My muse is working very hard this week and it's all for Amnesia, good for you guys bad for my other readers. Oh and anyone who has read my other stories know that I'm not the best with fight scenes but I shall do my best!
Disclaimer: why do I keep doing this? Ya'll know I don't own this
Since this whole club was Severus' idea Professor Sutton felt that he should help set up the dueling stage. The Defense teacher and Headmaster had decided to use the Great Hall for this first session. Setting up the stage was relatively easy with the use of magic and now Severus was helping Madame Pomfrey set up a small healing station for any injuries sustained today. He was currently arranging all of the healing potions he had 'helped' Professor Slughorn brew over the previous two nights. In truth Slughorn just sat there and praised his pupil's work.
The first dueling session was to start in thirty minutes and everyone was expected to come and at least watch but only those fifteen and older would be allowed to fight and only against those with a similar amount of skill. All one had to do to volunteer was raise their hand to fight anyone or yell out a challenge and the teachers would then say yes or no. For example a fifth year would not be allowed to fight a seventh year unless said fifth year or was very good or seventh year was very bad. This was all a bit of an experiment. The point of this club was to teach the students how to fight and defend themselves but nobody wanted any of the students to get hurt. Madame Pomfrey in particular was muttering all sorts of things about how this was completely irresponsible and dangerous.
Ever since Slytherin's victory over Gryffindor all of the talk that filled the hallways and common rooms was about the Dueling club. Who they wanted to see fight, who they wanted to fight, and of course a lot of boasting. Severus personally was looking forward to fighting Potter and Black individually and showing them exactly what they were dealing with if they ever got the guts to face him one on one. Lupin had never actually attacked him—as a human—and was Hermione's friend so Severus had no desire to fight him. Pettigrew was weak excuse for a Gryffindor; a coward and could only get a hex in if his opponent was already down so that fight would be a waste of time. Though, absolutely humiliating Pettigrew could be fun. He wondered what would happen if Hermione fought Pettigrew; she hated him, had a fiery temper, and was skilled in just about every area of magic. No doubt she would be skilled in some hexes; yes it would be much more fun to see her duel Pettigrew.
For the past hour the only noises were the voices of Pomfrey, Dumbledore, Sutton, and McGonagall and the moving of equipment. This was broken when the large doors opened up. The voices of all the students waiting outside floated in and were then cut off when the doors closed. Severus looked over to see who was coming in and saw Slughorn and Hermione. Slughorn's voice boomed through the hall, "I'm so glad you have found time in your busy schedule to join my little club. I knew that you would."
Hermione politely smiled and nodded her head, "Thank you sir for the offer. I think I should head back out to the hallway though with the other students."
"Nonsense, I'm sure you can stay here. We don't mind, do we Albus?"
The Headmaster twinkled at the two of them. "Of course, in fact Ms. Jean would you come here? I'd like to discuss some things with you and Madame Pomfrey. Then perhaps you can help Mr. Snape finish up."
Neither student was thrilled to hear that the Headmaster wanted to speak with Hermione. Ever since the full moon incident Hermione had been placed with Severus in Dumbledore's opinion. The only difference was that he seemed to have some hope for her.
Hermione obeyed the elderly wizard and went to talk to him. Pomfrey stood beside her employer and McGonagall went to place a comforting hand on Hermione's shoulder. Dumbledore attempted to put up a privacy charm to avoid being overheard by the two potioneers. Severus smirked at how easy it was to slyly have the spell include him; any spell of this kind had this flaw. Every spell except the one Severus invented which Dumbledore was obviously unaware of.
"Ms. Jean, are you sure you are comfortable with this?" he whispered.
Hermione looked a little confused, "Yes of course, why?"
Madame Pomfrey looked sympathetic, "Your scars, my dear, and the injuries when you first came here. They suggest… they suggest that you've seen real fighting, perhaps even combat. This may bring up bad memories."
"Ma'am at this point I'd welcome any memories."
"I understand but they could be traumatic for you. Are you sure you can handle this?"
Hermione paused for a moment. She remembered her first days here, how scared she was when she discovered that she could remember so many hexes and curses. It frightened her then but now… "I'm sure in fact I feel oddly prepared for this."
"Has any of this talk brought back memories?"
"Not exactly but…" Hermione turned and looked at the dueling stage with what seemed to be familiarity. "This stage…"
"What about it?" Dumbledore asked urgently.
Hermione's mind began to grasp at something. Some picture from the back of her mind. It was like one of her vague memories but more concrete. "I remember some people fighting on something like this, snakes, some boys and a tall dark man."
"What about them?"
"That's all, nothing specific. Why am I remembering now Madame Pomfrey? It's nothing strong but it is more than before."
"Sometimes you need something to trigger the memories, dear," the nurse answered.
"Well if you think you are fine then you shall be allowed to participate," Dumbledore reasoned, "now please go help Mr. Snape." Severus put the headmaster's spell back to the way it was before it was cancelled and went back to work.
'Combat? Is that her secret? Are any of those rumors about her fighting in the war true?' Severus wondered. 'But if she did than wouldn't the Death Eaters or the ministry know about her? Unless she was only known by her last name, maybe she kept a low profile until recently. Or maybe the Death Eaters do know her and they want to take advantage of her state of mind. If so she must really be good. Great now I sound like one of those babbling idiots, I should just wait until Hermione sees fit to tell me.' Just then Hermione walked to her friend's side and he waited for her to ask what she needed to do but she never did. Finally he looked up and saw her staring at him with a funny look.
"Something wrong?" he drawled.
Hermione's eyes widened ever so slightly and she shook her head minutely, snapping herself out of whatever trance she was in. "Nothing, so what should I be doing?" Hermione blushed a little from embarrassment. Severus caught her staring; he must think she's weird now or something. She couldn't help it though seeing him reminded her of the dark man. Was he? No it was too coincidental, though he might be…
"Nothing now since I'm done. Professor Sutton is about to let the students in anyway." Why was she staring at him? Did she notice him eavesdropping? Impossible because that would mean Dumbledore had to have noticed and he would not have let that slide.
Both streams of thought were interrupted once more with the sound of the large doors opening and allowing the mass of students to enter. They filled the Great Hall quickly, naturally going to the general area where their house table usually is. Seveus and Hermione stayed off to the side by Madame Pomfrey's table. Dumbledore went up to his podium to speak to the group. "Students I would like to welcome you to our first meeting of the Dueling club. Many of you will not be able to participate but I hope you enjoy watching and that all of you will learn a thing or two about how to defend yourselves. I would like to thank Madame Promfrey and Professors Sutton and Slughorn for helping organize this event." Everyone began clapping respectfully before being stopped by Dumbledore. "And of course I'd like to thank the young man who had the idea in the first place who also helped us set up and brew potions, Mr. Snape," he added with a sweep of his arm towards Severus. The teachers, Hermione, and those who didn't know Severus all clapped with the Slytherin students joining quickly. The rest of the student body was more hesitant.
Severus was surprised to say the least. Why was the old coot giving him credit? He never would have done something like that before.
"Now I will let Professor Sutton explain the rules to you." The Headmaster stepped down and Sutton took his place explaining that curses and dark magic was not allowed. When he said stop the duel ended and he had to approve any matches. All the rules of formal dueling had to be followed and any violation of the rules would be punished.
"Now let's have some volunteers, How about Mr. Snape since it was all his idea?" Everyone turned to look at Severus' response.
"Sure," he said with an emotionless face and he walked up to the stage. Seeing him standing there once again brought the image of the dark man to Hermione's foremost thoughts.
"Would anyone like to challenge him?" Professor Sutton asked. Just about all of the Gryffindor's hands shot up with quite a few others. "How about you Mr. Potter." James smirked with his good luck and so did Severus. James joined his opponent on the stage and the two young wizards walked up to meet each other in the middle, carrying themselves confidently before having to pull out their wands and bow. They turned around and went to their ends of the stage to the sound of cheers and jeering. Settling into their fighting stances the duel began.
"Anteoculatia!" James cast only to have his spell rebounded by Severus' shield. As antlers grew from the popular seeker's head Severus silently cast his toe-nail growing hex to add to the ridiculous picture. James quickly cast finite incantatem to stop the growths before slinging a knee reversal hex. Severus once again blocked, though he had to physically move a little this time, as Sutton yelled at them to tone it down before losing points.
Both disappointed they began to throw simple jinxes at each other. James managed to hit Severus with a tripping jinx and a spiraling gust of air. But he was hit with the jelly legs and knockback jinxes in succession much to his humiliation. Many students, especially Slytherins, were laughing at him. His temper was rising when Severus silently attached his tongue to the roof of his mouth. Sutton declared the duel done so that the others could have a turn but James ignored him. He was pissed and unable to cast strong spells without his voice he charged at Severus.
Most wizards would not know what to do in this situation since they hardly ever fought using physical contact. Severus however was, according to muggles, a manc street rat. He was raised in Manchester in the shadow of a closed down factory. His environment and father made sure he knew how to fight the good old fashioned muggle way if he had to and he knew how to fight dirty.
The second James came in range of his arm Severus hit his chin with a left-handed upper cut followed by a right hook that sent James staggering back. Severus then pushed James around so his back was towards Severus who then put the pure blooded wizard into a full nelson before going to his rdown on his right knee taking James down to the ground and pressing his left knee into the small of James' back. The crowd erupted with noise as the teachers tried to calm everyone down. The noise covered Severus' voice so that only James heard him sneer, "Not so tough without your back up are you? Believe me, I can mess you up badly if I wanted to. Pass the message to your friends." Then Sutton pulled Severus off of James.
The teacher then used the sonorous charm to get everyone's attention. "Silence! A eventful start but I must ask everyone else not to go that far today. Twenty points from Gryffindor for ignoring direct orders. Mr. Snape I would have preferred if you used a full body bind to end the fight but your method was also effective. I'm afraid I must take ten points for continuing the fight."
"Ten! But we lost twenty," Sirius yelled indignantly.
"Yes, only ten because at least Mr. Snape was defending himself," Sutton explained. He took the time to go over the rules once more as James and Severus went to Madame Pomfrey. Severus' injuries consisted of bruises that could heal on their own while James needed some work done including fixing his broken nose.
"He never should have let you two fight. What were you thinking given your history?" the nurse scolded. She dismissed Severus quickly as he had no need to be there and he left to go stand beside Hermione who was looking a little blank. Severus was disappointed as he was expecting at least one of her smiles. When he reached her though she did smile and looked a bit proud of him.
"Great job even if you lost points, he deserved it frankly. Where did you learn to fight like that?"
"At home," he said simply knowing she would assume he had lessons. They both turned to the stage as the next match up—a Ravenclaw sixth year against Gryffindor of the same year—was announced. It wasn't all that interesting nor were the three following matches. Throughout the dueling Hermione began feeling strange. Her heart was racing, her muscles tense and already ready to attack or defend the split second it was needed yet she felt familiar with it as if she had experience. Perhaps she did, perhaps in her past or future as it were this club continued and she was a part of it. But no, she got her scars from somewhere she believed that it was much worse than this. The spells she knew were too dark and the scars too cruel. The matches all ended quickly with simple jinxes with the occasional darker hex, typically from the Slytherins. After one Slytherin used a cracker jinx on a Hufflepuff, sending both students flying, Hermione finally took the stage.
The three staff members from earlier looked a bit nervous and Severus anxious. What if she wasn't fine with being attacked directly? What if she broke down or worse had a flashback and go into full battle mode?
However Hermione seemed calm, cool, and collected on stage as she faced one of Severus' roommates, Antonin Dolohov. Perhaps too much for Severus to be comfortable, it looked as if she was shutting down her emotions. On the inside Hermione began getting nervous. Her intuition recognized this boy and feared him. Her thoughts instantly went to every shield, hex, and curse she knew as some almost concrete memories resurfaced. After the two bowed she realized what her mind was trying to tell her: this boy had attacked at one point. After some more flashes she had a inkling to blame him for the horrid scar on her torso.
She tried to keep calm, remember that he had done nothing so far but when he threw a stinging jinx at her it all went out the window. She blocked it quickly and precisely before hitting him with tongue tying and ear shriveling curses. She no longer saw the stage or the audience, only her enemy as she covered his face with boils. She would have thrown a reductor curse had she not been stopped by Dumbledore.
"Enough! This is over! Twenty points from Gryffindor! Everyone to your common rooms!" everyone grumbled and left wondering why this shy Gryffindor girl went crazy. She carried herself like a soldier as she dueled and her face completely blank. The fears of the informed staff were confirmed as they saw what they recognized as a traumatic flashback. Hermione had been a soldier, a child soldier from the future.
Severus, who stayed behind, knew nothing about the event's implications for the future but he realized that his friend had been forced to fight in her lifetime.
As he watched McGonagall take her away he wondered what she had been forced to do exactly and the adults wondered if this war would ever end.
I should be able to have another chapter up tomorrow unless something happens and possibly another by Wednesday. For anyone who understands psychology and wants to point out my flaws concerning amnesia, memory recall, or post-traumatic stress sorry I took a high school AP course and that's it. I got a 3 on the AP exam so I'm confident this is all acceptable. You know everyone copes and recovers differently.
Please Review
Oh and a friend of mine, known as the lovely trappedinherimagination here on Fanfiction, suggested I do something to advertise my stories through like a tumblr page or youtube video. Now with the cover pictures I want to ask some of you to help with either of these things on any of my stories out of the goodness of your hearts since I have no artistic ability. Yeah I sound desperate but this is the internet where I have very little shame
Also proof that my spell check is retarded, it wanted me to correct my sentence to say "Ms. Jean is you sure you are comfortable with this?" sorry I just had to point that out. My grammar might not be perfect but at least I'm not that bad.