Chapter 4 – The Duel

Harry awoke, looking at the clock on the wall it was 11 o'clock, this was the latest Harry had slept in since he had come home for the summer. He was usually woken up at the crack of dawn to cook breakfast for the Dursley's. Pulling on some clothes Harry made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen. Sat at the table was Ms. Figg reading a copy of the 'Daily Prophet'

"Morning Harry, sleep well?"

"Morning Ms. Figg, yeah I haven't slept that well since I came home form Hogwarts" Harry replied still not fully awake and rubbing his eyes slightly as they became accustomed to the late morning sun.

"Call me Arabella, Ms. Figg is so formal"

"Ok, Arabella" replied Harry "What's the plan for the day?"

"Well firstly you need to eat, it's a bit late for Breakfast so we'll have an early lunch. Then I think we should start your training maybe a blocking spell or two" Arabella replied as she folded the paper and walked over to the fridge.

A few minutes later they were both tucking into several thick sandwiches, which reminded Harry of a door, stop but tasted a lot better than anything he was given at the Dursley's. After they had both finished and washed the sandwiches down with a glass of ice cold pumpkin juice Arabella flicked her wand and the table was clear "I've always hated washing up." Arabella said with a smile. "Lets go outside, and start. I have put up a barrier around the garden so nobody can see or hear what is going on."

"Ok the first spell we shall try is a powerful blocking spell especially useful in a wizards duel, it will block pretty much all known spells." said Arabella removing her wand from inside her robes she said "Protecto" and waved her wand immediately a shimmering pale opaque blue barrier appeared between Harry and Arabella. "Try and hit me with a stunning spell" Arabella said to Harry.

Harry flicked his wand and said "Stupefy" a green beam shot from the end of Harry's wand and was absorbed by Arabella's protection spell.

"Ok" said Arabella flicking her wand and at once the shimmering blue barrier vanished as quickly as it had appeared, "your turn."

Harry waved his wand and shouted "Protecto" and an identical barrier appeared in front of Harry.

"Concentrate on keeping it there while I fire spells at your barrier and try to break it" said Arabella

Harry said "Ok" with a rather shaky voice thinking that the first one would break the barrier and hit him.

"Stupefy" shouted Arabella and the spell was absorbed into the barrier. She continued to throw spells and hex's at him and after a minute or two the barrier started to give way.

"Concentrate shouted Arabella" As another stunning spell was about to hit the barrier it would have gone threw a hole that had appeared but Harry concentrated hard and the barrier began to increase in strength again easily repelling the spell.

"Well done I am surprised that you managed to repair your barrier, I've never seen anybody so young do that, it's quite amazing." Carrying on Arabella said "Anyway lets try something else then, let me have a think" said Arabella with an expression that showed she was thinking at great length.

"Ok I've go it. This will show me what you already know so I can see what to teach you. Lets have a duel"

Harry was feeling confident after the protection spell and nodded his head. " I've had a couple of duel before at school but don't be to hard on me" Said Harry with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"You've had a few duel's, Dubmbledore told me you have duelled Voldemort, it should be easy for you" replied Arabella with a mischievous glint in her eye. "Take you position." Harry got into position and thought of a spell to start with. "Ready" shouted Arabella "Go"

With the lightning fast reflexes Harry had acquired due to him being the Griffindor seeker he jumped out the way of a stunning spell Arabella had fired at him. She moved surprisingly quickly for her age Harry thought. Before his feet both touched the ground he shouted "Reducio" the spell hit Arabella and she started to shrink but quickly said the counter spell and returned to her normal size. Harry couldn't stop laughing as she had shrunk to about 4ft tall and reminded him of professor Flitwick.

This was a mistake, Arabella tried to use his laughter to her advantage and shot a freezing spell at Harry. But he was to fast for her and used the protection spell she had taught him earlier and immediately after shouted "Expelliarmus" catching Arabella off guard who was still trying to work out how Harry had produced his shield so fast. Her wand flew into the air as she flew backwards Harry ran forward and caught her wand. He had won.

Harry went over and helped her get up "Well done, you got that shield up fast I was quite shocked. That's the first rule of duelling, don't let you emotions be used against you anyway, I think that's enough for today, I'm not as young as I used to be."

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Authors Note:

Sorry It's been a few days since last update had my birthday and was away from a compute.

Cheers for all the reviews they give me confidence to continue

Maybe a few days until next update but I have exams coming up but will try to update asap