Chapter 7: Hufflepuff: Duelling
Harry heard the sound of footsteps coming towards the Hufflepuff table. He didn't need to look up. He knew exactly who it would be.
Silence.
"If you want to say something, Malfoy, I strongly suggest you say it," he said, keeping his voice as steady as possible, but the tiny quiver did not lie. He looked up properly to find him glaring at him.
"Hey, Malfoy. You appear to have lost your table. See, the vomit table is over there," said Hannah, coolly. Malfoy snarled, and seemed to find his voice.
"Shut up, Abbott. I don't want your half-blood spit on my cloak,"
Harry's head snapped in his direction so quickly that he heard a snap, and wondered if he had broken something, but at that moment, he neither knew nor cared if he had. He raised his wand. Malfoy raised his.
"Tell you what, Potter…" Drawled Malfoy, apparently enjoying the fact that he had provoked him, "How about we continue this little affair with a… oh, I don't know… duel?" He smirked as Harry flushed, "I'll meet you at midnight, shall I? Third floor transfiguration classroom, you know the one, I'm sure."
Malfoy walked off slowly, as if to see if Harry would try to jinx him. 'Fine', he thought, 'then I'll duel you'. Hannah was looking after him, angrily.
"That was really rude, and not even legal!" she exclaimed, "That's it, I'm coming with you,"
…
It had been a long day, and Harry wasn't convinced his work in lessons was up to his normal standard, but, he thought fairly, he had been worrying about the duel the whole time. He walked past the familiar painting of a fruit bowl, and entered the Hufflepuff common room. Stretching, he sat down gloomily on the armchair closest to the fireplace, and cast a heavy lidded glance in Hannah's direction.
"Hey…" he muttered, after a few very long blinks staring into the fire crackling.
"Hm?" Hannah asked, still staring at her book thoughtfully, but putting it down and bookmarking her page a moment later, "Hey what?"
"What time is it?" She looked down at her watch.
"Half eight. I would ask why, but…"
"Malfoy." Harry replied quietly, nodding.
If the day had been agonising, then the subsequent wait for the common room to be empty was downright torture in Harry's opinion. How was he supposed to wait patiently for when he needed to fight his worst enemy wand-to-wand in only three and a half hours? He became uncomfortably aware of all the background noise, of his own breathing, and of Hannah's, of everyone talking and laughing, and of the ever ticking clock, that seemed to grow louder by the minute.
Tick… tock… went the clock, signalling quarter to nine.
The noise level had barely changed. He heard the doors to the dormitories swinging open and shut occasionally, but they barely seemed to make a dent in the hustle and bustle. Hannah had put down her book, and was beginning on her extra charms practise. His eyes kept drooping.
Tick… tock… ten o'clock.
The doors were opening and closing more frequently now. Harry would have found this thought a happy, and even encouraging one, had someone not put a levitating charm on their hat, which was now flying around the room erratically, and spewing confetti over people's heads. When one vomited confetti all over Hannah, he tried to ignore her swearing. He could vaguely hear Cedric's voice telling the… third year? Something like that, to stop it. Was it just him, or was the clock getting louder?
Tick… tock… ten fifteen.
Cedric had finally managed to get the child to stop making their hat puke confetti, and zoom around, though not before a few dozen girls were giggling irritatingly. He wanted to strangle them, no, he wanted to strangle Malfoy. And Snape. And Dudley. Not in that order, though. The doors had slowed down again, and he supposed that anyone left was a night owl on some level…
Tick… tock… half past…
Tick… tock… he awoke with a start. 'Quarter to eleven? But it was a quarter past a moment ago. Oh no… at this rate, he would be fighting Malfoy in barely any time at all. Why does time always go faster when you don't want it to?' he thought, angrily. Hannah seemed to have seen his mood, for she looked at him, with concern in her eyes, and asked if he would rather go to bed and not fight Malfoy at all. Ha!
"I appreciate the thought," Harry said, through gritted teeth, "But fat chance,"
Tick… tock… one hour to go…
By now, the common room was nearly deserted. Cedric had gone to bed, muttering a hast 'G'night' to Harry and Hannah. So had everyone else, but there were a few fourth year boys trying to make a chair zoom back and forth over the balcony still left. The clock was definitely louder than it had been before. He decided, in order to occupy his thoughts, to pace up and down the common room, deep in thought.
What if I lose?
What if Malfoy makes fun of me?
What could Malfoy do to me if he wins?
Tick… tock… half past eleven.
Hannah stood up at once, and Harry jumped.
"We should go," she muttered, stowing her belonginings into her schoolbag, and placing them carefully on the hearthrug, and turning back to him. Harry stopped pacing, and slowly turned to look at her.
"I don't need to meet Malfoy for half an hour…" he replied, bemused and slightly sweating. For response, Hannah rolled her eyes at him.
"Look, I need to meet someone-" "At THIS HOUR!?" Harry interjected. "-who also wants to come with us," she finished, as though Harry had not spoken. Harry made his way over to the exit to the Hufflepuff common room, all the while staring incredulously at Hannah.
They walked for a while, passing first the fruit bowl painting, and making their way to the Great Hall, before making a turn, and walking up the marble staircase Harry knew, having chatted to Ron after lessons and getting lost occasionally, lead to the Gryffindor common room. The two arrived outside the entrance to the common room, a painting of a very fat woman in a pink dress who was holding a large glass of… it was hard to tell? Wine? Fire whiskey? Barely had they been there a second than none other than Hermione Granger swung the door open, walked through gingerly, closed it shut behind her, and turned to them.
Harry was too tired to find this news quite as surprising as he would have done otherwise, so he merely waved, and started walking, with long strides, towards the classroom.
Best to get this over with.
…
Harry grabbed the door and yanked, and was relieved to find that it was not, as the more sensible half of him had expected, locked. The sensible half then realised that there was no backing out of this.
Though he barely needed to walk a metre, Harry dragged his feet slowly into the room, so that Hermione and Hannah had to wait for a few seconds before being able to squeeze into the room. Hermione flipped a switch, and the light in the room turned on instantly. He saw out of the corner of his eye, her twisting the key.
Harry wondered if this was entirely sensible, but he was rather relieved to be able to see his surroundings. There were a few chairs and tables haphazardly pushed to the side of the room, and a singular wardrobe that had been knocked to the floor. How strange… Harry had been in this classroom many times before, and there had never been a wardrobe there, as far as he could remember. He helped Hannah push it over, so that it was vertical.
"So…" Hermione muttered, matter-of-factly, "The first thing I reckon we should do is-"
Unfortunately, neither Harry nor Hannah ever got to hear what Hermione thought they should do first, because right then, the key started turning back.
Author's Note: To avoid any confusion, this is the first Hufflepuff only chapter of the Silver Snake. The next chapter will be Ravenclaw Harry meeting Fluffy, and Slytherin Harry meeting the troll. Stay tuned!
DavidoDaVinci