"No, not this one. This one won't work either. Do you not have anything a bit more bitter?" Gellert Grindelwald asked after being handed several wands that weren't working for him.

"I have my Hawthorn wand, I suppose you could try it." Harry responded, summoning the wand from his bedroom.

"Hawthorn wood, and the core?"

"I believe it to be thestral hair."

"Interesting." Was all the old man said as the wand flew into Harry's hand, which was handed to the Dark Wizard. Almost instantly there was a reddish-green light filling the room, the air around them becoming thick and oppressive.

"This. This will work perfectly. As you were the one who has haunted my dreams for close to two decades, it stands to reason that you must be powerful. I would like to duel you so I can find out for myself."

"Wouldn't you rather spend some time recovering from your imprisonment?"

"Why would I want that? When I wipe the floor with you I want you to be aware that I am no longer in my prime and massively out of practice."

"When you lose, don't use this as an excuse then." Harry responded cockily.

"We'll see." Grindelwald responded with a smirk.

The two went into the back garden of Nott Manor, a once nearly landscaped garden, now it was an empty square of grass. Harry brought up a duelling shield to prevent any magic from damaging anything outside of their duel, only to have Grindelwald place a much stronger barrier up.

"Nothing shy of Fiendfyre can get through that barrier, though if you were to use it I would throw you into it. Only an idiot makes use of Fiendfyre and an even bigger idiot to let it get out of control."

"Don't worry, I have no intention of using such a destructive curse." Harry assured the older wizard, who raised an eyebrow at him and responded.

"This is not a duel to the death, though that doesn't mean you cannot seriously injure me."

"Okay, let us begin." Harry said, bowing and drawing his wand in-sync with Grindelwald.

"Osso Rotto, Densaugeo." Harry began, diving to the side to avoid the cutting hex that was sent at him, using his Elemental ability to spring himself onto his feet.

"Agility won't win you this battle, boy, attack me like a man who wants to win."

Nodding back at his opponent, Harry then pulled the air out of Grindelwald's lungs, preventing him from saying anything else as Harry sent a series of curses that required a spoken counter, watching as the shocked man became blinded and felt as if he was falling thanks to the combination of his blinding charm and Professor Flitwick's Acrophobia spell.

"Simple sensory spells won't win this battle either, I can hear your heart beating in your chest as well as the blades of grass under your feet."

"Interesting." Harry responded, using a modified sound-enhancing charm to emit a sonic attack, noticing the old man's ears beginning to bleed he decided to end the spell. The thing that finally threw him off was the unbroken grin on Grindelwald's face.

"Are you quite done disabling my senses? I can heal myself rather easily." He said to Harry.

In the amount of time it took to blink, his eyes unfogged and he locked eyes with Harry again.

"You have to teach me that." Harry said back, slightly awed by the Dark Wizard.

"Win this fight and I will."

"If you insist, I didn't want to have to use this technique unless absolutely necessary." Harry remarked, fully blacking out his glasses as he drew out his sword.

"You plan to fight me with a sword, an obnoxiously reflective one at that, while blinding yourself? I have to say I didn't consider this to be your ultimate technique." Grindelwald mocked, though the humour of the situation lessened as Harry adopted his opponent's grin.

"This sword was made by me, not by hand but by magically working the metal. As a result it is an extension of my own body and magic, so much so that I can channel magic through it and use it as a focus of sorts."

"Right, how does that help you here?" Gellert asked, genuinely curious about how this would play out.

"Keep your eye on the sword and you will see." Harry answered, holding his sword at just the right angle to make eye-contact with Grindelwald and unblocking his glasses. For a single moment Grindelwald could see yellow eyes and he fell to the floor, petrified.

Waiting to see if this finally stopped the man, Harry waited for a moment, keeping his wand between the two of them and shrinking the sword back down to put around his neck. When there was no sign of continued struggle from Gellert, Harry walked over to him and placed two drops of Mandrake essence under his tongue and watched as the petrification faded.

"That was unexpected and different. Well done Harry, you won this fight." The old wizard said with a smile, accepting Harry's offered hand up.

"I did tell you I would win." Harry joked.

"Do not taint your victory, win with honour." Gellert chastised him, surprising Harry that such a feared Dark Lord cared about manners. With their duel over the two dispelled their barriers and went to head inside, only to notice that they had attracted an audience for their duel.

"That was bloody brilliant." Ron exclaimed amongst similar excited shouts.

It didn't feel quite right not having Daphne or Elias there to celebrate with but Harry enjoyed it all the same. Perhaps he could let Elias come with them on this fight, and he knew Daphne would leave to fight without much prompting.

He concluded he would think about it before discussing it with them, not wanting to build his brother's hopes up.

/_^_^/

Lord Voldemort could feel an immense amount of magic back in Britain, recognising the magical signature of Harry Potter going against a very unfamiliar foe.

The realisation that he had been tricked into going to Antarctica hit him hard and left him so full of rage that he decided that nobody in this frozen research station would ever see their families again. Casting Fiendfyre in a big circle around them and apparating back to Britain, Voldemort knew he would kill Potter, there would be no opportunity to recruit him now.