Thanks once again Reviewers for sticking with me through this story; I know it's kinda out there. And just so you know, in the 7th book that I'm also writing, I explain a lot more about the whole Lily/ James/ Snape thing. As you may have already noticed, I've changed some of the characters slightly to fit my ideas. I wrote most of this before the OotP book came out; that's why some of the characters are a little off. (This was originally suppose to be my version of the 5th book).

The Duel

School would resume the next morning. Harry went to the Great Hall to get a filling breakfast before he was to take on the rest of the school year. When the mail arrived, Hedwig dropped a letter on Harry's lap. It was from Sarah wanting to see him early the next morning in the Great Hall. He wondered what she could possibly need to tell him; she talked to him only yesterday. For the rest of that sunny Sunday, he and Ron practiced Quidditch and relaxed. Hermione had her nose in a book the whole time, and nobody bothered them. But the day came and went, and Harry found himself, all too soon, waking up early the next morning. He almost forgot he had to meet his sister, but he made it to the Hall before hardly anyone had arrived. She was sitting at his table waiting for him. He sat beside her and waited for her to start the conversation. She waited a moment.

"I didn't tell you, but he knows," she said to Harry. She gazed through one of the windows and out into nowhere. Harry didn't say anything, but he knew she meant Snape had found out that she was his daughter. He also knew that Snape would eventually figure out the fact that he, famous Harry Potter, was related to Sarah. This would probably bring on more torture...

Sarah was a bit worried too. How would he treat her? Would he ignore and shun her, or be there for her? She couldn't bring herself to say, "love her," for even she wasn't sure if Snape was capable of love anymore. But she remembered how he looked at her, and she saw a door had opened and let some light into his shut out heart. His little world, which he had closed off, had fallen apart...but maybe for good reason. That was what the look said. But what worried her most was the fact that he knew, and then maybe the other Slytherins would find out. She couldn't think of all the problems this could lead to. But taunting voices from deep inside her head were shouting at her. They were the voices of her fellow Slytherins. She pushed them out of her head. It was almost time for people to start arriving for breakfast, and the last thing she needed was to be caught sitting next to Harry at the Gryffindor table. "I'll see ya," she said, and with a nod from Harry, went to go sit at her table. Harry moved to the other side of the table so he could keep an eye on her without everyone suspecting him of "watching" her. As the Slytherins arrived, he was glad to see none of them were acting any different towards her. Snape had obviously not told them about her. He sat quietly through breakfast, not really even saying "hi" to Ron and Hermione when they arrived. They sat opposite him. They were surprised to see him up so early... and they noticed he had moved to the other side of the table.

"Harry, why are you sitting..." started Hermione who looked behind her. She saw the Slytherin table. "Oh," she said with a little grin. Harry gave her a threatening look. Hermione, unable to suppress her smile, looked down at her food. After a while she said, "You do like her, don't you." Ron looked over at Hermione in a "are you trying to make Harry mad?" sort of way.

"You just can't let it alone, can you?" said Ron. Hermione began to eat.

"I'm just curious," she replied with biscuit in her mouth.

"Yeah, and curiosity killed the cat, remember. Not to mention," Ron said in a quieter voice," the time you turned yourself into a cat with that Polyjuice Potion."

Even Harry had to work to suppress his laughter. Hermione cast Ron a dark look.

"No more homework helping for Ron," she said to the air. Ron turned away and began to eat his porridge. "Oh, Harry, just tell us what's going on," Hermione pleaded. Harry looked at her for a moment then said, "And have it reach the far ends of the school? Nope."

"We won't tell. You know we won't," she said. Harry continued eating without even looking up at her.

"Okay, then. No more helping Harry with his homework, either," she said. Harry paused with the spoon halfway to his mouth. He knew she was watching him, but he wasn't going to give in. He finished his spoonful of porridge, got up, and started walking to his first class.

17 The Duel

Harry hoped that this time Care of Magical Creatures would go better than it had the last few times before Christmas. And in a way, he was right. About halfway through the class, Pansy Parkinson marched herself up to Harry again. "I hear you have dreams of Sarah," she paused for effect while the other girls laughed. But Sarah had not laughed. Her eyes had narrowed, and she was getting to her feet.

Pansy was just opening her mouth when Sarah made her turn around and flat out slapped her. Pansy staggered back a few steps. "Maybe that will show you to keep your trap shut," Sarah said in a low, fierce voice. "Sarah," Pansy said with a disbelieving look on her face, "I was only making fun of him...I thought that was good," Sarah reached forward and gripped Pansy's collar.

"You're making fun of me if you think I'd even let a Gryffindor fancy me," replied Sarah. "And, I swear, if you say another thing about Potter and me, you're gonna scream until you die!"

Her last words seemed to have an impression on Pansy. Sarah let go of her collar, and she ran to her group of girls for safety. Sarah threw Harry a dark look, and began to walk back to her own place when Ron stood up. "I've got somethin' to say to you," he said. She stopped, and Harry could see a grin spread across her face. He never liked that grin; it always meant trouble.

"Oh, you do, do you?" she said turning around to face Ron.

"Yeah," he said, "I have a little problem with your attitude and those looks you throw Harry." She raised her eyebrows and moved her eyes to look at Harry, who looked as stunned as she felt. Harry reached up at Ron's arm, but he moved his arm away.

"And now, if that's all you need to say, I will be leaving," she said once again turning her back on Ron.

"Face me," he said. The grin left her face. As she turned around, Harry tried one last time to get Ron to forget the whole thing, but he again moved.

"I am losing my patience with you," she said moving her hand a little nearer the place she kept her wand. Ron seemed to lose a little of his nerve, for the sight of her was quite frightening.

"I ch-challenge you," he said. There was complete silence, in which Sarah's grin faded back to her face.

"Challenge accepted. Finally I can finish this," she said. The Slytherins began to break into smiles, but the Gryffindors were a little nervous about Ron. Harry could see that Ron was shaking; Ron knew that to challenge her meant that she would win, and that he would not stand a chance. Harry seeing this stood up, "No; I challenge you."

"Ooh, two against one. No matter, I can take you both on," she said with far too much pleasure in her voice.

"No," said Harry quietly, "just me." They stared at each other for a while.

"You can't stand up for him forever, you know?" she tested. But Harry stood his ground.

"Very well," she said in a voice similar to that of Snape's. The Slytherins weren't smiling anymore but neither were the Gryffindors. The both knew what Harry could do in these situations, but it was also known that Sarah had talents of her own.

Harry and Sarah bowed, and began to walk around each other; they were both trying to decide what to do. Neither of them could lose, and neither could win. Finally Sarah stopped, and raised her wand above her head; Harry did so, too. They waited for another minute. "Anesium!" she screamed as he said,"Feurliando!"

Sarah beautifully dodged Harry's spell, and Harry had the oddest feeling of temporarily losing all feeling in his body. She waited for him to recover, even though most of the Slytherins were yelling for her to "nail him." They raised their wands again. Gryffindors were cheering Harry on as Slytherins were shouting for Sarah to do more permanent damage. Harry thought of just letting her win, but then the Gryffindors would shun him, and he didn't want to think of the torture he'd get from the Slytherins. He knew she was thinking the same thing. "Grotsia!" she yelled again. This time Harry repelled the spell back to her, but she had already put up a protective charm around herself, and the spell rebounded off her and accidentally hit Goyle in the face. Draco immediately pulled out his own wand and began to walk towards Harry. Sarah saw him and moved over to intercept him.

"No," she said quietly, "this is my duel." Harry saw his chance. He didn't want to do it, but it would be better this way. "Stupendo!" He hit her with a stun charm just as she turned back to face him. He knew it wasn't completely fair. He hadn't given her a chance to even raise her wand. She probably never knew what hit her. But he did make sure that he didn't hit her in the back so that it wouldn't be entirely cowardly. He just didn't want to hurt her. Though the Gryffindors were happy to see him win, even they weren't sure why he'd ended it the way he did, why he hadn't given her another second. All in all the Slytherins were furious, but thankfully not at her. They took the position that Harry had not given her a chance. They were muttering, "She would have won.........you must not be as good as her to cheat your way out of a duel.... coward." But the worst was Draco. When Harry hit Sarah with the spell, she fell right into Draco who caught her. Draco gently placed her on the ground, and began to walk towards Harry looking truly dangerous. Harry wasn't sure what Draco was going to do. He certainly didn't want to find out, but it felt wrong to run away especially after he had already been called a coward (although he supposed when a Slytherin called you coward it didn't mean much). He could hear the Gryffindors arguing with the Slytherins over the duel, but his eyes were on Draco who was getting ever closer. He was only a few feet away now. He stopped, and pocketed his wand to Harry's great surprise.

"I'm going to wring your neck, Potter," he called over to Harry. Somehow, Harry believed him. What was he to do? Obviously it wouldn't be right to use his wand. He waited. And then in a voice to high to be Harry's he said, "I didn't want to hurt her."

"So you hit her when she wasn't prepared," spat Draco.

"Yes...but,"

"And what makes you think you could've hurt her in the first place," he continued.

"Draco," it was Sarah's voice. She had got up but was weak. Draco turned to help her stand. Harry wasn't entirely comfortable with the fact that Draco was touching her, but as he was not in a position to argue he waited. Sarah began to talk to him. Harry moved to where he could hear them.

"It's okay," she was saying.

"No it's not, Sarah. He practically shot you in the back," said Draco.

"I know, but it's over now."

"Not till I say it is."

"It's my duel, and I say it's all right," she said firmly.

Draco stared at her for a moment.

"So you're just going to let him walk away?" he asked.

She nodded.

"I don't understand, but if that's what you want..."

He glanced at Harry in a way that said revenge.

"I'll help you back to the common room," he finished as she was still having a hard time standing. And they walked off together to the castle. Harry stood there and watched them go... watched his sister put her head on Draco's shoulder, and it just made his blood tremble.

After a while, Ron came striding up as happy as could be.

"Got a party goin' on after classes are over," he said.

"A party for what?" Harry looked at Ron in disgust.

"You beat the best Slytherin ever."

Harry was infuriated. "No I didn't," he shouted and got up to walk back to the castle.

"Oh, come on, you hit her fair and square. You didn't cheat," said Ron.

"It's not about that."

"Then what's it about," asked Hermione who walked up to Harry. He ignored her and kept walking. "We'll eventually find out," she said.

"And I'm not telling you before then," Harry called back. Hermione and Ron shrugged and followed him into the entrance.

Sarah was not present at Potions later that day. He felt that she had skipped it because she didn't want to face Snape, not because Harry had stunned her. She was very worried about Snape now that he knew about her, but she'd have to face him next time.