Dueling & Dragons
"Flipendo!"
"Protego!"
Spells flew back and forth, blasting against one another, lighting up a small room swarmed with students from every House. First-years to seventh-years ooh'd and aah'd at the light show, their eyes fixated on the two Slytherins keeping it going.
One of them dodged to the side as another light went off, then yelled a counterattack. "Confundo!"
"Hey, no fair!" Zachary Oceanborough complained, ducking out of the way of the spell. "We already agreed that this was a no-Charms duel!"
"Yeh? Well, stuff it. This's a Slytherin battle, not a Gryffindor battle, and you better get used t' this kind of cheating before you get really hurt by it." Tony Ricketts replied, shrugging his shoulders and glancing back at the small crowd.
"Now, now..." Professor Travers seemed to take offense to the comment, stepping between the two battling boys and gently pointing their wands at the ground. "Ricketts, that is completely unacceptable behavior. Your opponent agreed to certain terms that you laid out. No matter the lesson you were trying to teach, Dueling Club is not the place for it."
"Oh, please. This is practice for the real world. Do you really think that any grumpy sod angry enough to attack you out there would be playin' by the rules?" Ricketts retorted, his face already contorted into a frown.
"If Hogwarts followed such logic, the staff would care little for student safety. Follow the rules, Ricketts." Travers' tone harshened, and he gave the fifth-year a nasty stink-eye.
That was enough to keep Ricketts from returning fire, and almost enough to get him to nod his head. "Fine. Whatever you say, Professor Travers."
Tony turned his attention back to Zachary. "You need to work on your shielding. I blasted through half your defenses in no time and barely thought about it."
Ricketts' opponent crossed his arms and frowned. "...I don't know that many yet. Jus' because I can hold my own for a bit with offense doesn't mean I can block spells the same way."
Tony sneered. "Ah, but I thought you were supposed to be a prodigy at this stuff? Don't tell me you're lacking in the basics."
Zach's face flushed in response. The young second-year avoided eye contact, turning instead to see the crowd... only curling into himself further when he noticed Veronica Pressfield among their ranks. "...n-no, not lackin' in nothin'..."
"Then you've got no excuse." Ricketts spat. He sauntered off the elevated stage the two had been practicing on, his wand dangling out of his hand, motioning for Zach to follow him.
After giving Professor Travers an apologetic look, Zach did so. "No excuse, yeah. But you're three years above me! Couldn't you show a bit of restraint? Especially in front've so many other students?"
Tony barely spared Zach a look as he returned to their seats. "What's their opinion matter? You've got to ignore them. Put them out of your mind an' think about yourself."
Zach took a deep breath. "...I've got to ask, Tony. Who pissed in your cereal today? Travers paired us up t' teach me and give you an easy win. Why'd you throw that away for some rude comment?"
That got under Ricketts' skin enough to prompt him to raise his wand. Zach raised his hands and flinched, but kept his mouth shut as Ricketts started to explain... "...woke up on the wrong side've the bed. Don't worry about it." ...absolutely nothing.
Once the pair were sat back down and two Gryffindors took their place, Zach pulled out a small bag of chocolate frogs and popped one in his mouth. "You know that's askin' too much of me."
He offered an open palm to Tony with naught but a frog sat upon it. Tony obliged, and the two spent some time watching the next duel in silence. It was rather bombastic, so there wasn't much to discuss. A pair of seventh-years almost to graduation given the go-ahead by Travers to try anything. Ricketts and Oceanborough watched with quiet fascination as wands turned to snakes, chairs turned to boulders, robes turned to tatters and hair turned to glue.
"I can't believe people grow up in a world where all this stuff is normal," Zach whispered in awe.
"And I can't believe those same people don't know what an 'internet' is. Baffles the mind," Tony chuckled back. "I almost pity them."
"Yeah, tha's plen'y unlucky! We've got the best of both worlds. Born borin' enough to be awed by this stuff an' interestin' enough t' know about the internets," Tony laughed back. He gave Tony a nervous grin that wasn't reciprocated.
Silence took hold of the two boys once more as Travers called the end of the match. The shorter seventh-year was escorted out of the club with a towel wrapped around her, the audience hooting and hollering over the unfortunate occurrence. One too many Diffindos had been cast, and the poor girl would likely need a long time to repair her robes. It was only fortunate, then, that she still had some normal clothing on underneath.
"You know... you didn't do so badly, for a second-year. I've fought weaker opponents," Ricketts commented.
"Really? Well-- tha's cuz you said I was supposed to be very good at this, wasn' I? Travers was very impressed in class, an'..." Zach trailed off, only to be interrupted again by Tony.
"Yeah, yeah. But even then." Tony held out his arm and made a large tear in his arm obvious. It wasn't deep enough to bleed, but there was definitely a mark. "Most don't even get to touch me."
Zach frowned at the sight of it. His reasoning as to why, however, wasn't out of much concern. "I didn't even break skin and you're commendin' me on that?"
Ricketts didn't respond. He just kept his arm out for Zach to inspect. There were multiple smaller marks near the biggest one. Multiple different pieces of evidence proving that Zach had managed to scathe someone three years above him.
The sight left Zach trailing off into gibberish. "All that oglin' of that Pressfield bitch is payin' off," Tony sneered.
Such a comment instantly flushed Zach's face. The second-year leaned forward a little, confirming that said 'bitch' was sat hardly a few seats away from them. "Wh-- Tony, don'-- I admire her work ethic, is all!"
"Sure you do," the Slytherin smirked. "That's why you keep conveniently studyin' near her table whenever you're around people, that's why you keep sittin' in the same row as her during this club."
"YES!" Zach cried. "What, you think i've been lookin' at her boobs? Tony, have you seen how she works?? I's like she's made of coffee! I don't think i've ever seen her sleepin'! I've got t' know how she does it!"
Tony stifled a laugh. "Oh, what a shame. It would've been funny to watch the consequences of you watchin' her sleep play out."
"I-- not like that!" Zach's face grew even more red. The second-year was barely paying attention to the duel by now, his attention wholly on Tony. "You're a bastard, you know that?"
The fifth-year failed to contain himself and promptly burst out laughing. "What, you think I don't know that? Get a grip, Oceanborough!"
Zach straightened himself and zipped his mouth shut while Tony took another frog. "You don' even shtop to fink about how vat looks?" He swallowed. "I know you don't actually fancy her. She's way too out of your league, anyways. I'm jus' teasing. Everyone else thinks you dream of snoggin' her, though. It might be smart to set their heads straight."
That first comment seemed to irk Zach more than Tony'd expected. "...what do you mean 'out of my league?' Tony, that's not how girls work."
Tony wiped an tear from his eye. "Yeah? You're going t' tell me how girls work?"
"Yeah, 'course I will! I live with one!" Zach loudly proclaimed. Even as people started looking his way, he went on.
"That practically makes me an expert compared to you, so listen up. Girls like jumpin' on you out've nowhere. If a girl likes you, she'll tell you. There's no use chasin' one, because all the other girls will be chasing some man they already prefer t' you. You've got t' wait until they approach, then tell 'em what they like and give them lots of gifts! There's no way of luring them, cuz they don' discriminate. You've jus' got to wait." Zachary boldly proclaimed, ignoring the small chorus of laughter beginning to crop up around him and Ricketts. "Then, if you don't get a girl, well..." ...he trailed off. "I don' really know what t' do then. But you know what you def'nitely don' do?"
"Wha'?" Tony wheezed.
"You--"
"OCEANBOROUGH!"
The two boys went stiff.
"Oceanborough, come down here immediately!" Professor Travers roared again.
Uh-oh.
"Good job, Zach," Tony coughed. His tone was still smug, but the fifth-year's nerves were audible. He hadn't heard Travers this mad in ages.
Zachary took his walk of shame without hesitation, his head slightly bowed all the way to Travers.
"My office. Now."
Tick, tock. Tick, tock.
"Do you have anything to say for yourself?"
Zach hadn't looked at professor Travers for several minutes now.
Tick, tock. Tick, tock. The grandfather clock hung up behind the bulky old man swung back and forth, the owl sat upon it glaring into the boy's very soul.
"...s-sorry for turning your duelin' class into a peep show soapbox," he finally mumbled. "I didn' mean to. Tony was jus'--"
"It doesn't matter what Tony was doing, Oceanborough. You must learn to contain yourself."
"Yes, Professor Travers." The boy repeated, downtrodden. "I'll... I won' do it again."
"It's not enough to simply say you won't do it. You must learn to take full responsibility." Travers leaned over the desk the two were trading looks over. He let his head fall into his hands and gave the boy a sincere look of concern. "You have wonderful potential. Your match against Ricketts today proved that. If you put your mind to it, you could become a great auror. You must take it upon yourself to focus less on other people and more on your own talent, especially in places meant to exemplify that."
The words cut through Zach's heart like a knife. He was doing that! He was taking responsibility, wasn't he? He'd shown up to this private dressing-down, he'd done as the teacher said. He admitted that he'd screwed up. What more was there to even do?
"I will, sir." Zach answered in a calm manner, but beneath the desk his hands were balling into fists. When were people going to stop telling him about potential and start being specific?
"...I trust that you will, Zachary."
Travers got up from his desk and began to lead Zach out the door. "Remember about our tutoring tomorrow. I want to see you back here no later than five. I spotted some issues with your technique against Ricketts, and it's best we fix them as soon as possible."
"Yes, Professor Travers," Zach repeated.
Another crow was sat by his window tonight.
Zach was getting sick of the crows. All they ever did was tap on the glass or keep him up with their cawing. He wished that they would just leave him alone. But, alas, there seemed to be an entire nest of them to his window's left, and Zach didn't have the heart to destroy a bird's home just to get some better sleep.
There was no use in bringing that issue up to Firethorn, who'd have been more offended that Zach had even considered the prospect. Tony Ricketts wouldn't have liked it, neither, since he would have just called Zach a pussy for not Confringo'ing it out of existence. Or so Zach thought, anyways.
That left the sleepless Slytherin somewhat alone to deal with the problem... at least for tonight.
CAAW
Another one squawked. Zach groaned. All he wanted was to rest.
And yet... something else soon caught his eye.
A twitching egg at the foot of his bed.
"No. No, no, no no no no no." Zach scrambled out of bed in a panic. "No, you can't be hatchin' now! You can't-- I'm not done with you yet!"
The dragon egg twitched again, this time less drastically. Zach grabbed the ends of his blanket and put them around the egg in a futile attempt to keep it together, just in case it did break... until it stopped twitching entirely.
The egg just went silent. It didn't move, it didn't crack. Nothing happened.
Zach's heart slowed quickly enough to make him feel faint. Oh, Lord, that was a close call... one that was far too close for comfort at this time of night. Something had to be done about this, now.
This was a bad idea, this was a bad idea, this was a bad idea!
Zach barreled down Hogwarts halls. It was nearly midnight, and he was still in his pyjamas.
"Sorry! 'Scuse me! Pardon me!" The second-year yelled as he descended the grand staircase, shouting apologies to all the paintings he passed. "I's somethin' very important!"
In his arms was a giant beach towel wrapped around something ovular. He'd forgotten to take the towel out of his backpack when he was packing for Hogwarts, repeatedly, and it had just sat there for nearly a year now. Never in his life had Zach been more thankful for his own absentmindedness.
As Zach finally landed on solid, unmoving ground, he made a beeline for Professor Firethorn's office.
It was a stupid idea, he kept telling himself. Professor Travers' words still echoed in his head: he shouldn't be relying this much on other people. But who else knew how to care for a baby dragon??
Zach knocked on the door so many times his knuckles went numb. It was only when he heard Firethorn's voice that he relented. "For God's sake, I'm coming!"
The Care for Magical Creatures professor swung open the door with haste, giving an irritated glance both ways... before tilting his head down a bit. "...Zachary? What on earth are you doing up at this hour?"
The second year's heart began to pound. He wanted to be honest, but he knew he could get in trouble for this. He cursed his sister under his breath. "...I can't sleep."
"What? Why not?" Firethorn frowned, trying his best to hide his disdain for the interruption.
"...t-there's a bunch of crows outside me window. They're keepin' me up."
Firethorn could barely make out what he was saying, but tried his best to reply nonetheless. "...Oceanborough, I feel it pertinent to remind you that I deal with magical creatures first..."
He trailed off. His eyes fixated on the big beach towel in Zachary's arms. He hadn't come here just for the crows, had he?
"Do you mind?" Firethorn reached out an arm towards the big balled-up towel.
Zach gave him a nervous laugh and retreated a little bit. "Oh, um, this isn't anythin' special. I was jus' showerin' and... didn't have the time to put this back on the rack."
The towel was dry.
"Y-you don' need to look at it." Zach repeated.
"But I'd like to. Is there something stopping you, Oceanborough?" Firethorn asked, impatience beginning to seep into his tone.
"I-I'd think a respect for privacy would stop you, Firethorn." Zach chided, before immediately biting his tongue.
His mistake was instant. Firethorn's face curled into a glare. "Five points from Slytherin. You have no right to speak to me this way after you've woken me up so late."
"B-bu'... you weren't sleepin'." Zach commented, forcing himself quiet immediately afterwards. His skin was beginning to turn pale.
Firethorn's next few words were spoken very quietly. Each one was covered in ice, a dagger slipped in between every word. "I suggest you return to your dorm quietly, Oceanborough, before you learn the kind of punishments your sister has had to endure for such behavior."
The second-year didn't think twice about nodding and running away.
Firethorn watched him go. Within seconds of Zachary running out of view, he was at his desk and writing with such strength that his paper began to tear.
He'd recognized what was hidden underneath that towel. He knew the exact size and shape of almost every egg on the books, and this particular one was no stranger to him. Even underneath a layer of towel, that was not enough to obfuscate its true identity.
That was a dragon egg, he told himself. He was absolutely sure of it. How a student got ahold of it-- one who disliked his subject with as much fervor as Zachary Oceanborough, no less-- was a question for another time, but a problem for the present. It was absolutely imperative that the entire staff know...
...
...but what if he'd made a mistake? What if this egg wasn't a dragon's, after all?
The impetus would be on Firethorn to prove it, and he didn't have any evidence. Just a hunch.
The professor slowed his writing, letting his utensil come to a crawl before stopping entirely. It hadn't even been moving or showing any signs of life. For all Firethorn knew, Oceanborough could have been telling the truth.
...
...he found that a silly consideration, but a possibility nonetheless.
Firethorn glanced at his watch. It was ten to midnight. There was every chance in the world that he could have been messing this up, and he didn't want to accuse a student of something so foul as concealing a prohibited creature's young without proper proof.
So, for the time being, he tossed his paper in the trash. He still made mental note of the occurrence for later. At the next staff meeting he'd have to bring it up.
But... only as a suggestion. A quiet implication that perhaps searching Zachary's room would be wise. Nothing more, nothing less.
It was the least Firethorn could do: let Zachary take responsibility for his own problem. If it really was a dragon... well, Zach would be waking up to a nice surprise sooner rather than later, and Firethorn would get to play hero.
That wasn't so bad, now, was it?