Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, just these OC's.
A one-shot inspired by my duels with my best-friend on Pottermore and also written with her. Set during the marauder era because we're in love with them.
Potter vs Hallowell
The great hall was filled with the noise of seven years of school students, talking all at the same time, during lunch.
Tessa Redgate sighed as she watched some of the antics of her fellow students. Honestly, she thought, you'd think it was the beginning of the year not a few weeks before the exams to look at them. Especially those damn Gryffindors.
She glared across at the offending house, at one group of boys in particular. Those damn marauders. The four boys were sat together, James Potter with that ridiculous bloody hair, Sirus Black laughing raucously, Peter Pettigrew with half a pie hanging from his lips and Remus Lupin, the only decent guy in the group. A decent guy with the softest grey-blue eyes, ruffled brown hair and dimples at the edge of his lips, simply created, or so they looked, to build on his already boyishly sexy look. His smile, always amusedly cynical, was as unconscious as his tall, lankily muscled frame. What made him more distinct from the other boys, however, were the scars. Instead of becoming blemishes, they had seemed simply just to make him even more striking. Smooth, pale white, barely a few shades lighter than his skin, they lined the edge of his jaw, emphasising it. Nobody had any idea where they came from, and they caused endless curiosity in every student, as every marauder simply looked shifty and clammed up when questioned. This just made them all the more compelling for Tess.
Remus was also the only one of the four boys who was studying. A textbook and parchment was laid out in front of him and he was valiantly trying to keep his attention on his work rather than his friends.
Why that boy was a Gryffindor was a question only the sorting hat had answers to. He had many Ravenclaw attributes.
She realised that she was staring and returned her attention to her charms essay, hiding a blush, and was glad her best friend, Fina, wasn't there to tease her about her crush. She continued to re-write the passage in her textbook into her own words until she heard a familiar voice entering the fray.
Mercy Hallowell's. It was an annoyingly strident voice, she seemed to have no concept of the meaning of quiet and it echoed through the great hall as she made her way to her own table.
Tessa felt her hand clench around her quill as she glared over at the Hufflepuff. She hated her! She was a completely sarcastic bitch, more of a Slytherin than a Hufflepuff really, and she was the only person in the whole of their year who could out duel her. Repeatedly.
She grimaced as she remembered that first defeat and the events leading up to it.
The Hogwarts duelling club had been running for a few weeks and Tessa had been dragged along by Fina to have a go at it. She expected to be crap but during the hour long club she discovered a hidden duelling talent. She managed to defeat all who fought against her, including the previously reigning champion, Sirus Black. Something which pleased her to no end, more because she got to defeat Black, than because she became the reigning champion herself.
It was a lasting pattern. Every week, she would defeat challengers, always giving it her all. She began to gain a reputation and a begrudging respect and she secretly loved it.
But then, Mercy Hallowell turned up at the duelling club.
Tessa had been sat with her small group of friends, Fina and Finn (twins), Alec, and a few others, when Mercy had entered with her own best friend, Michael, also a Hufflepuff.
He'd had an argument with James Potter during the week about an unknown subject and Remus had suggested they settle their differences in a duel rather than with fists. Mercy had come along for moral support.
Michael wasn't much of a dueller, it was only about two minutes before he was flat on his back with Potter standing over him, triumphant. It probably would have ended there if Potter had kept his stupid mouth shut.
But he didn't, and as he walked back over to his friends he threw an insult over his shoulder "Fucking queer."
Some laughed, like Black, some stared, like Pettigrew and others glared like Remus.
But nobody reacted like Mercy. Nobody stood from her still prone friend's side and yelled "What the fuck did you just say‽"
Potter smirked and turned back to face her "I said he was a fucking queer. Got a problem with that?"
"I got a problem with you saying it like an insult! You're a fucking bastard Potter! No wonder Evans doesn't want to date you!"
There was a chorus of cat-calls and Black cackled as Potters' face turned bright red.
He steeled himself, a slow sneer asserted itself onto his face, a face far too used to bearing it.
"Well, honey, why do you think he can bear to spend so much time with you? A guy would have to be gay."
Mercy gently loosened her wand from the dragon hide holster on her right arm.
"Takes one to know one."
Her gaze flitted very deliberately from Potter to Black.
Potters' eyes grew angry. Tess could see that this would lead to a fight, out of the corner of her eye she saw Finn lean slowly over to his sister.
"My money's on Potter."
Fina regarded him and said "You're on. Ten galleons?"
"Done." They shook hands and turned back to the action in time to see Potter yell "There is nothing sexual between me and Siri!"
Somebody gasped and everyone turned to see that Lily Evans had chosen that precise moment to walk into the room. She'd frozen to the spot, green eyes wide as she absorbed that statement.
Mercy cocked an eyebrow and asked. "That a pet name, Potter?"
All spectators giggled apart from Black, who looked rather angry at the implications being thrown at him, Remus, who being used to Potters' dramatics had gone back to reading, and Evans who was remarkably shocked. Potter turned back to face Mercy with a murderous glint in his eyes.
"You ready to pay up then, sis?" Finn smirked.
Finas' own mouth turned up into a smile "Just you wait, brother dear, just wait. You've never witnessed an angry Mercy before."
"Shhh!" Alec whispered, smiling "I want to hear what's going on!"
Potter snarled "You ready to finish this Hallowell?"
"I was born ready you arsehole."
Potter threw the first spell, yelling "Colloshoo!" at the top his lungs and in a surprisingly graceful move Mercy jumped out of the way and threw an "Incendio!" back that hit its mark, and he yelped in surprise and pain as his robes smouldered. He growled and sent another spell whizzing through the air towards Mercy's feet "Glacius!"
Mercy shrieked as her feet became cased in ice and she swiftly casted a portego shield to protect her from any hexes while she melted the water with a heating curse.
"Damn you Potter!" She yelled. "Serpensortia!"
Potter let out an unmanly scream along with several others as a snake shot from her wand and advanced toward him. His eyes were panicked as he vanished the snake and he let a relived sigh before glaring at Mercy as she taunted "Afraid of snakes, Potter? Calvario!"
Nothing happened. The curse was supposed to cause the victim's hair to fall out but Potter's messy hair stayed attached. There were jeers from the audience.
His answer was a Steleus hex that caused her to sneeze repeatedly and distracted her so much that out of the next three hexes Potter sent at her (a stinging hex, an Incendio and an Expelliarmus) the first two hit causing red blotches to appear on her arms and a few small burns.
Just as she cast the counter-curse to stop the sneezing Potter hit her with a Densaugeo.
However, for unknown reasons, it didn't work quite right.
Instead of enlarging her front teeth as intended, the spell enlarged her incisors giving her vampire teeth.
Everybody froze as Mercy ran a tentative tongue along her teeth. "Oh my God." She murmured, her words twisting around the incisors. Sirius' eyes widened and he wolf-whistled. She turned to glare at him, baring her fangs melodramatically, before flexing her arms and turning back to finish Potter. He was still shocked, not prepared for the hex she threw to end the duel "Everte Statum!"
He was chucked backwards, sliding into the wall with the air expelled from his lungs. On his side, he bent double over his stomach, chocking out a pained "Fuck."
Mercy calmly fixed her teeth and advanced forwards. "Apologise." She demanded softly her wand outstretched before her.
Potter smirked. "I'm not apologising to that cock-sucker."
"Hey, reigning champion?" Alec murmured. "You might want to step in before she kills the bloke."
Mercy was clearly angry again and as she lifted her wand to cast another spell Tessa stood and cast "Finite!" and the spell stopped. Everyone gasped and Remus finally looked back up from his book at the sound of the spell and worry creased his brow as he saw the state of his friend.
"I think that's enough, Mercy." Tessa said and walked to stand between her and Potter.
Potter coughed and snarled "I don't need protection from a girl!"
"I'm not protecting you, you edjit, I'm protecting the club! You think the teacher's will let it continue after she's beaten you to a pulp?"
"I'm not beaten yet!" He tried to push himself up but obviously lacked the energy.
"And I'm not leaving till that bastard apologises!" Mercy crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly.
"This is James Potter were talking about! The most arrogant boy in the entire school! You'll be waiting a long time before he gets over his big-head." There was a noise of objection from behind that was thoroughly ignored.
"I'm not leaving." She repeated.
"Yes, you are!" Tessa growled. "Even if I have to make you!"
"You want to duel me too? Cus I'll do it!" Her face was filled with fierce determination and for a moment Tessa thought she would have to fight the girl.
Then Michael stepped in. He lightly grabbed her arm and said "Look, Mercy let's just go, yeah? It doesn't matter."
"But that bastard insulted you!" She turned back to her best-friend.
"Mercy, you can't fight every homophobic arse you come across!
She visibly deflated. "No." She glared around me. "This isn't over, Potter." And with that she turned away and stalked off. Michael threw an apologetic look and followed.
I walked back over to my friends and watched as Finn reluctantly counted ten galleons into the Fina's outstretched palm.
"Told ya." She smirked. "When quiet people get pissed off, you run!"
I settled back into my seat and continued with the work I'd been doing before the fight started.
"Hey, look at that!" Fina exclaimed, gaining my attention again and watched as Evans knelt beside Potter and was actually acting concerned. Maybe it wasn't as much of a lost cause as everyone thought.
"I can't believe that Mercy would do this to someone!" She murmured softly.
"Yeah, It's absolutely horrid, Evans. I feel so terrible." Remus rolled his eyes at Potters' obvious sympathy play.
Then with soft thump of disturbed air and a cry of surprise, all of James Potter's hair fell out.
And I mean all, hair, eyebrows, eyelashes everything. He let out a muffled shriek and stared at the piles of hair lying on and around him while Evans visibly recoiled.
Everybody laughed and Finn chocked out, "Brilliant! She made it a timed curse to in act later! That is brilliant!"
"Damn," Black said slightly wistfully, staring towards the door. "Hallowell is a BAMF."