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Harry Potter And The Game of Death

Level 1

Chapter Thirty: Before the Duel

Lucius Malfoy stared intently as he watched Draco run through a drill. Designed to test a wizard's speed and reaction time, the goal was to knock down a series of orbs which floated in a circle around the duellist. The orbs shifted through various colours as they wove patterns in the air. Only spells from corresponding schools of magic could be used to deactivate each colour, while using a spell from the wrong school could elicit a wide variety of different reactions.

Thus far Lucius had seen nearly every single one of those different reactions. A fact which gave him no small amount of consternation.

Draco's spells lanced out to hit his targets with impressive ferocity and power, but more often than not they ended up splashing uselessly against the ensorcelled objects or causing literal sparks to fly in the air. Some spells even ricocheted back at the boy and forced him to dodge with a yelp or a muttered curse. A sight which invariably caused a tic to twitch from within Lucius' left cheek.

Eyeing his son and heir over steepled fingers, Lucius studied his son intently. He ran his mind through the various permutations and compared them to what his informants had told him of Potters exploits in the Cup's duelling tent. The conclusion Lucius reached was not pleasant.

All signs would seem to point to Draco's inevitable defeat. Unless the Potter boy suffered an accident – and Lucius' resources in that area were all but tapped out after having already been employed against the backup members of several Quidditch teams in the Cup – then even the success of the ritual would not be enough to overcome Potter's incredible increase of power and skill over the summer.

That left Lucius to consider whether he should employ his final option. One that he had not wished to use due to the damage it could cause to Draco's self-confidence. But the future of House Malfoy's ambitions – of Lucius' ambitions –and the possible damage to them that a public loss to Potter could entail outweighed such concerns.

Lucius steeled himself and made the decision. He just hoped that Yaxley and Morgan would be up to the task. Because if they failed and were discovered it could impact Lucius' master plan and mean the end of everything he had worked so long and hard to accomplish since the Dark Lord's fall.

With a languid wave of his wand Lucius ended the training session. He pulled an ornate brooch from the pockets of his robe and walked over to wear his son stood panting. Draco looked up at him, the boy's sweat laden face flinching as he saw the look of disappointment in his father's eyes. Lucius tried to not let it bother him overmuch, yet even his iron-clad will could not help but feel a twinge of sadness at what he was about to do.

For the sake of victory all options would be used. No matter the cost.


Ding!

Mandatory Quest Alert Notification

The "Beat the Brat" Quest has been Changed to "Defeat the Cheat"

Lucius Malfoy has Employed a Way to Cheat During your Duel Against his Son

Now Ties in with the 'Attack on the World Cup' Quest

Defeat Draco or the One Controlling Him in order to Complete the Quest

Quest Reward:

10 Levels

Mystery Reward for Achieving Either a Perfect or Excellent Completion

"Bloody hell!" Harry swore aloud as the Game's notification popped up while he was in the middle of dodging a bludger. The distraction proved a costly one when an enchanted piece of iron slammed into Harry's shoulder. It hit with enough velocity to spin him around mid-air and force Harry to battle for control of his broom, all while the insistent dings of an unread Game notification blared in his head.

By the time Harry managed to arrest his momentum he was so close to the ground that he decided to float the rest of the way. The instant his toes touched the ground, Harry let go of his broom and plopped his aching body on top of the deliciously soft grass.

"Ach! Cap'n, I think th' lad needs a break. That bludger nary would o' hit 'im if th' lad had been concentrat'n. We've been pushin 'im hard all mornin'." Alistair's voice sounded from above Harry's head. "Besides, th' lad has a big duel innae few hours. There's no need ta bruise him too badly beforehand."

Captain Bronwen gave a sigh as she flew into Harry's sight. "You're right Alistair. And when you're right, you're right. The rest of practice can be devoted to working on honing our Chaser formations and running some scoring drills on Annabelle." The burly woman swivelled on her broom to give Harry a curt nod. "Alright Harry, you've done well enough for today. Pack up your things and get on home so that you can rest up before your duel. Make sure to win it too; I don't want any rumours flying around that you're a second-rate wizard who can't beat some Pureblood fop. Not when I know better, y'hear?"

A feeling of immense gratitude welled up from within him as Harry nodded from his spot sprawled along the ground. That last bludger hit had done a number on him and he really could use some rest before his duel. "Aye aye, captain."

"Good. Alistair, with me. I've a few ideas for the Chaser drills that I want to run by you before we get started."

Left alone for a blissfully free moment as the two beaters flew off, Harry was finally able to select the Game's notification. A quick tap ended the constant dings. The resulting silence was a blessing and allowed him to study the Game's most recent quest.

From the wording of the quest Harry gathered that someone, whether it was Lucius or one of the man's cronies, would be controlling Draco during the duel. That might cause a minor problem, since whomever was chosen would probably be an expert duellist with far more experience than Harry, but Harry had confidence in himself. He had grown in both power and skill over the summer, to the point that he felt there was no way that Draco's terrible stats would allow the boy to beat Harry even with someone else's assistance.

Besides, Lucius Malfoy not playing fair was anything but new. Harry and the others had already anticipated as much and had already taken precautions, setting up plan after backup plan just in case their first one did not work out. So despite the quest's somewhat sinister wording and increased reward, Harry put it to the back of his mind. As far as Harry was concerned, Lucius' little trick could very well end up playing right into their hands and enable Harry to finish two quests in one go.

After resting for a few more minutes Harry hopped back onto his broom and made his way over to the team's facilities. There he took a blistering hot shower that rid his body of the remaining aches that practice had given him and changed into a fresh pair of stylish green and gold wizard robes. After which Harry emerged from the facility and made his way over to where Andromeda stood waiting to take him home.


Dora growled to herself as she stalked around the duelling tent. Remus and Sirius had asked her to patrol the area and look out for anything suspicious while the two of them went over the Duelling Ring with a fine-toothed comb. Her status as a newly minted Auror, combined with Remus' status as a Hogwarts professor, had allowed them to do some checks on the ring's protections before the duel started. But professional courtesy only went so far and there were several people from the duelling emporium watching their every action. It was Dora's job to keep an eye on them and anyone else who appeared while Remus and Sirius did their work.

But Dora could feel that her heart was no longer in this volunteer assignment due to recent events. She could feel her control over her powers slipping, undoubtedly causing her hair to cycle through various hues of angry colours. Even with the lack of a crowd due to the need to setup everything, being back in the tent was like rubbing salt on an open wound. Dora could feel her still seething fury at having lost to that strumpet of a girl in serious danger of boiling over.

"Oh hey darling, look at what Remus is doing. I've never seen someone use Nordic runic structures in conjunction with Charms like that; rather than setting them side by side or entwining them, he's overlaying them on top of one another. Huh. I'll bet that doubles or triples the efficiency of the entire structure when compared to the more traditional methods. Though it's got to have some side effects, like being more delicate or prone to collapse."

Hestia's bubbly tone rattled through Dora's head as the busty girl skipped along at Dora's side. Wearing a high collared shirt under her robes to hide the hickies Dora had left on her earlier, Hestia's eyes roved around the tent as she observed everything in good humour. "Do you think it's something we can bring up to Kingsley or Moody next time we're at HQ? I'd bet even they'd be interested in it given how outdated some of the Ministry's approved methods are."

Dora shot her lover a glare and kept her mouth firmly shut. One of her mother's oft repeated refrains had been that unless you had something nice to say it was better to say nothing at all. And though Dora generally liked thumbing her nose at anything that even remotely smacked of upper crust nonsense, in this case she was doing her best to adhere to her mother's advice.

"Awwww, c'mon honey, are you still sulking about not being able to match Harry's record? In that last duel you beat the scrumptious little tart to the point that she vomited all over herself. By the time you were through with her the girl looked as though she had tried and failed to fight off a charging Hippogryph. Doesn't that make up for things even a little?"

Hestia's words poked Dora's sore spot with all the gentleness of a Giant poking a soufflé. It made her back straighten and her muscles tense further as anger bubbled deep within her heart.

"No!" Dora spat out. "Not even a bit!"

"Then what about all the sex we had in the last few days?" Hestia inquired. "Did that help? We didn't stop until well past midnight that first night. And yesterday you hardly allowed me to even leave the bed! My arse probably has the imprint of your hand permanently seared into it."

A little of Dora's tension faded away upon hearing those words. Her own loin still ached from the recent abuse she had heaped upon it. As did her sore nipples. Hestia had been wonderfully enthusiastic the past few days, while Dora had possessed more stamina during than she could ever recall herself possessing. But not even ploughing the raven-haired woman into the sheets in screaming orgasm after screaming orgasm had been enough to quell the unbridled anger that still dwelled within Dora's heart.

Every fibre of Dora's being was angry. Angry at the French girl for successfully taunting her. Angry at Hestia for blatantly flirting with the girl in the middle of Dora's duel. Angry at herself for being overconfident and not taking her opponent seriously. The latter of which made her even angrier as Dora knew how disappointed Moody would be in her if he ever found out about her enormous lapse in vigilance; the old man had taught Dora to be on alert at all times and to always take her opponents seriously.

It was also a family thing which, according to her mother, was common amongst Black women. With example A being Dora's crazy aunt, Bellatrix, whose competitive and vengeful streaks had been so wide that the woman would spend months taking a slow, steady vengeance upon any she felt who had wronged her. But the only hint Dora gave Hestia as to the thoughts swirling through her brain, though, was a simple grunted reply. "A little. But not enough."

Which was the honest to God truth. Having copious amounts of sex with her gorgeous girlfriend had taken the edge away from Dora's feelings of self-loathing, but had ultimately done little to dissipate it.

Hestia stopped and stared at Dora in open-mouthed shock. "Seriously?"

"Yes. Seriously." Dora stated in clipped tones. She said what she meant and meant what she said. Just because she liked to play the fool at times did not mean otherwise.

"Wow. Just… wow. That sort of hurts, you know?" Hestia actually did look hurt. The woman's face was scrunched up and she was looking at Dora with wondering eyes. "And if it wasn't making you feeling any better, then why did you make love to me for so long?"

Dora gave a harsh snort. "Because it felt good. And when I held you in my arms I could forget about my anger."

"Oh. I see." Hestia's pretty grey eyes clouded over as she mumbled her reply. The woman's shoulders sagged a bit while her luscious lips pulled into a taut frown.

Dora shot her girlfriend a questioning look. Those words, said in that manner, rarely meant anything good when coming from a woman. Any woman, herself included. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I finally understand why you wanted to be Mad Eye's apprentice so badly. And why Mad Eye accepted you after he turned everyone else down." Hestia raised her head to look Dora square in the eye. "The two of you are broken in the same way. And I doubt that either one of you can ever be fixed."


High up in the air, Wormtail skittered along a wooden beam in his rat form. His sharp claws dug into the wood, allowing him to scrabble and climb to a place where no normal magic user could reach without using some sort of flying tool. He eventually came to a halt when he reached a vantage point from which he could observe the coming event and record it for his Lord and Master.

Pensieves could be such useful tools. Wormtail had been elated to have obtained one a recent foray. He had nearly danced with glee upon realizing his good fortune. With a Pensieve at their disposal his Lord and Master would no longer need to rip information from Wormtail's mind, thereby saving Wormtail the excruciating pain such methods brought. Or so he hoped.

After looking around at the people below and finding no threats, Wormtail settled in to watch his former friends. Remus and Sirius were pouring over the Emporium's floating Duelling Ring, the tips of their wands flashing as they cast silent spells and scribbled down sequences of Ancient Runes. From the looks of it the pair were attempting to determine whether Lucius had placed any traps in or around the ring.

It was a good idea, but one which would ultimately prove fruitless. Wormtail was familiar the details of Lucius' plan and knew that it did not rely on anything so difficult as sneaking a spell past the duelling Emporium's strict wards. For all of his many faults Lucius knew how to lay a scheme. And for all their many strengths, Remus and Sirius had never been been the best when it came to unravelling such schemes.

It was a classic case of two Gryffindors playing a game of cards against a Slytherin. The Gryffindors might get lucky and gather winning hand after winning hand, but they would fall for so many bluffs and feints that they usually ended up losing more than they won.

Still, watching them waste their efforts was as good a way as any for Wormtail to pass the time. So the transformed Animagus rested his head upon his front paws as his beady little eyes followed their every movement.


"WHAT?"

Dora's furious shriek caused Sirius to jump into the air. He looked at where his younger cousin stood with her girlfriend, fearing that one of them had triggered some Dark spell in the middle of their own search. But upon seeing the expressions on the faces of both women Sirius immediately turned his head and looked away.

There was no Dark magic at work. Of that Sirius was absolutely certain.

No, the alarm bells currently ringing in his head were warning of a completely different danger. One that no amount of spells or quick talking could save Sirius from weathering if he stayed in his current position. So after a quick look at his work to double check that his task was complete, Sirius made his way out of the danger zone as speedily as was humanly possible. He power walked over to the far side of the floating stone ring where Remus was finishing up his own work.

When he made it to Remus' position, out of sight and on the far side of the tent from the two women, Sirius cleared his throat and tried to engage his friend in conversation. "So, uh, mate, how goes it over here?"

Remus shot Sirius a dour look. "I'm nearly done, actually. Just finishing the final bit of spellwork now. But I see that you remain as lion-hearted in the face of a woman's wrath as ever."

Sirius glowered at having been seen through so easily. "Hey! I'll have you know that running away in this sort of situation is a time-honoured tradition. One that has allowed the males of our species to survive what anyone with even a lick of common sense would term 'mortal peril'. Without it you wouldn't even be alive, so don't you dare knock it!"

"Uh huh. And what happens after you return from running away?"

"If it's not directed at you?" Sirius thought the question over carefully. "Generally nothing. But if it is directed at you… then bad things, usually, but nothing that a potion or three can't fix."

"Riiiiiiight," Remus drawled. "Well, your gallantry in the face of feminine danger aside, I think that I'm done here. Let's go over to Dora's area and finish things up. Andromeda just messaged that she and Harry have returned to the Cottage ahead of schedule and I would like to have things wrapped up on our end before they arrive."

Turning his head to look as they walked, Sirius saw that the two ladies had gone off to a secluded corner. In the time since he had last seen them Dora's face had reddened quite a bit. Meanwhile, Hestia's expression looked increasingly stony and the dark-haired woman had crossed her arms under her enormous breasts. All of which only made the warning bells ring ever louder within the back of Sirius' brain.

Nope. No way. He was not going near that area even if Dumbledore himself were to ask. Not when Dora was doing her best impression of an angry Lily, down to the flashing green eyes and flame red hair.

With his life on the line, Sirius turned to Remus and pulled out his greatest weapon. One that had rarely failed to succeed since the day they had first met so many years ago.

Puppy Dog eyes.

Remus took one look at Sirius' expression and rolled his eyes in return. "Dammit, Sirius, stop that! This is why you're utter rubbish when it comes to having a steady relationship. What're you going to do when Harry and Hermione finally get together and the boy comes to you for relationship advice? Tell him to fuck the girl into a mind-numbing haze of pleasure when she's sad and to run away when she's mad?"

Sirius broke his Puppy Eyes assault to nod vigorously. "Damn straight I will. Don't knock my brilliant methods just because your own are lacking. I gave that same advice to James and look at how well it turned out for him!"

"Nice try, Padfoot, but we both know that Lily was usually the one dragging James into the bedroom and not the other way around," Remus pointed out much to Sirius' chagrin. In his haste to prove his point Sirius had forgotten about that little titbit of relevant information. "And while James probably could have escaped from her if they were to ever fight with wands, the man had enough sense to know that getting to that point would have permanently ended things between them. So your advice fails on both counts."

"Then what about his relationships with Morwena, Isabella, Felicienne and Bellatrix? Huh? If not for my advice with them James would never have survived to so much as date Lily!"

"None of them – especially that disastrous attempt with Bellatrix – had so much as a snowballs chance in hell of surviving in the first place. Any advice other than 'never go near any of them' was flawed from the beginning. Which brings me back to my point that your advice when it comes to romantic relationships – of any sort – is pants!"

"Now you're just being jealous, Moony," Sirius said as he gesticulated wildly. From the clear annoyance in the other man's voice during that last response, Remus was close to cracking. Which in turn meant that the more outrageous Sirius acted, the more likely he was to escape the storm of feminine wrath building nearby. "Bellatrix might've had a few screws loose even back then, but she was hot, and a total firecracker in bed from what James told me. And a guy can forgive a lot when a girl is willing to do the things she did for James."

"Maybe so, but you weren't the one who had to hide James in an abandoned classroom when he was running away from her through the castle's hallways stark naked and half-covered in candle wax!"

"Don't over exaggerate. From what I heard it was only James' chest and shoulders that had the candle wax on it. His lower half was completely fine except for his arse."

"That's not my point you moronic nitwit!" Remus roared as he grabbed Sirius' collar and shook him violently. The next few minutes were spent arguing back and forth until a frustrated Remus finally gave up and told Sirius that he would handle the rest of the duties in the tent so long as Sirius allowed him to work in peace. Goal accomplished Sirius then made a beeline for his next assignment, happy beyond belief that it would take him out of the tent.

He made his move not a moment too soon. Dora's voice rose in anger the moment Sirius passed the underpaid wizards tasked with stopping the anxious crowd of folks from entering the tent. Flush with relief, Sirius made sure to give the crowd a confident wink and flash a roguish smile at some of the prettier witches. Then he made his way over to where Ludo was speaking to a gaggle of reporters and thanked the powers that be that he would only have to guard the man against the possible machinations of Dark Wizards rather than from the wrath of an angry woman.

Still, Remus' initial point lingered in Sirius' mind. When there was time, Sirius would definitely need to sit Harry down and have another talk with the boy about the dangers of the fairer sex. Dark Wizards and their schemes were hazardous to ones health, and scarily common in the young boy's life, but women were trouble of a different sort that came in every stripe and colour imaginable. The sooner Sirius was able to teach that to Harry, and how the boy could recognize when said trouble was reaching dangerous levels, the better off the boy would be.


"When speaking of the Chosen Ones it is vital to know the source of their power. Those who receive gifts from the same deity often exhibit similar behaviour to one another and seem to possess many of the same strengths and weaknesses, as is perhaps best exemplified by Athena's gifts to Socrates and Heraclitus. It is this scholar's belief that a study of those who came before could help guide any future Chosen Ones from making the same mistakes as their predecessors, and in so doing spare the lives of many who would otherwise be hewn like wheat at the harvest."

"Hermione! Come along. If we don't hurry, then we'll miss our flight."

Hermione raised her head from the massive book held open in her lap. "I'm coming mum! Just, give me a moment. I'm in the middle of a passage."

"Hermione Jean Granger! The aeroplane will not wait for your studies. You can finish reading your book on the flight over the channel. Now come along; your father is already standing in line and waiting for us to join him."

Grumbling at her mother's stern command, Hermione did as she was told. She placed a bookmark on the page and closed the volume with a heavy thud. Hermione then placed the Greek Grimoire into an expandable satchel she had purchased while in France and stood up to join her parents in the queue.

Not for the first time did Hermione wish that she could travel by magic as it would have shortened their journey by a number of hours. But no, such a convenient tool was not available to her. As the haughty Ministry witch had told her when they had visited Diagon Alley for her school supplies, Ministry approved magical travel was forbidden to all Muggles, regardless of whether they had a witch or wizard in the family. The incident had infuriated Hermione as the policy reeked of both spite and wilful ignorance of that which the Ministry did not understand. It also added one more thing to the list of reforms she planned to make when she graduated Hogwarts and joined the Ministry.

Honestly, there were times where Hermione half-wondered what might happen if the world's entire population of non-magic users were to someday disappear. Would the wizard's and witches of the world celebrate? Would they be horrified? Or would the entire community merely give a collective shrug of indifference? Knowing the British magical society as she did, the reaction would probably depend on the manner of their disappearance. With anything less than a thermonuclear apocalypse being labelled as a 'muggle only' problem.

Grim thoughts such as those had been growing of late within Hermione. The books Professor Dumbledore had given her to read did not make for pleasant reading. The stories of those chosen by a deity were so often filled with death and acts of such appalling barbarity that reading them had begun to give her nightmares. While the outlook they painted for people who, like Harry, had been chosen by some higher power was bleak to say the least. Nor was it much better for the people surrounding them, many of whom were cut down either by the chosen person's enemies or by the chosen person themselves.

Yet Hermione refused to allow that to happen to her Harry. Damn the grim history and damn whatever entity thought that it could use Harry to advance some ancient and hoary goal. This would be the last week this summer she spent without seeing him. And though that should have brought her comfort, Harry's most recent letters had hinted of disturbing events surrounding him.

Which was much the same as always, only with one big difference. That this time Hermione was not there to help.

God only knew what sort of mess he would get himself into without her there to keep him safe.


Draco Malfoy (Cursed)

Age: 14

Heir Apparent to the Malfoy Family

Level 44

Stats:

STR: 50

DEX: 68

CON: 62

INT: 130

WIS: 105

CHA: 265

Traits:

Envious One

Gullible

Gossipmonger

Dedicated

Pureblood

Fair Whether Friend

School Quidditch Player

Pureblood Supremacist

Sacrificium Virginali

Dark Arts Initiate

Blue Blood

Spoiled

Vain

Upon seeing Malfoy's new and improved stats, as well as that glaring status affliction placed next to the boy's name, a single thought ran through Harry's head.

"Bollocks."

A/N: This chapter is a two-parter. I had considered making it one large chapter, but I wanted to experiment a little with perspectives and flow. It's a break from my usual style, but hey! What is fan fiction for if not to allow authors to experiment with different ideas and concepts?

Next chapter will be jam packed with action and contains a twist that many of you probably won't see coming. Trust me when I say that the pay-off will be worth your wait when I post it up in two weeks.

Until Next Time,

~Elsil