School wasn't as happy as it had been the previous year when they got back. Everyone was walking around in packs, and nobody wanted to be alone. Worst of all, Professor Korwinkie had decided to start a dueling club.
"This is stupid. He is the Potions professor." Elsa grumbled as she followed Alice and James down the steps into the dungeons.
"Stop grumbling." Alice scolded her lightly with a smile. "Learning new things is fun!"
"I seriously wonder what your definition of fun is sometimes." Elsa replied with a sigh, but she said no more as they walked.
They walked past empty classrooms. Elsa saw a creepy looking door, completely covered in cobwebs and dust, which stood out because the others looked exceptionally clean.
She ignored the shiver that passed through her spine at the ominous door as they walked into another classroom. This classroom looked as though it had been magically enlarged as it was quite bigger than other classrooms. There was a huge platform in the middle of the room that looked as though it was for walking on.
Through the sea of black robes and capes, the trio saw Korwinkie standing at the end of them. Elsa saw him because of his mop of blonde hair and because of that ever-present annoying smile on his face.
"Why does Hogwarts even need a dueling club? Isn't that what Defense Against the Dark Arts is for?" Elsa asked, before getting pushed out of the way by some older Slytherins that walked into the room. She glared at their backs and walked closer to her two friends.
"Testing, testing!" she heard Korwinkie's voice, "Can you all hear me?" Everyone quieted down instantly. Elsa wondered if she could slip out unnoticed, but her thoughts were broken by the doors closing. "I am going to be teaching you all how to defend yourself in time of a crisis!"
Elsa rolled her eyes and looked down at her long nails. "I want a volunteer!" he said. After a minuscule pause, he called out "Mr. Potter!"
James groaned but walked up. Elsa giggled and watched as her friend climbed up onto the long platform.
"Now this is getting interesting." Elsa said with a smile. Alice rolled her eyes but agreed with Elsa.
The girls watched as their friend was to block spells from Korwinkie. He was doing very well. All of the sudden, though, Elsa heard someone around her whisper something she didn't understand and a snake appeared on the table.
"Eek!" Alice screamed as she scrambled to get behind Elsa. Elsa, who had grown up in a family of Slytherins, did not find snakes as repelling as most did, so she started to walk closer. She stopped herself when she saw James. James was staring at it strangely, then, all of the sudden, he was hissing.
"What the…?" Elsa said, but then she realized it. Even though James was not the heir of Slytherin, his father had had the curse put on himself, therefore parseltongue had gotten passed on to James.
She heard another faint hissing, though, that wasn't coming from James. She was very confused.
The snake soon turned to look in Elsa's direction. It started to slither up to where they all stood, but all of the sudden they heard Professor Wood. "Vipera Evanesca!" Wood shouted as he pointed his wand at the snake.
James jumped off the table, grabbed the wrists of both Elsa and Alice, and pulled them out of the room. They ran down the hall to the door that wasn't clean, and quickly went inside. The door was, surprisingly, unlocked.
They closed it behind them. "Lumos." James whispered and his wand tip lit up. "Why is this room so dark?" he asked.
Elsa clapped her hands, and the torches on the walls started to light up one by one. She smiled and walked over to the desk.
"This looks like an old office." She said and ran her finger along the desk where there was layer upon layer of dust.
Alice walked over to curtains on a wall. "What's this?" she asked, and pulled them apart to reveal a picture of a man.
The man had very greasy hair and a crooked nose.
"Who are you?" The man snapped.
"Alice Longbottom…" Alice said quietly.
"Longbottom's child, I presume? Are you as useless as your father?" Alice's eyes welled up and she quickly walked over to where James and Elsa stood.
"Hey, don't be rude!" James said to it.
"And you must be Mr. Potter. As arrogant as your father? You must think very highly of yourself, being the son of 'the boy who lived.'" the man teased. James glared at it and looked down at the name of the painting.
"Severus Snape…" James murmured. "Snivillus Snake." James said.
"James!" Elsa said. James ignored her and pulled Alice and Elsa out behind him, leaving the painting behind, but increasing Elsa's curiosity.
Thank you to my amazing Beta JoMiSm!
I do not own Harry Potter