Severus Snape let out a sigh as he thought of what to do. Getting a report of students dueling isn't unexpected, but for it to be this soon and amongst first years no less. Even more confusing is how a girl raised by muggles could take out a trio of wizards by herself.

"Why did she have to end up in my house, as my responsibility. She should have gone to Gryffindor like her parents, been McGonagall's problem. But no, she had to be sorted Slytherin. And now she's causing problems just like her father. But why does she have to have Lily's eyes? And of course if what I'm told is true, it wasn't her that started the fight. And to think she's a parselmouth as well..." He thought to himself. Rubbing his eyes he got up from his desk to sort out this mess.

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I was woken up by Pansy rubbing my shoulder. "Sorry to wake you, but Snape wants to talk to you. Get dressed and meet Gemma in the common room."

"I take it this is about Draco?" I asked, more rhetorically than anything else. As I got up and slipped on my robes.

"Probably."

"How long have I been asleep?"

"Only an hour at most."

"Well, time to face the music, as they say." I smiled weakly as I walked past Pansy.

"Good luck." Pansy said as I left the room."

Draco was already sitting in a chair when I got to the common room. He looked up at me with a half snarl but stayed quiet. As soon as Gemma saw me enter she said, "Now that you are here, Holly, I'm to escort both of you to Professor Snape's office."

She led us out of Slytherin house and through a few corridors before pointing to a closed door, "that's the potions classroom by the way." She said while she continued walking past to another door just down the hall. She knocked on the door a couple times.

"Enter!" Snape's voice came from the other side of the door. Gemma motioned for us to enter and Draco said "Lady's first." I rolled my eyes thinking "where was this chivalry an hour ago?"  I quickly composed myself before opening the door. 

Professor Snape was standing behind his desk looking out the window. "Potter, Malfoy. Sit." He said without turning around. I quickly moved to one of the chairs and sat, Draco didn't move as quickly, but there was still a little more pep than I've seen from him these last few days. As soon as Draco sat down Snape turned around. If I thought he looked mad before, I was sadly mistaken. It was easy to tell that he was keeping his temper in check, but at the same time anything might set him off.

"Here I was enjoying my night when I hear about two of my students dueling in the common room. And to make things more interesting, all of the snakes in the common room coming to life and attacking my students." He stared into my eyes as he asked, "What do you have to say for yourself, Potter?" 

I have to say I was caught a little off guard, thinking he thought I was the guilty party in all of this. From the corner of my eye I see Draco smirk, knowing he thinks he's gotten away with everything. "I was just defending myself! Draco is the one that started all of this!" I realized that my temper wasn't going to help anything so I quickly added "Sir." In a bit of an overly meek tone.

"As would be corroborated by several of your housemates." His tone softer, almost as if proud of my actions. Turning to Draco, his anger returned as he said "Minus 50 points from Slytherin for unauthorized dueling, and use of derogatory words against a housemate." The look on Draco's face was so priceless I had to actively try to maintain my composure. Turning back to me, and in his normal tone, "And for you, Miss Potter, have 60 points for Slytherin for your use of defensive spells above your expected knowledge level, and for succeeding in what would normally be overwhelming odds." I tried as hard as I could, but I couldn't avoid blushing a little bit, not could I keep from smiling. "See that you do not do this again, either of you. Malfoy, you are dismissed. Potter another moment of your time." I watched as Draco slunk out of the office and closed the door.

"Your wand please, Miss Potter." Snape's request caught me off guard, but I pulled out my wand to hand it to him. He took it from me and inspected it for just a moment before handing it back. "As I suspected." He said as he walked around his desk and sat down.

"Is there something wrong with it? I just bought it a little over two months ago!" I said concerned.

This got a chuckle out of Snape. "No. There's nothing wrong. You showed great skill and potential, and having that wand explains at least a little of that. Aspen wands are known to favor dueling. Tell me, Potter, how did you know that spell, Protego Duo?"

"Dueling Spells for Beginners. I've been practicing for the last month."

"Professor Flitwick will tell you more, but I want you to join the dueling club. It's not usually open to first years, but I think you have proven yourself. You probably don't know this, but most wizards can't even cast the standard Protego successfully, let alone while their backs were turned."

"Thank you, sir."

"One more thing before you go Miss Potter. I'm not sure if you are aware of not, but having revealed that you are a parselmouth, you have marked yourself as a future dark witch in the making by many of your fellow students, as well as many others in the wizarding world." I remained silent as he continued. "By this time tomorrow, I suspect the entire school will be aware, and by the week's end it wouldn't surprise me if there were an article in the Daily Prophet."

I honestly didn't know how to respond to that, and I think it showed on my face as Snape said "The way I see it is you have two choices, either embrace your gift and let your actions speak for themselves, or hide it and let them whisper behind your back." Snape, being done talking and not expecting a response, pulled a parchment from a stack on his desk, and with a wave of his hand said "Dismissed, Potter."

I left Snape's office and headed back to my room. Pansy was waiting for me and I told her everything that happened. We both went to sleep with happy grins on our faces.

Breakfast was a little different on a social level. Normally I feel like the third wheel, which I know is because I am a half-blood raised by muggles who was sorted into a house of "blood purists". Even Pansy, who I would consider a good friend, seems at times that she's only being nice to me because we are sharing a room and she wants to keep things sociable. But today was different. Today I had people actively going out of their way to be a little nicer to me. Draco's entourage seemed to have lost a few people, one of them being Tracy, who was all too happy to become my friend. I know it's the nature of the snake pit to align with the strongest or to make alliances that best suit self interest, and I won't fault Tracy for that. She actually is really nice and I enjoyed making another friend.

We finally had potions class. Draco was unusually quiet, and several times I caught him staring at me, either with a look of contempt or what might be infatuation, or at the very least intrigue. It was distracting to say the least. The thought that he might be infatuated with me was most disconcerting. I've never thought of anyone like that, let alone anyone showing that kind of interest in me. I managed to stay focused, which is more than I can say for one of the Gryffindors, who cause a small explosion which sent him and his partner to the nurse. My end result got the grade of "less than rubbish" which in grand comparison to everyone else, was almost praise. If this first class was any indication, potions might not be for me, but it's still better than herbology in general, and anything is better than sitting through a single lecture from Binns, even if I find the subject highly enjoyable.

With astronomy being our next class, and not starting until midnight, I decided to talk to Professor Flitwick about the dueling club. Not knowing if he had a class to teach after lunch, I stopped by his classroom as soon as we left potions. His class had just left when I got there, but there was a Ravenclaw still inside so I waited. It was almost 30 minutes before the two of them were done talking and walking out.

"Miss Potter, I wasn't expecting to see you today." He said with his usual joyful smile.

"Yes professor, I was just wondering if Professor Snape has spoken to you yet?"

"Ahh yes. Quite unusual to have a first year join the dueling club. Even with what he told me, I'm working with third hand information. If you have time, I would like to see some of your talents for myself before I make a decision."

"Im free the rest of the day. My class has astronomy tonight."

"Very well then, follow me please." 

I have to say that following him was a bit awkward. Due to his size he's not fast, but he's faster than slow, so it made for an unusual pace for me. Fortunately we only had to walk a few doors down the corridor. "This room is specially warded to prevent damage from all but the most destructive spells, but I found out years ago that I needed to keep this room locked, as some students thought it a good idea to test the limits of those wards." With a few flicks of his wand, several locks were unlocked and the door opened by itself.

He motioned me to the center of the room where there was a rectangular platform raised about a foot off the ground. "Are you familiar with dueling, Miss Potter?"

"I'm afraid not." I replied.

"Very well then. We shall proceed at club standard. The duel continues until one person yields, is knocked unconscious, or is expelled from the platform. Follow my lead please. We meet in the middle facing each other, wands up," he raised his wand vertically, up to eye level and I did the same "and down." his arm quickly moving to his side, I reciprocated his salute. "We bow." We both bowed. "And now we turn and walk to the designated markers to the platform." Once we were both at our positions, he took a fighting stance and I did the same. "On the count of three the duel begins. You may not know it, but I was once a professional duelist. So don't be afraid of hitting me, but at the same time keep in mind that this is a friendly duel. With that said let us begin. One… two… three!"

I started with a silent Stupefy which was deflected. I followed that with a "Incarcerous" but then he quickly jumped into the air to dodge. I quickly cast "Carpe Retractum" to try and grab him to throw him off the platform, but he conjured a snake which my rope grabbed instead. Using parseltounge, I told the snake to bind him, but it was quickly blasted back into nothingness. I was now growing impatient and felt something in the back of my mind click. I sent stunners at him in rapid succession which was causing him to back up slowly. I took every inch of ground he gave me until he was teetering on the far edge. Without a word, he sent one of my stunners back to me. "Protego!" I shouted with a whip of my wrist, sending it back again. We both continued to Protego the stunner back and forth, and it picked up speed with each repelling. He had the advantage of age and experience, and I found myself moving backwards. We were caught in this standstill until I went to take one more step backwards, only to find nothing there to support my weight and fell off the platform flat on my back, the stunner flying over my head and smashing into the wall.

Professor Flitwick let out a chuckle of pure enjoyment. "My, my, Miss Potter. I haven't had that much fun dueling a student in quite some time! And a first year at that!" He said as we walked across the platform. As soon as he reached me, however, his expression changed. It looked as though he had seen a ghost (per the muggle expression). "Miss Potter, what has happened to your eyes?"

"Are they violet again? That's happened a few times now. I don't know why." I replied, as I got to my feet.

Regaining his composure, he said "You are quite the conundrum, Miss Potter. Quite the conundrum indeed."

"How so, professor?"

"Just the raw natural talent, it's a rare gift, Miss Potter."

"Thank you professor."

As I was leaving Professor Flitwick said, "And Miss Potter! Be here after classes on Tuesdays and Fridays. Welcome to the dueling club."

_________________________________________

Albus Dumbledore let out a long sigh. This now makes three professors to bring Holly Potter to his attention. First was Minerva, concerned about her life with the Dursleys and the high probability of physical and emotional abuse she suffered at their hands and also arranging other living arrangements for her while not here at Hogwarts. Next was Severus informing him that she is a parselmouth, and already using dueling spells well above what even most adults can cast. And now Filius says she fights like Bellatrix, and her eyes changed to the same shade of violet during their bout. The ritual was supposed to erase everything about her parents. She wasn't supposed to talk to snakes. She wasn't supposed to fight like her mother. It must have been whatever happened that night Voldemort was defeated that messed things up. But there's no way to repeat the ritual. Not only is she too old for it to work, James and Lily are dead. The only thing that can be done now is to guide her along the path of light… and make sure she doesn't fall into the darkness.