Atelophobia

12_ the duel

"You sure?" She asks.

"Yeah, it's fine, maybe I can finally put him in his place."

"Good luck," she smiles before heading off to the Ravenclaw common room, leaving me with my least favorite person in the entire world.

I turn back to Nott, desperately wanting to beat him in this duel.

I've been practicing, I just hope it's enough to beat him.

"Wait, where are we even going to duel? The room is taken."

"Luckily for you, I thought about that already," he says smugly.

"Okay, then where is it?" I say, starting to get even more annoyed with him by the second.

"You'll just have to follow me," he grins, taking a turn down a corridor.

I walk beside him, wondering how I ever ended up here.

"Did you finish the one part of the project yet?" He asks.

"Of course I did, Nott. Did you?"

I expect him to rub it in and say he got it done a week ago already, but instead he sighs, clearly wishing I never asked.

"No," he says flatly.

"Malfoy and his stupid ideas—he's having us practice every day for three hours since losing to Gryffindor."

"Every day?" I say in shock. That was excessive, considering Ravenclaw only practiced three times a week.

"Yeah, it's absolute bullshit. The only way we're going to get better is if we change our plays, not fly back and forth all day.

"And what does Malfoy say?" I ask.

He scoffs, "You know Malfoy. He always thinks he's right—he'd rather die before admitting I actually have a good idea for once."

"Make him think it was his idea, then," I suggest.

He seems to consider this, but I quickly add, "Well, as long as you don't get too good, otherwise you might beat us."

He looks over at me and smiles softly. Why, I'm not sure, but he does nonetheless.

"Don't worry, Dalton, I don't think Slytherin could ever beat you."

His comment caught me off guard, but before I had time to process it we came across a giant wooden door in the middle of the hall—one i've never seen before.

"What room is this? I could've sworn it's never been here before."

"That's because it hasn't," he says with a grin.

"I don't know what it's called, but it randomly appears sometimes with whatever you need inside," he explains.

Well, that would explain the mats on the floor then.

"That's amazing," I say in awe, looking around the room.

"You ready for me to beat you then?" He asks, readying his wand.