Title: Holding Court
Rating: PG-13
Summary: *WARNING: this story is an unabashed celebration of Harry Potter's uniqueness and powers. Anyone who would prefer to see another character glorified, turn away please!*
Hogwarts is divided amongst the four Houses. As physical violence increases, a Hufflepuff fourth year watches as her hero fulfills his destiny. Set in Harry's seventh year, doom approaches. But where is the real war; between the Houses or against the Dark Lord?
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
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Minnie was once again escorted down to breakfast by a seventh year. She had come down rather early, so she was able to select a spot for herself, down at the end of the table, with her back to the Gryffindors. In fact, she was early enough to witness the whole morning ritual.
Hannah was the first of the 'Kings' to arrive. She, of course, walked in at a normal, sedate pace, surrounded by her guard and headed towards her normal seat, somewhere near the center of the table, also with her back to Gryffindor. As she drew level with her seat, all Hufflepuffs already seated rose and waited for her to sit. That, really, was all that the morning ritual for Hufflepuff entailed. They would repeat the same thing for Professor Sprout when she would arrive later on.
Slytherins always had to make things more elaborate, Minnie wasn't sure why. Maybe it made them feel more regal. Most of the Slytherins were early risers and maybe three fourths of the House were already seated and eating. Their ritual started with Crabbe and Goyle appearing next to the doors that led out of the Great Hall. That was the signal for the entire table to rise. Crabbe and Goyle would then start forwards. Once they'd gone forwards several paces, Theodore Nott with Blaise Zabini on his arm stepped through, finally followed by Draco Malfoy with… who was on his arm today?… Oh, Pansy again. They made their way to the head of the table, sitting so that Draco would preside over everything and could see everyone.
But, to have headed straight to their seats would have been entirely too self effacing. Draco would stop every now and then, saying something to someone, patting someone else's shoulder or even kissing a girl's hand. He looked like a general inspecting him troops, though Minnie knew that he always tried to keep his hands clean. Finally, once the Slytherin Court was seated, the rest of Slytherin, who was still standing, held their wands horizontally over the table and all together intoned "Draco" and small silver dragons formed over their plates, moving and breathing silvery fire, then flickering, then going out. And they sat.
At times, the ritual was forbidding, serving to make Draco Malfoy scarier and more dangerous than he actually was, which, as Minnie knew was quite a bit. But still, there were days, such as today, where the whole thing seemed out of proportion and… tacky. Ha! Tacky! A Malfoy… wait until that gets around… if it gets around, I'm not saying out loud first. Still, it was a ritual that had been revived from a long time ago. Someone had been reading through some obscure History book and discovered another time when Hogwarts had been severely divided. Apparently, it was a ritual that every house had had, complete with guards at the doors, preceding couple and Royal couple, and incantation of 'King's' first name.
It was now Ravenclaw's turn. This could be interesting. Under normal circumstances, it would have resembled the Hufflepuff ritual. Instead, when Terry Boot entered, looking harried and tired, half of the Ravenclaw table rose and waited for him to be seated. Once he'd sat, those standing bowed, murmured "Good morning" and sat back down themselves. Five minutes later, the other half of the table stopped eating, lay their silverware down next to their plates and straightened their backs. Luna Lovegood, a large raven on her shoulder, and her friends had entered the hall and were headed towards the empty seats that seemed to be waiting for them at the opposite end of the table from Terry Boot. She sat, smiled at those who were looking expectantly at her, not seeming to notice those who were ignoring her. She picked up her silverware, nodded acknowledgment to those still looking at her and calmly began to eat. The others resumed talking and also returned to eating. Today had been calm. There were times when the two leaders would exchange words, usually trying to bait each other.
There was no doubt that, if they could have, Gryffindors wouldn't have minded having a ritual. Codes of chivalry always encouraged those sorts of things and Minnie was sure that if they could have, there'd be a whole procession, complete with long cloaks and swords. But, as it was, planning anything would have been difficult. Because nobody could ever predict at what time Harry would arrive. He was sometimes there before anyone else, or he would arrive in the middle of the meal or sometimes he didn't show up at all. That was because the Gryffindor Quidditch team often practiced before breakfast. They seemed to have finished now because a group of laughing and windblown witches and wizards swept into the hall. They strode across quickly, settling at seats scattered along the Gryffindor table. Harry was shortly sitting next to Granger and across from the two Weasleys, buttering his bread and eating scrambled eggs. There had been no time, from the moment he entered the Hall to when he'd sat down to rise and have any sort of ritual like the other tables. Minnie remembered she wasn't supposed to be looking at him and she turned back around, feeling someone's eyes on her. Owen was sitting across from her now and Justin and Ernie were giving her warning stares from farther up the table.
"So, you were saying… you didn't have a crush on him?" Owen asked with a smirk.
"No, not really. I just like knowing what's going on, that's all."
"Well, you must be into the little details to want to know exactly what Potter's having for breakfast in the morning, now aren't you?"
"If you must know, I was just thinking about how the Gryffindors never do anything for him the morning while all the other tables do a ritual for their Head."
"Hmmm…." Owen rested his head on his hand, "Interesting question really. You do have more depth than you seem to – "
"Well, now talk like that is really going to sound endearing isn't it –"
"Ooops, sorry, it wasn't meant to – "
"No, I'm sure it wasn't. Telling people that they're uni-dimensional is completely normal and natural in polite society. Are you sure that you broke up with Orla or did she just have enough of your brilliant remarks?"
That seemed to have touched a nerve. Owen's shoulders slooped and he brought his hand into his hair.
"Sorry," muttered Minnie, not really meaning it and sounding it.
"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have insulted you," muttered back Owen.
A few minutes passed in silence as Minnie finished her toast and Owen stared down at his eggs. Finally though, Owen raised his head and, in a valiant effort to look upbeat started back in, "Well, so the lack of a Gryffindor ritual…. really, I think it's because they don't exactly have the time or any ability to predict when Potter's gonna arrive. He's pretty random that way. It's got to be tough to eat while constantly keeping an eye out on the door. But then again, you know, Gryffindors like big, ritualistic celebrations. I'll bet they'd loved Camelot and all that. All the bowing and ceremony and standing, it's got to be what they dream of at night. However, as they do have some sense, I guess, they must have realized that doing a whole 'King Arthur's Court' re-creation would look rather dumb and just decided to drop it." He glanced over his shoulder at the Slytherin table, "Wish some others would do the same. You'd think that they'd have some sense of style or something, coming from such old families. Justin's told me how higher Muggle society has these unwritten codes or something, like being Sloanes or something, and they usually prize relative simplicity and taste. Maybe the effect goes in reverse for wizards? Really, the only time that ritual has any effect is when there's a storm or something, it's a joke when the sun's shining like today." He grinned and picked up his silverware, his appetite back now, and began shoveling food into his mouth.
Hannah had finished and risen, people were leaving the Hall and class time was approaching. Out of the corner of her eye, Minnie saw Eleanor and Laura rise.
"Right well, we've got class, I'll see you then, right?"
Owen followed her line of vision, then smirked, "Why do you want to go now? You don't want to wait with those two gossips. Wait with me. You'll come up with me and Kevin. Don't worry, we won't bite." He lowered his voice and grinned, "Besides, it'll make it look more serious if you're not spending all your time with those two."
"They're my friends!"
"I'm your boyfriend," he responded matter of factly.
"So? That's no reason!"
"Of course it is. Now lower your voice, we can't have everyone thinking we're having trouble in the couple before we're official, now can we?"
"You still want to do that with all the trouble I'm in right now?" Minnie asked incredulously.
"More than ever." He answered back with a grin.
"Sorry if that doesn't make much sense."
"Let me try to explain," he smiled even wider. "Under normal circumstances, what you did would have you practically exiled." Minnie nodded, she was still amazed that that hadn't happened. "But you weren't. In fact, if you were paying attention to what Hannah was saying, she seemed to be disappointed, like she was really hoping something for you."
"Precisely, I've disappointed her now, she's not going to continue with what she had planned, now is she?"
"Actually, I think she is," he looked at her, completely serene.
"You're mad."
"No, I don't think so. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the punishment they gave you isn't cleaning or serving now is it?"
"No, but I don't know what it is. I'm just supposed to meet Susan at six thirty, but she didn't tell me what for."
"Well, I still think that I'd rather put my chances in with you rather than with Eleanor. She'd going to come to a sticky end one day."
"Why? What do you think Susan's going to make me do?" If he was acting this way, he had to know what was going to happen tonight.
"I'm not sure. It's just a rumor, a legend almost…" he faded off, looking awed.
"What is it?" Minnie hissed, she was getting really impatient.
"The Dueling Club." he said simply.
"Okay, now it's official; you really are mad!"
"No, really, it sorta makes sense if you think about it -"
"It's a legend you imbecile!"
"I think there's a bit of truth in it though! And don't call me that! As my girl, I deserve proper respect from you!"
"Why you -"
"I'm just teasing you. I'm not going to deliberately order you around." He looked at Eleanor and Laura's disappearing backs, "But I still would think that my company would be slightly superior to those two witches, that being in both sense of the term."
Kevin walked up behind Owen and clapped him on the shoulder, "Well, are you going to go to Tranfiguration or not? Class is in eight minutes. Oh, hi Minnie!"
"Hi," mumbled Minnie.
"Oh, gosh, we lost track of the time… yeah, we're coming, lead on Kevin!"
The three of them left, two of them aware of the gazes directed at them and thus forcing themselves to stand closer together than they would have otherwise.
***
Transfiguration passed quickly, as did the rest of the day. Minnie had tried to sound exited about whatever Susan wanted her to do, but she was dreading this. She'd have gladly accepted three months of absolute servitude to the Queen, cleaning the Common Room late at night or doing rounds. She didn't agree with Owen when he thought that the punishment was going to be less demanding than servitude, she was sure that the reason they'd chose something else was because they hadn't thought that severe enough.
And as for the Dueling Club idea! Ridiculous really. Hogwarts legend told of a hidden room inhabited by a ghost of revenge. Students were said to have discovered this in the late sixteenth century and had immediately seized the opportunity to do here what was strictly forbidden; duels to settle scores between themselves. From there, different legends told either of inter-House competition, others of a select society and yet others of a spiritual state. Some said that the ghost wasn't really a ghost at all, but a selkie who seduce those who ventured into his chamber and cause them to fight against one another in order to gain his… favors. Others swore that the room was forbidden to teachers. In fact, there were so many variations that Minnie didn't believe any of it. That there had been duels in the halls of Hogwarts and that some still took place was no secret. But, the room? Secret societies… it made no sense. Weren't there enough societies and select groups inside Hogwarts already?
***
Six thirty rolled around. Owen and Kevin had smuggled a few sandwiches from the kitchen and given them to Minnie, wishing her good luck. Before they'd gone, to practice Quidditch no doubt, Owen had hesitated before giving her peck on the cheek, then going away, looking a bit flushed. She'd appreciated their support and felt a bit funny with Owen's attempt to kiss her. If he wanted to prove something to Zacharias, he was going to have to try harder than that… she grinned to herself.
She'd walked slowly towards the Entrance Hall, dragging her feet a little. She arrived to find it relatively empty. She put her bag down and sat on the top step, pulling out one of the sandwiches, she began to nibble on it. Chicken and mayo… not too bad… but it just wasn't a homemade sandwich, the elves were simply too good at what they did. What was the biggest culinary challenge for an elf? Minnie mused. Truffles? Coq au vin? Something Asian maybe? Actually, it would probably be something extremely simple, something messy even. Had the elves ever given them something like a banana split? or a root beer float?
The bell rang, signaling the end of today's classes. Students started passing her on their way to the garden, or, if coming in from class outdoors, climbing past her on the staircase. Seventh years had had Herbology; she saw Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan come in, stamping their feet to get the snow off their shoes. Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown blew inside gaily, unwrapping their thick Gryffindor scarves and fussing with the stray wisps of hair that had been displaced when they took off their hats. Neville Longbottom also tramped in heavily, calling out a cheerful 'hallo girls' before shaking the snow off his robes and traipsing off towards the Great Hall, probably to catch up with Seamus and Dean.
The Slytherins came in, sweeping their robes behind them, looking cold and regal even while cold and in soaked clothing. Malfoy was speaking in hushed tones to a sultry looking Blaise Zabini beside him. The other seventh year Slytherins hung around them, Theodore Nott, Millicent Bulstrode and Pansy Parkinson keeping an eye on the Great Doors while Malfoy's two goons took up positions behind Malfoy. The group stopped on the bottom step and looked out the great doors.
The threesome everyone knew so well came in just then, liberally covered in snow and grinning at each other. They stopped near the middle of the Hall, glancing up at the Slytherins who seemed to be waiting on the steps. Harry's wand appeared in his hand as if by magic and he stepped in front of the other two who continued their conversation together, though they were watching Malfoy out of the corners of their eyes. Apparently, this wasn't to be a confrontation, Malfoy jerked his head towards the top of the stairs and began to walk up, the faithful following.
Harry watched them go, not moving until the Slytherins passed where Minnie sat huddled against the banister. It was as Parkinson's cloak swept past her that Harry's eyes stopped on her. His eyes flickered in recognition as he relaxed and put his wand back into his cloak. He turned back to Ron and Hermione and the three of them began to ascend the steps, Harry still slightly in front. Their steps began to slow as they drew level with Minnie who was looking at Harry with a look of both fear and anger while trying for contempt. But before Harry could say anything to her, a cloak came into view from beside her and stopped just in front of her, partially obscuring her from his sight.
"Looking to rid yourself of yet another Hufflepuff, Potter?" said Susan from next to Minnie, her wand out and ready in front of her.
"There ought to be a first time for everything," replied Harry smoothly, one eyebrow raised. But the Gryffindor's steps soon faded into one of the corridors higher up.
"You okay? He didn't do anything did he?" asked Susan as she bent down to look at Minnie.
Minnie realized that she'd been huddled so closely to the banister that she'd looked traumatized and trembling. She straightened up, picking her bag up with her as she went and looked up at Susan. "No, I'm fine. Thanks though, I don't know if he'd have tried anything later on if you hadn't been there."
"No problem." Susan crossed her arms, she'd positioned herself a few steps higher than Minnie, to give herself some authority. "So, are you ready?"
"Ready for what?"
"Your punishment."
"Well, it'd help if I knew what it was…" she trailed off.
Susan grinned at her, "Follow me!"
***
Susan led her through several corridors and up a flight of steps. A few turns and another stairs, much smaller this time and Minnie was feeling lost. They were somewhere in Hogwarts, but they were far from Gryffindor Tower, years away from Hufflepuff Chambers and nowhere near Slytherin Dungeons. Minnie guessed that they were slowly rising, but yet, the stones kept getting older. They'd gone through some corridors that looked baroque, a staircase that looked gothic and were entering a zone of Roman architecture. The alcoves in the walls had round arches and contained statues of knights in chain mail, each with a cloak draped over their shoulders and clasping a sword or battle axe in front of them. But what awoke Minnie's curiosity was the lack of color in this corridor. There were no doors to offer a wood coloring, no windows to let in natural light, even the brackets for the torches were stone. The statues were of the same stone as the walls and of the floor. The only thing keeping this hall from being an optical illusion were the shadows in the alcoves and the flickering light from the torches spaced out between the alcoves.
But the corridor was a dead end. At the far end, a large stone sword, like those held by the statues, except, well… much larger, seemed to be thrust into the stone it was carved from. Susan stopped in front of it and looked at Minnie. "As you are serving out a punishment, I don't ask, but I order you to keep secret that which I reveal to you." She turned her back on her and grasped the hilt of the sword. The hilt glowed gold and the blade seemed to turn silver.
"En guarde," said Susan, releasing the sword, which immediately turned back to stone. The wall behind the sculpture seemed to balloon backwards, allowing enough space to walk behind it. Susan started to go behind it, motioning for Minnie to do the same. Susan then took her hand and stepped into the wall, pulling her along.
The corridor was gone. Minnie was standing at the edge of a very large, circular, windowless chamber. Pillars lined the sides, supporting a second level with what looked like balconies. Four stairs, placed equidistantly, led up to this second level which was shrouded in shadows. More pillars on the banisters supported more Roman arches, each close together, effectively hiding what was up there. But it was the bottom level where she was standing that was occupying Minnie. The pillars left quite a lot of space between them and the walls, but beyond the pillars was a large, circular raised floor. The whole room seemed to be of the same pale yellow sandstone of the corridor outside. But the raised floor seemed to have a…. purple? It was definitely a shade of purple marble with a pattern of white and black marble in it. The black formed the outline of a Maltese cross whose edges touched the sides of the circle. The circle itself was lined in the white marble. The center of the circle and of the cross was marked by a white star of the same marble as the outer rim. It looked… magic.
But what amazed Minnie was what she'd seen upon entering. She and Susan weren't alone anymore. Couples of wizards and witches had been standing facing each other on this vast circle, casting spells at each other. Others stood in the shadows behind the pillars and Minnie saw one or two sitting on the stone benches in the walls. She's also seen shadows moving in the balconies. Voices had been low, but reverberating against the walls, just like in large libraries. Now, everyone was more or less still, looking, not at Susan, but at Minnie.
"This is Minnie," Susan announced to those looking in their direction. "Minnie," she said, facing her now, like everyone else, "This is the Dueling Club."
***
Susan then led her to one of the stairs, walking around the pillars as the others on the purple floor went back to their spell casting. They passed a group of huddled Ravenclaws near a bench; they seemed to be commenting on what some of the spell casters were doing. The stair she was led to was of the same sandstone as the rest of the chamber but, at its feet was a badger relief. Susan stepped over it and went up, stopping half way when she realized that Minnie wasn't following. She jerked her head impatiently, a gesture eerily reminiscent of Malfoy, and continued up. Minnie took another look at the carving of the badger and followed her up.
From downstairs, the upper level seemed dark and forbidding. But, as Minnie came up the stairs, she saw that it was only because the torches' light simply didn't spread as far as the banister. But, at least there was more color up here. There were bookshelves lining the walls. Minnie noticed that the chamber seemed to be split into four quarters, a stair in the center of each fourth, with a wall separating the balconies. While one could walk a full circle behind the pillars, one could only walk from wall to wall up here, which was only a fourth of the full circle… was there deliberate symbolism here? wondered Minnie. Three tables of the same dark wood of the bookshelves were spread out with matching chairs around them. Two armchairs, one mustard color, the other dark brown were tucked in on one side.
There had been several people sitting in the chairs, others leafing through books and two looking out over the banister, over the people below. They were fifth years, sixth years and seventh years. Minnie saw none of her classmates. They'd seemed to be expecting her and Susan was leading her over to the empty dark armchair. From here, she could see those in the Hufflepuff balcony and out, over the fighting wizards and witches.
"Again, welcome," said Susan, looking truly happy. "I'm sure you've heard of the Dueling Club?"
Minnie was having trouble putting two consecutive thoughts together. "Well… vaguely… it didn't exist…" she stopped helplessly. The others were grinning as Susan continued.
"It does. This is where we practice and where we duel -"
"And where is here?" asked Minnie.
"Hogwarts. I can't be any more specific than that."
"And you can duel in Hogwarts even if the rules forbid it? Do the teachers know of this place?"
"Oh sure, the teachers know of this," said Susan, rolling her eyes. "Professor Snape was a great dueler in his day and Professor Flitwick is legend. Even McGonagall fought here once."
"Do they… I mean, have they…" Minnie tried to pull herself together but the thought of Professor McGonagall dueling against rules was shaking her up… and Snape? "Have they ever walked in here?"
"Sure they have! Professor Dumbledore too! They don't come often, and Dumbledore making an appearance is really rare, but they come in for major meets and for the Championship."
"Championship?"
"Yes, and that's why you're here too."
"I am?"
"You've had your name down to join the Club since we saw how good your Charms work was in your second year. However, we prefer to wait for students to be in fifth year; the younger students don't stand a chance against the seventh years of the other Houses. Of course, there's about one or two fourth years that get in anyway; either they're just too good to pass up or there's something they can bring."
"And I can bring something?"
"Yes. We want you to create spells that will destabilize the opponent."
What?!? "Curses?"
"No, we don't want anything really violent, believe me, there are enough of those already. No, what we want, is to be able to throw charms that the other won't know and will destabilize them. We don't want feather charms either, but things that will cause confusion will be perfect."
"Why… why couldn't you just look up really obscure spells and use those?" asked Minnie, that would have seemed more logical.
A short snort was heard from behind Susan, who moved to reveal Ernie sitting by one of the tables, a book open in front of him, "What do you think we've been doing? It's no good. At that game, we haven't got a chance. They've got Granger, they don't even need to search for themselves; she just spouts these things. And besides, they started it! Granger and Virginia Weasley started creating these spells. Oh! They weren't dangerous at all, just these tickling charms or mirror charms, but they threw everyone for a spin! No, we need you to help us do the same thing back to them."
"Yeah," chimed in a sixth year Minnie vaguely recognized as being named Valerie, "Especially at them. It's getting to be embarrassing to go out there."
"Even Longbottom duels better than we do," moaned another sixth year, Caroline, Minnie thought her name was.
"Well, with their coach, who wouldn't?" asked Joseph, so the Quidditch Captain was part of this too, looking dark and angry. Minnie knew him to be extremely competitive, whether it be Quidditch or getting the highest marks.
"And who's their coach," asked Minnie, though she felt sure she already knew the answer.
"Potter," snorted Ernie again, "Who else?"
"And he's good, I gather?" said Minnie, a bit tiredly, was there no where in the school she could escape from him?
"Better than that," answered, what was her name, Holly, a fifth year, "What he shows in the school corridors is nothing at all. He's dueled both Snape and Flitwick and left them as huddled, quivering masses at the foot of the wall. The duel with Snape was unbelievable. It was scary; it looked like they were really restraining themselves from using the Unforgivables on each other."
"Yeah," said Valerie again, "And that duel really shut the Slytherins up. They used to walk tall in front of him, now they scurry." She sniggered. "I think the sight of their Head of House being levitated out of here for the Infermary was quite a traumatizing experience."
"What, the fact that he was being levitated, the blood, the odd angles his head was at, the lightning bolt scar, or the Gryffindor red skin tone?" asked Joseph sarcastically.
"None of that, simply the fact that he wasn't swooping around with that scowl on his face for more than three minutes. Even I was scared," said yet another voice. Ah! Minnie thought she'd seen Hannah. She inclined her head to show her respect which earned her a smile.
"But so, you understand how much we need you?" pleeded Susan. "We know we don't really stand a chance against Potter himself, but against his minions… we might have a chance!"
"You mean… you actually go up against him?" Minnie was sure that she'd just walked into bedlam, were they completley insane?
"Technically… no," said Hannah, "We refused to go up against him any anymore, we simply had enough of having to be scraped off the floor. To be really honest with you, he didn't put up much of a fight with that, he seemed rather bored everytime we'd face him."
"So what does he do?"
"He captains the Gryffindor team, does practices with them and all. And believe me, that's still pretty bad. They've got excellent coaching and they have to become good when fighting him, they've got to!"
"So, he himself doesn't present much of a threat…" said Minnie, okay, that made it a little bit easier.
"N-no… at least he didn't until he found a new way to challenge himself," said Caroline with a sigh.
"Yeah," agreed Ernie, putting his head in his hands, "Now, he's posessing the other Gryffindor's bodies and dueling through their minds. The spells the Gryffindor fourth years come out with under his influence… I'd rather not think about it." He shuddered.
"I've asked him to stop," said Hannah weakly, "But he just laughed, he finds it fun. Though he did promise that he wouldn't do it for the real meets."
"Speaking of the meets," said Susan, "He wants to have something special."
"Oh no," groaned those present.
"Yes, he wants to be able to duel."
"So, who's the lucky elect?" asked Paige.
"He wants us to volunteer one person from each house. He'll duel them together," replied Susan.
"Does anyone here feel like suicide?" asked Paige incredulously, looking around, her eyes wide open. She was answered by either blank looks or rolled eyes.
"We'll just have to establish which one of us duels best. I'll talk to the other Heads and put together a strong group. Maybe fighting against three strong fighters will give him pause?"
Minnie tuned out the conversation, she wasn't going to have to fight, she'd merely need to think up hexes for the fighters to use. She had a good stock of offensive curses she could give and she enjoyed creating new ones. This punishment wasn't turning out to be all that punishing.
She'd seated herself close to the banister, if she leaned over slightly, she had an excellent view of the dueling surface and of those dueling upon it. Hermione Granger was down there, dueling with what seemed to be Neville Longbottom. Neville's style seemed to be cautious and blunt. He rarely danced out of the way of the spells Hermione would cast at him, preferring to produce solid shields that would absorb whatever Hermione had just shot at him. Hermione, on the other hand, never stood in the same place for more than five consecutive seconds. Her robes twirled around her legs and wisps of hair came undone from her tight ponytail. But unlike the other pairs out on the floor, the two Gryffindors were laughing at each other. It made sense in a biased, stereotypical sort of way. Gryffindors were chivalrous, they fought by codes, but fight they did. They were red, or scarlet, blooded with quick tempers. They were made for frontal combat. So while the Ravenclaws regarded dueling as an opportunity to test their knowledge, Slytherin to test their means for revenge and Hufflepuffs their dumb defense, Gryffindors reveled in the combat. Maybe that would be why everyone was so ready to condemn Harry Potter, after all, weren't Gryffindors cut out to revel in blood shed. But Cedric's body had been whole and unblemished.
But then again, Gryffindor's chivalry was against needless bloodshed. The whole House was a paradox! They were straightlaced individuals who wanted the world to fit into their paradigm of thinking… and were willing to shed blood to get there.
And it was just as these thoughts were swimming through her head that the King of Gryffindor himself appeared at the Gryffindor balustrade. These balconies made Minnie think of Italian Palazzos because of the narrow arches; it was almost impossible to fit a whole person between the small columns. But Harry was leaner than most. In fact, Minnie would never have noticed him coming to stand across from the Hufflepuff Quarters if not for the momentary lapse in activity down on the Dueling surface. It had started as Hermione and Neville had paused to wave upwards and others had picked up on the action with their peripheral vision.
He made an imposing sight. He commanded the space, his arms crossed over his chest and his legs slightly akimbo, he surveyed the work being done below. He wore a calculating stare that would have seemed more at home on the face of a Slytherin. As it was, if it were not for the gold and scarlet tie around his neck, he would have seemed the quintessential Slytherin; brooding, dark and calculating. The darkness of his appearance allowed his to dominate the shadows around him, bringing greater emphasis on his porcelain skin and pink lips. His green eyes were hooded so from her vantage point, Minnie could not admire the green eyes. But she had material enough for several fantasies now. After all, what was more sexy than a gorgeous, brooding savior?
Smoothly, Harry uncrossed his arms and leaned over the balustrade, calling out for those Gryffindors out on the Dueling Surface to come up. Several mock duels were quickly concluded and several students left the surface to climb up the stairs that led to the Gryffindor Quarters. As Harry straightened, his eyes fell on Minnie, directly across the Chamber from him. He raised an eyebrow and a corner of his lip twitched into what might have been a smirk, but before Minnie could be sure, he turned and vanished into the shadows of the Quarters.
Before she could swoon or whimper, Minnie brought her attention back to the debate still raging around her. Thankfully, none of those present had noticed her lapse of attention and subsequent flush in her cheeks.
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A/N: Okay, this was a HUGE chapter! Don't expect sixteen pages from me very often, because they won't materialize!
So, just to clear things up slightly because I know some people will be confused: the "Dueling Camber" is the whole cavernous hall behind the sword statue. The "Dueling Surface" is the round, purple area the students duel on. The house "Quarters" are the four areas on a sort of second floor accessible by the corresponding staircase. This will be important later on!
Also, I know that the whole ritual thingy was a bit odd, but it will come up again (next chapter in fact). Besides, I thought a small review of who was head of which House would do some good.
Now, I haven't carried out my threat. I wanted to get more reviews, but either you guys are just horribly lazy or then absolutely nobody is reading this (too bad I can't justify raising the rating to an R- I might get more people to read this then, hmmmm…) Anyhow, if I don't get over ten reviews for this chapter (because it did take some work), I will e-mail this chapter to the superior goddess who regularly reviews (and only to the others who review). So there. Review now!
So I will thank those who did review (a grand number of four!): dmmason03, Merlana, Innocent-Elphie, and yellowpages! You guys are wonderful!