Ennui

It was the last class of the day. It was also the second time Draco would be teaching with Potter. Their first class went smoothly, and he hoped the second would go just as well. Draco had decided to dress in an old set of dueling robes, which were in pristine condition. The breeches were a light tan and made of leather. He’d worn them so often during the war that they were soft and conformed to every move he made. He wore a pair of brown knee high dragon-hide boots. His shirt was button down and beige. He’d left the top two buttons undone. The sleeves were long and loose until they reached the wrists. There the buttons cinched them in. The shirt itself was loose, loose enough to maximize movement, but not so loose as to be cumbersome. He put a set of chocolate colored dueling robes on, which were woven with different charms and shields for protection. Around his neck, sitting in the hallow of his throat, Draco had on a small necklace. He didn’t know what the design on it meant, but his mother had given it to him.

Draco was prepared to duel. What he wasn’t prepared for was his dueling partner. He, too, came in wearing a dueling ensemble. Where Draco’s was light, Harry’s was dark. His pants were a deep ebon-black and made of suede. They were well worn and moved with Potter. His boots were also dragon-hide, but form the color and texture, Draco knew they weren’t ordinary run-of-the-mill boots. They were black and practically sparkled with magic. They had buckles on them that were platinum, and he had a sheath attached to his left boot, with out the accompanying knife. Harry’s shirt was similar to Draco’s; it was loose and didn’t encumber the wearer. Except where Draco’s was beige, Harry’s was a deep, dark hunter green. His outer dueling robes were black, and they too were made of dragon hide, like his boots. Draco knew they were charmed with protection charms, but he also saw little runes and symbols etched into the fabric along the hems.

Harry’s outfit also included a holster for his want. It was made of bone. Upon closer inspection, Draco realized-with much surprise-it was made of dragon bone. It was shiny black, and it too had symbols and runes etched into it.

All in all, Harry looked the consummate warrior. For the first time since Draco agreed to Harry’s stipulation, he felt a shiver of unease along his spine. For the first time, it seemed, Draco realized he’d agreed to a duel-mock though it was-with Harry Potter, the man who defeated Voldemort. Right then, Potter looked the part of the avenging savior perfectly.

Harry nodded at Draco and faced the class of Gryffindors and Slytherins.
“Hello. I bid you welcome to your first combination class. Professor Malfoy and I will give a mock duel. We will then spend the rest of the period talking over the spells used for defense as well as attack. You will be taught how to use them in both capacities. Your homework will be to explain the positive, as well as, negative aspects of the charms. And you’ll have to explain how to defend against them, and how to use them as an offense. The classes are combined, unfortunately, the homework isn’t. You’ll have to look at what you learned from both a charms perspective as well as Defense Against the Dark Arts.”

Many students groaned and Draco grinned in amusement. Apparently, they all thought they wouldn’t have to keep the classes separate even in homework. Draco stepped forward since it was his turn to address the class.

“Tomorrow, and every Friday we meet, you will practice using the spell and defending against it. The two of us will help when needed. The homework assigned to you on Thursday won’t be due on your Friday class period. Instead you will send it in to us on Saturday before noon, by owl. We’re not that tyrannical as to overwhelm you with homework.”

Gauging the reactions of the students, Draco surmised a tentative excitement. Hopefully they will learn to be prepared to defend themselves.

Harry removed his wand and cleared a large space in the front of the class. They were using an extra large, empty classroom for the combined class.

Once Harry was satisfied with the room available, he muttered a few words and a luminescent dome surrounded he and Draco.

“I’ve raised a protective circle around Professor Malfoy and myself. It’s to ensure your safety by keeping any stray spell in. Nothing, short of the killing curse, will be able to penetrate the walls of the circle.”

One of the Slytherin’s hands shot up.

“Sir, if it’s a circle, why is only a dome visible? Wouldn’t it only be a semi-circle?”

“Five points to Slytherin for an observant question, Ms. Edmonds. No, it is a circle; you only see the top half because the rest of the circle continues underground. Not every spell will be seen from above, some can attack from below the ground.”

Draco was impressed. It takes a lot of skill and concentration to make a protective circle, especially one powerful enough to keep stray spells in and everything else out. Pushing the astonishment aside, Draco faced the class to speak.

“Fist we’re going to show you some freezing spells. They’re fun if you want to stop a fire or play a prank on a friend. However, with a little more power and skill, you can do damage to a fellow wizard or witch. You can freeze their arm, eventually causing the complete and permanent loss of that arm’s functioning abilities. With a little finesse and more concentration, you can even freeze the very blood in a person’s veins. You need to know how to deflect the charm, and also how to safely remove it. It’s also a good defense against some of the small magical creatures. The fire salamander, while not directly deadly is dangerous. Who can tell me the properties of a fire salamander?”

This time it was a Gryffindor who raised his hand.

“A fire salamander is usually between five and twelve inches long. It likes to live in very hot places such as deserts, volcanoes and ovens. It is usually bright orange or dark red. When provoked, it will burst into flames, causing a magical fire to start on whatever it touches. It cannot be put out with water.”

“Five points to Gryffindor. Yes, the fire is pretty much unstoppable. The best thing to do is get out of the way and let the fire run its course. There are, however, several ways to stop this from occurring. One is to freeze the salamander when it starts getting agitated. It’s best not to agitate the salamander to begin with. However, this isn’t the Care of Magical Creature’s course so enough of that.”

Harry was standing with his hands in his pants pockets, listening. Draco noticed a spark present in the Charms Professor’s eyes that he wasn’t entirely comfortable with, mainly because he couldn’t really identify what it meant.

“We’ll now show you how to cast and block the spell.”

Draco moved to stand in front of Potter, and he was strangely reminded of the last, and only, time he’d faced Potter. Hopefully this duel would turn out better for all involved.

The two went through the customary bowing, and then got into their ready stance. They’d outlined the duel so there should be no surprises, but somehow, Draco didn’t’ really find that very comforting. Harry said he’d defend against the spell while Draco cast it. Taking a deep breath, Draco cast his spell.

He cast a spell that Harry would use a freezing charm to stop. It was a soaking charm and Harry froze it, so the water fell to the ground and shattered. Next, Draco cast a fire spell, which Harry froze also. During the spell casting, neither participant was standing still. They circled one another, eyes locked. It was a dance, one each combatant performed beautifully. A few times Potter didn’t shield against the charm, he dodged it; which proved just how powerful the protective bubble was. It absorbed the spell, bending with the impact.

The students watched their two professors avidly. Since they were seventh years now, they were in third year when their teachers graduated, and in first year when Potter and Malfoy were in their third. Their rivalry was legendary, as much as Godric and Salazar’s had been. They were half fearful the two would do the other in. But on further inspection, which none of the students did, the two professors were enjoying their spar.

Draco felt exhilarated and full of power. He hadn’t had this much fun since he was a student. He knew which spells and such would be performed, but there was still an element of surprise. Draco didn’t know when Potter would fire at him, and Harry didn’t know when Draco would. He didn’t’ know how Harry would cast, or with how much power, or from which direction or angle. Those little variables, those subtle, unknown factors are what truly make a duel, what keeps a duelist on his toes. Draco loved every minute of it, and from the sparkle in Potter’s eyes, so was he.

Draco threw the last freezing charm and Harry retaliated by throwing his own freezing charm. They hadn’t done it in their first class, and Draco didn’t’ know what to expect, but he had his wand ready incase something happened. Freezing something already frozen wouldn’t do anything, but the power and magical charge behind the spell could set off a string of events. There’s always a reaction, much like a chemical equation, between two spells that meet head on. When they’re the same spells, they can sometimes act like two negatively charge magnets coming together; namely they would repel and be forced back towards the caster. It all depended on the power of the caster behind the spell.

Draco watched as two ice blue bolts of energy met between him and Potter. The two met and seemed to circle, touching, almost as if in recognition. Suddenly the energy balls violently came together in a burst of white light so bright that everybody had to shield their eyes. A power waved emanated outward from the two spells’ joining and Draco hastily threw up an all-purpose shield. He felt a faint ripple as the power rushed over him.

The expelled energy hit the protective circle and bounced back inwards towards the center again. Draco was pushed heavily from behind and had to step forward t stop from being thrown to the ground. Potter was doing the same things, and the two professors met in the middle. The combined spell circled the two and Draco could feel the magical energy, even through his shield. He recognized his own signature, and then he recognized what must be Harry’s magical energy. Draco’s eyes widened and his mouth opened, but before he could say anything; there was a bright burst of blue light. The power behind the burst knocked him forwards and he fell.

Seconds later, Draco opened his eyes and found himself looking up at the Gryffindor and Slytherin students. He’d landed on Harry, apparently, so only his knee hurt from where it hit the stone floor.

“Professor Potter? Professor Malfoy? Are you two alright? Should we get Madame Pomfrey or the headmaster?” Draco ignored the voices of the students.
He saw Harry open his eyes. They were slightly out of focus and blinked up at Draco. Harry raised a shaky hand and brushed back some hair that was loose.

//Since when was Potter’s hair long?//

“Potter, are you alright?”
“Can’t move my body and my head hurts, but otherwise, yeah, I’m fine.”

Draco narrowed his eyes when Harry said he couldn’t move and questioned him about it. There were too many unknown variables; the power of the spell, the unusual reaction, how hard Harry hit the stone floor, also the fact that-

“You’re not exactly a light weight professor, and you’re lying right on top of me.”

Draco blinked and gave a sheepish little half smile before he slowly pushed himself up. He winced a little when he moved his knee but otherwise had no problems.

“Tell me why we decided to do that today? We didn’t it do it yesterday? And remind me to not do that with you again. Ever!”

Draco looked at Harry. He really seemed fine, but that was all external. Draco had no way of knowing about anything magically wrong with Harry. He ignored Potter’s question and instead looked around at the students. That was when he noticed something.

“Professor Potter, would you remove your bubble. Madame Pomfrey is here.”

Harry groaned and sat up. ‘I think its safer in the bubble.’ But Harry obligingly lowered the shield, as it were.

Madame Pomfrey rushed in, clucking her tongue, moving over to inspect Harry. He tried to wave her off but the nurse would have not of that. Finally, looking just a bit desperate, Harry looked at Draco and blurted out, “Really, I’m fine. Draco hit his knee on the floor. Hard.”

Immediately those hawk eyes zoomed in on Draco. Fleetingly, Draco imagined that was how the prey felt towards the predator. It was not a feeling he liked. With one quick, smoldering glare at a smirking Harry, Draco muffled an unmanly scream when Madame Pomfrey pounced.

After being thoroughly coddled, poked, prodded, and generally fussed over by the school nurse, Draco made his escape. He didn’t remember her being this much of a mother hen when he was a student. He’d spend enough time in the hospital wing to know as well. In fact the only other person who had spent more time in that infernal place was Potter. And speaking of…

…with a distinctly animalistic growl, Draco stalked through the halls, parting the sea of students in a way that would have made Moses proud. He turned corners, stalked up and down stairs, stormed through corridors until finally he reached the charms hallway. His hand itched for his wand in order to exact retribution on the charms professor for turning tail and running; leaving Draco to suffer alone, the nurse’s ministrations.

As Draco was about to know on the door, a plan forming in his head about bubbles, sticks and a certain Gryffindor, the door opened and there stood Harry and the Headmaster.

“Ah, Professor Malfoy, what a fortuitous event. You’re just the man we were looking for. Only we’ve no need to look any further since we’ve found you-or rather you’ve found us, as the case may be.”

Draco didn’t even try to keep up; he was only interested in the fact that he’d have to wait on his revenge. Only maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to wait as then the plan would be better fitting of a Slytherin, and it would be least expected. Revenge is, after all, a dish best served cold, or rather frozen.

“Harry-Professor Potter-has given me an outline of the events that occurred during your class today. As I have no knowledge of something like that happening before, I’ve come to the decision that much research needs to be done. As you are the participants in the occurrence, you shall head up the research. However, as you are both teachers and are limited on time, you will need help. I would suggest that in this endeavor, you enlist help from other professors as well as the students. It can be a sort of extra credit assignment. Now, as it is dinner time, why don’t we head to the Great Hall and eat. Quite a week so far, don’t you think lads?”

Dumbledoor didn’t wait for an answer or any acknowledgment; he just walked past and disappeared around the corner. Draco felt the air shift around him and looked towards Potter. For all his dealings with the headmaster, even beneath his amusement of the situation, Harry appeared confused and befuddled.

“I swear, more often than not, listening to that man talk is like being hit by a speeding truck. You don’t know what hits you until it’s too late.”

“More like you can fell the world spinning, but you’re not, so you’re getting dizzy watching everything else swirl around.”

Revenge forgotten in shared misery and confusion, the two professors walked to the Great Hall for dinner. Later, after the small talk, after ensuring all the students were safe and sound in their dorms, Draco made the trek to his rooms. When he walked in, he found sitting on his desk, an envelope addressed to him.

Cautiously walking over to it he studied it. On the front, in emerald calligraphy, was Draco’s name. He took his wand out and murmured a few incantations to ensure it wouldn’t spit acid or explode or any other grisly thing. The Death Eaters were all gone, but still, there could be a few sympathizers who didn’t like that Draco was alive.

When he found-or rather didn’t find anything wrong with the letter, Draco took it and broke the wax seal. It was one he didn’t recognize, so there were no hints as to who the sender was. Inside was a piece of parchment, and written in the same flowing script with the same ink were the words, ‘Tomorrow, I will devour you.’

Instantly, Draco felt his skin heat and a shiver run along his spine. He knew who it was from, and he knew what it meant.




A/N: Hello, Hello. I know it took a while to update. But the life of a college student it busy, especially with the added bonus of being a full time employee. But, I did it, and I’m happy. A few comments. There’s one comment from the story that is an homage to the Buffy movie. The bit about not being able to move because Draco is laying on Harry. And Dumbledoor. Yes, well, I had just watched Pirates of the Caribbean and I had Captain Jack Sparrow on the brain. (I’m on a HUGE Johnny Depp kick right now. Yummy!) But, I think the round about way of the good Cap’n matches quite well the eccentricities of the good Headmaster. Hope you liked.