Fun fact: I wrote the duelling club scene back in November of 2018 because I was too impatient to wait until I got to that point in the story on my own lol. There was a bit of editing involved to match Addie's slight character growth from her first year, otherwise, I was happily surprised that most of the scene fit into the story.
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"Gather 'round! Gather 'round!" Lockhart exclaimed as he climbed onto the stage.
Lockhart was wearing a powder blue combat vest, duelling pants, and boots. I would have said that he looked the part of a competent wizard except for the superfluous cape that he wore tied over one shoulder. Momentarily, I lamented the guy's personality as I mused that his looks were wasted on the guy and eyed Lockhart up and down.
The rest of the students swarmed the stage as Lockhart called their attention to him, due to my foresight, Hermione, Ginny, and I were already at the front with a good view.
"Can everybody see me? Can you all hear me?" Lockhart asked rhetorically as he marched down the stage. "Excellent."
He whipped around in a dramatic turn to face us all from the other end of the stage.
"In light of the dark events of recent weeks, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little duelling club after class hours. To train you all up! In case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions. For full details, see my published works."
I almost rolled my eyes at how seriously this guy took himself.
After he finished, Lockhart undid the knot that held his cape on his shoulder and threw it into the crowd. There were gasps from some of the older girls as they scrambled to catch it.
"Let me introduce," Lockhart continued as soon as the room quieted, "My assistant..."
He held out his arm to the other end of the stage theatrically.
"Professor Snape!" He announced.
There was scattered applause, most of it coming from the group of Slytherins across the stage from me.
At his introduction, Professor Snape climbed the steps onto the stage. His face was impassive, but I thought that I could detect a hint of irritation directed toward Lockhart. He stood silently with his arms crossed, though I could see that he already had his wand drawn and he loosely held it in his right hand.
"He has sportingly agreed to help me with this little demonstration." Lockhart said. "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."
At that point, I couldn't help myself. In sheer shock and amusement at Lockhart's words, I barked out a high laugh that rang out through the Great Hall. Everyone turned to look at who had laughed and I ducked my head, somewhat embarrassed.
Meanwhile, as Lockhart spoke, Snape stalked his way to the centre of the stage to meet him. Lockhart then walked up the stage to the centre, mirroring Snape, then drew his wand.
When they came to be about a metre away from each other, Snape and Lockhart stopped. They each drew their wands in front of themselves in a salute to the other. Then, just as quickly as they brought their wands up, they whipped them down, back to their sides. They finished with a very shallow bow to the other, no more than a tilt of the head. They each quickly turned and walked slowly to their respective side of the stage then turned to face one another again.
Lockhart held his wand before himself in a loose grip with his wand arm bent. I don't know what his other was supposed to be doing, it was just placed on his cocked hip. Snape, however, stood in a recognizable duelling stance. His feet were a shoulder's width apart with his knees bent a little, and his wand arm raised behind him with his wand pointed directly at Lockhart. His other arm was drawn directly before himself and pointed at Lockhart.
I had read a few books about duelling in legitimate curiosity but was dismayed when I had realized that it wouldn't be like an actual battle at all. Duelling was all about proper forms and regulations of the game and whatnot. In hindsight, I suppose it was a little foolish of me to expect a recreation of the fight between Dumbledore and Voldemort from the fifth movie to be commonplace in an everyday duel.
Lockhart began counting.
"One, two, three!"
The moment that Lockhart said three, Snape moved.
"Ex-pelliarmus!"
The overpowered disarming charm sent Lockhart flying backwards. He landed in a thump further down the stage. At his swift defeat, quiet laughter echoed through the Hall as people tried to stifle their amusement at Lockhart.
Lockhart pushed himself up with a groan.
"Do you think he's okay?" Hermione asked.
"Who cares." Ron said from behind us.
I turned around to face him, I hadn't noticed that he was standing behind us.
"I know right?" I said as I held out my fist for a fist bump.
Ron looked at me in surprise, then at my fist, then back at me, before bumping it with his own. I smiled at him before turning back around. Lockhart had gotten up and was now walking toward Snape, who was now standing calmly with his hands clasped in front of himself.
"An excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape." Lockhart said cockily, trying to save face. "But if you don't mind me saying, it was pretty obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you, it would have been only too easy."
"Perhaps it would be prudent to first teach the students to block unfriendly spells, Professor." Snape said flatly.
Lockhart froze.
"...An excellent suggestion, Professor Snape!" He said, turning away from Snape to walk back down the stage. "Let's have a volunteer pair."
He searched the crowd desperately.
I raised my hand.
"Ah! Potter! Thank you for volunteering. Is there another who'd like to duel?" Lockhart asked and turned again, searching the crowd.
"Me!" A voice shouted from the other side of the stage.
"Mr. Malfoy, brilliant!" Lockhart said. "Why don't you two come up onto the stage?"
I met Malfoy's eye from across the Hall. I raised a brow at him, he sneered back at me. I made my way through the crowd and climbed up onto Lockhart's side of the stage. Lockhart met me at the edge of the platform.
"Now, Potter, here's what you need to do-" He started whispering.
"It's alright, Professor, I think I can do this on my own." I said dryly as I continued to walk.
I stood in the middle of the stage, and waited for Malfoy and Snape to stop planning on their end. As they were finished, Malfoy turned to look at me and looked surprised that I was already waiting for him. He quickly walked to meet me at the centre of the stage.
"Wands at the ready!" Lockhart announced.
We both drew our wands in front of ourselves in a salute.
"Scared, Potter?" Malfoy taunted, his words causing an old memory of this scene from the movie to flutter across my mind's eye.
"In your dreams, Malfoy." I casually said, forgoing the 'you wish' from canon for something a little more me.
We both whipped our wands back to our sides. Malfoy looked about as ferocious as a twelve-year-old boy could, glaring at me with all his might. He probably wanted payback from when I handed his ass to him during the brawl at the Quidditch pitch. Then, we both turned and walked to our respective ends of the stage.
"Don't go easy on me, Malfoy!" I shouted.
"Wouldn't dream of it!" He called back waspishly.
Malfoy took the same duelling stance that Snape had, with his wand arm drawn behind himself, wand pointed directly at me. I didn't take a proper duelling stance, or the poor excuse for one that Lockhart had taken either. I wasn't going to try something that I was unfamiliar with, like a duelling stance, so I stuck with something that I had known even before I was reborn as Adeline Potter.
I stood in a fencing stance.
Both my legs bent considerably more than the average duelling stance and my feet made a ninety-degree angle if there were lines drawn inward from the heels. My wand arm was drawn in front of myself with my elbow slightly bent and my other arm was behind my body and out of the way entirely. This way, I would present myself as a considerably smaller target to my adversary.
"Cast your charms to disarm your opponent," Lockart announced, "Only to disarm."
I rolled my eyes at that, mouthing 'no' to Malfoy with a smirk. Facing away from Lockhart, he couldn't see my face, and therefore what I had just said to Malfoy. Malfoy's eyes narrowed and he nodded stoically to me, accepting my challenge. It didn't really occur to me that Snape could see my message to Malfoy as well.
"One, two-" Lockhart began counting.
"Everte Statum!" Malfoy interrupted, casting early.
I quickly drew my arm back.
"Protego!"
The spell crashed into my shield, sending me swaying backward and vibrations racing up my arm. If I hadn't been standing the way I had, I would have been knocked off my feet just from the collision between spell and shield.
There were gasps and whispers all throughout the Hall at my use of a shield charm, a spell first taught in fourth year.
"It worked!" I laughed, instinctively looking over to find Hermione in the crowd. "Did you just see that? It worked!"
"Good job, Potter." Lockhart commended. "Now continue the duel. But with disarming spells only, Mr. Malfoy!"
I minutely considered letting Malfoy cast another spell, but quickly decided against it out of a will to dominate the duel.
"Levicorpus!" I yelled.
Malfoy was immediately dragged up into the air by his ankle and suspended there. He swung back and forth a little due to the residual momentum. Some laughter sounded throughout the Hall, but most were just looking on in interest, waiting to see what would happen next in the duel.
I stepped back and stood regularly, leaving behind my fencing stance as I watched Malfoy swing in the air. I caught Snape's gaze behind Malfoy and drew back, nearly outright recoiling in surprise.
Snape glared thunderously at me, his eyes darkened.
I drew my brows together in confusion.
Why could he be so angry at that?
I tried to think of why anything that I had done would infuriate Snape so much. Maybe it was the spell? I tried in vain to think back of where the Levicorpus spell was from, but I couldn't recall.
"That one brings back memories, Potter." Lockhart mused from behind me.
Memories? What's the guy on about now?
"Do you know the counter spell to it? I'm afraid I've quite forgotten." He added.
I nodded, then pointed my wand at Malfoy again.
"Libra- uh… Liberacorpus!"
Suddenly, the force that had suspended Malfoy in the air had been released and he was sent sprawling on the stage. Snape grabbed Malfoy by the back of his robe and pulled him up roughly then pushed him toward me, a clear indication for Malfoy to continue the duel.
My eyes widened in shock. I had assumed that after my Levicorpus spell the duel would be over and Malfoy wouldn't have the chance to summon the snake.
Malfoy quickly got back into his duelling stance and cast his next spell.
"Serpensortia!"
At once, a snake shot out of his wand and began slowly slithering toward me, hissing lowly.
Snape sighed quietly then strode forward.
"Don't move Potter, I'll get rid of it for you."
"Allow me!" Lockhart interrupted and began moving forward as well.
"No." I said and physically stopped him with my arm.
I turned back to Snape and Malfoy.
"Why don't we all let me get rid of it." I said calmly.
"Don't be silly, Potter." Lockhart said. "You'll have plenty of time to be a hero later, allow the real hero to work."
Lockhart pushed past my arm and marched toward the snake.
"Wow," I muttered, "He really just said that."
Lockhart pointed his wand at the snake.
"Alarte Ascendare!" He cried and flicked his wand upward.
Following the movement of his wand, the snake was thrown up into the air, then landed back on the stage with a light thump. It shook his head as if disoriented, then turned and bared its fangs at the closest person, a Hufflepuff called Justin Finch-Fletchley. Justin gasped and backpedalled away from the snake, as did everyone in the crowd around him.
I huffed in annoyance.
"Confringo." I said sharply, pointing my wand at the snake.
The snake had no time to turn before my spell blew it to ash in less than a second with a stupendous 'bang' and a spout of fire. My mouth quirked up into a wry grin at the sheer aggression of the blasting curse as I reflexively raised my hand to shield from the sharp burst of light. It was my first time casting it, I wasn't sure whether it would work or not. I should have probably used Incendio, but seeing the Confringo spell in the movies had made me curious about its effects in real life.
I chose not to display my Parseltongue abilities to most of the school, it would only have made things difficult for me. Even if I had stopped the whole Chamber of Secrets plot from happening (as a result, students weren't on the lookout for the Heir of Slytherin), Parseltongue was still apparently a dark magic skill; one that I couldn't afford to be associated with.
My eyes flicked up from the scorch mark on the stage to Snape, who was now staring at me with an expression I couldn't place.
"A-all right, give a big round of applause for our two volunteers!" Lockhart interrupted, trying to get the jovial mood back into the Hall.
I let a self-satisfied grin slip across my face as I let myself off the stage.
"Addie, I can't believe you did that!" Hermione exclaimed somewhat angrily as she stalked down the corridor to potions. I followed along behind her, still trying to shake off my morning grogginess.
"Did what?" I asked.
"That stunt you pulled at the duelling club yesterday!" She replied, whipping around to deal me a sharp look.
"Kicking Malfoy's ass again?" I asked. "That's just habit at this point, 'Mione."
Hermione pursed her lips and suddenly whacked me in the bicep with her potions textbook.
"Agh- jeez!" I snarled, jerking away to avoid another swing. "Just use your words!"
"Use my words?" Hermione echoed angrily.
"What stunt, dude?" I shouted.
"Potter! Granger!"
Both of us froze and looked down the dungeon corridor to see Snape standing in the doorway of the potions classroom.
"Stop your caterwauling and get in here!" He snapped at us. "Five points from each of you for disturbing the peace."
Disturbing the peace? Really?
I kept my expression flat as we passed Snape to get into the darkened classroom. I knew from experience that the man would take points for rolling your eyes at him. We walked into the dim room, everyone else was already seated and turned in their seats to stare at us silently. I scanned the room minutely, and let out a quiet groan when I realized the only two vacant seats were right in front of Snape's desk.
As soon as we were past the threshold of the door, Snape shut it with an echoing bang and swept past us, the edge of his robes flicking me in the face as he passed- which I was sure he somehow did on purpose.
"Today, we will be learning the fire-protection potion, then you will put theory to the test and brew in the remaining class time." He drawled as he spun to a stop before the backboard. "Turn to page ninety-six in your textbooks."
I fumbled a bit with getting my textbook out of my bag and quickly set it open at the correct page on the table while rummaging for my writing utensils. Snape didn't wait for everyone to get all their materials and waved his wand, causing a stick of chalk to fly up to the board and start writing as he spoke.
"The fire-protection potion is informally known as the ice serum, however, experts advise against calling it such because this potion is now commonly mistaken for the ice-blood elixir." He explained flatly.
Sometimes I found it all so surreal (and a little humorous, to be honest). When you see Snape in the movies, he's either getting Harry in trouble or duelling in some context. You hardly see the man getting down and actually teaching a lesson to schoolchildren.
In the beginning, during first year, I had imagined Snape's classes would have been somehow novel or interesting. Yes, while the very concept of potion making is pretty fantastic to someone who previously assumed such things to be fiction, you kinda get used to it after some time. Additionally, when the novelty of being in the same room as the character Severus Snape from one of my favourite book series wore off as well, a weird disconnect seemed to form between the Snape I knew from the books and the Snape I saw almost every day.
Annoying, right?
When I think back to the films, I remember a lot more action than what I lived. I wasn't disappointed, per se, but I was a little thrown off at how… normal everything seemed when it wasn't a holiday or the end of the school year (infamous dates for shenanigans across most of the HP books).
Like, jeez, I had this cool idea of Severus Snape: double agent debonair- a concept that clashed with the exhausted-looking, lanky, petty thirty-two-year-old guy in front of me. It wasn't as… cinematic as I imagined.
"Potter!"
I jerked my head up out of my musings to stare at Snape.
"Did you not hear me?" He glowered.
I managed not to grimace. Of course I didn't hear him.
"...No, I heard you, Professor." I said haltingly.
A mean smirk crossed Snape's face at my reply, causing me to flush in embarrassment.
"Well, then, Potter." He said lightly. "What's the answer to my question? Why don't you- Granger don't even look at her!- share with the class?"
I will admit that Snape's sudden interjection to his own question made me jump. Additionally, I heard Hermione squeak beside me, but I wasn't inclined to look to see her reaction.
"The answer…" I started. "It's a very good one, I'll tell you that."
Snape quirked a brow invitingly.
"Or, do you admit that you were not, in fact, paying attention?"
"Well…"
The jig's up, boys.
"Your question was probably about…"
I leaned over in my seat to look at the chalkboard behind Snape.
"...The fire-protection potion."
"Five points from Ravenclaw, Potter." Snape said gleefully. "And do share what was much more interesting than today's lesson."
I stared at Snape for a beat, trying to come up with a funny-enough lie.
"Okay, honestly, I was thinking about how bomb it was when you handed Lockhart's ass to him during duelling club." I said blandly. "You're like, a dope dueller, man- Professor."
For a moment, Snape just stared at me. I was tempted to say ' has stopped working' just for the meme. I think I caught him off-guard with the compliment. Despite myself, my mouth twitched upward in a smug smirk.
"I would dignify that verbal mess with a reply, Potter, when you have learned to speak like a proper witch, and not some muggle vagabond." He said flatly, prompting snickers from the pureblood bigots of the class.
I stared at him in surprise for a moment, then flashed a dead grin and gave a sarcastic laugh.
"Haha, that took a turn." I replied dryly. "But we do stan institutionalized discrimination, I guess."
"Muzzle yourself, Potter, and pay attention." Snape said, then turned to address the rest of the class.
Muzzle myself? Harsh.
"As I asked just moments ago, what is the difference between a serum, an elixir, and a potion?" He asked.
Oh, I knew that, dammit.
Hermione made a quiet grunt from the force with which she launched her hand into the air. Snape pretended not to see her as he scanned the classroom for potential victims.
"Malfoy?" He prompted.
I glanced over to the blond in question, only to see his cheeks redden as he seemed to shrink in his seat.
"A potion is a magical… brew, with various properties…" Malfoy tried haltingly.
Either taking pity on the kid or just plain bored, Snape interrupted to correct him.
"Close, but not quite, Malfoy." Snape replied tiredly. "The word potion refers to any magically brewed concoction, essentially serving as an umbrella term. An elixir is a type of potion with purely medicinal intentions and effects. And finally, a serum is mainly used to describe a potion that is water based and results in a small resultant yield. Additionally, the term serum is not technically a legitimate label and is used in more informal settings."
Then he added angrily. "Write this down!"
"What about Veritaserum?" I asked after a few moments.
"Five points from Ravenclaw for talking out of turn, Potter." Snape sneered.
I raised my hand and stared at him blankly until he blew a heavy sigh out of his nose and answered my question.
"Veritaserum is the name of a well-known truth potion." He explained. "The name comes from the latin 'veritas', meaning 'truth', and 'serum', meaning 'liquid'. Veritaserum is officially recognized under the label of potion, not a serum."
I nodded in understanding at the explanation, but Snape had already turned away back to the blackboard.
"Read over the details of the fire-protection potion and its brewing instructions." He continued the lesson. "Then join your brewing partner and use the remaining hour to make a successful potion for grading."
The rest of the class afterward was mostly filled with silence, only broken by mutterings between lab partners interrupted by an occasional scathing comment from Snape. It seemed Hermione was still mad at me, she refused to speak with me other than to correct whatever potion ingredient I was handling wrong.
When we handed in our potion, Snape gave me a side eye and insulted my handwriting again after looking at my accompanying notes. Typical.
The second we were dismissed, Hermione rocketed out of the classroom. I huffed a sigh and jerked my bag over my shoulder and strode after her, only to see her disappear around a corner down the hall.
Well, she was obviously quite upset with me, I could tell that much.
Earlier, she said something about my "stunt" during the duelling club. I wracked my memory for anything offensive that I would have done during my duel with Malfoy. The only thing I did unexpectedly was cast a Protego spell… She was probably talking about my Confringo curse!
I nodded absently to myself as I continued walking down the corridor.
It made sense, after all. Confringo was a highly volatile blasting curse and it was ultimately irresponsable of me to cast it around so many people who could have been hurt had I executed the spell incorrectly. Plus, it showed anyone who was observing closely that I wasn't scared to go with the big guns, a bit of info that could tip off an enemy. In hindsight, I realized my error. Leave it to Hermione to be so conscientious and forward-thinking about these kinds of things. Sometimes it seemed like she was the one paying more attention to my own secrets than myself. It was advantageous to have her on my side.
I nodded to myself again as I climbed a large stone staircase up out of the dungeons. All I had to do was let her cool off a bit, separate from me, then let her approach on her own time. Kids were funny that way, they could get so mad with you but by the next day, everything would be back to normal. I had plenty of patience for Hermione to come around; I had waited eleven years just to get to Hogwarts, after all.
Suddenly, I was jerked out of my thoughts as I bumped into something, prompting a light "ooph" from me. I quickly backtracked and found myself facing the Weasley twins, who gave me identical cheshire grins, promising mischief.
"Well lookie here, George." The twin on the right said.
"Is that a lost little Potter I see, Fred?" The twin on the left asked.
"I do believe it is." Righty- now tentatively identified as Fred- replied.
"Hello Weasleys." I said flatly.
I paused for a moment, then narrowed my eyes at them. The twins seemed to have been crouched behind the corner, looking up into the corridor at the top of the stairs on the main floor.
"Who are you two spying on?" I asked, suspicious.
George grinned. "No one, yet."
"Yet?"
Fred nodded. "See, we have it on good authority that Malfoy Senior is gonna be visiting the school today."
I almost physically recoiled in surprise. Lucius Malfoy? Here? At Hogwarts! Why?
Questions flew through my mind and my anxiety rose as I tried to think of something I'd done wrong enough to prompt Malfoy to come to the school. It wasn't another few weeks before a Quidditch game, so he wouldn't be here to see his son. Who did he represent in the Ministry again? Some board for something, he'd mentioned in the second movie.
Dammit! This was not part of the timeline!
First things first…
"How do you know that?" I asked, my voice a little too sharp.
Fred leaned down to smirk at me at eye level. "I'm sure you'd like to know, Potter."
"Jesus Christ," I hissed in annoyance, "Let's skip the banter and haggling and just tell me where'd you hear it from, Weasley."
Fred drew back in surprise.
"Not very friendly." George muttered, somewhat amused.
Fred, less amused, furrowed his brows at me and replied in a flatter tone. "Lee overheard Malfoy Junior bragging about it in the corridors. Bloke said that his dad was gonna kick ol' Dumbledore outta the school."
George snorted. "Like that's possible."
Well, Draco's certainly got a big mouth- one of the first things I'd noticed when meeting the kid. However, I wouldn't put it past him to embellish some of the details of his story as well. Though, if Lucius Malfoy did want to get rid of Dumbledore, like he had planned to with Tom Riddle's diary, I supposed he was sharp enough to think of some other kind of plot.
"Did he say how, or why?" I pressed.
"Nah. He's full'a hot air, if you ask me." Fred drawled.
"I didn't, but thank you for that assessment." I said wryly.
"Anytime."
I leaned around the twins to get a look at the corridor. On the main floor, this wide corridor was definitely where visitors would travel if they wanted to go to either the Great Hall or the Headmaster's Office a little further. Hidden in a turnoff in the lower staircase, Fred and George had picked a perfect spying place. If I only had the Invisibility Cloak, everything would be perfect to eavesdrop on Lucius Malfoy.
"Gonna spy with us, Potter?"
I turned to face the twins again, not really sure which one had spoken.
I furrowed my brow as I considered whether or not to accept the invitation. Sure, I was brimming with anxious curiosity, all the more provoked by my paranoia that I had somehow screwed the timeline to hell already, but was it really a smart decision? Without my Invisibility Cloak, what could I even do other than crouch at the top of a staircase and watch Lucius Malfoy walk down a hallway?
Plus, the man was an ex-Death Eater, intimately acquainted with war, torture, and murder- there was no way he wouldn't be aware of three school-aged children stalking him. At best, we would go unnoticed and watch Lucius Malfoy walk down the Hogwarts corridors, maybe follow him to the Headmaster's Office, and that would be it. At worst, he'd catch us and would know that I'm trying to pry into his affairs, subsequently putting me on his shit list. Plus, I would miss Charms class if I stayed with the Weasleys, but that was more of an afterthought.
Upon reflection, there was much more to be lost than gained if I were to spy with the twins. However, I was quite interested whether or not Malfoy was actually coming to the school. Confirmation on his presence would at the very least inform me that he had other plans at work concerning Hogwarts, and more notably, its Headmaster.
Speaking of the Headmaster…
I still needed to tell him about the Chamber- wait…
A slow grin edged its way onto my face as a plan began to form in my mind, twisting and solidifying as I pondered it.
"I'll wait for Malfoy with you guys." I said slyly.