Practical Lesson

The sixth-year wizards spontaneously formed alliances and squads based on their relationships with one another, then slowly entered the melee field while keeping wary eyes on each other.

Draco led Goyle, Crabbe, and Zabini to a familiar-looking rise in a corner of the field and hid behind the earthen walls there; Michael Corner and Edward Fox took two Ravenclaw Training Class members they knew well and occupied a thick, high wall as cover, then began using Super Protego to seal up weak spots in some of the obstacles; and some young wizards who had never received this kind of training before started imitating them as well, with Ernie Macmillan leading several Hufflepuffs down into a trench.

Harry and Neville stood with their wands in front of a round pillar, Neville's round face full of nerves. Harry exchanged a glance with the squad made up of his other two roommates, Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas, behind another pillar, then gave a slight nod, forming a temporary alliance—the Gryffindors had mostly chosen positions with better fields of view, which in theory made it easier for them to attack, though of course those spots offered less cover. Fortunately, this Ancient Magic Class had more ordinary young wizards who had never been through the Training Class or D.A. training before, and they looked rather flustered as they searched for positions around the field. Along with Hermione Granger, who had drawn most people's attention by heading alone toward the very center of the field, they made these few little Gryffindor lions seem less conspicuous.

Then two identical Allens seemed to walk out from behind Allen. Harry and the others whipped their heads around to look behind and to the side. "That's Mirror Image!" Harry remembered the illusion Allen had used against the dragon in the