Chapter 10
The Duel
Harry and the others spent every spare moment they had practicing for the up and coming duel, and finally, the night of October the 2nd came upon them. The small group of friends gathered in the room of requirements for a bit of pre-duel practice.
"Excellent, I think you're all ready to face the rest of the school. I'll be very surprised if you're not all in the top five combatants. No offence Luna but Gryffindor's gonna kick some butt tonight!" exclaimed Harry as he raised his wand in the air and everyone cheered.
They all made their way to the great hall smiling and confident they'd all come out winners.
The great hall was set out as usual, except all the tables had been transformed into duelling platforms. Once everyone had gotten into the hall, Professor Dumbledore stood on the main stage and began his speech, "Welcome everyone to this very special duelling competition to which an overwhelming amount of students have entered. There will be four duels at a time which will be refereed by Professors Flitwick, Snape, Weasley and Lupin. All hexes and jinxes are valid except those that cause serious bodily injuries or death. The duel ends when one cannot continue due to being incapacitated or disarmed, and house points will be awarded to the winners. There are a lot of duels to take place, so, without further ado, let's get started."
The four professors moved to stand by the four main platforms and called out the first eight combatants who were drawn from the sorting hat. Harry was relieved to see that none of his friends had to fight each other straight away, although Ginny had to go up against Hannah Abbott, a sixth year Hufflepuff, and Hermione had to go up against Morag McDougal, also a sixth year but from Ravenclaw. Draco Malfoy had also been called up first against Colin Creevey and Pansy Parkinson had been called up against Parvati Patil.
All the duels were over pretty quick as most of the students who'd entered the competition hadn't had much experience, if any. The following duels were over just as quick until slowly the number of combatants was reduced to the final sixteen. The only duels which lasted longer than a few minutes came when two combatants from Harry's AD class were up against each other. Dumbledore stood up and announced that there will be a small break whilst the great hall was returned to normal for dinner so the final sixteen combatants would have chance to recharge themselves before continuing with the duel. Harry congratulated his friends on getting this far and gave them a few tips about fighting the other eleven combatants, then returned to the great hall for dinner.
The dinner was quite a rushed affair so the final duels wouldn't run into the night. There was another short break whilst the professors returned the great hall back to its duelling formation. Harry took the opportunity to wish Ginny good luck and to give her more tips.
"Harry, I'll be fine, honestly, there's no need to worry," reassured Ginny.
"I know, I'm proud of you," replied Harry, giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
The duelling continued and seemed to be fiercer which knocked Hermione out, who had to go up against Pansy Parkinson. Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna all went through to the next stage before the semi-finals, as did Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson, Ernie MacMillan and Terry Boot.
Ginny was drawn up against Pansy, Neville was drawn up against Draco, Ron with Terry and Luna with Ernie.
Pansy fought fiercely against Ginny, sending curses one after another. Ginny kept rolling and somersaulting out of the way and erecting shields against her attacks until Ginny got closer and closer to Pansy forcing her back until finally Ginny launched herself at Pansy and landed a punch to the side of Pansy's jaw making her fall back and drop her wand.
Neville didn't even bother with any acrobatics against Draco. He calmly erected shields and deflected all Draco's curses walking closer and closer until Neville calmly pressed his wand against Draco's neck who promptly dropped his wand in submission.
Ron and Terry's duel lasted longer. Both of them were quite evenly matched against each other. Harry made a mental note to teach Ron more powerful attacks and counter attacks to take his opponents out sooner. Eventually Ron won by deflecting Terry's leg locker curse back at him and countering with the Expelliarmus curse.
Luna erected a shield straight away and waited until Ernie had tried all the curses he could think of, then Luna took her chance and finished him off with a powerful Disillusionment charm which confused Ernie so much he lost his balance, fell off the platform and banged his head on he stone floor of the great hall. However, before Madam Pomfrey sprang into action, Luna had jumped off the platform and performed a Coma Sano spell and levitated Ernie through the door towards the hospital wing.
Dumbledore stood and announced that there will be a short break while Luna returns from the hospital wing. Harry went out of the great hall and once out of sight apparated to the hospital wing to see if Luna and Ernie were both alright.
"Harry! I didn't mean to knock him out like that" explained Luna.
"That's okay Luna, accidents do happen from time to time. Are you able to continue with the duel?"
Luna looked up at Madam Pomfrey, "It's okay dear. Mr MacMillan will be fine, thanks to your quick thinking." Luna looked back at Harry, nodded and took his hand. The two of them apparated back outside the great hall. "Come on Luna, it's not your fault. One more duel and it will be all over."
"Only one more Harry?" asked Luna, "Don't you have any faith in me?"
Harry smiled, "Of course I do, come on let's get in there."
Harry and Luna stepped back into the great hall. There weren't as many people to watch the duelling as it was getting quite late.
The sorting hat drew the names for the duels one last time. Ginny was drawn against Ron, which meant Luna was drawn against Neville.
The last four to be drawn took their places on the platforms, bowed to each other and began. Ron didn't have a chance against his little sister. She immediately fired a Stupefy charm at Ron who didn't manage to move out of the way fast enough. Luna immediately cast a shield charm on herself but Neville's spells were too strong and knocked her shield out making way for Neville's Petrificus Totalus charm. Neville rushed to Luna's side to release her and help her up. Harry had to remind Ginny to revive her brother, which she did reluctantly.
Dumbledore stepped forward to praise the combatants, "Well done everyone, well done. Will the final two combatants please step onto the main duelling platform for the final duel?"
The final duel was taking place on the larger platform on the main stage so everyone had a better view of the duel. Ginny stood on the left, Neville stood on the right, both bowed to each other then started. Curses were thrown thick and fast, with both Ginny and Neville showing off their acrobatic skills. The students watching the contest were all staring open mouthed, amazed at the speed of the duel and trying to decipher some of the strange curses that were being thrown at each other. After five minutes of constant duelling, Ginny tripped and opened up for a curse from Neville and the duel was over.
Dumbledore stepped forward once more to praise the combatants, "Well done, that is some of the finest duelling I have ever seen!". Dumbledore waited until all the cheering and clapping had died down before continuing, "The winner of the duelling competition, Neville Longbottom, earns Gryffindor house 200 points". Dumbledore once again had to wait until all the cheering and clapping had died down before continuing on, "The first runner up, Ginevra Weasley, earns Gryffindor house 100 points," there was another pause, "and the second and third runners up, Ronald Weasley and Luna Lovegood, earn 50 points each."
"Wow, we're sure to win the cup this year, even if we loose at quidditch!" exclaimed Ron.
"Yeah, it's not bad at all. We'll definitely thrash Slytherin this year!" replied Harry.
"And now," Dumbledore continued, "for the final duel of the evening."
"Oh bugger, in all the excitement, I forgot!" exclaimed Harry. Harry waved his hands and changed into his nice new golden yellow robes and waited for Dumbledore to finish his announcement.
"The final duel will be between myself and Harry Potter."
Harry turned to his friends, "I was supposed to duel members of the Order, I wonder what happened?"
At first there was silence, except from Harry's close friends, particularly Hermione and Ginny, who cheered and whistled Harry good luck, then the rest of the audience starting clapping and cheering as both Dumbledore and Harry made their way to the main duelling platform.
Dumbledore waved his hands around the duelling platform and erected a shield to protect the audience from any stray spells. "In this duel, all curses are permitted, except the killing curse. Wands are not permitted and the duel will be over when one of us is incapacitated or submits."
Whispers of "no wands!" and "all curses except the killing curse!" could be heard all around the great hall as people were discussing the up and coming duel.
"Is Harry really powerful enough to handle Dumbledore?" Ron asked Hermione.
"We'll see in a minute won't we!" replied Hermione.
Dumbledore and Harry took their places on the platform, both looking calm and relaxed.
Dumbledore raised his hand and summoned a ball of fire which he threw at Harry. Harry waved his hand at the ball of fire turning it into a fire demon who took his place in front of Harry.
"His eyes have turned yellow!" Ron exclaimed.
"We'll have to ask Harry how and why he does that," replied Ginny.
Dumbledore raised both his hands and summoned what can only be described as a storm cloud, over the top of the fire demon. The storm cloud started raining and lightning and eventually destroyed the fire demon. Dumbledore then performed the Cruciatus Curse on Harry who with one wave of his hand rebound it back at Dumbledore.
Harry then performed the Imperius Curse on Dumbledore who then went into a sort of tap dance. That confused Harry as he didn't try to get Dumbledore to do that. Dumbledore saw the confusion on Harry's face and sent an explosion hex at him.
Harry's eyes widened for a split second before he apparated to the other side of the platform. By the time Harry did this however, Dumbledore had vanished.
Harry looked around but Dumbledore was nowhere to be seen. He turned to look at the audience completely confused. Everyone's mouths were open, staring at the teenager on the stage. Then out of nowhere Dumbledore appeared behind Harry.
There were shouts of "he's behind you!" but it was too late. Dumbledore slapped Harry round the back of the head causing him to fall off the stage and into the audience. The duel was over.
Dumbledore waved his hands and removed the protective shield from around the platform and joyfully clapped and congratulated Harry on a good duel.
Harry had landed on a group of Slytherins who were happy about Harry loosing, all except one of them. Draco helped Harry to his feet and whispered, "good duel Potter!" before pushing him back towards the stage.
Harry went up and shook Dumbledore's hand. "Well done Harry, very well done," Dumbledore said clapping. Everyone joined in and clapped for Harry's valiant efforts.
"Sir, what happened to Kingsley, Tonks and Remus?" asked Harry.
"See me in my office after lunch tomorrow Harry and I'll explain."
"Yes sir."
With the duel over, everyone filed out of the great hall back to their common rooms.
By the time everyone had reached the Gryffindor common room, Harry had apparated to the Weasley twin's shop and picked up a couple of crates of butterbeer and apparated the butterbeer and twins back to the common room. With the help of Dobby and Winky who set up a buffet and Parvati's wizarding wireless, the Gryffindors partied most of the night dancing and talking animatedly about the duel. The twins occasionally letting off their Wildfire Whiz-Bangs and then taking orders for the fireworks, plus other Weasley's Wizard Wheezes items, from the students.
The group of friends sat around the fire in their usual position all night talking about the duel and drinking butterbeer.
"Harry, why do your eyes turn yellow when you duel?" asked Ginny.
"It's something Godric mentioned and something I read about magical animagi. I half transform into my animagus form and because my animagus form is a magical creature it helps stop most spells," explained Harry.
"Oh, we thought you just turned evil!" said Ron, who got a swift punch in the arm from Hermione. "We didn't think that, honestly Ron!" Hermione retorted.
"I was joking!" replied Ron, rubbing his arm.
Fred and George joined the group next to the fire as things were dying down. "Well Harry, looks like we left Gryffindor in good hands!" said George.
"Yeah," said Fred, "a few more successes like this and we can retire!"
"Anyway Harry, hadn't you better be taking us back now?" asked George.
"Yeah, sure." Harry got up and apparated the twins back to their shop and returned to the Gryffindor party just as Neville was walking through the portal with Luna.
"Where've you two been? Eh?" asked Ron.
"We've just taken Ernie back to the Hufflepuff's common room," replied Neville.
"Oh, how is he?" asked Hermione.
"He's fine, thanks to Luna's quick thinking," Neville said, smiling at Luna. Luna just stared back with her usual blank expression. "Luna said she wants to be a healer when she leaves Hogwarts."
"That's brilliant Luna!" exclaimed Ginny giving her a hug.
"Anyway, I'm going to walk Luna back to her common room. See you all tomorrow."
Everyone bid Neville and Luna a good night and went up to their own dorms.
The next morning, the Gryffindors were the last to arrive in the great hall for breakfast and the last to leave for their lessons.
Harry's transfiguration class and charms class went without any problems. If anything they seemed to be getting easier. Soon enough it was time for lunch.
The small group of friends sat around the Gryffindor table in the great hall talking, "blimey, have you seen the Prophet today?" asked Ron.
"No, what's up now?" asked Harry sceptically.
"It looks like Fudge is being kicked out. They're blaming him for not listening to you and Dumbledore about Voldemort. It says here 'Due to the disaster at Azkaban and the attacks on Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, Minister Fudge has been asked to resign by the Wizengamot.', I wonder who they'll get as his replacement?"
"Maybe your Dad should run, I'd vote for him if I could," replied Harry.
"Don't be daft, it would have to be someone with enough power like Dumbledore!" exclaimed Ron.
"Why? Fudge hasn't got any!" exclaimed Hermione.
"Hermione's right. I don't know anyone who would be opposed to Dad." said Ginny.
"Anyway, it says here that the Wizengamot will be deciding on Fudge over the weekend."
"I think it'll be great if your Dad runs," said Harry. Ron was about to protest but Harry put up his hand, "think about it for a minute, who is there in the entire wizarding community who you trust whole heartedly to do good for wizards and witches everywhere, as well as muggles?"
As everyone was thinking about what Harry said, Dumbledore spoke, "That was very good of you Harry."
"Oh, sorry sir, I didn't see you there."
"We shall have to wait for the outcome of this weekend, but I suggest you two, Ron, Ginny, write to Mr Weasley to encourage him to run for the new Minister Of Magic. I will do my best to encourage the Wizengamot the best I can to allow a full election ; after all, I am the Chief Warlock. If it requires you to go back to the Burrow this weekend I will approve. Now, Mr Potter, please follow me to my office, we have a few things to discuss."
"Yes sir. See you guys later."
Harry followed Dumbledore up to his office. The gargoyle at the entrance moved aside without Dumbledore speaking the password and the two of them rose up to the office on the moving staircase.
The two of them sat down and Dumbledore spoke, "Harry, the reason the duel was different than planned is because Kingsley and Tonks were away on order business. Voldemort appears to be gaining strength and increasing his forces. Aurors from the Ministry have been called to Azkaban to guard the prison whilst a suitable replacement for the dementors can be found. We're uncertain as to why Voldemort didn't break out any of his supporters from Azkaban, the only thing we can think of is that he believes they have failed him and doesn't want them back, although it may be part of a future plan we have yet to learn of. I have here an Auror training programme which I wish you to use in your Advanced Defence class. I would hate to see students fighting an inevitable war against Voldemort and his forces but I would like to see them prepared. Do you think you'll be able to teach them the programme?"
Harry took the training programme from Dumbledore and read through it. Most of the content was beyond Harry's current knowledge but Harry agreed to help.
"I'd like an Auror to assist me if possible sir. I think it would be a good idea to have a few Aurors or Order members posted here at Hogwarts in case of an attack. Whoever is posted here could then assist me in teaching the AD class."
"Good idea Harry, I'll see what I can do. Now, I believe Mr Weasley will be an excellent choice to run for Minister, but I believe it will take a great deal of persuasion. I'm sure I can leave that in your hands?"
"Yes sir, we'll go to the Burrow this weekend and try."
"Very well. One more thing, Peter Petigrew was captured by Auror's during the attack on Diagon Alley. Unfortunately it appears the Auror's were not aware of his animagus form and he escaped. They will not make that mistake again. That's all for now Harry. You might want to run that training programme past Miss Granger to see if she has any ideas."
Harry rose up from his seat, "I will sir, thank you," and left the office angered by Wormtail's escape and went in search of Hermione.
It didn't take Harry long to find Hermione. She was flicking through a large book in the library.
"Looking for anything in particular?" Harry asked.
"Oh, I was just seeing if there's anything useful for the AD lessons."
Harry passed the training programme to Hermione. "Dumbledore's just given this to me. He wants to make sure the students are capable of defending themselves now that Voldemort's getting more active."
Hermione looked through the programme, "mmm, a lot of this will have to be researched first. It will help if we had someone from the Ministry or the Order to help us."
"I know, I've already asked Dumbledore. I suggested getting some Aurors or Order members posted here at Hogwarts, they could help us with this. Can you sift through the programme and find out what we can start teaching straight away and what we need to learn ourselves? I want to get Ron, Neville and Luna involved in teaching the AD class as well."
"Okay Harry, I'll do it now. What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to see if I can find out how much it will cost and what's involved in running for Minister to help Ron and Ginny's Dad. I want to be prepared for any arguments he's got when we go over this weekend."
Both the teenagers set to work researching their various subjects. They'd been researching for a few hours when Ron and Neville turned up in the library looking for them.
"You've had the afternoon off and you're in here studying?" Ron asked in amazement.
"We're not studying Ron!" exclaimed Hermione, "we're researching! I'm putting together a training programme for us and the AD classes and Harry's researching what your Dad needs to run for Minister."
"Oh, is there anything we can do?" asked Ron.
"You can see if you can help Harry, that's the most urgent thing at the moment."
Ron and Neville went in search of Harry in the library. They found him sitting cross legged in the archives section looking through old newspapers.
"Hermione says you could do with some help. What can we do?" asked Ron.
"Brilliant, Ron, can you look at what's involved in running for Minister, something like, public appearances, interviews and such like? Neville, can you look at the money side and find out how much it will cost? While you're doing that, I'll go over to your brothers' shop and get them involved as well."
Both boys got off to work with the research and Harry apparated to Hogsmeade. Unknown to Harry and the others, Draco was in the library doing a little research himself when he noticed Harry disapparating. 'Mmm,' Draco thought, 'he's certainly getting stronger!'