The duels in Finland and Spain were skipped. I didn't write about them because I was finding it difficult to write so many original duels. The duels written about in this chapter are the duels that are to be taking place in Italy.

And Harry breaking up with Parvati over her not wanting to get involved with things in the war was alluded to in an earlier chapter. When Parvati finds out Harry knows so much about the Junior Death Eaters in Hogwarts, and what he's trying to do to stop them, she tells him he shouldn't be involved in it.

Chapter 10 Duels and Prophecies

"Welcome to our first quarter-final match up that pits the United Kingdom's Harry Potter and Estonia's Triska Rebane. Harry Potter enters this round going undefeated but acquiring only sixteen out of the possible eighteen points. Triska Rebane enters this round having lost one match-up, as she has also acquired sixteen out of a possible eighteen points."

Harry stood on his end of the platform, taking in a deep breath. The crowd was going crazy around him. He was nervous and he could feel his palms starting to sweat. Across from him, Triska didn't seem to be fazed by any of it and if she was fazed, she was damn good at hiding it.

"Duelers, bow to each other!"

Harry bowed low, watching as his opponent did the same.

"You may begin on the count of three. One...two...three!"

Harry twisted his wand, a spiraling jet of blue magic flying from its tip. He side stepped Triska's first spell and watched as his own was blocked with a dazzling shield of gold. His arm sliced through the air as dozens of yellow bullets of energy shot toward his opponent. They peppered the golden shield, letting out small 'dings' as they tried to overwhelm the protective magic with numbers rather then power.

The Estonian's shield exploded outward, flying in jagged pieces of magic at Harry. The teen jammed his wand into the ground, a wave of energy spreading outward from his position. His attack dissolved the shards of defensive magic in mid-air, and continued across the platform. Rebane threw up a glittering purple shield, his magic slamming into it with a low rumble.

Triska dispelled her shield, shooting a handful of bone breakers at Harry. He barely managed to bat the first one away and had to dive backwards to avoid the others. While he fell, he launched his own powerful piercing hexes. His spells were all blocked with relative ease. Rebane lashed out with a whip of magic. Ducking underneath the flailing strand of energy the Boy-Who-Lived swished his wand upward, launching a sickle of crackling red light at his opponent. Triska jabbed her wand at the sickle of magic, cutting it in half and sent both parts careening away from her.

She conjured a coyote that ran forward as Harry blocked a trio of spells aimed at his knees. The coyote launched itself at him, going high towards his face. The green-eyed male's hand shot out and grabbed the beast by its throat, stopping it in mid-leap. He tossed the canine into the path of an incoming spell, ignoring the blood that splattered across his torso.

Harry sliced his wand through the air, connecting with another incoming spell and shattering it into a shower of glittering sparks. He continued through with the movement by weaving his wand into a complicated pattern. A blast of raw magic shot out of his wand like a cannon, racing across the platform. The Estonian had to dive out of the way, the power of the energy scorching her dueling robe. His magic slammed into the wards of the platform, where they lit up and flickered unsteadily for a moment before returning to their invisible state.

As she got to her feet Triska launched two spiraling jets of azure light. Harry batted one away and caught the other one with the tip of his wand. He flung the curse back at his opponent, adding a little bit of his own power into the spell. It shattered through her shield, catching her in the side and blowing away a chunk of flesh.

His opponent staggered back, her left hand flying to the hole in her side. Her wand cut through the air, as she tried to force Harry on the defensive by overwhelming him with spells. The British duelist threw himself to the side, avoiding her initial barrage. As he fell a dart of yellow magic shot out of his wand and collided with one of Triska's spell. The two spells reacted violently together, exploding in a powerful blast of magical energy. Rebane was thrown backwards, where she slammed into the wards before falling to the ground. Harry, who was already on the floor, skidded across the platform and, despite his flailing, slid right off the edge.

Silence filled the arena as both duelist fell off the platform at almost the same time. As both duelist climbed to their feet, Triska more slowly, they looked expectantly at the referee. The ref glanced at the judges table, where the person in charge of the ward-stone sat. With some prodding from a wand, the ward-stone lit up and the wards became illuminated. Harry's side flashed gold and Triska's side flashed black.

Harry had no idea what that meant, but judging by the disappointed look on his opponent's face, it seemed that Harry had won. He pumped his fist in the air and gave a yell of triumph. He watched as the Estonian was quickly accosted by a healer and then brought out of the arena. He warily fell to his knees before leaning back until he was sitting on his ass. His healer, the same healer he dealt with the entire tournament, quickly approached his side, kneeling down next to him. Sirius and Remus appeared at his side an instant later, ecstatic at the teen's victory.

"The winner of tonights match-up faces off against Belgium Andre Peeters tomorrow night. This semi-final match-up is a good one if I do say so myself. Last years winner, Italy's very own DeAngelo Benedetto against the United Kingdom's famed Harry Potter! Both opponents are undefeated, though Potter only has eighteen out of twenty points, compared to Benedetto's perfect twenty for twenty. Looks like the referee is ready to start this one off!"

"Duelers, bow to each other!"

Harry bowed low, his throat going dry.

"You may begin on the count of three. One...two...three!"

Benedetto started off with a sparkling jet of pink light that slammed into Harry's conjured shield. The spell let out a loud 'bang' upon impact and exploded in a brilliant shower of sparks. The crowd cheered loudly at the action, and Harry's eyebrows furrowed together. The spell DeAngelo had used was a rather weak explosion hex, it was mostly used as a distraction in battle. It appeared the Italian was showing off for the crowd, keeping up his image as crowd favorite.

The Boy-Who-Lived slashed his wand, the lance of white magic deflected into the ground, where it exploded in a wave of energy and a cloud of splinters. Grasping his wand with both hands, Harry released a blast of magic, his wand buckling under the power. His powerful magic was dodged, slamming against the wards with the sound of thunder.

DeAngelo waved his wand, shooting a jet of water like a fire hose. Harry twirled his own wand in a circle above his head, redirecting the water to flow in a cyclone above his body. Upon realizing that he was only helping the teen, the Italian wizard stopped his water attack, leaving Harry with a large cyclone of water above his head.

Benedetto launched a barrage of powerful bludgeoners, hoping to make Harry drop the water on himself as he was forced to shield. Instead, Harry made the cyclone of water form a dome around his body. The spells slammed into the watery shield, where pillars of steam rose into the air. A whip of lightning shot forward, slamming into the liquid dome and making energy crackle across its surface.

Harry jabbed his wand in front of him, his dome of water shooting at DeAngelo like a tidal wave. It crashed down over his opponent, churning across the platform before flowing off the sides. The older fighter stood in the same spot, bone dry but panting from the effort of keeping himself so. With a flick of his wrist, Benedetto launched a crackling jet of teal energy.

Harry jumped up, using the tip of his wand to push the path of the spell downwards, underneath his elevated legs. He landed in a crouch, another spell passing inches over his head. He sprung forward, parrying a curse before it even left his opponents wand. Twirling out of the way of another spell, Harry launched a powerful cutter. His spell was deflected into the ground, where it gouged out a large swath in the wood of the platform.

He took another few steps forward, parrying a curse as his opponent took a few steps backwards. Diving underneath a thin jet of magic, he conjured a circle of protective magic and used it as cover as he moved forward. He pushed Benedetto almost to the edge of the platform before the older wizard realized he had no where to go and decided to step into Harry. A powerful curse shattered the fifth year's shield and caused the green-eyed teen to stumble backwards some.

His opponent raised his arm, but Harry stepped forward and blocked his opponents arm into the air, the curse grazing his temple. He jabbed his wand into Benedetto's stomach but found his arm elbowed out of the way, his spell leaving a pockmark in the platform. Grabbing the Italian's wand arm, he twisted it away from his torso. His own wand warm was being blocked by a very persistent forearm that pressed into the nook of his elbow joint. Sparks shot out of the end of both of their wands, as they battled for supremacy.

The Boy-Who-Lived pulled his head back and head butted the older wizard in the nose. DeAngelo stumbled backwards, his hand flying to his nose. However, his wand had shot up and he launched a spell right at Harry. Not able to capitalize on his opportunity, the green-eyed teen was forced to roll backwards, underneath the jet of light.

Harry twirled his wand, the wood of the platform ripped from its holding and forming a wall in front of him. Weaving his wand in the air, he put all his concentration into conjuring an animal out of thin air. His wall absorbed a handful of curses before exploding in a shower of wooden splinters and fire. He banished the debris at DeAngelo, and set his animal in motion.

The hippogriff jumped into the air and took flight with a few flaps of its powerful wings. DeAngelo had a second to gape at the magical animal before he was forced to dodge a few curses Harry sent his way. The hippogriff dove down, causing DeAngelo to dive away from the sharp talons that slashed at his head. Benedetto shot a spell at the half-horse's retreating form, but Harry hit the Italian's jet of magic with one of his own, altering the flight path and showing off the Boy-Who-Lived's amazing accuracy.

As the magical beast turned around for another attack, Harry jabbed his wand forward letting loose a pink spear of magic. His spell was stopped with a glittering shield, where it burst into a shower of sparks. He used his mind-link over the hippogriff, something one generally does when they conjure or transfigure an animal is set up a mind-link over it, and ordered it to just use its body to knock Benedetto down.

The Italian managed to catch the flying animal with a severing charm in its wings, cutting them both off and sending the hippogriff tumbling out of the air. Harry hit it with an explosion hex, making its body detonate in a spray of blood and flesh. DeAngelo was able to shield his eyes in time, but found himself covered in the red liquid and chunks of meat.

"Ampeto!"

Harry's blasting curse was knocked to the side with a casual wave of his opponent's wand. DeAngelo returned fire with a sickle of purple magic. The green-eyed wizard flicked his wand downward, making the sickle of magic flying at him collapse in on itself and implode with a slight 'pft.'

The tip of the holly wand started to glow a fiery orange as it traced a rune in the air. Harry was forced to dodge a barrage of spells, as he tried to draw a pair of runes in the air in front of him. It was almost two minutes of dodging and quick wandless shields with his left hand, before Harry was able to put the finishing touches on his runes. Using his wand, he channeled his power into the two symbols.

A bludgeoner caught him right in the sternum, admitting several horrible 'cracks' from his torso. Harry activated the runes before collapsing backwards in pain. His left hand circled around his chest protectively as a large cracked formed in the platform. While the Boy-Who-Lived struggled to cast a numbing charm on the searing pain in his ribs, the crack in the ground started to glow brightly before erupting in a hail of fire.

Benedetto had tried to protect himself from the explosion, but the force of the blast shattered his shield and threw him like a rag doll into the air. With a heavy thud and a moan of pain, the Italian landed heavily on the ground. Harry struggled to his feet, and with a little effort, managed to cast a stunner that hit DeAngelo. The wards flashed red and as the crowd went crazy, Harry allowed himself to collapse to the platform in pain.

Andre Peeters wasn't as powerful as Viktor Krum. He wasn't as fast with a wand as Fleur Delacour. He wasn't as skilled in Transfiguration as Harry himself, he didn't know runes as well as Lidia Sawicki and he didn't know the amount of spells Helen Joyce did. However, that didn't mean he wasn't creative, agile, powerful in his own right, very knowledgeable in several branches of magic and faster with a wand than Harry.

"Reducto!"

Harry's blasting curse was blocked with a quick shield that shattered upon impact. Twirling around the return fire, he launched a cannonball out of his wand, the ball of metal shooting forward at an incredible pace. A fiery whip cut through the air, slicing the cannonball into two halves that immediately fell to the ground.

The-Boy-Who-Lived dodged underneath as the fiery whip cracked over his head. He hit the two separate pieces of metal laying on the floor with some transfiguration, turning them both into rottweilers that started to charge at his opponent. The strand of flames cut through the air twice, reducing both dogs into quivering masses of meat. The fire whip rocketed forward and flew right at Harry. Tapping his left hand with his wand, Harry grabbed the whip in his fist, not effected by the fire and yanked hard. Andre stumbled forward and was forced to cancel his whip as he had to defend from two curses aimed at his stomach.

Harry attempted to launch another curse, but Peeters was faster and launched four bludgeoners in Harry's general area. He conjured a powerful shield, deflecting all four curses in different directions. He managed to launch a silver beam of light outlined in gold, the force of the spell causing his wand to buckle. The Belgian conjured a large piece of marble to intercept the curse, which exploded in a dust of fine powder.

Dodging the return fire, Harry winced as his ribs, six of which had been cracked yesterday in his match against DeAngelo Benedetto, throbbed in pain. His healer had been able to mend them but they were still sore. He deflected another curse back at its caster, before launching his own piercing hex. Both spells were blocked with a dazzling shield of red.

Andrew waved his wand, a thick smoke pouring from the tip and blocking Harry's view of the other end of the platform. The green-eyed wizard sent various spells into the smoke, not sure if any were hitting or if they were even close to target. He waved his wand vanishing the smoke and, upon its clearing, saw that Peeters was putting the final touches on his fifth wolf. The five snarling canines looked at him for a second before they all took off, dashing down the platform.

Harry caught one of the wolves with a blasting hex that turned the front of its torso into a meaty pulp. He caught another two with a spray of acid before he was forced to shield against several spells. The fourth wolf he deflected a cutting curse into, not even noticing as its skull was split open. He twirled around some spell-fire and went to curse the final wolf. However, the wolf had moved in closer then he thought and was able to get underneath his extended wand arm. With a slight jump, the wolf's jaws clamped around his left shoulder, sending pain searing up and down the teen's arm.

Staggering backwards, he spun slightly on his foot and used the wolf clamped around his arm to intercept the curses headed his way. The jaws of the beast let up as the now mangled corpse tumbled to the ground. Clumsily side-stepping to his left, Harry dodged a curse and transfigured the mangled wolf carcasses that line the platform into large metal spears. He banished the spears at the Belgian, casting a barrage of spells as his opponent turned the metal spears into nothing.

Andre was forced to dive out of the way of Harry's wave of spells. Jabbing his wand into his injured shoulder, the Boy-Who-Lived had bandages fly from the piece of wood and wrap tightly around his wound. He cast a minor numbing charm on the area, just enough to make the pain manageable.

Harry ducked quickly, a fast flying spell shooting over his head. He flicked his wand, shattering a spell into a shower of sparks. A glowing orange jet of light shot out of the eleven inch piece of wood, rocketing toward Peeters. The older duelist redirected the orange energy into the ground, where it exploded in a bright flash.

Andre and Harry stared at each other, sizing each other up. Harry shifted his stance, wincing as the movement jostled his injured shoulder. He had never paused during a duel to simply try to get a judge of what his opponent might be planning. Always in movement and always thinking was the main thought process to his dueling style.

Deciding he had enough with the lapse in fighting, Harry jabbed his wand in front of him. A cone of purple magic swirled out of his wand, tearing up the wood of the platform as it raced forward. Peeters weaved a shield in front of himself, the cone of magic slamming against it before it disappeared with a loud 'crack.' Peeters launched a pair of cutters but Harry deflected both of them to the side before they even made it halfway down the platform.

The Boy-Who-Lived went to fling a curse at his opponent, but Andre beat him to it, shooting out a barrage of spells at Harry. The teen dodged the first few before he was forced to shield himself from the non-stop barrage. His protective magic withheld against almost a dozen spells before it shattered into nothingness and he was forced to throw himself out of the way of a sparkling blue jet of light.

He came up in a roll, blasting off a pair of blue lances of magic. His spells were ducked as an over-powered bone breaker shot his way. He attempted to shield but the spells broke through the defensive energy before it had properly formed up. As he tried to dodge, the spell caught him in the left leg and shattered his fibula and tibia. Harry fell to the ground, a scream of agony escaping his lips.

He struggled into a sitting position, and attempted to stand up but the minute he put even the smallest of pressure on his left leg, he collapsed back to the ground. The ref was asking him if he yielded, but he refused to answer. He shot a weak spell at Peeters, and painstakingly rolled out of the way of the stunner the Belgian shot at him. He tried to stand for a second time but was met with the same result. It was almost a relief when Andre Peeters hit him in the torso with a stunning spell, knocking him into blissful unconsciousness.

"Congratulations are in order," Dumbledore stated as he approached the teen.

Harry looked up from his group of friends, a surprised smile making its way on his face. "Sir, shouldn't you be at Hogwarts?"

He attempted to stand but found himself struggling to do so. His leg was still badly injured and had been wrapped up extensively. They had given him a cane to walk with for the next few days, until his bones could mend together and heal properly. It would have only taken the night to just vanishing the shattered bones all together and use Skele-gro to regrow them back in perfect condition, but Harry didn't want to deal with that again.

"You do not have to stand for me." Dumbledore assured the teen. "As for me being here, I wouldn't miss one of my students attempting to be crowned the dueling champion at this years European Junior Dueling Competition."

Harry let a small frown form on his face. "Unfortunately I wasn't able to win."

"That is true but second place out of almost two hundred individuals, most of whom have had several more years of schooling then you is quite impressive. Why next year, you should win this thing easily and the year after that you can probably win the adult competition."

The teen smile at the Headmaster, glad to be thought of so highly by one of the greatest duelist in recent history. He glanced around him and saw that his friends had moved away from the two of them, leaving them by themselves at the table.

Dumbledore looked about the room, before withdrawing his wand and waving it through the air. Harry felt the tingle of magic fill the air and looked at Professor Dumbledore in curiosity. He recognized some of the wand movements as those belonging to privacy wards.

"There is something I must tell you Harry. Something I should have told you long ago but have failed to, due to faults of mine. You see, I wanted you to enjoy your childhood and to grow up as normal as possible. In doing so I've neglected an important part of your life and the lives of the magical world."

Harry raised his eyebrows, wondering where this was all going. Dumbledore took the seat across from Harry and placed his hands on the table. As old, wrinkled fingers laced together, bright-blue eyes peered over half-moon glasses.

"In your first year, as you lay in a hospital bed after confronting Voldemort for the first time in ten years, you asked me why he chose to go after you. I evaded your question and I've proceeded to evade it for the pass four years. Now, however, it seems I have no choice but to tell you.

"A year before you were born I was interviewing Professor Trelawny for the then recently-vacant Divination post. I had met many frauds before her, and if she proved to be another I was going to drop the course from the syllabus altogether. In fact, I was only interviewing her because she was the great-granddaughter of a renown seer. It was quite obvious to me Sybil didn't know what she was talking about and I was getting ready to leave, her voice got really husky and she seemed to be in a trance. You should know, as you experienced this at the end of your third year, that she was giving a prophecy.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... And the Dark Lord will mark him as equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not."

"What..." Harry paused, trying to understand what was just told to him. "Does that apply to me?"

"Yes. You, along with Neville Longbottom, were born at the end of July, the seventh month, to parents who have thrice defied Voldemort. However, when Voldemort gave you that scar on your forehead, he marked you as his equal and made you the one of the prophecy."

"What does it mean?"

"If you take the prophecy as is, it predicts the birth of a child, you, who has the power to defeat the Dark Lord, Riddle. At a deeper level, I believe it means that you are the only one that will be able to kill him, not just that you are going to have the power to be able to."

Harry swallowed nervously and found his throat suddenly dry. That was a lot to tell someone, to put on someone. The only one to kill Voldemort?

"Are you sure?"

Dumbledore looked at his favorite student sadly. "I am almost positive. However, I wish to bring you to the Oracle at Delphi tomorrow, to confirm my suspicions."

"The Oracle at Delphi? Wasn't that part of Greek mythology?"

"Greek mythology in the muggle world is based upon real people and events in magical history. The Oracle at Delphi is a magical spirit that possesses females and gives them the power to see the future. It takes over the body of a suitable female at the age of twelve and stay in her body until the body can hold the spirit no longer, generally around the age of eighty. Then the body dies and the magical spirit finds a new host," Dumbledore explained.

"The Oracle will be able to tell me my future?" Harry asked.

"She won't be able to tell you your future because there are so many paths laid out in front of each of us and even she doesn't know exactly what path we will choose. However, she will be able to tell you where each path leads and she will be able to help you further interpret the prophecy, to find its hidden meanings."

The teen looked around, spotting the various people he knew dancing or having conversations with other people, all looking happy. Sirius, finally able to be out in public, even if it was with someone else's face, flirting with some woman. Ron and Hermione dancing, if somewhat awkwardly on the dance floor, laughing at something said between them. Neville talking with some aristocratic looking teens, most likely pureblood heirs. Fleur and Michael having a lively conversation over something, probably curse breaking. Viktor, dancing and having a conversation with Thyra, but shooting looks every so often at Hermione.

"Of course sir. Best to find out my fate now huh?"

The last part was said scornfully, the teen not liking the fact that such a fate had been decided for him before he was even born. Who puts the task of killing the most powerful Dark Lord in centuries on the shoulders of an unborn child?

"I'll pick you up at your room tomorrow morning at eleven. Sirius can bring your stuff to his house, where I'll drop you off after the meeting. Until then, enjoy your night."

Dumbledore stood and, waving his wand, dispelled the wards around the pair. Harry watched as his Headmaster started to leave.

"Sir, why did you decide to tell me this now? You've been hiding it from me my whole life but you said you can no longer hide it. Why?" the teen called out.

Dumbledore stopped and turned toward his pupil. "Voldemort knows the prophecy. He was told it minutes after it was recited to me by an eavesdropper who happened to be a Death Eater. He views you as his biggest threat to him. According to my spies he is trying to manipulate the connection between you two, the one that is marked by your scar, to send you visions. He is also contemplating hiring several prominent hitmen to capture you."

Harry gaped at Dumbledore as the old man turned and strolled out of the room. Turning back to his table, he picked up the goblet of pumpkin juice in front of him and wished he was old enough to drink firewhiskey. He glared into the orange drink in front of him, suddenly hating the slightly sweet drink.

Harry felt a hand on his shoulder and jumping slightly, looked up. The healer who had been taking care of him the entire tournament stood over him. She wasn't wearing her healers outfit, but rather dress robes, like everyone else in attendance. Without the serious look on her face and with a little bit of makeup she actually looked rather pretty, and younger than he first thought.

"I know you didn't win, but sitting here by yourself and being all moody seems a little unnecessary."

"After twelve duels where you patched me up afterwards you'd figure I would have gotten your name," Harry stated, trying to forget the prophecy he was just told.

"Its April," the healer introduced as she took the seat next to Harry.

"Well April, I can assure you I was not sulking over my losing in the final round. Others things have taken my attention."

"Would a walk take your mind off these other things?" April asked, touching his shoulder lightly.

"I hope you don't mind me asking your age..." Harry trailed off, knowing some females were testy about that kind of thing.

"I'm nineteen and yes I'm aware you are only fifteen, if thats what you were going to say next. I had to pull quite a few strings in order to get to be your healer throughout the tournament Harry. I've been an admirer of yours since I was a girl."

Harry felt his smile falter a little. Another fan who saw only the Boy-Who-Lived. Still, she was attractive and older, and if he was left to his own devices he'd probably wallow in the mess the prophecy had left his thoughts. A distraction would be nice.

"A walk would be great but I should warn you I'm a little hobbled right now. My ribs are still a little sore from my semi-final match, my left arm is still stiff from Peeter's wolf and I can't put much pressure on my left leg without collapsing."

She smiled at him as she grabbed his hand. "I was your healer Harry. I know your body quite well."