5. DADA Dueling

James flipped through the Rune dictionary on his leg, his eyes darting from left to right, taking in the line of symbols, their pronunciations and their meanings as he searched for the last symbol on the assignment Professor Allen had given the Ancient Runes class.

Professor Allen had wasted no time in jumping into the subject. A man of average height, bald by choice, with grey-blue eyes that had wrinkles around them and glasses he put on and took off every five minutes, was nice enough. He jumped around the class asking questions to start the class before jumping into a lecture without warning, forcing his students to rustle through their bags for some parchment and a quill to take notes with. The assignment was pretty simple, he gave out a list of runes and told them to translate them and copy the rune and its translation three times each.

Just as James was finishing up the assignment the bell rang. The last period had been a study hall and, though James and Sirius had spent a good amount of time goofing off, a glare from Professor McGonagall and a look from Remus got them to take out some work. The Ancient Runes work, being the easiest, was the obvious choice.

"Well that was fun," James said sarcastically to Remus as they packed up and headed to their first Defense Against the Dark Arts class with their new Professor.

"Did you get your homework done?" Remus asked him.

"Yeah,"

"Well then now you have more free time later,"

James thought for a moment, spluttered a bit and then responded with, "None of that logic nonsense, Moony. No one likes it."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Did you finish anything Sirius?"

Sirius shook his head, making his long hair get in his face. He pushed it behind his ear. "Nah, I just doodled."

"Well now you're gonna have to do that later, and James isn't."

James poked Sirius. "Ha ha,"

Sirius stuck his tongue out.

"Honestly, I don't know why you guys never do homework during Study, it makes it so you have barely any after classes are done." Remus wondered aloud.

James didn't bother answering his friend as they had just arrived at the Defense room. Since the school year's start, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher had been all anyone was talking about. The female population of Hogwarts blushed and giggled at his good looks, and anyone who could form a sentence around the teacher thought he was amazing. Fabain and Gideon had told the Marauders all about Welch's class after they had him on the first day of school.

"He's awesome!"

"Brilliant. You guys are in for a treat, especially since you haven't had a good Defense teacher yet."

The room was the same James had sat in for Defense since he arrived at Hogwarts, and yet it was entirely different. For one thing there were no desks except for the teacher's desk which was directly in front of the chalkboard. At the desk sat Professor Welch, looking the same as he had at the Great Hall. The class filled in, marveling at the items that filled the shelves, books of spells, dueling trophies, and then things like Sneakoscopes and other magical devices used by Aurors, things James was familiar with due to his father's background.

The class stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, waiting for instructions from their teacher. When the door shut behind the last student Professor Welch stood up.

"Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts." He began, walking around his desk and then standing in front of it. "I am Professor Welch and this year we will focus on Defensive Magic, Offensive Magic, formal dueling, and informal dueling. As I am sure you have all noticed things outside of Hogwarts aren't at their best, some even say there is a war coming. I'm not sure about that, and I don't want to scare you but you need to be prepared, able to defend yourself and fight back. Today's lesson will be a practical one, just to see how familiar you are with dueling and how skilled you are individually." Professor Welch pulled his wand out of his robe pocket and pointed it at the chalkboard revealing a bracket.

"Today we will have a little dueling tournament, this way I can see how skilled you are, and you can learn basic dueling skills. There are nine of you so we will do two brackets and the winner of the first will sit out from the second. Anyone want to volunteer to sit out for the first round?"

Frank raised his hand and James felt relieved. Everyone in the class knew that Frank, who had spent all of the previous year studying and training, was definitely the best dueler out of the Third Year Gryffindors.

Welch nodded. "The winners of the two tournaments will duel to be the ultimate winner who will get this," He held up a huge Honeydukes candy bar up for the class. "As their prize."

The class nodded in understanding. James bounced around in his place, excited and ready for his duel.

"First up, Alice Dearborn and Marlene McKinnon."

The class backed up and Alice and Marlene stepped forward, going onto either side of their Professor.

"In a duel, you bow to your opponent like so," Welch held his wand in front of him like a broadsword and bowed deeply to the class before coming back to an upright position, then he entered his fighting stance.

Alice and Marlene did the same, bowing to each other and then standing up straight, wands pointed at each other.

"On three. One, two, THREE!"

"Expelliarmus!"

"Everte Statum!"

The spells shot from their caster's wand, Alice's just missing Marlene, but Marlene's making its mark, knocking Alice backward. Professor Welch used a Cushioning Charm so Alice didn't get hurt as she was thrown into the wall.

"Marlene!"

The chalkboard moved Marlene's name to the next level.

"Excellent job girls," Professor Welch congratulated them as they joined the rest of the class.

"Next, Mary MacDonald and Lily Evans,"

The two girls stood up and got into their positions. They bowed to each other and then waited for their Professor.

On three a shield appeared in front of Lily, knocking Mary's Jelly-Leg Jinx right back at her, but Mary dodged it. Lily had anticipated this, sending Disarming spells to either side of her friend, and Mary walked right into one as she attempted to jump out of the way of her own ricocheting jinx.

Lily helped her friend back up and they rejoined the group, Professor Welch telling them how well they did and then looking to the board for the next match.

"James Potter and Remus Lupin!"

James and Remus stood up and looked at each other. James smiled at Remus who smiled back as they stared at each other from opposite ends of the room. They bowed and then readied themselves for the match.

"THREE!"

Both boys were momentarily surprised at their teacher skipping the numbers one and two but they recovered at the same time, both of them yelling "Protego!", blocking a spell that hadn't been cast.

James pointed his wand at himself, "Ascendio!" And he launched into the air, with his left hand he touched the ceiling and then he jabbed his wand at a surprised Remus.

"Stupefy!"

Remus was knocked back, but James conjured a cushion underneath his friend as he plummeted towards the floor.

"Aresto Momentum!"

James stopped less than a foot above the stone floor and then slowly made the rest of the journey to earth.

Remus was revived and James helped them up, they rejoined the group and Professor Welch granted five points to Gryffindor for, "Creative Dueling,"

Sirius vs. Peter was the last match of the first round, and it was over less than a second after Professor Welch yelled "THREE!" with a Bat-Bogey Hex from Sirius striking Peter before he had even thought of a spell.

"And that ends the first round. For the first match of the second, Marlene and Lily!"

The two friends stood up and went to either side of the room, the looks on their face clearly saying, "We may be friends, but that won't stop me from destroying you."

"One, two, THREE!"

The two girls shot identical hexes, neither making its mark. This didn't seem to deter them though, as they both shot a volley of hexes at each other, blocking and dodging whatever came their way. James and Sirius shared a look of disbelief at the ferocity of the two. The duel didn't last too long though, considering, a powerful Shield Charm from Lily sending Marlene's blitz of spells back at her.

Professor Welch was lost for words for a second, but he regained his composure and pronounced Lily the winner of her match. Then he called James and Sirius.

The two brothers bumped fists before going onto either side of the room. They bowed to each other but only for a second, as both expected the other to attack prematurely. They stared each other down and stood tense, ready for the countdown.

"One, two, THREE!"

Sirius shot a Stunning Spell at James who rolled out of the way, aiming at his best friend's legs and yelling, "Colloshoo!" Sirius gut struck with the spell but felt unchanged until he tried to take a step towards James. His shoes were stuck to the ground.

James took advantage of the momentary distraction and shot his own Stunning Spell at Sirius who quickly flicked his wand and said, "Protego!" James shot a powerful hex at the shield and broke it, but Sirius had dived underneath it, hauling himself out of his shoes and onto the floor. James shot a Disarming spell at Sirius, but Sirius rolled out of the way and, from the floor, shot a Jelly-Legs Jinx at James who had to jump over it.

Getting an idea as Sirius stood up, James pointed his wand at Sirius's shoes, which were still stuck to the floor, and Transfigured them into a swirling cloud of colored smoke, blocking him from Sirius's view, but still leaving Sirius in James's sights.

"Stupefy," James whispered so Sirius wouldn't hear. The spell hit its target and Sirius froze on the ground. James flicked his wand and returned the colored smoke to his friend's shoes. Welch revived Sirius.

"James Potter!"

James helped Sirius stand up and patted him on the back. Sirius smiled good-naturedly and high-fived James. James went with Sirius to sit down, but didn't even get the chance as, before he could, Professor Welch called, "Lily Evans and James Potter,"

James made a noise of annoyance, but returned to the front of the classroom. Lily smiled at him from across the room and, for a naïve second, James thought she might go easy on him. They bowed and then prepared to duel, and on three, they did.

James was completely wrong about her going easy on him, her initial volley of Jelly-Leg Jinxes and Bat-Bogey Hexes proving that, but James was prepared, dodging some and using a Shield Charm to deflect the others. He returned fire with an array of hexes and jinxes and spells he had learned with Sirius over the summer and during his years as a prankster, causing bright, distracting lights, to blind Lily and following these with Disarming and Stunning Spells.

He hadn't given Lily enough credit though. She had cast a Shield charm at the last second, forcing James into Quidditch mode, bobbing and weaving past his own spells and Lily's new ones.

Continuing in his effort to distract her in order to beat her, James conjured a large bubble in between them, which got in the way of one of her spells, just as he had planned. When Lily's Disarming Spell made contact with the bubble, it shot backwards and then exploded into a thousand smaller bubbles. James sent this flying at his opponent who cast a shield charm. Before the bubbles met the shield charm, James Transfigured them into rope, which broke through Lily's shield and tied her up.

Professor Welch flicked his wand and the ropes disappeared. Then he started clapping.

"James Potter, winner of tournament one!"

James walked up to Lily and shook her hand, smiling at her. "Good Game,"

"Not bad Potter," Lily responded. "Not bad at all."

James joined the rest of the class where they sat on the floor. Professor Welch tapped the chalkboard with his wand and the bracket changed, excluding James's name and replacing it with Frank's.

James found being a spectator far more relaxing and a different kind of enjoyable. Watching Alice best Marlene and Peter surprise Sirius, even if he didn't end up beating him, was cool. In the end, to no one's surprise, Frank won the second bracket.

"Can I just hand in my wand?" James joked as he walked up to Frank to shake his hand.

"Good luck James," Frank told his friend. They moved to either side of the room.

They bowed to each other.

"And now, for all of the marbles," Their teacher paused for dramatic effect. "One, two, THREE!"

The duel started with an explosion, the collision of James and Frank's Stunning Spells. Both were knocked back a little but managed to stay on their feet. There was a moment of silence, and then yells and flashes of light. James knew that Frank was far better than him, so the only way he could win would be by catching Frank by surprise or getting Frank to mess up. The problem was, Frank had gotten to sit and watch James duel, watch James win, he knew that was how James dueled so he would be able to prepare himself for it.

Frank pointed his wand at James, jabbed in his direction, but didn't say a word. The spell shot at James, he knew he didn't have enough time to cast a shield charm so he dived out of the way. In the clear for a second James smiled but it was quickly wiped from his face as another jet of light zoomed towards him. Rolling out of the way like a dog, James conjured smoke from his wand, surrounding himself and his half of the classroom in smoke and for no reason other than to show off he made the smoke slowly change colors, circling through the colors of the rainbow. He closed his eyes and listened intently. Frank was taking the opportunity to catch his breath, from what James could tell he hadn't moved.

Suddenly, a jet of red pierced through the green smoke, missing James by an inch. James, getting an idea, purposely fell to the ground, his wand at the ready. The smoke was cleared, whether by Professor Welch or Frank James didn't know, and Frank, who thought he had won, had his wand at his side.

As quietly as James could manage the Stunning Spell shot at Frank, followed by a Disarming Spell and a Jelly-Legs Jinx. Frank managed to move out of the way of the Stunner but his wand was forced from his hand and his legs turned to jelly before he could retaliate.

Professor Welch looked both surprised and impressed at James's ingenuity.

"And the winner, James Potter!"

James waved his wand and Frank's legs returned to their normal state. He handed Frank the wand he had taken from him and shook his friend's hand. Professor Welch awarded both James and Frank points, Frank 10 and James 20 for an incredible duel. He gave James the chocolate as the bell rang and James, a wide smile on his face, did an over-exaggerated bow for his classmates.

A/N: Here's the fifth chapter. I hope you guys liked it, especially since I had fun writing it. Sorry for the delay, hopefully it won't happen again, though I can't make any guarantees. Reviews do encourage me to write though, so please take a second to leave one.