This was actually all supposed to be part of the last chapter, but like I said, Oliver and Katie had other plans. I'm definitely dedicating this chapter to the following people: luverofjamesandlily, Storm-and-Faith, michellenessa, and xc1016. All of your unexpectedly lengthy reviews made my day today and inspired me to finish this chapter, so this one's for you :)

CHAPTER 9 - SNAPE'S REQUEST

Once practice was over, we team went our separate ways: Alicia and Angelina ran off towards the dormitories to properly freshen up before dinner, Harry immediately sought out - you guessed it - Ron and Hermione, and the twins hung back with Oliver. That left me. It was either stay with them or wander off by myself. Still feeling particularly destructive from earlier, I chose the former option. George quickened his pace and linked arms with me once more and began towing me forward while Fred stayed next to Oliver. After a quick visit to the Hospital Wing to get my jaw realigned (Oliver still hadn't said anything. He only grimaced because his chaser was injured), the four of us wandered the castle, heading nowhere in particular.

"Would you like to go to dinner, fair maiden?" George said once he had my arm in his again.

I giggled. "Of course! Thank you, kind sir."

"My pleasure, m'lady," he responded with a bow of his head.

"Honestly, George." My tone turned sincere. "Thanks for talking to me back there. As much as I would've liked to have had a dramatic exit, I know I would've regretted quitting the team."

"Oh, no need to thank me. I was just doing the best for a best friend."

"Really? You mean that?"

He looked at me puzzled. "...Why wouldn't I mean that?"

"I just..." I looked down to avoid his eyes. "I didn't know you thought of me that way."

"Katie, in case you haven't noticed, our team is like a family. You might as well be the eighth Weasley child." He smiled and then grabbed a lock of my hair. "Of course, we'd have to dye your hair."

"I think I could live with that," I allowed.

I could hear Fred and Oliver quietly talking behind us (yes, a quiet Fred. I was just as shocked as you), though I couldn't make out what they were saying. I figured it was probably better that way. Evidently they had decided to head for dinner as well. The four of us headed for the Great Hall together, when we noticed a clump of students in the entrance hall.

"What's that?" Fred asked loudly.

"No idea," George answered as he pulled me towards to crowd.

As we got closer, we realized the students were actually grouped around the notice board.

"Brilliant!" George exclaimed when his tall frame saw the piece of parchment first. "There's going to be a Dueling Club and the first meeting is tonight!"

"I'm in of course," Fred said as he arrived next to me.

"I might as well," Oliver agreed.

"Me too," I said, deciding that I couldn't miss another chance to prove to Oliver just how strong I was. Besides, my best class was Defense Against the Dark Arts. That had to count for something.

We ate dinner briskly, Alicia and Angelina joining us about half way through the meal. I couldn't help but notice that Angelina was wearing more makeup than usual. It was unnecessary; she was gorgeous just au naturel. I assumed this was Alicia's doing. Leave it to her to gaudy things up. At least it was with the best intentions. And that's not to say the makeup wasn't effective - Fred's eyes didn't leave Angelina's face for more than ten seconds at a time.

Stomachs satiated and appetites appeased, we headed back up to the common room to kill time before the Dueling Club meeting. I took out a potions essay (potions was the bane of my existence), but hadn't even conjured up a single sentence when it was time to head back down to the Great Hall.


The room was packed wall to wall with students of every shape and size. I even saw people I'd never seen before, and I was a fourth year! The four long house tables had vanished and now, a single long golden stage had taken their place. The room was completely overflowing with excitement, especially as to who would be the instructor for the evening, for the parchment on the notice board did not say. There was speculation that Flitwick would be the professor in charge because, as rumor had it, he had been a dueling champion in his younger days, but no one knew for sure.

"Maybe it'll be Dumbledore," Angelina suggested. "Can you imagine how amazing that would be?"

"I can't imagine Dumbledore dueling anyone," Alicia said. "He's just so...nice."

"Dumbledore wouldn't have to duel anyone," Fred added. "Everyone knows even You-Know-Who is afraid of him. No one would even mess with Dumbledore."

"Wouldn't it be great if Lockhart taught it, though?" George offered. "How hysterical would that be?"

"We're about to find out," I said. Gilderoy Lockhart had just walked onto the golden stage in robes of violent plum.

"Spectacular!" George beamed. Then Snape walked onto the stage behind Lockhart.

"I may just die laughing!" Fred said. He continued to chortle after everyone else had silenced at the wave of Lockhart's hand.

"Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me?"

"Unfortunately," George whispered to me, probably because he knew I wouldn't smack him like Alicia would have.

"Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little dueling club, to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions - for full details, see my published works."

Alicia sighed. George rolled his eyes. And, though I didn't dare look directly at him yet, I could've sworn I saw Oliver do the same.

"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape. He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about dueling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry - you'll still have your Potions master when I'm through with him, never fear!"

"Again, unfortunately," George said. I snorted.

Though Lockhart seemed entirely at ease, oozing confidence, Snape glared at him, his upper lip curling out of disgust. Then, they bowed to each other. Or rather, Snape jerked his head and Lockhart waved his arms around and around; although the room was dead silent out of anticipation, a few people couldn't help but snigger at the ridiculousness of it. Lockhart and Snape raised their wands at each other.

"As you see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position," Lockhart explained. "On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course."

"Pity," Fred said on the other side of Angelina, who awkwardly barked a single laugh in the quiet.

"One - two - three -"

"Expelliarmus!" cried Snape. I couldn't see from where I stood, but I heard something smash against the wall. I could only assume who it was.

"Is he alright?" Alicia worried as she danced on her tiptoes in an attempt to see over the heads of the crowd.

"I hope not," George. Alicia reached over to smack him against the head. "I'm still not sorry." Alicia rolled her eyes.

"Well, there you have it!" Lockhart announced after he had composed himself from Snape's attack. "That was a Disarming Charm - as you see, I've lost my wand - ah, thank you, Miss Brown - yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy - however, I felt it would be instructive to let them see..." He trailed off. Even though I couldn't see from my spot in the crowd, I presumed Snape's glare was particularly dreadful because then Lockhart began again "Enough demonstrating! I'm going to come amongst you now and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me -" Of course, Snape ended up near us.

"Weasley, you go with Spinnet. Other Weasley, you go with Johnson," he pointed as to specify which twin went where. Then he pointed to me. "You're with him." And he pointed to Oliver.

I knew it was a lost cause and I knew back talking to Snape was about the worst thing anyone could do, but I did it anyway. "Professor, please, can't I go with George?"

Snape sneered. "No." Duh, Katie. Obviously he's not going to give you what you want. I nodded and sighed then Snape left to separate the others into pairs.

At least I'd be able to show Wood what I was made of. Get a little revenge, even if all I was doing was disarming him. Maybe I'd just steal his wand for good and run away with it. I could flush it down a toilet or something. I smiled at the thought.

"Happy to be with me?" Oliver asked in an acerbic voice.

"Ecstatic," I growled as the smile ran away from my face. I glared at him as evil as I could and he glared right back.

"Face your partners!" yelled Lockhart. "And bow!"

I didn't take my eyes off Oliver as I bowed the slightest bit. He mirrored me.

"Wands at the ready!" shouted Lockhart. "When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents - only to disarm them - we don't want any accidents - one...two...three-"

I spoke as soon as I could. "Expelliarmus!"

But Oliver beat me to the punch. I was knocked off my feet, flew backwards into the kid behind me, my wand in Oliver's hand before I'd even finished the incantation. I gritted my teeth as I pushed myself off the ground.

He held his hand out to give me back my wand, a smug look on his features. I wanted to punch him. Even if he was bigger than me.

I grabbed my wand from him as forcibly as I could. His cold smirk grew wider. Oh, that did it.

Without any warning, I snapped around and yelled at the top of my lungs, "Expelliarmus!"

Oliver was sent flying about a two feet into the air, knocking two people over in the process, and then rolled backwards when he hit the floor. When he finally looked up from the stone floor, I saw that his nose was bleeding.

Serves him right, I thought to myself, though I tried very hard to keep from smirking. I knew that would only make things worse. And besides, George did say that Oliver was sorry, just that he wasn't quite ready to show it. I just wanted a little revenge, and I got it. I was satisfied. Apparently, Oliver, who had stood up and realized the trail of blood oozing down his chin, was not. The look he directed at me reminded me of the expression he reserved only for Marcus Flint. I couldn't help but grin this time. His glare intensified.

"I think I'd better teach you how to block unfriendly spells," Lockhart said after surveying the crowd. Oliver was watching Lockhart, so I took the chance to observe everyone else. Quite a few people were on the floor, Seamus Finnigan was ashen-faced in the arms of Ron Weasley, and even little Hermione Granger was in a headlock from a Slytherin, their wands forgotten on the floor. Lockhart cleared his throat. "Let's have a volunteer pair - Longbottom and Finch-Fletchle, how about you -"

"A bad idea, Professor Lockhart," Snape commented as he strode over to where Lockhart stood. "Longbottom causes devastation with the simplest spells. We'll be sending what' left of Finch-Fletchley up to the hospital wing in a matchbox. How about Malfoy and Potter?"

"Excellent idea!" Lockhart called out. The crowd began to move backward and Harry and Draco Malfoy, a Slytherin, came into view. The crowd kept pressing back, giving Harry and Malfoy as much room as possible, and suddenly, against my wishes, I was pushed right up against Oliver. I looked up at him, actually rather scared what his reaction would be. He looked down at me and I saw he had already stopped his bloody nose with a charm and magicked the blood away. He smirked at me. I didn't know what to make of it, but I felt too awkward due to the close proximity, so I instantaneously redirected my gaze towards Harry.

"Three - two - one - go!" Lockhart shouted. I strained to see above the heads again.

"Serpensortia!" Malfoy cried. A great black snake shot out of the end of his wand and advanced on Harry. Several people screamed and the crowd pushed back farther, further pushing me up against Oliver. I was so close that I felt a muscle twitch in his stomach as I was pressed up against him. I took a deep breath and prayed he didn't notice.

"Don't move, Potter," Snape said, although it was evident he enjoyed the sight. "I'll get rid of it...."

"Allow me!" shouted Lockhart. He flicked his wand, which emitted a loud bang, and suddenly the snake flew ten feet in the air then fell back to the same spot on the floor with a loud thud. Even from where I was, pressed up way too tightly against Oliver Wood, I could tell the snake was having a fit now. It raised, fangs bared, and advanced on Justin Finch-Fletchley. I gasped along with everyone else.

I would never have expected what happened next.

Harry stood, face to face with the large snake, and was speaking in the strangest voice I'd ever heard. It was almost like he was hissing. Like he was talking to the snake. I glanced around the crowd to make sure I wasn't hearing things and what I saw confused me even more. Everyone's eyes were wide with fear, anger, some a mixture of both. Utter revulsion. I didn't get what the problem was. I mean, sure, Harry sounded completely ridiculous, but he wasn't doing anything wrong. Was he?

I chanced a look at Oliver again and instead of meeting my gaze like before, his eyes were also trained on Harry and the snake, the same mask of horror on his face. I looked back at Harry.

"What do you think you're playing at?" Justin shouted at Harry. Then he turned and ran out of the hall. Harry looked just as bewildered as I felt.

Snape stepped forward then and aimed his wand at the snake, which disappeared in a puff of black smoke. Even Snape was looking at Harry in the same peculiar way. I just didn't get it.

Then people began to talk.

"I can't believe it!"

"But I thought only Salazar Slytherin..."

"Parselmouth!"

"Did you see the way he attacked Justin?"

None of it made any sense.

I saw Harry being ushered out of the hall by Ron and Hermione and then turned to Oliver, hoping he could make light of what had just transpired. He was already looking down at me with the most anxious eyes I'd ever seen.

"Come with me," was all he said. Then he took me by the hand and dragged me out of the Great Hall.