Disclaimer: …Can you not imagine the havoc there would be if I owned Harry Potter? :) The Duel.
Harry walked the route he had walked every week since fifth year. He turned as he saw the door to the Room of Requirement materialise out of the corner of his eye. Pulling open the door he smiled at the huge group of people sitting on cosy couches and chatting. He allowed himself a moment to relax; looking around the room at all the students that made up Dumbledore's army. It was no longer secret, and almost the whole school turned up every week to learn from Harry. As much as he protested otherwise, Harry was not only an extremely powerful wizard, but a natural leader as well.
Harry's smile faded slightly as he thought back to last weekend…the final battle. Though none of their side had died – thanks to Harry – he could still remember the terror on people's faces, especially the fear in Draco's eyes as Harry had walked into the centre of the fray to where Voldemort stood. He closed his eyes and shuddered, breathing deeply as the moment passed.
His grin returned as he opened his eyes, and looked once again round the room at all the people, Slytherins and Gryffindors laughing together. Pansy's head on Hermione's shoulder, Hermione playing with Pansy's hair. Neville and Blaise were kissing by a fireplace, with Ginny and Theo kissing in the armchair next to them. Harry caught the eye of a handsome blond with a lithe muscled figure similar to Harry's own, a seeker's build. They nodded in greeting, seemingly indifferently, but both had secretive smirks playing at the corners of their mouths as they turned away.
Harry concentrated briefly, using wandless magic to alter the room to the huge hall they used every week as the DA's headquarters. For every few students a wooden duelling platform appeared, and the hundreds of couches clustered round the giant fireplace all vanished. People tumbled abruptly to the ground with exclamations of surprise.
"Harry!" shouted an irritated Ron, helping his girlfriend Luna up. Everyone laughed on seeing Harry standing there with an impish grin on his face, watching people clamber up from where they had all ended up sprawled on the floor.
"All right!" he called, "Duels!" There were murmurs of anticipation around the room. The most exciting sessions were always when they paired off and did a duelling tournament, winners playing winners. (Three guesses who always won… Of course it did help that Harry had effortlessly mastered wandless, wordless magic.)
Everyone walked over to the wall where they usually waited to be sorted into pairs, but no sooner were they out of the way than all the duelling platforms slid smoothly together to form one large square.
"Everyone up!" called Harry to the bemused members of the DA. When the last person had climbed up onto the platform, he raised his wand and muttered an incantation under his breath. There were a few exclamations of shock as everyone momentarily glowed a pale silvery colour, and large shimmering translucent walls rose up from the edges of the wood.
"If you are hit with enough power or skill – as would eliminate you in a real duel, this charm will register and you will be removed from the platform. Normal rules, only this time, last man or woman standing wins. Everyone ready? On my signal… one, two, three, begin!" Harry shot gold sparks into the air. Immediately hexes, jinxes, mild curses, charms, and all kinds of spells were flying in every direction. Within minutes over half the chairs were filled. Harry stood calmly at the side and conjured up a powerful shield charm before walking forwards to join the duellers. Out of the corner of his eye he watched as more and more people glowed red, and then reappeared in a seat to the side, expressions a mixture of disappointment at having been eliminated and excitement at watching the continuing duels. Soon, only a handful of the most talented were left.
A flash of red to Harry's left as Fred and George simultaneously disarmed each other.
Another flash of red to his right as Neville stunned Ron.
Hermione ducked Ginny's Bat-Bogey Hex which hit Neville.
Harry's Leg-Locker jinx hit Luna.
Pansy's jinx tripped Ginny.
Draco's jelly-Legs jinx hit Pansy.
Harry's senses tingled and he span around, blocking a dizzying jinx from Hermione just in time. Three more flashes of crimson to his left as two Slytherins and a Ravenclaw disappeared and all of a sudden there was complete silence. Three people stood on the platform, staring at each other, breathing heavily. Hermione, Draco and Harry began to circle round each other. In the sudden lull all the eliminated spectators seemed to hold their breath. The silence was broken as in a sudden flurry of movement Harry cast a disillusionment charm on himself and vanished from view. Both Draco and Hermione hastily conjured up shields but with a deep rumble, the platform began to shake. Draco shouted a hovering charm and flew up a metre off the ground whilst Hermione pointed her wand at the ground and hastily cast the counter charm. As the floor stilled, streaks of bright blue light flew past her ear. She spun round instantly, wand aimed at where Draco had been, only to find herself looking straight at the tip of his wand. She smiled acceptingly, before whispering something in Draco's ear. Draco's jaw dropped and his gaze flickered imperceptibly to where Harry had been standing. Hermione nodded, still grinning. Draco grinned back and lowered his wand. The pair took a step back and bowed to each other, Hermione conceding Draco's victory (coincidentally to the same spell with which Draco had conceded defeat to Hermione the previous week). With a penultimate red glow, Hermione vanished and the tense silence seemed to return in her place. There was a shimmer to Draco's left and he backed away cautiously as Harry reappeared. Time froze. No one seemed to breathe, or blink. The corner of Draco's mouth twitched upwards into a Slytherin-esque smirk, which Harry effortlessly mirrored. As Harry lifted his wand, he strengthened his shield before sending a full-body bind curse at Draco. Draco dodged it and sent one back at Harry, who ducked. Spells flew back and forth so fast they seemed a blur. The game of copycat continued until suddenly, with a huge bang, the starry fabric pinned to the platform flew up into the air and started to encircle Draco. A muffled voice shouted a spell and with a loud crack the carpet became thousands of snakes which swarmed towards Harry. Harry grinned and merely called to the snakes in parseltongue.
"Stop! Be still." The snakes slowed and sank to the floor at Harry's feet, a mass of serpents slowly slithering over one another, some winding round Harry's legs.
"Bastard," muttered Draco, trying to hide how much he loved it when Harry spoke parseltongue. Harry grinned, eyes twinkling, and holding his hand out towards the seething mass of serpents, shouted,
"Agua vero!" Draco's eyes widened as the serpents seemingly melted into a towering wave of water cascading towards him. He threw up a sphere of air just in time as the water crashed over him and hit the translucent barrier, fizzling into steam. With this the duel continued, the air thick with spells flying back and forth. Harry and Draco ducked and dodged spells, sometimes levitating themselves out of reach, other times throwing up hasty shields, but never once breaking eye contact. The audience sat enthralled. The tension continued to mount until all at once there was a sudden flash of blinding white light, and heavy black smoke billowed up from the crevices in the wooden platform, hiding the duellers from view. Draco blinked, disorientated, and cast a few random jinxes into the pitch black cloud. The silence was suffocating, the darkness lasting for what seemed like hours, every second making Draco more tense. The smoke eventually began to clear, drifting lazily down to the floor, but Draco couldn't see Harry anywhere. Something grazed the back of his neck and he froze, a voice whispering in his ear,
"Concede?" The hot breath tickled his ear and made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He slowly nodded and felt the wand tip leave his neck. He turned round and inclined his head, dropping forwards at the hip in an elegant bow that was mirrored by the handsome man opposite. They straightened up, the secretive smirks returning. Harry raised an eyebrow and Draco nodded. They looked at all the people gathered around the platform cheering hysterically.
"That certainly gave them something to talk about," grinned Harry.
"Hmm, why don't we give them something to really talk about?" smirked Draco. Harry grabbed the front of Draco's robes and pulled him into a blistering kiss. Hands wound tantalizingly slowly round necks and waists, and fingers slid through soft hair. They eventually broke apart and saw the stunned (not to mention longing) expressions on everyone's faces.
They grinned…
"…What?"