Chapter 12

Time skip to Halloween.

"So, Tom, what do you feel like doing?" I asked him on Halloween. He shrugged and answered. "I don't know, maybe celebrate Halloween?" I laughed. "Alright, let's go." I said. So we went to the Great Hall to eat and celebrate. There were decorations everywhere, and it was crazy busy. I didn't know what to do, but I was enjoying sitting in the corner of the table, not paying any attention to the festivities going on around me. Tom went to hang out with his seventh year friends, so I was left alone. Until Potter came.

"Hey Weed. Fancy seeing you here." I just ignored him. "Hey, look at me when I'm talking to you." He grabbed me and turned me around in my seat. I glared at him. "What do you want, Potter?" He leered at me. "I want to have a wizards duel. In the Trophy Room. Tonight at midnight." I nodded. "Fine. I'll see you there. And Tom is my second. Who's yours?" He looked around. "Hermione." Then he left.

Well, I was going to be in trouble. I went to find Tom. "Hey, Tom, I might have just offered you as my second in a duel tonight." I informed him. He laughed. "Alright. Good job." I then left and went back to the common room to prepare. I read up on good spells for a dual and practiced them. Then I went to sleep in my corner. Tom woke me up half an hour before midnight. "Thanks for getting me up." He just nodded and motioned for me to be quiet. I nodded and followed him to the Trophy Room. 

When it was five minutes until midnight, and I was starting to wonder if he would come. He did, right at midnight. "Well, let's get this started. Tom, you can start it. We will go until the other one yields or loses consciousness. It that alright?" He nodded. "That will work just fine." Tom said go, and I waited for him to shoot the first spell. He tried to use a Disarming spell, but it was weak. I then shot back the same spell, and his wand flew out of his hand. Then I said "Stupefy." He was knocked unconscious. I had won my first dual. I hurried back to the common room and fell asleep. I didn't go to my bed, just slept in my little corner.

I was glad to get back to class and try to avoid Potter, but it didn't work, as we have a lot of classes together. So I just tried to ignore him. He tried to make me pay attention to him. I was mad, but I just kept doing my potion. Snape came up behind me. "Is something wrong, Henderson?" He asked. I shook my head. I couldn't tell him. "No sir, why?" He smirked. "You were about to put in the wrong ingredient. You are distracted. Why?" I looked down. Sure enough, I was about to put in the wrong thing. I put the right thing in and kept doing my potion, ignoring him too. It was not a wise choice. "I'll see you after class." Then he kept walking.

There was nothing that I could do to stop it, so I had to stay. I cleaned up all of my stuff, then went to talk to him. We were on slightly better terms, so it was not too bad, but it was still pretty scary. But I had to do this, he had told me to. So I went up to his desk where he was grading the potions from today. He finished the on that he was on, then he looked up. "Is Potter bullying you?" What, how did he know that. I was surprised, but I hid it well. "No, sir." I didn't look him in the eyes, because that would have been as bad as just telling him, maybe worse. He still knew that I was lying. "Yes, they are. If you need help, I can help you. I had to put up with his dad, so I know what to do." I nodded. "Thank you sir, but they stopped bullying me after the first week. I don't need any help." He sighed. "Then you are lucky. Normally they won't stop bullying a victim. You may go now." I nodded and left.

I had just lied to Severus Snape.