Word Count: 2,547
Golden Opportunities – Welcome Feast Duels
The time was turning to the seven o'clock in the evening on September the first; the students would be arriving in half an hour and all the preparations were made. All anyone had to do now was wait nervously playing with thumbs, biting nails, fear the up-coming week... fear the Marauders and try to guess who will be first on the so-named 'hit list'.
Harry and Sirius were stood on a platform that Harry had conjured at the front of the Great Hall where the Head Table would normally be stationed. Each had their wand out and were just stepping into a duelling stance. Sirius had been begging Harry all day to have a duel with him, just to test out his duelling skills as the Headmaster had granted Harry permission to start a small duelling club for the top two years.
So now here they both were, wands out, aimed at the other, spells already planned out in their heads. Unbeknownst to the two on the platform, Headmaster Dumbledore had just entered the hall via the entrance doors and was now stood with his hands clasped behind his back, waiting in anticipation for the show his new Professor and student were about to put on. Had Harry seen him, he would have surely groaned out loud at the amount of twinkling going on in the man's eyes.
Up at the platform, the two duellists were looking in each other's eyes, each waiting for the other to start. After just five seconds in his waiting stance and, quite frankly getting rather tired of it, Sirius jumped into action.
"Expelliarmus!" cried the teen and there was a flash of scarlet light burst from his wand, heading straight for Harry.
The young Professor, having been waiting patiently for his opponent to begin the duel, grinned at the first spell that had fallen from Sirius' lips. With feline grace, he dodged the spell easily, already raising his wand to fire off his own attack.
"Rictusempra!" Harry called out, a stream of silver light sprang out of his wand at hurtling speed and made it's way very quickly into Sirius' chest, leaving the Gryffindor doubled over, coughing. "Wingardium Leviosa!" yelled the Professor, wand pointed at his student.
Sirius was raised in the air by some unknown force and was looking around wildly, searching for the cause. His eyes found Harry and narrowed. He discreetly moved so his wand was aimed at his Professor, but out of his line of sight and muttered something under his breath.
Harry just had time to widen his eyed before Sirius' spell hit him. His arms snapped to his sides and legs shot quickly together. He mentally cursed himself for under-estimating his godfather's abilities. He'd grown up in the Black household... one had to learn how to take care of oneself quickly... especially someone like Sirius. He released the breath he'd been holding through his nose and watched as Sirius fell to the ground, finally released from the hovering charm.
Sirius noticed with annoyance that Harry's hadn't fallen over and was just standing stock still, staring at him. He got up and rubbed his back-side free of the dull ache that had made its way there. Standing up straight, he raised his wand again, aiming it at Harry, fully ready to perform another spell but something stopped him. Harry was glowing...
Great, Thought Harry. Just what I need. Ok Harry. Concentrate. He cleared his mind of stray thoughts and focused on releasing himself from his future godfather's damn body bind. He saw Sirius aim his wand, open his mouth but as he was about to say his next spell, stop and stare at Harry. The time travelling boy-who-lived inwardly grinned. He knew he was glowing bright green; it happened when he did wandless magic. He also knew how to mask it if needs be, but he wanted to stall Sirius, so thought a little light show might be in order.
The green light flashed slightly and Harry felt his toes begin to move. With another great flash, he was released from his bind and standing in his duelling stance with a great grin on his face. Sirius was still stood at the other end of the platform, gaping wide-eyed at Harry.
"You caught me off guard... Not bad. Be proud in the fact that you are one of the few that have ever done that to me." Spoke the Professor. Sirius shook his head and narrowed his eyes.
"How'd you do that?" He questioned. "No one ever gets out of body-binds without outside assistance."
"Bar me, obviously. Now, let's continue." They duelled in a similar way for the next 20 minutes. Each had their high points and each had their lower points. Harry had lowered his level to match that of a seventh year to keep a relative par with Sirius... to make it a fair fight, so to speak. And after a while, Sirius had seemed to catch onto this, leaving him feeling rather irritated.
"Hold up!" He shouted, causing Harry to pause in mid-spell and send his student a questioning look. "You're not using your full power." Sirius yelled in an accusing tone. His opponent merely raised an eyebrow.
"I'd have thought that would have been obvious Sirius. You asked me for a duel, and I don't think the Headmaster will be pleased if one of his students wound up dead." Harry said flatly, watching Sirius carefully.
"Why would I end up dead?"
"The last person I duelled died... Well, second to last. That's beside the point. The point is, I am not using my full potential when duelling you because you 'will' end up getting hurt." He raised his hand to stop Sirius from protesting. "However, I will raise it a few notches, if you like." He was inwardly laughing at his student's attitude. He'd have expected this from Snape perhaps... but a 16 year old Sirius was simply too much. Sirius; ever the proud Gryffindor.
"Fine, but don't expect me to hold back!" Harry nodded his acknowledgment and resumed his stance, gesturing for Sirius to make the first or, if you want to get technical seventy-sixth move to start."Lacamum Inflamaray!" A short stream of fire shot from Sirius' wand and flew at Harry.
"Aqua-aspergo!" Harry countered, sending a jet of water soaring through the air towards the approaching fire, effectively dousing the flames.
"Tarantallegra." The Professor dodged the hex he'd remembered being used on Neville in his fifth year and sent low level-almost harmless cutting hex in Sirius' direction in return.
The pair continued to throw spells, jinxes, hexes at each other, causing minimal damage but successfully draining a little of the others power at the same time for the next 15 minutes. That was until Sirius yelled out a spell Harry figured he must have learnt in a book at the Black home.
"Ulna Confringo!" Violent purple light erupted from the wand in Sirius' hand and spiralled towards Harry, or rather, his arm. The light hit Harry's wand arm and Harry himself gasped in pain. He sent a disbelieving look at his opponent before raising his left hand as he cradled his right arm to his chest.
"Stupefy!" He put almost none of his true power into that spell but it was effective enough; Sirius' eyes rolled back into their sockets and he collapsed into unconsciousness. Harry manoeuvred his hand into a claw-like position before calling out "Accio wand!" ultimately calling Sirius' trusty wand to him.
Harry looked down at the arm cradled to his chest and winced. He had to admit though, it was a good spell for Sirius to use in a duel, or for anyone to use in a duel for that matter. It hurt like a bitch though. He pressed his left hand on the pain ridden arm and closed his eyes in concentration. He glowed, that same bright green colour for a few seconds then with a slight flash; he opened his eyes and smiled.
Flexing the fingers in his right hand and moving the arm around a little, he confirmed that the arm had healed correctly. Then, he turned his attention to the bundle on the floor of the platform that was Sirius Black. He walked towards his opponent and aimed his wand.
"Enervate." He said quietly and the bundle began to move into a more comfortable position.
Sirius opened his eyes and sat up, groaning at the aches in his muscles. He then looked up at the smiling Harry and realisation hit him. So he groaned again. Harry only chuckled.
"It was a good duel Sirius." Commented his Professor as he held out a hand for Sirius to take. Reaching up, the teen clasped the offered hand and was hauled up into a standing position. The two bowed and shook hands firmly. There was a sudden burst of applause coming from the rest of the hall.
The students had arrived while Harry and Sirius were duelling and the pair had failed to notice. This might have been due to the fact that The Headmaster had gestured for everyone to be quiet and watch the duel in complete silence. So now the mostly full Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables were cheering loudly and the occupants of the Slytherin table were sneering in Sirius' direction.
Professor and Student looked at each other and smiled broadly before turning to their audience, bowing their thanks. They bother stepped off the platform and Harry banished it.
"You should go to the Hospital Wing Mr Black." Commented the Headmaster who had walked up to them after viewing the whole affair with a mixture of fascination, enjoyment and pride that one of his students could duel so well.
Sirius turned to look at Dumbledore and grinned. "Ah Sir, I'll be fine. I just need some food inside me." He said cheerfully as if he didn't have numerous cuts and scrapes over his person. Just then a shout from the group's left caught all of their attention.
"Padfoot!" They all turned their attention to the approaching group of three Gryffindor teenagers. One of which had the most unruly mop of black hair known to date, Harry's hair not withstanding, one was looking rather pale and had concern etched on his features and the last was rather short and slightly chubby. Harry recognised them as James Potter, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.
"Hey guys." Sirius greeted. He patted James and Peter on their shoulders then turned to Remus with an award-winning smile. "Ah fair Remus, for whom my heart yearns. How I have missed you." He leaned over and kissed his partner fully and passionately on the lips, in front of everyone. Remus would kill him for this later on; that much was true, but it felt good now, so he didn't much care.
A few catcalls, wolf-whistles and rather crude comments later, the lip- locked pair broke apart... but only when Harry cleared his throat, loudly. Remus was blushing crimson and Sirius had the decency to blush along with him; though he had a satisfied smirk on his face.
"Ah Sirius, hospital wing, now please." Harry looked at the flushed Remus Lupin and stifled his laugh. "Mr Lupin can accompany you if you like. I will be up shortly." Sirius bowed his thanks and bolted from the hall with Remus hand in hand.
"How come we don't get that kind of reception?" James pouted dramatically and Harry laughed.
"Well Mr Potter. I'm sure Sirius would be happy to accommodate your needs, if you asked him." James looked at his new Defence Professor for the first time properly, and then shrugged.
"Remus would throw a fit. Bye Professor! Great duel by the way!" Then, dragging Peter along behind him, James made his way to the far end of the Gryffindor table deep in thought. He'd been told the new Professor looked a lot like him by Sirius through their customary letters, but he'd not really thought much on it. Even with the Professor's last name being Potter, he didn't think he'd look exactly like him... well, bar the eye colour. He would talk to the others about it all later on, but now... Food.
"Why in Merlin's name were you having a duel with the bloody Professor, Sirius?" Remus asked his boyfriend in a loud tone that made the latter wince. The two were walking towards the hospital wing in silence before Remus decided to finally blurt out what he'd wanted to ask his mate ever since he and his friends had entered the Great Hall.
"I asked for the duel, Moony." Was all Sirius could think to say. It was lame, and Sirius knew that.
"Oh, you asked for the duel. Why would you ask for a duel with a Defence Professor that most definitely has the power to kill you?" demanded the irate brunette and Sirius sighed.
"Because he's been told he can start a duelling club. I just wanted to test my abilities and duelling one of you guys isn't the same as duelling a fully qualified Professor. No offence" He added as the pair rounded the corner to the Hospital Wing.
Silence followed that last remark and Sirius thought that Remus had forgotten the whole 'kiss-in-front-of-the-whole-school' thing. But luck, as it were, was not on the young Gryffindor's side and Remus launched into yet another tirade when they'd entered the Hospital Wing. Sirius just laid on one of the beds and smiled at his partner, apologising every now and then and finally kissing him to shut him up. This would be a sure fire way to end the discussion but again lady-luck had left Sirius high and dry.
The two were interrupted by Harry clearing his throat. Remus disconnected himself from his bed-ridden boyfriend and glared, slapping him up-side the head. Harry just chuckled at the couple's antics.
"There is a time and a place Sirius... inside the Hospital wing with the Defence Professor... isn't one of them." Remus scowled and folded his arms stubbornly, a faint hint of a pout forming on his lips. Their Professor laughed again.
"Mr Lupin really. You really need not be ashamed of being in love." He smiled at them warmly. "Anyway, how are you feeling Sirius? Some of those hexes were nasty." He quickly gave Sirius a once-over and deemed him physically fine. During the war, one had to be able to determine ones injuries correctly. You could be in a very sticky and painful situation if you had deemed your injuries minor and they turned out to be painfully... not minor.
"Sir, I feel fine. I'm more concerned about your arm. That last curse I sent your way was one my father made up; breaks a persons arm, leaving hem in great deal of pain." The teen's worry-filled eyes wandered over Harry's right arm.
"It's fine. Wandless magic, my own core-magic... I healed myself and feel perfectly fine. But congratulations on getting in the hit... a very effective spell indeed." He paused a moment. "Though I don't recommend you use that on any student's any time soon. It's on its way to being a dark spell." He nodded to the couple then turned to walk out of the Hospital wing.
Written by Messrmarauder (REVISED)