A/N Good evening all! So, this is a follow on from 'Drunken Duel'. Two years after the end of the war sees Harry disillusioned with the ministry and he sees a way out, so takes it! As far as I'm concerned, the epilogue never happened.

Rated M for violence in later chapters and because Harry has a bit of a potty mouth. Cheers for reading and please do me a massive favour… Review review review.

Harry Potter, Duelist Extraordinaire

Chapter 1

Harry Potter is anything but an ordinary young man. Savior of the wizarding world, youngest auror in a century, youngest assistant head of the auror department in, well, ever. He is also an extraordinarily talented wizard, of course he is, he defeated The Dark Lord Voldemort. It is the two year anniversary of the fall of Voldemort, and instead of celebrating with the majority of the wizarding populace, or being at the unveiling of the statue, Harry, was fighting in a dark, dingy pub down knockturn alley. After dispatching his opponent with relative ease, something Harry was far too familiar with, he got presented with his opportunity for his first proper challenge since that fateful night, when he faced off against the dark lord.

Harry Potter was faced with a decision, follow this old man, Rupert Underhill, and take up professional dueling. Finally cut ties with the ministry, who sent him on the most dangerous missions, because, frankly, he was the only one good enough to do it. All the other competent aurors had died in the war, so it was left to Harry to scour the darkest corners of the world to round them up,. Which he had done, with pleasure. But it wasn't without challenge. These challenges however did not come from where you would expect, no they came from the ministry itself. The ex-death eaters were, in Harry's words, "A piece of cake to round up and were not a patch on the dark wanker." The ministry were constantly hauling him infront of the paper pushers, scolding him for excessive force. True, many of the dark wizards he brought in were missing the odd limb, or thrashed within an inch of their lives, but wasn't it the least they deserved. Well, that was what Harry thought anyway.

"So Mr Potter, what will be, stay here, constantly being brought to buck for doing your job one second, and then paraded round like a trophy the next. Or will you leave here with me, train and win?" Harry looked up the old, lined face of Mr Underhill. "You're telling me, you trained Dumbledore to duel? How do I know this is true? If it is, why haven't I heard of you before?" Harry was genuinely curious, surely he would have heard of such a man, if not from Dumbledore, then through other people. The ancient man tossed a very old raggedy edition of the Daily Prophet across the table, "Is this proof enough, Mr Potter?"

Young Maestro, Dumbledore Destroys Opposition In the Dueling World Championships

Albus Dumbledore. Remember the name, because, dear readers, it's one for the future. Mr Dumbledore, recently graduated from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, with straight Os has just won this years Dueling World Championships. What's even more amazing is it's his first ever dueling competition. having gained entry as a wildcard, he shocked everyone by defeating (very narrowly mind you) defending champion, Lord Stephen Parkinson. Under the tutelage of budding trainer, Rupert Underhill, young Mr Dumbledore, displayed, power, accuracy, variety and speed never before seen. Turn to page 3 for more…

Harry was stunned, but his mind was made up. He poured a drink for himself and his companion, no, new trainer. Raising his glass, Harry spoke, "Well Mr Underhill, here's to a fruitful, successful relationship." Underhill smiled, "First of all, Harry, now we are more than mere acquaintances, let us use first names. Secondly, when can you be ready for a trip across the water, I have a château , in the French countryside where we will be staying and where we will carry out your training." Harry was beginning to get excited, he had nothing holding him here, Ron and Hermione weren't in his life much anymore since their marriage, Ginny had ran off with that hook nosed fucker Victor Krum, everyone else, well, they were dead. Harry grew somber for fleeting second at that thought, but quickly shook it off as excitement welled within him, why hadn't he thought of this before? He was a damn good dueler and he knew it. Now was his chance, and he wasn't going to waste a second of it. "Well, Mr Under- erm, Rupert, I can be ready now, I just need to send a patronus to our esteemed minister, to tell him not to expect me to be reporting for duty for the forseeable future, if ever again and then we can leave if you agreeable?"

Rupert Underhill merely watched as Harry summoned forth a great,majestic stag patronus and told it the message to pass to Kingsley Shacklebot, minister for magic. "Minister, you can consider this my resignation from the auror department with immediate effect. Find someone else to sleep in a sewer under the streets of Bangkok for you from now on." Harry then turned to Rupert, "With any luck, he's still at the pompous party in the ministry ball-room. So where are we going?" Rupert looked embarrassed, "Well, as much as I want to trust you Harry, what with you saving us all, but the address is something you'll have to earn, for now, hold my arm and and I will take you via sidealong apparation". With a crack, they were gone, leaving an empty bar, and a very confused Dean Thomas to clean up the mess from Harry's earlier duel.

Two weeks had passed since Harry left England and his relationship was becoming more and more comfortable, they would almost go so far to consider each other friends. Harry was lying in his bed chamber after yet another grueling day in the hot sun. His bed was far more luxurious than the camp bed he used in his tiny flat above flourish and blots, even more so than the four poster in the Gryffindor dormitory. Other than that it, was very modest with just a simple desk and chair, and a small book case in the corner. He had an en suite, which he was thankful for, because after a full days training he did nothing other than a shower and then, literally in some cases, crawl to his. This one of those days, training stepped up a gear today, and instead of the normal, 5 mile run in the morning, it was upped to ten miles, and the magic element was increased ten fold. They had been practicing on the speed of his casting. Now, Harry was already lightening fast. But Rupert knew he could be faster, much faster, he saw the potential, and so worked him hard to get that potential to the surface. They had their first tournament coming up in a week, and Rupert was adamant they would win it. A good start to Harry's dueling career was an absolute must. Partly to keep Harry's reputation, partly for the small purse of 500 galleons, but mostly for morlale. Harry couldn't see any improvement. While Harry was thinking about his apparent lack of improvement, Rupert was down the hall, in his own bed, thinking on a totally different line. He couldn't believe how far Harry had already come, the power the boy exuded was immense, and his speed, far out strips that of anyone he has ever seen in his life. But, he would not allow himself to ease up on Harry, he had to keep pushing him, he felt he had a duty to help Harry reach the heights he knew the boy could. It was with this thought, an idea popped in his head and his lips curved in a grin…

So, what did we think, chapters will get longer as I go along, like I said at the top, please review. Until next time.