Chapter 15- Dueling

By Marmalade Fever

"Where is this place?" Mildred asked, holding Hermione's wand up to her nose to get a good look at it.

"Outside, on the grounds," Harry answered, hoping she'd follow.

"Well, if we're going to be going out, I'll have to find something... more suitable to wear." With that she morphed into Hermione. The sight of her like that gave him the chills.

"You're going to have to leave your little friends here," Harry said, gesturing to all the fake Voldemorts.

"That's just fine, darling," she said, her voice sounding painstakingly like Hermione's. In one of his pockets, Harry could feel uneasy squirming.

"Follow me," Harry said, and Mildred opened the door and they walked down the stairs. To his horror, she slung her arm into his.

"What're you doing?"

"Trying to look convincing."

"Great, just great..." He led her down through the castle. In the Entrance Hall he could hear the echoing of a hundred voices eating dinner. Harry was about to open the door to the grounds when a voice came from behind him.

"Potter, this is a place of learning. It would be best if you didn't strut around arm in arm like that in front of the students." It was the voice of Snape. Harry wasn't entirely sure if his presence was a good thing or a bad thing. Mildred's hand had tightened around Hermione's wand and Harry knew that she was threatening him, though her face looked perfectly passive.

"I'll keep that in mind," Harry said. He tried to give Snape a meaningful look, but it was pointless.

"See you," Mildred called sweetly. Snape eyed her, but continued in the other direction toward the dungeons. As soon as they were out of the castle, Harry threw her arm out of his.

"This way," he said, leading her toward the Forbidden Forest. The sky was darkening. They were about a quarter of the way to the fairy ring when Mildred stopped in her tracks.

"Draco, darling, is that you?" Harry stopped and swung around. In the shadows of the forest came the figure of Draco Malfoy.

"Gee Granger, since when do you call me darling?" he said, sounding his usual pompous self.

Mildred frowned. "Maybe I can improve your memory a bit," she said, strutting forward and draping her arms around him. Harry felt sick again. After what seemed like ages they finally stopped kissing.

"Aha, nevermind, I get it now," Malfoy said, looking over at Harry with a contemptuous grin. "So, if you're you, then where's the real Granger?" he asked Mildred.

"His pocket," she said, gesturing dully over at Harry.

"Wish I could have seen that."

"Shut up Ferret-Boy!" Harry said, teeth gritted.

"Now, now boys, don't fight. There's plenty of time for that when we reach this perfect dueling site you mentioned... We're going to duel darling. I'm so glad you'll be here to see me wipe the floor with him," Mildred said, smiling. "As soon as he's down you can help me perfect my little science project."

Malfoy actually looked uncomfortable. Perhaps he didn't really like the idea of resurrecting the Dark Lord either. "Actually, I can't stay. I've got to be getting home. It was very nice seeing you, 'Dred."

Mildred pouted but gave Malfoy a quick kiss and she and Harry continued on their way.

"You two make a perfect couple," Harry said, after a while. "Both of you are completely evil, not to mention sickening."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Mildred said, eyes twinkling. At last they arrived at the fairy ring.

"Ladies first," Harry said, hoping he could trick her and leave her there while he went for help.

"No, no, I think it would be best if we went in together," Mildred said, now morphing back into her normal body. Several inches of wrist were visible where her robes didn't cover her arms. Now, for the first time that evening, Harry realized something. She had not taken the precaution of removing her Hufflepuff crest. There was a good chance that Snape had noticed this. If she were not watching him, he'd have grinned.

There was one problem with his plan. He couldn't bring Hermione, turtle or no, in with him. Only two people were allowed in the ring at one time.

"Give me a second," Harry said, getting his wand out and aiming at a tree stump. He transfigured it into a sort of cage.

"Sloppy job Potter, that will never hold your little girlfriend," Mildred said, as Harry bent down to put Hermione in.

"You do it, then," Harry said, backing away from the stump. Mildred aimed and the half-formed cage turned into a fully formed and rather impressive cage complete with a water dish and some leafy greens. Harry placed both turtles inside. He still wasn't sure why he had decided to untransfigure that Voldemort into a turtle. He stood up again and he and Mildred stepped lightly into the ring.

"One...two...three," they said in unison after bowing to one another. Harry launched first with a disarming spell. Mildred deflected it with a shield charm. Harry then sent a bat bogey curse at her. The wings that sprouted out over her face sunk back into her skin as she morphed. She then transfigured a stone into a bludger and it came flying at Harry, who dodged it with his Quidditch reflexes and smashed it with a good reductor spell. It went back and forth for several minutes. They each seemed to know exactly the right move to use to counter the other. Harry amped his game up a little and started using some of the techniques he had learned that helped him against Death-Eaters. She wasn't perturbed, and kept up amazingly well. Her specialty seemed to be to try and transfigure anything in the ring into anything that could do him bodily harm. Harry shot spell after spell at her and she did the same. "Okay," Harry thought to himself, "time to go get tricky."

"Wingardium leviosa!" he said, aiming at her. She was off the ground and flying around him. He then hit her with a jelly legs curse as soon as she hit the ground. She couldn't stand. Now was the time to attack. He summoned his energy and hit her with a curse that caused the skin to feel as if it were melting off the bones. He had found it in a book in the restricted section of the library. She hit him with a curse that caused short-term eyesight loss. Blindly he hit her with a pepper breath curse. He could hear her coughing. Behind him came the crunching of shoes in grass.

"Expelliarmus!" came the voice of Dumbledore. Harry's wand shot from his grip and he heard Mildred moaning. Harry blinked and things began to come into focus around him. "Harry! Who is this?" Dumbledore called, concernedly.

"This, Professor, is Mildred Ana Cartwright, also known as the imposter posing as Betty Brown," Harry announced, looking up to see Mildred cradling herself on the ground. Professor Snape was standing behind Dumbledore. McGonagall was peering down at the two turtles in the cage.

"Well, Harry, I believe I can declare you the winner," Dumbledore said. "Those are some nasty boils," he added, looking over at Mildred.

"She's a metamorphmagi," Harry announced.

"Oh, yes," Dumbledore said, pulling a piece of parchment out of his pocket, lifting his wand, and uttering a small countercurse. Mildred stayed stationary. "She won't be able to morph for a fortnight, I'm afraid," he said. Harry got to his feet. "Please escort her from the ring and we can discuss more of this later, but for now, I think we should be getting Miss Granger back to her old self."

Harry pulled Mildred out of the ring after him. "Hermione's one of those turtles, I'd recommend using accio to figure out which."

"Noted," Dumbledore said, giving a look towards McGonagall, who removed the two turtles and, with a pop, Hermione was standing amongst them again. "Now, let's be getting back to the castle..."

A.N.: An epilogue is coming.