Harry Potter, Heir of Gryffindor
Demonstration Duels
After stretching and warming up for twenty minutes Harry, Neville, Remus and Tonks ran twice around the perimeter of the castle grounds and then into the quidditch pitch where Alastor and Kingsley were waiting for them. After another half hour of gymnastics and tumbling it was six o'clock and they began their practice dueling. Remus, Tonks, Kingsley and Alastor retreated to one end of the pitch while Harry and Neville walked to the other. "Now remember," Moody said with the help of the Sonorus Charm, "disarm only and we only have an hour before you two have got to hit the showers and get ready for breakfast."
Harry grumbled and let Neville start the practice session with a stunner aimed at Kingsley which Harry quickly followed up with by casting three rapid-fire jinxes at Tonks and Remus. For the next thirty minutes Harry concentrated on Tonks and Remus while Neville focused his efforts on Kingsley and Alastor. They were so focused on both attacking and defending that they didn't even notice the small knot of professors that had gathered along the sidelines to watch.
The first break came when Harry took three really quick shots at Moody while Neville, on unspoken signal, disarmed Tonks with tickle and summoning charms. Even Moody was slightly flustered by this sudden change as he had been focusing on deflecting Neville's spells and didn't see Harry's coming until it was almost too late. He did, however, get his shields up in time.
What was disconcerting to the observers was that none of the combatants was saying anything loudly enough to be heard by anyone. They had to guess which spells were being cast by their energy signatures and effects.
As if by unspoken agreement the conjuring and transfiguration phases of the duel began at 6:35. By 6:40 the air was filled with flying objects and the ground was cluttered with a wide variety of objects that seemed to be moving of their own accord. The explosions of conjured and transfigured objects as they were hit by various spells were at times deafening, depending upon the size of the object being destroyed. It was, therefore, no wonder that several students saw Kingsley go down when a snowball suddenly appeared out of nowhere and hit him in the face with a resounding SPLAT! He was then quickly hit by a disarming spell and taken out of the competition. He was not angry about being disarmed. In fact, he was laughing as he picked himself up. "A snowball," he said while shaking his head. "This is a duel, not a snowball fight ..."
Ten minutes later, as a small number of students began making their way down to the quidditch pitch, Alastor went down when a conjured raven flew in from behind and unexpectedly snatched his wand from his grasp as he began casting a shielding charm to protect himself from one of Neville's most powerful stunners. The combined effect was that Alastor Moody was thrown fifty meters back, out of the quidditch pitch, while the raven flew over to deposit the retired auror's wand at Harry's feet. Madam Pomfrey quickly ran over to help him up. When he was awake and back on his feet he shook his head and growled, "Those two are almost too good. I sure didn't see that one coming."
At seven o'clock Tonks sent a shower of red sparks into the air signaling the end of their training session. As the last spells died away the teachers and the few students who had made it down to the quidditch pitch began applauding. Harry, Neville and Remus looked up, realizing for the first time that they had an audience, and blushed a light shade of pink.
Harry and Neville knelt down to pick up their opponents' wands as Remus came over to congratulate them. "I can see we're going to have to be on our toes tomorrow," he said. "That tickle charm was a stroke of genius, Neville. After everything you two had been throwing at us I think the sudden switch with the addition of that tickle charm was the last thing anyone expected. I would like to know who threw that snowball, though."
Harry smirked and snickered as he bowed his head, his eyes dancing with mischievous glee. Remus threw his head back and laughed. "Harry," he said, "you are a true Marauder! No one, and I do mean no one, in their right mind would ever think of throwing a snowball in a wizarding duel unless they were born to be a Marauder! And that attack on Alastor was brilliant!"
"I only hope he's all right," Neville said. "That was a pretty strong stunner I hit him with."
"I'm all right, laddy," the retired auror growled as he limped across the field towards the three survivors. "I must admit, though, that that stunner of yours has quite a kick to it."
Neville laughed nervously as Harry returned Alastor's wand to him. "Yeah, well, I never really knew how powerful it was until today because you guys have always been able to block it."
"Well now you know," Tonks said as she and Kingsley joined the group in the middle of the pitch. "I'm just glad this is disarm only. I would hate to go up against you two in an actual fight."
"Who threw the snowball?" Kingsley asked in mock anger.
Harry looked up and sheepishly raised his hand. "It worked didn't it?" he asked innocently.
Kingsley burst into a booming laughter. "Yes, Harry," he laughed. "It did at that. A snowball was the last thing I would have expected in a wizarding duel. I can see that tomorrow is going to be an interesting demonstration."
As they made their way up to the castle, walking slightly slower than usual so that Moody could keep up, Albus came over and said, "That was quite an impressive display you put on this morning. How long did it last?"
"From start to finish was one hour," Tonks said cheerfully. "These two are real fighters."
"Yes. I can see that. How much time would you like to allocate for you demonstration tomorrow afternoon?"
The four main Defense Against the Dark Arts professors turned to look at Harry and Neville who looked back and shrugged their shoulders. "It's up to you guys," Harry said. "What do you think?"
"I think," Alastor began, "that since we now know to expected the unexpected from you two that we should give ourselves two hours at a minimum."
Harry and Neville's eyes widened slightly at this news but said nothing.
"Very well," Albus said. "In that case I will give you a thirty minute rest break between duels, Harry."
Harry's mouth fell open but Dumbledore only chuckled. "I want you rested but not too rested for what we will be doing tomorrow afternoon."
Neville patted Harry on the shoulder and looked at him sympathetically. "I feel for you, Harry. I really do."
At breakfast Harry walked up to the Head Table and stopped in front of the Headmaster. When Albus looked up Harry handed him a small wooden box. "It's the crystal, sir," He said. "It has an hour's worth of last night's battle in it."
"Is it . . ." Albus started to ask but stopped when he saw the look in Harry's eyes.
When he returned to the Gryffindor Table and sat down between Neville and Ginny Ron looked up from across the table. "Is that what you guys do every morning?" he asked.
Harry and Neville looked up "Yeah, pretty much," they said in unison.
"It was a little louder this morning than usual but that's pretty much it," Neville added while Harry ordered his breakfast from Winky.
The talk around the castle that day was about the few minutes of mock duel a few of the students had seen that morning. It started out with a fairly accurate description of the last few minutes of the duel but by the end of the day it was blown so completely out of proportion that no one really knew what to believe. The six who actually knew what had happened as well as the rest of the professors remained silent, watching and listening as the story of a mock duel gradually transformed itself into an epic battle that had lasted for days on end and ended in a draw. It was quite humorous really and none of the six had the heart to set the record straight.
In their meeting that night the main topic of discussion was the situation in Romania and what, if anything should be done about it. According to Charlie's report, the attacks usually began shortly after sunset and ended shortly before sunrise each day. The dragon keepers and the aurors who had been sent in to help were holding their own but needed help if they were to get any rest. According to Charlie the attacks seemed to be aimed at disrupting the dragons' sleeping habits so that they would become uncontrollable.
It was finally decided, after a great deal of discussion and debate, that Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna, Ginny, Remus and Tonks would travel to the dragon preserve, via Fawkes, on the evening of Friday, September 27th, to help in the fight and teach the dragon keepers and the aurors about what had unofficially come to be known as The Potter Charm, and return on the evening of the 29th. It was also decided that Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Luna would begin training with Tonks on Monday morning; and since four of them were on the quidditch team and were fairly decent flyers it was further decided That Harry and Ginny and Ron and Neville would train as airborne teams. They wanted to have one experienced dueler in each team in case of trouble and even though Ron initially wanted to pair with Harry he quickly backed down when Ginny began glaring at him.
The final topics of discussion were the mock duels that would be taking place the following afternoon. Even though they tried to discourage him, Severus insisted upon being included in the first duel. His logic being that Harry and Neville already knew how the four Defense professors fought and that to make it a realistic demonstration, even though he did admit to being impressed by what he had seen that morning, an unknown element should be included in the mix. Severus won out in the end and it was agreed that Harry and Neville would face the five professors at 1:00 PM and that the duel would last for two hours unless one side was completely disarmed. The rules of engagement were reviewed to make sure everyone was on the same page and the meeting was adjourned.
Harry and Neville spent Saturday morning in the kitchen area of Harry's trunk discussing spells and strategy. They decided that since they had discussed Prank Warfare, but never used it, their upcoming duel with their professors would be an excellent opportunity to try their hand at it. They then discussed the various pranks they were going to use on which professors and when.
At 12:45 the seven combatants met in the center of the quidditch pitch and exchanged greetings, wishing each other a good duel. Harry noticed that Severus sneered menacingly at him as they parted and went to their respective ends but paid it no mind. That was how Severus was and they would just have to deal with him as well as their four regular opponents.
At five minutes to one the Headmaster stepped to the center of the pitch and addressed the assembled crowd. Casting the Sonorus Charm on himself he cleared his throat and the crowd fell silent. "Good afternoon," he began. "Even thought your attendance at this demonstration is mandatory I am pleased to see that you have all chosen to attend. In a few moments Professors Lupin, Moody, Shacklebolt, Snape and Tonks will be attempting to disarm Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom who have been training for the past few months due to their rather . . . unique predicaments. Many of you heard the explosions of yesterday morning's exercises and a few of you saw the last few minutes of what had been an hour-long duel. Today's first demonstration will last for two hours or until one team has been completely disarmed. I want you to pay close attention to what you will be seeing this afternoon because each and every one of you is going to be taught to defend yourselves. And while this particular situation - two against five - might seem a bit extreme, as much as it pains me to say this, you may find yourselves in similar situations in the not too distant future."
As he left the field he turned around and said, "At your leisure, gentlemen," before removing the charm from his voice.
The first spell that was cast was almost predictable. Snape cast a particularly powerful stunner at Harry who easily deflected it. From then on the air was alive with the exchange of magical forms of energy. Most of the curses, hexes, jinxes and charms were easily deflected by their intended recipients. But within the first five minutes Harry an Neville had slipped in enough, seemingly harmless, time released curses and charms to ensure their victory. While they were waiting for the spells to take effect, however, they put on a good show for their fellow students.
They ducked and weaved and spun and rolled, vaulting over each other to avoid being hit, all the wile sending a wide variety of spells at their opponents who were forced to use all of their physical abilities to avoid being hit as well. For not having trained as vigorously as the others Severus was actually doing pretty well. but both Harry and Neville could see that he was tiring quickly.
Twenty minutes into the duel Severus' robes seemingly transfigured themselves into Mrs. Longbottom's green dress. A large hat with a vulture perched on top appeared on his head and his wand was transfigured into a large, bright red purse. Then, before anyone realized what was happening, the Potions Master was surrounded by a think, almost impenetrable cloud of pink butterflies.
While Snape was swatting at the butterflies with his purse Harry let Neville do the honors of summoning his wand/purse since the transfigurations had been his idea. The transfigurations and butterflies only lasted a minute or two; but it was long enough to disarm their weakest opponent. Many of the students laughed at Snape's predicament, being reminded of the story of Neville's boggart experience in third year, but the remaining combatants didn't hear any of it. They were still focused on their duel and refused to let up. If anything, in fact, the dueling became more intense a few minutes later when the transfiguration phase of the demonstration began.
While Harry conjured a low hedge of roses as a momentary distraction Neville cast a charm and it began raining Rose pedals on their opponents. And while a flock of birds flew from Harry's wand, as a distraction, Neville conjured an oil slick around their opponents' feet. The whole process only took a few seconds but it was enough to cause Alastor to go down. As he fell back Harry summoned his wand and let it fall at his feet.
Half an hour later, after the appearance and subsequent disappearance of a variety of creatures and objects - including cats, dogs, horses, owls, hippogriffs, snakes, serpents, bludgers, snitches and pianos - Kingsley's robes suddenly turned a shocking shade of hot pink and began twisting quickly around his body, essentially imobilizing him. Moments later Harry hit him with a tickle charm and while he was struggling to regain his composure Neville did the honors of summoning his wand.
The battle raged for another forty-five minutes, with several near misses coming from both sides, before anything else happened. At one hour and fifty minutes Tonks suddenly found herself dressed in a pink tutu and wearing large wooden clogs while strutting around like a chicken. Remus looked mildly surprised at his partner's predicament but was too busy defending himself to do much about it. Once again, Neville did the honors of summoning their opponent's wand.
With five minutes to go Remus' robes were transfigured into a straight jacket. Harry summoned Remus' wand before it hit the ground and the stadium erupted into a collection of loud and boisterous cheers. Harry knelt down and picked up the two wands at his feet, while Neville collected the three at his, and walked over to stand in front of Remus who was struggling to free himself from the jacket. "Well, Professor," Harry asked as a mischievous smirk appeared on his face, "Did we pass the Prank Warfare Test?"
"Is that what you call this?" Remus almost screamed.
Harry smiled and nodded his head vigorously. "Mm Hmm. It was the only way we could think to insure our victory."
Remus growled. "Never prank a prankster, Harry. You will pay for this. Now get me out of this thing before I hex you!"
Harry looked at Remus' wand as he spun the werewolf's wand in his left hand. "I don't think so, Remus. Remember, I've got your wand."
Remus screamed. "ARGHH! Harry James Potter, you let me out of this jacket right now!"
Harry laughed but relented and undid the transfiguration.
"Just you wait, Harry," Remus growled. "I know where you live."
Chuckling, Harry said, "Ah, yes, Remus. But I have two house elves on my side and a record of all the pranks you pulled while you were at Hogwarts so I have a pretty good idea what to watch out for."
Remus snatched his wand from Harry's hand and stalked away grumbling, "Just you wait, Potter. Just you wait."
Half an hour later, after Moody had lectured the assembled students on some of the finer points of what they had just seen, Albus and Harry took the field and squared off at opposite ends of the field. They studied each other's eyes and faces for almost a full minute watching for some telltale sign that their opponent was about to act and make the first move. Harry could sense Dumbledore expanding his awareness to include the entire pitch so he did likewise. Then it happened. Albus' nose twitched ever so slightly and the fight was on.
As Albus cast the first spell, expecting Harry to roll to his wand side, Harry disappeared only to reappear directly behind the Headmaster. In response, Albus vanished and rematerialized at the opposite end of the pitch. The trading of places was so fast that those still in the stands, as the observation of this duel was purely optional, thought it was instantaneous.
As the curses and hexes began to fly and the two combatants moved around the field they were in as much danger of being hit by their own spells as they were their opponent's. The transfiguration phase of this duel began much sooner than it had in the previous demonstration and, again, the combatants had to be careful where they materialized.
When Albus conjured a dragon Harry countered with an enormous griffin. The two creatures fought it out above the ground, biting, slashing and clawing at each other, while the two most powerful wizards in the world battled it out on the ground. The carnage in the sky, however, was nothing compared to the mayhem on the ground.
Within the first hour the field was unrecognizable as anything other than the battlefield it had become. The bleachers were still standing but the ground was rent with trenches and craters where transfigured and conjured objects had been destroyed. After another half hour Harry could feel himself tiring but new he had to continue the battle until his mentor was satisfied with the progress he was making. So, drawing energy from the castle, he reenergized himself and continued to defend and attack as his latent abilities rose to the surface and became manifest in his destiny.
The two combatants were so intensely focused upon their battle that they didn't even notice when a cold wind started blowing out of the north and an icy rain began to fall. As the ground became an impossible quagmire of mud and muck the two wizards rose up and floated above the field, employing their Ethereal Abilities to suspend themselves and move around in the invisible ethosphere that surrounds every physical object and permeates the Universe while, at the same time, holding it together.
An hour later, after several Fire Whips had been exchanged and Harry's wandless abilities had been stretched to their current limits, Albus lowered his wand and called a stop to the proceedings. "Very well done, Harry," he said as Harry lowered his wand as well and the dragon and griffin disappeared. "You are progressing wonderfully. A few more duels and you will be ready."
Harry floated over to hover beside his mentor. "Yeah. That may be, Albus, but I had to draw energy from the castle just to keep going."
"Ah, yes, Harry. That is one of the things I was hoping you would do. I needed you to be tired so that you would be forced to draw energy from Hogwarts. I also wanted you to be relatively tired so that you would not try to reason through our duel. To use many of the powers and abilities you learned during your Maturo Auctus you have got to act on instinct alone. I wanted you to realize this while getting used to the idea that you are, indeed, a very powerful wizard."
Harry nodded then looked around at the damage they had done. No one was left in the stands and the pitch looked as though it had been used as a practice range for at least fifty muggle bombers. "Uh, sir . . ." Harry asked, indicating the pitch. "What are we going to do about the pitch?"
The Headmaster chuckled. "I believe this is where your Elemental Abilities will come in handy. We could fix it with regular magic but since you are, indeed, an Elemental of the highest order I suggest you use you abilities to repair the damage we have wrought." Harry looked at his friend and watched as he floated away and off the pitch. Rising up and gliding over to float directly over the center of the pitch Harry withdrew into a meditative state that was deeper than anything he had ever, consciously experienced before. Reaching out he began to feel and experience several of the most basic forces and energies of Creation. Turning his attention to the pitch he commanded a few of these forces and energies to repair the damaged turf and return it to pristine condition. The entire process may have taken fifteen minutes, all the while an icy cold rain was beating down on Hogwarts and the surrounding countryside. The two wizards who remained outside, however, did not feel any of it because, due to their mastery of Ethereal Magic, they were able to erect shields around themselves that protected them from the elements.
That did not, however, stop Madam Pomfrey from scolding them for staying out in the cold as soon as they entered the castle. "Honestly, Headmaster," she scolded. "I have never seen anyone who liked the cold as much as you. And now you've got Mister Potter enjoying it as well! What am I going to do with you two?"
Since dinner was already over Harry made his way up to the Gryffindor Common Room where he found Neville, Luna, Ron, Hermione and Ginny waiting for him near the fireplace. Ron looked up as he entered. "Hey, Harry," he began excitedly. "After the rain started we came up here and watched you from the dorms. That was really something! But what are we going to do about the pitch?"
Harry shrugged his shoulders and grinned slightly. "We fixed it," he said simply then added, "Now that you guys know what is expected of you I really do hope you are ready to train."
"I've been explaining what we went through over the holidays," Neville said. "They say they're ready but I don't know if they know what they've gotten themselves into."
Harry grinned. "Yeah, well, what say we go up to my trunk so I can get something to eat and then Neville and I can teach you some of the stretches and exercises you will need to learn to keep from getting hurt."