Hey dudes! This chapter was so difficult to write, ive been working on it for a super long time trying to make it what I wanted it to be. I wanted to go into a lot of detail but I was worried it would get repetitive, idk but anyways! After all the editing Im super happy with how it came out! Please let me know what you all think!

Thank you so SO much once again to everyone that has stuck with this story so far and has liked/followed/commented! I appreciate it so much and absolutely adore reading the comments! I hope you enjoy!

Tuesday and Wednesday of that week went by rather uneventfully. Hermione attended her classes and then wandered off to the library to continue her research until curfew, both days joined by Remus for a few hours. Hermione, along with many other seventh years anxiously awaited the next DADA class, interested to see what Professor Novikov had planned.

As soon as Hermione stepped into the classroom she felt the sense of uneasiness that hung in the air. The desks and chairs had all vanished from the room, yet there were no dummies lying around like last time. The entire floor was completely clear and there was no professor in sight. Hermione looked around at the huddled students and she noticed many gripped their wands under their robes, just like she did.

A few students started as the classroom door slammed open and Professor Novikov swiftly strode in.

"Good afternoon, students, I hope you're all as excited for this class as I am. Today's lesson is a double, so I have something planned that should make the time go by quickly." He said, his eyes glimmering mischievously. "Today we will have a friendly, fun, dueling competition."

Hermione couldn't help but be slightly surprised at his words.

Was this man dumb? Or just confused?

For him to say that anything between the Slytherins and Gryffindors could be "friendly and fun," especially something like a dueling competition, was ridiculous. Hermione couldn't think of any professor from her time that would willingly let Slytherins and Gryffindors duel. Except for Lockhart, of course, but everybody knew he was both dumb and confused.

Hermione looked around again to see that she clearly wasn't the only one questioning his decision. Most students looked surprised or nervous, but there were a few Slytherins sporting unnerving grins, and of course, James and Sirius who had exchanged an excited glance.

"I know! I'm just as excited as you all are." The professor continued, clearly misreading the majority of the room. "So the pairs for this activity will be this: Avery and Evans."

Hermione knew immediately this was not going to be good.

"Black, Narcissa, and Lupin. Blishwick and Potter. Gibbon and Black, Sirius. Malfoy and McKinnon. Meliflua and Pettigrew. Rosier and Granger."

Oh this definitely was not going to be good.

"Snape and Meadowes. And lastly, Wilkes and Prewett." Professor Novikov finished. "Now I want you to all break into your pairs. This first round the groups will all duel at once to save some time."

As the students moved around the classroom Hermione took her time meeting Rosier, observing those with names she didn't remember. The three names that stood out to her, Gibbon, Meliflua, and Blishwick, were all girls, which made sense as their names would soon change.

Gibbon was a raven-haired girl with a rather unappealing face, obviously related to Pansy Parkinson. Blishwick was a slightly chubby girl with brown, messy curls. She looked faintly similar to Millicent Bulstrode, but the resemblance was questionable. The third girl, Meliflua, was a beautiful, olive skinned girl with strong Southern European attributes. Her sharp features were very reminiscent of Blaise Zabini.

Hermione and Rosier finally met in one corner of the room, she gave him a brief glance. He bore slim resemblance to his future self; the upcoming years would really hit him hard. He looked nothing special, average at best.

Ignoring his glare, his weak attempt at appearing threatening, Hermione turned back to the professor. In her original timeline Hermione beat Rosier in multiple duels, she doubted the 17-year-old version could hold a candle to her now.

Professor Novikov explained the basic rules, no dark curses and no foul play. It was a low bar. Yet, Hermione doubted it would be met. Then the dueling began.

Hermione turned to face Rosier as he fired a weak stupefy that she lazily blocked. Hermione knew she could easily put an end to the duel right away, but decided not to show all her cards at once, so she let it go on a bit longer.

Rosier continued firing basic curses that she easily deflected. Hermione briefly glanced over his shoulder to see Remus dueling with Narcissa Black. Narcissa was good, but something was off. Hermione realized pretty quickly that Narcissa was holding back just like she was. It didn't seem Remus noticed.

Turning her attention back to Rosier he looked frustrated as he began to fire spells more aggressively, but it still wasn't enough. Hermione blocked every single curse effortlessly until she noticed the rest of the duels around her coming to an end.

It was then that she finally decided to actually fire curses back, and so in rapid succession Hermione fired off three spells. Immediately disarming, stunning, and binding Rosier.

As soon as he hit the floor in a heap Hermione heard a scream coming from the other side of the room. She turned to see red, bubbling boils slowly covering Alice's skin.

"Wilkes!" Professor Novikov shouted, "I said no foul play! Miss Prewett has already won your duel. Once a duel is won there shall be no more curses fired. I will see you in detention every night for the next two weeks. Miss Prewett, I will get you to the hospital wing."

Alice was put on a stretcher and swiftly levitated out of the room. Hermione looked around and was pleased to see that seemed to be the only significant injury.

The professor came back in a matter of minutes and said, "Alright. Now for the next rounds there will be absolutely NO foul play like that we have just seen. Anyone who does participate in such poor behavior will get far worse than only two weeks of detention."

He briefly paused as he glanced back at Wilkes and continued, "This next round will be the winners of the previous round, excluding of course, Miss Prewett. The pairs are Avery and Potter. Malfoy and Lupin. Meliflua and Black, Sirius. Meadowes and Granger. We will be doing these duels one at a time, starting with Avery and Potter. Step up please."

The two boys walked to the center of the room and faced each other. The professor called for the beginning of the duel and the room was immediately filled with the light of spells and Avery was quickly being backed into the wall.

James' previous duel seemed to be more of a challenge to him than this one. Hermione wondered what had changed in the few minutes that had passed, when she remembered that Avery had just beaten out Lily. Hermione inwardly smiled at the idea that this duel was, in a sense, James avenging Lily's defeat. Which is likely exactly how James saw it.

The fight was over fast and next Remus and Malfoy stepped into the center of the room.

Malfoy gave Remus a smirk that made Hermione's skin crawl.

The duel began and Remus was fast on the defensive spells but he seemed to hesitate when it came to sending out his own curses. Hermione wondered why. His style was so much different now than it was in the future.

Hermione knew Remus to be a strong fighter, yet Malfoy won the duel with ease.

As Remus picked himself up off the floor he met her eyes, sending her a look that she couldn't recognize.

As Hermione watched Remus gather himself, Sirius and Meliflua began their duel, causing Hermione to avert her gaze.

Hermione knew that Sirius had always been a good dueler, but even he seemed to be struggling against this particular Slytherin. She blocked every one of his curses and fired them back just as fast. Hermione was in shock. This woman was able to rival Sirius not just in looks, but in skill. Two tasks Hermione deemed to be very difficult.

Hermione thought back to Blaise Zabini. The beautiful Slytherin boy was always much more reserved than his housemates. But Hermione was able to recall that his family was never one to involve themselves with the Dark Arts, at least not in the typical way.

Hermione remembered a rumor she had heard about Blaise's mother. The woman had married five or six times, all wealthy, pureblood men. And every single one of them had either gone missing or died a mysterious death.

The woman in front of her, currently fighting her best friend's godfather, was a different kind of dangerous. The kind of dangerous that charms you into believing in innocence. The kind of dangerous that you never expect.

After some time Sirius eventually gained the upper hand and won the duel.

It was now Hermione's turn to walk to the open floor and face her roommate. Brown eyes smiled at her, crinkling at the corners as they both stepped back. The professor called for the start of the duel and immediately spells were being hurled at Hermione's face. She blocked them and began firing spells of her own.

Hermione was pleased to discover that dueling Dorcas was nothing like dueling Rosier. Dorcas was fast and aggressive right from the start.

It became very clear very fast that Dorcas had a natural talent for defense, one that very, very few people had. Her spells were powerful, occasionally breaking through Hermione's blocking shields. Dorcas was also using a fair amount of nonverbal magic, something Hermione noticed many of her classmates weren't yet proficient in.

When Hermione won the fight, she knew it was only because of her experience. If she had gone into a duel with Dorcas at any time before she fought in the war, Hermione would have lost in a matter of minutes.

As she and Dorcas exchanged brief, pleasant words at the end of the duel, Harry's voice rang through her head.

"That's Dorcas Meadowes." She remembered Harry saying, pointing at the picture of The Order, "Voldemort killed her personally. He considered her a big enough threat."

His words rang through her head as she remembered the piece of information she was missing before. So that's how Dorcas will die.

Hermione was broken out of her thoughts as Professor Novikov announced the semi-final round. It would be James against Malfoy, and then her against Sirius.

James and Malfoy began. It was a good fight, but Malfoy was willing to go farther than James. The duel lasted for a while, both parties doing very well, but Malfoy eventually won.

And now, it was time for Hermione to duel Sirius. Something Hermione both always wanted to do and hoped she would never have to.

As Hermione walked to the center of the classroom her eyes met silver as they both bowed their heads. Hermione quickly recognized the glint in his eye. He thought this was going to be easy.

Hermione felt the attention of the rest of the class on her.

Sirius was always a good dueler, Hermione remembered Remus mentioning that even in his youth he was one of the best. Hermione was interested to see exactly how good he was.

She decided to let him set the pace.

The duel started off easy. Sirius fired off some basic curses, seemingly testing her, all of which Hermione blocked with ease.

He slowly picked up the pace, firing slightly more complex spells, and once again, they were all blocked.

It quickly became apparent that while she was trying to see how good Sirius was, he was very much doing the same to her. Hermione thought it best to stick to her tactic of blocking for now, she wanted to see how far Sirius would go.

Sirius recognized that he was going to have to work a lot harder to get her and picked up the pace. Despite his haste, all of his spells hit right on target. Or at least, would have, if Hermione didn't block them.

With Sirius' increased speed Hermione could no longer lazily deflect all of his curses.

Sirius was good, Hermione recognized. But still, it couldn't compare to the many years of practical experience she had. Hermione, however, couldn't hold it against him, she did, after all, learn many of the tips and tricks of dueling from talking to him those late nights. From listening to his stories. From watching him fight.

And suddenly Hermione had enough, Sirius was good but he still had a lot to learn. And so swiftly Hermione shot out two spells she assumed would end the duel, but to her surprise Sirius deflected them both.

As Sirius stood in front of the muddy window, wand in hand, the light shone in from behind him, making it difficult to read the expression on his face. But if Hermione knew Sirius at least a little, she knew he was smirking.

Not wanting Sirius to get too cocky, as he was known to do, she rapidly fired off two more spells, both of which were blocked.

Hermione silently chided herself for her own arrogance. She knew well that going into battle expecting to be the best was never a good place to start.

With Hermione firing spells back at Sirius the duel lasted a few more minutes. Sirius was good at deflecting spells, however, he hadn't quite mastered deflecting and firing at the same time.

Finally, after a well-placed bombarda from Hermione, an ill timed stupefy from Sirius, followed by a strong expelliarmus from Hermione, she finally won the duel.

Hermione looked up, Sirius' wand held in her left hand as his eyes shifted from her to the rubble of a wall next to him and then back to her.

The rest of the Gryffindor students, unsure who they should have been routing for, yet still expecting Sirius to win, looked at her in shock.

Attempting to ignore the stares, Hermione walked herself over to an empty corner of the classroom as Professor Novikov said, "Excellent duel you two. Next Miss Granger will be dueling Mr. Malfoy. Although I do believe we need a five minute break before the next round."

Out of the corner of her eye Hermione saw a figure approaching her, it looked like either James or Sirius, but before they were close to reaching her she excused herself for the restroom.

After splashing some cool water on her face Hermione returned to the class, anxious to duel Lucius Malfoy.

In her time Malfoy was a fair bit better than she was and she had nothing but unpleasant memories of him. Thinking about it now, maybe she should have just let Sirius win so she wouldn't have to face Malfoy.

Although a nice idea, Hermione knew that her pride and curiosity would never let her lose on purpose. So here she was. About to fight the man that had caused her so much pain and suffering in her past life.

As she walked to the center of the classroom she met pale blue eyes. They were a striking color, but she found the expression behind them even more striking. Where Sirius' eyes held mischief and humor, Malfoy's were cold, hard, nearly unreadable. Nodding her head slightly in place of a bow, Hermione stepped back as the duel began.

It appeared Malfoy planned on using the same tactic as Hermione. Let the other strike first, learn what you're working with. As for a fair few seconds they both stood there still. Never being one to cave in to pressure, Hermione did not raise her wand first. As the minutes drew on, Malfoy finally threw the first spell.

And once he did, the atmosphere immediately changed.

He wasted no time in taking it slow. He threw a stupefy which she easily deflected, just as he collapsed the wall behind her. He shot a nonverbal spell at her as she jumped out of the line of rubble. As she blocked his spell he rapidly sent two more in succession.

Malfoy was an excellent dueler even as a teenager.

Hermione would have to play this a little bit differently than the others. She couldn't only focus on deflecting spells until she decided she had enough. No. She would need to be all in right from the start.

As she put up a shielding charm a crack of thunder sounded outside and Hermione's mind took her back to the final battle. Dueling Malfoy in another time. The only difference was that last time she was fighting for her life, praying she would make it out alive. And as her mind took her back to the war she sent out spell after spell before she could realize exactly what she was doing.

Malfoy donned an expression of shock as he blocked two spells and dodged the third. He clearly didn't expect her to fight back so hard.

Hermione sent another spell that Malfoy dodged, it zipped past his shoulder before it shattered the window behind him.

Her ears were filled with the roar of the wind as it blew through the room bringing the rain with it.

Without a chance to think, Hermione rapidly dodged, deflected, and fired spells. Forgetting she was not in battle but rather in a safe classroom setting. The spells Malfoy used were not your typical dueling spells, however, they weren't so advanced to be considered "dark".

Once again, she met Malfoy's eyes as they narrowed and a thin smirk graced his face before he muttered the word "sectumsempra."

Fearing the spell that had given her so many of the scars that crowded her body, Hermione deflected it in a matter of seconds before Malfoy was lying on the floor frozen, his wand clutched in Hermione's hand. It took everything she had not to snap it right in half.

Hermione didn't know exactly what had happened or how long she had been dueling Malfoy, however, she did know that fighting him brought back memories she never wanted to relive again.

So, tossing his wand back to his frozen figure, Hermione turned and strode over to her bag placed on the side of the room. Pulling out a water bottle and taking a deep gulp she attempted to clear her mind and steady her racing heart.

As the professor dismissed the class, a tall figure approached Hermione. Hermione was only somewhat pleased when she heard Remus' warm voice; thankful it was him over anyone else.

"Hey Hermione," he said gently, "You're really good at dueling. Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"Oh," Hermione replied attempting to sound casual, noting the subtle suspicion that laced his voice, "We'll you know, I transferred here from Durmstrang, they have a heavy focus on defense and dueling there."

She briefly met his eyes, only to be faced with the hidden expression of distrust. She quickly yet calmly excused herself for the library, attempting to not arouse any more suspicion. She tried to ignore the ping of pain in her chest as she realized the friendly relationship she had with her former professor would never be possible in this life.

Remus stood with his arms crossed in front of his chest, leaning casually against a wall in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom as he watched the duel.

Hermione vs. Sirius.

To anyone else it would appear that Hermione was a good dueler. And they wouldn't be completely wrong. But she wasn't just good, she was amazing. She was experienced.

Sirius himself was a talented dueler, but Hermione was going to win this duel hands down, without even breaking a sweat.

Once Sirius lost and Hermione stood facing Lucius Malfoy, Remus knew that this would likely be the most interesting duel Hogwarts had seen in generations.

And he was right. However, the problem was that most of the class couldn't pick up on what Remus saw.

His hyperaware senses were able to see the duel practically in slow motion. Hermione dodged and deflected every single curse in a manner so swift and elegant it appeared to be a dance she had practiced a hundred times. Her spells were precise and strong, hitting the target right on its mark every single time, without fail.

Not to mention, Hermione was the only student that was able to fight completely using nonverbal spells. Every classmate had a few nonverbal, but no one else was skilled enough to avoid saying a single word out loud, not even Malfoy.

But the thing that really stood out to Remus was Hermione's face. Her expression was cold and determined and Remus finally understood what Sirius had said that first night. Her eyes were hard.

She had seen stuff. She had done stuff.

Her moves looked effortless and practiced, because they were.

Remus knew that every single move, every single spell she used had been performed at least a dozen times before in situations much less friendly than this.

Her eyes glazed over filled with a venom he had only seen once before, one that chilled him to the bone.

And this didn't make sense. She was as old as them, how was it possible that someone so young had so much experience? So much dark experience?

And suddenly Remus thought back to their time spent together in the library, the dark books he often noticed her reading. And he knew that Sirius was right. Something was off about her.

She easily won the duel against Malfoy, and Remus couldn't stop himself from approaching her afterwards.

"Hey Hermione," he said, trying to keep his voice steady, "You're really good at dueling. Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"Oh," Hermione replied, casually avoiding his eyes as she ruffled through her bag, "We'll you know, I transferred here from Durmstrang, they have a heavy focus on defense and dueling there."

As she met his gaze, Remus immediately picked up on the nervous look hidden behind her eyes, subtly confirming his suspicion. She was hiding something.