Year Two - Chapter Eighteen

The Dueling Club was started out of Dumbledore's brilliant idea to share Gilderoy Lockhart's abilities with the classroom. There were quite a few interested students, and far more awed fans staring at the man's smile. Professor Snape didn't warrant the same level of awe, but he was the one with the solid requirements to lead it, rather than Lockhart's.

"We should make a practical demonstration, wouldn't you agree?" Lockhart remarked, smiling brightly at Professor Snape's sour look. I watched, half-interested, half-bored, as the bat-like professor took a step forward, as if deciding to, and then stopped. His eyes gleamed. Then, they shifted towards me.

"Why, I believe that wouldn't much of a practical demonstration," professor Snape said, his voice silky and strangely sweet. It was the sweetness of lemon-scented arsenic. Quite sweet and sour at the same time, and quite actually deadly. "Why not witness the difference between a practiced wizard and an inexpert one? Mister Umbrus, if you will."

"Oh! I'd love to," I gushed out, "To lose against Professor Lockhart would be such a great thing! Please be gentle with me, professor!" I exclaimed towards Lockhart, who actually smiled even brighter. He felt his chances quite higher against a second year fan than against the Potions' master, and so quickly agreed.

"Go Shade!" some students cheered me on, but the vast majority went for Lockhart, clearly. I sighed as I quietly removed my robes before taking the stage, handing them over to Wayne who kept them for safekeeping. I stretched my arms and legs ever so slightly. I cracked my neck, and then neared with my wand raised the center of the stage.

"Oh, very well, don't worry, everyone loses at least once in their lives to someone greater than them," Gilderoy said, winking in my direction. I smiled, and we both showed our wands and bowed to one another. Then, we walked away towards the edges of the duelist platform. There, I took my duelist stance. I raised my wand towards Lockhart, and waited. My legs were slightly bent, as if ready to fight a fencing match, my left hand was behind me by my back, and my right held the wand in front of me.

Strangely enough, Lockhart's stance was similar to mine, as if he had read the same books. The question was if he had practiced them.

"Ready at the count of three," professor Snape said, "Due remember to be gentle," he continued, but while the words may have been misinterpreted for professor Lockhart, Snape's eyes were on me.

"I will, not to worry! Ah," Lockharts exclaimed, happily beaming a smile and puffing his chest up. "Nothing quite the first match of one's life to get the blood pumping, wouldn't you agree?"

"Quite so," I answered, clenching my left hand behind me.

"One," professor Snape intoned. The murmurs in the crowd died down. "Two," he continued, and absolute silence stood between us. "Three," he spoke, and I swished my wand quick, fast, and mercilessly.

"Depulso!" I snarled, the pulsing force rippling across the surface of the dueling platform and cracking it ever so slightly as the ripples struck Professor Lockhart straight on, sending him to fly to the far end of the platform, and onto the cold stone ground of the room's floor.

I then blinked, since professor Lockhart didn't seem to be standing back up. "It appears Mister Umbrus has studied ahead of his year, for the banishing Charm is a third and fourth year Charm spell," Professor Snape remarked dryly. "Are you all right, Professor Lockhart?"

"O-Of course!" Gilderoy Lockhart said, getting back on his feet. "Ah, I didn't want to let the first time of such a precious second year go badly, you know?" he eagerly beamed a smile, and I smiled back.

"Then we can go again, Professor? I want to see you at your full power!" I gushed. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and dimly realized it was Snape who took the liberty to whisper something in my ear.

"Levicorpus, upward flick," he stared at me, and I curtly nodded back at him. He returned to the far end of the platform.

"Once more, but this time be prepared, Mister Umbrus, I won't go easily!" Gilderoy Lockhart exclaimed, and once more, we bowed and took our stances and spots.

"One," Professor Snape said, and I kept my eyes steady on Lockhart's wand. "Two," I watched Lockhart's wand start to move. "Three-"

"Alarte Ascendare!" Gilderoy's spell finished in time with the count of three.

"Denied," I swished my wand, pulling the counter-charm into the air in front of me, letting the spell in question sharply snap against it and result in nothing.

"Verdimillious!" the jet of green sparks left Gilderoy's wand quite quickly in succession, but I swished my wand again, letting the jet sail off in the air.

"Denied again," I said dryly. "My turn," I smiled. I beamed him a smile. Then, "Levicorpus!" the spell flicked through the air with the thundering force of someone seeking a revenge on an early starter during a marathon, and as it hung the man upside down, an audible crack rippled through the hall. The Professor howled, his face morphed in pain as he tried, and failed, to grab the leg he had been lifted from.

"I'm so sorry professor," I said, letting go of the spell abruptly and adding a fair shake to the pull of gravity, making the impact against the ground slightly harder than it had any reason to be. "I thought you'd parry that."

"My leg! My leg's-" he hissed, and Professor Snape passed me by, a strangely satisfied smirk on his face.

I distinctively felt a whisper of 'Twenty points to Ravenclaw', but that might have been my imagination. I remained there on the dueling platform, humming nonchalantly in wait for further instructions. Lockhart was brought out on a floating stretcher, leaving only Professor Snape as the dueling teacher.

"Well then, Mister Umbrus, leave the spotlight to someone else," as the Professor said that, I nodded and walked down, letting two other students named by Snape get on the platform. I recovered my robes from Wayne, putting them quickly back on.

"That was amazing," Wayne said in a hushed whisper. "Where did you learn that?" he asked.

I grinned. "I just practiced."

"That last spell wasn't in the curriculum," a voice piped in from the sides. Hermione looked at me, puzzled and affronted, perhaps. I blinked back at her, and then shrugged. "Where did you learn it?" she asked.

"It was inside a book," I said, "One of the many this school has," I continued amiably. It didn't satisfy Hermione, but her next words were taken out by one of my friends' interruptions.

"You just gave Lockhart a run for his galleons!" Megan exclaimed, grinning wildly, and drawing near. "That was so cool."

"You shouldn't have kept the practicing a secret," Amanda pouted next. "We could have banished one another in the air then! It looked fun-"

I had no doubt you'd think that, Amanda. I really had no doubt about it at all.

Someone pulled on my sleeve, and I looked to the side only to be on the receiving end of a bright flash.

"Second Year Ravenclaw defeats famous wizard Gilderoy Lockhart!" the first year Gryffindor piped in, "I'm sure this is so cool and-" I grabbed hold of his wrist, and smiled at the poor boy who began to shake in his boots.

"I know just the girl you can give those photos to," my smile grew ten times more wicked.

Let us get this out on the road, and ensure Luna's father gets some rather juicy photos, shall we?

For nothing is more terrifying than scandalous press...

...if not even more scandalous press!