The days to the upcoming duel that I had planned went by very slowly. I couldn't help but think I may have made a mistake. The thought of not being able to return to Hogwarts next year was starting to weigh down on me, and became even more realistic as we practised. Gregory had volunteered to help me prepare; meeting me once a day down on the training grounds.
"You need to hold your stance steady," Gregory said to me as he adjusted my arms, "I'm not letting you lose because you want to stand more on your left foot than your right."
I huffed "We've been out here for hours. I don't want to practise anymore today."
"Just one more try, then," he stepped out in front of me, lifting his wand "go ahead."
"Expelliarmus!" I shouted, knocking the wand out of his hand. I exhaled and sat on the grass, exhausted
"Good job. You're really getting quite good at this." he said sitting next to me. "And you know, I've really enjoyed the time we've gotten to spend together this week."
"Me too," I smiled at him and laid back. The clouds above me moved ever so gently with the wind as the sun was beginning to set. Gregory laid back as well, pointing up to one of the passing clouds, "What do you think that looks like?" he asked
"It looks like a bumblebee. See the wings on it's back?" I laughed
"Have you considered what you're going to do if you lose on Wednesday?"
I sighed, rolling onto my side to face him "I haven't. I'm sure my mum and dad won't exactly be the happiest. But I need to do this for Trent. Sometimes, what you want and what is right are two different things."
"You're so wise," he brushed my cheek with his hand "Hogwarts won't be the same without you."
"Hey, stop assuming I'm going to lose," I giggled "but look, I need to be going. I have one stop before I'm going to turn in for the night." I began to stand up and helped Gregory off the ground to his feet "Same time tomorrow?"
"You bet. I can't wait." he kissed my cheek, turning my whole face red. I watched him as he walked off the training grounds and up to the courtyard. I took off towards an entrance that led a little closer to the dungeons. Once inside, I roamed the halls down to the potions classroom.
"Come in, Evans." professor Snape said as he saw me in the doorway
"Thank you, sir." I walked over to where he was standing. He had a tired look on his face; his hair was messier than usual, and there were dark circles under his eyes. He softly smiled when I approached. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" he said wistfully
"I came by to talk to you. I have something coming up in just two days and I wanted to see if you had any advice for me."
He nodded, "What is it that you are needing advice for?"
"You see," I started pacing "this group of students has been terrorising Trent for this entire year it seems. That's why I needed your help learning defensive spells. I'm sure you already heard about what happened in the courtyard, and about how Selena Boeing got expelled because of it. Well, now I'm going to duel against the group's strongest member. If I fail, I won't be returning to Hogwarts next year."
Snape's face softened as he watched me pace back and forth. "Don't you think that's rather...foolish of you?"
"No, sir. I take the well-being of my friends very seriously. And I personally think that the school would be better without a group of hateful students wandering around. I have been spending the past few days with Gregory, he's taught me a little bit that will hopefully help out."
"Gregory..." he narrowed his eyes "be careful what you learn from that boy. He never listened to my instructions, thinking he could do whatever he pleased and things would still work out." Snape stepped out in front of me, halting my movement "Why didn't you come to me first?"
"I didn't want to bother you with my bad choices, professor. You've already helped me so much."
"What is it that Mr. Fallin wants from you?"
"I think he just wants to help me, sir."
"Very well." he stepped out of my way "The best advice I can give you is this: You won't know their next move, so know their habits. Analyze their face, their steps, the way they take their breaths. If you feel as though you cannot go on any longer, take every ounce of your remaining energy and focus it all on taking them out."
"I'm scared, professor. I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't see..." I paused and peered up at him. He was looking back at me, his eyes gazed longingly back into mine. I stuttered, "Um. Well, anyway. Thank you for your advice, professor." I said sheepishly as I turned to leave
"My door is always open for you, Mr. Evans." he said as I started out the door.
Back in the common room, I laid down on my bed and stared out the window. The water was peacefully making the underwater plants dance and flow against the current. I reached for the handle of my bedside table drawer and pulled it open. There inside was the desire sphere that Trent had given me weeks earlier. I tugged the ball closer to my grasp and felt it's cold, glassy texture hit my fingers.
I laid the sphere next to my face on the bed, seeing my reflection hit against the swirling haze inside. For a moment, all I could see was my face staring back at me. Then, the haze started to shift away and revealed another face; Professor Snape's. My eyes widened as a clear image of professor Snape appeared before me. I was standing next to him, with his arms wrapped around me; my focus was completely on him looking back at me, kissing my forehead tenderly. Startled, I flinched and knocked the ball onto the ground; it rolled under my bed and out of sight.
I just laid there for a moment; the image of professor Snape and I still fresh in my mind. I shakily rose to my feet and bent down, fishing the desire sphere out from under my bed frame. It was covered in a light sheet of dust. With my sleeve, I rubbed the sphere's surface clear. Under the dust was professor Snape and I standing underneath a tall oak tree. He held my hands in his as dozens of leaves blew past us in the wind. I saw myself lean in while standing on my tip toes and kiss his lips before the image slowly started to fade away.
I felt my legs give out beneath me as my knees hit the floor. I knelt there and just stared back at the sphere in my hands. My head was spinning a thousand miles a minute, memories racing and replaying in my mind. I began to realize that the sphere may have been correct, my heart always did seem to beat faster when I was around him. Perhaps, the feelings of joy and enlightenment that I felt when I was with professor Snape, were deeper feelings of infatuation.
My knees began to ache as I knelt on them. Standing up, I put the desire sphere back into my bedside table and shook my head. I laid back down onto the bed, pulling the covers up and over my face. I could feel my breath bouncing back against the blanket onto my face. Listening to the low hum of students from the common room below, I slowly fell asleep.
Tuesday came and went uneventfully. I noticed that other students were looking at me quite a bit in the halls. A younger Ravenclaw girl even asked me if I was nervous for the next day. Apparently the word had spread quickly about my upcoming duel with an unknown member of the PBS.
When the day finally arrived, I awoke with an unusual sense of confidence. In my head, I could only picture a sure victory against this stranger. Through the day, I came across some of the other members of the PBS, who all shot me dirty looks.
I was as ready as I was going to be. I made my way to the training grounds, dressed from head to toe in solid black robes. When I came up to the meeting spot, I saw a large group of students all standing around in a circle. They looked over at me and cheered.
"There he is. See, told you he'd show up!" Louisa shouted to the group. More applause arose as I stepped into the center of the circle. There stood Felicity, her black hair pulled off to the side. She gave me one look and started to laugh. "This is so ironic, isn't it, Evans? I get to put you in the ground, out of my way for the top of the world."
"Felicity, what a surprise. I had no idea someone so horribly awful would ever associate with those even more hateful than themselves." I said to her, pulling out my wand
"This all could have been avoided, Evans. You ruined my chance at getting my name in the wizarding world. Now I have to do it all over, starting with getting rid of you!" she aimed her wand at me, "Incendio!"
I stopped in my tracks, attempting to dodge the oncoming blast of fire. "Expelliarmus!" I shouted. Her wand was knocked into the grass, giving me time to stand up and face Felicity. "If we're going to do this, we're doing it clean."
"Fine," she picked up her wand and faced me in the grass. We turned facing the crowd and walked forward slightly, then spun back around and drew our wands. I gripped mine tightly, studying her the movements of her eyes.
"Levicorpus!" she yelled, throwing her arm in my direction. A flash of white light appeared, "Protego!" I exclaimed. The white was overtaken by the yellow light that came from the end of my wand, shielding me from her attack. I put my arm back to my side, noticing that Felicity was starting to grow impatient.
"Just give it up you mudlover. This place is better off without you in it!" she aimed her wand back at me "Incendio!"
My hand was hit with a burst of fire that shot from her wand. I pulled my arm back and shook my hand, trying to get the burning to stop. Felicity was laughing hysterically at me, getting pats on her back from other PBS members.
"Petrificus Totalus!" I pointed my wand at her. Felicity's arms and legs snapped to her sides as she fell face first into the dirt. The people standing directly behind me started to cheer, and I heard Trent yelling from the crowd.
"Knock her out, Oliver!" he screamed over the others
"Flipendo!" I shouted, sending Felicity flying across the center of the circle, falling into a group of spectators. She groaned and rubbed her head. I pointed my wand directly at her "Incendio!"
Her legs and face were struck with fire, making her screech. She patted the fire out and started to stand up. "Knock it off, Evans!"
I walked up to her, "Not until you leave Trent and everyone else alone." I extended my arm, placing my wand directly in front of her face "Stupefy!" a blast of red light illuminated from my wand and hit Felicity as she rose to her feet. She was knocked back over, her wand rolling out of her hand as she hit the ground.
"Yeah!" I heard Trent yell from the crowd. Other students began to applaud loudly. I looked around at all the cheering faces surrounding me. The kids behind where Felicity had been standing all looked shocked and disheveled.
I walked up to the onlooking PBS members, all huddled together on the outer part of the circle with Brooke at the center. I glared at each of them, "Look here. A deal's a deal. You are all going to stop this nonsense, or end up like her." I put my wand up and under Brooke's chin and gritted my teeth "And listen here you little piece of garbage, if I ever see you near Trent again, you'll be getting shipped to St. Mungo's on a stretcher." her lip quivered as she nodded hastily
"Good." I pointed down at Felicity before walking away from the field "Someone take her to the hospital wing."
---
Some time had passed before I saw Felicity out in the halls again. She avoided eye contact with me when I passed her on the way down to the courtyard. Her face seemed to have healed up nicely from the burns it had received. As I walked out onto the courtyard, Gregory came out from behind the bushes and startled me.
"God! Gregory what the hell." I said as he laughed
"Sorry, Oliver. I couldn't help it. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you for a second, if you had time?". I nodded as we went to a bench and sat down. "What is it, Gregory?" I asked
"We've been seeing each other for a little bit now, at least it feels like we have." he began, "and I wanted to see where we stand." he said in a less confident tone than his normal demeanor was
"I don't know, Gregory. I've really enjoyed the time we've spent together. I do really think you're wonderful."
"As have I. Which is why I wanted to know."
I sat in deep thought for a moment, remembering what I had seen in the desire sphere. The idea of Snape was spinning around in my head, intertwining with the thought of Gregory. "I'm nervous of it." I said quietly
"Could you tell me why?"
"My head is in one place, and my heart is in the other. My head is telling me to be with you, but my heart is saying to hold on just a little while longer. I don't know who to listen to."
He put his arm around me "You listen to whoever you want to. I think your head has the right idea, though."
I brushed the hair away from my face and stayed silent. I was remembering what Sabrina had told me. "Go with the dog" her voice echoed in my mind. "Even if you fail, at least you tried."
"You know what, Gregory" I said looking up at him, "Why not?"
He instantly smiled "You mean it?"
"Let's try it. I'll be with you."
Gregory wrapped me up into a hug, I let myself be pulled closer into him. As I rested my head on his shoulder, I noticed professor Snape standing by the archway into the courtyard; His face was blank. I could see him wrinkle his forehead in a dejected manner. Our eyes met as he twirled his robes around him before departing back into the castle.