Duel

All week the students of Hogwarts spent their time scrambling to cram in revision, practicing making potions and any other ability that they felt needed some fine tuning. Almost every student in every house wanted to win the esteemed mystery prize that the headmistress had described the week before. This amazing prize was the reason that the Potters, the Weasleys and Gail sat in the library looking through large dusty old textbooks. As Professor Mc Gonagall had been very vague when describing exactly what the prize was Rosie was making it her new project to find out what. She had been scanning the pages of every textbook she could get her hands on over the past week but she still couldn't figure it out.

"Ugh. It doesn't make any sense. Everything valuable enough that every wizard would have wanted at some time is either lost or stolen and the rest are just rumors that no one is really sure existed. Even if the professors were able to find one of the things there's no way they would just give it to a student for winning a silly contest." Rosie slammed the book shut loudly causing the librarian to shush her loudly and give the entire group an irritated stare. Rosie smiled apologetically at her then kicked Teddy from under the table as he had begun to make face at her from behind his book. He grunted with pain and Gail laughed quietly as he took out his wand and began to send small pieces of paper zooming around her head. Victoria also took out her wand and with a flick turned the paper into a heap of burning charcoal. James noticed Gail staring at the heap and then back at Victoria with a strange look almost like she was jealous.

"Look, I highly doubt that the stuffy professors here are really going to give the little teachers pets that win the contest something actually worth having. It's probably going to be a certificate signed by Professor Mc Gonagall or a rare ancient book that they think is really great but is just mind numbingly boring. Don't worry about it. Even if you don't figure out what the prize is that isn't going to stop you doing everything in your power to win and more than likely you will. You inherited the brains of the family. Sorry James but she also got the looks well from her mother's side anyway." At this last comment he kissed Victoria on the cheek causing her to blush. Rosie also blushed at the compliment while James narrowed his eyes and Albus had begun to laugh hysterically. James began to reach for his wand but Gail cut in swiftly.

"Rosie maybe it's something more like honorary thing. What if the prize is like a portrait of the winners that will be hung in the castle or their names carved into a statue or something." Gail knew this comment wasn't very helpful but said it more to change the subject form Teddy's last remark than anything else. Rosie looked up at this and began to flick furiously through the pages of the book in front her again. James and the others also looked slightly impressed by what Gail had said.

"Gail that's brilliant. I never even thought of that. An honorary thing, that's brilliant. Why didn't I think of that? A portrait would be an honor I suppose but not everyone would really like that I guess. But what if…." Rosie was talking to herself more than the other and her conversation had become more of a quiet mumble.

"I guess the teachers would think something like honorary would be a pretty good prize but I don't think it would be a portrait. I don't know a lot of people that would want a giant portrait of themselves hanging in the school forever but the statue thing is a good idea. That wouldn't be so bad. I think you're definitely onto something with the honor thing Gail." Rosie was absolutely beaming like it was her idea and not Gail's. Rosie got up leaving a massive pile of books on the table. Everyone at the table knew she was going to look over every single statue that sat in the castle. Teddy chuckled and followed her out of the room. He would have so much fun hiding behind statues and scaring her. Victoria got up reluctantly to follow him. She couldn't control him but at least she could warn poor Rosie. Albus got up too leaving James and Gail alone at the table.

There was a gigantic pile of books on the table and Gail got up starting to put them back onto the shelves. She staggered under the weight of the book and James picked up the remainder shoving them onto the shelves. He got it done a lot faster as he didn't pay much attention to where exactly the books went back. James chuckled as Gail squinted at the tiny numbering on the spines of the books making sure every single one went back into exactly the right place. When they had finally finished and were on the way out the librarian Ms. Heathers stopped them to talk to Gail. She was a tiny old woman with small beady eyes framed by oval spectacles with a string of beads that kept them around her neck. No one knew exactly how old she was but she had always seemed like a constant presence in the library of Hogwarts. Gail talked to her for a few minutes and then walked with James to the common room. James knew that Gail had put the book away so Ms. Heathers wouldn't have too. There was no way she could handle those heavy textbooks.

On the way back to the common room a small owl flew over James and Gail's hand dropping an envelope into Gail's hands. She tore open the envelope and frowned

"I have to go see Professor Mc Gonagall. I have to…" Gail looked up remembering that James was listening and stopped talking. She was embarrassed about the fact she didn't use a wand and she hadn't told anyone about the incident at Ollivanders. Wizard families had been buying their wands there for years and that's where James and Rosie's parents had gotten their wands. They had all been so upset when they heard it had burnt done and Gail didn't want them to know it was all her fault. They were the only friends she had. Gail felt the raised scar on the palm of her hand and looked down at her feet turning to go in the direction of the headmistress' office. James stepped in front of her before she could leave

"Gail you ok? You've been going to Professor Mc Gonagalls office once or twice a week since the beginning of school and I know it's rude of me to ask but why? If you're having trouble with school Rosie could always help. I know you don't like going to the headmistress' office you don't exactly jump for joy every time you get one of those envelopes." James smiled at her comfortingly. He and the others had been wondering what she and Professor Mc Gonagall were doing in her office for weeks now. His curiosity was killing him and he really did want to help Gail. He could tell she hated their private lessons. There weren't any real need for them really. Gail was doing well in classes as far as he knew even though she had so much to catch up on so much.

"Thank you James but I don't really want to talk about it. It doesn't really matter, I'm sorry." Gail ran off before James could say anything else. He stood there wondering what Gail seemed so upset about. He would get Rosie to talk to her later. There was obviously something bothering her and maybe she would talk to her. James wondered why Gail didn't want to tell him what was going on, it couldn't possibly be that bad.

The next day as Rosie and Gail were walking toward potions class they met Professor Twills who rather angrily shouted something about classes being cancelled and ushered them back toward the great hall. They were stumbling through the crowd of other students when they bumped into Teddy and Victoria. It wasn't hard to miss Teddy with his bright blue hair. Everyone was ushered into the hall by teachers and prefects who looked slightly confused and irritated at having their timetables disrupted.

The four long tables that were usually in the great hall had been removed and replaced by a large rectangular raised platform. The students had begun to fill the room and were pressed into every corner. James and Tobias who were standing on one of the pillars at the side of the hall jumped down and walked over to stand beside Teddy and the others. They could see Lily from across the room with her friends and she waved enthusiastically at them. Suddenly the defence against the dark arts teacher Professor Riffle climbed onto the platform and silenced the students.

"Welcome, welcome. There had been much anticipation for this event over the last week so let's not dawdle and begin. Today will be the first round of the competition." There was a flurry of chatter. Rosie's eyes nearly fell out of her head. Teddy smiled smugly at her expression but you could see a hint of nervousness in his eyes. Victoria smiled confidently. She had been paired with Teddy and she knew they would do well. They would give Rosie a run for her money. Tobais nudged James cheekily and then ran off to find his partner. James laughed to himself and then smiled encouragingly at Gail trying to ease the terrified expression on her face. Professor Riffle carried on

"Now not all of you will be familiar with this platform but it is a dueling platform. Most of you will already have experienced something like it in your second year. Here are the rules. Students will be drawn randomly and step onto the platform. Students will not be working in their assigned pairs for this round however points will be awarded and added up at the end of the round so you are still in essence working together. When a student is selected they will step up and then they will get to choose their own opponent. Everyone must take part. Only non-harmful spells will be allowed and I will be monitoring all duels now let's begin." Professor Riffle turned and a small glass ball appeared next to him. He withdrew a name and called it out. The girl who Tobias had been paired with stepped onto the platform and selected her opponent, another girl from the crowd. They took out their wands and on Professor Riffles say so they began to duel.

Duels only lasted a few minutes until Professor Riffle called time. Everyone paid extreme attention at first but after a while people started to get bored and wonder outside or sit along the side of the halls. After about an hour finally Teddy's name was called. He jerked up when he heard his name called and then after winking at Victoria, confidently walked up to the platform. Victoria rolled her eyes at his arrogance but was smiling proudly up at him from where she stood. Teddy stood on the platform for a few minutes gazing into the crowd as if he was thinking extremely hard about who he was going to pick. After a while he turned and said something to Professor Riffle who then called Rosie onto the platform. She was slightly stunned by the fact that Teddy had chosen her but she knew it was probably because he had some new crazy spells that Uncle George had told him behind her back.

Teddy and Rosie stood back to back and waited for Professor Riffle to give them the go ahead. Gail could see Teddy whispering something to Rosie and she burst out laughing. Gail knew they weren't actually related but Teddy was really close to the others. Professor Riffle said begin and Teddy and Rosie began to walk away from each other. They turned and Rosie did the first spell. Teddy blocked it and sent one of his own. Rosie's hair turned bright blue and she looked angrily at Teddy. He laughed pointing at his own head

"Now we match." Rosie glared at him and laughed sarcastically. She fixed her own hair and then before Teddy could react she sent a stream of fire at him catching the tips of his hair. Rosie smiled triumphantly while Teddy patted his head furiously trying to put out the flames. From that point on there was very little Professor Riffle could have done to stop either of them even if he had tried. He figured they were both good students they would just work it out themselves. There was no way he was going to be the one to get between the two of them.

Gail was watching the duel with fascination. James nudged her snapping her out of it. She looked like she was watching a tennis match her eyes darting back and forth again and again. Gail tore her eyes away from Teddy and Rosie to look at James.

"Why do you think the professors are letting us pick our opponents rather than giving us them. Wouldn't that make more sense?" Gail asked curiously. James shrugged that had been bothering him to. It did seem like a more teachery thing to assign partners.

"Don't know. Maybe they figure if we get to choose then we'll pick our friends. We'd be a lot less likely to try and hurt our friends during a duel so maybe they think this way is safer." He shrugged. Gail thought this was a good observation and looked back to Teddy and Rosie who were climbing down from the platform. Judging by Teddy's singed robes Rosie had won that round. They were laughing and pushing each other as they walked back to them. It did seem like a good idea for people to pick their friends as they wouldn't want to hurt them or at least not purposely. Two more students got onto the platform and Gail could tell they knew each other. It was obvious the teachers had done this to keep everyone safe. Gail saw Professor Mc Gonagall out of the corner of her eye standing in the doorway watching the duels.

Professor Riffle now got on stage again and pulled another name form the glass bowl. He held it up and said clearly

"Scorpius Malfoy." A group of Slytherins cheered and Scorpius was practically carried onto the platform by a group of boys. He stood arrogantly on stage looking menacingly into the crowd of students. He looked deep in thought as he choose his opponent and seemed to be scanning the crowd looking for one particular face. Some people even looked down at their feet hoping no to be picked as Scorpius wasn't known for going easy when it came to duels. Eventually he came to the face he had been looking for and pointed in Gail's direction saying something to Professor Riffle. James knew Scorpius had choosen Gail purposely and he stood in front of Gail but not before Professor Riffle saw who Scorpius was talking about. He began speaking to Scorpius while beckoning over Professor Mc Gonagall. She walked swiftly up onto the platform and joined the heated discussion. Everyone was listening closely as the argument got louder and louder. James could see that Gail was shaking next to him and Professor Mc Gonagall kept glancing nervously in her direction. Scorpius sighed and practically screamed for everyone to hear

"You said we could choose our partners and everyone has to compete. Now I've choosen her so she had to duel me." He crossed his arms glaring at the headmistress. Professor Riffle looked at her sympathetically and Professor Mc Gonagall got down and came in the direction of James and Gail. She whispered something to the visibly terrified Gail and then guided her up onto the platform. James looked over at Teddy and they pushed their way up next to the platform followed by Victoria and Rosie, all hostility from earlier forgotten. They could see Professor Mc Gonagall still whidpering to Gail while she looked on the verge of tears. The headmistress got down leaving Gail alone on the opposite end of the platform to Scorpius. James tried to give Gail a look of encouragement but she was completely focused on a spot on the floor.

Everyone expected Gail to take out a wand but when she didn't and Professor Riffle called for them to begin, she made no such move. Scorpius however didn't hesitate for a moment. He pointed his wand at Gail and said something causing a bolt of red light to fly at Gail. It flew toward Gail and instead of defending herself she threw her arms in front of her blocking her face. She was thrown backwards through the air and hit the ground full force. Rosie and Victoria were horrified while they and Tobias practically had to hold Teddy and James back to prevent them getting up and throttling Scorpius. Everyone in the room was confused at what had just happened and Porfessor Riffle and Professor Mc Gonagall helped Gail up. She looked slightly shaken and she was rubbing the arm that had taken the blunt of the fall. Scorpius however looked irritated

"She has to fight back otherwise it's not a real duel." Professor Riffle looked at Professor Mc Gonagall again apologetically. They had done the rules in dueling during his class two years ago and it was the one lesson Scorpius had actually paid attention in. They couldn't really do anything about the rules and Professor Mc Gonagall started whispering to Gail again. This time Gail turned white and began whispering back pleadingly. Scorpius smiled smugly, it was obvious Gail was terrified and Professor Mc Gonagll couldn't do anything about it. James and Teddy were seriously on the verge of going up and wiping the smug smile of Scorpius' face.

Once again Gail was left alone on the platform with Scorpius. This time however she raised he arms like she was getting ready to catch something. Scorpius again did the first spell but this time Gail did do something. As the ball of light flew at Gail instead of hitting her it stopped a few feet away from her and burst like it hit an invisible force field. It shimmered and then pulled itself into a small ball that hovered between Gail's open hands. The room was completely silent as they watched Gail do magic without any use of a wand whatsoever. They had never seen anything like this. James and the others were staring open mouthed at Gail. James gave Rosie a silent look trying to say that maybe this was why they had never seen Gail do magic before.

Gail stared down at the shimmering ball of light that was suspended between her hands. She hadn't even had to do anything when Scorpius had sent the spell at her. It just didn't hit her. She had done everything possible not to do magic last time but this time Professor Mc Gonagall had told her to do magic and it kind of just happened. The ball of light was still shimmering and Gail was staring at it transfixed. It felt slightly warm and it was suddenly getting hotter. Gail could feel it getting hotter and she had the odd sensation that she hadn't felt since the day in Ollivanders. Gail looked up and everyone instantly recognized the look of panic on her face. She practically screamed

"Get down." Everyone student instantly hit the floor. Someone pulled Scorpius down from the platform luckily just before the ball of magic between Gail's hands exploded throwing her backwards and sending showers of sparks all over the room. The large stained glass windows on the opposite of the room to Gail shattered from the force of the spell. Broken glass went everywhere while students tried to shield their faces so they wouldn't get scratched. Dust and bits of wall came loose as well and landed on the students closest to the walls.

Gail got up slowly and looked around at the broken glass that now covered the platform. As she got up she noticed the chandelier hanging on the ceiling swaying from side to side. It was hanging directly above where James, Rosie and the others were lying. Suddenly the chord snapped and the chandelier fell. Professor Mc Gonagall reached for her wand but she knew she would be too late. It was like everything moved in slow motion. Gail screamed the word

"No." She reached forward like she was going to catch an invisible ball. Her face was contorted with concentration and the chandelier stopped midair. Gail made a movement as if she was throwing a ball but the chandelier flew sideways mirroring the motion of her hand. There was a shattering sound as it hit the wall sending glass and crystal cascading everywhere. Students got up slowly after this as if they had been snapped out of there trance like state over what happened with the sound of the shattering chandelier. James ran his hair through his hair. He could still feel the sensation of the wind as chandelier had stopped only a few feet above his head and then Gail had somehow thrown it away.

Gail was still standing completely still on the platform. It was like she couldn't move. People were beginning to get up and leave the room or whisper staring at Gail. Professor Mc Gonagall moved toward Gail. She walked up onto the stage and grabbed Gail's arm swiftly. Gail was still mumbling the word sorry over and over again while tears ran down her face. Before anyone could say anything else the image of Professor Mc Gonagall and Gail swirled and then completely disappeared. James stared at the spot where they had been standing and wondered where they had gone. Teddy walked up to stand next to James and they exchanged a silent look. It was definitely unusual for someone to be able to do magic without a wand and even more strange for a witch to be able to that kind of magic without a wand when she had only been learning it for a few weeks.

Lily ran up to James grabbing his hand. She was babbling on and on about Gail and how she was glad the chandelier hadn't crushed them. James wasn't listening and was deep in thought about what had just happened and Gail. Teddy could see this and he pulled Lilly away changing the subject so she would leave him alone. James nodded a silent thank you. As they left the room the final thing they heard was someone say very clearly

"But I thought you couldn't dissaperate within Hogwarts."