The Dueling Club

A few days after the incident with Luna, an Announcement on the Noticeboards of every Common Room in Hogwarts exited the Students of every House. There would be a Dueling Club in Hogwarts starting from December. Many of the students wanted to participate since the majority of the Students had the opinion that it could be useful, even though some of them joked whether the 'Monster of Slytherin was able to Duel'.

But the hype was there. On the 17th December at eight o'clock that evening after dinner, a large crowd of students gathered in the Great Hall, especially students of the younger years. Only female Post-OWL Students were present, probably the ones smitten by Lockharts Charms. Most of the older students seemed to have realized that the Fraud Lockhart would hold the Club and they wouldn't be able to learn a lot from him.

The long dining tables had vanished and a golden stage had appeared along one wall, lit by thousands of candles floating overhead. The ceiling was velvety black once more and most of the school seemed to be packed beneath it, all carrying their wands and looking excited.

"Ready Mr. Mason? It's time for our grand entrance!" said Lockhart from inside the teacher's Room connected to the Great Hall where he was currently waiting with Matthew for the Students to gather.

"Yes Professor." Sighed Matthew, a bit annoyed but excited that he could soon beat up the fraud, as he followed the Professor into the Great Hall.

As they walked onto the Stage he spotted Harry who was groaning as he saw Lockhart resplendent in robes of deep plum accompanied by Matthew himself, who grinned at the second year.

Lockhart waved an arm for silence and called "Gather round, gather round! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent!"

"Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to start this little dueling club, to train you all in case you ever need to defend yourselves as I myself have done on countless occasions — for full details, see my published works."

Matthew had to roll his eyes at that, 'Marketing is the only thing the idiot is good in.' He thought.

Let me introduce my assistant, Mr. Mason," said Lockhart, flashing a wide smile. "He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about defense himself since he was granted permission to study DADA by himself by the Headmaster this year and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you, youngsters, to worry — you'll still have your Classmate when I'm through with him, never fear!"

Matthew had a bloodthirsty grin as he stared at Lockhart, while the clueless Professor talked to the Students. Hermione and Cho had a worried Look on their faces, Hermione probably because she still thinks that Lockhart was a capable Wizard, while Cho was just worried whether Matthew would land in trouble at the end of the Day. While most other Students especially the males including Harry and Ron were rooting for Matthew.

Once Lockhart was finished, he and Matthew turned to face each other and bowed; showing the proper respect to each other like commonly used in dueling circles. Then they raised their wands like swords in front of them.

"As you see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position," Lockhart told the silent crowd. "On the count of three, we will cast our first spells. Neither of us will be aiming to kill, of course."

'Oh are we?' thought Matthew, 'We never discussed what spells or limits we would use in the duel…'

"One — two — three —"

Both of them swung their wand, while Lockhart used some kind of showy and complex movement, Matthew simply quickly pointed his wand with minimal Wand movement and yelled, "Gigangus!" A giant ethereal fist shot out of his wand and flew at Lockhart who wasn't able to do anything since he knew no magic besides the Oblivation Charm. The fist hit Lockhart directly and threw him back against the wall of the Great Hall. From the wall he landed on the floor and stopped moving, he lost consciousness from the impact.

He shot another stunning Charm at the knocked-out Professor and turned to the Students. "So that's taken care of. And that is also lesson one. Don't try to show off or you will die in a fight. The overly complex Wand style Professor Lockhart used just cost reaction time. If you didn't spend a large amount of time practicing and mastering one of these styles, keep it simple or you lose."

At that comment, most of the Students began to chuckle while some girls looked offended. "Today I will teach you the basics of self-defense. They will also help you in dueling. But considering the current circumstances, self-defense is more important than dueling for now. After all, the Monster of Slytherin won't bow before it attacks you. And it won't knock you out. At best you get petrified. If you are unlucky you die."

Now Matthew had the full attention of the Students. After all, the prospect of dying would always gather attention. Hermione raised her hands at that. "Yes Hermione!" he called her.

"What should we do if we encounter the Monster of Slytherin?" she asked.

"Hmm, that's a tricky question. First of all, don't look at it directly. It most likely has a death stare. If you look at it through for example a camera like Collin, or through a reflection like Mrs. Norris with the water on the ground you will end up petrified, but not dead. So my tip carries a Mirror with you and if you feel you are in danger, check the Corners with it. Only travel in groups to be safe since the Monster doesn't seem to attack groups yet. And if you should be alone, Run if you have the chance." Explained Matthew.

"Run? No proper Wizards runs." Interjected the arrogant voice of Draco Malfoy.

"There you are wrong Mr. Malfoy, running and dodging is the best defense in any battle. A shield costs a large amount of power and quickly runs out. Most shields are unable to block every spell. But if you don't even get hit you don't have to worry about blocking the Spell. It conserves your valuable energy and lets your life another day. Running and Dodging is the basic in any kind of Battle. That's also one of the reasons why you should try to stay in shape and work out." He explained.

"Once you doge an incoming spell you would need to neutralize your opponent. An effective way for a Wizard is to remove their Wand. Since most Wizards are unable to use wandless magic. Only powerful Wizards like Dumbledore are still able to use wandless magic, disarming in most cases means your opponent is neutralized. The incantation for the disarming charm is Expeliarmus. And the movement is like this." He showed off the Spell.

After he let the Students practice the Spell for a while he addressed them once again, "Hmm, how about we practice in pairs. Let's see. To make it more interesting let's pair up with different houses." He said, "Let's see how about you Harry. Against Mr. Malfoy there. Yes, that would be an interesting showdown." Said Matthew as he paired the Students. After all, he still needed to preserve the Canon timeline to take advantage of it. And Harry revealing him being a Parselmouth was a major plot point in Canon. After all, it confirmed to Dumbledore that Harry was a Horcrux.

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