The first game of the season was over and done with, along with it was the little snakes bit of pride that money could solve what their lack of talent could not.
but the true pize came to house draconis as the second fair maiden was claimed by the maw of the dragon.
her green lined robes becoming black with silver trim, the the snarling snake replqced with a resplendent dragon
But you'd think after a match like that, Hogwarts would quiet down.
It didn't.
Rumours travel faster than broomsticks — especially when you're the subject of it.
Apparently, I'd "nearly decapitated" Professor Flitwick, "stared down death itself," and "didn't even blink when Harry broke his arm."
They weren't wrong about the last part.
who cares about a broken arm, they can fix that in a heartbeat, as for death psssh with all these teachers around like a student could actually manage to die on school grounds.
The Great Hall had been cleared for tonight's event.
Candles hovered higher than usual, leaving most of the floor in shadow except for a long, raised platform that looked more suited for execution than sport.
The returning members from last year buzzed with nervous excitement, wands already out.
Professor Snape stood at the far end, his robes billowing like he had a personal wind spell following him.
Professor Flitwick was beside him — bright-eyed and deadly as ever despite being half his height.
"Welcome back," Snape's voice cut through the chatter like a blade. "It seems the administration has seen fit to allow this club to continue, despite... last year's incidents."
A few Slytherins chuckled.
I could see him scanning the rows — eyes like black glass — before they flicked to me.
There was the smallest flicker of acknowledgment before his gaze swept on.
Professional mask firmly in place.
Flitwick clapped his hands. "This year we'll be running a tournament format! Friendly duels, scored by form, control, and—of course—success!"
The crowd cheered.
No one heard McGonagall mutter from the sidelines, "Friendly. Yes. Until someone explodes."
looking at no one in paticular 'seamus'.
~
I leaned against one of the pillars, watching.
Daphne was beside me, arms crossed.
"Think he'll let you duel?" she asked.
I smirked.
"Doubtful. He likes to keep the spectacle manageable."
"Manageable?" Cho snorted from my other side. "You mean he's still sore you all but called him out for a duel as a first year."
"so? Not like i was gonna win i just wanted the chance to see how tall the mountain was, not that i ever expected to be able to reach the summit as i am now."
Before she could retort, Snape's voice rang out again.
"First duel. Mr. Potter... and Mr. Malfoy."
A ripple of excitement rolled through the hall.
Of course.
He'd set that one up deliberately.
The golden boy and the heir apparent — a match fit for headlines.
Even though they were from the same house their choice of friends and social circles had them constantly competing against one another, but ultimately only managing to distract themselves from their studies and falling ever further down the academic rankings.
Harry looked uncertain as he climbed the platform, wand loose in his grip.
Malfoy, on the other hand, looked like he'd been waiting for this since birth.
They bowed stiffly at Flitwick's signal.
Before seperating and walking down the dueling platform in opposite directions, before taking positions awaiting the start of the duel.
"On my count... three... two...-"
"Everte Statum!" Malfoy called out taking advantage of the situation to strike ahead of the true battle start.
The Yellow charm shot out without warning striking potter and launching him up into the air, tumbling back three meters before falling upon the ground.
Giggles came from the crowd while some others called out Malfoy for cheating.
But Harry was undettered quickly getting back to his feet, before retaking his combat stance.
"Rictusempra" Harry shouted back in retaliation.
The red beam emitted from his wand, struck Malfoy directly, causing the boy to burst into uncontrollable laughter before falling over himself, as if an army of feather dusters was attacking every sensitive spot on his body.
Even when downed, Malfoy managed to flick his wand once more.
"Tarantallegra!"
The blue spells shot out, and upon hitting its mark, Potter began to dance the tarentella, with his feet dancing uncontrollably.
The battle was what one would expect from second years.
Most of the spells we had been taught were simple prank charms, or jinxs.
Nothing that could be deemed lethal, or even really harmful.
So the scene before us now was fairly common.
One boy doubled over in laughter looking upon another who was badly dancing only with his legs almost as if his life depended on it.
Thankfully these spells did not last long, and both sides returned to their normal stances.
Then Malfoy flicked his wand around in a series of sharp and deliberate movements.
"Serpensortia!"
The sound was immediate — a sharp crack, followed by the sound of a wet hiss, as a meter long cobra shot out from the tip of Malfoys wand.
This spell was not a course curriculum one, but rather a specialty of the Malfoy house after it was taught to Lucius by Voldemort himself.
However Draco's version was unrefined.
The true spell would cause a cloud of black smoke to appear before reforming into a massive snake or even series of snakes, but instead the little hatchling could only manage to summon forth a representation of himself.
Gasps echoed through the hall.
Even Snape looked faintly annoyed.
Harry froze upon seeing the serpent.
"Don't worry potter i'll get rid of it for you."
Seeing the serpent as something that could not be dealt with by a mere second year, Professor Snape moved to undo the spell.
But before his wand could be fully raised a sound came forth stunning him.
"Seethaaa ssss hathehh hathehh ayaeeh"
All eyes in the great hall turned at once away from the cobra, to the form of harry who had lowered his wand but was staring intently upon the snake before him.
The snake having heard his word was looking back at him, before it's head turned staring to a unlucky Hufflepuff Justin.
"Ssssssss."
"Hathehh ssss haa saahthay ssss seethaaa aayaa ssssehhh"
Once more the hissing sound erupted from Harry's mouth, causing the cobra to shoot it's head back in protest hissing back at him.
The entire time this was going on the hall was stunned, well... at least all except for myself.
Harry was a parselmouth, this was a well established fact with the harry potter universe though fans were divided on whether the source was his own, or Voldemorts soul fragment living within him.
But for me, i belonged to the first camp, and my reason?
I can understand them both as well.
At first Harry upon seeing the snake had simply said 'Hello' in greeting the snake, but being a spell of dark magic, the beast sought out a target, only for harry to try warding it off with 'Leave him'.
"Vipera Evanesca"
The cold voice of Professor Snape broke the silence striking the cobra before burning it away into ashes, breaking Harry from the trance he was in, only to start turning round and round to realize everyone was staring at him.
But more than just staring, they all appeared to be fearful of him.
Harry didn't linger, bolting from the dueling platform, with Ron following close behind him.
The mood had shifted, and the excitement over the interschool tournament had lost much of its allure.
So rather than forcing the event to proceed the teachers opted to simply end things for the day, and resume the tournament the following weekend, giving the others time to preapare for the battles ahead.