As the dueling commenced, Hermione smirked, as she was easily beating Felicia, although she was older. Narcissa had given both Draco and her dueling lessons and "it was important to learn to defend yourselves being related to the Minister." James had disapproved for Harry and taught him himself, even though Hermione was sure it was mostly them plotting future pranks. With a quick glance over at Draco, it looked like he was doing pretty well against Lee. Lee's style was loose and a bit sloppy while Draco's was smooth and defined from practice.
A spell glanced at Hermione. She focused her attention back to Felicia, sidestepping a Stunner and reciprocating with another Bat-Bogey Hex. Felicia, distracted, was quite easy to disarm and as Hermione handed back her wand, Felicia gave a smile. Hermione smiled in return, accepting the offer, before turning to watch Percy Weasley, her next match, as it was obvious he was winning against Oscar. Draco had won and came to her side.
"He's too rigid. He does everything precisely and accurately without any embellishments. This makes him a lot faster," Draco warned.
"But also, it's easier to make him flustered. If I can get him emotional, I might have a chance," Hermione responded thoughtfully. "But what makes him tick?"
Draco watched Percy finish his boat and saw his eyes glance to Lillian. He smirked. "I got it all figured out, Mione. See you on the other side." He walked over to Lillian, getting in position for the semifinal matches.
"Hey, Lillian. I heard this really funny joke today…" Draco began to laugh with Lillian and watched as Percy's ears grew redder and redder.
As Dumbledore called for positions in order to begin, Hermione saw Percy's hands begin to shake as he lifted his wand. On "go!", she began to shoot spells as quickly as possible, trying to overwhelm Percy. Percy kept trying to cast spells but his wand movements were indecipherable, causing some of his spells to be faulty. This continued for a couple more minutes before Hermione performed the Body-Binding Spell, stopping Percy from casting anything else. She was headed to the finals! As a first year! She looked around, wanting to share her joy with Draco and found him on the floor about to help up from Lillian.
"Draco? What happened?" Hermione said, rushing over to check on her friend.
"I took one for the team. I was telling jokes with Lillian, trying to get Weasley to mess up, as he has a crush on her. But then I was not focused and Lillian hit me with a really good Stunner. Knocked me right out." Draco said, smirking.
"But you could've been hurt," protested Hermione. "Seriously injured if you weren't paying attention."
"But I'm fine, Mione. Seriously, I'm okay. You go on. Be careful and stay sharp!" Draco pushed her over to the starting positions.
Dumbledore stood up, casting Sonorus on his voicebox. "Now, we have Ms. Lillian Surrah of Ravenclaw (a 7th year) versus Ms. Hermione Black of Slytherin (a 1st year)! Good luck to both of you!"
As Dumbledore began the duel, Hermione was acutely aware of everything. The spells, how Lillian held her wand, the way Lillian stood. She was a well-oiled machine, defending and attacking almost simultaneously. Hermione was trying to keep up, she really was, but the amount of practice Lillian had was wearing on her. Yet she kept up, pushing herself from normal jinxes to more advanced spells. She knew this battle was going to end soon so she tried one last thing. The Magic-Tying Spell had been the spell Sirius had taught her right before she left for school, the only time he had interrupted duelling practice with Narcissa. After taking her to another room, he had demonstrated how to do the spell and the appropriate wand movements. But Hermione had never achieved casting it correctly. Her progress was inconsistent and although she practiced, it would not work. But desperation drove her to use this as a last chance. As she made a star with her with a Capistro, Hermione attempted to use this spell. But the magic reversed, as incorrectly cast, it stopped Hermione's spell casting. Lillian easily won, as Hermione struggled to reverse the damage. She walked over.
"Nice duel, Hermione. You kept up for a while. That's tough to do. My own friends can't." Lillian said.
"Thanks. It was very hard. You're an almost perfect dueller. The speed was incredible."
"Just loads of practice." And Lillian walked away towards Dumbledore, who presented her with the Duelling Cup.
"Wow. That was amazing Hermione. Almost 10 minutes in the duel." Harry ran up to her. "I think I'm gonna need a lot of tutoring to catch up with you."
Hermione smiled at him. "I'll help. It's quite easy once you get the fundamentals. Then it all builds from there." She paused, as she saw Draco's angry face. "What?"
"Where'd you learn that spell?" At Hermione's answer, he glared. "You could've been seriously hurt or your magic damaged. What were you thinking? You can't even cast it right. You know how dangerous that is, uncontrolled magic. Come on Hermione. I tell you to be careful and you go and almost get your magic taken away." With a noise of disgust, he walked away.
Harry put his arm around Hermione's shoulders. "It's alright, Mione. He's just frustrated. He'll cool down later."
Yet, a couple days passed, and Draco was still fuming. It caused tension between him and Hermione, which was quite awkward for Harry. Harry hoped that a holiday vacation would cheer them up, and went over to them before class to tell them good news.
"Hi guys. So Mum and Dad are having everyone over for Christmas. Your dad will be there and so will your parents, so we are going to take the train home and then meet Uncle Remus at the station to take us home. Good?" Despite the two glares fixed on him, Harry continued. "Good. Oh, this Christmas will be amazing. All the presents, and foods, and -"
"Do tell us more, Potter. I'm delighted to hear all about your holidays plans in my Potions class," Snape drawled as he appeared. "If Mr. Potter is done, please copy the notes on the board." With a wave of his wand, and another menacing glare at Harry, Snape floated to the front of the room.
Harry turned to the board and began writing notes thinking, This Christmas better mend things between Draco and Hermione. They are so grouchy when they don't talk to each other.
(A/N) Hi guys! I know, I know. I said that I was done for a while with this story. But you guys... I couldn't leave you (and it) that easily. It's my first full story. I'm going to finish it. So here's a little Christmas gift for you (possibly a second if I feel motivated). A brand new chapter! How exciting (*everyone claps*)
Honestly tho guys, thank you so much for your reviews and reads. It means the world to me. I really appreciate your thoughts and I definitely try to take your advice.
If you haven't please check my other story Madame La Reine (CedricxOC).
As always, please read and review. xxxSWW