Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter, and under no circumstance do I claim ownership to the series.
Chapter 26: Dueling Club (For Lack of a More Creative Title)
A/N: *shameless self-promotion time* *please read*
Who here is on tumblr?
*nods at the raised hands in the audience of readers*
Okay, so all of those who are on tumblr (and those who aren't) go check out the blog I made for Evanna. The link is in my profile (not my personal tumblr (though you could visit that if you want) but my The Girl Who Lived tumblr). Not only will there be fanart made by myself (and maybe my friends, if I can rope them into it), but there will be: quotes, omitted scenes (if you don't know what omitted means: pretty much, deleted scenes), lots of random reblogs (yes some of them will be totally pointless, but mostly funny), and more! Also, I made it so that you guys are allowed to ask questions (for me or the various characters) and submit things of your own (photos, posts, videos, etc: any fan things you want pretty much :D) so please please please visit it!
Also, thank you all for reading, and thank you guest Anne for that lovely review, but I must politely disagree with you :) it's not plagiarism, as I claim no right to anything that belongs to J.K. Rowling. Happy Reading!
Evanna was confronted by the twins the very next day. She put on her poker face when she saw their smirks.
"Why did you use my firework to blow up a swelling solution?" Fred asked. "You of all people should know better than to piss off Snape."
"I'm not sure what you're talking about," Evanna replied coolly, swinging her bag over one shoulder and walking around the two. She didn't get far, as Fred stepped in front of her yet again. She gave him an annoyed look, putting her hands on her hips. "Look, Fred, I have to go — "
"Where?" Fred pressed. "To make Polyjuice Potion? Or set off another firework?"
"Just shut up!" Evanna hissed glancing around to make sure no one had overheard. "Look, you two can't keep meddling with this stuff!"
"Why not? We're older, which means we're wiser, and not to mention braver — "
"Ha! Don't make me laugh!"
"Okay, but you have to admit that we're definitely the safest people to get involved, since we don't care about the punishment and we wouldn't tell anybody for anything," George pointed out.
"Exactly why I'm not going to let you get involved!" Evanna cried, tears forming in her eyes. She looked away, sniffling as Fred and George exchanged glances. "You don't care about the consequence, you'll just get hurt!"
"Oh, I get it," George said quietly. "You still blame yourself about last year."
"Who am I supposed to blame?!" Evanna asked, rubbing her eyes harshly.
"How about Quirrell?" Fred suggested. "It really was his fault that you asked us to go watch over the offices, and even more his fault that George was hurt."
"I guess," Evanna sniffed. "But I still don't want you two getting involved. Just don't. Please."
The twins sighed at Evanna's pleading look. "Fine. But if you need help, we will always be there for you," George said, looking Evanna in the eyes seriously. Her eyes went slightly wide at his serious expression and she watched the twins walk away.
A dueling club would've been a fantastic idea; had it been set by a competent teacher. Evanna watched with a look of complete displeasure as Lockhart swept onto the stage, teeth glittering in a large smile as he scanned the many anxious faces around him. She found it hard to believe that he could smile with Snape in such a near proximity to him.
"Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent!" Lockhart called over the hubbub of the crowd, immediately captivating the attention of everyone in the hall.
"Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little dueling club, to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions — for full details, see my published works.
"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape. He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about dueling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry — you'll still have your Potions master when I'm through with him, never fear!"
Evanna watched in mild amusement as Lockhart and Snape moved the opposite ends of the stage, bowing to each other. Well, Snape gave a curt nod of his head and Lockhart gave an exaggerated dip, waving his arms around far too much. They then stood in a defensive stance, with their wands out in front of them like swords.
"As you see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position," Lockhart told the silent crowd. "On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course."
Evanna glanced surreptitiously over at Snape, but said nothing.
"One — two — three — "
Both teachers waved their wand and cried out a spell; or at least Snape did. Lockhart was too slow and the beam of red light that erupted from Snape's wand caught him in the chest, sending him flying backwards off the stage. His wand flew out of his hand and Lavender just managed to catch it.
"Is it bad that I hope he breaks his arm?" Evanna asked, glancing at her friends. Ron shook his head while Hermione nodded hers.
Lockhart's arm was (unfortunately) not broken; he shakily returned to his position onstage, flashing a wide smile out at the crowd, even while he looked quite disheveled.
"Well, there you have it!" he said. "That was a Disarming Charm — as you see, I've lost my wand — ah, thank you, Miss Brown — yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy — however, I felt it would be instructive to let them see . . ."
Snape's frown was even more murderous than usual at that comment, and perhaps Lockhart noticed, because he quickly announced, "Enough demonstrating! I'm going to come amongst you now and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me — "
Evanna went pale as she saw Snape making a beeline for herself and Ron. She backed away quickly, hiding behind Fred and George (who sensibly hadn't stood too close to Evanna, Ron or Hermione). "Hey," she said with a nervous smile, her eyes following Snape as he paired Ron with Seamus and Hermione with a Slytherin girl that Evanna didn't know. The twins smiled back, just as Lockhart came by to pair them up.
"Ah yes, Potter! You and Weasley can pair up — ah I see, George Weasley then," Lockhart amended, once he realized that both twins were there. "Fred can pair with Jordan over there."
Both Fred and George seemed pleased with their pairings, so Fred ran off with Lee Jordan to duel and George and Evanna faced each other. George liked that Evanna was smiling widely.
"What spell should I use on you?" Evanna pondered aloud, tossing George a smirk. He merely raised an eyebrow, spell ideas already whizzing through his mind.
"Face your partners!" called Lockhart, back on the platform. "And bow!"
Evanna gave George a bow and so he did a messy curtsey. They both hid their laughter in their hands.
"Wands at the ready!" shouted Lockhart. "When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents — only to disarm them — we don't want any accidents — "
"Aw, I wanted to use Rictusempra," Evanna mumbled, readying her wand. George merely grinned at her mischievously.
"One . . . two . . . three — "
But before either of them had uttered a word, a fight had broken out between Hermione and her Slytherin partner, triggering the rest of the hall to forgot Lockhart's words about strictly disarming. Fights were breaking out everywhere and George pulled Evanna down so they would avoid a jinx.
"I said disarm only!"
Nobody seemed to pay Lockhart any mind as the battles got more intense. But thankfully Snape took charge.
"Finite Incantatem!"
Evanna and George slowly got to their feet, surveying the scene around them. Hazish green smoke was floating around the room, and Evanna guessed that the spell would terminate all effects of other spells in the vicinity. Both Neville and Justin were lying on the floor, panting; Ron was holding up an ashen-faced Seamus, apologizing for whatever his broken wand had done; but Hermione and the Slytherin girl were still moving; the Slytherin had Hermione in a headlock and Hermione was whimpering in pain; both their wands lay forgotten on the floor. Fred and Lee (who had been nearby) were working together to pry the Slytherin away from Hermione, and once they finally had, Fred crouched next to Hermione and seemed to be asking if she was alright. George smiled at the gesture of affection.
"Dear, dear," said Lockhart, skittering through the crowd, looking at the aftermath of the duels. "Up you go, Macmillan . . . Careful there, Miss Fawcett. . . . Pinch it hard, it'll stop bleeding in a second, Boot —
"I think I'd better teach you how to block unfriendly spells," said Lockhart, standing flustered in the midst of the hall. He glanced at Snape, whose black eyes glinted, and looked quickly away. "Let's have a volunteer pair — Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about you — "
"A bad idea, Professor Lockhart," said Snape, gliding over like a large and malevolent bat. "Longbottom causes devastation with the simplest spells. We'll be sending what's left of Finch-Fletchley up to the hospital wing in a matchbox." Neville's round, pink face went pinker. "How about Malfoy and Potter?" said Snape with a twisted smile.
"Excellent idea!" said Lockhart, gesturing Evanna and Malfoy into the middle of the hall as the crowd backed away to give them room.
Evanna groaned and reluctantly stood across from Malfoy. "Professor, I don't see how Neville will get any better if he doesn't learn," Evanna said sensibly. "I mean, I'll face him if you want, and I don't mind helping him — "
"Silence, Potter," Snape said. He then bent over and whispered something in Malfoy's ear; judging by Malfoy's widening smirk, it was something vile. Evanna readied herself, trying to remember the spell that Snape had used to disarm Lockhart earlier.
"Three — two — one — go!" Lockhart shouted, waving his arm to signal the start.
Before Evanna could do anything, Malfoy raised his wand and yelled, "Serpensortia!"
A long black snake burst from Malfoy's wand tip, readying itself to strike. Evanna didn't know what type of snake it was, so it being venomous was a scarily large possibility. The crowd was backing away from it, as did Evanna slightly. She was definitely not fond of snakes, especially if they were poisonous.
"Alarte Ascendare!"
Evanna bit her lip as Lockhart's spell caused the snake to be blasted at least ten feet in the air, landing in front of Justin Finch-Fletchley, hissing furiously. Justin was backing away slowly, but the snake was positioned to attack.
Instinctively, Evanna yelled, "No! Leave him alone!"
She shrank back in fear when the snake turned to her, but it didn't attack. It slumped over onto the floor, completely docile, and Evanna just stared at it. She didn't know why it had listened to her, but she somehow could tell that it had understood what she had said.
Raising her eyes to the uncommonly quiet crowd, all she could see were frightened stares. She caught the eyes of George and saw that he wasn't looking any different from the rest of the crowd; fearful and confused. Evanna felt tears prickling at the corners of her eyes.
"What do you think you're playing at?" Justin yelled angrily at Evanna, who shrunk back, looking scared and confused herself. Justin ran out of the hall without another word.
"I don't get it," Evanna said finally. "What's wrong?"
Nobody answered, but Evanna felt Ron and Hermione steer her out of the hall. They were looking worried, but not scared like everyone else had. Ron knew that Evanna would've told him if she had known, so he assumed that this was all new to her. He also knew that she would never encourage that snake to attack anyone, not even Malfoy (and that was saying something, considering how those two went at it).
Leading her back to the common room, Ron noticed that Fred and George were following them. It made sense, considering that they were Evanna's best friends too, but he couldn't help but feel betrayal at the fear in George's eyes. Didn't he realize that it was stupid to believe Evanna would actually egg the snake on?!
Evanna sat in an armchair, staring up at the four familiar and worried faces. "What was that all about?" Evanna asked quietly, not making eye contact with any of them. It hurt too much when she saw their fear. "Why was everyone so scared? I mean, I don't know why that snake listened to me when I told it to leave Justin alone, but — "
"Oh, is that what you said to it?" George asked, his voice shaking a bit. Evanna couldn't tell if it was anger or fear.
"You were there!" Evanna retorted.
"No, Evanna, we heard you speaking Parseltongue," Hermione said. "You know, snake language."
"No, I don't know!" Evanna cried, the stress starting to get to her.
"You're a Parselmouth. You can talk to snakes," Ron explained. He paused. "Did you know?"
"Well, I didn't know that it had a name, but I did set a boa constrictor on my cousin once," Evanna said, with a faint smile. "It was saying that it had never seen Brazil, and I accidentally set it loose. That was before I knew I was a witch of course — "
"A boa constrictor told you it had never seen Brazil?" Ron repeated faintly, looking pale.
"Well, it does sound a bit crazy when you say it out loud, doesn't it?" Evanna laughed. "Come on, I bet tons of people can do it — "
"No they can't," Fred said worriedly. "It's a really rare gift, Evanna. And, well, it was a trait of Salazar Slytherin, so — "
"People are going to think that I'm the Heir of Slytherin," Evanna finished. "Yeah, I guessed that. But really, me? The Heir of Slytherin? Since when have I ever been that — for lack of a better word — evil?"
"Well, you and Malfoy do go at it quite a lot," Hermione said.
"Plus, you can sometimes kind of explode when you're angry," Ron added.
"And don't forget that you were caught at the scene of the crime," Fred said teasingly.
"You also kind of killed Quirrell and You-Know-Who. Twice, for the latter," George said, but in a not at all teasing way.
Fred gave his twin a strange look and muttered, "Georgie? Why so bitter?"
George inhaled deeply, obviously trying to calm down. "Sorry," he replied, "just a bit stressed. I mean, I know as well as anyone that Evanna would never actually tell that snake to attack that Hufflepuff, but . . ." George ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know. Everything just points to her."
"George, I don't want us to be avoiding each other again," Evanna said, pleadingly.
George gave her a small smile. "I know. Me either. I'm sorry. Like I said, I'm just a bit stressed." Fred gave his twin another strange look, but didn't comment; he didn't understand why George was stressed.
"If it makes you feel better, you can make lots of jokes about me being the Heir of Slytherin," Evanna said, with a sly smile. She knew that the twins wouldn't be able to pass up an opportunity at getting some laughs. To her delight, George seemed to feel a little better after that.
"Evanna, are you all right?" Hermione asked quietly.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Evanna asked, grinning.
"Well, you just — Nevermind." Hermione wondered how long Evanna's happy mood would last when she finally realized that everyone was actually going to think that she was the Heir of Slytherin.
A/N: Wow okay. I wasn't actually planning for George to be angsty, but oh well. I hope you liked it!
Please review and follow Evanna's tumblr! ;) ~Jayce