Harry had always found the first week back after Easter Break amusing. He had noticed in first year that, after that last break of the school year, the speed at which their professors taught them increased significantly. It was as though the professors suddenly realised how little time was left to teach them everything they needed to know and so decided to cram as much into the final two months as possible. Harry didn't really mind, though it was frustrating to have his homework load increasing as he was trying to begin his exam preparation, but it was amusing to watch his classmates react to the change with surprise and outrage.

There wasn't much grumbling in front of the professors, or at least there wasn't after the story of how Ron Weasley earnt himself a detention and lost twenty house points for grumbling to Professor McGonagall, but there was plenty of complaining outside of the classroom.

From what Harry heard whenever he was in his dorm room, his dorm mates were just as horrified by the increased number of assignments as they had been the year before. Harry was glad to be able to ignore them, it was much harder to ignore Draco and Theo's moaning about their increased course load. Harry wasn't sure what they were complaining about, not only was he taking an OWL level subject, but he was also spending at least two hours a day on exam prep, and he wasn't feeling overwhelmed by the homework.

There was something thing that Harry found frustrating though. According to what Takashi, Fred, and George, had told him about fourth year, Professor Moody was supposed to be teaching them about counter-curses, but instead the retired auror was wasting time on spells like Aqua Eructo. Harry wasn't sure what made Moody think they needed to know so much about Aqua Eructo. Sure it was an interesting spell (being a weaponised version of the Aguamenti spell), but they weren't due to be taught it until sixth year, and it certainly wasn't worth missing out on the theory behind counter-curses.

It wasn't the first odd thing that Harry had noticed about their DADA professor. Most of the time Moody seemed to know about what he was talking about when he was lecturing, but when he was asked a question about theory (usually by Harry or Granger) his answer was often either vague or completely wrong. And now he was forgoing teaching them the theory that would be the foundation of much of their future study in the subject just to wax lyrical about how some slightly obscure spells could be used in practise. Harry supposed that it was understandable, given that Moody would have focussed more on practise than theory as an auror, but he thought it was odd that Dumbledore would have hired someone for the role who wasn't qualified. But then again, it wasn't that odd. After all, Dumbledore had hired Lockhart.

39-39-39

Despite the increased workload, and the hours he was spending preparing for exams, Harry found himself missing Quidditch more than he had all year. He'd been glad that the Quidditch Cup had been cancelled during the build up to the First and Seconds Tasks, but it had been over two months since the Second Task and they still hadn't been given any information about the Third Task.

So, three weeks after Easter Break, Harry arranged for a casual game of Quidditch. It took a little bit of organising, but it was a lot easier than he'd thought it was. The first thing he needed was permission, which Remus was happy to provide, then he needed a set of Quidditch balls, which Remus convinced Madam Hooch to let them use, and finally he needed thirteen other players to fill up the two teams.

It was easy enough to find players, especially given than Harry had friends in each of the House Quidditch Teams, and in the end the problem became actually choosing which players to use. Apparently it wasn't just Harry who was missing Quidditch.

In the end, each of the two teams had at least one player from each of the House teams – though admittedly that was more of coincidence than anything.

Harry's team had Fred and George as beaters, Takashi as Keeper, and Draco, Jeremy and Amy Fawcett (a sixth year Hufflepuff) as Chasers. While the opposing team had Cedric as Seeker, Brandon Summers (a fifth year Hufflepuff) and Duncan Inglebee (a fifth year Ravenclaw) as Beaters, Andrew Orpington (a third year Slytherin) as Keeper, and Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, and Katie Bell as Chasers.

They booked the game for a Saturday afternoon and, when the day arrived, Harry watched in astonishment as basically the entire school turned out for the event. Madam Hooch was there, with her whistle and broom, apparently planning on refereeing – which was good because Harry hadn't even considered needing to organise one.

"Alright," Jeremy said, as their team gathered together in one of the locker rooms. "The way I see it, both teams have advantages and disadvantages. We have the best two Beaters in school," He waved towards Fred and George. "And most importantly, they're used to working together. But they have three of the best Chasers, and unlike our Chasers, they're used to playing as a team."

Harry nodded along with the rest of the team. He was a little bemused that Jeremy had apparently decided that he would be Captain, especially since the entire game had been Harry's idea, but he supposed that it made the most sense. Not only was Jeremy the only member of the team with any experience as Captain, but he was also in a position to have the role. Seekers were notoriously bad Captains since their attention was supposed to be on catching the snitch and not on what the other six members of their team were doing.

Draco looked disgruntled about Jeremy's presumption, though thankfully it didn't look as though he was going to do anything about it.

"Thankfully," Jeremy continued. "We've got the best Seeker. So, Harry, we need you to catch the snitch."

"As opposed to all the other possible strategies I could go into the game with?" Harry asked, his eyebrow raised.

Jeremy ignored him. "Weasleys, don't let the fact that the opposing Chasers are Gryffindors affect you. Show them no mercy!"

Fred and George exchanged excited grins. "Got it."

"Chasers," Jeremy turned to Draco and Amy Fawcett. "I know we haven't had a chance to practise together, since someone decided to arrange this game at the last minute," He shot Harry a small glare. "But I've seen you play and you're good at what you do, so just follow my lead and we'll be fine."

Draco's mouth dropped open. "I beg your pardon."

"Time to go!" Harry exclaimed quickly, gripping Draco's arm tightly. "Lee will be announcing us at any minute."

It felt great to fly out onto the Quidditch Pitch to the sound of cheers again. Harry had made sure to make the time to go flying at least once a week, but he had missed the competitive side of the game. He was also looking forward to seeking how much he had improved with all of Viktor's coaching. Harry had no idea why, but the older Seeker had voluntarily given up his time to teach Harry some of his tricks at least once a month since the Durmstrang students had arrived October.

Speaking of the Durmstrang students, Harry's stomach clenched nervously as he spotted the delegation sitting with the Slytherins. Merlin, he hadn't expected that they would come. Harry casually flew past the stands and bit the inside of his cheek when he saw Viktor sitting there with his friends. How was Harry supposed to play Quidditch without freaking out when Viktor Krum was watching?!

He'd actually considered asking Viktor to play in the game with them, but had then decided that the other boy would have too much of an advantage. Besides, there were enough Hogwarts players who were disappointed about missing out without adding Durmstrang players to the mix.

"Since neither team has submitted a name to me, I will be referring to them as Team One and Team Two." Lee announced, his amplified voice carrying across the pitch. "Now, just to be clear, Team One contains Messers Weasley, Weasley, Nato, Stratton, Malfoy, Fawcett, and Potter, though I suppose that Fawcetts more than a Missus than a Messer. Missus? Miss? Madam? Anyway, moving on, Team Two is made up of Summers, Inglebee, Orpington, Johnson, Spinnet, Bell, and Diggory! I hope you have cast your bets, because the game is about to begin!"

"Jordan!" McGonagall snapped.

"Sorry, Professor," Lee said, his tone unrepentant. "She's right, folks, gambling's against school rules, so make sure you don't get caught!"

Harry grinned as he moved into his starting position, it felt just like a normal school game.

Hooch blew her whistle and Harry watched as she threw the Quaffle into the air.

"Malfoy has possession," Lee announced immediately. "Merlin, that kid is fast. He dodges Spinnet, ducks under Bells, and, wow, that was close. Summer aimed a bludger right at him, but Weasley got to it before it could do any damage. Malfoy passes to Stratton, who tries to dodge around Johnson, but doesn't quite manage it. Johnson's got the quaffle, she drops it down to Spinnet who's sprinting towards the goal hoops, and Merlin! Another close call with a bludger. If Weasley had shot that any closer it might have knocked her off her broom!"

Harry tuned out Lee's commentary as he began to fly through some of the tricks that Viktor had taught him. According to Viktor it was bad strategy for Seeker to listen to the commentary for the entire game since it distracted them from their goal – finding the snitch. He'd admitted that it was important to tune in every now and again, just to get an idea of what the score was, but otherwise he should be completely focussed on searching for the snitch.

Harry dived down and performed a perfect double-barrel roll – using the opportunity to search the skies for the glittering of a sun against the golden snitch. Nothing. Harry aimed his broom towards the sky and shot forward, before using his momentum to spin his broom in the air. Still nothing.

Harry ran through all the tricks that Viktor had taught him, and the few that he had managed to teach himself, before taking a break. It was dizzying work, all the spinning, flipping, rolling and diving, and Harry was glad for the opportunity to just search the skies as his head and stomach stabilised.

"Potter seems to have finished his series of death-defying stunts," Lee was commenting. "Which, even if they were good for nothing else, certainly succeeded at distracting Diggory from even searching for snitch. Stratton has possession, he passes it back to, well, I'm not sure who he was passing it back to, since one was there. No one from his team at least. Bell has possession, she passes it forward to Johnson, beautiful intercept from Malfoy who now has possession, Malfoy races the quaffle towards the goal, he shoots, and scores! Which puts the points total at forty points to twenty, Team Two in the lead."

Harry grimaced, damn, at this rate he would need to catch the snitch pretty early to stop the other team from getting too far ahead in points. With that in mind, and his dizziness gone, Harry began to run through the series of tricks again, constantly on the lookout for a glimmer of gold. Theoretically, all the spinning and diving he was doing would give him a better chance of spotting the snitch since it gave him the opportunity to look for it at all angles.

Except, he managed to get through the entire series of tricks again without having spotted anything. He knew it wasn't exactly surprising. It often took professional players like Krum over an hours to spot the thing but, with Lee's announcement that the score was now seventy to fifty, he was starting to feel desperate.

"…and Malfoy scores again!" Lee announced. "Normally I can't stand it when he does that, what with him being a Slytherin and all that, but you've got to admit, it's pretty impressive – he's scored all six of his team's goals today. I'm not sure what Stratton and Fawcett are doing out there, they seem completely and utterly outmatched."

Harry winced, Jeremy wasn't going to like that. He gained another ten feet of altitude, all the while keeping an eye out for the snitch, before beginning his series of tricks again – though this time he changed up the order. Halfway through, when he still hadn't seen any sign of the snitch, he decided to have some fun with Cedric and pointed his broom into a deep dive.

"Potter's spotted the snitch!" Lee announced loudly. "And Diggory's right on his tail."

Harry looked behind him to see Cedric only a few feet behind him, then he turned his attention back to the fast approaching ground. He was only a few feet away from the ground when he pulled up sharply, allowing his body to turn the momentum into a roll, then, suddenly, he saw a golden glittering out of the corner of his eye. Was that…?

Adjusting the direction of his broom slightly, Harry raised to towards the snitch – pressing his body against his broom to increase his speed. It was ten feet away, nine, eight, seven…

Harry risked a glimpse behind him and was shocked to see that Cedric was at least five feet behind him. What was the he doing back there? Turning his attention back to the snitch, Harry reached out his hand, three feet, two feet, damn!

The snitch darted to the side, and Harry barely managed to turn fast enough to follow it without falling off his broom. Four feet, three feet, two feet, one foot, and…

He closed his hand around the snitch and grinned in triumph! He'd done it!

"Potter catches the snitch." Lee announced, almost glumly. "In what was probably the most disappointingly short Quidditch game I've ever attended. Team One wins, two hundred and twenty points to one hundred."

39-39-39

"The problem was that both Keepers were decidedly average." Theo commented later that afternoon. "That's why the score got so high, so fast."

"The problem was the Stratton's an idiot!" Draco growled. "He's all talk and no action. Fawcett was better, but she was willing to follow Stratton around and watch him lose possession time and time again."

Theo grinned. "You should have seen him, Harry. Ten minutes into the game, Draco decides that he's had enough and just starts ignoring the other Chasers. It only worked because of Fred and George, who are so much better than I remember them being. They managed to keep the other team's Chasers busy enough that Draco could score some points."

"I don't know why you picked him!" Draco ranted. "There are better Chasers that him at Hogwarts! I should know, I play with two of them!"

"We couldn't have an all Slytherin line." Harry pointed out.

"Why not?" Draco asked. "The other team had an all Gryffindor line. Which is why they almost won!"

"They didn't almost win," Neville rolled his eyes. "Diggory was never going to beat Harry to the snitch. Did you see him out there? He looked like a rank amateur next to Harry."

"How in Merlin's name did you learn all those tricks?" Theo asked, his eyes wide. "They were amazing!"

"Viktor's been teaching me." Harry reminded him. "What did you think we did? Just raced each other to the snitch?"

"Well, yes." Theo nodded.

Harry grimaced. "We do that sometimes, but he always beats me. He's amazing!"

"You're amazing!" Theo told him sincerely. "Honestly, you, Draco, and the Weasleys were definitely the stars of the game."

"Don't forget the Gryffindor Line." Neville defended. "They weren't bad either."

"True," Theo admitted. "But they weren't anything new either. Harry and Draco both played like completely different players out there."

"And the twins?" Harry asked.

"They seem to be better each game they play." Theo gushed. "If your team had two more Draco's, and good Keeper, I bet you could play professionally."

Harry rolled his eyes. "That might be going a bit far. Though Draco and I are going to try out for the Under Seventeen League this summer."

"Will the twins be playing again?" Neville asked curiously.

"I presume so." Harry answered. "I haven't actually asked."

39-39-39

It was a few days later, after the school had gotten over the disappointingly short Quidditch game and a second game had been commissioned (though the second game was going to be played by all the players who didn't get a shot in the first game), that Harry met Sirius in the Come and Go Room for their weekly duelling practise.

Harry arrived early and settled down on the floor against the wall with a book while he waited. He'd only managed to read a few pages when Sirius arrived though.

"What are you reading about?"

Harry closed the book and returned it to his bag, before standing up to greet Sirius. "The theory behind counter-curses. Professor Moody still hasn't started teaching us about them."

Sirius grinned. "So you've taken the subject into your own hands?"

"It'll be in my exam!" Harry exclaimed. "Besides, Takashi says that the theory is foundational for what I'll be taught next year."

"Fair enough." Sirius looked amused. "You ready to duel?"

"Of course." Harry stretched out his shoulders and his neck. "Any new rules?"

Sirius moved so that he was standing on the opposite side of the duelling room that the Come and Go Room had created for them. "How does a parselmagic restriction sound?"

"So I'm not allowed to use parselmagic?" Harry checked.

"No, you're only allowed to use parselmagic." Sirius corrected. "All your offensive and defensive spells must be parselmagic."

Harry grimaced. "Oh, come on. You know that parselmagic shields don't block normal spells."

"Just as normal shields don't block parselmagic spells." Sirius agreed, with a smirk. "We'll both be doing a lot of dodging."

Harry sighed, but nodded in agreement. "Fine."

"And I'll only be using non-verbal spells." Sirius added. "That way neither of us will know what's coming towards us."

Harry groaned, he hated it when Sirius used non-verbal spells. It made it so much harder to identity the curses flying towards him.

"Ready?" Sirius asked, with a shallow bow.

"Ready." Harry nodded, with a bow of his own. :Slice!:

Sirius' own spell, a light blue colour that suggested that it was either the ear-shrivelling curse or the sponge-knees curse, was cast almost simultaneously.

Harry dodged with a smooth step to his left. :Rip!:

Sirius' next curse was a pinkish colour and Harry didn't waste any time trying to identify it as he sidestepped it again. It was, he supposed, one of the benefits of only being allowed to use parselmagic, since it freed him from having to identify the curse so that he could decide which shield to use against it.

:Burn!: Harry hissed, as he dodged away from a yellow spell. :Cut!:

Sirius' spells were coming just as quickly as Harry's spells were leaving his wand and they were damningly accurate. As Harry spun to the left to avoid a dark purple spell, he found himself considering, not for the first time, how similar duelling was to dancing. Both required the participants to be quick on their feet, in both each participant's moves were affected by the moves of their partner, and mistakes in both could have severe consequences. Though, as Harry sidestepped a dark blue curse that looked a lot like the Bone-Breaking Curse, possibly the public embarrassment that resulted from making a dance while dancing wasn't quite as severe a consequence as failing to dodge a spell.

:Break!: Harry cast with a hiss. :Stab!: He ducked under the next spell. :Rip!: And then side stepped so that the yellow curse that Sirius had sent towards him splashed harmlessly against the wall behind him. :Slice! Burn! Cut!:

Sirius' spells were increasing in frequency as well and Harry doubted that they could continue for too much longer. Surely one of them would misjudge something soon, though Harry was determined that it wouldn't be him.

:Snap!: Harry hissed. :Freeze! Push!: He stepped left to avoid a dark green spell. :Cut!: Spun right to avoid a purple one. :Break!: And then ducked under an orange one. :Burn!:

Their duel went on, and on, and on, until Harry was beginning to breathe heavily – a rare occurrence in their duels since he was still running around the Great Lake each morning.

:Crush!: Harry threw himself to the left to avoid a yellow spell. :Hit!: He pushed himself back to his feet and twisted away from the pink spell hurtling towards him. :Cut!: Then he spun away from a dark green curse and…

"Ow!" Sirius exclaimed loudly. "Bloody hell!"

Harry sidestepped the last spell that Sirius had cast, before stilling and watching his godfather suspiciously. These duels, the ones in which there were rules around what spells could be uses, usually stopped at first blood (or first hit), but Sirius wasn't above pretending to be hit just to get a good shot at Harry.

Still, the blood dribbling down Sirius' arm and onto the floor looked real enough.

"Good job, Harry!" Sirius congratulated him, his right hand pressed again his left arm. "Now come over here and heal me already."

"I win?" Harry asked cautiously, his wand still slightly raised.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Merlin, what did I do to deserve such a suspicious plonker for a godson? Yes, you won. I lost. Now and stop me from bleeding out."

Suspicion forgotten, Harry jogged across the room and took a closer look at the wound on Sirius' arm. "Don't be silly. It's not much bigger than a papercut."

Sirius gasped in outrage. "Are you kidding me?"

"Episkey!" Harry cast, before smirking when the cut in Sirius' wound healed before his eyes. "See, episkey only works on minor injuries."

"Minor injuries?!" Sirius exclaimed. "I'll show you minor injuries!"

"How exactly are you planning on doing that?" Harry asked cheekily, skipping back a few steps and raising his wand defensively. "I just bet you in a duel."

"Getting cocky, huh?" Sirius asked, raising his on wand. "Let's do this then. No rules. Just you and me."

"As opposed to last time?" Harry asked, continuing to put distance between himself and his godfather. "Was there someone else in that duel that I wasn't aware of?"

"Mimble Wimble!" Sirius cast with a slash of his wand. "Slugulus Eructo! Locomotor Mortis!"

Harry dodged each spell nimbly, before sending back his own volley of spells. "Locomotor Wibbly! Mucus ad Nauseam!" And then. :Cut!:

It was over half an hour later, by which time both Harry and Sirius were huffing for breath, when Harry eventually admitted defeat when his godfather managed to trick him into dodging into a Body-Bind Curse. It wasn't a surprising outcome, Harry's duelling had improved exponentially with Sirius' tutoring but he still only won one out of every three duels with his godfather.

"I win!" Sirius crowed victoriously, as he came to stand over Harry's frozen body.

Harry rolled his eyes as violently as he could.

"None of that," Sirius rebuked him with a smirk. "Be nice or I might not cast the counter-curse."

Harry just rolled his eyes again, before sighing gratefully when Sirius released him from the spell. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Sirius nodded smugly. "It's only polite for the victor of a duel to heal the person they firmly defeated."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Were you in a different duel? There was nothing firm about that victory."

Sirius shrugged unapologetically. "A victory's a victory, kiddo."

"Also," Harry continued with a grin. "You made that bit about the victor healing the loser up."

"Maybe," Sirius winked. "But you admit you're the loser?"

"This time." Harry said grudgingly. "But overall it was a tie. One duel to me, one duel to you."

"So it was." Sirius' smirk shifted into a proud expression. "You're incredible, Harry! Absolutely amazing."

Harry looked away awkwardly. "Thanks."

Sirius reached out a hand a grasped his shoulder. "I really mean it. I don't think I've ever seen anyone under seventeen duel as well as you do. You should consider entering a competition this summer."

"Really?" Harry asked in disbelief.

"Maybe you could try that one in Bulgaria that we attended the summer before your third year." Sirius suggested.

"That was fencing though." Harry protested. "We haven't done any of that for months."

"We could start practising with it again, if you like?" Sirius offered.

"Do you think I'll have time?" Harry asked hopefully. "Draco and I are still hoping to join the Under Seventeen Quidditch League, and I'll be joining the Wizengamot."

"The tournaments are a week long, at maximum." Sirius pointed out. "We can do some research, see if you'll be able to fit it into your Quidditch schedule."

Harry grinned widely. "That would be amazing!"

"You're amazing." Sirius countered, with a proud smile.

"Thanks." Harry moved to pick up his bag to try and hide his blush. He grabbed it by the strap and then swung it up onto his shoulder. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," Sirius sighed. "I suppose we should go tell Moony about how you beat me in another duel."

"He's just glad that he's not the only one that I beat." Harry pointed out.

Sirius began to turn towards the door, before pausing. "You have a beetle on your bag."

"Really?" Harry looked down and blinked in surprise at the large brown beetle that was clinging to his bag. "I don't think I've ever seen a bug in here before."

"You probably brought him in with you." Sirius pointed out.

"Yes, probably." Harry agreed. "Daphne and I went for a walk earlier."

"Alone?" Sirius asked in horror, as he led Harry out of the room and into the corridor.

Harry rolled his eyes. "No, we weren't alone, Neville and Luna came with us. And you can drop the act, Draco does that too, and neither of you are funny."

"But the thought of you being alone with your betrothed, without an escort!" Sirius brought a hand to his chest. "It just filled me dread. What if someone should hear about it?"

"They'd probably think that I've spent too much time with my godfather who, according to Remus, spent half of his time at Hogwarts in broom-closets with girls." Harry pointed out.

Sirius smirked. "True. Still I hope you know better than that."

"Of course I do." Harry told him seriously. "I would never do anything to damage Daphne's reputation."

"You're a good man, Harry." Sirius told him, grasping his shoulder. "Your parents would be so proud of you."

Harry smiled awkwardly. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Sirius told him, pausing when they hit an intersecting corridor. "You want to come to Remus' with me?"

"No," Harry shook his head. "I'm going to go put the beetle outside."

Sirius glanced towards Harry's bag. "It's already gone."

Harry followed his gaze. "Oh, I hope it gets out alright."

"You have clearly been spending too much time with your friends Luna." Sirius told him. "Worrying about the welfare of beetles. Now come on, Remus will be thrilled to see you. If you're lucky, you might even be able to convince him into giving you a lecture on the theory behind counter-curses. Just wait until after I've had a few firewhiskeys, will you? That theory stuff is dead boring."

39-39-39

Happy Christmas everyone! (Though it is Boxing day for those of us in New Zealand). Unfortunately for you (though excitingly for me) I am going on holiday today and, since I'll be staying in the wop wops (middle of nowhere) I won't be posting another chapter until the 13th of January. Sorry!