Bold*- parstletongue
Italics - thoughts
"Normal"- speech and narrative
Chapter 31: Duelling Club And Another Attack
17/12/1992
~~~~~~~~~
As Cassandra came down from her dormitory on Thursday morning a month later, she saw a bunch of her housemates gathered around the notice board, reading a piece of parchment that hadn't been there last night. Seeing Daphne and Vince she walked over.
"What's going on?" She asked them.
"They're starting a Dueling Club!" said Daphne. "First meeting tonight at eight!"
"Wicked! I already know a fair bit as mum was teaching me over the holidays!" Cass smirked.
———
All anyone could talk about that day was the duelling club. Cassandra and her friends kept hearing people say about it being able to protect them from Slytherin's monster.
Each time she said the same thing in reply (though they weren't exactly talking to her). "It's not going to help you at all, it's a monster - monsters don't have wands!" And then she walked away, leaving them scared shitless.
It was now eight o'clock that evening and Cassandra was huddled with her friends in the Great Hall. The long dining tables had vanished and a golden stage had appeared along one wall, lit by thousands of candles floating overhead. The ceiling was velvety black once more and most of the school seemed to be packed beneath it, all carrying their wands and looking excited.
"Who do you think will be teaching us?" asked Blaise looking around for the sight of a teacher.
"Someone told me Flitwick was a dueling champion when he was young - maybe it'll be him." replied Astoria, who was stood with them - Luna was there too and Cassandra could see the Weasley girl trying to beckon her over, to which the blonde ignored.
"As long as it's not-" Cass began and then she let out a groan. Gilderoy 'I've never won a duel in my life let alone been in one' Lockhart was walking onto the stage in robes of deep plum.
She smirked, however, as she realised he was being followed by her godfather.
Lockhart waved an arm for silence. "Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent! Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little dueling club, to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions - for full details, see my published works!"
The Slytherins snorted, he was nothing but a fraud!
"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape," said Lockhart, flashing a wide smile. "He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about dueling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. 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!"
Cassandra had to slap a hand to her mouth to stop herself from bursting out laughing. Her Uncle could kill him in two seconds flat! Severus caught her eye, his eyes twinkled and he discreetly winked at her.
Lockhart and Sev then turned to face each other. They bowed and then raised their wands.
"As you see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position," Lockhart told the silent crowd. "On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course."
"I wouldn't bet on that," Blaise whispered to Cass, making her snort.
"One, two, three-"
"Expelliarmus!" The potions master cried. There was a dazzling flash of scarlet light and Lockhart was blasted off his feet. He flew backward off the stage, smashed into the wall, and slid down it to sprawl on the floor.
The group cheered.
Lockhart was getting unsteadily to his feet. His hat had fallen off and his wavy hair was standing on end.
"Well, there you have it!" he said, tottering back onto the platform. "That was a Disarming Charm - as you see, I've lost my wand - ah, thank you, Miss Brown - yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy - however, I felt it would be instructive to let them see..."
Snape was looking murderous and Cassandra knew how he felt - how dare Lockhart suggest he was better at anything than her godfather!
"Enough demonstrating! I'm going to come amongst you now and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me-"
They moved through the crowd, matching up partners. Lockhart teamed Astoria with Luna and was beginning to pair the others when Cass heard her Uncle call to her.
"Miss. Riddle, come over here. Let's see what you make of the famous Potter. And you, Miss Granger - you can partner Miss Greengrass."
Her and Daphne grinned at each other and strutted over to the two Gryffindor's smirking. Cassandra saw Hermione give Daph a weak smile that her friend did not return, opting to flash her hair red. Cass took the hint and flashed her eyes red at Potter.
"Face your partners!" called Lockhart, back on the platform. "And bow!"
Harry barely inclined his head, not taking his eyes off her. Cassandra however bowed fully, showing pureblood decorum - despite this she kept her head raised ever so slightly and her eyes narrowed on the boy.
"Wands at the ready!" shouted Lockhart. "When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents - only to disarm them! We don't want any accidents! One, two, three-"
Cassandra flung up a shield instantly, making sure to say the spell to not cause suspicion. She then rapidly fired Potter with rictusempra before he could even comprehend what was going on.
A jet of silver light hit him in the stomach and he doubled up, wheezing.
"I said disarm only!" Lockhart shouted in alarm over the heads of the battling crowd, as Cass sank to her knees after letting Potter hit her with a Tickling Charm - so she didn't seem too adept.
Potter seemed to hang back, so was caught completely off guard when Cass said "Finite! Tarantallegra!" and the next second his legs began to jerk around out of his control.
"Stop! Stop!" screamed Lockhart, but Snape took charge. "Finite Incantatem!" he shouted and Potter's feet stopped dancing. The duo looked up at the room.
A haze of greenish smoke was hovering over the scene.
Both Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley were lying on the floor, panting.
Weasley was holding up an ashen-faced Finnegan, apologizing for whatever his broken wand had done.
Granger was flat arsed on the floor, Daphne standing over her holding her wand, hair falling out of her once neat ponytail.
"Dear, dear," said Lockhart, skittering through the crowd, looking at the aftermath of the duels. "Up you go, Macmillan. Careful there, Miss Fawcett... Pinch it hard, it'll stop bleeding in a second!"
The flamboyant fool then paused for a second, before stating the obvious.
"I think I'd better teach you how to block unfriendly spells," he said, standing flustered in the midst of the hall. He glanced at Snape, whose black eyes glinted, and looked quickly away. "Let's have a volunteer pair - Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about you?!"
"A bad idea, Professor Lockhart," said Severus. "Longbottom causes devastation with the simplest spells. We'll be sending what's left of Finch-Fletchley up to the hospital wing in a matchbox." Neville's round, pink face went pinker. "How about Riddle and Potter?"
"Excellent idea!" said Lockhart, gesturing Harry and Cass into the middle of the hall as the crowd backed away to give them room. "I'm pretty sure Miss Riddle already knows the shield spell so I'll go teach Harry it!"
Cassandra walked up to her Uncle and they both smirked viciously when they saw Lockhart drop his wand.
The smirks grew wider as they heard him say "Whoops - my wand is a little overexcited!"
Sev then bent down and whispered in her ear, "kick his ass!" She grinned and looked at Potter, eyes once again flashing red.
Harry looked up nervously at Lockhart and said, "Professor, could you show me that blocking thing again?"
"Scared Pottah?" Cassie muttered, so that Lockhart couldn't hear her.
"You wish," said the boy out of the corner of his mouth.
Lockhart cuffed Harry merrily on the shoulder. "Just do what I did, Harry!"
"What, drop my wand?"
Cass held back a laugh.
"Three, two, one, go!"
She raised her wand quickly and bellowed, "Serpensortia!"
Satisfaction landed on her face as she saw Potter flinch as a black snake appeared on the floor between them, ready to strike. There were screams as the crowd backed swiftly away, clearing the floor.
"Don't move, Potter," said her Uncle lazily, clearly enjoying the sight of Harry standing motionless, eye to eye with the angry snake. "I'll get rid of it..."
"Allow me!" shouted Lockhart. He brandished his wand at the snake and there was a loud bang; the snake, instead of vanishing, flew ten feet into the air and fell back to the floor with a loud smack.
Enraged, hissing furiously, it slithered straight toward Justin Finch-Fletchley and raised itself again, fangs exposed, poised to strike.
Suddenly a hissing noise, that had Cassandra freeze in shock, came from Potter. "Leave him alone!"
The snake slumped to the floor, docile as a thick, black garden hose, its eyes now on Harry. She watched as Potter looked up at Justin, grinning. His expression turned confused as he was met with the angry, scared face of the Hufflepuff.
"What do you think you're playing at?" he shouted, turning and storming out of the hall.
Severus then stepped forward, waved his wand, and the snake vanished in a small puff of black smoke.
Cassandra couldn't freaking believe it - Potter was a parstletongue! Everyone in the hall was looking at him warily. She guessed even more people would believe him to be the heir of Slytherin now.
As she watched Weasley and Granger hustle him out the door, she got an idea in her head. This'll be fun!
———
18/12/1992
It was the next day and all along the corridors Peeves could be heard screaming for all to hear, "ATTACK! ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! ATTAAAACK!"
Cassandra followed the crowd and grinned as she saw Justin Finch-Fletchley petrified. The grin grew wider as she saw Nearly Headless Nick next to him. It then grew even wider as she spotted Potter over the bodies.
She had framed him better than she imagined. Cass had never thought that he'd literally be standing over the bodies - she had just prayed that the fact everyone thought he set a snake on the Puff would do it! Adding to the greatness of the situation she hadn't planned on getting the ghost either.
She really owed Gem a doe or something for her great work.
As everyone gathered around and the teachers tried to calm everyone Peeves winked at her and started singing the song she had written.
"Oh, Potter, you rotter, oh, what have you done, You're killing off students, you think it's good fun!"
Some students giggled and the poltergeist dipped an imaginary hat before getting shooed off by Mcgonagall.
