Chapter 18 The Annual Dueling Tournament

The days seemed to run together as the seventh years got closer to N.E.W.T.s. Classes went far too quickly for Muriel, who didn't feel as though she'd crammed enough into her head to be able to pass. Potions class was particularly difficult without Severus' help, but she knew she'd get through it somehow. She wondered how he was handling Arithmancy without her.

Muriel sat at breakfast, watching him talk with his fellow Slytherins. He sat with his back to her, which suited her fine. Her dorm mates had all gone home for the Christmas holiday and if he'd been facing her she wouldn't have had anything to look at. It was Saturday and the hall filled slowly as most students had gone home for break, and she was glad. Every class brought huge amounts of homework, and she was way behind. She had even gotten a detention last week for failing to turn in a Potions essay. Not that she expected to get much done over the holiday. Black had said he would stay with her again this year, and surprisingly the rest of the Marauders had decided to as well.

"You look thoughtful this morning," Sirius said in her ear as he plopped himself down on the bench beside her.

She jumped. "I had to move my stack of unfinished homework out of the way before I could open my door this morning," she said dryly as the rest of the Marauders joined them. "I guess if I'd been thinking about it before, I wouldn't have to think so hard about it now." She grinned. "So what kind of adventures are you boys planning? You wouldn't all be staying if you weren't up to something!"

The marauders looked slyly at one another. "Oh, we were thinking about a romp in the woods," James said casually. Muriel looked at Remus, who shrugged.

"But there's no full moon over the holiday," she whispered.

Sirius grinned. "Exactly why it would be alright for you to come along. You can keep Remus company."

Muriel smiled. "As if I don't have anything better to do than chase you animals around!" She sounded exasperated. "Alright, when do you want to go?"

"The day after Christmas," Remus answered.

"Good, because I need tomorrow for my unauthorized trip to Hogsmeade." She winked at Remus, who snorted. Peter did his best to look victimized as he remembered the candies she'd given him last year, but she ignored him. "It would be nice if we could all open presents together, but I'd hate to have to break into Gryffindor tower again. Any ideas?" At first all the boys shook their heads.

"Wait," Sirius said slowly. "Maybe that passageway on the fourth floor?"

James stared at him in disbelief. Had he really just heard Sirius giving away the location to one of their secret passageways?

Muriel laughed, hearing James' thoughts. "Oh, the one behind the mirror?" She paused to look at their shocked faces. "Sev and I found that second year." Even as she spoke the smile fell from her face and her eyes wandered passed James' face to see Severus, who was now talking quietly with a pretty Slytherin 6th year, Jolina Avery. She looked down at the table.

"That will be perfect," Remus said quickly. "And now, if you two are done shoveling, I mean eating," he indicated James and Sirius, "I think it's time we introduced James and Peter to our annual dueling tournament." He winked at Muriel and stood.

James was impressed in spite of himself. Muriel's dueling tactics were better than Sirius had described. He was thankful that his mate had taught him those new shield charms. They had practiced all summer, and he was getting pretty good at deflecting things back toward his attacker, but Muriel was just too fast. In the end, she'd caught his ankle with a wringing charm and it had twisted sharply, causing him to fall. He'd gotten off one last curse before she disarmed him, though.

Remus performed a healing charm on James' ankle and helped him up as Sirius pushed Peter off the bench. Peter approached Muriel cautiously. She noticed his eyes shifting a bit, as though he was looking for somewhere to hide. He hadn't visited James and Sirius at the Potter's house all summer, and therefore had never benefited from their practices. Still, his father had taught him how to cast a shield charm.

Muriel smirked. Peter kept recasting the shield charm. He deflected her curses so haphazardly that Sirius had been forced more than once to cast his own shield to protect the spectators! Unfortunately for Peter, one could not hold the shield charm while casting other curses, so he had yet to throw a single hex at Muriel. She was quickly becoming impatient. Finally she settled on a plan.

She threw another harmless curse at him, aiming high on purpose. Then, while his shield materialized near his head, she quickly cast a stinging hex at his right foot. The short boy swore loudly, and his shield charm dropped as he grasped his foot. "Rictusempra!" Her voice was triumphant, and Peter flew through the air, landing heavily in a drift of snow at the castle wall.

It took him a moment to dig his way out, scowling at his laughing friends. Sirius was rolling in the snow, clutching his sides. Peter brushed the snow from his hair and robes. "Well, YOU beat her, then," he said grumpily, aiming a kick at Sirius, who rolled deftly away.

"Now, you realize that since this will be your third try, I'm not going to go easy on you," Muriel said quietly as Sirius picked himself up and raised his wand. He smirked, remembering the practice sessions he and James had staged all summer. He bowed and counted, allowing her to cast the first hex.

By the time Remus shouted at them to stop, Sirius was covered in sweat, and Muriel had banished her robes to free her arm movement. Both were covered in snow, having landed in it several times. They each bowed again, agreeing to a cease-fire. "If we don't get in there soon, lunch will be over!" Remus said, thankful that there wasn't going to be enough time for his turn.

Muriel was quiet on the way back to the castle. She'd learned more about these boys dueling with them than she ever had talking with them. For example, she now knew that Peter and James both knew a little Occlumency. She guessed they'd gone out of their way to learn it over the summer. Remus, with the mind of a werewolf, had always had a gift at blocking her, ever since she'd first explained her abilities on the train ride home in their 5th year. She couldn't imagine that Sirius hadn't bothered to learn it when James did. In spite of having no real interest in knowledge, he tended to soak up information like a sponge. It was probably the only reason he passed all his classes.

As they headed back to the Great Hall, she grabbed his sleeve and he hung back. "So, James and Peter are Occlumens now, what about you?"

Sirius faked a shocked expression. "What do you mean?"

She smiled. "I can usually read James like a book, but several times I wasn't able to tell what spells he was thinking of until they were already on their way."

Sirius was grinning. "I made him promise only to use it in combat situations." This earned him a stern look.

"But I knew exactly what YOU were going to cast," she said, almost hating to admit it.

"Ah, so what you're saying is that I would have beaten you in that duel if it had been fair." She pushed him toward the wall and he laughed, until he saw the look on her face. "Ok, yes, I've known how to do it for quite a while, actually. You probably noticed that my mother's mind is like a brick wall? Well, when I was young, before I realized that she was training me to be a Death Eater, she used to teach me all sorts of things. Occlumency was one of them. I got pretty good at it."

"You get good at everything you learn," she said, laughing. She was a little shocked to learn that he COULD have been blocking her out all this time, but had chosen not to. It was refreshing to be around someone who wasn't hiding anything.

Sirius smiled at her, but inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. His few small secrets were still safe. She hadn't asked just how good at it he was, and didn't realize that he could protect just those pieces of information and still seem very open to her.