Dueling Hall, Defense Against Dark Arts Class.

"Okay class, everyone gathers around the bleachers and sits down," said the new Dark Arts Teacher.

Obeying the teacher, the Slytherin and Gryffindor students go to opposite sides of a large dueling stage. Both houses seemed to have an expression of excitement at the prospect of fighting each other.

Professor Macanoff says, "As this is our first class, I preferred to take a hands-on approach to instigate interaction among the class." Raising the wand to the ceiling a scoreboard appears. Resuming he says: "Each house chooses a representative who will fight, and the winner among them scores a point on the scoreboard. A total of 10 matches will be played, as a reward, the students of the winning team will not need to do homework for a week in this discipline."

Students excited by the prospect of the prize start talking to each other noisily.

"Silence!" Says the teacher aloud, looking around the crowd of students he asks, "Now, who will be chosen first?"

Students start to argue among themselves, but before they make a decision, something happens...

Stepping onto the stage, a pompous-looking boy shouts, "I dare Snivillus to compete with me, dare you to run away?"

Wasting no time Professor Macanoff intervenes: "This is not a challenge class, Mr. Potter. Each house must decide among itself its competitors, it is not up to you to decide."

A cold, defiant voice sounded "I accept".

Turning his gaze towards the crowd of students, Macanoff sees a young Slytherin coming towards the stage. Dissatisfied by their disobedience, he is tempted to withdraw points from their houses and stop this childish fight. But after sighing, the newly hired teacher turns to the crowd of students and says, "Is it okay for you to leave them as the first contestants?"

A quick discussion ensues and they soon assert positives with the idea.

"Alright, let me remind you, Mr. Potter and Mr. Snape. No lethal spells are allowed! And remember, this is a friendly dispute. Do you have any questions or comments?" Says Macanoff.

Potter seeing it as an opportunity to humiliate Severus says:

"Ready to lose, Sniv?? I confess I never thought you'd have the guts to take on the challenge," he says in James mockingly before continuing: "Of course, you can't blame me for having low expectations, coward like you're hard to expect too much. But just a warning…", giving Lily a brief glance, James resumed: "Don't go running into Evans' arms and blaming me when I kick your greasy ass."

The students seemed excited to hear the discussion, for them it was as if Christmas had come early. After all, one thing that young people of that age certainly loved was intrigue.

Unfazed by what James had said, Severus remained unfazed.

"Was that it? I think a troll would think of something smarter to say. Perhaps you could enter this year's new edition of fantastic beasts and where to find them, some category of non-thinking beings I presume" Severus replied in relative calm.

A roar of barely contained laughter came from the crowd and James frowned in the direction, silencing them. But some didn't care and laughed anyway, especially the Slytherins.

James shuddered in anger, he didn't like the crowd laughing at Severus' joke. With venom, James says "YOU..."

"But don't worry, Potter. Even with your low IQ, there's still some hope for you. with your hair like a mop, I'm sure Mr. Filch would be interested in your 'skills' " with a smirk Severus commented.

 

The laughs were much louder this time and James was super uncomfortable. He's always been known as the 'jokes' guy and he's never been in that position.

Cruel.

Professor Macanoff, who observes all this, seemed to be outwardly angry. From the beginning, he was against the rivalry between the two students, but his inner thoughts were different...

'I should be the responsible adult, correct? Merlin, I am 34 years old. But why do I want to see the outcome so badly? No, I cannot lose this job... I must intervene.'

"Silence, this was supposed to be magical combat and not this mess," Macanoff said with an unreadable expression and resumed saying, "you two get into a combat stance. On three you start."

"1

 2

 3"

"Pretrificus Totalis" says James.

The beam of translucent light almost reaches Severus before he mutters, "Protego".

"Stupefy"- James.

Taking a slight step to the right Severus dodges with a smile.

"Expelliarmus" pronounced James angrily.

But the spell was in vain, as it did not reach the intended target. No matter what spell James had sent, always with an indifferent expression, Severus gracefully defended or dodged.

The advanced spells used by both of them greatly impressed Professor Macanoff. But he couldn't help but be surprised at how easily Severus reacted to the spells, the boy seemed to have 'reflections' from veteran Aurors and that didn't make sense, as he was only a third year.

It was quite clear to everyone watching that Severus didn't seem to take the fight seriously. Of course, some arrogant people among the audience said among themselves that they could do the same or even better than Severus.

 And that was a lie, for even Professor Macanoff would find it difficult to dodge so calmly. Of course, with his knowledge of battle and spells the professor could easily beat any teenager in that room, including Severus. But...

 

Those reflexes of Severus bordered on superhuman, simply crazy.

James, feeling insulted, yelled, "COWARD! Learn to fight like a man and stop running!"

Severus satisfied with his intimidation decides to put an end to this farce. Taking advantage of the distraction of Potter's anger, Severus conjures a quick expelliarmus that hurls James' wand to the ground.

Stunned, but not wanting to admit defeat, James ran to grab his wand that had fallen to the ground. Severus, who had long predicted with his prescience, threw 'Glisseo' between James' path and his wand, making him slip and fall face first.

Seeing James on the ground, Severus says in a knowing voice: "I see you're already putting your mop skills into practice, you have a talent for it! I guarantee it!"

Laughter filled the room at that moment and a very angry Sirius ran onto the stage. It was a pain for him not to jump in and intervene in that fight before, seeing Severus making James look like a fool had been revolting to him. Deciding to put that disgusting snake in its place, he cowardly cast a stunning spell on Severus' back.

But again the bastard seemed to have grown eye in his back and also dodged. Sirius immediately thought, 'This bastard must be using dark magic.'

At that moment Professor Macanoff's very angry voice rang out: "Mr. Black, attacking your classmate from behind? This was supposed to be an activity for everyone to interact with each other and not to promote such despicable behavior." now with sincerity Macanoff.

One thing Macanoff dislikes is people who act cowardly. And in that, he says: "20 points will be deducted from the Gryffindor and you will have detention with me every Friday for a month"

"But professor he's a practitioner of the dark arts," Sirius tried to argue.

"Silence! Mr. Snape never used dark or vicious spells in this class. Whether or not he is a practitioner of these arts is irrelevant to his victory now over Mr. Potter. He won fair and proved to be more skillful!" Says Macanoff as he turns his attention to Severus and praises: "I must say that someone with your abilities is very rare, Mr. Snape. I'm even a little jealous of your talents, but you have my admiration anyway!"

Whispers among the students began due to the teacher's unexpected praise. They wondered...

What was this? Did a teacher say he was jealous of a student's talents? What does it say to admire?

Lily and Mary who are sitting side by side, look at Severus in admiration.

"Thank you, teacher! But you overestimate me, I still have a lot to improve and learn.", Severus says humbly.

Pleased with Severus' response, Macanoff says "This class is closed in light of this incident. And yes, everyone should do their homework. The class is dismissed."

Students dismayed by the teacher's announcement grumble. Severus coming down from the stage and heading towards the exit, received a few admiring looks. And even some Gryffindors were among those who admire him.

An undeniable truth in life is, people are unconsciously drawn to the strong. Take Dumbledore as an example, everyone admires him for being one of the strongest wizards around and many feel safe under his banner.

Severus wasn't even close to reaching the level of Dumbledore or any Hogwarts professor. What made him beat James so wildly were two facts...

His prescience and a very angry James!

The Gryffindor boy was blind with rage and didn't fight with caution. Severus took advantage of every moment of weakness and actively provoked the effect to be even more impactful on observers.

When no one was looking at his face, Severus smirked.