By the time he was done telling it, Ron and Hermione both carried an expression of awe on there face. They stayed in that position until Ron, being the prat that he was, asked Harry for a demonstration. Harry sighed, already sick of being in the spot light once again. But Harry had other ideas.

"Actually, I think that I'm gonna wait till dinner. That way I don't have to demonstrate twice, 'cuz I know the others'll want to know too. It's a win-win situation, you see. And since dinners only in fifteen minutes, I figure you can wait." Ron and Hermione nodded, seeming satisfied. Harry contently sighed at the sign of no argument.

"Good."

As promised, Harry stood up half-way through dinner. He didn't want the attention, but he didn't lie, and he also had a proposition.

"Excuse me, could I have your attention please? Thank you. Now, I see you have all noticed that I have changed physically, and Headmaster I have no doubt you can see my change magically. I also know that you wish to know how I changed so much in so little time. Well I'll tell you.

You all know that I stayed at the Dursley's for the better part of this summer, but what you didn't know, was that after a month and a half of staying there, I began to get bored. So I wrote a letter to the minister, practically black-mailing him into letting me use magic. That worked, and then I snuck off to Diagon Alley, for training supplies. I spent over 20,000 galleons, ¾ of it on brooms for the quidditch teams, and the other 4 or 5 thousand on supplies. I have a combat station in my new trunk, a bigger version of Moody's. I bought nine new books for training, and sense then have become a weapon in myself. I know martial arts, how the Dark Lord thinks and fights, ¾ of every curse, dark or not, existing, and am strong enough to kick through stone. Oh and I also am about strong enough to take on Dumbledore, though I plan to test that theory out very soon." He stopped, letting his every word sink in. the only person who wasn't gaping in awe, was Snape. Harry knew he was going to comment, and was already prepared for what he knew he was going to say.

"Potter, I highly doubt every word that just came out of your mouth. But if you truly are as strong as you say you are, why not prove it?" He waved his wand after his last comment, and a think stone, about 3 feet thick, appeared on the wall.

Harry smirked, and raised the ceiling, so as not to hit his head. "Gladly." And with that, he jumped up, pulling his leg back, and then throwing it out in front of him, letting it descend into the stone, sufficiently breaking it thoroughly. Snape's eyes bulged out of his head, and before he could say anything else, Albus spoke.

"Very good Harry, I can indeed see your changes. But I do wonder, what did you mean when saying, 'I plan to test that theory soon'? Referring to you saying that you were almost as strong as I?"

Harry grinned, and then in answer, swished his wand. The table moved out of the way. He swished it again, and the room lengthened. He waved it one more time, and a long narrow dueling platform appeared.

"This is what I meant." By now most of the Order and children had recovered, and were looking at him as if he were crazy. Harry chuckled, and continued.

"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, I, Harold James Potter, do here by challenge you to a duel of honor."

To Harry's delight, Dumbledore for once, looked surprised. But Harry knew that to decline, especially for a wizard as honorable and old as Dumbledore, would be as if being weak, and Dumbledore was everything but weak. But suddenly, Harry was surprised somehow, as something changed inside the Professors eyes. The twinkle dulled out, and was replaced by something much more frightening: Power. Power so great that Harry was almost petrified, but he kept his proud stance, grinning it all away.

Little did he know that that same substance now rested within his eyes, and Dumbledore also was thinking the same thing.

"I, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, do here by accept your challenge, and ask your terms or duel?" Harry wasn't surprised, as he had read this would happen, and already knew what terms he wanted.

"I, Harold James Potter, name thy terms: No Bullshit; No aura hiding; no backing down; no going easy; every spell except the Unforgivables." Dumbledore, still staring in Harry's eyes, finished the quoting.

"I, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, do here by accept the terms. And I name Alastor Moody as the official referee. Let the duel begin."

Mad-Eye stood up, still looking surprised, and walked up to the middle of the platform. Harry and Albus bowed, turned, and walked 10 paces back. Taking a position, Dumbledore with his hand out in front pointed at Harry, with h is wand arm extended out to the side. Harry, who was going to choose this position decided on his next best one. He kept his index finger pointed at the tip of his opponent's wand, and his wand tip right at his ear level. This was a very effective defensive position, as Harry had a little trick up his sleeve.

He signaled for Albus to start, and braced himself.

Albus made the first move, with a simple-

"Expelliarmus!" The problem was that it wasn't simple at all. The orange spell came out as usual, except for the size; it took up the entire platforms width: about 5 feet.

But Harry had expected this, as these were how his were when full power was applied. Jumping up, thankful for his training, he leapt about 15 feet into the air, effectively dodging the monstrous curse. Doing a flip/ twist, he came around to face the older man, and shouted-

"Impediamenta!" He only applied ¾ of total power however, as he was saving up for what he knew would be the end of the match, either way. Surprisingly, the spell came out the same size, if not bigger, than Dumbledore's disarming curse.

It seemed however, that Albus was in better condition than he thought. He tuck and rolled forward, showing agility that made even the best of shape Auror, such as Kingsley, jealous. The aged wizard came to his feet just as Harry landed, and both shouted the same curse:

"Stupefy!" At full power, and the red curse came jetting out of both wands. Harry jumped high into the air, avoiding the nasty collision between the atrocious curses, while Dumbledore surprised everyone, by jumping back all the way to the beginning of the platform. They met, and took the same stances, there eyes still showing no emotion.

Hermione watched as the duel between the obvious superpowers took place. It seemed as if Harry matched the Headmaster's every move, and countered it with something better, bringing the ferocity of the battle up every time an incantation was spoke, or a spell was cast.

The duel had been going on about 15 minutes now, and spell incantations had stopped being shouted or spoken about 4 or 5 minutes into the battle, after they had both barely avoided the giant collision between each other's stunners.

She had never seen anything like it, and never thought she would. Such power was emanated and such furious attempts were being made for almost no reason, or so she thought.

Ron looked on as the battle between the powerful wizards raged on, even still becoming fiercer each curse being exchanged. They had passed Ron's knowledge long ago, both performing like he had never known. He had known Dumbledore was powerful, but Harry? He had always thought that he and Harry sat in the same grace at everything except DADA. Everyone knew he was the absolute best of the students at that, but no one had any idea that he could take on Dumbledore.

Once again a feeling that Ron was all to familiar with boiled to the surface.

Jealousy

He had always been jealous of Harry and his unwanted fame. Though he kept it down because he knew that he and Harry were best mates and Harry didn't like it, want it, or flaunt it like Malfoy did. But he still couldn't help himself. He soon carried an angry expression as he watched the clash, still awing at his friends and Headmaster's capabilities.

Severus Snape was rarely surprised, but now was definitely one of the few moments. There was only one word that described his emotion now: Flabbergasted. He had known that the Headmaster was powerful, as he had seen him in combat, but Potter giving the most powerful wizard of the age a run for his money, that didn't sound right at all. And now Potter looked like a true hero, muscles and strategy, backed by enormous amounts of power, but he never had a single idea!

He was powerful, he would give himself that, but nobody could rival this show of sheer power. The spells still came as powerful, and not one had hit another. And the worst part was that they showed no sign of slowing down. He didn't think it possible to continue at this rate for 20 minutes!

Harry was getting worn down, he just didn't show it. He knew it was true for his adversary too. But they had too much pride and determination to let it known that they were weakening. It was then that Harry decided to do it. If he didn't do it soon he wouldn't have enough energy or power, and this move was going to end the duel, either for good or worse, and they had equal chances in this situation.

With a flick of his wand, the ceiling heightened even more, though nobody noticed it rise to about 40 feet.
He squatted down, meant to get enough leg strength to jump the entire 40 feet, but luckily dodged a particularly nasty curse as well. Leaping the entire 40 feet, he laid his body vertically, pointed towards Dumbledore. Taking up his starting position, wand treated as if a sword, he pulled back, and shot downwards. This was his specialty, and no one but him knew how to or could do it.

Dumbledore too, it seemed, had sensed this was the end, and put a foot backwards as if to brace him for his attack to come. It just so happened that he needed it too, because the assault that came out of the tip of his wand seemed to contain every ounce of power and energy he had, and he stumbled backwards, having trouble keeping up with his own curse. Harry saw the spell coming at him, alarming speed and all. It looked as if it would swallow him, but that's when Harry made his move.

When it was about ½ a foot from his face, he pulled his arm back as far as he could, and then with every last bit of energy he had left, thrust it forward, fast a blur.

The spell somehow, burst, sending bits of purple spell everywhere. Out of the bright light, came Harry. Still hurtling towards earth, wand out in front of him, gripping it with both hands, he used every last bit of power he had, and let forth a massive stunner. He could see Professor Dumbledore's eyes as his spell blasted onwards toward him. The one thing Harry had always wondered if he would see in the sparkling blue eyes was now there: Surprise.