It isn't all matches. There's plenty of drill-work too, for Harry's sake, to teach him good habits instead of only improvisational approximations, and towards the end a two-against-one bout. Harry, of course, takes to that far better than most; his tutor was the chaos of the battlefield, not a fencing-master teaching the rules of dueling.

By the time they break for good, instead of only for a quick gulp of water or one person's turn to watch, all three of them are sweaty, somewhat bruised, and looking their own individual variations on tiredly cheerful. (Some of these variations are more obvious and exuberant than others.)