Chapter 38: Duel

"Hmm, well, now for one last duel. Let's see how the Prince family does again," said the professor suddenly as he read out a piece of paper with the names of the students on it.

"Draco Prince and Severus Prince!"

That got the full attention of the students.

Especially those Gryffindors who didn't know that Severus was a Prince.

"Snivellus is a Prince?" Potter can be heard saying in surprise.

"Wait, so...he's your cousin?" asked Black to Hermione and Draco.

But they weren't the only ones asking those questions, all of Gryffindor was asking the same thing...

Luckily for Draco, he had to go up to the dueling platform, so all the responsibility of explaining things was Hermione's, although Lily and the rest of her friends who already knew this helped explain the whole situation to the rest of the Gryffindors.

The Slytherins supported Severus, however, they hoped that Draco did not have the same abilities as Hermione.

They all knew that Severus was a good duelist as he used to face Black and Potter constantly, he was almost at the same level as Mulciber or Rosier who were the best duelists in Slytherin...

But from the demonstration, Hermione had given it was obvious to everyone that she was on a similar level to them... or even higher.

That was why the snakes hoped that Draco didn't have the same skills as Hermione, otherwise it could be a great embarrassment for Slytherin to lose to Gryffindor.

Already a draw was not acceptable, but it was better than a defeat.

"Don't lose Prince"

"Severus, don't condescend to him just because he's your cousin, he's a bloody Gryffindor now."

"Yeah, make him regret being a bloody lion"

Despite the many shouts and cheers, Severus didn't respond to a single one, he just climbed onto the dueling platform in silence and stared at Draco.

'Let's see your skills... Malfoy' Severus smiled slightly as he looked at Draco who looked a little tense but there was also some confidence on his face.

It was easy for Severus to define that Draco was indeed a Malfoy.

No, it wasn't just his appearance, but the magic practices they had been having.

He had told Draco to show him all kinds of magic including the dark arts, and as he expected, Draco ended up showing him dark magic that belonged to the Malfoy family.

Lucius had never allowed Severus to see a lot of his family's dark arts, but he had shown him the odd book and it turned out that Draco knew these too.

Of course, he could have gotten them as a favour from the Malfoy family just as Severus did, but it was doubtful...

Draco was not only similar to Lucius, but he also had knowledge of dark magic that should only be known to the Malfoy family.

And even though he considered the possibility that the Snape of the future might have given him such information, he doubted it since he as Snape might be an idiot but he kept his promises...

Well, Lucius had never made him swear, but he doubted that Snape even in the future would be able to break a promise.

Draco and Severus settled at the ends of the dueling platform.

Then they both nodded and walked to the centre.

The two bowed with respect showing that this was an honourable duel between the two.

After the salute, they both turned around as the teacher began to count out loud.

"1..."

"2..."

"3..."

Draco was the first to turn with his wand in hand to cast a spell.

" Flipendo!" shouted Draco throwing a backblast.

Severus turned around quietly and looked at him bored.

'Trivial' Severus thought as he deflected Draco's backblast with a simple wave of his hand.

Draco's backblast ended up in another part of the hall where "luckily" there were no students...

But they all saw what happened and were surprised at the ease with which Severus did that.

Unlike the rest of the class, Draco didn't seem impressed as he quickly cast several other spells that ended up being deflected by a simple wave of Severus' hand.

Of course, Professor Harvey had to intervene on more than one occasion so that such deflections didn't end up hitting the students, though he didn't know that Severus had been perfectly controlling where he deflected each spell.

'Well, if he doesn't want to show his true level, I guess I'll just have to make him show it' Severus thought as he watched Draco with boredom.

As long as Draco kept playing, the duel would just be boring and a waste of time.

After deflecting another spell from Draco, Severus grabbed his wand for the first time and went on the offensive, leaving his 'cousin' with no chance to recover.

Making several continuous movements with his wand with a speed that inspires admiration, Severus cast several spells in a non-verbal manner until he finally managed to knock Draco down.

But he did not throw him off the platform.

His message was clear to Draco.

Start facing him with everything he had or this duel would be no different than Avery's duel with Redmod...

Sure, Draco might give up, but damn the pride of most wizards.

When Severus knocked his cousin down, there was a lot of cheering and applause for him, everyone was shouting different things, but most wanted him to defeat him quickly, but Severus didn't pay attention to what they were saying, he kept staring at Draco waiting to see what he would do next.

Draco stood up in annoyance and stared at Severus, then for a second he turned his head to look at Hermione and then turned his head back to Severus, he now looked determined.

It was then that the duel Severus had been waiting for finally began.

Very quickly, the professor along with the Slytherin and Gryffindors in the class witnessed a magical duel of the highest level.

It no longer looked like just two sixth years dueling.

Both Draco and Severus were engaged in a vicious duel.

The air crackled.

A halo of smoke surrounded the duelists.

Each spell resulted in a stunning flash.

All the other students were gathered around them watching the spectacle of lights, noises, and spells they were putting on.

The attacks were getting more and more powerful, more and more brutal, especially from Severus who was showing a clear intention of wanting to push Draco as hard as possible.

He was looking for Draco to show off all his skills and of course to have a bit of real entertainment in the process...

It had been a long time since Severus had an interesting duel, so he wanted this one to last a while.

"Bombarda" recited Draco going on the offensive by detonating the space Severus was in with a small explosion.

"Protego" Severus created a shield around himself with a quick wave of his hand, this shield around him resisted Draco's spell.

"Invertestatil" Draco cast again.

"Impedimenta" Severus quickly nullified Draco's spell preventing him from casting it.

The fight slowly accelerated between Severus and Draco.

Draco began to resort to his best moves and they even began to cast a large amount of silent spells along with the spoken ones to hide them and thus create more problems for Severus who seemed annoyingly calm all the time.

The students watching were impressed as both were making expert use of the spells, even Professor Harvey began to watch the duel more closely.

The professor was impressed with the level of both of them but was even more impressed by the ease and calmness with which Severus doubled his opponent's wits despite the variety of moves he used.

Severus was implacable.

Draco was undoubtedly a great duelist, with wit and strength to back up his various actions, but all attempts were in vain against a calm and cool Severus who managed to handle each of Draco's offensives with simple and swift movements of his wand.

But if anything surprised Professor Harvey, it was that Severus was using the spells in such a way that they countered those of his opponent, he did not use pure force or pure mastery of the spells, but rather he calculated perfectly what his opponent would cast in order to use each spell in a specific situation that would effectively counteract what was being cast.

Without a doubt, Severus' control and level of ability over the spells he used was unbelievable.

The way Severus seemed to know everything his opponent would do next, no matter what action or move he made.

Severus excelled in his level of comprehension of the duel, he had experience dealing with situations worse than this, so he always looked for the slightest advantage he could to get out of a situation like this.

Of course, he could use brute force to win...

But where was the fun in that?

'Wow..., to think that there is such a skilled young wizard at Hogwarts, I would never have imagined it, that look he has, is that of someone who has a lot of experience in magical duels without rules, he is aware of everything that happens, he analyses like a professional who could lose his life because of a mistake' thought the professor.

'But at 16 years old it is impossible to have gone through so many situations that make him reach that level, his observation capacity is at an immeasurable level... For what this young man went through?' wondered the teacher who was very impressed as he watched the duel.

The spells between Draco and Severus continued to float through the air of the dueling platform, going from offensive to defensive.

Severus initially simply deflected spell after spell while occasionally going on the offensive, but now he was becoming more aggressive, causing Draco to back off step by step.

Draco could only try to make his spells go with greater intensity to catch his breath, but Severus, on the other hand, didn't give him an inch of ground.

"Damn, when did Severus learn to duel like that?" wondered aloud one of the many Slytherins watching the duel.

"No idea, but I'm pretty sure it's recent," commented Rosier staring at the duel unable to believe what he was seeing, he knew there was something different about Severus but this was already too much to be true.

"Yeah..., I don't stand a chance against them, I don't think even you Rosier can take them," commented one of the witches.

"Shut your mouth and be careful with what you say" hissed Mulciber with a dark look at the witch, if they insulted Rosier it was like insulting him as they were both of a similar level.

"She's just telling the truth Mulciber, don't be so pathetic," said Olivia Greengrass, one of the few Slytherins who weren't afraid of him.

"You never know what can happen in a life and death-duel," Mulciber said with annoyance as he glared at Olivia, but she didn't respond.

Greengrass just ignored him and turned his gaze away to witness the duel again, she already knew Mulciber was stubborn so she wouldn't waste her time on him.

"Both Prince's mastery of magic is amazing, but Severus controls the duel I dare say with ease" Rosier added without bothering to comment on whether or not he could win against Severus or Draco.

"I don't know, they seem pretty equally matched," commented another witch pointing out that it wasn't that much of a difference so far since they had both been on the defensive or offensive.

"Yeah, but now Severus has the advantage," commented another of the wizards.

"True, but in a duel, anything can happen."

These were some of the many comments from the Slytherin wizards and witches watching the duel between the two.

Of course, it was obvious to Rosier that Severus kept the upper hand at all times, he just didn't try hard enough to win the duel quickly, he seemed to be dragging it out for some reason.

Draco, on the other hand, was surprised and annoyed with the way things were going, he thought he had a clear advantage over Severus, but he didn't.

For some reason, Severus always managed to keep him from staying on the offensive, always managed to get him on the defensive when he was about to take advantage of him, he deflected or used some counter spell at all times.

'Damn, he shouldn't be so good dueling' Draco complained as he watched Severus with black robes, black eyes, black hair, and a cool but calm attitude as he pushed him harder and harder.

There seemed to be no way to beat him and that annoyed him, it made no sense to Draco that this was happening.

He and Hermione should be on a higher level, but here he was slowly losing to Severus.

Severus on the other hand was enjoying this duel, he felt like he could finally practice against someone, it was exciting and he had to control himself not to overdo it and end the duel.

The duel went on for quite some time.

As Draco continued to use all sorts of moves and spells to try to oppress or counter his opponent and thus regain ground in the duel, but Severus used every spell he knew with great skill and ingenuity, which caused Draco's attempts to regain control of the duel to fail.

After a few moments, Severus stopped another of Draco's spells and decided to end the duel as he remembered what he had to do after this class.

Due to his enthusiasm, he completely forgot that he had to leave this class early and go find Pandora in Charms class to talk.

Severus deflected one of Draco's spells and then took the opportunity to quickly recite.

"Alarte ascend," Severus cast, levitating Draco a few inches and leaving him unsteady for a few moments.

The spell was successful, as it destabilised Draco greatly, causing him to stop his constant casting of spells.

"Bombarda" Severus recited again causing a small explosion and throwing Draco into the air.

But Draco had reacted quickly with a "Protego" that took most of the damage.

But the hard fall hurt his back.

Draco fell backwards but the instant this happened he resumed his dueling stance despite the pain.

He was quite angry now and was ready to resume the offensive, but Severus had no plans to play with him any further.

"Incarcerous" Severus summoned ropes over Draco's body who was barely recovering from the fall, this prevented him from resuming the offensive because his movements were restricted.

"Incendio" Draco instantly burned the ropes summoned by Severus.

But Severus only needed that time as Draco focused on the summoned ropes to quickly move his hand and throw Draco into the air causing him to hit the wall at the end of the dueling platform.

But it seems that in his rush to finish the duel he did not control the force with which he threw Draco and he hit the wall with such force that he fell unconscious.

The professor, who didn't see Severus' quick movement, couldn't avoid the blow Draco suffered.

Instantly many worried Gryffindors gathered where Draco had been sent flying with the professor who went to heal his wounds.

Of course, others like Potter and Black preferred to use this opportunity to take their anger out on Severus.

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Hello, my readers.

You now have two choices for the next chapter:

1) A quick Pov of Gryffindor watching the duel and their reactions, obviously I will continue the story from there.

2) Continue the story without doing the Pov.

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(I'll cancel the vote for anyone who posts twice in the same paragraph.)