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Act III - Birth Of The Demon
Chapter 21: Duels And Detention
Hermione Granger had thought she had seen the worst when Umbridge had redecorated the Defence classroom to fit her needs. That confidence shattered the moment she entered the woman's office. Lacy covers and cloth draped all over the walls, with several vases of dried flowers, each one residing on its own doily, and on one of the walls was a collection of ornamental plates, each decorated with a large technicolor kitten wearing a different bow around its neck. Hermione liked pink as much as the next girl, but this was just too foul and over the line. Way over.
One couldn't even see the line from there.
"Ah," said the nasty woman, checking her watch like a muggle. "Just in time for your detention. I like punctuality. Welcome, Miss Granger. Come sit."
Hermione noticed that she was wearing a luridly flowered set of robes that blended only too well with the tablecloth on the desk behind her.
"Evening, Professor Umbridge," said Hermione stiffly.
"Tut, tut. It is High Inquisitor Umbridge to you, Miss Granger," the hag corrected, pointing her towards a small table draped in lace beside which Umbridge had drawn up a straight-backed chair. A piece of blank parchment lay on the tabler, apparently waiting for Hermione.
Hermione exhaled, and took the seat. This was technically the Defence Instructor's office, right beside Harry's classroom. The stubborn woman had adamantly refused to leave the office, despite her forceful termination, citing that she had spent a lot of effort in arranging everything together and assembling them back from scratch would not only be a hassle, but also affect her efficiency. As if she could be efficient at anything other than being a right nuisance to anyone she met, but obviously Hermione wasn't going to tell her that.
Either way, that hadn't been much of an issue. The Hogwarts elves had supposedly vanished the inner door that led from the office to the Defence classroom, and instead connected it directly to Harry's chambers on the third floor. Of course, Harry being Harry, had also put wards in his personal dorms, preventing anyone from accessing his dorm through the office without his express permission.
"Proβ High Inquisitor Umbridge," Hermione began softly. "Exactly why am I serving detention? It is true that Malfoy behaved badly with Buckbeak, despite Professor Hagrid warning us otherwise."
"Please do not bother your little head with things beyond your ability to understand, Miss Granger," said the woman in her characteristic little-girl voice. "That half-breed should not even have been allowed to enter past Hogwarts's gates, much less get an education or become a professor. A filthy beast that brought other dangerous beasts in the vicinity of students, and caused injury to the young Mr. Malfoy. If not for Dumbledore sending him away, I'd have ensured he spent the remainder of his life in Azkaban."
Hermione wanted to protest, but for the first time, Harry's own words about keeping his head down came to mind. As much as she hated the changes in her best friend, she had to grudgingly admit that he had been quite brilliant in that aspect. He had skillfully evaded Umbridge's attempts to put him in trouble, while also causing the most mayhem, and even engineering her eviction from the Defence professorship. It was a cunning approach to the situation, but not even Hermione could argue with the results.
Hermione exhaled again. "What do you want me to do, High Inquisitor Umbridge?"
"We will get to that," she said. "But first, I'd like you to join me for a cup of tea."
Hermione blinked.
Umbridge got up to her feet and began to prepare her drink. Again, exactly like a muggle. Hermione knew from her experience at the Weasley Burrow that Mrs. Weasley prepared all her drinks with mere flicks of her wand. For someone that despised muggles, Umbridge was too comfortable acting like one. Hell, half the time she had her wand inside her bloody purse.
"Milk and sugar?"
"Ermβ¦" said a flustered Hermione. "I don't really think it's necessary β"
"Oh I insist, Miss Granger," said the woman, and for once, it was actually a very pleasant smile.
Yes. Please."
"Good," she said, and set a large platter with a small pot of tea in two cups, sugar bowl, milk and a few biscuits down on the table. Please," she said. "Do help yourself."
Hermione waited until Umbridge had collected her cup, and only then did she begin preparing her own tea.
"I must say," said the woman, "I should have thought of sessions like this before. It would have gone a long way in establishing rapport with the students and prevented potential misunderstandings."
"Uh, yes," said Hermione, wondering what was going on. "I suppose it would have."
"But no matter, no matter," said the woman, more to herself than to her. "It is not like you alone were responsible for this⦠student mutiny. If the entire school thought that things should've been different, I imagine it is unfair to single you out for it."
Hermione nodded and sipped her tea. Surprisingly enough, it was quite good, and she felt herself relaxing.
"I mean I understand that Mr. Potter was really at the core of it all, and I have to admit. I did not expect the way he deliberately engineered the situation to bring about my termination from the Defence position."
"In his defence," said Hermione, "You weren't teaching us anything, Professor. And I was the one that went to Susan Bones first, talking about a potential way to teach the subject ourselves. I only suggested Harry's name because he's the best in the class andβ¦."
Her eyes went wide, and she instantly dropped the tea as both hands went to her mouth. She stared at Umbridge in horror who was smiling at her wickedly.
"You β you β"
"Go on, dear," said Umbridge, her smile now looking positively malicious. "And please, do not hold back. I need to know every single thing that led to the mutiny."
Inwardly, Hermione's mind scrambled, as she tried to figure out why she had blurted something so private like that, while also trying to fight the compulsion to do as the woman asked.
"Please do not worry your little mind, Miss Granger," said Umbridge. "Nothing will stop you from blurting the truth after you drank that tea. It's a special concoction of mine. Lets the drinker carry on a normal conversation, while loosening their tongue more than a little. You see, I find the standard veritaserum a bit too⦠stiff for my liking."
"You β this is illegal," Hermione blurted.
"Not until there is any evidence, Miss Granger," said the woman cooly. "The residue will vanish within the next twenty minutes from your system, and not even A DMLE forensic expert can claim otherwise. Potions was always my best subject at Hogwarts. Pity old Slughorn never recognized my potential."
She was right. About the veritaserum, or whatever variation she was using. Apart from the compulsion to speak the truth, there was an underlying compulsion that prevented her from actively fighting her or disobeying her.
"Now," said Umbridge, "why don't you continue telling me everything you know about the mutiny and Harry Potter's role in it."
Tears fell as Hermione struggled to lay her heart bare to this twisted woman and reveal everything that Harry had trusted her with. But it was useless. Hermione had never felt so utterly violated in her entire life, and vowed to see this woman punished for doing this to her, unless she somehow managed to get her own hands around the toad's neck.
During the next twenty minutes, Hermione told Umbridge everything about what she knew, or at least, her own beliefs about what Harry had done. It didn't help that Harry had vocally admitted in front of her, and the others, how he had set things up with Susan's help, and used Ernie as a dupe to get the ball rolling. She talked about Harry's own motivations, and every single thing he said about the Wizarding world, including the harsh issues Greengrass had mentioned earlier during dinner and Harry had agreed with. The worst part? Umbridge was recording everything, with a dicta-quill noting down every word that came out of Hermione's mouth. She talked about how Harry had instigated things in his defence class, and his motivations behind teaching the ferret a lesson, as well as everything he had said to her and the other girls that night in his room when they had all gone to him to ask him to teach Defence. She talked about how Harry agreed that his donation to Hogwarts eased his way through Clause 159, and how that led to the present situation.
During the entire time, Umbridge was smiling so widely that she looked as though she had swallowed a particularly juicy fly.
Hermione wept as she talked all about how she blamed Greengrass for turning Harry to this slytherin-esque wizard that she couldn't even recognize, and how she and her father were twisting him to serve their own hidden agendas. The more she spoke, the more she wanted to speak, and the more secrets she kept blurting out, about how Harry was trained by Sirius, and how he had suddenly grown in skill which Hermione found absolutely unexplainable, and how he had changed to an extent that she couldn't even recognize him.
"Tell me, Miss Granger," said Umbridge at last. "Just why is Potter so against the Ministry? Just what does Dumbledore plan to acquire? Why does Potter believe that the Dark Lord is truly back?"
"Because he is."
"And you know that how?"
"Because β because Harry fought him. He was possessing Professor Quirrel back in first year, and Harry fought him to protect the Stone. That's how Quirrell got destroyed."
"And you saw this happen?"
"No, I was in the potions room. Harry was the only one thatβ"
Dolores raised a finger, and Hermione stopped blabbering, her face was wet with tears. "Tut. Tut. Look at the time," she considered her watch again. "No doubt the potency has been lowered, which is why such ludicrous things are popping off that mudblood tongue of yours. No matter, no matter. You will attend detention again tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that as well. It is essential that you learn not to meddle with things beyond your ability to understand, and hopefully, learn a few lessons that I'm hoping to impart to you during these sessions."
Hermione felt her blood surge, but controlled herself. "If you think I'll willingly submit myself to your torture then β"
"Oh you will, Miss Granger. Because you see, if you don't, I shall use everything you have said to me, against Harry Potter, and send him to Azkaban. But if you help me, then I shall keep your friend out, and only ensure that Albus Dumbledore, the true perpetrator of this madness, is the one that is punished for his sins. Tell me, which do you choose?"
Hermione glared at the woman, an icy feeling forming in the pit of her stomach.
"You β you're lying to me. You already have a lot against Harry, and all of this is just a way for you to gain more evidence against him and use it to damage his reputation. You β can't you see that he's just trying to help you? When Voldemortβ"
"ENOUGH!" shrieked Umbridge. "Enough of your lies! I see this was a mistake!" Her lips twisted again. "I believe it is time for your detention, Miss Granger."
"NO!" said Hermione, standing up. "I refuse to! Use of veritaserum on an individual is illegal. You cannot torture me like this. I will report you to the Headmaster and see you evicted from this castle right away!" She stood up, and grabbed her bag and turned around β
"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"
βAnd promptly fell down on the floor, utterly incapable of moving or using her wand. Helplessly, she watched as the toad loomed over her, her wand maliciously levelled down at her.
"You know what the first thing you see when you enter the Ministry atrium?" she mentioned conversationally in that sickeningly sweet tone of hers. "A most elegant statue. Most of the muggleborns hate it. They say it's demeaning to the little half breeds. But in reality, they hate it because it tells them the truth. It shows them their rightful place. You haven't learned yours yet, but you will. In time."
She dug the heel of her pink shoes against Hermione's cheek.
"Now be a good little mudblood and leave the more important things to your betters. All you need to do is focus on your detention. OBLIVIATE!"
It was time for the duelling quarter-finals. The twenty winners from the previous day had duelled among themselves and halved their number, which Harry had divided into two teams, each of whom would be facing an opponent from the other team. Just to keep things impartial, he had arranged the division purely based on a lucky draw.
Team A, consisted of Sue Li, Blaise Zabini, Padma Patil, Lavender Brown and Antony Goldstien. Team B had Theodore Nott, Susan Bones, Draco Malfoy, Michael Corner and finally Daphne Greengrass. As much as Harry wanted to see Hermione among them, the girl had poorly chosen to duel against Sue Li in the elimination rounds, who was probably the most talented and experienced duellist in the entire group. That had caused her to disqualify in the early stages, again, proving that she suffered from tunnel vision when it came to her own pride.
On the other hand, Draco Malfoy had progressively chosen to fight against weaker opponents and ended up in the quarter-finals.
"Alright," said Harry, walking across the hall as the five participants from each team stood facing the other. The rest of the students were standing along the walls like the previous day, leaving plenty of room in the middle. Whether they did that because of a crowd mentality or simply didn't want to risk being hit by the flying spellfire, Harry didn't know, but if it was the latter, they were simply being paranoid. Fleur's wards were perfectly able to hold back the spells from leaving the arena as the previous day had shown.
"At the count of three, the duels shall begin. Remember, nothing above fourth-year. Use your ingenuity and your knowledge of spell theory to outthink your opponent and secure your victory. Incapacitation or disarming counts as victory. Anyone that breaks the rules will instantly lose fifty points like before. The winners, each, shall get three points, and move to the next stage. Nowβ¦." he took a deep breath.
"BEGIN!"
The spellfire began.
His eyes instantly went to Daphne who was facing Antony Goldstien. The Ravenclaw had instantly gone for the Protego shield, the standard tactic for duelists wanting to take a defensive approach. As much as Harry disliked it, it was a valid tactic for people that wanted to wait and see the opponent's choice of spells. A skilled defensive duellist could busy his opponent in a defensive trap, while preparing an attack, and launching it with great prejudice. Unfortunately for Goldstien, Daphne wasn't going for direct combat.
She had gone for Transfiguration.
The floor beneath Goldstien's feet liquified, having been changed into quicksand, and Anthony had to cancel his protego charm and tried to undo the transfiguration with the general counter charm. Only to realise his folly as he looked ahead and found a thin grey beam shoot out of Daphne's wand.
"Petrificus totalus!"
And that was that.
"Daphne wins!" Harry proclaimed, as Daphne slid out of the duelling arena, without disturbing the other duels. Harry noticed Susan duelling Blaise Zabini, the redhead making the boy run through the paces as he did his best to keep dodging while Susan kept hurling bludgeoning hexes at him. Not very powerful, but quick to cast, and weren't much of a drain on one's reserves. Instead of using something powerful to finish the fight, she was trying not to give Zabini a single chance to even defend or counter, and betting everything on him making a mistake and falling into the path of her spells.
It was the style of fighting that Sirius would wholeheartedly approve.
Padma Patil and Draco Malfoy were the real surprise. The Malfoy heir, true to her word, had not even made a single noise during the entire class, but couldn't resist taunting Padma, a technique he had no doubt imitated from his father. Death Eaters taunt their victims β it was one of the first lessons Snape had imparted to him, and seeing Malfoy do the same only confirmed that the boy was probably beyond saving, no matter what Albus Dumbledore thought.
Padma on the other hand, proved her Ravenclaw sorting as she used a wide variety of Transfiguration, charms and minor hexes to keep Malfoy on his toes. She did not have the raw power that he put behind his blasting hexes, and instead chose to use distractions to take Malfoy by surprise.
"SLUGULUS ERUCTO!" claimed Theodore Nott, only for Sue Li to carefully bend sidewards, dodging the spell, and shooting a shower of arrows at him, forcing him to the defensive instantly. One of the arrows slashed through his right hand, which wasted another couple of seconds, an opportunity Li used to cast a minor tectonic charm on the floor, disbalancing him even further. A stunner took care of the rest.
"Winner β Sue Li."
"CONFRINGO!" yelled Draco Malfoy, his exploding curse blasting against Padma, shattering her shield. "CALVARIO DUO!"
Harry winced as Malfoy cast the hair-loss curse at Padma. It technically fell into the allowed category, but wasn't something one used in duelling, given how its intent lay purely in humiliating the other person. Padma panicked, and instantly fell down to the floor to avoid the curse, not wanting to even try defending against it, and fell to his petrifaction hex.
"Malfoy wins," said Harry, frowning. Draco gave him an even look and stepped away from the arena.
"EXPELLIARMUS!" "FLIPENDO!"
Both Lavender's and Corner's spells hit each other, and cost them their individual wands. Lavender's wand fell out of the arena, while her overpowered knockback jinx had sent Corner out of the arena at the same time, resulting in a draw. Within ten seconds of that, one of Susan's hexes hit Zabini right then, followed by a quick disarming charm, which ended the last and final duel.
"Alright," said Harry. "We have our winners. Daphne Greengrass, Draco Malfoy, Sue Li, and Susan Bones. Lavender and Corner ended in a draw, so both of them are out. Three points to each winner." he paused for a moment. "And now, we'll have a five-minute break, and then we'll have the next round. Good work everyone."
"It was a good duel," said Harry to a disappointed Padma. "You did well."
"Fat lot of good it did," spat the Ravenclaw. "I still lost."
"These duels don't matter," Harry advised. "Like I said, in class, if you fail, you can always try again tomorrow. The point is that you learnt something β"
"Yes, that Malfoy is a git," said Susan Bones from beside.
Harry rolled his eyes. "You learnt that not all attacks are about power. They can also be psychological. He shattered your shield with an overpowered hex, and made you believe you couldn't defend against his next attack. And then he used a curse that he knew you'd react to worse than, say, a guy would."
"Bloody slytherin," growled Susan.
"Hey, I take offence to that," said Daphne, walking up to them from behind. "Slytherin or not, he tricked her and it worked. That's what really matters."
"I guess next time I've got to make sure to prepare myself against such tricks," said Padma morosely.
"I'm sure of it," said Harry, grinning. "You're already good at duelling. In no time, you'll be great."
"Thanks," said Padma, a little red forming on her cheeks. "You're really a great teacher, Harry. I was always able to cast these spells, but just in the last two classes, I've learned so bloody much about using them in all sorts of inventive ways I couldn't have even imagined before."
"Errβ"
"That's true, Harry," said Susan. "I told you. You'd be a wonderful teacher."
"I'm almost hoping that the curse takes a long time to break, Harry," said Padma shyly. "That way, you can keep teaching us."
"I think we've found another member of the Harry Potter Fan club," sang Susan.
Padma blushed.
"Hey, back off," said Daphne, grabbing Harry's arm against her chest possessively. "This one is mine, girls. Find your own."
"Lucky bitch," said Susan, rolling her eyes.
"Okay, let's just stop right there," said Harry. "Let's focus on the next stage, yeah?" He turned to Susan. "It's kind of funny how you, Daphne and Li ended up in the semi-finals. I'm just waiting to see who gets to face the ferret."
"I'm really hoping it will be me," said Susan. "I want to teach him a lesson."
"Get in line, girl," said Daphne.
"Well, either way. I cannot be partial to anyone, so this is just general advice. Treat the duel like a fight to death. Malfoy has a little more power in him than the average student, possibly more than either of you. So do not waste time testing the waters. Whatever you do, make it quick and precipitous."
"Like Malfoy's attempts to chat up a girl," said Susan.
Both Padma and Daphne snorted at that.
"Okay, so we have the pairings for the next duel," said Harry. Just like before, he had used a simple lucky draw to sort the crowd, and this time, luck had fallen on Daphne's side. Susan got to face Sue, which everything considered, would be a tremendously uphill job for her. Susan boasted more raw power than Li, but it didn't hold a candle against the latter's experience. Daphne on the other hand, would be facing Draco, who had shown his over-reliance on curses and overpowering his spells to turn the tables to his side. Naturally, it would be up to Daphne to be inventive about it.
"The first battle will be between Daphne Greengrass and Draco Malfoy. Participants take your positions. Bow, and now, three, two, one β DUEL!"
Malfoy immediately began with the Fogging spell that Sue had used in her duel against Hermione, and proceeded with a jelly-legs jinx aimed at Daphne's feet. Daphne's response to that was to simply dance her way out of the spell, and send a shower of arrows at Malfoy, which clashed against his hastily-raised shield. She took advantage of that, and instantly conjured a cluster of bees, and sent them to attack Draco from all directions, which Draco tried to prevent by throwing a gust of wind at them. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't able to send them hurling off and instead cast the flame charm, burning them to ash, and sent a torrent of flames Daphne's way, who had to leap to her right to avoid it, just in time to get hit by Draco's cutting curse, cutting a gash across Daphne's left cheek. Daphne winced and went for the snake-summoning charm, and sent it hurling at Draco, who burnt it to ash again, but in the process, gave Daphne the time to get back up.
"Ready to give up, Greengrass?" taunted Malfoy, his wand hand rising behind his head like a dagger, ready to cast a curse."Or else I'll just scar up your face properly. It will match up perfectly with scarhead."
"Keep running that mouth, Malfoy," said Daphne, steadying herself. "I'll shove those words so far down your throat you'll be shitting them for a week."
"Too bad we can't use seconds," said Draco. "You might have had a chance then. CALVORIO!"
Daphne didn't react like Padma. She waited all the way for the curse to get close, before casting a shield just in time to scatter it off.
"This curse again? What happened? Daddy couldn't be bothered to teach you something useful so he showed you how to be a worse bully?"
"My father," Draco snarled, "is a great man! REDUCTO!"
"Yes," said Daphne, sending an exploding hex in return. The two spells clashed in the centre in a loud explosion. "And I'm Morgan Lefay. But enough of that. You've been a nuisance for me for quite some time, Draco. All these years, you stood over my shoulders and called yourself tall. It's time to show you exactly what you truly are."
Rather than her retort, Harry was more interested in the sudden shift in Daphne's demeanour. Her eyes were wide open and alert. Focussed. No more reservations, and no more holding back for the sake of it. It was like she knew that the battle was hers to win, and she was confident that she could guide it to whatever conclusion she deemed fit.
She raised her wand like a sword, only held it sideways, like a shield.
"What?" said Malfoy, gripping his wand tighter. "Is that supposed to frighten me? You think showing off a stance is going to win you this fight?"
Daphne smirked, and with a speed that only came from years of honed practice, she began slashing through the air. Harry widened his eyes as he saw the layer of magic she was weaving. Every single slash added to the previous one, forming a constant layer of magical waves that were travelling through the air, a stacked defensive set up that allowed her complete freedom to go offensive.
He let out an appreciative whistle.
"Watch carefully, Malfoy," said Daphne. "This is how a Greengrass fights."
To Malfoy's credit, he didn't look fazed. Even a bit.
"I'm going to wipe that smile off your face!" He snarled, and whipped his wand out. "REDUCTO! REDUCTO DUO!" And then he sent a leg locker on its hogtails.
Two blasting curses back to back, with the second one being the stronger variation of the first. It was obvious that Draco was trying to prey on the weaknesses on the shield charm. Defending against the first blasting curse would likely damage the shield slightly, and the more powerful curse following it would shatter it instantly, in which case the leg locker would catch Daphne by surprise, and possibly the duel.
It was a good plan. There was only one problem.
There were simply too many defensive barriers for them to even reach Daphne.
Daphne did a strange spinning movement with her wand, as if charging up the spell by adding both magic and momentum into it. It was a risky thing, that could just explode in her face if she was even slightly distracted. And then she thrust her wand head on at Draco, yelling β
"REDUCTO!"
A wave of pure force exploded out of Daphne's wand, spinning through the trajectory she had created using nothing but sheer willpower, every iteration only magnifying the effect and smashed against Draco's hastily raised shield, hitting it with all the force of a freight train hitting a thin glass wall. Draco was bodily picked up, and thrown across the room, his back smashing against the wall on the opposite side.
He slid down to the floor, and coughed out blood, his wand already shattered on first impact with Daphne's spell.
"Daphne wins!" said Harry. His fiance staggered a little, but held her balance. Every inch of him was wanting to go and grab her, and hug her tight, congratulate her on her victory against the ferret, but his position as the professor held him back in check.
"Good duel," he said, smiling at her. "That was a surprise in the end."
Daphne gave him a grin. "You're not the only one with a Noble tag, Professor. I told you remember, I've been practising my family craft ever since I was tiny."
"That was the Greengrass Family Magic?"
She snorted, coughing again. "Barely. Just one of the many stances I was taught. Damn it. I think I might have overdone it a little."
Harry frowned, concerned. "Are you okay? Do you need to β"
"I'm fine," she said quickly. A little too quickly. No doubt trying to pretend everything was fine just so that he wouldn't worry about her and think she was frail. "I might have miscalculated the momentum in the end. Nothing some breathing exercises wouldn't take care of."
"If you say so."
"Would I lie to you?"
Realising it was a trick question, he just smiled. "So, if that's a Greengrass family craft, does that mean β"
"That you can do it too?" She finished for him. "I don't see why not. Father always thought you were the Greengrass vessel. Our original idea was to help you master the craft and summon the Family Magic. I had so many plans of beating you to a crisp while training you to take over the mantle of my family, but then, you surprised us with the uncanny Peverell lineage."
"That's me. The uncanny Harry Potter."
Daphne grinned. "Prat. Now finish this class. We have all the time to discuss this later."
Harry flushed. "Right. You should get that cut treated."
"I'm quite skilled with the Episkey spell, thank you."
As Daphne went off to the sidelines, slowly rubbing right below her left shoulder with her right hand, Harry looked at the rest of the class, where Susan and Sue were standing in position, ready to face each other. Pansy Parkinson had helped Draco stand up, and helped him go rest. He could see the ferret grunting as Pansy pulled him up.
"I will take Mr. Malfoy to the Hospital Wing. After that, we have just one more duel before we can proceed to the finals next class. Prepare yourself."
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