CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE DUELING CLUB
"The Dueling Club" Tonks read.
"I don't know if I'm looking forward to this or not." Harry said thinking of both Snape wiping the floor with Lockhart and the parseltongue incident.
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"Shame he's gone." Fred sighed.
"We could have hung out in girls' toilets." George added.
"Don't you two get any ideas." Molly warned them.
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"Yeah Harry. Just give us heart attacks why don't you?" Ron teased.
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"So you tell your friends, but not your Head of House or Headmaster?" Charlie asked.
"My impression on the adults at the time wasn't very flattering." Harry explained.
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"The Chamber had been opened longer ago than that." McGonagall said.
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"He means well." Harry chuckled.
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Said twins scooted a bit further from their mother.
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"WHAT?!" Molly exclaimed.
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"They weren't the reasons though" Ginny said before smiling at her brothers. "Thanks for trying though."
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The teachers slapped their foreheads.
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"He's just a late bloomer." Flitwick stated. "I've seen them enough to recognize one."
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"This ought to be informative." Snape said.
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Harry had resisted a snort as he HAD faced Slytherin's monster rather than stealing from Snape.
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Harry and Ron BOTH avoided Snape's glare.
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Snape jotted that down.
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"So that HAD been you" Snape accused Harry.
"It was Hermione's idea" Harry argued.
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"Though that part was worth it" Ron chuckled.
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"Memo to self," Snape jotted down on the top of the paper knowing that it happened too long ago to do anything about it now. "Have students leave belongings outside of class"
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"I doubt that." Remus chuckled.
"Oh?" Snape challenged.
"You make sure Harry's expelled and Lily will come back to haunt you and give you hell."
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"It actually was useful" Harry stated thinking of last June. The spell he had learned in that club, ironically from Snape, had saved his arse.
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"That would have been so cool" Sirius said.
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"Snape and Lockhart. This ought to be fun." Remus chuckled.
"Really educational" Molly agreed before turning to Snape. "I hope Lockhart didn't hurt you too much."
The trio had a hard time not to laugh. Especially at the look Snape was giving Molly.
"Molly. Snape's an ex-Death Eater. If anything, you better hope that he didn't hurt LOCKHART too much." Remus said before glaring at Sirius to inform him NOT to make a crack about the ex- comment.
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"Having dueled me and James many times." Sirius added.
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The Weasley kids, Marauders, and Tonks laughed as Snape glared at Ron.
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"A wise observation Potter" Snape had to admit. "It comes from a few years of serving under the Dark Lord."
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"How tempting was it?" Flitwick asked.
"Extremely." Snape said.
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"Oh my!" Molly gasped.
"Wasn't that the spell you used against Voldemort?" Sirius asked Harry.
"It's a useful spell. Should it matter where I learned it?"
"Depends on the spell" Moody said. "But the disarming spell, it doesn't matter, as long as you learn it, but don't rely on it too much."
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"BOYS!" Molly scolded.
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"Okay." Molly relaxed. "He just let you do that."
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And he still was.
"Give it a few more chapters Professor. We'll have her converted yet." Ron said.
"Doubt it" Bill said.
"I'll admit he's not perfect, but when it comes to defense, he knows what he's doing" Molly added.
"Like with the pixies?" Charlie muttered.
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"Sounds familiar." Remus chuckled thinking of the dueling club they had been in. Snape and James together had not been the wisest choice.
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Snape jotted that down despite having done the same thing 20 years ago.
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"Smaller than Dudley though" Harry added.
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"It's no wonder that boy's having self-esteem issues even in other classes." Sprout said.
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Molly huffed during a bout of laughter from the others.
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Everyone glared at Snape.
"I had told him to aim for the knees!" Snape defended himself. "Always worked against James Potter."
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"You couldn't have moved fast enough?" Harry asked Snape.
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"Nobody knows you're a parselmouth, do they?" Remus realized.
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"So THAT'S what you said?" Ron asked.
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"The book's story was better." Ron said.
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"We knew it would cause people to target you for suspicion of being the heir." Hermione said.
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Remus groaned. If Slytherin could control snakes, then that just supported the basilisk theory. And he REALLY wanted to be wrong about that.
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"There is a potion that can trace your family tree, but it's more complicated than the Polyjuice." Snape admitted.
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"He's more Gryffindor." Sirius said.
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"Best place to hide." Fred said.
"All you needed was your cloak" George added.
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"EXCUSE ME?!" the two Hufflepuffs chorused.
"I am DEFINITELY going to have a talk with Macmillan." Sprout said. Hufflepuffs were supposed to be just and suspecting someone by use of prejudice was not proper Hufflepuff behavior.
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"It's lycanthropy all over" Remus sighed before turning to Harry. "I know how you were feeling. Some people think just because you're a werewolf, you'll kill anything you touch. They base who you are on the majority."
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"Hannah is a sweet girl" Remus recalled though resisted not to smirk at the low jealous growl from Ginny.
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"I'm starting to think we should have made Lily's sacrifice a BIT more public" McGonagall stated.
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Those who knew of the prophesy rolled their eyes.
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"Does having a mass murderer for a godfather count?" Harry asked.
Sirius chuckled. As much as he hated the fact he was known for something he didn't do, if it helped Harry's life be easier, he would play along.
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"If I was going to petrify a Hufflepuff, it would have been him." Harry said, the anger he had felt then back.
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"Especially when it's well known your best friend is one" Hermione added with a sigh. "I should have gone to straighten that boy out."
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"That's an idea." Flitwick mused before turning to Dumbledore. "As a summer project, have the purebloods spend the summer in a muggle home and the mugglborns/raised in pureblood homes."
"We can put either Mr. Malfoy or Mr. Macmillan with the Dursleys" Sprout added.
"Or both" McGonagall put in.
"Minerva!" Remus gasped at the sly smile on her face.
"That is an interesting idea. It would especially help with those taking Muggle Studies. I'll have to look into that."
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Ginny whimpered knowing that had been her doing.
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"You should have." Sirius said knowing that Hagrid would have blabbed it to someone elseā¦or had given Ernie a piece of his own mind.
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"Another attack?" Molly gasped.
"And Justin on top of that." Sirius groaned.
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"What can do that to a ghost?" Sprout gasped.
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"Thank you for that" Harry said to her.
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"Is it possible to silence a poltergeist?" Ron asked
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Everyone turned to her.
"I had known that there was nothing I could do so," she explained. "You might say I was fulfilling his request from the previous June."
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"That's it." Tonks said with a huff and her hair orange, disgraced by her fellow Hufflepuffs. That Ernie kid better hope he wouldn't meet her.
"I'll read next" Hermione said.
