Chapter 16: Duelling Practice

The same hallway from before appeared in his dreams, high stacked shelves with glowing white orbs being the only source of light in sight. The ethereal glow emitting from the orbs coupled with the whispers he could hear gave him an inkling of the power this room alone holds.

Walking down the aisles this time he noticed they were labelled with numbers and letters, most so old they had decayed. A noise to his right startled him, the sound of footsteps to his left had him spinning around going for his wand but it wasn't there.

A gust of wind from the end of one of the rows brought forth with it a thick black smoke careening towards him. He was rooted in place, his legs not responding to his commands and his eyes fixed on the wall of darkness seconds away from descending in him. His arms moved to cover his face but just as he was about to get hit -

Harry awoke in an instant. His mind was still in fight or flight mode and his clothes were drenched in sweat. Reaching for his glasses and his wand on his bedside table, he came back to reality. The 5th year Gryffindor boys room, too dark to make out anything physically but the sound of Ron's snores were for once comforting rather than an annoyance.

'What the hell was that. It felt too real to be a nightmare, but it obviously wasn't a memory' he thought. Checking his mental barrier, he found no chinks or even a scratch which eliminated the possibility of someone implanting the dream in his mind. With that deduction in mind he ruled it as a weirdly vivid nightmare and checked the time on his watch.

'5:23, not terrible I suppose, I'm not getting back to sleep that's for sure. I'll go cool off in the room for a while and hopefully catch Daphne.' He thought slightly guilty. His avoidance of her being brought to the forefront of his mind. The gravity of what they pulled off wasn't lost on him anymore and the fact that he isolated her in the aftermath didn't sit well with him. 'Thankfully she took it well enough, better than I would have if the roles were reversed.' Getting up, he went about his normal morning routine but extra quietly, mindful of the four sleeping teenagers in the next room over.

Donning the invisibility cloak, Harry dawdled to the Room of Requirement almost on autopilot, keeping just enough awareness to not walk into any walls or fall off of a moving staircase. The thing plaguing his mind was still Umbridge's death. He no longer questioned the morality of Umbridge's death but that didn't stop him replaying the gruesome scene of someone being torn apart alive. He didn't think he'd ever forget that sight no matter how long he lived. 'Those damn creatures are horrifying enough honestly. What I did to Umbridge just amplified their impact. How on Earth Hagrid is friends with one of them will be one of life's great mysteries. Right up there with the meaning of life.' Harry thought

Harry got to the Room of Requirement and was pleased to see it appear at his command, he had beat Daphne to it. Walking in he saw what he recognised as a muggle shooting range, but it had Death Eater figures at the end of the room rather than paper targets. Putting the cloak on a bench nearby, he moved to the centre of the room towards the back so that the targets were fanned out in front of him. To save time and focus on accuracy rather than power, Harry started by casting stinging hexes and low powered stunners at the dummies with both hands. His left hand was a disaster with a wand and he felt like that was a significant liability.

Where he hit nine out of ten dummies with his right hand, he only managed to hit two with his left. It was often too far right as he would over-correct, once he had figured this out he managed to hit four or our ten but it wasn't good enough.

'It's fine. For my first go this is good progress. It would be easier to just do this with my hand honestly. I'll need to get Daphne to teach me some of that.' He thought, thinking about the first time he and Daphne met properly. The wandless diffindo hadn't gone unnoticed but still gave her the upper hand for a moment. 'She truly quite the powerful witch. Wandless magic, spells that sizzle with power and an heiress to an empire. No wonder she's so arrogant.'

The room rearranged itself to his will, creating four flat stone walls. The room would randomly make figures pop up out of the floor for a short time which he would have to hit with a spell. This exercise was introduced to him by Moody when they first started duelling in the summer before term began. His reaction time was good when dodging spells but he couldn't snap them off quickly enough so Moody grilled him something fierce before he could match his draw speed. The room started the exercise and Harry narrowly hit the first one to pop up, the first one was always the worst because once he got into a rhythm, he rarely missed a target now. The exercise ended with him only hitting two out of twenty targets, pleased with his results he took a seat in a comfortable chair that materialised in front of him.

His rest was interrupted when there was knocking on the door leading out to the school. Alarmed he shot up with his wand at the ready. Throwing on his invisibility cloak, Harry edged towards the door and cracked it open slightly. Standing before him was Daphne Greengrass looking extremely cross. He took off the cloak and opened the door wider.

"What the hell Potter, since when are you up this early?" She said barging past him and into the room and it morphed to the gym he saw last time they were in here together.

"It's a recent development. Had trouble sleeping and wanted to apologise to you so I decided to come by and train for a bit before you got here." He admitted

"Apologise? Why?" she asked curiously.

"Well, I don't feel like I fulfilled my duties well enough after Umbridge. So, I wanted to apologise for not being around for any potential fall out."

"Pfft that's all? It's not a problem at all. I had it well in hand. Now what did you do to train? I saw you with Moody at the platform so surely, you've got some secret Auror training tricks." Daphne said dismissing his worries and moving on to gathering information.

Slightly perturbed by her dismissal but not saying anything because she said it was nothing, Harry answered her question. "Well, I mean there's plenty of things I've learnt from him that he didn't explicitly teach me. Like tactics, when to end a fight and exploiting weaknesses but if you're looking for a training regimen then you could try your hand at what I was doing before you came in. It's quite a workout so you won't be missing out on cardio at least."

Thinking about it for a moment, Daphne nodded and cleared her mind. Allowing for Harry to morph the room into what he needed. She was surprised to see the room completely empty, eyeing Harry inquisitively she was only met with a cheeky smile before he barked out…

"Hit the targets!"

Daphne, confused at the order, didn't notice the death eater dummy pop out of the floor behind her. The dummy, unlike Harry's stationary ones, was spinning like a tornado and hit Daphne in the shoulder. She turned and blasted the offending figure into the wall, showering the room in wooden fragments. Daphne turned and glared at him and was about to curse him, but he nodded behind her. She whirled around expecting to find a dummy but was surprised to see nothing. Her surprise was compounded when she was barrelled into by a solid mass sending her towards the floor. Saving herself by rolling into a crouch, she sent a silent acid conjuring spell at the dummy which dissolved with sickening cracks and pops. Daphne's rage was fuelled by the fact that Harry was meeting her death glare with that same cheeky grin he wore at the start of this accursed exercise.

The next dummy appeared to her left and without taking her eyes off of Harry she sent a piercing hex right through the dummy's head. The victim of Daphne's anger fell to the floor with a golf ball sized hole in its head. Harry was impressed, when Moody gave him that exercise he came out of it bloody and bruised but she had done well to complete it.

'Of course she didn't have Moody and sometimes Sirius also sending curses here and there' he thought with mild amusement at his own torment. He was brought out of his… fond memories by Daphne's stunning jinx sailing towards him. He spun to the side and watched the spell collide with the wall he was leaning on leaving scorch marks at the area of impact. He turned to Daphne to see her breathing heavy and her wand raised. He raised his hands and stepped towards her slowly.

"Daphne that's how Moody gave me the exercise, I thought it would be funny if-

"Enough talking, start duelling"

Daphne gave him the courtesy of allowing him to draw his wand before she fired off another stunner at his groin. His disappointment was met with a cruel smirk and then they were moving. They traded low level spells like tripping jinxes and jelly legs jinxes, each analysing the other's defensive habits. This wasn't like their fight in the classroom where Daphne felt threatened and he thought she was a spy, this was a friendly duel between two allies.

Harry cast an aguamenti at her feet and blocked her blasting curse. A glacius followed the water conjuration so that she was walking on ice in her trainers. Crouching to balance herself and erecting a shield so that she could focus she transfigured some rubble into a brick wall. The wall provided new cover so that she could quickly melt the ice at her feet.

Harry took aim at the wall and blasted it apart with a bombarda. This turned out to be a mistake as the dust cloud completely impaired his vision to the point, he quietly cast sedisebris just in time to see that Daphne had flanked him on the left and that a spell was sailing towards his head. No time to identify it, he leaned back and watched the spell pass in front of his nose.

Dispelling the dust, he cancelled the charm on his eyes and cast proiectura four times so that four Harry's appeared and rushed Daphne. Daphne's face remained impassive at this move, well informed of his illusionary magic. She sliced her wand across her body and thrust her free hand out shooting off a spell. A cutting curse variant emerged from her wand in an arc and sliced through the illusions, making them all puff into smoke. The wandless spell, which Harry couldn't see because of his illusions disappearing, connected with his cheek and sliced a small cut across his face.

Stunned at the escalation of hostility, Harry stood there in shock. Daphne wore a satisfied smirk as she watched him change stance and steel himself, she had been right to assume he was holding back now that this was friendly practice. She didn't want that though, she wanted a duel of equal ferocity to their first and she was accustomed to getting what she wanted.

Firing the first spell this time, Harry wasted no time with incantations like before and fired a bludgeoner at her legs. Daphne instinctively blocked the spell but felt a slight drain on her magic front the effort, Harry wasn't playing around anymore. The follow up stunner she decided to dodge in an effort to preserve her magical reserves. The way Harry moved as he fired off spells was unfamiliar to her as it had been in their last duel and it made hitting him difficult. Her return volley of body binds and blasting curses had been utterly ignored as they sailed past him causing damage to the room.

Harry started a spell chain that was used by aurors to subdue opponents: a blasting hex to weaken the shield, followed by two stunners and a body bind. Daphne, however, had dodged the blasting hex and prepared to retaliate before she realised that more spells were coming faster than she could think. The stunners that followed had to be blocked and the body bind she deflected into the floor.

There was a lull in the action where both combatants stood panting and sweating about ten metres from each other. Neither had lowered their wand and neither had any plans to do so. In sync, they took a deep breath and formed their respective plans. Lashing out, Daphne conjured an ice spear that lanced towards Harry. Surprised at the lethality of such an attack but used to the adrenaline kick, Harry just dropped to the floor. As the spear sailed over his head, he summoned a piece of rubble from behind her with more power than required. The rock piece, no bigger than a mug, rocketed toward the back of Daphne's knee. The debris' connection with his opponent caused her to twist so that her back turned to face him and made her fall to her knees.

From his position on the ground, Harry thought 'expelliarmus' and triumphantly plucked the disarmed Daphne's wand from the air. He followed up with a stunner and watched her slump to the ground defeated.

'I've learnt my lesson about disarmed opponents. Especially this one' he thought, experiencing a phantom pain in his nose.

Walking over to Daphne he crouched down and whispered 'ennervate' to bring his duelling partner back to consciousness. Daphne opened her eyes and her face immediately became pinched in pain. Harry stood and offered her his hand that had her wand in it. She looked at the hand for a moment, hesitating, before taking it and allowed Harry to hoist her up. She took her wand from his hand and collapsed in a seat the room conjured for her.

"You fought well" Harry congratulated, breaking the silence. She hummed her acknowledgment as she applied an ice pack to the back of her knee to which she visibly showed her relief by sliding deeper into the chair and the satisfied groan that escaped her throat. "Where'd you learn to fight like that by the way?" Daphne raised her head from resting on the top of the chair to look at him. He could tell the loss stung her ego but she didn't seem too miffed by it.

"My father at first, he's not a fighter but he's intelligent enough to be an instructor. Then he had private trainers brought in for me. They all fought the same though, stood still and made me move. You on the other hand we're so nimble that I could barely keep up with you."

"Do you see how that is to your detriment even further?" Harry asked slipping into his DA teaching role.

"By trying so hard to hit you I wasn't moving myself. I made myself an easy target even if I dodged the spells, I'd be giving you more time to make your next move by wasting time narrowly avoiding attacks." she said, more frustrated than before.

"It's alright you did well, you jus-"

"Not well enough!" she yelled angrily. She had just had her arse handed to her and the last time that had happened was years ago. It's safe to say that she had forgotten how to lose graciously.

Well acquainted with people his age being frustrated at their magical performance due to the DA, Harry just raised his arms slightly and took a seat in front of her. He sat there in silence for a moment, trying to figure her out, the Daphne he knew was composed if a bit cheeky but she had never expressed herself with such intensity before. He stared at her angry grey eyes for what felt like an eternity, the storm in them a shroud for something deeper. It clicked in his mind; her anger was a disguise. Just like the disillusionment charm she so favoured it hid something far more compelling under it. With her figured out he decided to ask her softly.

"What are you afraid of Daphne?" The anger in her eyes flared almost instantly but dissipated swifter until her eyes were glazed over for a moment. She shook her head clear and she focused on him entirely.

"That's an extremely personal question Potter, one that I will not give you an answer to." Daphne responded with some bite to it. Harry was used to it though. The conversation he had with Neville about his father's wand was a long and difficult one. The git would get offended at every slightly ambiguous phrase that came out of his mouth, as such it took the better part of a morning to convince him to get a new wand. Deciding it was time to get to know his allies a bit more he pressed on.

"Me personally I'm afraid of failing. Too much is riding on my success and I'm reminded of that fact every time I walk the halls. Smiling faces, the wonder of magic - it's all in jeopardy and I feel like I'm the only one who can save it."

Daphne scoffed "Really? One would think the Dark Lord would be what plagues your mind, not personal insecurities."

"Voldemort used to be one of my biggest fears, him and dementors, but now I simply see him for what he is. A rabid wild animal, thrashing its weight around before it is eventually exterminated." Harry said with conviction, eyes blazing at the images of Voldemort dying in various horrific ways.

"Like Umbridge" Daphne said softly, looking at him with clarity. The strength he had been presenting as of late making more sense. Their part, or more specifically his part, in the death of Umbridge had greatly shifted his conviction allowing him to see for the first time the ugly necessity of battle and war.

Harry replied a simple "yes" as they lapsed into silence, both lost in their own thoughts. After some time, Daphne shifted and straightened her back, projecting her confident posture effortlessly.

"I suppose fair is fair. We are allies after all and the mutual exchange of information was implied in the terms. What I most fear is fading into obscurity, being forgotten in history or worse being a footnote in someone else's story." She said with false confidence, only her family knew of her obsession with her own prestige and even then they knew very little details, for some reason she felt comfortable telling him.

"And that's why you got so frustrated at not beating me then? Because if you're not the best at all that you do then there's a chance you'll be left behind as the rest of history moves on?"

Sighing and figuring that she was already in too deep to back out now she replied. "Correct, my plan was to develop my skills silently then enter the duelling rings of Europe. Become a whirlwind of success and withdraw at the height of my fame. Then expand my family's trade empire to the East with the help of connections made in the tournaments. After that I'd have enough clout and an extensive worldwide network to enter the Wizengamot with a sizable political power base. All of this combined would be enough to impress the misogynists, invigorate the old alliances and inspire the newcomers, I'd have them eating out of my hand and essentially be able to spearhead major political and societal reform."

Sitting in his chair Harry listened to her plan with growing intrigue, her passion being apparent in the way she narrated it with a spark in her stormy eyes. 'She orates very convincingly. It's hard not to wish for her success and with the amount of confidence she portrayed there's no doubt in my mind that she will succeed.' He thought with a smile.

"That's some plan, ambitious but noble, seems to be a lot of that going around lately. What changed?"

Daphne scrunched up her face for a moment before it settled onto the muted rage he was becoming used to seeing. "The Dark Lord decided death was too good for him."

"Ah"

"Yes, 'ah' indeed. His return comes with benefits and drawbacks to my plan. On the one hand, I have another avenue to fame however it does paint a target on me during a war. As you can see I was willing to accept the consequences, what's the muggle saying 'no pain, no fame' or something rather."

Laughing at her butchered attempt of muggle slang, Harry dissected what she was saying. 'So by allying with me she's looking to become famous. Not sure how I feel about that, her presence has proved most useful but her intentions aren't as noble as I once assumed. That doesn't make sense though, if she doesn't need to be the best at duelling for fame then she wouldn't be so poses that she couldn't beat me. There's more to this and she's in a talkative mood.'

"So what's the play then? Let me and my friends be on the frontlines whilst you tell everyone who will listen how much help you provided us during the war?" He said with a hint of anger.

Daphne looked surprised at the accusation and immediately dismissed it. "Oh gods no! I'm going to help you kill Voldemort." she said simply.

A silence ensued, Harry stared at her, flabbergasted at the nonchalant declaration that she was going to take on the darkest wizard of all time for a bit of prestige. Harry shook his head and muttered something about 'duelling' and 'headaches' as he stood up and walked behind his chair. Leaning on it he hung his head for a moment before returning his eyes to her face. She was laid out in her chair with her legs over the side, feigning checking her nails whilst failing to contain that small aristocratic 'I just beat you' smirk she so often wore.

"You're all ambition and no sense."

"I'd say that's a fair assessment."

"Oh, you would, would you?" He asked rhetorically, now openly grinning. Verbally sparring with her was quickly becoming an amusing pass time.

"Indeed, and you're all bravery and no brains." She japed.

"Oho is that so? Then how come I've beat you in a duel…. twice?"

"Please, you just proved my point. Our first duel was a tie, the scorecard reads one to zero. Sounds like a lucky win to me."

"Care to make it two in a row then? Surely then luck would have no part in it?"

"If you have such a desire to experience the sensation of having your own arse handed to you then who am I to stand in the way of that. Tomorrow? Same time?"

"You're on"