With a wordless snarl, James turned heel and walked away, his friends flanking him and creating an easy path through the students that were dispersing for class now that the duel was over.
"Good going, mate," Sirius said as they walked away. "Now you can show him what being a Gryffindor really means. Put all Slytherins in their place."
"Put them all to shame!" Peter added.
James opened his mouth to give himself a compliment, but Remus spoke first.
"Prongs, are you crazy?" Remus asked, keeping his voice low as a teacher walked by. "Dueling him? He knows, what, two hundred curses and hexes? How many do you know? Twenty?"
Well, he actually knew twenty-two. Was in the process of learning another. "I'll be fine," James said, shrugging his friend off. "He's a Slytherin."
"A slime ball," Peter added.
"He hangs around Deatheaters and probably learned all three Unforgivable Curses last year," Remus muttered. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
James waved Remus off with a casual hand. "Come on, Moony, how strong can he really be? I'll use a few charms on him like always and take him down, no problem. And if worst comes to worst, I can just summon my broom and smash his head in with it."
Sirius and Peter laughed at this comment, but Remus frowned a bit.
"It still doesn't seem like a good idea," Remus said. Sirius rolled his eyes.
"Come on, Moony," James said, elbowing him. "Don't you have faith in your best mate?"
"Yeah, in Quidditch," Remus said.
"Who's the strongest out of all of us?" James asked.
"Sirius," Remus said instantly.
Sirius smirked at this but said nothing.
"Well, who's the second strongest?" James asked, a bit exasperated now.
Remus slowly pointed to himself, and James glared at him. Then James turned to Sirius.
"Padfoot, who's stronger?" James asked. "Me or Remus?"
Sirius put his hands up. "I don't want to fight a stag and a werewolf. I'm staying out of this one."
James turned to Peter. "Wormtail?"
Peter blinked several times. "You're both very, very strong. I mean, you both have amazing talents and spell-casting abilities that I could only dream of. . ."
Of course he'd never get an answer out of Peter. James sighed, then took out his wand and practiced several spells with it, drawing each incantation on the air in front of him. "Really, Marauders. You know I'll be fine. I won't even break a sweat. Heck, I could take that slime ball down with both arms broken."
"His or yours?" Remus asked.
"Shut up, Moony!" James said.
Sirius punched James hard in the shoulder. "We know you've got it, Prongs. Remus is just kidding."
Remus sighed ever so slightly. "We'll back you up if you happen to need it."
"I won't need it," James said, a small growl leaking through his words.
"Or you could always use your broom and fly away," Peter suggested.
"And take the coward's way out?" James asked. "No, thanks!"
The four went to their next class, but James found that the next hour couldn't be up fast enough. It was time for Slytherin to know that Gryffindor wouldn't accept such condescension. Gryffindor would not be humiliated; Snape wouldn't get away with calling their House cowards. Not them, and certainly not from him.
Finally, after sixty long minutes, the time had arrived, and James stood in the courtyard with his friends, a throng of students surrounding him as he waited for his opponent to show. "You don't think he's turned tail, has he?" Peter asked.
"Doubt it," Remus said.
"But if he has, we can just go find him," Sirius said, grinning wolfishly.
"It'll be victory by default, then," James said, twirling his wand around his fingers. "But, I mean, if he doesn't show, it's not like it's surprising. He's facing James Potter. I'd run away from an opponent like me, too."
Sirius, his dog senses alert even while in human form, perked up suddenly. His eyes glowed. "Snivellus," he growled.
James turned and saw Snape walking out of the crowd, wand already in hand. So, he actually did have the guts to show up. Their duel could begin.
Going by the technical dueling handbook, both wizards were supposed to face each other and bow before walking away and taking their dueling stances. But James neither had the time or the will to carry out such a task. He didn't want to see how greasy the git's skin was. The instant Snape was within ten feet of him, James sent out his first hex. "Locomotor Moris!"
Snape, unfortunately foreseeing James' move, blocked the hex and sent out one of his own. James parried it with only slight difficulty, calling out his incantation. One that, if hit, would give the opponent antlers. Quite painful. Very humorous. He'd love to see it on Snape. "Anteoculatia!"
Again, Snape deflected the hex. James, seeing little progress in the duel, decided to switch tactics. Uttering a slippery jinx, the ground underneath Snape became slick as ice, and as Snape attempted to regain his footing, James sent a second spell at him. "Flippendo!" It knocked Snape backward, but too late did James see that Snape had also fired off a spell of his own, hitting James and causing his entire arm to go limp and drop his wand. Upon trying to pick his wand up, James found that his arm was useless and unable to grasp anything. Using his other arm had the same consequences.
Now wandless, James mind raced as he thought what to do next, for Snape was getting back to his feet. Diving at the ground, James picked up his wand in his teeth, yelling out a shield charm as he saw Snape's next spell coming at him. Somehow, miraculously, the charm worked and deflected the spell, though James knew he might not have such luck with spells that weren't his signature ones. Thinking again, he muttered a quick counter jinx. "Reresho!" Despite mispronunciation, the counter spell worked, and he made a quick grab for his wand, glad to have it in his hand once again. James used a shield charm on several of Snape's spells, then threw some of his own with loud incantations, all of which were deflected. How was he going to hex the git if he kept blocking?
And why was it so difficult to take him down, anyway? He was a greasy Slitherin! James had expected the duel to last one, maybe two spells before taking him down. Then he could loudly proclaim his victory, Lily would fawn over and fall in love with him, and

"Waddiwasi!"
James, distracted, never saw the spell coming, and the rock that Snape had enchanted collided painfully with James' face, breaking his nose on impact. He fell to the ground, aware that Snape was shouting another spell and realizing that he'd never be able to block in time.
"Petrificus T "
"Oy! Snivellus!"
Sirius' shout, followed by a spell that Snape blocked, distracted him just long enough for James to recover and cast a spell of his own. It hit Snape in the chest, and he fell to the ground in pain instantly, invisible restraints coiling around his body. James stood and walked over to Snape, quite satisfied with himself. "At least now you're where you belong," James gloated, leveling his wand at Snape's long nose. "Snakes slither on the ground, right? Apparently so do Slytherin scum."
Snape was already fighting the hex, and his mouth, though twisted in pain, was unfortunately unharmed by the spell. "At least we don't have trouble befriending members of our own House. There's more than one thing that Slytherin's better at than Gryffindor."
James inhaled sharply as he understood the slime ball's words. How dare he say that. How dare he talk about her. . . "She's only your friend because she thinks you're pathetic!" James snarled, feeling his wand shoot out sparks in his hand. "You don't deserve her; you don't deserve the ground she walks on! You think she'd actually want to befriend someone like you: a git who's in love with the Dark Arts?!"
"Shut up!" Snape's eyes flashed with something James had never seen, and suddenly, magically, his restraints were gone. In an instant, Snape was on his feet, making slashing motions with his wand as if trying to cut James in half. Not knowing the spell but knowing the intent, James conjured his most powerful shield, but Snape seemed to be throwing all the magic he had at James. This was apparent the instant James felt the spell against his shield, for it held only a moment before first cracking, then shattering completely. Shoot. James threw up two more shields to defend himself, but James knew he was losing. The spells were driving him back. Then, with a final downward motion, Snape's spell rebounded with such force against James' shield that it knocked him backwards.
Snape's entire body was shaking as he faced down James, and James tried not to look too nervous with Snape's wand pointed directly at him and its tip glowing like fire.
"Give!" Snape said.
James struggled to his feet, bearing his teeth in a snarl. He was three seconds away from regaining the upper hand and the git had the gall to command him to give up? Ha! "Never!" he shouted.
The glow on the edge of Snape's wand was increasing, now almost as bright as a Lumos. James faced Snape, finding it a bit odd that Snape wasn't attacking him. In fact, it was almost as if he were hesitating or trying to think something over. Well, that would help him loads in a duel. "Petrificus Totalus!" James yelled, but Snape blocked the spell. Then, finally, Snape waved an intricate pattern with his wand, speaking an incantation that James realized instantly.
"Fiendfyre."
Uh-oh. Well, that made it obvious as to why Snape had hesitated. But Fiendfyre? James had heard tales of the spell countless times from his parents, and James wasn't sure that even Bellatrix, in all her Dark Arts glory, had ever cast it herself. It was hard to control, first off. Second, it was huge. Like a forest fire gone wrong. . .
Wait, was that it?
The fire coming out of Snape's wand stalled after a short moment, and James almost laughed to see that the fire, a combination of snakes, bats, and spiders, was no larger than a dog. Wow, some spell. James had expected a wall of flames. Maybe an ocean. Not something so pathetic.
Well, he was Slytherin after all. James should've have expected much.
Snape, two hands on his wand now and a concentrative expression on his face, looked away from his spell at James, and James was enraged to see that the git seemed to be smiling. What did he have to smile about? Didn't Snape realize how vulnerable he was in this position? Or was he just an idiot?
"Give," Snape said again.
James' eyes narrowed. On the wands of all the wizards that existed, James knew his answer better than his own name. "No."
Snape pointed his wand at James, and the fire began to walk toward him. James almost laughed again; he'd seen slugs with greater speed. Taking the time to yawn and stretch, James waited until the fire was a few feet from him before he lazily cast a shield charm. Nothing happened. Though James could feel his magical protection around him, the fire seemed to walk through his charm as though it were nothing more than air. Pausing, James cast another shield charm, stronger this time, but the fire pushed through it in an almost bored fashion, and James thought he saw one of the bats within the fire snapping at his magic as though consuming it. Or maybe it was laughing at him.
"Give."
The statement seared James far worse than any fire could've. He growled low, then shot a hex at the fire to see if he could dislodge it. It still pursued him. A wind charm didn't even phase it, though James was hoping that a strong gust would've blown it out. What could help against fire, though?
Of course, water! "Aguamenti," James said, shooting a steady stream of water at the fire and already considering what his next jinx on Snape would be. He faltered, now concerned, as he saw that his water charm had no effect on the fire. Barely had the water touched the fire before it turned to steam, rendering its effects useless. The fire leaped forward after getting shot with water, apparently angry at James. He dodged out of the way, frowning and trying to decide what his next plan of action would be.
"Give."
Wasn't Snape a git, though? How dare he order him, command him to give up! James hadn't even started the duel! Seeing the fire pick up speed, James took off at a steady pace, throwing every charm and hex he knew at the fire, convinced that one of them would stall or stop the fire completely.
"Give!"
"Shut up," James growled, casting another shield charm that the fire again pushed through, seemingly easier than before. Raising his wand, James shot several more charms at it, but the flames continued toward him, and James thought he saw hunger in one of the bat's eyes. He leaped out of the way as one of the snakes tried to strike him with a tongue of fire, then James was on his feet now, forced to run as the fire picked up speed yet again.