CHAPTER 26: The Dueling Qualifiers

Harry dreamt that he was flying. He could feel the wind going through his hair as he soared through the pitch black night sky. Then he landed with a thump. Wide awake Harry looked quickly around the room to get his bearings, what he saw surprised him. He remembered falling asleep with Parvati in the shrieking shack, but he had no idea how he got onto the floor halfway across the room. He looked back at the bed and saw Parvati sleeping comfortably.

He made his way over to her side of the bed and gave her a soft kiss on the lips to wake her up. She smiled, her eyes still closed, after Harry pulled back. Seconds later she was awake.

"Morning sunshine, it's time to get up." Harry said quietly. She yawned and stretched her arms.

"What time is it?" Harry looked around for a clock but didn't see one.

"Er- I have no idea, I kind of just woke up." She gave him a strange look before getting out of bed.

"Harry…how are we supposed to get back to the Gryffindor common room without anyone seeing us?" He hadn't thought about that and realized it could be a serious problem if he got caught waking up in the same room with his girlfriend.

"I have an idea. Just trust me." Harry pulled his wand out of his pocket and knocked her over the head with it.

"OW! What the hell was that-" She started before feeling the tingling sensation creeping down her body. She looked at her hands and realized she couldn't see them.

"Disillusionment Charm." Harry said simply. "I'll see you back at the common room. Just don't walk into anyone, remember you're invisible." Harry smiled at where he thought his girlfriend was before turning and walking out of the room.

It was the last day before vacation, so even Professor McGonagall had trouble teaching. Harry considered going to Professor Dumbledore to ask about the magic properties of that bed, but realized how bad that might sound. 'Me and Parvati were sleeping together and I'm not sure how I ended up on the floor.' No, he would just try to figure it out for himself.

Harry made his way from potions, which was turning into a good class now that he knew the material and Snape wasn't picking on him, to the Great Hall for lunch and Ginny's duel. He sat down between Parvati and a very anxious looking Ginny.

"You'll be fine, Gin. After you win just remember one thing."

"What's that?" She asked with a confused expression.

"That I taught you everything you know." He replied with a smile and a wink.

"Yea right, ok." She shot back, punching him playfully in the arm.

"You've got to stop hitting me like that. You are way too accurate and way too strong for this. I think my arms are going soft from the constant blows." Parvati turned to whisper to Harry as he said this.

"When you were holding me last night your arms didn't seem soft at all. All that sword training has made u pretty tough." She whispered seductively as she played one finger around his chest muscles.

BANG

Harry turned with the rest of the great hall to see the commotion at the doors.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, WE HAVE RETURNED!" Cried a magically enhanced voice. Harry saw too teens with flaming red hair standing in the doorway. Both were wearing new suits complete with dragon hide boots. The Great Hall broke out into applause as Fred and George walked in and made their way to the Gryffindor table. Fred winked at Harry.

"We couldn't miss our baby sister dueling in the big tournament could we?" Harry laughed but Ginny's face went dark again.

"Shut up, you two." This made Fred and George laugh uncontrollably as they sat down.

"Hem Hem."

Everyone in the Great Hall looked up at the teacher's table with shocked expressions. Professor McGonagall stood there with a wide smile on her face. Dumbledore sat next to her, laughing uncontrollably.

"I can't believe it still works." McGonagall said happily before turning it over to Dumbledore.

I think you've rubbed off on her, Harry. Dumbledore's voice rang in the back of Harry's head, who just grinned at the headmaster.

"If everyone would please stand up I shall move the tables in preparation for today's main event!" The sound of hundreds of chairs being pushed back swept throughout the room, but Harry noticed that Fred and George hadn't gotten off their chairs, they had stood up on top of them. When Dumbledore waved his wand and the tables and chairs flew to the side of the room Fred and George went flying with them, moving their arms like they were surfing on the chairs. The whole audience applauded when the two landed safely next to the far wall, even McGonagall broke into a smile.

McClaggan and Dumbledore roamed the Great Hall putting up the wards to protect the observers from missed spells. Harry watched intently as they did this, trying to pick up how, exactly, a ward is created. Ginny and Colin made their way to the middle of the room where they stood and stared at the onlookers with wide, shocked eyes.

"This is the fifth year final of the qualifications round!" McClaggan yelled in his thick brogue. "If the two duelists are ready then let's begin!"

Ginny and Colin bowed to each other and then started firing rapid fire spells at each other. Ginny just missed Colin with a stunner as he dove sideways and rolled. This gave her enough time to point her wand at herself and yell "Augmentus Speed." Ginny became a blur as she ran around the room firing spells at Colin. To his credit Colin was able to duck and dive out of the way of most of the spells. Harry wondered if the speed charm hurt her accuracy.

"ICIUS!" Colin yelled as he spun in a circle. He sent a jet of ice all around him, freezing the ground in a large circle. As soon as Ginny ran over one of those spots she slipped and slid against the ward. She got up shakily as Colin fired a stunner at her. She was just able to stumble out of the way. As she tried to regain her bearings she fired off a barrage of random spells, trying to keep Colin moving long enough to recover. Fortunately Colin didn't use a shield spell and her ploy worked.

"Fuertas!" She yelled, melting the ring of ice. "Lashio!" The whip shot out of her wand and wrapped around Colin's ankle. As she tried to pull him off his feet he fired a jelly legs jinx at her, causing her to lose her balance. She fell backwards, pulling the whip away and knocking Colin off his feet. "Finite Incantatem." Her legs stopped moving wildly just as Colin got back to his feet.

Once again the two students squared off. Both had shown some impressive power and quickness, but Harry knew they seriously lacked in defensive spells and creativity. They were basically stuck firing spells and dodging, neither would present much of a problem for him if he were to duel the winner.

"STUPEFY ANDROMEDUS!" Ginny yelled, pointing her wand in the air. Jets of red light began shooting from the ceiling, landing all around a diving Colin. Finally Colin summoned a shield charm and held it over his head. Unfortunately for him, this left his entire front open to Ginny's bat-bogey hex. Ginny brought her wand down, ending the barrage, to throw the hex at him. As soon as the spell struck he dropped his wand and grabbed his face. "Finite Incantatem!" Ginny yelled quickly, reversing the spell's effect so it wouldn't embarrass the other Gryffindor. When Colin was cured she summoned his wand, ending the match.

The entire Great Hall erupted in applause and crowded into the center of the room to congratulate the duelists. Harry could see Ron, Fred, and George lifting Ginny into the air and parading her out into the hall. She met Harry's eyes briefly before blushing and turning away. Harry smiled, silently thanking God that it hadn't happened to him. He felt right at home in the cheering mass of students as opposed to his usual place in front of them.

"WELL DONE!" Cried McClaggan over the shouts of the crowd. "It seems we have found our fifth year champion, even if she is currently being marched around the castle. Tomorrow, as you all know, is the first day of vacation." The students once again cheered loudly, but McClaggan held his hands up to silence them. "It will also be the seventh year final duel between Cho Chang and Roger Davies."

Harry and Parvati made their way out of the Great Hall and towards the Gryffindor Common room. When they reached the fat lady the portrait swung itself open and allowed them in before Harry could speak the password.

"I have a surprise for you tomorrow, Harry." She whispered in his ear as they sat down on the couch in front of the fireplace. Harry looked at her quizzically.

"What is it?" Parvati just laughed at him.

"It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you, now would it?"

"No, I guess not." He responded downtrodden. Then his face lit up. "How about a hint? That wouldn't ruin the surprise." She fell back onto the couch in exasperation.

"You're lucky I like you so much, Potter. Fine, here's your hint. I'm going to help you with something that I don't think you can do by yourself." Harry's jaw dropped open.

"What kind of hint is that? Come on, Parvati, now I'm just more curious!"

"I know, that was the point." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "You'll just have to wait until tomorrow." Harry groaned as his girlfriend disappeared into her room.

Harry awoke the next day with the surprise on his mind. It hadn't occurred to him at the time that he could have used his skills at legilimency to figure it out, but was almost grateful that he hadn't thought about breaking into his girlfriend's mind. He shot out of bed and made his way into the empty common room. He sat patiently on the couch for about half an hour, before his curiosity overcame him.

He walked towards the stairs leading up to the girls dormitory and wondered whether he should take the step. He had the feeling that he would be able to get up the stairs, but wasn't entirely sure. He was also afraid that when and if he got into the dormitory the girls would hate him for going inside. He put his hand on the banister, debating with himself whether he should move his feet.

"Can I help you with something, Harry?" Harry jumped back from the stairs and looked up at his girlfriend who was smiling down at him from the top of the stairs. "You must be very curious about this surprise…Did your curiosity make you forget that you couldn't walk up these stairs?" Harry smiled at her sweetly before bounding up the steps two at a time.

"You were saying?" He asked sweetly before kissing her on the lips. "Good morning, sunshine." Parvati's eyes went wide.

"How'd you do that?" She demanded; Harry just looked at her mischievously.

"It's a surprise!" She pushed him jokingly, but Harry was unbalanced and began to fall down the stairs. Before he fell he swung his feet over his head and did a flip. He landed somewhat awkwardly on one of the middle steps. He frantically waved his arms, trying to regain his balance. As he began to fall again he caught the banister with his right hand. He caught himself as he came parallel with the ground. Wondering how he could possibly get out of this position he saw Parvati looking at him in shock.

"What the…How'd you…" She stammered.

"Hold on a sec." He pulled hard on the banister and lifted himself off of his feet, as he shot into the air he twisted his body and landed with both feet on top of the railing. As soon as he landed he slid down, keeping the rail in the arches of his feet and impersonating a surfer from one of Dudley's old movies. He landed softly on his feet at the bottom of the stairs and looked up at his girlfriend, smiling. "I've had a lot of strength and flexibility training." Harry said simply, telling only part of the truth. She made her way down the stairs carefully, keeping her eyes on Harry as if he were about to do something crazy.

"So you were about to come and wake me up to find out about this surprise?"

"Yep, that was the idea."

"Were you sitting on the couch waiting wondering about the secret?" Harry nodded, his mind going a mile a minute trying to figure out where his girlfriend could be going with this.

"In that case, you were sitting on your surprise!" Parvati grabbed Harry's hand and led him to the couch. She dropped to the floor and searched under it for a few seconds before she pulled out a box. Harry immediately knew it held some sort of clothing, he had seen Dudley unwrap millions of those boxes on Christmas and his birthday. Parvati handed him the box with a huge smile. "Open it already!" She commanded anxiously.

Harry opened the box and looked inside. Throwing the top of the box down on the couch he grabbed at the red silk material inside. He let the bottom of the box fall away to allow the robe to take shape. Harry immediately held the dress robe up at shoulders height and turned to look at himself in the nearest mirror. The robe Parvati had picked out was beautiful, it was a scarlet red silk material with a thick, golden stripe around the neck and down the center where the buttons were. It also had a golden silk sash to tie around his waist.

"Wow." Harry whispered to no one in particular. Then, turning to Parvati he said, "It's incredible, babe. How'd you pick it out and get it made so fast?"

"I already knew the design. To tell you the truth I designed it after we went to the Yule Ball together in fourth year. I had thought about making sure you represented Gryffindor, plus I know you look good in those colors because of your quidditch robes. As for getting it made so quickly I sent an express owl to Madam Malkin with my design. Coming from me she would have done it anyway, but telling her it was for you probably didn't hurt either." Harry gawked at her.

"This is incredible!" Harry repeated, now at a loss for words.

"Yea, well I love you." If Harry had been at a loss for words before then he had no idea what level he had just reached. Did he really love her? He had never really loved anyone before, his parents died before he really knew them, he definitely hadn't loved the Dursleys. The only other person he had come to love was Sirius and he died because of it. The truth was that he had no idea whether or not he loved Parvati, he was only sixteen and had only even gone out with one other person, and that had only lasted one terrifying date. But how could he just stand their and not respond when his girlfriend told him that she loved him? He didn't want to lie, but he didn't want to say something stupid either and lose her. He decided that the only way he could get out of this was by kissing her and hoping she didn't notice the fact that he failed to respond.

Harry leaned into to give her a kiss, but just as their lips touched she pulled back putting her hands on his chest to hold him back. She gave him a skeptical look.

"I said I love you, Harry…Don't you love me?"

"I…er…I don't know."

"WHAT IN MERLIN'S NAME DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW?" The change that had taken place in Parvati's demeanor reminded harry vaguely of the beautiful Veela from the world cup that had turned into ugly, fire throwing birds.

"Well, I mean-" he stammered, trying to recover.

"YES? WHAT IS IT THAT YOU MEAN?" She had her hands on her hips and she was tapping her foot and staring at him with more rage in her eyes than Harry could have thought possible.

"I mean that, well, I just don't know! How am I supposed to know?"

"IF YOU DON'T KNOW THEN OBVIOUSLY YOU DON'T LOVE ME! AND I DON'T KNOW WHY I'M BOTHERING WITH YOU! KEEP YOUR DAMN ROBE, WE'RE THROUGH!" With that she stormed through the Portrait of the fat lady and took off down the hall. When Harry turned around he realized that almost all of Gryffindor House had been woken up, including Professor McGonagall.

"Back to bed everyone, there is nothing to see here!" She said sternly. Most of the students trudged back into their dormitories, only Ron, Neville, Ginny, and Hermione stayed behind.

"Mr. Potter, you may want to get changed and get out of the common room for a while if you want to miss the barrage of questions and comments that I'm sure your housemates will throw your way once I leave." McGonagall said with an air of concern. Harry nodded and she turned to leave.