A/N: Well, thank you to my one reviewer, it is much appreciated. Also thank you to all of you who read my story, but please do review! And thank you to my editor. Once again, obviously, I do not own Harry Potter. And for the third time, please review.

Chapter 2: Dueling

Harry had once found Sirius meditating here. The room, or the Atrium of Tranquility, as Sirius had called it, was actually like a separate dimension. It had a huge quartz dome for a ceiling. Enchanted to be unbreakable, it was a magnificent sight to behold. The floor was equally as mesmerizing. It changed with what was required of it. Now, it was stone. Cold, hard stone like they expected from any scene where they fought a duel that regarded the entire world. Neither magnificently designed, nor exactly beautiful, it was entrancing nonetheless. The walls were made of stones that were rounded, rectangular prisms. Among them were bookcases and cabinets filled with supplies. Each bookshelf and cabinet corresponded to a region of magicks they had been working with all summer. Each day was the same, training-wise. It always started with dueling tactics and spells.

For the entire summer, they had learned spells and techniques to use while dueling. They had yet to actually have an official duel, only practice. "Today we will be having all-out duels," Lupin began. "You are to win, not just practice spells. I cannot tell you how to define winning, only that you will both have to know who won."

Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny nodded seriously. Harry looked to Hermione and Ginny winked at her brother. "Harry, Hermione," they both tensed as Tonks said their names. While they had decided for an all-out battle with each other, they were not exactly prepared for it. "You guys stretch out while Ron and Ginny duel. But I want you to pay attention as well." They nodded and turned to Ron and Ginny.

"Be careful, Ginny. Your mother would kill me…" Hermione said, getting a frown from Ginny. "…If I let you hurt Ron too much." Ginny laughed as Ron glared at Hermione.

"Remember mate, she's your sister," Harry warned. Ron's face spread into a grin along with Harry's. Then Ron and Ginny pulled out their wands and moved to the center of the room. They bowed and began. They began slowly, using simple spells like Expelliarmus and Protego and stuck to those.

Harry and Hermione stretched on the sidelines. Every so often they glanced at each other and the dueling Weasley's. Mostly they tried to think of how to beat each other.

Hermione turned sternly towards Harry. "Harry…" she said softly. He turned around at the sound of her voice. Emerald eyes bore into russet ones and vise-versa. There was silence between the two. The only sounds heard were from Ron and Ginny's duel, now long forgotten by Harry and Hermione.

Breaking the silence he whispered, "Yes?" Hermione remembered the task at hand, which she had forgotten gazing into Harry's eyes.

"Were you joking earlier? Have you seriously been going easy on me?" she asked shyly.

Harry pondered her question for a moment. He had been trying his hardest all summer but his zeal slowed when he and Hermione became partners. He was conflicted as to whether he should be hard on her, so she would learn, or to not hurt her. "Partially," he said truthfully.

Her face dropped. "I appreciate you trying to protect me." He blushed and turned away. She grabbed his chin and made him face her. "Do not do that today. I have worked my ass off this summer," ('That's for sure,' Harry thought.) "I want to be able to beat anyone who crosses my path. I have to learn to be strong on my own. Promise me you will go all-out."

Harry considered her. "Tell me the real reason." He knew she was lying to him. Not necessarily lying, but not telling the entire truth.

Hermione frowned. "Go all-out and you'll find out." As she finished, Ginny delivered a successful Jelly-Legs Jinx onto Ron, followed by a Disarming Spell. "GO GINNY!" Hermione shouted, running towards her, giving Harry a quick, obviously pointed look. While Hermione was congratulating Ginny, Harry muttered the counter-curse on Ron, who thanked him.

"You did really great Ron," Harry lied; he hadn't been paying attention to their duel.

Ron was slightly miffed. "How do you know?" he whispered. "You and Hermione were busy making googley-eyes at each other." As Harry opened his mouth to retort, Lupin and Tonks came over. He settled for a glare.

"Not too bad Ron, I think Ginny had the whole 'girl has to beat a guy mentality'," Lupin told him and all three boys grinned. Tonks slapped him upside his head.

As he rubbed it, she explained. "He's just upset because he owes me 10 galleons," she said, holding out her hand for the wizard money. Lupin reluctantly placed the pouch in her hand. Lupin grabbed Harry's collar and said, "I have a lot of money riding on you taking Hermione down. Not too hard, just enough so Nymphadora gives me my money." Harry chuckled. "No, no Harry," he gripped Harry's collar tighter, "I am not joking."

Harry looked at him with a crooked smile. "Don't worry, I will." Lupin clapped him on the shoulder and Harry and Hermione were left in the center of the room. "Now guys, be careful," Tonks warned. They both nodded and walked together, wands at the ready.

They stared at each other, searching the other's face for a sign. "Promise," Harry whispered as he bowed. Hermione mouthed 'thank you' and bowed as well. They went to their respective sides of the room as everyone took a huge breath.

"3…2…1!" Lupin's voice rang throughout the room, signaling the start of the duel. The friends of five years watched each other carefully. Each time one of them breathed irregularly, the other tensed. Neither knew what to expect.

"Expelli—" Harry began, but was stopped abruptly by Hermione shouting, 'Averte Statum!' Harry was knocked off his feet and onto his back. 'Well, I guess that settles it, she's definitely going down,' he resolved. He vaulted up and sent another curse back at her, "Incendio!"

A stream of fire came straight for Hermione. "Protego!" she shouted, trying desperately to protect herself. However, Harry's spell broke through her shield. She was sent back the wall and was pinned to it. Harry tried to send another spell at her, but she screamed, "STUPEFY!"

Harry's shield did stop Hermione's spell, as he countered with another spell. For another half an hour, they shot jinxes and curses at each other, most of the time creating a shield to block it. They were both growing weary and tired. After suffering a Shocking Spell from Harry, a thought struck Hermione. There was one spell she knew that he surely wouldn't be expecting. Finally she said it. "Legimens!"

While Harry was reeling from shock, he felt his memories coming out. His mother's screams as she tried vainly to save him…Voldemort's cold, heartless laughter…mistreatment at the Dursley's…the snake at the zoo…seeing Hagrid…learning what really happened to his parents… No, he had to stop it. He quickly brought up his walls to protect his mind. Then he forced himself into Hermione's mind.

Hermione found her thoughts of times past resurfacing and Harry seeing them as well. Falling off her tricycle with a bleeding knee…being made fun of at school…a black-haired girl laughing at her, until Hermione slapped her…coming to Hogwarts…seeing Harry and Ron…crying to the bathroom after Ron's insults, realizing she had no friends. She fell to the floor, weeping. Harry instantly drew himself out of her mind.

He quickly ran over to her. He pulled her up and she cried onto his chest. She cried for Harry's memories, her memories, and the feeling of her mind being violated. "God…Hermione, I'm so sorry," he breathed as the other people in the room ran to them. Lupin's face filled with anger and disappointment, while Ron, Ginny's and Tonks' faces filled with worry.

Hermione meekly smiled at him. "Don't be, I asked you to," then she passed out. Lupin began to rage at Harry.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?!" he bellowed as Harry ignored him, he was more interested in getting Hermione to a bed. He walked up the stairs to the girls' rooms, only to find the stairs disappear into a slide.

"You've got to be kidding me," he muttered and picked himself up to go to his room, the other four still yelling in the background.

"HOW COULD HE?"

"To be fair, Hermione started it."

"How could she have any idea what she was getting into?"

"Maybe we should stop yelling when neither of the two people you're mad at, Lupin, are actually here…" Ginny suggested, noticing only the four of them still in the room. They went to look for Harry and Hermione. After Tonks and Ginny checked out Hermione's room, they headed to Ron and Harry's room. As they approached, Harry walked out of the room, calm.

"Do you think you four might try to keep it down a little bit?" Harry asked, annoyed. They all stared at each other. All of them paced around the hall in front of Harry and Ron's room for at least an hour. Harry thought about the fact that he and Hermione probably shouldn't have gone that far. Lupin was thinking of a way to punish them and make them realize they did wrong. Tonks was wondering how they both had gotten so strong. Ron and Ginny were simply worried for Hermione.

Tonks spoke after the hour of silence. "One of us should probably go in to…" Before she finished, Harry turned to go into the room, only to get hit in the head by the door. He backed up, clutching his head and checking for bleeding.

"Oooops, sorry Harry," Hermione yawned. "Who died?" she asked, seeing them all with solemn expressions, which brightened exponentially with her appearance. Lupin spoke before anybody else had a chance to.

"What were you guys thinking?" he said, feeling his anger rise again. He mostly yelled toward Harry. "She is less experienced than you, and you just attacked her. What the fu—"

"Shut up, Lupin!!" Hermione yelled furiously. She walked up to him, and he backed against the wall. "I told Harry not to go easy on me! And, in case you weren't paying attention, I attacked Harry's mind first!"

"You two still shouldn't have done that," Lupin said, but quiet enough not to get Hermione mad at him again. She rolled her eyes as Harry grinned at her. Tonks laughed at Lupin and Ron and Ginny laughed as well.

"Now," she said smiling, "don't we have more training to get to?"