AN: All right: since my reviewers wanted this chapter-here it is early.
Longest chapter so far. Enjoy! :)
A week had passed since the incident with Rich, and Harry was about ready to kill the man for showing up at Hogwarts. All of the professors had found out that he was the head Auror for the ALA (not that all believed him, mind you). They were all constantly asking questions, and it was really starting to drain on Harry's patience. However, by some miraculous event, the students had not discovered Harry's secret. He was extremely thankful for that because he was still teaching classes with Hermione. Toombs, of course, was still hovering over his lessons, trying to discredit Harry whenever possible. He was thankful that it was the end of the week, which meant no more classes until Monday. Of course, he still had to get through a sixth year class of Slytherins and Gryffindors, whose animosity seemed to have reached an all time high.
Hermione had taken this class the past three times, so she thought it only fair that Harry took a turn. She informed him, while grinning, that she'd be in the back if he needed any help keeping them in line. Somehow the grin did nothing to alleviate his worries about the class.
He walked into the classroom to find most of the class waiting for him. They were not waiting quietly though. From what he could gather, a Gryffindor boy had insulted a Slytherin boy and the Slytherin had tried to hex the Gryffindor, though the hex strayed from its original target and hit a different Gryffindor. It had caused an out break of curses, hexes, and spells to fly through the air. Harry cleared his throat loudly, and the whole class had stopped abruptly. Well, all but two boys stopped their fighting. The two boys, however, had given up on hexing each other and were going at each other with their fists. One boy had a bloody nose while the other had a bad black eye forming already.
"Get to your seats immediately." The two boys jumped at his voice. "The classroom is no place for fighting. Mr. Dyre, Mr. Caddle, you will see the nurse after class. You boys are lucky that the lesson today happens to be about healing. In your seats, boys," Harry said. "Oh, and twenty points from Gryffindor and Slytherin for misconduct in a classroom," he added, as a side thought. They weren't the first points he'd had to take from this class.
"All right, like I said before, we will be focusing on healing magic for the next week. These different spells could one day save your life. We will be focusing on only three spells-a small drop in the lake, let me assure you. For those who find this to their liking, Madame Pomfry is always looking for an assistant, and I'm sure she'd be more that happy to teach you a couple things."
The lesson started out very smooth. No fights had broken out, no one had been cursed or hexed. With any other class, Harry would have been pleased with the progress made by the class. However, with this particular class, he was very suspicious. Why were they so cooperative all of the sudden? He thought back to previous classes, but he couldn't remember a single class that had been going as well as this one had-not even the first lesson when the students were too awed by the famous Harry Potter to fight with each other.
Their school rivalry had reached an all time high. The only thing Harry could compare it to was his own rivalry with Malfoy years before, and, going back further, his dad and Snape's rivalry. The natural balance of the school was always threatened by the fighting houses, but maybe the fighting between Gryffindor and Slytherin was what kept the balance in Hogwarts. Harry supposed that fighting with the Slytherins was as natural as eating and breathing to the students in Gryffindor. It had certainly seemed that way when he was in school.
Then it had seemed normal to argue. Now it was just bloody irritating. Continuous fighting seemed a part of life for these kids, even in their classes. The hexing and cursing had gotten so bad one transfiguration class that Minerva was forced to end class early to send numerous students to Madame Pomfry. Harry hadn't noticed the fighting when he had first arrived, but now he wondered how he could have missed it.
This, of course, was the reason Harry was nervous. He had no idea why his students were actually behaving themselves. Casting suspicious glances around his room, he watched as the students tried to perform the second healing spell he'd taught them. It was one of the more simple healing spells, used to stop a wound from bleeding. Harry allowed the class to cast the spell on their (very willing) classmates who had been roughed up in the earlier scuffle. Surprisingly enough, most of his class had grasped the concept by the end of class. He allowed them to talk freely among themselves for the last couple minutes.
After waiting about two minutes in silence, the class started whispering ferociously. The quiet whispers soon turned into louder whispers. Some students began to talk at a normal volume, but their tone of voice was anything but normal. Angry overtones could definitely be detected, and the class seemed to be arguing about something. Even though Harry had a bad headache, he was more than relieved to find his class acting normal again- not that he was happy about them arguing, he wasn't-but honestly, he could handle the arguing. He had no idea how to handle the cooperative silence that had been going on before.
"Care to explain why you have so much faith in your 'hero', Bertram?" a boy (that reminded Harry of Malfoy) said to another boy.
"I don't have to explain that he's the best wizard in this school-its just given. Of course, I could ask you the same about that slime ball that calls himself our potions instructor. He's nothing but a slimy grease ball. Don't know why you think he's great. He was a Slytherin, after all," the boy shot back.
"Well, I think Professor Granger top them both, any day. Everyone knows that she's the smartest witch to ever graduate from Hogwarts. Better grades than both Malfoy and-" The girl was cut off by the end of class. Harry shooed his class out of the classroom, looking over at Hermione. She had been sitting at his desk for nearly the entire lesson, but she seemed to be less unnerved by the class's unusual behavior than Harry was.
"Well, I'd say they're finally learning to stand one another, don't you think?" she asked, joking.
"I think you're too optimistic," he said in a serious voice. "Let's head to lunch, I'm starving."
****
Hermione, like Harry, had noticed the silence of the class. She had interpreted the silence differently than Harry though. The kids seemed too angry beyond words to trade insults with one another-thus the reason for their silence. Harry was just a little-dense-at times. He hadn't recognized the tension that had occupied the whole class. They needed to do something about the students before the rift between the two houses became permanent.
Once they reached the Great Hall, Harry took a seat beside Ron, who was busy shoveling food in his mouth as fast as humanly possible. He tried to stop to say hello, but he ended up choking on whatever disgusting thing he had shoved in his mouth seconds before. Hacking and coughing, Ron settled for a small wave before taking a drink of pumpkin juice and starting in again.
"You think he would learn," Harry said, laughing at Ron, "that the human body can only swallow half a sandwich at a time."
"Humph," Hermione grunted, "doesn't matter what age they get-the male gender will always inhale food faster than they can shovel it in."
"Yeah, but it improves with age-more can go in when you're twenty five compared to when you're fifteen," Harry said, grinning.
"Perhaps it's the company you keep, Granger, and not the entire population the male gender that you find disgusting," a voice drawled. Harry rolled his eyes. He knew that voice all too well. It was Malfoy. "Of course, one would expect no more from you, given your descent."
"At leas' 'uh company she keeps knows 'ow 'oo shower e'ery once 'n a while, Mal'oy," Ron said, managing to spray both Hermione and Malfoy with the food still in his mouth. Ron swallowed and continued. "Unlike Snape, who doesn't seem to know what soap is, we bathe every day."
"Somehow your words loose their effect when they're sprayed with lamb and potatoes, Weasly," Malfoy said, disgusted as he wiped the food off his face. Ron's ears turned red, but any comeback was interrupted by Hermione.
"Honestly, you two are acting like we're in school again-('technically, we are' Ron mumbled)-how do you expect the children to ever cooperate together if their professors are setting a bad example? It's important that we all work together now, especially now, and it's not helping the situation any that you two can't hold a decent conversation with out arguing," she said, scolding the two men like they were children.
Hermione was frustrated. No one understood that they needed to stick together. Voldemort had gathered a lot of strength over the years, and yet everyone didn't seem to care. They went on, arguing, splitting the gap even further than it had been.
"Hermione, they're not hexing each other. These arguments are the only way Ron and Malfoy know how to hold a conversation with each other. Relax, it's not that big of a deal," Harry said.
"Harry, that's just the type of attitude that's going to kill us! When it comes down to it, do you think Ron's willing to trust Malfoy with his life? With other people's lives? How are they going to fight together if they can't manage to hold a decent conversation together?"
Hermione's ranting was cut off by a voice she'd come to hate.
"How did classes go today, Professor Potter? Hope you managed without me," Toombs said in a drawling voice she seemed to have acquired from Malfoy, a fake smile on her face. "I made sure the lesson was one of the easier ones today-but I was still worried."
Hermione rolled her eyes and Ron was about to tell the woman where she could go, but Harry stepped in first.
"Oh, we managed fine, didn't we Hermione?" he said, with a cheeky grin on his face. Hermione nodded slowly, not understanding the reason behind the grin.
"Of course, we didn't do the lesson you planned-I had other things on my agenda. We just couldn't squeeze in-" he cleared his throat and rolled his eyes, "-'the proper techniques and rules of dueling'. I've always found those rules to be an absolute waste of time."
Toombs lost her fake grin that had been plastered on her face. "Potter, I've designed those lesson plans for over five years now. A lower professor like yourself has no right to go and change them. They include everything that is vital and important to-"
"-absolutely nothing, Toombs," Harry interrupted. "Those rules of dueling will get you killed with a real Death Eater. They don't wait for you to bow, politely shake hands, and then duel. They aren't going to respect your wishes for a fare fight. They're going to kill you. Please excuse me if I think silly rules a waste of my time," he said, very sarcastically.
"And you consider yourself an expert dueler, do you? I don't think schoolboy fights count as duels, Potter," Toombs said mockingly.
Harry glared at her, but she continued on before he could retort.
"Why don't you show us all your brilliant dueling skills, Potter? Tomorrow would be a perfect opportunity for you to show us all your," here she rolled her eyes, "remarkable dueling skills you claim to have, and it will also provide my classes with the proper lesson they need in dueling."
Harry looked taken aback by the sudden direction the conversation took, but he quickly regained his composure and said, "Of course, I'd be delighted to help out. Anything for the students. Unfortunately, I won't be here tomorrow. I think I informed you about two weeks ago that I'd be gone this weekend, didn't I?"
Toombs' eyes narrowed. By the glare in her eyes, Harry guessed she had forgotten.
"Well then, we'll schedule it for Monday." She then lowered her voice, so that only Harry could hear her. "And on Monday, the whole school will know just what a fake you are, Potter. Enjoy your last peaceful weekend," she hissed, her voice dripping with venom. She abruptly turned and walked away.
~~~~****~~~~
Ron had heard all of the conversation between Harry and the vile Toombs. His eyes narrowed in anger as he thought of all the times Harry had been pushed around by some ungrateful person like Toombs. Ron didn't know why that woman got under his skin. The only thing she'd done to Ron was to insult his sister numerous times. He didn't know why it bothered him so. The only logical explanation for why he was so angry was that he was mad on Harry's behalf. Ron wondered why Harry didn't just pull out his wand and blast the woman into tiny pieces. He knew Harry could do it, because he'd seen Harry blow away Death Eaters like they were nothing. He knew Harry wasn't a violent person by nature, and that was probably why Toombs was still in one piece. Ron knew that if he were Harry, he'd make it so Toombs wouldn't show her face anywhere again.
Of course, that was the difference between him and Harry. He tended to do things on impulse, acting first, thinking later. It was a Gryffindor habit- it was what they were famous for. Harry would usually think before acting, though Ron knew that Harry acted on impulse when dueling Death Eaters.
After dinner was over, Hermione came up to him and quietly told he and Harry to meet her in her rooms. Ten minutes later, he was sitting comfortably on one of her couches, wondering what she wanted. Harry sat across from Ron, ready to fall asleep.
"'Mione, what is this about? I want to get some sleep in before I go and visit Sirius this weekend." Sirius had left about a month ago on business, and Harry wanted to see his godfather. He had some things to discuss with him.
"This is about that horrid woman Toombs. She's trying to humiliate you, Harry, and she's not going to stop until she does. This duel is just a way to prove you're not as powerful as you say you are, don't you see?"
"What's your point, Hermione? Harry knows all of this," Ron said, impatiently.
"Ron, my point is this: why should we let her dictate the duel? Why don't we take it into our own hands?"
Harry glanced at her suspiciously. "What do you mean, Hermione?"
"Well, you can obviously beat Maggie, you and I both know that. There wouldn't be any point for you to just beat her senseless. However...Toombs thinks there is to be a second duel between myself and Ron, right?"
Ron nodded, remembering Toombs' awful screeching earlier. (He believed it was, 'And after Maggie beats Potter, you two can show the children what a real duel is like', or something of that nature).
"Yeah, so?" Ron said.
"Well, what if we incorporate a team duel into our second duel? Include some of the other professors, to show the students what teamwork can accomplish," she said. Harry chuckled.
"Plus, it will exterminate any lingering doubts about us, am I right, Mione?" he said slyly. She turned red but refused to admit he was right.
After about a minute of thinking, Harry sighed. "All right, do what you want. I'm going to get some sleep."
He got up and started to walk out of the room.
"Hey Harry?" Hermione called.
"Yeah?" he said, turning around.
"Bring Sirius back with you," she said. "I'm sure he'll want to see this."
Harry frowned. "He was planning to come back anyways, for business reasons," he said. "Why would he care about a duel?"
Hermione shrugged. "No reason, I just thought he'd want to see you in action."
As soon as Harry left, Ron turned to Hermione. "All right, what did you leave out?" he asked, suspicious of her.
"Well, the teams for the second duel will include some people that might change the way everyone looks at Harry. If we can beat them, maybe the people will start to leave Harry alone about the whole 'head Auror' thing. He's getting sick of it, in case you haven't noticed."
"Well, yeah, but....all right, who did you have in mind?"
"Just some people that I need you to contact," she said. "Most of them are already here at Hogwarts."
```~~~```
Harry found Sirius still sleeping when he arrived Saturday morning. He grinned mischievously as he pulled out his wand and shot a stream of cold water onto the sleeping Sirius. Sirius yelped, shooting straight out of bed. When he saw Harry, he glared at his godson.
"You could have just woken me up the normal way, you know," he said, grumpily.
Harry grinned. "I know, but that is so much more fun."
The rest of the day wasn't spent smiling, though. After Sirius had changed, they both headed straight for his office.
"So, what do you need to know?"
"I need to find out if there is any way that a list could be made of all the Aurors for one branch of the Ministry. Someone made a list of everyone who works under me, and somehow Death Eaters got a hold of it. The Aurors on that list are in serious danger, as are their families. My boss thinks that I was lazy and left the list lying around-truth is, Sirius, that I never made a list. The person who reported it missing was his assistant, but that lazy excuse for a man has no idea who is working for me. I want to know if there was any way he could track people in and out of my office, and keep a list with out my knowledge."
Harry had come to Sirius because Sirius had acquired many books on magical tracking over the years. The man had almost become obsessed with tracking Wormtail a couple years back, and it was all Harry could do to keep him from going crazy with the search. However, in the process of tracking Wormtail, his godfather had become an expert at tracking people.
"Let me see, Harry, come help me look in here." Sirius's office was a little less than what one would call 'tidy', so it took Harry hours before he found the right information. Once he did, he paled. If the information he'd found was right, his Aurors were in a lot of danger. He'd have to contact his boss immediately.
~~~~****~~~~
Harry was sitting in the Great Hall on Monday morning with a grim expression on his face. Rich was being a stubborn ass and refused to believe that his assistant that he'd had for fifteen years was betraying him. Needless to say, Harry was not happy at being called a liar, and he had flown off the handle at his boss. Now he was stuck trying to find a way to alert his Aurors and let them know about the situation. Toombs stood up after breakfast on Monday and made an announcement to the whole Great Hall.
"Students and staff, today your Defense classes will be held all at once right in here. Now, with the permission of Headmistress McGonagall, there are going to be two demonstration duels. Now even though they are demonstration, they are full power, no rules what so ever. Only the killing and the cruciatus curses are not allowed, though one may use the Imperious curse. Our two demonstration groups consist of your defense professors, your charms mistress, and an Auror." She was about to say more, but Hermione cut her off. Time to play by their rules.
"As Sarah was saying, we will be demonstrating to you the real aspects of a duel. There will be a protective shield up to block any curses from hitting you, but I would suggest that you back up. Harry if you would clear a space please?" she asked, and then continued while Harry shrunk the tables and sent them to the back.
"Now, like Sarah said, there will be two duels. One, between Harry and Professor Sage, is a single duel involving two wizards/ witches. The second will be a team duel, a duel that is between more than two people. The people must use teamwork effectively for everyone to remain safe and alive," she said, apparently oblivious to the shocked looks she received from the other staff members. They hadn't known about that part of the plan. Inside Hermione was grinning. The extra people they'd asked to come, such as Sirius and Charlie, would soon find out they were to be more than just observers.
"First, would Harry and Maggie please step into the center of the room please? Students, please take your seats back here please."
Harry stepped into the center along with Maggie. She was giving him sympathetic glances. He rolled his eyes. The girl thought very highly of herself. He went up to her before they started.
"I was just wondering if wandless magic was allowed?" Maggie nodded, confused. She obviously thought Dumbledore was the only wizard besides Voldemort that could do wandless magic.
"Duelers, take your positions," Hermione said. Harry and Maggie faced each other, and then they started.
Maggie started with an easy disarming charm to warm up, one that Harry easily blocked and dissipated. He didn't send any charms back at her, just waited for her to make the next move. She sent a stunner towards him, one he blocked with a shield and reflected back towards her. He didn't actually cast any charms himself. Maggie threw a hex at him, one that rendered the victim blind. This hex was also reflected back to the owner. Maggie tried several different hexes, only to dodge them as they came back towards her.
Meanwhile, Hermione was explaining different strategies ('this strategy is effective on opponents who are very impatient. One dueler simply waits for the other to grow irritated and careless. This strategy is risky because you never know how much time you're going to get.)
This happened for a while, Maggie would send curses towards him and he would simple block them. He didn't return a single curse.
````****````
Maggie was annoyed. He thought he could just sit back and relax? Didn't he know who he was up against? And if he was really head Auror for the ALA, like she'd been hearing the past couple weeks, shouldn't he have incinerated her by now? He was waiting for her to make the next move, like he had all the time in the world. On his face was the smallest of grins. Maggie's eyes narrowed. He was too smug, smiling like he'd already won. Well, she'd wipe that smile off his face. She wanted to catch him off guard. Time to step it up notch.
"Flitura!" she said. It was the only shield-breaking curse, determined to break all shields for at least ten seconds. His shield dropped, but he didn't seem fazed. She growled and immediately sent another curse towards him.
"Melotitandra!" That was a common curse that would send the opponent flying on their back, and usually knocked them unconscious. Harry quickly dodged it, still not sending back a curse. Maggie grew very irritated. Why didn't he just do something?
"Imperio!" she said, putting her full power behind it.
````****````
Harry felt the warm sensation flush over him, and it was quite powerful, but not nearly as powerful as Voldemort's had been. He quickly threw it of, and faced his opponent, still grinning, though it wasn't a nice grin. Maggie looked quite surprised that he'd been able to throw off the curse, but she hid her surprise it behind a hex, one that rendered the victim blind and deaf for a matter of minutes. He sent his shield up again, and he rebounded the curse back to her. She quickly set up her own shield, and managed to block it.
Harry had yet to send his own hex out, and he could tell Maggie was growing frustrated.
"Dammit Potter, is this a real duel or not?" she hissed. "Too scared to try anything?"
She sent another curse towards him, this time it would paralyze the person waste down. Sort of like the leg-locker curse, but the victim couldn't hop. Harry sent that back at her with his shield. He narrowed his eyebrows at her words. That woman deserved a taste of her own medicine. She was a powerful witch, he would admit that much, but he'd show Toombs that her prized 'Maggie' couldn't beat him.
The next hex she sent he returned swiftly, and then immediately followed it with three of his own spells (wandlessly, mind you), right in a row. Maggie had expected him to return her curse with his shield, but she had not been expecting those three spells.
The first broke her shield, the second disarmed her, and the third sent her unconscious. She was very surprised. Harry looked over at Toombs, who appeared shocked the duel was over so quickly. The crowd, on the other hand, was confused. Harry was supposed to be powerful. Why hadn't he used more complex spells than just a simple 'Expelleriamus' and 'Stupify'? Was it possible that he wasn't as powerful as everyone said he was? They, of course, hadn't noticed that the last three spells had been without a wand.
This was the reaction Toombs was hoping to get, thought Maggie, when Harry revived her. And this was the reaction she was afraid of. Even if she had lost, he'd only beat her with first year spells. It was very humiliating, though, to be beaten with such horribly easy spells.
Harry just smiled, and turned to look at Hermione, who was hiding a grin. Ron looked over at Harry as well with a grin on his face as well.
"Nice try Maggie, you kept me on my feet," he said graciously, shaking her hand. She nodded gruffly back at him, though inside she was still confused. Just how had he beaten her with such a simple spell, anyways?
Hermione walked to the center where they were standing. "Any questions before we move onto the next duel?" she asked, knowing there was one question that no one was brave enough to ask.
Well, no one stupid enough but a boy that reminded Hermione of Malfoy.
"I have a question, Professor Granger," he said, disrespect in his voice. "If Potter claims to be so powerful, how come he used measly first year spells? Why didn't he knock her flat? Is it possible that the 'boy-who- lived' isn't as powerful as he would like us to think? "
Harry had a short answer for him. "It was not necessary to use powerful spells. I used what spells were effective." This was not the answer people were looking for, so he elaborated.
"If you can beat your opponent with a 'Stupify', why waste your energy on a 'molterista'? Just because you have the ability to perform complex spells does not mean you need to use them. However, I see your point. I certainly would not have that much time on a battle field, so then it would be required that I use a more offensive spell rather than the shielding spell."
Toombs was scowling. He hadn't proven anything, just skated around the issue. So far, she was right. She hadn't seen any proof of actual power, just some quick wand work on his part.
"Well, to make up for a lack of excitement, let's see this team duel Professor Granger has mentioned," Toombs said, her voice sarcastic. It's biting tone had no effect on Hermione, who kept her small smile on her face.
"If you insist, Sarah," she said, using the witch's first name. "All right. We've already decided the teams, if it's all right with you. If I call your name and you are willing to participate, please come into the center. Sirius Black, Minerva McGonagall, Maggie Sage, Arthur Weasly, Charlie Weasly." she went on to name twenty different people, all of whom were considered to be the top wizards and witches of the light side. "...Draco Malfoy, Molly Weasly, and Severus Snape. If you would all please step into the center of the room, you will all be the first team. You may use any curse, hex, or spell that you so desire, save the Cruciatus curse and the killing curse. Now for the second team."
She cleared her throat and paused. Harry was scowling a bit because she hadn't discussed this part of the plan with him, but he was having a hard time staying mad at her. After all, what better way to get Toombs to shut up than to defeat some of the great wizards and witches of the time? 'We'll have to be bloody awesome today' he thought. 'This is going to be one of the hardest duels yet.'
Ron was holding in laughter. He couldn't wait to see everyone's reactions. Now was their chance to prove themselves.
The rest of the room was buzzing with whispers. Who was left to fight these great wizards and witches? There was hardly anyone left. They all waited in silence for Hermione to announce the second team.
"The second team will include Ronald Weasly, Harry Potter, and myself." The room waited for her to continue, then broke out into laughter as soon as they realized that she was done. Hermione held up her hand for silence.
"I don't see what's so funny. I didn't say the teams had to be even," she said with an indignant look on her face.
Ron couldn't help but add, "Yeah, if you want us to give you guys Hermione, I'm sure she wouldn't mind." Hermione sent a glare his way. Harry just sighed but allowed a small grin. This was going to be a long day.
"Sarah, I'm appointing you in charge. Everything goes, and the duel is over when no one on the team is able to compete any further," Hermione said. "Students, I request that you move back as far as you can to give us plenty of room."
They moved their chairs back, and some stood, waiting to see this obviously unfair match. Twenty-three against three? There was no way the trio could pull this off. However, some of the students realized that members of the first team were looking a bit nervous, well, those who had seen the trio in action their seventh year.
Sarah stood up from her chair, sure that it was going to be a short duel, and said, "Begin the duel!"
`~`~`~`
Immediately Ron threw up a shield while Harry and Hermione sent out stunning spells. They hit their targets, and Molly Weasly and Renee Galder fell down, unconscious. The shield Ron kept up deflected the simultaneous 'Stupifys' that were thrown the trio's way. They moved into a triangle position, their backs facing each other as the other team surrounded them. Harry added some power to the shield to help Ron out, and at the same time he cast the disorientation spell on Sirius. Sirius quickly put his shied up while Minerva tried to stun Harry. The shield, however, with the combined powers of Ron and Harry, was too strong to allow any curses to get by.
Hermione was sending multiple spells towards Arthur and Charlie Weasly. Arthur became temporarily blind, but he had enough sense to throw up a shield. Charlie, on the other hand, lost all feeling in his legs and sank helplessly to the ground, where Hermione quickly stunned him.
Ron was keeping the shield up, and every once in a while would try and reflect a curse back towards the sender. He surprised Maggie like that, and she quickly circle around towards Hermione.
Harry was amazing when he got going. He was using his wandless magic to freeze, paralyze, stun or disarm his opponents, which confused them because they hadn't heard a spell cast. You didn't need to say any words for wandless magic, and just the tiniest flick of the hand would do the trick. One by one, he took out different people. Fred Weasly, George Weasly, Belle Matte, Thomas Malone, all out with different hexes. Draco Malfoy, down with a case of boils and 'stupified'. He had tried to surprise Harry with the Bat Bogie Hex, and Harry barely managed to dodge it while sending multiple curses Malfoy's way. In the mean time, he had to keep an eye on Snape, who was trying (but not succeeding, to his dismay) to break the shield surrounding the trio.
After about ten minutes of dueling, there were seven people left. Snape was limping due to a weak paralysis spell, but the other six were doing fine.
Harry said, without looking at his friends, "All right guys, on three we split." They had been staying close together and moving as one unit. "One...two...three!" Ron quickly broke the shield he had been casting constantly, and the trio scattered in opposite directions.
Harry dodged two curses thrown at him by Sirius, and a third by Minerva. He sent a hex towards his old professor that he found rather ironic. It transfigured her arms into wings, and she dropped her wand, unable to hold it with no hands. He quickly stunned her and just barely missed a stunning spell sent towards him by Snape.
While Harry was occupied with Sirius and Snape, Ron was busy with his father and brother (Bill, not Charlie). He was able to knock his brother unconscious with the flipendo spell that sent him flying backwards, but he wasn't quick enough to block his father's disorientation spell. Ron saw his vision blurring and when he tried to raise his right arm with his wand, he found himself shaking his right foot in the air.
"Harry, shield, quick!" he managed to get out. Harry turned quickly and sent a special shield charm towards Ron, one that would stay with him for a minute. He shouldn't have turned his back on Snape, however, because he sent the freezing charm towards Harry. Harry felt himself freeze on the spot, and he couldn't move.
It was lucky for Harry that he could do wandless magic. He managed to barely move his finger, enough to undue the spell and drop to the floor to dodge the stunner Snape had sent his way.
Hermione was busy with Maggie and Vinnie at the same time. Vinnie was the care of magical creatures assistant, and her real name was Maria. No one asked why she wanted to be called Vinnie.
They had teamed up on her and would alternate sending hexes towards her. Hermione had her shield charm working, and she was sending out spells faster they could retaliate. Jelly-legs, leg locker, the fire charm, which cause the receiver's mind to believe their clothes were on fire, distracting them from battle-you name it Hermione sent it. In less than a minute she had worn Vinnie out and stunned her, leaving Hermione with Maggie.
Ron had managed to figure out how to counter the curse, all the while grateful for the shield Harry had set up. He was left to face his father, a match that proved to be more than interesting.
Harry was still battling Sirius and Snape at the same time. They seemed content to work together just for now, and they were starting to annoy Harry. He wished he could just reveal their secret weapon, but Hermione had said, no, they had to wait. That meant Harry had to take them out the normal way. He let his mind go blank, making sure his shield was still in tact, and concentrated hard on releasing some power in the form of a stunning spell. He concentrated on Snape and Sirius, and let a little bit go. They were instantly stunned, his spell breaking through both their shields. The students were awed, but it was nothing compared to the adults who were watching the duel. They knew how much power it took to do something like that.
Harry had done it before. In fact, he had used his method of wiping out Death Eaters effectively these past weeks. That's how he had freed so many Aurors on his nightly outings.
Hermione had managed to break Maggie's shield, and the stronger witch had no problem stunning Maggie. Hermione had worn her out, but she didn't look very tired herself.
Ron, on the other hand, was still battling it out with his father. Harry and Hermione let him finish what he had started, ready to help him if needed. However, that wasn't the case. Ron had tricked his father with a simple fogging spell. When Arthur couldn't see anything, Ron stunned him. He grinned over at his friends, his relief evident that they had not stepped in to help him. That would have been humiliating.
The three friends were too involved with each other to notice the stunned students. The trio also missed the first clap, and the second. Pretty soon everyone in the Great Hall was applauding them. Ron blushed with a huge grin on his face, Hermione was slightly blushing but had the same grin on her face. Only Harry was void of a grin, as if he was glad the headache was over. He'd had fun, but they didn't need to applaud them for that little duel- that was just a friendly match.
Harry looked over at Toombs and was pleased to see that she was stunned. She obviously hadn't seen the trio in action before, as most of the new professors hadn't, and she certainly hadn't known that Harry was that powerful, or even Ron and Hermione for that matter.
Harry raised his hands for silence, and the Great Hall immediately quieted.
"As you saw, that was a group duel. It is important to rely on your team mates as well as yourself if you want to survive a duel like that. Now, this was just a friendly duel, remember. In a real situation things will be a lot tenser and hectic. Always come prepared."
The three went about reviving the other team. When they were all back to normal (well, mostly back to normal) some had grins on their face, others were stunned (as in surprised). Sirius came up to Harry and shook his hand.
"Glad to know you've still got it," he said, grinning. Harry just smiled back.
"You guys were tough- and I never thought I'd see the day when I saw you and Snape working together," he said. Sirius rolled his eyes.
"I never thought I would get my ass kicked by my godson half my age, but I guess everything's possible," he said, his eyes mischievous.
Harry laughed, but stopped in the middle of laughing and winced in agony, his hand flying to his forehead.
A week had passed since the incident with Rich, and Harry was about ready to kill the man for showing up at Hogwarts. All of the professors had found out that he was the head Auror for the ALA (not that all believed him, mind you). They were all constantly asking questions, and it was really starting to drain on Harry's patience. However, by some miraculous event, the students had not discovered Harry's secret. He was extremely thankful for that because he was still teaching classes with Hermione. Toombs, of course, was still hovering over his lessons, trying to discredit Harry whenever possible. He was thankful that it was the end of the week, which meant no more classes until Monday. Of course, he still had to get through a sixth year class of Slytherins and Gryffindors, whose animosity seemed to have reached an all time high.
Hermione had taken this class the past three times, so she thought it only fair that Harry took a turn. She informed him, while grinning, that she'd be in the back if he needed any help keeping them in line. Somehow the grin did nothing to alleviate his worries about the class.
He walked into the classroom to find most of the class waiting for him. They were not waiting quietly though. From what he could gather, a Gryffindor boy had insulted a Slytherin boy and the Slytherin had tried to hex the Gryffindor, though the hex strayed from its original target and hit a different Gryffindor. It had caused an out break of curses, hexes, and spells to fly through the air. Harry cleared his throat loudly, and the whole class had stopped abruptly. Well, all but two boys stopped their fighting. The two boys, however, had given up on hexing each other and were going at each other with their fists. One boy had a bloody nose while the other had a bad black eye forming already.
"Get to your seats immediately." The two boys jumped at his voice. "The classroom is no place for fighting. Mr. Dyre, Mr. Caddle, you will see the nurse after class. You boys are lucky that the lesson today happens to be about healing. In your seats, boys," Harry said. "Oh, and twenty points from Gryffindor and Slytherin for misconduct in a classroom," he added, as a side thought. They weren't the first points he'd had to take from this class.
"All right, like I said before, we will be focusing on healing magic for the next week. These different spells could one day save your life. We will be focusing on only three spells-a small drop in the lake, let me assure you. For those who find this to their liking, Madame Pomfry is always looking for an assistant, and I'm sure she'd be more that happy to teach you a couple things."
The lesson started out very smooth. No fights had broken out, no one had been cursed or hexed. With any other class, Harry would have been pleased with the progress made by the class. However, with this particular class, he was very suspicious. Why were they so cooperative all of the sudden? He thought back to previous classes, but he couldn't remember a single class that had been going as well as this one had-not even the first lesson when the students were too awed by the famous Harry Potter to fight with each other.
Their school rivalry had reached an all time high. The only thing Harry could compare it to was his own rivalry with Malfoy years before, and, going back further, his dad and Snape's rivalry. The natural balance of the school was always threatened by the fighting houses, but maybe the fighting between Gryffindor and Slytherin was what kept the balance in Hogwarts. Harry supposed that fighting with the Slytherins was as natural as eating and breathing to the students in Gryffindor. It had certainly seemed that way when he was in school.
Then it had seemed normal to argue. Now it was just bloody irritating. Continuous fighting seemed a part of life for these kids, even in their classes. The hexing and cursing had gotten so bad one transfiguration class that Minerva was forced to end class early to send numerous students to Madame Pomfry. Harry hadn't noticed the fighting when he had first arrived, but now he wondered how he could have missed it.
This, of course, was the reason Harry was nervous. He had no idea why his students were actually behaving themselves. Casting suspicious glances around his room, he watched as the students tried to perform the second healing spell he'd taught them. It was one of the more simple healing spells, used to stop a wound from bleeding. Harry allowed the class to cast the spell on their (very willing) classmates who had been roughed up in the earlier scuffle. Surprisingly enough, most of his class had grasped the concept by the end of class. He allowed them to talk freely among themselves for the last couple minutes.
After waiting about two minutes in silence, the class started whispering ferociously. The quiet whispers soon turned into louder whispers. Some students began to talk at a normal volume, but their tone of voice was anything but normal. Angry overtones could definitely be detected, and the class seemed to be arguing about something. Even though Harry had a bad headache, he was more than relieved to find his class acting normal again- not that he was happy about them arguing, he wasn't-but honestly, he could handle the arguing. He had no idea how to handle the cooperative silence that had been going on before.
"Care to explain why you have so much faith in your 'hero', Bertram?" a boy (that reminded Harry of Malfoy) said to another boy.
"I don't have to explain that he's the best wizard in this school-its just given. Of course, I could ask you the same about that slime ball that calls himself our potions instructor. He's nothing but a slimy grease ball. Don't know why you think he's great. He was a Slytherin, after all," the boy shot back.
"Well, I think Professor Granger top them both, any day. Everyone knows that she's the smartest witch to ever graduate from Hogwarts. Better grades than both Malfoy and-" The girl was cut off by the end of class. Harry shooed his class out of the classroom, looking over at Hermione. She had been sitting at his desk for nearly the entire lesson, but she seemed to be less unnerved by the class's unusual behavior than Harry was.
"Well, I'd say they're finally learning to stand one another, don't you think?" she asked, joking.
"I think you're too optimistic," he said in a serious voice. "Let's head to lunch, I'm starving."
****
Hermione, like Harry, had noticed the silence of the class. She had interpreted the silence differently than Harry though. The kids seemed too angry beyond words to trade insults with one another-thus the reason for their silence. Harry was just a little-dense-at times. He hadn't recognized the tension that had occupied the whole class. They needed to do something about the students before the rift between the two houses became permanent.
Once they reached the Great Hall, Harry took a seat beside Ron, who was busy shoveling food in his mouth as fast as humanly possible. He tried to stop to say hello, but he ended up choking on whatever disgusting thing he had shoved in his mouth seconds before. Hacking and coughing, Ron settled for a small wave before taking a drink of pumpkin juice and starting in again.
"You think he would learn," Harry said, laughing at Ron, "that the human body can only swallow half a sandwich at a time."
"Humph," Hermione grunted, "doesn't matter what age they get-the male gender will always inhale food faster than they can shovel it in."
"Yeah, but it improves with age-more can go in when you're twenty five compared to when you're fifteen," Harry said, grinning.
"Perhaps it's the company you keep, Granger, and not the entire population the male gender that you find disgusting," a voice drawled. Harry rolled his eyes. He knew that voice all too well. It was Malfoy. "Of course, one would expect no more from you, given your descent."
"At leas' 'uh company she keeps knows 'ow 'oo shower e'ery once 'n a while, Mal'oy," Ron said, managing to spray both Hermione and Malfoy with the food still in his mouth. Ron swallowed and continued. "Unlike Snape, who doesn't seem to know what soap is, we bathe every day."
"Somehow your words loose their effect when they're sprayed with lamb and potatoes, Weasly," Malfoy said, disgusted as he wiped the food off his face. Ron's ears turned red, but any comeback was interrupted by Hermione.
"Honestly, you two are acting like we're in school again-('technically, we are' Ron mumbled)-how do you expect the children to ever cooperate together if their professors are setting a bad example? It's important that we all work together now, especially now, and it's not helping the situation any that you two can't hold a decent conversation with out arguing," she said, scolding the two men like they were children.
Hermione was frustrated. No one understood that they needed to stick together. Voldemort had gathered a lot of strength over the years, and yet everyone didn't seem to care. They went on, arguing, splitting the gap even further than it had been.
"Hermione, they're not hexing each other. These arguments are the only way Ron and Malfoy know how to hold a conversation with each other. Relax, it's not that big of a deal," Harry said.
"Harry, that's just the type of attitude that's going to kill us! When it comes down to it, do you think Ron's willing to trust Malfoy with his life? With other people's lives? How are they going to fight together if they can't manage to hold a decent conversation together?"
Hermione's ranting was cut off by a voice she'd come to hate.
"How did classes go today, Professor Potter? Hope you managed without me," Toombs said in a drawling voice she seemed to have acquired from Malfoy, a fake smile on her face. "I made sure the lesson was one of the easier ones today-but I was still worried."
Hermione rolled her eyes and Ron was about to tell the woman where she could go, but Harry stepped in first.
"Oh, we managed fine, didn't we Hermione?" he said, with a cheeky grin on his face. Hermione nodded slowly, not understanding the reason behind the grin.
"Of course, we didn't do the lesson you planned-I had other things on my agenda. We just couldn't squeeze in-" he cleared his throat and rolled his eyes, "-'the proper techniques and rules of dueling'. I've always found those rules to be an absolute waste of time."
Toombs lost her fake grin that had been plastered on her face. "Potter, I've designed those lesson plans for over five years now. A lower professor like yourself has no right to go and change them. They include everything that is vital and important to-"
"-absolutely nothing, Toombs," Harry interrupted. "Those rules of dueling will get you killed with a real Death Eater. They don't wait for you to bow, politely shake hands, and then duel. They aren't going to respect your wishes for a fare fight. They're going to kill you. Please excuse me if I think silly rules a waste of my time," he said, very sarcastically.
"And you consider yourself an expert dueler, do you? I don't think schoolboy fights count as duels, Potter," Toombs said mockingly.
Harry glared at her, but she continued on before he could retort.
"Why don't you show us all your brilliant dueling skills, Potter? Tomorrow would be a perfect opportunity for you to show us all your," here she rolled her eyes, "remarkable dueling skills you claim to have, and it will also provide my classes with the proper lesson they need in dueling."
Harry looked taken aback by the sudden direction the conversation took, but he quickly regained his composure and said, "Of course, I'd be delighted to help out. Anything for the students. Unfortunately, I won't be here tomorrow. I think I informed you about two weeks ago that I'd be gone this weekend, didn't I?"
Toombs' eyes narrowed. By the glare in her eyes, Harry guessed she had forgotten.
"Well then, we'll schedule it for Monday." She then lowered her voice, so that only Harry could hear her. "And on Monday, the whole school will know just what a fake you are, Potter. Enjoy your last peaceful weekend," she hissed, her voice dripping with venom. She abruptly turned and walked away.
~~~~****~~~~
Ron had heard all of the conversation between Harry and the vile Toombs. His eyes narrowed in anger as he thought of all the times Harry had been pushed around by some ungrateful person like Toombs. Ron didn't know why that woman got under his skin. The only thing she'd done to Ron was to insult his sister numerous times. He didn't know why it bothered him so. The only logical explanation for why he was so angry was that he was mad on Harry's behalf. Ron wondered why Harry didn't just pull out his wand and blast the woman into tiny pieces. He knew Harry could do it, because he'd seen Harry blow away Death Eaters like they were nothing. He knew Harry wasn't a violent person by nature, and that was probably why Toombs was still in one piece. Ron knew that if he were Harry, he'd make it so Toombs wouldn't show her face anywhere again.
Of course, that was the difference between him and Harry. He tended to do things on impulse, acting first, thinking later. It was a Gryffindor habit- it was what they were famous for. Harry would usually think before acting, though Ron knew that Harry acted on impulse when dueling Death Eaters.
After dinner was over, Hermione came up to him and quietly told he and Harry to meet her in her rooms. Ten minutes later, he was sitting comfortably on one of her couches, wondering what she wanted. Harry sat across from Ron, ready to fall asleep.
"'Mione, what is this about? I want to get some sleep in before I go and visit Sirius this weekend." Sirius had left about a month ago on business, and Harry wanted to see his godfather. He had some things to discuss with him.
"This is about that horrid woman Toombs. She's trying to humiliate you, Harry, and she's not going to stop until she does. This duel is just a way to prove you're not as powerful as you say you are, don't you see?"
"What's your point, Hermione? Harry knows all of this," Ron said, impatiently.
"Ron, my point is this: why should we let her dictate the duel? Why don't we take it into our own hands?"
Harry glanced at her suspiciously. "What do you mean, Hermione?"
"Well, you can obviously beat Maggie, you and I both know that. There wouldn't be any point for you to just beat her senseless. However...Toombs thinks there is to be a second duel between myself and Ron, right?"
Ron nodded, remembering Toombs' awful screeching earlier. (He believed it was, 'And after Maggie beats Potter, you two can show the children what a real duel is like', or something of that nature).
"Yeah, so?" Ron said.
"Well, what if we incorporate a team duel into our second duel? Include some of the other professors, to show the students what teamwork can accomplish," she said. Harry chuckled.
"Plus, it will exterminate any lingering doubts about us, am I right, Mione?" he said slyly. She turned red but refused to admit he was right.
After about a minute of thinking, Harry sighed. "All right, do what you want. I'm going to get some sleep."
He got up and started to walk out of the room.
"Hey Harry?" Hermione called.
"Yeah?" he said, turning around.
"Bring Sirius back with you," she said. "I'm sure he'll want to see this."
Harry frowned. "He was planning to come back anyways, for business reasons," he said. "Why would he care about a duel?"
Hermione shrugged. "No reason, I just thought he'd want to see you in action."
As soon as Harry left, Ron turned to Hermione. "All right, what did you leave out?" he asked, suspicious of her.
"Well, the teams for the second duel will include some people that might change the way everyone looks at Harry. If we can beat them, maybe the people will start to leave Harry alone about the whole 'head Auror' thing. He's getting sick of it, in case you haven't noticed."
"Well, yeah, but....all right, who did you have in mind?"
"Just some people that I need you to contact," she said. "Most of them are already here at Hogwarts."
```~~~```
Harry found Sirius still sleeping when he arrived Saturday morning. He grinned mischievously as he pulled out his wand and shot a stream of cold water onto the sleeping Sirius. Sirius yelped, shooting straight out of bed. When he saw Harry, he glared at his godson.
"You could have just woken me up the normal way, you know," he said, grumpily.
Harry grinned. "I know, but that is so much more fun."
The rest of the day wasn't spent smiling, though. After Sirius had changed, they both headed straight for his office.
"So, what do you need to know?"
"I need to find out if there is any way that a list could be made of all the Aurors for one branch of the Ministry. Someone made a list of everyone who works under me, and somehow Death Eaters got a hold of it. The Aurors on that list are in serious danger, as are their families. My boss thinks that I was lazy and left the list lying around-truth is, Sirius, that I never made a list. The person who reported it missing was his assistant, but that lazy excuse for a man has no idea who is working for me. I want to know if there was any way he could track people in and out of my office, and keep a list with out my knowledge."
Harry had come to Sirius because Sirius had acquired many books on magical tracking over the years. The man had almost become obsessed with tracking Wormtail a couple years back, and it was all Harry could do to keep him from going crazy with the search. However, in the process of tracking Wormtail, his godfather had become an expert at tracking people.
"Let me see, Harry, come help me look in here." Sirius's office was a little less than what one would call 'tidy', so it took Harry hours before he found the right information. Once he did, he paled. If the information he'd found was right, his Aurors were in a lot of danger. He'd have to contact his boss immediately.
~~~~****~~~~
Harry was sitting in the Great Hall on Monday morning with a grim expression on his face. Rich was being a stubborn ass and refused to believe that his assistant that he'd had for fifteen years was betraying him. Needless to say, Harry was not happy at being called a liar, and he had flown off the handle at his boss. Now he was stuck trying to find a way to alert his Aurors and let them know about the situation. Toombs stood up after breakfast on Monday and made an announcement to the whole Great Hall.
"Students and staff, today your Defense classes will be held all at once right in here. Now, with the permission of Headmistress McGonagall, there are going to be two demonstration duels. Now even though they are demonstration, they are full power, no rules what so ever. Only the killing and the cruciatus curses are not allowed, though one may use the Imperious curse. Our two demonstration groups consist of your defense professors, your charms mistress, and an Auror." She was about to say more, but Hermione cut her off. Time to play by their rules.
"As Sarah was saying, we will be demonstrating to you the real aspects of a duel. There will be a protective shield up to block any curses from hitting you, but I would suggest that you back up. Harry if you would clear a space please?" she asked, and then continued while Harry shrunk the tables and sent them to the back.
"Now, like Sarah said, there will be two duels. One, between Harry and Professor Sage, is a single duel involving two wizards/ witches. The second will be a team duel, a duel that is between more than two people. The people must use teamwork effectively for everyone to remain safe and alive," she said, apparently oblivious to the shocked looks she received from the other staff members. They hadn't known about that part of the plan. Inside Hermione was grinning. The extra people they'd asked to come, such as Sirius and Charlie, would soon find out they were to be more than just observers.
"First, would Harry and Maggie please step into the center of the room please? Students, please take your seats back here please."
Harry stepped into the center along with Maggie. She was giving him sympathetic glances. He rolled his eyes. The girl thought very highly of herself. He went up to her before they started.
"I was just wondering if wandless magic was allowed?" Maggie nodded, confused. She obviously thought Dumbledore was the only wizard besides Voldemort that could do wandless magic.
"Duelers, take your positions," Hermione said. Harry and Maggie faced each other, and then they started.
Maggie started with an easy disarming charm to warm up, one that Harry easily blocked and dissipated. He didn't send any charms back at her, just waited for her to make the next move. She sent a stunner towards him, one he blocked with a shield and reflected back towards her. He didn't actually cast any charms himself. Maggie threw a hex at him, one that rendered the victim blind. This hex was also reflected back to the owner. Maggie tried several different hexes, only to dodge them as they came back towards her.
Meanwhile, Hermione was explaining different strategies ('this strategy is effective on opponents who are very impatient. One dueler simply waits for the other to grow irritated and careless. This strategy is risky because you never know how much time you're going to get.)
This happened for a while, Maggie would send curses towards him and he would simple block them. He didn't return a single curse.
````****````
Maggie was annoyed. He thought he could just sit back and relax? Didn't he know who he was up against? And if he was really head Auror for the ALA, like she'd been hearing the past couple weeks, shouldn't he have incinerated her by now? He was waiting for her to make the next move, like he had all the time in the world. On his face was the smallest of grins. Maggie's eyes narrowed. He was too smug, smiling like he'd already won. Well, she'd wipe that smile off his face. She wanted to catch him off guard. Time to step it up notch.
"Flitura!" she said. It was the only shield-breaking curse, determined to break all shields for at least ten seconds. His shield dropped, but he didn't seem fazed. She growled and immediately sent another curse towards him.
"Melotitandra!" That was a common curse that would send the opponent flying on their back, and usually knocked them unconscious. Harry quickly dodged it, still not sending back a curse. Maggie grew very irritated. Why didn't he just do something?
"Imperio!" she said, putting her full power behind it.
````****````
Harry felt the warm sensation flush over him, and it was quite powerful, but not nearly as powerful as Voldemort's had been. He quickly threw it of, and faced his opponent, still grinning, though it wasn't a nice grin. Maggie looked quite surprised that he'd been able to throw off the curse, but she hid her surprise it behind a hex, one that rendered the victim blind and deaf for a matter of minutes. He sent his shield up again, and he rebounded the curse back to her. She quickly set up her own shield, and managed to block it.
Harry had yet to send his own hex out, and he could tell Maggie was growing frustrated.
"Dammit Potter, is this a real duel or not?" she hissed. "Too scared to try anything?"
She sent another curse towards him, this time it would paralyze the person waste down. Sort of like the leg-locker curse, but the victim couldn't hop. Harry sent that back at her with his shield. He narrowed his eyebrows at her words. That woman deserved a taste of her own medicine. She was a powerful witch, he would admit that much, but he'd show Toombs that her prized 'Maggie' couldn't beat him.
The next hex she sent he returned swiftly, and then immediately followed it with three of his own spells (wandlessly, mind you), right in a row. Maggie had expected him to return her curse with his shield, but she had not been expecting those three spells.
The first broke her shield, the second disarmed her, and the third sent her unconscious. She was very surprised. Harry looked over at Toombs, who appeared shocked the duel was over so quickly. The crowd, on the other hand, was confused. Harry was supposed to be powerful. Why hadn't he used more complex spells than just a simple 'Expelleriamus' and 'Stupify'? Was it possible that he wasn't as powerful as everyone said he was? They, of course, hadn't noticed that the last three spells had been without a wand.
This was the reaction Toombs was hoping to get, thought Maggie, when Harry revived her. And this was the reaction she was afraid of. Even if she had lost, he'd only beat her with first year spells. It was very humiliating, though, to be beaten with such horribly easy spells.
Harry just smiled, and turned to look at Hermione, who was hiding a grin. Ron looked over at Harry as well with a grin on his face as well.
"Nice try Maggie, you kept me on my feet," he said graciously, shaking her hand. She nodded gruffly back at him, though inside she was still confused. Just how had he beaten her with such a simple spell, anyways?
Hermione walked to the center where they were standing. "Any questions before we move onto the next duel?" she asked, knowing there was one question that no one was brave enough to ask.
Well, no one stupid enough but a boy that reminded Hermione of Malfoy.
"I have a question, Professor Granger," he said, disrespect in his voice. "If Potter claims to be so powerful, how come he used measly first year spells? Why didn't he knock her flat? Is it possible that the 'boy-who- lived' isn't as powerful as he would like us to think? "
Harry had a short answer for him. "It was not necessary to use powerful spells. I used what spells were effective." This was not the answer people were looking for, so he elaborated.
"If you can beat your opponent with a 'Stupify', why waste your energy on a 'molterista'? Just because you have the ability to perform complex spells does not mean you need to use them. However, I see your point. I certainly would not have that much time on a battle field, so then it would be required that I use a more offensive spell rather than the shielding spell."
Toombs was scowling. He hadn't proven anything, just skated around the issue. So far, she was right. She hadn't seen any proof of actual power, just some quick wand work on his part.
"Well, to make up for a lack of excitement, let's see this team duel Professor Granger has mentioned," Toombs said, her voice sarcastic. It's biting tone had no effect on Hermione, who kept her small smile on her face.
"If you insist, Sarah," she said, using the witch's first name. "All right. We've already decided the teams, if it's all right with you. If I call your name and you are willing to participate, please come into the center. Sirius Black, Minerva McGonagall, Maggie Sage, Arthur Weasly, Charlie Weasly." she went on to name twenty different people, all of whom were considered to be the top wizards and witches of the light side. "...Draco Malfoy, Molly Weasly, and Severus Snape. If you would all please step into the center of the room, you will all be the first team. You may use any curse, hex, or spell that you so desire, save the Cruciatus curse and the killing curse. Now for the second team."
She cleared her throat and paused. Harry was scowling a bit because she hadn't discussed this part of the plan with him, but he was having a hard time staying mad at her. After all, what better way to get Toombs to shut up than to defeat some of the great wizards and witches of the time? 'We'll have to be bloody awesome today' he thought. 'This is going to be one of the hardest duels yet.'
Ron was holding in laughter. He couldn't wait to see everyone's reactions. Now was their chance to prove themselves.
The rest of the room was buzzing with whispers. Who was left to fight these great wizards and witches? There was hardly anyone left. They all waited in silence for Hermione to announce the second team.
"The second team will include Ronald Weasly, Harry Potter, and myself." The room waited for her to continue, then broke out into laughter as soon as they realized that she was done. Hermione held up her hand for silence.
"I don't see what's so funny. I didn't say the teams had to be even," she said with an indignant look on her face.
Ron couldn't help but add, "Yeah, if you want us to give you guys Hermione, I'm sure she wouldn't mind." Hermione sent a glare his way. Harry just sighed but allowed a small grin. This was going to be a long day.
"Sarah, I'm appointing you in charge. Everything goes, and the duel is over when no one on the team is able to compete any further," Hermione said. "Students, I request that you move back as far as you can to give us plenty of room."
They moved their chairs back, and some stood, waiting to see this obviously unfair match. Twenty-three against three? There was no way the trio could pull this off. However, some of the students realized that members of the first team were looking a bit nervous, well, those who had seen the trio in action their seventh year.
Sarah stood up from her chair, sure that it was going to be a short duel, and said, "Begin the duel!"
`~`~`~`
Immediately Ron threw up a shield while Harry and Hermione sent out stunning spells. They hit their targets, and Molly Weasly and Renee Galder fell down, unconscious. The shield Ron kept up deflected the simultaneous 'Stupifys' that were thrown the trio's way. They moved into a triangle position, their backs facing each other as the other team surrounded them. Harry added some power to the shield to help Ron out, and at the same time he cast the disorientation spell on Sirius. Sirius quickly put his shied up while Minerva tried to stun Harry. The shield, however, with the combined powers of Ron and Harry, was too strong to allow any curses to get by.
Hermione was sending multiple spells towards Arthur and Charlie Weasly. Arthur became temporarily blind, but he had enough sense to throw up a shield. Charlie, on the other hand, lost all feeling in his legs and sank helplessly to the ground, where Hermione quickly stunned him.
Ron was keeping the shield up, and every once in a while would try and reflect a curse back towards the sender. He surprised Maggie like that, and she quickly circle around towards Hermione.
Harry was amazing when he got going. He was using his wandless magic to freeze, paralyze, stun or disarm his opponents, which confused them because they hadn't heard a spell cast. You didn't need to say any words for wandless magic, and just the tiniest flick of the hand would do the trick. One by one, he took out different people. Fred Weasly, George Weasly, Belle Matte, Thomas Malone, all out with different hexes. Draco Malfoy, down with a case of boils and 'stupified'. He had tried to surprise Harry with the Bat Bogie Hex, and Harry barely managed to dodge it while sending multiple curses Malfoy's way. In the mean time, he had to keep an eye on Snape, who was trying (but not succeeding, to his dismay) to break the shield surrounding the trio.
After about ten minutes of dueling, there were seven people left. Snape was limping due to a weak paralysis spell, but the other six were doing fine.
Harry said, without looking at his friends, "All right guys, on three we split." They had been staying close together and moving as one unit. "One...two...three!" Ron quickly broke the shield he had been casting constantly, and the trio scattered in opposite directions.
Harry dodged two curses thrown at him by Sirius, and a third by Minerva. He sent a hex towards his old professor that he found rather ironic. It transfigured her arms into wings, and she dropped her wand, unable to hold it with no hands. He quickly stunned her and just barely missed a stunning spell sent towards him by Snape.
While Harry was occupied with Sirius and Snape, Ron was busy with his father and brother (Bill, not Charlie). He was able to knock his brother unconscious with the flipendo spell that sent him flying backwards, but he wasn't quick enough to block his father's disorientation spell. Ron saw his vision blurring and when he tried to raise his right arm with his wand, he found himself shaking his right foot in the air.
"Harry, shield, quick!" he managed to get out. Harry turned quickly and sent a special shield charm towards Ron, one that would stay with him for a minute. He shouldn't have turned his back on Snape, however, because he sent the freezing charm towards Harry. Harry felt himself freeze on the spot, and he couldn't move.
It was lucky for Harry that he could do wandless magic. He managed to barely move his finger, enough to undue the spell and drop to the floor to dodge the stunner Snape had sent his way.
Hermione was busy with Maggie and Vinnie at the same time. Vinnie was the care of magical creatures assistant, and her real name was Maria. No one asked why she wanted to be called Vinnie.
They had teamed up on her and would alternate sending hexes towards her. Hermione had her shield charm working, and she was sending out spells faster they could retaliate. Jelly-legs, leg locker, the fire charm, which cause the receiver's mind to believe their clothes were on fire, distracting them from battle-you name it Hermione sent it. In less than a minute she had worn Vinnie out and stunned her, leaving Hermione with Maggie.
Ron had managed to figure out how to counter the curse, all the while grateful for the shield Harry had set up. He was left to face his father, a match that proved to be more than interesting.
Harry was still battling Sirius and Snape at the same time. They seemed content to work together just for now, and they were starting to annoy Harry. He wished he could just reveal their secret weapon, but Hermione had said, no, they had to wait. That meant Harry had to take them out the normal way. He let his mind go blank, making sure his shield was still in tact, and concentrated hard on releasing some power in the form of a stunning spell. He concentrated on Snape and Sirius, and let a little bit go. They were instantly stunned, his spell breaking through both their shields. The students were awed, but it was nothing compared to the adults who were watching the duel. They knew how much power it took to do something like that.
Harry had done it before. In fact, he had used his method of wiping out Death Eaters effectively these past weeks. That's how he had freed so many Aurors on his nightly outings.
Hermione had managed to break Maggie's shield, and the stronger witch had no problem stunning Maggie. Hermione had worn her out, but she didn't look very tired herself.
Ron, on the other hand, was still battling it out with his father. Harry and Hermione let him finish what he had started, ready to help him if needed. However, that wasn't the case. Ron had tricked his father with a simple fogging spell. When Arthur couldn't see anything, Ron stunned him. He grinned over at his friends, his relief evident that they had not stepped in to help him. That would have been humiliating.
The three friends were too involved with each other to notice the stunned students. The trio also missed the first clap, and the second. Pretty soon everyone in the Great Hall was applauding them. Ron blushed with a huge grin on his face, Hermione was slightly blushing but had the same grin on her face. Only Harry was void of a grin, as if he was glad the headache was over. He'd had fun, but they didn't need to applaud them for that little duel- that was just a friendly match.
Harry looked over at Toombs and was pleased to see that she was stunned. She obviously hadn't seen the trio in action before, as most of the new professors hadn't, and she certainly hadn't known that Harry was that powerful, or even Ron and Hermione for that matter.
Harry raised his hands for silence, and the Great Hall immediately quieted.
"As you saw, that was a group duel. It is important to rely on your team mates as well as yourself if you want to survive a duel like that. Now, this was just a friendly duel, remember. In a real situation things will be a lot tenser and hectic. Always come prepared."
The three went about reviving the other team. When they were all back to normal (well, mostly back to normal) some had grins on their face, others were stunned (as in surprised). Sirius came up to Harry and shook his hand.
"Glad to know you've still got it," he said, grinning. Harry just smiled back.
"You guys were tough- and I never thought I'd see the day when I saw you and Snape working together," he said. Sirius rolled his eyes.
"I never thought I would get my ass kicked by my godson half my age, but I guess everything's possible," he said, his eyes mischievous.
Harry laughed, but stopped in the middle of laughing and winced in agony, his hand flying to his forehead.