"Flipendo," Cyn said rather lazily and Ron Weasley was blasted backwards.
Apparently, Lockheart one of their old teachers had instituted a dueling club, but after he left it was just tossed aside. With the rise in Dark activity Dumbledore had said that maybe a dueling club would be a benefit, but only fifth, sixth and seventh years could participate. Ron shot a hex at her and with a flick of her wrist, it was blocked. Cyn was utterly bored with the whole dueling club, the Weasley boy wasn't even a match for her – not really. Draco or even Blaise would be tougher opponents but Dumbledore had insisted that people in the same house could not battle each other.
Levicorpus, Cyn thought and Weasley was yanked into the air by his ankle. His face quickly turned red and Cyn hit him with a quick stunning spell effectively putting him out for the count.
"Excellent use of nonverbal spellcasting Miss Winters," Professor Snape drawled, "20 points to Slytherin. And Mister Weasley, 20 points from Gryffindor for not putting up a decent fight. Granger, you've immobilized your partner come duel with Miss Winters for a few minutes."
The curly-haired girl, a friend of Weasley's and Potter's headed over, clutching her wand nervously. "You've dueled before haven't you?" The Granger girl asked trying to infuse some sort of bravado into her voice as she launched a stunning spell at Cyn who quickly sidestepped.
"Yes, that's what we did at Ilvermorny." Cyn said. Obscuro, she thought.
A blindfold came out of nowhere, appearing over the Granger girl's eyes. Just as she was prepared to launch a stunning spell or immobilize her Granger had undone the spell and had launched a hex at her. The two dueled fiercely, but to most onlookers it was clear that Cyn had the upper hand. Hermione Granger was smart – there was no denying that – but she didn't have the same dueling experience that Cyn had, and Hermione verbalized her spells while Cyn didn't.
Stupefy, Cyn thought with a flick of her wand.
The red light hit Hermione, whose eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell to the ground unconscious.
"Very good, ten points to Slytherin. Thank you for the exciting duel," Snape said. "Now I would like a ten page essay about the Dark Arts tomorrow. Dismissed."
Cyn tucked her wand into the sleeve of her robe and followed Draco and Blaise out of the Great Hall. With no classes for the rest of the day, they headed to the library – Snape had just assigned them a huge ton of DADA homework, and Cyn had a good chunk of homework for Ancient Runes and Transfiguration as well.
"That was great how you effortlessly defeated Weasel and Granger," Draco said a huge smile on his face as they headed up the staircases.
"It wasn't like they were a challenge; they haven't mastered nonverbal spell use it seems." Cyn shot back, not even bothering to try and be modest. A lot of people had high expectations about the Golden Trio and it had felt good to knock them down a peg – at least 2/3's of the Golden Trio, she supposed.
"Still it was quite excellent," Blaise agreed with Draco.
Cyn waved away their praises as they entered the library. She fidgeted, with her green Slytherin tie as she headed over to the bookcases, trying to find something that would help with Snape's essay and McGonagall's essay. Draco and Blaise moved to different parts of the library each trying to find something to write about for their own essays. The school year had just started and already they were swamped with homework. So far the only teacher who hadn't assigned homework was Flitwick and Slughorn.
And it was only a week into the school year!
Cyn grabbed a book about the Dark Arts off of the shelf and headed over to a table. Blaise was already leaning back in a chair, holding a book extremely close to his face. Draco plopped down into the seat next to her. It was amazing how quickly the three of them had clicked. Cyn was studious and helped to balance out Draco's and Blaise's attitudes, Blaise was a notorious womanizer but Cyn made sure that he never went too far, and Draco more often than not was a right prat but Blaise and Cyn both managed to keep him in line. They had met at the start of the school year and only a week later, they were nearly inseparable. It was a little crazy that they were so close already, but Cyn was grateful that she had already made two great friends.
Draco kicked the legs of Blaise's chair sending him off balance and resulting in him tumbling to the floor. Cyn clapped a hand over her mouth trying to hand her giggles as Blaise climbed to his feet, a murderous glare on his face as he stared at Draco.
"Cyn, be a dear and hex Draco for me will you?" Blaise hissed, "I think I have to go see Madam Pomfrey you git."
Draco shrugged unapologetically. "Whoops, sorry mate my foot slipped."
Blaise didn't answer, just glared at Draco before stalking out of the library with Madam Pince glaring at him as he did so.
"Honestly," Cyn sighed shaking her head. "Couldn't you be a little nicer to him?"
"He's my best friend; I'm supposed to be mean to him." Draco answered with a smile.
This was a moment that Cyn would remember in later months, because this was one of the last times where she had seen such a carefree look in his eyes and such an easygoing smile on his face. Even now in the current moment, Cyn decided that she rather liked his smile. It wasn't something that she got to see very often – around other Slytherins he always had a tough bad guy persona and around all the other Houses he was a git (to put it simply).
"Suppose you should go check on him?" Cyn questioned, flipping the page in her book.
"No," Draco said. "I'm sure that he'll be perfectly fine. Now, don't we have an essay to work on?"
Cyn sighed, waving her wand and writing supplies appeared in front of them. She stared at the book in front of her and after a moment of hesitation dipped her quill in the inkwell.
'In the wizarding world there are several spells that can be classified as incredibly "Dark" such as the Crucio curse, Imperius curse, and the killing spell Avada Kedavra. But unknown to others there are just as equally terrible spells; they are just not very well-known. These spells include Lacero, Sopor Nox, and Incisura. Lacero is a spell that is relatively unknown, but among those who know of the spell it has been given an awful reptutation and for good reason.
Lacero when used causes the victim to be cut deeply on the chest, near major arteries if the aim is well and true.'
Cyn went on in her essay to describe what exactly made Lacero made a Dark spell, and then describe Sopor Nox and Incisura. In her final concluding paragraph she explained the Dark Arts, and listed why the spells she had talked about in her essay could be labelled as Dark. She also emphasized the need for educating people on the Dark Arts, and on why the list of Unforgiveables needed to be expanded to include spells such as Lacero, Sopor Nox (a spell that would put someone in a vegetative state) and Incisura. Cyn set her quill down on the table, flexing her hand.
"Done?" Draco asked, looking at her a touch of amusement in his eyes. Cyn nodded. "About bloody time," he grumbled standing up.
"Hush," Cyn said getting to her feet. She grabbed her school books and followed Draco out of the library. "Think we ought to go and check on Blaise?"
Draco pursed his lips. "I suppose we could."
The walk to the Hospital Wing was quiet between the two of them, but by no means did it feel awkward. From what little she knew of Draco, Cyn knew that he was naturally a quiet person. And Cyn herself, was also quiet. Her thoughts were swirling about everything that had happened since arriving in England; meeting Narcissa and Draco, going to Hogwarts, and most of all dueling. When she had dueled Granger and Weasley, she hadn't really been trying and she hadn't been at top form.
Draco pushed open the doors and Cyn waved shyly at Blaise as they walked in.
"How are you?" Cyn asked, "Did you break something?"
"Only a rib," Blaise narrowed his eyes in a glare at Draco. "I've only ever gotten injured in Quidditch, and first week of school my best mate breaks one of my ribs."
Draco didn't answer, although he looked slightly apologetic. "Well, you'll be fine." Cyn smiled, "It's only a broken rib, after all. Nothing too serious."
Blaise gaped, looking at Cyn like she was crazy. "Only a broken rib?"
"Well when playing Quidditch you can get much more serious injuries like a cracked skull, and while a broken rib hurts like hell it isn't like it will be actively detrimental to your daily life. Uncomfortable and a little painful yes, but you'll survive." Cyn said.
Blaise turned to Draco. "Did you understand any word that just came out of her mouth?"
"Yes." Draco drawled, "She's saying that you're being a big baby so quit whining."
"I'm not!" Cyn flushed. "Well…maybe a little?"
"Cynthia Winters you have wounded me deeply," Blaise cried, glaring at her. "I am not being a big baby!"
Cyn didn't reply, just rolled her eyes. She turned to Draco, "Can you help me catch up on Potions, Draco? It's a subject that I don't really excel in and with Potter being Slughorn's favorite, I suppose I need to catch up and do well enough."
Draco nodded, and with one last parting wave to Blaise they left him alone in the Hospital Wing.
After Draco had finished tutoring her in Potions, Cyn had finished the last of her homework and headed to the Owlery, to write a letter to her parents. She had a lot to tell them – starting from how wonderful Hogwarts had been so far. Hearing that would please her father greatly, although that wasn't why Cyn was going to say it.
Dear Mom and Dad,
To my great and utter surprise I find that I don't hate Hogwarts like I thought I would. In fact, Hogwarts really isn't all that bad. I've been sorted into Slytherin, and already have made a few friends consisting of Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini. The both of them are purebloods, as is most of Slytherin house with a few half-bloods here and there. Classes have been absolutely horrendous, with a lot of homework being assigned but I have not fallen behind – I am doing well in all classes excepting Potions of course, which is definitely one of my weaknesses.
But Draco has been kind enough to offer me his help – but that isn't why I'm writing to you. Hogwarts has a dueling club, and I have excelled in it (even though there has been only one duel). The Quidditch season is due to start soon, but of course I won't be playing. I am abysmal on a broom, and you both know this already.
How is Aunt Irena?
Write back to me as soon as you can Mom, I'm anxious to hear from you.
~ Cyn
Cyn whistled, calling her owl to her side and sent her away with the letter. She watched her owl go for a few moments before heading back to the Slytherin dormitory. As much as she liked Draco and Blaise, she needed female friends. Tomorrow that was what she was going to do – after Ancient Runes.