Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling does. Also, if you see something that you did in one of your stories, it was not intentionally copied.
A major thank you to my Beta, Teufel1987. I was having some trouble coming up with ideas and he gave me a base that I was able to tweak to my liking.
Twin Trios
Chapter Ten
The first Quidditch of the game had crept up on Harry. He had written to his mother, and she had managed to go behind his father's back and buy him a Nimbus 2001. She told him to consider it an early Christmas present.
"Welcome to the first Quidditch match of the season," boomed the voice of the Gryffindor Lee Jordan. "It is a Slytherin versus Gryffindor matchup! Go, go Gryffindor!"
The majority of the school cheered at the statement while the other quarter plus some of the few people that didn't believe Slytherin was a synonym for evil booed. Jordan started to call out the names as they entered the pitch.
"From the Slytherin team, Captain Marcus Flint, Montague, Pucey, Derrick, Bole, Bletchley and Harry Potter!"
"Jordan!" The Gryffindor head of house had taken the megaphone from the student and given one of her frequent reminders to stay fair. They never worked. The Gryffindors choose that moment to come out.
"And here comes the Gryffindor team! Captain Oliver Wood, Spinnet, Bell, Johnson, Weasley, Weasley and Percy Potter!" They were met by cheers all around.
"Captains," barked the referee, Madame Hooch. "I want to see a nice clean game from all of you. Now shake hands."
Flint and Wood glared at each other, and shook hands like they were trying to crush the others' off, or severely injure them to impair the Quidditch playing. There was also the fact that there was unsettled business because of the fight over the pitch a month ago.
They broke apart and got back in to position. Shortly, the whistle blew starting the game.
Harry kicked off the ground, loving the feeling of wind that rushed by his ears every time he left the ground. He soared high into the air so he could observe the whole pitch. In the background he heard the Gryffindor commenting.
"Gryffindor in possession! Bell passes it to Johnson. Go Angelina! She gives it to Spinnet who takes it up the field. Good player that one. Spinnet passes it to Bell who shoots, and scores!"
The red and gold section burst into a loud cheer with slightly quieter cheers from the Hufflepuff and the Ravenclaw. The Slytherin's attempted to show their feeling, but were easily drowned out.
"Slytherin now has the Quaffle. Flint flies around Johnson-Come on Angelina!"
"Jordan," The transfiguration professor barked into the microphone.
"Sorry professor," He apologized, not sounding sorry at all. Meanwhile, Flint had passed it off to Pucey who then passed it to Montague. Montague shot and managed to slip it by Wood, who Harry had to admit was a pretty good keeper.
At this point Harry started to tune out the commentating and focus on finding the snitch. He spotted Percy circling around the pitch doing a bunch or tricks. 'Show off,' Harry thought. He flew towards his twin and was surprised at what he saw.
A Bludger was acting like his brother was the centre of the universe. Percy had managed to dodge all the attacks it had launched, but even when it missed it came circling back to have another go. So maybe he wasn't showing off.
"Having fun there?" Harry asked sarcastically. His brother looked up to see who was talking to him and in his moment of hesitation, the Bludger struck once again. It hit him right in the arm, and even from the distance Harry could hear the crack that signalled that it was broken.
Percy's face then turned into one of concentration, and he began to attempt to fly with a broken arm. Harry whirled around to find out why and saw with dread that Percy was chasing after the snitch. He started to race after it too.
He managed to pull even with Percy when the Bludger struck once again. It hit Percy in the side, which caused Percy to be pushed to his left-where Harry was. Harry was knocked off balance, though he quickly regained it. Percy's face told him that his twin was in pain, but at the moment they were both chasing after the snitch so neither cared.
The snitch dove and the two Seekers followed. The Bludger appeared to have disappeared, much to Harry's pleasure. It would be nice to beat his brother fairly instead of in that cheap way he did last year.
And then the Bludger re-appeared. It went in front of them, and then circled back, splitting them in the centre. Harry rolled to his left in order to dodge it, and he could sense Percy doing the same to his right. The snitch then decided it would be a nice time to change directions. To Harry's dismay, the little golden ball went to the right, a lot closer to Percy.
Harry spun his broom as fast as he could, but even his top speed wasn't enough to catch up with Percy. His brother's hand closed around the snitch.
"Gryffindor wins!" Lee Jordan announced to the crowd with no small amount of glee, "With a score of 190-50."
But the Bludger, despite tampering with the game, still wasn't done. As Percy raised his hand awkwardly to show the crowd the snitch while trying to land, it came back and knocked him off his broom.
Harry acted on reflex. He was able to not save his brother last year because he had had some time to think about it. But when someone was falling, friend or foe, you didn't really have time to think about it.
He caught Percy twenty feet off the ground, then barely managed to pull out of the dive he had done. He landed and saw that his father and some of the staff were heading towards them.
He walked out to greet them and to tell them what had happened so they could get a rematch, but they all just ran right by him, not even sparing him a second glance. He turned and saw them huddling around Percy. They had their wands out and were starting to levitate the Gryffindor, probably to take him to the hospital wing. He huffed in annoyance then headed back to the changing room.
He was not prepared for what met him.
The team was still fully dressed. Five of them were sitting in a line on the bench while Flint was standing up with his arms crossed. It was then that it hit Harry. Slytherins liked to win. They didn't take well to losing. But this was the first time that he had ever lost a game for them. Granted, since it was against Gryffindor it was probably the worst game he could lose. But since it was first time, would they take it slightly easier on him?
"Potter," Flint greeted him in a curt tone. When Harry said nothing, he proceeded. "What happened out there? You just lost us the game, and probably the cup as well! Gryffindor is going to have to lose another game to even give us a shot. What do you have to say for yourself?"
"I apologize," Harry started. "But that game was tampered with! There was this Bludger that followed the Gryffindor Seeker around the entire game!" Nobody on the team was impressed with his excuse.
"You think that's a reason?" Flint asked. "You think that the fact that a Bludger had been tampered with to follow the other Seeker is an excuse for why you, the one without the Bludger, lost?"
"Yes!" Harry insisted. "When we were chasing the snitch-"
"We don't want to hear it," Flint cut him off. "You had a perfect year last year, and as much as I would like it, it isn't possible for you to have one every single year." Harry sighed in relief. Maybe he would be getting off easier.
"That said," Flint asked. "I can't have these results often. If you can win both of the remaining games, and get us into second place minimum, then you can have your spot again next year. But if you don't…" He trailed off, letting his words sink in.
Harry didn't really have a huge love for Quidditch, even though he did enjoy playing it. He just wasn't as fanatical like some of the other people he knew. But he wanted to keep his spot on the Quidditch team; even it is just to rub it in Percy's face if he's having a bad day.
"Now get out of my sight!" barked Flint, clearly dismissing Harry. Harry ran out of the change room as fast as his legs would carry him.
!#$%^&*
That week, Harry learned that Slytherin house was a lot like the rest of the school. They were like a bunch of sheep. Last year when he beat Gryffindor, they had loved him and treated him and his friends great. But now that he had lost, they hated him. They never said that was why he was being treated so coldly, and used the excuse of his heritage again. In turn, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were being treated even more badly than normal.
Harry continued to go to Quidditch, though it was weird to be given the cold shoulder by the captain. It would've been more comforting if he had been yelled at 24/7. Flint still yelled at the rest of the team though.
To make things worse, there was another attack the night after the Quidditch match. An annoying first-year named Colin Creevey was found outside the Hospital Wing, where Percy had ended up staying the night just in case his bones hurt. It didn't take a genius to connect the dots. At least, that's the story that Harry heard.
Another good thing: Harry had gone back to the Chamber of Secrets and had looked at Callidus again. He was in a very similar state that Mrs. Norris had been in that night, so Harry had hope. His friend was probably just petrified like the other two victims, not dead like he had originally thought. Harry knew that Professors Snape and Sprout were working on a potion to revive the others, so he could probably sneak in and get some when it was done.
Harry, now joined by Ginny, continued to run on the schedule he had laid out. Her enthusiasm soon dampened, she was stubborn and came every morning to the running sessions. It was something that Harry both liked and disliked about her.
Harry walked to his Defence Against the Dark Arts class with butterflies in his stomach and a plan in his head. Lockhart, who Harry had decided wasn't worthy of the title of professor, barely taught them anything at all. He only used his twin as an acting dummy to show scenes from his books. Harry did have to admit that Percy looked funny with a snout.
But today he would actually accomplish something in this class. There are only two girls in the class that don't adore Lockhart like the rest do. Unfortunately, Hermione wasn't among them, but to Harry's pleasure Daphne was. So he was going to talk to her that class.
"Sorry, what was that?" Ron had been nudging him for the past minute. Ron rolled his eyes at his friend.
"Honestly, Harry. I asked you a question almost three minutes ago." They were all at the entrance to the classroom. Hermione broke off from them to join the usual rush of girls all trying to get a good view of their teacher.
"What was it?" Harry asked Ron.
"I wanted to know," he looked around then dropped his voice so even Harry could barely hear him. "I wanted to know if you had any more theories about the heir." He looked at Harry expectantly.
"No, I'm sorry but I don't," Harry told him tiredly. His friends asked him if he had found something new at least once every day. "I've been looking in the library for records of a guy named Tom Riddle, but I've found very little. Only that he went to Hogwarts from 1938-45."
Ron looked disappointed, but accepted it. Just then Lockhart popped his head out of the door with a smile that made it seem like he was trying to blind them and told them all to come in.
They all sat down (Harry made sure to get a seat near Daphne) and waited for a few minutes as their professor looked at himself in the mirror, every now and then shifting his hair. Eventually, the bell rang, signalling the start of class.
"Good morning class," Lockhart said brightly. He received an enthusiastic 'good morning,' from about half the class, and a mumble of words from the others. Apparently that satisfied him, because he continued on.
"Today, we are going to be studying what happened to the yeti I dealt with. Let's see, yes, Mr. Potter, I'm glad to see that you show such an active participation in my class!"
Percy got up reluctantly and dragged his feet to the front of the class. Lockhart got out his wand and performed some mediocre transfiguration, giving Percy a bit of white fur that only covered spots of his body. Lockhart launched out into his daily speech that was almost the exact same thing that was in his books. All the guys started to whisper quietly to each other. During this time Harry slid over to Daphne and put his plan into motion.
"Hi Daphne," Harry greeted her. She turned her head to face Harry, causing her hair to whip around in a nice way.
"Oh. Hello Harry. How are you" She answered politely.
"I… I'm fine," he got out, "How about you?"
"Oh, you know how it is," she said to him. Harry really didn't know 'how it is,' but he found himself nodding anyway. He glanced back up at the front of the room to see Lockhart had Percy pinned up against the wall with his hands-no magic at all. The girls were content just to sit there while most of the guys didn't even notice.
"Pretty stupid, that," Harry said to Daphne, while making a gesture towards all the star struck girls, focusing on a point just off her face so he wouldn't be reduced to a stuttering mess.
"Yeah," she agreed. "Does anyone actually think that he would be able to do all those things? I mean, certain events overlap!" Harry nodded in agreement. The two Slytherins then fell into an awkward silence. It was at that moment that Harry remembered his original reason for coming over to speak to her.
"Wannahangoutsometime?" he asked her really quickly; too quickly, apparently, because she looked at him funny, and he had to repeat himself a lot slower.
"Would you like to hang out sometime?" Daphne's face was unreadable, so Harry had no clue about what she thought about the suggestion.
"I mean, none of our two Defence teachers have been that useful in actually teaching. So … I thought… we could research some spells and practice them in an empty classroom."
He waited with baited breath, thinking that Daphne was going to laugh or maybe look at him like he was an idiot for asking her that question so shakily. But to his surprise, a cold calculating look in her eye appeared then disappeared so fast that Harry thought he just imagined it. She then smiled and responded.
"Sure, that'd be lovely. It will be a nice change from all the incompetent morons that we always have class with," she said with a sneer.
"Are you taking sneering lessons from our head of house?" Harry joked. Daphne's musical laugh rang through the class, getting the attention of everybody but the professor. Anyone competent would've told them off for talking in class. But then again, if it had been anyone competent, they would've been paying attention.
After telling Daphne that he would meet her in the library after lunch on Saturday, the rest of the class passed reasonably quickly for Harry, all of the butterflies in his stomach were now gone and were replaced by an uncontainable excitement to spend time with Daphne. He practically skipped out of the class, so fast that his two other friends needed to jog to catch up with him.
"What's gotten you so excited?" Hermione asked him. He looked at her, and then seemed to remember that he was in public. Immediately he calmed down to a neutral expression, though he still had a bit of trouble containing his excitement.
"Nothing," he said. They both didn't believe him, but he was afraid that if he told them that they would demand to come too, which would ruin his time with just him and Daphne.
"Whatever," Hermione said while rolling her eyes. "Don't tell us." She then lowered her voice and after checking to make sure no one was around.
"So when are you going back to the Chamber?" she asked. Instantly, Harry's good mood was basically wiped out at the reminder of the problem that loomed over the school. The chamber would just remind him of what happened with Callidus, which just made him want to cry. Not that he did anymore. Crying wasn't very productive. Sure, it felt good to do every once in a while, like he had almost done in the chamber but it was dumb to cry multiple times for the same reason.
"I haven't decided yet," Harry replied evenly. "The older basilisk isn't there, so there's no point in going to try and stop it. Plus-" He was about to point out another excuse of why he didn't want to go back down into the chamber when Hermione cut him off.
"But what about the library?" she asked her eyes shining. Even Ron, who had been silent in the conversation up to this point perked up. "I finally found a spell that allows someone to translate a whole book into another language, as long as they know both. Of course, the grammar is going to be terrible, but if we can fix that up, imagine the knowledge we could get from the personal library of a founder!"
"Really?" Harry asked, mildly impressed that they had managed to find one. He didn't even know one and he's lived in the Potter family library for half his life. "Show me."
They had reached the great hall now and took their seats at the Slytherin table. Hermione reached into her book bag and after a moment of searching she found a spare piece of parchment and a… pencil?
Harry was surprised that Hermione had brought one of her muggle writing utensils to Hogwarts. Normally the purebloods frown upon the use of non-magical things so much that nobody brought Muggle items to school. He only knew what pencils were because he had seen his mother use them before and he had seen them in a few expensive shops. He doubted that Ron had ever been in one.
"What's that thing?" Ron asked stupidly. He had taken a break from the conversion to eat some food and when he started to listen again, he saw Hermione pulled some parchment and something that was very similar to a stick.
"This is a pencil, Ron," Hermione told him in an annoyed tone. "It's easier to write with than a quill, and doesn't require ink." Harry noticed how she had conveniently forgotten to mention that a pencil did need to be sharpened. Ron still looked fascinated.
Hermione wrote down a short sentence on the parchment she had taken out then showed it to Harry and Ron. It read Je peux parler.
"I know a bit of French," Hermione explained. "Since I know what this means, I'm able to translate to English for you guys to read." She carefully ripped the piece of parchment in two, with the French sentence on one half and a blank sheet on the other. "The more text you try to translate, the more power it takes, so that's why I only wrote down a short sentence."
She then pointed her wand at the paper and cast the spell.
"Reddo hoc lacuna" she spoke quietly. A glow erupted from the paper, and Hermione then pointed at the empty piece of parchment. Words slowly started to form, until it said I can speak.
"So will you do it?" She asked eagerly. Harry thought for a moment, and then sighed.
"Okay, fine." He said. "I'll do it when I go down there this weekend." At this, Ron frowned.
"Harry, why don't you ever take us anymore?" He asked. Harry looked up in surprise. He hadn't thought his friends had noticed that he preferred to go alone now. They were more observant then he gave them credit for. He didn't really know the reason, only that he liked going there alone. So instead he made up something on the spot.
"It's not safe for you guys down there right now," he invented wildly, "With the other heir on the loose and a missing one thousand year old basilisk and all. If I just go down there alone, I have a better chance of being able to control it because I won't have to worry about your safety."
Ron and Hermione seemed to accept that, but Harry knew that with that excuse he wouldn't get out of taking them down when that was no longer a problem.
!#$^%&*
To Harry it seemed like Saturday could not come fast enough. The days seemed to trickle by as the weekend approached. Finally it was there. Harry did a bit of homework on the Friday night, explaining to Professor Snape five uses for the swelling solution, deciding he could hold off his essay for charms until Saturday afternoon or Sunday when he wasn't in the chamber.
Harry went to bed and after an hour of tossing in anticipation, he let sleep take him. He woke the next morning at his normal time and left the Slytherin common room to go to the Room of Requirement. He and Ginny had stopped running together, though he wasn't quite sure why. They normally just met and started to run without talking at all. He frowned absentmindedly, wondering what he had done to upset her. At that moment he reached the seventh floor and entered the room.
Just as he entered, he saw Ginny slipping something back into her bag. 'Probably that diary that she brings with her everywhere,' Harry thought.
"Hi," he said to her. She mumbled a hello while bending over to tie her flaming red hair in the ponytail that she normally ran with. When she didn't say anything else, he started to run his normal routine. About halfway around his first lap noticed that she had also started, her hair trailing out behind her in a fascinating way.
When Harry was done for the day, he waited for her to finish too, which is not something he normally did. She stopped, panting, sweaty and slightly red in the face.
Harry waited for her to take a drink from one of the water bottles that they had ordered house elves to bring for us before starting on what he wanted to say.
"So how's it going?" Harry asked her. She looked up, startled and confused. They hadn't talked in a reasonable amount of time, so she thought that Harry had just lost interest in their friendship.
"Fine…" Ginny responded slowly as though she was trying to figure out why he had asked her that question. "Why do you care?"
Harry was taken back. He didn't think that she would react in a hostile manner.
"Because you're my friend," he told her. "And I care about what you're doing."
Harry then changed his voice into something a little more teasing, hoping that it would allow her to open up to him like she used to.
"You know, just in case there are any guys that are trying to approach you…" he trailed off. After a moment, Ginny's eyes widened, finally realizing what he said.
"Harry!" she screamed playfully. "I already have six older brothers to do that." Her face darkened and she added under her breath "If any of them other then Ron still care about me." Harry was pretty sure that he was not meant to have heard that.
The conversation started to flow more smoothly after that. Harry learned that Ginny's first flying lesson was much less intense then Harry's, as no one had fallen off their broom and in exchange he told Ginny some of the things they were doing in class. He didn't know why he didn't tell her about the Chamber. When Harry thought about it a bit more about it, he had been very rash to include Ron and Hermione with knowledge about the Chamber. He had barely known them for two months. Luckily, they turned out to be trustworthy, but he doesn't want to tell Ginny until he was sure that she could be trusted.
They caught up with each other until Harry realized what time it was. The clock read around eight, so he figured he should go and change before waking Ron up to spend some time with his other two friends before lunch. Since he would be occupied after lunch… realizing how close that was, Harry's stomach did a little back flip.
!#$%^&*
"Hey." "Hello."
There was a moment of awkward silence as the two Slytherins greeted each other. It was a bit after lunch and Harry had made sure not to eat too much for fear of being sick. Finally Daphne broke the silence.
"So, what do you want to research first?" she asked him. Harry already knew some duelling spells above their level, such as the stunning spell and impedimenta jinx, but he didn't want Daphne to know that. So the first thing was to…
"Why don't we look up some spells that we want to learn?" He suggested. "Then make a list and move to an unused classroom to practice." Daphne looked at him and nodded, making him start to feel a little warm. They headed over to the shelves and took out some books like Magical Defence Made Easy and A Guide to Beginner's Duelling Spells. He found the stunning spell.
"How about this one?" he showed Daphne after taking a deep breath. "It knocks out a person until they're revived by someone else." She looked it over before nodding her head and taking her quill and writing the incantation, effect and the wand movement of the spell on the piece of parchment that she had gotten out for their list. They then went back to work in silence.
Every so often, one of them would find a spell that looked like it would be useful (or fun) to know. After around an hour they had a list of spells.
"Do you want to finish for today or would you like to practise some of the spells that we've written down?" Daphne asked turning to Harry. Harry answered right away.
"Let's try and practise some spells," he said without even thinking about it, while trying not to sound too eager or too happy about spending more time with her. She picked up her bag without another word and looked at Harry. He quickly left with her.
They walked in an awkward silence for a few moments before he tried to create some conversation.
"So do you have any siblings?" he asked her. Daphne was silent for a few moments before she answered.
"Yes, I do. Her name's Astoria. She'll be coming to Hogwarts next year. I guess it would be pointless to ask you the same question wouldn't it?" She added while smiling. Harry looked down, trying to hide the blush that had formed.
"Yep," Harry said. "I do have one sibling… I think you might have heard of him. Percy Potter?" Daphne recognized what he was trying to do and decided to play along.
"Percy Potter… the name does ring a bell… Isn't he the Seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch team?" she said. They fell back into silence after that, but this time it felt more comfortable then awkward.
After finding an empty classroom on the second floor, they looked at their list of spells and settled on the stunning spell to learn first. Daphne agreed with Harry that it would be a good foundation of how to learn the other spells.
"So how should we try and practise them?" Daphne asked Harry. "It's not like we know any spells that would protect the wall if we actually do succeed." Harry thought for a moment then spoke.
"How about we practice casting the spell at each other?" He suggested. Daphne thought about it for a moment then nodded her consent. Daphne went to one side of the room while Harry went to the opposite.
"You try casting it first," Harry called. Daphne didn't even bother answering, but instead she flicked the wand like you were supposed to and said "stupefy". Harry braced himself for the unlikely result that she would be able to do it on her first try, but it turned out to be pointless. Her wand jerked a little, but no light shot out of it towards Harry.
She tried it again and again. Harry could tell that Daphne was concentrating very hard on attempting to do the spell, so he didn't interrupt her to have his turn. He knew he could already do this spell, and still hadn't figured out a way that he could make it look like he tried to cast it and failed.
He was startled out of his thoughts by a flash of red light, and then saw no more.
!#$%^&*
When Harry came to, he noticed that the room was empty and that he was slightly bruised. Cursing himself for letting his guard down by expecting Daphne not to be able to actually cast the spell, he made sure he still had his wand and left the classroom. He found the girl he was looking for in the Slytherin common room. Luckily, neither Ron nor Hermione were also in the room.
He sat down beside her and glared at her angrily. "What was that for?"
She absentmindedly marked her page in a book on spell casting and looked at Harry with innocent eyes.
"What was what for?" She asked, pretending to be confused by what Harry had asked her. Harry sighed, trying not to get angry at the girl he had a crush on… at least, he thought it was a crush.
"You just stunned me and left me there! I could've been caught by Filch! Do you know how much explaining I would've had to do about why I was unconscious? Or I could've shamelessly pranked by peeves! How could you?" Harry said intently, doing his best not to raise his voice and partially succeeding.
"Well," Daphne answered. "I don't know how to revive people. Do you?" She waited before continuing, waiting for Harry to answer. He looked at the ground and muttered "No."
"Exactly, so what would be the point of both of us sticking around and getting caught? As you pointed out, you could've been caught and had to explain. What would they have done if I had been there with you?" Harry found that he couldn't stay angry at her after that. But then she added. "You should've tried to dodge it anyways."
He glared at her again, but this time it was a more playful glare. "I was thinking about other things," Was his excuse.
"Too bad for you then," Daphne taunted gleefully.
!#$%^&
Harry and Daphne continued to meet at irregular times so Ron and Hermione didn't notice. After that mishap on the first day, the next spell they had researched was how to revive a person after knocking them unconscious. That way when they had to practice Stupefy again, the same thing did not happen.
After meeting for two weeks or so, Harry woke up and came down to the common room to find a crowd around the notice board. He noticed that Ginny was among them, so he went over and tapped her on the shoulder.
"Hello Harry," she said to him. "I guess you want to know what this is about." She gestured to the crowd while saying this.
"That'd be great," Harry said, a bit annoyed that she had been able to tell exactly what he wanted.
"Apparently there's a duelling club starting up this term. The first meeting is in a few days."
"Who's teaching it?" Harry asked her. He was worried when he saw Ginny smile, and then grimace at the question.
"Professor Lockhart," she told him. It was there that Harry decided that he probably wouldn't like to go. He and Daphne almost knew enough spells to have mock duels, so there wouldn't really be anything to gain that he could see. Remembering Ginny's reaction when she knew the answer, he asked her another question.
"And how do you feel about him?" He asked her. Since he had never had a class with Ginny (for obvious reasons) he didn't know what she thought of Lockhart. Harry wondered what Lockhart did for the other classes since he didn't have Percy to act out parts from his books. Maybe he made other people act out?
"Well," Ginny started. "I grew up with my mum talking about him and how amazing he is. I must admit… he isn't bad looking." She said that was a blush on her face. "But now that I've met him, he doesn't seem anything like the person that's in his books."
Harry nodded in understanding. In his mind, he pointed out that it was the same mother that had mistreated Ron all those years, but he didn't dare say it out loud. At that moment he saw Daphne leaving the common room alone.
"Bye Ginny," he called as he started to walk quickly away. For some reason Ginny looked a bit annoyed, but Harry pushed that out of his mind instantly as he had caught up with Daphne.
"So did you hear about the duelling club?" he asked her. She glanced at him and nodded.
"Yes I have. I think I'll go, how about you?" Was what she said. Harry was surprised. He didn't think that she would want to go.
"I don't see a point in going. I mean, we almost know enough spells to have mock duels, so why go and see everyone else?" He argued. Daphne considered for a moment before speaking.
"You have a point. But I want to go for two other reasons. Number one, it's good to know what the other people can do, just in case that information is needed. And two, we can duel any time, but we won't be able to do the same with others as often. And it will be useful to duel with more other people as it will give us more experience in duelling, making us more effective duellists." Harry thought about it for a moment. Why did she have to have so many good reasons?
"Fine, I'll go." He said, pretending to sulk a little before going to find Ron and Hermione for the day.
The days passed and the time for the duelling club arrived. Harry arrived with Ron and Hermione. He could see Daphne's dark hair in the crowd, along with Ginny's red hair. Unfortunately, he could also see his brother and Draco Malfoy in the crowd as well. The four house tables had been replaced by a platform in the middle of the room.
"Everybody gather round!" Lockhart called out over the crowd. It was then that Harry noticed that he had someone else there with him… Professor Snape. Nobody heard Lockhart until Snape raised his wand, pointing it in the air and shot off a loud bang. Everyone become quiet instantly.
"Thank you professor Snape," Lockhart said while trying to blind the Slytherin head of house with his teeth. "Of course, I could've done that myself but I was just trying to make sure you were paying attention." Snape gave Lockhart a glare that would've had any student running, but the Defence professor didn't seem to notice.
Harry ignored the rest of what Lockhart was saying to charm the crowd; though Hermione seemed to be clinging on to every word… maybe he should invite them to duel a bit with Daphne. He had come here to duel, not to be bored to death. Finally he noticed that Snape was going through the crowd, pointing at two different people that probably didn't get along and pairing them off to duel. Eventually he got to Harry, Ron and Hermione.
"Potter, you go with…" He scanned the crowd before finding a face that satisfied him. "You shall pair off with Malfoy." He pushed Harry towards the aristocrat, not giving him time to hear who Ron and Hermione got paired with. He looked back to see that Hermione was paired off with Millicent Bulstrode, another girl in his year and in Slytherin who looked like she could fight better without a wand then with one, while Ron had been placed with one of the Malfoy goons, Crabbe?
"Now," Lockhart started. "One my whistle, disarm only ... Three, two, one, begin!" Malfoy had started before the whistle, which Harry hadn't really been expecting. Fortunately, Harry had decent reflexes from Quidditch and easily dodged the spell purple spell Malfoy had sent his way that Harry did not recognise. Obviously Malfoy still held a grudge against Harry for defending his Seeking position, judging by the way that spell made the hairs on Harry's arm stand."Expelliarmus," Harry said calmly while aiming his wand towards his opponent. A jet of scarlet light came out of his wand and headed towards Malfoy, but the other Slytherin moved out of the way. Before anything else could happen, Snape let out a bang with his wand again. Harry looked around the room.
He saw that his brother had been paired up with Neville Longbottom. The Boy-Who-Lived had a smirk on his face, and Neville lay on the ground. Harry recalled Hermione's twin being able to stun, and figured she had probably taught his brother. Millicent had ugly, painful looking spots all over her face, though it looked Hermione didn't do anything. Ron had Crabbe's wand. Daphne was over her unconscious opponent with their wand in her hand and a smirk on her face.
The rest of the room was even more chaotic. Professor Snape stepped up to the podium.
"Obviously none of you… students can even cast jinxes and curses properly. Let's find a pair who can…" The Slytherin head of house looked around the room, before to Harry's horror, landed on Malfoy and himself.
Harry had noticed that Snape had started to be a little colder to him, and this would be a great opportunity to embarrass one of the Potter children. If Harry lost, the Slytherins would never hear the end of Malfoy's gloating while if he won, it would make Harry look more powerful then Percy.
"Potter, Malfoy. Come up here now!" He barked in a tone that invited no argument, not that either of the two boys was stupid enough to do that. They scrambled up to the platform and stood across from each other at opposite ends. Lockhart, sensing that he was starting to lose control on the situation, spoke up.
"Alright boys," he cried out joyfully. "First, we bow." The two Slytherins bent their backs as little as possible. Harry didn't trust Malfoy enough to take his eyes of him, and apparently the blonde felt the same way.
"On three, start. One. Two. Three!"
Malfoy actually waited until three to strike this time. Harry had been prepared to dodge at two, but he was still prepared when the first spell came.
"Stupefy," called out Malfoy. The red light shot out of his wand and towards Harry, who managed to dodge it. In his mind, Harry made a mental note to tell Daphne that they should research a bit of shielding too.
Harry retaliated with a disarming charm, which Malfoy managed to avoid. The duel continued. It appeared that neither boy knew how to use a shielding charm, but they both knew some offensive spells. Malfoy, because most purebloods were tutored before Hogwarts and Harry because of the things he did by himself at home and with Daphne.
They started to get into the more dangerous spells. Harry finally revealed that he could cast a stunning spell while Malfoy tried to cast Rictusempra. Both spells missed their targets. But it appeared that Malfoy had had enough, because with a look of frustration and a hint of anger, he cast his next spell.
"Serpensortia," he called out. A medium sized green snake shot out of the tip of the wand. He looked around and started to hiss. Harry could understand it, but he made sure to keep his mouth closed so people didn't start to believe that he was the heir of Slytherin.
$ Stupid humans, thinking he could just summon me. But I am hungry… yes, very hungry. And here's a large amount of prey. Which one looks good… how about that one with the black hair? $
Harry looked to see who the snake was eyeing up to eat and saw that it was a second year Hufflepuff. Harry couldn't remember his name, but he did realize that he would have to do something to stop the snake from harming anyone else. But Harry didn't know what he could do to help.
Percy Potter stepped up from where he was, just on the opposite side of the platform.
$ Stop, I command you as the Boy-Who-Lived! $ He hissed out. Harry almost tried to back him up until he realized that his brother had just revealed his ability as a Parselmouth. Although he could understand what his brother had said, no one else could.
In fact, if Harry didn't know better he would say that Percy just encouraged the snake. It just sped up its attack. The snake reared up, baring its fangs to attack.
"Stupefy."
A jet of red light shot out of the potion master's wand and hit the angry serpent, knocking it to the side as well as knocking it out. All the eyes in the hall were focused of Percy, and for the first time he actually looked like he didn't want the attention. A look of horror showed up on his face. To everyone else, it looked like that was because he was horrified at the fact that he basically revealed to the school that he was a Parselmouth. Harry, on the other hand knew the real reason. It was because Percy hadn't been aware that he had that trait.
"What are you playing at?" the Hufflepuff that the snake had almost attacked yelled at Percy before running out of the hall. His group of friends picked up their stuff and ran after him. Percy, Ray and Gabriel soon followed.
"Dismissed," Harry heard Professor Lockhart say faintly, but nobody really paid attention to him. They were all discussing what had just happened. Harry, Ron and Hermione joined the flow leaving the great hall. They were silent. The three friends travelled to the Room of Requirement.
When they were finally comfortable and felt like they wouldn't be over heard was when Harry spoke out.
"The entire school's going to think that he's the heir." He stated. Ron and Hermione nodded in agreement.
"That will remove any suspicion that anyone had on you, Harry," Ron told him. Harry was startled.
"Unless they remember that Harry and Percy are brothers," Hermione said. Harry didn't seem to hear her though.
"What? I wasn't aware that anyone suspected me as the heir of Slytherin. The funny thing is that they're right, but I'm not the one that's attacking students. Who thought it was me?" He asked Ron.
"I heard Malfoy spreading some rumours after the Quidditch practice to try and turn some people against you." Harry closed his eyes. Although it was the middle of the day, he felt sort of tired and wanted to go have a nap.
"And Harry," Hermione added after he told them that and got up to go. "How's Callidus?" Harry was taken aback; he didn't expect his friends to care about the snake that they knew next to nothing about.
"He's okay ... as well as you can be while petrified," Harry quickly answered before fleeing the room.
And that's chapter ten of this story! It seems like it's just yesterday that I started! So anyway, I have a question for the readers.
What pairing would you prefer; Harry/Ginny or Harry/Daphne? As you can see, I tried to set it up so it could go either way. At the time I started to write this I was a huge Harry/Ginny fan, but that has faded a bit and now I prefer Harry/Daphne. The only problem is that I don't think I could write a good Daphne (how am I doing so far?). So what do you guys want?
I'm going to put a poll on my profile, so head over there to vote! And don't forget to review.