A/N: I wrote this in half an hour to prove to myself that I could, so it's probably not my best work, but I hope you enjoy it. Also, I know it's not technically H/Hr, but later stuff in this collection will be.

She hadn't even raised her wand and Harry was already regretting his decision. Not that he had willingly brought this upon himself; he had just been trying to correct her pronunciation of the Reductor curse when she had snapped at him. Before he had known what was happening she had challenged him to a duel. He had stammered a reflexive yes, not even thinking about what he was doing.

So that was why they were standing at opposite sides of the Room of Requirement, their wands at the ready, waiting for Ron's signal to begin. The rest of the D.A. was pressed against the walls, as far back as they could get from the line of fire.

"You sure you want to do this?" Harry asked her, trying not to sound nervous. "I'm sure we could find another way to resolve-"

"Yes, I'm sure!" she interrupted, clearly impatient. "You think I don't know how to pronounce a simple incantation, so I'm going to use it to blast you into ash."

"Er.. take it easy with the blasting, Hermione," Ron said meekly from his spot by the wall. "No spells that'll land either of you in the Hospital Wing - we can't have Madam Pomfrey asking questions."

"Fine," she said loudly, the tip of her wand actually quivering with anger. "Now can we get this bloody thing started already?"

"We'll do it on three," Ron replied, shooting Harry a sympathetic glance before he started to count. "One, two, three."

"Protego!" Harry shouted immediately, sure that Hermione would go on the attack first.

"Rictusempra," she yelled a moment later, the tickling charm deflecting off of the shield and hitting Colin Creevey, who collapsed in a fit of laughter.

Harry stayed behind his shield, reluctant to cast anything offensive. He didn't want to take the chance of hurting her, and if he just let her get her anger out maybe she'd call it all off.

Hermione took three quick steps to the left, trying to get an angle around Harry's shield.

Harry ducked, narrowly avoiding a stunner. This wouldn't work. He was a sitting duck if he just stood here. He had to end this before he got hurt, or worse, publicly humiliated.

So he did just about the stupidest thing he could have done while in a duel with an opponent who was out for his blood. He charged at her.

"Impedimenta!" she cast, but he was ready, stepping out of the path of the jinx.

She raised her wand to cast another spell while he was still half the room away from her, and he realized that he had to close the distance quicker; he didn't like his chances of dodging any more spells.

So he did something even more stupid than his initial charge.

"Accio Hermione!"

She was lighter than him, and so she flew through the air towards him, a look of shock on her face, her spell forgotten. Harry didn't think to stop running, and so the consequence was that she crashed into him at full speed, knocking them both to the floor, dazed.

There was a muffled laugh from somewhere to Harry's right, but his brain was too busy making sure he was in one piece to identify it. Then he remembered that the duel wasn't yet over. He forced himself up onto his elbows, his wand still gripped tightly in his right hand, and pointed it at Hermione, who was no more than two feet from him and beginning to rise herself.

"Expelliarmus," he said quietly. Her wand slipped out of her hand and into his.

She looked at him with a mix of admiration and annoyance.

"That was rather brilliant," she said, her earlier anger gone. "The Summoning Charm, I mean. But it still doesn't mean you're right about the pronunciation."

"Was it really worth duelling me over?" he asked, slowly standing up.

"Probably not," she shrugged. "I just wanted to put some of those spells you've been teaching us into practice. And what better way to do that than a duel?"

Harry sighed. He really didn't understand her sometimes.

"If I have a headache tomorrow I'm blaming you, by the way," she said, winking at him.

He frowned. She inclined her head slightly to the left. Harry glanced over at the direction she was indicating. Cho was standing there, staring at him and looking extremely impressed. Suddenly it all made sense.

"Thanks," he mouthed to Hermione.

She smiled.