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Harry flicked his wrist down, and his wand shot out of his holster with a soft "snikt"and landed in the palm of his hand. Instantly, he snapped it back up directly into Malfoy's face, nearly touching the tip of his nose. The entire maneuver had taken half a second, not even one of Harry's better times, but it was lightning fast compared to his opponent who was still fumbling for his wand. Malfoy froze in surprise, while Crabbe and Goyle backed away nervously. There were gasps all around at Harry's effortless speed. Few of the young Slytherins watching had ever been exposed to real dueling, and from their limited experience, Harry's reflexes appeared superhumanly fast.
"You know," said Harry easily. "My friend, the Mudblood Granger, taught me this neat fireworks spell. I bet at this range it would really hurt."
At that, Rodney Montague finally stepped forward. "Potter, that's enough. Stand down."
"It's okay, Mr. Montague. We're fine. We're all fine here. Aren't we fine, Mr. Malfoy?"
Draco looked up from the tip of the wand to peer into Harry's eyes. And like James Potter before him, he suddenly realized that Harry's eyes were the exact same color as the Killing Curse. "Yes, Montague," he said with a dry swallow. "We're ... we're all fine here."
"Yes, perfectly fine. By the way, I mentioned that I won fifteen house points but forgot to say what for. You see, the Mudblood Granger and the Blood Traitor Squib Longbottom and little old Blood Traitor Halfblood me, well, we found that mountain troll that caused Professor Quirrell to faint like a little girl. And then ... we beat it into a coma."
There were even more gasps at that, and Zabini exclaimed "No way!" in a surprisingly Muggle manner. Harry made a mental note to look into that.
"Yes way!" he replied with a grin. "I, with the help of two other First Years that most of you look down on as dirt beneath your feet, took down a fully grown troll by ourselves. So, Mr. Malfoy, I invite you to consider whether or not I should be intimidated by your weak magic and your father's money and your two henchmen. Because the correct answer is... I'm not."
Then, he took two steps back and raised his wand. With a subtle flick of his wrist, the wand snapped back into its holster with an audible "zip" that made half the Slytherins in the room flinch. "Now then, I'm tired, I've had a long day, and I think I have troll blood in my hair. So, I'm going to take a hot shower and then go to bed. If you want to continue this discussion at some point in the future, Malfoy, I'd be happy to oblige. But before then, I think you should sit down with a piece of parchment, write down all your assets, and then write down what you think my assets are. And then, double the points you put down in my column, because I promise you haven't seen half of what I can do. And then, Malfoy? If you still want to take me on, go for it. We'll see who rusts first."
Finally, he broke eye contact with the visibly shaken Draco to look around the room. Some were intimidated while others merely looked thoughtful. But everyone had been transfixed by Harry's performance. He smiled. "Good night, Slytherins," he said mildly as he walked around Goyle towards the dorms. As he left, he was alternately whistling and humming a strange tune that the Slytherin students found at once both unnerving and unearthly. Had there been any Muggleborns in the house, they would have instantly recognized it as the theme from "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly."
Over in the corner, out of everyone's view, Theo Nott watched as his first friend strolled away. And for possibly the first time in his life, Theo grinned from ear to ear.
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