Ron was lying on his bed, snoring lowly with half of his face covered by his pillow. Lying there unaware, his curtains were pushed aside and a gush of water spurted out magically as a defence mechanism to those who dared disturb him. However, nothing came in contact with the water.

"Come on, get up." Said a familiar voice.

"I'm still hungry, Mum…" mumbled Ron, his eyes still closed.

The person standing in front of Ron let out a small sigh. The next thing that happened was Ron was lying on the floor with the bed covers tangled around his body. "What on Merlin's sagging…!" he hollered, his head appearing from the covers and revealing his messy hair. He looked around and his eyes landed on the perpetrator.

"Nott! What the bloody hell's wrong with you? I'm sleeping here!" he said angrily as he tried to stand up.

"Aren't you cheerful today?" Theodore drawled. "Time to get up, I said. We're going to start duel lessons in an hour."

Ron peered to the wall clock near the doorway and scowled. "It's only seven-twelve in the morning – I need more sleep." he grumbled as he tried to return to his bed but Theodore flicked his wand and Ron was on the floor again. "You're going to pay for this!" he growled.

"Fine, if you can beat me." said the other teen smoothly. "Greengrass is already at the Great Hall."

"Okay, okay." he scowled.

When he was finally able to stand up, he didn't bother returning to his bed knowing Theodore would do something to him (he was going to make sure he'd pay him back when he'd least expect it) and went in the bathroom.


"Took you long enough." commented Theodore as Ron went inside the room through the mirror.

"What, I can't eat?" Ron retorted.

Theodore was about to respond but Daphne, who was sitting in the far right corner of the room, interrupted him. "That's enough bantering, you two. We're here to learn how to duel, right?" she said as she stood up, her wand already in her hand.

"That is the reason why we're here," the dark-haired teen nodded once. "Now, before we start, I need you to tell me if you know the basics of duelling." He shot the question to Daphne, expecting her to answer.

"I only know the formal method of duelling." answered Daphne simply. "My father explained it me last summer. He didn't exactly teach me how but he taught me the mechanics and what entailed in a formal duel." Seeing Theodore nod, she continued. "The formal duel should be agreed by both parties, this includes the rules that will eventually govern the whole duel should the duel commence."

"That is correct," nodded Theodore. "If we didn't have Lockhart as a Defense professor, we would've seen an example of what a formal duel should be. The formal duel will always start with the two duellists bowing to each other with their wand hand placed over where the heart is."

"And if the duellist is a left-handed?" inquired Ron with one eyebrow raised.

"It's rare for a wizard to be left-handed, especially if they are duellists." said Theodore with a shrug. "But it is acceptable if they placed their wand hand on the other side of the chest. Anyway, once the duel starts, both duellists must follow the rules they both agreed. For instance, they cannot use harmful spells such as the Unforgivable Curses, or if they want there is a set of rounds with a time limit and the one who has the most number of wins is the victor of the whole duel."

"What is crucial about a formal duel is that it is similar to a Wizarding Oath. Abandoning it has huge consequences for the one who wishes to back out."

"Such as?" asked Ron curiously.

"The most usual case is that the magic core of the wizard will be reduced in half or more to the point the he or she can be considered as a Squib." said Daphne this time. "That's why formal duels are treated seriously. The duellist's pride and family name are at stake."

Ron nodded in understanding. "So if there's the formal method, then there's an opposite of it right?"

Theodore nodded; mildly impressed Ron had guessed it that fast. "The other method is unorthodox. It's simply a duel with no rules. The duellists can do whatever they want in order to win, which means that cheating is a normal occurrence."

"And now we'll start learning the formal method." Theodore instructed both Ron and Daphne from their posture to the wand their grip of their wands. A couple of minutes passed by and Theodore decided to test the waters. "Let's see if you two listened. The two of you will duel-"

"What?" reacted Ron, "You've got to be joking!"

Daphne shot him a look, "Afraid of me, Ronald?"

"Of course not! I just don't think that duelling you is fair since you're…well…" He glanced at her from head to toe, thinking that it wouldn't be much of a match.

"- a girl?" she finished with her eyes narrowing. "You're going to regret that."

"The rules…" coughed Theodore, wanting to get things back on track. "You two can only use three spells – Disarming, Stunning and one spell you can choose for your advantage. The time limit is three minutes. You may start…" he eyed on the two who were now poised to duel. "…now."

"Stupefy!" cried Daphne, jabbing her wand at Ron's direction.

Red light shot out from Daphne's wand and Ron sidestepped to the right and returned fire, "Expelliarmus!" Daphne dodged his spell and seeing where she moved, he shot another spell. "Stupefy!"

"Stupefy! Expelliarmus! Expelliarmus!" Daphne's spell came one after the other relentlessly which gave Ron a hard time.

Ron rolled over the floor and shouted, "Stupefy!" his spell hit Daphne's right ankle, causing the blonde Slytherin to lose balance. Taking this chance, he scrambled to his feet and shot another spell. "Incarcerous!" thick ropes sprang from the tip of Ron's wand, shooting straight toward Daphne's direction.

Daphne's eyes widened but managed to avoid it by regaining her balance and ducking out of the way. "Expelliarmus!" she aimed at Ron's wand hand but seeing him move away, she pointed her wand at the floor at Ron's feet and shouted, "Lubrico!"

"What are you aiming…?" said Ron as if to tease her but stopped as he felt that the floor became slippery. "What?!"

"Expelliarmus!" Ron's wand was out of his grasp, spinning up in the air like a baton. Daphne raised her hand and caught it, smirking at the sight of Ron's scowling expression. "It's rather obvious who's the winner, hm?" she said coolly. "You were saying earlier, Ronald?"

Ron grumbled under his breath as he tried to stand up and couldn't. "Will you remove what you cast on the floor? I can't stand up here if you haven't noticed!" he said heatedly. Daphne arched an eyebrow, expecting him to give her a different response. He let out a frustrated sigh. "Daphne, will you please undo the spell you cast so that I can stand up?"

"That's more like it," she smiled. "Finite."

Feeling the floor, he stood up gingerly and patted his robes to remove the dust.

"Obviously the winner of the duel is Daphne," said Theodore casually. "Rather clever to use the Wax spell to throw your enemy off-balance. But both of you still need to work on your movements. There's too much fooling around and wasting strength, it's best to limit as much as possible to avoid exhaustion." He continued to instruct them until it was almost lunchtime (Ron's stomach served as an alarm clock as it grumbled loudly across the room).

"This…is not…how I expected to spend my weekend." protested Ron, wiping his sweating forehead with his back hand. "You're a slave driver!"

Theodore ignored his comment. "Next practice will be next week, same time." He said to the two. "Keep practicing on your strides." Without giving a back glance, he went through the mirror, leaving both Daphne and Ron inside.

"I am in a dire need of another bath." she shook her head. "Ugh, I'm disgusting. I smell like you on a good day!" She scrunched her nose. "I'm going." She went through the mirror without a single glance.

Ron lied on the floor, letting out a sigh. "This is definitely not what I expected to happen this year." He muttered to himself.

And he was correct. For the next two Saturdays, he and Daphne kept practicing under Theodore's tutelage (or rather torture session, Ron thought). Ron had to admit that he could no longer learn more spells at the moment since the homework the professors were piling up by a notch and he barely finished everything every single night before going to sleep. He wouldn't use his Sundays since they were his rest day and his body was sore from practice.

On the fourth day of practice Theodore gave an update.

"While I have to admit you two improved, it's still not much."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" demanded Ron, his hands on his knees while trying to catch his breath. "We're working our arses off for you!"

"You get easily tired." he said shortly as he paced across the room. "You need to be fit in order to duel for long periods of time, adding the pressure of overcoming your opponent is proven to be difficult."

"And you're suggesting…?" said Daphne, staring at him.

"…that physical exercise is needed for this," finished Theodore.

Daphne looked highly affronted. "Excuse me but that's taking things too far!" she protested. "I'm not going to start some kind of rigorous activity in the future; I'm not a Quidditch player! I don't want my muscles to go big like Millicent's!"

Theodore gave her a long look.

"You're getting fat." he said flatly and Daphne let out a gasp. Ron stared at him, stunned speechless. That wasn't the Theodore Nott he knew. "You've been eating too much of those crème puffs, I've noticed." He added giving her a critical look.

"I am?" she cried as she quickly glanced at herself. "Oh Merlin! You're right! Pansy mentioned it few days ago but I thought she was trying to get on my nerves…"

"She's probably correct." he agreed. "This is why physical exercise is needed. This must be the reason why you're not moving quick enough."

"All right, you have a point." She said worriedly, still looking at herself. "What kind of exercise do Ronald and I have to do?"

Ron gawked at her. "Seriously? You're not thinking of-" he spluttered as he stood up straight.

"Well?" she said inquiringly to Theodore who looked as if he was about to win a hundred thousand worth of Galleons from the look of his eyes.

"Five laps around the Black Lake, three times a week, preferably in the morning." He said simply. "It'll increase by two more laps after three weeks if there is little to no progress. Don't worry, I'll join you both."

"And when will this end?" questioned Ron with a frown.

"That depends if you can cast ten spells or more while dodging under a half a minute." he shrugged. "Right now both of you fire four to six spells every half-a-minute considering how slow you two move. Also both of you are contemplating what move you should do next in two-to-three seconds, I've observed. The decision should be in one second or half. The time frame for this could last until before the end of the year, but most likely until November since it'll be too cold by December."

"And you know all of this…?" said Daphne.

"Like I said before, duelling practice with my father." he said casually. "He takes every opportunity to strike when he sees it." This mention met with silence from the other two.

"I suppose it'll start next week, huh?" said Ron scratchily, steering the conversation away from the awkward silence.

"Yes." He nodded.

"I can't believe I'm gaining weight," huffed Daphne. "I should really watch out from now on…" she didn't say anything else and left the room without a word to Ron and Theodore.

Ron gave Theodore a look. "You lied when you said she's getting fat. You only said that so that she'd agree with the whole running laps." It wasn't a question.

"Spot on, Weasley." He said.

"And I thought she'd notice how unnaturally you told her that."

"Females are very self-conscious." said Theodore matter-of-factly. "You have to tell them what they don't want to hear so that they'll do something about it. At least what I always noticed."

Ron thought he had a good point. Both of them left the room and took different paths with Ron deciding to head toward the library to read a book about duelling. He was tired from the practice but he didn't want to waste the rest of his time inside the dormitory sleeping when he could use it to read and learning what he had been doing lately.

He had to admit, he never thought he'd find himself thinking that.

He shifted through the shelves in the Defense section, when he bumped into someone. "Oh, Sorry." he said gruffly but he saw it was Hermione standing next to him.

"Oh Weasley." she said, realising it was him.

"You…you go first," he said, stepping aside to give her more space. He watched her pulled a thick book from the shelf and thanked him.

"No, it's fine." He looked up and a book on the highest column piqued his interest. He took it without much difficulty thanks to his height "So, what're you reading?" he asked casually to her.

"For Moody's homework about the difference between jinxes and counter-jinxes." she responded and she sat on a nearby chair. "I know it's more than one roll but it's best to cover almost everything about the two."

"So, all study and no play?" he raised an eyebrow before opening his book.

"We're at school to study not to have fun all the time," she said reprovingly. "I don't see you goofing off like your twin brothers." She added.

"Well, I'm doing a different kind of fun, not like pranking like Fred and George." Ron lied smoothly. She's quite observant. "Been watching me, have you Granger?" he teased, earning an annoyed look from her.

"You're so full of yourself." said Hermione. "Learned that from Malfoy, have you?"

Ron blanched. "I'm not like that!" he said hotly.

"Shh! We're reading!" hissed one seventh year who's from Ravenclaw, shooting him a dark look.

Ron hissed back. "Keep reading, then!" he turned his attention back to Hermione and said in mock protest, "That's not nice comparing me to that ferret, you know."

"It's not nice to assume." pointed out Hermione. "What are you reading?" she asked, gesturing toward Ron's book. "Duelling Styles throughout the Centuries?"

"Well…Lessons from Moody makes you want to learn more about fighting against the Dark Arts." He said evasively. "And besides, it could come in handy one day with the things going on."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing, nothing." he said hastily. "I just that… if something bad ever happens in the future like…like my family is threatened, I can protect them. Something like that." He looked at her. "Don't Muggles do something similar for basic defence?"

"Yes, they do." agreed Hermione slowly. "There are different styles of self-defence, of course depending on each country due to its origin-"

"Which is exactly what I'm getting at." nodded Ron matter-of-factly. "Everyone wants to be prepared."

The two didn't say another word as they poured their attention the books they had. Ron would skim through the pages, looking for a particular topic that would interest him and when he did, he'd read it, repeating the words inside his mind and imagining the details described. Hermione's head faced on the book while her hand was holding a quill and the other a parchment, scribbling furiously nonstop.

The distant ringing of the bell signalled them that it was lunch now, so they pulled away and stood to leave with Hermione putting her things away in her bag. "I'd better go now, Weasley." She said to him.

"Ron." he blurted out before his face turned red.

"What?" she asked, staring at him confused.

"Call me Ron." he said. He didn't what he was going on about, but all he knew that he was tired of hearing her call him by his last name and he wasn't the only Weasley at Hogwarts at the moment. "We've been talking for the past three years – well, I know more than half of the time we talked weren't exactly good if you remember all of it, but I – well, if you want to…"

"I suggest you call me by my first name, then." She said fairly.

"Alright…Hermione," he said slowly. "Her-mi-oh-nee…Hermione. Can I just call you Mione?" he asked after repeating her name. "Your name's long."

"No, it's Hermione." She said firmly but he could see the corners of her lips twitched slightly. "I'll be going now. I'll see you next time Ron."

"Sure." he nodded. He returned the book back to where he got it and left the library, feeling odd for some reason. Maybe Luna's rubbing it off me. She did that to me last year anyway.


Moody's lessons were still interesting. Right now, they were to be put under the Imperius Curse.

"This is getting bizarre." said Ron to Theo as they watched Moody cast the Unforgivable on Terry Boot from Ravenclaw. "What's next? Experience the Cruciatus Curse?"

"Doubtful." said Theodore. "You better watch your words."

"Davis! You're next!" barked Moody as his magical eye spun in different directions.

Tracy left her seat, trying to cover her anxiety. The whole class fell silent as they waited for Moody to cast the spell on her. "Imperio!" he said, his wand pointing at her. Ron saw her eyes go glassy for a moment and she began to raise both of her arms over her head before prancing across the room like a ballerina. Her expression was serene and blank and it was obvious that she wasn't feeling any pain as she twisted and twirled with her legs stretching as far as they could go.

When it was over, Tracy snapped back and almost fell down, panting heavily. Millicent decided to help her return to her seat. Ron heard her ask the other Slytherin. "How was it?"

"It's weird…like you don't have a worry and you're at peace." she mumbled. "What did he make me do? My legs feel painful."

"You were acting like a ballerina, Trace." said Pansy, intruding on their conversation. "You were doing a triple pirouette, in fact. You did it two times."

Tracey scowled. When Ron's name was called, he dreaded he would somehow manage to throw it off. He stood in front of the ex-Auror and he didn't like the expression he was wearing on his face. "You ready, Weasley?" he growled. Ron couldn't respond verbally due to his nerves and just nodded once. "Imperio!" shouted Moody, his wand at his forehead.

Ron suddenly felt a rush throughout his whole body, he became relaxed and his mind was more calm and peaceful than he felt in his entire life. It was like having a really good dream.

Act like a frog…

He crouched down his hands on the floor between his legs.

Croak loudly…

Ron obeyed and let out loud croak for everyone to hear. He faintly heard some students snorting and laughing, greatly reminding him of Draco and his cronies but he wasn't paying attention anymore.

Hop around the classroom while you croak…

He complied but midway another voice spoke, sounding very irritable. Why the hell are you listening to him? You're not a bloody frog! You're a wizard! Ron couldn't agree more as he grew to be more aware of what he was doing. His eyes snapped open and he let out a yelp as he saw himself crashing on the corner of the classroom instead of moving left.

"Took a while but you almost managed to stop it, Weasley." grunted Moody, making his way over to his direction.

Ron nodded, slowly getting up. He went back to his seat and scowled as he felt his head throb in pain. "He made me act like a frog, didn't he?" he hissed at Theodore.

Theodore nodded. "It was amusing. I'm surprised you almost threw it off."

"And you can?"

"That depends." He answered simply. "It takes a lot of will to really throw off the Imperius Curse." When it was Nott's turn, he was able to throw off the spell but it took less than a minute unlike what Ron had heard from the other class with Harry Potter, who was able to throw it off completely after four times.

Homework continued to pile up as the days went by, which Ron and the others found it rather annoying and stressful since they barely have much time for themselves (but Ron knew that his schedule was tougher since he had to juggle duelling lessons and learning new spells). At the entrance hall, a huge crowd surrounding a large sign was blocking the way to the Great Hall, making it hard for some students to go through. "What's happening?" asked Astoria as she passed by, looking at the crowd curiously.

"It must be something worth checking out," mused Daphne. "Ronald, why don't you check it for me?" she asked sweetly, batting her eyebrows at him.

Ron wanted to tell her to go find out for herself but he knew it was futile since he knew her well enough that she would get what she wanted either way, so he went there (he had to admit to himself, he was curious as well) and read the notice.

TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT

THE DELEGATIONS FROM BEAUXBATONS AND DURMSTRANG WILL BE ARRIVING AT 6 O'CLOCK ON FRIDAY THE 30TH OF OCTOBER. LESSONS WILL END HALF AN HOUR EARLY – STUDENTS WILL RETURN THEIR BAGS AND BOOKS TO THEIR DORMITORIES AND ASSEMBLE IN FRONT OF THE CASTLE TO GREET OUR GUESTS BEFORE THE WELCOMING FEAST.

"What does it say?" asked Daphne.

"It's about the Triwizard Tournament -" began Ron and the other students who were not aware glanced his way to listen. "'Says that the representatives of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be coming in a week so all of us have to get ready and greet them."

"Oh that's going to be interesting!" barged in Pansy as she pulled Daphne with her. "We need to talk, Daphne."

Ron and Astoria stared at the two until they were out of sight. "What's that?" inquired Astoria curiously.

"I have no idea, don't ask me." He said blankly. He caught a glimpse of Ginny and Luna walking together with another girl he thought was one of Ginny's housemates. He walked over to them.

"It's been awhile, how're you two?" he asked.

"Hi Ron." said Luna in her usual dreamy tone. "There's barely any Wrackspurts surrounding you. You must be doing well lately."

"Tired with the homework but I'm feeling better, yeah." He nodded. He shouldn't be surprised that Luna would be the first one to notice any changes about him, whether or not he knew of it. "So who do you think who's going to be Hogwarts Champion?"

"I heard Angelina's going to try out." said Ginny. "She's the same year with Fred and George but she'll be seventeen this year. Anyway, I'd like you to meet Demelza Robbins. She's the same year as us and she's in Gryffindor. Demelza, he's Ron from Slytherin." she introduced the other girl. Unlike Luna who looked as if she was unaware of her surroundings and Ginny who was aware and high-spirited, Demelza seemed the type who was optimistic and bubbly.

"Hi, I've heard a couple of things from Ginny and Luna." she chirped. "You don't look as grouchy as I thought you'd be."

Ron raised an eyebrow at her. "That's what you thought about me?"

"He's been moody since he landed in Slytherin but he's still Ron." said Ginny airily. "He wouldn't hurt a fly, really." Turning to Ron, she added, "I've heard that Cedric's planning on entering!"

"You mean Diggory?" he said, surprised. "Is he going to try out?"

"That's what I've heard recently," she shrugged. "He's a seventh year and one of the best students in his year from what I know. And he's prefect."

"I think you mean he's handsome." he teased. Ginny smacked his arm, her cheeks slightly red.

"He'd make a good Hogwarts Champion," said Luna. "He's nice to everyone and likes to help out."

"So, how about you? Going steady with Greengrass?" teased Ginny this time. "I saw you talking to her. Really, I've never thought you'd go for one of the Snake girls, even a pretty one."

"Isn't she the girl talking to you few minutes ago? She's pretty but I heard she was snobby." thought Demelza loudly. "She must be nice enough if you're talking to her."

Ron's face turned crimson red. "I'm not interested in her!" he said hotly, earning curious looks from the other students passing by. "Just drop it already. I'm just talking to her earlier because she's wondering what the commotion is all about."

"And you're gracious enough to look for her, hm?" smirked Ginny. Demelza nodded in agreement.

"My lovelife …or lack of it… is none of your concern, Gin. Why bother asking?" he said flatly.

"Because you're easily annoyed, I think." said Luna honestly. "And most girls do like to know about boys' interest in the opposite sex."

"Okay, we're ending this conversation." he said while shaking his head. Although his wasn't as red as earlier, his ears still were. "I shouldn't have bothered you if we were going to talk like this." He turned around and left them.

"It's nice to talk to you, too!" called out Ginny, grinning.

Ron didn't look back to retort and kept moving toward the Slytherin table to eat lunch. For the rest of the month the main topic most students talked about was the Triwizard Tournament. It was like the first day right after Dumbledore announced the event. He could see that there were changes happening around the castle such as the suits of armours looking good as new, several portraits were cleaned as well, and the chandeliers were almost glittering.

When October 30th arrived, everyone was anticipating the arrival. The Slytherins and Gryffindors had their Potions class end thirty minutes earlier which displeased Snape (he announced a week before that he would be having the whole class test if their antidotes were working, but Ron thought his words were directed to the Gryffindors in particular) and they hurried back to the dungeons to return their bags and other belongings.

"I guess there's finally a use for these silly hats." said Blaise as he picked up his, giving it a dirty look.

"Yes, we look very fetching, don't you think?" sneered Draco, grabbing his in distaste. "Let's go Crabbe, Goyle." He said to his two goons who grunted in response.

Ron rolled his eyes when they, including the Italian Slytherin, left the dormitory. "I like him better when he's transfigured as an albino ferret." He snorted, opening his trunk to find his black hat.

"Only you in this House would think that way," said Theodore to him.

"I can think of a couple who hates his guts, mind you." He said pointedly. "Come on."


I've noticed that I'm posting somewhat faster. Maybe I'm motivated by something.

This chapter mostly covers most part of the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang and the next chapter will cover the rest of the B&D and the Goblet of Fire. I do hope that I did a bit of justice with regard to duelling since I'm not much of a pro and I can imagine Ron getting his arse kicked by no other than Daphne, especially when he made that comment about girls. Probably all girls would feel the same way as Daphne.

Personally speaking, I think AU!Ron is more capable of trying to throw off the Imperius Curse rather than Canon!Ron would but the difference is their determination and perspective on their surroundings. Also with Theodore, he's more knowledgeable and yes, he implied that he's been subjected with more than an ounce of pain while learning duelling with his father. Hm, that's not exactly good parenting but it does disciplines a child at some point (but not often mind you. Abuse is still abuse).

I know it's advance but I would like to greet everyone happy Valentines day for those with dates and all, and Happy Singles day for people like who love loving ourselves ahaha just kidding.

Edited by my fellow cyberpal whose birthday is on Feb 14! Belated Happy Birthday to you!