Chapter 13

Celebrating his victory of the second task was epic. Harry was on top of the world as he celebrated the night away in the Ravenclaw common room with his friends from America and the Continent. All his friends had been welcomed openly by his housemates and the rest of Hogwarts that night, and Harry kept Daphne as close as he could throughout the night.

The next day when Harry and his friends were sitting at breakfast, and talking comfortably when the Daily Prophet arrived. The front page was of Harry and his friends laughing with his arm around Daphne and Michael holding up his Dueling Jersey in the background happily and the headline said, "Potter and International friends dominate the second task."

Harry interested by the head line grabbed a paper and began reading, "In a shocking turn of events yesterday many new international arrivals appeared at the tournament and clung to the side of Champion Potter of House Potter, and celebrated the boys stunning victory. Many people were skeptical at the beginning of the Triwizard Tournament when a fourteen year old wizard was entered into this dangerous tournament, but after the stunning display during the first task he silenced all of his critics, and officially shut them down after yesterday's crushing defeat of the other foreign delegations.

The French Witch of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, Fleur Delacour, was unable to complete the task, and her sister who was the hostage for the tournament was returned to her safely after the failure. This came as a shock to many as Ms. Delacour had gotten second in the first task.

The Bulgarian Wizard of Durmstrang, Viktor Krum, who is also the international Quidditch Super Star, and world cup winner, finished in just the nick of time with British Muggleborn witch Hermione Granger (15). Ms. Granger was Mr. Krum's date to the Yule Ball, and managed to be the person he would miss most, and led to having Ms. Granger being held hostage during the second task. Mr. Krum arrived with his hostage in the final seconds of the task and ended in third.

The Hogwarts Champion Cedric Diggory performed admirably and finished in second place with fifteen minutes to spare in the task. Mr. Diggory is now in second place overall in the tournament and his date to the Yule Ball was also his hostage in the tournament, Ms. Cho Chang of Hogwarts.

Lastly Mr. Harry James Potter of House Potter. Our forced Champion in the tournament managed to finish the second task in fifteen minutes with three fourths of time still remaining on the clock. His date Heiress Greegrass to the Most Ancient House of Greengrass appeared on his arm at the Yule Ball, and Hogwarts residents report the two to be inseparable since then. It is clear to this reporter, that Champion Potter was prepared to do whatever it took to get his woman back, and performed spectacular magic to rescue her in the fastest time possibly in Triwizard History.

Also of note was his company from the international delegations. One Michael Cotton (17) was James Flamel's (Harry Potter's dueling alias) bitter dueling adversary in the World U17 Championship just over the past Summer. Cotton was the American Champion at the major dueling tournament, and won the 16-17 year old division before facing Harry Potter in the finals and falling short, however that did not affect his chances at the pros as he has recently been drafted by an American Professional Team the Dallas Desperadoes. It is clear that the two struck up a great friendship, and Cotton decided to come support the young man in his tasks. Another was Sierra Michael who was another Dueling Champion at the U17 Tournament last year. Michael won the 14-15 year old female division at the tournament and lost to Beaxbatons Champion Fleur Delacour in the semi-finals. Michael is one of America's most promising young duelists, and a very talented prospect coming from Ilvermony of America.

Lastly was a surprise Lyoto Galvan the European Champion was an automatic finalist after winning the Euro dueling championship back in the Spring, and won several fights before falling short to Harry Potter in the semi-finals. Lyoto is an Italian young man in the 16-17 division, and was picked to win the tournament as a whole.

With this powerful assembly of young people it is clear that young Harry Potter's influence is already spreading far beyond his legend of being the boy who lived, and now even the Hero of Hogsmeade. Keep in touch with the Daily Prophet to bring you more updates on the tournament, and the coming third task.

Harry smiled as he closed the paper. Nothing too negative about him or Daphne, and his friends were all recognized. No one was slighted, and it was a fine piece of journalism, and he suddenly realized that Rita Skeeter was not the writer of this article, but Amanda Goldstein. Harry wanted to speak with his friend in the Ravenclaw to discover why Rita was taken off the case soon if the boy had any information.

Michael stood from the table stretching and looked towards the exit of the great hall, "It's a beautiful day outside. First day of March."

Harry eyed his friend suspiciously and said, "Yeah its spectacular."

Cotton kept his eyes on the door and spoke softly, "It's a good day for a duel. What do you say Potter? I go home today, and I need a good warm up before I return to my side of the world and begin my career as a professional. I think it's time we finally decide who the better duelist is. If you beat me today its undeniable, if I win we meet for another rematch sometime. What do you say?"

Harry smirked. He had been training hard the past few weeks preparing for the task, and then getting his animagus transformation down made him even more comfortable with his power, which left him confident as he glanced at Daphne who seemed curious if her boyfriend would accept the challenge, "Michael what are you saying?"

Michael smiled knowing he was ready for whatever came next, Michael loudly called out, "Harry James Potter I challenge you to single combat to incapacitation, disarm, or knockout. It is purely a duel for honor, and no prize is sought for other than respect. Do you accept my terms?"

Harry stood from his chair dramatically staring the boy in his eyes, "I accept your challenge and your terms. Let us go onto the grounds and begin."

Many people in the hall were whispering in excitement a world champion rematch was about to happen before their eyes. Harry walked to the front of the hall and bowed to the staff table, "Professor Flitwick would you mind reffing a match for my friend and I before he returns to America? He wishes to have a rematch of our last bout."

Flitwick bounced to his feet immediately excited, "It would be my pleasure Mr. Potter I have not refed such a match in many years, but I of course would be willing to help you."

Harry bowed the man, and walked back to his table grabbing his girlfriend's hand, "My lady walk with me. I would like to speak with you."

Daphne grabbed his hand and she wrapped her hand through his arm as they made their way out of the hall, Daphne asked quietly, "You think you can beat him?"

Harry shrugged, "I know I can. I just wanted to warn you he will play for keeps, and it will look fierce, but he won't hurt me and I won't hurt him. At least nothing unreasonable. I want you to watch his tactics and observe, you will face people like him on the circuit this summer. He is a great product to come from Ilvermony but the thing is he is just below a prodigy. He is a great duelist but he is just the product and not the star, so it's important you recognize it. I want you to face Sierra if she is willing before she leaves, but I wanted to talk to you first."

Daphne's eyes widened, "Do you think she would? She is an international champion, and I am sure she wouldn't want to waste her time with me."

Shaking his head Harry said, "Sierra lives for the challenge and new opponents, and she even said last night that she would be interested in dueling with you. She thinks you are my new protegee, and wants to duel people that have my style, and you have certainly adopted a bit of it. I just didn't want to accept on your behalf."

The girl stopped and turned to stare at her boyfriend with a serious look, "Harry the next time one of your international champion friends wants to duel with me I give you permission to accept on my behalf."

This caused the boy to grin, and have a new respect for her as she was not afraid to lose to new people, and she most certainly would, but she would learn and see how she stood against someone of that caliber. Outside of Harry of course.

As they made it to the grounds Harry began stretching and flinging magic towards the woods as he was trying to mentally warm up for the task in front of him. He may have beaten Michael a few times, but the boy had also beaten him, and if he was anything less than his best he would fall today.

Half of an hour would pass before the duel would begin. A platform had been summoned and raised from the grounds by the spectators and the dueling ref. Harry had transfigured his clothes into his Dueling Jersey, and outfit while Michael had done to the same. Daphne had given the boy a firm kiss for luck, and Harry bounced on his heels as he jumped onto the platform, and walked to the middle with his wands in his hands. He looked at Michael who was smirking triumphantly as if he expected to win, and Harry remembered that he was facing a champion much like himself and the usual weaknesses he had seen recently would not be present.

Professor Flitwick stood facing both duelists and spoke loud and clear for the spectators that had assembled, "Duelists let us go over the rules for today's duel. There will be nothing above a class C Dark Arts spell, there will be no lethal hexes thrown at the vital areas of the body, and lastly this duel is to surrender, incapacitation, disarm, or knockout. Are we in agreement."

Both boys voiced an agreement, "Yes sir."

"Very good. Face this way, and bow. Face each other and bow. Walk to your side of the platform, and wait for the countdown." Flitwick commanded.

Harry smiled at his friend as they touched knuckles and wished each other luck, and walked to their platforms. Suddenly only two people existed in the world to Harry, him and his opponent. He closed his eyes as he walked in a straight line to the end of the platform as he had thousands of times before. When he reached the end he opened his eyes and spun around with his primary wand pointing at the boy only to find another wand pointing at him.

The countdown begun and Harry's heart began racing. Michael looked completely calm, and he knew he did as well. He was in his element, and he was in his comfort zone. Nothing serious, nothing on the line, just him doing what he loved.

Harry heard one and he was moving with his shield up and his other wand flinging curses at rapid speeds, and Michael was matching him curse for curse. Harry was chaining spells rapidly, and blasting apart the platform to distract him. Michael was however not losing his focus on the boy and kept attempting to catch him off balance, though Harry was flawless through the first leg of the duel.

Harry had several plans in which to beat the boy. One was to transfigure the rubble into something to fight him while he blasted him off the platform. Another was just to duel until the boy couldn't duel anymore, and then try and catch him off guard with something basic, and end the duel there. There was also the thought of using his animagus to trick him up, but that was risky. Michael was a veteran, and had faced animagus before in his divisions so that probably wasn't a good idea.

The duel had already been approaching ten minutes and neither side was willing to let up. They were both trained to last, and the Hogwarts students were blown away. The longest dueling club match ever had probably lasted this long, and both duelists were dying after that, but these two seemed to still be finding their rhythm.

Harry was impressed with Michael, and had clearly been training very hard since there last duel six months ago. The young man's stamina had greatly improved, and his spell variety was brilliant, but what he lacked was creativity. Harry had seen all these tactics before from the boy, and while the initial strategy may be a little different the end game was still the same, and Harry was reading him like a book.

Finally Michael was starting to sweat after the fifteen minute mark, and Harry knew the time to end the duel was coming, "Fianto Duri."

Suddenly a massive blue wall appeared in front of the boy, and Michael stopped casting in shock for a moment as he stared at the ward scheme that Harry had summoned while he wasn't paying attention.

Harry called out to the boy, "It's over Michael drop your wand."

Michael grinned, "Never."

With that the boy started lashing out at the ward and was already cracking, but Harry grinned as his plan began to go into motion. While Harry was catching his breath Michael was clearly wearing down even more as the ward came down, and as soon as it did Harry took a hard step forward throwing one wand out screaming, "REDUCTO!"

A red beam of light shot from his wand, and Michael easily shielded it, but was stunned when the curse did not stop but a stream of magic and blasting power was coming from Harry. Then Harry with his other wand whipped it over his head, and sent a disarming hex with deadly accuracy, and the boy stood no chance of blocking the blasting curse and stopping the flowing reducto curse causing him to be disarmed, and then bound in the blink of an eye. Many people stared in awe at what Harry had just done. No one in the U17 could hold a spell like that, and very few pros could which made even Flitwick stare at the boy in surprise.

The surprise didn't last long as the diminutive professor flipped a blue flag into the air, "Winner Harry Potter."

Applause came through the crowd as Harry approached his friend, "Good match mate. I thought we were going to duel for an hour at that rate."

Michael just stared at the boy, "How did you do that? The silent ward...I didn't even see your wand move, and then after all this time of dueling you used that trick with the reducto curse...I don't think I have ever seen anything like that at all. You really are going to be great...I look forward to you making it to the Pros, and I hope my coach saves all his salary cap to sign you when you are sixteen I think together we could decimate the circuit. Thanks for the duel buddy."

The two embraced tightly, and when they separated Harry took a light jab at the boy, "You stink Cotton go hit the showers, and let's hold off that rematch for a while alright?"

The boy laughed and smiled at the young man and grabbed his hand and held it up to the approval of the crowd that had gathered, and after it died down Harry and Michael jumped off the platform to be greeted by their referee, "You both have such potential. Cotton I recommend studying more offensive tactics. Your defense is nearly impenetrable, but it was clear to me that every tactic you tried Mr. Potter was familiar with so he read you well throughout the entire fight. Mr. Potter I recommend figuring out how to use many curses in which you used to the reducto curse. A very powerful combination. Mr. Cotton your mistake was shielding. Had you dodged it he would've been forced to keep throwing it, and with luck you could have caught him off rhythm trying to get his strategy and executed and won, but that was a very good duel. You both will do well on the circuits."

Harry and Michael both bowed to the Charms Master in respect having recognized the man was once a star, and any advice he gave was invaluable. At that they approached their group, and Daphne rushed to hug him, "That was incredible. I have never seen anything like that."

"Thanks love. I am glad you enjoyed the show." Harry said kissing the girl on the cheek laughingly.

Cotton grumbled out, and Sierra laughed while Lyoto looked stunned at the level of competition he would be facing next year, "I am glad you and Cotton are not in my division this year. I feel like I wouldn't be going back to the Championship if I was."

Harry shook his head bumping the boy with his hand, "You would still win it in Italy. Your competition is only severe on the International circuit. I will duel with you if you are itching for some action?"

The boy seemed to consider the challenge, but shook his head, "I think I better go to work on some stuff before we duel again. It is clear that I have some new stuff to work on."

Harry chuckled and patted the boy on the shoulder, while Sierra grumbled, "I want to duel someone."

Daphne trying to embrace a bit of the Gryffindor side of things she said, "I will duel with you. I have never dueled with a girl as challenging as you. I have honestly never even made the circuit before."

Sierra took a wicked grin on her face, "I was hoping you would offer. I had heard Harry had taken a young pretty protegee here at Hogwarts, and I would love to see what you got?"

Daphne smiled at the challenge, and Michael asked, "Should we reconstruct the dueling platform."

Sierra nodded her head patting the boy on the cheek, "Make yourself useful while I warm up. Most of the crowd has cleared out so we shouldn't have as big of an audience."

"Why can't Harry do it?" Michael complained.

But she called back, "Harry needs to warm his girl up, and offer her some advice. You and Lyoto are nice and capable. Get to it."

This gave Harry a chance to prepare as he pulled Daphne off to the other side of the platform, "Alright just stay cool. I am going to transfigure you some dueling robes, and stuff is that okay?"

The girl nodded looking nervous, but with a few flicks of his wand Harry had created something similar to what he was wearing except instead of her regular robes she was wearing dueling robes, and a tight black under shirt that reminded him a bit of the dress she was wearing the night of the ball, but he didn't let that distract him, as he transfigured it a little more so it had her last name on the back, but the house Potter insignia on it. At this she raised her eyes and he blushed, "You will put me down as your coach in England, and Neville will just coach you during the World or Continental Championships when you make it that far. Until then you have me, and since you are 'one of my duelist' you get to duel with my house symbol."

The girl nodded at this, and smiled slightly as she looked at her symbol. Neville walked up to the group and smiled, "Good match Harry I wish I had gotten to coach you we would've won that faster. Cotton was telegraphing his stunning curses, and I was waiting for you to counter it over and over again until he slipped into it. Daphne I have seen Sierra duel a few times, and she favors lazy spells that she follows it with blasting curses repeatedly. Don't let her beat you into submission and catch her while she is gathering her energy for the blast and you could deal some damage, and maybe catch her off guard. Make her respect you."

Harry and Daphne exchanged looks, and Harry smiled patting her on the shoulder, "You heard the man. Go give her hell, and make her respect you."

Daphne nodded and Harry held out his knuckles and she hit them as she walked towards the platform where Lyoto was standing preparing to ref the match. He called through the standards and the rules, and before Harry knew it the duel was going.

Daphne was totally in the zone and concentrated as the duel began, and Harry knew it when the first few spells were exchanged. They were on target perfectly, and her wand was flowing beautifully into the chains and defensive counters. Michael was standing next to Harry whistling, "She is good. We may be looking at a future British Champion."

Harry grinned at the boy, "How do you think I fell for her. Look at her potential. She developed most of it naturally. No coach, no dueling lessons, just watching the Hogwarts dueling club. Imagine how good she would be if she had grown up going to the camps with us."

Michael nodded grinning, "So you have fallen for her? I should congratulate you she is quite the looker."

Harry smiled as he watched the intensity on the girls face as she tried to match Sierra spell for spell, "Perhaps, we will see. She is about to go down. She did better than I thought. I figured Sierra would have her down in a minute."

Neville laughed, "By the look on Sierra's face I think she expected the same. Daphne is doing better than I hoped if she duels like this on the local circuits she is going to gain a name quickly especially with you in her corner Harry. I think she will qualify for the National Championship easy. Rookie of the year if we work with her. I will come by in the Summer and work with you, and her. Maybe I will bring Sierra so she has a good dueling partner."

Harry nodded as Daphne was throwing shield after shield and trying to hang on for dear life. The girl lasted four minutes before she hit the ground hard after catching a stunner to the face. Lyoto immediately declared a winner, and revived Daphne who looked slightly shaken, but was smiling brightly when Sierra came over to her and hugged her saying some words that no one else heard.

Harry jumped onto the platform to greet the girl with a tight hug, "You were brilliant. That was a lot better than I would've expected. I think you definitely made her respect you."

Daphne grinned, "I know I did. She said she looks forward to seeing me on the circuit, and at the camps at Ilvermony this summer. What are those like?"

Michael laughed as he approached the two, "You will love them, and they will help you immensely. For us it's kind of repetitive and a repeat of the basics, but it's good to have that once a year. A bunch of pros will come down and hold a camp though at Ilvermony for anyone who would like to come. It's where we all met and became friends many years ago."

Daphne smiled, "That sounds amazing. You think I could go Harry?"

The boy smiled at her enthusiasm, "We will make it happen."

Sierra then walked over to Harry, "You don't do anything half ass Potter and I can appreciate that. You have some potential in this one. She could be a serious threat by the time she turns 17 and enters the circuit, and fights her last year on the amateur side. It's about time the girls pick up some more talent in this country. I haven't faced a good female opponent in ages, and I look forward to seeing her rise in Britain and become a champion. You are in capable hands Ms. Greengrass, just make that another thing that Harry is ahead of all of us in."

Daphne looked at Harry puzzled, and Harry smiled at her promising to tell her later. With that however the friends had to say goodbye, and the foreign delegation that had come to support Harry was preparing to leave, and some who had spectated the whole thing was starting to seriously wonder just what it would take to take down someone like Harry Potter, and one in particular even began to rethink his whole plan.

(A/N) More coming soon. Stay tuned, and please review!