At 7.00 pm on Thursday, Dudley met his friends to head down to the quidditch pitch. Hermione disapproved of going for a duel and refused to come, though she had offered Dudley some pointers, including a shield charm, protego, which she said would help.
"I do wish you would change your mind," she said, exasperatedly as they left. "You'll get into awful trouble."
Ginny, however, was on Dudley's side. "It's the only way to settle things," she said, wisely. "By the sounds of it, Dud and Malfoy have been at each other's throats for two years. Maybe this is their chance to settle it."
Ginny too had offered Dudley some pointers. She had sworn him to secrecy and told him the incantation for the bat bogey hex. "Just promise not to tell Fred, George or Ron—it's Volatilis Lutum" she whispered.
With protego and Volatilis Lutum in his arsenal, along with the spells he had learned in the past, Dudley felt more confident than ever of besting Malfoy. Ron was full of his own tips and advice as he was a skilled dueler. "Just firing spells rapidly can easily overwhelm your opponent, but it tires you out very quickly—and your spells won't be as powerful. I reckon you should take your time, look for one well-placed hex. And don't forget, you can always use obliviate and then punch him on the nose while he's confused."
"We'll make sure the rest of the Slytherins don't try anything," Fred and George promised.
"Me too," Dean had said and Neville had nodded in agreement.
"Give him a hex from me," Neville said.
It was dark when they emerged out of the castle and wind was blowing heavily. The group huddled in their cloaks out of the cold. They walked silently towards the quidditch pitch.
"Wands out," Fred said. "You can't trust Slytherins."
They needn't have worried. When they arrived, Malfoy and the rest of the Slytherin quidditch team were already waiting.
"You're 10 minutes late," Malfoy sneered. "I thought you'd weaseled out."
Dudley grinned. Showing up late had been George's idea.
"Let him get cold for a while," he had said with a nasty grin.
"That seems a bit of a Slytherin thing to do," said Fred.
"Nothing wrong with using the enemy's tactics, anything that'd give us the advantage," George had replied.
Dudley had seen the sense of this and agreed to show up late. It made sense to him.
"Nobody else interferes," Marcus Flint said.
"Agreed," Fred said.
"I'm Malfoy's referee," Flint continued.
"I'm Dudley's," Fred said.
During the week, Fred and Marcus Flint had agreed that one from each group would referee to make sure there was no rule breaking and to call it quits if things went too far.
The rest formed a loose semi-circle—Slytherins forming one half Gryffindors the other. All had their wands out.
Dudley took his position opposite Malfoy. He shrugged off his cloak so he could move better and tossed it aside.
Malfoy did likewise. His pale face looked calm and calculating.
Dudley was full of nervous energy, bouncing on the balls of his feet, eager to be off.
"Bow," Flint said.
Malfoy barely declined his head.
Dudley gave a short, irritable nod.
"On three," said Fred. "Three, two, one!"
The words had barely left Fred's mouth when Malfoy fired a spell "Stupefy!"
"Protego!"
The shield charm took the spell—Dudley was relieved, he had only been practicing it for a few days and he wasn't very good at it yet.
"Incarcerous!"
"Incendio!"
Malfoy's fire-conjuring charm set the ropes ablaze even before they touched him.
"Tarante …"
"Expelliarmus!" Dudley was quicker, Malfoy's wand shot out of his hand before he could finish the spell.
"Impedimenta!"
Malfoy dived for his wand, Dudley's spell flying over his shoulder (Bole, one of the Slytherin beaters had to duck out of the way of it).
Malfoy grabbed his wand and rolled to the side, Dudley's stunner hitting the floor next to him. Quickly, Malfoy cast a bludgeoning charm. Dudley only just managed to get his shield charm up in time but the force of the spell caused him to stagger backwards.
Both the Slytherins and Gryffindors were cheering as Dudley and Malfoy circled each other, taking a moment to catch their breath and weigh each other up.
Malfoy made the first move. "Serpensortia!" he cried.
A long, black snake shot of his wand and coiled, hissing as it slithered towards Dudley.
Uncertain, Dudley took a few steps back. He could have kicked himself. Malfoy had used that same spell before during Lockhart's dueling class. He should have expected it.
With one eye on the snake, Malfoy had his moment. "Conjunctivitis!"
Dudley cast protego but Malfoy's curse broke through, hitting him in the eyes.
"Stupefy!" Dudley shouted, waving his wand blindly with one hand as he rubbed his eyes with the other.
There was a muffled cry and a thud—his spell had hit someone at least.
"Get, him, Draco!" he heard someone shout.
"Obliviate!" Dudley aimed at where he thought Dudley was.
At the same moment, Dudley felt the snake's fangs sink into his leg. He cried out and fell over.
"What are you doing, Draco? Finish him!"
Rubbing his eyes had cleaned some of the gunk seeping out of them and he forced his eyes wider so he could see a bit. The snake was raising its fangs to bite again. "Wingardium leviosa!"
He levitated the snake into the air and tossed it carelessly aside. He faintly heard Lee Jordan and Neville Longbottom cry out as it landed near them.
Dudley scrambled to his feet just as Malfoy, who had been confused by the memory charm, seemed to suddenly remember he was in a duel. Dudley dived to the side, landing with a loud thud as he hit the floor, Malfoy's bludgeoning charm flew over his head.
"Volatilis lutum," he cried. Malfoy's hands flew to cover his nose as a cluster of green bogeys flew out on wings and started swarming his face.
Seeing his chance, Dudley scrambled to his feet and charged forward. He stumbled as his leg where the snake bit him seared with pain.
"Tarantellegra!" Malfoy's curse, aimed blindly because of the bogeys swarming his face flew over Dudley's head. Still on his knees, Dudley pointed his wand. "Locomotor mortis!"
The leg-locker curse hit Malfoy in the chest, he fell backwards as his legs locked together and landed heavily. His wand flew out of his hand.
Immediately, Malfoy crawled towards his wand. Dudley tried and failed to get back to his feet. He felt clammy, the snake's bite was making his leg numb and he could barely move it. Deciding not to try getting up, he aimed carefully at Malfoy as he crawled for his wand.
"Stupefy!"
The spell struck Malfoy on the back and the boy went limp.
"Call it, Flint!" Fred ordered as the other Gryffindors cheered.
"Duel over," Marcus Flint said in disgust.
'Nice one, Dud," Dean said, clapping him on his back. "Crumbs … that bite looks nasty!"
"Well done, Big D," Ron said.
"Come on," Lee Jordan said, taking charge. "Let's get him to the hospital wing."
On the other end of the pitch. Marcus Flint had revived Malfoy.
Dudley felt Fred and George hoist him to his feet to half carry him back to the castle. He caught Ron's eye and grinned. Even if was going to have to spend the night in the hospital wing, that didn't matter—he had beat Malfoy. In a one-on-one duel.