Well, this is my second Fan Fic. In this I'm going to explore magic duelling to the extent that Harry's going to be able to do really cool things that not even Dumbledore could do in the Books. :P So sorry if that bothers you.

Enjoy, and more importantly: REVIEW!

Harry glanced at his comrades fleetingly. The whole squad was around him, Felix, Dennis, Melissa and Cudge. They were crouched below a grotty, curse stained door in a dank corridor, and all had their wands grasped in front of them, Dennis's wavering slightly as he shivered with nerves and cold.

Harry flashed the hand signal: "Go!" and blasted the ancient door off its hinges with a curse. The squad instantly fired spells into the space and Harry could hear screams and grunts inside as the curses hit their marks. He joined the attack, wordlessly shooting stunning spells and obscuring and disorientating curses into the room.

When the squad felt the room had been blitzed enough, they strode in, eyes flashing over the bodies, alert to any movement. The room was piled with the bodies of about five bulky men wearing wizards robes. It looked as though they had been discussing something as the aurors had arrived.

"Make sure none of them gets any funny ideas and tries something." Harry said to the other aurors, "I'm going for a closer look."

The others nodded and stood in a circle around him, wands pointed at the stunned and injured figures on the dusty floor. Harry swept his eyes around the room. They were standing in a magically enlarged sewer that had been discovered by a Magical Law Enforcement officer, who had told the Auror office. Apparently, it was a meeting place for magical criminals who were getting involved in the muggle drug trade, using their powers to make vast sums of money on the market. It was the kind of job muggle haters loved, and the thugs lining the floor of this room were probably Neo Death-Eaters looking for some money, and mabye fun. But there would always be a mastermind behind this kind of operation, the people lying next to him were too stupid to organise themselves. They had been taken out by few simple stunning spells and curses. The Aurors needn't have been called in. He sighed. He supposed you couldn't be too cautious.

There didn't seem to be much in the room apart from a small wooden table. The walls were bare stone, and the floor was dirty wooden boards. But there could be something hidden from the naked eye. They needed to comb the room.

"Squad, search the room. Cudge, you keep an eye on the sleepers." Harry said, motioning to the thugs.

"What are we looking for?" Melissa said, staring at the bare room.

"I don't know, concealment charms, hidden doors. We can't be sure there isn't any more info in this place."

"Right." she said, and swept her wand over the room, muttering incantations. Felix began to do the same, and caught Harry's eye.

"Why were we called out for this lot?" Felix said in an undertone, pointing to the bodies. "Don't you think they went down a bit too easily? I don't like it."

"I know what you mean." Harry said, as he scoured the room. "Maybe we should put up a few shield charms, just in case."

Harry raised his wand and said "Protego Totalum" As expected, a shield sprang up around the aurors, slightly shimmering in the light from the single bulb on the ceiling. But suddenly, almost a split second after he finished his spell, a dozen curses rained down on the aurors. A few were repelled by the powerful shield charm, but many broke through, including a flash of green light that looked like avada kedavra.

The aurors, already on high alert, sprang into action. Harry flicked his wand and the desk standing in the middle of the room zoomed up to meet three new killing curses, where it exploded and splinted. Melissa transfigured every splinter into a knife, and she sent them hurtling into the ceiling where the curses had originated. Most slammed into the roof and clanged off, but a few seemed to just melt into the stone, and a second later, the enchantments around these patches were broken and the squad could clearly see the holes from which the enemy's spells were originating.

"There!" yelled Cudge, and began firing explosive curses at the gaps. A particularly strong reducto from his flashing wand reduced the whole ceiling to dust with a colossal bang, and the aurors saw at least seven hooded figures falling, slowing down even as the squad watched as the enemies spells began to work. The attackers did not seem to mind hitting their fallen comrades with spells, and were firing indiscriminately, so the floor began to boil and buckle under Harry's feet.

He began countering the enemies curses. In a one on one situation, he would have won easily, the curses were so simple and predictable, but they had been taken by surprise, and he was forced to defend, stumbling backwards against the force of the attack.

"GET BACK!" he roared to his squad, countering three curses at once. "GET THEM ON EQUAL FOOTING!"

The aurors worked there way towards the door, feverishly countering the spells that were flying their way. Felix was performing a very complex spell on the floor beneath his feet, as he was covered form curses by Dennis and Melissa. A few seconds later he had finished, and the floor seemed to bubble and melt, then sprout upwards, so a giant wall of thick earth zoomed up like a shell over the aurors, blocking out the enemies spells. They had been encased by the spell, in the centre of the room, so they couldn't reach the door. Even so, they were momentarily safe. Harry sighed with relief.

"Cheers Felix." he said, slumping against the wall of the shell.

"No problem." Felix replied, grinning. "Been working on that one for ages. I was looking for a chance to try it out."

But there was no time to relax. They could hear the curses raining down on the earthen shield.

"All right, let's apperate out into the corridor..." Harry began.

"And what are the chances there's a charm to prevent us doing just that?" Dennis said, rolling his eyes at Harry. "Let's just blast this earth thing into there faces and curse them all. All they ever do is just fire the same old spells at you, these goons are so predictable."

Dennis grabbed his wand raised it, ready for action.

"Let's think this through." Melissa said. "They aren't total pushovers!"

"Er..guys… There is a time limit on this spell, you know, especially with about a million curses fired at it." Felix said, pointing at the shell, which was booming and creaking with the force of the magic on it. Harry thought quickly. They needed a plan, right now.

"Right!" said Harry, attempting to take command. "Cudge, use a confrigro on this shield. Melissa, transfigure the pieces into something to confuse them... you said birds are the easiest?"

"Yeah, birds would be best." she said, nodding.

"Good. Everyone else... just pick them off with a few stunning spells. That okay with everyone?"

"It better be, this baby's about to blow!" Felix shouted, "Cudge, go, now, do your spell."

Cudge nodded and raised his wand. He gave it a few practise swishes, knowing his spell had to be very good.

"CONFRIGRO!" he howled, and the force of the beam which erupted from Cudge's wand singed the tip of Harry's nose. There was a gigantic whooshing boom, and the earthen shell ripped itself apart from the force of all the different spells hitting it. Not sooner had the clumps of earth begun to strike their attackers had they changed into cawing eagles and vultures, flapping around in a mass of feathers and talons.

The hooded figures were totally disorientated, crying out and shooting spells in all directions. With perfect steady aims, the aurors shot stunning spells at the flailing figures, blocking the few curses that managed to get anywhere near them. In a few short moments it was over, with every attacker crashing to the ground, knocked out cold.

"Well, that was pretty easy." Harry said, lowering his wand and grinning with relief, "Unless they have a few more tricks up their.."

And suddenly the room exploded. A gigantic fireball erupted from the centre, expanding too fast for them to even try to raise their wands. Harry saw Felix frantically waving incantations even as the ball of light slammed into his friend. Harry saw the rushing red hit him, felt extreme pain for a second, then blacked out.

Harry came round in a pure white room, lying on an incredibly soft bed. For a second it was bliss, and then the pain hit him. He ached on every part of his body, and the front of him, his chest, legs and face, they didn't just ache, they burned. It was an itching, nasty sort of burn, like being stung by nettles only ten times worse. He groaned, and tried to sink into his bed and go to sleep. It was impossible, he was smarting too much. He lay there, not thinking, for about five seconds, and then realised.

"What have I done?" he thought, remembering finally the events of...last night? A week ago? He had totally failed in his mission. Well... he had taken out a few thugs, but that was pointless unless the squad could get enough info to take down the entire operation. They had found out nothing, and for what… he suddenly thought of the others, and tried to jump up, but collapsed back into his bed with the pain. His first mission as the squad leader… and it had gone so badly wrong. He hoped that no one had been badly hurt… they should have been killed; one of the others must have used some sort of spell to protect them, it probably Felix. He was always good at things like that, complex things that took a long time. But he wasn't so good at duelling. Harry had been chosen as the leader because of his excellent duelling skills, and his ability to always keep his head in the face of danger. After Voldemort, nothing seemed to faze him anymore.

But before, when he was made the leader, there had been mutterings of favouritism, because he was famous. And Harry had to admit, someone like Felix, who was so clever, or Dennis, who had a lot of experience, seemed the obvious choice. And now, he felt there was little chance of him retaining his job. He had given everything to get this! Ginny… "No," he told himself, "don't' think about that…"

He managed to raise his head a few inches above his bed, and began to look around the room. It looked like he was in a ward in St Mungo's, he could remember the cream walls and tasteful paintings of the aurors special ward from when he had visited it last, during his training. The ministry employed top healers to keep the aurors alive, as they were an important part of Britain's security. One of them was rushing over to him now.

"Mr Potter, sir, don't overexert yourself. Curse burns are nasty things, you'll hurt yourself." the healer said. She was a young woman, small and with blonde hair. She had sharp, intelligent eyes.

"I'm healer Evans, sir," she said, flashing him a quick, slightly forced, smile. "I'll be taking care of you while you're here, but we've got a burns specialist who should be taking over soon, they're still preparing your treatment. I'm amazed you came around this quickly, the other members of your squad with major injuries are still out cold." the healer, Evans, looked up and down his body in puzzlement.

Harry was bursting with questions. He asked the most pressing one first.

"How are they?" he said.

"The other members of your squad?" Evans said.

"Yes, yes, them." Harry snapped, impatient. If anything had happened to them…

"Well, I'll just go and check," she turned to another healer who was stood in the middle of the room, waving her wand so that a pen was magically speeding along a piece of paper. "Beth," Evans called, running towards the healer, "the other members of Potter's squad, how are they? He wants to know." she said, jabbing her thumb in Harry's direction.

The healer who wasn't Evans, a plump sort of woman, who hadn't stopped her wand taking notes even as she concentrated on something else, came slowly towards Harry, her papers bobbing along behind her.

"Now let me see…Cudgely Barns, Dennis Falconer-Hawthorn, Melissa Lewis and Felix Edwards?" she said, peering at her notes.

"Yes!" Harry roared, then began coughing at once.

"Don't speak too loudly, your throat got hit by the blast!" said Healer Evans. But Harry had already stooped his choking.

"What's happened to them?" he said, his voice coming out as a hoarse gasp.

"Barns, he got pretty badly burnt, he won't be seeing any action for a while. Especially his left arm…that's going to need attention. If I'm honest, there's a chance he won't make it out with his arm intact." the healer said, her voice brisk.

Harry felt a sinking feeling in his chest. Barns…he was always there, big and warm, he had to be one of the most well meaning people Harry had ever met. He had always had a talent for producing spells of immense power, but had never mastered the subtlety of tracking and transfiguring. But his sheer brute force had got the squad (then not Harry's) through some tough times. And now… Harry couldn't have Barns on his conscience.

"And the others?" Harry pressed the healer, who was sorting through her records.

"Dennis," she paused ever so slightly at his second name, a trace of scorn in her voice, "Falconer-Hawthorn, he is currently stable, much the same as yourself. But he will be out for a week, and still needs specialist treatment, like you."

Harry thought "If only Dennis was the one who got hit by it the worst" and immediately felt guilty. But Dennis had always been the squad member Harry had disliked the most. He was mediocre in all types of fighting, and only had a little talent when it came to tracking. He was openly disparaging of the "grunt work", as he called it, that the aurors had to do. He was looking for promotion to the role of officer as soon as possible, and was only using the prestigious auror role as a stepping stone to a big job at the ministry. He came from one of the richest families in the wizarding world, and went not to Hogwarts, but to the renowned, and expensive, school 'St Auburns' in London. He had got one on one lessons, and tailored tutoring, so that any natural talent in him was squeezed out into intelligence. He wasn't clever, he'd just been taught a lot. Harry resented him for not trying and expecting his connections to get him promoted, and Dennis resented Harry for landing the squad leader job.

"Mellisa Lewis was closest to the counter charm performed by Felix Andrews…" the healer was saying. Harry snapped out of his reverie and paid attention at once. "she only suffered minor burns, but struck the wall of the room, and suffered a non serious head injury. She will be fully recovered within a short space of time."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. At last some good news. Melissa, the only female member of his squad, was an expert at transfiguration, as she had demonstrated in the battle earlier. Harry had never really got to know her. He knew she was cool, calm and determined, but she never had really tried to take over the leader's role. She remained a mystery to him. She had gone to Hogwarts, and he remembered her vaguely from Ravenclaw, way back in the day. There was only one more person to talk about. Felix. He was one of Harry's best friends at the auror office. He was extremely clever, and had gone to the same school as Dennis, thanks to a scholarship program. His skill was complex charms that took a long to execute, but that were very powerful. He was never any good at quick decisions, but was excellent at working things out and problem solving. It had been his counter charm that had saved them all. Harry couldn't bare it if something had happened to him.

"And our little hero, Andrews, well, he didn't manage to make the charm work perfectly on himself, but it still protected him quite well. He is in a little better shape than you, but he'll still be out of action for about a week." the healer finished, and looked Harry up and down. "I must say, the whole squad's lucky to be alive, a few seconds later for that charm, and you would have all had crippling injuries. I really must be going. Good luck." she added, and strode off into the ward.

"Did you get all the information you needed?" healer Evans asked.

"Yeah, I think so." Harry said. It wasn't as bad as he thought. But it wasn't as good as he'd hoped either. He still felt there were things he wanted to know.

"How did we get hit? I mean, we took out every wizard in that room, and then a giant ball of flames comes and eats us up!" Harry said, thinking back to the erupting fire. Evans looked slightly worried.

"The back up team who retrieved you when no one reported to the high command left behind an auror to find out what he happened, but as he tried some basic revelatory spells, the room's charm failed, it just closed up. The agent doing the search was nearly killed, he said the walls were just closing in on him. Now the room's just a normal muggle sewer. The people you faced were very meticulous in getting rid of evidence…I wonder…." she suddenly put a hand to her mouth. "But it's not my place to tell you these things; I'll leave it to your superiors. Sir." she said.

Harry realised he should probably wait for someone higher up to come and tell him what was going on. He needed rest anyway. The pain was bearable now, buried away in the back of his mind, and he suddenly felt incredibly tired. His eyes drooped.

"There, I told you, sleeping potion still on him and he wakes up. Now he's finally back to normal." Evans voice came from far away. "Night Night!" she said and Harry's vision blurred as he sank into a deep sleep.

When he next came round, he saw a familiar figure next to his bed.

"Perce! I mean…Officer Weasley." he said, grinning. But the smile slid off his face as he saw Percy Weasley's expression.

"We need to talk, Harry." He said, frowning down at Harry over his horn rimmed spectacles.

"I'm listening." Harry said, worried. Percy gave a tiny grin.

"You're not going to enjoy this." he said.