DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
So far as any of the students could tell, the Confederation wizards had vanished as quickly as they had appeared. The only reason to think they were still at Hogwarts was the overabundance of Aurors and the continued presence of an assortment of strange looking wizards patrolling the castle.
No one seemed to know exactly why they were so reclusive. Various students swapped stories they'd heard of the last I.C.W. meeting and rumors about why this was so different. Some said that the members were probably just trying to stay safe considering the attacks at Hogwarts. Others said that they were trying to keep their identities hidden.
Harry immediately discounted both ideas. If either were true, they should have expected to see Dumbledore walking about. However, it seemed that no one had seen him all weekend, and McGonagall had only appeared briefly during Saturday's dinner to discuss something with Professor Flitwick.
Sunday night, Harry had pulled out the Marauder's Map to see what was going on, and where. He found the I.C.W. members in a large room at the end of one of the closed off wings of the third floor. He kept checking throughout the night, and saw a surprising number of people popping in and out of the room.
As he was showing Ron, Hermione and Ginny, Lupin had appeared suddenly only to leave a few minutes later. The four of them sat around the Map and pretended to be writing essays. As they watched, various other wizards showed up, always simply popping up on the map. Many of them were names Ron recognized from the Ministry, and some of them were completely new.
It seemed the real reason they hadn't seen any of the Confederation members was simply because they hadn't stopped discussing whatever it was they were busy talking about.
When Harry went to sleep that night, they were still in the room, but when he woke up and checked the next morning the room was vacant. No one really seemed to know what that might mean until they went down for breakfast.
The Great Hall was less noisy than it normally was, even for a Monday breakfast. Sitting at the head table was Dumbledore, flanked by a pair of bearded wizards Harry had never seen before.
"They've got to be from the I.C.W.," Ron commented as he watched them eat. "They're not nearly as stiff as all those guard wizards. Wonder if one of them was the one telling Dumbledore he was wrong."
"I'd guess not," Hermione said as she tried to hide her glances toward the head table. "Dumbledore's being pretty formal with them. I don't think they know each other terribly well."
It didn't really matter to Harry. He was unnerved by them, and couldn't tell if he was being overly paranoid or if they were looking at him more than any other student in the hall. He forced himself not to look back, but he could almost feel them watching him. What had Dumbledore told them about him?
It wasn't too surprising to see three Confederation wizards at the head table for lunch and the students gradually got used to seeing small groups of them traveling about the castle. At times they would all disappear, probably to meet in the same room on the third floor to continue their discussions.
On Tuesday, Harry walked into the Transfiguration classroom and saw a pair of them sitting in one of the front corners of the room. Everyone seemed to notice them except Professor McGonagall. No one gathered enough courage to ask her about them, and they never did anything more than simply watch and whisper comments to each other.
There were three more sitting in the back of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom that afternoon. Not until the end of class did Shacklebolt's eyes look to the three of them, but it was a relief that at least he knew that his professors knew they were there, too.
The next day was more of the same. Binns took absolutely no notice of his visitors, though that wasn't a terrible surprise. He rarely took notice of any of his students. It was comforting to see that like the students, even the pair of Confederation wizard had trouble staying awake during his lecture.
Potions was slightly different. Snape seemed uncomfortable and even slightly annoyed by the three wizards in his classroom. One of them seemed familiar, and Harry and Hermione tried to remember if he had been one of the wizards who'd attended Transfiguration. The other two were new, one ancient looking wizard, and a very stern-looking witch.
For once, Harry wasn't the reason for Snape's bad mood, and neither was he the target of his frustration. Without any outlet for his frustration, Snape was forced to sit and stew at his desk while the students worked on the potion he'd assigned.
He and Hermione laughed as they told the rest of the Gryffindors over dinner. They had to keep it mostly quiet, however, since all three of the wizards were sitting at the head table with Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall.
"It would have almost been worth taking Advanced Potions to have seen that," Ron said with a broad smile. "I don't know what they're doing, but if it's annoying Snape, it can't be all bad."
"They didn't do anything?" Katie asked as she took a break from laughing. "They didn't ask him questions, or write anything down?"
"No, they were just like the rest of them," Harry said as he helped himself to another chicken thigh. Katie put down her fork, and stared back at him.
"The rest of them?"
Harry didn't even pause before answering. "Yeah, the rest of the Confederation wizards. The ones sitting in on all the classes."
"They haven't been in all of the classes," Katie corrected.
"Well, I didn't see them in Herbology, but they don't leave the castle, so I didn't really expect that. They've been at all the rest, though."
"They haven't been at any of my classes," Katie said, sounding almost disappointed.
Ron frowned and looked down the table. "Well, let's find someone else. How about him? He's a second-year." Ron pointed at the boy who was talking with his friends. "Oi! You there, with the moppy hair!" he shouted at him.
Hermione slapped his shoulder. "His name is Philip, Ron."
"Right then. Get over here, Philip."
The small blonde boy stood up and slowly walked toward the group of them. He was obviously frightened and confused.
"You scared him out of his wits, Ron!" Hermione scolded. "Relax, Philip, Ron obviously wasn't using his brain again." The boy seemed to relax a little, but still shied away from Ron. "Have any of the I.C.W. wizards or witches been sitting in on any of your classes?"
The second year stared back at them suspiciously. "'Course they haven't. They're keepin' out of sight. Nobody sees them except for meals, and then they disappear again."
Hermione thanked him and turned back to Katie. She shrugged and shook her head. "I told you. They haven't been in all the classes. I hadn't heard of it until just now."
"I've seen them, too," Ginny said quietly, "but just one or two, and just in Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts."
"Maybe they're watching the D.A. Council," Katie suggested. Ron and Hermione nodded, but it was obvious what was really going on.
"They're watching me," Harry announced. "And they're watching the rest of you because you're my friends. That's great," Harry said as he pushed his plate away. "Maybe they're trying to figure out if I'm the one who's behind all of the attacks."
With a frown, Hermione pushed Harry's plate back toward him. "Dumbledore would have told them you're not. Maybe they're trying to find out who is."
"Yeah, what was I thinking?" Harry replied sarcastically.
"Don't start that, Harry," Ginny said in a low voice.
"Don't start what?"
"You know what I'm talking about," she hissed at him.
"I don't," Ron interjected. "and how exactly do you?" Ginny opened her mouth to respond, but stopped herself.
Harry took the opportunity to continue. "Maybe they want to see what all the rumors are about. They don't trust Dumbledore. Maybe they're right."
"Shut up, Harry," Ginny growled earning an almost frightened look from Neville. "You know that's not true—"
"Am I interrupting anything?" asked Professor McGonagall.
Ginny narrowed her eyes at their Head of House. "Yes," she mumbled.
"Well, you'll have plenty of time to discuss it after you get back to your common room."
"Fine. Come on, Harry. I think Ron, Hermione and I need to speak with you."
"I'm afraid you'll have to come with me, Miss Weasley," Professor McGonagall announced.
"Why? Are you giving me detention for telling Harry how stupid he is?"
"Certainly not. I have neither the time nor the space to hold detention every time Mr. Potter does something foolish," McGonagall said with a frown. "You and Miss Granger have been invited to the Trophy Room. The rest of you can go."
Harry gladly took the opportunity to leave without facing one of Ginny's scoldings. As he walked out of the Great Hall, he saw Cho and Luna leaving. Hannah and Ernie weren't sitting at the Hufflepuff table. Ron and Neville were following him, but he didn't pause to wait for them.
There was mercifully little time for Ron and Neville to ask Harry what had just happened before Hermione and Ginny returned. The common room was still mostly empty, so they crowded around one of their favorite tables. Ginny was still upset, so Hermione did the talking.
"We met with one of the Confederation wizards. A witch about the same age as Madam Pince. She wanted to give us some information about the dueling demonstration on Friday."
"Why?" Harry asked her. It didn't really make much sense. Why should they tell the D.A. about the demonstration? There were loads of Aurors and other wizards around to make sure everything was safe. What were they worried about? "What do they want us to do?"
"They want us to duel."
"What, duel them?" Ron asked. "We'll have no chance against them."
"No, I think they want us to duel each other," Hermione explained. "The witch said that they wanted to let the D.A. know before the demonstration 'so we could prepare', they said. I think they didn't want us to panic when they announce it to everyone else."
"So the students are going to duel each other? Like our second year?" Ron remarked skeptically. "That doesn't sound like my idea of entertainment."
"It wasn't supposed to be entertainment for us," Ginny told them. "It's entertainment for the I.C.W."
Harry and Ron tried to get more details from the girls, but there wasn't any more to learn. The meeting had been brief and they hadn't been able to ask any questions. After having them repeat everything a third time, Harry gave up and accepted that they would just have to try and deal with it when they found out more. "We'll need to let everyone know as soon as possible, and I want all of us to meet outside the Fat Lady right before it starts. Can we do that, Hermione?"
"We have just under two days, so it shouldn't be a problem. We can probably do it by lunch tomorrow."
"What about Daphne and Blaise?"
"Cho and Blaise talk often enough that no one cares anymore. I'll let her know to tell everyone and she'll take care of it."
"I'll tell Hannah," Ginny offered even as she was walking away.
"No, Harry can tell Hannah."
"Well, then I'll go with him," Ginny replied as she stopped at the portrait hole.
"You can tell Luna. I'm sure Harry can handle Hannah all by himself."
Ginny was grumbling as she left the common room. Harry and Hermione left soon after her, leaving Ron to spread the news to all the Gryffindor D.A. members.
It was the night of the demonstration, and Harry, Ron and Hermione were standing silently by the Fat Lady. At the moment they looked quite conspicuous, simply standing in the middle of the hall without any sign of purpose. While the Aurors recognized them, many of the security wizards of the Confederation wizards didn't, and they gave them suspicious looks, often pulling out their wands, or ducking behind corners and columns to watch them.
"Tell me why we're doing this again?" Ron asked.
Harry was pacing around Ron and Hermione. "Because I'm worried about something happening. There hasn't been an attack in a month. The I.C.W. is here. We're going to be throwing curses and hexes back and forth. Everyone will be distracted, and it'll be easy to miss someone who shouldn't be there, or someone who should be there, but isn't."
"You don't think you're getting a little paranoid, mate?" Ron asked skeptically. "I mean, the whole castle is crawling with Aurors and all sorts of other wizards just itching to find a Death Eater."
Hermione gave a small sigh. "It can't hurt, Ron."
"You'd think so," Ron grumbled while glaring at another cloaked wizard watching them warily as he slowly strode past them. "But if we stay here much longer I'll end up in the Hospital Wing before the demonstration even starts."
Harry stopped to stare at Ron. Hermione turned to make a similarly confused face at him. "Why will you be in the Hospital Wing."
Ron scowled at a wizard who had stopped some distance from them, and was currently pretending to clean his wand while he watched them.
"Because I'm going to be hit by a book-load of curses after I snap and hex the bloody hell out of the NEXT WIZARD WHO LOOKS AT ME LIKE I'M HIDING A DEATH EATER IN MY POCKET!" Ron shouted intentionally loud enough for every wizard in the area to hear.
The wizard in the hallway turned and walked away quickly, while the wizard on the stairs seemed to have tried to get away, but his foot had sunk through one of the stairs and he was now struggling to free himself.
"Incidentally, Ron," said Hermione, her voice low, "you actually have hidden—"
"Not now, Hermione," interrupted Ron as he whirled on Hermione.
Just then, Colin Creevey poked his head out of the portrait hole. "Harry, did you hear that?"
Harry turned to look at Colin. He could see a decent group of Gryffindors behind him in the common room. "Do you mean all that shouting about Death Eaters?"
Colin shook his head emphatically.
"No," Harry replied in a dull voice. "Didn't hear it out here."
Colin looked confused and turned to talk to some of the other Gryffindors, but Ron interrupted him.
"Hey! You lot. Come out here," he ordered. "At least we'll make an invasion force impressive enough to make them pair up if they want to glare at us."
The Gryffindors quickly streamed out of the common room to stand around Harry. Harry noticed Neville had linked Ginny's arm in his. He tensed and Ginny gave him a warning look before he could react any more, but Neville noticed anyway. He frowned and pulled Ginny closer to him. making Ginny roll her eyes.
Harry looked away, trying to find something else to look at. He had pulled the Map out and was searching the castle quickly. He shoved it back in his pocket before anyone else noticed.
"Everyone else is on their way up," he said quietly. The voices of the rest of the D.A. could be heard echoing up the steps. Harry shook his head at the wizard still stuck on the stairs. "Could someone help him? He looks hopeless."
A couple of the fourth years walked over to him and tried to help him pull his foot out of the stair. Eventually a number of Ravenclaws joined them as the rest of the D.A. crowded around Harry, Hermione and Ron.
"Listen up, everyone," Harry announced. "We all need to pay attention when we get down there. I know there are loads of hit wizards and the like around," he said glancing at Ron, "but I don't trust them."
"What about this 'demonstration'? What's it going to be?" Katie asked for everyone. Everyone became silent as they waited to hear Harry tell them.
"What? You think I know?" Harry replied dryly. "I didn't know we were going to be part of the demonstration until Hermione told me." This made everyone turn to look at Hermione.
"You have no idea what we're going to be doing?" asked Terry Boot.
Hermione glared back at him. "Well, it is a dueling demonstration, so I imagine you'll be quite disappointed if you were looking to use your star charts."
There were some laughs, and more annoyed rumblings from the group, with various people adding their thoughts: "I figured we'd be dueling, but how?", "Are we actually dueling, or just showing how...", and "I hope Madam Pomfrey is ready for this..."
Harry raised his voice above the murmuring, "Calm down! It can't be any worse than one of our meetings. There is one thing, though." He paused to try and think of how to say this. "I'd prefer not to be part of it."
The group was silenced. Except Ron.
"Right. That's bloody likely," he barked. "You've got a better chance of seeing Snape dance with Hagrid."
Harry shot a face at Ron who ignored it. "If I have to face anyone, it should be one of you, and it will probably be better if I win—"
"What's the matter, Harry, scared of us?" someone called out from the back, making the other students laugh.
"—But if I don't, it's very important that we not appear upset at each other."
"Because of Justin and Dean?" one of the third-years asked.
"Something like that," replied Harry quickly. "Come on, we should get down there. You'll find out what it'll be like soon enough, Terry."
The D.A. made their way to the Great Hall quickly. As they reached the doors, they met Professor McGonagall who glared at them. "We've been waiting for you." She led them into the hall, which had been rearranged since the evening meal.
Instead of the four tables in rows, benches were arrayed around a cleared area at the front of the hall. The benches were broken into four sections, with each row raised slightly higher than the row in front of it to allow those who entered late a better view than they might have expected.
The head table remained, and the Confederation wizards were sitting closely together where the professors normally were. They seemed to be very having a number of discussions while the students walked in. Since their normal location was occupied, the professors had taken seats on benches along one of the walls facing the students. The clearing between the students and the head table was completely bare, causing many of the students to ask where the stage they had used for Gilderoy Lockhart's infamous first Dueling Club meeting.
As the D.A. reached the benches, the students split into their respective houses, and sat down. Professor McGonagall walked to the right side of the open area, and addressed both the students and the head table.
"Welcome students and Confederation members. Tonight we have arranged some entertainment for our visitors. The Confederation members will select a number of students from each house, with some help from your Heads of House. We shall pair you up, and the demonstration will begin. Please remember that your performance reflects upon Hogwarts, so I expect everyone who is selected to not only do their very best, but to behave honorably." She shot a warning glance at Malfoy who put on his most innocent face which, from Draco Malfoy, was still quite untrustworthy.
As soon as she finished speaking, many of the wizards who were seated at the head table stood and walked down to the benches. As they walked toward the students, Harry realized that one row of benches in the front remained empty. The Confederation members began pacing in front of the students. A wizard with a long black beard stopped directly in front of the Slytherin section, silently pointing a long bony finger directly at Draco. He looked to Snape and nodded.
"Draco Malfoy," Snape called out. "Please take a seat in the first row."
Malfoy flashed an arrogant smile, and began strutting to the front row. He stopped in front of the empty bench and attempted to bow at the wizard who had selected him, but the old warlock had already turned his back and was walking toward the Ravenclaw section without even noticing the gesture.
Harry and Ron were looking around, watching the old wizards seeking the rows of students for someone they thought worthy. Occasionally they would stand in small groups and talk quickly before breaking up again. Harry turned to ask Hermione what she thought they were talking about, but found that she was already walking to the front. One by one, students were called to the front to sit next to their house-mates and ponder what was in store for them. Harry looked back to the head table and saw that Dumbledore remained seated and talking with a dark haired wizard who (judging by his robes) looked to be from Egypt.
"Why aren't they coming down?" Harry asked Ron.
"Dunno. Maybe Dumbledore doesn't think it's fair for him to pick anyone."
"The other one keeps looking at me," Harry whispered, looking back, "He wasn't one of the ones who came to watch me. Why's he looking at me now?"
"Hard to say, mate," Ron said slapping him on the back. "It's like you've got some bloody big scar on your forehead. You'd expect more manners from—"
"Ronald Weasley!"
"—Bloody hell. That's me," Ron said as he stood.
"Ron!" Harry called out before Ron could walk away. "Tell her I don't want to duel!"
Ron shrugged and nodded as he walked to the front where Hermione was smiling and saving a seat for him. Ron tried to say something to McGonagall but she pointed sternly to the first bench, and refused to hear him. Ron turned and gave Harry an apologetic shrug.
When Harry looked back at the head table, the Egyptian was watching him again. He turned to Dumbledore, and Dumbledore caught Professor McGonagall's attention. Dumbledore said nothing but held up two fingers. McGonagall nodded and went back to naming students.
Harry sat patiently listening to the names being called out: "Theodore Nott!", "Padma Patil!", "Michael Corner!", "Cho Chang!". The benches were filling up, and Harry began to relax. Certainly he would have been called by now.
"Neville Longbottom!" called out McGonagall. A short, dark skinned wizard in wildly colored robes had pointed him out. As he walked past Harry, he glanced back at Ginny, then scowled at Harry.
Ginny slid a little closer to Harry, but not so much that anyone might notice.
"They won't pick me," she said dejectedly. "No one ever does. I'm too small," she said in a patronizing voice. "They all probably think I'm some second-year."
"Katie Bell!"
"Luna Lovegood!"
"You're not that small," Harry said, as he tried to listen to the other students being called. "You're not that much shorter than Hermione.'
"Ernie MacMillan!"
"Oh, it's enough," Ginny replied. She looked to the front bench. "You may get your wish. It looks like they are pretty much finished." She turned and gave Harry a smile. "At least I'll have company."
Harry looked to the front of the Hall and saw that many of the Confederation wizards had returned to the head table.
"Zacharias Smith!"
Professor Flitwick went to stand over by Professors Snape and Sprout. Professor McGonagall was walking to head table. She stood calmly stood and waited for Zacharias to sit down. Harry breathed a sigh of relief, and Ginny sat back with her hands across her chest. As they waited to see what would happen next, Dumbledore and the Egyptian wizard stood and pointed into the Gryffindor section.
"Ginny Weasley, please come forward," Dumbledore called out.
In a clear voice with only a hint of the accent of his native tongue, the Egyptian warlock spoke up, "Harry Potter, you will come down as well."
Ginny stood up immediately. She had a fierce light in her eyes and a smile on her face. Harry was somewhere between shocked and worried. When he didn't move fast enough, he felt Ginny's small hands pushing him forward. When they got to the front bench, Ginny sat in a space Neville had opened for her between himself and Ron. Harry started to walk toward Professor McGonagall, but she immediately strode to meet him.
"Professor, I really don't feel like dueling today, I—"
"Nonsense, Potter," she interrupted with a stern voice. "You were specifically named by one of the Confederation's senior wizards. Now take your seat."
Harry walked back to sit next to Hermione. "Just relax, Harry," she whispered to him. "This has to be the worst time for Death Eaters to attack Hogwarts. Honestly, with all these security wizards around—"
She stopped abruptly as a slender, grey-haired witch with a German accent began talking.
"Thank you all for volunteering for this demonstration—"
"Volunteering?" Harry whispered harshly, but he was quieted by Hermione.
"This... exercise may not be anything you are familiar with. I am told that in this culture, dueling is often performed on a stage in a very controlled manner. This may be fine for the teaching of young students, but you may one day be in a situation where you must defend yourself against another wizard. In this situation, there will be no stage, and your opponent may not stop when you drop your wand."
"We have heard that several of you—" she looked where Harry and his friends sat "—have already been in such situations. We will expect more from you. At the end of each duel, we may provide some instruction on how the volunteers might have performed better."
The hall was silent as she continued. "You will be paired up with another student of an appropriate skill level. Your professors will ensure that the assignments are fair. You will then duel each other when you are called. We may introduce various ...obstacles or... distractions for your duels. Do not let them interrupt you. The world outside these walls is filled with such distractions, and a duel can be lost in a moment."
"Finally, the rules of the demonstration." The witch motioned to the Egyptian warlock standing by Dumbledore.
"Outside the safety of Hogwarts, an opponent is not defeated until he is disabled and not merely disarmed. You will duel until your opponent is no longer capable of defending themselves. An opponent without a wand may retrieve their wand, or take yours. An opponent who is bound or stunned can no longer defend themselves even if their wand is still in their hand. However, you must not use any dangerous or overly violent charms, and you will neither try nor be allowed to cause any permanent or serious injury. We will monitor and stop any duels which become dangerous."
As he spoke, Harry realized he'd heard the voice before. "Hermione, that's him," he whispered. "That's the wizards we heard talking—"
"Shh! I know!" she hissed back at him.
The wizard's stern face broke into a smile, "Finally, enjoy yourselves. You will have precious few opportunities to defend yourselves in such a safe place and with such talented assistance," he said with a bow to Madam Pomfrey who was standing over by the professors.
The grey-haired witch spoke up again, "Very well! Professors, please assign the students!"
The professors came out and started looking at the students. Professor McGonagall had a roll of parchment she was writing on. As the professors began calling out pairs of names, McGonagall would write them down. Occasionally some changes would be made. It seemed that most of the pairings were between students of the same house. This came as a relief to Harry. He looked to Ron, and he seemed to have the same idea. He just had to convince the professors.
Katie Bell had been assigned to Warrington. She seemed more put off by his appearance than the prospect of dueling with him. When Professor Vector approached the other end of the Gryffindor bench one of the Confederation wizards strode over to speak with him. Harry thought he heard the grey haired witch ask "It was them?" Professor Flitwick noticed the impromptu discussion and quickly walked over to the Gryffindor section and joined in after conjuring a tall stool to stand upon.
Harry noticed them occasionally glancing at him or his friends as he tried to hear what they were saying. Finally, Professor McGonagall stepped forward to see what was going on.
"Is there a problem?" she asked politely.
"No, no. Not at all," Flitwick said. "Just trying to find the best way of pairing these five up." He looked at them and smiled. "It wouldn't be fair to have them dueling most of the others. Not with the experience they have."
"Would they duel each other?" the elderly witch asked.
"Certainly, they do quite often. They are all members of the Defense Association." McGonagall explained.
"Excellent!" she exclaimed as she rubbed her hands together.
"I'll take Harry, Professor!" Ron shouted, before anyone else could make any suggestions.
"You'll be quiet, Mr. Weasley," she said shortly. "I doubt we would see the best from either of you if you were up against each other."
Flitwick hopped down to stand in front of Neville, "Longbottom and Miss Weasley should be a decent match, wouldn't you say, Minerva?"
"I believe Longbottom will be escorting Miss Weasley to the Ball," McGonagall said with a look to Ginny, who nodded.
"Then let me fight him," Neville said with a glance toward Harry. Hermione gave Harry a worried look. Ginny looked both worried and surprised.
"That's enough, Longbottom," she replied. "We will decide how you will be paired."
"Then why not just pair these two—" the witch pointed at Harry and Hermione "—and those two," he finished, pointing at Ron and Ginny.
Flitwick looked jubilant at the thought of Harry and Hermione dueling, "Excellent choice, madam! Must be the two best duelists in the school! I've been waiting to see this for some time." He was positively beaming.
"Perhaps not," McGonagall said shaking her head. "I know Miss Granger too well. I'll not have her duel Potter only a week before a Quidditch match against Slytherin." Flitwick's face fell, but Hermione's brightened up.
The Confederation witch looked at both of them, then turned back to McGonagall. "What about these two?" she asked pointing at Ron and Ginny. "Is that fair?"
Ginny sat up and nearly shouted "Yes", but at the same time Ron shouted, "No!"
Dumbledore appeared at McGonagall's side, laughing. "May I make a suggestion, Minerva?" She looked surprised, but said nothing. "I think Potter and young Miss Weasley would do well together."
"But, Albus— Both of my Seekers? What if—"
Harry and Ginny exchanged frantic glances as they tried not to blush. Why would Dumbledore pair them up? Harry glared at Dumbledore's eyes, and the twinkle that usually cheered Harry up now only served to confirm his suspicions. Dumbledore had planned them to be paired together from the start, and he wanted to see how they handled it.
"You won't lose both your Seekers, Minerva. I promise you," Dumbledore said in a calming voice. "One of them will win, and they should at least be able to walk at the end," he said with a smile. "And, strictly speaking, walking is not required in Quidditch." McGonagall looked deeply concerned.
"Headmaster, are you certain this—" She tried to argue, but she stopped when Dumbledore turned and simply walked away.
Harry was even more worried than McGonagall. The prospect of dueling Ginny was even less appealing than facing Hermione. "Professor," he pleaded, "not her. It's really not fair. She's only a fifth year... and she's much smaller than I am!" Ginny's jaw dropped, and her eyes blazed.
"A fine attempt, Potter, but I'm certain you know better than I do just how absurd that is," McGonagall said flatly. She glanced at Ginny, then back at Harry. "And if you do not, I suspect you will learn tonight."
"I'll duel with him instead, Professor!" Ron exclaimed again. "I certainly won't fight her," he said with a nod to Hermione who looked as though she were trying to figure out if she was supposed to take it as a compliment.
"Of course you won't Ronald," McGonagall said. "You'll be paired with Zacharias Smith. Longbottom will be paired with Miss Granger." Neville's body slackened and he buried his face in his hands. The Confederation witch and the professors all walked off to the side of the room. The pairing was complete.
The greying witch who'd announced the demonstration stepped forward again. "We shall have refreshments and... ah... medical treatment for the participants after they've completed their turn."
"I wish our participants good luck, and to everyone else: Enjoy the show!"
Author's Note:
I really hadn't planned on subjecting my readers (the few loyal readers I have) to such a cliffhanger in the upload process, but I keep my promises, and I said I'd put Chapter 30 up on Sunday. So here it is, and you'll just have to wait for Chapter 31 to see how it goes. I hope it will be an enjoyable thing.