CHAPTER 22: The Dueling Tournament Round 2
That night Harry walked to the room of requirement at 6:45 and walked past the stretch of wall three times, thinking of a place where he could learn to fight Voldemort and his forces. When the door appeared he walked in, but it was a much different place then what it usually was during DA meetings. Now it held a few cages of dark creatures, including a dementor in the back, surrounded by an orb that Harry assumed kept the creature from moving or affecting the area.
He saw a shelf full of books. He pulled one down and saw it was labeled The Book of Merlin. Harry leafed through the pages and saw diagrams and descriptions of some of the most powerful spells he had ever heard of. Harry put the book in his bag before looking around the room again. In one corner he saw a foe glass and other dark detectors, there were even a few he didn't recognize. Suddenly the door opened, and in came Blaise Zabini and two Slytherin 6th years Harry didn't recognize.
"What's all this, Potter?" Blaise asked, looking around the room in awe.
"This is where we hold our defense meetings, although the room has never looked like this before. Usually its just an empty room with some books and cushions."
"This is Ryan and Samantha Johnson. I met these two on the train in our first year and we've been together pretty much ever since. A bit like you, Weasley and Granger." Harry smiled.
"Actually we didn't hang out with Hermione until we saved her from a troll." Blaise just shook his head.
"You do things the hard way, don't you?"
"So why did you call us here?" Samantha asked, looking curiously around the room.
"Because I wanted to ask if you would like to join us. I can tell you that not one person in this group likes Malfoy and his goons, and they hate Voldemort just as much."
"You think they'd except Slytherins with open arms?" Ryan asked skeptically.
"Not unless you prove yourselves, which in my book you have. If you didn't tip me off about the tournament I might not have made it to Parvati in time." Harry shivered at the thought.
"That was despicable." Samantha said with contempt. "Attacking your girlfriend like that, it was the cowardly thing to do."
"Does that mean yes?" He asked. The three Slytherins looked at each other.
"Yea, we're in. We just need to be careful about it. The other Slytherins may not be so kind to us if they find out." Harry nodded, taking three gold galleons out of his pocket. He looked into Samantha's eyes, willing a connection to be made. He saw her memory of Malfoy cornering in the Slytherin common room. They were alone and Malfoy was getting closer and closer. He pinned her arms against the wall and kissed her, she struggled in vain until Ryan came out of nowhere and punched Malfoy square in the jaw. Harry withdrew from the memory, not wanting to intrude anymore than he had to.
"What the hell are those for?"
"These are how you find out about the meetings. I can change the date and time on mine and your coins will heat up, just look at the coins and meet me here when I tell you. I also have a favor to ask."
"Well, if your going to teach us and help protect us from Malfoy and his goons then I guess we owe you."
"To be honest you don't owe me a thing, I owe you. But you offered to pass any important information to me and I'd like you to keep your eyes and ears out for something. I need you to find out who knows I carry a sword."
"You carry a sword?" Samantha asked. Harry pushed back his cloak and drew Gryffindor's sword. Ryan let out a low whistle.
"If we didn't notice it not many people could know, but it won't be easy if you don't want us to alert anyone."
"I trust you guys." Harry said, then a smile played against his lips, "Just use that Slytherin cunning."
The tournament wasn't due to continue until the next Monday so Harry and the others contented themselves with looking up and practicing new spells. The book he had taken from the room of requirement proved very useful. Harry taught himself a shield charm that would conjure a black hole in front of him and engulf the spell. Harry could then open another black whole anywhere he wanted, including right behind his opponent, and have the spell shoot out that end.
Harry also taught himself a particularly nasty looking spell that shot a bolt of electricity out of his wand, sending a small voltage through his opponent. Harry decided hit could be important to have his own version of the cruciatus curse. Harry also taught himself a number of other shield spells and powerful hexes that could come in useful not only in the tournament but in a duel with Voldemort as well.
Harry waited, for the first time in his life, for school to restart on Monday. He would have to deal with Snape in potions, but he hadn't been so bad now that he had nothing to yell at Harry for.
Finally Monday came and Harry waited patiently for the dueling tournament to begin. He got to the classroom a bit early and the professor summoned him inside.
"Harry, a word before the tournament. I know you want to get back at Malfoy, and I will give you that chance. You will be fighting him today, under one condition." McClaggan paused. "You can't hurt him. Aside from having to answer quite a few inquiries it won't be the best way, embarrass him and you'll put him through much more than any injury." Harry simply smiled.
The students made their way into the classroom and stood surrounding the raised platform. Harry looked around and saw that many of the faces looked nervous, especially the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs that were due to duel in their first round match today. He saw, with a measure of pride, that his members of the DA didn't look scared in the least. When Harry's eyes reached the Slytherin section he saw that Malfoy was looking extremely smug, he couldn't help but wonder what the expression would change to when he found out who he would be dueling.
"Welcome everyone, to round two of the sixth year preliminary dueling tournament. We will begin where we left off Friday." McClaggan continued to call out names until it seemed that most of the students had dueled once. Harry was happy to see that the only DA members to lose were the ones that dueled another member.
"We have a bit of time left, so we can start the second round matches. First up will be Draco Malfoy versus Harry Potter."
Harry watched Malfoy with pleasure as the blonde haired Slytherin looked around nervously. Harry could sense Ron and Hermione next to him as he went to climb onto the platform.
"Harry, be careful." Hermione told him quietly. Harry looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "I mean control yourself, don't kill him or anything."
"Screw that, mate. If you get the chance kill the dirty-" but Ron was cut off by a sharp jab in the ribs by Hermione. Harry simply smirked and jumped onto the stage.
"A rematch of the last dueling club, eh potty?" Draco said, his drawling voice unable to contain the tension.
"You two know the rules, no fatal curses. BEGIN!"
Malfoy raised his wand to say a spell but Harry simply stood their, his wand dangling loosely at his side.
"What're you playing at, Potter?"
"I figured I would allow you a head start, it seemed the fair thing to do." Malfoy's face went red as the crowd laughed.
"Serpensortia!" A snake shot out of Malfoy's wand and approached Harry. Harry smiled at his opponent, then changed his concentration to the rapidly approaching snake.
STOP Harry hissed in parsletongue. The snake looked confused but did as it was told. "Serpensortia!" Harry yelled in english. Malfoy was stunned when he saw a boa constrictor at least three times larger than his own snake shoot out of Harry's wand. "Seems mine is bigger." The crowd laughed uncontrollably again. Kill his snake. Harry's boa constrictor obeyed, unhinging its jaw and swallowing Malfoy's snake whole. Thank you, you may go now. The snake bowed to Harry and vanished with a pop.
"Stupefy!"
"Protego!" Harry said in a bored voice, lazily brandishing his wand to deflect the stunner.
"Zerstoren!" Malfoy yelled. Harry didn't recognize the spell, so he didn't take a chance and simply dodged it. When the spell landed where his feet had just been the portion of platform blew apart. Harry smirked.
"You realize that was against the rules? Oh well, I guess you just want me to end the duel?"
"Reducto!" Malfoy yelled.
"Vortichos!" Harry countered, twirling his wand between his fingers. A large black hole appeared in front of him and ate the redactor curse. Harry then concentrated on the air a few feet in front of Malfoy, causing the black hole to reopen and the curse to shoot out. Malfoy hadn't expected this at all and was unable to protect himself. He shielded his face with his arms.
"Protego!" Harry yelled, casting a shield in front of the Slytherin. The curse bounced harmlessly into the ward. Malfoy looked surprised. "Twitchy little ferret aren't you?" Harry pointed his wand at his rival.
BANG
"Ladies and gentleman, re-introducing into Hogwarts, Malfoy, the Amazing Bouncing Ferret!" Harry moved his wand up and down, causing the transfigured Malfoy to bounce. The crowd laughed hysterically and erupted in applause, even McClaggan was laughing uncontrollably. Harry jumped off the stage to loud cheers and made his way over to Parvati, who was smiling mischievously at him.
"I think I owe you something for that." She whispered in his ear, causing his grin to grow even wider. Suddenly he heard McClaggan's voice, but when he turned to address the professor he was speaking with another student by the stage.
"You look confused, Harry. I don't want to make you look like a fool in front of your girlfriend, so quit looking around, I'm speaking through your mind." Came the thick brogue. Harry concentrated on McClaggan before thinking.
"This isn't the best time to be in my head. But how are you doing this?"
"Long story, go hide in a closet and snog your girlfriend or something, its not like your going to be dueling again today." Harry chuckled to himself, but didn't question his professor as he led Parvati out of the classroom.
"The next match will be between Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley." Harry stopped dead in his tracks, concentrating hard on McClaggan once again.
"I hate you, Breannan. You know that don't you?"
"Who? Me? What ever did I do?" The Scot asked in a falsely innocent tone. "You didn't honestly think I was going to just let you walk out of my class to be alone with your girlfriend did you?" Harry looked at Parvati who looked crestfallen.
"I'm sorry, babe. I promise I'll make it up to you."
"You better, Mr. Potter."
Hermione and Ron squared off, giving each other a look that told Harry that they were about to release some pent up frustration. Harry wondered if McClaggan's trick was going to end up with one of his best friends in the hospital wing.
The duel began and Harry watched intently as Hermione and Ron fired spell after spell at each other. Neither of them bothered to move much, they planted their feet and simply tried to out magic the other. Ron used the same tactic he tried against Lavender and tried to simply overpower Hermione. Harry didn't think this strategy was such a good idea considering Hermione was just as powerful as him and knew a wider variety of spells. However, Harry thought, for the time being Ron was doing very well for himself.
"Stupefy!" The red head yelled.
"Protego!" Hermione countered. She quickly made a circular motion with her wand and jabbed the center while muttering something Harry didn't catch. A huge silver beam with streaks of gold shot out of her wand and bared down on Ron.
"Protego!" Ron yelled, but the spell was too strong, it broke Ron's shield and knocked him flat on his back.
"Accio Wand!" Hermione yelled, causing Ron's wand to fly into her outstretched hand. The duel was over.
The rest of the second round duels were nowhere near as interesting as the first two. Even though the DA members were still going strong they were just unable to match the skill of the trio. As a matter of fact the only DA member to lose to someone outside the club was Hannah Abbot, who was defeated by Ryan Johnson. Harry could see that the Slytherin wanted to make sure Hannah was ok, but was too afraid of blowing his cover. To everybody's surprise, with the exception of Harry, Neville defeated Blaise Zabini handily, disarming the Slytherin after just 2 minutes. Harry wondered if he went easy on Neville, knowing they were on the same side, but didn't share his thoughts.
"Mr. Potter?" Harry whirled, surprised to hear McClaggan addressing him so formally. "Step into my office please." The Scot looked solemnly at Harry and motioned him inside. Harry wondered what was going on as he sat down in the chair opposite the desk. He looked around and saw all of the ancient celtic artifacts. In the past years the office had been decorated much differently. Last year Professor Umbridge had covered the room in pink frilly lace, the year before that Moody crammed the space full of dark detectors. In Harry's third year Remus was more likely to have some sort of fascinating dark creature, as opposed to the year before that when Gilderoy Lockharts hung pictures of himself all over the place. Finally, in Harry's first year under Professor Quirrell you would be more likely to see wards against vampires and werewolves. Harry was snapped out of his flashbacks by McClaggan.
"You should've seen your face, Harry." He said, smiling crookedly.
"I already told you I hated you. What is it with you playing tricks on me?"
"I'm in a good mood. Actually I figured out how you got through my ward the other day." Harry simply waited for him to continue. "But first, there is someone here that needs to speak with you." Harry followed McClaggan's gaze to a back door in the office. The door opened agonizingly slow. When it finally opened Mad Eye Moody was standing there.
"I was watching your duel, Potter." He started gruffly. He seemed upset even by Moody's standards. "You think you're damned funny pulling a stunt like that? Toying with an opponent? You know damned well that Malfoy could've done some real damage to you. Especially after his mother gets killed! He's looking for someone to take it out on, and you just gave him the perfect bloody opportunity!" Whatever Harry was expecting, it wasn't this. Before he could open his mouth to reply Moody continued, the auror was now just inches from Harry's face, even the magic eye was riveted on Harry. "It's the same stupidity that led you to the Department of Mysteries last year! It's the same stupidity that makes you think you could build an army behind Dumbledore's back! It's the same stupidity that is going to make you lose this war and get the rest of us killed!"
CRACK
Harry didn't remember standing up, but when he looked around he realized that not only was he on his feet, but he was standing over Moody, who was now flat on his back. Harry was absently rubbing the knuckles on his right hand. "Need to get that eye checked, Moody." He said venomously. "I would've thought you, of anyone, could see that coming." To Harry's surprise Moody didn't try to kill him, he looked at McClaggan, who had remained silent during the whole spectacle, nodded and gave a gnarled smile.
"I think you're right, Breannan. But we could do some other tests."
"What the bloody hell is going on?" Harry spat.
"Harry this was a test. I told you that I thought I figured out what it was that allowed you to get through my magic barrier, and this proves it."
"Not completely it doesn't. We should know more. Potter, I hope you don't mind us giving you a few tests." Moody said, standing back up and rubbing his chin.
"Just tell me what the hell is going on first." Harry said, the emotion in his voice gone.
"Harry, magical wards and barriers don't affect you like they should."
"So?"
"So it means that magical restrictions don't seem to apply to you."
"You mean like underage magic?"
"No. I mean that you can do things you really shouldn't be able to do. You can walk through magical wards and barriers without thinking about it, and I bet you didn't even realize what you just did to Alastor, here?"
"I punched him…He deserved it!"
"We aren't accusing you, Harry. But you didn't just punch him, by the way that was one hell of a punch. But I never even saw you move. One second you were standing there, the next Moody was halfway across the room on his back with you standing over him, rubbing your knuckles. So now we know you can move faster than you should be able to and you can walk through magical barriers."