[trigger warning. Gryffindor Moment ahead.]

Luckily, Draco Malfoy apparently had a bit more sense than his cousin Dudley. That, of course, just meant that Draco Malfoy caught up to Harry and Ron when they were about halfway to Gryffindor Tower. Malfoy hadn't been running, he'd been sliding through quicker ways, so he was actually in front of Harry and Ron.

Of course, his face was still beet red, but mostly in rage, not from exertion. He tried to look calm, at least. Harry, who had been expecting this unexpected visitor, merely looked at him.

"I challenge you to a duel!" Draco Malfoy said grandly. Harry wasn't actually sure who he was trying to impress, as the only people in the hall were notoriously sloppy Gryffindors.

"I accept." Harry Potter responded, starting to grin.

"We'll meet at midnight, in the Trophy room. Wands crossed, and all that." Draco Malfoy said, speaking quickly, as if he didn't want to be overheard, though no one was really around.

"No." Harry Potter said, and his grin grew a tooth or two. "As the challenged, it is my right to set the terms of the duel. Or did you think a Gryffindor wouldn't know the codes?" (To be fair, from the look on Ron's face, he clearly didn't understand what had just happened. Or, probably, why Harry would say no, even though the bastard was ruddy good at chess.)

"What are the terms?" Draco Malfoy said, and Harry mentally awarded himself a point. He hadn't looked up the terms in the Wizarding world, after all, and he'd just been hoping that confidence and otherworld knowledge would carry the day.

"We can meet at midnight, in the Trophy Room, if you want." Harry said with a careless half-shrug, "Anytime's good for me." Harry's grin got wider, as he said, "The contest shall be Muggle Fisticuffs." He paused dramatically, watching Malfoy pale at the idea that he was now on someone else's turf, and had been outmaneuvered so very neatly. "Although," Harry drawled, "I should warn you, I have a tendency to go for the eyes." Not only did Harry's grin widen (it was now as wide as he could make it), but his eyes did too.

Malfoy kept an impressive control over himself, but Harry could tell he just wanted to run away, and only the thought that Harry would gain a lot on him if he did so (and the thought that he'd still have to face in a fight a boy he had shown fear towards), kept him from fleeing at a run. With somewhat shaky legs, Malfoy turned and went down a sidecorridor, undoubtedly heading someplace quiet so he could think about how much of an idiot he was. Which, to be fair, he really, really was. Dueling was a Gryffindor's game, not a Slytherin's. And this, this had been far from cunning.

Harry let his expression relax out of that wolfish grin, down to a more relaxed, genuine grin of happiness. He had handled that well, hadn't he?

Until, that is, he caught sight of Ron, who had managed to turn almost as pale as Malfoy. Ron gathered himself, and stammered, "Did you... did you really mean what you said to Malfoy?"

"Um? What in particular?" Harry asked, nodding and not quite sure what was causing Ron to look so scared. Was he honestly upset that Harry was going to fight as a muggle? Fighting as a wizard was just stupid, they only knew two spells apiece or so. Completely fucking ridiculous.

"That you..." Ron paled even further, starting to look a little blue. "That you tend to go for the eyes?"

"Oh, yeah." Harry said, smiling at the memory of him gathering every Gryffindor Moment to present to the Sorting Hat, "I did do that, didn't I? I was four, at the time, and Aunt Marge's dog - I called him Bitey, because the only thing I remember about him is his white shiny teeth biting at stuff - Bitey decided I was on the menu that day. He lunged at me, and had me pinned down by my shoulders. So, what's a babe to do? I curled my fingers, and gouged his eye out." Harry smiled at the memory, "And you know the best part? They thought I'd done it by accident, so I didn't even get punished."

"Blimey, Harry..." Ron said, and fainted.

It was around this time that Harry's people sense caught up to what he'd been saying, and more importantly, the reaction it'd been causing in Ron (He'd been thinking about the memory so hard, he had lost sight of his 'young friend''s reaction).

Oh.

Was that not a true Gryffindor Moment?

Ron did seem ... strangely disturbed, and all his brothers were in Gryffindor, and his parents too.

Harry'd have to work on this, he could see that now.

[a/n: So, a Slytherin's idea of "I Was Brave!" is a liittle different than a Gryffindor's. And yes, he almost died that day.

Sorry it's so graphic, at least I didn't mention...

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