En Ami

"Miss McGonagall," was all he managed to utter in his shock at seeing her. Yet he still beheld his position, his arm raised and pointing his wand at the witch sitting calmly on the bed with a smug expression.

The atmosphere was tense and shadows turned up eerily around the room, leaving darkness to flutter. Albus watched his former pupil sit on the bed, silently berating himself. Despite the seriousness to what had apparently been a trap, he nonetheless appreciated the irony of his situation. It was a rare thing for Albus to be ousted and seldom had he walked into a trap so unsuspectingly. So despite the severity, he smiled.

"I can see the wheels turning in your head. I would be contemplating thoroughly too were I in your shoes," she shifted her position, sitting back with ease, her arms supporting her, legs crossed, "fortunately for me, my Liege did inform me of my involvement, so I know all I need to know. You, on the other hand, are like a child. You know nothing, much like stumbling through the Forbidden Forest with blindfolds on, wouldn't you agree?" She laughed her tone rich with amusement.

"A curious analogy. Fortunately for me, Minerva, I have a whole century of experience to lend support to my lacking knowledge of what you and Grindelwald has planned for me," he shifted his weight to the balls of his feet and gave the witch a genuine smile, "and the Forbidden Forest is quite familiar to me. Now, why are you sitting here, my dear, and taking orders from a murderer? The last place I would have expected to see you."

She gave no reply, but just smiled wickedly. And then everything went to hell from there, and it only went steadily downhill from there. Albus ducked the first shot of yellow light and managed to shield himself to the next spell, as a jet of blue light headed at him.

"Protego"

"Stupefy"

Charms, spells, jinxes and curses flew through the chamber at a highly dangerous pace, becoming coloured streaks, which vanished just before reaching their target. Blasting curses were followed by various body-bind curses; a babbling curse vanished in midair and was answered with a blasting curse. Albus watched calmly as his former student tried to confund him with the confundus charm. Needless to say, the attempt never came a meter within his reach. Despite outwards serenity, his was brooding on the inside, and felt cold beads of perspiration travel down his spine and a few form on his head. He had moved during the fight, and was now standing with his back to the wall opposite the door he had come through.

"Diffindo"

"Engorgio," the small stone he had enlarged were shattered into pieces by her severing charm and went flying in all directions. He saw a small flood of blood trickle down her cheek, a result of a shard of stone. He had himself moments before felt a charge of electricity run through his body as he silently made his defensive spell stronger and thus the debris with the small sharp shard of stone went around him.

"Petrificus totalus"

"Finite"

"Furnunculus"

"Finite incantatem"

He watched in amazement and shock as he saw Minerva cast an entrail-expelling curse, and breathed a sigh of relief when he escaped it, barely. He escaped another attempt as he stopped a beam of black light with a powerful hex-deflection, which he had made a few improvements on, since a normal hex-deflection had too many limitations. He saw surprise in the depths of her dark eyes as her hex was extinguished, a possibility she had not imagined. But it only lasted briefly, her look again clouded by concentration and a calmness, which belied an inner peace.

"Impedimenta"

"Incarcerous"

Albus knew he had to rethink his tactics if he were to win the duel. Hitherto he had used defensive methods, but that was only delaying the inevitable. His approach had to become more aggressive, he would have to become offensive. He did not like it. As much as Minerva was trying to bring him pain with her flicking of her wand, he did not particularly want to harm her. She had been a good student, done her homework and had excelled in transfiguration. She had been a Gryffindor, under his charge. She's barely an adult. A woman!

The next spell he recognised despite he never heard her say the incantation. She was trying to fasten his magic, by the vivid colour of emerald that was hurtling at him. Albus pivoted on his feet and apparated. He would have disappeared and instantly appeared next to Minerva, had he succeeded. But to his dismay something held him tightly to the spot and he felt a splitting headache forming rapidly. Before he had time to think 'anti-disapparition jinx' he found himself hit with something cold, like a bucket of freezing water had been hurled at him. He knew better, Minerva had managed to bind his magic. The next spell did not surprise him; it was what he would have done if the roles had been reversed.

"Expelliarmus"

However, he had not anticipated the next move. He cursed as he fell into darkness, the room spinning nauseously. His unconscious state was caused by the black boot of his former student as it collided with his head.

"You should expect the unexpected," Minerva said in a nonchalant tone as she looked down at the unconscious form of her former headmaster.

Notes: Well that was chapter 2. Hoped it lived up to everyone's expectations.