Duel Less, Study More

A/N: I do not own anything regarding this story. The characters and locations belong to JK Rowling while the stuff regarding Ten Duel Commandments belongs to the genius that is Lin-Manuel Miranda.

So, because I am sort of a nerd when it comes to fandom, I remembered that JK Rowling said that Albus Severus would be entering his first year in 2017—meaning the Potter/Weasley clan might have already discovered Hamilton. I mean, Hermione would probably keep up with the trends in the Muggle world—to help her kids stay up to date with muggle fashion and the like. So, stands to reason that muggle music might have entered the fray as well.

Please let me know what you think!

Lily Potter knew what her father was going to say before he got the words out. She knew, because it was the same thing he told her brothers before they started Hogwarts as well.

"….and no dueling before you know how," Harry said, before leaning down to kiss his youngest child on the head. "Let us know how you're doing okay?"

"Yes dad," Lily smiled at her father, brushing her bright red hair out of her light blue eyes. She'd always been envious of her father and brother's bright green eyes but that was neither here nor there.

"Have a great term Lily!" her mother called as the train began to pull out of the station. Lily waved back until she could not longer see the platform. Then, she scurried to one of the empty cabins and dragged her cousin inside. She was not going to spend an entire train ride with her brothers' lingering over her.

"Let me guess," her cousin groaned as she pulled a flat object out of her pocket. "You want to listen to Hamilton again Lils?"

"What Hugo?" Lily said with an innocent smile. "It's a good play!"

"About one of the most humiliating defeats the British Empire has ever known!" Hugo shot back. Lily rolled her eyes and shook her head at her cousin.

"So? The music's still good," Lily grinned. "Sides, Dad doesn't even know I brought it along. We have the whole cabin to ourselves—no need to hide it from anyone, especially siblings who think we're too young for the music."

"That is true," Hugo nodded. "Most of the bad words we've heard from Uncle George multiple times."

Lily bit her lip in anticipation—she knew she had Hugo hooked, now she just needed to reel him in.

"I downloaded Wait for It and Ten Duel Commandments last night," she said, knowing those two would be the necessary hook. They were the only two songs the two of them hadn't heard yet—and Ten Duel Commandments was the only one strictly forbidden in the Potter and Weasley household. Well, Weasley household. Harry never forbid anything but he wasn't one to parent other people's kids either.

"Okay, give me the ear piece," Hugo said with a grin as he sat down. Lily grinned back and pressed play. Luckily Ten Duels was the first one to play and they both settled in—for about an hour. Unfortunately, they were interrupted by someone who appeared to be a first year Slytherin.

"Oh, well, lookie who we have here," the other boy sneered. "Two little firsties. You're in our cabin."

"It was empty when we got here," Lily told him, having pressed pause on the music. "You can't claim a cabin anyway."

The boy smirked and turned to his compatriots. "Oh, doesn't she seem so smart, doesn't she boys?"

"She sure does Nott," one of his sidekicks chuckled and Nott turned back to the two of them.

"What's your name girlie?" Nott demanded.

"Lily," Lily told him. "Lily Potter."

Nott narrowed his eyes. "Potter?" he spat, taking a step forward. "Trust St. Potter to not teach his daughter how to recognize her superiors. I told you boys, he took up with that Weasley trash and lost all sense of Wizarding pride."

"Watch your mouth!" Lily shouted, her hand going for her wand before she realized that she really didn't know any spells. Yet.

"Oh, or what?" Nott chuckled. "Daddy going to swoop in and tell me off?"

Lily stiffened and Hugo eyed her warily, not sure if he should go and search for their siblings. Lily on the other hand was trying to remember the instructions she'd just listened to.

Step One: Demand Satisfaction. If they apologize, no need for further action.

Well, that was out the window. Lily was normally a very calm person but if you talked about her family that was going to be a problem.

"Wizard's Duel," she said softly but everyone could hear each word come out her mouth. Nott sneered and then began laughing at her.

"Oh, she thinks she can best me in a duel! Isn't that cute?" the pureblood chortled.

"She sure can!" Hugo stepped up. "I'm her second—who's yours?"

Lily smiled at her cousin, knowing she'd have some backup. Plus, Hugo knew a lot more spells than she did—it came with the territory of being Aunt Hermione's kid after all.

Nott grew silent after that, as if he realized they were serious. Looking behind him, he sized up the two boys before turning back to Lily and Hugo. "Goyle. I'm sure the two of you can pick a time and place soon enough. Let's go boys."

Nott, Goyle and the other boy stormed out of the cabin; leaving Lily and Hugo standing in the middle of it. Lily turned and smiled at her cousin.

"Thanks for having my back," she told him and Hugo smiled back.

"Do you really think I'd leave you hanging?" he asked. "Besides, the second commandment states 'if they don't , grab a friend, that's your second—"

"—your lieutenant when there's reckoning to be reckoned," Lily finished and the two of them began to chuckle as they sat back down to finish their playlist before they got too close to Hogwarts and the device shorted out.

000

A couple of weeks passed before Hugo and Goyle were able to decide on a time and place for the duel. Of course, the danger of a Gryffindor and a Slytherin alone anywhere was risky but discussing a duel?

During that time, Lily hoped that Hugo could somehow broker a peace between her and Nott. All she wanted was for him to apologize! Was that so hard?

Number Three: Have your seconds meet face to face, negotiate a peace or negotiate a time and place. This is commonplace, 'specially 'tween recruits. Most disputes die and no one shoots.

"Sorry Lils," Hugo sighed as he walked up to her after his meeting. "The duel's happening. Midnight in the trophy room, a week from now."

Lily sighed. "Well at least Nott's following the fifth commandment of dueling. Duel before the sun is in the sky."

"You know Lily? What if these aren't the real rules of dueling?" Hugo asked as they walked to their common room.

"Do you really think Lin-Manuel Miranda would write something if it wasn't historically accurate?" Lily asked, keeping her voice down as they entered the common room. With so many of their siblings and cousins in vicinity, it was important that they keep the duel a secret.

"Good point," Hugo nodded. "But what about the fourth commandment? It's not like we can pay Pomphrey to watch us duel. She'd probably tell McGonagall."

"We're all first years," Lily chuckled. "How much damage could we do that we'd need a Healer anyway?"

Number Six: Leave a note for your next of kin. Tell 'em where you been. Pray that hell or heaven lets you in.

The night of the duel arrived before Lily was ready but she was a woman of her word. Jotting a quick note for Albus and James, she scurried off, borrowing James' map to make sure she and Hugo wouldn't get found out before the duel.

"Got any sins to confess?" Hugo whispered as they traipsed the halls.

"Yeah," Lily chuckled. "I'm the one who ate that last biscuit before we left for Hogwarts and mum thought James did it."

"Thought so," Hugo chuckled but Lily stilled as she entered the trophy room. The commandments said that she would feel adrenaline but she had tossed it aside as sort of a poetic license sort of a thing. Not that she was here, there was a gnawing sensation in the pit of her stomach.

"I'll talk to Goyle," Hugo said. "Maybe there's still a chance to call the whole thing off."

Number eight: your last chance to negotiate. Send in your seconds, see if they can set the record straight.

Lily watched as Hugo walked into the center of the room to meet with Goyle. She knew, though, in her heart that there was no way for this to end with anything other than a duel. Even if there was no one else here, secrets didn't stay secret for long around Hogwarts and her older brothers would never let her live it down if they found out that she backed out of a duel.

"Okay so we're doing this," she heard Hugo sigh and he walked back to her side as Lily walked to the center of the room to meet Nott. She looked him straight in the eye and then gathered all her Gryffindor courage, just like she'd been told.

Number nine: Look 'em in the eye, aim no higher. Summon all the courage you require then count!

"One, two, three, four," she heard Hugo count as she walked the necessary ten paces. Once Hugo got to ten, she turned on her heel and steadied her wand, preparing for Nott to make the first move.

"What's going on here?" a stern voice called out from behind Lily and the four of them stilled. Lily turned her head to the side to see Headmistress McGonagall standing there, managing to look just as threatening in her tartan dressing gown as she did the first night they were there.

"Follow me," she said and Lily glanced at Hugo with dread filling her stomach. Somehow she knew that her dad was going to find out.

000

Find out he did. For not only had McGonagall given them detention, she also wrote to all their parents after finding out that the only reason the duel had commenced was because of Hamilton.

Maybe, Lily thought the morning after, it wasn't such a good idea to leave that note for James and Al after all.

Suddenly, a snowy owl appeared in front of her holding a bright red envelope in its beak. Taking a breath to slow the trembling in her hands, Lily took it and then pocketed it. She then began to leave the Great Hall, taking great care to make sure her pace was slow and even. It was one thing to get a howler, it was another thing to have Nott hear it.

Ducking into an empty classroom, Lily took the now smoking envelope out of her pocket and opened the flap.

"LILY LUNA POTTER! WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT DUELING?" the dulcet tones of her mother graced Lily's ears. "YOU HAVEN'T EVEN BEEN THERE TWO WEEKS AND WE'RE ALREADY GETTING LETTERS HOME FROM MCGONAGALL! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?"

The tone changed to one that filled Lily's stomach with despair. For it was one thing for her hotheaded mother to send her a howler. It was another thing completely for her even-tempered father to join in.

"LILY, JUST BECAUSE A SONG HAS THE WORD DUEL IN THE TITLE DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN JUST FOLLOW THE LYRICS AND HAVE A SUCCESSFUL DUEL!" Harry's voice shouted at her. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING ANYWAY? I TOLD YOU NOT TO DUEL UNTIL YOU KNEW HOW! THAT IMPLIES KNOWING SPELLS THAT COULD PROTECT YOU IN CASE YOUR OPPONENT STARTED EARLY!"

Merlin, why didn't they just come here and tell me this themselves? Lily thought as the howler went on and on before finally ripping itself up. For a few glorious moments of silence, Lily thought that was over. Until she heard a slight cough from the doorway behind her.

"Is it too much to ask that it's Hugo standing there?" she called out.

"Nope," said the amused voice of her father. "Turn around Lils."

Lily turned around to see not anger but concern gracing the features of her father.

"Why are you here?" Lily asked, crossing her arms across her chest. "I mean, you already sent the howler and I have detention. Haven't I been punished enough?"

"Believe it or not, parents can do more than punish you know," Harry told her as he walked in and pulled up a chair. "I wanted to make sure you were alright. McGonagall told me she took some house points off along with the detention. The students here can be cruel to the first years who lose a lot of points."

"I'm fine," Lily said, sitting down next to him. "James and Al have stopped anyone who wants to be a jerk about it. Plus, since a duel didn't actually take place, we just got points taken off for being out of bed after hours."

"Ah," Harry smiled at the fact that his sons were looking out for his little girl but then grew serious. "So, do you want to tell me what that duel was about?"

"Not really," Lily made a face but Harry just kept staring at her. You know the stare that parents have, that make you feel guilty about everything you've ever done? Yeah, that's the one. Lily sighed and looked at Harry. "Fine. I'll tell you. You know, one day that stare won't work on me."

"But it is not this day," Harry said and Lily rolled her eyes.

"Tolkien nerd," she told him and Harry gave her a faux-offended look.

"Hamiltrash," Harry shot back and Lily giggled at the gentle teasing. Harry had always encouraged his kids to pursue their interests, even if the rest of the family thought them odd.

"Nott called you worthless, said that mum was trash, and said that you had no Wizarding pride and passed it on to us," Lily said after a few minutes of silence. "I doubt you or mum would have let that slide and I wasn't about to!"

"I'm the first to admit that I don't let insults toward your mother slide," Harry nodded, after the anger of hearing Nott's name subsided. Nott may not have been a major player during Harry's school years but it still irked him that his kids would have to deal with the sons of the Death Eaters who got free. "But I know that your mother can stand for herself. She's a skilled witch with a very mean Bat-Bogey Hex that you do not want to get on the wrong side of. Lily, you're eleven years old with only the basics under your belt."

"Are you saying I should have ignored him?" Lily asked.

"I can already tell you that would have been impossible," Harry chuckled. "You inherited the Weasley and the Potter temper. Plus, your grandmum Lily was known to have a bit of a temper as well. Either way, I know whether it was you or your brothers, no one would have let it slide."

"Then what are you saying?" Lily asked, looking up at him with confusion evident on her face.

"Duel less, study more," Harry said. "Wait until you know some spells before defending the family name and for Merlin's sake, do not follow those instructions ever again! You really freaked James out when he found that note. I got a letter from him saying that you'd gone insane, thinking that there were actual commandments to dueling and that we should come here straight away."

"Got it Dad," Lily chuckled. She was a little disappointed that Ten Duel Commandments would be off her playlists for the next few holidays but at least she wasn't grounded! Right?

"Oh yeah. You're grounded first week of the holidays," Harry said as he got up to leave. "Your mum told me to tell you. Sorry Lils."

Lily made a face but stopped as she realized that her dad hadn't told her not to duel. She just had to wait until she had a ready arsenal of spells. Duel less, study more as her father had said.