The Cabin

Chapter two-The unexpected duel

Hermione walked quickly down the corridor towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. She rounded the corner to see the class still waiting outside the door. 'Good. I'm not late' she thought.

She leaned against the wall and waited for Harry and Ron to arrive, hoping they made it before Snape came. Professor Snape had finally been made the DADA teacher in Hermione's sixth year. Another subject in which he could yell and remove points from the Gryffindor's. Out of all the Professor's that had taught this class, Snape seemed to be the one Professor who would stick with it for a long time. Which was not a good thing for the future generations of Gryffindor's.

Suddenly Hermione was shoved hard on the shoulder. She lost her balance and fell to the floor, scattering her books around her. She looked up with a glare to see a blond haired Slytherin standing over her. Malfoy looked about at the mess her belongings had made, then glanced at her legs which had been exposed by her robe when she fell.

"Watch where you're going next time, Mudblood." Malfoy threatened, meeting her eyes. "You seem to be going out of your way recently to get my attention. Is there anything you wanted to tell me Granger? "

"You bastard, I wasn't even moving! How dare you push me like that." She fumed.

"You think I did that on purpose?" Malfoy asked innocently. He turned to the group of Slytherin's gathered around him. "I'm a nice guy, right? You all know I would never knock a girl off her feet on purpose." They nodded in agreement.

"Get over yourself, Malfoy." Hermione sneered, standing up quickly to face him. "You've always been an evil prick and you always will be. Don't fool these poor thick-heads into believing you're a 'nice' guy."

Malfoy took a threatening step forward, his hand sliding into his pocket. "You want to say that again Granger?" He asked quietly.

"Say what?" She retorted hotly, her hand also making a reach for her wand. "That you're a prick? Or that you're a bastard? Which one would you like me to repeat?"

Malfoy's eyes widened then narrowed dangerously. He raised his wand and bowed his head slightly, looking her in the eye challengingly.

Hermione realized that his unspoken gesture was a challenge to a duel. She quickly glanced down the Hall for Professors, but none were in sight. She lifted her wand and bowed her head, not losing eye contact with Malfoy.

They turned and walked slowly away from each other. The other students in the Dark Arts class gathered around the two retreating students. Hermione stopped after ten paces and turned to face Malfoy. Behind Malfoy she saw Ron and Harry come around the corner talking to each other.

After dinner last night, Harry had pretended to forget about Ron pushing him out the carriage, although Hermione knew he was only doing this because he had thought of a way to get back at Ron.

The two boys stopped as they took in the scene in front of them, then looked at Hermione questioningly. She shrugged her shoulders at them then turned her attention back to Malfoy who was raising his wand.

She quickly aimed her wand at him. "Expelliarmus!" They both shouted in unison. The spell hit Hermione with full force in the chest and sent her hurtling backwards into the wall. She whacked her head on cold stone and slipped down to the floor, blood trickling down her neck.

Hermione looked dazedly over at Malfoy to see him rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. The spell had hit him, but obviously not as hard as his had hit Hermione. Malfoy's other hand was holding his wand and aiming it at Hermione again.

But Hermione wouldn't let him curse her again, because then he'd win the duel. She raised her wand rapidly and fired the first spell that came into her mind. "Ricochetus!" The bolt of purple light hit Malfoy directly in the stomach. He doubled over and fell to the floor; only to find himself rebound off it and bounce up to the ceiling. He ricocheted off the ceiling and hit the wall. From the wall, he fell back down to the ground and bounced right off it again.