A Room With a View

Face Off

The first round of dueling passed more quickly than Hermione thought it would. With three separate platforms, they were able to rotate through all the first-round pairs in a matter of an hour. The longest battle had predictably been between Draco and Severus, both of whom favored the offensive rather than the defensive when dueling. They'd engaged in a delicate game of give and take, testing one another's reflexes and spell repertoire with a series of showy flashes and bangs on Draco's part and more subtle misdirection on Snape's. Severus managed to disarm Draco with a combination shield, light flash, and confundus that found the younger Malfoy facing the wrong direction and partially blinded for five minutes after.

The other duels were no less exciting. Kingsley Shacklebolt narrowly defeated Minerva by charming her hair to escape the confines of its bun and attack her face like a sea leviathan while he disarmed her. Neville bested Ronald with a simple but particularly well-timed flippendo, leaving the redhead muttering, "I meant to let him do that." Neville's was gathering some rather shocked looks from his second and third years, who - despite knowing of their professor's war-time heroism - had a hard time connecting their mild-mannered Herbology professor to the talented duelist they'd just watched defeat a top-notch auror.

Molly handily defeated Mohinder Bhatti by causing the younger man to fumble his own wand. He'd been so surprised by the strength and rapid-fire nature of the Weasley matriarch's spellcasting that he'd cast two simple shields before allowing his own wand to drop from between his numb fingers. He laughed a bit at his own clumsiness before congratulating Molly on her success before retreating to the corner, shamefaced. Only once Minerva informed him that Molly had dueled Bellatrix Black to the death in the Battle of Hogwarts did Mohinder perk up a bit.

Luna Lovegood nearly bested Harry when she used her characteristic absent-mindedness to focus on something over the auror's left shoulder just as the duel began. Harry narrowly blocked the stupefy she sent his way before retaliating with a time-limited lysergia jinx that made Luna chase after a hallucination calling after the "snicking snicksnatches!"

Lucius lost his battle to Theo Nott after the younger wizard charmed the elder Malfoy's hair and robes a horrifying shade of puce. Lucius could be heard proudly proclaiming that he'd sooner lose a duel than win one while attired in such a horrifying color. This caused Thorfinn Rowle to laugh aloud during his duel with Mafalda Hopkirk, who - previous champion that she was - took advantage by causing the laugh to descend into the wizard's throat, which gave him a case of hiccups so severe that he couldn't cast correctly, wandlessly or otherwise.

Hermione and Bill's duel ended when Hermione tossed a handful of confetti in the air and transformed it into a full flock of seagulls to attack the eldest Weasley son. Bill shook her head in wonder at her ingenuity and Ron's loudly voiced commentary on the sidelines. "It's like I told you, Harry. Brilliant, but scary."

The entire hall took a well-deserved break for light refreshments as they rested before the second round of duels. During the interval, Filius hurriedly waved his hand over the displayed brackets to reveal the next set of matchups.

1. Molly Weasley vs. Kingsley Shacklebolt
2. Severus Snape vs. Neville Longbottom
3. Theo Nott vs. Harry Potter
4. Mafalda Hopkirk vs. Hermione Granger

In the end, the second round of duels went more quickly than the first. All the combatants were now aware of some of the more particular tricks of the other contestants and were therefore shooting more quickly and offensively than before. In short order, Molly, Severus, Harry, and Hermione were declared the victors of their respective duels and another interval was called as the final matchups were announced: Harry v. Severus and Molly v. Hermione. Severus spotted Hermione chatting with Mafalda and joined the duo as tea and biscuits appeared on the small tables at the edges of the Great Hall.