The Second Chance

DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything of Harry Potter. This story is inspired by Kurinoone's awesome story 'The Darkness Within', which was inspired by Project Dark Overlord's wonderful fic- 'A Shattered Prophesy'.

Thanks a lot to those who reviewed in the last chapter: Lord Toewart, Kurinoone, Ash-Bookworm 113, v1cky84, Biaa Black Potter, rainbowgirl, Jessica, draco and G your encouragement really kept me going! This chapter is dedicated to you in thanks for your wonderful support. :D

Chapter 14: The Duelling Club

It was now the fourth day of Kit's stay in Hogwarts.

Yesterday night, after he had managed to sneak a look at the Marauder's Map, his scar had flared up again. It wasn't too ferocious- bearable, but barely- and he had only managed to throw up the Silencing Charms around his four- poster- bed before hissing in agony at the pain building up in his forehead.

He had expected it, of course. Voldemort had already told Harry of his plans to attack Greville Town. Only after the raid in Greville had been completed only was Harry supposed to start breaking down the Hogwarts barriers. But a trill of panic was slowly crawling up the pit of his stomach. Harry wasn't that worried about the Hogwarts barriers; he had found out about the Secret Keepers, and he intended to put his plan into action only after the first week.

He wanted to find out the truth. What exactly had happened in the year when he was Dumbledore's mindless puppet? What did James Potter make him do, under the influence of the Imperius Curse? As far as he knew, he had been friends with Damien Potter and Ron Weasley under the spell, and that was about all. He couldn't even get his hands on the Daily Prophet, now that the postal service was suspended!

And still there were so many unsolved mysteries... the three white feathers tucked neatly behind his ninja blades, back at Riddle Manor. The smell of smoke that lingered in his bathroom the day he woke up. The black tomb his father said he built...

How was he to find out everything? It seemed such an impossible task.

Perhaps, he could ask Ron... but he had to make it sound less conspicious...

Kit was late down for breakfast that day, opting instead to laze about on his four poster bed, analyzing the Map, racking his brains for ideas and plans until Ron woke up noisily.

Most of the Gryffindors woke around the same time as them both, so there was a troop of loud Gryffindors thundering down the staircase as they made their way to the Great Hall for breakfast together. His timing couldn't have been more perfect as he reached the Common Room portrait hole door. Lavender and Parvati were standing directly behind him. So he did what any other pureblood gentleman would have done; he held open the door for them.

Both of them looked surprised, as Kit had been avoiding them all his stay in Hogwarts, not wanting to attract unwanted attention. But this time, an idea sparking in his head, he managed to give them a small smile, before beckoning for Ron, who was behind Parvati to hurry up.

"They're all over you again," Ron commented, as they heard Parvati and Lavender's giggles as they descended the staircase. "And here I thought they had given up hope on you. Oh and by the way, Damien's not up yet- he's still sleeping, and he told me to go away when I tried waking him up, so I suppose we needn't wait for him."

Kit shrugged, pretending to look nonchalant. That probably had something to do with his spell, then. As they continued on walking together, Kit decided to get directly to the point and ask his question.

"Who is Harry Potter?" he asked abruptly, his tone light, so as not to betray himself.

As expected, Ron immediately stopped short. "What?"

"Harry Potter," repeated Kit, looking completely innocent. "You don't happen to know him, do you?"

"You're asking me who is Harry Potter?" Ron sounded incredulous. "Haven't you read the papers? He's been everywhere!"

Kit shrugged. "I come from abroad, remember? I don't know anything about the stories here. I don't even know what the secrecy and protection all around here is for, so I was hoping someone would tell me. Most of the people just stare weirdly at me like you did whenever I ask."

Ron looked mildly stunned. Kit thought he looked a bit pleased, too, at being able to answer Kit's questions. Which suited his purposes perfectly. "Oh okay. You do know who is You- Know- Who, don't you?"

"The Dark Wizard?" Kit pretended to frown. "Yes, I may have heard of something like that. Darkest wizard of all time in Britain."

"Yeah," said Ron, relieved that Kit wouldn't force him to say Voldemort's name aloud. "He's been killing and torturing Muggles and wizards and doing all sorts of evil stuff ever since... well, twenty years ago. Maybe more. He was too powerful, and no one could stop him. But one day, about twenty years ago, this weird prophecy popped up from nowhere, saying that a Chosen One would be born to defeat You- Know- Who."

This wasn't the answer Kit was waiting for, but he was intrigued nevertheless. A prophecy of someone that would defeat Voldemort?

"The prophecy spoke of a child, born at the end of July and some other claptrap I forgot what," Ron continued, not bothering the details. "Anyway, these descriptions pointed to only two children- Neville Longbottom and Harry Potter.

"For some reason the Dark Lord decided that Harry Potter was the Prophesied child, so one day on Halloween night, he sent one of his filthy followers- called Death- Eaters, by the way- to steal Harry Potter from his family. And surely you can make the connection- Harry is- I mean, was, Damien's elder brother."

"So Harry Potter died, just like that?" prompted Kit.

They had now reached the Great Hall. Kit purposely chose a seat farther away from where Hermione was sitting between Ginny and Dean, so that the Muggle- born Witch wouldn't hear their conversation and get suspicious.

"That's what we thought, what Dumbledore thought too," admitted Ron. "But just last year, all of a sudden, Harry Potter came back, alive. After that, he tried to defeat You- Know- Who, and he saved many lives, and a lot happened... but in the end he was killed by You- Know- Who."

Ron dived for more scrambled eggs. Kit felt a bit annoyed. The point he had asked the question was because he wanted to know about what happened last year. Not the prophecy bit, which was probably a cover story made up by Dumbledore to save the Potters' pride when their son ran away.

"I want to know what happened last year," Kit said, showing his interest. "Lavender said she kind of knew this... Harry Potter. She said he attended Hogwarts."

Ron looked surprised, and his expression almost immediately changed into indignance. "She told you that?"

Of course not. Idiot.

Kit looked surprised. "Yeah... was Harry Potter her friend?"

Ron snorted. "As if! Harry didn't want to have anything to do with her, or all the other girls giggling about him. He only hung out with us. Damy, me, Hermione and Ginny." His face softened a bit. "He was a bit scary at first. And his power was mental. I mean, he was really really powerful. Better than maybe even Dumbledore himself. But after that... he became quite a good friend. He was the closest with Damien, actually."

"How did he return?" Kit asked, feeling his pulse rate increase slightly. "After all those years. I thought the Dark Lord killed him when he was a child?"

"You- Know- Who made everyone think that he did just that," Ron said darkly, "but he didn't. He raised Harry as his heir, and trained him into a powerful warrior, and ordered him about to kill and torture like he did his other followers. And Harry was really competent."

Kit tried hard to mask his quiet anger that was beginning to seep out of his control. He took a bite of his bacon rolls so that Ron wouldn't see his eyes, which might have darkened.

"Harry was caught by his real father, James Potter, on one of the Auror missions or something," Ron continued, completely unaware of Kit's almost dark blue eyes. "At first, he hated us all. Tried to kill James Potter, in fact, and framed Sirius Black for it. And he snapped my wrist, and it didn't even cost him an effort!" Ron seemed to be proud of that fact.

But already Kit was beginning to get confused. Why would he, Harry have done that? How could he have hurt those people, seeing as he was under James Potter's Imperius Curse? Unless he had managed to throw off the spell... but if Harry had managed to ward off the Imperius Curse, wouldn't he have remembered it? Or was this just another story spun by Dumbledore to make things look more realistic, to seem as though he had really converted Harry to the Light after much persuasion and hard work? Somehow, the latter seemed easier to believe... but it did not make complete sense, either.

"Well, Harry was pretty nasty to all of us for quite some time. Only Damien could stand being around him, at first. Until this one time, there was a Daywalker attack on Hogsmeade, and Harry turned up to save our lives. He really has this life- saving thing. He saved my sister Ginny four times, in fact. And you have no idea how cool his moves were! He swished his wand like this-" Ron demonstrated by swinging a German sausage- "and suddenly he transfigured it into a sword, and he stuck it straight-" Ron popped the sausage into his mouth- "into the Daywalker's heart!"

Kit had to refrain from rolling his eyes. "Wow."

"You have no idea how advanced he was at magic!"

"I read a newspaper article, about the Black Tomb," Kit cut across Ron's rant.

Ron sobered immediately. "Yes. That. You- Know- Who created it, he said he wanted to kill Harry Potter for betraying him. Then one day, he managed to capture Ginny and Nigel- Neville's younger brother, to force his son to return to him. Harry immediately surrendered himself, and went storming back to save them both. Said he couldn't let innocents die for his sake. Everyone tried to stop him but they couldn't. He managed to save both Ginny and Nigel in the end... but it cost him his life." Ron fell silent, and he put down his fork, as though his appetite had vanished. "Ginny cried for a whole week. And she never cries. Damien, too. You have no idea how much he had yearned for an elder brother... and he kept following Harry about in Hogwarts, when he was around. Harry was very annoyed at first."

"Can't imagine why," muttered Kit.

"Why did you ask about him, anyway?" Ron asked presently.

"Lavender," Kit replied. "She said I reminded her of him."

Ron looked surprised at that. "Really?" A short pause before, "She kind of has a point."

Kit's eyes narrowed slightly. "Why?"

Ron shrugged, picking up his fork again. "You're both good at Defense- though no offense meant, Harry might be a bit better. Both of you have girls giggling about your looks. Both of you got annoyed by Damien." Ron stopped.

"That's it?" said Kit, who was hoping for more points in which he could correct his acting skills.

"Yeah... no, I don't know," Ron was not very helpful. "Some mannerisms, the way you react... well I don't know." He didn't mention the bit where he saw Kit's eyes turn black. "Sometimes you do remind me of him."

That didn't sound good.

"Really," Kit didn't know what else to say.

Just then, a sleepy Damien appeared beside Ron, yawning widely. The redhead immediately shifted up the bench for Damien to sit beside him. Kit eyed Damien's dirty fingers- which were still dusty after they cleaned the second floor without magic last light- with disgust. It did not help that the Gryffindor used those fingers to pick a handful of fries from the plate and stuff it into his mouth.

Kit wondered just how could the Gryffindors stand such filth and decorum. Slytherins were better.

His mouth set in a grim line, and not at all bothering to disguise his annoyance at Damien, Kit got up to leave the table. "I'll see you later at Defense," he told Ron, before slinging his bag over his shoulder to walk away.

On the way out of the Great Hall, however, Kit saw groups of students huddled around in animated discussion, Gryffindors and Slytherins alike, and it was only then when he noticed that the Great Hall was filled with louder noisy chatters than usual. He had been too engrossed in figuring out Ron's story about Harry Potter and wondering about the stories and lies Dumbledore had spun. Feeling decidedly uninterested in whatever the rest of the student population were discussing about, Kit spun round and prepared to leave the hall, when Ron suddenly hailed him, loudly, in the middle of the corridor.

"What?" snapped Kit, sounding rather irritated, before he caught himself.

Ron nearly faltered, but by only a bit. He and Damien were beside themselves with excitement as they said loudly, as though they were miles apart and couldn't hear each other properly, "The duelling club!"

Right. Fabulous. "Oh," said Kit, before turning away. "I'm not very interested. You can go back to your breakfast."

"Hey wait- Kit, you haven't listened yet," Ron said, and Kit forced himself to clear all traces of annoyance from his face before turning around. "This year they're having inter- Houses Duelling matches! And Professor Wynter is going to be the one that elects three members from each Year to enter the Duelling Club. Only those above Third- Years are allowed, though. And every single year, stupid Slytherin wins, as Snape commences the battle!"

Kit didn't see what it had to do with him. "Really," he said. "But I don't think I'm good enough, Ron, so you can go ask Hermione or Neville to enter."

"Kit, you were amazing at every single Defense class! And the Duelling Club is going to be held throughout the week. The first match is tomorrow- between Gryffindor and Slytherin- can you believe it? They sure planned it as a surprise! I suppose they wanted to see what the students are naturally capable of. If they let it on early, some people may start to practise hard a whole lot more, and that would be unfair." Kit didn't see Ron's point in this, but the redhead continued anyway, "And the House with most points at the end of the week will win!"

"It's up to Professor Wynter to elect those who get to enter anyway," Kit pointed out. He had been hoping to ask for possible copies of the Daily Prophet before Defense class.

"Exactly! Professor Wynter's bound to choose you," Ron said excitedly, before leaning in closer, "and I hope you'll beat Neville!"

Kit stared, uncomprehending. "We're in the same House," he pointed out.

Ron shrugged. "There will be a Best Dueller prize given at the end of the week. If both of you emerge as champions, then you'll have to duel each other for the Best Dueller prize... though either way it's going to win Gryffindor 150 points in the match!"

Kit really couldn't be bothered. But he pretended to quirk a smile and said, "You know, that actually sounds interesting," which directly contradicted his first statement about the Duelling Club, but of course Ron didn't notice a thing.

"It does, doesn't it? I couldn't wait to tell you. I just found out after talking to Damien! I wasn't looking at the notice board when I exited the Common Room, I guess."

Speaking of which, Ron seemed to notice that Damien had disappeared as well. He had been following Ron when the redhead made to talk to Kit. Ron looked back and noticed that the youngest Potter was sitting at the Gryffindor table alone, moodily prodding his chicken.

"I'd better go see what's up with him," said Ron, looking a little less excited than before. "See you later at Defense?"

"Sure."

Kit shrugged and walked away, towards the library.

Back at the Gryffindor table, Damien seemed to have lost all previous elation he had for the Duelling Club. Ron plopped himself directly beside his friend and looked closely at the youngest Potter.

"What's wrong?" he asked, completely uncomprehending of Damien's sudden change in demeanor.

Damien's eyes flickered up and roved around the hall, as though ensuring no one would eavesdrop on their conversation, before saying in a low voice, "I can't enter the Duelling Club, Ron. But I really really wanted to. And thanks to Harry's training last year, I performed best in the class in the last Defense lesson! What if Professor Wynter chooses me to enter?"

"Well then why not?" Ron asked, genuinely surprised. "What's stopping you?"

Damien pursed his lips. "The Layhoo Jisteen, remember?"

"Oh," said Ron, comprehension dawning. "Well, you could always make sure you throw up a shield whenever a spell comes heading your way, just so it won't be cheating?"

"It will be cheating, no matter what," Damien said moodily. "And I'd rather withdraw than cheat, worse still, what if the entire student population of Hogwarts finds out? It'll be weird if a spell I fail to block just fizzles and dies out. Dumbledore and McGonagall knows about it already anyway."

Ron suddenly brightened. "I know, why don't you take it off before the duel then? You can always put it on after that. Surely it can't hurt. Hogwarts is as safe as anywhere."

Damien looked unsure, but already a small smile was making its way to his face.

"That is an idea..."

In Defense class, Professor Wynter told them they would be focusing on Shield Charms that day. He said that the most important thing in a duel was to be able to dodge and defend oneself, not to fire or attack. Therefore, it was speculated that whoever that managed to do best in defense class that day would be elected to enter the Duelling Club.

At first, they practised in pairs of one- to- one, the first person fired the strongest (but not dark curses) they could at the second, who would use the protego charm to deflect the spell. Whether it was most fortunate or unfortunate, they did not know, but Neville was paired up with Kit.

And the worst thing was, Kit was supposed to shield, and Neville was to fire.

Normally, Kit would have no qualms regarding that, but he wasn't going to throw up his full body shield in front of a class of incompetent students. That would put him under too bright a spotlight, and it would be suspicious as to where he learnt to perform such a strong shield. Not to mention he wasn't sure if Harry had performed the spell when he had been under the Crustacius Curse...

It didn't help that many people stopped just to watch Kit and Neville. And the way Neville seemed to be firing at him randomly, looking bored, made Kit annoyed, and therefore rather determined not to lose, if not prove his true ablities, to the boy.

Kit held up his shield- not a full body shield, but a translucent mirror of silver mist, that deflected the spells reasonably well. Neville's spells fizzled and died out every time it hit the barrier. Looking somewhat less bored, Neville's spells started to increase in power, but still Kit held on determinedly. It was harder than he had expected to fight back his instincts, and let his full body shield blossom before him.

"Longbottom, that is enough," Professor Wynter said suddenly, much to everyone's disappointment.

Neville obliged, turning around to face the Professor, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Now, fire the strongest spell you can at me. No dark curses allowed, though," Professor Wynter told Neville. The younger of the pair looked surprised, but obliged. He narrowed his eyes in concentration, and a strong pulse of red light immediately ignited his wand, and he sent it speeding in Professor Wynter's direction.

Professor Wynter threw up his full body shield, which made everyone in the class except Kit (who then decided to consider Wynter as a competent Professor) gasp in amazement. Wynter's shield was a green orb, beautiful, but as Ron and Hermione knew, not as strong as Harry's. Harry's shield was a dazzling; brilliant blue; Wynter's was just considered bright enough. But it seemed to do the trick, as upon impact, Neville's spell died, but so did the shield.

The whole class was silent.

"Your spells are strong," commented Wynter lightly, approaching Neville.

Neville merely shrugged. "I've been trained all my life, sir."

"Let me test your abilities. Throw up your shield, boy," Professor Wynter said as he turned his back on Neville and walked back to the front of the class.

Suddenly, Wynter whirled around with lightning speed, and a pulsing beam of yellow light shot out from his wand. It shot past Neville's shimmering half- yellow half- silver shield, not even making impact.

It wasn't meant for Neville.

Kit's instincts kicked it immediately, and he swerved out of the way at the last second. The spell shot past his ear and hit the table behind them, which promptly toppled over.

Silence fell over the threshold, as the spotlight naturally fell onto Kit, whose eyes were a little darker than before.

Wynter's eyes were gleaming as he looked at Kit, who narrowed his slightly.

"I knew you were more than that," he said, quietly, eyes still on Kit.

"I don't know what you mean, sir," Kit replied evenly, looking straight back at Wynter.

Suddenly, without even turning, Wynter fired another spell. Neville's eyes widened slightly, and he hastily conjured a shield. The shield did manage to fend off the spell, but the impact still managed to knock Neville backwards slightly.

"You see," Professor Wynter said, still looking at Kit, a small smirk playing on his lips, "Longbottom only just managed to deflect my spells, which were fired without warning. But he has undergone training all his life." He paused, and Kit felt his pulse quickening, as all eyes fell upon him. "What about you, Mason?"

"My father provided with me with the best Defense tutor when I was young," Kit replied quietly.

"So you too, have been trained in combat all your life?"

"Not exactly."

Wynter approached him, stopping only two metres away. "Show me your shield, Mason."

Warily, Kit threw up his shield, once again fighting his instincts, but only channelling a small portion of magic to fuel the mirror of silvery mist.

"Reducto," hissed Wynter suddenly, a jet of red light thundering out of his wand.

Again his instincts took over, and Kit's magic promptly strengthened his shield sub- consciously, causing the mist to glow a bright blue, before Wynter's spell fizzled and died.

Kit had to cast another glamour over his eyes for fear they had darkened again. What happened to no dark curses allowed? Reducto was a potentially harmful spell, and Wynter's spell power was strong. It told Kit one thing- Wynter was confident about what Kit was actually capable of.

That thought was not in the least comforting.

Wynter smiled, as though satisfied. "Good," he said, before turning back to the class. He told them to split into Groups once more, to practise dodging, attacking and the Shield Charm, his usual smirk back in place. As though nothing had happened.

But Kit could not shake off the wary feeling that he was constantly being watched and tested, because he couldn't trust the cunning man. Even more so because he knew who the man truly was, yet had never heard of him before- Regulus Acturus Black.

Back at Riddle Manor, Voldemort was viewing Harry's memories with increasing distaste. He didn't like the fact that Harry seemed to genuinely care a whole lot more than he should about his biological family, the blood traitors, the Mudblood and innocents.

In truth, Voldemort had also removed Harry's memories about his saving Madam Pomfrey's children, letting the Longbottoms live and saving the Weasley girl, for the first time, during the Death- Eater raid at Hogsmeade. It wouldn't do for his son to remember that once upon a time, the Dark Prince had such a strong conscience to protect innocents.

It didn't help Harry's mission that Voldemort had destroyed Harry's old wand as well, the one that could perform undetectable magic. He had presented his son with another one of his own, and he could tell that his son was reasonably pleased with the magic he could perform with it. However, Voldemort had never forgotten what Harry had said before- "Your wand, even with different allegiances, responds to me just as good as my own."

The phoenix feather core wand.

He had been meaning to get one for Harry before the boy left for his mission, but Hogsmeade had been well protected at that time, as the Ministry had not been as weak as it was now. Perhaps a new wand would be Harry's present when his son returned from Hogwarts a week later.

A few minutes later, there came a hesitant knock on the door.

"Enter," Voldemort said without looking up.

The door was opened and shut quietly by itself after Lucius Malfoy entered. He bowed low before the Dark Lord before rising at Voldemort's gesture.

"You asked to see me, my Lord?" Lucius asked, his eyes still fixed on the patch of floor before him.

"Go to Hogsmeade," Voldemort ordered. "and bring me the old wandmaker, Ollivander, by nightfall. Make sure you do not leave a trail."

Lucius nodded. "Yes, my Lord."

Lucius backed away and exited the same way he came, his mind already toying with various ideas. He knew perfectly well how to handle this. In fact, it would be all too easy...

At dinner that day, the Gryffindors were already discussing animatedly as to who was chosen who was not. That evening's match would be commencing between Fourth and Seventh Years from Gryffindor and Slytherin House, as Professor Wynter had not elected any Fifth or Sixth Years. And they would be duelling in pairs.

After everyone had eaten their fill, the dessert disappeared off the table, and the entire student population fell in expectant silence, waiting for the Duelling Club, which this year seemed to be as big an occassion as Quidditch, to start.

At first, Dumbledore came forward and gave his speech as usual. He explained the rules and regulations with much detail for a full seven minutes. He told them the main objective of the Duelling Club was to prepare the students against the war raging outside. He warned them about dark curses. And he talked and talked and talked until the previous euphoria towards the Duelling Club almost evaporated, before saying, "And now, without further ado, let us introduce our contestants of Fourth and Seventh Year students, from Gryffindor and Slytherin House. When I call out your names, kindly step forwards to the podium..."

A buzz of excited chatter rose to fill the Hall once more. Damien was also jumpy with excitement, unable to contain himself. Beside him, he felt Ron muttering in a pessimistic tone, "I don't think I'll get it. Kit and Neville were too good, and Professor Wynter was too impressed by Hermione's wide range of spells. No no. I don't think I'll get it. Anyway, I'll get to watch it- I'm not such a good dueller anyway-" until Damien felt like clopping Ron's head with his plate.

"I will first start with the Fourth Years from Slytherin House. Rosier! Nott! Mulciber!"

"Of course it would be them," Ron muttered darkly over the loud claps from Slytherin House. "All the filthy little Death- Eaters."

"From Gryffindor House: Jimmy Peakes! Sarah Abbot! Damien Potter!"

"YES!" Damien said loudly, punching his fist into the air. For a moment, as he practically skipped towards the stage, he had a bittersweet longing for Harry to see him then, just so he could gloat. He wasn't completely helpless at Defense, as Harry put it!

"For the Seventh Years from Slytherin House," began Dumbledore again, "Blaise Zabini! Draco Malfoy! Vincent Crabbe!"

"Crabbe?" said Ron in utter disbelief, to no one in particular. "How on earth did he get up there?"

"For the Seventh Years from Gryffindor House," Dumbledore continued, his voice carrying over the loud applause, "Kit Mason! Neville Longbottom! Hermione Granger!"

"I knew it," muttered Ron, feeling somewhat put out that all his best friends had managed to get into the Duelling Club except him. Hermione glanced at him, a bit apprehensively at first, but he gave her an assuring smile, and beaming at him, Hermione hugged him briefly and turned to walk towards the stage. That made Ron feel a whole lot better, and he joined in Dean and Seamus, clapping loudly for their House members.

Applause was ringing, loud and deafening in the entire Hall. Dumbledore beamed on the stage, surveying the crowd of enthusiastic students and proud contestants before him. He allowed the cheering to go on for a full minute, before raising both his hands for silence. Slowly, the chatter died down, as the students paid their respective attentions.

"Tonight, we are going to decide the participants of the duel between Slytherin and Gryffindor for the Duelling Club held tomorrow. Will all the Fourth Year participants please step forward."

Even as he spoke, Dumbledore raised his wand and conjured a golden goblet from thin air. There were plenty of lemon drops in them. He gestured at the Fourth- Years to each draw a sweet from the goblet.

Feeling completely nonplussed, all of them obeyed nevertheless. At first, all the sweets they held in their respective hands were yellow in colour. But suddenly, there was a cry when Rosier Jr.'s lemon drop turned a brilliant green. He looked up to see who his opponent was and found himself looking at Damien Potter, who was holding a ruby red lemon drop.

Dumbledore smiled. "Potter and Rosier will be duelling each other in tomorrow's match. As you will be duelling in pairs, each of you are allowed to choose your own partner from the three Seventh- Year participants here from your own House. You may think over your choice tonight. But when you have announced your decision by tomorrow before the duel begins, you may not switch choices."

Damien was already grinning somewhat evilly at Kit even as Dumbledore motioned for them to descend the stage.

Kit avoided his gaze altogether and managed to shove the youngest Potter away when he made to say something directly in his ear- a very annoying habit.

"You'd better not think about it," he warned.

All he got was a grin in reply.

A/N: Surprise! A quick update for my treasured readers for your encouragement! :D Do tell me if you liked this chapter or not! Was Wynter's intentions to test Kit's abilities very obvious? I was rather proud of that bit. Don't ask me why.

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Cheers,
Epsilon Scorpii