Rated R for swearing, violence, and suicide (and/or suicide-related issues). If this offends anyone, don't read. Thought I'd add that I own nadda. All characters, names and related indicia are property of J.K. Rowling. I am merely trying to share some of her goodness in a non-illegal way. :)

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Chapter 11: The Sanctuary of Darkness

Hermione paused mid-sentence. She lay down her quill on the thick armrest and propped her elbow up on it, and leaning her head on her hand she fell into a deep trance.

It was after dinner and the sky outside was a beautiful blue, like someone had taken the ocean and suspended it across the heavens. The first stars were twinkling out into the sky and a fine mist was crawling around the grounds. A crow called out into the twilight. The crackling fire in the common room was very welcome on this cold night.

Ron looked up at the sudden absence of the scratching of Hermione's quill and eyed her questioningly. She was, however, unresponsive. Ron shook his head. Strange for one such as Hermione...after all, she only put her schoolwork aside when something important was taking place. And the current calm of the common room was anything but hectic or interesting.

Ron took to studying her instead.

The flickering firelight was casting a warm, golden glow over her face, which was relaxed in thought. He had never noticed before... Her hair was still back in its usual bun, and the tendrils and bits that had escaped were curling and frizzing as they always did. It was the small things like this that made her so...familiar. Her deep brown eyes and the way they were suddenly glassed over as she strayed off into her thoughts...the way her lips were curving into a slight smile...

Ron's breath caught in his throat. Wow...he had never ever looked at Hermione that way before. Sure, he had liked her since their third year, but he'd always been too shy to say anything. He had also been too jealous of Vicky as well. He suddenly found himself hoping that Vicky was indeed just a pen pal, and nothing more.

He hated that Bulgarian.

He had promised himself that he would say something to her by Christmas. It had been three years since he'd first had thoughts about her...maybe it was high time he actually came out and said something.

But what if she rejected him?

Ron was now in a very serious debate with himself. If she said no, then at least he would be able to stop fretting about it, right? Once he had his answer? It would kill him, but at least he'd know...and if she said yes...Ron smiled to himself just thinking about it, and looked back at the girl curled up in her chair, her Transfiguration essay laying forgotten in her lap. This was a first, Hermione abandoning her work. He would have to remember to make fun of her for it later.

Ron didn't really consider himself to be handsome or good-looking...not like Harry was, anyway. He always stared at himself in the mirror when no one was looking and picked out things about him that he'd like to change...like his paleness...his freckles (a Weasley trait)...and he really didn't like his hair. So basically he hated everything. He thought he looked like a gerbil, or a badger or something. This would definitely influence Hermione's thinking when it came to taking him on as a significant other. Ron self- consciously touched his hair, making sure it was flat. Then he ruffled it up again on a whim. God, he wished he could just chop it off.

A giggle. "What're you doing, Ron?"

Ron quickly dropped his hand to his side. "Sorry?"

Hermione smiled at him and Ron blushed. It was time for a change of subject.

"What were you thinking about?"

Hermione's head turned in her hand slightly and she looked at him quizzically. "What d'you mean?"

Ron grinned at her. "You looked about a million miles away, Hermione. Is something up?"

Hermione looked down at her essay and paused for a little while as though trying to delay the question, which made Ron even more curious. "I've never seen you pause in your work before. What sacred thing could possibly keep you from your grades?" He teasingly smirked at her.

Hermione sighed and looked worriedly into the fire. "I dunno...it's just...have you seen Harry at all today?"

Ron immediately fell silent and stared at the fire too, his expression dark. He should have known she'd be thinking about Harry. What girl wasn't? His eyes clouded with jealousy and he shrugged.

"Haven't seen him since yesterday," he answered.

He couldn't help but wonder, though...Where was Harry? It wasn't like him to leave them for such a long period of time.

"Maybe he came in to sleep last night after his detention while I was already asleep and he left this morning early for something and I just didn't catch him...Angelina was right pissed off that he was nowhere to be found for Quidditch practice. He pulled this bullshit too last year, not showing up..."

"Ron!" Hermione said testily. "You know that was because of Umbridge! How could you even suggest that Harry - "

Ron was steadily becoming angrier every time Hermione said his name. "Oh, I'm sorry, you're right. Harry isn't at fault for anything. I apologize for speaking of him so badly."

Hermione breathed loudly out her nose and shot Ron a furious glare. "You're impossible," she spat. "Honestly...you're so unfair!" She snatched up her quill again and began scribbling away at her essay once more.

Ron snorted. "Whatever you say."

God, he liked the girl, but sometimes she was just so...Ron shook his head. He was being stupid and childish again and he knew it. He didn't mean to get so angry with her, and he didn't mean to speak so nastily of Harry, but sometimes he just got so jealous...he really needed to try to control that. Harry couldn't help it and Ron knew it. Harry didn't ask for the shit he had to put up with. Harry, it was all about Harry. Always.

He suddenly realized that a group of first years were staring at him. "Clear off!" he hissed angrily. They scampered away, muttering. He really didn't feel like being ogled at.

A sigh from beside him. "I also hate the way you sometimes abuse your power too," Hermione said. "You could have asked them nicely to piss off. You make us prefects seem like a bunch of wet swots."

"We are a bunch of wet swots," Ron answered hotly, not thinking. "And at least I don't abuse my power like Malfoy does...he hexes people in the corridors and gets away with it, and whenever I snap at people I get screamed at..."

Hermione shook her head...then gasped.

"Harry!"

Ron looked around and saw Harry standing right behind him, looking very stiff and absolutely terrible.

"Dear lord, Harry...what happened to you? You look like you've been through the Forbidden Forest and back."

Harry didn't move; he just stared at Ron with an unreadable expression on his face. Ron suddenly felt his stomach disappear.

"Er, Harry, how long have you been standing there?"

"Oh..." Hermione said softly, understanding.

Harry looked around the room, blinking several times and biting his lower lip rather harshly.

Hermione half-rose out of her chair. "Harry..."

The boy said nothing. He turned slowly and headed off to the seclusion of the dormitory stairs. Hermione threw Ron a thoroughly disgusted look and went after him.

"Harry please, wait a moment." She put a small hand on his shoulder. Harry turned to face her. Hermione stepped up onto the stairs until she was level with him. She sighed and met his eyes. He looked bad.

"Harry, where were you today?"

"I left the Hospital Wing," he answered quietly. "I left and then Snape caught me in the hall and made me take an Occlumency lesson." He rolled his eyes.

Hermione winced. "Sorry. How was it?"

Harry breathed. "Terrible. I hate him. I hate him, I hate him. You have no idea how much."

"Where did you go after that?"

"I went to the library."

Hermione surveyed Harry in the dark of the stairs. He scratched his nose and looked back at her, silent and unmoving.

"Oh, Harry..."

She took mercy on him and brushed a few locks of hopelessly messy hair out of his eyes and straightened his collar a bit. He tried to wave her away, but she wouldn't budge. Harry damned her for being so motherly. His embarrassment for looking so haggard plagued him and he suddenly wished that he were somewhere private. Like in his four-poster again. She kept looking into his eyes...was she trying to get something from him? He had already cried with her that morning, and surely that was enough. He couldn't let her see how weak he was. Her eyes were very brown, almost as brown as Ginny's.

"Harry, I don't know what to do for you..." Hermione's voice broke. "I feel so awful. I want to be there for you but...but you're not letting me get close enough!" Tears brimmed in her eyes. Harry's brow furrowed and his gut turned to stone. "You're hurting me, Harry. I'm sorry, but...but you're hurting me so much...for not telling me what's wrong..." She wiped her tears away and sniffed, her hands never leaving his collar. "You think that Ron and I just sit by and never let you enter our thoughts once during the day... you're scaring us. We want to help! I know you heard what Ron said, Harry, but it's just not true. He really doesn't think like that! He's a loyal friend, Harry..."

"He sounded pretty goddamn sincere if you ask me," Harry retorted brokenly. "How would you act if you heard him saying that about you? One of your best friends in the whole world, taking the side of everyone else! Hating you for who you are! Is that loyalty, Hermione?"

Hermione swallowed with difficulty. "I know, Harry. But it's still not true. God...you're hurting. You're hurting and you're not letting me help. I hope to god that you'll let someone else in who can...because if you do something like this again..." She gently took his right arm and rolled the sleeve up slightly. Harry hissed. Ugly red marks twisted and twirled snakelike up his scorched flesh. Harry yanked his arm away.

"That..." he stammered. "That...that's not important!"

"Yes it is!"

"NO!" he shouted. "It's not! That's none of your business! Leave it, okay?"

Hermione just looked at him. "Fine," she said. "Fine, if that's what you want. I guess you'll be wanting to go up to bed now, Harry, it's getting late."

Harry was breathing rather heavily. His suppressed rage was threatening to spew out all over the stairwell. Hermione stood on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss into his cheek, then stalked away.

Harry simply stood there, expressionless.

-------

Ron entered the dormitory and looked at Harry. His...friend...was sitting on his bed, looking through a book of some sort. Harry looked up to see who'd entered.

"Hi," he said quietly.

"I heard everything," Ron answered. At Harry's questioning look, he went on. "On the stairs. The little talk you had with Hermione. I heard it all."

Harry closed his eyes.

"What did Hermione mean by, 'If you do something like this again?'"

Harry had turned to ice. "She meant if I went away for a whole day like that again. Why?"

"Yeah, OK," Ron muttered, sounding exactly like he had that night in their fourth year during the Tournament...Harry could envision exactly how it went.

"Why d'you look so terrible? How come you're so stiff and limping and...tired-looking?"

"I am tired," Harry said, focusing his attention back on his photo album. "And I fell down a flight of stairs last night. Hurt my ankle."

"Hmmm."

Ron crossed the room and began to undress for the night. "How come that sounds like a load of bullshit, Harry?"

Harry slapped his book shut.

"You're keeping things from me, aren't you?"

Silence.

"Why, Harry? What aren't you telling me? I thought friends were supposed to trust one another and all that."

"Oh, you were pretty trustworthy downstairs just now," Harry growled, facing the redhead as he put on his pajama bottoms. Ron was taken aback by the fury in Harry's eyes. "I especially loved the part about me pulling all the bullshit with Quidditch. Did you make that up yourself?"

Ron's eyes narrowed. "I'm sorry about that, mate."

"Right," Harry replied. He crawled into his bed angrily. "Wouldn't be sorry if I hadn't of heard it though, would you?"

Ron was going to reply, but the door burst open again and Seamus, Neville and Dean flooded the room, all laughing and talking happily.

"Hey, Harry!" Neville said, smiling. "Wow...you look beat. You'd probably do well to catch some sleep."

"Good thing tomorrow's Sunday, eh?" Dean said heartily. "One more day to sleep in until noon, then!"

Harry wondered how anyone could possibly be that happy right now. He grinned a little at them and wrenched the hangings around his bed shut, blocking out the light. Right now, the darkness was his sanctuary.

-------

October arrived in a frenzy of frost and wind. The teachers had suddenly begun to set loads of assignments and give out monstrous amounts of homework, much to the dismay of the students, but oddly everyone found themselves getting things done; as no one would venture outside lest they be found frozen into an icicle.

Professor McGonagall had her class all focus on transfiguring candelabras into tea kettles, a task that only Hermione really perfected. (Harry's kettle had an odd habit of spewing flame from its spout). Professor Snape was still on them about the Veritaserum potion, although during one particularly horrible lesson he'd ordered them all to stop brewing and start over. Hermione had been absolutely furious.

Harry was pretty much kept busy with everything he was swamped with, but the arrival of October meant that Quidditch season was now upon them, and lately he had taken to bracing himself when he entered the common room in the mornings in case Angelina decided to swoop down on him before he could get down to breakfast. Ron was apparently thinking along the same lines.

Ron and Harry's friendship was on thin ice. Both were walking around eggshells and whenever they spoke to one another, they're voices were full of forced politeness. Hermione understood, but it also drove her crazy. Sometimes Harry did stop and wonder what ever happened to Ron Weasley, the boy he had depended on more than anyone else on earth, the friend he could always turn to, the one who would never hold anything against him...Harry figured it was the fourth year that began the deterioration. The strange thing now was, he didn't really mind. Having more time on his hands left him some moments to be alone now. Sit and think for long periods of time. Sleep. Do some homework with Hermione instead of playing Gobstones and then rushing at the last minute. Harry was beginning to see how easier things could have been in the past (especially last year), if he hadn't procrastinated as much as he had.

Oh god, he was turning into Hermione. No, no, he wasn't, he was just absorbing some of her mentality. Which surely couldn't hurt him, right? So what, now he had some wit in his head, the Ravenclaw trait, as well as the Gryffindor and Slytherin?

Hah.

Snape had been reclusive as well as Ron. He hadn't spoken to Harry since the unfortunate Occlumency lesson, but during potions classes (his sarcasm and sadistic demeanor hadn't lessened whatsoever), Harry could feel Snape's eyes on him. Oh lord, he'd wanted to die. Harry had half a mind to give Snape a photo of himself if the man was so bent on looking at him, and then decided that Snape would take it as an act of insolence and deduct house points. Hell, Justin Finch-Fletchley had walked straight into a Hufflepuff sixth year one day and knocked them both to the ground. Snape had deducted house points from Harry for being in the vicinity of the accident. The man had some issues.

Personally, Harry didn't give a shit anymore. He found himself being like that when it came to almost anything...food, friends, homework (although he did it anyway), and now he was dismissing Snape's behaviour along with the rest of it. He could tell that Snape was doing his best these days, unleashing forth the full extent of his sarcasm and monster-like wrath just to evict some form of emotion from the boy, but Harry had simply told himself that the greasy git was just trying to have a go at him...provoke him. Piss him off. He decided that he wouldn't let himself be so easy to aggravate. Besides, it made Snape angry, so he was happier more often. At least during potions class.

It was a cloudy Wednesday morning. Harry, yawning, trudged out into the dark common room and earned a small sigh from Hermione, who came over to fix his robes. He had thrown them on precariously before leaving his dorm; he really didn't feel like acting lively for Neville, Seamus and Dean.

"I'm all right you know, Hermione, no need to act like Mrs. Weasley."

Hermione tutted. "Harry, the thing's practically half off you. One good tug and you'd lose it in the corridors."

Someone had emerged into the room through the portrait hole carrying coffee. The smell was amazing.

Harry waited for the girl to finish. Her hair was damp from a shower and she carried the tang of coconut. It was calming. Hermione smiled encouragingly at him. "All right?"

Harry shrugged. "I guess."

Wow, mornings were depressing. Well, this one was anyway. It began to rain outside and steam rose like mad from the grounds as the air was suddenly chilled. It looked as though it might have been twilight, let alone seven thirty in the morning.

"Oy - Harry!"

A rough clap on his shoulder.

"Hello, Angelina."

Angelina looked at him with her eyebrows slightly raised, looking him up and down. "God, Harry, you're lucky you have someone like Hermione here to keep care over you. Otherwise you'd melt into the floor. You look bloody exhausted."

Harry smiled feebly.

"Anyway!" Angelina continued loudly, flipping her dark hair over a shoulder. "I thought about waiting until next Thursday, but I'm calling our first practice on Sunday around noon. We've got to get new Beaters this year because those darling Weasley git's decided to leave prematurely."

Her eyes gleamed with pride nonetheless.

"Be there, all right? Umbridge isn't here this year to give you detention, so you've got no excuse. After we pick our Beaters we'll have a go at practicing."

Harry nodded and made to walk away, but Angelina grabbed him again. "Wood's coming for a little visit to our first game, eh?"

"Is he?" Harry asked, his eyes suddenly bright. "Who're we playing?"

"Guess," Angelina said flatly. She sighed and a look of stress washed over her face. "I'm just hoping there are some good players out there, Harry. Really, we need people like Fred and George on the team or we'll be sure to lose. Not saying that you won't win it for us...its just...Ron's still a little iffy sometimes."

Harry nodded awkwardly. Hermione tapped Angelina on the shoulder and nodded her head slightly towards the staircases where Ron was coming down, pulling his robes on and trying to fasten a button. Hermione ran off to relay the message.

"Right," Angelina whispered. "Pass the invitation for the positions of Beater's one and two out around the table and in your classes today, OK Harry? That way we can get it around more quickly. D'you have anyone in mind right now that I could catch before first class?"

Harry thought, which was saying something seeing as it was morning. "Ginny Weasley," he replied after a pause. "She told me she'd like to try out for another position 'cause Seeker wasn't really her thing...she's in fifth year, she'd probably like to have a go."

"Excellent," Angelina said happily. "Good. Very good. All right Harry, I'll stop pestering you...go eat something. You look like you could use it."

Harry indeed desperately wanted something hot in his stomach. He nodded again and quickly set out for the Great Hall, not waiting for Hermione and Ron to follow.

-------

"Dueling! One of the most important...well, possibly the most important aspect in learning to defend yourself against foes, apart from actually learning the incantations themselves."

Lupin paced the front of the silent room, hands folded behind his back, staring at his class as he thought. The room was so dark, even with the window shutters thrown open, that the torches and candles had to be lit for people to see properly. At least this made the room warm.

Hermione was frivolously copying down every word that Lupin said and Harry was copying what Hermione was copying...just much less of it. He was so tired.

The D.A.D.A. classroom had been transformed. The tables were all moved towards the back of the room while the front was an enormous sort of platform inscribed with different colored runes and symbols. Lupin was still pacing about on it.

"I have spoken with the Headmaster about this so-called Dueling Club you lot had when you were in your...what was it...second year, I believe? That was the year of the Chamber, was it not?"

A murmur of stiffened confirmation ran through the room and all eyes flickered at least once to Harry, who rolled his eyes and sighed irritably.

"He told me what, er...happened there," the professor said uncomfortably. "And I will remind you again that this will be far more different than the pathetic excuse for instruction you received back then. As I have said before, this duel will get as real as I can allow it. Of course, we will not be going bonkers all over my classroom today, considering this is your first try. No, we will be focusing on stance somewhat, ideal curses and hexes to use in the event of an attack, maneuvers and so on."

The man clapped his hands once and smiled broadly at them all. "I think we've been doing enough theory work over the past week and a half, don't you?"

The class muttered excitedly.

"Quills away, wands out!" The professor said. "Everyone please come up onto the platform...no running, Finnigan...and split yourselves into pairs if you please." Hermione went to pair with someone in Ravenclaw and Ron went with Dean. Harry looked around and spotted Neville, who was fingering his wand self- consciously and looking thoroughly deflated. Harry waved him over.

"Thanks," Neville said gratefully. "I am better, really I am Harry...thanks to the DA last year...you saw me, eh?"

Harry grinned. "I did, Neville. You're getting brilliant you know."

Lupin clapped his hands loudly to quiet the room, as everyone was muttering and talking excitedly. "All right, you lot! I will call one group up at a time and do my job. While this is happening I expect each and every one of you to be watching attentively."

His eyes roamed the students in front of him, all who were gripping their wands eagerly. Merlin's beard, I hope they don't get too over-excited...

"How about...Miss. Granger and Miss. Chang, please?"

Harry started. He had totally forgotten that Cho was in Ravenclaw; the experience he'd had with her in the past year hadn't exactly been a pleasant one, and nowadays he'd forgotten she existed altogether. That didn't mean she wasn't still pretty, though. Harry was surprised she wasn't crying all over the platform at the present moment, actually, and took to staring thoughtfully at her as she climbed up onto the stage. Hermione looked amused.

"Right," Lupin said. "If facing your opponent in a formal duel, as we discussed earlier, the duel will begin with a small bow."

Both girls nodded their heads slightly.

"Remember Lockhart's bow?" Harry heard Dean mutter to Ron from somewhere behind him. "With all the flourishes and twirling..."

"After this, the wands are raised vertically in front of the face, held arm- length with a slight bend at the elbow." He walked over to Cho to correct her arm and stepped back, smiling at her reassuringly.

The class watched attentively. "All right, - Good form, Hermione. - The spells you will be casting are to disarm only. In a formal duel there usually is no intent to kill the other person, and therefore the primary goal you should be focusing on is to disarm your challenger. No wand, no danger, unless the other person is skilled at Wandless Magic, and only a handful of witches and wizards are disciplined enough to be accomplished in that area. A simple Expelliarmus will do, unless you think that something else will prove more effective."

The girls looked each other in the eye.

"On the count of three," Lupin said quietly, watching the two intently. "One...two...three!"

Harry was bloody amazed. Hermione had just opened her mouth to shout an incantation when Cho had taken a step forward and cried, "Expelliarmus!" in the same amount of time. Hermione's wand flew out of her hand and Cho caught it effortlessly, smiling mildly and nodding once more at the girl that faced her. The class broke into a surprised round of applause and Lupin clapped her on a shoulder, thoroughly impressed.

"Well done, Miss. Chang! Very well done indeed! Giving Miss. Granger a run for her money, it would seem."

Lupin winked at Hermione who smiled back, but Harry knew she hated being shown up when it came to schoolwork. He chuckled and applauded Luna again as she stepped gracefully off the platform.

"Quiet now," Lupin called, his eyes bright. "Now, as you all have just witnessed, quickness is absolutely key in dueling. If you are slow with a wand you could count on your feet to save you, but to be swift with your magic would obviously help a great deal. A good thing to do before a formal duel officially starts is to know, or at least have some idea, of the spells you will be casting. This eliminates rummaging around in your brain for something. Have it on the tip of your tongue if you can, and that will help save time." The man smiled again. "Well done Miss. Granger...Miss. Chang. And now I'll take another pair."

He searched the class with his eyes and Harry knew who was to be next. Several people had their hands in the air and were bouncing on the balls of their feet.

"Ah! This should prove interesting...Mr. Longbottom and Mr. Potter."

Harry smiled encouragingly at Neville and the two climbed up onto the platform. Harry stood at one end and waited for Neville to get to the other, his insides squirming. He hadn't spoken a word to Lupin in almost two weeks.

"Right," Lupin said. Harry could feel the man's eyes on him. "You boys know what to do..."

They nodded slightly at one another, not taking their eyes off each other.

"And now the wands..."

Harry raised his wand in front of him, breathing slightly quicker than he had been while watching Hermione and Luna. His mind had gone completely relaxed and focused, and an odd sensation of complete awareness held his body in its grasp.

"Perfect form, both of you," Lupin said, pleased. "Practiced, no doubt?"

The DA members in the class laughed. Harry almost had to himself.

"One...two...three!"

Neville was moving, but Harry was too quick. "Expelliarmus!"

Neville's wand was in Harry's hands and the class clapped enthusiastically. Harry expected a pat on his shoulder and congratulation, but none came. Suddenly the class went totally silent and Neville looked like he was going to faint. Harry glanced over his shoulder.

Snape stood in the doorway looking thoroughly formidable, leaning against the frame with his arms folded over his chest, wearing an expression of utmost disgust. Lupin raised his eyebrows at the black-robed man.

"Ah, Professor Snape! What brings you here?"

Snape sneered. "My class was cancelled," he replied almost happily. "Some idiot thought it would be funny to shower the room in an Enlargement Potion, so my entire class is now in the Hospital Wing keeping Madame Pomphrey busy. I was passing and heard the noise."

Lupin smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. Snape looked critically at the man's patched robes and his lip curled further.

"Well, you're welcome to stay of course!" Lupin invited. "My class has just begun the hands-on study of the formal duel." He turned to his students. "Professor Snape has much experience in this field. I'm sure he could help you out if you have any questions I am unable to answer."

Harry detected coldness in the way his professor was speaking. His gray eyes had become unwelcoming and alert and Harry was glad his turn was over...Neville looked both terrified and relieved as well. The class, suddenly squeezing in to get as far away from Snape as possible, looked like they would rather face an entire afternoon with a horde of Blast-Ended Skrewts than ask Snape anything.

Snape billowed into the room and stood near Lupin up on the platform, his eyes glittering. Oh god. Harry quickly looked away from the man and was about to step off the riser when Snape's voice stopped him.

"I did notice," he said silkily. "That there were some things Potter was doing wrong."

"Oh?"

"Yes," the potions master sneered. "Longbottom, you may go...Professor Lupin, if I may?"

Lupin suddenly looked tense. He stiffly beckoned Snape forward and Snape strode to the other end of the platform and faced Harry. Harry's insides had disappeared. The class was whispering and shifting uncomfortably, although looking somewhat interested. Snape's eyes were boring holes into Harry's and Harry looked at the floor desperately.

"Professor Lupin was telling me," Snape said loudly. "That he would like these lessons to soon get as...what was it? As real as he could get them. Am I right?"

Lupin nodded.

Snape smirked. "I believe, apart from myself, that Mr. Potter also has experience in this field. I was hoping that you would let us give a small demonstration to the class of what a real duel might look like, Professor Lupin."

"Ah," Lupin said. "I don't know if...well...is that all right, Harry?"

A strange noise erupted quietly from one of the fabric-covered boxes lining the walls. Harry nodded numbly and faced Snape, now breathing as though terrified.

Of course, he was.

"As I've said," Lupin went on, not bothering to hide his displeasure. "The ideal aim is to disarm your adversary, although sometimes you might have to, with other hexes and such until your opponent leaves a clear field for you to get in to take the wand. I will say that Harry is nearing the professional level with this."

The class looked impressed. Snape's onyx eyes glittered unpleasantly.

"Begin."

The two nodded curtly. They raised their wands in front of them and Harry desperately tried to keep his hand from shaking. For a moment there was complete silence, the potions master and the boy looked into the other's eyes as though trying to determine just what it was that the other had planned...Harry could hear his own heart beating inside him as though someone had held a microphone up to it...and then Snape struck.

"Expelliarmus!"

Harry acted instinctively and erected a swift Shielding Charm. The disarming spell was diverted towards the wall off to Harry's left and a torch was put out as the force of the spell's wind snuffed the flame.

"Protego!"

Snape dodged the hex, his eyes focused on Harry's face. Harry made his expression go neutral and he tried again. But Snape was quicker.

"Impedi - "

"Expelliarmus!"

Harry ducked and moved his feet. The spell missed him by inches and, crouching, he raised his wand once more. Oh bugger it, he's too fast...

"Expelliarmus!"

"Tarantallegra!"

Another Shielding Charm. "Stupefy!"

Snape's eyes widened in acceptance of the challenge. "Reducto!"

Harry rolled out of the way and came up cat-like on the platform, his bruised limbs screaming in pain, making him wince. A crash from behind him and someone screamed. Not daring to look around to see if anyone was injured, he kept his eyes focused on Snape. "Impedimenta!"

Snape diverted the spell. He had to admit, Potter was good. The little bugger was quick on his feet as well with his wand, and he was having a hard time getting him in one place. This left no other option, although he hated this jinx because of its length...

"Petrificus Totalus!"

Harry was forced to roll again. The little prat.

Harry gasped, "Reducto!"

Whoops, taking that back.
Snape crouched and rolled away from the hex's path. He felt it graze his back and his anger flared. He would not be beaten by a sixteen-year-old. When he insisted that he and Potter duel, he hadn't expected him to be as bloody good as he was. Wait, apart from Snape being able to produce the Unforgivables. Potter was nowhere near focused enough to cast those thus far.

Snape looked at the boy again. Harry looked back at Snape. The two raised their wands quickly and in a flash of spell work it was over.

"Impedimenta!"

"Reducto!"

Both jinxes hit the two at the same moment. Harry and Snape were blasted off their feet and Snape flew into a bare wall. Harry was thrown into a cage where the Runespoor hissed furiously and began insulting him using words Harry had never heard before.

"Shut the bloody hell up," He snapped back, rubbing his head. Dear lord that had hurt like the dickens.

He detangled himself from the purple covering and stood up shakily. Across the room, Snape had pulled himself off the floor and was holding his right arm tight against his chest. A burst of pain around Harry's lower back made him bite his lip and he hobbled back over to Lupin. The class was gasping and whispering excitedly to each other.

"You two all right?" Lupin asked quietly, looking from Harry to Snape.

"Obviously," Snape sneered. "Otherwise I wouldn't be standing, would I?"

Harry nodded. "Fine."

Lupin eyed Harry proudly. "I suspect that both of you should go join Professor Snape's class in the Hospital Wing and make sure nothing's damaged," he said. Harry nodded and set off beside Snape towards the door.

Harry's classmates looked at him elatedly as he passed. "There you have it," Lupin was hollering. "That, er, that's an example of a duel! Although that wasn't exactly..."

"Parseltongue still in your vocabulary, then?" Snape said breathlessly as the two walked down the dark, torch-lit corridor. Rain lashed at the windows. Harry looked up, breathing heavily.

"What?"

"You spoke to the Runespoor, did you not?"

"Oh yeah."

They kept walking, their footsteps echoing off the stone. It was truly an awkward moment between the wizards and both wished they could sink into the floor.

"Nice bit of casting, I'll add," the potions master said through almost clenched teeth. He couldn't believe he was praising Potter's abilities. He never praised Potter's abilities.

Potter was stunned. "Why, er...thanks, I guess." A strained pause. "You as well."

"Oh bugger off, I'm an old git far more experienced than you. I don't need to be told I'm good."

Uncomfortable silence. The corners of Harry's mouth twitched. He couldn't help it.

"That was ridiculous," Snape said loudly into the quiet of the corridors. Harry nodded to himself.

More silence. More walking. Harry cleared his throat at some point and Snape coughed soon after. Then, simultaneously, the two burst out laughing.

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