A/N: I'm moving a little more AU with this chapter. I'm not really flat-out contradicting cannon, but certainly stretching it a good deal. It seems improbable that the wizarding world only has one sport, Quidditch, and three games: gobstones, exploding snap, and losing at wizard's chess to Ron Weasley. My portrayal of a dueling as a sport almost as big as Quidditch is a bit of a stretch, but it fits within the way societies worked. Every society that had an armed adult population had competions of arms. That's how sports like fencing and jousting were born. Regardless, I wanted to take a different direction and give Harper a sport that wasn't Quidditch. Dueling is going to be her sport, one that she has some talent at, but will need to develop.

Dueling Club

Harper felt nervous about the first Quidditch game of the season. After all, that was the game where Harry Potter proved his abilities as a seeker and caught the snitch in his mouth. It was also the game where Quirrell tried to kill the Harry in the story by jinxing his broom. Since she wasn't competing, she hoped that Quirrellmort wouldn't make an attempt on her life, but she couldn't be sure. History had a habit of repeating itself. However, that wasn't her only problem with the Quidditch game.

"What did you just say?" Harper asked Daphne in disbelief. She kept her voice low and glanced around the Slytherin common room. While no one was obviously eavesdropping, they weren't exactly private.

"When will you be escorting me to the Quidditch match, Mr. Potter?" She said it like it was a perfectly reasonable request then she added the curtsey she did to him alone.

"Daphne, I think you misunderstand our relationship. We don't have one. We're not dating. We're not even really friends. We've had maybe three real conversations, but those were pretty awkward and shallow. Theo is my friend. Hermione is my friend. Blaise is my friend." Alright that last one might be an untruth. Blaise was an ally who believed it was in his own best interest to be friendly. Harper was pretty sure that Blaise only had one true friend — Blaise. "I think that I'm even starting to be friends with Tracey. She actually talks to me like a person." Harper hadn't meant to give a lecture, but the way Daphne kept trying to jump right into a dating relationship annoyed her.

"How else am I supposed to get to know you if you never talk to me? You're always so busy. You get up before the sun for your muggle ritual with Theo. When you aren't busy studying with that Granger girl, you're practicing. You're always practicing and working ahead. Then you spend all this time talking to heads of houses, prefects and everyone about a dueling club. Bully for you, but ask your mirror why we don't have real conversations."

Harper scowled and glanced about. Pansy hurriedly looked away. Tracey was watching them with interest. Millie… was either very good at pretending not to listen or was actually reading the book she was holding. "How do you expect us to have real conversations when we're never alone?"

"That doesn't stop you with Theo or the Granger girl does it?"

"It's not the same. Theo and I do have private conversations…" However, even when they did their conversations usually weren't so deep. Harper's friendship with Theo had started with humor and grown from there. In a way Theo was her Ron. She could ask him things about the magical world and they'd discuss it. Lately their conversations had been really focused on dueling. It was a passion they shared. Which also was an echo of the Harry/Ron relationship, just with dueling instead of Quidditch.

"… Granger and I talk mostly about studies…" She shared a different passion with Hermione: a love of knowledge and learning. Hermione was so bloody brilliant it was scary. She had practically memorized all their textbooks. Besides, they complimented each other well. While Hermione was way ahead on theory, Harper was way ahead on practice. They didn't always mesh. Hermione could be annoyingly literal and thick about some things which had led to some spirited debates. Those debates usually ended up with them meeting somewhere in the middle, but not always. Sometimes Hermione agreed she was wrong, sometimes Harper had to concede to Hermione, and sometimes they just had to politely disagree. Regardless, studying with Hermione kept magic fun and pushed her to excel. Harper had learned more magic from Hermione than of her official teachers, and it just plain wasn't as much fun studying alone.

Daphne Greenglass was a different fish altogether. She seemed to unerringly home in on the exact things that Harper couldn't talk about: her childhood, her true feelings, as well as her plans and ambitions. Daphne dug for Harper's secrets like a niffler after treasure, secrets that Harper had no intention of sharing. Besides, one of those many secrets was that she was actually a girl, so that her 'relationship' with Daphne had no future. She was more likely to have a relationship with Theo… umm, maybe not, he was like a brother. Certainly not Blaise. He had all the makings of being that bad boy that every girl wanted, but was best avoided unless you didn't mind being the flavor of the week. She had time to work out boys later, when she was older and back to being a girl. However, despite what Daphne might think, they had zero chance of a future together. "… but you want to ask girlfriend questions."

"Girlfriend questions? I'm trying to get to know you. You're not the open book you pretend to be, Mr. Potter."

Danger. Warning. Deflect. "And you're not the ice princess persona that you present to the world, Daphne."

"Ice princess? Is that what you think I am?"

"Aren't you? Cold, aloof, and distant. You're a little too young to be an ice queen yet. You need to grow a few curves first and crush the hearts of a few young boys."

Tracey snickered proving that this wasn't a private conversation at all.

Daphne expression went full ice princess. "I'm not trying to crush your heart, Mr. Potter. Be careful with mine. You hold my future in your hands."

Once again Daphne played the life debt card. Sadly that card seemed to be infinitely reusable. Not that she was going to fall for the guilt trip. She didn't want to lead the poor girl on and encourage her to believe they had a chance for a romantic future together. They didn't. "I'm trying, Daphne, I really am. It would help if you would stop trying to plan our future. Look, I'm going to the Quidditch match with Theo. If you want to go with Tracey, maybe we could sit together and cheer on Slytherin. I wouldn't be escorting you, but we'd still be spending time together."

She curtsied. "That is acceptable, Mr. Potter." She walked away to join the other three girls who started giggling and whispering. No doubt they would dissect every word of that conversation for hidden meanings and nuances.

Harper knew she really needed to work out a better strategy for dealing with Daphne, preferably before visiting the Greengrass home during winter break, but that was way down on her priority list.

The Quidditch game turned out to be a lot more interesting than Harper expected. When she had first read the books, she'd cheered Harry's victories. It hadn't been until she grew up some that she realized that Quidditch was a silly game. The chasers, beaters and keeper all made sense. That part of Quidditch was similar to football, basketball, hockey or any other get the ball past the defense and into the goal type game. The problem was the one hundred and fifty points for catching the snitch. That made the rest of the game irrelevant. However, Harper had discovered that was another point of departure from the books. In the world she lived in catching the snitch was only worth fifty points. Also the snitch itself was different. It was even harder to catch, but not as hard to see. It left a glowing trail behind it like a tiny comet. The result was a vastly different game.

The most amazing thing about it was the speed at which it was played. Harper had finally graduated from Madame Hooch's basic flying class, but she couldn't coax a broom into anything approaching the speeds she was seeing. Plus the game never stopped. If she kept her eye on the quaffle, she could just follow the change of possession from chaser to chaser to chaser to goal attempt. However, she couldn't follow that, the two bludgers, and the insane maniacs spiraling after the trail of the golden snitch. Plus the key position wasn't the seeker at all, it was the beaters. Dodging a bludger took dramatic evasive action. The little homing missiles knocked players painfully off their brooms all the time. All the players wore padding so the bludgers usually didn't break bones, but they were frequently knocked off their brooms. A permanent enchantment on the field caused dismounted players to float slowly to ground. Half of the penalty was the length of time it took a dismounted player to float down, get back on their broom and get back into play. The strategy element came into play with how the beaters had to split time between attacking the chasers and the seeker. Attacking the seeker was smart, because the fifty points for catching the snitch was a big chunk of points, but that was balanced by the need to keep pressure on the seekers.

Gryffindor put up a much better fight that Harper expected. She'd thought that without Harry Potter on the Gryffindor team that Slytherin would win easily. She hadn't counted on the Weasley twins. Fred and George worked great precision and almost perfect unison. They disrupted play after play, but the Slytherins won the day in end, catching the snitch for a 210 to 180 victory. She was surprised to see some of the normally reserved purebloods smooching in celebration of the victory. It was mostly the sixth and seventh year couples that were known to be dating or even betrothed, but Harper hadn't realized that you were supposed to kiss your boyfriend/girlfriend after winning a Quidditch game. Thankfully Daphne didn't seem to have any ideas along that line. Maybe she was finally getting the message.

After the game there was a victory celebration in the Slytherin commons. Someone had done some pretty impressive illusion work. The ceiling featured an illusion of a large serpent that continually chased a cowardly lion. When the serpent caught the lion it would swallow it whole and let out an audible belch. After that the illusion would reset and play again. Someone had scored some butter beer and there was a punch that was apparently spiked with some kind of mood elevating potion.

As interesting as the Quidditch game had been for Harper it was just a warm-up for the reopening of the Hogwarts Dueling Club. As soon as lunch was over on Sunday, the Great Hall was cleared and rearranged for the occasion. Harper did a quick head count and was pleased to see that about a large turnout with all four houses and all seven years well-represented.

Quirrell stood up. "W-w-welcome to the H-Hogwarts D-Dueling C-club. I-I-I w-would l-like to th-thank all of y-you. F-for b-being h-here t-today. P-p-profressor F-Flitwick, p-please."

Flitwick climbed up series of steps to a raised podium. "Thank you all. It gives me great pleasure to see the Hogwarts Dueling Club reopened. Dueling is a wizarding tradition going back thousands of years and is still used to solve disputes among adult wizards today. The sport of dueling is very formalized and you will all be held accountable to the rules. Each of you will read and sign the rules before you are allowed to participate in any duels. This is not a binding magical contract, but you will follow the code of conduct or you will not be allowed to participate. While the rules are rather lengthy, the first step will be assigning you to rungs on the Dueling Ladder. There are three rungs."

"The bronze rung is for beginning duelists. Participants are limited to spells that cannot cause lasting harm. That means that dueling is limited to minor hexes and jinxes of short duration or that can be easily removed with a counterspell. Most of you will start in the bronze ring, which makes you knutters."

"The silver rung is for intermediate duelists. More damaging spells are allowed. If you do not know how to block, counter and dodge properly you can end up in the hospital wing. In order to qualify for the silver ring, you must demonstrate to the satisfaction of myself or Professor Quirrell that you have mastered the Shield Charm and four elemental counters. Students qualified for the silver rung may engage in ranked matches. Every victory in a ranked match will gain House Points for the victor. Those in the silver rung are often called scythers."

"Lastly, there is the gold rung. No one will be admitted to the gold rung this year. The students placed in the top three ranks of each house may petition to join the top rung. They must receive a sign-off from both a faculty sponsor and their parents or guardians. The golden rung follows the same code as 'polite' dueling among adults, which allows most spells that aren't flat out lethal. It is also the same code of combat used by professional duelists in the Class A dueling circuit. Students who reach the gold rung are eligible to represent Hogwarts in international completion with other schools of magic. Those proud few who achieve this level of mastery are commonly called dragons."

Harper knew all this from talking with Theo and reading up on it, but she could tell that it was news to some of the students. While representing Hogwarts in the Interschool Dueling Circuit didn't have quite the same prestige as winning the Tri-Wizard Tournament or even the Quidditch cup, but it was still a big deal. Not that it would be the only alternative to Quidditch. Harper had discovered there were other wizards sports and games beyond Quidditch, wizard chess, and gobstones. The Hogwarts broom racing team had just returned from competing at Beauxbatons. Quodpot, the American version of Quidditch had a small following. There was an annual Wardsmash completion between houses where teams competed by first building up wards around a base and then racing to see who could tear the other's down fastest. McGonagall sponsored the Transmudo team, which competed in a series of transmutations judged on both form and speed. There were also magical arts: wand chorus, spellsinging, illusion crafting and others. Quidditch was still the wizarding sport, but there were a lot of other choices.

"… So all of those who still want to participate form a line. You need to all pick up the rule book and sign the membership forms. After that those who wish to try out for silver rung need to line up to be evaluated by myself or Professor Quirrell. The rest of you may seek out your prefects by house. They'll go over the protocols for copper rung dueling and possibly even allow a few duels."

All in all it was a lot more organized than when Lockhart had been running things in the books. The credit obviously went to Flitwick. Quirrellmort pretty much let him and the prefects run things. Harper was unsurprised to see Gemma Farley was the prefect running things for Slytherin. "Theo, Potter, I know you two helped start this going. Theo, go over protocols with the second years. Potter, you do the same with the first years."

Theo took off and Harper found herself facing most of the Slytherin first years: Draco and his henchgoons, Blaise, Tracey and Daphne. Theo was helping the second years so only Millie and Pansy weren't participating and Pansy was in the audience. "Allright, Flitwick already gave the rules. We're all knutters, so that means mostly hexes and jinxes. Nothing that could cause damage. Also no fisticuffs, meaning no bodily contact. Each person starts on their mark. Wait until the judge says 'bow', then either bow or curtsey to your opponent. Then the duel is on."

"What about taking their wand out of their hand if they are incapacitated?" asked Tracey.

"Good question," replied Harper. "If you have your opponent incapacitated then you need to use a spell to disarm them. You are not allowed to leave your ring. If you do you'll receive a warning from the judge. Three warnings and you lose. There are two spells you really need to learn in bronze rung. The Shield Charm, Protego, will shield against most spells allowed in the bronze rung. However, that's too advanced a spell to go over today. Until you learn it well, your best option is dodging." Really it was. "On the other hand, you should all be able to master the Disarming Spell, Expelliarmus." Harper noticed that Theo was apparently ahead of her. He had the second years already practicing on each other. "I'm going to go over the rules again real fast. Then we can do like the second years are doing, divide into pairs and practice Expelliarmus on each other."

Harper set up Draco vs. Blaise, Crabbe vs. Goyle, and Tracey vs. Daphne and had them start practicing. She had been expecting to see Blaise easily disarm Malfoy, but surprisingly Draco managed a weak flickering shield. Crabbe and Goyle were both struggling to master the spell and mostly shooting sparks at each other. Daphne was the first to be disarmed, by a well-cast Disarming spell that Tracey sent her way.

"Daphne, remember what I said about dodging. Unless you can do a shield charm don't just stand there. Move."

She grinned at him. "Are you watching me move, Mr. Potter?"

Harper wasn't going to go there. He turned his eye to Draco who had just been disarmed by Blaise. "Draco, I saw your shield, but until you can make a stable shield, you need to dodge as well."

"Th-think y-you c-can d-do b-b-better, P-Potter?" asked Quirrell.

Harper was a bit unnerved that Quirrellmort had snuck up on her without her realizing he was there. "I was following instructions from our prefect, sir." What did Quirrell want? He had seemed content to let Flitwick run the club. Why was he here taking a personal interest?

"B-but c-can y-you d-d-do a b-better sh-shield, P-Potter?"

Harper nodded. "I'm not an expert, but yes, I can do better, Sir." She'd been working hard with Theo and could manage a shield. It probably wouldn't stop more than a weak hex, but at least it didn't flicker in and out like Malfoy's shield.

"G-good. W-why d-d-don't you d-demonstrate?"

This couldn't be good, but Quirrell was a professor and the club sponsor. She had no legitimate reason to refuse and doing so would be suspicious. "Of course, sir." Harper moved to take Daphne's place at the mark.

"G-g-good. J-just the sh-shield charm, P-P-Potter. M-mister M-malfoy, w-w-would y-you attack?"

Draco walked up smiling a broad smile. "I'll be glad to, Professor." He bowed.

Harper bowed and cast as soon as Draco returned her bow. "Protego!"

Draco preformed a complicated triple swish with his wand, "Serpensortia!" The snake that flew out of Malfoy's wand was three foot long and dark green. It advanced angrily and as it did the hood around its head flared out — cobra. As it came toward her it hissed at her, "Kill."

"Stop! Don't hurt me!" The words that left her mouth weren't English. They came out as sibilant hissing noises.

The snake stopped and the lowered to the ground. "Sorry, Speaker." Something about the voice said feminine.

Harper looked up in the sudden silence. She'd been worried about the first Quidditch match and an attempt on her life. She'd entirely forgotten about what happened at the first dueling club meeting and now history had repeated itself. A short distance away people were going about their duels and chatting, but all the Slytherins in her first year had heard her.

So had Quirrell. The look on his face was startled and calculating. "You're a parselmouth… P-P-Potter." The fake Quirrell mask slid back in place. "C-c-call it to y-you."

Crap. Oh crap. "Come, here. I'll take care of you," she hissed. Harper knew her cover was blown. Everyone closeby was staring, but worse… The first thing Voldemort would do as soon as he was unobserved was check the Chamber of Secrets. That's where she'd left the destroyed horcrux that had once been the Diadem of Ravenclaw, because it had been coated in basilisk venom. When Voldemort found it, he'd know that she had destroyed a horcrux… and he would move all the others. He would probably also want to question her as to what she knew.

She had to go. She had to go now. "Come here." She called to the snake and walked to meet it. "Can I hold you?"

"Yes, speaker. Where am I?"

She reached down to pick up the cobra and instead it slithered up her arm. She wasn't particularly afraid of snakes, but she'd never held one before either, especially not one that was venomous. "You're at Hogwarts. I'll help you."

She looked toward Quirrell, but deliberately avoided looking him in the eye. "Professor, I think I'd better get this little girl someplace safe where she won't hurt herself or anyone. I think I'll start with Professor Kettleburn."

"Qu-qu-quite s-so, M-m-mister P-potter." The stutter was back, but it didn't sound so bumbling any longer. In fact Quirrell managed to make the stutter sound like a threat.

Other people were noticing now and moving over. The Slytherin's were whispering, "Did you know?" "No." "Explains why Harry Potter is in Slytherin." "My father…"

Harper left the Great Hall with the cobra wrapped around her arm. She moved as fast as she could walk without breaking into a jog.