Double Double Toil and Trouble // Two // [ON HOLD]

Chapter Twelve

A week went by without anything happening. I was walking through the entrance hall with Nat, holding her bag for her while she dug through it looking for her finished Transfiguration homework.

"Why can't you just use a bench or something?" I asked, becoming annoyed with the situation I was in.

"Where's the fun in that?" She asked as she finally pulled a roll of parchment from the bag. "What's going on over there?" She pointed behind me. I turned around and saw a crowd of students gathered around the notice board.

"Not sure." I replied before walking up.

"They're starting a dueling club!" Seamus said before I could start reading the new notice that stood out against the old ones. "The first meeting's tonight!"

"I wouldn't mind some dueling lessons." Nat said, appearing next to me. "They might come in handy one day."

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Plus it gives Harry and I a way to settle our arguments."

We turned and started walking towards the Great Hall for dinner. "You know you're not allowed to use magic without the supervision of a teacher, right?" Nat asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, but it's not breaking the rules if you don't get caught."

She stifled a laugh. "I'll have to learn a few extra dueling spells just to knock you down a few pegs." She said as we sat down at the Slytherin table. "Your ego's becoming a bit much."

I smirked, filling my plate with food from the center of the table. "Perhaps you're right, but good luck."

~

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were interested in Dueling Club as well. So at eight o'clock that night, we went back to the Great Hall for the first meeting. All four of the dining tables were gone, and a large, golden stage was set up along one wall. The ceiling was now black, and the room was lit up by thousands of floating candles. The majority of the school were packed into the large room, most of them holding their wands out, preparing to learn some new spells.

"I wonder who will be teaching us." Hermione said excitedly, looking around for any of the professors.

"I heard Flitwick was a dueling champion when he was young. Maybe him." Nat suggested.

"As long as it's not-" Harry started, but he ended his sentence with a groan. I looked up and realized why. Lockhart had stepped onto the stage wearing purple velvet robes, followed by Snape in his usual black.

"I would've much preferred Flitwick." I grumbled.

Lockhart waved his arm for silence. "Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent!" He exclaimed.

"Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little dueling club, to train you all up in case you ever need to defend yourselves, as I myself have done on countless occasions, see my published works for full details." I found it hard to keep listening as he slowly started talking about himself. It amazed me how much my opinion of him changed after meeting him and seeing him on a day-to-day basis.

"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape." Lockhart announced, flashing a wide smile. "He tells me he knows a bit about dueling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin."

"Wouldn't it be great if they finished each other off?" Ron muttered. I smiled and nodded.

Lockhart and Snape turned to face each other and bowed. We had all gone silent as we watched the scene unfold. The two professors raised their wands in front of their faces like swords in fencing. Lockhart began counting.