The Other Aunt (A Harry Potter fanfiction)

Of Feathers and Scales

AN: I have to admit, this chapter was pretty fun to write. The hardest bit was deciding which spells to use in the duel. I was going to make this chapter full of drama, action, family bonding, with a touch of humor. What do you guys think? Did I succeed?

Harry and the other students crowded the stage, excited to see what was in store for them. Their enthusiasm, however, diminished when Professor Lockhart jumped onto the stage, "Gather round, gather round! Can everyone here me? Can everyone see me?" Unseen by the students, Severus and Anna rolled their eyes and unison from their spot hidden from the crowd. She hadn't told Harry she would be here, to keep it a surprise.

Gilderoy threw off his cloak and Anna's head peeked out the entrance to the room in time to see several young girls (with obviously bad taste in men) swooning and fighting tooth and nail to get the phony wizard's cloak. She shuddered in disgust, but kept her head out. Nobody would see her unless they looked behind them.

Gilderoy put his arms out as he grinned idiotically, "Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little duelling club, to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions - for full details, see my published works.

Now, let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape," Severus gave Anna one last look before making his way to the stage emotionlessly, "he tells me he knows a tiny little bit about dueling and has sportingly agreed to help us out with this demonstration. After our duel, the winner will duel a surprise guest dueler. Now, I don't want you youngsters to worry, you'll still have your potions master when I'm through with him!" Anna held back a laugh when she saw Severus roll his eyes.

The professors got into their positions and raised their wands, "As you can see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combat positions. On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. 1, 2, ....3!" Without hesitation, the potions master shot out his first spell with a swift flick of his wand, "Expelliarmus!" Anna had to bite her fist to prevent her laughter.

The look on Lockhart's face was hilarious. He bounced back quickly though, jumping back up with an uneasy grin, "Well there you have it! That was a disarming charm, as you can see, I've lost my wand- Ah! Thank you Miss Brown- yes an excellent idea to show them that Professor Snape, but if you don't mind me saying so, it was pretty obvious what you were about to do. If I had want to stop you, it would have only been too easy- however I felt it would be instructive to let them see... Anyhow, this means Severus will be dueling our lovely guest assistant! Please give a warm welcome to Professor Evans!"

The heads of several bored Gryffindors, snapped up and cheered, along with students from some of the other houses. Anna made her way to the stage, smiling as she went. When she got to the middle of the catwalk, she addressed the crowd, "Thank you Professor for that...er...adequate demonstration on disarming spells. Me and Professor Snape were talking and we thought it would be beneficial for you to see a full-on battle. Do not worry, we will not be aiming to kill and we are both heavily trained in these sorts of duels. I can also assure you that no students will be caught in the crossfire as long as no one puts their hands on the stage. You will not be doing these types of spells yet. You will be doing disarming spells. If you are ready Severus, I think we should go ahead and begin. In this particular duel we will be allowd to use any spell that comes to mind, as long as it does not kill the opponent. Please be aware that many if the spells we will be using will be dangerous and are not to be used unless a teacher tells you to."

Snape nodded and got into his position, readying his wand as Anna did the same. She nodded to Lockhart to start counting, "1, 2, 3!" Severus didn't dare go easy on Anna, knowing she would get angry if he did so he started with a fire spell, "Incendio!" Anna smirked and was quick to counter it with a water spell, "Aguamenti!" The students stood in awed silence as the blue beam met reddish orange in a spectacular display of clashing elements.