Chapter 12

The amount of the female population that crowded into the advanced defense against the dark arts classroom was honestly obnoxious. As Lavender Brown bumped Hermione's arm, again, while she adjusted her blouse, undoing the top two buttons of her shirt, Hermione turned to Harry on her other side and narrowed her eyes at him.

"These girls are morons," she said to her brother, loud enough that the surrounding tables could hear her. Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis turned in their seats to glare at her, but Hermione didn't pay them any attention outwardly.

"Be nice," Harry chided, but the smirk he was trying to hide said otherwise. "You have to admit, he's a bit of a heart throb."

"He's married," Hermione replied, opening her book, flipping to the chapter they'd left off on.

"Well, that's part of the appeal, isn't it?" one of the Patil twins whispered, leaning forwards from the table behind them. "A sexy older man, hiding his young Mistress from his wife. The scandal it would cause if she found out," a collective sigh came from the girls around them.

"Well, there's one flaw to your plan," Hermione said, pulling out a pen and notebook (she was not going to use a quill and parchment).

"And what might that be?" Snipped the other twin.

"Well, he's married to a man and he's as gay as they come." Hermione replied, not looking up, not even when Harry started choking laughing next to her. "And besides that, whoever hired this man to teach children should have their head checked."

When the professor walked up behind her, everyone around them gasped, because again Hermione hadn't kept her voice down. The other students waited and watched as the professor grabbed Hermione's shoulder, but she just rolled her eyes when she looked up at him. The tension in the room was so thick that it could be cut with a knife and when he squeezed her shoulder, Hermione smacked his hand away.

The audible gasp from the class at the action was followed by a silence that was louder than dinner in the Great Hall. Hermione stared down the professor, who was looking at her with his brows furrowed. When she rolled her eyes again at him, this time, the man couldn't hold his serious expression any longer and barked out a laugh.

"The audacity of this girl," he said, slapping her back as he passed her. "I can't believe you waited nearly two months to make that comment."

"I had faith, as little as it was, that being an Auror for twenty years might have made you a competent instructor. I held out hope as long as I could. Seriously, were there no other candidates?" Hermione said, crossing her arms over her chest as she leaned back in her chair.

"Always have been a little spitfire," Professor Black said, flicking his wand at the practice dummies, bringing them forward. "It's too bad you're so uptight, if you loosened up, you'd make a great Auror yourself."

"I have grander aspirations for my life than to run around in the criminal underbelly," Hermione commented, writing down the notes that had appeared on the chalkboard. "Please, don't delay on my account. You were already twelve minutes late to the class you teach."

"Yes, alright," Sirius said, waving his wand, "go ahead and everyone get into pairs for today's lesson. We have an odd number today, so one group will need to be a trio."

Hermione turned towards Harry, as they had been pairing up in any classes they shared. Today, however, when she tried to turn towards her brother, she was magically lifted (stool and all). She squeaked out a protest at the rude treatment, and when she was dumped from the seat and dropped into Draco's lap she was mortified. She swore her eyes must have bugged out of her head when she realized who just so publicly claimed her as his.

"I think you've gone completely bat shit!" She hissed at him, smacking his chest, but he caught her hand, keeping it pressed against the hard muscles under his shirt.

"Good luck with that one, little cousin," Sirius called from the front of the room. "She's got a nasty temper and after you practice on the dummies you'll be dueling each other."

"I rather look forward to it," Draco nearly purred, not breaking eye contact.

"Just because you're pretty doesn't mean I'm going to go easy on you," Hermione murmured, fluttering her eyelashes. A pink flush appeared on the apples of his cheeks, making him look even more endearing, making Hermione inwardly curse that they were in a classroom and not somewhere more private.

"Just don't go for the face or his cock," Theo said, dropping his bag into the empty seat next to Draco. "What'd I miss?" He asked, taking a bite of a chocolate croissant, getting crumbs all over Draco's things in the process.

"Do you mind?" Draco muttered under his breath, sweeping the mess away. "We're doing nonverbal jinxes today and then we have to use them in duels. There had to be a trio, so I claimed Granger for us."

"Makes sense, we are the perfect triad after all," Theo said, licking the remains of his second breakfast from his fingers. "Alright, who wants to go first? I've already had Draco, I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do with Granger."

As the practice began with the dummies, Hermione watched the boys showing off their skills that she already knew they possessed. Even though most of the class was saying the spells under their breaths, Hermione, Draco, Theo, and Harry were flinging the complex jinxes with ease without as much as their lips moving.

When it was finally time for their duels to begin, Theo bumped Draco out of his way, stepping up to face Hermione first. "Remember, just not the face," he said, gesturing with his wand.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Hermione replied, winking at him before she flicked her wand, knocking the brunette to the floor. "And just so you, I always come out on top."

Theo blinked, his eyes widening and a smile growing on his face. It was clear he'd underestimated her and he was not about to make that mistake again.

"Kitten has claws, Nott. She broke her left leg when she was little and it never properly healed, so she favors that side," Sirius called out.

"You're the worst uncle, I hope you realize that," Hermione shouted as Theo took his professor's advice.

"I just wanted to even the playing field, I have no doubts you'll still win." Sirius said, his laughter barking out again before he moved onto the next duel.

Even with the tip, it wasn't long before Hermione had Theo incapacitated and on the ground with his wand in her hand. Standing over the brunette, she smirked as she pointed both wands at his chest. "Yield," Hermione said, "unless you can do wandless magic, you're out of options."

Theo held up his hands in defeat, but he couldn't have looked more thrilled. "I like the way you look over me, I'm even more excited now to see how you'll look under me."

"Is everything sexual with you?" Hermione asked, tossing his wand back to the wizard before offering her hand to help him up.

"Always," Theo said, winking at her before strutting towards Draco. "Your turn, maybe you'll have better luck taming her."

"I wouldn't count on it," Hermione said, getting back into a dueling stance. She watched as Draco slowly moved into the spot across from her, as if he were assessing her, his eyes darting around taking in her stance.

What she'd failed to mention to them was that she was the North American junior dueling champion two years running. The youngest to ever win the competition at sixteen in her fifth year. She knew her stance was perfect and that Draco wouldn't find any weak points.

As Sirius had already pointed out, her weakened left leg was the only fault he'd find, but even that wouldn't be enough for Draco to win.

With the rest of the duels already finished, it was as if the entire room had turned their attention onto Hermione and Draco as they slowly bowed to each other. Sirius stood to the side, bouncing on the balls of his feet, as if he knew this was going to be a good show. Always such a child.

"Go," he nearly whispered, and the fight began.

Jinxes and hexes flew across the room, lighting the space as if it were a Fourth of July display. Hermione twisted, dipped, and glided around the circle, dodging all of Draco's attacks with ease. The blonde, who had seemed so confident when he'd first stepped up, had sweat beading along his hairline and his face was scrunched in deep concentration.

Silently, the two continued their performance, the audience in awe of what they were watching. As a stinging hex hit her arm, Hermione smirked at Draco. He was pulling his punches, but so was she. This was reminiscent of the semi finals from the last tournament she'd been in (with softer spells), but the stakes felt higher.

She had to win, losing was not an option.

As Hermione twisted to the right, she knew she could drop just the smallest portion of her shield to shoot off her next attack. Draco, somehow noticed the flicker in the magic, and with aim like she'd never known before, his spell caught her, sending her flying backwards.

She wasn't done yet though, as she flew through the air, Draco paused, waiting to see where she would land, Hermione shot off her spell, disarming him. Tumbling to the floor in a heap, she knew her ankle was most likely sprained. But when she saw his hawthorn rolling on the ground within her reach, she rolled, wincing at the pain shooting through her leg, her determination to win keeping her going.

Draco raised his hand to summon his wand back to him, but he was just a moment too late. Hermione had won.

"And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what a half arsed battle between two junior dueling champions looks like. Hopefully next time they don't pussy foot it, and try to hurt each other." Sirius announced, clapping his hands together. "Class dismissed."