Chapter Five: The Duelling Club

Killian manages to finish the patrol without coming across any Professor's, meaning he doesn't have to explain to anyone about his red cheek and lack of patrol partner. When he reaches the Slytherin portrait hole, he sighs in relief as he mutters the password before entering. Sitting by the fire is Tamara and Greg, who are looking through a Potion's essay with disgruntled expressions on their faces.

"Why is your cheek red?" Was the first thing Tamara asks.

"Gryffindor Princess decided to get violent." Killian answers, before sitting on the other chair.

Tamara gasps. "Did you tell someone? She could get into serious trouble for that."

"No." Killian answers closing his eyes.

"Well, you have to get back at her somehow." Tamara says, looking at Greg, who is nodding his head in agreement with his girlfriend.

"Turn her into a toad." Greg suggests in a rather stupid manner.

Killian rolled his eyes. "Turning her into a toad is a terrible idea. I could get in trouble with the Ministry for that."

"Oh right, yeah stupid idea." Greg mutters. "How can we hurt her?"

Tamara looks deep in thought, ignoring the fact that Killian has his eyes shut in frustration.

"The only time I have seen her so upset was when that Hufflepuff student, Neal Cassidy broke her heart. He completely destroyed her." Tamara remarks.

Greg suddenly sits forward as though he has been struck with the best idea in the world.

"You should break her heart."

Killian's eyes open in a curious manner. "What?"

"Greg that's perfect." Tamara smiles, clapping her hands together in a happy manner. "Charm her into liking you, show her a fake side of you and then break up with her in front of everyone."

Killian raises an eye-brow. "And you're forgetting one important thing, we can't stand one another."

Tamara rolls her eyes. "Killian, you can charm the pants off anyone when you try. Come on, it's what she deserves after making a fool of you in Quidditch last year."

After a few moments, Killian smirks and looks at Tamara, but notices Greg was shaking his head.

"Don't do it, mate. You'll never break her down enough to even get close to breaking her heart." Greg says.

"You want to bet?" Killian smiles leaning closer. "Tell you what, I will win her heart and when I do you will owe me ten galleons, and if you win, I give you ten."

"Deal."

Next morning, Emma sits in the Great Hall, nibbling on a piece of dry toast when Robin joins her.

"Regina and I actually managed a civil conversation last night." He comments.

"Oh really?" Emma asks, peering up at him curiously. "What did she say?"

"Well, she apologized for laughing about the mudblood comment and then asked me about the Muggle world. She wanted to know the function of a rubber duck."

Emma snorts and quickly puts down her coffee before any can spill.

"You're kidding?"

"No." Robin chuckles. "She also asked what the internet was."

"Someone needs to take Muggle Studies." Emma clicks her tongue in a disapproving manner.

Robin goes to reply when Mary Margaret and David walk up, holding hands.

"You slapped him?" Mary Margaret asks in a slightly disapproving tone as she sits down.

"You didn't tell me that." Robin sniggers. "What did he do?"

"Probably went off and complained to someone. I'm waiting for a professor to confront me about it." Emma answers, taking another sip of her coffee.

Mary Margaret sighs. "Oh Emma…"

Mary Margaret is interrupted from her speech when Professor Hellar stands in front of the entire school, tapping his goblet of breakfast juice to get everyone's attention.

"Good morning, now that everyone is listening, Professor De Vil and I have some very exciting news to share with you all. Starting from tonight, and every week til the end of the year, there is going to be a duel club. This club will be a safe way to practice your defence charms and have mini, but safe duels. Now, your prefects; Ariel Waters, Victor Whale, Emma Swan, Robin Hood, Marian Maid, John Darling, Killian Jones and Regna Mills will be present each week. Whether they are keeping an eye on you, or duelling themselves, please be wary you need to be on your best behaviour. Tonight, the club starts at seven o'clock and it will be interesting to see who shows up. Please note though, the club is only open to second year students through to sixth. First years, you will still be learning the basics of magic and it could potentially be dangerous, and seventh year students, you are all to advance for it."

Emma rolls her eyes and takes another bite of toast, almost choking when she sees that Killian is looking over at her in a curious manner. After double-checking that there were no professors watching, she gives him the middle-finger, before turning away and missing his smirk in return.

"So, feel free to come along and join in. It will go for an hour and your house prefects will escort you back to your respected dormitories." Professor Hellar finishes his speech, and sits back down next to Professor De Vil.

"Emma just don't hex Killian." Mary Margaret warns, but there is a slight playfulness behind her eyes.

Emma nods her understanding and returns to her breakfast. "So double Charms this morning, Ruby."

"Please don't remind me. That Mendell guy makes me want to feed him to a Werewolf."

Emma sniggers. "Come on, we should probably go and get our books if we don't want to be late for Professor Mills. She already hates us enough."

Ruby agrees with Emma and the two quickly say goodbye to everyone, before beginning to walk out of the Great Hall. Emma can feel Killian's eyes on her and she feels herself shiver slightly. She can see he is still mad and now that she has two hours with him, there is no avoiding the subject.

Emma and Ruby are the first ones to arrive in the classroom. Emma reluctantly takes her seat, and opens her textbook to non-verbal spellsand pulls out her wand.

"Hey Emma, I forgot my book after all that. I'll be back." Ruby smiles before quickly dashing out of the classroom.

Emma is left alone and she swishes her wand to cast a protection spell, but nothing happens.

"Ah, so you're not the brightest witch of our age."

Emma jumps at the sound of Killian's voice and ignores him.

"Quiet today, aren't we?"

"I'm concentrating." Emma answers, failing again. "Anyway, why are you being civil? Is it because you know I'm about to get into trouble."

Killian raises an eye-brow and sits down beside her. "No. I actually haven't told anyone."

Emma turns her head in a curious manner and sighs. "What are you playing at?'

"Nothing." He lies. "I was out of order, and allowing for Greg and Tamara to call Robin a mudblood was wrong and it should never have happened. You had every right to slap me."

Emma rolls her eyes and turns away from him. "I don't believe you."

Professor Mills strides into the room and raises an eye-brow at the two of them, before making her way to her wooden desk. Emma continues to read about non-verbal spells, but the heat that is coming off Killian's gaze is enough to distract her.

"Seriously, can you just look at your own book?" Emma stammers moving her things away from him.

"I lost my book already actually, Princess. So, if you could kindly share, that would be great."

Emma looks up to see Professor Mills watching her with a stern expression.

"Miss Swan, clearly you can be a better person and look past your differencesand share your book for a couple of hours."

Emma silently groans and places her book in the middle of them, as the other students file into the room, a heavily breathing Ruby amongst them.

"Good morning," Professor Mills states in her usual strict tone. "First of all, I have been informed to tell you all that Apparition lessons begin this weekend and you are all required to attend. They will be each Saturday at one o'clock and Sunday's at eleven am. Now back to our lesson. As you are well aware, we are focusing on non-verbal spells, which are very complicated. Now, today you will continue practicing your Protegocharm, and tomorrow we will not only be performing the protective spell, but your partner will be trying to stun you."

Emma glances at Killian out of the corner of her eye, and she can see that Killian is very carefully mulling over Professor Mill's words. Emma is one-hundred percent confident that Killian is planning to do more than stun her.

After Professor Mills has finished giving the instructions, the class gets to work. Some pairs are actually managing civil conversation, whilst others aren't like her and Killian. Emma finds that Killian is a fast reader and he keeps trying to turn the page before she has even finished half of it, and then he gets annoyed at her for reading too slow, and she gets annoyed in return with him for reading too fast.

"Miss Swan and Mr Jones, for goodness sakes please stop behaving like children. I've seen five year olds share better than the two of you."

Emma blushes slightly but she doesn't need to be told twice. The two hours go quick, and Emma finds herself packing her stuff as quickly as she can, so she can get away from Killian. It is break time, and she wants to get back to the Gryffindor common room so that she can have half an hour free of Killian. She is sure that Killian is up to something, and she doesn't have time for his games. Ruby seems to understand stand this and nods to Emma, indicating that she will catch up.

Emma has just reached the main staircase when she feels a hand grip her arm and spins her around. She is partly shocked and annoyed to see Killian holding her in place his grip surprisingly soft.

"I meant it back there, Princess." He says trying to muster the most sincere look he can. "I am sorry that my friends called Robin the 'm' word and that I allowed it to happen."

Emma snatches her arm back and narrows her eyes. "I'm not the one you should be apologizing to, Jones."

Without giving Killian chance to reply, she turns away, and carries going up the staircase ignoring the few onlookers whose mouths are open with shock.

Up in the Gryffindor common room, Emma jumps for joy almost when she sees that Arithmancy is next. The only class without Killian, and she gets to sit with Mary Margaret. Not wanting to run into Killian until she has too, Emma decides to eat a sugar quill for her break time, and sort through a bag of books that Professor French had given her, after the library had decided to discard them.

"There you are."

Emma jumps at the sound of Mary Margaret's voice.

"I've been looking all over for you. What are you doing here?" The pixie haired girl asks, sitting down next to Emma.

"Avoiding the Slytherin prince." Emma mutters, beginning to organize the books into neat piles.

"Oh… well that's what I'm here about." Mary Margaret says, sitting on Emma's bed. "The strangest thing just happened."

Emma stops what she is doing, looks up at Mary Margaret and raises an eye-brow.

"In front of the entire Great Hall, he just walked up to Robin and apologized for the mud-blood comment." Mary Margaret's eyes are wide with amazement. "It was shocking. Poor Robin didn't know how to act. Anyway, before he could, David quickly jumped up and told Killian to bugger off."

Emma rolls her eyes. "He's up to something. He was actually nice to me, well kind of. I don't trust him, so don't take that apology as sincere."

"I wasn't. I'm just too shocked to say anything in all honesty. Anyway come on, we should get going to Arithmancy. Hellar is apparently deducting points severely for tardiness."

Emma sighs and grabs her book bag, which is already filled with the necessities for her next two lessons. Arithmancy and Defence Against the Dark Arts.

Arithmancy is becoming increasingly difficult, and Hellar clearly enjoys seeing the sheer look of panic across his student's faces, as they are unable to solve the mathematical problems in front of them. Only Belle French, the smartest girl in the year, is able to crack the codes.

Belle wants to become a curse breaker and work for Gringotts, and with her smartness, Emma knows that Belle would be one of the best Curse Breaker's there had ever been if she definitely decided to go down that career pathway.

Unfortunately for Emma though Arithmancy went quick and before she knows it, she is dragging her feet to her Defence Against the Dark Arts class.As far as Emma is aware, today they would be learning how to resist the Imperius curse, and that means Killian will be able to control her if she failed to defend herself against his spell.

Killian is already waiting outside the classroom with Regina, Greg and Tamara, and the three of them are in deep conversation. Robin stands a few metres away, pretending to look through his book bag, as though he is paranoid that the Slytherin's are talking about him, and Emma guesses they probably are.

"Hey." Emma smiles as she stops in front of Robin, who immediately halts rooting in his bag.

"She's going to kill me." He whispers.

"Come again?"

"Regina. I'm not going to be able to stop the curs, and she's going to have me in her power. If anything, I'm sure she'll tell me to jump out the window."

Emma's voice is also low as she replies. "Are you kidding? Jones will probably tell me to torture myself to death."

Robin and Emma both shudder together as Professor De Vil walks up unlocking the classroom for them. Regina, Tamara and Greg enter fairly quickly, but both Robin and Emma stop in their tracks when they see Killian standing back for them.

"What is wrong with you?" Emma mutters, as she walks past him, Robin hot on her trails in case Killian tries anything.

"Nothing Princess." Killian smirks, following the two in.

The rest of the class finally begin to file in, and Emma shifts awkwardly in her seat, trying to put some distance in between her and Killian.

"You know I'm not going to bite…" Killian states. "Unless you want me to."

"Learn some manners." Emma snaps. "You're the rudest sixteen year old I have ever met."

Killian backs up a little bit and turns to see Professor De Vil giving him devil eyes, warning him that she is not in the mood for any immature behaviour, even from her own house.

Once the rest of the class are sitting in their seats, Professor De Vil stands in front of them all, a stern expression across her face, and Emma doesn't fail to notice the extra glance she sends hers and Killian's way.

"Let me make myself very clear. Any foolish behaviour today, you will find yourself out of Hogwarts as fast as you can say Quidditch. The Imperius Charm is very serious, and is known as an Unforgiveable Curse. Outside of this classroom and only in special circumstances with the Ministry of Magic's permission are you to perform this curse. Today you will be working with the person next to you, and the idea is to fight the curse. You are not to force your partner to do anything dangerous, or that could be a risk to their health or anyone else's."

Emma tenses a little and peers at Killian from the corner of her eye, and is surprised to see that he is listening to Professor De Vil intently.

"So remember, Imperio.And just try to fight it. It is possible to do so but I will forewarn you not everyone will be able to fight the effects of the curse, so don't be upset of disappointed if you don't. Okay, let's get to work. You have one hour."

Emma turns to face Killian and is surprised to see him staring at her in a gentle manner, but behind his eyes, Emma can see insecurity, and she knows in that moment Killian is not going to be able to resist the curse, and it is quite obvious he knew that too.

"Do you want to go first?" Killian offers, remembering his bet with Tamara and Greg, and that being a gentleman would surely help him along with at least earning some of Emma's trust.

Emma nods. "Uh sure."

"Just don't make me do anything embarrassing." Killian warns his tone a bit darker than he inteded it to be.

"Okay." Emma answers, as they both stand up, Emma in front of him, her wand pointing at him.

Killian watches Emma intently as she composes herself, clearly not feeling comfortable with performing an unforgivable curse.

"Imperio." She whispers, as a small golden haze comes from the tip of her wand.

Emma watches Killian's eyes turn distant and dreamy as the charm overtakes him. He blinks once and then opens his eyes looking at her. Only it wasn't his usual piercing blue eyes, there is a gold tinge to them.

"Imperio." She whispers again, lifting the curse.

Killian slowly comes back to himself and gives her a curious look.

"Did you even try?" Emma asks, rolling her eyes. "You just stood there like a sitting duck."

Killian narrows his eyes. "Well how about you try it then if you're going to complain."

Emma sighs, but nods and gives him permission to perform the charm.

"Imperio." He smirks.

Emma tries, but it doesn't take long for all her control to disappear, and for her to become solely Killian's. After a few moments, she feels herself return to normal, and blinks away the haziness.

"Not as easy as you thought it would be hey, Princess?" Killian gives her an irritatingly smug grin.

"Shut up."

…

The rest of the day passes in a bit of a haze for Emma. Transfiguration was a lesson of Professor Dragon going through their curriculum for the year- again. Killian was tapping his foot impatiently against the desk the entire time, and Emma had been close to cursing it off more than once. For lunch, hot roast pork and beef rolls were on offer or a salad sandwich for the vegetarians.

The clock is ticking ever closer to the Duelling Club, and Emma is certain that Killian is already planning ways to hex her in front of most of the school.

"So, are any of you attending tonight?" Emma asks, as she and Robin prepare to leave their common room at six forty-five.

"I'm not." Ruby answers, as she shows Emma a thick textbook from her History of Magic class.

"Neither are we." Mary Margaret smiles as she holds David's hand tightly. "We're coming next week. It's just being the first week back, I'm still settling back into the Hogwarts schedule."

"Agreed." Mulan speaks up as she drops down beside Graham, who is also making no move to go with Emma and Robin.

Emma and Robin arrive in the still empty Great Hall a few minutes later. They can hear the students outside the doors, talking in excited whispers. The house tables and their benches have been pushed up against the wall, and in the middle, is a long runway. Hellar and De Vil are double-checking everything is intact, whilst the other prefects stand together, all quiet.

"Just don't kill him." Robin whispers, as he and Emma join the others.

"So we've been told that tonight Emma and Jones are going to be used for demonstrating, and the rest of us are making sure the younger students still follow the rules." Marian explains, ignoring Regina and Killian.

"Oh…" Emma whispers. "In front of everyone."

"Aye, Swan. Up on that platform there. Don't worry, I'll take it easy on you." Killian smiles in an arrogant way, before quickly replacing it with a warmer smile.

Ariel notices the sudden change of in Killian's expression and gives Emma a curious look. Emma shrugs and diverts her attention away from the Slytherin's.

"Here if you please Swan and Jones." De Vil calls.

Robin pats Emma's shoulder in an encouraging manner, before she walks towards the two professors. Like earlier, and still taken by surprise, Killian has stepped back to allow Emma up onto the platform first. She doesn't say anything as she stops in front of Heller and De Vil.

"Alright, remember to keep it to disarming charms only." Hellar warns. "We don't want the other students seeing any spells that is beyond their years, nor see their prefect's act in an inappropriate manner. I'm sure you can both manage that right?'

Emma looks at Killian to see him nodding, and she mirrors his actions.

"Great. Wouldn't want you to get another detention on top of the one you both already have."

Emma is tempted to ask what Killian's father has said about the whole detention thing, especially considering that Killian had made such a big deal about his father hearing about it, but thought the better of it and remained silent.

Emma and Killian wait up on the stage at opposite ends, as students file in all chatting excitedly amongst one another.

"Good evening everyone." De Vil smiles in a tight manner. "Tonight you are going to watch Emma Swan and Killian Jones demonstrate the disarming charm. After you will partner up and practice it as well. If anyone is caught doing anything other than disarming you will be in serious trouble and banned from all future duelling sessions. If you please, Miss Swan and Mr Jones."

Emma stands opposite Killian and he does the same, and shocking to everyone, Killian bows.

"Miss Swan…" Hellar says, giving Emma a look of concern. "You are supposed to bow before a duel."

Emma nods, her cheeks tinged slightly pink as she bows in return; glad she wore a jumper that doesn't allow cleavage to show.

Killian and Emma came up from their bows and their eyes were locked as they both took a couple of steps backward.

"Remember, disarming your opponent is always a good thing to start off with when duelling. When you're ready." De Vil says.

Emma raises her wand. "Expelliarmus."

Only she is too late, as her wand has already flown out of her hand, which Killian is now clutching tightly in his. A few of the students snigger and Killian looks too cocky for his own good. Emma is as scarlet as her robes as he hands her wand back. Heller and De Vil are both smiling proudly at Killian, as he is a student in their house.

"Well done Mr Jones." Hellar praises. "As you all saw, Miss Swan's tardiness in trying to disarm Killian could have cost her, her life if this had been a real wizard's duel. It is very important you keep your focus."

Emma's eyes narrow at Killian's triumphant look, but her gaze softens slightly when she sees that behind his eyes is genuine happiness. And as she faces him again, there is one thing that Emma Swan can't deny, and that is that Killian Jones is a fantastic wizard, whether she likes him or not.