Chapter 22 Midnight Duel and Unexpected Gains

Harry had learned from Hermione that the reason Ron had gotten into a fight with the freshman named Malfoy was still because of Harry and herself.

"At that time, Malfoy was talking bad about you and making a crying face, Ron didn't hold back and rushed up to him and got into a fight."Hermione said, "I was going to go up and talk Ron down, but that Malfoy called me a mudblood and then Ron punched him in the nose and they fought. It didn't take long for Professor Snape to show up, and then that's what you saw."

"Say, what exactly does mudblood mean?"Hermione asked with some curiosity, "I think Ron was about to explode with anger at the sound of it, knowing it was a very bad word, but I wonder what it means?"

"It's when pureblood wizards who think they're noble acquire titles for wizards who come from the world of ordinary people, meaning lowly blood, it's insulting anyway."Harry, who had once heard the word from Richard and William, explained to Hermione, "If, in the future, someone else says that word to you, beat him up, and if you can't beat him up, go to Ron and me and Richard and Vincent and the others."

"Harry, I'm a girl, I wouldn't do anything unladylike," Hermione said with a smile, "Besides, I'm a witch, I'd just put a spell on that person."

Harry inclined his head slightly and decided not to comment on it.

By the time Harry saw Ron again, it was time for dinner in the hall.

At this time of day, there weren't too many people, so Hermione and the others were seated directly at the long Ravenclaw table.

The corners of Ron's eyes were still black and blue, but the blood stains were gone from under his nose.

"Ron, didn't you go to the medical room?"Harry gestured to him, pointing to the corner of his eye.

"Oh, I was going to, but that old bat Snape," he gritted his teeth as he said this, "Can you believe that he only docked me a point? That bastard Malfoy didn't give a shit! Not only did I get dinged, I had to spend a week in solitary confinement."

"Don't take it personally, and don't make a big deal out of it."William Feynman said, "The whole of Hogwarts knows that Snape hardly ever deducts points from Slytherins and finds random reasons to deduct points from any other house, nothing personal against you."

To be fair, it used to be random reasons to dock Gryffindor points. Now that Harry had been sorted into Ravenclaw, the trend spread to Ravenclaw with it.

"I know, but it's still upsetting!"Ron was indignant, "I should have known to just break Malfoy's nose."

"Is this Malfoy the same Malfoy?"Vincent interjected suddenly.

"If you're talking about the Death Eater family that was rumored to have served the Mysterons, yes, that's them."Ron said, "My dad said they got out of the Ministry of Magic's accusations against them all thanks to their money, and the family is full of dark wizard stuff, it's just bad."

"Anyway, I sort of cleaned him up this time," Ron said, "but Snape came too soon to teach him a lesson at all, or we'll see how he dares to call people names in the future."

"Don't worry, I'm sure there's still a chance."Harry reassured.

"Yes, that's why I asked him to duel at midnight tonight."Ron said.

"What?"Hermione pulled her voice up all at once, "Midnight tonight? Are you crazy?"

"Keep your voice down Hermione, everyone can hear you!"Ron growled in an exasperated whisper, "And what was he and I fighting about in the first place?"

"You know, it's against school rules, and it'll cost Gryffindor a lot of points if Filch catches it."Hermione retorted in a low voice.

"You said the same thing about getting caught," Ron spoke up, "I'll be careful and not get caught."

"You can't promise ... that."Hermione was still trying to talk Ron out of this bad idea, but apparently it wasn't working.

"I'm going to need an assistant," Ron looked to the boys except for Hermione, "Which one of you is interested? Neville?"

Neville immediately buried his head, not daring to look at Ron's face. Brother Richard suddenly acted like he was too intoxicated with pumpkin juice to hear what Ron was saying. Little fat Vincent was even more dry, as he pushed his dinner plate and quickly left the long table, heading in the direction of the main door. Mind you, normally he was always the last one to put down his own spoon.

Harry was left with no statement yet, and Ron looked to him with an expectant gaze. Harry had wanted to decline as well, and honestly had little interest in getting up in the middle of the night and walking halfway across the school to fight someone. But then again, Harry had a feeling that it would put him on the spot if he didn't have someone to back Ron up. After all, Ron had gotten into the fight with Malfoy in the first place because of him.

"Fine! I'll be your assistant!"Harry said helplessly, "Where's the duel?"

"Fantastic! Harry, I knew you wouldn't let your friends down," he gave the Feynman brothers and Neville a look that made them bow their heads sheepishly, "The duel will take place on the eighth floor of that spire to the left of the Gryffindor tower, there's a large space there and it's very rarely visited, perfect for a duel. "

"Harry, you don't really want to get up in the middle of the night, walk halfway across the school, dodge the teachers on night patrol, and then climb up to the eighth floor of a tower just to take part in a duel that sounds as stupid as it is, do you?"Hermione said, looking at Harry with a look like he was crazy.

"Listen to yourself?"Ron shouted, "What do you mean a duel that sounds stupid? Did I punch Malfoy in the nose for myself? Are you still not our friend enough to seem supportive?"

"That's not what I meant ...," Hermione tried to explain, but couldn't find any proper justification for it for a while, especially since Ron had made the duel happen based on Malfoy's insults to her.

Regardless, Harry managed to get out of bed at almost ten-thirty at night, get dressed, and gently open the door to his dormitory under the worried gaze of Fatty Vincent.

Walking alone through the corridors of Hogwarts, Harry had to say that staying up in the middle of the night and getting up to wander these eerily silent corridors wasn't really a good idea, and Harry kind of regretted not taking Hermione's advice.

"Teacher, are you still there?"Harry asked mentally .

"Look down at your wrist, if the wrist guard is there, I'm there."Sherry said, "Next time, don't ask such a retarded question, and also, hide behind that armor in front of you, someone is coming."

"What? Oh!"Harry hastily ducked behind the armor on his hands and knees, almost knocking it over and creating more noise. Luckily, Sherry had been paying attention, muffling the sounds and smells around him, so that Filch and his cat, who were patrolling the night, didn't spot Harry.

Only when Filch walked away with his lamp did Harry come out from behind his armor and sneak in the direction of the Gryffindor tower. Along the way, he had to be careful to avoid professors on their nightly rounds, wandering apparitions, and even to be careful not to wake the sleeping portraits.

"This really isn't a good idea!"Harry whispered to himself once more before jumping over a missing step and ascending to where Ron said he was.

"Harry, what took you so long to get here now? We've been waiting for you for almost half an hour!"Ron complained as soon as he saw Harry, "Being late for a duel can be considered a direct admission of defeat!"

"That's still really sorry!"Harry couldn't help but complain as well, "I left at ten-thirty and hid all the way here. I'm sure you must have had an even harder time arriving here, especially since your dormitory is basically right next to here."

"Harry, I told you not to come to this duel."Hermione's voice popped up, which surprised Harry to no end, as Hermione was very much against the whole thing in the afternoon.

"Hermione, what are you doing here? I thought you were very much against this!"Harry said in surprise.

"I am against this," Hermione rolled her eyes, "but how can I make sure that you won't do more things against school rules if I don't come?"

"None of that matters," Ron interrupted, "That asshole, Malfoy, didn't even show up. From that point on, we won the duel."

"What?"Harry could have gotten a little angry, "I got up in the middle of the night just to wait for Malfoy to be absent from the duel in this place that's halfway across the campus from my dormitory, and then announce that we won?"

"Cheer up, Harry," Ron said, "At least we won! We can laugh at Malfoy when we meet him tomorrow and tell the whole House about it, making him face less."

"And then get viciously docked a couple of points?"Hermione said sarcastically, "Don't you get it? We have to keep our mouths shut about this or we'll be admitting to ourselves that the three of us broke school rules."

"Son of a bitch," Ron huffed, "He really is just like his Death Eater father, all bad intentions, no wonder my dad is always telling me to watch out for this family."

"Uh? Ron, Hermione?"Harry said suddenly.

"What's wrong, Harry?"Hermione asked.

"Do you think Malfoy will be more devious and just report us?"Harry pointed to the sudden fire that appeared under the bottom of the stairs.

"Oooh, crap!"Hermione and Ron panicked as well, getting caught in the middle of the night would absolutely and properly deduct a huge amount of points from their respective houses and cause hatred from the rest of the entire house.

"Run up the stairs?"Harry asked.

"No, there's nothing to hide in up there!"Hermione vetoed that option outright.

"But it's too late to go down!"Harry looked around and had to admit that the place Ron and Malfoy had picked was absolutely perfect, even the walls were mostly bare, nothing but a huge portrait on the front wall. No statues, no decorative armor, just a large empty flat area.

"Meow!"A cat purred.

"Mrs. Loris! It's Filch!"The trio completely panicked at this; Filch loved nothing more than to lock students up after they got into trouble (though only had the power to decide how the punishment would be meted out, not whether or not it would be meted out).

"We need a place to hide!"Ron said.

"But where to hide?"Harry asked rhetorically.

"Where to hide? Where to hide? Where to hide?"Ron was walking back and forth from one place to another, and his whole body was getting a little cranky. Miraculously, Harry saw a door appear in the wall. Not being able to think too much, Hermione opened the door and rushed in without saying a word. (Unfinished Business)