Dueling Club
Snape and Lockhart began moving through the crowd, pairing the students up. Neville was placed with Justin Finch-Fletchley.
Ron was about to ask Harry to be his partner, but he didn't even get the chance to say a word before remembering the time Harry had faced the entire Slytherin Quidditch team by himself.
And he froze.
So he immediately looked for someone else and turned toward Percy, who was standing beside Harry.
But then he stopped again when he remembered what an absolute monster Percy could be in a fight.
It was true that Percy wasn't very good at using magic, but Ron probably wouldn't even manage to land a single hit before Percy closed the distance and beat him senseless.
So his gaze finally settled on Tyson, who had remained quiet, watching the spells in wonder, since all of this magic was new to him and, as a first-year, he hadn't even been taught a combat spell yet.
"Tyson, do you want to be my partner?" Ron asked immediately.
The moment Tyson heard the question, he didn't hesitate and nodded at once with great interest.
"But I'm not very good at using magic," Tyson added quietly, with a hint of fear.
"Don't worry, I won't be too hard on you," Ron said confidently with a proud smile.
"Alright," Tyson said with a smile.
Harry, who had watched the whole conversation, looked between the two of them with some concern.
"I wonder if they'll be alright. Should I step in before someone gets hurt?" he asked.
"Well, Tyson's pretty tough, so he'll be fine even if he can't use magic. Ron's spells might not even tickle him," Percy said, reassuring his brother, though he looked a little worried himself.
Harry gave Percy a confused look.
"What are you talking about? Who said Tyson can't use magic?" Harry asked, staring at him.
"What?" Percy replied, equally confused.
"Why do you think Aunt Mor has him helping in her forge? The one I was worried about was Ron. After all, Tyson can—"
Before Harry could finish, Snape had approached them without either of them noticing.
So Harry had to close his mouth, keeping the rest to himself.
"Jackson and Potter, it's time to separate this ideal team," Snape said disdainfully. "Or rather, your ideal partner, Mr. Jackson, is over there," he added, pointing toward Seamus, whom no one seemed willing to pair with.
Unless, of course, they wanted to end up exploding.
So naturally, he was the perfect partner for Percy.
In truth, Percy was already used to the two of them being paired together, so it wasn't as though it bothered him much.
He simply shrugged without giving it much importance and walked over to him.
"Sacrifice," Percy said in a strange greeting, raising one fist.
Seamus answered in the same way, like some sort of brotherhood salute or something.
Harry watched his brother leave with the familiar look of someone already used to his nonsense.
"Then I suppose I'll pair up with Hermione," Harry said, looking toward his friend.
"You suppose incorrectly," Snape said with a cold smile.
"Mr. Malfoy," Snape called without taking his eyes off Harry.
"Here," Draco answered immediately, stepping up beside his professor.
"Let's see what you can do against the famous Potter, who is, obviously, forbidden from using any magic he has not learned at Hogwarts during this practice," Snape added with a warning edge to his voice.
The moment Malfoy heard the last part, he seemed emboldened and even arrogant, as though he believed that without that strange magic of his, Harry would be nothing.
Harry didn't answer.
He simply accepted it without complaint.
"Granger with Bulstrode," Snape added to finish before walking back toward Professor Lockhart, who had also finished pairing the students.
Hermione tried to greet the Slytherin girl with a smile, if only out of politeness, but the girl simply ignored her and even made a contemptuous face as she crossed her arms, making it clear that she had no intention of talking.
Harry gave Hermione an encouraging gesture before taking his place in front of Malfoy, who was watching him arrogantly.
"Face each other and bow in greeting," Lockhart said as all the students followed his instructions to the letter. Even Malfoy and Harry barely lowered their heads, never breaking eye contact.
"When I count to three, cast only the spell meant to disarm your opponent. And only to disarm them. We don't want anyone getting hurt," the Defence professor clarified in a serious tone before beginning to count.
"One, two... three."
Harry moved his wand quite calmly, but Draco, who had started while Lockhart was still saying two, was already casting his spell straight at Harry's head, as though he wanted to knock him out with a direct hit.
Harry, as calm as could be and still standing in the same position with his wand in hand, simply tilted his head slightly, letting the spell graze past him.
And with a slow, very precise, almost mocking pronunciation...
"Expelliarmus!"
A reddish flash, like the one Snape had fired at Lockhart, burst from Harry's wand at an astonishing speed.
So fast that Draco didn't even manage to dodge in time, since he was still wearing that arrogant smile, convinced his spell was going to hit Harry, and he didn't even have time to be surprised when Harry avoided it so easily.
The Expelliarmus struck Malfoy directly in the stomach, sending him flying several metres.
Malfoy landed on his knees before curling up like a turtle, looking as though he was about to bring up everything he had eaten that day.
And, of course, his wand went flying from his hand, perfectly fulfilling the spell's purpose of disarming him.
So Harry, still holding his wand raised, didn't launch another attack, since he thought it would be unsporting.
Though...
He considered it for a few seconds.
Instead, he turned toward Snape with a calm expression that was also amusingly defiant.
Obviously, that made Snape's face darken.
Meanwhile, Lockhart, who had been paying attention to the other students, suddenly began shouting:
"Stop! Everyone, stop!"
Only then did Harry notice the chaos surrounding him, distracted as he had been by Snape's expression and Malfoy's defeat.
He first turned toward the closest pair, Ron and Tyson.
His eyes widened in surprise when he saw that Ron's entire face was now covered in soot and his hair had been completely scorched, including his eyelashes, while Tyson circled around him looking worried and nervous.
Then he looked toward Percy and Seamus.
Floating in the middle of the Great Hall was a sphere of water with Seamus trapped inside it.
The boy was trying to hold his breath while waving his wand desperately, causing explosions to go off everywhere, while Percy tried to grab him and pull him out of the bubble as quickly as possible.
And then there were Hermione and Millicent, who were now rolling across the floor while pulling each other's hair.
Even though Millicent was much bigger than her, Hermione refused to be intimidated and scratched her cheek with her nails, managing to make Millicent release her for a moment.
Then Hermione climbed on top of her, straddling her waist.
Both of them had forgotten about their wands long ago, which were now lying several feet away.
Before Hermione could start throwing punches in true Percy fashion, Harry hurried over and grabbed her from behind to pull her away.
"Finite Incantatem!" Snape roared as a magical pulse swept through the Great Hall, ending every spell the students had cast.
Though, well...
Unfortunately, ending the enchantments didn't return Ron's hair, and he now looked like a monk.
"I'm sorry, Ron," Tyson apologised regretfully.
The Weasley twins were laughing their arses off in the distance, while Percy pretended to wipe sweat from his forehead after confirming that he hadn't drowned his duelling partner, who was now completely soaked and coughing up water.
Then Percy also took in the entire disaster.
"Wow, we should be ashamed of ourselves. We really are terrible at using magic for people who are supposed to be wizards," he added, dragging everyone into the same category as him.
Earning a long stare from the drenched Seamus.
But before anyone could recover from the disaster, Lockhart gave them a smile, as though everything had gone exactly according to plan.