Harry Potter and the Guardians of Power
Usual Disclaimers apply, folks – If you think I own these characters, why don't we set down and discuss some investment ideas that I have.
AN: Please review and thanks especially to those of you who have reviewed every chapter and added this story to your favorites list. It's about 50/50 for a longer story or a sequel so I'll just add a few more chapters and then decide what to write next.
AN: Author's page has been updated 11/20/2005
Chapter 24: Hogwarts' Dueling Champion
After showing his second family around their new quarters and then sitting in the living room and drinking tea, Ron, Ginny and Hermione had to practically drag Harry out to go to the Great Hall for dinner. Severus was being rather snarky, he knew he had had virtually no chance of beating Harry at a duel, but it was still a blow to his pride. He had talked to Merlin for a few minutes about how he felt after being beaten by a sixteen year old and that had helped a lot, but he still was not looking forward to the razzing he knew would be coming from the others at the staff table that night.
But Severus was pleasantly surprised to find that not only was no one was teasing him about losing to Harry, they were speaking in wonder and awe about the skill and power of both fighters. Neither duel had involved magic at all, just sheer agility and physical stamina. Many thought it was admirable that Severus had kept up with an obviously athletic teenager, especially after just competing successfully in two strenuous magical duels. Several of the staff members asked the Headmaster if it would be possible to begin physical training and swordsmanship at Hogwarts, as it obviously had benefits in both magical and non magical fights. Severus just nodded noncommittally as he knew that was one of the classes that Harry wanted to teach after they took care of Tom, and he could change his focus from catching Voldemort to teaching students.
Severus was pleased at how much he enjoyed his steak and jacket potato dinner, and especially the moist triple layer chocolate cake that followed. He had thought he would be too nervous about the duel that Albus had set up that evening. But he found himself much more comfortable with the knowledge that he would be beaten again by Harry that evening. Merlin had helped in talking to him, and the knowledge that everyone else would lose too was oddly comforting.
Albus called for everyone to leave the Great Hall for thirty minutes to allow the house elves time to set up the dueling chamber again after dinner was finished. Harry, the other teens, the Weasleys, and Neville and his grandmother all moved to the anteroom to wait. Only the teenagers knew that Harry would be dueling so they kept the conversation light and concentrated on how their subjects were going. Harry shared a couple of the latest pranks that wouldn't give away any secrets and had the entire group almost hysterical at the description of Professor Trelawney's face when she had discovered the pictures substituted for her tarot cards. None of the adults had had her as a teacher, but they had all heard stories about her from their children and really didn't mind the harmless prank.
All too soon, the group was called back into the Great Hall and the adults left the students at their seating section before crossing the floor to their reserved seats on the other side. Harry hugged Ginny and Hermione for luck, awkwardly shook hands with Ron and the twins and walked over to the contestants seating area.
He had expected to see Professors Dumbledore and Flitwick, as well as Sirius, Remus and his father; but he was surprised to also see Tonks, Kingsley, and Mad Eye Moody. Well, this should be interesting. He wondered how the elimination rounds would go this time.
Professor McGonagall called for silence and began to recite the rules for the final duel of the day. "This competition will be a one wizard against three opponents duel. Loss of the wand does not constitute the end of the round, only incapacitation or forfeiture will remove a dueler. Each round will be five minutes; there will be a five minutes break between each round. If an opponent is defeated, another opponent will step in to take their place at the beginning of the next round. The competition will end when all opponents have been defeated or the single wizard can no longer compete. No instantly lethal spells or Unforgivables are allowed. You may use wands, wandless, physical means and elemental magic. Gentlemen, you have three minutes to prepare."
Harry looked at Albus and Severus, "You can't be serious; you want me to take on three against one, in tag team style?"
Albus merely patted him on the shoulder, ignoring whatever tag team meant, "Yes, my boy, and I ask that you don't seriously injure any of them, they are all older than you and take much longer to heal." Harry looked at him in astonishment, but he finally registered that they did indeed want him to fight three against one. 'Well,' he thought fatalistically, 'that's better odds than Voldemort ever gives me and at least they won't be casting crucios at me!'
The audience wasn't too surprised to see Harry step up on the platform with Severus, Flitwick and Tonks, but they were shocked to see him stop and face the other three. Surely he wasn't going to be the one wizard fighting against three! He had acquitted himself very well that afternoon, but he actually hadn't used any magic against Severus at all, just with the other students. He had been fast in ending his duels, but he hadn't used anything very spectacular in them after all.
Harry focused his attention inward and pulled a larger amount of magic to each of his hands than he would normally use. He took several cleansing breathes and consciously blocked all thoughts but the coming fight from his mind. He opened his senses up to feel his opponents and was surprised to find he could sense what spell they were going to cast a split second before they cast it.
Tonks threw a strong reducto while Severus cast a reflecting charm on the floor in front of Harry's feet, Flitwick held back a moment and then cast a blinding hex directly at Harry's chest. Harry used his left hand to throw up an air shield stopping the blinding hex, shot an expelliarmus down at the floor using Severus' charm to reflect up at Tonks and turned to the side to allow the reducto to sail past him. He somersaulted to the left, throwing a wall of fire at the three, then a reflecting charm at the ceiling above them. Severus shot a stream of water out of his wand, clearing the fire in front of him, and shot a petrificus totalus at Harry. Harry twirled, the shot passed by close enough for him to feel it whistle past his cheek. As he ducked a blasting curse from Tonks, he shot a stunner at the ceiling directly above Flitwick, who never even saw the spell coming when it hit him in the top of the head.
Dumbledore moved him out of the battle and Tonks and Severus took advantage of the extra movement to throw simultaneous hexes. Harry called upon air and by sweeping his arms up, lifted himself completely over both beams, before dropping lightly down again. Harry then conjured a large snake, about thirty feet long and told it to "Attack" in Parseltongue. Severus ignored it, moving to the left as Tonks froze for a moment, then recovered and tried to banish it. It continued to approach and she shot burning arrows from her wand; until finally catching the snake in the head, it sizzled and disappeared.
Meanwhile, Harry had thrown a right handed furunculous, followed by a left handed freezing charm and then a right handed pickpocket hex at Severus. Severus threw a wandless protego which stopped the boils, but the freezing charm almost broke through, leaving icicles on his robes and the pickpocket hex threw him upside down. Harry then blasted him backwards and used a sticking charm to attach him, still upside down and
petrified to the Great Hall doors, with his head about five feet above the floor.
Tonks had just managed to dispatch the giant snake when the bell for the end of the round sounded and she dropped her wand, walked over to the contestant's area and grabbed a goblet of water, flopping exhaustedly into a chair. Harry smiled wickedly as he walked over and unstuck his father, released the body bind and carefully caught him before he could hit the ground. He whispered, "Revenge is sweet, Dad!" Severus smacked him upside the head and snarled, "Brat!" as they went to rest before the next round.
The hall had erupted in thunderous applause at the end of the round, led by the standing ovation of a large number of redheads and a bushy brown haired witch. Severus looked up at the students of his house and was pleased to see a number of staggered and calculating expressions on their faces. Good, give them someone powerful to follow instead of that homicidal maniac, and maybe Slytherin could regain its rightful reputation once more.
Harry could have sworn he just sat down when he was called up once again to fight. He was now facing Moody, Tonks and Sirius. Hmm, he had no idea how the real Moody would fight. He would have to take him out quickly. Harry shot the first spell, Accio- ing Moody's magical eye. It flew at him and with the reflexes of a natural born seeker; he caught it in mid air and then banished it to the judges' table. He thought he heard several people laugh before he focused totally on the fight ahead.
Harry wrapped Sirius and Tonks in a mini tornado until he could take out Moody. Moody was very angry and shot a blasting hex that had the shields ringing like a gong behind Harry as he ducked and rolled to the right, throwing simultaneously with both hands. He hit Moody's other eye with conjunctivitis and Accio-ed his wooden leg. As the old auror lost his balance and fell, blinded by the first spell, Harry petrified him, stunned him and sent him to plop at Dumbledore's feet. Without missing a beat, he released the two from the tornado; they were dizzy and disoriented and shot random spells in different directions.
Harry hit the floor in front of Tonks with an ice charm and she hit it and went sliding, landing in her back hard, knocking the wind out of her. He bound her with chains and ducked and dodged the wild spells Sirius was still casting. Sirius finally regained his equilibrium and was looking murderously at the teen but the bell stopped him from retaliating. He walked, still staggering slightly, to sit down and gulp from his goblet of water.
The applause and thundering of hundreds of feet stamping on the floor was making dust fall from the ceiling of the Great Hall as Harry simply walked back to his seat and accepted a goblet of water from Dobby who was bouncing with enough excitement for three people. Luckily, the crowd was making too much noise for him to really hear the little elf so he just nodded and looked around as he drank deeply.
Harry was beginning to get worried, all the teachers and aurors now looked ready to kill him. He still had Sirius, Remus and Kingsley to deal with. He still had no idea what Dumbledore had planned for him, but he hoped he could manage to still be standing by bedtime!
Harry had fought a lot of duels that day, starting with warm-ups with his dad and he knew he was getting pretty tired and would lose if he didn't have some help soon. He didn't think it was cheating, after all three against one, dueling against fresh wizards time after time, didn't sound fair to him, so he decided to even the odds a little. 'Hogwarts, can you help me?' he asked.
#As you wish, Master Harry. Open your mind to me and I will refresh your energy, magical and physical. I am proud of you my Master. You will be a most powerful champion for the light. If you fight Dumbledore, remember he likes to jump over spells. Use that knowledge well. #
Harry felt a warm refreshing burst of energy flow through him from his toes up and through him to the top of his head. He felt as if he had just woken from a long night's peaceful sleep, ready to take on the day. He blinked his eyes open and looked around in greater interest.
Severus asked 'Did you just get a boost? I was feeling fatigue from you and now you seem energized and refreshed.'
Harry smiled across the room at him, 'Hogwarts thought it wasn't fair for all of you to gang up on her poor, defenseless master, so she gave me a little boost.'
Severus laughed 'Poor? Defenseless? Is this the brat that just stuck me petrified and upside down to the Great Hall doors and then laughed about it?'
Harry smiled angelically and sent 'That couldn't have been me, I love you Dad, and I would never hurt you!'
Severus snorted so hard he almost choked, but replied, 'I won't tell on you, after all, I've already been disqualified, and I know you wouldn't hurt me, just beat the pants off of me in public!'
"Too true, father, too true! Wish me luck on this round; I think Sirius wants to kill me.'
His father sent 'I know the feeling, believe me!' just as the bell rang for the third round.
Harry centered and pulled his magic back to his hands as he stood, balanced delicately on the balls of his feet as he faced Sirius, Remus and Kingsley Shacklebolt. He opened himself up to feel the men's magic and was surprised to find that all three were actually amused at his success. Well, maybe they wouldn't kill him. Before they even knew what he was doing he called up the stone of the castle through his earth elementals and blocked Sirius and Remus behind stone walls. Kingsley's shock at the sudden appearance of stone walls around his two teammates proved his downfall, without firing a spell he was petrified, stunned, and lying at Dumbledore's feet in the space of less than a minute. Harry released Remus from the stone encircling him and transfigured him into a golden retriever puppy and banished him to McGonagall's lap where she absentmindedly began petting him before she realized what she was doing.
When Harry released Sirius from his stone prison, Harry knew the older man was actually a little afraid of him, so Harry grinned at him and waved impishly. Sirius was startled but couldn't help grinning back before beginning to cast spells at Harry. The two settled down to a back and forth battle of straight out dueling. They circled each other casting minor hexes and jinxes until they knew the bell would be ringing soon. Harry had green hair and Sirius was dressed in pink robes but neither paid any attention to the minor annoyances. Harry sent a freezing charm at Sirius' feet that managed to just slip under his shielding charm and froze his feet to the stone in a block of solid ice.
Sirius sent back a reducto to the right and a slashing hex to the center. Harry turned sideways and felt the spells pass to either side of him, sending back a swarm of bees. Sirius slashed his wand up sending spouts of flames, burning the bees that tried to fly through it, but he was handicapped by having his feet still frozen to the floor, and he was unable to take his attention away from Harry or the bees long enough to cast a counter charm. Several bees managed to get under his robes and sting him as he was casting expelliarmus, followed by petrificus totalus, hoping to at least graze Harry. Harry stood behind his air shield and watched the spells dissipate into thin air before blasting Sirius' shields with a full body bind and a stunner to the chest. The final opponent was down just as the bell rang for the end of the third round.
The crowd was stunned for a moment, before beginning to clap and cheer for Harry once more. It was unbelievable; he had incapacitated every opponent sent against him. The students were in awe and pride of what their fellow student had accomplished. Dumbledore stood and raised Harry's hand in the air as he announced that Harry Potter was the winner of the Hogwarts Dueling Championship. He then bent down and whispered so that only Harry could hear, "Feel like five minutes with a very old man, Harry?"
Harry gulped and looked behind him at his father, 'Shall I duel Dumbledore, Dad?'
'I believe so, I don't know if you can beat him, but if you last five minutes with him it will sure make a death eater think twice about taking you on, and it will make my Slytherins much less likely to follow Tom. They are nothing if not cunning and ambitious, they will not back someone if they think he can't win. If we can keep Tom from replacing his captured death eaters, we can cripple him before we even have to fight him.'
Harry thought over what his father had said and nodded at Albus, "Yes, sir, just let me go use the loo and get something to drink. Perhaps ten minutes, oh, do you want staffs, swords, wands, wandless, or elemental?"
Albus twinkled at the child and winked, "How about if you just surprise me?"
Harry stood in the center of the dueling platform for, he hoped, the last time that evening and wondered just what he had been thinking of to accept this challenge. He knew he had won against Merlin, but he had been learning from the wizard for a full year before that, and at least knew how Merlin was liable to fight. He had suspected that Albus was an elemental, and his calling of the water element to put out the fires in Hogsmeade proved he was a master of at least that element. But he had no idea if he was a master of any of the others, and he had only seen minor wandless magic performed by the Headmaster. He didn't know if that was because that was all he could do, or if he naturally chose not to display that knowledge. Oh, well, no backing out of it now, he had agreed.
Albus was twinkling with anticipation at the upcoming competition. It had been many years since he had been challenged in a friendly duel with anyone. When you dueled at his level, adequate competition was very rare. He had been studying the boy's techniques all afternoon and was unable to find much of a pattern. He did usually stun his opponents rather than use other more harmful spells to incapacitate them, which he was frankly very happy to see. But the boy had been very creative and unpredictable when besting the various fighters. He chuckled to himself, this ought to be fun; he just hoped he lasted long enough not to be too embarrassed!
Harry banished his 'wand' to his father, it would just limit him when he needed every little bit of advantage that he could muster in this duel. He took deep breathes, drew upon his power and placed a good portion in reserve as well as the amount he had attached to his hands for the previous three on one battles. He also called to his air, earth and fire elementals to be aware of his upcoming need so they would be instantly accessible. He blocked everything out except Albus, and totally focused his senses on the old man's magic. No one seemed surprised when Albus began to glow with power, but there were loud gasps of astonishment when they noticed that Harry was also glowing brightly.
At the sound of the bell, they both opened their eyes and began. The two circled, each waiting for the other to begin. Finally, Albus cast a blast of water at Harry, who simply swept his arm in an arc freezing it in midair. He repeated the motion with his other hand and the ice was blasted into tiny slivers that flew back at Albus like thousands of tiny missiles. Albus swept his wand into a protective shield, but many of the sharp needles forced their way through and slashed at his robes, arms and face. Tiny spots of blood appeared and were healed with a quick swish of the Headmaster's wand.
While he was busy with healing himself, Harry had sent a wave of power through the stones of the castle floor. The crowd gasped as they saw the stone liquefy and flow like a ripple in a pond. Albus noticed in time and sweeping both arms up he jumped over the rippling stone. He landed lightly on his feet and threw ropes at Harry's knees and feet. Harry let them hit and banished them with barely a flick of his finger.
Harry remembered what Hogwarts had said about Dumbledore liking that jumping spell so he repeatedly sent mindless hexes and jinxes as he planned out his attack. Dumbledore knew the child was planning something but he was too busy dodging, ducking and shielding against the barrage of minor spells being cast against him, apparently without Harry even having to think about them; to be able to plan an effective counter attack.
Albus cast a slashing hex that managed to squeak through Harry's air shield and cut his left shoulder, reminding Harry of the formidable power in the wizard facing him. He started his plan of attack. He cast with both hands, one right after the other, sending balls of flame, each slightly low. Albus called a spout of water to quench the first one, and then swept his arms up to jump over the second one. But Harry hadn't stopped with two casts; he sent a series of blasting hexes in an arc from right to left, each higher than the last. Albus tried to twist to avoid them, managing to shield from the first two, but he had nothing to thrust off of since he was in mid air and the third blast caught him on the right leg, just below the knee. The entire hall heard the sound of bones breaking and cringed as one. Albus came down heavily on his injured leg and started to fall. He was stunned and bound and then caught by Harry's magic before he could even hit the floor. Harry had his arms under the man before any one else could even react. They sat stunned as Harry brought one hand from under the old man and ran it up and down the injured leg, his entire body glowing with bright white power. Harry released the Headmaster's bindings, enervated him and held him for a moment in a fierce hug as the tears ran down the child's face. "I am so sorry, I…I…I didn't…mean… to hurt you. It was an accident; I didn't mean to do it!"
Albus reached up and cupped the sobbing boy's face in his hand, "I know child, and you have already healed me. I know you didn't mean to hurt me, but sometimes things happen in duels, even friendly duels. You won honestly, and believe me I have been hurt much worse, many times before."
Severus had reached both of them by that time and swept both of them up into a fierce hug of his own. "Father, are you all right? Harry, it's all right, we all know it was an accident; that you didn't mean to really hurt him. Father, do you need the hospital wing?"
Albus chuckled at his two boys, they knew each other so well, and Severus knew without words that the old Harry would resurface at his fright. "No son, I am fine, Harry did a wonderful job of healing me and in fact, he gave me such a burst of energy that I feel ready to go another round. Let's stand up before people begin to wonder if I am dead and you are grieving over me."
Severus helped Albus up off the floor and then reached a hand down to pull up Harry. Harry threw his arms around Severus who could feel him trembling in shock. Holding one arm around his son, he leaned towards Dumbledore and whispered, "I need to get him out of here; he's going into a full panic attack from hurting you. The crowd doesn't need to see this." Severus tapped his wand on the top of Harry's head and disillusioned him to hide him from sight until he could help the child get himself back under control
Albus nodded and waved to the aurors and the Weasleys who were beginning to fight through the milling crowd trying to reach Harry. They pushed through and circled the invisible Harry who was still clinging to Severus, leading them to the small antechamber where Severus could remove the disillusionment charm from Harry and feed him a calming draught out of the sight of the audience. It took only a few minutes for the potion to take effect and the reassurances of everyone there that they understood that it was an accident and no one, even the Headmaster, blamed him for hurting the older wizard. After all, Albus had sliced Harry's shoulder open in the same duel and Harry didn't blame him for the injury, he had just healed it himself and then forgot it.
When the potion had taken effect enough for the other's words to finally register and break through his panic attack, he took a deep breath, straightened his robes, called Carus to his shoulder and stepped out to end the tournament. Carus was nuzzling his hair and trilling soothing phoenix song in his ear. He promised to take her out flying as soon as he could but she admitted she really like Fawkes, and didn't mind spending so much time with the fire Phoenix so she forgave Harry for being busy.
Professor Dumbledore had managed to remove everyone from the bleachers long enough to banish them and replace them with rows of chairs. The audience was just finishing finding seats so no one had really noticed Harry leaving the area in the commotion. Dumbledore waved Harry and Severus up onto the platform that took the place of the head table and raised his arms for silence.
"I don't think I've had so much fun in eons. Perhaps we could do this again, maybe next year. I am proud of everyone who competed and I award 10 points for each of you for each round that you won. I am awarding 25 points each for the four 'year' finalists and 100 points to Mr. Harry Potter, the first Hogwarts' Dueling Champion, and this beautiful trophy which will stand in his Head of House's office until he graduates, at which time it will be moved to the trophy room. Please join me in a round of applause for our new Champion!" The cheers and applause once again rattled the ceiling of the Great Hall; even some of the Slytherins were applauding which made Severus smile to himself. He took careful note to see which ones were refusing to join in; he would keep a close eye on those students in particular.
Rita left the cave and flew to the nearest little hamlet up the coast, she could see a small hotel right on the ocean and waited until the local train had pulled in and left before transforming back to human. She grabbed a paper sack off the floor of the train station and transfigured it into a carpet bag for 'luggage' and set out to walk to the hotel. She needed to sleep some and then get in touch with Dumbledore. Maybe the hotel would have a map so she could figure out exactly where she was. No one noticed anything unusual about her taking a room for the week and she went to her room and blissfully sank onto the mattress and fell into a deep sleep.
The celebration in the Great Hall had lasted until Dumbledore insisted the students go back to their Houses and then the Heads of House had to go directly to their common rooms to make sure the students actually went to their dorm rooms and didn't just continue to party. It had not been that big of a deal for his Slytherins, he didn't envy the job poor Minerva had tonight. He didn't think Gryffindor had ever won that many points in one day before, and unlike those that Dumbledore had awarded after the fiasco of the Sorcerer's Stone, these were actually earned!
He had sat talking quietly with all those students who were willing to listen. It was only about twenty five students, but it was a good beginning. He had cast a wandless privacy charm that Merlin had taught him, and then he had made each child show their left arm and cast a revealo before the discussion began. Now that he was free of the dark mark, he had been able to truthfully share the life of a death eater and broke through many of the teachings some his students had been brainwashed with from early childhood. Most of them with death eater parents could remember the physical shape or the 'illnesses' of their parents after they returned from meetings. Many of them had not made the connection or simply hadn't wanted to see them, but now they verified what he was saying to the others.
He showed them his unmarked arm and told of how it had been removed. Many of the older ones were astonished to hear how Voldemort had used the mark to drain magic and life from his followers. Most of the younger ones had gone to sleep by the time he had shared that with them. The older ones pledged to him; not to follow Voldemort and to do everything they could to keep their housemates from making the mistake that Severus himself had made. Before removing the privacy shield, he promised to bring the portrait of Salazar Slytherin himself down so the students could see what a true Slytherin really was.
After checking on the quietly simmering Potter's Potion, Severus headed up to their quarters to sleep in his new room for the first time. He was looking forward to things settling down. It seemed they had not had a moment's peace in the three weeks since they had returned. He knew he needed to spend more time with Harry, he missed the close relationship they had built up over the past year, he wanted to talk to the portraits of the founders and Merlin and find out how their lives had played out and, in particular, what had happened with Sal's bastard son.
Harry had been so tired and still upset by his panic attack, that Severus had given him a vial of Dreamless Sleep and requested that he take at least a swallow of it if he needed to, but Harry said he would talk to Hogwarts before going to sleep and he was sure she would monitor his dreams better than any potion. Severus made a note to find out how deep the connection between the two really was.
Severus opened Harry's bedroom door and noticed the boy was sprawled over the large bed, one foot hanging off and the covers kicked onto the floor. He carefully moved his son onto the bed and tucked the covers tightly around his sleeping form. He brushed the unruly black hair off his forehead and ran a thumb over the barely noticeable scar. He bent down and kissed Harry, telling him "Sleep well, son." As he turned he noticed the portrait of Lily and James beaming proudly at him. They nodded in thanks and leaned against each other. Severus thought a moment, then said, "Can you come to my room and wake me if he has a nightmare?" At their gentle nods, he wished them good night and went to his own bed. Tomorrow would be a busy day once again.
AN: Sorry for the short chapter, but this was the logical stopping place.
Next Chapter 25: Gerbils and Goblins and Werewolves, Oh My!