"Hey! Hey, Harry! Wake up!"
"Wuzz go'n on?" Michael mumbled, turning away from the blinding light. Suddenly, a pillow whacked him on the side of the head and he yelped.
"Ron! What the hell was that for?"
"Get up now! I want you to see something." Ron beamed at him and tugged his blanket down. Michael scrunched up in a ball, trying to will himself to fall asleep again. He had gotten back from his detention with his Mum at 2 in the morning. He squinted at his watch. 6:30. He groaned.
At the second blow from the pillow, Michael grudgingly staggered to his feet. He ran his fingers through his messy hair and proceeded downstairs to the Common Room without bothering to put on his glasses.
Ron was standing by the bulletin board, his grin evident from ten feet away. Michael yawned and approached the sign. He rubbed his eyes and squinted at the lurid purple font.
"Wi-wizard's duel this Saturday… at 10 am…in the Great Hall…please s-sign below if interested. Cheers…Gilderoy Lockhart?"
Michael turned on to Ron, who, surprisingly, was grinning from ear to ear.
"I'm gonna go talk to McGonagall and Snape and get them to sign up. Lockhart won't know what hit him."
Michael stared at Ron for two seconds before he burst out laughing.
/-/-/-/-/
As Saturday approached, Michael could hardly focus on his tasks. He checked his watch. 9:45. He leapt up and barreled down the stairs. Hurtling through the portrait hole, Michael found Ron impatiently waiting for him.
"C'mon," Ron said, face lit up with glee.
Michael and Ron hurried to the Great Hall and noticed that the House tables had vanished to be replaced by a star-studded podium elevated in the middle. Lockhart was chatting enthusiastically with Albus and Michael could see his Dad smiling amusedly. Michael waved and saw Albus wink at him.
With five minutes left, the Great Hall had filled with students. Hermione had walked in with her nose buried in Gadding with Ghouls, no doubt reading it for the 100th time, and looked up in time to see Lockhart discard of his cloak. She squeaked as the cloak came sailing in her direction. She caught it and blushed to see the other Gryffindor girls glaring at her enviously.
"Am I too late?" she asked the boys breathlessly. Ron snorted.
"No," Michael reassured her. He was looking for his mother, but she was nowhere to be seen.
Lockhart finally ended his conversation with Albus and turned to the tittering crowd.
"Gather round, gather round!" he shouted enthusiastically. "Can you all hear me?" ('too well,' Ron muttered) "Can you all see me?" ('I wish I couldn't,') "Excellent!"
Lockhart beamed at the students and slicked back his wavy gold locks.
"Now, Professor Dumbledore has sportingly agreed to my proposition of starting a little dueling club here at Hogwarts…just to train you all up for combat, as I have dueled countless times…for further details, please see my published works."
Hermione riffled through her pages and gasped admiringly. Ron snorted again.
"Please let me introduce my assistants! Professor Severus Snape and Professor Minerva McGonagall! Both have kindly agreed to assist me in showing you all the basics of spell-casting."
Michael fought down a chuckle as he saw his mother and Snape emerge from the shadows, both wearing scarily-similar scowls.
"Now, I don't want you youngsters to worry…you'll still have your Potions master and Transfiguration professor when I'm through with them! Never fear," he finished dramatically.
Minerva and Severus both curled their lips. They rounded on Lockhart like angry wolverines. Fred and George Weasley were snickering.
"I doubt it," they said simultaneously, eying Minerva's and Severus' furious stares.
Lockhart grinned cheekily at Minerva, batting his eyelashes again. Michael could see Minerva's nostrils flare and whiten.
Now in a circle, Lockhart waved his wand and…it flew out of his hands.
"Oops, my wand seems a little over-excited today!"
Severus snarled and uncast the protective barriers of the Great Hall. If Michael was very much mistaken, he could have sworn he saw Snape lean closer to Minerva and whisper something plotting to her. Minerva smirked too.
"On the count of three!" Lockhart shouted. "One!...Two!...Three!"
"Iverte Statum!" Minerva and Severus roared at the same time. A double jet of blinding white light flew out of their wands and hit Lockhart in the middle. Lockhart was blasted off his feet and landed in a heap. His hair was rumpled and his wand was lying two feet away from him.
"Wicked," Ron, Fred, Michael, and George all said.
"Ah, yes, very good, Professors!" Lockhart trilled. He retrieved his wand and approached them. "But it was rather obvious wasn't it? I wanted to stop you, but I considered the possibility of letting the children see what the counter-effects of the spell were."
Minerva stepped forward, her eyes blazing.
"Gilderoy, it would probably be best if you were not demonstrating. Let the students practice in pairs."
Lockhart blinked at Minerva and grinned cheekily. "An excellent idea, Professor McGonagall! Severus, do you agree?"
"I do," Snape said in a low voice. He was looking rather bored.
"Let's see…an example pair? Potter! Longbottom! How about you two…?"
"Misjudged, Lockhart," Snape sneered. "I believe it would be more representative if I chose someone…from my own house? Malfoy, perhaps?"
Minerva shot a quick glance at Albus, who nodded imperceptibly. Snape jerked his head at Malfoy and shoved him to the stage. Minerva glided off the stage and pulled Michael to his feet.
"Good luck, Harry!" Lockhart said genially, ruffling his hair. Minerva gave Lockhart the death stare and gave Michael a gentle push.
"Good luck…Mike," she breathed. No one could hear her except Michael, who smiled slightly.
"Thank you, Professor," he said quietly.
/-/-/-/-/
"Face your partners!" Lockhart bellowed. "And bow!"
Michael barely inclined his head at Malfoy, who was sneering at him again.
"Ready to show your talent again, Potter?" he snarled.
"You wish," Michael spoke out of the corner of his mouth.
Minerva was watching her son anxiously from the shadows. She moved closer to Albus and gripped his hand. Albus spared her a slight look before returning the pressure reassuringly.
"Wands at the ready!" Lockhart cried. "One! Two!...Three!"
Malfoy had swung his wand high after "two" and cast his spell.
"Densaugeo!" he screamed. Michael had hardly any time to react. As the green flash of light approached him, he ducked. The curse hit Lockhart full in the face. Crabbe and Goyle were laughing stupidly; Snape was smiling, and Minerva, in spite of herself, was openly trying not to laugh hysterically at the sight of Lockhart's glittering white teeth elongating.
Michael straightened up again and disregarded the muffled moans behind him. He focused his energy on his next spell.
"Rictusempra!" he bellowed, aiming squarely at Malfoy. Malfoy bent over, wheezing from the Tickling Charm. Michael stood back and felt it would be rather un-sporting to hex Malfoy when his opponent was in such a state. A mistake apparently.
"Serpensortia!" Malfoy wheezed, whirling his wand and ejecting a snake. Quite a few girls shrieked. Michael froze. The snake hissed angrily and slithered toward Michael.
"Don't worry about it…I'll get rid of it for you, Potter," Snape drawled, stepping closer to the snake."
"Allow me!" Lockhart intercepted. It was a miracle that he could extract his wand from his still-lengthening teeth. He aimed at the middle of the snake and blasted it thirteen feet into the air.
"Finished, Gilderoy? Or is this spell just a starter for something…much more impressive?" Minerva asked with a touch of asperity. Snape smirked. He lifted his wand lazily, but…
"Stop." Michael hissed to the snake. "Don't come any closer. I am warning you. I will kill…"
"Vipera evanesca!" Snape muttered. The snake vanished in a spurt of smoke.
It was deathly silent in the Great Hall. Michael jerked out of his trance and looked up to see stark, white faces staring up at him.
