stand by me

[Gabriella Rivera]

When Fabian had first suggested that she ought to learn how to defend herself, Gabby wasn't all too excited for the prospect. Defense Against the Dark Arts had always been her worst subject, and not just because she found it difficult - actually, okay, mostly because she did find it difficult. But she also just plain didn't like it. It always seemed too...violent to her, and Gabby hated violence of any kind, but then Fabian tried to explain to her how important it was for her to learn how to defend herself, and it wasn't like wand work was as bad as physically fighting with someone. But, although he never said it out loud, she knew he was thinking that, should she ever get into a physical fight, no amount of training would be able to actually prepare her for winning, seeing as she was tiny enough that even the weakest fighter of them all could probably knock her over with a well-placed shove. Eventually, Gabby was convinced, though not for the reasons he probably wanted. She figured that, if she could learn defensive spells, then she could protect other people and it would make her feel less helpless - like, had she known some sort of spell to deflect danger, she might have been more help when Gideon had barged in on her and Danny and she could have at least tried to protect him or done something instead of just standing there, weeping like a useless muggle. Heck, even a muggle might have been able to do something, thrown a punch or something. Gabby imagined that, had she tried to hit him, he wouldn't have even felt it. Or he could have gotten angrier and tried harder to kill Gideon and her. So, she hoped that this practice would serve to make her more useful. And eventually she figured that, yes, she would like to know how to protect herself, too, because then she could prove that she could take care of herself and they'd be less worried about her and she would be more confident in herself. And it might also help her get a better grade in Defense Against the Dark Arts! It was a win-win(-win?) situation. So, once she was convinced that it was a good idea, she had begun planning lessons with Fabian (they had to work around his busy work schedule, of course, and Gabby insisted that he didn't make it a top priority because there were more important things he had to do, like have his free time), but before they could even have their first lesson, her father was sending her back to Hogwarts.

Disheartened, Gabby concluded she'd have to wait until the summer holiday, since she would be going away for most of the Christmas holidays, to begin the lessons with Fabian. That is, until she realised that - duh! - she had her very own Defense Against the Dark Arts master in her house and year - Fabian's brother, Gideon. If anyone could teach her the art of Defense Against the Dark Arts (no pun intended), it was definitely Gideon. And he was always going on and on about her safety, too, so it made sense to approach him about it. Just as she'd guessed, he was on board immediately, and agreed to meet with her once a week every weekend until the holidays in the practice room so that they could train together, and then they'd pick it up again after the holidays. In return, she'd give him a massage after every Quidditch practice, knowing that they could sometimes be absolutely brutal, especially during the winter, when they have to fight the terrible weather; Lyle hardly gave them any allowances, especially since all the other teams practiced no matter what the conditions were. She knew the team hoped to win the Quidditch cup this year, especially since they didn't manage to do so last year, and they were doing so well so far, winning both Quidditch matches of the season, that Gabriella had every hope they'd end up winning the cup. And even if they didn't, they'd done such a stellar job so far this year that they ought to be proud of themselves anyway! So, yeah, Gideon definitely deserved a massage or two, and she figured it would be the perfect repayment for his services; a you-scratch-my-back-I-scratch-your-back sort of deal (this time, pun totally intended). She didn't tell him her plans yet, because she knew he'd probably try to protest and tell her she didn't have to give him anything in return and blah blah blah and he might get miffed and get all Gideon-like and huffy, so she'd much rather spring it on him when he came back from Quidditch practice bone-tired, thus increasing the likelihood of him accepting her gift to him graciously, because he'd actually need it at the time and would be less inclined to complain.

Since today was the first time they'd be meeting, Gabby was a little nervous. Not of Gideon per se, but of how well (or, rather, badly) she'd be doing during the lesson. They'd be practicing the Protego spell, and possibly Expelliarmus if there was enough time, and, according to the books she'd used to read up on the spells before the lesson, they were pretty basic, but it wouldn't' change the fact that defensive spells just were not her forte, and what if she totally messed up and oh Dios, even worse, what if she ended up accidentally hurting Gideon?? According to the text, Protego just formed a shield, and Expelliarmus caused your opponent's wand to fly out of his or her hand, so neither of them could cause pain as far as she could tell, but what if she said it wrong or accidentally used the wrong spell and caused arms to sprout of his head?! Granted, that was more likely Transfiguration or something of the sort, but you never really know. After twenty minutes of fretting about the type of mistakes she was sure to make, Gabriella forcefully shook herself out of her paranoid state and dressed in her 'training outfit' - which was basically a pair of sweat pants and a long top. She tried to ignore how weird and uncomfortable the material felt against her legs (she just was not used to pants at all!) and finished getting ready, pulling her hair back into a tight pony tail and then pushing back her bangs with a headband; she didn't want anything to get in her face and distract her from the lesson, after all! Tucking in a bottle of water and a change of clothes into her school bag, "just in case," Gabby then made her way down the corridor into the Hufflepuff common room and perched on the edge of the couch to wait for Gideon. Fortunately, she didn't have to wait long and be consumed with more "oh Dios I'm going to turn him into a pumpkin I just KNOW it" thoughts, since Gideon was quite punctual. Grinning, she leaned up (he had to lean down, too) and gave him a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek before bounding out of the common room with her arm through his, eagerly informing him that she'd researched the two spells they'd be practicing today, so it shouldn't be that difficult to teach her at all, and that she was super grateful toward him for doing this, and how she knew he was going to be the absolute best teacher ever (but not to tell that to Professor Dumbledore, because he was pretty great, too, Gabby just kinda sucked at the subject), and how she was extremely excited to finally learn how to defend herself. She kept up the mindless chatter all the way to the practice room, which was when she finally stopped to take a breath.

A quick glance around the room told her that it was, thankfully, deserted. She didn't want to accidentally knock something into anyone else, after all. Dropping her bag beside the wall, she turned to Gideon and took out her wand, tugging at her top nervously with her free hand. "So. Protego, right? It's supposed to create this shield between me and whoever's attacking me, right? So...do I just say it, or am I supposed to be imagining something, like something that protects me? Like a person or an actual shield?" She'd probably imagine Gideon himself, ironically enough.

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[Gideon Prewett]

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Gabby had to learn how to defend herself. To Gideon, it was that simple. She was horrible at judging character and trusted people too easily; he couldn’t really hold that against her, because he loved her for who she was. But when she got into trouble, she couldn’t get out of it, even after she realised the person she had mistakenly chosen to trust was bad for her. It wasn’t just that she was bad at Defense Against the Dark Arts (which Gideon had trouble understanding, since to him that was the most important class and much easier than Potions), but she had very little physical strength too. A wand was a wizard’s best weapon and defense, but it wasn’t attached to the body. There were times, Gideon knew, when Gabby wouldn’t be able to reach her wand to defend herself, and that’s where she needed the knowledge of physical self-defense. Girls didn’t have to be particularly strong to defend themselves. Gideon knew there were a couple spots on the human body that were extremely sensitive to pain. Gabby would just have to hit them to cause damage. For example, elbowing the nose would cause her attacker’s eyes to water. If she was lucky, she could break it. Once he was distracted with his nose, another elbow to the groin area could probably give her time to make an escape, or at least grab her wand. One time, Gideon heard of a girl who was probably about seven-stone taking out a bloke twice her size by hitting those sensitive bits alone. Gabby, he was sure, was even smaller than that. Sure, it’d be difficult, and she hated violence, but she had to understand that it was important. She couldn’t just be a bloody doormat for people to walk over her whole life. And yeah, maybe Gideon was being a little hard on her lately, but… well… Gabby was his best friend. He loved her like his best friend, and he wanted her to be safe. With all the trouble she’d been getting into lately, Gideon couldn’t help but feel like he wasn’t doing his job in protecting her. If she got hurt any worse than she already had, he knew that he’d feel responsible because he could have prepared her more.

That was why they were doing this, he supposed. He was definitely going to teach her defensive magic, because she’d probably have more luck with that, but he did want to go over some physical, hand-to-hand combat techniques she could put to good use as well. Maybe not today, since they were supposed to mostly do Shield Charms and Disarming and stuff, but he definitely was going to teach her how to at least put a bloke in enough pain to distract him. In his school bag, he’d replaced his books and quills with his boxing gloves and a couple pillows from the common room couches for Gabby to use as targets (and for him to use as a shield in case her aim was off). His boxing gloves would be too big for her, but she didn’t have to use them if she didn’t want. He’d just wrap her hands in something, maybe. That was if they got that far at all anyway. To be honest, Gideon had no idea how this lesson was going to go. He’d never really taught anyone anything before. Fabian was actually a pretty good teacher in their Patronus lessons (and Gideon was getting good at those – he’d actually produced some sort of silvery mist last time, and it was more solid than the older boy’s, and the girl who was just there to flirt hadn’t managed to make anything yet), but he was older, more experienced, and was only teaching them one specific spell. In fact, he was supposed to be Gabby’s teacher on this stuff before Mr. Rivera sent her back to school. Gideon was capable of performing the spells he’d be teaching Gabby, so he wasn’t worried about that. It was just that he didn’t know how to describe how to make them work better than Professor Dumbledore did. Everything Dumbledore said made sense to him. He didn’t know how Gabby couldn’t get it, really. To him, hating violence wasn’t a reason to not be able to defend yourself. If anything, hating violence should have given a person more incentive to defend himself or herself, because… Well, okay, Gideon didn’t know how to explain his reasoning, but he just knew that he felt it. Ah, but wasn’t that another problem? Not knowing how to explain his opinion was bound to confuse Gabby, which would just make their lesson… well… suck.

He was quiet for most of their walk to the Practice Room, mulling over those thoughts in his head and trying to figure out how best to teach the spells to Gabby. He’d probably have more luck teaching a Crup to like Muggles. Deciding that he really couldn’t go into a lesson thinking he’d fail to teach anything, he determinedly shoved the thoughts aside and pulled out his wand. The Shield Charm was first, as Gabby reminded him as she got on topic. “Er…” he replied, not really sure how to answer her question. With the exception of the Patronus Charm, spells were ordinarily just spells to him. He didn’t really picture an outcome, or imagine anything to make it work. Gideon didn’t have the biggest imagination (except when he was a kid, and played with his imaginary friends whenever Fabian was too busy with Frank and Molly was off doing girly things) and he thought spells were just straight-forward, really. “Well, I guess if that helps you, sure? Just… picture like a… a great big wall between you and the spell coming at you. Or anything that’s coming at you, really. Here.” He reached into his bag and pulled out one of the pillows, handing it to her. “Throw this at me and I’ll show you. What you want to do is just… I mean, there’s nothing complicated about the wand movement, it’s the basic swish-and-flick. And it’s just, uh, pro-tay-go,” he clarified, enunciating the ‘tay’ a bit more. He did it again, this time with the movement, and the air in front of him seemed to shimmer for a bit and he knew that the spell had worked. It was hard to tell otherwise, since he wasn’t protecting himself from anything, but he figured it did the job just the same. “Okay, so you throw the pillow at me and I’ll block it with the spell, and then you can practice a bit before I toss it at you. And it’ll be fine, since it’s just a pillow, see? No one ever got hurt with a pillow.” Other than smothering or the chance of getting hit in the eye, but he didn’t need to go there. Haha, he didn’t want to scare Gabby. He went a few strides across the room and stood with his wand at the ready. “All right, hit me with your best shot.”

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[Gabriella Rivera]

Gabby was starting to think that the fact that she was so bad at Defense Against the Dark Arts wasn't just because she disliked violence, but also because she lacked confidence in herself. Looking at Gideon with his wand held out, his stance relaxed and yet alert, and the way that he spoke the spell with a voice filled with an assurance she rarely felt, she knew that confidence had to be an important factor. You couldn't perform a spell when you were thinking about how you just couldn't do it. It was like making a potion and putting in ingredients that you were positive were wrong; there was no way the potion would come out right. The problem was, she didn't know how to be confident about a defensive spell, mostly because she just had a tendency to over think things. Take the shield spell, for example. Even though she'd just seen Gideon do it, and more than once, with no harm coming out of it, she couldn't help but wonder if she did use it in the future, then the spell she was defending herself from might rebound and hit the caster and, all right, so the person casting the spell would probably be someone trying to hurt her anyway, but the thought of actually hurting anyone made her stomach roll unpleasantly, whether they deserved it or not. And it was difficult for her to believe that anyone deserved to get hurt. Except for someone like You-Know-Who, because anyone who would be causing such pain to innocent people had to deserve it. Still, she supposed she would have to get over it if she really wanted to learn how to take care of herself. And, really, if she thought about it, she was so tiny that she'd hardly be able to make much impact on whoever she hurt. And besides, the protego spell really wasn't that bad, since she found the pillows would rebound to the side, so spells were bound to do that, too, right?

After a few more rounds of Gideon showing her how it's done, Gabby decided it was time for her to start properly practicing. She flexed her fingers, switching her wand between hands to do so, and hopped nervously on her feet. Once she was as prepared as she would get, she copied Gideon's earlier stance and tried to make her face into a serious, almost menacing one (she was pretty sure she actually ended up looking constipated). "Okay. Hit me with your best shot," she said, repeating his words back to him with a little smirk. The first time, she completely forgot to say the spell and jumped out of the way instead. Smiling sheepishly, she threw it back to him and then maintained her stance. "Okay, again,"

[/color] she said seriously. This time, she remembered to say the spell, but the pillow only slowed down significantly and dropped low, but still hit her shin. Frowning, she passed the pillow back to him and rolled up the sleeves of her jacket, determined to get it right. It took three more tries to get it right, but she finally managed to form a strong enough shield and she threw her hands up in the air and did a mini, celebratory dance. Once she was done, she turned back to him, determined to perfect it. Sometime between her first and fourth try, Gabby had developed a different reasoning for wanting to do this - now it wasn't just about protecting herself so that her friends would stop worrying about her, but because she wanted to protect herself. Because she wanted to know how to defend herself, because she didn't want to be helpless anymore. She was tired of feeling completely helpless. "Again,"[/color] she stated determinedly, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

Once she was sure she had somewhat mastered the spell, Gabby dropped her wand arm and skipped forward to hug Gideon tightly. "Thank you! I feel safer already, knowing that spell,"[/color] she admitted once she pulled away. Biting her lip, she tilted her to the side and peered at him inquisitively. "Do you think we can stop the wand work for now and try to work on some physical stuff? Like, if someone grabs me like that,"[/color] she grabbed his wrist to demonstrate, thinking of Mulciber, "or was just making me feel uncomfortable and wouldn't leave me alone even when I told him to more than once,"[/color] she added, releasing his wrist with a small shrug, thinking of that man at the Three Broomsticks with the spider fingers, "I mean, knowing how to do defense spells is all well and good, but I'm just so...weak."[/color] She frowned at the admission, because she'd never really thought about it before, but it was true. She was weak - much weaker than most girls, even. "And I know that sometimes there's tricks for weak girls to get away. Like how to get someone to let go of you. Or - or certain points you can...hit,"[/color] it was a struggle to get the word out, because her entire body seemed to rebel at the idea of causing physical harm, that could maybe...distract someone enough that I could get away. I don't...I don't want to hurt anyone. Not seriously, anyway. But...I just..."[/color] She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "I just don't want to feel helpless all the time. I...I want to know how to defend myself. And not just because you and Fabian and my dad would stop worrying about me, but because I just want to look out for myself for once, you know? Not that I don't appreciate you looking out for me, but you can't be with me all the time. I just...sorry. I'm babbling."[/color] She blushed self-consciously and shifted her weight from one foot to the other, hands clasped behind her back as she waited for his response.

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[Gideon Prewett]

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It took a few tries, but Gabby did start to improve. Sure, it was just the Shield Charm, which Gideon thought was pretty basic. But with Gabby, any progress in defense was something worth celebrating. He kept tossing pillows at her, lightly at first in case he did hit her, but when he saw her start to improve he started tossing them harder and faster. She was beginning to deflect each one, and despite himself, Gideon couldn’t help but grin with pride. Gabby was constantly worried about hurting others, but she didn’t seem to realise it hurt oth—well, it hurt Gideon most—when she got hurt. Or, more appropriately, when she let herself get hurt. As far as Gideon was concerned, every instance where she’d been in danger was because she’d put herself in danger. Like when she’d followed the werewolf because she thought it was hurt, or writing to Mulciber and meeting with him against Fabian’s warnings – she hadn’t had to do any of that, but she chose to, even if she knew it was dangerous. Gideon wasn’t going to give her a lecture about it as motivation for her to perform well in defense; she knew his thoughts, it was in the past, and she was here now, doing well.

After a number of tosses where Gabby hadn’t missed blocking a single shot, Gideon threw the pillow aside and grinned. “I think you got it, Gabs. For now, anyway,” he said, opening his arms as she ran to him. She thanked him as he set her down and he barely managed to chortle out a “You’re welcome” before she was asking him about physical defense. Gideon blinked at her for a moment, a touch confused. He’d planned to teach her basic physical defense, sure, but he did think they’d do a bit more magic first. He’d already been reaching for his wand to show her the Impediment Jinx when she grabbed his wrist, but he supposed that could wait, since it seemed like she really wanted to learn. He opened his mouth to agree, but she was still talking, and then it all seemed to pour of her mouth: her insecurities, feeling weak, and finally what Gideon wanted to hear—

She wanted to defend herself for her.

It wasn’t so that Fabian and Gideon and Mr. Rivera could stop fretting and babying her (though that was a nice bonus). She was tired of being a victim, and Gideon smiled down at her so proudly he thought his face would break. “Don’t worry about it,” he said when she finished. “I’m glad you want to learn, all right? Okay. First lesson: stop telling yourself that you’re weak. You’re small and you don’t work out or anything so you’re not built, but you’re not weak. You’ve got a bunch of weapons on you, even without a wand. Now, second lesson that not everyone knows: if you’re gonna hit someone, avoid using your fist if at all possible. Thing is, if you hit someone hard enough in a hard place, you could break your own hand. Do more damage to yourself than to him, y’know? These are your best weapons.” He touched her elbow with one hand, then pointed at her knee. “So, if someone grabs your wrist” – he took her right wrist with his left hand – “I want you to reach around with your other hand and grab your own hand.” With his free hand, he took hers and guided it over so that she could take the hand he was grabbing. “Now pull back as hard as you can, and twist your body around too. Try to like… fan your hand out in front of you to get it as far away from mine as possible. It’ll pull me down toward you when you do that, which is good, because then you want to hit me in the face with your elbow – the one I just grabbed. Here, I’ll show you.” Grinning a bit cheekily, he knelt down on his knees so that he was shorter than she was.

“Take my wrist,” he instructed, facing her. When she did, he reached around to clasp his hands together and swiftly swung his arms out in front of him, freeing himself from her grasp, then raised his elbow and slowly pushed it up toward her. “Got it? All right.” He got to his feet. “Your turn.”

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[Gabriella Rivera]

Initially, Gabby regretted asking him to help her with the physical defense first, because no matter what Gideon said about her size not being that much of a disadvantage, she still found it difficult to believe that she was capable of escaping from anyone, much less an attacker. Just the memory of how much bigger and stronger Danny had been than her, how he'd effortlessly managed to keep a grip on her when she tried to futilely push him away, how he'd even managed to keep her in his hold one-handed. She was less than five feet, which made her smaller than half of Hogwarts, and she didn't think she would be growing any more. She'd never thought of lifting weights, and even when he told her that her elbows and knees were "powerful weapons", she had to be doubtful because, even if they were, how on Earth would she be able to reach anywhere near her attacker's face to get him with her elbow, and what if she was too small to even hit him in that weak spot (everyone knew a male's weak spot, after all, and she'd read about heroine's using said weakness to get away)? What if her knee could only reach his thigh? That would hardly be painful enough! And while her elbow could maybe reach Gideon's neck, and Mulciber had been about Gideon's height, and maybe his frame, too...that idea made her shudder, though, and she hastily cut off that train of thought before she started becoming irrationally afraid of Gideon. Which was stupid, of course, because she knew that Gideon would never hurt her, certainly not intentionally, and that he was nothing like that...that awful man. But Gabriella had never been known for her ability to control her emotions. So instead of thinking about Mulciber, she focused on what Gideon was saying, nodding along, her brow furrowing a little as she tried to imagine what he was saying, letting him maneuver her hands the way he wanted to. It sounded very complicated, and she couldn't help but doubt that she'd be able to do it. Still, she didn't want to say it out loud. No need for Gideon to know her pessimistic thoughts.

Scowling playfully when he knelt down to indicate the height difference between them, she did as instructed and took his wrist, holding it tightly the way she knew an attacker would. She didn't expect the rapidness of his movements and let out a startled gasp, blinking at the elbow poised in front of her face, realising her hand was still outstretched where it had previously been holding onto his wrist, her fingers now clutching air instead. "Oh wow, that was so cool," she said, sounding as impressed as she felt. And she had renewed hope that she could actually do it, because with Gideon kneeling down the way he was, the height difference was almost as much as it would have been between them if he were to stand, so if he could do it from that height, then surely she could, too! Okay, so maybe not surely, because Gideon still was stronger than her. But if she thought of it, this didn't require so much strength as it did tactics, and having the element of surprise. If she did it suddenly, like Gideon did, the she could catch him off guard and, in the time that it took for him to recover, she could hit him in the nose and maybe she could hurt him enough to get him to let go. And after that she could run away! Unless Gideon taught her another way to attack the attacker, because it was entirely possible the hit to the nose wouldn't be enough. And what if he didn't just get a hold of her wrist? What if he pinned her to the wall? Or, worse, to the floor? Or...she shuddered, trying not to get her imagination to run too wild, trying to remember that she was here with Gideon and that Gideon was surely to cover everything and he would never let her get in harm's way anyhow.

Forcing herself to focus on the present and not the maybes, she nodded slowly and waited for him to take her wrist, trying to remember exactly what he'd told her, and what he'd done. Okay, reach out and grab your other hand. She reached around to grasp her hand. She forgot the next step and instead tried to simply yank her wrist out of his grasp, which ended up hurting, and she failed miserably anyway. "Wait! Don't say anything, I want to try again,"

[/color] she interjected quickly when he started to correct her, furrowing her brow in concentration, trying to remember his movements, and then attempting to mimic them. It worked, for the most part, because she remembered to fan her hand in front of her and stretch it as far away from him as possible, using her whole body for extra strength, and she felt, rather than saw, him seem to be forced closer to her level, but then it took her a few seconds to remember her elbow and she awkwardly jerked it up, looking back to make sure she didn't accidentally hit him. Puffing out her cheeks in frustration, she dropped her arm, and the hand that she was holding, the other one going limp in his grip. The frustration ebbed away and her shoulders slumped in defeat, a pout forming on her lips. "I suck at this, don't I?"[/color] she mumbled. "Maybe we should go back to wandwork. I'm slightly less of a failure at that,"[/color] she huffed, only half-joking. She wouldn't be Gabby if she wasn't at least a little self-deprecating.


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[Gideon Prewett]

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He could see the frustration mounting as Gabby tried to pull her hand free the first time. He opened his mouth to correct her and tell her to use her whole body to free herself from his wrist, but she seemed determined to try again on her own, and this time, she did remember to fan. Instead of resisting, as was his instinct since he knew what was coming, Gideon allowed Gabby’s momentum to pull his body down toward hers. He lingered there while she tried to recall the next step, but flinched back anyway as her elbow rose. “Sorry,” he muttered with an apologetic smile.

Whatever confidence Gabby had gained from getting the hang of the Shield Charm seemed to have disappeared now, but Gideon wasn’t going to let her quit just yet. “No way,” he said, shaking his head. “C’mon, that was your first shot at it. I didn’t expect you to be perfect, you know? I mean, I’m not perfect at things when I first try them. I still haven’t gotten the full hang of the Patronus, and Fabian’s been teaching me since December. I mean, we’ll get to more wandwork and stuff, but you wanted to learn how to get out of a wrist-grab, didn’t you? I mean, come on. If some sleazy bloke grabs your wrist, what’re you gonna do? Ask him to please let go because you haven’t learned how to get out of that hold yet? Gabs, you just… You can’t give up on yourself so easily, otherwise it doesn’t matter what spells you know or what moves you can do. If you think you’re too weak to fight back, then you’re always gonna be a victim, you know? And I don’t want that for you, ‘cos you’re my best friend, and I want you to be happy and not be afraid all the time that some big bad bloke is just waiting around the corner to grab you.”

He reached down and took her wrist in his hand. The lesson had started out kinda fun (they had thrown pillows at each other, for Merlin’s sake) but Gabby’s constant lack of confidence and her self… self… what was the word? It wasn’t segregation ‘cos that was bad, but… She put herself down all the time, and that was bad too. Men like Mulciber preyed on girls with low confidence in themselves, because it meant they were easy to over-power. The idea of Gabby being in danger (er, well, more danger than she’d already been in) made Gideon almost sick to his stomach. His chest didn’t like it either, because he got a weird tightness in it, like something was trying to squeeze his ribs against his lungs. Hearing that she wanted to learn how to defend herself was fantastic, but now that she seemed to be having second thoughts, he only got more determined to teach her. Oh, Gideon knew they had to take it a little bit at a time, but he’d be damned if they weren’t going to end each lesson on a successful note.

“Listen, Gabby. The reason some girls get attacked and some don’t isn’t always ‘cos some girls are short or young, you know? It’s… it’s kinda how they carry themselves. I mean, yeah, you’re technically like… well, you know,” he gestured at her height awkwardly before rubbing the back of his neck apologetically, “but you gotta walk like you’re six feet tall. You gotta make the guys who could want to hurt someone think that they definitely don’t want to mess with you. And I mean… I’m not talking about, you know, introducing yourself by saying ‘Hi, I’m Gabby and I have a mean right hook.’ I mean like… being… confident. I dunno how to explain it. But it’s like… like, you know that you can defend yourself if some guy tries to hurt you. You know that, and he doesn’t. So if he is stupid enough to try something, it’ll be the last time he ever does with you, y’know? And if you’re lucky enough, it’ll be the last time he does it ever, ‘cos maybe someone will catch him and throw him in prison. I mean, it’s not… it’s not about how tall you are or how strong you are. You just… if you can surprise him, that’s pretty much your best defense. I mean, I’ll show you moves and how to get out of holds, but you mostly just… gotta shock him. When you’re shocked, you know, you can’t really focus on what you’re doing.”

He squeezed her wrist gently, suddenly becoming aware that he’d been leaning into her personal space rather intensely. Laughing a bit, he backed off and let go. After a moment, he grew more serious again and looked back at her.

“Thing is, Gabs, I can’t stand the idea of you getting hurt anymore. But you’re such a nice person that you’ll even put the feelings of the bloke who wants to hurt you ahead of your own, and you just… you can’t do that. Not everyone is squishy inside. Some people are just bad, and you gotta accept that or one of these days, you’re gonna get really hurt ‘cos Fabian and I couldn’t make it in time to save you. I love you, Gabby, and I love that you care about everyone ‘cos I know I could never do that, but you gotta care about yourself too, all right? And I’m glad you said you wanna protect yourself because you’re tired of feeling weak and stuff, but now you gotta prove it. Stop telling me and yourself how weak you are and just… just do it. Defend yourself. Live. You can be anything, Gabby, you can do anything you want with your future when you leave here. You can be anything. But you gotta make sure you live to get there.”

He took a few deep breaths, then grabbed her wrist again. “You can do it. So do it.”

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[/blockquote]

[Gabriella Rivera]

Gideon's confidence in her was very emboldening. His words were very sweet and it was hard not to believe that she could actually do it when he was saying things like that; how she couldn't just give up like that, how he sometimes had trouble learning new things, too (she hadn't known Fabian was giving him lessons! Why hadn't they told her?), that her being tiny had little to do with her height - or lack thereof. She'd never thought about the way she held herself before. At least, not in the sense that it made her vulnerable. When she was younger, she used to make herself smaller back in her old school in order to make herself invisible and avoid the inevitable teasing she got from her classmates. If they didn't notice her, then they wouldn't be mean to her. When she came to Hogwarts, she'd never really felt that need, but sometimes she fell back into the habit of making herself as inconspicuous as she could without even realising it, and her shoulders were so used to curving in on herself that she couldn't remember the last time she'd actually stood up straight. Even her chin tended to droop towards her collar, and she had a hard time meeting the eyes of people she's just met. Old habits die hard, after all, especially when you don't realise you're actually doing it. The only time she didn't do it was probably around her friends, like Gideon and Lyle and Emmeline. But she realised now that her shoulders were slightly slumped and she automatically straightened up and raised her chin a little. It felt strange, but not necessarily in a bad way. Still, it was a start, although she knew that suddenly having good posture had little to do with it. No matter how straight your back was, if you didn't feel confidence from the inside there was no way you could reflect it onto the outside, and confidence was one of the many things Gabby lacked. She winced and then breathed deeply.

"You're right," she murmured, but of course he was right. He often was. "I guess I'm just going to have to...work on that. The, um, confidence thing."

[/color] She laughed suddenly. "I wish I could take lessons on that, too. Maybe Emmeline will help me with that, she never seems to have a problem. Or you, either."[/color] She nudged him with her free arm, since he was holding the wrist of her other. "You look like you're seven feet tall half the time, you know. It's very...cool."[/color] She'd been about to say 'intimidating', but she didn't want Gideon to think that she found him terrifying or anything, it was just that everyone else might find him a little alarming. And, no matter what he said, his height had to at least be a small factor in that. But it had always been difficult to fault what Gideon had to say, and this time was no exception. So if he said that her lack of confidence was largely what made her such an easy target as opposed to her diminutiveness, then he was probably right. Becoming serious once again, Gabby nodded and repeated his instructions back to herself in her mind. "Okay. I'm ready."[/color]

Gabby took a moment to collect herself, breathing deeply, and then grabbed her other hand and, this time, she remembered to use her entire body, using her momentum to pull him down to her level. Unfortunately, she got too carried away and recalled the next step too clearly because, not only did she raise her elbow, but she jerked it back too far and felt the bone hit flesh. Gasping with surprise, Gabby spun around, her hands - now free - rising to cover her mouth in dismay. "Ay Dios mio, Gideon, I'm so sorry!"[/color] she exclaimed, her voice muffled through her fingers. "Are you okay? Did I hurt you? Are you bleeding? Let me see!"[/color] She bounced from one foot to another anxiously, mentally cursing herself as she snapped at her trusty wristband. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I got carried away, sorry, sorry,"[/color] she repeated, catching her bottom lip between her teeth and chewing on the skin nervously. She allowed herself a moment to be relieved that it his trick had actually worked and that, if it had been anyone else, then she would have been able to get away quiet easily, even though she was this tiny. And she would've probably hit her attacker much harder than she had hit Gideon which, in and of itself, was kind-of inspiring. But it still didn't make her feel any less horrible about hitting him. Then again, he didn't look too hurt. Still..."Er, maybe we should get back to working with pillows?"[/color] she suggested lightly, giving him a sheepish smile and rubbing the back of her neck. "Sorry. Again."[/color]

She just couldn't say it enough times.


[/blockquote][/blockquote][/color]

[Gideon Prewett]

[/color]

Okay, so maybe Gideon had gone a little over-the-top in his speech to Gabby – mostly because he actually made a speech about it, which wasn’t really characteristic of him. He wasn’t a quiet boy, but he was hardly ever that verbose, either. In fact, he’d been about to apologise to Gabby when she just nodded and agreed with him. Talking to Emmeline about confidence would be a good idea since Emmeline practically had confidence coming out of her ears. He laughed when she referred to his height as “cool”; he’d grown a little over Christmas, and was now as tall as Fabian. His mum thought he’d be even taller, which, he wasn’t going to lie, made him rather proud. Fabian would always be bigger and stronger than Gideon; he was just built that way, and Gideon did enough weight lifting to stay in shape rather than bulk up the way his brother did. So yeah, maybe his height was cool, and he was glad Gabby thought so.

What he wasn’t prepared for was Gabby’s elbow actually making contact with his mouth. He let out a grunt of surprise and staggered back, his hand flying to his mouth to check for blood. It hadn’t hurt too bad – not nearly as much as it could have – but it was the element of surprise that threw him. … Which, he supposed, was the whole point of this exercise, and Gabby had nailed it. She was flailing about and apologising and looked all nervous, but all Gideon could do was laugh. It bubbled up from deep inside him and exploded out, and he had to lean back to take deep enough breaths between his laughs. He was fine, his mouth was fine, and he was so impressed with Gabby that he stepped forward and threw his arms around her and lifted her up in a tight squeeze.

“Don’t be sorry at all, Gabs, you did great!” he said, setting her back down. “I’m fine, see? No blood or anything. And that’s just what you need to do to get away. Except maybe try to aim higher, for his nose, because then his eyes will water and he won’t be able to see you that great.” He laughed and hugged her again. “Nah, I think that’s enough for today. We got a lot done and you did amazing. Keep practicing that Shield Charm, all right? We can work on this some more tomorrow, if you’re free.” He beamed and looked down at her fondly. “I’m really proud of you, Gabby.”

[/color]
[/blockquote]

[Gabriella Rivera]

Okay. So he wasn't hurt, and there wasn't any blood, so that was definitely a relief. In fact he was...laughing? Gabby narrowed her eyes playfully and held her arms akimbo. She couldn't stay pretend-mad for long, mostly because he picked her up and held her tightly. Giggling, she wrapped her arms around his neck, squeezing him in return. She held onto his arm for a second longer when he put her down, waiting to regain her footing. She was always a little dazed when Gideon picked her up. He always made it seem so easy. Which, she supposed, it could be since she was so tiny and he was so...not. "Aim a little higher. Okay, got it," she repeated with a nod, reaching up to pat his mouth a little after his second hug, as if to make sure that he was, in fact, completely fine. Figures that she'd end up doing something like that when they were just practicing. Who knows what she'd do when they got into the real, Defense against the Dark Arts stuff? Then again, she supposed Gideon would use the Shield charm when they reached the more advanced spells. At least, she hoped he would. She'd definitely suggest it next time they met up for their practice lessons. And there would be a next time. If she hadn't been convinced at the beginning of the lesson that she needed this, she certainly was now.

"Thank you so much for this, Gideon. Seriously,"

[/color] she said sincerely, beaming up at him in return and then leaning forward to hug him tightly around the waist. "Now come on. Showers for the both of us and thennnnn up to your dormitory so that I can give you that massage I promised you. In my head."[/color] She'd never promised it out loud, as far as she could remember. Still beaming, she tucked her wand into the waistband of her sweats and then grabbed his hand, practically skipping out of the practice room. "Tomorrow sounds great! Same time, right? It's weird, but I'm really looking forward to it now. I think maybe I'll give myself a title. Gabriella Rivera, The Tiny Kickpuncher."[/color] And she let go of his hand to make little fists, punching the air and then grinning up at him gleefully. "Whatdya think?"[/color]

[/blockquote][/blockquote][/color]

the end