Here We Go Again.
Chapter Thirteen: So They Do Care.
The party had been absolutely wild. Nobody recognized me, even though it was my masquerade birthday party, as I livened it up on the dance floor.
On my face I wore a beautiful Venetian mask, which was styled as a traditional colombina eye mask but with the addition of lightweight Filigree metal that was encrusted with crystals, and my dress was a playfully sexy black cocktail dress of iridescent taffeta, with classy pleating featured on the front side of the strapless bodice, and flouncy skirting that began slightly below the hip and fell to the knee, that also had a cute and sassy bow is the accent that brought the bodice and skirting together for a flair of innocence.
I looked beautiful and nobody knew it was me. My mood was dampened when I realised this, but I brightened immediately when I thought about how many people had taken up their precious time to go. This was a sign that there were lots of people who liked me in the castle, but then I thought that maybe they only went for the party.
Scorpius reassured me that everyone liked me extremely when I told him my thoughts during a Potions lesson one day. I was about to ask him how he would know when Professor Snape snapped at us to get back to work. I glowered at him but did as I was told, spending the rest of the lesson concentrating on my work.
After the lesson ended, Scorpius and I separated. He had a free period, so he went back to the Slytherin common room, agreeing to meet up with me later that day. I went straight to my favourite lesson, Defense Against the Dark Arts, with James, Fred, and Peaches, and all the Hufflepuffs—I love Hufflepuffs; they're so... gullible.
The Defense lesson passed by as smooth as silk. I beat James up a couple of times, though I reckon that's only because he didn't want to hurt me. If we weren't going out, he would so kick my arse. We swapped partners halfway through the lesson. James partnered with Charlie Grey, and I partnered off with the professor.
"Ready to get blown to smithereens, Professor?" I laughed, as Professor Du Lac and I circled each other.
"Are you, Riddle?" he retorted, smirking, wand in hand.
I laughed again; it was so easy to joke around with him. "I never lose."
"Nor do I."
And then our duel started. Du Lac shot the first spell, firing an Impediment Charm at him. He blocked it with Protego, and immediately shot the Tickling Charm at me, which I easily blocked. We continued to pass and block spells for a minute or two, but then it started to get serious as I cast Confringo at him. He flew backwards into the wall, and I was about to go see if he was okay, he slowly got back to his feet.
"Flagella Ignis."
I gasped as a large whip of flame was suddenly spun around the two of us in the middle of the classroom, blocking all the students from view. They could not see us, we could not see them, but I knew they had all stopped duelling as the sudden circle of flame shot out of Du Lac's wand. Then out of the blue, they all started shouting, panicking.
"It's alright, students," Du Lac called to them all. "It's just a duel. Nothing serious."
Yeah, because that is sooo reassuring for Hufflepuffs, I thought, with a roll of my eyes. Du Lac must've read my mind or something because as soon as I thought that, he looked over at me and laughed. Instead of fretting over it though, I shot a spell at him.
"Volostupefy," I screamed – the fire was making hideous hissing noises now, so I could barely hear myself think.
Lots of tiny little blasts of light shot out from my wand like a Stupefy cut into many little Stupefy's. In fact, that's exactly what the spell did. Du Lac had a little trouble blocking them all, but he did block some of them. Seeing that he was in an unconscious state of stupidity, I fired another spell at him.
"Incarcerous," I yelled happily.
Ropes hurled from my wand over to Du Lac. They wrapped around him and trapped him, capturing him, as soon as he recovered from my previous spell. With a growl that surprised me, the ropes were sliced in half as he used a spell I couldn't quite make out, though I knew I definitely wanted to learn that spell ASAP.
"Silencio," he shot at me, flicking his wand with elegance.
I ducked the spell and he fired it again, and again, and again. I continued to duck and roll around the floor, dodging the spell with all the gymnastic movements I could think of. I cart wheeled to avoid the last one. He then cast Rictusempra at me. It hit me and I fell into a fit of laughter.
"Finite," I giggled through hysterics, ending the spell immediately.
"Silencio," Du Lac yelled again.
I side flipped away from the spell, and he shot it once more. This time it hit me and I was silent, glaring daggers at my Defense teacher.
"Sorry, little missy," he laughed. "But I did say I never lose."
With a silent hiss, I threw my wand aside and got into a crouching position, ready to attack. He smirked and also dropped his wand, flexing his fingers as he awaited my attack. I bared my fangs at him in a grin. He knew what was coming and he was just going to go along with it. I liked that about him.
And so I ran.
I sprang at him, catching his shoulder in my hands and pushing him to the floor. I straddled him quickly, but he rolled my over, pinning me. I used all my strength to kick him in the stomach with the only part of me that was free; my legs. He flew backwards and landed with a dull thud. I ran at him again.
Finding my wand lying next to him, he fired Petrificus Totalus at me. Betrayed by my own wand, I fell next to him, landing on my side. I heard it snap and screamed in pain. It seemed the Silencing Charm had ended and I was free to say whatever the hell I wanted, so I let out a colourful string of curse words.
"Fuck, shit, crap," I hissed through my teeth.
The fire around us faded away to reveal to all of the cowering Hufflepuffs and cheering Gryffindors Professor Du Lac kneeling over me as I clutched my arm to my chest, both of our wands forgotten. The students let out gasps of shock and rushed over to see if I was okay.
So they do care after all, was my final thought before I slipped into unconsciousness.