Chapter 5: Professor Zabini's Unconventional Lesson
From the moment Ron woke up the next day, he was obsessed with the upcoming lessons with Prof. Zabini. At first Harry found his attitude insufferable, and was snappy to the point that Dean had to intervene before they could start a real fight.
As the morning progressed though Harry began to feel like there were butterflies in his tummy. Maybe it was just Ron's excitement wearing off on him, but he felt more excited about the upcoming Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson than he had ever felt about any other lesson. By the time breakfast had come around Harry, Ron, Seamus, Neville, and even Dean were talking about Prof. Zabini obsessively, until Hermione gave them a bollocking and went off to sit on her own.
"Dean I can't believe you've been caught up with this Zabini obsession" Ginny said to her boyfriend after Hermione left "What is so special about her? She is just a teacher!"
"But, we've never had a teacher like her before" Dean said "Yesterdays lesson was – "
"Shoosh!" Seamus said "They haven't had it yet."
"Yah Dean, it's a secret." Ginny added.
"Prof. Zabini's lessons have secrets in them?" Harry asked.
"Yes, but don't worry, you'll find out soon enough." Ginny said "Now Dean I thought you said I was the only girl for you?"
"You are Honey!"
"Oh stop it Ginny" Ron said "you sound just like Mum. Now what's the big secret about Professor Zabini's lessons?"
"I do not! And what about you Ron? Drooling over a married woman like that?"
"I am not drooling!"
"It's only been two days and already this is getting old."
"Yah, well what about when Lockhart was a teacher?" Ron protested "all the girls were drooling over him!"
"We were not."
"Yes you were" Seamus said "now give us guys a chance to fuss over a sexy teacher."
"Well… Lockhart's son wasn't a student here. It's different."
"Ginny" Ron explained "Zabini needs to loosen up. It's not our problem."
"I don't think anyone has ever said Blaise needs to loosen up before" Harry said.
"Since when have you been on a first name basis with that git?" Ron asked.
"Oh Ron you need to stop being jealous of Zabini" Ginny said.
"Why would I be jealous of Zabini?"
"It could be because his better looking than you" She said "or richer? Or more popular?"
"Popular? He spends all his time with Nott!" Ron said "And what do you mean that his good looking?"
"Well he is" Ginny said "his perfect looking."
"Oh so your allowed to oogle over Zabini, but I can't even look at his mother?" Dean protested "how is that fair?"
"I am not oogling Blaise Zabini!" Ginny protested "He has enough girls to do that."
"I wonder if Hermione is one of them" Ron asked.
Ron's comment took everyone by surprise. Neville even dropped his toast. Before anyone could answer though the post came, and Pigwidgeon delivered a package to Ron from Fred and George, which exploded as he tried to open it, causing any talk about Hermione or the Zabinis to be completely forgotten.
By the time Ron had finished cleaning up and cursing Fred and George's latest stunt, the bell had already gone and everyone was making their way to their first classes.
"Oh just do it on the way" Harry said as Ron slowly used scourgify to get rid of every stain on his shirt.
"No, I don't want Professor Zabini to think I'm some sort of grub."
Frustrated, Harry grabbed Ron by the arm and started pulling him away from the table. Ron soon stopped resisting and eagerly followed. They arrived at the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom and found the rest of the class already there. It was a fairly large class, with students from all houses. They found Hermione, now talking to Theo. Harry thought that there was something different about Theo today.
"Hay, Nott isn't blushing" Ron said.
"What?"
"He usually gets embarrassed whenever Hermione talks to him. He isn't now though."
"Hay your right, I wonder why he gets so embarrassed though?"
"Maybe it's because Hermione is muggle-born."
"What? Why would that matter to him?"
"Well his father is a Death Eater" Ron explained "he was probably brought up the same way as Malfoy."
"His not a pureblood supremacist."
"Maybe not, but it would still be part of how he was raised."
"But doesn't he spend his holidays with muggles?"
Ron shrugged and they moved closer to the pair, until they could hear their conversation.
"Well he probably won't need Defence too much if his going to build things for a living" Hermione was saying "I don't think she should force him to take the subject against his will."
"I know, but she is concerned about him learning it now that Voldemort is around. I think a lot of parents are; this class seems pretty big, and there is another class."
"But she can't force him to take the subject. Oh hi guys. Ready for our first Defence class?"
"Hell yah!" Ron answered.
"Well of course you are."
All of the students were talking excitedly about the lesson. Some – like Ron – seemed to be infatuated with the new teacher, while others were excited about having a real Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher again after a year of Umbridge. Harry liked to think that he belonged to the latter group.
It wasn't long before the class feel silent, and Professor Zabini approached them, wearing purple robes and high heels that made her seem slightly taller than her son, who was walking along beside her and not looking too happy.
"Looks like she can force Blaise to do this subject" Theo said.
"He didn't want to?" Harry asked.
"His doing a correspondence course on magical machines, and his worried that that will take up a lot of time" Theo explained "He didn't want to do defence because it wouldn't help him become a tinker."
"A what?"
"A tinker makes magical machines" Ron explained "Dad does it as a hobby with some muggle objects, but if you can do it well you'll be able to get a very good job."
Professor Zabini quickly greeted her new class and then ushered them into the room. As Harry entered the room, the first thing he noticed was that there were no chairs or desks anywhere, and the floor had been padded to the point where it felt almost bouncy as he walked onto it. The second thing he noticed was that his and everyone else's shoes had disappeared.
"Hello Students, I'm Professor Zabini. Now as you can see we'll be getting straight into it today, so leave your bags at the back of classroom, get your wands out, and if you have any valuable jewellery take it off now please."
"What the hell is this?" Lavender Brown asked as she removed her earrings "A lesson or a wrestling match?"
"Let's call it a cross between the two" Professor Zabini said "Now you'll notice on your timetables that you have Defence twice a week; today and Thursday. This year we shall have one lesson a week that is complete theory, and another that is completely practical. Normally today would be your theory lesson; however I want to see where everyone is at. So today, we are duelling."
Professor Zabini shot a white blast at the blackboard, which caused a tournament bracket with sixteen spaces at the bottom to appear.
"Today we shall have a little duelling tournament" the Professor explained "This will allow me a chance to get to learn your names, as well as let me see how well your Defence skills are. Not to mention a little healthy competition is never a bad thing."
"Xanthe didn't mention this was part of the lesson" Blaise said.
"Of course not." Prof. Zabini said "I want to see how good my new students are naturally; not how good they are after a last minute practice session. I have asked all my classes to keep quiet about the duels so far. The same applies to you. You can talk about them as much as you want on Thursday; by then I would have met all my students at least once."
"Hay wait a sec" Blaise said "now that I'm here there are sixteen of us; you just made me join so you wouldn't have an odd number!"
"Blaise I am perfectly capable of working with odd numbered classes. Please don't be difficult."
"I'm not being difficult; I just don't really want to be here."
"Hopefully I can change your mind soon enough. Otherwise you'll have a tough year. Anyway, in this top hat on the table I have numbered cards. You will each come forward and draw out a number. That will determine your starting position in the tournament."
"Isn't that a very muggle way of doing things?" Tracy Davis protested "Why not just use a randomizer spell?"
"I find this more suspenseful Miss…"
"Davis"
"Well yes Miss Davis. I find this method generates a bit more excitement."
"But it will take up so much time!"
"Oh the matches will be quick. We won't run out of time" the teacher reasoned as she looked over the roll "would you like to draw the first number Tracy?"
Davis did not seem too impressed with the Professor using her first name, but still went up to the hat and pulled out a card. She was a tall girl with light brown skin and dark wavy hair just like Prof. Zabini's. Despite her hight and the many stairs at Hogwarts, she was somewhat on the cubby side.
"It's eight" Davis said, showing the car to the class.
"Ok, our first name is down" Zabini said as Davis's name appeared in the eight spot "you'll get to face whoever draws number seven. Any volunteers for the next draw?"
"I'll go next Professor!" Ron called out, putting up his hand in an over-excited manner.
"Ah, you must be Gineva Weasley's brother. She was the champion in her class. Ronald isn't it?"
"Yah. Hehe, but please just call me Ron."
"Oh shut up Weasley she's my mother!"
"Stop now, both of you!" Zabini said "there will be no fighting in my class!"
"But I thought that's what we were doing this lesson" Lavender asked.
"We will be duelling. Not fighting. And you are?"
"I'm Lavender Brown Miss."
"Ok Lavender, would you like to draw a number with Ronald?"
"Um, sure Miss."
Ron seemed happy enough to draw the number four, but Lavender became mortified when she pulled the number thirteen out of the hat. She begged Zabini to allow her to redraw, but the Professor just told her that thirteen was merely 'ten + three', and in the time Lavender spent trying to work out the cryptic remark, the Professor had already called Blaise and Theo out to pick a number. Blaise drew number one, while Theo got nine.
"No matches yet" Zabini announced "Who wants to see if they can get paired with someone who has already drawn?"
Hermione volunteered next, but remained unmatched at number twelve. The first match came after Hermione when Megan Jones drew fourteen and got paired with Lavender.
"Finally, a match!" Davis sneered, struggling to keep a faint hint of excitement out of her voice.
Harry found himself looking forward to Lavender's fight; Megan Jones seemed like a nice girl, even by the high standards of Hufflepuff niceness, but Harry did not want to see a member of the DA loose to a non-DA member at all.
"Oh Harry, Lavender against Megan Jones, who do you think will win?"
"It bloody better be Lavender" Harry said.
The next students to draw were Jones's fellow Hufflepuffs Ernie Macmillan and Justin Finch-Fletchley, who drew five and eleven respectively; pairing Justin with Hermione.
"Oh, two DA members Harry" Ron said "this should be an interesting fight!"
"What's that meant to mean?" Hermione asked "don't you think I have a good chance?"
"Wait, I have to go up against Hermione?" Justin asked the class "shit!"
The next to draw was Anthony Goldstein, who Harry secretly hoped would get paired with Ron, due to their different duelling styles, but instead ended up on the other end of the board at sixteen.
The two remaining Ravenclaws; Padma Patil and Mandy Brocklehurst drew next. Padma became Anthony's partner, while Brocklehurst landed in sixth position with Ernie.
"Five people left" Prof. Zabini announced "and from now on everyone will be matched."
"Oh crap" Ron said "Harry, please don't draw number three!"
"Oh no, what if I have to go against Harry Potter?" Mandy asked.
"Well Harry" The Professor said "don't keep us all waiting, pick a number, any number."
Harry walked up to the hat and put his hand in. The class went completely silent; even Tracy Davis seemed to be holding her breath. Harry pulled his number out and held it out to the class; number ten.
"I am so dead" Theo cried as Harry's name appeared on the blackboard next to his.
"Theo it's a tournament" Blaise said "you aren't the only one who is going to loose to Harry today."
"Hay don't count yourself out" Harry said "I'm not invincible." However even as Harry said this, he found himself thinking about how he would cope with either Hermione or Justin in the second round.
"Phew, well at least I don't have to verse you in the first round mate" Ron said.
However, the next draw matched Ron up with Neville, who Harry believed would give Ron just as much trouble as himself.
The final draw was made by Crabbe and Goyle, with Goyle being pitted against Davis and Crabbe against Blaise.
"There, the match-up for the first round has been decided" Prof. Zabini announced.
"And it took a lot longer than a randomizing spell would have" Davis complained.
"But now I'll remember all your names" She said.
"We'll run out of time though" Davis argued.
"No we won't. Duels can be pretty quick when no-one is allowed to use shielding spells."
"What?" Lavender asked "no shields?"
"You'll have to be more creative in defeating your opponents. Or defeat them before they can hex you."
"How do we win?" Ernie asked "is this like competitive duelling?"
"Not quite" the teacher explained "in these duels, you win if you are able to keep your opponent immobilised or on the ground for ten seconds, or if you drive them out of bounds. You must stay in the red square on the ground at all times."
"Oh, ok"
"Now first match; Blaise, Vincent, step into the arena."
Professor Zabini sat down on the only seat available. And took out a quill and notebook while Blaise and Crabbe stood into the arena, bowed, and then started walking away in duellist fashion.
"Zabini should have this, shouldn't he Harry?" Ron asked quietly.
"I don't know, Crabbe and Goyle aren't quite as hopeless as they seem" Harry replied, remembering back to what it was like teaching them in the DA. Both of them had been slow learners, but once Harry had been able to get something through their thick skulls they clung to the new knowledge fiercely and were able to put it to good use.
"But against Blaise you can never be sure" Hermione said "he has a lot of tricks up his sleave."
The match started with Crabbe shooting a stupefy at Blaise, who dodged it gracefully and aimed a spell that Harry had never heard before at the curtains. The nearest curtain flew away from the window and floated around in front of Blaise's wand. Crabbe's next spell was absorbed by the curtain and didn't even reach Blaise.
"Hay, she said no shields Zabini!" Crabbe protested.
"Blaise…,"
"You said no shield spells Ma, this isn't a spell; I've just placed the curtain between us."
"You're right, I did say spells. Very well, continue."
"Flagello chalybs" Blaise said, and instantly the curtain seemed to turn metallic and whip like. With a flick of his wand the curtain whip cracked on the floor, and Crabbe jumped out of the way.
The next swish of the wand landed the curtain whip at Crabbe's feet just as he was attempting to send a hex Blaise's way. He stumbled back, and unintentionally left the red square.
"Vincent has been forced out of the arena" Professor Zabini announced "Blaise is the winner!"
"But that wasn't defence magic!" Crabbe protested "It was just fancy transfiguration!"
"I said to be creative" the Professor said "though if Blaise doesn't pay any attention to defensive magic in the future, there will be problems."
The next duel was between Neville and Ron. It lasted twice as long as Blaise and Crabbe's and Harry found himself loving every minute of it. It ended spectacularly when Neville, after dodging a number of different hexes from Ron, landed in a well armed trip jinx, and then stunned Ron while he was on the floor. Neville was then a good sport about the whole thing and unstunned Ron himself. Harry felt sorry for his best friend's loss, but he had to admit to himself that Neville had been the better duellist.
The next duel was the first to involve a non-DA member. As Harry had expected, Mandy Brocklehurst went down quickly to Ernie, and Harry found himself cheering for the Hufflepuff prefect just as loudly as the other Hufflepuffs.
Like Mandy, Davis also went down quickly to her DA trained opponent, and Harry found himself quiet miraculously feeling proud of Goyle.
The next match was Harry and Theo's. Harry stepped into the arena opposite Theo, who seemed a shade paler then usual.
"Relax man" Harry said "I'm not going to shoot a bunch of unforgivables at you"
"I know" Theo said quietly, going slightly pink and averting his eyes to their feet. It was then that Harry realised that Theo was more worried about public humiliation then any spell that could hit him.
They quickly bowed and turned away from each other. As soon as Harry had taken ten steps and reached the edge of the arena, he turned around and shot his trademark expelliarmus at Theo while dodging what he thought may have been a jumping jinx. Theo didn't dodge the disarming spell in time and his wand was sent flying out of bounds.
Satisfied that the duel was now over Harry lowered his wand, but Theo was not prepared to give up, and lunged towards him. Before Harry could react, the taller boy had collided with him, and Harry fell to the ground; landing just outside the bounds.
"Harry has been forced out of the ring" Zabini announced "Theo wins."
"Hay that wasn't fair!" Ron protested.
"I'm sorry" Theo apologised to Harry "As soon as I lost my wand I panicked. I didn't mean to actually tackle you." The poor kid looked mortified, and Harry noticed he was trying not to look at Ron or the rest of the class.
"Hay, there wasn't a rule against it though" Harry reassured the shy boy.
"Exactly" the professor added "physically attacking an enemy may be banned in competitive duelling tournaments; but in real life a direct attack is the only course of action if you loose your wand. It is either that or be killed. Good job Theo!"
"Thank you Mrs." Theo said, as he slipped back into the crowd.
Harry faced his fellow students and saw looks of shock on their faces. It was only then that he realised that he was out of the tournament; the creator of the DA and the Chosen One had lost in the first round. Oops, how totally embarrassing. Harry wondered if this was what Theo had been so afraid of.
"Well, I said I wasn't invincible" Harry explained to his classmates as he felt his cheeks go pink.
"No, but you let your guard down" The Professor said "that is always a huge mistake. Never underestimate your opponent! Next match!"
The next match was between Hermione and Justin, and Harry found it so thrilling that he almost forgot how embarrassed he was. Eventually Hermione was able to defeat Justin with a body-binding curse, becoming the only member of the Golden Trio to advance to the second round.
The penultimate round saw the final non-DA member Megan Jones knocked out of the competition. Quite literally; Lavender's spell pinned her against the wall so hard she was knocked unconscious, and after she regained consciousness Justin had to take her to the Hospital Wing.
The final match was another thriller, with Padma confounding Anthony who then ran out-of-bounds when Padma shot a jinx at him.
"Well that's the first round done! And half the lesson gone" the Professor said "and so far only one student needing to be sent to the Hospital Wing. There were three in yesterday's sixth year class."
The second round pitted Blaise against Neville, Ernie against Goyle, Theo against Hermione, and Lavender against Padma.
"I'm fighting Theo?" Hermione asked.
"Not fighting Hermione, duelling" Ron reminded her.
Harry looked over at Blaise and Theo. Blaise seemed as cocky as ever, but the confident, talkative Theo from earlier was gone. The blond boy seemed to have crawled back into his shell.
They were only given a minute to rest before the Professor called Blaise and Neville up for the first match of the second round. Blaise attempted to use his curtain whip again, but before he could utter "flagello chalybs"Neville shouted "Incendio" and the entire curtain and Blaise's arm were set alight. In a panic Blaise ran around in circles screaming; throwing his (magically unlit) wand and the flaming curtain aside and leaving the arena.
His Mother suddenly sprang to life, using her wand to extinguish the flames and then examining his arm in that over-protective way that only a mother could.
"Neville!" Ron hissed at his friend "you just set the teacher's son on fire!"
"Oh, oops."
"It's fine" Prof. Zabini said once she was done healing her son "Blaise, you should never rely on the same trick working twice. Good job exploiting that Neville. Now Theo can you take Blaise to the hospital… no you still have a duel. Um, Harry, can you please take Blaise to the Hospital Wing?"
"Ma, I'm fine" Blaise said "you've fixed it. Thank you."
"Harry, take him to Madam Pomfrey please. Now Ernie, Gregory, you two are up next!"
"Yes ma'am"
Harry escorted Blaise out of the room just as the next match started. Harry noticed that the sleave of his shirt was burnt off, and the chocolate-brown skin on his arm still looked slightly red despite the healing that had been done.
"Sorry about this Harry."
"You're sorry?"
"You looked like you were really enjoying the matches."
"Oh that's alright. You know you have a really cool mum."
"Why you – oh wait, you didn't mean that in a sexual way."
"Nah, she's more than just a sexy teacher."
"Yah that – HAY! You dirty-minded little boy! Argh you just be glad Ma threw us out before I could grab my wand!"
"Whoa, I'm just joking" Harry said "sorry."
"Ah that's ok. Guys are always pinning over my mother and sister, so I guess I've gotten quite protective."
"You have a sister? Older or younger?"
"Actually we're twins. Though I'm an hour older."
"Oh, and she isn't a student here?"
"Nah, Camille is a muggle. She goes to a high end drama school anyway."
"Oh ok. Camille Zabini heh?" As Harry said the name an image of a little black girl with a red dress sprang straight to mind.
"Yah, she's never been to Hogwarts before, but back when we were eleven I promised her I'd get her here somehow."
They arrived at the Hospital Wing and Harry opened the door for Blaise. Inside Justin and Jones were just getting ready to leave, and seemed surprised to see them.
"Two people have been hospitalised already?" Jones asked "I can't believe how dangerous these lessons are!"
"Dangerous indeed!" Madam Pomfrey agreed "Miss Jones is the twelfth student to need medical attention from Professor Zabini's lessons. Now whose next?"
"Um, I was sent here for burns treatment" Blaise said, holding up his arm.
"That crazy woman, getting her own son injured too" the matron looked over his arm, and then dropped it in annoyance "you're absolutely fine Mr. Zabini."
"I know, Ma healed me. But she still sent me to you."
"She healed you very well it seems."
"I know. She's very over-protective of me."
"I wish she was as protective over some of the other students. Go hold your arm under the tap for a few minutes. That should get rid of any remaining redness. The rest of you can go back to class now!"
"I was told to stay with him" Harry said.
"Nah don't worry; go catch the rest of the duels." Blaise said as he made his way to the sink "If you're quick you may see the end of Hermione and Theo's duel."
"Yah, that would be good" Justin said.
"Are you actually enjoying this?" Jones asked,
"Yup. Hay Zabini, I take it Longbottom beat you?"
"Yah. He set me on fire, and then Ma got all protective and sent me here, even though I'm fine now."
"Awww, that's sweet" Jones said "I guess your mother does have a soft side."
Blaise looked annoyed as he held his hand under the cold running water. "I know, but this is ridiculous! I wanted to see Macmillan and Goyle duel!"
"Enough!" Madam Pomfrey said "Miss. Jones, Mr. Finch-Fletchley, please go back to class! Mr. Potter, please try and stay out of the way."
Just as Harry bade Justin and Jones goodbye, Ron walked in, holding a sobbing Lavender in his arms. Somehow, Padma had made her hands fall off. Jones was civil enough to the girl who had landed her in the hospital wing, but she and Justin still left quickly. Harry tried to say hi to Ron, however Lavender was clinging to him with her stumps, and Ron had to give her hands to Madam Pomfrey and then help hold Lavender in place while she re-attached them. Knowing he wouldn't be getting an update from Ron, Harry made his way over to the sink.
"Hay Zabini" Harry started.
"Call me Blaise."
"Huh?"
"Calling me Zabini is going to get pretty confusing now that my mother is a teacher here."
"Oh yah. Alright Blaise. Have I ever met you're sister before?"
"Yah, apparently we used to play together when we were really little. I don't actually remember it, but Camille says she remembers your cousin."
"What? That's impossible!"
"Huh?"
"I never had any friends growing up. And my Aunt and Uncle would never have let me play with wizard children!"
"Whoa?" Blaise was so surprised by Harry's denial that he didn't even notice that he had pulled his arm out from under the tap when he turned to face Harry. "You never had friends growing up?"
"Well, I didn't grow up in the happiest environment." He admitted "My Aunt and Uncle are like, well, the opposite of the pureblood fanatics. They hate anything to do with magic, and tried to 'stomp it out of me' growing up."
"Whoa… I guess that explains why things went bad."
"What do you mean they went bad?"
"Oh, Ma said that she introduced herself to your Aunt, and she revealed that she was a witch and asked if she got any unwanted attention from having a famous kid like you in her care. Or something like that. After that neither you nor your cousin ever came back to the preschool."
"Whoa. Well that sounds like my Aunt. Did she start screaming and running away with us?"
"I don't know, I had only just turned four. I can't remember anything from back then."
"Mr. Zabini!" Madam Pomfrey had finished with Lavender, who was now clinging on to Ron with her re-attached hands "if you're finished at the sink please just go! And turn off that tap!"
Blaise sheepishly turned off the tap and the two of them left as quickly as they could. Harry was so shocked by the discovery that he had had friends before coming to Hogwarts that he forgot to say good-bye to Ron.
However as they made their way back to the classroom, Harry stretched his memory back, struggling to remember anything about the Zabini's. All he got was Camille in her red dress.
"Why didn't you say anything about this before?" Harry asked.
"Oh what was I going to say. 'Hay Harry Potter! Do you remember playing with me when you were like, four or something? I can't, but I still got to hang out with a celebrity! Yay, I'm awesome!' Would you really have liked me to say that?"
"Well, no not really."
"Exactly. I don't do the whole hero worship thing. Except maybe if I ever met Metallica. Then I'd be like an excited little girl."
"Well, thanks then. I don't really like people giving me that kind of attention."
"I didn't think you did."
They arrived at the classroom, but found that they couldn't open the door.
"Well that makes sense" Blaise said "I mean, it would suck if someone opened the door in the middle of a duel."
A few minutes later they tried the door again and it opened. Professor Zabini welcomed them in, and Harry noticed his and Blaise's shoes disappeared again as soon as they entered.
"Are you alright Blaise?" Professor Zabini asked as they entered.
"No Ma, madam Pomfrey thinks I'm dying."
"Very funny Blaise. Thank you for taking care of him Harry. Ten Points to Gryffindor."
"I didn't do anything though"
"Thank you anyway. Now boys, you're back just in time for the final round."
"What? Already?"
"The semi-finals were all very fast."
"That sucks."
"Ok, Finalists, step up to the arena!"
For a wild moment Harry wondered who could possibly have made it to the finals. However he found himself unsurprised when Neville and Hermione stepped up to the arena and took their positions.
"Theo, what happened?" Harry heard Blaise ask his friend.
"I panicked" Theo replied "I think Hermione is angry at me."
Before Theo could be interrogated any further, Hermione and Neville started firing jinxes at each other, and no-one could tear their eyes away from the duel.
After a few jinxes had been exchanged, Hermione seemed to get the upper hand by using a leg-locking curse on Neville, causing him to fall to the ground.
"Get up Neville!" The professor roared "you have ten… nine… eight…"
Determined not to make the same mistake Harry had made against Theo, Hermione aimed a stunning spell at Neville. However Neville rolled away, and then reversed the spell on himself and got up just as the countdown reached two.
"Wow, Neville's pretty good" Harry heard Goyle say to Crabbe, who responded by elbowing his friend in the gut.
Neville wasted no time, and threw a leg-locking jinx at Hermione, who was barely able to dodge it, and then send expelliarmus back at Neville. Neville's wand came flying out of his hands, but luckily it landed within the arena. He ran to it, dodging a number of jinxes from Hermione, who was certainly not letting her guard down.
Neville tripped and almost fell out-of-bounds, but he managed to get up before Prof. Zabini could start the countdown, and he grabbed his wand and aimed a stunning spell at Hermione, which hit dead on and sent her dropping to the ground.
"Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Neville wins! Congratulations, fifty points to Gryffindor!"
Neville humbly accepted the cheers he received, and then went to help Hermione. Who once de-stunned was able to accept her defeat well.
"And it looks like we have ten minutes to kill" the Professor said "I'll let you all off early. No homework today. Although I'd encourage everyone to practice their duelling if they can. I'm happy to make this room available for practice if anyone asks."
:A Little Bit Later:
Harry was sitting in his first Study Group lesson between Blaise and Ron. Despite the fact that Professor Zabini was a great teacher, who was able to make even dreary topics such as project management and planning interesting, Harry did not feel too comfortable.
After they had been let out early, Blaise had gone straight over to Theo to console him over some huge blunder that he had made during his duel with Hermione. Meanwhile, Hermione had been in a bad mood, and had more to say about her ten second duel with Theo then about her matches with Neville or Padma.
"He didn't even attack me" She complained "he just stood there with his wand out and his mouth open, I stunned him, and that was it. It was embarrassing!"
She was so upset about Theo going easy on her that she had stormed off to Charms despite being very early.
Ron's mood had been even worse.
"Why did you ignore me back at the Hospital Wing?" He asked as soon as they met.
"Sorry, you seemed busy with Lavender."
"Yah, and you seemed busy with Zabini!"
They argued all the way back to the Library where Prof. Zabini was holding the study group. There they had met Blaise again, who needed the group to continue doing Charms. A fact that Ron immediately teased him about.
"No-one fails Charms! Even Crabbe and Goyle passed!"
As if on cue, Crabbe and Goyle appeared and Crabbe tried to hex Ron for the insult. During the class Harry found out that three was the minimum amount of classes that could be taken in the NEWT years and in order not to repeat Crabbe and Goyle had been forced to continue Care of Magical Creatures with the Study Group.
The rest of the group was rather small; Lilith Moon, a small red-haired girl with thin wire glasses from Slytherin, who needed help with Potions like Harry and Ron. As well as Megan Jones and Wayne Hopkins of Hufflepuff, who both needed help with Transfiguration, and fellow Hufflepuff Zacharies Smith, who was failing History of Magic. Lavender was also present, needing help with Transfiguration. The only Ravenclaw present was Lisa Turpin, who like Blaise had done the unthinkable and received poor marks on her Charms OWL.
The first half of the study group was spent learning about project management, while the second half involved working on their homework, with Professor Zabini coming around to help them individually. She was a good teacher, who made light conversation with the students and offered good advice. If it wasn't for the tension between Ron and Blaise, Harry figured he could grow to really like these classes.
:Later:
There were only six people doing Magical Healing this year. Hermione had taken the specialty course because of the obvious advantages it would have later in life; and in the upcoming war.
Her other classmates included fellow Gryffindor Sally-Anne Peaks, as well as Ernie Macmillan, both of whom Hermione knew wanted to be Healers. Also present were Ravenclaws Anthony Goldstein and Terry Boot.
The sixth member of the class was Theodore Nott. Hermione knew that he dreamed of being a healer and would be in the class, but right now she didn't want to deal with him. She had been so embarrassed when he had let her win. Especially after he'd already proven himself by beating Harry. She had made a point of sitting far away from him in Charms, and during lunch (with a very moody Ron and Harry) she made sure she was facing away from the Slytherin table.
However, the first task Madam Pomfrey gave them was to explore the Hospital Wing and take stock of all the equipment and its uses. This gave Theo the perfect opportunity to approach her.
"Hay Hermione"
"Hello Theo."
"Look I just want to say that well, I'm sorry about the duel."
"Oh it's fine. Especially if you just want to protect the vulnerable little girl of the Golden Trio."
"What, NO!" He protested, more vehemently then Hermione would have expected "I know that you're capable of defending yourself. It's just that well…,"
"Well?"
"Whenever I'm the centre of attention like that, well, I panic. Everyone was watching me, and I didn't want to do something stupid like when I tackled Harry –"
"That wasn't stupid" Hermione said "it was a very cleaver."
"I know I just well. Ok, I'll admit that I didn't want to accidentally hurt you; like what happened to Megan Jones, but well, you deserved more respect then that. If I wasn't panicking, I would have given you the duel you deserved. I'm sorry."
"Really? The only reason you refused to fight me was because you went all shy and panicked?"
"I didn't refuse, I just froze and well, yah. Sorry."
"Well, prove it!"
"Huh? How?"
"Well, we've been encouraged to use the room for practice" she explained "Let's have a proper duel; with no-one watching. Are you doing anything tomorrow night?"
"Tomorrow night, no I'm… a private duel?" Theo blushed slightly, but Hermione thought that he looked happier.
"Yes. How about after dinner at the classroom?"
"Ok. Umm… want me to ask Mrs. Zabini about it?"
"Sure. Tomorrow night, seven o'clock. Don't forget Theo!"
"I won't!"
"Mr. Nott, Miss. Granger! Get back to work!"
"Yes Madam Pomfrey!"