Chapter 25:

Draco's Big Mistake

The celebration in Gryffindor Tower that night was as boisterous as ever. Harry supplied a seemingly endless supply of Butterbeer and the celebration lasted well into the night. The entire next day, you could see people practicing dueling all around the school. Everyone that was still in the tournament appeared to want to perform their best in the matches the following night. Harry and Ginny stood looking out a window of the castle watching a group of Hufflepuffs practice. Ginny smiled, "They certainly seem to like getting a shot to test their dueling skills."

Harry nodded, "Yes, they do. I'm just anxious to see who makes it into the final eight. That's when the duels will really be getting interesting to watch."

Ginny playfully slapped at Harry, "Are you saying that I'm not interesting to watch?"

Harry slid an arm around Ginny's waist, and pulled her closer to him. He grinned, "I would love watching you if you were doing nothing more than reading a book."

Ginny giggled as she tilted her head up to Harry's. He smiled down at her, and then leaned down and kissed her. The two of them stood that way lost in each other until they had to break apart for lack of breath. The rest of the day passed by and so did the next until it was time for the Dueling Club meeting.

Harry took his customary place in the center of the room. "Welcome to the third round of the tournament. We will be pairing everyone off just as we did in the last two rounds. After tonight's round, there will be eight remaining duelers. These eight will be drawn into a bracket where they will compete single elimination style until only one remains. Any questions?"

No one had any questions. Harry raised his arms, "Then, let's begin." He turned to Professor Flitwick, "If you would begin, Professor."

Professor Flitwick drew out the pairings for the evening and they began the matches. Ron was the first of Harry's inner circle to fight. He went up against Zacharias Smith. Ron and Zacharias sent curses flying back and forth at each other before Ron attempted to copy Neville's rolling maneuver from the previous meeting. Zacharias anticipated it and dove in the other direction away from Ron. He whipped his wand to fire off a Leg Tangling Charm at Ron. However, his elbow contacted the floor as he was aiming the charm and it zipped past Ron's shoulder. Both of the wizards fell heavily to the ground, but Ron recovered first and rolled back to his feet to send a Stunning Spell at Zacharias as he attempted to regain his feet. The spell hit Zacharias neatly and he fell, stunned.

The next one of Harry's inner circle to duel was Neville. He got another Slytherin in his match-up. This time he would be facing Nicholas Goyle, a younger sixth year cousin of Gregory Goyle. The match was entirely too easy for Neville. He danced sideways to avoid the first couple of curses that his opponent threw at him, and then almost lazily stabbed his wand towards Nicholas Goyle and said, "Stupefy."

Ginny's duel was the last. She went up against Anthony Goldstein from Ravenclaw. She beat him quite quickly. She leaped up over the curses that he threw at her to rain curses down on him from above. Anthony dodged the first two, but was far too slow for the third. He dropped to the ground stunned, and Ginny bowed as she received a round of applause from the surrounding students.

Harry stepped to the center of the room. "We have the list of the final eight duelers. We will hold all four quarter final matches on Thursday night. The semi-finals will be held on Monday night, and the final match will be held on the following Thursday. If you will all wait for a few moments, we will draw out the pairings for the quarter-finals, and announce them." Harry turned to Professor Flitwick, who drew out the first slip of parchment. Harry called out, "The first match will be between Ginny Weasley and Justin Finch-Fletchley." Professor Flitwick drew out another slip of parchment, and Harry announced, "The second match will be between Ron Weasley and Hannah Abbott. The winners of these two matches will face each other in the semi-finals." Harry turned to take the next slip of parchment from Professor Flitwick, "The third match will be between Terry Boot and Dean Thomas. Which leaves Draco Malfoy and Neville Longbottom for the last match of the quarter-finals. Dismissed."

The next three days flew by with little conversation that did not revolve around the dueling tournament. Everyone was excited to watch the tournament, and the final eight contestants were psyched to be in the quarter-finals. Finally, Thursday night arrived, and basically the entire school packed into the dueling room to watch the four matches that would take place on this evening. Harry took his customary place at the center of the room. "I would like to thank everyone for coming to watch the match this evening. I'm sure the contestants will appreciate the support from their housemates. Without further ado, we will begin the duels. If Justin and Ginny will take their places, the first match can begin."

Ginny and Justin stepped onto the dueling platform as Harry stepped to the edge of it. They bowed to each other and assumed dueling stances. Harry waited for a moment to let the anticipation in the crowd build before barking out, "Begin."

The two of them immediately went into action. Ginny was firing off Stunners as quickly as the word left Harry's mouth. However, Justin was ready for them, and dove to the ground and rolled back to his feet, sending several lesser hexes back at Ginny. These she deflected easily with a Shield Charm, and then the two of them squared off and began to circle each other warily. Then, they both attacked again. Again both of them blocked or dodged all of their opponents moves. Justin was beginning to breathe heavily from the exertion. Ginny grinned, "You're better than I thought, Justin. You have learned a great deal in this class."

Justin grinned back, "Well, your boyfriend is an excellent teacher."

Ginny chuckled, "That he is. Now, I believe it is time to take this duel to the next level. See if you can keep up." After saying this, Ginny leaped into the air and mad a crisscrossing sweep with her wand, "Smokis Clodis Extremus!" A thick cloud of black smoke erupted from her wand to surround Justin.

Then, Ginny fired several Stunners into the cloud until Harry called out, "Halt. He's down." Harry waved his hand and the cloud of smoke dissipated to reveal Justin lying on the dueling platform, quite obviously stunned. Harry announced, "Ginny is the winner." Harry waved his hand at Justin and said, "Enervate."

Justin stood up and picked up his wand. He grinned, "Well, I gave it a good run."

Ginny smiled back at him, "Yes, you did. I had fun. We will have to do this again sometime."

Justin nodded, "Anytime."

Harry announced, "Now, that the first match is completed, we can begin the second. If Ron Weasley and Hannah Abbott would come onto the stage."

The Hufflepuffs cheered as Hannah stepped up onto the stage, and then the Gryffindors drowned them out as Ron took the stage. The two duelers took their places and bowed to each other. Harry gave them just enough time to assume dueling stances and then he said, "Begin."

Ron and Hannah went into action and began exchanging curses. It seemed that the two of them were equal. They dueled for about half and hour with neither gaining a significant advantage, until Ron made a mistake. He tripped over his own robes and fell to the ground. Before he could regain his feet, Hannah hit him with a Stunning Spell, and the match was over.

Harry grinned as he waved a hand at Ron, "Enervate. This match is finished. Hannah is the winner." The Hufflepuffs cheered, and began chanting Hannah's name. Harry allowed them to cheer for a few more moments before waving his arms for quiet. The crowd began to quiet down, and Harry announced, "It is time to begin the third match. If Terry Boot and Dean Thomas would take the stage, then we can get on with the tournament."

Terry and Dean stepped up onto the stage. Terry grinned, "You're going down, Dean."

Dean snickered, "We'll see about that. Even if you beat me, you won't get past Neville."

Terry nodded, "I'll just have to find out about that. Let's get ready."

The two of them bowed, and then assumed dueling stances and waited for Harry to give them the signal to begin. Harry watched the two of them, and waited for them to tense in anticipation before saying, "Begin."

The two boys began hurling minor hexes at each other. Both of them dodged the curses of the other, but it was obvious that Terry was slightly better. Both of them began to tire as the duel wore on, and finally Terry managed to catch Dean with a Leg Tangling Charm that caused him to begin dancing around madly with his legs kicking wildly. Then, Terry pointed his wand at him and said, "Stupefy." The red jet of light caught Dean square in the chest and he fell backwards.

Harry sighed, "The round goes to Terry Boot. Enervate." Dean got back up and grinned sheepishly at Harry. The Ravenclaws cheered for their victory, until Harry motioned for quiet once again. "Now for the final match of the evening. I would ask Neville Longbottom and Draco Malfoy to take the stage."

The two wizards took their places on the stage. Draco snarled at Neville, "So, I finally face the clumsy oaf."

Neville flashed a feral smile, "It told you that the two of us would meet before this tournament was over, and I promised that you would not like the result. Let this be a small taste of what will happen if we ever meet on the field of battle. Now, defend yourself."

Neville gave a short, curt bow that never required him to remove his eyes from his opponent. Malfoy nodded in return and then assumed a dueling stance. Harry waited long enough for the crowd to draw in a breath before shouting, "Begin."

Neville immediately shouted, "Wingardium Leviosa." He aimed the spell at Malfoy's shoes and flipped him off his feet. This he followed with a series of Stunning Spells that Malfoy rolled out of the way of as he came back to his feet. He countered with a Full Body Bind, but Neville flicked his wand and said, "Protego." The Shield Charm flared into existence and deflected the curse. The two of them went into high action at this point, and began to exchange curses at a pace that had yet to be witnessed in this class, except when Harry was dueling. Harry gazed on proudly as Neville handled everything that Draco could throw at him.

Frank leaned down beside Harry to whisper in his ear, "He has turned out to be one hell of a warrior."

Harry nodded, "Yes, he has. Now, to watch him finish it."

Neville twirled his wand, and said, "Conjuris Draconis!" A dragon appeared right in front of Malfoy, who in shock and terror dropped his wand. Neville merely waved his wand and said, "Accio wand." Malfoy's wand flew across the platform to pass through the dragon and land in Neville's hand. The dragon faded from existence, and Neville threw Draco's wand back to him.

Harry turned to face the crowd, "We have a winner for this round. This match goes to Neville Longbottom." While Harry was saying this, Draco retrieved his wand from the ground where it had fallen when Neville had thrown it back to him. He raised it over his head as if he were about to cast another curse at Neville, but Harry saw him out of the corner of his eye, and waved his hand over his shoulder while saying, "Expelliarmus!" Draco was blasted backwards as his wand was thrown from his hand.

Harry turned to face him as he rolled back to his feet and retrieved his wand. Draco glared at Harry and said, "I will get you one day, Potter."

Harry chuckled, "I look forward to the attempt, Malfoy. Now, go." Malfoy turned and swept from the room with his cloak billowing behind him.

The weekend was filled with conversation about the dueling tournament, although the student population did stop to have some fun. Finally, Monday rolled around, and Harry took his customary place in the center of the room to announce the upcoming duels. He began, "There will only be two duels this evening. This marks the semi-final round. The winners tonight will compete against each other on Thursday for the championship. I look forward to the matches, as I'm sure all of you do. Now, let us get started. Ginny Weasley! Hannah Abbott! I believe that the saying goes ladies first. So, I believe we will let the two of you duel first."

Ginny curtseyed to Harry as she took the stage, "You are too gracious, Lord Gryffindor."

Harry grumbled, "Very funny. Don't forget, you will be Lady Gryffindor one day."

Ginny merely smiled in return as Hannah took her place on the stage chuckling at the two of them. Ginny turned to Hannah and the two girls bowed to each other. Then, they assumed dueling stances. Harry said, "Begin."

The two girls began hurling light hexes at each other to test each other. Not a single hex landed. Harry heard a couple of the Aurors that were stationed at the school muttering to each other. One of them said, "Those are probably the two most powerful witches to come through Hogwarts in a long time. Some of our people couldn't take them in a duel."

The other one replied, "No kidding. I know I wouldn't want to face them."

Harry grinned as he heard this, and Ginny and Hannah continued to exchange curses for awhile, until Ginny really began to pick up the tempo. She began rolling back and forth and adding a lot of acrobatic moves, so that Hannah began having difficulty anticipating where the attacks were going to come from.

One of the two Aurors sucked in a deep breath, "Damn."

The other one replied, "You said it."

Finally, after a magnificent backward handspring during which Ginny was laying back and forth with Stunning Spells to keep Hannah on the defensive, Ginny landed and neatly caught Hannah with a Disarming Charm to end the match. Harry stepped back into the center of the ring, "Ginny is the winner. She will be progressing to the finals."

Someone cat called from the crowd, "Don't act surprised! You knew she was going to win." A ripple of laughter spread through the crowd as Harry took a bow, and Ginny curtseyed beside him.

Harry continued, "Now let's find out who her opponent is going to be. If Terry and Neville will take the stage, we will conclude the semi-final round." Neville and Terry jumped onto the stage as Ginny and Hannah stepped down off of it. The Gryffindors and Ravenclaws both let out a huge cheer as the two of them took the stage. Neville and Terry bowed to each other and stepped back into en guarde positions. Harry grinned at his pupils, "Begin." The two sprang into action immediately. Both of them spat out three Stunning Spells at the other and then moved to dodge. Terry dove backwards and rolled to his feet to let Neville's curse fly over him, while Neville did a one handed cartwheel to avoid all three curses. The two boys landed and stood staring at each other for just a moment before springing into action once more.

The two Aurors that had been commenting earlier spoke again. The first one said, "These two are just as good as the girls."

The other one nodded, "Potter has done an excellent job training them. With them around, I'm not worried about the future."

While this conversation was ongoing, Neville and Terry were exchanging curses extremely rapidly. Terry was doing an excellent job of keeping up with Neville, and the two of them paused for breath and stood staring at each other after ten minutes or so of heavy dueling. Terry grinned, "I'm doing pretty good. Better than you expected I would say."

Neville chuckled, "You have been an excellent opponent, Terry, but I am afraid that the final match will contain two Gryffindors. It is time for me to cook your goose. Prepare for some fancy footwork."

Neville began casting spells on the floor around Terry. Terry began backing up and stepped on one of the places that Neville had enchanted. He bounced into the air, and then hit another one of the spaces and bounced again. Neville laughed out loud as he jumped onto one of the spaces and catapulted about twelve feet in the air. "What do you think of that? Bouncing Charms on the floor." The two of them bounced around for awhile, with Neville seemingly in control of where they bounced to. The two of them threw curses at each other, but none of them came close to hitting their target, until Neville landed on a space of floor that was not enchanted with a Bouncing Charm, and nailed Terry with a Disarming Charm as he was bouncing up into the air again.

Harry waved his hands and dispelled all the charms while catching Terry with a Levitation Charm and lowering him softly to the stage. He turned to the crowd, "Let's give a round of applause to our duelists from this evening. I would like to congratulate the two who will be competing against each other on Thursday evening for the championship. Neville Longbottom and Ginny Weasley. I am sure that it will be a duel to remember. I would like to thank you all for coming this evening, and will look forward to seeing you all on Thursday evening, for I know none of you will want to miss the final duel of this competition. Dismissed."

Three days flew by remarkably quickly considering everyone's anticipation of the final match between Ginny and Neville. The betting going on around the school reached a pitch that was unrivalled even by the Tri-Wizard Tournament. When Thursday afternoon rolled around and it was time for the Dueling Club meeting to begin, the entire school was to be found packed into the dueling chamber to watch. Harry stepped to the center of the dueling platform and began his speech, "It has been a long and wild ride. The tournament has reached its final match, and I will delay it no further. Ginny, Neville, if you will please take the stage and prepare yourselves, we will give these people the show that they have been waiting for."

Ginny and Neville stepped onto the platform and began doing stretching exercises. Then, the two of them stood straight, and stared each other in the eyes before bowing and then stepping back into ready positions. Harry grinned, for he was the only one aside from Dumbledore that knew how good the two of them were. He uttered into the silence, "You may begin."

The two of them moved so fast that no one was quite sure which of them moved first. Both sent several Stunning Spells and Disarming Charms at the other. Each of these curse were easily avoided, and Neville made a whipping stab motion with his wand while saying something that no one could quite make out. A thick mist of what seemed to be pure shadow erupted from the end of his wand and spread towards Ginny. She grinned, "You've got to do better than that, Neville." A burst of light from the Flare Charm that she cast countered the shadow easily.

While Ginny was thus distracted, Neville conjured a shield on his left arm, and then charged at Ginny, who quickly laid a Tripping Charm on the floor in front of him. Neville hit it and went sprawling forward towards Ginny, who flipped over him as he fell and sent a Stunning Spell straight down at him. Neville rolled onto his back and blocked the spell with his shield, and then leaped back to his feet. As Ginny landed, Neville hurled a Stunning Spell at her, which she barely dodged. It came so close that the wind rush from the jet of red light ruffled her hair. Neville smiled, "That was close, Ginny."

Ginny grinned back, "As the Muggles say, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades."

Neville looked bewildered for a moment, "What the heck does that mean?"

Ginny shrugged, "I have no idea. Its just something that my Dad told me."

Harry interrupted them, "I'll explain what it means later. I think the crowd is wondering why the two of you are talking instead of fighting."

Neville said defensively, "We were merely catching our breath. Right, Ginny?"

Ginny nodded, "Of course. I'm ready to go now."

Neville didn't bother to reply with words. He just cast several Disarming Charms in a row, while conjuring walls around Ginny to hinder her progress. Ginny decided to play a different game, and cast a Reflection Charm to bounce the Disarming Charms back at Neville, while she Vanished the walls around her. Neville raised his shield to block the reflected Disarming Charms, and Ginny sent a Vanishing Spell at the shield as well. After the Disarming Charms were repelled by the shield, it vanished. Neville grinned again, "Nice touch. I'm impressed."

Ginny laughed, "Then, you will really be impressed by this." She cast another Flare Charm that blinded Neville, and followed it with a Full Body Bind. She dropped her guard for just a moment, since she felt Neville couldn't possible counterattack without being able to see. However, luck was not with her as Neville dropped sideways and rolled back to his feet sending a Stunning Spell right at Ginny. She dove sideways to avoid the spell since she had no chance of blocking it in time, but the dive was ill-timed, and caused a second delay in regaining her feet. That second was all Neville needed as he neatly caught Ginny with a Stunning Spell to drop her to the floor.

A silence fell over the whole room as the enormity of what they had just seen fell over them. Then a cheer rang out as Harry stepped forward and raised Neville's arm in a show of victory. He waved his other hand, and Ginny got back to her feet. She looked at Neville in shock before asking, "How did you know where I was to attack? You were blinded by the Flare Charm."

Neville chuckled, "Never underestimate the use of good Hearing Enhancement Charm."

Harry laughed, "You have learned well, Neville."

Neville grinned, "I had a good teacher."

Harry clapped him on the back, "Thank you." Then, he turned to address the crowd, "We have a winner. The dueling tournament is over. I give you your champion, Neville Longbottom."

There was another party that night in Gryffindor Tower that would rival any Quidditch celebration. It went on until McGonagall came in and scolded everyone, before sending them to bed.

The next several weeks around the castle passed by quietly with little out of the ordinary occurring. Harry began planning for Ginny's birthday, since he was planning on asking her to marry him on that evening.

The morning of Ginny's birthday came, and Harry greeted her that morning the same way he always did. He kissed her and said, "Good morning, sweetheart."

Ginny smiled and returned the greeting, "Good morning, Harry. Sleep well?"

Harry chuckled, "Wonderfully. I dreamt of you. Now, let's go eat breakfast, I'm starved."

Hermione interrupted, "You go on ahead, Harry. I want to chat with Ginny for a second."

Harry nodded, "Okay, you two get your girl talk out of your system and I'll see you in a few minutes." Harry departed out the portrait hole.

Ginny asked, "So what's up, Hermione?"

Hermione frowned, "You know perfectly well what is up. It's your birthday and Harry didn't even mention it. Do you think he forgot?"

Ginny laughed, "Of course not. He did the same thing last year. He acted like he didn't even know it was my birthday, but he had this marvelous dinner set up for us, and a wonderful birthday gift."

Hermione frowned again, "I don't know. Harry has had a lot on his mind lately. He could have forgotten."

Ron walked up behind them, "Trust me. He didn't forget."

Ginny eyed Ron, "You know something about what he has planned, don't you?"

Ron shook his head, "I know nothing. I just have several suspicions based on hints he has dropped through the year."

Hermione smiled, "You have to tell us."

Ron laughed shortly, "You must be out of your mind. I would rather cut out my tongue."

Ginny advanced on Ron, "We can make you tell us, you know that."

Ron shook his head again, "No, you can't. I know that you and Hermione could do terrible things to me if I don't tell you, but if I do tell you, Harry will find out. Nothing the two of you could do to me would even come close to what he would do to me if I told. So as far as I am concerned, I know nothing. And if you try to get it out of me, I will go to Harry and have him perform a Memory Charm on me, so I won't even know to be able to tell you. Now, it is time for breakfast." With that, he turned and left the two girls standing flabbergasted.

The rest of the day passed with no one mentioning Ginny's birthday around Harry, since he was refraining from saying anything either. At five o'clock, Harry walked up to Ginny in the common room and said, "Milady, may I have the pleasure of your company on your birthday?"

Ginny smiled and stood up to offer her hand to Harry, "I would be honored to accompany you anywhere, Lord Gryffindor."

Harry took her hand, and turned to lead her out the portrait hole. As they departed, Hermione asked Ron, "Okay, now that they are gone, you can tell me what you think Harry has planned."

Ron shrugged, "I think that he is going to propose, tonight."

Hermione gasped, "I thought he was going to wait until after N.E.W.T.'s."

Ron chuckled, "Surprise."

Hermione smiled, "That is so romantic."

Ron snorted, "I guess. Now, I suppose I have my work cut out for me."

Hermione asked, "Why do you say that?"

"I'm going to have a tough act to follow when I propose." said Ron.

Hermione grinned slyly, "When were you planning on doing that?"

Ron eyed Hermione, "I doubt I will plan it. It most likely will be a spur of the moment thing. Planning isn't really my style."

Hermione snorted, "No, I guess not."

Meanwhile, Harry had escorted Ginny to the Room of Requirement, where they walked in for Ginny to see a table set for two. There was a vase full of red roses sitting in the center of the table. The meal was prepared and awaited the two of them. Harry waved his hand and the light dimmed. Ginny looked over at him, "You know, Lord Gryffindor, all of this seems quite familiar."

Harry laughed, "I seem to be getting a sense of déjà vu as well."

Ginny continued to smile, "I don't think that we have to worry about being interrupted by Ron this time."

Harry chuckled at the memory of Ginny's last birthday, "I should hope not."

Suddenly a voice rang out, "No, her birthday will be ruined by me, Potter!" Draco Malfoy leaped out from behind the couch that was in the room to point his wand at Ginny. "Avada Kedavra!" he screamed.

The jet of green light headed straight for Ginny. Harry leaned sideways and pushed her out of the way. He flicked his hand towards the curse, "Reflecto." A mirror flared into existence and bounced the Killing Curse back at Draco, who stared in shock at the fact that a Killing Curse could be rebounded with so simple a spell. The curse hit Draco dead between the eyes and he dropped lifeless to the ground.

Harry sighed as he looked at Ginny, "It seems that our celebration of your birth will have to be postponed. I have to take him to Dumbledore."

Ginny nodded, "I know. I'll come with you."

Harry helped her to her feet and then waved a hand at Draco, "Mobilicorpus." Draco's body floated up to chest level and followed behind Harry and Ginny as they left the Room of Requirement to head for the Headmaster's office.

A/N: Well, the end of the Malfoy's at Hogwarts has come. I would like to thank all my readers and reviewers.

KbCdD: The latest announcement I have seen about the release of Book Six is Summer of 2005 at the earliest, but it could be as late as Summer 2006.

Gharienne: Not necessarily. Voldemort would have given orders to take her undamaged or Harry would have really been pissed.

Phreddoesn't like you: That's a lot of good words.

Aalikane: My updates will only be Wednesday and Sunday now. Sorry, but I couldn't keep up with three updates a week.

Abby: you will have to excuse me. Sometimes I slip into Southern Dialect, and don't catch it in the revision.

Maria: Yeah, I know, but I have had it as Virginia since the beginning, so I am just going to leave it that way.