Dark Sister

Chapter 5 The World Dueling Cup

Time passed and soon Severus had thanks to the aid of the gift that he had received in his first year had become quite a skilled potions student. He had still not managed to discover the identity of the mysterious person whom had given him the gift. What he did know for sure was that whoever it was did not attend Hogwarts.

Because of his astonishing grades in potions and his other classes he soon attracted the attention of the richest student in his house. Lucius Abraxis Malfoy, whom was the prefect for Slytherin house, had decided to take him under his wing. As they rode the Hogwarts Express home for Severus's third summer together Lucius had his nose stuck in a copy of the Daily Prophet. While Severus had once again took out the old book that had led to his success and read over the note on the front cover for the millionth time.

"Severus, you've been staring at the same page of your old potions text for the last two hours," observed Lucius as he folded his paper neatly on his lap. "Staring at the initials on the inside of that cover isn't going to get you any closer to this E.M.P.," said Lucius. "I know Lucius, but it says that this person is closer than I think. Could it be possible that Lilly Evans and I aren't the only magical students in Darby," he asked curiously?

"Come now, Sev, get your mind off of this, it's boring me to tears," said Lucius as he yawned and stretched sleepily. "Other than hanging out with your little mud-blood friend, what do you have planned for the summer holiday," he asked tapping his long fingers absent mindedly on his paper? "First off, don't call her that," scowled Severus at the mention of the name that pure-bloods loved to call muggle-borns.

"As for what I'm doing for the summer, I really couldn't say. I haven't really made plans. Why do you ask," questioned Severus with a tone of interest in his voice? Lucius held out the paper to Severus and pointed at the article on the front page. There was a picture of a long haired girl whose hair was whipping in the wind as she dueled against a much larger and older opponent. Severus read the headline out loud.

"Dueling World Cup to take place in Dublin Ireland over the summer! The star duelist from America, known as the Princess of Dueling, is going to be taking on any and all competition at the Duelist World Cup this Summer. Sources close to her say that she's not content to just dominate the dueling scene in America. She wants to take her dueling career to the next level. What makes this duelist more interesting than any other is the fact that she is only a mere girl of fifteen. She attends the famous Niagara Falls School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The school is located in a secret location at the boarder of Canada and New York city, in the United States. She is pictured above on the left side sending a bone shattering jinx at her thirty eight year old opponent."

Severus stopped reading and looked up at Lucius whom was nodding. "My father got us tickets. We have an extra one. Do you want to accompany us," asked Lucius hopefully? "Are you kidding me, Lucius? I'd love to go," said Severus excitedly as he jumped across the compartment to sit beside his friend. "Excellent, my father and I will pick you up when it's time to leave," said Lucius happily.

July passed in a blur of his parents arguing, fighting, and spending time with Lilly. Soon it was the night before Lucius and his father were to pick him up for the Dueling World Cup and he just couldn't sit still as he read a book attempting to ignore the sounds of his parents fighting again. As he went to sleep that night he prayed that his father would not be home when Lucius and his father showed up the next day. He had told his mother of being invited to watch the Dueling World Cup by the Malfoy family and was pleasantly surprised when she had agreed to let him attend.

The next morning he ran down to the communal washroom and took the first shower of the day. He was lucky to have risen before everyone else because they usually left leaving nothing but cold water for the rest of the day. He washed his oily hair as best as he could hoping to make a good first impression on Mr. Malfoy.