5 Chapter Four: The Duel

ALBUS

"What in the wizarding world was this?" Albus thought as he leafed through the old pages of one of the spell books he had gotten. He sat on a set of stairs, reading by wand light and dimming it whenever he thought he heard a noise. He thought it was cool that he got to learn seventh year spells and such, but the book reading was about to drive him nuts. Why did he have to know the origin of the spell? Couldn't he just simply twirl his wand through the air and say it? Albus sighed as he turned the page and guided his wand tip along the scribbled lines of the spell he was trying to learn. "...to break into pieces which derives from Latin origins..." Albus whispered to himself and yawned. He rubbed his eyes, what time even was it? He shoved his his hand inside the pockets of his pajama pants and pulled out a watch given to him by his father.

He clicked a little button on the side of it which released the cap to reveal a clock. The face of the clock shimmered a brilliant yellow light and dust seemed to fall like snowflakes do in a snow globe. Over and over, the dust fell and when it all had collected at the bottom of it, Albus shook it slightly and the dust scattered again. It was past two already. Albus closed the watch up and fumbled to hide his wand in his Gryffindor robe as he heard footsteps.

"Hurry!" He heard a deep voice whisper. Albus held onto his book and wand tightly as he hurried up the rest of the steps to crouch behind a tale which held a vase and flowers. "Shhh!" He heard another voice say. "Come on already!" He herd a harsh voice whisper and saw Jakob come into view along with his three terribly horrible friends, Crom, Andron, and Jerome. He was a little surprised to see Piper and Vanessa though. Well, he should have seen that coming actually, but Albus watched silently as he saw Crom and Andron hauling a large burlap sack between them.

There appeared to be something moving in the sack, but Albus couldn't tell what. Albus gulped as Jakob stopped to look around, his dark eyes glaring dangerously as he searched about. "What is it?" Piper said, grabbing onto his arm like she was afraid. After a few more seconds, Jakob said: "nothing" and kept walking. Albus gagged at the thought of Piper and him together. She was a fourth year and he was a sixth so he wondered for a second how that exactly was going to work out, but didn't linger on the thought too long. They were up to something. Something bad and most likely against school rules. Albus knew that Jakob had a lot of influence in the school seeing as his mother was one of the professors who just happened to teach quidditch. She wasn't supposed to choose sides since she helped coach all of the teams, but since Jakob was in Slytherin, they won. A lot.

Not only that, but Jakob had a bad reputation for dueling other students and putting them in the hospital wing of Hogwarts. "Don't forget to leave the sign, Crom." Jakob said, glancing behind himself. "I'm carrying...a lot...right now," Crom huffed. "Can't you get it?" Jakob glared at him then looked at Jerome who obediently went over to Crom and fished his hand down Crom's robe's pockets. He pulled out a blue ribbon and tossed it on the floor. "There!" He whispered. "Good. Now let's go," Jakob said and the group rushed out of sight. Albus raised his eyebrows and relaxed a bit. He wondered what was in the sack they carried. Maybe it was some creature from Professor De Parte' or perhaps it was some poor students pet that had the unfortunate luck of being captured.

Then another figure appeared. A young girl muttering things to herself and scrambling to look for something. The girl waved her wand back and forth as she searched, the white light revealing the floor of the school. Albus watched with curiosity as the girl bent down to pick up the blue ribbon. "I must find them..." the girl says and Albus recognized the voice. He picked up his book and held out his wand. "Namora?" The girl turned suddenly, startled, and squinted her eyes. "Albus? "She said, surprised. "What are you doing out this late?" Albus chuckled as he came down the steps. "I could ask the same to you," he said as he hopped down the rest of the steps and came to stand beside her. "So? What are you doing?" Albus asked her. He watched as her face grew red and she twists her wand in her hands. "Well, Um. I had this dream...and I woke up and I couldn't find my scarf or any of the students I'm rooming with. You know, Jillian, Hemley, Sarah? I can't find them."

"Hmm. I just saw Jakob and his friends go by. They were carrying a bag and they had Piper and Vanessa with them." "Oh no. They must have taken them." He put a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down. "We don't know that, but we should let the headmaster know." "I need to find my scarf. I need to get them back," Namora said and rushed off. "Hey!" Albus whispered harshly as he watched her run off down the corridor. Albus looked up the stairs where he knew the headmaster's office was and then back to the corridor his friend had just run down. Albus shook his head in disbelief as he ran after her. He quickly caught up to her. "I won't let you go alone, Namora." She looked back at him gratefully before skidding to a stop. "This way. I think they're heading to the pitch." She said and darted out a set of doors. Albus followed her out the doors and saw that they were where the teams would usually practice. Albus raced out onto the field and clenched his fist at seeing Jakob in the middle of the field levitating a few meters in the air. Albus looked to the side of him and saw one of Gryffindor's practice broom laying in a case. He pulled the broom out and held it out in front if him, looking it up and down. "This would have to do," he said in his mind before running out onto the field.

NAMORA

She was glad to have Albus with her as she saw Jakob. Thunder boomed as she walked onto the field. Albus said that Vanessa and Piper had been with him along with his friends, but she could not see them. She saw only Jakob waiting for her. Namora stopped just a few inches away from him. "Give it back!" She yelled as lightning struck nearby. Jakob grinned evilly as he pulled something silvery from within his robes. Namora gritted her teeth at the sight if her scarf. "I said give it back, Jakob!" She yelled. "Make me," he replied and flew higher into the air. "Come on now." he said teasingly. Namora watched him flew over her to the other side of the field and she stuck her wand out and yelled: "Stupify!" but Jakob easily dodged the spell on his broom and laughed aloud.

She suddenly turned around to see Albus running with a broom in his hand. He stopped shortly to climb on it and Namora watched in disbelief as Albus wobbly flew up into the air. "Expelliarmus!" A voice shouted behind her and Namora watched helplessly as her wand flew out of her hand. "Agh!" Namora yelled as she whipped around to see Crom, Jerome, and Andron striding towards her. Andron dropped a burlap sack by his feet and smirked wickedly. "Come and get it," He said shooting another spell out of his wand which Namora rarely missed. Namora picked up her wand off of the muddy grass and wiped it off on her robe. "Flipendo!" Namora yelled and twirled her wand in a semi-circle before pointing it at Jerome who easily used the shielding charm to defend himself.

Namora ran towards them and had to hit the field as Albus and Jakob flew by on their brooms. Namora rolled over onto her back as she watched the two fly high into the air, firing spells at each other. Namora quickly got back up on her feet and yelled: "Stupify!" in which Crom used t shield charm to defend himself. Namora ducked as Andron shot a curse over her head and pointed her wand towards the grass and said: "Depulso!" Knocking all three of them off of their feet. She fired another spell, knocking them even further back as she reached the bag. She breathed quickly and blinked as rain began to fall up above. "Eeeek!" Something in the bag cried out and Namora got down on her knees to release the tie on it. A fluffly white head popped out and cooed at her. "Jeeko?" Namora said as she looked at the demiguise. "How did you get here?" The demiguise shook it's white fur and then looked over at Crom, Andron, and Jerom, and growled. Namora clenched her wand a little tighter as she saw them getting back up to their feet. "Get Professor Gaundriel," Namora told him and Jeeko raced off, turning invisible as it ran across the field.

Andron barred his fists at her and Jerome pointed his wand at her and yelled: "Levicorpus!" Namora felt ropes tangle themselves around her legs and cried out as she was hung upside down in the air. "Agh!" She yelled as she struggled to point her wand at them. "I'm coming!" She heard Albus yell and she nodded her head up to see Albus racing towards her with Jakob in close pursuit behind him. "Watch out!" Namora yelled as she saw Jakob pointing his wand at Albus. "Depulso!" She yelled the jinx barely missing Albus. Jakob yelled as he hung by his fingers off of the broom. "Liberacorpus!" Albus yelled and Namora tumbled to the ground. Namora picked up her face from the mud and managed to slip her wand arm out to yell: "Confringo!" They fell onto their backs as grass and dirt flew up into the air, putting a hole in the field.

Vanessa popped her head out along with Piper and they looked at Namora in horror. "How..." Piper started before Namora repeated the spell again tossing the girls through the air.

That is when Professor Gaundriel, Professor Aeroden, and the Headmaster appeared on the field just in time to see Piper and Vanessa land harshly on their backs.

"Namora!" Professor Gaundriel yelled at her angrily. Namora held up her hands. "They, they took my scarf and Jeeko." Professor Gaundriel looked down at he demiguise who promptly nodded and then barred it's teeth at the unconscious boys. "Look!" Professor Aeroden said, spotting Albus and Jakob dueling in the sky. "Oh my..." Professor Gaundriel said as she walked out farther onto the field. Professor Aeroden and the Headmaster pointed both of their wands into the sky and twirled their wands in a small, twisted manner so that hot air blew out the tip. The boys were knocked off their brooms and the professor and the Headmaster guided each of them down to the ground.

The headmaster looked at Namora and then to Piper and Vanessa. "We had just gone over this, Ms. Ren." She twiddled her wand nervously and watched as Albus held his hand out to Jakob. "Give...it.." he said between breaths. "Mr. Dumbledore...!" Professor Gaundriel said sharply. "He...has her...scarf," he said and Jakob shrunk back a bit. Professor Aeroden raised an eyebrow at him and Jakob pulled out the scarf and gave it to Albus who stumbled over to Namora. "Here..." He said. "Thanks.." Namora said and held the scarf tightly. "Well. This night is going to be eventful," Professor Aeroden said.

~

"Yes," Namora said. "I did out duel them. In fact. You were there, I just don't think you remember quite exactly." Jakob scowled at her and then Professor Beery coughed. "Places, students. Find your places." Namora pushed through a few students to her spot beside Albus who smiled at her. Namora didn't particularly like the class, she liked working with Albus though and she enjoyed the professor watching other students planting incorrectly. Today most of the class was talking about the tournament. Namora overheard a boy with glasses say that his uncle was in the games a long time ago and how dangerous they were. She was once again happy that she did not have to put her name in the goblet.

Albus stood by her, his satchel around his shoulder. "I saw that one boy, Ledger, from our defense class write his name down yesterday." "Really?" "Yeah, I also saw him drop the slip of paper in the goblet. Crazy I tell you, crazy," Albus said acting out what the sixth year did. "I wonder if he'll get drawn," Namora said shaking her head. "What was that half-blood?" A girl's voice said behind them. "My name's Namora," she said to Piper. "My brother is actually going to be in the games, guaranteed. My father said so," she said, hands on her hips.

"Geez Piper, we weren't talking about your brother, we were talking about Ledger," Albus said, rolling his eyes. "Did someone say Ledger!" Another voice said. "That's my friend!" "No, he's my brother." "I didn't say he was my brother," another voice replied. Three loud knocks suddenly came from the front of the classroom. It was Professor Bagshot, she rapped her stick on the table again, making some students jump. "QUIET! I say, quiet. Class begins now," she said and pulled out a planter from behind her and placed it on the table. Namora pulled on the mandatory gardening gloves and pulled back her hair, it would be a long time for Herbology.