AUTHOR'S NOTE: There are a few of my own spells in this dueling chapter. Just a few; the others are canon.
Friday afternoon, Harry had quickly been taken out by Ginny Weasley's Bat-Bogey Hex, just as she'd predicted; similarly, Ron had lost the duel when Hermione had hit him with a nasty Finger-Removing Jinx. While Sirius waited for Snape to arrive in the Great Hall, he dueled with Harry, while Ron dueled with Ginny. Hermione went on to duel with Lucy.
"Expelliarmus!" shouted Harry, causing Sirius's wand to fly out of his hand.
"Oh, come on," said Sirius, walking over to pick it up again. "Don't go easy on me like that!"
"All right…"
By the time Snape entered the Great Hall, Harry was tied up in invisible ropes, Sirius was the suffererer a Knee-Reversing Hex, and Ron was stumbling around in the background with bats flying out of his nose. Sirius released Harry from the Incarcerous spell, then pointed at his legs and said, "Finite." At his words, his knees switched back again.
"Not bad, Harry," said Sirius, grinning and walking over to Snape.
"Are you ready to duel, Black?" said Snape grimly.
"Always ready, Snape," Sirius replied. "Always ready."
Following proper dueling etiquette, the two bowed, although they each did it with pained expressions on their faces. Ron and Ginny cut off their duel and stood next to Harry. All three were watching intently.
"Expelliarmus," said Snape. Sirius's wand flew out of his hand for a second time, and he hastened to pick it up, hitting Snape with a Jelly-Legs Jinx. Sirius laughed and pointed as Snape fell over.
But Snape had a tight grip on his wand and hit Sirius with, "Rictumsempra!"
Sirius was still laughing now, but this time he couldn't control it—Snape had hit him with a Tickling Charm. It took a bit, but Sirius finally managed to gasp out, "Finite!" and the tickling stopped.
"Avamph!" Sirius shouted, and with a swish and flick movement of his wand, he had lifted Snape into the air and spun him around; Snape dropped to the ground and got up, but Sirius hit him with Avamph once more.
"Sectumsempra!" Snape yelled.
"Protego!" Sirius shouted, deflecting the curse.
The spell rebounded on Snape, but he ducked; the flash of light hit a stone statue behind them, shattering it.
"Fumiganus!" Sirius pointed his wand at Snape, who looked alarmed…and with good reason, as he appeared to be smoking.
"That's my dad's hex!" Harry whispered. "The one that makes things smoke, remember?"
"Clever," said Ginny. "Snape won't know the counter-hex."
"But Harry," said Ron, "didn't Sirius say your dad lost control of the—"
Before Ron finished his sentence, Snape shot up in the air, flying around the room and finally landing flat on his face. Sirius pointed his wand at Snape again: "Fumiganus!"
Sirius could hardly breathe for laughing as the spell repeated itself…but this time, when Snape landed, he was ready.
"Confringo!" he bellowed, and the students gasped as Sirius was blasted into the wall. (By now almost everyone had stopped dueling to watch the two nemeses; only Hermione and Lucy remained, flying across the floor, covered in sweat, wands flashing so fast they were merely blurs.) Sirius attempted to get up but Snape said, "Tarantellegra!"
Sirius's feet were dancing, and he had to use Finite again in order to stand up.
"Furnunculus!" Sirius yelled at Snape, who now had boils all over his face. The crowd gasped yet again as Snape conjured a sword from midair.
"Oh no you don't!" said Sirius. "Oppugno!"
The sword slashed Snape in the side of the face at the command of Sirius's wand; with flashing black eyes, Snape attempted Sectumsempra again. It barely missed Sirius, who dodged, but the flash of light hit the sleeve of his robes, singing it.
Sirius tried again: "Fumiga—"
But he wasn't quick enough. Snape hollered, "Silencio!" and Sirius clasped his hands around his throat; his voice was gone.
It was dueling as Harry and his friends had never seen it before. Snape had dropped his sword in order to conjure a bandage for his face; Sirius pointed his wand at the sword and banished it, then shot a jet of blue light at Snape, who blocked it; now they were going too fast for spells, just pointing their wands at each other. It was hard to keep up with what they used; Harry was sure he noticed a Jelly-Legs Jinx, another Knee-Reversing Hex, Incarcerous and a Trip Jinx, among others.
Sirius had obviously used Avamph on Snape again, because with a swish-and-flick of Sirius's wand up Snape went into the air again, spun around, then landed on the ground. But yet another gasp ensued as Snape dropped his wand and headed for Sirius, who (most likely) used Impedimenta, but Snape just Disarmed him and next thing you know he had tackled Sirius back onto the ground.
Before long Sirius had Snape in a headlock and Snape was kicking and punching every part of Sirius he could find as their wands lay abandoned on the floor. Snape was screaming, and Sirius probably would have been too, but he still didn't have his voice. Snape sucked-punched him in the jaw and he tightened his headlock; but at the next thing Snape did, Sirius released his arms (although he was unaware of doing so)…and this time there was a bloodcurdling, painful scream, but it didn't come from Sirius.
It was from Lucy. Snape was standing up, laughing, and Sirius had apparently suffered a swift knee to the balls. His voice was still gone, but judging by the words he was mouthing, it was probably for the better. Lucy had abandoned her duel with Hermione and was running the length of the Great Hall as she burst into furious tears.
"HOW COULD YOU?!" she shrieked at Snape, pointing her wand at him; Snape yelled in pain and clapped his hands over his face. Lucy seemed to have used the Conjuncitivis Curse. "Sirius, are you all right?"
It was like watching a silent movie of someone screaming at the top of their voice; that was Sirius's response. Lucy was crying like a toddler having a tantrum as Snape stumbled around, fumbling for his wand, shouting for someone to perform the Counter-Curse. Harry and Ron ran up to Sirius, Ginny following close behind them, while Hermione ran to Lucy.
"Come on, Lucy," Hermione said kindly, taking her hand. "Let's take you to Madame Pomfrey for a Calming Drought. It'll be fine."
Lucy sobbed something unintelligible as Hermione led her out of the room.
"Come on, help me, Ron," said Harry, and the two of them hoisted Sirius up. It was only when they were on their way out of the Great Hall that Harry finally remembered to give Sirius back his voice. Sirius swore so badly, though, that he almost wished he hadn't.
"I won't be able to walk for a week now!" Sirius moaned.
"Hmm, I bet you could do with some ice cream," said Ron.
"Oh! Oh! I have some in my dorm!" said Ginny. "Which do you like, Sirius, chocolate or vanilla?"
"I'm not going to be eating it," said Sirius pointedly.
"That stupid git Snape," Harry fumed as they continued their walk towards Gryffindor Tower. "That's not what dueling is supposed to be!"
"Why is it that Dueling Club always ends with something like this?" Ron added. "Last time it was you and that snake, and now look what happened to poor Sirius. Well, don't worry, we're almost there."
As soon as the four of them got to Gryffindor Tower, Ginny rushed up the girls' staircase to grab the ice cream she had in her dorm, and Sirius, Harry and Ron sat in armchairs by the fire. The common room was pretty much deserted, since everybody was in the Great Hall at Dueling Club.
Hermione and Lucy entered the common room before Ginny came back down. Lucy seemed calmer, but she didn't look happier.
"Are you all right, Sirius?" she sniffed.
"Better," he told her, and held out one arm to her. "Come here."
Lucy hugged him back, and soon enough, Ginny came back down with the ice cream. They decided to talk about the triple date.
"Looking forward to it?" Ginny asked Harry.
"Of course," he told her nervously.
"And with any luck, Snape won't be able to get rid of those boils," Sirius said jokingly, and everyone laughed.