Potions and Dueling.
During the brisk second week of December, the corridors of Hogwarts were abuzz with the anticipation of the upcoming holiday season. It was around this time that Professor Snape, with his usual air of solemnity, made his rounds to compile a list of Slytherin students opting to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas. I, however, had made up my mind to return home this year, spurred by an urgent letter from Mike, my bodyguard. The letter hinted at a rare chance to delve into the art of Occlumency over the Christmas break—a skill I deemed essential, especially now that I harboured secrets demanding protection.
That Thursday, during potions, we were creating the swelling solution. I was working with Neville. He was getting a harder time from Snape, and I've been partnering with him to help. I was keeping an eye out while working on my potion. As Snape prowled through the classroom, picking on the Gryffindors, I saw Harry move out of the corner of my eye. I quickly wave my wand to create the umbrella charm to protect myself from Goyle's now exploding swelling solution.
The classroom was thrown into disarray as the potion splattered across the room, coating everyone in its vicinity. The sight of Draco, frantic and disoriented with his features comically swollen, was a scene of pure pandemonium. Amidst the chaos, Snape's voice cut through the commotion like a knife, cold and commanding: "Silence! Anyone who has been splashed, come forth for a Deflating Draught."
Snape investigated Goyle's potion and scooped out the twisted remains of the fireworks that Harry had tossed. A hush settled on the class. "if I ever find who did this. I will make sure they are expelled." snape stared at Harry. I chuckled, and after class, I led my friends slowly to the second-floor girl's bathroom.
"what are we doing here?" Grant asked, obviously looking concerned about going into a girl's bathroom.
"to get an apology." I pushed open the door, and there was a scramble. Hermione was standing near the tapps with it running.
"Eddie, what are you doing in here," she said unconvincingly angry. "and you dragged Grant and Tim in here too."
"Just looking for an apology," I said. "Come on out, Harry, Ron." Harry and Ron came sheepishly out of one of the stalls. "now I don't know why you needed to steal from Snape's store, but next time, don't explode someone's potion to use a distraction," I growled. "Swelling Solution might not be deadly, but some of the other potions craft will be."
"You're right," Harry whispered sheepishly. "We are sorry, but we didn't think of another way."
"yes, we apologize", said Hermione. "But how did you know where we were or that it was us?"
"saw Harry throw the firework." I said, "And Percy has been complaining about Ron sneaking in here before."
"godammit, Percy", Ron muttered.
"don't worry, I don't think anyone will know. Plus, poor Myrtle does make a perfect deterrent." the sound of her name came floating out.
"Who are you?" She cried at me.
"Miss Warren, I'm sorry, I'm Eddie Carter" I smiled at her. "It's a pleasure to meet the youngest ghost of Hogwarts." I nodded to her.
"leave me alone, and don't say that name," she cried and wandered off.
We left the bathroom and went on with my day.
--
A week later, I noticed the announcement on the notice board for the duelling club scheduled for that night. My friends seemed thrilled about it, and I thought to myself, 'Why not give it a try?' After all, I didn't have any other plans for the night.
On that night, the majority of students congregated in the grand hall around a long catwalk-style stage. Everyone was whispering about who the new teacher would be. We didn't have to wait long for an answer as Lockhart made his way onto the stage, adorned in deep plum robes. Professor Snape followed closely behind him.
"gather round, Gather Round." Gilderoy started, "Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? excellent!" He strutted like a prized pony on the stage. "Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little duelling club to train you all up in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions - for full details, see my published works." he shamelessly plugs.
They started with a duel demonstration, going over duelling etiquette and then how to get blasted off your feet by a disarming spell.
Maybe Snape disarmed the stage of Gilderoy, or did Gilderoy somehow manage to hold onto his wand but fly in the path the wand would have? Or the most likely solution was Snape's spell, which was powerful but not intended correctly.
Lockhart, for his credit, acted like this was all a part of the presentation and waxed falsehoods about how he had read Snape's moves and could have protected himself. They decided to break the students up into pairs and have us duel.
Ron got Seamus, Harry got Draco, and Hermione got Millicent Bulstrode. Grant and Tim faced each other, and I was paired with Neville.
Dueling had begun, and jinxes and hexes were being thrown around. Neville and I were facing each other, looking for openings and testing each other's defences. During our study group sessions, Neville had become quite skilled and active in duelling after discovering his father's old notes on the subject. He had also been working out and had shed some of his baby fat.
Scarlet spell light showed we were both using the disarming charm, and we were blocking with small proteges; we had both been trying to manifest an actual shield, but we could only make dinner plate-sized shields, so we got quite good at moving the shield to block spells.
Chaos consumed the duelling club as enemies. They fought each other; I saw Millicent get Hermione in a headlock, Ron's fight got miserably with his broken wand, and Seamus was laughing as Ron danced from his jelly legs charm. I made a mistake by looking at the chaos, and Neville managed to disarm me and even did the trick where the wand came to him. he was still a butter finger and didn't manage to catch it after a brief period of juggling it.
"well done, mate", I said as I picked up my wand. I shook his hand to congratulate him. Snape had an odd look on his face but quickly started to break up fights.
Once everybody had stopped fighting, we got to witness Harry v Draco. Draco cast <serpensortia > to send a snake at Harry. I had no idea how this was meant to show how to block unfriendly spells. Lockhart pissed the snake off by sending it to the sky, and Harry revealed his parseltongue abilities to the school.
Ron and Hermione rushed Harry out of the great hall afterwards. I looked at my friends. "That's a cool ability," I said to them.
"What, talking to snakes? Couldn't that mean he's the heir?" said Grant.
"please, anybody who thinks the boy who lived could set a monster loose to attack muggle-borns when his best friend is a muggle-born is an idiot", I said a bit loudly so the crowd could hear me. "Plus, I'll say what I said to him; if someone was suspected, they would have been brought in for questioning by the headmaster."