Chapter 5

Classroom Two-E was the primary Charms Classroom, where, after an uneventful breakfast, I had my second class of First Year with the Ravenclaws. It appeared that all Classes for First Year were going to be double classes, which was odd considering there weren't that many first-years. Regardless, I found myself accompanied on the way there by Millie, Daphne, Tracey, Terry Boot, and, surprisingly, Hermione Granger.

As Hermione began talking about the friend she'd made in Ravenclaw, Marietta Edgecombe, who'd taken Hermione under her wing to show her the ins and outs of Wizarding Britain, we got our first look at the Charms Classroom. Three rows of desks sat stacked behind each other, with the teacher's podium flanked by a pair of blackboards to both sides and a bookshelf behind. Behind the bookshelf, a large, glass and iron, window looked out over the Outer Ward beyond which, the Outer Wall of Hogwarts lay along with the Hogsmeade Side of the Grounds.

It was a fairly breathtaking sight seeing it all for the first time if you weren't used to that sort of thing. It certainly took Hermione's breath away as she stopped talking about Marietta Edgecombe's innumerable lessons in Wizarding Culture. I'd seen more impressive, though. The year before I'd been tossed into Blaise Zabini's body, my family had taken a trip to Bavaria and Austria. Hogwarts was basically just Neuschwanstein Castle with real magic instead of architectural tricks, after all. Millie, Daphne, and Tracey had all grown up in huge Manor Houses that may as well be castles, so they were used to it.

"Come along, Granger. Best not to keep the Professor waiting." Huffed Daphne, amused as she headed for a group of open seats. The rest of us followed after, thankful the seats were nowhere near Malfoy's little coterie.

"Oh, I wonder what the Professor is like? Do you think he'll be as stern as Professor McGonagall was? Only, yesterday we had Transfiguration with Hufflepuff and Professor McGonagall was a bit no-nonsense about anything not related to the lesson." Frowned Hermione.

"I've heard she can be a bit of a disciplinarian. I should hardly think that would matter much to you, though. From what Terry said and our one prior interaction, you seem the type to actually enjoy studying." Pointed out Tracey.

"You have no idea. That Woman's got iron in her blood." Scoffed Terry.

"Oh hush, Terry. Just because you got points deducted for chatting with Michael doesn't mean she wasn't right to deduct them. Anyway, now that I actually have friends to chat with, I don't want to run the risk of points being deducted here." Sighed Hermione.

"I don't think you'll have much to worry about on that account, Hermione." I offered.

"Oh? Why not, Zabini? I heard that Professor Flitwick used to be the Champion of the Continental Dueling Circuit. That has to mean he's got some steel in his spine, doesn't it?" Questioned Sophie Roper, one of the as-yet unaligned Slytherins who hadn't yet joined either my group or Malfoy's.

"I'd say he's got Goblin Silver in him more than steel." I shrugged.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Grumbled Maricius Pike, one of the other remaining unaligned Slytherins.

"Just wait, you'll see what I mean." I offered.

"Right, Zabini. Pull the other one." Snorted a Blonde Ravenclaw Boy who I didn't know.

Fifteen minutes later and the last of the First Years trickled into the Charms Classroom. Five minutes after that, Professor Flitwick ambled in. A tiny man with a white, muttonchop-mustache combination, Fillius Flitwick's ancestry, being one-quarter goblin on his father's side, meant that while he did not have most of the Goblinoid Physical Features, such as the leathery skin, long fingers, bulbous nose, and batlike ears, he did have the height. Professor Flitwick was small enough that he had to stand on a pile of books to reach the top of his podium.

"Good morning! I am Professor Flitwick, Charms Master here at Hogwarts and I'd like to welcome you all to your first Charms Class!" Spoke up Flitwick in a slightly squeaky tone of voice.

I leaned back in my chair with a satisfied grin on my face as Mauricius Pike stared at me like I'd just seen the future. Fair dues to him, that was a thing I could do. I hadn't, of course, but he didn't know that. I didn't plan on confirming or denying anything because it would only enhance my reputation as a Seer, something which was bound to come in handy in Slytherin House. Instead, I acted like I was paying attention as Professor Flitwick began to go over the various components of casting a charm. Mind you, I knew all about wand motions and incantations.

I also knew they only were there as foci and that charms could be cast without either or even both by a sufficiently skilled wizard. Hell, I knew that other foci were available. Before Wands were in use, most European Wizards used staves, for instance. Staves were less user-friendly but allowed more power to flow into the spell than wands do, plus there was the added benefit of having a quarterstaff to hit someone with if they proved able to counter you. Hell, certain African, East Asian, and Native American Traditions used somatic hand gestures instead of an external focus, which was honestly something that I could see myself learning in the future. Hell, Uagadou and Lóng Cháo, the number one schools in Africa and Mainland Asia respectively, taught exclusively Somatic Spellcasting. Wands allowed more of your magic to flow into the spell more easily, but an external focus like that could be taken from you or even destroyed. With the Somatic method, so long as you had your hands, you could cast.

By the time Flitwick Finished his lecture, we had only enough time left in class for one session of practical spellwork. To my surprise, it wasn't the Levitation Charm we would learn, but the Wand-Lighting Charm. Fortunately for me, I already knew Lumos and could begin helping others get it down. I ensured my group would all be able to cast Lumos right on the first day, which was helped some by the fact that I had a teaching assistant in both Hermione and Millie. The first had read ahead and practiced it last night, while the second had learned Lumos as part of her tutoring. Apparently, different Pureblood Families focused on different things when giving advanced lessons ahead of Hogwarts. Daphne's family had apparently focused on Potions, while Terry's had focused on Transfiguration.

By the end of class, however, all of us could cast Lumos. Something that Professor Flitwick saw and seemed to approve of.

"Well done! Ten points to both Slytherin and Ravenclaw for such a display of cross-house solidarity in the pursuit of knowledge! Five points also to Slytherin for taking the initiative!" Squeaked Professor Flitwick.

As the class was dismissed, I headed for the Training Ground Ward for the first meeting of the Dueling Club. I wasn't alone in this, however. Terry, Daphne, and Tracey came with me, as did, unfortunately, Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson, Theo Nott, Crabbe, and Goyle. Mind you, there were other non-aligned first years from Slytherin, as well as another Ravenclaw, the Blonde from Earlier coming with as well, though I wasn't as worried about them as I was about Malfoy's Group. Apparently, we had all signed up for the same club. Fortunately, though, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter were signed up from Gryffindor which would take up enough of Malfoy's Ire to let me go about the club with less interference than would have been the case otherwise. Susan Bones was also here from Hufflepuff, along with a Blonde Hufflepuff with her hair done up in pigtails.

"Oh great, Malfoy and the Snakes are here. What? You couldn't handle one-on-one duels so you had to bring your whole year?" Scowled Ron.

"I don't need the rest of my year to deal with a Weasley. Potter might be more of a challenge, but I doubt it. Word is he was Muggle-Raised." Sneered Malfoy.

"So, what's that got to do with anything?" Demanded Harry.

"It means that I'm your superior in every way here, Potter." Retorted Malfoy.

I started tuning the bickering out, sidling over to Susan and giving her a grin and a wave. She looked over at me and offered a beaming grin, her Blonde Friend doing the same, albeit more shyly.

"Sorry about Malfoy. He's got a stick up his arse. Trying to prove he's the number one in our year amongst Slytherins. I expect he'll try and use the club to make examples." I apologized.

"Aye, I see that. He's been shooting and bawling with folks since we were small. Why should that change now?" Grumbled Susan, rolling her eyes.

"So, who's your Mate?" I questioned.

"This is Hannah, her Ma's the Landlady at the Stately Troll Pub out in Godric's Hollow." Introduced Susan.

"Hullo." Nodded Hannah.

"Pleased to meet you, Hannah. I'm Blaise Zabini." I grinned.

"So, not that I agree with the shite coming out of Weasley's gob, but why is your whole year here?" Queried Hannah.

"I have no clue. I guess we all signed up for the same club somehow." I shrugged.

"Well, I hope you don't think I'm gonna take it easy on you, 'cause we're mates?" Challenged Susan.

"I'd be angry if you did." I retorted.

"Canny, well then let's have a good time then, aye?" Smirked Susan.

"And may the best Wizard or Witch win." I agreed.

Soon enough, however, Gemma Farley and a Curly-Haired Brunette Ravenclaw Witch who had to be Penelope Clearwater arrived to formally begin the Club Activities, cutting off Malfoy, Potter, and Weasley's argument with the use of a Sonus Phanstama. The Phantom Sound Charm let out a boom like the firing of a cannon as Gemma and Penelope grabbed everyone's attention to begin going over the rules. There were, surprisingly, few rules to what was likely to be the most dangerous club, most of which followed the International Convention on Duelling of Eighteen-fifty-six, also known as the Bern Accords. It was the first major act of the First International Confederation of Wizards and it was entirely done to standardize the various national dueling circuits for the benefit of organizing International Tournaments. It was no wonder the First Confederation Fell to Grindelwald and had to be reorganized to fight him if those were their priorities.

What this largely meant was that the standard set of limits and customs were in place for a European Match, such as no physical contact, no Unforgivables, the rules for challenges and seconds, and so on. Mind you, there were other types of matches. For example, an Asian Style Match that allowed physical contact with Foci as well as Fisticuffs and eschewed seconds, an African Style Match that allowed contact with spells or fisticuffs but not with foci and allowed seconds, or a Freestyle American Match that was similar to an Asian Style Match in that physical contact was allowed with fists and foci, but which also allowed the use of Potions, Alchemy, and Even Broomsticks. Those weren't relevant to the club, though.

The only other rule was that if a halt was called for any reason by any of the Club Officers, the duel was to cease immediately. Once that had all been laid out, Gemma and Penelope led us all to a section of the Training Ground Ward that fronted onto part of the Castle. When we arrived at what appeared to be a blank stone wall flanked by a pair of scaled, long-clawed, Hippogriff Statues, Gemma and Penelope stopped us. Gemma then went to the leftmost statue and rubbed its beak while Penelope did likewise to the rightmost statue. The stone wall then recessed inward and slid away in an effect not too dissimilar to the one used to hide the Slytherin Common Room, revealing a stairwell leading down.

We followed Gemma and Penelope down the stairs into an octagonal room. The ceiling was set with a stained glass mural of the Hogwarts Crest flanked by a pair of scaled, long-clawed, Hippogriffs over a crossed sword and stave. There were two floors, the upper one around the edges of the room had a number of bookshelves, tables, and chairs scattered around for the Club Members looked out over the lower one, which contained a sand-bottomed dueling pit. Around twenty-some-odd upper years were already waiting for us from all four Houses.

"Welcome to the Hogwarts Duelling Club. As you can probably guess, the Club goes back to the days of the Founders. We're the oldest club in Hogwarts with the longest, continuous, lineage." Grinned Gemma.

"The Potions Club likes to claim otherwise, but there was that two-year Period from Seventeen-Eighteen to Seventeen-Twenty when it transitioned to being the Potions Club from the Alchemy Club under Professor Viridian before he became headmaster in Seventeen-forty." Added Penelope.

"As you're all first years, you're not really expected to go out and duel just yet. Feel free to peruse the spell library on the Upper Floor and watch the Duels going on down in the pit for a bit. You can challenge someone when you're ready." Offered Gemma.

"We've got a pre-existing challenge ready to go first anyway. Warrington, Diggory, the pit is yours." Called out Penelope.

As she did that, a pair of third-years stepped forward. The first was a taller, dark-haired Hufflepuff with Gray Eyes who had to be Cedric Diggory, a student who in a few years would be murdered by the Dark Lord on his return from the grave. The second was Cassius Warrington, an upperclassman from my house who was tall but also wide, and not in a muscular way. The pair headed off down a set of stairs toward the dueling pit. I didn't have to watch to know that Diggory would win eventually. Instead, I went to one of the bookshelves, looking for any grimoires with spells for first or second-year students. I found one that was written in Italian, the Fiore Della Battaglia Mistica by Sergio Grimaldi.

I cracked open the book and began looking for spells to practice. I found a few, such as Auris Rumpitur, the Earburst Hex which would burst an opponent's eardrums and throw off his sense of aim and balance, and Squama Oculo, the Scale-Eyed Hex, which would cause leathery scales to overgrow the target's eyes, rendering them temporarily blind until a counterspell could be applied. Both could be applied fairly easily by someone of my level, though at my level anyone who knew the General Counterspell could finite away the effects. It would give me a moment to try the last spell I was able to research in the two hours or so I had to read before I was inevitably dragged into a duel, that being the standard Disarming Charm, Expelliarmus.

Inevitably, however, I was dragged into a Duel in the third hour of dueling club, and not by who I expected either. I was expecting Malfoy to try something, since he'd clearly been gunning for me as a potential rival, or even Susan who'd practically said she wanted to challenge me. Instead, I found myself drawn into a duel with Terry Boot.

"Blaise, up for a duel?" Asked Terry, approaching my reading spot.

"Why not?" I shrugged.

"That's the spirit, let's give everyone a good show, eh?" Grinned Terry.

Immediately, seconds were hashed out. Daphne was seconding Terry while Millie decided to second me. Tracey sat out the duel entirely, offering a jaunty wave from her spot on the balcony overlooking the dueling pit, the traitor. No matter, my vengeance would be both subtle and terrible, but also come later. For now, I had a duel to win.

"Our first First-Year Duelists! Brilliant!" Beamed Penelope from the balcony.

"And they're from our Houses too! All right, you two, show us what you can do!" Cheered Gemma.

Terry and I bowed to each other and as we did, I got a flash in my mind's eye of Terry's first move, a Stickfast Hex cast off the bat. Huh, that was a DADA Spell, had Terry been lying about his tutoring primarily being in Transfiguration? I wonder why he'd do that. Regardless, I knew his first move and as we rose from our bows to take our stances, I was ready to dodge immediately.

"All right, are you both ready?" Called out Gemma.

"I am, how about you, Blaise?" Questioned Terry.

"Ready and waiting, Terry." I shot back.

"Then let's see what you've got! Begin the duel!" Exclaimed Gemma.

I was already moving to the left even as Terry cast the Stickfast Hex at my feet, dodging the green, sticky, spell thanks to my Sight. Terry turned to face me but I was already moving my wand in a spiral motion to cast a smokescreen with Fumos. I didn't want to try casting any of the spells I'd just looked up for the first time under fire if I didn't need to, after all. As I shouted the incantation, gray smoke filled the pit, hiding me from sight. I still moved to the side as the smokescreen went up, and it was a good thing I did because Terry cast the Knockback Jinx at the space where I'd been previously on reflex.

Circling around within the smokescreen, I strained my ears to listen for Terry's footsteps. Terry couldn't see where I was from within the smokescreen, but I couldn't see out of it either. That was the thing about the Fumos spell, it was concealment that worked both ways. I was hoping that I would be able to hear where Terry was moving and nail him with a Knockback Jinx of my own. Failing that, it was possible that my Sight would take hold of me and give me a vision of Terry's location. I just had to be patient, listen for the sound of his footsteps, and not give away my own location.

Unfortunately, listening was proving a bust. The cheering from upstairs made locating Terry that way improbable at best, which rendered me reliant on my Sight. Unfortunately, a vision wasn't forthcoming, and I knew of no way to reliably force one without causing whatever powers governed prophecy to hit back down the line. That was one thing that the books in the Family Library were very clear on. I could try using my Natural Leglimancy to pick up on strong emotions, which was the best I could do with it without eye or physical contact, but Empathic Ability also turned out to be a bad choice with so many people watching and cheering.

Unfortunately, Terry must have gotten tired of waiting for me to make a move to reveal myself, because he cast a spell I was unfamiliar with. An incantation of 'Ventulus' rang out from the other side of the smokescreen and a gust of wind picked up, blowing the smoke away enough for me to get a good look at Terry. His back was to me, but it wouldn't take him long to turn around and spot me. That being so, I immediately began casting. With a swishing motion of my wand and a cry of Flipendo, I cast the Knockback Jinx at Terry even as he turned around.

The Jinx hit him in the chest as he turned to face me and knocked him backward, stumbling in the sand of the dueling pit, he landed hard on his back. Immediately, he sat up, wand outstretched and moving. I only had a few moments before his spell went off. I opted to try Expeliarmus while sidestepping. With a point and a flick of my wand, I cried out the incantation just as Terry's own spell was about to go off. Terry's wand was blasted out of his hand, just as his Knockback Jinx went off and missed me by a single inch. Literally, it was so close that I could feel the wind from its passing on the side of my head. Terry's wand, a shorter, springy, chestnut wand, landed in the sand.

"And we have a winner, folks! The first duel of Firsties this year goes to Blaise Zabini!" Exclaimed Gemma.

I moved over and offered Terry a hand up. He took it and I helped him to his feet before he moved over to his wand, snatching it up. He turned and offered me a salute with his wand, which I returned, and then we headed back up the stairs to the Upper Floor. As we moved over to the Balcony, I saw that Malfoy had challenged Harry Potter to a duel. Ron agreed to be Harry's second while Theo Nott agreed to be Draco's. The two groups headed down into the sand and engaged in the usual pre-duel banter. I didn't care to pay too much attention to the shite that Malfoy was spouting about how he was superior to Harry in every respect, but I noticed that Harry was fairly deadpan and sarcastic in his response.

"Obviously, Malfoy. You've probably had tutoring, while I was raised by Muggle Relatives. I have to ask just what exactly you're trying to prove by beating me here. It's not like I know any useful spells. Maybe you're compensating for something?" Retorted Harry. If nothing else I had to admire the balls it took to make a dick joke about an opponent you knew was about to beat you. It was juvenile, of course, but then, we were all pre-teens.

The duel commenced shortly after that. It wasn't much of a duel if I was being honest. Harry didn't know any spells aside from Red and Green Sparks, which he tried shooting at Malfoy to little effect, Malfoy, meanwhile, had gotten private tutoring prior to Hogwarts and eventually managed to hit Harry with a Jelly-Legs Jinx, tripping him to the sand before casting a Stickfast Hex to pin him in place. It took Malfoy a surprisingly long time to do that, though. Harry may not be built like an athlete, but he was wiry and possessed of the speed of someone used to getting beaten up who also really didn't want to get hit again. He kept dodging Malfoy's spells all the way up until Malfoy got that Jelly-Legs Jinx in.

There were a couple more duels after that from the other First Years, but the only one I really cared about happened when Daphne took Pansy Parkinson to the Pit over an unkind comment Pansy had made about Tracey over the Summer. Both fired a number of low-level jinxes and hexes at each other in a furious battle, but the outcome was never in doubt. Pansy had no staying power as a combatant, while Daphne seemed to have a decent amount of endurance. Eventually, Daphne hit Pansy with a Bee-Sting Jinx to her cheek which caused Pansy to yelp in pain and flinch. That gave Daphne an opening to use the Knockback Jinx, which knocked Pansy down, and the Stickfast Hex to stick her in place for the win.

"I think I'll leave that welt on. That ought to remind you not to talk about someone the way you did about Tracey." Sniffed Daphne, icily before turning on her heel and heading back up the stairs.

"Wait, don't just leave me stuck here!" Protested pansy, shrilly.

Daphne didn't listen, continuing back up the stairs to the Upper Floor. Gemma had to go down into the Dueling Pit to cast Finite Incantatem on Pansy herself. I noted with some degree of satisfaction that Gemma had left the welt from the Bee-Sting Jinx in place on Pansy's cheek as some sort of spoils of victory deal. Likely Pansy would just bribe someone to remove it later, but it was still amusing while it lasted.

After that, the rest of the duels were all between Upperclassmen. I didn't really pay too much attention to them, opting instead to keep reading the Fiore Della Battaglia Mistica. I managed to work my way through the other few spells I felt would be within my capability to cast. First was Torquent Talus, or the Ankle-Twister Hex which did precisely what it said it would. Second was Glacius Plumbata, the Ice Dart Spell, which conjured a six-inch dart of solid ice that then shot out at the target. Finally, there was Aranea Telam, the Spiderweb Charm, which conjured a sticky web at a target that could be used to wrap up an opponent, stick them to a solid surface, or with enough skill, both.

Unfortunately, most of the other spells would be too much for me to learn right now. I was far from being able to learn Parma Magica, for instance, which was a variant of the Shield Spell that conjured an actual shield-shaped barrier fixed to the caster's forearm. That was for third years, while the normal Shield Charm was a fifth-year spell. Other spells included a variant of Disillusionment, Lapsus Mentum, which rather than project optical camouflage, enforced a mental barrier that caused onlookers not to notice you. Lapsus Mentum had fallen out of favor since the book was written in the early nineteenth century though due to it not working against Cameras. Lapsus Mentum was still a fifth-year spell, however. I would definitely be revisiting this grimoire later.

As the dueling club broke up for the day, however, I noticed that Malfoy was shooting me an odd look whenever he thought I wasn't watching. I had a bad feeling about that but opted to shrug it off in favor of grabbing a shower before dinner. I noticed him shooting me that same look before bed but shrugged it off again. That would turn out to be a mistake, though not one I hadn't been expecting. Draco Malfoy would wind up challenging me to a duel the very next day, after all.

Just like the vision I'd had at the start of the week had shown me. . .

XXXX

AN: So yeah, here we see Flitwick's Charms Class, along with the First Meeting of the Hogwarts Duelling Club. Ironically, the Duelling Club probably has the largest collection of grimoires in Hogwarts outside of the Library Itself. Over a thousand years of a Charms and Transfiguration-intensive Club like Duelling will do that.

The way things played out in the Club especially has influenced Malfoy's forthcoming decision to challenge Blaise to a duel. Notably, the duel between Daphne and Pansy ending in Daphne's favor, along with Blaise's relatively swift victory over Terry, has, in the eyes of a status-obsessed goober like Malfoy, given the advantage to Blaise's group. Meanwhile, Malfoy struggled to accurately target Harry due to Harry being so squirrely and good at dodging.

Malfoy feels he needs a win over Blaise, accordingly, hence the Duel. Mind you, Blaise doesn't exactly see it in the same light. To him, he's just gathered together a group of like-minded friends who can't be bothered with all of Malfoy's bullshit. His own personal beef with the Blonde Ferret, notwithstanding. Blase really doesn't have any desire to lead Slytherin or whatever it is Malfoy thinks he's trying to do. He got into Slytherin on cunning, not ambition, after all.

At any rate, the next chapter will be Blaise's Third day of Hogwarts. We'll be going day by day until the end of the Week, then we'll have a bit of a time-skippy chapter until the middle of the first week of October.

Stay tuned. . .