A Slytherin's Gambit

"That's it" Malfoy pulled out his wand "I've had it with you Potter, I challenge you to a wizarding duel, tonight at..."

"No" Harry stood up "right now"

"What?"

"I said right now" Harry stood right in front of Malfoy and flicked his own wand out of its holster "if you want a duel, then it will be right now, not later when you can run off"

"F...fine" Malfoy growled, he was hoping to trick Potter into getting in trouble with Filch later "let's duel, if I win then you'll have to stay away from Daphne" Harry didn't answer, instead he looked at Daphne. "Scared Potter?" Malfoy sneered

"No you blonde idiot, I'm requesting permission"

"Permission for what?"

"If Daphne is involved in the stakes then I request her permission to involve her in the stakes, Daphne, may I make stakes for my duel that can involve you?"

"Hmm, fine, at least you asked. Unlike a certain blonde idiot" Daphne would gladly admit that she liked the way that Malfoys face had reddened, she was also glad that Harry had thought to ask her permission before just involving her in his little spat like any other man would have.

"Very well" Harry nodded before turning back to Malfoy "if I win, I get to punch you in the face and Daphne gets to hex you and you don't get to complain to anyone, apart from Madam Pomfrey but that's only if you need medical help and you won't tell her that we're the ones who hurt you. Do you accept or would you like to ask your father first?"

"I accept Potter" Malfoy growled, the two made their way into the centre of the common room and everyone else watched on.

Malfoy went first and tried an extremely weak cutting cure, which Harry blocked, not that he needed to as the cure wouldn't have done much more that slightly ruin his clothes. Harry quickly responded with three spells, the first being a tickling spell, which was followed by a disarming spell which led to a body bind curse. The result was a laughing Malfoy, on the floor while not being able to move his body and his wand in Harry's hand.

"I think it's safe to say that I've won" Harry said to the common room, before he unleashed Malfoy "now Malfoy, I've won so any last words before I knock out a few of your teeth"

"That's not possible! There's no way I could've lost to a half-blood!"

"Wow, nice words to say to the guy who gets to punch you in your face" Daphne said with an unimpressed look on her face, internally she was trying to decide what hex to use and was gleeful at the idea of Harry punching Malfoy.

"Now Malfoy" Harry said with an evil smile "you accepted the terms of the duel, you can't back out now. After all, how would it look if the Malfoys back out of deals that they make. It'd look bad for your father, now you have a choice, you can uphold your end of the bargain or you could cause problems for your dad because people begin to doubt the trustworthiness of the Malfoys."

Many Slytherin's including Daphne smirked, that was truly a tactic that Salazar Slytherin would approve of. If Malfoy backed out now then it'd make his family look untrustworthy, and this could cause problems in any future dealings, if not with the elder Malfoy then they would definitely occur when Draco was older.

Draco growled and cursed Potter under his breath, before he stood up. He looked right at the smirking green eyed boy in front of him with a look of complete hatred, he composed himself and looked right at Harry.

"Very well" Draco sighed "get it over with Potter"

"Get what other with?" Harry asked, feigning innocence

"You know what!" Draco snapped "go ahead and punch me!"

"Oh no Malfoy" Harry shook his head with amusement "I'm not going to punch you, not yet at least"

"What?" Malfoy spoke with a confused face

"The deal was I got to punch you in the face while Daphne was allowed to hex you, but when and where were never specified" Harry had a truly evil look on his face "I'm not going to punch you now Malfoy, I'm going to take a rain check. Know this, when the time is right, I will find you and I will punch you. In your stupid, stupid face, but until then I want you to remember that it I will do it eventually."

Malfoy paled at this, many of the Slytherin's appreciated Harry's genius even more. Harry could strike Malfoy at any place and any time and Malfoy couldn't complain, it could be tomorrow or even seven years from now but Malfoy would live in fear until then.

"Daphne" Harry spoke softly "what about you? You want to wait as well?"

"Nah" Daphne shook her head and fired a low powered freezing spell at Malfoys bits, Malfoy fell to the floor screaming and with his hands in-between his legs. "Just a little freezing spell that mum taught me, it'll be fine in an hour or so"

"Brilliant" Harry said with admiration in his voice "you've got to teach me that"

"Maybe one day" Daphne said with a smile

"Umm, what about him?" One Slytherin pointed at Malfoy

"Put a silencing spell on him if he makes too much noise" Harry instructed "personally I don't really care what you do as long as you don't bother me"

"Crabbe, Goyle" Daphne spoke "take him up to his room and keep him there" The two boys nodded and picked him up and took him to his room

"Nicely done" Harry nodded to Daphne before sitting down next to her.