Where Your Loyalties Lie - {Severus Snape x Reader}

-62-

All of the second years of every House has gathered around the Great Hall, around the dueling table. The room is filled with light chatter and whispers. Moody yells over the noise as he stomps along the dueling platform:"Alright, listen up! Professor Snape and (Y/L) here has agreed to give you kids a short demonstration before you go on blasting on each other one by one.". Every student got surprised by the parring. None of them could have ever expect that it'll be us to do it. To be honest, neither did I, but here we are. Both of us put our capes onto the side before climbing up the stairs onto the dueling table. Even I'm having this calm appearance, I'm fuming on the inside. There is this part of me that don't want to be doing this, but then there is this other side of me that... Wants to kick his ass.

With that in mind, Snape and I step on the platform from both sides. Mad-eye Moody stands on my side slightly further away to watch. After he had explained the students what they are about to see and the rules of dueling, the room gets quiet and they all watch us. The Potions Master and I are staring in each others eyes from the distance. The grip around my wand tightens and I do a calm exhale thru my nose. "Professors." Moody gives us the sign we can now approach. Without taking our eye off each others, we start walking towards. It's hard to read from Snape's face what is going thru his mind right now. It's not sad or mad or happy. It's just... Cold. When we finally come to stand in front of each other, we draw our wands up to our faces and pause for a moment. My heart starts raising, but I try my hardest to ignore it.

Right after the small pause, we lower the wands onto the side. The opponent does a small bow, I simply jerked my head. Then, we sharply turn our backs and start taking the five steps away from each other. The students are amazed already. Some of them even have their mouths open. Each step I take, a memory with him flashes by. The moment he placed the book on my head he let me borrow. The moment he rest his forehead on my shoulder. The moment we interlocked our fingers before Umbridge walked in. The moment he caressed side of my cheek after he had made me feel better. The moment when... The image of us dancing at the night of the Yule Ball starts to shake and turns into the moment I confessed my feelings for him and how he just... Walked away.

Stern look on my face, heart shielded, I turn to the opponent and position myself as a sign I'm more than ready to duel. Snape is in his position too, which is surprisingly less theatrical than mine. After all, he's the one who loves the drama. Moody smirks corner of his mouth after watching us for a quick moment. Then, he starts the count down:"One... Two...". There is straight contact between each others eyes. Neither of us blinks. "Three." The D.A.D.A. teachers voice echoes. Giving Snape no change to even open his mouth, I point my wand:"Everte Statum!". Flash of spell shoots right at him, but he's quick to block it. It angers me. As fast as I can, I shoot another spell. The children around us gasps at the same time. It was agreed that we'll do a spell one each, so they got off guard I did two in a row. He blocks it again, only this time there is a slight change on his face. He's surprised. Confused even.

Moody won't say anything to this. It's more like he enjoys this moment more than anyone else in this room. As expected, I don't see any of the expressions on their faces. My only focus is the man in front of me. And to get him down on his knees. Without giving him the change, I keep on casting spells. Spell after a spell, he always manages to block them. Feels like he isn't even trying to fight back. C'mon..! Until finally, he uses Protego to bounce one of my spells back. Quickly, I block it and the sudden wave of air makes my hair float for a moment. The students goes 'ooo' and starts clapping, thinking it's all over. But no. Keeping the eyes on the target, I start casting spells rapidly and do couple strides towards him. Every spell goes flying somewhere up the ceiling. I hate this.