Never Too Young To Die

Duelling A Snake

~HARRY~

Hazel and I left the hospital wing the next morning, discovering that Ron and Hermione were in the girl's bathroom. Hazeline seemed very shaken up after last night. She wouldn't talk at all. I mean, she doesn't usually talk but she was acting strange. Also, she kept muttering things about a diary. When we reached the bathroom a foul stench filled my nostrils.

"Uh!" I exclaimed. "What is that stench?"

"The Polyjuice potion." Hermione and Ron were siting on the bathroom floor next to a smoking cauldron.

After a few complaints about the smell I told Ron and Hermione all about the night before, leaving out the part where Hazel and I slept in the same bed of course. They were very eager and frightened by the story. Hermione started rambling on about the ingredients in the potion and Ron kept sighing.

"Lockhart has started a duelling club," Hermione announced.

"Oh, really?" I asked. "That's probably the best thing he's done all year."

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Duelling club began with Lockhart rambling on about his excellent skills which of course did not exist. I was beginning to think this duelling club wasn't such a great idea. Hazeline hadn't spoken to anyone since last night. I was starting to get a little but worried.

"Snape," Lockhart bellowed. "Should we show them how it's done?"

Snape was clearly not impressed by this whole "Lockhart and Snape duelling" thing, but he walked up onto the platform nonetheless. Within a few seconds Lockhart opened his mouth to chant a spell, but before he could Snape yelled, "expelliarmus!" and Lockhart's wand feel to the ground.

"Yes, well done, Snape," Lockhart said. "I let him do that to show you all what it does."

Snape muttered something under his breath and Lockhart glared at him.

"Alright, now we've got partners for everyone, please listen for your name."

I was paired up with Malfoy, of course, because of Snape. Hermione was with a big Slytherin girl with brown hair and Hazel was with Seamus Finnagan, which made me worried, concerned and slightly jealous.

I only realised Malfoy was standing next to me when he said, "stay away from her, Potter."

"Why do you care?" I spat.

"I-I mean I don't," he stammered, but he was still looking at her and it made my jealousy grow.

"Let's start," I snarled.

Draco actually wasn't bad at this, but the fact that he kept glancing over at Hazel made me jealous, which caused me to duel better. We threw all sorts of body contorting spells at each other. But neither of us actually got hit, which annoyed me.

"Who volunteers to demonstrate?" Lockhart asked brightly after about ten minutes.

"Malfoy," Snape ordered. Draco the demon stepped up onto the platform, smirking. "And-" he scanned the crowd, his eyes turning cold when they met mine. "-our celebrity, Harry Potter."

Of course I'd didn't want to do this stupid duel thing but everyone was looking at me, except Hazeline, what else could I do? I watched as Snape whispered something in Draco's ear and he nodded in confirmation. Okay, I was lying if I said that that didn't concern me a bit but I stepped onto the platform, holding my wand at the ready as Draco sneered, "what's the matter, Potter? Scared?"

"No, Malfoy," I spat back at him. "But you should be."

We kind of just stood there for a few mintues, glaring at each other until Malfoy yelled as spell that made a large black snake shoot from his wand and slither towards me. Lockhart was rambling on about how he could fix it, pulling out his wand he chanted a spell that made the snake even angrier and it was now heading in the direction of Hazeline, who was standing in the front like a deer in headlights. I panicked, not knowing what to do. I couldn't let the snake hurt Hazeline.

So instead of chanting a spell I told the snake to back off and it shrivelled into a heap of scales on the floor. Everyone was started to back away from me, including Ron and Hermione. Even Lockhart and Snape.

But I didn't care about them. I was looking at Hazel, even though she hadn't backed away from me like I was some kind of monster. She still looked afraid, and it made me hate myself.

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After the class I knew that talking to that snake had not helped my situation. Hazeline still wasn't talking and Hermione and Ron kept exchanging nervous looks that made me want to strangle them.

"Did you see that?" I heard a boy named Justin tell Seamus Finnagan. "He was egging the snake on."

"I know," Seamus agreed. "At first I thought the Hazeline girl was a demon, you know 'cos of her parents. But now I wanna know why she's hanging around Potter when he's the heir of Slytherin."

As I walked out of the great hall heads turned to face me, glare at me or move away from me. It was like I was some kind of disease people didn't want to catch. Maybe I was the heir? What would I do then? Everyone would hate me for sure.

"Harry," Hazleine whispered. "You're not the heir."

It was like she could read my mind. Her words made me believe that I wasn't that kind of person for a minute, but it was quite scary his similar I could be to the heir. The sorting hat did want to put me in Slytherin after all.

"Why do people think I'm the heir?" I asked Hazeline.

"Um..." I knew she knew as soon as she started fiddling with her robes.

"Please," I said.

She sighed. "Salazar Slytheirn could speak Parseltounge."

"What's that?"

"You can talk to snakes." I was so confused. "You weren't speaking English, Harry."

"I wasn't?" I asked.

"No," she said quietly. "And to be honest for a second there I really thought that you were egging it on. I'm sorry."

She was apologising?

"Why are you sorry?" I asked.

"Because I doubted you," she whispered, so quietly I almost couldn't hear it.

Then she walked off, leaving me in deep thought.