"Hmm, well, now for one last duel. Let's see how the Prince family does again," said the professor suddenly as he read out a piece of paper with the names of the students on it.
"Draco Prince and Severus Prince!"
That got the full attention of the students.
Especially those Gryffindors who didn't know that Severus was a Prince.
"Snivellus is a Prince?" Potter can be heard saying in surprise.
"Wait, so...he's your cousin?" asked Black to Hermione and Draco.
But they weren't the only ones asking those questions, all of Gryffindor was asking the same thing...
Luckily for Draco, he had to go up to the dueling platform, so all the responsibility of explaining things was Hermione's, although Lily and the rest of her friends who already knew this helped explain the whole situation to the rest of the Gryffindors.
The Slytherins supported Severus, however, they hoped that Draco did not have the same abilities as Hermione.
They all knew that Severus was a good duelist as he used to face Black and Potter constantly, he was almost at the same level as Mulciber or Rosier who were the best duelists in Slytherin...
But from the demonstration, Hermione had given it was obvious to everyone that she was on a similar level to them... or even higher.
That was why the snakes hoped that Draco didn't have the same skills as Hermione, otherwise it could be a great embarrassment for Slytherin to lose to Gryffindor.
Already a draw was not acceptable, but it was better than a defeat.
"Don't lose Prince"
"Severus, don't condescend to him just because he's your cousin, he's a bloody Gryffindor now."
"Yeah, make him regret being a bloody lion"
Despite the many shouts and cheers, Severus didn't respond to a single one, he just climbed onto the dueling platform in silence and stared at Draco.
'Let's see your skills... Malfoy' Severus smiled slightly as he looked at Draco who looked a little tense but there was also some confidence on his face.
It was easy for Severus to define that Draco was indeed a Malfoy.
No, it wasn't just his appearance, but the magic practices they had been having.
He had told Draco to show him all kinds of magic including the dark arts, and as he expected, Draco ended up showing him dark magic that belonged to the Malfoy family.
Lucius had never allowed Severus to see a lot of his family's dark arts, but he had shown him the odd book and it turned out that Draco knew these too.
Of course, he could have gotten them as a favour from the Malfoy family just as Severus did, but it was doubtful...
Draco was not only similar to Lucius, but he also had knowledge of dark magic that should only be known to the Malfoy family.
And even though he considered the possibility that the Snape of the future might have given him such information, he doubted it since he as Snape might be an idiot but he kept his promises...
Well, Lucius had never made him swear, but he doubted that Snape even in the future would be able to break a promise.
Draco and Severus settled at the ends of the dueling platform.
Then they both nodded and walked to the centre.
The two bowed with respect showing that this was an honourable duel between the two.
After the salute, they both turned around as the teacher began to count out loud.
"1..."
"2..."
"3..."
Draco was the first to turn with his wand in hand to cast a spell.
" Flipendo!" shouted Draco throwing a backblast.
Severus turned around quietly and looked at him bored.
'Trivial' Severus thought as he deflected Draco's backblast with a simple wave of his hand.
Draco's backblast ended up in another part of the hall where "luckily" there were no students...
But they all saw what happened and were surprised at the ease with which Severus did that.
Unlike the rest of the class, Draco didn't seem impressed as he quickly cast several other spells that ended up being deflected by a simple wave of Severus' hand.
Of course, Professor Harvey had to intervene on more than one occasion so that such deflections didn't end up hitting the students, though he didn't know that Severus had been perfectly controlling where he deflected each spell.
'Well, if he doesn't want to show his true level, I guess I'll just have to make him show it' Severus thought as he watched Draco with boredom.
As long as Draco kept playing, the duel would just be boring and a waste of time.
After deflecting another spell from Draco, Severus grabbed his wand for the first time and went on the offensive, leaving his 'cousin' with no chance to recover.
Making several continuous movements with his wand with a speed that inspires admiration, Severus cast several spells in a non-verbal manner until he finally managed to knock Draco down.
But he did not throw him off the platform.
His message was clear to Draco.
Start facing him with everything he had or this duel would be no different than Avery's duel with Redmod...
Sure, Draco might give up, but damn the pride of most wizards.
When Severus knocked his cousin down, there was a lot of cheering and applause for him, everyone was shouting different things, but most wanted him to defeat him quickly, but Severus didn't pay attention to what they were saying, he kept staring at Draco waiting to see what he would do next.
Draco stood up in annoyance and stared at Severus, then for a second he turned his head to look at Hermione and then turned his head back to Severus, he now looked determined.
It was then that the duel Severus had been waiting for finally began.
Very quickly, the professor along with the Slytherin and Gryffindors in the class witnessed a magical duel of the highest level.
It no longer looked like just two sixth years dueling.
Both Draco and Severus were engaged in a vicious duel.
The air crackled.
A halo of smoke surrounded the duelists.
Each spell resulted in a stunning flash.
All the other students were gathered around them watching the spectacle of lights, noises, and spells they were putting on.
The attacks were getting more and more powerful, more and more brutal, especially from Severus who was showing a clear intention of wanting to push Draco as hard as possible.
He was looking for Draco to show off all his skills and of course to have a bit of real entertainment in the process...
It had been a long time since Severus had an interesting duel, so he wanted this one to last a while.
"Bombarda" recited Draco going on the offensive by detonating the space Severus was in with a small explosion.
"Protego" Severus created a shield around himself with a quick wave of his hand, this shield around him resisted Draco's spell.
"Invertestatil" Draco cast again.
"Impedimenta" Severus quickly nullified Draco's spell preventing him from casting it.
The fight slowly accelerated between Severus and Draco.
Draco began to resort to his best moves and they even began to cast a large amount of silent spells along with the spoken ones to hide them and thus create more problems for Severus who seemed annoyingly calm all the time.
The students watching were impressed as both were making expert use of the spells, even Professor Harvey began to watch the duel more closely.
The professor was impressed with the level of both of them but was even more impressed by the ease and calmness with which Severus doubled his opponent's wits despite the variety of moves he used.
Severus was implacable.
Draco was undoubtedly a great duelist, with wit and strength to back up his various actions, but all attempts were in vain against a calm and cool Severus who managed to handle each of Draco's offensives with simple and swift movements of his wand.
But if anything surprised Professor Harvey, it was that Severus was using the spells in such a way that they countered those of his opponent, he did not use pure force or pure mastery of the spells, but rather he calculated perfectly what his opponent would cast in order to use each spell in a specific situation that would effectively counteract what was being cast.
Without a doubt, Severus' control and level of ability over the spells he used was unbelievable.
The way Severus seemed to know everything his opponent would do next, no matter what action or move he made.
Severus excelled in his level of comprehension of the duel, he had experience dealing with situations worse than this, so he always looked for the slightest advantage he could to get out of a situation like this.
Of course, he could use brute force to win...
But where was the fun in that?
'Wow..., to think that there is such a skilled young wizard at Hogwarts, I would never have imagined it, that look he has, is that of someone who has a lot of experience in magical duels without rules, he is aware of everything that happens, he analyses like a professional who could lose his life because of a mistake' thought the professor.
'But at 16 years old it is impossible to have gone through so many situations that make him reach that level, his observation capacity is at an immeasurable level... For what this young man went through?' wondered the teacher who was very impressed as he watched the duel.
The spells between Draco and Severus continued to float through the air of the dueling platform, going from offensive to defensive.
Severus initially simply deflected spell after spell while occasionally going on the offensive, but now he was becoming more aggressive, causing Draco to back off step by step.
Draco could only try to make his spells go with greater intensity to catch his breath, but Severus, on the other hand, didn't give him an inch of ground.
"Damn, when did Severus learn to duel like that?" wondered aloud one of the many Slytherins watching the duel.
"No idea, but I'm pretty sure it's recent," commented Rosier staring at the duel unable to believe what he was seeing, he knew there was something different about Severus but this was already too much to be true.
"Yeah..., I don't stand a chance against them, I don't think even you Rosier can take them," commented one of the witches.
"Shut your mouth and be careful with what you say" hissed Mulciber with a dark look at the witch, if they insulted Rosier it was like insulting him as they were both of a similar level.
"She's just telling the truth Mulciber, don't be so pathetic," said Olivia Greengrass, one of the few Slytherins who weren't afraid of him.
"You never know what can happen in a life and death-duel," Mulciber said with annoyance as he glared at Olivia, but she didn't respond.
Greengrass just ignored him and turned his gaze away to witness the duel again, she already knew Mulciber was stubborn so she wouldn't waste her time on him.
"Both Prince's mastery of magic is amazing, but Severus controls the duel I dare say with ease" Rosier added without bothering to comment on whether or not he could win against Severus or Draco.
"I don't know, they seem pretty equally matched," commented another witch pointing out that it wasn't that much of a difference so far since they had both been on the defensive or offensive.
"Yeah, but now Severus has the advantage," commented another of the wizards.
"True, but in a duel, anything can happen."
These were some of the many comments from the Slytherin wizards and witches watching the duel between the two.
Of course, it was obvious to Rosier that Severus kept the upper hand at all times, he just didn't try hard enough to win the duel quickly, he seemed to be dragging it out for some reason.
Draco, on the other hand, was surprised and annoyed with the way things were going, he thought he had a clear advantage over Severus, but he didn't.
For some reason, Severus always managed to keep him from staying on the offensive, always managed to get him on the defensive when he was about to take advantage of him, he deflected or used some counter spell at all times.
'Damn, he shouldn't be so good dueling' Draco complained as he watched Severus with black robes, black eyes, black hair, and a cool but calm attitude as he pushed him harder and harder.
There seemed to be no way to beat him and that annoyed him, it made no sense to Draco that this was happening.
He and Hermione should be on a higher level, but here he was slowly losing to Severus.
Severus on the other hand was enjoying this duel, he felt like he could finally practice against someone, it was exciting and he had to control himself not to overdo it and end the duel.
The duel went on for quite some time.
As Draco continued to use all sorts of moves and spells to try to oppress or counter his opponent and thus regain ground in the duel, but Severus used every spell he knew with great skill and ingenuity, which caused Draco's attempts to regain control of the duel to fail.
After a few moments, Severus stopped another of Draco's spells and decided to end the duel as he remembered what he had to do after this class.
Due to his enthusiasm, he completely forgot that he had to leave this class early and go find Pandora in Charms class to talk.
Severus deflected one of Draco's spells and then took the opportunity to quickly recite.
"Alarte ascend," Severus cast, levitating Draco a few inches and leaving him unsteady for a few moments.
The spell was successful, as it destabilised Draco greatly, causing him to stop his constant casting of spells.
"Bombarda" Severus recited again causing a small explosion and throwing Draco into the air.
But Draco had reacted quickly with a "Protego" that took most of the damage.
But the hard fall hurt his back.
Draco fell backwards but the instant this happened he resumed his dueling stance despite the pain.
He was quite angry now and was ready to resume the offensive, but Severus had no plans to play with him any further.
"Incarcerous" Severus summoned ropes over Draco's body who was barely recovering from the fall, this prevented him from resuming the offensive because his movements were restricted.
"Incendio" Draco instantly burned the ropes summoned by Severus.
But Severus only needed that time as Draco focused on the summoned ropes to quickly move his hand and throw Draco into the air causing him to hit the wall at the end of the dueling platform.
But it seems that in his rush to finish the duel he did not control the force with which he threw Draco and he hit the wall with such force that he fell unconscious.
The professor, who didn't see Severus' quick movement, couldn't avoid the blow Draco suffered.
Instantly many worried Gryffindors gathered where Draco had been sent flying with the professor who went to heal his wounds.
Of course, others like Potter and Black preferred to use this opportunity to take their anger out on Severus.
"Oi Snivellus. You and your greasy nose don't even know how to treat your family well," Potter commented angrily as he approached Severus.
"If he treats his cousins that way I don't want to imagine what he's like with others," Black added as he followed Potter.
Severus watched the two for a few moments and if looks could kill, he was sure Potter and Black would have killed him a thousand times already.
The angry look they sent him was quite annoying, but Severus just ignored them.
He had other things to do.
Besides, he hadn't meant to throw Draco like that, but he wouldn't explain himself to two spoiled, arrogant young men.
Severus had already checked with the Force that Draco was fine, he just had a few broken bones, but nothing serious...
So he didn't bother to do anything, he just turned around, stepped off the Dueling platform, and prepared to leave the classroom and go to Charms class.
As he walked out, many Slytherins were congratulating him for his duel and his magnificent finish by teaching the Gryffindors a "well-deserved" lesson so that they wouldn't mess with the Slytherins.
Of course, he never intended to do that, he just enjoyed the duel and in the end, he went a bit overboard with the use of the Force, but he wouldn't give explanations to the Slytherins either, everyone could think what they wanted.
He walked quickly through the classroom without a word and reached the door.
Before he could get out, he suddenly sensed in the Force that someone was attacking him from behind.
Quickly turning around he saw two spells pointed at him, they were two Knockback Jinx attacking him from behind.
Frowning, Severus deflected both attacks easily.
Once that was done, he searched in the Force for the two perpetrators and his gaze shifted to them.
His dark eyes immediately saw the forms of Black and Potter, both with angry looks on their faces and their wands pointed at him.
Despite the two young men's clear anger, there was also a cocky smirk plastered on their faces.
'It pleases them to attack someone by surprise' thought Severus, but he again ignored them, he had no time for their games, he had to look for Pandora.
He again turned away without saying anything and left the classroom...
Or that was his intention.
Severus dismissed the idea of leaving when the Force warned him that two new attacks were directed at him.
And of course, they were the same two idiots as before.
Sirius Black cast a "Desmaius" and James Potter cast a "Levicorpus".
A combination of spells that Severus like Snape had already suffered once before.
Maybe both spells were harmless compared to what they were capable of.
Severus knew all too well what they were capable of as Snape's memories could not be false.
But even in his life as a Vader he had gone through horrible situations when he was young and never exacted revenge, so he didn't feel the need to do so against Potter and his group.
They were just immature young idiots.
Qui Gon Jinn had taught him to be better than those people.
Besides, their actions against him had lessened in severity since Snape's fight with Lily, so they were no longer a nuisance.
Sure, James Potter had achieved what he had set out to do, remove Snape from Lily Evans' circle, but Severus couldn't care less, in fact, he preferred her to be away from him.
It was amusing for Severus to think that to Potter, that immature and arrogant young man, Snape was just an obstacle, something to grind into dust for daring to come between him and his object of fantasy.
Potter saw Snape as the villain of his love story and treated him accordingly to that.
But Severus could understand that because to Potter, Lily was different from most women, she didn't jump on him, she didn't seek or care about anything from the noble families of the magical world, she treated him like any other wizard, that's why he wanted Lily.
However, what Severus couldn't accept was that the idiot continued to interfere where he shouldn't and with the wrong people.
He gave him the chance to put it all behind and go his own way, but Potter wouldn't take it.
And to make matters worse, a part of him was ashamed and furious at the memory of how they had used that combination of spells last time, it wasn't something he wanted to remember.
Pissed off, Severus moved his hand sharply, sending a powerful shockwave hurtling straight at Black.
Black waved his wand in a failed attempt to block wordlessly, but it was in vain.
The shockwave thrown by Severus burst through his flimsy protection spell, sending him flying and knocking him down as well as Draco.
Potter reacted quickly and tried to do something, but Severus raised his hand.
And Potter stopped.
Severus could have done the same thing to Potter as he had done to Black, but he chose not to, a part of him didn't want Potter's suffering to end any time soon.
Severus grabbed him with the Force and raised him into the air and Potter began to try to remove an invisible hand on his neck.
Potter began to struggle to breathe but Severus couldn't care less.
Severus' eyes turned blue as usual when he used the dark side of the Force, but now there was a flash of gold all around them.
Severus looked at Potter with disdain and thought that this was enough, he planned to throw him as well as Black in order to get it over with and leave quickly...
But it was then that the memories came back one by one...
The sense of humiliation Snape suffered, the pain, the loss, Potter's constant teasing along with his and Lily's playful smirk as he suffered the worst embarrassment of his life in front of all at Hogwarts.
All of this flashed through his mind as he grabbed Potter, Severus controlled these emotions, he knew that a part of him like Snape was angry and very resentful, but he had learned to control this, he didn't want to go through what he experienced as Vader.
But the anger that Snape and this body felt was too much, just as when he saw Lily his body began to react on its own, to the point where he didn't let go of Potter and left him levitating in the air.
A part of him wanted to get rid of Potter and now it was as simple as pressing his hand...
And It would all be over.
It was so easy, he could be done with him for once and for all...
Yes... it sounded good, a part of him took pleasure in the idea and the dark side was urging him to do it.
Slowly as all this went through his mind, his once blue eyes took on a golden colour.
Severus glared angrily at Potter and was almost convincing himself to give to the spoiled and arrogant young man what he deserved.
He began to slowly close his hand, causing Potter to lose the last of any remaining air he had...
Severus noticed how Potter began to lose consciousness, it would be only a short time before the young man in front of him would die... and if he just squeezed a little tighter he wouldn't have to wait any longer.
But suddenly a memory came to Severus' mind as he watched Potter at his mercy.
Severus saw the last person on whom he used this technique...
He saw Padme.
Yes...
There she was, in the same situation as Potter was now.
Except he hadn't wanted to hurt her, but he wanted to hurt Potter.
But the mere memory of what he had done as Vader made Severus regain control of his emotions and his body.
His eyes returned to their blue colour and he saw that Potter had already fainted and was pale due to lack of air.
Shaking his head, Severus simply released him and let him fall.
Potter fell unconscious and Severus saw that some Slytherins around him were looking at him with surprise, curiosity, and even fear.
He also saw that some Gryffindors were quickly approaching, worried about the commotion that had happened on this side.
It was funny to think that none of them would have arrived in time if Severus had really wanted to kill Potter, but that didn't matter now.
It was all quite quick in fact.
He had actually only been holding Potter for about four minutes, but in his mind, it seemed much longer.
Without bothering to say anything Severus looked to the Slytherins who saw what happened.
They all knew that he hadn't been here or done anything, an unbreakable rule in Slytherin was that no one snitched on another Slytherin.
And with Black and Potter being the only Gryffindors who saw what happened, it wouldn't be enough to give Severus any trouble, especially since they were the victims and because of their history with Severus, they were likely to blame him.
With nothing more to do or say, Severus finally left the classroom.
All the Slytherins who saw what happened were surprised by the change in Severus and his abilities...
They saw the change in his eyes...
And they sensed the malice and hatred that he exuded.
It was similar to the feeling Rosier felt when Severus spoke to him in the carriage.
It was very frightening for everyone who came to see him in those few minutes.
Once Severus left his class, he arrived moments later in the Charms classroom.
But it seemed that today was not his lucky day.
Because Pandora had already left the class...
Amelia told him that she was one of the first to leave as usual and that if he wanted to see her he should look for her tomorrow as it was impossible to know where she might be, no one knew Pandora well enough and she was quite strange to most people.
Severus just sighed exhaustedly.
He was upset, not just because he couldn't talk to Pandora, but because he let his emotions control him.
He wasn't Snape anymore, but this damn body seemed to overreact to his emotions, it was strange to think that it was his memories as Vader that allowed him to keep his cool since Snape hadn't suffered a quarter of what Vader suffered...
Although it was unfair to say that since every situation was unique and every person was affected differently, Severus knew that better than anyone else since he felt the deep pain of both Vader and Snape and he knew that no matter how different their situations were, the pain was equally overwhelming for both of them.
But that doesn't stop it bothering Severus to know that he still couldn't fully control his emotions like Snape.
He knew it was stupid to use the dark side of the Force when he was still not emotionally well, but he was stubborn and wanted to test himself at all times, he was convinced that he could control himself with his willpower...
And until today he had succeeded.
But today's situation proved him the opposite, although he should have known better when the mere sight of Lily caused him a slight emotional breakdown.
But he was either blind or unwilling to see.
And today he was ashamed to let himself go to the dark side...
Today he let himself down.
But at least now he was aware and the same mistake would not happen again.
If he killed Potter or anyone else it would be of his own free will, not out of resentment of a part of himself or the control of the dark side.