The New Trio and the Philosopher's Stone

Chapter 9: The Midnight Duel

*Dumbledore's POV*

Dumbledore was... concerned. Yes, that suited him. Concerned. The staff meeting that he was sitting in at the moment had been terribly dull, up until they got to the first-years. He had wanted to know how Harry was doing in classes, for there was only so much he could discern from the various portraits around the castle. The professors, rather than stating that he was simply mediocre, or didn't bring attention to himself, as it should be with the blocks, each of them gushed about how he, Neville Longbottom, and that Malfoy brat were all extremely proficient in their classes. Well, all except Severus, that is. Ever dour, he said that Harry was not up to his standards, that Longbottom was abysmal, and that Malfoy, out of all of the Gryffindors, showed the most hope for any talent at Potions. Then again, that was normal for Severus; only praising his house, and leaving the rest to rot.

Then, something terrible had happened. Filch told his tale of how astonishingly kind the group of Gryffindors had been, and that he was positive that this had been true Gryffindor courage. Filius Flitwick then piped up, saying how it proved that he was a brilliant match for his wand, and that he'd been surprised to learn that Harry's wand hadn't come from Ollivander's. This made him sit up quickly.

"Filius, did I hear you right? Our Harry did not purchase his wand there?" he asked.

"A tiny store called... erm... Morgana's-no, Morwenna's Wands. That's it," squeaked the tiny professor.

This did not bode well. "What wand did he receive, then?" he questioned.

"A nice English Oak, with-get this-a dual core of phoenix and thunderbird tail feathers! So incredibly unique!"

As soon as he got back to his office, he thought savagely, he was going to trash it so that it took hours for the house-elves to clean it up.

*Harry's POV*

Harry didn't know what he'd done to cause someone to dislike him as much as Anthony Goldstein did. It must have been terrible though, because he couldn't seem to escape from the other boy's sneers and thinly-veiled insults. It didn't help that the Gryffindors shared not two, but three classes with the Ravenclaws (Transfiguration, History, and Astronomy), or that the only day they didn't have any classes with them was on Friday.

The next stage in their antagonistic relationship came when, just after Transfiguration had finished on Thursday the week after Draco's disownment, Goldstein stole the Remembrall Neville had received that day during breakfast.

"Aww, aren't you just lucky, Longbottom? Mummy and Daddy must surely love you if they're willing to help you get over your flaws of ignorance and bad memory, and give you this," Goldstein said in a saccarine voice.

Neville had gone an angry red, and Harry and Draco linked their arms with his to hold him back. "Give it here, Goldstein," said Harry in a deathly quiet voice.

He cocked his head to the side. "Or what, Potter? Are you gonna go complain to McGonagall?"

"No, but I might just set you on fire. And it's Potter-Black."

Goldstein let out a snort. Terry Boot had been trying to pull him away from the confrontation, but was so far unsuccessful, as Anthony kept shrugging him off. "In your dreams, Potter," he said, completely ignoring the second part of Harry's statement, "as if you could cast a fire spell."

"He can!" exclaimed Neville. "I've seen him do it. He's ten times the wizard you'll ever be."

"Willing to put what your little friend says to the test?"

"Why would I need to prove anything to you?"

"Oh, you don't have to, of course, but then again, a Gryffindor wouldn't say no to a wizard's duel, would they?"