Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction based on the Harry Potter universe. All recognizable characters, plots and settings are the exclusive property of J.K Rowling. I make no claim to ownership nor do I make any profit.

Acknowledgments: Thank you to my betas Umar, Luq707, Yoshi89 and Fezzik for their work on this story.

Self Promotion: I have a discord server where you can chat and read all of my chapters early. If you would like to join, simply copy the link on my profile.

In addition, you can follow the official ACI100 fanfiction account on Twitter ( ACI_100( by using the link on my profile to get even more out of my written works.

Harry Potter and the Dark Lord's Equal

By ACI100

Year 2: The Looming of Shadows

Chapter 22: Turning the Tables

March 29, 1993

Malfoy Manor

9:13 PM

In a blur of blue light, Lucius appeared in the centre of Malfoy Manor's extravagant entrance hall. He had just taken his personalized portkey back to the manor and at present, he wore a rather pensive expression.

Exactly six weeks prior, Lucius's plan to get Albus Dumbledore removed from his position of power at Hogwarts had backfired. Mysterious, deadly events had been taking place at Hogwarts, and Lucius was nothing if not an opportunist. For a very brief time, his plan had worked. Dumbledore had indeed vacated the castle, but he had returned only days later.

As unfortunate as that whole debacle had been, the worst part of it all was when he had rushed to Hogwarts after being informed Dumbledore had returned.

That had possibly been the worst political defeat of his career and one of the worst nights of his life.

First, he found out that every single member of the Hogwarts Board of Governors had sold him out to Dumbledore. This not only meant that his plan failed, but it also meant that he would soon be losing his place on the board, let alone atop it.

But it got worse.

Dumbledore then presented the diary as the thing that had opened the Chamber of Secrets, and the Potter boy had been convinced it had been slipped into the youngest Weasley's cauldron in Flourish and Blotts back in August.

Two things were jarring about that story to Lucius.

The first of which was that he knew that diary. It had been safely secured in the manor for many years. Ever since it had been presented to Lucius by the Dark Lord himself, he had honoured his lord's wishes and kept the diary safe. He had not so much as touched it in over a decade.

That fact only made his second observation far more jarring.

It had not been Lucius who had put the diary in that girl's cauldron. Lucius was far too careful to throw away one of the Dark Lord's heirlooms on a limb. Let alone one he had been tasked with protecting and had no idea as to the function of.

So that meant something quite troubling for Lucius.

Somebody else had managed to get ahold of the diary without him knowing and had slipped it into Ginny Weasley's cauldron.

For the past number of weeks, Lucius had contemplated who could have done such a thing and how he could spin it, if it all.

Of course, Arthur Weasley had been his initial candidate. The man and his team had raided his home several times during the summer. The problem was that Lucius knew they had never found the diary. He had fearfully verified that fact each time they had visited. He had still considered whether or not spinning the whole thing to frame Arthur was possible, but he had eventually decided it wasn't. The man may have been a fool, but Lucius doubted he was so incompetent as not to keep very straight records of everything his team had acquired.

So that was out.

He had considered several other options after that, but from that point forward, Lucius had always sort of known who was responsible. Admittedly, it was a fact he was not happy with. It was a fact that worried him greatly, so he had spent the last few weeks in vain searching out alternative options, hoping he would prove himself wrong.

He had been unsuccessful in the endeavour.

In light of that unfortunate truth, the first thing Lucius did after arriving back at the manor and reinforcing his Occlumency measures was to sharply instruct an elf to inform Narcissa to meet him in the Master's Study in fifteen minutes. When he arrived in the room, he waited in a sort of trance, organizing all the thoughts in his mind until, after a time, there came a knock on the door.

"Enter."

The Master's Study was the most heavily warded room in the entire manor. Except for himself, master of the wards, and the house elves, for some Merlin forsaken reason, none could enter the room of their own accord. Not even family.

When Narcissa entered, Lucius noticed right away that her expression was equally as pensive as his own. At once, he knew this could quickly turn into a drawn-out battle of wits, the likes of which he was completely uninterested in partaking in. With that in mind, once his wife had primly taken her seat across from him, he decided to cut straight to the matter at hand.

"We have a problem, Narcissa."

Her expression did not change. "What problem is that, husband?"

"For years, I had a very prized artifact in my possession. For more than eleven years, in fact. It was an artifact which I treasured very greatly." He pierced her with an intense gaze. "An artifact which was given to me by the lord who I dedicated my life to."

Still, Narcissa's expression stayed impassive.

"Imagine my surprise, Narcissa, when I found out that said artifact was missing. Not by a thorough investigation on my part, either. Would you like to know how I found out my most prized possession had vanished?" Narcissa tilted her head in answer, so Lucius continued. "I found out when Albus Dumbledore thrust the thing in my face. Worse still, the Potter brat made some rather… bold insinuations. According to him, that very artifact was responsible for all of the mystery and chaos at Hogwarts this year. Even worse, according to the boy, it was slipped into Ginevra Weasley's cauldron back in August whilst on a trip to Flourish and Blotts."

"What is your point, Lucius?"

"My point, Narcissa, is that after doing some digging, I've come to the conclusion that the Potter brat is right, loathe as I am to admit it. What I found to be baffling was the fact that I am quite certain I never gave that diary to the blood traitor brat. I would never, in my wildest dreams, carelessly throw away an artifact which once belonged to the Dark Lord.

"I thought at first that perhaps Arthur Weasley was responsible. After all, he did spend some time in this house last summer. But that didn't make sense. I've spent weeks looking for alternatives, but have found none. There is only one person who could have given the girl that diary, Narcissa."

He didn't need to explicitly make the accusation. Both of them knew exactly what he was insinuating. After a time, Narcissa unfolded her hand and leaned forwards. "So you've caught me, Lucius. I still don't see what the problem is?"

"Don't you?" Lucius hissed furiously. "Well then, let me spell it out to you, wife of mine. The Dark Lord is many things. Being dead is not one of them. I am certain of it. The Dark Lord shall return and when he does, he will seek the artifact which he told me to protect with my life if needed. Imagine his displeasure when he finds out the artifact has been carelessly discarded. The Dark Lord is not merciful, Narcissa. He is a vengeful man with no time for mercy. When he rises, we are fucked! Both of us are dead because of whatever insolent scheme you are cooking up!"

A long, tense silence stretched between the two of them as Lucius's pale grey eyes bore forcefully into Narcissa's deep blue orbs. After a long pause, Narcissa did the last thing Lucius expected.

She smiled.

"Ah, Lucius, for as long as we've been together, sometimes I forget the differences between us."

"Pardon?"

"You are a Malfoy, yet I am a Black," she stated proudly. "You're so stuck in your convoluted, political chess games that sometimes, you fail to see the bigger picture. You're so used to playing like a Malfoy."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning you wait for an opportunity and only when it arises do you strike. Us Blacks, we create our opportunities. The difference between you and I, husband, is that you're playing to survive and not to lose. I, on the other hand, am playing to prosper and to win."

"Yes, and so much good it has caused you, being foolish and reckless! So much good it will do when the Dark Lord rises and seeks his vengeance!"

"I admit, I misplayed my hand," Narcissa said casually. "I underestimated the Potter brat, as you called him."

"Potter? You risked all of this for Potter!"

"Not for Potter, Lucius. At first, it was Potter I was after. To my knowledge, he never did find out that it was I who poisoned Augusta Longbottom, though it was, in fact, meant for Potter himself. Nor that it was I who imparted the diary to Ginny Weasley, in hopes that whatever magic the Dark Lord placed onto the artifact would finish Potter for me. Even if he did find out, he might think I was some sort of psychotic mother trying to protect her battered child.

"The truth is, it never had anything to do with Draco." She paused. "Actually, it had everything to do with Draco, but not in that way."

"Explain!"

"By right, Draco is the Black heir. The only other boy to have a semi-valid claim is Potter himself. Now, there is no reason that Potter should get the title over Draco. No reason except for the fact that Arcturus chose Sirius as lord before his death. If he chose Sirius over Bellatrix or any of the other Blacks, he may have written us out entirely. One thing about Arcturus though, is that he would never let his family die. He may have written all of us out, but he would make sure that the clause was void if no other options were available. By taking out Potter, my goal was to claim the House of Black once more. Not just for myself and our son, but for our Lord when he one-day returns.

"But lately, my plans have changed. When thinking about the return of our Lord, some things must be done. Whatever state he is currently in, it isn't ideal. He will likely require a ritual of sorts to restore his power, possibly even his body. The Malfoy library is expansive, but it lacks greatly in that sort of magic. That is the sort of ancient knowledge that has been lost to time. The Black library, on the other hand, is teeming with all of the information we and our Lord could ever want.

"Our Lord will not punish us, because it is we who shall find him. It is us who shall use the House of Black and its resources to build him up anew. All we have to do is get rid of Harry Potter in a way that doesn't implicate ourselves."

"Impossible," Lucius cut in, though by now, he was starting to see her perspective of things. "The boy is protected at all times. We can not hope to touch him at Longbottom Manor, least of all at Hogwarts."

Narcissa's smile was so cold and predatory that if not for Occlumency, Lucius may have actually recoiled. "Oh, Lucius, don't worry about that. I know exactly how we're going to do it, and it will never be traced back to the two of us. Unfortunately, it's a… long term project that I'll need my lovely husband's with."

Lucius sighed internally. At this point, it's not as if their situation could get any worse. "Fine, Narcissa," he said. He then asked, "What is it you're planning, exactly?"

April 12, 1993

Longbottom Manor

3:12 PM

As he tried to catch his breath after a particularly intense mock duel, Harry felt a rather significant swell of relief when Moody announced the end of that afternoon's session. The man had been more than impressed with his pupil for learning the bone-breaker so promptly. Harry could even cast it non-verbally, though not nearly as quickly or as efficiently as he could with the use of incantations. Their duels were more competitive, as well. Moody was very clearly still the better duellist, of course, but the gap, wide as it still might be, was closing. By now, both of them knew that one day in the future, Harry would likely surpass the man who had taken him under his wing.

"Solid day's work, Potter," Moody grunted as a way of praise. "I guess I need to come up with a new task for ya whilst you're off at Hogwarts for these last few months, eh?"

"Or you could take a semester off?" Harry offered jokingly. Both of them knew he didn't really want that. Harry embraced the challenge that Moody offered up each and every time he went back to school, and both of them knew that.

"Old Moody doesn't get along too well with time off," Moody understated. "Busy is better for me. Always has been, always will be. And if I can't watch you directly, I'm gonna make damn sure you're improving." He paused. "I guess you'll have two goals this time, actually. Whatever I come up with for you, and making sure that Longbottom stays the course."

"You started teaching him, too?"

"Yep," Moody affirmed. "He's not there yet. Heaps of potential, but real raw. Talented, but needs a ton of work. He'll probably never come close to you, but not many ever will. I'll turn 'em into something special though. I just need the time."

"How did his first session go?"

"Terrible," Moody said cheerfully as if watching Neville struggle was something he had taken intense pleasure in. "As I said, he's not ready. Not even close. Luckily for him, he's eager and he's got heart. Tons of it. Every time he got knocked down, he would just get up and keep on walking forward. You can teach a lot of things, but you can't teach heart. His heart and his talent are gonna carry him places. Like I keep saying, it's just a matter of time."

Harry nodded. It had been an eventful first few days of Easter break, but he suspected it was about to die down, except for his perpetually brutal lessons with the crazed ex-auror who currently stood in front of him. On the first night back, he had told Augusta everything Dumbledore had told him about Sirius Black. Of course, he had done so only after asking Dumbledore's permission.

Harry was a lot of things. Among them, he liked to think of himself as a man of his word. Oaths or not, he was going to uphold his end of the bargain. And Dumbledore was a reasonable man. He had easily acquiesced and allowed Harry to tell Augusta. All he had wanted was the same sureties from her that she wouldn't go running off and telling anybody what she had been told and who had started the spread of information.

Augusta still seemed quite pessimistic, but she was keeping an eye on the whole situation from a political standpoint.

"So what's your next task for me, then?" Harry asked, actually quite curious.

"The Flagrete charm."

Harry raised a brow. "I know that charm-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know you 'know it'. You used it five minutes ago for Merlin's sake. But it's of no use to you the way you do it. Your control is pitiful. You may as well just use Incendio right now for all the good the control is doing you. I don't want you to 'know it.' I want you to master it. Am I understood?"

Harry nodded. That did sound much more on brand, yes. At first, it had sounded far too easy for Moody. But this would be a challenge. Of that, at least, he was sure.

April 20, 1993

Severus Snape's Office

8:00 PM

Merlin, Harry was exhausted.

His schedule had frankly been ridiculous already, but now it was just getting out of hand.

All of the students had travelled back to Hogwarts on Sunday via the Hogwarts Express. When they had arrived, they all enjoyed one night of peace before their schedules filled up again.

For Harry, that was a very literal expression.

That first day back, he had not only had classes, but also a duelling session with Professor Flitwick. Today, Tuesday, was worse. He had gone through all of his classes, eaten dinner and quickly exited the castle alongside his teammates for a full team practice, now that Quidditch was once again ongoing, as the castle did not seem to be under threat from any mysterious plots or enemies.

After a gruelling practice, Harry had practically sprinted into the showers. He had experienced a lot of short showers in his lifetime; such was the reality of spending most of it on Privet Drive. But this may well have taken the cake. When he finished, he ran up to the castle and used every shortcut available to him, with the help of the Marauder's Map, to reach where he was at now.

Only now did he pause, but not because he had time to spare. For one thing, he was extremely out of breath, and that was not exactly the image he was hoping to put forth. For another, his anxiety was through the roof.

Having Dumbledore try to breach his mind had been nerve-wracking. Having Snape try and do likewise was so much worse. He had dreaded this meeting ever since Dumbledore had informed him of the plan weeks earlier. If Snape couldn't be trusted to treat him fairly in Potions, how could he possibly be trusted to go snooping around inside Harry's mind?

Well, of course, Harry knew the answer. True to his word, Snape had indeed sworn an Unbreakable Vow that first night back at the castle. Even in spite of that, Harry just had a hard time trusting the Potions Master.

After a few deep, slow, calming breaths, Harry blanked his expression and knocked sharply upon the Potion Master's door.

"Enter,"

When Harry pushed the door open, he was greeted by an odd scene. Snape was standing near his desk, still wearing the same black robes he frequented everyday. That was not the odd part. That fact, or object, was whatever sat atop Snape's desk. If it were Dumbledore in the room with him, Harry would have inquired about it. With Snape, he felt much less comfortable asking questions.

"It is a pensieve," Snape answered without prompting. "An ancient device which has existed in obscurity for centuries. Rare, expensive and almost impossible to acquire. This one here belongs to the Headmaster. He was… gracious enough to lend it to me for these… lessons."

Hesitantly, Harry asked his question. "What is it for, sir?" It was always rather bitter addressing Snape as "sir" but he didn't exactly have a choice in the matter.

"Storing memories," Snape answered curtly. "I have no doubt that the chances of you intentionally breaching my mind are non-existent. But magic is such a delicate force. You never know what it is capable of when… provoked. First lesson," Snape snapped, "always keep your mind guarded. It is not enough to have a guarded mind when a legilimens aims their wand at your skull. You must always be on guard, Potter. Never assume yourself to be safe. Your status means nothing against those who wish to invade your mind. For all of Headmaster Dumbledore's prodigious talents, he has not seemed to have instilled this message onto you."

Harry felt a spark of annoyance at the final insinuation, but Snape had a point. Not just in regards to Legilimency, either. Harry needed to be more cautious in general.

As if to drill in the thought, Snape's wand appeared from nowhere and suddenly aimed at Harry.

"Legilimens."

Fortunately, the probe was intentionally weak and after a flash of memories that lasted a second or two, Harry managed to clear his mind, effectively forcing Snape out. That was what he and Dumbledore had spent so much time working on this year after the initial, more crude method he had learned at the beginning of the year.

Snape's face did not change, but he nodded curtly. "Adequate," he summarized. "I will be teaching you to do it better, but an admirable attempt. This is by no means the perfect solution, but you must learn to defend your mind against more powerful attacks sooner rather than later. Until we work your natural defences to a point where I am confident in them, I will be teaching you a method I myself pioneered years ago."

Grudgingly, Harry had to admit he was interested. If nothing else, Snape was obviously masterful with mind magicks. He had managed to not only unravel an obliviation, something Dumbledore had made clear was nearly impossible, but he had even somehow beaten a paralytic potion through the powers of his mind alone.

"What kind of method, sir?"

"Are you aware of thought streams, Potter?"

"Yes."

"Yes, sir."

Harry's teeth ground together. "Yes, sir."

"Good. This will require two streams of thought. With one, you will focus completely on clearing your mind, which is of course the most effective way of forcing out intruders. With the other, you will focus on the more crude method of imaginative physical removal. Hopefully, the intruding force will be so occupied by the first that they will be blindsided by the second, more basic defence."

Harry bit his lip. "I can keep two thought streams open, but I doubt I can use both at once towards Occlumency. I'm… still sort of working on the whole 'thought stream thing.'"

Snape scowled. "I would have thought that much obvious, Potter. These are called lessons, not showcases. It stands to reason I will be teaching you, not simply instructing you. Listen closely, obey my commands at all times, and soon enough, it will cause you no trouble at all."

Harry knew right then and there these lessons were either going to be one of the best or worst things to ever happen to him.

As of yet, he was unsure which they would be.

April 21, 1993

An Abandoned Classroom

9:46 PM

Harry concluded yet another night of work with Daphne. This time, it had been he who was helping her. Tonight, it had been in Defence Against the Dark Arts. Seeing as their past two teachers in the subject had been completely inept, Harry could hardly blame Daphne for having some issues in the subject.

"I've heard exams may not even happen this year," Daphne said with a sigh.

"What?" Harry asked, surprised.

"With the whole nonsense involving the petrifications, people are unsure. Some of the students missed so much time that their scores probably wouldn't be favourable. Plus, it can easily be argued that the stress of this year took away from performances." She shrugged. "We also went a week or so without Potions, and we now know our teacher for Defence was useless." Since Lockhart's departure, the other teachers had taken it, in turn, to teach Defence when they didn't have their other classes. This had meant that students now attended one class in the subject per week instead of two. Thinking about it this way, Harry wouldn't be surprised if they really did cancel the exams.

"This year's been a nightmare," he understated.

"For you especially," Daphne pointed out. "You went from being the Heir of Slytherin according to most, to fighting his damned monster."

"Yeah… it's been a long year."

"Any plans for the summer?"

He shrugged. "Not right now, I don't think. I usually end up doing everything last minute though. Whatever I do this summer, I just want it to be stuff that I've planned. Not stuff that gets dropped on my head at the last minute by somebody who's trying to kill me." He winced. "Sorry, that sounded really overdramatic."

"It did," Daphne admitted. "I would probably give anyone else hell for saying something like that. You're probably the only person I know who could say anything close to that and have it be completely true though, so you get a pass."

Harry's lips twitched. "How kind of you."

"Nothing out of the ordinary, then. I'm always kind. As well as charming, intelligent, entrancing, insightful and modest."

Harry laughed. "Modest in particular."

"Exactly,"

After about five more minutes of talking, Harry and Daphne went their separate ways. On the way back to the common room, Harry bumped into yet another one of his female friends. "Hey, Harry!"

"Oh, hey Parvati. We haven't really talked much since Easter. How were your holidays?"

"They were good. It made me wish for summer though. I can't wait for some time off with family. Just some time to relax, you know."

"Yeah, I do. I really feel that, honestly."

"Not that the classes are any trouble for you," Parvati teased as they continued their walk to the common room together.

"It's been all of the other stuff that's been exhausting, to tell the truth. All of the Heir of Slytherin crap."

Parvati nodded sagely. "I understand. It's horrible how everybody treated you. Isn't it funny how suddenly, you're the saviour of the school?"

"Yeah, it is a bit, isn't it?"

"Mmhm. You should use it."

Harry's step almost faltered. Whatever he had thought about Parvati, he had not suspected her the type to be giving political advice of any sort. "How so?"

"Well, it's the perfect time. Your name is everywhere. Even the Prophet did a speculation piece on you. It is kind of suspicious. Students go missing in the middle of the night. The next morning, the threat has passed, and Harry Potter is getting an award for special services to the school."

Harry shrugged. "I can't really comment on all of that."

"You didn't have to, Harry. I know you'd tell me if you could. I'm just saying," Parvati put in as they neared the common room, "It's the perfect time to make new allies and build new bridges."

As the two Gryffindors entered their common room, neither of them noticed the brief shimmer in the air behind them.

April 22, 1993

The Room of Requirement

8:53 PM

Harry slumped to the floor yet again, beaten easily by the Hogwarts Headmaster for the third time in as many duels. Of course, being beaten by Albus Dumbledore was no surprise. The surprising thing was that he had used only spells Harry knew to do it, and he had done it with extreme ease.

Earlier in the week, Dumbledore had written Harry to inquire whether or not he might know of a place in the castle suitable for more practical lessons. It had been an intense, internal debate but after some thought, Harry had decided to let him in on the secret of the Room of Requirement.

Tonight, after Dumbledore had spent five or so minutes marvelling at the room and examining its every square inch very closely, he had explained to Harry that they would duel three times. During these duels, he would only use spells he was certain Harry could cast. This had given the youth a brief glimpse of hope, but it had been crushed rather decisively, as all of his aching muscles could currently attest to.

"That will do, I think," said Dumbledore. The blasted man didn't even seem to be out of breath. Mind you, he had barely moved. He had not used movement to defend himself. Harry suspected that probably had something to do with his age, but he hadn't exactly needed it. "What did you learn from that, Harry?"

"Not to take people or basic magic lightly?"

Dumbledore chuckled. "Perhaps a bit of that, yes. More specifically, I wanted to tie this back to the pillars of magic we spoke of earlier in the year. This, in many ways, was a lesson in the importance of creativity. I used very basic spells, as you said. The difference, as I'm sure you have observed, is that I used them in ways you may not have seen before." Harry nodded. "That is what we will start with, in a sense. Ways to defend yourself without utilizing mass amounts of magic and exhausting oneself." His lips twitched. "And some Transfiguration, of course. It has always been my specific area of expertise, and it is only natural I take the time to teach it to you."

"What part of it, sir?"

"Conjurations," When Harry looked apprehensive, Dumbledore smiled. "I am aware this is very far beyond what you are meant to be learning. But I am equally confident that you will manage it. After all, a bone-breaker is very far beyond what I would have expected from a second year as well."

Harry winced. "You're not… upset at that? Me using a spell a lot of people would consider dark or evil?"

Dumbledore sighed. "I am not thrilled that you have gone out of your way to learn it, but I do grudgingly approve. There is no use hiding from the truth. Lord Voldemort is seeking to return. For all we know, a war could well be on the horizon. And after the events of your first two years at this school, I think you to be justified in your pursuit to learn to defend yourself by any means necessary. If a war does happen in particular, you will need all the weapons you can acquire. The true tragedy of war is oftentimes not the destruction, nor even the death. Most often, some of the most tragic things that happen in a war are the things the victor needs to do to win. Things that will haunt the victor for years to come. You never win a war, Harry. You only survive.

"I will never judge you for learning things you think will help." He paused. "Within reason, at least. There are certain magicks which should never be touched, but that is a topic for another day." Idly, Harry remembered Gabrielle's vague insinuations about soul magic. Perhaps that was what Dumbledore was talking about.

"Do what you and those helping you think necessary," Dumbledore continued. "Rest assured that as long as you do not allow what you learn to warp you, you are in the right. It is not the magic that makes a person. It is a person that makes the magic. Magic is a blank slate to be warped as we choose. It does not discriminate between light and dark, or good and evil. That is up to the caster. There is no such thing as evil magic, as long as you are using it in the name of good, and using it to combat those who would turn the force against the very world itself. As long as you hold true to that, Harry, you shall forever have my blessing."

April 23, 1993

An Abandoned Classroom

8:34 PM

As Harry dodged a particularly nasty curse fired off by Fred, he privately reflected that he had done a lot of duelling this week. Not that such things were bad in the slightest. He was going to need to do a whole lot more duelling if he was to reach the level he would one day need to reach. If only he had mastered conjurations.

He was a long way off of that.

He and Dumbledore had worked on extremely basic conjurations the night previous. Specifically, the conjuration of birds. It was still sixth-year material, but it was the typical first lesson of sixth year, according to Dumbledore. Seeing as Harry was currently somewhere in the fifth year in terms of the curriculum, it wasn't too much of a stretch. In saying that, he had not managed it last night, unfortunately. The goal was to have Harry be able to conjure birds. Not transfigure them, like one might do with the Avifors charm, but to truly conjure them from the air on a moment's notice. That was how they could be useful in combat. Dumbledore had showed as much, using them to defend a variety of attacks by Harry. And that was saying nothing of their large numbers and razor-sharp beaks.

To put it simply, they were no breeze for your opponent if deployed offensively, either.

But Harry's mind was not currently on Transfiguration.

As of now, his mind was focused on finally beating Fred Weasley.

He had beaten all of the chasers already and had even bested Lee Jordan.

But the twins eluded him for one simple reason.

The doppelganger charm.

Every time he had come close to a victory, that spell had been used to beat him.

Tonight was going to be different.

All he needed to do was put Fred in a position to cast it, and then the game was up. By now, he realized when Fred would cast the charm. He would resort to it as soon as Harry managed to put him under intense pressure. This wasn't too much of a problem for Harry. When they had first duelled, it had been reasonably competitive, but Harry had spent most of the duel on the defensive. Now, their duels were nearly a stalemate throughout.

Until the blasted doppelganger charm was deployed, of course.

Sidestepping a volley of spells from Fred, Harry fired three bolts of fire towards the twin in quick succession. With a yelp, he dove to the side, and Harry's well-placed cutting curse opened a fair-sized gash on his arm. Harry did not cease pressing his advantage, either. He continued to reign down spells on Fred, who finally gave in, seeing no path to victory except the one that had worked several times before.

Harry sprinted out of the way of the return volley, angling himself up against the wall, seeming as if he were cornered.

Both Freds smirked as they spoke as one. "Giving up so easily, Harrikins?"

When Harry's answer was a rather mean smile, both Freds faltered. "Not at all, Fredikins," Harry responded. "Just drawing you in." And then, he raised his wand with a gleam in his eye, remembering the letter from several weeks ago which had effectively solved his persistent problem with the doppelganger charm.

The Past

March 26, 1993

The Great Hall

8:21 AM

Dear Harry,

I'm really glad that everything has cleared up for you. I do wonder whether you did a bit more than tell a professor what was happening. At Beauxbatons, you would certainly not be praised so highly for doing what is expected of you. But congratulations either way. You don't have to tell me what happened if you don't want to.

We do take standardized exams at the end of each year, yes. The main difference is that in Britain, I believe you take what you call Ordinary Wizarding Levels at the end of your fifth year. This is a major point in any Hogwarts student's life, from what I have heard. Those exams are very important and determine future career options, right?

At Beauxbatons, we have a similar practice. We take ours at the end of sixth year. I personally prefer our way of doing it. It seems silly that you take them so early. I know a year may not seem like too much, but it makes a big difference. I'm personally very happy we have an extra year to prepare.

Harry almost snorted aloud. Like Gabrielle would need to worry about exam scores. She was in her fourth year and would probably earn straight O's across the board if she took them today. At least in practical classes. He hadn't seen her theory work, but he assumed based on her explanations and the like that it was very good.

Speaking of…

You ask about the most random bits of magic, you know that? My friend, Sophie, and I actually laughed at this one. Not because it's easy to deal with or anything, don't feel embarrassed. It's just such an oddly specific question about such an obscure charm.

Since Charms is my favourite subject though, I do have an answer, luckily for you.

The doppelganger doesn't actually create a copy of yourself. That sort of magic is almost impossible for reasons that I really can't explain over a letter. The doppelganger charm is an illusion. The spells fired from the dummy won't even have any effects. Obviously, since both figures cast at you, it's not as if you can take the spells to test which is which, but I always find it helpful to understand how a spell actually works.

Now, onto countering it. There are a couple of ways of doing it. The basis is that you need to disrupt the illusion, somehow. You need to make the person move or react in a way that the illusion can't.

Personally, I've always been pretty good with charms, like I've told you, and I have always had a knack for this specific charm. It also has the bonus of dramatic effect, so if your friend keeps beating you with that charm, this should be a good little shock. Just make sure not to overdo it. It would be a shame to see anybody get too badly hurt during a mock duel…

Back in the present…

"VENTUS MAXIMUS!"

Harry would be lying if he said this spell had been easy to learn. It had actually been devilishly difficult. This was why only now, almost a month after receiving the letter, he was using it in an actual duel for the first time.

He could feel the pressure in the room change as all at once, the air warped and twisted, spinning faster and faster until a mini-tornado touched down near the duplicate Freds. One of them was effortlessly swept up by the tornado and spun forcefully around in the air whilst the other, the doppelganger, was unaffected by the wind. The rest of Harry's friends were unaffected because of the duelling wards in place, but they all watched in awe as Fred was thrown about like a rag doll.

Then, after a moment of enjoying his new found power over his older friend, Harry ceased toying with Fred and let him fall as he cancelled the charm. He hit the floor with a loud thud as the wind left his lungs. Before he could think, let alone move, the red-head had been disarmed by his younger, raven-haired counterpart for the first time, ending the duel.

Harry walked over to Fred to check on him before anybody else in the room reacted. "Are you alright?" he asked, worried he may have been injured from the fall as Harry tentatively offered him a hand.

Contrary to his fears, Fred, after getting his breath back, merely grinned up at Harry like a madman. A second later, he had taken his hand and pulled himself to his feet, grin still in place. "Alright? Harry, my fine fellow, I'm splendid! How could I be anything but? That was bloody brilliant!"

As all in the room began to laugh, Harry could not help but join in. This was what it was all about. No mysterious assailants, no hidden threats. Just him enjoying his two favourite things in the world.

Magic and those he truly cared about.

Author's Endnote:

Long AN here but I encourage you to read it. I speak quite a bit about the process of going forward with this story.

A bit of a short chapter, but oh well. I don't foresee the last two chapters of the year being long either.

Speaking of which, next week will be the penultimate chapter of year two, and my goal is to get through May with that chapter.

Then June will happen in the year's final chapter, which will be a doozy, to say the least. After that, I will be taking a lengthy break from posting this story. I need to revise the early chapters at some point, which will only be done once I'm finished doing the same for my main story. I also just need a bit of a break from this.

The problem with year two is that I didn't pre-write as much as I should have, so I always felt intensely pressured to throw something together to meet my upload schedule. That's actually why I'm so far ahead in terms of what I have written compared to what I have posted for Ashes of Chaos. I learned my lesson through this fic. In light of that, I will be staying ahead in year three so a similar thing does not happen. That means on top of revising, taking a break from this fic and working on other projects, I won't be posting year three until I have a good chunk of it written. So, unfortunately, after chapter thirty-nine, you probably won't see any of year three's chapters until some time in the spring of 2021 or later.

I am sorry for the inconvenience, but I thought I would be upfront and honest about it. Trust me, I am super excited for year 3! I have so much planned that is going to be an absolute blast to write! There are just other things I need to do before we get there.

On that note, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I apologize for the long AN.

Stay safe and see you in two weeks!

Please read and review.

PS: The next chapter will be posted on Sunday, September 20th, 2020 at approximately 3:00 PM EST.