Author's Note

So this is a quick one. I'm unsure as to the exact timelines of the attacks except the one on Holloween so the rest will be at random. Some of you will note that the victims are different from canon, but that is because of different circumstances.

Harry never goes to the Hospital Wing after the match with Slytherin, thus there's no reason for Colin Creevey to sneak out to see him for example. Finally, this story will only be updated every second or third week so sorry for that.

During the week, excitement was building in the castle. Initially, I had planned to hold the duelling exhibitions in the Great Hall, but one of the house elves directed me towards somewhere better suited.

Turns out, directly below the Great Hall, is a duelling arena. You have to walk right through a blank wall to reach it. I was annoyed when I found out that it was used in the previous century still. Annoyed because the Headmaster likely knew about it, but said nothing.

The arena itself is big. About twice as large as the Great Hall. There is stone seating running in an oval around the room. The configuration is not unlike the muggle Coliseum in Rome, though far smaller obviously.

After cleaning the place up and clearing out the stale air, I carve runes into the floor. They will be used for the one on one fights that will occur. I'm curious how things will go.

When the time comes, most of the students are gathered in the Great Hall. " Thank you all for the interest that you have shown. Indeed, wanting to improve yourselves and learn to defend yourselves better, will only stand you in good stead. We will not duel in the Great Hall however. Follow me. "

They all look pleased initially, at my words, but when I finish, there are many confused faces. Nevertheless, they all follow me. The amazement on their faces when they see the arena is amusing. Even Snape looks surprised.

I motion them all to go and sit. Snape and I remain standing. " Before any of you start, I thought it would be a good idea to demonstrate what a duel looks like. Professor Snape has kindly agreed to assist me. The two of us will now duel. " Immediately, excited chattering breaks out.

HARRY POV

Things in Gryffindor tower has steadily been getting crazier, the closer it gets to the day the Duelling Club starts. I'm no different.

Professor Lovegood is amazing. We've learnt half a dozen spells in class so far. He's even offered a reward to whoever masters a new spell that he hasn't taught. The reward is a week of no homework.

That actually motivated me to learn harder. Not surprisingly, even Ron is motivated. Out of laziness, but still. Even if he wasn't though, I'd already decided that I wasn't gonna skate on by.

I wanna learn more, do more. It's magic. Seeing the cool things Apollo could do made me want to be able to do that too when I am older. That thought swirled through my head as we were led to the Dueling Chamber.

I looked around with interest. Ron and Hermione shared my interest seeing as they were talking intently. I didn't think I could get more excited, but when Apollo said he was going to duel Snape, my smile stretched wider.

Looking around, I saw the anticipation on the faces of all the non Slytherin students. All of us hated Snape after all. My heart was literally in my mouth when they started.

NORMAL POV

I won't deny that I've been looking forward to this. Severus Snape is a bitter man that has no business teaching children. His blatant bullying disgusts me.

What angers me just as much is the attitude of the other three Heads of House. One of which happens to be the Deputy Headmistress.

I've spoken about this to Professor Flitwick and his answer didn't improve my opinion of any of the staff. Apparently they do complain to the Headmaster, but nothing comes of it.

What annoys me more is that they do nothing further. They don't challenge his punishments at all, nor do they retaliate. I however, have none of their hesitation. Since the start of school, I have taken a hundred points from Slytherin for their blatant bullying. The other Houses are little better.

None of this shows on my face as we bow to each other before the duel begins. He throws out a Stupefy as an opening shot. I dodge and reply with an Incendio. I see his eyes momentarily widen.

My flamethrower is met with a conjured jet of water from his Aguamenti. Steam immediately forms as they meet. As soon as the view is obscured, I flick my wand at the steam cloud. Vespa Mandarinia I think.

Immediately, the cloud starts to darken and break apart. In a few seconds, a swarm of hundreds of asian giant hornets form. He had fired an Expelliarmus and a Diffindo at me while the swarm formed. A calm Protego shielded me.

I could hear the excited murmuring of the children as the swarm surged forward to attack. I also saw the anger on Snape's face as they attacked. He slashed his wand towards me and a wave of fire incinerated the wasps.

I conjured a thin wall of stone to stop his fire from reaching me and then I cast an overpowered Depulso, shattering the wall and banishing the fragments at him.

A number of pieces hit him before his shield stopped it. There was blood dripping down the side of his face and rage burned in his eyes. With a violent slash of his wand, his signature Sectumsepra raced towards me.

Protego Maxima I cast. A spherical shield of white light surrounded me. My wand always has an interesting effect on certain spells. With a thought, the light of the shield blazed brightly, causing cries and gasps from my opponent and our audience.

I raised my wand above my head and bring it violently down. A beam of white energy, leaves my wand, so powerful that the air is vibrating. It went through my shield as if it wasn't there.

Snape is no fool though. He cast Protego Maxima as well, even with his temporary vision impairment. His shield was bluish however and when my spell hit it, a gong resounded throughout the room. Only for a moment though, till a new sound was heard.

Akin to shattering glass, his shield broke and he was blasted off his feet into the wall where he slumped into unconsciousness. For a moment, there was dead silence. Then the room exploded in noise.

Gasps, screams, cheering and angry exclamations rang out. I called out the Head Boy and Head Girl and told them to take Professor Snape to the Hospital Wing. Inwardly I was chuckling. This is going to ruffle a lot of feathers.

" All right, now that we've gotten that bit of excitement out of the way, we will have seven exhibition matches. I will choose two students from each year to demonstrate their prowess before all of you. The first pair will be Hestia Carrow of Slytherin and Ginny Weasley of Gryffindor. "

Cheers rang out from their respective Houses. The Weasleys cheered the loudest in Gryffindor. The two girls approached the dueling strip and bowed. Then they started.

Being first years, they didn't know much magic, but they were creative in their use of them. In the end, Ginny won by use of Flippendo, the Knockback Jinx.

The next match was a more interesting one, for a number of reasons. Susan Bones vs Draco Malfoy. The son of a Death Eater and the niece of the Director of Magical Law Enforcement. By the tone of the conversations around me, this irony was noted.

Draco, to nobody's surprise, started at the count of two instead of three. His Rictusempra, or the Tickling Jinx missed as Susan dodged. She replied with Petrificus Totalus which missed as well.

Draco's follow up Everte Statum, didn't miss its mark. Susan was slammed into the ground. While Malfoy gloated, she replied with an Impedimenta, which knocked him on his arse.

His face twisted then and I knew he was about to do something stupid, so I moved closer. Serpensorsia and the fool summoned a snake. Susan froze as the snake hissed threateningly at her.

That's when I arrived and vanished the snake. Looking around, there were a myriad of expressions on the students faces. Shock, anger, glee, though one face stood out. Harry Potter looked confused.

I filed that thought away for later and watched the next five matches. They got progressively more impressive as we reached the upper years. I inwardly frowned though, as most used the spells that I taught them.

I knew Defence was poorly staffed but I didn't know things were this bad. When I was a student, Bill and I self studied. We read ahead always and practiced dueling each other. It seems most students lack the motivation to learn further. A habit ingrained from a subpar education no doubt.

When the last duel ended, despite all the excitement, many of the younger students looked dead on their feet. " Thank you all for coming tonight. You have all seen what each year group is capable of and what you personally might need to work on. "

" We shall have the next meeting of the club next week at the same time. Goodnight children. Stay Mr Potter..." Everyone looks at Harry then and he looks uncomfortable so I stare until they hurry out. His two best friends, Ron and Hermione leave last, staring at him as they do.

Once they're gone, I beckon him towards me. I conjure two plush seats and a small table between them and motion for him to sit. With a pop, two mugs of hot chocolate and a plate of biscuits appear. With a few flicks my wand, I create runes out of pure magic in the air and create an obscuring ward around us.

Surprisingly, he doesn't hesitate to sit or take his refreshments. He offers a smile which I return. After letting him enjoy his drink for a bit, I then get straight to it.

" I wanted to speak to you about something. When I ended the fight between Ms Bones and Mr Malfoy, I saw the look of confusion on your face. Was there any particular reason for it? "

He seems surprised by my question and then he frowns slightly. In a hesitant voice he explains. " It was the snake sir. He said that he was going to attack Susan. I was going to ask him to stop but then you sent it away. "

As he speaks, I can't help my eyebrows climbing. He notices and looks a bit confused. " I see you don't understand Harry. You were speaking Parseltongue, the language of snakes. A person that speaks it is called a Parselmouth. "

" Here in Britain, it is famously known as an ability that Salazar Slytherin possessed, as well as his descendants, among them, the Gaunt family. Because of its association with him, many ignorant people consider it a dark gift. "

" Which is complete tosh. While not a common ability by any stretch of the imagination, it is found in other parts of the world and it is venerated in fact. After all, if you live in a country where venomous and deadly snakes are common, having someone to communicate with them is a valuable skill. "

" That being said, not many people here are so open minded, so be careful with your gift. Especially now that this whole Chamber of Secrets episode is unfolding. You need to keep your wits about you and not be a reactionary. Think things through first, for children quickly make up and believe baseless accusations. "

The poor kid looked frightened at first, as I began talking, but he gradually calmed down. A thoughtful expression adorns his face. After a bit of small talk, we leave the room. I escort him to Gryffindor Tower and then I head to my own rooms, completely exhausted.

The next couple of weeks go by relatively quickly. My students are applying themselves well in my classes but each individual class has its standouts. I intend on offering them personalised instruction.

Both as a reward for their efforts and as a way to motivate their classmates to work harder. Things don't stay peaceful however. It began on the first day of the Quidditch Season. Gryffindor vs Slytherin.

I was sitting in the teacher's stand, next to Lucius Malfoy unfortunately, when I saw it. A rogue bludger. I frowned. Madam Hooch is very particular about who gets to handle the equipment so I'm at a loss as to how it could be cursed.

To my dismay, despite the bludger being obviously tampered with, neither Madam Hooch, nor Professor McGonagall stop the match, despite having the authority.

Thus I spend most of the match watching Harry's run ins with the bludger. As soon as he and Draco start diving for the snitch however, I leave the stands. Even then, I barely make it in time.

Despite the match ending, the bludger still pursues Harry after he's on the ground. As the bludger races towards him, I flick my wand at it. Reducto. The moment my spell hits, the bludger is immediately destroyed. Nothing is left of it.

The students on the pitch are left gaping. I smile slightly. I walk towards Harry and once I reach him, I bend down. " Show me your arm Mr Potter, I'll heal it. " Gingerly, he holds out his left arm, the effort leaves him gasping slightly.

I run my wand down the affected area. Ut Curari Nequeas. A white light runs down his arm as I cast a generalised healing spell of my own creation. Before the eyes of the onlookers, the swelling and the redness fades, and Harry gasps as he feels the bone mending.

That's not all though. The faint scars on his arm fade as well. He looks at me with amazement. I offer a small smile. " All done. I think that's enough excitement for now Mr Potter. You can head on over to Gryffindor Tower with your friends to celebrate. "

At my words, cheers ring out from his House, who are reminded of their victory. Their raucous celebrations fade from my mind later that night, when an emergency staff meeting is called.

Two second year Ravenclaws, Cho Chang and Marrieta Edgecombe were found petrified near the Hospital Wing. Why they were there is a mystery. We all know though that things are about to get a whole lot worse.