A/N Thanks to all who commented, favorited or followed! It makes me so happy that you guys like this!

So I hope you enjoy this! The next chapter shouldn't be as hard to write as this one. I don't even know why this one was so hard for me... I guess it was because of the fight scene and all. Huh.

Enjoy!

Chapter Fifteen

"Harry, don't be like that! Professor Lockhart is a skilled duelist! He has stories to back it up!" Hermione said, as they made their way to the Great Hall for the Duelling Club.

Harry slouched, grumbling and muttering to himself. Draco snorted, "Stories. Yeah, more like stories he made up!"

Hermione glared at them, crossing her arms and looking away. Ron just snickered, "Hermione, even though you're the smartest person in the entire group, right now, you're just being duped by him like every other witch out there."

Hermione's gaze was like the smoldering fires of hell, expression deadly, "Why don't you repeat that again, Ronald?" A golden glow emanated from her, as her magic rose in tandem to her temper.

Ron cringed, cowed, "N-nothing! I said nothing!"

Hermione smirked, and walked into the Great Hall. Harry kept sulking, "I don't even use a wand! Why would I need to learn how to duel?"

The Hall fell silent when Lockhart arrived, and surprisingly, with Snape. Draco snickered, "Snape looks like he's about to kill Lockhart."

"He can't," Harry said, still pouting. "I need to do that first."

Hermione glared at them, "Stop that!"

Ron was about to retort when Lockhart stepped up onto the duelling stage, "Hello, everyone! It's so great to see all of you come here! I managed to get Professor Snape here to assist me, not that I need his help."

Snape twitched, but stayed silent. Lockhart continued, "Ok, so first! We will demonstrate a duel." The two professor stood at opposite ends of the stage. "And then we bow." The two bowed at the waist, before taking stances, "And we begin!"

Only a few seconds after he said that, Snape flicked his wand, "Expelliarmus!"

Lockhart was slow to respond, and his wand went flying out of his hand, he himself getting thrown back as the spell hit him. Harry cheered the loudest, whooping.

Hermione punched him, "Stop that, Harry! He could've been seriously hurt!"

"Isn't he a skilled duelist?" Harry said mockingly, "He should be able to block that."

Lockhart staggered to his feet, "Ah, yes, um, I obviously let it hit me to show you all what the effects of that spell is!" He smiled fakely, "That was the Expelliarmus spell! As you can see, it disarms your opponent, thus leaving you defenseless." He cleared his throat, "So, let us move on. Find pairs to practice with!"

So they paired up, and Harry sat down, looking bored. "This is so boring," Harry said, yawning. "Can't I leave?"

"Harry, my dear boy!" Lockhart said loudly, "Why are you not practicing your duelling?"

Harry didn't even look up at him, answering in a voice that he would use with a five year old, "Because I can't use a wand. Like I told you before."

"Harry, this has got to stop. Of you can use a wand! All wizards can use a wand!" Lockhart cried out in exasperation.

Harry stood up, "I can't. I told you that millions of times before."

Snape walked over, "Professor Lockhart, Mr Potter cannot use a wand, and it would do you good to believe him."

Lockhart laughed nervously at Snape, "Come on, Severus, you don't actually believe him, do you?"

Snape sighed, "Fine. Mr Potter, find a partner to duel with. You two will duel on the stage for everyone to see."

Harry heaved a sigh, but got up and found Hermione, "Hey, Hermione. They want me to duel, so you want to be my partner? We have to go on the stage though."

Hermione blinked, but agreed. They walked onto the stage, and Lockhart called the attention of all the students, "Mr. Potter and Ms. Granger have agreed to duel on the stage. Please watch carefully, as we are now introducing the Shield Charm."

Snape walked over to Harry before Lockhart could, and said, "Try not to go all out on her."

"I know," Harry said simply. Dumbledore had explained to them Snape's role, and the extent of his knowledge. He knew about Earthland, and the fact that they were learning Earthland magic. Harry had first distrusted Snape because of his attempt to intrude on his mind, but since Dumbledore trusted him, Harry would trust Dumbledore's judgment.

He faced Hermione, and on cue, the two of them bowed. "One, two, three, begin!" Lockhart shouted.

Hermione flicked her wand, "Expelliarmus!"

Harry tilted his body to the side, letting the spell rush past him. He held his fists together, "Ice Make Arrows!"

Hermione shifted to the left, avoiding the arrows deftly, "Aqua Eructo!" A whip of water protruded from her wand, and she slashed her wand diagonally.

Harry just laughed, "That's impressive, Hermione. Isn't that a pretty advanced spell? But don't you think that water's not the greatest element to sue against me?" He held out his hands, as if catching the water, instantly freezing it. He wrenched it downward, causing Hermione's grip on her wand to loosen slightly. "Ice Make Floor!"

There were gasps all around, as many had not seen Harry use his wandless magic. He smirked, "Believe me now, Professor Lockhart?"

He heard a choking noise, but ignored it, focusing on Hermione, who had regained her composure. "Incendio!" Hermione cried out, aiming the flames at the ice, a bit unsteady on her feet as her shoes found no friction on the ice.

"Ice Make Lance! Ice Make Cage!"

Hermione slid to the floor trying to dodge the lance, glaring as the cage of ice descended onto her, trapping her there. Harry turned to face Lockhart, "Believe me now?"

Lockhart looked dumbfounded, and his mouth opened, then closed, then opened again. No sound came out.

Snape looked subtly pleased, and nodded at Harry. "You may return to your own independent practices."

Harry lifted his magic, watching the ice cage dissipate. Hermione just huffed at him, but her eyes were smiling, "You took advantage of the fact that the floor was slippery."

Harry grinned at her, and she laughed, "That was a nice duel."

"Potter! Duel me!" Theodore Nott said loudly, flanked by his cronies. His eyes were gleaming, cold as ice.

Harry raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

"You think you're so much better than us because of your wandless magic," Theo sneered. He held out his wand, "A halfblood like you should know your place under purebloods."

Harry's eyes sharpened when he saw the red glint in Theo's eyes. He straightened, smirking, "Sure. Why not? And maybe I'll teach you that power and strength do not differentiate between purebloods, halfbloods and muggleborns. Power is power. Strength is strength."

Hermione looked at Harry sharply. Her gaze was concerned and questioning. Harry grinned back reassuringly.

Snape spotted them, and he narrowed his eyes, walking over, "Mr. Potter, have you forgotten what Professor Dumbledore told you?"

Harry looked back at him, and then relented, "Fine." He turned back to Theo, "Well, it seems that the professors don't trust me with someone that they don't think is suitable to duel me. If you can beat Hermione, maybe they'll let you duel me."

Theo's eyes flashed with anger and hatred, the red tint growing stronger. Harry tensed, and Theo snarled angrily, "I will not demean myself to fight a muggleborn!"

"But that means you'll definitely win against her, right?" Harry said, raising an eyebrow mockingly. "So just indulge us a bit, and duel her." At Theo's hesitation, Harry smirked, "Or are you scared that she'll defeat you?"

Theo glared at him, and then turned to Hermione. His eyes were fierce, almost glowing red with rage and an unfathomable hatred.

Hermione glanced at Draco, who looked worried and concerned. She smiled, "I'll be fine. It's just a duel."

When the duel started, Theo released a barrage of jinxes and hexes, never nearing curses, but each spell had a tremendous amount of magic power in it. Hermione's eyes narrowed, and she neatly dodged a few, and pulled up a shimmering shield for the ones that she couldn't. She gritted her teeth as each spell slammed into her shield.

Refusing to relent, Theo fired a few more spells, all at high power. Hermione narrowed her eyes, and threw herself into a tumble, landing on her feet and bombarding Theo with spells of her own. "Rictusempra! Tarantallegra! Paucis prohibere! Expelliarmus!"

As Harry watched, he realized that Theo would not be able to dodge the spell that would slow him down and therefore lead to his defeat. However, as the spell approached the Slytherin boy, Theo's light brown eyes flashed a deep, piercing red, and the magic power Harry felt from him spiked. The spell seemed to slow down, just enough for Theo to duck.

Harry leaned forward hastily, eyes narrowed. What the hell was that? He glanced at Professor Snape, who met his gaze with a barely perceptible nod. Harry tensed, ready to interfere if the situation became too dangerous.

Theo pointed his wand at Hermione, eyes wild, "Serpensortia!" A humongous black mamba materialized, baring its fangs threateningly. Pale yellow venom dripped off and onto the floor.

"This girl looks yummy!" a surprisingly high pitched voice said. Harry's eyes widened when it emerged from the snake's mouth.

Throwing himself in front of Hermione, he formed his Ice Make stance, "ICE MAKE CAGE!" After the huge mamba was contained, he whirled around to snarl at Theo, "What the hell are you thinking? She could've gotten seriously hurt! She could've died!"

Theo snarled at Harry, teeth bared, "Does it look like I care? I defeated her! Fight me!"

All rational thought flew out of Harry's mind when he imagined what could've happened to Hermione if he didn't step in. The air around him turned icy, and frost spread onto the ground. Theo laughed, red swirling in his eyes, "Come at me, Potter!"

With caution and secrecy abandoned, Harry sucked in a lungful of cold air, feeling his magic pool in his belly. In one breath, he released the pent up magic. "ICE DRAGON'S ROAR!" In his anger, he did not notice that the words that left his mouth were not English, but rather in a strange hissing language.

All he noticed was the fading of the red in Theo's eyes, and the fear and shock that entered them, and the sense of satisfaction and revenge.

A torrent of icicles erupted from his mouth, cutting through Theo's shield like a butcher's knife would through butter.

"NO, HARRY!" Harry's brain distantly registered Hermione's scream.

She jumped in front of Theo, and erected her own shield, secretly infusing it with her Memory Make. She gritted her teeth, letting out a yell as she strained against Harry's powerful magic.

When his magic dissipated and everything cleared, Harry finally took heed of the people around him. Their faces were filled with horror, shock and fear. He blinked, confused, "What are you guys staring at me for?"

Before Ron or Draco could do anything, Snape dragged Harry out of the room, and towards Dumbledore's office. "You are full of surprises, Mr. Potter," the professor muttered drily. "I suppose you never knew you were a Parselmouth?"

Harry blinked again, "Huh? What's a Parselmouth?"

Snape stared at him, and then sighed, "You can speak to snakes."

Draco, Ron and Hermione raced out of the room after him. "Harry!" Hermione looked at Professor Snape, "Where are we going?"

"To the Headmaster," Snape answered her shortly. "This will be an interesting development, along with," he glanced around to see if they were alone, "Mr. Nott's behaviour."

"So we're sure he's the one?" Ron asked, speeding up his pace to catch up to the adult.

Snape nodded, "No doubt about it, but to outsiders oblivious to our knowledge, there is not enough concrete evidence. We will have to find the Chamber first. When can you go see the Four?"

"I can go after talking to the Headmaster," Harry volunteered. "I don't have any classes in the afternoon."

Snape nodded, "Good." He was silent for a moment, before saying, "You were not how I thought you would be, Mr Potter."

Harry glanced at him, "What do you mean by that, sir?"

"I knew your parents," Snape said as elaboration. "Your mother was a wonderful woman. She was kind, beautiful and compassionate." His voice was reverent but discolored by bitterness and regret. "Your father on the other hand, was the typical Pureblood. He was arrogant, selfish and a bully."

Harry fixed him with a look, slightly annoyed, "Really."

Snape laughed humorlessly, "His favorite victim was me. He loved tormenting me, along with his friends. Did anyone ever tell you who the Marauders were?"

The dark haired boy looked at the floor, "I found when Sirius Black had his retrial."

"The Marauders, comprised of Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and James Potter," the professor said. "They found great entertainment in making my life a living hell. The only light in it was my mother, and the young muggleborn witch that lived in the same neighborhood as me. Lily Evans, your mother. She would defend me every time those four bullied me, and I was grateful, and slightly embarrassed that I had to rely on a Gryffindor muggleborn witch to protect me." Professor Snape sighed, "I was never able to express how grateful I truly am about her friendship and her love, no matter how platonic it was."

Harry was silent.

"I initially thought Dumbledore had placed you in a Pureblood Light family that would spoil you like a prince. I thought you would be just like your father. An entitled brat. But you're not. You remind me so much of your mother, it hurts," Snape admitted. "The four of you will go on to do great things. Great things indeed."

Harry stared at their professor, thoughtful. Great things, huh?

They entered Dumbledore's office, somber and pensive.

Dumbledore looked up, eyes twinkling, "Severus! Mr Potter, Mr Weasley, Mr Malfoy and Ms Granger. What can I do for you all?"

Professor Snape began, "First of all, we are now very sure that Mr Theodore Nott has possession of the diary. All we have to do is get concrete evidence." Dumbledore nodded gravely, eyes dimmed with sadness at the poor boy's happenings. "And for the second thing, I think Mr Potter would be more fit to tell you."

Harry swallowed, looking at Dumbledore in the eye, "I can speak to snakes."

I hope you liked this chapter, and if there's anything that bothers you, do share. I won't promise that I'll change anything, but I can give you my reasons for writing it like so.

Thanks!