Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them.

- Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

The Queen of Serpents

Chapter Nine

Dueling Club Disasters

"speech"

thoughts

"parseltongue"

/mind speech/

=visions=

Writing

Harry, Dudley and Sa'zar slipped quietly into the Trophy Room. The threesome sighed with relief as Harry removed his cloak.

"Honestly," the messy haired boy muttered. "Doesn't he ever take a break."

"Yeah," Dudley agreed. "I thought we'd never get away."

"I wonder why Tom is so against us seeing his trophy?" Sa'zar tugged thoughtfully at his long hair.

"Speaking of which," Harry glanced around the room, "where is this trophy of yours Dud?"

Sa'zar laughed. "It's Tom's, not Dudley's, remember?" Harry glared at him.

"There." Dudley pointed at a small shield. "That's it. Filch made me polish it half a dozen times during my detention."

Sa'zar nimbly climbed over the stacks of trophies, lifting the shield from its resting place. He held it out, revealing the words.

Awarded To

Tom Marvolo Riddle

For

Special Services

to

Hogwarts School

The brothers shared a look.

"It doesn't say what he did," Harry noted with disappointment. "Though," he added, "that is a pretty good sign."

Sa'zar nodded. "Yes, if they had nothing to hide they would just say strait out. Chamber of Secrets isn't exactly something the school would want to admit to."

Dudley's eyes widened as comprehension dawned. "But..Then why doesn't Tom do something?"

Harry shrugged. "He probably got lucky last time, or something."

"Or he wa-" Sa'zar stopped short.

"What?" Dudley and Harry shot their youngest brother a curious look.

Sa'zar shook his head. "Nothing. I had a thought..but it's gone now." If it was Tom...Well, innocent until proven guilty, right?

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"Hey, Big D! Come look at this!"

Dudley groaned at the ridiculous nickname. "Seamus..."

The Irish boy just grinned. "look at this!"

Dudley sighed, resigning himself to whatever it was Seamus wanted him to see.

Dueling Club

First Meeting Tonight

Eight o' Clock

The Great Hall

Open to Students of ALL Ages

Seamus grinned. "I wouldn't mind some dueling lessons; they might come in handy one of these days."

"What, you reckon Slytherin's monster can duel," Ron joked, but he read the sign with interest.

Dudley laughed. "Who knows? It does sound interesting though."

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"Maybe it will be Flitwick; the older students told me he used to be a dueling champion when he was younger..."

Sa'zar frowned, tuning Mione out. "This," he said quietly, his voice little more than a whisper, "is going to end badly."

"Oh!" Luna smiled brightly. "The nargles warned you too?"

Mione sighed, rolling her eyes. "Luna, nargles do not exist."

Val chuckled. "just because you cannot see the air, does not mean it is not there."

Sa'zar grinned. "Great-Grandma Electra?"

Val shook her head, earrings sparkling. "My older brother Valence."

Sa'zar and Mione laughed. Luna smiled dreamily.

"That is a good line."

Sa'zar blinked, then waved over the source of the comment. "Hi Rolf. Come to join us?"

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Tom frowned. "Percy, keep an eye on my brothers please."

The red head nodded pompously. "Don't worry, Tom. They will be fine. I'll make certain of it."

Tom sighed as he watched his Gryffindor friend walk away. Cedric put his hand on the dark haired boy's shoulder. "Relax, Tom. I know things have been a bit crazy and we're all on edge. But you're not responsible for everything. Your job is to grow up well."

Tom sighed again. "I know. I just feel, well, responsible...And this could go bad so easily..."

Cedric smiled reassuringly. "The club will be supervised by the teachers. They'll make sure that nothing goes wrong. And I'll keep an eye out too."

Tom nodded, smiling slightly. He was still worried, but...It was good to have friends to count on.

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Eight o' clock arived, and with it a grinning Gilderoy Lockhart.

Harry stifled a groan. " He's teaching? Right, let's go."

Draco tugged him back down. "Look again."

Harry looked back at the stage. A wicked grin crossed his face. "Oh, this will be good."

Draco smirked. "Lockhart is truly a fool."

Harry smirked back. "You doubted?"

The two Slytherins settled down to watch thier head of house teach 'the idiot' a few well deserved lessons.

"As you can see," Lockhart was saying, "we are holding our wands in the accepted combat position."

Sa'zar raised his hand. "Sir, that position is incorrect. The wand arm should be further back to act as a counter balance to..to.."

"The sword we would be holding in our other hand, if this had been a formal duel," Snape completed dryly. "True, but as you can see we are not holding swords."

Sa'zar nodded slowly. "Yes, master. But it's still wrong."

Snape smirked. "Correct. As Professor Lockhart said, this is the accepted form. he said nothing about it being the correct one. However," he smiled cruelly at Lockhart, "as we are here to teach them to duel, we should use the proper form. It would not do for them to learn something incorrect, would it?" He stepped back, falling into a well balanced form, wand held loosely in his right hand, left arm extended, fingers wide, palm down, beneath the right.

Lockhart smiled weakly. "Of course. Wouldn't want to teach the wrong thing..." He fell clumsily into the same form, holding himself stiffly, clearly uncomfortable.

The Slytherins- and quite a few Gryffindors and Ravenclaws - grinned as 'the idiot' almost fell over.

"Now," Lockhart said, sounding unsure, "on the count of three we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill of course."

"Wanna bet," Dudley muttered to Ron, watching Snape baring his teeth.

"One - Two - Three-"

Lockhart swung his wand over his head; Snape simply extended his arm, saying, "Epelliarmus!" A flash of scarlet light and Lockhart was blasted off his feet, off the stage and into the wall.

Harry, Draco and their friends cheered, as did Sa'zar and Dudley. Hannah clapped a hand to her mouth. "Do you think he's alright," she asked Tom.

Tom shrugged. "Seems to be," he said as Lockhart staggered back onto the stge.

Susan shook her head. "And if not, he deserves it for being so incompetent and giving our house a bad name."

"There you have," the teacher in question announced, walking unsteadily back to the platform. "The disarming charm- As you see I've lost my wand- Ah, thank you Miss Brown. Yes, an excellent idea to show them that Severus, but if you don't mind my saying so it was very obvious what you were about-"

"No it was not," Tom snapped irritably. He had never been good at holding his temper in check and Lockhart had been trying him since before the year began. "Actually, the motion would have been perfect for casting the Reductor Spell, or the Bone-Breaker- Curse. If you had eveer been in a real duel you would have recognised it on sight." No need to mention the other spell that motion would have been good for. "It is in no way the proper motion for the Disarming Spell. Therefor, no it was not obvious in the least."

Snape's eyes narrowed as he looked at Tom. Tom forced himself to keep a calm, even front. "Very good, Mr. Riddle." Tom breathed a sigh of relief as the potions master turned away.

Gilderoy flushed. "Er..Yes. Well, enough demonstrating. I am now going to sort you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you would not mind helping me..?"

The two teachers began moving through the crowd, sorting everyone into teams of two. The brothers moved to stand near each other, followed by their friends.

Snape glowered at Tom. "You missed a spell, Mr. Riddle."

Tom gulped. "It is not the optimum, but it is still a good pose from which to throw the Killing Curse."

Severus nodded. "Indeed it is, Mr. Riddle. Would you mind telling me how you have become so familiar with such spells?" His voice was low and dangerous.

Tom bit his index finger. "I had reason," his eyes flicked to Harry, then back to Snape, "to research both the curse and its effects."

The potions master nodded coolly, turning to pair Harry off with Dudley. Tom refused to make the mistake of thinking he was off the hook, though. He resolved to do his best to avoid Professor Snape in the future.

Harry and Dudley frowned as Draco and Ron were teamed up. Of their grop, those two were the weakest links in terms of friendship. The Weasleys and Malfoys had hated each other for generations and Ron and Draco - despite their attempts at civility - had yet to become exceptions.

Sure enough, as soon as Lockhart got to number two of his countdown Draco was throwing his first spell - and it was not to disarm.

"Ron stumbled back, shouting, "Rictumsempra!"

Lockhart shouted something about "disarm only!" but no one was listening.

"Tarantalegra!" Draco choked out through his giggles and the next moment Ron found himself dancing a jig.

"NO! Stop, stop!" Lockhart screamed. Snape sneered at the other teacher and took charge.

"Finite Incantatem." All spells ended instantly.

"Dear, dear." Lockhart scurried through the crowd. "Up you get Macmillan...Careful there Miss Fawcet..Pinch it hard. It will stop bleeding in a second Boot."

"Perhaps you should teach them to block their opponents spells," Snape suggested dryly.

"Er..Yes! Excellent suggestion Professor Snape. Now- a volunteer pair.." He scanned the audience, clearly hoping someone would offer.

"Malfoy and Weasley." Snape sneered at the red head. "As Mr. Weasley seems so eager to fight, it is only fitting that we give him his chance."

Severus caught Draco's arm as the pointy faced blond walked to the stage. "Do not embarrass me, godson. And more importantly, do not embarrass your house." Draco gulped, and nodded as his head of house released his arm.

Sa'zar sissed with quiet laughter. "Professor Lockhart seems to think dropping his wand is a good defense."

Mione glowered at him. "He's just shaky from before," she insisted.

Sa'zar and Val exchanged exasperated looks at their friend's stubbornness.

"One-GO!" Lockhart shouted.

Draco swiftly raised his wand, shouting, "Serpensortia!" A long black snake exploded from the tip his wand.

"Don't move, Weasley," Snape spoke lazily, but Harry could tell he was unhappy. He did not envy Draco the trouble he was in.

Snape continued his slow way across the stage. "I'll get rid of it-"

"Allow me," Lockhart cried, twirling his wand. There was a loud BANG! and the snake flew through the air, landing on the bright red head of Ginny Weasley.

Harry did not bother to think. There was no time for it. "Stop! Do not harm her!"

The snake paused, not striking, turning its head slightly to look at Harry. "Speaker."

Harry nodded, extending his arm. "Yes. Come here." He pointed at his arm. " Leave her be."

The snake hesitated, then slithered on to the proffered arm. "I hope you have mice, speaker."

Harry smiled, petting the snake. "It's okay, Gin. He's safe now."

Ginny nodded nervously. "Y..Your sure?"

Harry nodded. "Positive. You want to name him?"

Ginny thought for a moment, the suddenly smiled. "Little Dragon." She giggled. "For Draco, because he conjured it."

Harry smirked. "Hear that, Drake?" He lifted the newly christened Little Dragon high. "You've got yourself a namesake!"

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AUthor's Note: Okay, so once again, sorry about the delay. I have midterms, and that means I'm not on the computer. Instead I'm studying. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. You have to wonder why the snake DIDN'T land on someone. It could have...

Questions!

Chapter 6:

Why does Binns award Sa'zar's points to both of his houses?

Who was the Gryffindor Binns taught?

What task did Lucius set Dobby?

Why is Sirius the Slytherin heir?

Who else is an heir?

Why did Ron's rat react?

How much do you think Albus knows/suspects? (This is an opinion question.)

Who is the man in Tokyo? (To be answered in third year.)

Who is the Tigress? (To be answered in seventh year.)

Chapter 7:

Why are there two bludgers attacking?

Why does the Slytherin team keep playing?

Why does Flint want Collin's pictures?

Harry tells Draco something when he wakes the blond up. Where does the idea come from?

Opinion: Why will Gilderoy have to leave Hogwarts?

Chapter 8:

How does Harry know who Dobby is?

What does Dumbledore mean 'why'?

How does Dudley know about the shield?

Where did Emy's 'little Master' come from? (Not who gave it to her.)

Why didn't Tom's film melt?

Chapter 9:

Why is Ginny at the Club?

Who is Rolf?

What is Tom trying to hint at during his conversation with Snape?

Why did Snape pair Tom and Sa'zar? (There IS a reason for his doing that.)

Opinoun Question: How much do you think Snape knows/suspects?

As always, anyone who can tell me who Val is gets points. Her identity will be revealed in fifth year.

Points:

Gryffindor:92

Hufflepuff:106

Ravenclaw:91

Slytherin:120