To Duel Or Not To Duel
The rest of the first day of classes passed without any problems. At dinner time, Harry caught sight of Snape and Lockhart talking. He managed to walk close enough to overhear their conversation briefly.
"I'm afraid I may have…inadvertently left the latch a bit unsecure on the cage you see. And they were so kind enough as to stay and round them up for me…lessons to prepare for and all," Lockhart rambled. Harry could tell that Snape wanted nothing more than to hex the man in front of him. Snape caught sight of Harry and gave the boy a glare before turning away from the other Professor. Harry averted his gaze and joined Ron and Hermione at the Gryffindor table.
"I don't think Snape will give us detention. Lockhart told him the same thing we did," he informed his friends.
"That won't stop him, Harry. It's Snape…he doesn't think he needs a reason," Ron grumbled. Harry just shrugged and piled food onto his plate. A few seats down, Ginny sat staring at her food. She merely pushed it around the plate. Ron looked over at his sister.
"Oi, Gin. You ok?" he asked. Ginny jumped at the sound of his voice.
"What?" she asked.
"Are you ok? You look a little pale," Ron answered, simultaneously attempting to steal the chicken thigh off of her plate. She swatted his hand away without even looking at it.
"I'm fine," she answered, standing up and stalking away from the table. Fred and George leaned across the table.
"What's with her?" Fred asked.
"Dunno. Maybe she's just nervous after her first day," Ron mumbled, reaching over to the plate and taking the piece of chicken.
Harry looked up as footsteps walked behind them. He caught Snape glaring at them as he walked by the table. He did not look very happy to be waking by and not doling out detention. However he felt he should at least just this once keep his word. Hermione let out a breath once the surly Professor had reached the Staff table.
"Maybe you're right. It looks like he isn't going to give us detention…but he certainly doesn't look too happy about it," she commented as they finished eating.
"What do we have next?" Harry asked as they walked out of the Great Hall. Hermione pulled out her timetable and scanned it.
"We've got Transfiguration next," she answered and the trio headed off in that direction.
The afternoon passed rather quickly and soon the trio found themselves claiming seats in the Common Room, pulling out their Potions books. Ron stared at the assignment and let out a groan.
"I can't believe he gave us an essay on the first day," he bemoaned.
"I can't believe its due in two days," Harry added.
"Oh honestly. It's not that hard," Hermione muttered with a shake of her head. They fell into relative silence as each began the essay. In the Ravenclaw Common Room, Irlynn sat working on Charms homework. She sat in a plush seat, her legs crossed beneath her. She was so engrossed in her reading that she didn't hear Luna walk up.
"Hi Irlynn," Luna said in her dreamy voice. Irlynn looked up, startled.
"Oh, hi Luna. You startled me," Irlynn replied, setting her book aside. Luna sat down in the chair next to her.
"I'm sorry. How was your summer?" Luna asked.
"It was fine. Got to see a lot of my Muggle friends which was great. I really miss them during the term you know," Irlynn rambled on. Luna nodded her head, her large blue eyes staring at the other girl intensely.
"How about you?" she asked.
"Oh very good, thank you. What are you working on?" Luna answered.
"Charms," Irlynn replied, holding up the book. Luna nodded her head again and stood up.
"I think I'm going to go down to the kitchens and get some pudding," she said and wandered off. Irlynn just watched her go and turned her attention back to her homework.
Afternoon turned into evening and then into night time. The trio all turned in early, exhausted from the first day of classes. When they awoke the next morning, they found large flyers covering the bulletin board in the Common Room advertising a Dueling Club run by none other than Professor Lockhart.
"What do you think? Should we go? I reckon it'd be a right good laugh to see Lockhart in action," Ron snickered as they headed to breakfast.
"I don't know. I mean…it's only the second day," Harry replied.
"Oh come on, Harry. It will be fun. And you're a great wizard," Hermione prodded.
"Ok. We can go. But I don't know about actually dueling. We've never done it before," Harry conceded with a sigh. Hermione looked thrilled with the agreement and smiled to herself.
"She's love struck," Ron whispered.
"I don't see what they all like about the idiot," he added.
"Guess we'll find out this afternoon," Harry replied, piling some sausages onto his plate.
Harry looked around the Great Hall, finally spotting Irlynn at the Ravenclaw table. She looked up just in time to catch his gaze. She gave him a small wave and he returned the gesture.
"Do you ever wish she was in Gryffindor?" Ron asked, pulling Harry back to the present.
"Huh?" he mumbled.
"Do you ever wish Irlynn was in Gryffindor?" Ron repeated.
"Sometimes. But she seems happy to be in Ravenclaw," Harry answered, realizing students in their year were heading out of the Hall. They followed suit and found themselves subjected to the unfortunate circumstance of History of Magic Year Two.
"I thought we were done with this rubbish," Ron grumbled.
"Just because you don't find it fascinating," Hermione shot back.
"Hermione…no one but you likes this class," Harry interjected. She just shook her head and pulled out an ink bottle, quill and piece of parchment. Professor Binns' ghost appeared at the front of the room and began to drone on in his usual manner, picking up the where the class had ended the year before. Harry was never more excited to go to lunch than he was at the end of History of Magic.
"Who do you suppose will be at the Dueling Club?" Harry asked, spotting Irlynn.
"I suppose most everyone," she replied.
"You going?" he asked.
"Yeah. I've never done it before…it sounds fun," she said with a smile.
"I bet you'll be good at it," she added, nudging him in the arm. He tried to hide a small smile.
"Thanks," he mumbled.
"I'll see you later. I've got Transfiguration," she called and rushed off in the opposite direction they were going in.
The stretch of afternoon classes passed quickly that day, the anticipation of the dueling club thick in the air. Students moved in large packs through the corridors, conversations filled with theories and guesses as to what was going to happen. When the last class of the day finally let out, the entirety of the Hogwarts student body arrived en masse at the doors to the Great Hall.
Lee Jordan and Oliver Wood managed to make it to the front of the crowd and pushed open the doors. Everyone swarmed into the room to find the tables all pushed to the edges of the room, a raised platform in the center of the room. People set bags down out of the way and milled around, catching up with friends from other years and houses. After a few minutes, Lockhart appeared, stepping up onto the stage. Harry, Ron and Hermione had caught up with Irlynn and they stood in a small huddle near the front of the room. Ron was the first to spot the other Professor entering the room.
"What's he doing here?" he hissed, drawing his friends' attention to the tall, lanky, darkly clad form of Professor Snape.
"Great…he's not giving us detention…he's going to punish us with this," Harry gasped.
"Don't be silly," Hermione hissed.
"I kind of agree with Ron and Harry," Irlynn interjected.
Lockhart looked out at the students filling the space. He gave hem his sugary sweet smile and clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. Slowly voices died down to a whisper and then the room fell silent.
"I would like to thank you all for coming today. I am sure you are all anxious to enhance and sharpen your dueling skills. And I am here to be your guide," Lockhart boomed. Several girls made swooning noises while several of the boys snorted in amusement. Next, Lockhart turned to Snape.
"And today, Professor Snape has agreed to help me demonstrate proper dueling technique," he added. Without another word, the two men faced each other in the center of the platform. They turned on their heels and walked several paces in opposite directions before turning back to face each other. Snape was quick as a whip.
"Expeliarmus," he chanted with a minute flick of his wand. Lockhart was sent hurtling backwards several feet, landing on his back. Several of the students let out snickers. Lockhart quickly pulled himself to his feet and gave a small laugh of his own.
"I could have deflected his spell had I wanted to," he announced.
"This is going to be loads of fun," Ron whispered.