Chapter 9: The Dueling Club
I don't Digimon or Harry Potter
Later that night, Harry, who had been helped into some pyjamas was fast asleep in his hospital bed, his arm held in a sling. Every so often he felt a tingle or sharp stabbing pain throughout his arm as the potion he had taken earlier slowly worked on regrowing his vanished bones thanks to Lockhart's botched healing spell earlier on the Quidditch Pitch.
"Must feed…" a faint whisper caused him to open his eyes and he sat up in his bed. The same voice he had heard the night when Mrs Norris had been attacked, it was back. He grabbed his glasses from the bedside table and put them on. "Kill…kill…kill!" the voice shouted before fading away, still hissing the same words over and over.
"Hello!" a voice chirped causing Harry to look towards the end of his bed and he saw a familiar face smiling at him.
"Dobby?" he whispered, staring in disbelief at the House-Elf who stood up and walked along the bed.
"Dobby tried to tell Harry Potter that he shouldn't come back to Hogwarts. Harry Potter should have listened, he should have gone home when he missed the train." Dobby said.
"It was you," Harry whispered. "I knew I saw you on the Platform that day. You stopped the barrier from letting Ron and I through." He hissed.
"Indeed, yes sir," Dobby replied, bowing his head meekly.
Harry glanced around to make sure no one was in the Hospital Wing other than he and Dobby before speaking again. "If it wasn't for Daisuke's parents Ron and I would have had to use Mr Weasley's car, we could have both gotten expelled!"
"Anywhere would have been safer than here sir. Harry Potter must go home." Dobby pleaded.
"Clearly you didn't know what my family was like. Thanks to you, my uncle used me as his punching bag." Harry growled. "So much for being safer there than here."
Dobby flinched. "But now Harry Potter is injured, and it is all Dobby's fault." The creature said.
"Your fault?" Harry whispered before his eyes widened and narrowed. "You! You sent that Bludger after me!?"
"Dobby feels most aggrieved, sir. Dobby had to iron his hands." Dobby said, showing his fingers had been wrapped in filthy bandages.
Harry growled. "You had better get lost before my bones come back or else I might strangle you!" he threatened, and Dobby whimpered.
"Dobby is used to death threats sir; Dobby gets them five times a day at home." He sniffed and blew his nose into the corner of the filthy pillowcase he wore as clothing. He looked rather pathetic, and Harry felt his anger towards him lessen if only a little.
"Why do you wear that thing Dobby?" he asked.
"This?" Dobby asked, pointing to his clothing. "This is a sign of a House-Elf's enslavement sir. Dobby can only be freed if Dobby's master presents him with clothing. Dobby's family is rather careful to not even hand Dobby a sock sir or else Dobby would leave their house forever." He explained.
"And whose family do you serve?" Harry asked and Dobby squealed and jumped off the bed, grabbing the vase off the bedside table and he began smacking himself in the face with it.
"Bad Dobby, Bad Dobby!" he wailed loudly.
"Shush!" Harry hissed, snatching the vase out of Dobby's hands with his one good arm. "You did the same thing the last time I asked you. Why are you so scared to tell me who you serve? And why are you even trying to protect me in the first place?"
Dobby whimpered and wrung his hands feebly. "Dobby is in awe of Harry Potter for his triumph against He Who Must Not Be Named. But Dobby fears that events that have happened already are destined to repeat themselves, someone in Hogwarts is setting events in motion that will put all of the school in grave danger." He whispered cryptically before both heard voices outside the Hospital Wing.
"Who?" Harry asked only for Dobby to snap his fingers and he vanished from sight. Harry growled before he laid down in his bed, facing the other way and pretended he was asleep just as the doors opened.
"This way, set him down here." He heard Madam Pomfrey instruct quietly.
"What's happened?" Professor McGonagall whispered.
"There's been another attack." Professor Dumbledore answered and Harry glanced over, he saw the three adults in dressing robes setting someone on one of the beds across the room and his eyes widened when he saw that it was the petrified body of Colin Creevey.
"Perhaps he was able to get a picture of his attacker." Professor McGonagall suggested softly, and Professor Dumbledore nodded and pried the camera from the young boy's rigid hands.
"What was he doing out of bed?" Madam Pomfrey asked.
"We think he was trying to visit Potter." Professor McGonagall whispered and Harry let out a soft gasp and felt his stomach lurch uncomfortably at hearing that. He then heard Professor Dumbledore open Colin's camera followed by a large puff and a cloud of smoke rose into the air.
Dumbledore frowned looking at the melted film inside the camera. "What shall I tell the staff, Albus?" McGonagall asked him.
"The truth. Tell them that the Chamber of Secrets has been opened…again." He answered grimly.
"But who?" Professor McGonagall asked him.
"The question is not who, but how." He answered softly, his eyes shifting over to glance at Harry for a moment as if knowing the boy was not asleep.
Harry could hardly sleep the rest of that night, what he had heard from Dobby and from the Professors keeping him awake, his mind hurtling through countless thoughts. By the next morning, the bones in his arm had fully regrown, after some breakfast Madam Pomfrey allowed him to leave.
He got dressed and rushed off to meet his friends to tell them about Dobby's late-night visit and what he overheard from Professor Dumbledore. As he walked past the library he almost collided with Cedric Diggory as he walked out with a stack of books in his arms.
"Whoa, watch yourself, Harry." The older boy said with a smile, deftly avoiding him and keeping the books in his arms.
"Sorry, Cedric." He apologised before looking at the books. "What've you got there?" he asked.
"Ah, just some books. Some of the younger Hufflepuffs asked me if I could teach them some things about defensive magic, considering all that's been going on." Cedric explained.
Harry nodded before he then asked. "Have you seen my friends today by any chance?"
"Hm, now that you mention it, I spotted Daisuke earlier. She was saying something about meeting her friends on the second floor, maybe they're still there waiting for you." Cedric answered with a shrug.
Harry blinked before he smiled. "Right, thanks, Cedric. Good luck with teaching." He said before he ran off heading for the second floor, he knew why his friends would be there, Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom.
He soon arrived at the bathroom and knocked on the door a few times, he glanced around to see if anyone was watching him before he whispered. "It's me, open up." A few moments passed before the door was opened by Daisuke with Veemon standing beside her and the two smiled and ushered him inside.
"Hey, how's your arm feeling?" She asked while shutting the door and locking it.
"Better." He said, moving his arm about gently. "Madam Pomfrey told me it will be stiff for a while." Daisuke nodded and they walked further into the bathroom to see that Ron and Hermione were sitting next to a cauldron.
"Good. We've just started brewing the Polyjuice Potion. Since nobody comes into this bathroom anymore, it's the safest place to do it without being caught." Daisuke explained.
Harry nodded. "Did you hear about Colin yet?" he asked, and they nodded with grim expressions.
"The entire school knows about it already. We overheard Professor McGonagall telling Professor Flitwick and as is the case with Hogwarts, news spreads like wildfire." Ron answered, rereading a few of the instructions in the potion's book he had propped open in his lap.
"The sooner we get a confession out of Malfoy the better," Daisuke said.
"I bet he was so angry about the Quidditch Match yesterday that he took it out on Colin," Ron said while tearing up Knotgrass and throwing it into the bubbling cauldron.
"There's something else," Harry said. "Dobby came to visit me during the night." Daisuke, Ron, Veemon and Hermione looked at him in surprise, they listened to him as he told them everything Dobby had or hadn't told him.
"Again? You mean the Chamber of Secrets has been opened before?" Hermione asked.
"It would make sense." Veemon said. "Malfoy's father must have opened the Chamber during his time at school and now he's told his son how to do it himself."
"I wish he told you what sort of monster we're dealing with," Ron said. "I would like to know how it is sneaking around the school."
"Perhaps it can make itself invisible." Veemon suggested. "A lot of Digimon have that ability."
"Or maybe it can disguise itself as a suit of armour or something. I've read about Chameleon Ghouls." Hermione said.
"You read too much," Ron grumbled as he prodded some leeches to the bottom of the cauldron before Daisuke put in the Lacewing Flies. "So, Dobby stopped us from getting onto the platform and broke your arm."
Harry nodded. "I reckon if he keeps trying to save my life, he'll end up killing me."
"Don't say that," Daisuke said, punching his other arm gently. He rubbed his arm while Daisuke looked a bit worried. "Though I wonder what'll happen if the attacks continue to happen, surely the teachers won't let this continue forever."
Her friends shared a look and began thinking the same thing while they continued to brew the potion.
Over the next few weeks, life in the castle had become tense and stressful. The first-year students had taken to moving about in groups as they were worried about being attacked if they were alone. Ginny continued looking worse and worse, she began suffering nightmares about what happened to Colin as she and the young boy sat next to one another in charms.
Fred and George tried to cheer her up by covering themselves in boils and fur and jumping out in front of her when she walked past, but that was quickly stopped by Jun and Percy who both were apoplectic with anger at how the twins were acting.
One day during lunch, Daisuke sat beside Harry, Ron, and Hermione at the Gryffindor table, Veemon sat beside his partner, the Digimon deciding to remain in his Rookie form, reasoning that it might be safer if he was able to spring into action faster without digivolving.
"Malfoy's staying for the holidays, did you hear?" Ron whispered to the others.
"If that doesn't scream suspicious, I don't know what does," Daisuke replied, glancing over at Malfoy who was sitting between Crabbe and Goyle.
"But the Polyjuice Potion is only half complete, we need the ingredients from Snape's personal stores," Hermione whispered.
"He's not just going to let us walk in and take what we want," Harry muttered. "We're gonna need a diversion."
"I'd only need five minutes at the least. I know what we're looking for and if I get caught, I won't be expelled. I've got a clean record." Hermione said softly.
Daisuke glanced at Veemon who smirked and nodded. "Leave that to Vee and I. We'll give you the time you need." She told her friend. Later that afternoon, the Gryffindors and Slytherins were in the Potions classroom, the cauldrons were bubbling and steaming while Snape skulked around the classroom making comments about the potions the Gryffindor students were making while saying nothing about the Slytherin's potions.
Daisuke growled as another pufferfish eye hit her, she glared over at Malfoy who was smirking at her, knowing if she retaliated Snape would give her detention instantly. She focused on her Swelling Solution while Snape stood over her, sneering a moment before he walked off to bully Neville.
A moment later there was a loud, thunderous crash from outside the classroom followed by the sounds of numerous fireworks being set off. "Weasley!" Snape growled, turning to Ron who paled. "If I catch those brothers of yours behind this, you'll all be expelled!" he threatened, storming off out of the classroom to see what the commotion was about.
"Oh, you've done it this time, Weasley." Malfoy sneered.
"Malfoy shut up!" Daisuke growled. "Or do you need me to break your nose again?" she threatened, walking away from her cauldron to confront the blonde and the other students gathered around them, during the argument, Hermione hurried off into Snape's office to grab the ingredients.
Harry and Ron glanced at the door, dreading Snape coming back any moment. If he arrived before Hermione was done, no doubt they'd all be in trouble. A few minutes later, Hermione quietly exited Snape's office and went back to her cauldron just as Snape stormed back into the classroom, a look of pure anger on his face he had not caught the one responsible for the commotion outside the classroom.
"What're you all doing standing around, back to your potions!" he barked at the students who scattered back to their cauldrons.
The lesson ended ten minutes later, and the four friends hurried back to Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom. "Phew, that was too close." Ron sighed in relief once they were inside the bathroom.
"Yeah. I hope Veemon got away alright." Harry said.
"He'll be fine. We planned for him to rush back to Gryffindor Tower afterwards and if anyone questioned him, he could say he was grabbing something for me." Daisuke reassured him. Hermione chucked the new ingredients into the cauldron and began stirring it.
"It'll be ready in a fortnight." She told the others.
"Good. For now, let's keep our heads low." Daisuke said with a smile as they left the potion to brew.
A few days later, the four friends and Veemon were walking into the Great Hall, the four main tables had been replaced by one single long stage spanning the length of the hall, it was draped in a purple and gold cloth with the phases of the moon's cycle along it.
"A dueling club, this is going to be so exciting," Hermione said.
"Yeah. Though I wonder how beneficial this will be. It's not like Slytherin's monster can duel." Veemon replied.
"But this will be useful knowledge to learn," Daisuke told her Digimon as they managed to squeeze through the crowd and stood close to the stage, it seemed that the entire school was here for the new club.
"Who do you think is teaching it?" Ron asked. "Percy told me that Professor Flitwick used to be a dueling champion when he was younger."
"As long as it's not…" Harry began only to stop and groan when he saw Professor Lockhart strutting onto the stage.
"Gather 'round! Gather 'round!" he called to everyone. "Can you all see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent! In light of the dark events over recent weeks, Professor Dumbledore has given me permission to begin this little dueling club to train you all up in case you ever need to defend yourselves, as I have done such on countless occasions. For full details, see my published works." He said.
"Your books suck!" Veemon shouted, making Daisuke snort and laugh into her hands, a few of the other students around them laughed as well.
Trying not to let the words affect him, Professor Lockhart cleared his throat and tossed his robe off to some of the upper-class girls, one of them catching it and fawning over it while her friends all gushed too.
Daisuke gagged at the sight while Ron and Harry nodded in agreement. "Now allow me to introduce my assistant, Professor Snape." Lockhart continued. Everyone turned to the Potions Professor as he walked onto the stage.
"Oh, this is gonna be good," Daisuke whispered with a smirk.
"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." Lockhart said, missing Snape's sneer as both wizards walked towards each other.
They drew their wands in silence before walking back from each other a few steps. They then both bowed before taking their stands. "Now then, one, two, three," Lockhart said.
"Expelliarmus!" Snape called out, a burst of light flew from his wand and struck Lockhart in the chest sending him flying across the stage.
Several students burst out laughing which included Ron, Harry, and Daisuke. "Do you think he's hurt?" Hermione asked in worry.
"Who cares," Daisuke answered with a giggle. She watched as Lockhart got back to his feet and dusted himself off.
"An excellent idea of showing them that one Professor Snape, but ah, if you don't mind me saying. It was rather obvious what you were about to do." He said.
"Then why didn't you dodge or cast another spell to block it?" Daisuke asked, tilting her head as she grinned at the man who glared at her.
Sneap meanwhile cleared his throat. "Perhaps it would be prudent if we taught the students how to block unfriendly spells, Professor." He suggested.
"Ah, excellent idea. Now, who'd like to volunteer?" Lockhart asked as he looked around at the students. "Ah, Potter, Ainsworth, how about you?"
"I doubt everyone would enjoy seeing two Gryffindor students dueling one another." Snape objected. "Perhaps someone from my own house, Malfoy, perhaps?" he suggested.
Daisuke shared a look with her friends before she walked up onto the stage and saw Malfoy doing the same from the other end. Both walked to the centre of the stage and drew their wands. "Scared Ainsworth?"
"You wish." She answered coldly, her eyes glowing gold for a faint moment before she walked back a few steps and Malfoy did as well, both gave a brief bow and took their stances.
"Now on the count of three, cast your charms to disarm your opponent. Only to disarm, we don't want any accidents happening here." Lockhart told them as everyone watched with bated breath.
Daisuke took a deep breath as Lockhart counted to three but before he even finished counting, Malfoy sent the first spell. "Everte Statum!" he shouted, pointing his wand at Daisuke and an orange light shot from his wand and hit her in the chest, sending her flying back across the stage.
She landed with a thud and groaned, holding her head. Malfoy smirked and some of the Slytherins chuckled, but the laughter died down when Daisuke got to her feet. "Depulso!" She shouted, waving her wand and a white light flew across the stage hitting Malfoy and he went flying and landed hard on his arse in front of Professor Snape.
The blonde looked up at the professor who sneered and pulled him to his feet. "Had enough?" Daisuke taunted with a smirk aimed at Malfoy.
Malfoy sneered and waved his wand at her. "Rictusempra!" he shouted, firing a purple bolt of magic at Daisuke which slammed into her, and she burst out into giggles before falling to one knee unable to move due to laughing so hard.
"F…Fi…Finete…I…Incantatem." She said in between laughs, pointing her wand at herself and her laughter ceased, and she sighed in relief before glaring at Malfoy.
"I said to disarm only!" Lockhart shouted, but neither student listened as they continued sending spells at one another, either dodging or blocking them. "DIffendo!" Daisuke shouted, waving her wand and the cutting charm flew from her wand and clipped some of Malfoy's blonde hair from his head as he dodged the brunt of the spell.
Malfoy growled and waved his wand. "Serpensortia!" the end of his wand exploded and out came a long black snake which landed on the stage. It hissed and began slithering across the stage towards Daisuke, it bared its fangs and she stepped back in shock.
"Don't worry Ainsworth, I'll take care of it," Snape said, walking past Malfoy, giving his student a brief glare for use of such a spell.
"Allow me, Professor Snape," Lockhart said, stepping forwards. "Alarte Ascendare!" he brandished his wand at the snake, and it went rocketing into the air before coming back down and landing with a thud.
"Why did you do that!?" Daisuke shouted. "You just hurt the snake and probably made it mad! What is wrong with you!?" She growled at the Professor.
The snake indeed was angrier after its little trip into the air, it hissed angrily and slithered along before locking eyes with Justin Finch Fletchley who gasped and stepped back, his face turning pale as the snake coiled and prepared to strike.
Harry, who was nearby, looked at the snake and his eyes widened. "No, stop!" he called to the snake and the snake paused before turning to look at Harry. "Come here." He said, holding his arm out for the snake as it began slithering over while everyone around Harry except Ron and Hermione stared at Harry in terror, disbelief, or surprise because while he was talking to the snake, everyone else was hearing nothing but hisses.
Daisuke looked at her friend with wide eyes before she heard Snape whisper. "Vipera Evanesca." He pointed his wand at the snake and a small wisp of black smoke flew from his wand and hit the snake which vanished.
Harry blinked and finally noticed everyone in the Great Hall staring at him. "What're you playing at huh!?" Justin shouted angrily at Harry who blinked in confusion.
"Hey, leave him alone!" Daisuke snapped. "He was keeping the snake from attacking you."
"He was telling it to attack him, he's a Parselmouth!" another student shouted.
"Oh, so you can speak snake, can you?" Daisuke asked, turning to the student with a glare who flinched at her glare. "No, I didn't think so." She turned to look at the rest of the students before she saw Harry running out of the Great Hall followed by Veemon, Ron and Hermione. She jumped off the stage and ran off after them leaving everyone else behind.
Jun frowned and she hurried off after them and a few other students did the same while whispers and murmurs began to grow among those that were left.
Malfoy huffed only for Snape to grab his robes and drag him off. "I thought I told you not to use that spell so carelessly." He hissed quietly. "You're lucky I was here to handle it. If not, I would not protect you."
"But sir my father…" Draco sputtered.
"Will hear nothing of this." Snape cut him off with a glare, Malfoy frowned but bowed his head and nodded.
Meanwhile, Harry had reached the Gryffindor Common Room with his friends right behind him. "Why didn't you tell us you were a Parselmouth?" Ron asked him.
Harry looked at him and the others. "I didn't know I was." He said.
"You didn't know you could talk to snakes?" Hermione asked him.
"No…well…there was that one time I accidentally got my cousin attacked by a giant snake at the zoo before I started Hogwarts. But I didn't tell it to attack Justin, I was telling it to leave him alone." Harry answered. "Didn't you guys hear me?"
"No. We only heard you hissing." Veemon answered.
"Veemon's right," Daisuke said to Harry gently. "Being a Parselmouth is an exceedingly rare and unique gift. Only a few wizards and witches throughout history have been able to do it," she explained before frowning. "One of those people was Salazar Slytherin, he could speak to snakes too."
"He could?" Harry asked.
"Exactly and now, everyone is going to think you're his great great great grandson or something?" Ron told him.
"But I'm not!" Harry snapped with a glare. "I can't be!"
"He lived one thousand years ago, for all we know, you could be," Hermione said softly.
Daisuke groaned and elbowed both in their ribs. "Cut it out you two. Do not start speculating. We need to support Harry here, not turn into the rest of the school who no doubt will start thinking he's the Heir of Slytherin." She told them.
"She's right. We've got to stand together, we're all friends here." Veemon said with a grin. Daisuke smiled at her partner before she hugged Harry.
"Don't worry Harry, we're with you." She said softly and Harry blushed lightly and smiled.
"Thanks…um sis." He said awkwardly, still not used to calling her that yet and Daisuke let out a giggle.
"You're welcome." She said.
The end of the chapter
Read and review