her, either.

Reacting without haste to the approaching dummy, Parvati stepped forward slightly to cast a Stickfast Hex. It was far from the most advanced hex she could have used, and she knew that. At the same time, if it did its job, the dummy wouldn't be getting any closer to her.

anastasia marie karkaroff

[anastasia marie karkaroff]

maybe i'm too obsessed
with retribution

somebody has to pay

March 2027
parvati patil macmillan

Ana liked to think that someone was fully transparent in a duel. Facing impossible odds and life or death, there wasn’t time to put on a mask or worry about what was visible in your eyes. For those few seconds before a spell was uttered or the intent formed in one’s mind, your eyes showed everything clearly. Whatever rage, sadness, or even insanity was right there. Ana didn’t want to know what appeared in her eyes, although she already knew what lay beneath the surface. All these years watching and training these kids fresh out of school, she saw many different things. Fear, the fire of confidence, and even the occasional utterly blank expression. Those never lasted long in the program.

And over time, she saw that fear turn into determination or that confidence turn into anger. She supposed it had something to do with the liberating nature of a duel. Sending off spells at an object that could hardly fight back felt good. ”We’re trying to teach the trainees stronger defensive spells earlier. We’ve seen an uptick in injuries resulting from stronger hexes and curses.” Even when Ana had been in training, many of these criminals knew basic casting and perhaps some standard spells a student might know. Spells to disarm, cut or create distance and then the handful of jinxes. Powerful curses were rare. Not impossible, but not everyone has the fortitude to develop the intent to enact real pain.

”Even a standard shield charm has its limitations with a blasting curse.” The trainees wondered why Ana pushed them so hard. But she wanted them to have that power to pull from when needed. Just uttering an incantation did not make it so. Ana waited and watched patiently. They could increase the difficulty whenever she was ready. But there was no hurry. Ana also came down here occasionally to direct her anger or frustration on something that couldn’t complain.

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[parvati patil macmillan]

March 2027

"We're trying to teach the trainees stronger defensive spells earlier," Ana explained. "We've seen an uptick in injuries resulting from stronger hexes and curses."

Parvati, who was glad to see that the hex she had cast had worked as intended, kept her focus on the training dummy while listening to what the younger woman had to say. Distraction in combat was dangerous, though she understood the point that Ana had made, too. Probably because of everything that they had faced at Hogwarts, the newer trainees were less afraid to try out more complicated spells, even if they really didn't have a good enough command of them.

"Even a standard Shield Charm has its limitations with a Blasting Curse."

"Of course, yeah," nodded Parvati, knowing that she couldn't really let her guard down to hold a conversation, even while facing a dummy. Back on the subject of their conversation, there were different strengths of Shield Charms, and it wasn't always possible to gauge what was necessary in every context. Expecting the unexpected was key.

anastasia marie karkaroff
OOC: I give you my permission to have the dummy do whatever.

[anastasia marie karkaroff]

maybe i'm too obsessed
with retribution

somebody has to pay

March 2027
parvati patil macmillan

Parvati was laser focused on the training dummies. It was determination Ana could recognize all around her. From her peers and a few close friends. Or the way she could tell when each of her brothers had honed in on something. It was in their eyes. She supposed it was in hers as well. When she’d run around that unfamiliar school with Harry, she saw nothing but focus and fear on both sides. But as Cas would say, it was time to move forward. Outside of the Order, Cas and Ana had their own agendas.

Slowly, Ana made her way to the back of the room behind Parvati. She didn’t want to interfere or get caught in the crossfire. But since she was hidden now, Ana pulled out her wand. This was the fun part with the trainees because they never expected it. One dummy was glued in its spot, but a red jet of light flew toward Parvati as Ana waved her wand. The trainees never expected it, and all of them would take a stunning spell at some point, like a right of passage.

Unlike her Professors at Durmstrang or the people in her life growing up, Ana found she could launch her own protective spells from this spot. While a stunning spell was harmless in a training scenario, sometimes a lot was happening simultaneously. She imagined her Professors would have let several spells go in her direction and expect her to handle it. And she waved her wand once more, and a dummy to the right also cast a stunning spell. While there wasn’t a doubt in Ana’s mind that Parvati could handle it, she paid close attention just in case.

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[parvati patil macmillan]

March 2027

With her attention solely focused on what the training dummy that she had been fighting might do next, Parvati had no reason to think that Anastasia might engineer a different situation. Despite awaiting the dummy's response, she was hit by the Stunning Spell that came from her fake opponent before she could manage to shield herself from it.

As a result of the spell's effect, Parvati was rendered unconscious immediately and fell backwards onto the mat right where she had been standing, her wand falling out of her hand. Because of the cushioning beneath her, however, she wasn't seriously injured from the fall. (At least, it was nothing that magic wouldn't be able to heal in a matter of a few minutes and far from anything that would require a trip to St. Mungo's to get fixed up.)

The Stunning Spell was one that nearly all of wizardkind knew, even if they couldn't cast it well themselves. Parvati had had practice with it even as a teenager in Dumbledore's Army meetings, so it wasn't anything with which she was unfamiliar. Being knocked out cold was not the most enjoyable experience and probably would have seemed downright cruel to a Muggle. As magic went, it was relatively harmless, though.

Entirely unaware of what had happened to her or the second Stunner that came her way, Parvati remained on the floor until a Reviving Spell could be used.

anastasia marie karkaroff