The duel

----------POV Harry Potter----------

It's finally time to eat. Ron is sitting next to me filling his plate, but I can't help but think about these first two weeks of school. Nothing was as I thought they would.

I thought that the teachers would be more respectful towards me, but they were all neutral in their way of teaching, as if my presence was not something exceptional. Not to mention Snape's fierce hatred for me when I didn't do anything to him. Father told me he might be mad at me because they hate each other, but I didn't think it would be that bad. Looks like he's doing everything he can to make me fail.

There is are also the students, most of them were at my feet when I arrived, but now it's like I'm a trend that just ended. Everyone thinks of me as a normal student while I am the boy who survived, who defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

The Slytherin are the worst of all. They don't respect me at all. Luckily, there seems to be one of them who respects me enough to keep Draco Malfoy from behaving badly when he's in front of me. The amazing thing is that this is the boy I fought with at a Yule party a few years ago.

He probably didn't know who I was, and his parents later explained it to him. I should try to put him under my boot, he would be a good spy in the ranks of Slytherin for me.

As I was ruminating my thoughts, I heard someone walking behind my back.

"Now that there's no one left to protect you, Potter, you could show me what I'm risking by taking on a Gryffindor." Draco Malfoy is accompanied by his two gorillas, the biggest first years of the school and also the ugliest, Crabbe and Goyle.

"Get out of here, Malfoy, there's no snake food here." Not my best insult, but it'll do.

"And what are you gonna do, Potter." I see a grin on his horrible deatheater son's face." I challenge you to a wizard's duel tonight."

"All right, Ron will be my second. Who will be yours?"

Draco looks at the two bullies beside him. "Crabbe. The duel will take place at midnight in the trophy room."

"We'll be there." Draco nods and leaves with his two henchmen.

"What an asshole. I can't wait for them to get a good beating tonight." Ron next to me is ready to fight. Good, because we're gonna need it.

At half-past eleven, Ron and I get out of bed and into the trophy room. As I leave the common room, I realize that the fat lady is missing. Shit, how are we going to get into the common room? We still continue our journey with Ron in silence.

Suddenly, I freeze when I hear a snoring. I look down to see Neville deep asleep on the floor. He must have forgotten the password again as he returned to the common room after leaving the infirmary. I signal Ron not to make any noise and we continue on our way. No need to take Neville with us, he is so clumsy that he could alert Filch without doing it on purpose.

There is no difficulty in getting to the third floor. The corridors are lit by moonbeams and we haven't met either Filch or Miss Norris. We enter the trophy room, which is filled with glass cases full of cups and gleaming metal men. I look around, but no sign of Malfoy.

"You think he's chickened out?" Ron walks into the room and starts looking around for the Slytherin.

"Maybe, or maybe he got caught by Filch on the way." This is strange, we said at midnight and there are less than five minutes before our duel.

I'm about to sit on the floor waiting for the Slytherin when I hear a noise in the next room.

"Look, my beautiful, look around, they must be hiding in a corner." My blood froze in my veins when I understand that Filch is about to find us. I look around and find a door right in front of the one we took to get in. I'm heading for this one, but it's locked and there's no way to open it.

"We're screwed." Ron watches the door open to let Filch in who looks straight at us.

"Well, well, look what we just found. Two little kids who decide to go for a walk in the middle of the night."

"Please, it's not our fault! It was Draco Malfoy who challenged us to a duel here!" I look at Ron with disbelief. You can't be that stupid!

"I'm sure the headmaster will be very interested in this story."

----------POV Albus Dumbledore----------

In my office, I'm looking at two students who were caught by Mr Filch outside their dorm at night, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley. In general this problem would have been solved by Minerva, but Mr Weasley confessed in front of Mr Filch that they had been trapped by their dueling opponent.

"I am very disappointed in your behaviour, boys, not only did you go out of your dorm in the middle of the night but also to fight a duel."

"But we didn't start it. It was Malfoy who came to challenge us to a duel."

"Ron, shut up." Harry seems to understand the gravity of the situation.

"Indeed, Mr Weasley, there is no need to add anything. I have unfortunately already heard everything from Mr Filch."

In most cases, a clandestine duel would be punished by outright expulsion, but I still can't expel the boy. He must be ready when Voldemort returns.

"I will be sending your parents a letter tonight to explain the situation and how close you were to an expulsion. I think a month of detention and a ban on attending Quidditch games this year should give you some time to reflect on your actions. I also withdraw forty points to Gryffindor."

"What?! But Professor Dumbledore, I was going to go to the selection to become the new a seeker of the Gryffindor team!" Harry seems obviously disappointed in my decision.

I remember promising James that I would let the boy take his chances to get on the team. It's kind of unusual for a freshman to get on the team, but there's no rule against that technically.

"Well, it looks like you won't catch anything this year, unfortunately, Mr Potter. You can go back to your dorms."

-----------POV Sean-----------

This morning I get up early to get my breakfast. When I go back to the great hall, a completely unexpected show welcomes me.

"HOW COULD YOU DARE! IT HASN'T EVEN BEEN A MONTH SINCE YOU WENT TO SCHOOL AND YOU TRIED TO DO A DUEL! AND AT NIGHT TOO! IMAGINE THE SHAME OF RECEIVING AN OWL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT TO WARN US! NEXT TIME SOMETHING HAPPEN YOU COME HOME RIGHT AWAY!"

I think this is the first time I've seen a real howler. It's kind of funny when it happens to other people, but I think Ron would rather be anywhere than where he is right now.

I sit at the table where most Slytherin watches the hilarious scene. "So I missed something?"

"Just ten minutes of a howler getting at Ron Weasley. They got caught last night when our plan worked. I myself checked that the trophy room door was locked to make sure he couldn't escape from Filch, and it didn't miss. Dumbledore has sent letters to their parents. I look forward to seeing what Potter gets."

I admit that the episode of the howler gave me a lot of expectation. I would like to have a new animation this morning. However, contrary to my expectations, Harry received nothing. Perhaps his parents will punish him in another way.