It was the day I had been dreading for ages. The day of the Duelling Club. For once, I hoped that my lessons that day wouldn't end because I wished that I hadn't agreed to the Duelling Club.
As I watched the hall fill up, I waited for Lockhart to arrive. Hoping that we would just do one class and Lockhart would forget about it, he turned towards me.
"Allow me to introduce my assistant... Professor Snape!"
I heard a few of the Gryffindors groan as Lockhart explained that I mentioned knowing a bit about duelling myself.
"But never fear! You'll still have your Potions Master when I'm finished with him!" He laughed.
I discreetly raised my eyebrows. I wasn't really worried about myself - after hearing the rumours about his teaching methods (for example, leaving three second year students to catch a load of pixies and running into his office), I thought he should be more worried about himself!
I sighed, just wanting to get the class over and done with. Finally, he decided to pace through the beginnings of a duel. Lockhart bowed at me and I nodded. As we took a few steps away and Lockhart counted to three, I decided to make the most of how I really felt about him. I raised my wand and pointed it at him.
"Expelliarmus!" I shouted. To my satisfaction, I watched as Lockhart flew through the air and slammed against the wall.
As we demonstrated the sort of duelling techniques that should be shown, we then began to put people into pairs. I watched as Potter tried to pair himself with Granger. Wanting different experiences with duelling, I decided to split the friendship group up - I put Potter with Draco Malfoy (knowing Potter's annoyance about that), I put Granger with Millicent Bulstrode (knowing that Miss Bulstrode wasn't exactly gentle when it came to Defence Against the Dark Arts), and I but Weasley with Finnegan (as there were no Slytherins left).
But, before i knew it, Malfoy had started on "two". He hit Potter with a spell, but then I heard Potter yell "Rictumsempra!" and it sent Malfoy doubled up in pain. As Malfoy was hit with a Tickling Charm, chaos then erupted. I heard him shout "Tarantellegra!" and I saw Potter starting to do some sort of dance. Lockhart tried to take charge, but everyone ignored him. I rolled my eyes at his failure, raised my arm in the air and shouted,
"Finite Incantatem!"
Finally, silence took over the Great Hall. Weasley was holding up Finnegan, looking worried.
"I'm sorry, Seamus," I heard him babble. "It's my wand, I tried to fix it with Spellotape and... It had a bad effect..."
I turned around to find Miss Bulstrode putting Miss Granger in a headlock. She was showing more and more signs of discomfort. Suddenly, Potter came past me to try and split them up. To my relief, I realised that we probably weren't going to have any more duelling clubs.
Wanting to have a volunteer pair, Lockhart suggested Longbottom and Finch-Fletchey. I decided to step in with this thought that Lockhart had, knowing that Longbottom had issues with pretty much all spells. Instead, I decided to suggest Potter and Malfoy. I quickly had an idea for something that would surprise Potter. I quickly pulled Malfoy closer and whispered in his ear.
"Point your wand at Potter when it's time to start duelling, and say 'Serpensortia'", I whispered. Malfoy smiled and nodded.
"Harry, you do this," Lockhart said. He waved his arms dramatically and dropped his wand. I rolled my eyes.
"What, drop my wand?" Potter asked, sounding puzzled.
Finally it was time to start duelling. I watched Malfoy as he pointed his wand towards Potter.
"Serpensortia!" Malfoy yelled. As I expected, a long black snake shot out of his wand and landed at his feet. Noticing the murmurs of fear going through the hall, I went to get rid off the snake.
"Allow me!" Said Lockhart. He pointed his wand at the snake, it flew through the air and landed on the floor.
Unexpectedly, the snake turned around and focused on Justin Finch-Fletchey. He widened his eyes and backed away a little. But what happened next was the last thing I expected to happen.
All of a sudden, almost as if he was going into a trance, Potter narrowed his eyes and began to walk towards the snake. But then, a hissing came out of his mouth. Parseltongue? Potter was a Parselmouth?
I waved my wand and the snake vanished. He looked up, smiling at Finch-Fletchey, but to his apparent surprise, he found Finch-Fletchey glaring at him.
"What do you think you're playing at?" He yelled.
Potter turned to look at me, but I didn't know what to think. Lily's son, a Parselmouth? What would she think of this. I continued to watch him as Weasley and Granger grabbed him and pulled him out of the hall. A silence rang through the hall before Lockhart began to speak, for once looking serious.
"R...Right, we'll finish that today, I think the best idea is for everyone to head back to their common rooms," said Lockhart. Slowly, everyone began to wander away and in silence Lockhart and I packed away the stage.
But walking out of the hall that night, I only found myself thinking one thing. How could a 12 year old have an ability like Parseltongue?
