Chapter 3: A Little Action
A/N: This chapter will be fighting! I want Harry to plant Malfoy's ass in the ground, so that's what he'll do. But that doesn't make him super!Harry or god-powers!Harry either. There'll be a price to pay. Later on, I'd like to make him delve into the Dark Arts a bit, make him grey!Harry, but he'll still be on the right side of the tracks. Tracey Davis also makes an appearance as the obligatory best friend on DG's side. I'm not sure yet if she'll like Harry or not.
Harry had just finished labelling what was, at last count, 55 jars of potions ingredients, each more foul smelling than the last. He had no doubt that Snape had saved him only the best and finest of his ingredients. Harry was no slouch, however, and had properly returned the favour by switching the names of various similar powders and liquids. Harry wondered whether Snape could tell the difference between fine grain sand and powdered goblin toenail without having to taste them both. Turning a corner, Harry became aware of a person standing in the darkness at the end of the hallway. The figure was too dark to make out, but Harry could bet his entire vault that it was the blond ponce, desperate to prove himself.
Of course, Harry was right, and a Disarming Charm shot his way. Harry threw his wand in the air, and the spell had no effect. "Betcha didn't see that coming, did you Malfoy?"
"You won't be seeing anything when I'm done with you" Malfoy shouted from down the hall as a flurry of spells began to rain down on Harry. Stunners, Severing Charms, Conjunctivitis, all sorts of nasty little things. Harry put up a basic Shield Charm and waited it out. The spells crashed against the light blue shield. "Scared, Potter?"
"You've said that to me at least 6 times now. I thought you would've realized by now that it doesn't work." Harry said calmly with a smile on his face, as he began his own assault. Malfoy's shield buckled under Harry's three Stunners. The duelling teens had approached each other, and neither noticed as another blonde Slytherin came out of the common room, and promptly hid around a corner, her eyes wide.
"Sectumsempra!" Malfoy yelled.
Harry conjured a marble wall. "Marmor!" The dark curse left a large hole in the wall, and marble dust blew out in all directions. "Depulso" he said, flinging the damaged marble towards Malfoy, who blew it to pieces, before levitating the pieces of stone, and Banishing them back at Harry. "Subsisto motus" stopped the rocks, and "oppugno" made them float around Malfoy's head and attempt to knock him out, much like an army of bludgers.
"I led Dumbledore's Army, Malfoy! I can bury you anytime, anywhere. Suffoca!" Malfoy began to choke, but the jinx was susceptible to Finite Incatatem, and so Malfoy began another offensive.
"Confringo!"
"Marmor!" A cloud of dust billows in all directions.
"Deprimo!"
"Stupefy! Protego!"
The spells continued to fly back and forth, both boys being blown back by the force of curses impacting their shields.
"Defodio, defodio, expulso, I'll kill you! Sectumsempra!" Malfoy shouted a constant stream of spells, but he was tiring. The Potter boy cast another Shield Charm, and none of his spells made it through.
"I know magic you could never hope to learn, Potter! Da cultri!" he yelled, and a group of knives appeared in front of him and flew towards the Boy-Who-Lived.
"Aguamenti, congela!" The blond Slytherin held her breath as the blades embedded themselves into the block of solid ice Harry had just created. "What was that, Malfoy? DA CULTRI! I guess you're right, I didn't know that one. But I do now!" Harry laughed as what seemed to be a sea of knives materialized in front of him. The girl watched intently as the knives glinted in the dim light of the dungeons. She gasped as Harry flicked his wand and all the blades shot forward as one. Malfoy's eyes widened at the sheer display of power, and he knew it was time to play dirty.
"Just a lucky shot, Potter! Get out here!" he yelled, and the lumbering forms of Crabbe and Goyle came into view from behind twin suits of armour. They both began to cast, as Malfoy himself conjured a huge wall of marble to deflect the huge number of knives speeding towards him. They clanked against it and fell to the floor, and he quickly vanished them, before Potter could use them against him again.
Stunners flew from the Crabbe and Goyle as Harry first shielded, then returned his own Stunners.
"Sanguine furtur!" Malfoy yelled. The curse was meant to vanish all the blood in the target's body, surely a horrible way to die. Harry didn't recognize it, and so was forced to dodge it, not knowing what would or would not block it. The Slytherin girl gasped again and jumped back from the corner as the yellow curse flew inches away from her face, but she couldn't stop watching the fascinating duel. "Let's see how you like cursed fire, Scarhead! Demens ignis!" Green fire shot out of his wand, heading outwards toward Harry.
"Sacer ignis! Watch me fight fire with fire, Malfoy!" White fire rushed forward to meet the sickly green, and the ensuing explosion knocked everyone, including the observing girl onto their backs. Harry was the first one up, but Malfoy wasn't far behind. He caught a glimpse of a blonde hair around the corner, which gave Malfoy the time to let off a Cruciatus. Harry grunted and fell to his knees as a pair of eyes looked around the corner and widened.
"I. Can. Take. You." Harry grunted with effort, and stood shakily. Malfoy's eyes narrowed, and he let the curse go. Harry's knees buckled as he struggled to stay on his feet. Malfoy got closer to him.
"After I'm done with you, I'm going to find that Greengrass whore, and make her mine like she should be! Crucio!" Harry's hand shot up this time, and grabbed Malfoy's wrist in a death grip, the curse ricocheting off the ceiling. The girl's eyes widened once again in recognition. She knew there was more than she had heard from Daphne!
"You've shown me yours," Harry said in a low voice. "Now let me show you mine. CRUCIO!" he shouted as a dark red curse hit Malfoy squarely in the chest, and he screamed in pain as he was blown back onto the floor. "This, this right here is between us. But if you touch her, I'll keep you awake until you die from the pain!" Harry shouted, throwing everything he had into the curse. Magic arced out of Malfoy, and he stopped trashing, now limp on the floor. Crabbe and Goyle, having woken each other up after the explosion of fire, put their wands away and dragged Malfoy's unmoving body away into the darkness. For a minute, nothing stirred, as Harry caught his breath. He began walking towards the Slytherin girl he knew was still around the corner. He passed her, and he felt more than heard her flatten out against the wall, obviously hoping he wouldn't notice her. In a burst of motion, Harry whirled around, pinning the girl to the wall and putting a hand over her mouth, muffling her scream. "How much did you see?" he breathed. The girl blinked pulled his hand off her mouth slowly.
"A-all of it… you were talking about Daphne, right?" Harry's jaw set and he pointed his wand into her face, the tip glowing white as a steel knife began to form in front of the girl's face.
"Are you after her too? Merlin." Harry's eyes narrowed.
"NO! No. I'm Tracey Davis, her best friend. I've known her since first year." Harry let go of her as the knife dissolved in small cloud of black smoke, and the blonde girl slid down the wall, breathing heavily. "I knew there was more than she was telling me. What really happened on the train, Potter?"
Harry relaxed, and stowed his wand. "Malfoy happened. I came into the room and he was trying to force her to… I'm not quite sure but he wasn't looking for pleasant conversation!" Tracey's expression darkened, and she balled her fists.
"Oh that blonde ass-kisser! Should've drowned him at birth, they should've!" At this, Harry chuckled.
"I couldn't agree more. Don't tell anyone any of what I've just said. Daphne didn't even tell her sister."
"Oh. Well. I'll do my best." Tracey smiled cheekily. "So why were you in the dungeons anyway?"
"Oh. I had detention with Snape."
"On the first day? You haven't even had class yet!"
"Yeah, it's a gift. I was born with it." Harry laughed inwardly at his private joke. "Anyway, um, sorry for roughing you up" Harry said guiltily.
"What? No, it's all right, I'd be jumpy too after a fight like that. Merlin, you used an Unforgivable!"
"He started it! I wasn't looking to duel!"
"No, I know but that was scary as hell! I'll make sure to stay out of your way!"
There was a moment of awkward silence as Harry ruffled his hair and Tracey shuffled her feet. "Well, thanks for standing up for my friend, Potter" she said softly.
"Uh, no problem. Tell her I say hi if you see her. I should probably get going, it'll be curfew soon" Harry coughed.
"Oh! Yeah, curfew. Well, toodles, Potter! Thanks for not killing me!" Tracey waved and ran off to the common room. Harry blinked and shook his head.
"I don't even…" Harry sighed and headed back towards Gryffindor Tower, unfolding the Marauder's Map as he went.
Back in Gryffindor Tower, there was a gigantic row raging as Harry stumbled in.
"I HATE YOU RONALD! STAY AWAY FROM ME!"
"You're a good for nothing Mudblood and you'll never be a proper witch!" Ron yelled out, and Hermione shrieked out a Banishing Charm that threw the red-haired boy into a couch so hard that the couch flipped over onto him.
"Immobulus," Harry sighed as Hermione froze in the middle of casting another, probably more unpleasant spell. Ron crawled out from under the couch and raised his wand. Harry raised his own, the tip glowing blue. He stared at the redhead until Ron lowered his wand begrudgingly. "Good. Leave. I have to fix this," Harry pointed towards Hermione, who was still frozen, "but we WILL have words about this." Harry nodded to Ron, who scurried up to the sixth year dorm.
"Finite," Harry sighed again. As Hermione began to yell at him, he Silenced her. Her eyes narrowed, and she closed her mouth. "We're going to talk about this without yelling. Don't be mad at me, believe it or not, I'm on your side." Hermione plopped down on the couch and began to cry silently. Harry lifted the charm and sat down beside her.
"Look, I don't know exactly what else Ron said while I wasn't here, and I don't especially want to know. I think you two should stay away from each other."
"He won't leave me alone" Hermione sniffed, wiping at her eyes. "He's always there, giving me dirty looks like I did something to him."
"Ron's just like that. Give him time to realize what a prat he's being. Just give him a wide berth for now. I know it's not fair that you have to avoid him, but he IS the one with the emotional range of a teaspoon."
Hermione chuckled stood up, sniffing once again. "Thanks Harry" she rolled her eyes. "You always know just what to say."
"That's me, Mione, I'm a regular Casanova, haven't you heard?" Harry hugged his remaining best friend and sent her off to bed. As she padded quietly away, he stared into the fire, finally alone.
A/N: Number 3 down! This one's a bit shorter, maybe I'll edit some more spells and curses and stuff into the duel, to make it a bit longer. PM suggestions if you have any crazy duel ideas that would fit in well. Also, here's a list of the spells I pulled out of my ass and their more or less rough translations from Latin.
Subsisto motus – stop motion
Suffoca – choke
Congela - freeze
Da cultri – gives knives
marmor – marble
sanguine furtur – steal your blood
sacer ignis – sacred fire
demens ignis – demented fire