A/N

I have never been one to steal anyone's work, and I'm not going to start now. Harry Potter, and all the characters from the series, are JKR's, and I love her for creating the wonderful world I am about to destory with my own ideas. I don't want money for this. If I wanted money, I'd finish one of my own original ideas. As it is, I am forced to simply play with JKR's baby.

Tiny warning:

My OC, Jessica Black, has an entire part in the beginning that I cut out before posting this, so she may appear very bold when introduced to you. I would like to remind you that you will find characters OOC, mostly because that is just how I wrote it. Also, I have completely changed situations that happened in certain books, disregarded other situations, and changed the age of some of JKRs characters. I realize that, so no flamming me. Flame me if it is terrible, not if you don't like how I changed when something happened. That is why this is called Fanfic... I get to play with it! Enjoy the story and feel free to leave any comments you wish, within reason.

Occasionally in the history of Hogwarts, a dueling club has popped up, lasted for a few years, and then disappeared until someone else foolishly tries to bring it back. So Severus Snape was curious as to why the Headmaster would try to bring to pass a dueling club for each house. They were to fight for their house pride this year, and next year the best students would represent Hogwarts in duels against other schools. Slytherin had many willing duelers already, but it was Professor Snape's duty to find the ten best duelers to represent the prideful house. And that would be hard, because few Slytherin students had the discipline to fight fair, or at least have the skill to deftly throw in a few nasty curses that only bordered illegal.

Based on dueling tryouts only days after the announcement made by the Headmaster, the only competent duelers were Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, Daphne Greengrass, and Theodore Nott. This left six spots that Severus was forced to fill with less than desirable picks. Then again, only a quarter of the Slytherin house had tried out, so perhaps all he needed to do was force everyone to tryout so he could at least hope to find other reliable duelers. The fate of their house pride was hanging on the team, as Quidditch could be forgotten in weeks. This would last much longer. And with the Gryffindor dream team most likely making their dueling team, the Slytherins needed skill, which would be gained by raw talent and Severus forcing them to practice.

Walking into the Slytherin common room, he cleared his throat to gain everyone's attention. The students had been waiting for this meeting since he called it twenty minutes earlier. Once everyone was silent and anxious to hear him speak, he obliged them in a controlled but icy voice.

"I am requiring everyone to be in the Slytherin dueling room in five minutes to tryout for the dueling team."

Severus Snape left the room quickly, not waiting to hear the sudden whispers. He went to an old classroom a few doors away from his office and entered. There were dueling mats on the floor, mirrors to study form on every wall, and old Slytherin banners. All in all it was in shabby condition. He'd force the dueling team to fix it as soon as they were picked out.

As soon as the room was filled with students, many of them in dueling robes, Severus quickly forced them to be silent.

"You are here tonight to prove how smart, how fast, and how cunning you really are. As Slytherins that should not be a problem. The ten I pick out will bring only honor to this group. Understood?"

Everyone nodded, even the trembling first and second years.

"Well then? Partner up!" he snarled. "Choose only those who are in your year. Those remaining will be given their partner by me."

Everyone did as they were told. All except Jessica Black. She stood defiantly in her secondhand robes, obviously too baggy to duel in comfortably.

"Miss Black! Why have you not found a partner!?"

"We have an uneven number, Professor," she calmly responded, her purple eyes staring up into his black orbs. "I can also add that I refuse to duel."

"Refuse?" he hissed, moving closer to he could tower over her. "Have you no self dignity?"

"You are doing this to for Slytherin, not for us," she responded coldly.

"Slytherin is you," he glared. "I will be your partner."

She narrowed her eyes at him, but instead of leaving, she went to sit on a chair she conjured up. Everyone else waited in lines, afraid or anxious to begin. Slowly names were called out and many duels took place. A few were spectacular, others were disastrous and quite a few were pathetic examples of dueling. Professor Snape said nothing unless ordering a few students to be sent to the Infirmary when a curse turned nasty. The only change in his facial expression was when his lip curled up as though he had smelt something sour. That occurred during the more pathetic duels. When the room was finally empty except for the Professor and Jessica, he called her up and took his own place across from her.

Neither bowed. This wasn't about respect, and it certainly wasn't about form. It was about disobedience, discipline, and power. Jessica stood in a defensive position, with her wand arm only half extended, her knees slightly bent, and her eyes narrowed in concentration. The only thing she knew she had when it came to dueling was reflexes. This was her first duel, and she was glad she had a target that she had no qualms hexing. If not because he irritated her, because he would be merciless, and she knew that.

"Expelliarmus!" Snape yelled, starting the duel.

Jessica muttered, "Protego," diving as soon as she did to ensure the curse didn't hit her. As she rolled, she pushed up with her knees and took a secure standing position.

"Petrificus Totalus!" her Professor hissed.

She simply waved her wand at the curse, forcing it to hit the wall to her right. She countered with a quick, "Rictusempra!"

The Professor flicked his wrist, forcing the spell to go back at her with more strength. She yelled, "Protego!" even as he sent another silent curse. Both were shielded by her charm, but the last shattered it, leaving her panting.

"Incarcerous!"

Professor Snape put up a shield charm, but had to quickly dive to the side as she had earlier, the ropes barely missing him. As soon as he hit the floor he countered with, "Serpensortia!"

The snake that came out quickly went to bite the girl, but she pointed her wand at it and hissed, "Sectio Parvus!" She slashed her wand three times, each slash cutting the snake, leaving it dead between the two duelers.

With another flick of his wrist Snape had the snake disappear.

"Your form is terrible," he snapped, firing a stunning spell.

"Guess I don't make the team!" she shot back, blocking the spell.

"Do you think you could truly beat me?" he gave a short bark of a laugh. "I have yet to try!"

With that he sent three wordless curses, all of which she avoided. Unfortunately she wasn't paying attention, as one curved back and hit her hard, almost knocking her out of the ring. Not even bothering to roll over, she sent a curse as she lay on her back. As he blocked the curse she whispered, "Furnunculus," followed by a quick, "Sectio Parvus!"

He blocked the first spell, but the second hit him in the wand arm. The curse sliced from his elbow to his shoulder, spurting blood, but he realized that it wasn't a very deep cut. He quickly fired two spells, too fast for her to protect herself.

Jessica's eyes widened, and she placed the tip of her wand in the palm of her left hand, using both hands as a shield in front of her as she kneeled. As the curses approached, a large shield curved over her hunched body and she pushed with her magic. The spells were thrust in two different directions away from her. The shield dropped as soon as her wand left the extra support of her left hand. Professor Snape whispered, "Stupefy." The spell hit her straight in the chest, knocking her into the mirror behind her.

Accepting defeat, Jessica stood slowly, her back throbbing from the impact, and her head swimming through a dense fog that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"Where did you learn that, Miss Black?"

Suddenly the girl realized that she could be in a lot of trouble. Her Professor's voice was low and calm, signaling that he was absolutely furious. "L-learn what, Professor?"

"That shielding charm."

"I… I simply did what felt natural, sir."

He studied her for a few more moment before asking in his sharper voice, "Are you alright, or do you need to go to the Infirmary?"

She felt the back of her head and winced. "I'll be fine. Just a few bumps."

"That slicing curse was one of your own, correct?"

"Yes, sir," she nodded, regretting the motion as soon as she did so.

"Why create a curse that only makes shallow slices?"

"More pain, less damage. Ultimately better in a duel."

He nodded, running his wand over the cut, healing it almost instantly. "Return to your room, Miss Black. If your head is still hurting you tomorrow, I will give you a potion."

"Thank you, sir," she lowered her eyes in respect since she couldn't nod and was never one to simply give out smiles.