Chapter 23: Practice and Power

The time for the semi-finals had already come. The first match was on that Saturday, February the fifteenth, just three days away and the students were in complete silence at breakfast Wednesday morning. They were waiting to hear which two House Champions would be facing off against each other first, but none were more anxious to hear the annnouncement more than the Gryffindors and Slytherins.

Since it was known about the condition that both Heads of the respective Houses had made a few months prior all of the Houses were all abuzz. Bets were ready to be placed by many of the older year students while other students- those being closest to the Champions- were busy trying to come up with strategies that could help their House win. Lily in particular was being constantly tipped and encouraged by all of Gryffindor House.

"Remember Evans, keep your grip firm, limbs slightly relaxed and eyes focused on the bloke or blokeet in front of you," Sirius Black kept whispering to her during the agonizing silence as they ate breakfast.

Turning her head to him Lily said, "Blokeet, really."

"Well how the bloody hell am I supposed to know if your going to be facing against another girl or not," Sirius said in annoyance. "Besides, I think it's ridiculous to keep your identity a secret when it's completely obvious that your- Grug!"

Before he could say another word Lily used the nonverbal version of Severus's spell to glue Sirius's tongue to the roof of his mouth.

"The reason the identities of the Champions are hidden is so that they can be more vigilant and be able to think on their feet. I would like to have the same advantage and disadvantage as the other three, thank you very much," she said while flicking her wand again to release the charm.

In truth Lily would have liked to know who her potential opponent was so she could better prepare herself. She had been spending the past few weeks in the Room of Requirement practicing on a life-sized dueling mannaquin, and was often going to McGonagall's office while everyone else was in their own dorms to practice her moves in the Gryffindor Armor.

She was getting used to the feeling of the transformations, and the urge to steal the madalion was not as strong as it was when she first tried it on. However the urge was still there and Lily had to use her willpower not to act upon it.

The temptation and the want for the armor's powerboost was still very lively in her system that she was afraid that she was becoming addicted to it. That rush of power had the same intoxicating feeling as she felt when she dreamt of using the Cruciatus Curse, and when she used the Imperius Curse on Skeerter months before.

"I wonder if the third Curse..."

"Don't even start Evans! It's bad enough that you used the first Unforgivable, and it was worse when you dreamed of using the second. Now you want to try the ultimate Unforgivable Curse? WHAT THE BLOODY HELL HAS GOTTEN INTO YOU LATELY?"

Before Lily could make any kind of mental argument Dumbledore stood up at the podium and a collective breath was taken throughout the Hall.

"Good morning everyone!" the old headmaster began, his twinkling blue eyes roaming the faces of the students. "As you all know today is the day that I make the announcement of which first two House Champions are to be paired against each other. Before I do allow me to congradulate the four Champions on their victory of obtaining their representive titles, and let me assure you that these next few rounds of the tournament will be far more difficult than what you may have faced getting to this point.

"When you all first participated in the qualifying rounds you knew that your opponent was either a friend or a foe in your own House. At this point of the game, you will not know who you are dueling until after the battle has been won, but, even then, you still may not know who he, or she, really is," Dumbledore continued and it seemed like his eyes were looking directly into hers, as though he was speaking directly at her.

After a brief pause he announced, "Now, on to the bouts! The first pair of Champions that will dueling this Saturday, at eleven in the morning, will be... Gryffindor and Hufflepuff! The next two that will duel next Saturday, at eleven that morning, will be... Ravenclaw and Slytherin!

A round of cheers resounded throughout the Hall as the mentioned Houses clapped in relief, knowing that the tension was over and they could better prepare their Champions.

"Remember! After the winners of the Semi-Finals are decided, and their crests have been obtained, the Finals shall commence the week after, so please prepare yourselves and good luck," the wizard concluded, sitting back down at his chair.

When the bell rang for the students to go to class Lily met up with Severus at the oak doors and they began walking to double Ancient Runes.

Later that day, at lunchtime, the Marauders, Mary and Sheila once again converged on their Champion. They kept passing notes to Lily during the classes they had together, nearly getting her and themselves into trouble. Then they did it again whenever they passed in the corridors, but only when Severus was not with her (which was practically all the time).

Now, as they all sat at the red table, Lily had to listen and nod inbetween bites of food as her fellow Gryffindors tried to give her some advice.

"Aim directly at any opening you can Lily," Mary said.

"Keep your arm steady, Red, and don't be afraid to give 'em a Tickling Jinx between blows," Sirius said, earning a slap on the head from the lycan next to him.

"Fight fair even if your opponent doesn't, and disregard the Tickling Jinx suggestion," the Prefect sighed.

"Bring home the title Lily!" Peter squeaked, then fainted when Lily gave him a warm smile.

"Make us proud!" Sheila encouraged.

"You'll be fine, Evans," Potter mumbled, keeping his eyes on his plate. "Just be careful, because, like Dumbledore said, you never know who you're really fighting."

Trying to keep all of that in mind Lily continued eating.

Over at the green table the LAER were having a similar discussion about their Champion, but it was not with as much enthusiasm as their long-term rival's. They were all disappointed that their leader was not made Champion, so all of their focus was on trying to help the House's unwanted Champion.

"I cannot velieve ve must help Vellatrix," Karkaroff said in an acidy voice.

"Unfortunatly," Severus replied to the Bulgarian, "if we want to get Lily transferred into our house, then we need to help our little whore get to the Finals. Knowing that the Gryffindor Champion is sure to make it that far we have the difficult task of training Bellatrix to use more conventional spells, and to restrain her from using Dark Magic."

Mulciber glurbed through spoonfuls of chowder, "Difficult is right, Severus, especially since Bellatrix would prefer to use the Cruciatus Curse to end the bout quickly."

"That's something else we need to worry about," Avery whispered to the others, so a passing Bellatrix could not hear them. "The Dark Lord needs Lily to learn Dark Magic and enjoy using it. How are we going to do that? Lily is too Light."

Smiling Severus said, "Not necessarily," then he told the others about what had occurred between Lily and Bellatrix a few months ago.

He told about the information gathering, the confrontation between Lily and Rita Skeeter, and the use of the Imperius Curse on said reporter.

"And she did it flawlessly," he concluded to his awe-struck audience.

"Wow," Mulciber whispered, stealing a look at the red head as she was talking with her friends, a lustful glimmer in his dull eyes.

"As amazing as it was, it was also stupid for Bellatrix to have said what she did at that luncheon," Avery commented, breaking the silence. "She could've given away everything, even the secret assignment the Dark Lord had for her."

"I agree," Rookwood nodded. "Her blabbling, even during her feined trance, could have jeopardized his plans."

"Which is why it is up to us to keep Bellatrix trained for the Finals, and to have her replaced as soon as possible," Severus said and then all five ate their lunch while discussing the different types of tactics they would use.

"You need to keep your wand steady, Bellatrix," Severus said to the dark-haired girl the next night.

They, along with Rudolphus and the members of the LAER, were in an abandoned dungeon room helping their House Champion prepare for the upcoming semi-finals. She was to duel the Ravenclaw Champion in less than a day, and she still needed to practice some of the higher level dueling spells in case her opponent was a sixth or seventh year student.

"I'm trying!" the frustrated Champion hissed, rubbing her sore wrist. "I've been practicing these flimsy wand movements and spells for the past two weeks, and my wrist is still feeling cramped! Why can't I just use the stronger spells I know? If I did the duel would be over in less than ten seconds!"

Rubbing his eyes in annoyance Severus explained, "Because, dear Bellatrix, if you use your 'stronger' spells you will be disqualified. The armor you were presented with is more than just a fashion statement. It has stronger magic seals inside of them that makes it impossible for anyone to use any Dark or illegal magic. If you try to use any of those spells they will be rebounded back to you, and you will have to suffer the consequences of those spells ten fold more than what your opponent would have to face."

Shocked Bellatrix asked, "So if I try to use my favorite spells I would be the one who will have to suffer the effects?"

"Yes," Severus confirmed, happy that she understood at least one thing he said. "So if you want to make it to the Finals, and not be expelled, you will have to try harder. Now then, make a gentle, controlled movement with your wrist and focus on..."

At the same time another practice duel was unfolding seven floors above the dungeons...

"Expelliarmus!" Lily thought as she pointed her wand at a working practice dummy.

The dummy's "wand" made a sudden flick and the spell was shot back toward Lily. She gave another flick of her wrist and a fiery shield blocked the spell from her. Transferring her wand to her other hand she shot another Disarming Charm at the dummy, which made contact and knocked him off his wheeled feet and free of his "weapon".

Normally she would feel satisfied with her accomplishment, but Lily felt like she needed more of a challenge.

"When I face off against my opponent I have to think that he, or she, will not go easy on me," she thought determindly. "I need to be faster in both wandwork and in mind. I can't allow myself to be taken off guard. This isn't good enough."

Obeying her thoughts the Room of Requirement propped the practice mannaquin up, and both duelists regained their respective stances.

This time Lily let the dummy go first and a hollow voice came out of its mouth as it chanted a Disarming Charm at her, along with another wrist movement that produced another spell that followed. Lily deflected the first charm easily but had to dodge the second spell, which hit the wall behind her and made a singed hole in it.

"Now that's more like it!" the fighter in her exclaimed happily as she fired more spells and hexes at her "opponent".

After another hour and a half of practicing both of the House Champions retired to their common rooms. Bellatrix collapsed on her queen-sized bed in the Slytherin girls dormatories, while Lily went to get ready for her Prefect rounds with Severus. She disposed of her things, tidied herself up, and made her way to the portrait hole.

Before she could step out Remus called to her, and Lily remembered the agreement Severus made with him in the library.

"Sorry Rem, I forgot," Lily said sheepishly as the other Gryffindor caught up with her.

Smiling Remus said, "Given the circumstances I would be surprised if you did remember."

With a carefree laugh both of the Prefects made their way out of the Tower to begin their rounds.

Half an hour past in silence, then Remus broke it by stating, "I heard that there was quite a turnout at Slughorn's party two weeks ago, and that you were the guest of honor."

"Yes, I was, but it wasn't that big of a deal," Lily answered nonchalently. "Just Slughorn's little way of trying to make connections and gain something in return later on, same old same old. You should come next time Remus. I think it might help you for, you know, after Hogwarts."

Shaking his head Remus said, "Thanks Lily, but I'd rather not. I'm not really into parties, and even if I was, I wouldn't want to go to a party that invited the school's biggest suck-ups to come and meet a bunch of older suck-ups. Even we werewolves have some dignaty."

He whispered the last part and cocked his head a little for effect, making Lily punch him on the arm.

"Ow! What was that for?" he asked while rubbing his arm, although they both knew it really did not hurt because werewolves were much sturdier than normal humans.

"That was for calling me a suck-up and acting like a peacock," the lioness replied, smirking. "Speaking of peacocks, did you hear that Narcissia Black and Lucius Malfoy are getting married this summer?"

"Oh, believe me Lily, I heard," Remus answered. "Sirius wouldn't stop griping about it during the Start of Term Feast. He kept saying that if he didn't runway from home beforehand, he would be forced to attend by his dear, old mother. But how did you know?"

"Narcissia invited me Christmas night before the Yule Ball, and Malfoy told me during Slughorn's party," she replied.

Remus practically skidded to a stop behind her as he repeated, "Narcissia Black invited you to her wedding?"

"I believe I just confirmed that," Lily said as she went back to her friend. "But don't worry, I'm not interested in going and I am actually hoping something will happen this summer that will make me miss the 'blessed' event."

Somewhat reassured by her statement Remus continued with Lily on their route.

As they were making their way back to Gryffindor Tower to conclude their shift Lily heard a noise down the corridor. The sound was like a mixture of chimes and harpstrings, beautiful and almost mesmerizing.

Taking out her wand Lily motioned for her partner to go ahead, assuring him that she would be fine.

"House Champ, remember?" Lily smiled as she made her way towards the source of the strange sound.

Remus looked at her curiously, then he shrugged and went up the rest of the way alone, yawning as he walked.

Walking back in the direction she came from Lily could hear the music getting louder, but was intrigued by why she was the only one who could hear it. It was practically echoing through the empty halls, yet no one seemed to be coming out to investigate it.

Rounding a corner Lily looked around until her eyes saw a small package leaning against the base of an old suit of armor. Lighting the tip of her wand Lily carefully picked up the package with her other hand and studied it.

It was wrapped in silvery paper and tied with green ribbon. It was the size of an four by six inch picture frame and one corner of the paper was marked "fragile". There was also a note in mixed ruins being held between the ribbon and the package, and it was addressed to her.

Taking the note out of the ribbon Lily read:

"Dear Lily,

I'm sorry I could not give this to you earlier, but it seemed as though we have not had a moment's peace all day. I have been busy trying to tutor someone who is beyond incompetent and you have been surrounded by your many Gryffindor admirers for whatever reason. I hope you have been doing well with so much going on due to the Semi-Finals coming up in less than a day.

Keeping that in mind, I hope that you enjoy the gift I have gotten you as an early Valentine's Day present.

In case you are wondering as to what that mysterious music was I had the package enchanted so that only you could find it. The spell is called 'Conceptus Cithara'. I created it in honor of you and I am pleased to say that it works both ways. So now we can give gifts to each other without anybody trying to pry into our business.

Again, I hope you enjoy the gift and have a Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow.

Good night, my beautiful Tiger Lily.

Always yours,

Sev"

Grinning broadly Lily opened the package and saw that it was a picture frame, with a wizarding photograph of Severus and herself from Slughorn's party. They were in front of an open window and the half-moon was shining brightly behind, just like it had the night Severus gave her the necklace.

The frame itself was of silver and it was decorated with interwoven vines of emerald green, while at the corners there were deep red rosesand the sides had tiger lilies on them.

When she got back to her dormroom her roommates were already sleeping, so Lily set the picture on her desk and went into the bathroom to change into her gown.

With that done she climbed into bed and allowed the stress from the day slip off of her as she slept.


A.N. I know it's another filler chapter, but I wanted to have more time to develop the dueling scenes. Besides, what do you all think of Lily's Darker half now?

R&R!