TSS: Chapter 20: Dangerous Duels and Deadly Drama Part II

> *Lockhart smiled enigmatically back at him. “Competent Potter, huh? An interesting distinction, Severus. Let’s see if it holds up, shall we? Charlus Potter, come on up!”*
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— Lockhart, ensuring that the Potter Twins end up fighting one another.

## Summary:

Harry lamets over the lack of a pass to the Restricted Section of the Library. Pansy breaks the news of the disappearance of the Weasley Twins. Charlus further fuels his hate and anger towards his brother, whilst firmly convinced in his belief that his twin is the Heir of Slytherin. Harry stumbles in the Speaker's Den on Emily Riddle's journal containing her teachings of the Mind Arts. The reformed Dueling Club congregates for its first meeting.

## Plot:

**December 12th, 1992:** Harry wakes up early in the morning, as usual, and goes to the Library to study for a while. He ends up lamenting on the fact that his pass for the Restricted Section from last year is no longer valid, and how it would benefit him right now. Eventually he decides to return to the Slytherin Common Room. There he engages in a conversation with Blaise Zabini about their Yule break plans, as both have decided to stay at Hogwarts over the break. They start to head out for breakfast but they are stopped by the arrival of a frantic Pansy Parkinson that reveals that the Weasley Twins have dissapeared the previous night. In light of these revelations, Harry decides not to go to breakfast but instead retreat into the privacy of the Speaker's Den.

During the night, in an abandoned classroom, Charlus, after a long day of raging in silence, goes to practice the magic taught by Mr. Bellona. He is able to practice with no difficulty at all, using his hate and anger towards his brother as the crutch for his spells. At the same time he is now firmly convinced that Harry is indeed the Heir of Slytherin.

Harry ends up spending his day in the Speaker's Den. He remembers to change the password into a Parseltongue one and he reminiscents about his involvent at the end of his last academic year, involvent that landed him stranded at the Dursleys. Eventually he starts checking the books left in the Den and he stumbles upon Emily Riddle's journal containing her teachings of the Mind Arts, immediately he starts reading it.

**December 16th, 1992:** After the Defense class, Charlotte is asked to stay behind. In private, Lockhart asks her to thank her grandfather on his behalf for what he has done for his family and for having a conversation with him some years past that most likely ended up saving his live. Charlotte agrees.

At night, in the Slytherin dorms, Harry has a conversation with Emily via the enchanted diary. He reveals that he has managed to learn emotional suppression and manipulation. When asked about the origin of his breakthrough, Harry decides not the reveal the finding of her journal, instead deciding to claim that everything just clicked. Emily does not poke on his weak explanation and instead decides to explain to him the dangers linked to his newly learnt Occlumency subskill.

**December 17th, 1992:** Before heading to the first meeting of the reformed Dueling Club, Harry has a private conversation with Charlotte where he managed to disuade her from trying to humiliate Mulciber and Jugson directly. Instead, he convinces her to devise a plan that would actually make them not dare to try to take their revange on her ever again.

The Dueling Club opens with an exhibition duel between Gilderoy Lockhart and Severus Snape. After that, Lockhart ensures that the everybody knows the Disarming Charm and the basic Aegis Vocar shield. Once satisfied, Lockhart and Snape start pairing the students up for duels. Harry ends up dueling a third-year Slytherin girl, Isabelle Caneiro, whom he easily defeats. Eventually, the Potter Twins are set to duel one another, Harry wins the first round pretty quickly, so, in the second round, Charlus decides to start casting Dark Spells at his brother. At some point during their fight their spells collide, that resulting in a Magical Dome surrounding the two, Dome that is destroyed by the intervention of Severus Snape. The Magic from the newly destroyed Dome does not dissipate but instead it starts to congragate into a cyclone. The magic is destroyed by the intervation of Albus Dumbledore who disperses it with the help of Fiendfyre. Deciding that if Charlus wants to play dirty so can he, Harry sends a cobra towards Charlus, with the latter shocking everybody by telling the attacking snake to stop via Parseltongue.