A different perspective COMPETITION! by EvangelineKL. Due Jan 30.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

The Duelling Club

Severus Snape stalked into The Great Hall, following that inarticulate bumble, Lockhart. Naturally the idiot thought that he would make dueling the greatest hit and teach everyone everything possible, but anyone with brains would know that Severus would be running the show.

Lockhart was saying something, no doubt boosting his image even greater. When Severus was introduced, he gave a quick jerky nod in greeting, but nothing else. That was, until Lockhart implied that he would actually be able to hurt him, Severus Snape. Ha! That was absurd. Severus felt his upper lip curling in disdain.

They turned towards each other and "bowed", or rather a quick nod for Severus while Lockhart did absolutely nothing useful.

Bla bla Lockhart was saying something, "Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course."

They would just have to see about that.

"One…two…three!"

Severus immediately called out, "Expelliarmus!" and was rewarded when Lockhart was sent flying back into the wall. He was rewarded with the cheers of his Slytherins, though he did not acknowledge them.

Snape smirked as Lockhart seemed to crawl back on the stage. "Well, there you have it! That was a Disarming Charm- as you see, I've lost my wand-"

Severus couldn't help the sneaky little thought that popped into his mind. Yes, you have.

"-ah, thank you, Miss Brown- yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so-"

Ah, but I do mind…greatly.

"-it was very obvious what you were going to do."

Snape felt his smirk slipping off of his face and a cold, hard sneer take its place.

"If I had wanted to stop you, it would only have been too easy- however, I felt it would be instructive to let them see…"

HA! What a joke.

"Enough demonstrating! I'm going to come amongst you now and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me-"

Snape sneered at the idiot for a moment, but started going through, making sure to pair his favorites with whoever they could win easiest against.

Time to break up the so called "Golden Trio." "Time to break up the dream team, I think." Snape smirked with a hint of a sneer at the three. "Weasley, you can partner Finnigan." They would both destroy each other. "Potter-" Potter moved towards his friend, rather reminding Severus of his relationship with Lily. No, must not think these things right now.

"I don't think so. Mr. Malfoy, come over here. Let's see what you make of the famous Potter," Draco would destroy Potter, of course. "And you, Miss Granger – you can partner with Miss Bulstrode."

There. That would keep them busy.

"Face your partners! And bow!"

Severus was proud to see that Malfoy had taken his advice from earlier, and never took his eyes off Potter. Unfortunately, Potter was doing the same thing.

"Wands at the ready! When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents-" Naturally, Severus had given instructions to his Slytherins previously saying to do just the opposite. "-only to disarm them – we don't want any accidents- one… two… three-"

Severus was made proud again when his godson started earlier. He had taught Draco well. His small smile curved upwards ever so slightly.

Malfoy shot a knockback jinx at Potter, who promptly retaliated with a tickling charm. They seemed to be fairly matched.

"I said disarm only!"

Ever more the idiot to think that they would actually listen to him. But it was starting to get out of hand, perhaps he should stop them.

"Finite Incantatem!" It was an even bigger mess than it had first appeared. Lovely. Many people were injured in small ways. It appeared that Potter was…trying to pull Granger out of a headlock from Miss Bulstrode? Oh dear. Severus would have to speak to her about subtlety. But for now, he had to help the students.

"Careful there, Miss Fawcett. Pinch it hard, it'll stop bleeding in a second," Somehow the child had managed to smash her finger. Pathetic.

"I think I'd better teach you how to block unfriendly spells," the nitwit seemed to be looking at Snape for permission. Snape let his face remain blank except for his eyes, "Let's have a volunteer pair – Longbottom and Finch-Fletchey, how about you-"

There was absolutely no way that even SEVERUS would allow that much destruction, "A bad idea, Professor Lockhart," He hated calling Lockhart a professor, "Longbottom causes devastation with the simplest spells. We'll be sending what's left of Finch-Fletchey up to the hospital wing in a matchbox."

Severus had to admit, part of his motivation in saying that was that it was making a jab at Longbottom. Inarticulate bumble. Now, to suggest his godson.

"How about Malfoy and Potter?" His smile grew as he spoke.

"Excellent idea!" Wonderful, he had bought it. Draco and Potter were going through the crowd to the platform.

Severus stepped up to stand closer to his godson, smirking as he saw what the fool was doing with his wand. He then leaned in to whisper into Draco's ear, "Smirk as if I am saying something amusing."

He then stepped away, and watched as the two whispered some, no doubt, derogatory comments to each other, then… "Three – two – one – go!"

"Serpensortia!" Oh good grief. Really Draco? Pulling out a snake when Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets was open and the heir was here at the school? Not smart. However, the sight of Potter standing motionless was particularly amusing.

"Don't move, Potter," As if he would do anything else, "I'll get rid of it-"

"Allow me!" Lockhart screamed. No, shouted. Regardless, the snake did exactly opposite of what it was supposed to and looked to be about nearly attacking Finch-Fletchey.

But then, a hissing noise seemed to be coming out of Potter's mouth. Severus' eyes narrowed dangerously. Potter was a parselmouth? That could not be possible.

For all of the idiotic things Potter Senior had been- a bully, an idiot, a Lily-stealer, a fake, an illegal Animagus, etc- he was NOT a parselmouth. Neither was Lily, and being a parseltongue was a hereditary triat.

Perhaps the child had done something with the Dark Lord that night- some sort of adoption ritual? No, that was irrational. The Dark Lord did NOT want children.

But then, if it wasn't Voldemort, how had the child gained the ability? If the child wasn't really James' perhaps? No, Lily would never cheat. Severus knew that.

He frowned as Potter dashed out of the room, barely listening to the conversation that had preceded it. This was something that needed to be reported to Albus immediately. Perhaps he could make sense of it.

AN: Snape is so fun to write. XD all of the "bad" people are. And Luna. Anyways, this was written for A different perspective COMPETITON! by EvangelineKL on the HPFC forum.

(Also, if you're reading Tom Riddle's Diary, please pester me with PMs to update already. ;) seriously.)

Thanks for reading, and please review! :D