Because You Love Me

52. Parselmouth

 Taking the students back and forth to and from classes grew tiresome for most of the staff. Finally, after a month had gone by without incident, Dumbledore let that part of the extra security fall away. Teachers just had to watch their students closely now instead of stalking them between classes.

Alaina kept so close an eye on Harry that he had started staying in the common room most of the time along with Ron and Hermione. It seemed that they couldn't go anywhere unsupervised anymore and Harry was starting to feel smothered. If it wasn't Alaina trailing after them, it was Snape. That changed too after a while. Alaina started to sense that Harry was feeling a bit overprotected and asked Severus to back off a little and she would as well. Now they only watched him a little closer. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were grateful for that.

A few days after that fateful event, the school got wind of the fact that Gilderoy Lockhart suggested there be a dueling club for the students to learn how to defend themselves. It shocked the whole castle because it was a good idea considering the attacks that had been made. The first meeting was on December 17 after classes. Harry was so excited to have something other than classes and Quidditch to worry about. He was hoping to have some fun and learning to duel with his classmates could be as fun as anything else. The ones who wanted to attend all met in the Great Hall that evening. Of course Severus and Alaina were both there as well as Lockhart and many students from each house.

"I can't believe you dragged me in here, Severus," Alaina told him.

"I can't believe Lockhart wanted me to help demonstrate," Severus commented.

"Try not to hurt him."

He smiled. "I shall try my very best."

"Maybe he wants to prove himself as worthy as you. Did he know that you were inviting me to come?"

He raised his eyebrow. "Exactly what is that supposed to mean?"

She shrugged innocently. "I just think he has a bit of a crush on me, that's all." She grinned. "Severus, you do realize that I'm only pushing your buttons?"

"Of course." He could hardly keep a straight face.

"You had no idea."

He smiled. "No, not really."

She laughed. "I'm going to go over here in the corner. Lockhart looks like he's about to start."

He nodded.

"Good luck."

She made her way across the room. She wanted to stand over in the corner so she could see what was going on up on the platform. Lockhart was standing at one end of the navy blue structure. It was decorated with stars and moons. On the other end, Severus had just walked up the stairs to get to it. She glanced his way and smiled at him, but all of his attention was focused in front of him. Her eyes wandered over the crowd and stopped on Harry. He was talking to his friends. With a long sigh, she waited patiently for the club meeting to begin.

Harry couldn't believe all that had turned out for the first meeting of the dueling club. He was meeting people he had never even seen at Hogwarts before. He met a boy from Hufflepuff named Justin Finch-Fletchley, a muggleborn. The only reason Harry even knew his blood status was because the boy knew him and told him when they first greeted each other. He and Justin were talking when Ron poked him on the shoulder. Harry turned around.

"What do you think about this?" Ron asked him. "Lockhart doing this, I mean?"

Harry shrugged. "I think it could be brilliant. I'm more fascinated by the fact that he asked Snape to help him with it."