CHAPTER 8

She wasn't sure why she was asked to come but looking around the room she supposed there were quite a few order members asked to come. Charlie and Bill were there as well as Tonks, Severus, Kingsley, Moody, and the Weasley and Potter parents and Sirius of course.

The Teens sat on benches that had been fashioned for this very purpose while James and Arthur stood at the front. They were training them, that much was apparent and it seemed that they were starting with dueling.

"While we'll be training you on new spells, we thought it'd be fun to have a dueling competition," James said with a smirk, resting his back against the wall behind him. "What that means is that today we will be dueling, adults included, and at the end of your training before you go back to school, we will have another competition to see how you've improved."

That explained why they were all there. She wished she hadn't been invited, it had been two days since Charlie's return and while her nightmares had improved, there was still the constant feeling of dread and the nightmares involving Cedric that she couldn't quite get herself to talk to him about. Needless to say, she'd rather be in her room staring at the ceiling than dueling.

"So it'll be tournament style?" Fred asked.

"Brilliant," The twins said at James' nod.

"You've all been matched up based on your supposed skill level for the initial round," Arthur said, sticking a piece of paper on the wall and enlarging it so others could see. It was spaced out like tournament brackets, each person's name on the left-hand column and who they were facing. The spaces to the right were left blank, only to be filled in when the winner of the duel was discovered.

Duel 1: James Potter

Arthur Weasley

Duel 2: Fred Weasley

George Weasley

Duel 3: Sirius Black

Remus Lupin

Duel 4: Ron Weasley

Hermione Granger

Duel 5:Kingsley Shackelbolt

Alastor Moody

Duel 6: Ginny Weasley

Draco Malfoy

Duel 7: Charlie Weasley

Just Tonks

Duel 8: Harry Potter

Ara Lestrange

Duel 9: Lily Potter

Molly Weasley

Duel 10: Bill Weasley

Severus Snape

She sighed, she wasn't sure if she should be offended or grateful. She had her first round against Harry and while she was a little upset that it seemed they still thought of her as a child, she was happy to let him win. She didn't want to compete.

"With all that being said," James said, "Let the dueling begin."

The teens got to their feet and hurried along the walls, excited to watch the first duel between James and Arthur. It brought a small smile to her face that they were looking forward to this.

The two men squared off and it wasn't long before spells were flying. They were pretty tame spells. She hoped that as the month progressed, they would advance their spells. If the kids were to face Death Eaters again, it was unlikely these are the kind of spells they would use.

It didn't take long before Arthur was wandless and James stood feet away, wand pointed at Arthur's head, Arthur's wand in his hand.

Arthur was breathing heavy, a large smile on his face. He shook James' hand while shaking his head "clearly I'm out of practice."

Ara wasn't sure if Mr. Weasley was simply out of practice or if James was just an excellent dueler, though she expected the latter.

Fred and George's duel was much quicker. Not because one was clearly better, but rather because they both knocked each other out with the exact same spell. It was decided that neither of them would advance to the next round, even though that would make the tournament off a bit.

Sirius and Remus' duel lasted a while. They were evenly matched and Ara was left wondering if Remus would have won the duel had it not been so close to the full moon. She figured she could look it up later, were werewolves weaker, or stronger in the days leading up to the full moon?

The next duel ended quickly with a prideful Hermione and an embarrassed Ron. The redness went all the way up to his neck and through his ears while he grumbled about her cheating.

"It's not cheating Ron if she's clearly better than you," Bill called out from his place next to Charlie. The two brothers were laughing, but she suspected it wasn't because Ron lost to Hermione, it was because he was such poor sport about it.

Kingsley's and Moody's duel was by far the most entertaining. They used spells she'd never heard of and from the looks of it, quite a few of the adults hadn't heard of them. She could feel the small niggling at the back of her mind. She wanted to shout that this was nothing like how dueling went. When she was in that graveyard, it wasn't a jelly leg curse and it wasn't some clown with a flower, filled with water squirting the opponent. It was the torture curse, the imperius curse… it was the killing curse. Hell, she'd even seen a curse rip a man from the inside out, all while he could only stare down in horror. She could understand the teens dueling the way they were, but she had hoped that the adults would be a little more realistic about a duel.

She smiled while Draco and Ginny dueled. She knew Draco was decent at dueling, she had no idea how good the young Weasley was. It was a bat-bogey hex that brought down Draco and she couldn't help the small feeling of pride when Draco simply laughed it off and told her good job. He wasn't upset that he'd been beaten by a Gryffindor, a girl, or a girl Gryffindor younger than him.

"What do you say," Charlie said quietly nudging her in the side. "If I win, can I take you out for a date? As a reward for all my hard work…"

Ara smiled, he was giving her one of those goofy grins that made her knees go weak and her legs feel like Jell-O without the aid of a spell.

"I suppose if you win this duel, I'll give you a shot at a date with me," she said in response.

"Excellent," he said kissing her on the nose. "I won't let you down fair maiden," he said loudly, going out to face Tonks who rolled her eyes.

"What is it Tonksy, scared I'll kick your arse like last time?" he taunted, a smirk on his face. The two began to duel and it seemed they were also similarly matched in skill level. Tonks had a more technical skill which Ara was sure came from her Auror training. It didn't take long though for Tonks to lose her balance and her wand which sailed, landing in Charlie's open hand. It seemed that she wasn't quite finished, however, for, after a scream like a banshee, she threw herself on Charlie's back, wrapping her legs around his waist and grabbing fistfuls of his hair. Charlie yelped and tried to dislodge her, only to have her drag them both to the ground. Ara felt a flair of jealousy up her spine as the two rolled on the floor.

She looked down at her lap when she felt an arm land across her shoulder. Bill had scooted closer to her and she sighed. It wasn't fair for her to be frustrated, she knew they were just friends and had been best friends when at school. They had both said they weren't interested in each other, so she had nothing to be worried about. Right?

When Tonks didn't let go, Ara rolled her eyes, pulling out her wand and flicking it at the two, causing them to shoot apart from each other.

They looked around to see who it was and Charlie's eyes had immediately landed on hers, he smirked and she looked away quickly.

"Alright, very good," James said standing up and handing Tonks her wand. "I think it's safe to say that Charlie won the actual duel since he still has both wands… but Tonks didn't give up, even when she was without a wand." He said, teaching the teens who were torn between laughing and learning.

Charlie made his way over to her and Bill, giving Bill a nudge and sitting back between them.

"You alright?" he asked Ara, the smirk still on his handsome face.

"Fine," she said slightly ashamed at her reaction.

He grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him before kissing her deeply. There were a couple of catcalls and a "get a room" from the twins.

"Your turn," he said when they pulled apart.

She was flushed, he knew she was jealous, and it seemed he didn't particularly care. She stood up and made her way to the room.

"You owe me a date Lestrange," Charlie said loudly. "I did win after all."

Ara didn't look back, but rolled her eyes, a small smile gracing her lips.

She stood across from Harry. He seemed nervous, though she wasn't sure why. Now that she thought about it, he hadn't seemed entirely into this competition at all. He'd been quiet through the other duels, watching intently. The few times Ron and Hermione had laughed at something someone else had done, Harry simply looked down at his shoes, shaking his head.

They bowed to each other and it was then that Ara saw the flash of pain in his eyes and the memory came flooding back to her like a brick from a tall building.

Bow to death Harry.

She stood up quickly, bowing was never supposed to be a part of a real duel. Not one in war. Harry followed her lead and the two sized each other up before Harry started "expelliarmus," he said.

Ara dodged it easily, tilting her head. "Stupefy," she said, almost lazily. Harry dodged easily.

"Oh come on!" Bill said from the sidelines "What kind of duel is this?"

Harry shook his head, he wasn't enjoying it. He shot off another spell, Ara blocked it easily. Something was wrong with him and if needed, she'd be willing to bet all her money in all her family vaults that it had something to do with the graveyard.

They stood, circling each other. Ara stared at him intently and cast a legilimens. Flashes came into her mind, flashes of that night. Cedric lying dead in the open, Voldemort and his followers standing in a circle. Them taunting Harry, casting the cruciatus curse.

She shook her head, pulling from his mind before doing what she had done all those months ago.

Use your memories as power she thought, hoping it stuck. Harry's eyes widened slightly. She hadn't done it since that night and she was surprised she could still do it without the help of the shadows and without the adrenalin coursing through her veins.

Harry fired off a few more curses, picking up speed, throwing out everything he knew. She held up a protego spell, blocking the majority of them.

Dueling isn't fun and games, She thought act like I'm a Death Eater and practice.

Harry's spell work became quicker and Ara had to work harder at dodging. He knew some advanced spell work and when she started throwing spells back, he dodged them readily. He was angry. She could see that much, not at her, but at the situation. The memories of Cedric and Voldemort, were enough to make anyone angry. And just as she had been angry, Harry was angry that no one was taking the dueling seriously. It wasn't a bloody game.

Harry's biggest disadvantage was that he wasn't good at nonverbal spells. While he proved that he had quick reflexes and had a lot of power behind his spells, it didn't take long for Ara to take him down, him flying backward and hitting the cushioned wall behind him.

"Whoa," Arthur said, "I don't think we need to be trying to hurt-"

"I wasn't," she said walking over to Harry and helping him to his feet. "We're preparing, aren't we?"

She wasn't playing this game; she wasn't shooting spells to see who could look the most ridiculous and she knew Harry wasn't either. He wanted to learn all he could, but she knew it was more than that. For Harry, it was survival.

He smiled gratefully at her before he went to his friends and the tournament continued. Lily was a far better dueler than Molly was, and Ara briefly wondered if perhaps she was even better than her husband. After Molly and Lily, it was Severus and Bill's turn. Bill was a curse breaker, she knew he was powerful, but to see him taken out so quickly by the Death Eater, left a bitter taste in her mouth.

When the first round was done, they took a break, getting sandwiches made by Molly. They were outside once again in the garden that had held so much death only nights before in her dreams. Charlie and Bill sat near the pond, Bill rubbing his aching side where Severus had hit him. Instead of making her way towards them, she found Harry, sitting alone under a tree.

"Thanks," he said when she sat next to him.

She shrugged "it's different when you dueled so recently…"

"And lost," Harry added bitterly.

Ara shook her head "did you think you'd win?" she asked, she hadn't meant for it to sound harsh, but it did.

Harry shook his head "no… but I was lucky I got out of there alive, I probably won't be so lucky next time."

Ara nodded "we'll get you trained," she said. "It'll take time, but you have a lot of strength in your magic."

He shook his head "How do you do it?" he asked.

She wasn't sure what he was referring to. The planting words in his head? The wandless magic?

"You're powerful," he said plainly when she didn't answer. "were you just born with that much natural power?"

She didn't know what to say, she had no idea. She knew her power was far above average; it was rare for a witch or wizard to be able to do magic without a wand and control things to the extent that she could.

"I have no idea," she said, "I guess I was probably born with it… that or I was made into the monster I am," she said with a smirk.

Harry snorted and shook his head "monsters don't have straight teeth."

Ara stared at him for a moment before bursting out into giggles "what?" she asked.

Harry shrugged; a smile planted firmly on his face "Have you ever seen a monster with straight teeth? Trolls have crooked teeth, spiders have crooked teeth, I didn't get too good of a look, but I don't think Voldemort had teeth at all."

Ara snorted and shook her head; she wasn't so sure about his theory. Sure, trolls' teeth were crooked, and she didn't know the first thing about spiders' teeth, but Voldemort did have teeth… he had teeth that were perfectly straight even if the ends were pointed like fangs.

When lunch was over and they were all gathered back in the cellar turned training room, the second round of dueling began. James and Sirius were the first to duel and it was clear that they were best friends. They seemed to know what each other were thinking before they even lifted a finger. They dodged and fired perfectly in synch. It didn't take long for the two of them to start goofing off, transfiguring body parts and changing hair color.

The duel stopped instantly, not because one defeated the other, but rather because a loud bang was heard from the side of the room. They looked in surprise only to see that Harry had banged his fist on the table, a look of fury on his face.

"Har-" James started to say, only to be cut off.

"Couldn't you take this seriously? It isn't like this! Dueling is nothing like this." He made his way to the door, letting it slam behind him to the bewilderment of the others in the room.

"Don't," Ara said when James made to follow. She made her way to the door, only to meet him there, blocking his way before he could leave. "The last duel Harry was in he was fighting for his life… Voldemort making him 'bow to death' like a fucking puppet and you guys are making a game of it."

James' eyes widened and it was then that Ara realized it was possible that James didn't know every detail of what had happened in that graveyard. She sighed, shaking her head. "I realize maybe this is how you cope, I know how fun dueling can be, but he wants to learn so that maybe he'll survive to adulthood."

It was harsh, she knew it. It was after all Harry's father who she was talking to, someone who probably wanted Harry to live more than anyone else, but she wanted it to sink in. She wanted them to understand the feeling.

She turned and left the room, following in the direction that Harry went. She found him outside, shooting spells at the tree that they had recently been sitting under.

He was angry, probably angrier than she'd ever seen him, and when she saw his face a brief feeling of terror rushed over her at the look in his eyes, something dark.

"You're trying to put too much power into a single spell," she said calmly, not flinching when his wand turned on her. The look in his eye vanished immediately and before she knew it, they were the same caring eyes that she had grown so fond of. "you haven't come into your magical majority yet, which means that you have to make do with what you have. Rather than dumping all of your power into a single spell, you need to fire more spells. They can be weak, but ultimately, they can still take them down."

Harry looked at her for only a moment before turning back to the tree. He let off a string of small spells, mostly consisting of expelliarmus and stupefy. He couldn't see the results considering he was fighting a tree, but at least he understood the concept.

"I'm sorry," he said after a while. "I don't know why I've been so angry lately."

Ara shrugged, she wouldn't admit that the look in his eyes had even startled her. "You've been through a lot, I think I'd be pretty fucking mad too."

Harry snorted and shook his head. "I don't want them to treat us like kids… I want to learn to fight."

Ara nodded, she had been thirteen when she'd been overtaken by that urge. Harry wasn't much older than that. "You will learn… believe it or not, your father and godfather are the best people to teach you, even if they don't seem serious… they're excellent duelers, I honestly don't know if I could take them in a duel."

Harry gave her a doubtful look but didn't say anything.

"What are you and Draco working on?" She asked, more curious now than she ever had been.

Harry simply smiled, it was a smile that told her she didn't have anything to worry about, it wasn't too dangerous. "What are you Charlie and Bill researching?" he asked with a smirk.

Ara scoffed and shook her head "fine… keep your secret."

Harry laughed plopping onto the ground, facing the house, almost as though he were expecting someone else to have followed them.

"I need you to promise me something Harry," Ara said, her voice serious.

He tilted his head, "alright…"

"don't go looking into the kind of magic I use." She wasn't sure why it was so important for her to say this, but she didn't want him going down the wrong path, didn't want him making critical errors as she had.

"why not?"

"It's dangerous," she held up her hand to stop him when he tried cutting her off "learning it on your own is dangerous… I need you to trust me on that. Not only will some of the books cause your eyes to melt in your skull, but it's also dark, and it's easy to be taken over by it."

Harry looked at her intently before nodded "will you help me then?"

She sighed "I don't know… I need to think about it." He looked less than pleased so she added "I'm not opposed to it, but I don't want to do it yet… learn all you can from your dad and Sirius first."

Harry nodded in agreement "Your magic… the shadows… they were the only reason we survived."

It was true. She wouldn't have been powerful enough without their aid and she found herself wondering, not for the first time if perhaps she was wrong about the magic. Perhaps it wasn't as dark as everyone believed.

They sat in silence for a few more minutes before the back door opened and James came out. He looked hesitant but more than anything he looked like he wanted to comfort his son.

"We finished some of the duels… Charlie kicked Ginny's arse, Severus beat Lily and I beat Alastor…."

She raised her eyebrows in surprise, she hadn't expected James to beat Moody. She always thought the ex-Auror was pretty powerful, then again she was probably just underestimating James.

"It's your turn against Snape," he said to Ara with a small grimace. She wasn't sure if he thought she would lose spectacularly or if he just felt bad she had to duel him.

Ara didn't mind, she could take out old frustrations on the man. She jumped to her feet, a small lilt in her step and a wink towards Harry which made him laugh. Harry got up next to her and made to follow, ready to face the others after his little outburst.

James pulled him into a hug when they reached the door, resting his head on top of Harry's.

"I love you," James said, not minding that Ara was standing there, the affection was still something that Ara found difficult to comprehend.

"I love you too dad," Harry whispered.

The two broke apart and followed Ara into the house and down the steps. No one said anything when she and Harry re-entered the room. They didn't act as though it was weird, they had disappeared and didn't acknowledge Harry's outburst at all. When Harry reached his friends, Draco pulled him into the seat next to him, whispering something in his ear making Harry laugh loudly.

Ara made her way directly to the middle, ready to face Snape. She hadn't dueled him in years and from what she remembered; he was brilliant when it came to dueling. They skipped the bow and instead circled each other, sizing each other up. Severus's patience won out and it was Ara who shot the first spell. Snape flicked it away easily as though it were an annoying bug before firing off a small string of spells. They were innocent enough, she wondered if after Harry's outburst he would proceed differently than the others had.

Then again she couldn't be entirely certain that wasn't just the way that Severus was.

She could see the beams of light traveling quickly towards her and the knowledge that one of those beams of light could do serious harm only spurred her on quicker. She fought back until Severus was forced to take a few steps backward while holding up a shielding spell. She smirked at the sight. While she couldn't say it was great watching him stumble, it did make her feel better about the resentment she was holding towards him.

She was caught off guard and she felt herself flying into the air. It all came rushing back to her, the graveyard, the sight of Cedric dead at her feet, Voldemort torturing Harry, making him bow. She was stuck behind a glass barrier high in the sky and all that was below her was the Triwizard cup.

"NO" the yell ripped from her throat, she couldn't be back here, couldn't be trapped again. She could vaguely hear shouts in the background and the sound of Charlie's voice brought her back to the present. She was still in the air, still stuck behind an invisible barrier, but it was Snape at the bottom with his wand pointed at her. The voices she had heard were the others who were on their feet shouting at herself or Snape, she wasn't sure.

She felt anger spread up her spine, she couldn't believe he would do this. That he would invoke those memories. She raised her wand, slamming the tip into the barrier beneath her, and with a crack, she felt it shatter as she began falling to the floor. She straightened herself out, landing hard on her feet.

With all the strength and power she could muster she shot off a string of curses, making Snape move quickly to dodge them. She kept walking closer, firing relentlessly, her anger at a boiling point.

She shattered his shield before throwing one final curse "Sectumsempra!" She shouted, hitting the wall directly to his side. He went silent. Stopped trying to dodge, stopped trying to fight. He stared at her with wide eyes. She shook her head and turned her back on him, the duel was over. It was clear that had she wanted to, she could have hit him, could have made the spell stick.

The others in the room stood tense but didn't say anything. From the confusion on their faces, it seemed that they didn't know exactly what that spell did. She figured since it was created by Snape, the two of them were probably the only ones who knew it. And Draco, he wore wide eyes much like Snape's.

"So…" Sirius began "who won that duel? You both still have your wands."

"Ara," Snape said simply, there was a small stutter in his voice that went unnoticed by most in the room. Ara heard it though, she had frightened him.

The thought made her gut twist uncomfortably. She had been so angry that he would do that, that he would use her fear against her. That he would use the damn spell that lost her friend his life. Then again if she thought about it, she supposed that it wasn't him she was mad at, it was herself. If today had proven anything it was that she could have shattered the barrier that day of the third task. She could have gotten to the trophy first. She could have saved Cedric.

There was one final duel between Ara and James. They decided to do it after dinner. They all sat at the extended table in the backyard. All she could do was pick at her food. She didn't think she could quite stomach anything right now. The thought of the curse she almost hit Severus with was enough to make her stomach churn, add in the revelation that it really was her fault Cedric died and Harry almost died, she was lucky she wasn't puking.

She was sitting between Lily and Hermione. Lily was having a quiet conversation with Remus while Hermione kept shooting her glances while 'listening' to Harry and Ron talk.

"It really wasn't nice of Professor Snape to do that to you… not when…" Hermione trailed off, finally getting up the courage to say what she had wanted.

Ara offered her a small smile at the support. "He's an arse," she said softly making Hermione chuckle.

"What was that last spell you used?" She asked and Ara suspected that this was what she had wanted to say all along.

Ara sighed "it wasn't a very nice spell," she said with a shrug.

Hermione gave her a small glare "I'm fifteen," she said and Ara realized that perhaps her answer was a bit patronizing. Hermione was, after all, the smartest witch in her year. "It's just, I've never read about it."

Ara gave her an amused look, she imagined that there were quite a few spells Hermione hadn't read about… maybe she was wrong.

"You wouldn't have…. It was a spell invented by S-Somone… They never got it approved or published," she said. She had contemplated telling her that Snape created it, but the nature of the spell was rather dark and although he was an ass, she didn't want Hermione to think of him as dark.

Hermione frowned "Are there many spells like that?"

Ara shrugged "I imagine so… you can do nearly anything with magic, you just need a way to channel it."

Hermione looked thoughtful and Ara knew that as soon as the dueling was over she'd be in the Potter's library looking up "how to create new spells."

"So what does that spell do?" She asked.

Ara sighed heavily, glancing around the table. Everyone was pretty involved in their conversations, not paying any attention to the two of them. She then glanced at Draco, he was fifteen and had probably known of that spell for several years.

"It rips a person apart," she said quietly, leaning closer to Hermione so she could hear. Her eyes widened "it creates gashes all throughout their body that are extremely difficult to heal and if not treated within the first fifteen minutes, it is likely the person will bleed out."

Her eyes stayed wide, but Ara was pleased that there was no fear in them.

"You missed on purpose… he knew that… that's why he said you won."

Ara nodded "I never should have used that spell, he had just made me so angry…"

Hermione offered her a small smile "I would have been too… it's pretty brilliant when you think about it…. You proved to him that you were in control in one of the most abrupt ways possible."

Ara smiled, she hadn't quite expected the support but welcomed it.

It was much later when they ended up back in the training room. They had ensured their stomachs were settled enough for another duel.

They skipped the bow and began circling each other. She was far more nervous going against James than she was going against the others, even Severus. She knew how Severus thought, knew what to expect. James, she didn't know well at all other than what she'd witnessed. Rumor is though, he's powerful.

James made the first move and Are was staggered by the force behind the spell. It was clear that he wasn't going to hold back.

"So Ara," James began while she dodged a spell coming her way. "Tell me about that spell you used in the graveyard," he said while continuing to throw spell after spell.

She hesitated only briefly, throwing up a shield at the last second, causing James' spell to bounce sideways hitting the wall.

"It's a variation of protego," she said simply, shooting a stunning spell at him, watching him dodge it easily. "It was created by Grindelwald during his rise to power in 1927…. He used it as a method to discover who his real allies were…. People who were on his side, agreed with him, would be able to walk through the fire without being harmed, everyone else would be dead the moment the fire touched their skin."

She paused as James sent of a ring of hexes and jinxes, she focused all her energy on throwing up a regular protection charm.

"It was seen as protection because it protected him from others who meant him harm," James added. She wasn't sure if he knew about the spell for a while or if he looked into it after she used it. "The problem with the spell is that it's nearly impossible to stop… Well, until the night of the third task when Ara was able to stop it."

Ara shook her head "I don't know how I did it," she said. "I don't recommend anyone try it," she said.

James laughed and Ara used the moment to cast a string of hexes, nearly catching him off guard.

"I doubt anyone in this room could do it anyways."

Ara frowned, she wasn't sure what he meant.

"My point is, there are a lot of spells that there's very little known about… Some are dangerous, some take a lot of power, but most were created by normal people and never published…. Our hopes during these trainings are to learn some of those spells and learn how to use them for good, much like Ara did…"

She was surprised, She hadn't thought he'd be accepting of the use of that spell, then again it seemed she didn't know the potters much at all.

He used her temporary distraction to hit her with a spell sending her backward while her wand flew out of her hand.