Note: So I haven't updated in weeks. I've been busy working, finishing summer school work, and vacationing, but I'm back now. Hopefully! Anways this chapter was going to be paired with the next one, but this part came out much longer than I expected so I decided it needed to be split.

Anywho, this probably isn't one of the most exciting chapters. It's basis is really just to develop Snape more and show how much he knew about the dark arts at a young age and also to show how some of his adult self starts to come out. Also, this chapter deals with dueling and I know, how coincidental it's in his second year just like Harry's. Well, the aspect of dueling is kind of essential to developing his character more and his skill at the dark arts, and since I already have much of his story planned out, second year was the only place it would really fit, but it will probably pop up more in future years as well as the next chapter :) Thanks for reading! Enjoy! x

~8~

All of the Gryffindor and Slytherin second years scuttled anxiously down the hall to the staff room, trailing behind Professor Hickabee. The man himself strutted down the hall, holding his wand up and puffing out his chest in a way that reminded me a little of Potter, although, he was nowhere near as much of a boastful git as Potter was.

The day had finally come. Ever since the first day of Defense Against the Dark Arts with Professor Hickabee, all the second years were enlightened and quite hopeful by his promise of teaching us all how to duel. By the beginning of November, he had made good on his promise.

We continued marching to the step of Professor Hickabee, me straggling along at the end with Mulciber and Avery who made jeers at all the measly looking Gryffindors who wouldn't be hard to defeat in a duel. I was especially excited to see the look on James Potter's face when I whipped the cocky little arse himself.

We came to an abrupt halt at the end of the hall in front of a wooden door. Hickabee unlocked the door with a wave of his wand and then stood back to allow us to enter through before him. The staff room was larger in length than our classroom, but not in width. The elongated room was completely empty except for several pieces of ancient looking couches and furniture that were pushed to the far walls to make room for a large stage in the middle. The platform ran the length of the room and stood about 3 feet off the floor.

As we all stood gaping at the staff room and the platform in the middle, Hickabee came pushing through before bounding onto the platform to stare down at our expressions of wonder. He frowned down at all of our looks of awe.

"Well, come on, gather round, gather round," he said impatiently, waving his hand around the stage. Our feet scraped the wooden floor as we slowly walked closer to the stage to gather around on the side where Hickabee stood. "Now," he started clearing his throat, "I'm going to be teaching you all how to duel properly. Professor Dumbledore generously lent me the staffroom so there would be plenty of space." He marched across the platform with his hands on hips, nodding his head every few words. "I'm quite surprised there hasn't been a dueling club in nearly 5 years in this school," he continued, "In my days, it was always a tradition of the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher to continue the Dueling Club, and as such, I will be continuing this tradition by teaching it to you all in the classroom. This will therefore make the Dueling Club mandatory because in my opinion, dueling is a very important skill all wizards should learn. Many spells and hexes are associated with it that our important to know. We all need to learn how to defend ourselves in case trouble and danger should arise and dueling will come in handy. A perfect example is of our own headmaster Dumbledore defeating one of, if not the, greatest Dark wizard of all time in a duel. Who knows, maybe one day there will be another powerful dark wizard that will threaten our world more than any before."

Mulciber and Avery seemed to snicker at his last words and I turned to give them questioningly looks. Did they know of some great dark wizard coming to power or were they themselves planning on becoming great dark wizards?

Hickabee's words brought me out of my thoughts of Mulciber and Avery and their possible malicious plans. "So, as being a known champion dueler to the wizarding world and defeating one of Grindewald's most supportive followers almost ten years ago, it has become my duty to teach you all the art of proper dueling and defensive spells to rid of your enemies."

I gazed around at everyone's expressions. They were all identical. Apprehension and doubt was written all over their faces. In class, we had never learned any defensive spells that would be useful in defeating enemies, and the thought of having to use them one day was scary to everyone. Hickabee seemed to catch on to our train of thoughts and tried smiling encouragingly, but instead, it faltered and turned into an exasperated frown.

With a sigh, he began: "Now, I will demonstrate one of the most important spells for dueling and the one that we will be using today." After a pause to look at our blank faces, he said, "I will be showing you the disarming charm. It is one of the most basic dueling hexes and one of the most useful. Performed correctly, it will simply disarm your opponent, causing their wand to fly up into the air and land feet away."

I felt my own stomach unclench as a memory of the words Expelliarmus glaring up at me from a page in one of my summer reading books swam into my head. I had never practiced this hex myself, as unable to do magic during the summer, but I had the incantation and the proper swishing of the wrist down.

"I need a volunteer please to help me demonstrate this hex," Hickabee continued, glancing around at everyone's worried faces. I felt everyone around me take a half step back. I was the only who seemed to still be calm. "Now come on," Hickabee called, "There's nothing to be worried about." When no one answered his pleas, he yelled frustrated, "Fine. Then I will pick someone myself. Ah, let's see, yes, how about you, Mr. Snape."

I felt my face go beat read as I heard my name called. Sure, I knew what I was doing but I wasn't ready to demonstrate it in front of the whole class. I hesitated for a moment before dragging my feet up to the stage. I caught Potter and Black's smug smiles on my way up, and when I tripped going up the stairs, it was all the excuse they needed to let out their hyena cackles.

I felt my face and body on fire once I was up on the stage, my wand practically slipping through my sweaty hand. I refused to look down on my classmates, instead, staring directly at the midnight blue rug that was covering the stage.

"Alright, Mr. Snape, go stand on the other side of the stage please." I did as Hickabee told me and walked slowly to the other side, concentrating hard on not tripping so I wouldn't embarrass myself again.

Once there, I turned around to face Hickabee and his encouraging face, although it had no effect on me. "Hold your wand up please, Mr. Snape." I did as I was told, not comfortable at all with the vulnerable position I was in. I felt the same feeling echo through me that I felt whenever my father or Potter and his gang were picking on me; the helpless feeling of not being able to defend or protect myself. Even though I knew it was a simple demonstration, I still didn't like the advantage Hickabee had over me.

I was vaguely aware of his instructions to the rest of the class about the proper swish and twist of the wrist and incantation. Instead, I focused on whether or not I would be able to block Hickabee and get away with the shield charm.

I lifted my face back up to Hickabee leering, "This won't hurt a bit." I watched as he lifted his arm up, pointing his wand at me. I didn't like the feeling of a deer in headlights, ready to meet your doom and not being able to do anything about it. I decided it was no longer an option. I needed to defend myself. He had only said "Expelli—", before I shouted, "Protego!", pointing my wand in his direction. I felt my wand vibrate in my hand as the strength of my hex burst through my wand and hit the unsuspecting Hickabee with a loud thud.

I watched as a look of shock crossed Hickabee's face, his wand flung out of his hand and his whole body flying backwards and landing on the stage flat on his back. Relief and pride washed through me until I saw all of my classmates' horror struck faces and reality began to sink in. I had just performed a charm we weren't expected to learn yet on a teacher during his innocent demonstration. Everyone was going to think I was completely mental.

I slowly lowered my wand, bringing my head down to the floor, trying to avoid the sharp gazes penetrating through me. I heard the groans of Professor Hickabee struggling to stand up on the other end of the stage. I heard him draw a sharp intake of breath before he said angrily, "Well, Mr. Snape, thank you for demonstrating the art of the shield charm. Unfortunately," he spat, "That was not what I asked for and as such, I have no choice but to give you detentions for the rest of the week with me and take 15 points from Slytherin." I heard protests escape the mouths of an angry Mulciber and Avery. "Silence!" Hickabee shouted. When they quieted, he turned his snarling face back on me. "I would also like you to submit to my questions of where you learned that charm during your detentions. It was not intended for second years to perform, but yet, you did and quite powerfully. Now, if you will please exit the stage Mr. Snape. I think we had enough of your demonstrations for one day."

My head continued to hang low in humiliation as I slumped off the stage. I didn't dare look at all of my classmates' dumbfounded looks, especially the one of disbelief coming from Lily. When I brought my eyes to look at her, she simply turned her face away, shaking her head.

I sat in the back for the remainder of the class, not talking or looking at anyone else. No one made a move to talk to me either, except for the congratulatory remarks from Mulciber and Avery that I didn't feel I deserved. Hickabee spent the rest of the class showing everyone how to perform Expelliarmus, letting everyone practice on partners; however, I wasn't allowed to participate in this activity.

At the end of class, I practically ran to the door to escape everyone, but with my luck, Potter and Black beat me to it. And I thought my day couldn't get any worse.

"Hey, maybe this will be what will get rid of ol' Snivelley for good!" taunted Sirius as he blocked the door, my only escape from this torment. My body was starting to shake with rage. I had had enough humiliation for one day and I would be a fool to let Potter and Black be the cause of more.

"Yeah, I doubt the headmaster will want a student here who knows how to blow up the teachers!" jeered Potter. They were pushing my last nerves and my patience was crumbling.

"I didn't blow him up!" I shouted, feeling my temple throb on my forehead with anger. For once, I actually found my voice when dealing with Potter and Black.

"Careful there Sniv, we wouldn't want you knocking any more people out today," teased Sirius.

"Leave me alone," I said through gritted teeth. I felt all the bricks holding my control together inside breaking down one by one.

"Or what," scoffed Potter, "You gonna take out your wand and throw another one of your dark spells on us. We all see you read those dark magic books. We all know you know a lot of dark magic." For once, the smiles was gone off their faces and, in replace, were two expressions of disgust, almost daring me to take out my wand and duel both of them at once.

"Well, maybe it is just about time I show you all what I've learned," I spat. My voice was so unlike anything I've heard come out of my mouth before. It didn't shake or show my fears. Instead, it was clear, harsh, and almost a malicious taunt, my lips drawn into nothing but a sneer identical to the one my father so often gave me.

"Is that a threat, Snivellus?" said Potter, walking closer to me until he was right in my face, his brown eyes glaring down on me through his glasses.

In a flash, my wand was out and pressed against Potter's chest, as I was filtering through my head which hex to use on poor Mr. Potter. I was just about to shout, Furnunculus, wanting nothing more than to see boils sprout all over his flesh, when I felt my wand arm being tugged by a flash of red.

I looked over my right shoulder, my face still snarling with anger. The expression took Lily aback, a sharp intake of breath drawing inside her mouth, as she looked on me with pleading eyes. I felt my face soften immediately and my thoughts of Potter vanish along with my anger. All of my feelings were directed to Lily and the humiliation that started to swarm through me at the idea of what she thought of my recent display, with both Potter and Hickabee.

Her pleading eyes continued to pierce through me as she whispered, "Stop." There was no harshness or scolding in her tone, just the soft, gentleness that made my insides warm.

I had no choice but to step away from the confrontation, her voice bringing me back down to reality and out of my rage. I hung my head low, humiliation and guilt continuing to swim through me, my face flushing scarlet. I took as many steps as I could back, noticing my classmates looks all around me. It had just occurred to me that all had been watching the whole thing.

"Knew you didn't have it in you, Snivellus," Potter growled, his face still etched in fury, before leaving with Black and Pettigrew on his tail.

I watched their retreating figures with hatred at myself for what they did to me, how they tormented my insides, made me become a cruel person I didn't recognize. I was vaguely aware at Hickabee's calls for all of us to keep moving as everyone filed out of the classroom.

I looked around for Lily, noticing she was just about to leave with the rest of class. "I figured you didn't need any more trouble for yourself," she whispered softly. She seemed to answer my questioning gaze. Why had she stopped me from going farther with Potter? Why had stopped me from hexing the living daylights out of him?

Unable to say anything or even crack a smile, I hoped my thankful eyes did justice. She shrugged her shoulders in return as she walked through the door, leaving me alone with my guilt and humiliation.

~Thanks for reading! Reviews are always welcome ;) x~