Chapter Three

Duels And Dragons

Draco entered the Great Hall flanked, as usual, by Crabbe and Goyle, and saw the clearly identifiable duelling platform in the middle. About half their year had turned up – almost all Slytherins and Gryffindors – and the same was true about the seventh year students. Snape was standing on the platform with McGonagall, and silenced the crowd with an icy stare. When he spoke, his voice was barely above a whisper, yet not one of the students had to strain to hear him. "Professor Dumbledore thought it might be wise for more than one teacher to take the duelling club, at least for the time being. So we are lucky that Professor McGonagall stepped up," he sneered, spitting out the word 'lucky' as if it were poison. The woman ignored his barely veiled insult and smiled at the students.

"I know that all of you have ample experience in blocking and protection spells, so we will move straight into duelling today, to get an idea of your general level. We will pair you up ourselves, ensuring an even distribution of power and ability." She gave them all a stern glare. "Professor Snape and I will be watching closely. Anyone using very dangerous or, God forbid, illegal spells will be stopped and punished immediately. Do all houses understand me?" Here she looked very hard at them, pausing to pick out a few of them to glare at. They all murmured their assent, although some slightly reluctantly.

Snape and McGonagall moved through the crowd, making sure that the weaker students were matched with equally harmless opponents, while the advanced pupils were given challenging partners. Snape reached Hermione before McGonagall did, and he looked down at her with some interest. "Miss Granger, I think it would be unwise to put you with anyone of lesser ability." He looked over at Draco and snapped his fingers. "Mr. Malfoy, you will partner Miss Granger." Harry and Ron looked at the tall, dark teacher in alarm, then over to their own head of house for some help. McGonagall, however, was busy elsewhere, and barely spared them a glance.

"I'll partner her, Professor," Ron began, and Snape looked at him, a spitefully amused smile playing on his lips.

"Thank you, Mr. Weasley, but your offensive spells are so awful that I fear Miss Granger may end up seriously harming you simply out of boredom. It wouldn't reflect well on the school if any of you were killed in a duel, although I must say it would not be a great loss."

Ron leapt forward, struggling to get away from Hermione and Harry, who were holding him back. "If you don't want a student to get killed then you shouldn't have let Malfoy come at all. The little ferret will jump Hermione the second he gets a chance." Draco raised his eyes to meet Hermione's, and smirked when she flushed and looked away.

Snape smiled thinly at the struggling boy. "10 points from Gryffindor for your rudeness, Mr. Weasley. If you complain further then it will be 50, and a detention. You would do well to do as your friends seem to be suggesting and stay back." He swept away majestically to another part of the hall, leaving Ron staring fiercely in his direction.

"Don't worry Hermione; we'll make sure he doesn't hurt you."

Draco laughed out loud at that, but Hermione cut him off before he began to speak. "Don't be silly, Ron," she said briskly. "I got top marks in defensive spells last time we studied them." Ron looked doubtfully from her to Draco, who looked as though he was thoroughly enjoying Ron's discomfort. "Go on, Snape hasn't given you partners yet. Get in McGonagall's line of sight and maybe you'll be lucky enough to be paired together." She gave them both a small, reassuring smile and waved them off.

Draco wondered at her sending them away, since she had seemed so embarrassed to be alone with him that morning, but when she turned to face him he took an involuntary step back; he was certainly sure of his own abilities, but there was a dangerous glint in Hermione's eye that warned him to be particularly wary.

Despite her apparent lack of interest in the dispute when Ron and Harry had looked to her for help, Professor McGonagall had noticed the partnering, and mentioned her misgivings to Snape at the first opportunity. "Pitting the most intelligent sixth years from Slytherin and Gryffindor against each other in a duel? Severus, are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Would you prefer I placed Draco with Neville Longbottom? Or Miss Granger with Miss Parkinson? You know as well as I do, Minerva, that they are both capable of blocking the other's attacks." He moved briskly away and, after checking that all the pairs had suitable space around them, gave the command to begin.

Harry, after a quick look around the hall, recognised that Draco and Hermione were completely hidden by other pairs of duellers, and was concerned. A light blasting curse from Seamus soon brought him round, though, and he decided that Hermione could take care of herself, before forgetting his worry completely.

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Hermione, still stung by the memory of Draco's cruel rejection, for once had no intention of playing by the rules. He barely had his wand up before she had shot a stinging hex at him, but with little enough power that all he did was look surprised. "Not very well-mannered, Granger. But then what more should I expect from someone brought up by muggles?" Eyes blazing, Hermione sent a furnunculus curse in place of a response, which Draco lazily deflected. "And there I thought you were supposed to challenge me." Hermione raised her wand again, but Draco was quicker. "Densaugeo!"

Hermione laughed humourlessly as she deflected the curse. "Again, Malfoy? Don't you remember? I learned how to stop that one years ago." But the memory of that curse, the one that had made her teeth abnormally large, did nothing to improve her temper, and she narrowed her eyes at her enemy. "But if you want to go over past favourites…" she pointed her wand at him, and shouted the Rictusempra curse at him, the one that Harry had used so long ago on the blonde boy.

Not expecting such a tame curse, Draco wasn't ready to defend himself from the silver jet of light that shot from Hermione's wand, and doubled over in laughter as the curse hit him. He fell to his knees, seemingly unable to stop laughing for long enough to perform the counter-curse on himself. Hermione looked over at him and walked forwards, shortening the distance between them, idly playing with her wand as she considered taking him out while he was incapacitated. But she glanced over at her head of house and, remembering McGonagall's warning against using dangerous spells, she hesitated.

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Meanwhile, the air around them was thick with curses, hexes, shields and deflectors. Light was flying from every wand, and it wasn't long before the inevitable cry was heard. The duels stopped and both teachers rushed to the source of the noise, to see Neville rolling around on the floor holding his stomach and Ron hopping around clutching one foot. McGonagall turned angrily to find the culprit, but was stopped by Neville, calling from the floor. "It wasn't Ron, Professor. I aimed wrong and hit my stomach, and then I fell forwards onto Ron's foot." Many other the others laughed, and Snape rolled his eyes, sighing in exasperation.

"Professor McGonagall, would you take your incompetent Gryffindors down to the hospital wing?" It was clear from the look on McGonagall's face that she wasn't comfortable leaving Snape there on his own, and he sighed again. "Fine, I'll take them. You stay here and keep an eye on things." He picked up a terrified Neville and carried him in his arms, Ron hopping after him.

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Draco had managed to cast the counter-curse and stopped Hermione's Rictusempra from completely debilitating him, and was now getting to his feet, taking advantage of her temporary distraction. He casually cast a light jelly-legs hex on her, bringing her attention sharply back to the duel, as she struggled to keep her balance. "Maybe you should ask yourself why you're really so angry, Granger." He still looked vaguely amused, and Hermione gripped her wand, cold fury building up inside her.

"Excuse me?" She was speaking low, but the noisy chatter following Neville and Ron's accident was so loud around them that she needn't have worried about people overhearing her. "How dare you even ask me that?" He raised an eyebrow and waited for her to continue, which she did in an annoyed hiss. "You totally took advantage, got me drunk, called me a mudblood -"

"Is that really it?" He smirked. "Magenta tells me that you were willing to face down Conan when you thought he was a wizard. If that's the case then you wouldn't have thought twice about threatening me." He smiled suggestively and for once she held his gaze, although she was finding it difficult. He could sense her discomfort and felt a sense of satisfaction at the thought that he was the cause. He pushed her a bit further, tempted to see how long it would take her to snap. "Instead you seemed surprisingly agreeable to the idea. Maybe you just can't stand the fact that you like the dark side in me." She flushed, but didn't look away. Draco moved even closer, and whispered in her ear, the position far too similar for Hermione's comfort to the one they had been in earlier that day. "You weren't exactly kicking me out of bed this morning, either."

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A quick look around the room did not give McGonagall any suggestion that things may be getting out of hand, so she called the students together. She didn't notice that Hermione and Draco had failed to respond to her command. Indeed, she could barely see them, and had no reason not to assume that they were part of the crowd. "Students, as I cannot possibly supervise all of you fighting at the same time, we will have one couple at a time. Mr. Nott, Miss Lestrange, would the two of you make your way up onto the platform please." They did so, and began a rather tame battle which the spectators watched unenthusiastically.

McGonagall was concentrating on the Slytherin pairing on stage, and didn't see the fight still going on in the corner of the room. Lestrange threw Nott across the platform with the Everte Statum curse, and Nott began rolling around in pain. McGonagall sighed. "Really, I always said that this duelling club was a bad idea. How many more students can we injure this evening, I wonder?" She turned to the spectators, still not perceiving any problems with the crowd. "Everyone, I must take Mr. Nott to the hospital wing. No misbehaving. If I see any one of you with your wand out there will be deep trouble."

With that she swept out of the room, Nott limping along beside her. Neither Draco nor Hermione cared that the woman had spoken – it was doubtful whether they were even aware of anything other than their opponent. When Draco reminded her that she had been willing to kiss him again that morning she stepped back, stung by the memory. "Well you don't need to worry. I certainly won't be making that mistake again."

Draco laughed again. "As if you'd get a chance to. One night is all you're getting with me, love. Any more than that might taint me beyond repair."

With a cry of rage Hermione sent a shot of red at Draco, who barely managed to put up a shield in time. The shot ripped his robes leaving a nasty cut on his chest, and he responded with a similar spell which slashed across Hermione's arm.

At Hermione's shout the students had turned and finally noticed the ongoing fight. A group of Slytherins and Gryffindors were now cheering on their respective fighters, as Hermione and Draco began throwing spells at each other with a growing momentum. The Ravenclaws were gathering around the fight, discussing the various spells and their origins, as none of which were standard issue, while the Hufflepuffs were mostly hanging back looking nervous. No-one considered going for a teacher; the fight was far too entertaining to end it.

Ron looked over at Harry, his eyes shining. "Wow! I guess Hermione is more laid-back than we thought. Look at her!"

"Laid-back? She doesn't exactly look that way to me. I've never seen someone look more intense." But Harry looked just as animated at the sight of Hermione giving Draco such a difficult time. Snape had been right when he said that the two were well matched in a duel, and with Draco's extra training from Lucius and Hermione's zeal for studying, both had the power to make it a remarkable fight. There was a sense among the students that both of them were holding back just enough to avoid doing any serious damage and everyone was eager to see what would happen next. Any hint of a smirk was gone from Draco's expression now, and it was taking every ounce of concentration from both sides to protect themselves.

"Guess that'll teach us to say she's stuck-up. She's destroying him. Look, he can hardly stand." Ron grinned and shouted out, "you show him, Hermione!"

The shout broke Draco's attention and for a second he glanced at the source of the noise. Hermione took her chance, raised her wand and shouted, making him whip back round to face her. "Impotus!" He had heard the spell before and knew well enough to make sure he deflected it in good time. The curse hit Crabbe, who fell to the floor clutching his groin in pain. The duelling duo ignored him.

Draco turned on Hermione, equally pissed off. "Relashio," he shouted, and Hermione managed to only weaken the spell, which tore her robes further, but not her skin this time.

"Gypsum," she shouted. Draco deftly reflected the girl's hex, but she equally skilfully shielded herself from it. Suddenly, everything that had been said between them since last night flashed through her mind, and her eyes narrowed. She pointed her wand and, with a flourish, muttered the curse, "spasmodia."

Nobody knew the spell and Draco had to think fast to find the right counter for it. That hesitation was just a little too much, and he didn't block in time. He fell to the floor clutching his legs in pain, and there was a cheer from the Gryffindor spectators. Hermione had turned to give her housemates a triumphant smile and, revelling in the attention, decided that maybe being a rebel wasn't so bad after all. She caught Harry's eye and grinned, when Draco held up his wand and forced a word from his lips. "Incendus." Hermione's expression turned to one of shock and then she let out a truly frightening scream before collapsing onto her knees and clutching at her robes as if trying to claw them off. The respective friends moved quickly to tend to the fallen fighters – Pansy Parkinson was fawning over Draco who was whimpering in pain, and Harry had rushed to Hermione the second she went down.

None of them gave a second thought to McGonagall until an ominous voice sounded, infused with rage. "Would someone mind telling me precisely what is going on here?" The crowd quickly lost interest and almost all student disappeared. Only sixth form Slytherins and Gryffindors were left, speaking loud and fast and trying to get their excuses over to McGonagall, while Draco and Hermione had both turned rather pale, and appeared unable to speak at all. The moment McGonagall saw the two students her eyes turned to pure fury. "Silence!" A hush fell over the students, who backed away slowly. Few had ever seen McGonagall like this, and they were exchanging nervous looks. "Mr. Malfoy, can you walk?" She was given no response, as all Draco's energy was focused on his legs. The professor sighed. "Mr. Potter, please levitate him to the hospital wing. I shall carry Hermione." Her gaze fell on Crabbe, who was still looking pained, and she groaned. "Mr. Crabbe, follow behind. The rest of you, disperse. I will be speaking to all of you about this, but for now there are more important matters." They all stood there, looking a little sheepish, and McGonagall frowned sharply. "10 points from every person here for not coming to find a teacher, and be glad it isn't more. Leave!"