Chapter 6: Hogwarts War Zone
Halfway into November, the weather was looking remarkably peaceful and the Quidditch season was in full bloom. The fans were cheering loudly and wishing their supported teams luck as the long awaited match between Slytherin and Gryffindor finally came knocking on their doors. Wood had been training his team like slaves, while Flint seemed unfazed by the upcoming match. Heidi, for one, couldn't wait to wipe the smirk off his face; she was determined to knock him off his broom, even if she had to resort to playing dirty while Dumbledore was watching.
That night she couldn't sleep much, what with the pre-excitement rushing through her veins and Lord bloody Voldemort haunting her dreams, sleep just didn't seem as appealing as it once used to be. Heidi rose from her bed and took to walking around the empty corridors, remembering the calm feeling that it had brought her the previous year on a day not so unlike this. She wished that Dumbledore would have at least told them what he did with the mirror, and that brought her another nostalgic feeling. She remembered that what she wanted the most was to fly freely up in the sky, in other terms: she wanted to play Quidditch. Though she hadn't realized it then, but now that she thought about it, leaving the ridiculousness of the whole thing aside, she actually liked that stupid game! And that was why she wanted to kick Flint's ass in the upcoming game, if only to teach him that a troll on a fast broom is still a troll! And as they say, the faster you are, the quicker you fall! *snigger*
When the next morning came, Heidi was one of the last to get to breakfast. Diana had to splat a whole bucket of water on her head to get the other girl up and at 'em, and by then it was already 9:30. Wood shot her a disapproving look when she entered the great hall, but Heidi didn't see it, as she scanned the Slytherin table for Flint and shot a nasty smirk his way before taking her usual seat alongside Hermione, Diana and Neville.
The weather didn't look as bright as it had the previous morning, some students were even debating on whether it was going to rain or not. Heidi hoped it wouldn't, she didn't like the idea of having her freshly washed hair drenched with dirty water.
Wood welcomed them with a pep talk that in Heidi's opinion was not that much inspiring as it was pitiable. It sounded suspiciously like the other boy was trying to convince himself that they would win rather then his team. And the last line with "Get the Snitch or die trying," did not have the slightest effect on Heidi.
When they finally emerged onto the Quidditch field, they were greeted with a roar of cheers mixed with some boos here and there, mainly coming from the Slytherin team, because it seemed that Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were just about as eager to see Slytherin lose as McGonagall was to see that huge smirk whipped off Snape's face. Then there came the childish game of who could do more damage to the hand of the other team captain, which Wood and Flint always seemed to like displaying when they were told to shake hands by Madam Hooch.
Then finally, with an uproar mixed with boos and hisses and cheers from the crowd accompanied by the ear-damaging whistle from Madam Hooch, they were off.
Heidi shot upwards like a bullet and came to an abrupt halt, squinting her eyes to determine Flint's position, the bastard was definitely gonna learn the downs of his amazing broom by the end of this match.
"Alright there babe," Malfoy swished pass her at neck breaking speed and shot a mock kiss towards her general direction.
Heidi decided that Flint was going to get his ass handed to him by the Weasley twins, (if the way they were manically beating around those berserk Bludgers was anything to go by), and stirred her broom towards the annoying prick of a blonde, who was soaring pompously around the Quidditch field.
Her plans were rudely interrupted by a Bludger which came pelting toward her. Heidi narrowly missed getting hit.
"Fred, watch it!" Heidi scolded.
"It's George," said the Weasley twin who soared past her and headed for the berserker ball, kicking it hard towards a Slytherin player. Unfortunately, the Bludger stopped mid air and shot back towards Heidi.
Heidi dove quickly to avoid it, while George came rushing pass her and slammed it in Malfoy's direction. The Bludger, again, dove after Heidi.
Heidi sped up in Fred's direction, hoping that the demented ball would attack someone else, but it didn't, it stayed firm on Heidi's tail. Not even when Fred hit it hard in the reverse direction did it do more then go a few feet, then turn back and rocket towards her.
A jinxed Bludger? Heidi ginned nastily as she thought of all the possibilities that would bring.
"Fred! Leave that one to me!" she shouted after him and, not waiting for a reply, she zoomed off in search for Malfoy, hearing the heavy object still trailing behind her.
It started raining, much to her displeasure, and the heavy drops splashed onto her face, damping her hair and meddling with her ears, but she still heard it loud and clear when Lee Jordan say that Slytherin was leading sixty to null. It was about time she found that Flint bastard and took him out of the game.
She dove below to avoid another vicious attack from the deranged ball and caught sight of her least favorite Quidditch player, rocketing towards Wood, Quaffle held firm in his grasp and stirred her broom towards him, the demented ball still hung on her tail.
Flint carelessly threw the ball right at the far left hoop and sneered arrogantly when he saw that Wood had jumped for the wrong hoop. Wood desperately tried to redirect his broom towards the other side, but unfortunately for him, a vicious wind blew straight at him and made him sore slightly to the right.
Flint was howling by now and so, didn't hear Heidi approaching up until she was within inches of him. The Nimbus-two-thousand-and-one's speed, however, proved to be genuine, as Flint hastily dove to the right, managing to avoid Heidi and the Bludger entirely. Heidi sped up towards the left goal post and grabbed the Quaffle before it could enter, then she flipped the broom over in mid air, forcing it to climb upwards as it did and narrowly avoided getting hit by the Bludger which shot straight through the goal-post.
Heidi turned her broom around, with a quick glimpse in the Bludger's direction and shot off towards Angelina Johnson. "Catch!" she threw the Quaffle at her.
Heidi zigzagged around Angelina for a while, and then shot off in front of her when she saw Pucey coming towards them at neck breaking speed. She sped up towards him and at the last moment she pointed her broom upwards, leaving the Bludger and the Slytherin chaser to collide painfully. Pucey gave a cry of pain and fell of his broom while Angelina shot up towards the goal post and scored the first goal for Gryffindor.
Flint was furious. He rocketed towards his beater, seized the club out of his hand and shot a Bludger straight at Heidi's head. Heidi ducked the upcoming demented ball, and the two Bludgers collided with on another making such a racket, that most thought it had started to thunder.
The jinxed Bludger, however, recovered fast and resumed its pursuit of Heidi. Flint shouted something at his beater then went rocketing towards Angelina, club still firmly held in his grip.
Heidi stormed towards him determined to take him out this time, when she saw Malfoy zooming around the pitch, his eyes glued to a point somewhere near the ground. Heidi realized, to her disdain, that it was the Snitch he was chasing after and pushed Flint to the back of her head as she darted towards the blond at neck breaking speed. Malfoy's broom was faster however and on top of that, he was nearer then her. The blond stuck out his arm, ready to catch the tiny ball, when it made a sudden move towards the right and disappeared beneath the stage.
Heidi wasted no time in diving after the minuscule ball, while Malfoy had to swing out of the way as the rogue Bludger rocketed pas him. The blond then dove after Heidi and in a matter of seconds he had outraced the Bludger and caught up with her.
"Looks like someone's got it in for you," he taunted, with a sly grin.
"I wonder who that is," Heidi asked sarcastically and dove to avoid an upcoming plate of wood. Draco would have certainly knocked face first into it, had he been riding any other broom then his own, but the Nimbus, once again, proved its worth as it steered upwards just in time to lead its owner up and out of danger's way.
Heidi cursed, realizing that the Snitch had disappeared again and shot after the blond, determined to at least get him out of the way. Malfoy stopped in mid-air and squinted his eyes in a vain attempt at locating the Snitch throughout all the rain and fuss, but it was nowhere in sight.
He cursed and resumed soaring around the pitch, but had to dive quickly as Heidi came charging towards him, the rogue Bludger firmly in toe. The girl turned, a spectacular 180 and shot towards the mildly impressed boy. Malfoy snapped out of his stupor at the sight of the girl and stormed in the opposite direction.
Heidi cursed when she realized that she wasn't going to catch up to the blond anytime soon and decided to try a different approach. She shot off in a random direction, pretending that she had spotted the Snitch and, as per expected, the blond charged towards her at full speed. Heidi smirked and waited until the boy was near enough. She suddenly pulled the broom up towards the sky, Bludger still in toe, and turned it back heading for the ground which she went hurtling towards at full speed, right pass Malfoy. The blond was too surprised to even process what had just happened, let along pull the broom from the Bludger's trajectory, so the demented ball crashed straight into the back of his broom, smothering it to pieces and sending Malfoy flying towards the teacher's stand.
Flint was quick to come to his rescue while screaming "Foul" the whole way. Heidi sent him a triumphant smile when Madam Hooch said that it wasn't considered a foul. Flint shoved Malfoy Pucey's broom and took possession of the Quaffle.
Malfoy turned his angry eyes at her and rocketed in her direction. Within seconds, he was standing before her.
"You won't get away with this Potter," he hissed threateningly.
"Get away with what?" Heidi asked sweetly.
Heidi chose to ignore him for now and concentrate on getting Flint off the field. Unfortunately, the blond took to trailing behind her, a few strides away from the Bludger. Heidi shot the boy a reproachful glare, which he met head on, and hasted towards Flint, a plan slowly began forming in her head. She smirked.
"Come and get me, Malfoy," she taunted and dove for the ground. Malfoy bustled after her like a deranged bull. Heidi continued her descend towards the ground at full speed, with Malfoy straight on her tail, and only when she was a few inches from the ground did she turn in a swift motion and let Malfoy crash head first into the muddy surface.
"You just got served," Heidi stuck out her tongue at him and resumed her pursuit of Flint. The oversized troll of a boy was flying madly towards Wood, the Quaffle was currently in the hands of his other Chaser, Graham Montague, but there was no doubt in Heidi's mind that the boy would pass the ball off to Flint when they reached the goal post.
Heidi zoomed towards him, the Bludger still flying madly after her, and rocketed upwards, cutting him off in midflight. Flint, momentarily disoriented thanks to Heidi's earlier stunt, sat in the same position for a second too long, and therefore, the Bludger, which had been chasing after the girl, slammed hard in his ass (talk about testicular-trauma), sending him flying. The boy was unconscious when his Beater, Peregrine Derrick caught him.
Malfoy whisked forward like and enraged hippogriff.
"You've gone too far Potter!" he roared. But Heidi didn't hear him; she had caught sight of the Snitch flying not far from where she was. Heidi stormed towards the tiny golden ball at top speed with Malfoy and the Bludger hot on her tail.
The Slytherin Chaser, as per expected, threw the Quaffle towards where Flint was supposed to have been, and was unpleasantly surprised to hear Alicia Spinnet thank him before she swooped towards the goal posts with Katy Bell at her side.
Alicia threw the Quaffle towards the goal post while Miles Bletchley lung himself at it, but a well aimed Bludger shot from Fred Weasley prevented him from catching it and Lee Jordan shouted "GOAL!!!" as Heidi closed her hand around the Snitch. She lifted it high into the air while dodging another ferocious attack from the Bludger and Lee shouted again, announcing the victory of Gryffindor 170 to 80.
The Bludger ricocheted back for another attack, but the Weasley twins came clashing down on it and clubbed the Bludger away from her and towards Madam Hooch, who restrained it with magic and took to examine it.
Wood enveloped Heidi in a boon crushing hug and kissed her on the cheek while Alicia and Katy came rushing down and lung themselves at the pair. Fred and George soon joined the party and that's when Heidi noted that Angelina was nowhere to be seen.
"Where's Angelina?" Heidi asked perplexed.
"Flint took her out, that son of a…" Fred told her, his previous good mood diminishing rapidly.
Heidi and the other members of the team wasted no time in heading for the hospital wing.
Angelina Johnson was in a terrible state. Flint had, apparently, slammed a Bludger straight into her head and sent her falling down thirty feet. She had broken more then a few bones, and was suffering from internal bleeding. Madam Pomfrey rushed them out the door, shouting that she still needed to mend some of the girl's injuries. Heidi couldn't help feeling that the rogue Bludger shoved up his ass was not punishment enough for Flint as she remembered Angelina's broken form lying motionless on the hospital bed.
The Gryffindor team waited anxiously at the door of the hospital wing. Fred was pacing mad while George was trying to calm him down. Alicia and Katy were lying against the wall, whispering silently, while Heidi was crouched down on her kneed, rocking back and fort; Wood was resting against the wall, a few inches to her left.
Heidi felt a sudden chill run over her, and then she realized that she hadn't had time to change out of her damp Quidditch robes. She sneezed.
"Let me dry those up for you," offered Wood. Heidi nodded gratefully and stood up. "Siccus Induviae," he chanted and Heidi felt her clothes begin to warn up, until they were left completely dry.
"Thanks," she smiled gratefully. "You have got to teach me that one."
"It's not that hard," Wood assured. "My mother taught it to me over the summer. I once stayed out for too long, practicing moves for the Quidditch plans I made and a storm caught me, and I just had to practice that move again."
Heidi smiled slightly. "So you wanna become a professional Quidditch player?"
"Yes, I think I'd like that," he answered. "I'd like to one day be able to stand on the same pitch as Victor Krum or Barry Ryan as an equal, not just a bloody spectator among the crowd that they would never remark. You know what I mean."
"Yes, I think so," answered Heidi, "though I've never been to a Quidditch match."
"Never?" Wood asked surprised. Heidi shock her head. "Never, ever?"
"No! Never," Heidi assured. "Why, is it that interesting?"
"It's amazing," Wood exclaimed. "You'll love it!" He sat studying her for a few seconds then asked. "Would you like to see one?"
"A Quidditch game?"
"Yes," Wood nodded. "The French are playing Wales this winter, and my father has promised me we'll go there to see it. If you want to come," he asked nonchalantly, "I can ask my dad to book you a ticket."
"And where exactly is this taking place," Heidi asked intrigued.
"In France!"
"France?"
"Yes, the French got awful lucky that they're playing on their own territory," Wood explained, "they normally don't allow that to happen in championships, but it was a gamble, and they drew a lucky number. The Wales aren't that bad though, and I personally think it should be and interesting match. It's due to take place on the 21 of December, the first week of the Christmas break."
"Tempting," Heidi muttered, chewing her bottom lip. "I'd like to go, but I can't."
"Why?" Wood asked disappointed.
"For one, I have no means of traveling to France-"
"Oh, that won't be much of a problem," Wood said dismissively. "You can come with me and my father - we're taking a Portkey there."
"Portkey?" asked Heidi puzzled.
"Something similar to apparition, only less nauseating," Wood said.
"Aha," Heidi nodded pondering over the idea. "Can I bring my brother and sister along?" she asked.
"You have a brother?"
"Well, he's really my cousin, and he's a Muggle," Heidi told him. "But he loves anything related to Wizards in general, and I'm sure he'd love to see a Quidditch match, I mean... if that's not a problem?"
"No, no problem at all," Wood assured.
Heidi beamed at him. "Thanks! I'll pay for the thickets," she promised.
Wood nodded and proceeded to tuck a stray strand of her hair behind her ear while looking at her intently.
"What? Is something on my face?" Heidi asked.
Wood didn't get the chance to answer as the door to the infirmary slipped open and out came a very dishevel Madam Pomfrey.
"She's finally awake. But I warn you, keep the noise to a minimum, she's still very week!" Madam Pomfrey said and let them in.
Fred and Heidi stormed pass her and went straight to Angelina's bed.
"How are you feeling Ange?" Fred asked concerned.
"Like I've just been run over by a herd of Hippogriffs," she looked like it too. Most of her body was fitted in a thick bandage, while her beautiful chocolate skin had taken on the shape of a sickly Cordovan color, giving her a mummy-like appearance and there was a tired glee in her eyes that not even old people displayed.
"Did we win?" she asked jadedly.
"We sure did," Alicia confirmed.
"And Heidi smashed a Bludger straight into Marcus Flint's balls. I hope she left him impotent," Fred crossed his fingers.
Angelina burst out laughing, but it soon turned into and all out groan as pain shot though her recovering boons. Madam Pomfrey ushered them out after that, yelling all the whiled about dangerous sports and precarious teenagers.
-----
"You asked if you could bring me and Dudley?!" Diana shrieked at her sister.
"Yeah, what's wrong with that?" Heidi asked confused.
The quartet was currently in the Gryffindor common room, sitting in the comfortable armchairs by the fire. Heidi was crouched near the fire on the floor with a fluffy pillow underneath her buttocks and had just finished telling them about Angelina's hospitalization and Wood's invitation to go and see the Quidditch match in France.
"He was hitting on you," Diana said.
"Who? Wood?" Heidi asked confused.
"Yes, he was hitting on you," Diana answered.
"Are you kidding me?" Heidi gave her sister a disbelieved look.
"He was hitting on you," both Neville and Hermione assured.
"I don't think so," Heidi contradicted. "Not every guy who talks to you wants to snogg you Diana! Look at Neville! He doesn't want to snogg us, he likes Ginny!"
"That's a different matter entirely," Diana said sharply. "And you are so not gonna blow up your chance at making a cute boyfriend by bringing me and Dudley along!"
Heidi looked puzzled at her sister. "So, you don't want to come?"
"No! And you're not taking Dudley either!" Diana snapped. "Hermione, I'm coming to your house for this winter and we're bringing Heidi along, so that she'd have a plausible enough excuse to be away from home while that Quidditch game takes place."
"You know I'm so not gonna listen to you, right?" Heidi asked indifferently.
"Of course I know," said Diana irritably. "Why would you listen to me and go to the Quidditch match with Wood when you can-"
"Completely ignore him because I want to date Diggory instead," Heidi smirked at Diana's befuddled face. A spark of recognition lit up Diana's eyes as she remembered the Halloween banquet.
"Oh, yeah," she nodded. "We have to find out if Diggory's going too!" Diana said at once.
Heidi rolled her eyes. Typical Diana.
------
A rumor started spreading around the school that Colin Creevey had been eaten by the monster that lay in the chamber, since the first year magically diapered the whole weekend. On Monday morning, when Angelina was released from the hospital wing, she told the kids that Creevey had been brought to the hospital by McGonagall and Dumbledore the same night she was admitted, and that he was stiff as a statue.
"They were talking about the Chamber of Secrets like it had already been opened before," Angelina told them that morning.
Neville had been in a state of panic the whole week and had actually attempted to buy a number of talismans and charms that were circling around the school and were supposed to protect you from the monster, but Diana wouldn't have any of it.
"You're a pureblood!" she snapped at the poor boy. "There's little chance of the monster coming after you!"
"But they went after Filch's cat first," Neville protested, not seaming to realize that Diana had suddenly gone rigid besides him "and everybody knows I'm almost a Squib!"
"Would you stop that!" the red head snarled. "You're not a Squib! You're here aren't you?! And you're a genius when it comes to Herbology! So stop it with the self-pity and low self-esteem! You can be brilliant if you just try! I'm sure of it!"
Neville had flushed a deep shade of burgundy after that and had apparently taken Diana's words to heart, because in that Thursday, he got out of Potions without blowing up a single cauldron. Granted his potion looked dreadful, but hey, it was a start.
A week later, a notice appeared on the blackboard in the Gryffindor common room announcing the establishment of a Dueling Club. The girls and Neville were quite eager to take part in such an event and so, eight o'clock found the kids gathered in the great hall alongside most of the students in the school.
The four great tables had been replaced by a massive gold stage around which the thousands of candles had gathered. The ceiling's enchantments had been undone and instead of the night sky stars glittering brightly above them there was a wall colored in a morbid shade of jet-black. The sight of it (or rather lack of it) unnerved the kids. It just didn't feel right to have a black ceiling overhead instead of a beautiful night sky.
"I wonder who will be teaching us?" Hermione asked as they made their way through the chattering crowd and towards the golden stage.
"As long as it's not- " Diana started saying, but Heidi cut her off before she got to finish.
"It's Lockhart," she assured. "I only came to see the bastard make a fool out of himself in public."
Hermione shot her a disapproving glare.
"Why Lockhart?!" Diana whined.
"Lock around you?" Heidi said. "Do you think anyone else would be that insensitive enough as to request a giant gold platform on which to duel?"
Diana glared at the gigantic piece of gold and said "Point taken."
It didn't take long for Lockhart to make an appearance. The fact that Snape was tailing slightly behind him puzzled the girls.
"Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent!" he said all this in a very self-important voice which left the twins feeling rather cold inside and not a little disgusted. Hermione and Neville however, were looking at him in pure amazement, as if they couldn't believe their eyes that the national hero of the Wizarding world was willing to share with them his skills. Hermione was actually day-dreaming, and not for the first time Diana found herself doubting her friend's taste in boys.
"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape," said Lockhart, flashing a wide smile. "He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about dueling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry — you'll still have your Potions master when I'm through with him, never fear!"
Heidi was sure she saw Snape's eyes give a slight twitch and was holding her fingers crossed so that Lockhart would receive a good round of humiliation within the next minutes — the pompous bastard definitely needed to be brought down a notch or eight.
Neville was shaking besides Diana and was silently wondering whether his DADA teacher would survive this encounter, because Snape was now baring his teeth at Lockhart and giving him such a predator look that you would think the blond man dressed in plumy colors was nothing less then a pig brought to a slaughter house.
Lockhart and Snape turned to face each other and then the narcissistic teacher began ranting about the correct mode you had to hold yourself during a duel. Hermione was hanging on every word, while Heidi kept snorting at every word, thinking that if they were in an actual duel, she for one wouldn't let her opponent get all flashy and mannered with stupid dueling positions and…her mind began to wander in some other far, far away land, and she would have missed the spectacular event had her sister not nudged her in the ribs just as Lockhart said "3!"
"Expeliarmus!" Snape cried and, suddenly, a jet of brilliant light escaped his wand and went hurtling towards Lockhart who stood dumbly in place, not bothering to do anything. The spell sent him crashing in the opposite wall, face first and the twins hoped he'd'v at least cracked a tooth, but as he slipped down the wall looking slightly rumpled, the girls were disappointed to find out that he was fine. Better then fine, he actually dared to give a comeback to Snape.
"An excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy — however, I felt it would be instructive to let them see…"
Snape was looking murderous, and the twins were still hoping he would chop off Lockhart's head any moment now, unfortunately, it seemed Lockhart was not fool enough to wag his tail in front of the lion's face any longer and promptly changed the subject.
"Enough demonstrating! I'm going to come amongst you now and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me —"
Heidi and Diana booed when they heard that and hastily made their way towards Snape's side of the class.
The two Professors moved around the class and split the students into pairs. Neville got the misfortune of getting paired with Blaise Zabini.
Diana sent Draco an evil smirk which had the boy running towards Lockhart faster then you could say "Coward!" Unfortunately for him, he got paired up with Hermione. Diana, looking livid, made a move towards Lockhart, but Heidi held her back while sending Malfoy an icy glare. The boy gulped, knowing that he'd be begging for death if he hurt the bushy—curly haired girl.
Diana partnered Pansy Parkinson (which was second on her black list only to Malfoy), and Heidi challenged Snape himself to a duel.
"You wish to duel me, Miss Potter?" he asked with a slight raised brow.
"There is no one else left without a partner," Heidi said pointing around. "And I would like to pair someone who would at least pose a threat, not just sit around looking boastful," she shot Lockhart an appalled look.
Snape gave a slight smirk and inclined his head lightly, while taking his position as Heidi's partner.
Draco turned towards Hermione looking apprehensive. For one, she was a Mudblood and if it had been any other student he would have had a good time insulting her Muggle parents, but he already knew the demons that would come crashing down on his head if he dared to do that, so he wisely reframed from commenting on the subject.
"Why so dressed up Grange? Hoping to score one with the DA teacher?" He couldn't help himself from asking that, after all, he had to admit that she was looking quite charming tonight. But then again, anything that was styled by Diana herself was a treat for the eye and the Granger girl was no different. Draco scowled at his own thoughts. What was he doing admiring a Mudblood of all things, he was still crushing on the Potter twins last he checked — he meant he was still crushing on Diana (even though the girl had sent him twice to the hospital wing already).
"If you must know, Diana wouldn't let me leave the room unless she was satisfied with my appearance," Hermione answered stiffly.
"Figures — it's not like anyone would be able to make you look half decent anyway," Draco knew he was pushing his luck by insulting the Muggle-born, but it was just to satisfying to watch her get so worked up over his words that he couldn't bring himself to care.
"Face your partners!" called Lockhart, back on the platform. "And bow!"
Draco gave a mock bow which Hermione returned looking livid.
"Wands at the ready!" shouted Lockhart. "When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents — only to disarm them — we don't want any accidents — one… two… three —"
Draco didn't give much of a dang about Lockhart's speech and fired the first spell at two. Hermione dodged the spell looking shocked at him.
"That's cheating!" she accused.
"All is fair in love and war," Draco quoted and cried "Mimblewimble!"
Hermione avoided the curs and countered with one of her own. "Rictusempra!"
Draco swung to the side and sent a tickling charm her way, which unfortunately hit the girl and Hermione found herself on the floor while laughing harder then she ever had in her life.
"Unfair," she squeaked in a high pitch voice.
"It's not," Draco came to stand before her, with a triumphant smile on his face. "My, my, we are enjoying ourselves tonight," he taunted.
"You leave her alone!" it was Ron Weasley's voice that came raging out from somewhere behind Draco and the next moment, a shock wave knocked hard into his back, which had the blond stumble on his feat and fall down, knocking his head straight into that of one Hermione Granger.
Draco slammed a hand over the part of his head that had collided with the hard surface and opened his eyes to gaze into the still laughing face of the Mudblood Granger, though her eyes had a shocked glee to them. She was so close he could actually feel her breathing landing gently on his face.
Those eyes…
Draco marveled looking in shock at the russet orbs before him. He knew those eyes, he was sure of it! The problem was — he couldn't remember where he had seen them before.
Hermione, still giggling madly, pushed the blond off of her and struggled to get to her feet.
"Finite Incantatem," Draco chanted and Hermione gave a sight of relief when she felt the spell lift off her.
She scrambled to her feet, looking positively flushed and muttered a soft "Thank you," to the blond, while looking at her shoes.
Draco lifted her head up and locked his quizzical gaze with her confused on, and that's when Hermione finally got a good glimpse of his eyes.
Those gray orbs…she had seen them somewhere before, but she couldn't remember where.
No student around took notice of the strange behaviors of the Malfoy heir and the Granger girl, seeing as they were all preoccupied with other things, and it wasn't fighting mind you. In fact, Weasley and Crabbe where the only students left fighting in the hall, all the other occupants of the room had turned to look in aw at the match that was taking place between Heidi and Snape. The only students that had the misfortune of missing this match were a few children which had been incapacitate by their dueling partners, Pansy Parkinson being among them.
"Flippendo!" Heidi cried and in the next moment a red beam shot out of her wand and headed straight towards Snape, who sidestepped the spell while countering with his own "Expeliarmus!"
Heidi graciously rolled out of the way and shot another spell at Snape, which the professor chose to block. Heidi was slightly pissed, because they were supposed to cover the blocking spell in class a few weeks ago, but seeing as Lockhart was as dumb as he look, that of course, didn't happen, and therefore, Snape had and unjust advantage over this match, because he could block, while she was forced to move out of the way of his next spell.
"Rictusempra!"
Snape again blocked. He had to admit, that for a girl who had no idea how to perform a shielding spell she was down right brilliant. The girl could outrun a spell and her own were quite powerful. Perhaps if she had a better Defense teacher she'd pose more of a threat. But as it was, he was aiming to end this quickly.
"Rictusempra! Expeliarmus!" The first spell collided with his shield, but the second he had to dodge, because he lowered his guard too early.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Snape said and threw another spell towards her left, where the girl chose to dodge.
Heidi looked in fright at the upcoming spell and knew she couldn't dodge in time, so she did the only thing she could think of: she shot a spell at it.
"Expeliarmus!" she cried and the two spells crashed in mid air and exploded in a shower of red sparks. Heidi's eyes lit up when she saw this, while Snape tried hard to suppress a groan. Things just got tougher.
Snape fired two simultaneous spells at the girl, hoping to catch her with one, but Heidi didn't even bother to move as she shot two "Flippendos" at the upcoming danger and looked gleefully as the four met midway and dissolved into a shower of sparks. The girl started attacking with a vengeance, firing spells left and right, while Snape was trying hard to restrain himself from using nonverbal spells, after all, the shield was enough advantage — he didn't want the girl to think that he was showing of or anything.
But the girl was rather unreasonable, and their anticipated short duel stretched out for longer then he had hoped for, and now all the kids in the hall had their heads turned towards them. Now Snape was confronted with another problem: try as he might, he did not see a way out of this mess that didn't involve defeating her in a duel and therefore humiliating her in public (though that was only to be expected, she had after all challenged a teacher).
Snape was just about getting ready to fire a stunner at the girl when a high pitched scream drew the assembled mass's attention towards Hannah Abbot, a Hufflepuff second year who had the misfortune of standing right besides Ron Weasley, when Vincent Crabbe had fired the "Serpensortia!" spell.
A long black snake had shot out of his wand and was baring his fangs threateningly at Ron and Hannah, who was screaming her lungs out (which only irritated the snake) and shaking uncontrollably besides the red haired.
Hermione unconsciously held her breath and grabbed a hold of Neville's and Draco's arms who were sitting on either side of her.
"Don't move, Weasley," said Snape lazily, as he languidly made his way towards the snake. "I'll get rid of it…"
"Allow me!" shouted Lockhart and brandished his wand towards the snake.
"Expeliarmus!" the spell hurtled Lockhart into the opposite wall, knocking him unconscious.
"Don't even think about it!" Diana said and hastily made her way pass Ron and Hannah and towards the snake.
"Hey there you," Diana said. "What got you so mad?" she asked kindly.
There was an intake of breaths as the snake slowly turned its questioning eyes towards the red head and asked: "You speak it?"
Diana stood there gawking at the snake as if it had spurred another head. "Yo- you, speak English?" she asked puzzled.
The snake chuckled.
"No child," it actually waved its tail. "You speak Parselmouth."
Diana crouched down on her knees and gave the snake a bewildered look.
"Parselmouth?" she asked uncertain.
"Snake language," the serpent supplied.
"Oh! You mean like Salazar Slytherin?!" she asked excited.
"Yes," the snake nodded. "Do you know of him?"
Diana didn't get to answer the question, as, in the next second, her sister grabbed her roughly by the elbow and hoisted her to her feet.
"Hey!" Diana whined.
"Leave the mistress be!" the snake bared its fangs.
"Shut it you!" Heidi snapped and the snake lowered its head obediently.
"Heidi!" Diana protested, trying to free her arm from her sister's hold, but the other girl just tightened her grip, making Diana wince in pain. They hastily moved through the parting crowd and were out the door before Snape even got around to banishing the snake. Hermione and Neville hurried after them.
"Why didn't you tell us you were a Parselmouth?" asked Neville when he finally caught up to them.
Heidi had dragged her sister all the way up to the second floor and inside Moaning Mirtle's bathroom.
"Because we didn't know that," said Heidi sarcastically. "Believe me — I was shocked to the core when I heard this dunderhead talk to the snake, and worse of all, when I actually understood what it was saying!"
"You can speak to snakes too?" Diana asked enthusiastically. "Isn't that great!"
"Are you dumb!" Heidi snarled making Diana recoil back in fright. "It's not great! It's terrible! People will think that you're the Heir of Slytherin! That you petrified Filch's cat!"
"That's a lie!" Diana objected fiercely. "I love Missis Norris! Why would I want to petrify her?!"
"You know, people won't really care about that," said Hermione. "They will automatically link a Parselmouth to Salazar Slytherin, be it that you had a clash with whoever got petrified or not."
"But that's insane," Neville protested.
"That's the truth!" Heidi said in a resigned tone. "Unfortunately."
"You mean fortunately, right?" asked Diana. There was a mischievous glee in her eyes, and a sinister smile on her face that didn't actually feel like it belong to the sweet and caring red head as she spoke those words.
"Fortunately?" asked Hermione puzzled.
"Yes," nodded Diana fervently. "Can you imagine the look on Malfoy's face when I threaten to petrify him next, or even better: that pumped up Parkinson bitch?! Oh, this is fantastic!" Diana cheered.
"Diana? Are you serious?" Hermione asked looking apprehensive. Neville was shaking beside her.
"Of course!" Diana smiled sweetly at her. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"You know, she's right," the other two heard Heidi muss. "Just thinking about Flint's terrified face would be worth the stupid rumors."
"Heidi, you don't mean that, do you?!" Hermione's voice wasn't shaky, like Neville thought it would be, it was critical, and the look the curly hair was shooting the twins was cold and flooded with discontent.
"Hey! It's not like they'd believe me if I said I wasn't Slytherin's heir, now would they?" Heidi asked grumpily. "So, if I get stuck with the bad side of the deal, I don't see what's wrong with having a little fun on its behalf."
Needless to say Hermione wasn't pleased with her answer.