AN: Well I wrote this quicker than I expected to. As I'm writing this, I put the last chapter up only yesterday. I've been asked about a few things, one of them being Luna Lovedgood, and I'll give a few answers here. First, the Grail War is between third and fourth year. Second, Luna will tun up next chapter, whether she's a main character or not is unknown though doubtful. Third, I don't think that Harry will get a full compliment of seven servants but if I am hit by something then it may end up that way, doubtful though. Fourth, because turning Rin into an iguana would be awesome so there! Fifth, I'm not entirely sure where the vampire carrot came from, blame it on my sleep deprived mind. Sixth, Malfoy could be a good guy if he's given the right push, whether any of the characters give him that push and when they do it (if at all) is another thing. Seventh (the magical number), No the pendant from the last chapter hasn't got anything to do with the quincy from bleach, guess again.
As always, you can find my forum either on my profile or here: forum/Fate-s-Gamble-Behind-the-scenes/139203/
Please enjoy the chapter.
Beta'd by: NIX'S WARDEN
Chapter 26 – The Duelling Club
Harry left the Headmaster's office in a state of complete confusion. Harry had told the headmaster that he would have to ask his family what they thought about coming to Hogwarts for the holidays before he could give him an answer to that rather unexpected question.
After that though, they had spoken at great length about the philosophy that each of them held. Harry did agree with Dumbledore that someone was better off becoming a useful member of society rather than a prison inmate, the difference being that Dumbledore would give virtually anyone a second chance and Harry would only do so for minor crimes. The two of them had a mutual dislike of dementors, even if Harry had only read about them, and Dumbledore had mentioned something called a patronus charm that was supposed to be he only possible defence against them.
The two of them discussed what punishment was warranted for what crime, Harry thought that theft and destruction of property warranted community service and fines which Dumbledore agreed with. That Harry thought murder and rape deserved the death penalty was something that they disagreed on though, Dumbledore believed that it would simply need a firmer hand to deal with them, Harry thought that making an example of them would be an appropriate response. If someone knew that rape would get them killed then they would be far less likely to commit such a crime, that was Harry's opinion anyway.
The discussion moved on from crime and punishment and into bloodlines, the whole pureblood, halfblood, and muggle-born thing. Harry said that all three of them had their own advantages, purebloods had their line magics that they could inherit such as a metamorphmagus ability, parseltongue, telepathy, seer skills and other talents. The pure and half-bloods also knew about magic from an early age and, as such, could learn about it before Hogwarts unlike muggle-borns. The half-bloods got bits of both worlds, they could know about magic from an early age and inherit line magics from their purely magical parent while, on the muggle side, they would get a primary school education.
It may not seem like much to boast about, going to primary school, but it made a far greater difference than you might think. Most pureblood children are taught at home whatever skills their parents or carers pass on to them, this means that their grasp on the English language isn't always the best, their mathematics is good for managing money and little else, they don't get any history lessons until they meet boring Binns, they never learn any of the sciences and they tend to have very small social circles which leads to a lack of social skills.
One of the main advantages that muggle-borns have is that magic is new to them. Whereas both half-bloods and purebloods grew up with it and thus learned the 'limitations' of magic, muggle-borns didn't. Their first taste of the magical world was whatever they were shown by whoever came along to explain their acceptance letter. Such displays would often wow the child and his or her parents into awe. It wasn't exactly much of a surprise that a little more than sixty percent of all new magical discoveries were made by muggle-borns, a little less than thirty percent is attributed to half-bloods while the last ten percent is purebloods who can afford the research costs incurred.
It had been an interesting discussion, quite possibly his mos civil conversation with the headmaster. Harry wouldn't actually mind talking to him again if that was how the discussions turned out, during the talk neither of them had been headmaster or student, neither had been an old man or a young boy, neither of them had been famous or inconsequential, they had spoken like equals even if they were almost opposites. He didn't know when it had happened but at some point they'd actually started calling each other Harry and Albus, something Harry had never envisioned himself ever doing.
Getting his mind back on track, Harry considered Dumbledore's offer for them to join him at Hogwarts over winter break. He knew that Euryale and Stheno would accept, his sisters and he were rather close after all, and Zelretch would not be able to resist causing at least a little chaos. Harry stopped in his tracks, note to self: Be especially wary if Zelretch ever meets the Weasley twins.
Waver had his classes but they became fewer and further between during holidays, magi might not celebrate them as such but they certainly liked throwing social parties and the like. If Altrouge was given the offer then she would probably join them as well, Arcueid too.
Harry wondered if Aoko would be around to join them, she was the most well-adjusted and normal adult he knew, which really says something about the people he associated with, and he liked to think that she would like to join them.
So, if everyone he mentioned joined them, that would be Zelretch, Stheno, Euryale, Waver, Altrouge, Arcueid and Aoko. Seven people all told, he would include the Heroic Spirits and Len as well but he wasn't about to reveal his entire hand yet. There was also the fact that Len spent the vast majority of her time as a cat anyway and Liz and Fran didn't care about the general Hogwarts population.
Harry decided that he would pop over to the Clock Tower that night and see what everyone thought about it, no point making plans if one or more of them were unavailable. Nevertheless, Harry was curious about the school's guest quarters and wondered if they would be in the same rooms they were at the end of his last academic year.
Making a decision to check them out later, Harry headed off towards the lake-side harbour, that was where Hogwarts was telling him that Neville and Hermione could be found.
xxxxx
"Are you going tonight?" Hermione asked the two males with her, one of whom was cutting up ingredients and the other was somehow talking to a squid via morse code, she avoided looking that way as the sight made her want to tear her hair out in frustration and confusion.
"I will be," Neville answered her. "What about you, Harry?" Neville turned to look at the boy who even now had his legs in the cold lake water, he had no problem with what Harry was doing with the squid as long as it kept its distance from him, he may be far more confident than he ever used to be but large creatures still unnerved him somewhat.
"Hmm?" The blindfolded pre-teen looked up. "What are you saying?" He had been focused on what the kraken had been tapping out for him, he thought she was trying to tell a joke.
"There's a duelling club on tonight. Seeing as it's the last day before the holidays, everyone leaves for home tomorrow, they thought that they might get people interested in it so they can plan something for January and onwards. It's been on the notice-boards for a while now, how can you not know?" Hermione looked askance at him.
Harry just shrugged. "I suppose I might as well. Do either of you know who is going to be over-seeing the club?"
Neville frowned. "Flitwick is a former duelling champion, it was what he did before he became a professor. Professor Dumbledore is also a renowned duellist, he always seems a bit too busy though. I heard that Snape once won a few local tournaments but I doubt he'd actually do it, the older years say he's eased up on how bad he used to be but he's not exactly nice. I think that Professor Babbling has an order of merlin though, I think she got it during the last war so maybe she's the one hosting it."
Harry kept silent, he had a feeling that none of them were the ones doing this. He also had a feeling that this club wouldn't be as successful nor as useful as Hermione and Neville thought it would, he hoped he was wrong though.
"Alright, I give!" Hermione cried out suddenly. "What the heck is up with you and that squid!" Harry had been wondering when she'd finally crack, she hated not knowing things and only his initial friendship with her stopped her demanding answers from him, She did ask him questions but, with a fair amount of forceful refusals, she had learned to curb that part of her nature a little.
None of this mattered right now though as Harry saw a perfect opportunity to irritate her and do it without refusing her an answer. A smirk appeared on his face as he calmly asked her. "What squid?"
Hermione just stopped and blinked at him, Neville also looked over at him as he stopped cutting the ingredients. They both knew that Harry didn't lie, he might refuse to answer but he never lied, so they were both confused at that question as Harry continued to stroke the tentacle next to him.
"The squid whose tentacle you are currently stroking, the squid that you've been teaching morse code and sign language, that squid." Hermione said in a flat voice, Harry's smirk merely grew larger at this.
"I am not stroking the tentacle of a squid. I haven't been teaching any squid anything, least of all morse code and sign language." Harry replied, he was rather enjoying this, who knew that watching someone develop a twitch above their eye could bring such amusement.
The sound of banging could be heard echoing throughout the harbour as Hermione repeatedly slammed her head against a nearby post, it was so difficult to be her sometimes.
xxxxx
"So this is more like a taster session than an actual lesson, right?" Harry asked as he followed the two of them to the Great Hall where the duelling club was apparently going to be held.
"What's a taster session?" Neville asked.
"It's a one off event to see whether or not you'd like something. It's fairly common in the muggle world, colleges and universities also have open days and other things as well." Hermione explained to the confused pureblood before turning to Harry. "Yes, I guess it is a taster session seeing how today is the last day of term before the holidays."
It was eight o'clock, rather late for a club to be on in Harry's opinion, and it was easy to see that a fair number of people were interested in the club as a large number of students all headed in the same direction. Harry actually thought that most of the school was in attendance, he supposed that learning to fight was seen as far more flashy and 'heroic' than it actually was. Harry knew that fighting was nothing like books and movies portrayed it, there was little honour or glory, no chivalry or compassion and anything that stood out made itself a target.
Harry's clothing didn't stand out, his armour and what lay beneath it was matte black, but his hair did stand out and there was nothing that Harry could do about that so he used it to his advantage. While an opponent was mesmerised by his prehensile hair dancing around him, he would slip a blade between their ribs, an arrow or spell would be just as effective.
Harry looked around as he entered the Great Hall, the four house tables had disappeared and a golden stage was up against one wall. The room was filled with floating candles that lit the room and caused what few shadows were visible to dance wildly, the ceiling was velvety black and few stars could yet be seen with human eyes, Harry's reinforced eyes were another matter though.
One thing that did catch his attention was that several professors were in attendance, not on the stage though which probably meant they were here to observe. There was professor Dumbledore, who nodded at Harry when he noticed the young hybrid's attention, professor Flitwick, who looked rather excited by everything, professor Babbling, whose eyes flickered all over the room and took note of everyone there, and professors Mcgonagall and Sprout, that made three of the four heads of house, the headmaster and the Ancient Runes professors.
Harry listened to Neville and Hermione discuss who was going to teach them with those nearby, Flitwick's name came up often as did Dumbledore's, but Harry's reinforced eyes had already seen who was standing in the shadows waiting for the opportune moment to make an entrance. Harry wondered if it was too late to sneak out, this thought came at the same time that the Great Hall doors closed and the candles flared brighter.
Resplendent in robes of deep plum, Lockhart walked out onto the stage with a wide smile plastered on his face. At the man's side wearing the usual black was professor Snape, he was shouting looks of death at the fop that made Harry wonder whether Snape would like to borrow Harry's eyes.
Lockhart waved an arm for silence, and except for a few squealing fangirls he got it, as he gave an elaborate and expansive gesture that encompassed everyone in the hall. "Come, come. I don't bite. It's best if you can all hear me, can you? Good. Can you all see me? Also good."
"Now, I have been given permission to start this little club by our very own headmaster. It is to train you up in case you ever need to defend yourself as I myself have done on numerous occasions, my published works can give you all the details." Lockhart beamed at them all, it amazed Harry that he could show every single one of those pristine teeth even when he was speaking.
"Let me introduce you to my assistant, professor Snape, your very own potions professor." Lockhart flashed them another blinding smile. "He tells me that he knows a little bit about duelling himself and has sportingly agreed to help me with a short demonstration before we begin. Now, I don't want any of you youngsters to worry, you'll still have your Potions professor when I'm through with him. Don't worry about that." Harry thought that the smarmy git was being a bit condescending but the girls in the hall were all eating it up.
Harry heard a murmur from some of the Gryffindors and reinforcing his ears allowed him to hear Weasel wishing that the two of them would wipe each other out. Harry wondered if Snape had heard too, his lips had curled upwards into a quite menacing sneer. He wondered how Lockhart could stand there and be so calm, he would have thought that the fop would be running to the hills if he caught such an expression directed at him.
Lockhart and Snape turned to face one another and bowed; Well Lockhart bowed at least, with much twirling of his wand and unnecessary, wasteful movements. Snape simply gave a small jerk of his head before he too raised his wand. Lockhart had to, of course, provide commentary.
"As you can see, we are holding our wands in the accepted combative position." Blondie told the silent crowd. "On the count of three we will cast our first spells, neither of us will be aiming to kill each other though."
Harry wasn't too sure of the last part, Snape looked like he would enjoy nothing more than scattering Lockhart's entrails around the place. Harry completely understood the sentiment, he wanted to do it too.
The blonde counted up from one to three and both of them swung their wands up and over their shoulders. Snape cried "Expelliarmus!" and there was a flash of scarlet light that shot from his wand and right into Lockhart's chest. The blonde was lifted from his feet and hurled backwards off the stage, smashing into the wall before sliding down to land in a heap.
Some of the Slytherins cheered and Harry was tempted to join them. Hermione on the other hand was dancing on her tiptoes to get a look at Lockhart to see whether he was all right, Harry thought that if a disarming charm could incapacitate him then he didn't really deserve the title of wizard, the charm had been stronger than he expected though, perhaps Snape had simply overpowered it.
Lockhart climbed unsteadily to his feet, his hat had fallen off and his hair was a mess. "Well there you have it!" He said, tottering back onto the platform. "That was the disarming charm. As you can probably see, I've lost my wand. Ah, thank you miss Brown." Lavender had handed Lockhart's wand back to him, love hearts in her eyes. "An excellent idea to show them that, professor Snape, but if you don't mind me saying so, it was very obvious what you were about to do. If I had wanted to stop you it would have been only too easy. However I believed it would be instructive to let them see..."
Lockhart trailed off as he caught sight of the murderous look Snape had directed at him, it seemed that blondie did have some survival instincts after all for he quickly called an end to the demonstration and told them to get practising. He and professor Snape began to move about the students, matching them up to partners.
Lockhart teamed Neville with Weasel but Snape reached himself and Hermione before blondie did, something he was rather thankful for. "Hmm, you'd probably soften your blows for each other so let's mix things up a little. Miss Granger partner with Miss Bulstrode and Mr Potter, let's see what you and Mr. Malfoy make of each other."
Malfoy strutted over smirking, he obviously thought that professor Snape wanted him to take Potter down a peg or two but Harry saw the amusement hidden in the man's eyes and simply sighed at the grandstanding ferret. Hermione's partner had rather heavy features and a fair amount of muscle, she looked more like a warrior than a lady of the court and Harry wondered where she had gained those impressive biceps.
Lockhart was back up on the platform and smiling out at the now partnered up crowd. "Face your partners and bow!" Harry only lowered his head a little, he was not going to give respect to one who had yet to earn it.
"Wands at the ready!" Lockhart shouted out. "When I count to three cast your charms to disarm your opponent. I want you to disarm only, we don't want any accidents now. One. Two. Three!"
Malfoy had already started at two but Harry simply side-stepped the orange spell he'd sent at him, whatever it was wasn't a disarming charm, and whispered the disarming charm at his opponent. Malfoy's wand flew through the air from which it was plucked by Harry.
"I said disarm only!" Lockhart shouted ineffectually. It seemed that Ferret wasn't the only one who had gone for a different spell. To be fair to the students, they hadn't been taught the spell, merely given a single demonstration and no opportunity to practice. Looking around the room while keeping one on Ferret, Harry saw the extent to which the lesson had degenerated.
It looked like several of the younger years had chosen to fight with their fists, some of the older students had gotten a few spells off at each other and were now trying to undo what had happened, some of them had successfully cast the charm and were now waiting for everything to settle down, most though had decided that this club was a good opportunity to get 'revenge' for one reason or another and were hexing those they didn't like.
"Stop! Stop!" Lockhart called out, still as ineffectual as before.
"Finite Incantatem!" Snape called and the spell spread outwards from him. A greenish haze of smoke hovered above the students as the spells lost effect and everything turned to normal. Some of the students were glaring at those that had cursed them, said guilty parties were trying to look innocent and failing, several of the fist fighters had grudgingly stopped but several, Millicent Bulstrode was one of them, kept going.
It took a little while before everything was put to rights, the greenish haze dissipated and small cuts and bruises healed, but eventually everyone was looking back at the stage upon which Snape and Lockhart stood. Harry had handed Ferret's wand back to him but the blonde Slytherin had merely glared at him and snatched it out of his hand.
"Deary me!" Lockhart said. "I think it would be a good idea to teach you how to block unfriendly spells." He looked around the room and Harry groaned internally as Lockhart's eyes alighted on him. "Let's have a volunteer pair, shall we? How about Mr. Potter and whoever he was paired with." Malfoy's eyes lit up with this second chance to prove himself, Harry simply shrugged, and the pair of them made their way up to the platform.
Lockhart rushed to Harry's side and Snape walked over to Malfoy's. Harry so wished it was the other way around, he'd much prefer to have Snape give him his version of a 'pep talk' than Lockhart's 'advice'.
"Now Harry." Harry decided to at least look as if he was paying attention to blondie even if his eyes were focused on his soon-to-be opponent. "When Draco points his wand at you, you do this."
Lockhart raised his own wand, attempted a complicated sort of wiggling action and dropped it. Snape smirked as Lockhart quickly picked it up saying "Whoops, my wand is a little over-excited." Harry just looked at him, was that bit of innuendo intentional? It certainly distracted him from what he was thinking, was that the point of it?
Snape moved closer to Malfoy, bent down and whispered something in his ear, Malfoy smirked at it. What Ferret was unaware of was that Harry's reinforced ears had picked up on what Snape had whispered, a quick list of spells that he could use to avoid embarrassment.
Harry moved away from Lockhart when he went to give him a pat on the back, that infernal grin still stuck to his face. He and Ferret approached the divide that separated one side of the platform from the other, they had to take their positions after all.
"Scared?" muttered Malfoy when they were close enough to converse without others hearing what they were saying, he seemed to think that he could win. Perhaps the Ferret was memory impaired, it would explain how he forgot the absolute victory Harry had gotten over him last year at least.
Harry snorted quietly. "You wish. I, personally, am surprised you didn't run to daddy and have him stand in for you. That's what you would usually do, isn't it?" The reddening of Malfoy's face told Harry that he'd won this verbal spar, not that I was any competition.
"Just do what I did, Harry!" Lockhart called out cheerily. Harry really wouldn't, what use was dropping his wand? It would be even worse for an ordinary wizard to do so because most knew little to nothing about wandless magic.
"Three. Two. One. Go!" He shouted.
Harry was curious what Malfoy would do, he hadn't expected this though. Ferret raised his wand and bellowed "Serpensortia!" which caused a four and a half metre long Black Mamba to erupt from the end of his wand. Now, the Black Mamba wasn't named for the colour of its scales, which in this case was a gunmetal grey, but for the colour of its mouth. The Black Mamba is also a decidedly venomous snake and without rapid and vigorous anti-venom therapy, a bite is almost always fatal. There is also the interesting fact that it is also the fastest snake in the muggle world and has a reputation for being aggressive.
Harry was rather curious about the snake but was disappointed when he analysed it. While it did have the exact same biology as the real thing, it was simply a construct and not something more interesting. A simple finite would get rid of it but, before Harry half-heartedly dispelled it, Lockhart intervened.
"Ah, that's not good. Let me get rid of it for you!" the blonde fop said, the professor and not the Slytherin, as he pointed his wand at the conjured snake. A bang issued from the wand and the animal was thrown ten feet to the side and hit the floor with a solid smack, right in front of Justin Finch-Fletchely. The snake reared back to strike and Harry knew that none of the wizards would be fast enough to stop it, he himself couldn't speak fast enough to cast the appropriate spell and knew he had to act.
A scream issued from Justin's throat but it was almost immediately cut short. Where before there had been a snake not two foot away prepared to strike, his vision was now filled with the colours black and purple. Everyone in the hall blinked, somehow Harry Potter had gone from where he was stood on the stage, perhaps five metres away, to right in front of his fellow Hufflepuff in an instant. He had obviously moved, at great speed, if his hair that had trailed behind him was any indication but no one had seen him do it, the best they had gotten was a black and purple blur.
"Is someone going to take care of this construct or what?" Harry said as he lifted his wand arm which now had a snake, with its jaws clamped onto it, hanging there and pumping him full of its venom.
Snape muttered the incantation and waved his wand over the snake, vanishing it, before he waved his wand over Harry's arm and reared back in surprise. "I advise you to go to the hospital wing now, Mr. Potter. You've just been injected with enough venom to kill forty grown men!" There was sounds of disbelief throughout the hall, Lockhart's complexion paled and a number of people looked concerned.
Harry just chuckled. "I'm fine professor, that sort of thing won't disadvantage me any." Snape raised one eyebrow and Harry could see the curiosity in his beetle black eyes, Snape didn't know about his Gorgon heritage after all.
"I think that's a good idea anyway, this club is over for the night regardless." Lockhart said, he was still pale. Harry supposed that having a famous person, like Harry was, die or be injured in a club that he was overseeing wouldn't be good for his public image.
Surprisingly, it was Dumbledore's voice that rang out over the crowd. "Such a shame, I had been looking forward to seeing some more example duels. It has been such a long time since I have faced anyone in anything other than politics that I could probably do with a refresher myself. I find that many simply do not wish to accept my challenges these days."
Harry looked over at the headmaster and couldn't help a broad smile appearing on his face. He had trained for many years with Bazett, and others before her, so he could be something of a battle nut when the mood took him and he so enjoyed a challenge.
"If it's an opponent you're looking for headmaster then I would be happy to oblige." The entire hall froze and Harry's statement and the crowd looked between Dumbledore and Harry, the former's eyes going into overdrive with their twinkling.
"Really Harry? You would face me on the duelling strip?" Harry had recently gotten a little respect for the man and his grin only grew, he was now itching to face the aged headmaster in a battle of magic.
"I will admit that the duelling strip is a bit narrow for my preferences but, either way, I am fully willing to go against your wand sir." He was now raring to go, the venom coursing through his body acting like a surge of adrenaline.
"Then let me fix that for you." The headmaster said as he pointed his wand at the golden platform. It became wider, almost square, and the dividing line in the middle disappeared. "Something a little less formal and more practical should serve as a good demonstration, should it not?"
The crowd now had wide eyes as they realised that Albus Dumbledore, the leader of the light and so many other things, was going to get into a little magical sparing session with Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived. Bets were rapidly exchanged with odds highly in favour of the aged headmaster, after all Harry was a second year student so what could he do?
The two combatants climbed up either side of the now enlarged platform which everyone else clustered around and Bowed to each other. Dumbledore settled into a traditional duelling stance, sideways on with his feet just past shoulder width apart and his wand pointed directly at harry like a rapier. Harry settled into a stance he was comfortable in, feet wide apart with his left hand on the floor and knees bent, his hair pooled around him as he looked forward at the headmaster.
"How about we start off slow and gentle? I need to get these old bones back into rhythm before we really let loose with anything fancy, eh?" Dumbledore said to which harry replied with a feral grin and a quick nod.
The two stayed in place for a while, neither one of them casting a spell, until with a flurry things began. A mild stinging hex from Dumbledore headed in Harry's direction but he lazily avoided it as he sent a colour change charm at Dumbledore. The headmaster's robes turned from their vibrant colours to a uniform black.
Pouting at this, the old man charmed his robes to flash a multitude of colours before sending a spell at Harry that made his hair to puff up into, what some would say was, a marvellous afro. Harry's prehensile hair soon sorted that out though and the two of them soon began to pick up the pace a bit, the spells never getting very dangerous or powerful. There were stinging hexes, knock-back jinxes, tickling charms and other easy to learn spells flying from one to the other, neither of them getting many hits in but neither of them trying particularly hard to avoid getting hit.
At some signal that only the two of them had apparently noticed, the duel stepped up a notch. They were now utilising spells that fourth year and below students would use, a few higher level curses sneaking in there now and then.
A stunning spell from Harry whizzed past Dumbledore's head who barely paid it any attention as he cast the disarming charm back at the hybrid boy. The younger combatant replied with a quick three hexes aimed at Dumbledore and just to either side of him, a disarming charm, a stunning spell and a tripping jinx, nothing particularly major. Dumbledore ducked under the middle one, the stunning spell, and quickly shielded from a follow up spell that had been cast near the floor.
Although not the sort of thing to write home about, the duel was already far more impressive than what Snape and Lockhart had shown them initially. What was even more entertaining was that the two of them were exchanging banter as they cast spells at each other.
"Looking forward to the holidays are you Harry?" Dumbledore asked as he shielded against a cutting curse at waist height whilst ducking over a bludgeoning hex at head height that would have knocked a few teeth out.
"Certainly sir. I am giving the question you asked the other day a lot of thought, I think that we may actually accept your offer." Harry replied as he side-stepped a silently cast yellow spell and hopped over a purple one, he cast a silencing spell and a cutting curse back at the headmaster.
"Really? Well let me know what the decision is as soon as possible then, it would make it easier to prepare the further ahead I know your answer." Dumbledore said as he shielded against an incendio that Harry had cast at him and sent a silver spell back.
The crowd really didn't know what to make of it, it was obvious that neither one of them was really giving it their all but it was still quite interesting to watch. A few people were surprised by Harry's repertoire of spells, he'd obviously been reading ahead.
"Shall we kick it up a notch Albus?" Harry asked and the students were left with their jaws on the floor, none of them would have dared call the headmaster by his first name.
The old man in question merely chuckled as he avoided two more of Harry's spells and sent three back. "I think that we should, it's obvious that neither of us are being challenged like this."
There was a sudden explosion of action on stage. Dumbledore's rate of spell casting increased more than three times over and Harry began to move at much greater speeds whilst casting his spells just as accurately as before.
"Bombarda! Reducto! Diffindo! Confringo! Diffindo! Stupefy!" Harry called out in rapid succession and the floor in front of Dumbledore was hit with several different blasting spells that raised shrapnel and dust in front of him. The two cutting curses sliced through it as if it wasn't there and the stunning spell disappeared into the smoke as well.
Dumbledore was obviously not out for the count as spells came back through the rubble, a little less accurate than before but not by any noticeable amount, and Harry found himself performing several feats of acrobatics as he avoided them all.
Banishing the dust and debris in Dumbledore's direction, Harry gave a mental command to Liz and Fran to stand at either end of the platform and warn him if he missed something. Making use of his Heroic Spirits might be a little unsporting but in a fight anything goes, an advantage is an advantage after all.
Dumbledore had not been idle and when he could see properly again, he transfigured some of the debris Harry had caused into lions and, for some reason, several velociraptors. Harry decided to take a page out of the headmaster's book and began transfiguring some of the debris into birds and putting compulsion charms on them, he then went a step further and disillusioned them.
It was quite a sight for the spectators to see several of Dumbledore's spells collide with the invisible birds mid-air causing them to become visible and plummet to the ground. Harry had yet to deal with Dumbledore's transfigurations though and had constantly avoided them, sometimes slipping between two of them by a hair's breadth or leaning back so far that he had to flip back onto his feet.
These feats of acrobatics let harry become a little lost amongst Dumbledore's own creation, it was even worse when he started casting colour change charms on them so they became a mess of vibrant dinosaurs and big cats. That and Harry's disillusioned birds allowed Harry a reprieve from Dumbledore's spell casting as even he found it difficult to distinguish him amongst the eye-watering display of colours, he now knew what people saw when he wore his vividly coloured robes.
Whilst hidden amongst all of the transfigured animals, Harry whispered the disillusionment charm and tapped himself over the head as he ducked and dived amongst the predators. Following that up with a charm to silence his footsteps and erase his scent, the animals became even more confused about what they were supposed to be attacking and turned on each other.
Watching the visceral horror, the students were distracted from the invisibly sneaking Harry Potter. The only ones that noticed him were Flitwick, Babbling, Snape and Dumbledore himself. Casting the counter to the disillusionment charm, Dumbledore forced Harry to become visible once again and he began to bombard the young boy with a hail of spells.
Deciding that since Dumbledore had the advantage of experience as far as Wizardcraft went, he'd be better of utilising some Magecraft. Harry reinforced his limbs and began to move at beyond human speeds as he avoided each and every spell cast at him.
A smirk appeared on Harry's face as he retaliated with another string of spells. "Expelliarmus! Stupefy! Incarcerous! Diffindo! Flipendo! Reducto!" He called out. Dumbledore dodged some and blocked others.
It was easy to see how the two had their own separate styles of duelling and magical combat. Dumbledore used powerful spells and mass transfiguration while he shielded himself from the majority of his opponents attacks, occasionally dodging one or two of them. Harry however was all about speed, he had yet to cast a single shield spell and had received few, if any, hits since the two had decided to take this duel seriously. Dumbledore's stance was traditional and balanced whereas Harry's presented a smaller target and allowed him to dart about the place unpredictably, if he didn't have control of his hair then he would probably have been tangled up in it by now.
A chuckle came from harry that surprised many, he smirked at Dumbledore and enunciated one word clearly. "Hagalaz."
Dumbledore blinked before leaping backwards with a surprising amount of speed for one of his age. It was a good decision as Harry's plan became more obvious. The three cutting curses he'd cast so far had been a little less accurate than his other spells, or that's what people thought when he'd cast them. The three cutting curses had etched the vaguely H shaped rune on the floor beneath where Dumbledore had stood not a moment before.
When he'd called on the rune of disruption, an ice element rune, the temperature had plummeted and ice crystals had almost instantly formed there, it was rather beautiful. The result of those actions, if Dumbledore had remained in place, would have ended the duel with the headmaster encased in the frozen crystal.
Harry pouted but didn't have time for more as Dumbledore blasted the ice into fragments and began to transfigure the shards en mass. Where a weaker witch or wizard would perhaps be able tot transfigure maybe two or three objects at once depending on their complexity, Dumbledore was a master of transfiguration and soon had a horde of pink velociraptors charging at Harry.
Realising that the same trick wouldn't work twice, Dumbledore had probably made them that colour on purpose and somehow prevented colour change charms from working, Harry decided to once again utilise his Magecraft to gain an edge. Projecting eight blades in the air around himself, Harry proved that his long hair had practical applications as it separated into eight tentacle-like arrangements and wrapped around the hilts of the blades.
Deciding to up the ante to the maximum, Harry began to chant his aria as well. This wasn't as easy as it could otherwise have been, dispatching pink velociraptors left, right and centre, sometimes having to rely on what one of his Servants saw as they crept up behind him, dodging the spells that Dumbledore was sending his way as he continued to replenish his velociraptors that were lost to Harry's blades and focusing on his aria was taking up whatever attention harry had to spare.
"My soul is a weapon" Dumbledore seemed to recognise the start of the aria that had summoned those magic orbs in his duel against Malfoy last year and redoubled his efforts against him. "Disregard magic and drain my foe". This was something that Harry had been working on recently and he hoped it worked like he wanted it to.
The orbs began to appear, at least the outline of them did. The orbs couldn't really be seen this time except as a slight distortion in the air rather than the ghostly blue they had been in his duel with Ferret or the crackling flames he'd also used before.
Harry launched the orbs at Dumbledore en mass, he wasn't being subtle this time, and the headmaster conjured up a thick solid wall to take the attack for him. Harry grinned, that wouldn't help him if he'd done this right. People watched, waiting for when the orbs impacted against Dumbledore's shield but they were in for a surprise, the orbs passed right through it without even slowing.
They expected their to be some kind of physical effect when they impacted the headmaster but they were again disappointed as there seemed to be nothing again, the headmaster had worked it out though and he was mightily impressed. Stumbling slightly, the strain of all the magic getting to him, Dumbledore could no longer replenish his force of pink velociraptors that were rapidly cut down by the blades held in Harry's prehensile hair.
One last disarming charm aimed at Dumbledore ended the duel and Harry collapsed back onto the mountain of colourful corpses, that had been an exhausting experience. He examined the wand he held in his hand, it seemed old, far older than the headmaster and Harry didn't think that it was the wand he'd gotten as a child. It didn't matter, it could very well be a trophy of battle he'd gotten used to, perhaps his original wand had been destroyed.
Harry got to his feet after a moment and walked over to the headmaster holding out his hand. The older of the two combatants chuckled wearily and accepted, pulling himself to his feet. "That was an impressive spell you used at the end. It completely ignored all physical objects and merely interacted with magical ones, draining them of their energy before dissipating. A physical shield was useless wasn't it?"
Harry nodded. "Yep, a simple protego would have stopped it dead though. I noticed that when we stepped things up that you preferred more physical magic, the conjurations, the transfigurations and the like. All of your shields from then on had been composed of conjured stone, they can take a lot of battering from magical attacks before breaking and can even stop a single killing curse but my spell ignored physical shields, that rendered them useless."
Harry helped the headmaster out of the hall and up to the infirmary. He'd hit the headmaster with perhaps a few too many of those orbs, he was on the verge of magical exhaustion. Harry had been exhilarated by that fight, he had no doubt that the headmaster hadn't used his full range of abilities and if he'd been more prepared then he might have won but it was a good fight regardless.
Getting up to the infirmary was the first step of the dreaded task to come, the next was facing Pomfrey's scolding. The matron may be a motherly looking woman but she was an absolute menace to her patients, you didn't disobey her instructions if you wished to avoid a telling off, something that she had down to an art form.
"Oh? Can someone tell me why I have the headmaster and a second year student supporting each other up to the hospital wing?" Pomfrey's voice cut into Harry's thoughts. Harry and Dumbledore looked at each other before the headmaster gave an innocent look that had the healer concentrating on Harry.
"Traitor." Harry muttered at him before looking at the medi-witch. "Lockhart had a little duelling club going on and me and the headmaster kind of got into a little duel, he's on the verge of magical exhaustion so I brought him up here for you to tend to." Harry gave Dumbledore to her before turning to sneak away.
"Oh no you don't!" The healer said before hitting Harry with a petrificus totalus. "I can see that bite on your arm, where did you get it?" She demanded of him.
"Well, you see, Draco Malfoy conjured a Black Mamba snake that went out of control and almost bit Justin Finch-Fletchley but I got in the way." He said in an innocent voice, she knew of his Gorgon nature and his near immunity to snake venom. A Black Mamba's venom would be nothing to him, it would take a Basilisk's venom to cause him pain.
"Very well then, I suppose you can go if that is the extent of it." Harry sighed in relief as she released the full body bind on him. He was about to leave once more when he realised that he still had Dumbledore's wand in his hand, it felt comfortable there. It wasn't the same as his own wand but Harry thought that if he had to cast with any wand that originated in this world then this would be it.
"Here you are professor." He said as he wandered over to were Dumbledore was getting dosed up with pepper-up potion. "Don't want me running off with your wand now, do you?" Harry could see the curiosity glimmering in the old man's eyes, while his immunity to Veritaserum and his resistance to various potions would be in his medical file, his Gorgon heritage and, consequently, his ridiculously high resistance to poisons, snake venom in particular, wouldn't be there.
"Ah, Harry." Dumbledore said. Harry looked up at him with his head tilted to one side. "I've just recalled, did we just leave the Great Hall without dismissing everyone?"
Harry blinked behind his blindfold for a moment before laughing, his amusement echoed throughout the castle as he imagined everyone still standing there, his duel with the headmaster had been a little extravagant after all.
xxxxx
Harry didn't return to the Great hall but if he had then he would have found that, yes, everyone was still standing there in shock. They had just seen a second year student take on the headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore himself, and win. There was a number of people doing an impression of a gaping fish, they had expected the headmaster to play with the boy for a while before taking him out but that wasn't what had happened at all.
The devastation that lay before them was proof of that. The golden platform that the two of them had fought on was now littered with craters and even a few remnants of Harry's giant icicle. There was a mound of pink velociraptors that no one had vanished yet and a few scattered corpses from the other victims of the duel Harry's transfigured birds, the other coloured velociraptors and the lions.
The air was still cold from Harry's rather large Hagalaz rune, there was still power in it and people could see their breath misting in the air before them. A few sharp bits of debris were stuck upright in the floor, the ones that either combatant had banished at the other with a fair amount of force.
The entire duel, once the two of them had gotten serious, had been beyond what any student had expected and even the staff were surprised. Flitwick looked as if Christmas tomorrow and not a few weeks away, if he taught Harry just a few more spells then he may be eligible for the international duelling circuit. It was unheard of for a competitor to join it so young, the current record holder had been a German sixteen year old who had made it to the quarter-finals but Harry may just break that record if he joined up this summer. The final was always on the the last Friday of July, that would be the day before Harry's thirteenth birthday, and that would be the kind of accomplishment that Britain hadn't held for a century and a half!
Mcgonagall had looked on in wonder at what Harry had accomplished with what he'd learned. The only real transfiguration he'd used was to turn objects into birds with the Avifors spell but he'd certainly used the spell to great effect, if he knew a few more inanimate to animate transfigurations then he would be an exceptionally difficult opponent to take down, even more so than he already was. She shuddered at the thought of all that power and talent in a twelve year old and then frowned, Confringo was the fire-based blasting charm whereas Bombarda was the pressure-based one. The latter was taught in fifth year and the former wasn't taught at all, it was in fact in a book in the restricted section. Mcgonagall wondered if Harry Potter had taken his fathers penchant for breaking rules and curfew and applied it somewhere other than pranks.
Snape could definitely say that he was surprised at the display he'd just been witness to, it had been a phenomenal display of magic, especially for one so young. Not many could say that they could beat Albus Dumbledore even if he had been holding back, if it became a wore of attrition then Snape thought that Harry may have more endurance than Albus but to actually cause magical exhaustion was a definite surprise. There was another thing that had Snape curious though, how Harry had actually stayed alive for the duration of the duel. There had been a little over four hundred milligrams of venom in Harry's system when he'd performed the scan and a Black Mamba only needed between ten and fifteen milligrams of venom to kill an adult human, Harry hadn't even seemed to notice it though. It was as if the venom meant absolutely nothing to the boy, it had no effect when he should have been dead within half an hour! Snape respected people's privacy, it would be hypocritical of him not to, but he was undeniably curious about it anyway.
Bathsheda Babbling was rather impressed as well, his inclusion of a rune during combat was certainly something she'd never seen before, and she was looking forward to what subjects he'd choose for his electives at the end of the year. She remembered the rune arrays that she'd seen last year on his clothing and wondered if she might be able to put him on a different path from the regular students. Seventh year students had to make pentagonal and hexagonal runic arrays for their NEWT exams which Harry had already done prior to his first year, ones more complex than her seventh years did, and she knew that the course would bore him. It was something to think about if nothing else.
Lockhart had been gob-smacked at the level of talent that the second year had shown, it was extraordinary. Never one to let an opportunity pass him by, Lockhart resolved to make an even greater effort to get in close with Harry Potter. He was the boy-who-lived to begin with but he had just displayed a level of skill and power that would cement him in a top spot wherever he went, if Lockhart could get an in with him then it opened up all sorts of possibilities. The blonde conveniently forgot just how low Harry Potter's opinion of him was as well as the fact that he had made it clear he wanted nothing to do with him, you had to admire his tenacity if nothing else.
It wasn't until almost ten minutes had passed after the headmaster and the boy-who-lived had left that everyone managed to pull themselves together long enough for Lockhart to dismiss them. Blondie also left them with a verbal invitation to the duelling club proper when it started up after the holidays. If he could get harry and Dumbledore back on that stage them there was sure to be a massive turnout. He left before someone tried to get him to clear up the large mess said duellists had left behind, the house-elves would enjoy the work at least.
xxxxx
It was early the next morning and Harry, not needing much sleep due to his Occlumency, was wandering the castle under as powerful a disillusionment charm as he could cast. He was trying to think about what he'd found in his mind.
Since Lady Hogwarts had taken up residence within his head, Harry had avoided going to his mindscape because didn't really want to know what sort of effect she'd had on it. He didn't want to get used to something new then have to forget about it if and when they managed to separate, he thought staying out of there had been the best option.
There had been something niggling at him though, something to do with Dumbledore's wand. It had seemed somewhat familiar to him though he knew that no wand in Ollivander's shop had reacted to him, it was something he had been thinking about ever since he'd gotten to his room and it refused to leave him alone even now.
On entering his mind hesitantly, he was curious what kind of effect that Lady Hogwarts had had on his mind scape, he had found that there had only been seemingly superficial changes. The ruins that housed his stored knowledge now looked to resemble Hogwarts somewhat, there was a throne-like chair of obsidian too where Lady Hogwarts liked to sit, and the lake of blood that represented his memories was larger, there were also ripples as if something lay beneath the surface, but that was pretty much it.
He had wandered the forested areas of his mind for quite some time before he had come across one last thing. It looked like a boulder that had been cut in half, one flat surface on the entire thing. It was about two metres in diameter and he wasn't going to try and find how heavy it was.
On the flat side of the boulder had been a symbol of some kind. It was a triangle that had been bisected by a single line right down the middle, Harry knew that this was what had made the wand feel familiar to him but what it represented, he didn't know. Regardless of that though, it felt incomplete. It felt as though there should be more to it, something that would complete the set. He didn't know where that last thought came from but it felt right, as if there was some object that would provide the last piece of the puzzle and reveal itself to him.
Harry was brought out of his musing as he stubbed his toe on something. Looking down at whatever it was, harry sighed. This really couldn't be happening, if people knew he was here then he would definitely get the blame with or without evidence, that was the sheeple way.
Palming his face, Harry made to walk further along the corridor and almost bumped into something else. Well, this was more unique than the one on the floor at least. Harry made a mental note to warn Helena that not even ghosts could remain unaffected by this.
'Gods Dammit!' Harry thought, if people knew that he could touch ghosts then they would extrapolate from there and believe it was even more proof of his culpability even if it proved nothing.
A nearby door handle rattled and, even though he was disillusioned, Harry stepped backwards and settled into the shadows. The rattling door was soon proven to be an act of Peeves as said poltergeist zoomed through it cackling madly. Peeves stopped in front of the two figures that Harry had just been examining and let out an ear piercing shout.
"ATTACK! ATTACK! ANOTHER ATTACK! NO MORTAL OR GHOST IS SAFE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" Peeves shouted for all to hear before rushing off to other parts of the castle to spread the message.
'Well this will probably make for a quiet Christmas this year' Harry thought as he looked at the two figures in front of him, a petrified Nearly-Headless Nick and Justin Finch-Fletchely. 'I wonder how they're going to blame this one on me this time'.
Harry ignored the noise of students and staff rousing from their beds to investigate Peeve's insistent voice as he made his way towards the headmaster's office, it would be best if he got his little pleading of innocence over and done with as soon as possible.
Harry was about to continue his little mental rant as he found something by his feet. 'Well, well, well, what do we have here?' Harry wondered as he picked up what appeared at first glance to be a diary of some kind. It looked a little old and he wondered who it could belong to. Allowing it to fall open in his hands, Harry froze at the name on the inside cover.
T. M. Riddle.