I walked to the opposite side of the room from Cho. I made sure to show no emotion on my face. I didn't want her thinking I was intimidated.
Because I wasn't.
"On my count. Wands at the ready," Harry said, standing about 20 feet away from the two of us. "Three, two," I pointed my wand at her, and focused as hard as I could on stunning her. "ONE!"
The millisecond after he said that number, I released the spell from my wand.
"STUPIFY!"
At the same time, she sent an Expelliarmus spell in my direction. The beams of light collided, and stopped at one point between us.
Then, they disappeared.
Both of our spells vanished. Like dust they disintegrated.
The room stood silent.
My mouth, however, was wide open in surprise.
Harry frowned and tilted his head.
"What happened?" he asked.
"The spell just...left," I said half to myself and half to Harry.
"Try again then I suppose," he shrugged. "Three, two, one!"
I focused just as hard and pointed my wand at her. She pointed hers at me at the same time, and released a disarming spell towards me.
The same thing happened once again. The two bolts of light clashed, and then faded.
Harry stared at the two of us for a minute. He slowly widened his eyes, his eyebrows sliding up with them.
He shook the look off his face, and then ran a hand through his hair, a nervous habit of his.
"Uhh," he stutters a bit, and then looks around. "Next pair, next pair."
I slowly slid back to where I was standing before. I was in deep thought.
"What did you do?" Ron whispered to me as we watched Luna and another Ravenclaw dueled.
"I- I don't know. The spell just vanished as if I didn't even cast it," I shook my head in confusion.
"That's weird, Annie. Ask Harry about it after class, I'll bet he knows what happened." Ron gives me a small smile. He knew I wouldn't do it, despite his proposals. I'd come with you, but I'm meeting Lindsiey after class. We're getting along," he winked.
"Oh good, good. Are the two of you official yet?" I asked,
"No, you see," he started to lower his voice to almost a mumble. "We're going to keep everything a secret, me and her. We're more of two-people-whom-want-to-have-fun-on-a-Friday-night kind of couple." He winked again and smirked. I rolled my eyes. "Its just that she doesn't want everyone to think she's a slut, so I'm not supposed to be telling people anything until 'I'm ready to call it official' as she says." He rolled his eyes and gave me a thoughtful look. "Anyways. Good luck with Harry." He patted me on the shoulder and went towards George and Fred.
Seamus showed up from behind me and snaked an arm around my waist.
"Hey, Annie," he said, resting a head on my left shoulder. "What happened over there?"
"I haven't a clue." I furrowed my eyebrows, determined to understand what happened.
"Is it only Cho and your wands that react that way?" he asks, maybe onto something.
"Maybe. Let's find out." I stood across from him, holding my wand out. We cast the same two spells that seemed to erase the other a few minutes ago.
That time, the spells clashed for a good two minutes before we both let go.
That time, the spells didn't disappear.
Hermione's POV
I think I might know what's going on.
A few days ago, I was reading a book on Ancient Magic, and this was in it.
Love saved Harry from getting murdered as a child.
Jealousy saved Annabelle from getting stunned.
The book stated that only a handful of people around the world are born with this gift. The gift is called Zelus. I think that Annabelle is a Zelotes.
This gift she possesses is like a force field around her. If Annie is stronger than the person she duels, the spell will of course go through and harm her opponent; but if she is in fact weaker than her opponent, the opponent's spell will vanish, keeping Annie safe.
There are 3 types of Zelus. Each is activated a different way:
The first is activated when an individual is sincerely jealous of the opponent they duel.
The second is activated when the individual has an unselfish hatred for the person they duel.
And the last is activated when the individual wants revengefor their opponent.
A few minutes ago, Annabelle and Cho dueled. Since Cho was stronger than Annabelle, Cho's spell disappeared, keeping Annie from getting hurt. The question is why this happened. Annie has either a hate for Cho, wants revenge on Cho, or is seriously jealous on Cho.
I noticed that in the description on how the enchantment was activated, Zelus doesn't work on people who tend to be selfish, but only for a need or want from the heart..
That's why when Seamus dueled Belle, the spells stayed clashing. Annabelle wants something from Cho, not Seamus.
The last mystery here is why Belle's spell disappeared as well. That didn't usually happen. Annie's spell should've gone through to hurt Cho.
I went back to the library and found the book speaking of this enchantment. I read the few passages over and over. They stated nothing of both spells disappearing...
I personally came up with my own theory:
I think that Annabelle's spell disappeared because she had no intention of hurting Cho. If she really wanted to hurt Cho, she could very well have killed her with this. All of Cho's defensive spells wouldn't work.
Belle's might cause a disaster and not even know it.
Annabelle's POV:
As soon as I left the Room of Requirement yesterday, I brushed off what happened with Cho. She was nowhere near the top of my priority list.
I need to get this whole plan of mine sorted out.
Yeah, going to the Room of Requirement would help me a little, but I can't keep going at their pace. I need to learn everything I can in the next two weeks. If I wait any longer than that short time frame, there's so much of a bigger chance Voldemort hurt her.
I don't care what it takes. I'm finding her, and I'm bringing her back.
I believe I have the potential to be ten times as good a wizard as any of those death eaters.
I need a personal tutor.
After leaving Umbridge's class today, I saw Harry walking toward the common room.
I followed him there, being creepier than I probably should've.
Me and my curiosity...
I watched him slow down and look to his right, around where the Ravenclaw rooms were. I then saw a black haired figure walk toward him. As the person walked closer, she became clearer.
I felt my heart drop down to my stomach when Cho and Harry held each other in that tight embrace. I kept walking toward the Gryffindor common room, watching them talk and flirt from the corner of my eye. I walked straight ahead, ignoring their very existence.
I felt anger boil inside me, an insane jealousy I never usually feel.
I soon arrived at the Gryffindor common room: one of my favorite parts of Hogwarts.
A few minutes after memorizing a couple of new spells, I heard someone walk in.
How fucking likely.
He sat down beside me, stretching his arms. His right arm brushed my shoulder by the slightest bit. I slowly scooted down the couch, trying to act like I didn't notice his presence.
"Hey." He looked at me.
"Hey." I intentionally kept my eyes glued to that book.
"You look sad," he pointed out.
"That's irregular." I made sure to drench my words with sarcasm as they left my lips.
"I'd like to change that, you know." I looked up at him as he said that. He had a cute 'Harry' look on his face; the one he only gets when he's truly amused.
"You can't do that," I mentioned, fighting a smile.
"Oh right, Seamus is the guy that does that nowadays." He pushed a few strands of hair behind me ear. "He's doing a horrible job."
I took in a deep breath and pulled my hair away from his fingers.
"Do you understand this spell?" I quickly changed the topic, hoping he'd stop being such a damn flirt. "I don't understand the circumstances I'd need to use Levicorpus rather than Stupify. The book has the same description for both..." I pushed the book toward him. He moved closer toward me, his arm pressed against mine.
For the next forty-five minutes, we sat there, discussing spells and potions and everything in between.
There's no doubt in my mind that this will work. As long as I can keep him...interested in teaching me, I'll have all this down by the end of this week and I'll be out of this school just as quick.
So it was super difficult to explain what I meant about the whole Zelus enchantment while keeping it under a few pages.
I didn't want to go into lots of detail and bore you.
It'll be showing up lots later, so do be sure you're fairly close to 100 percent sure you get it.
If it's iffy with you, don't hesitate to message me or review about it. I'll gladly go into more detail and make it easier to understand. I promise not to bite. :)