Professor Horace Slughorn vs Nymphadora Tonks


“How dare you speak to me like that!” There was a chill in the air as the Tonks stared at the Professor from the opposite end of the corridor, her head fuelled with fury. “Well, it’s the truth isn’t it? You’re only here for your own protection! You don’t give a damn about most of these kids, unless of course you think you can get something from them. Ignoring the rest of them as though they were worthless. You’re nothing but a selfish, spineless-” “Spineless!” Slughorn had drawn his wand and Tonks had to duck the jet of silvery light that was sent at her. Drawing her own wand, she blocked a second jet of light and tried to send it back at its caster but it missed and hit the wall with the force of a bomb, sending pieces of the wall all over the floor of the corridor. Slughorn waved his wand and pointed it at a nearby gargoyle, which sprang to life instantly and charged at Tonks. 
She sent a curse at it, breaking off one of its arms but it kept on going, tackling her and wrapping its remaining arm around her throat. Slughorn raised his wand for his third curse but Tonks strained her eyes shut, as though holding her breath and her head and neck began to shrink. She escaped the statues’ hold just in time to dodge Slughorn’s spell. 
She slipped around the enchanted gargoyle but before it could turn for its second assault, she tapped it with her wand, blasting it into giant serrated pieces of rubble. She sent the pieces at the Professor who was forced to conjure a shield to take the hits. The mounds of rock smashed into the shield, leaving dust in the air. Tonks went on the offensive and began sending a volley of hexes and curses at Slughorn who, though was blocking all the spells, was forced to back off. He deflected one of the curses back at the Auror, striking her leg and burning it severely. Her injured leg gave way and she crumpled to the floor, still sending every spell she knew at the large man before her. 
“Foolish girl!” Slughorn cried out as he blocked more of Tonks’ spells. He was the one now advancing and when he got close enough, he swiped the air with his wand and Tonks was stuck in the face and blasted off the ground from her kneeling position, into the air. She hit the floor with a thud, her nose bleeding copiously.
She leaned back up, her wand arm ready to strike. But Slughorn was too fast. He twirled his wand around in the air and the dust that had once been the gargoyle was gathering and swirling around Tonks. She tried swatting the powdered statue with her wand, thinking her incantations as she was unable to speak them. Eventually, she had to breathe and, as she did so, she felt the tiny partials enter her wind pipe. She coughed and spluttered, her eyes filling tears as a result of the dust. She pointed her wand at her own throat but before she could even think ‘<i>Anapneo</i>’ Slughorn had aimed his wand and cried “<i>Stupify</i>!” The spell hit her squarely in the face and she landed sprawl eagled on the hard floor.
Slughorn looked around at the destroyed corridor. Pointing his wand at each of the affected areas they repaired themselves instantly. He then turned to Tonks. She would wake up in a few hours. He returned his wand back to the inside pocket of his robes and left the now silent corridor.





<b>The Reason: Okay, I’m going to make this clear, I LOVE TONKS! She is my favourite OoTP character second only to Kingsley and she is, in retrospect, a pretty decent witch. She’s a Metamorphmagus; being able to change her appearance at will without the use of a spell or potion, she’s an Auror (a feat in which itself is a testimony to her ability), she was skilled enough to be able to fend off Death Eaters such as Thorfinn Rowle and Rodolphus Lestrange (while flying), she came out of the Battle of the Astronomy Tower more or less unscathed (Although it was said that before the Death Eaters broke away from the fight, the Order were losing), she is only defeated twice throughout the series on both accounts by the hand of Bellatrix Lestrange and it is mentioned, by her father, that she had ‘been in several sticky situations with the Aurors’. All this at the age of 25! She IS the Hufflepuff Badass! 
I know that, had Tonks survived the Battle of Hogwarts, she would have grown to become an incredibly exceptional witch. 

However, Horace Slughorn is already an incredibly exceptional wizard. He is a Hogwarts Professor in Potions though his knowledge of the Dark Arts and Transfiguration has its merits what with his high level of understanding of spells and objects such as Horcruxes and the ability to transfigure himself into a chair and, despite his age and weight, he is still extremely agile, being able to pretty much destroy the house he was residing in within seconds when Harry and Dumbledore came to visit him. 
It is stated many times throughout the sixth book that Slughorn was an outstanding wizard in his day by both Albus Dumbledore and Lucius Malfoy. And those statements are proven to still be true as, by the end of the series, he had survived the Battle of Hogwarts and engaged Voldemort himself alongside Kingsley and McGonagall, proving him to be a master dualist. (Although it must be said that Voldemort was fighting with a wand that wouldn’t truly work for him and Slughorn would have been affected by the ‘Love Shield’ Harry had cast over the defenders of Hogwarts when he sacrificed himself). However I don’t think that would make much difference to the amount of skill he would have needed to withstand the Dark Lord for so long. 

So it looks like age, experience and enough fat to stuff a couch wins out over youth, health and... sexiness (let’s not deny it). The winner between Slughorn Vs Tonks is the Potions Master himself.
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Please leave a comment on who you would like to see engage one another in a dual.