Chapter 170: "Duelling Club"

The day of the first Dueling Club meeting soon arrived, and the Great Hall buzzed with excitement. The long dining tables had been removed, replaced by a golden stage along one wall. Candles floated overhead, casting a warm glow over the eager faces of the gathered students.

Harry stood with his friends, observing the scene with a detached air. Since the attack on Colin, there had been no further incidents, and Harry had been incredibly busy.

Unable to have the school suspended to battle the Basilisk and the heir without worrying about potential collateral damage, he had decided on a new course of action. Harry was now focused on strengthening himself to have the power and confidence to take on the Basilisk while maintaining total control of the situation. To achieve this, he was dedicating all his free time to his Knight training.

Harry's goal was to advance from an apprentice knight to a full-fledged knight as quickly as possible. He believed that with the boost in strength that came with becoming a knight, he could defeat the basilisk easily. To aid in this endeavor, he had enlisted the help of the centaurs. Their cooperation during the previous years had been great, and upon hearing that he needed training to defeat a threat to the school, the centaurs had agreed to assist.

So every night, when not occupied with his apprenticeship under Flitwick, Harry was honing his sword fighting skills and taking on groups of centaurs using only his knight strength and skills, without magic.

The training was progressing well, and Harry expected to achieve knighthood in a couple of months. He hoped that, like in the books, there would be a significant gap before the next attack, allowing him to gain the strength needed to deal with the basilisk before another incident occurred.

As for the Dueling Club, Harry attended this meeting primarily to witness Lockhart making a fool of himself and possibly see Charles reveal himself as a Parselmouth. Harry was curious to see if Charles, having been raised in the wizarding world and knowing the stigma associated with the ability, would use his power to talk to snakes.

Unlike Harry from the books, who discovered his ability during the zoo incident, Harry didn't know if Charles was even aware of his Parseltongue gift. So Harry was doubtful whether Charles would even attempt to communicate with the snake. This was the main reason for his attendance; he had no plans to participate in future meetings.

As the hall filled with students, Lockhart strode onto the stage, resplendent in robes of deep plum. He was followed by a scowling Snape, dressed in his usual black.

"Gather round, gather round!" Lockhart called, waving his arms for silence. "Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? Excellent!"

He flashed his trademark smile. "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."

Harry heard Roger snort beside him. "I'd rather face the heir of Slytherin than read those books again," he muttered.

Lockhart continued, "Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape. He tells me he knows a tiny little bit about dueling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin."

The demonstration proceeded much as Harry remembered from the books, with Snape easily disarming Lockhart. The crowd of Slytherins cheered, while Lockhart quickly tried to save face.

"Well, there you have it!" Lockhart said, getting to his feet. "That was a Disarming Charm – as you see, I've lost my wand – ah, thank you, Miss Brown. Yes, an excellent idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but if you don't mind my saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy..."

Snape looked murderous, and Lockhart seemed to notice. "Enough demonstrating! I'm going to come amongst you now and put you all into pairs. Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me..."

They moved through the crowd, matching up partners. Lockhart teamed Neville with Justin Finch-Fletchley, but Snape reached Charles first.

'Time to split up the dream team, I think,' he sneered. 'Weasley, you can partner Finnigan. Potter –'

Charles moved automatically towards Hermione. 'I don't think so,' said Snape, smiling coldly. 'Mr Malfoy, come over here. Let's see what you make of the famous Potter. And you, Miss Granger – you can partner Miss Bulstrode.'

Malfoy strutted over to the podium, smirking. Charles also approached with confidence. Seeing this pairing, most students stopped and surrounded the ring to watch the battle. Their well-known rivalry and the house competition made this duel particularly exciting.

Harry observed all this as a spectator, intrigued to see how Charles and Malfoy would fare. Given Charles' early training, Harry expected him to display better skills than the Harry from the books.

"Face your partners!" called Lockhart, back on the platform. "And bow!"

Charles and Malfoy barely inclined their heads, not taking their eyes off each other.

"Wands at the ready!" shouted Lockhart. "When I count to three, cast your charms to disarm your opponents — only to disarm them — we don't want any accidents — one... two... three —"

Charles swung his wand over his shoulder, but Malfoy had already started on 'two': his spell hit Charles so hard he felt as though he'd been hit over the head with a saucepan. Enraged, Charles got up and cast spell after spell at Malfoy. The spells hit Malfoy head-on. Fortunately for Malfoy, the spells Charles knew were mostly harmless and prank-oriented, so he wasn't badly hurt. He just experienced a tickling sensation all over, and his face turned pink while his hair became red. The crowd laughed at the sight.

Charles was laughing so hard at Malfoy's new look that he missed his angry opponent getting up and casting 'Tarantallegra!', forcing Charles to dance uncontrollably. This continued for some time, with Lockhart screaming for the duel to stop as it spiraled out of control, but no one listened.

A senior student, taking pity on Charles, cast Finite Incantatem, ending the dance spell. By now, everyone else had stopped their duels, and the entire school was watching these two battle it out.

The two boys were locked in a fierce duel, neither seeming to care about the 'disarm only' instruction that Lockhart was still shouting. Suddenly, Draco shouted, "Serpensortia!"

A long black snake shot out of his wand, landing heavily on the floor between them. It raised itself, ready to strike. Screams filled the hall as students backed swiftly away, clearing the floor.

Charles taunted, "What's up with the snake, Malfoy? It's so far away. Can you even command it to attack me? Stupid!"

Malfoy ordered the snake, "Go attack Potter!" But the snake didn't listen. It just looked around the hall at the other students, appearing somewhat scared.

Harry watched the snake with interest, curious to see what would happen next and if this would reveal Charles' Parselmouth ability. He chuckled at Draco's failed attempts to control the snake.

Charles laughed, "It doesn't listen to you. That's hilarious!" He then added, "Maybe it will listen to me. I'll send it to attack you. That'll be funny. Snake, go and attack Malfoy."

Unbeknownst to Charles, that last line had been in Parseltongue. He felt he had spoken normally in English, but the entire audience heard hissing noises from Charles. They were confused, but to their surprise, the snake obeyed Charles and moved to attack Malfoy. Harry watched all this unfold with great interest.

A stunned silence fell over the hall. Harry could see the shock and fear on the faces of those nearest to Charles. Charles himself looked confused. The snake, however, was not confused at all and was close to attacking the stunned Malfoy.

Snape, seeing Malfoy in danger, snapped out of his shock and stepped forward, waving his wand. The snake vanished in a small puff of black smoke. He looked at Charles with a shrewd and calculating expression.

Murmurs broke out across the hall. "He's a Parselmouth..." "Did you hear that?" "Charles Potter can talk to snakes!"

Ron grabbed Charles by the robes and began to steer him out of the hall, Hermione following close behind. As they passed, Harry could hear Ron muttering, "Come on... move... come on..."

As the Golden Trio disappeared through the doors, the whispering grew louder. Some people asked Harry if he knew Charles had this ability; he said no. They knew Harry wasn't close to Charles, so they soon left him alone.

Lockhart, looking flustered, attempted to regain control of the situation. "Well, that's enough excitement for one night, I think! Same time next week, everyone!"

As the students began to file out, still buzzing with excitement and fear, Harry pondered what would happen next. How would Charles handle being called the Heir of Slytherin? How would his parents react? How would Charles having Lily Potter inside the school as a teacher change the next events of suspicion and potential bullying? Harry was eager to see how these new developments would unfold, knowing that they might significantly alter the course of events he remembered from the books.