Chapter 8- The First Match
It looked exactly like the one Harry had found in his first year at school. It was a transparent gold all over with a shiny, red center. Harry's eyes widened and he began to drool from looking at it. With this, he could have all the money he'd ever wanted, and live forever….
"Oh… my… god…." gasped Ron, not blinking.
"What is Dudley doing?" said Hermione softly, not taking her gaze off of it either. "Does he have a collection of these at home or what? Where did he get that from?"
"I… don't know," said Harry, doing the same as the other two, standing there, transfixed onto it.
"Well didn't a note come with it or something?" asked Hermione, still not raising the volume of her voice in the least. Harry dug into the beg and felt a small sheet of parchment. He quickly ripped it out, and read it aloud softly to the two of them. He didn't want anyone else in the room to hear.
Dear Harry,
Remember how we went to see that lady in the funeral home that day during the summer? Well, as it turns out, she was actually someone very important… in your world that is. I think her name was Perenelle Flamel. Does that name ring a bell? Oh well.
Anyway, it seems as though this Stone was her most prized possession and she decided to leave it to whoever bothered to show up at her funeral. Seems as though she's not very popular with the rest of her family… it said in the will that the funeral home sent me that she wouldn't share her Stone with the rest of her family, trying to keep some sort of 'immortality spell' as she called it off of them. Said she'd give it to whoever went through the little trouble of finding where her funeral was. Weird, huh?
Anyway, I hope this letter gets to you. I had to steal this owl from the biology room at my school and I think I told it to deliver it to you. Oh, by the way, try to send him back as soon as possible, so I don't get in trouble and because we need owl pellets for a test on Wednesday.
Dudley
"That lady was Nicholas Flamel's wife!" said Harry, lowering his voice from a yell to a whisper, realizing how loud he was talking before.
"She has her own Sorcerer's Stone?" asked Ron.
"And Dumbledore didn't destroy it?" gasped Hermione.
"Maybe she hid it," guessed Ron "No wonder she stayed alive longer than her husband; he died last year."
"Speaking of Dumbledore," said Harry, "we have to give this to him."
Ron and Hermione looked up at him.
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"Couldn't we just make a little gold?" begged Ron.
"No way!" said Harry, snatching it from off the ground. "If we do that-" Suddenly, the same holographic map shot out of Harry's ring and into the air. It was massive, depicting the entire world, and someone could see it!
"Get down!" yelled Harry, pushing Ron and Hermione's heads to the ground, and shining the map onto the floor. He looked up for a second… no one had seen it. He breathed a quick sigh of relief.
"What is that?" asked Ron and Hermione together, gazing at the map.
"I- I'm not sure," said Harry, looking at it too.
"What are those?" asked Ron, pointing to the four colored dots.
"Like I said… I don't know yet," said Harry, trying to keep his voice down.
"You mean, you've seen this map before?" asked Hermione.
Harry swallowed hard
"Yes. Once before, in Dumbledore's office."
"His office? Why there? What triggered it?"
"I don't know," said Harry, letting go of the Stone, "I just touched this watch and-" Harry suddenly noticed that the map had disappeared.
"Harry… touch the Stone again…" said Hermione quietly. Slowly, Harry reached his finger out, until it touched the Stone. The closer it got, the more Harry's finger burned, and the brighter it shone green. The instant Harry touched it, the map appeared again. He took his finger off, it disappeared, touched it, it reappeared, let go, it went away.
"So the Stone is what triggers it," said Ron.
"No," said Harry, standing up and putting the Stone in his pocket. "I didn't touch a Stone in Dumbledore's office. It was a watch."
"Maybe it was made out of tiny Sorcerer's Stones," suggested Ron.
"Ron," said Hermione exasperantly, "how many Sorceror's Stones so you think there are in the world?"
Ron shrugged.
"A lot?"
"No," said Hermione. "This one isn't even supposed to be here. There's certainly not enough to make a watch out of. What I'd like to know is… what is that map?"
"And what the dots are for," added Ron.
"Well, we can ask Dumbledore all about that when we see him in the office," said Harry. "Let's go. We may still be able to make the Wizard Duel meeting is we leave now." Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, I agree with Harry," said Ron, suddenly interested upon hearing that Wizard Duel was involved. "Let's go!" The three of them walked to Dumbledore's office, their heads buzzing and on the verge of explosion. How were the Stone and the ring linked? What was that map? What did it show the locations of? Suddenly, when they were walking down a hallway, Ak jumped out in front of them.
"Harry! Ron!" he yelled. "Get in here! You're going to miss the meeting!"
"Err…" mumbled Harry, wanting to get to Dumbledore as fast as possible. "We… have to go somewhere."
"What place could be more important at this time than here?" asked Ak, shocked.
"Nothing!" said Ron, pushing his way in front of the two of them. "In fact, we were headed here right now!"
"Ron!" whispered Harry angrily. They had more pressing matters.
"We can go see Dumbledore anytime," whispered Ron back. "This club only meets… what? A few times a year?"
"Yeah, that's about right," said Ak, obviously hearing them.
"Exactly. Let's go!"
"Fine…" agreed Harry. "But only for a while!"
"Alright alright," said Ron, grabbing his deck out of his pocket and running into the room. Harry and Hermione followed him inside and Harry was surprised to see that besides the five new students, there were only two other students in the room, and Harry had never seen either of them before. Evidently, the club hadn't been as popular here as the new students had hoped.
"Where is everyone?" asked Ron. Ak shrugged.
"We're hoping the club will pick up by the second meeting," he said. "But, no matter right now. Let's get this meeting underway. Harry, you and I will play a little exhibition game, just to show Hermione and these other two here how to play. Are you up to that?"
"Oh yeah," said Harry, taking out his deck and sitting down on the floor. Ak gave out a laugh. "What's so funny?"
"Harry," he said, "we do not play on the floor! No… we have something specially prepared for the club." Ak walked over and opened a closet in the room. From it, he brought a small table that looked relatively normal, except for a small hole in each corner. Ak set it down in front of Harry, and beckoned him to sit.
"Put your deck of cards in the hole in the corner," said Ak. Harry followed his instruction and slid it in. It fit perfectly. Then, just as the deck slid in, Harry's side of the table began to glow, and his deck shone brightly. When Ak put his in, his side of the table did the same as well.
"What is this?" asked Harry, amazed.
"It is a holographic dueling table," said Ak. "Instead of just battling with cards, you battle with the real things…. Makes for a much more interesting game." Harry gazed at the table, wanting more than anything to see how this was going to look. Suddenly, five figures appeared before Harry: a wand with a Stupefy Spell coming out, another Stupefy, a Merging Spell, a Disarming Spell, a Quick-Attack Spell, a phoenix, and a house elf.
"What is this?" asked Harry again.
"Oh, that's your starting hand," said Ak. "It is automatically dealt to you, along with the card you get at the beginning of each turn."
"But, you can see the cards in my hand!" gasped Harry.
"Can you see mine?" asked Ak, smiling. Harry looked over. Apparently, the holographic cards in you hand were only visible to you. "Here, I'll go first…to show you how to play with this new thing."
"Alright," said Harry, looking at his house elf that was playing with his phoenix. They looked incredibly realistic, only they were about four inches high.
"Alright! Listen up!" called Ak to the group. "Watch us, and you'll find out how to play the game!" All of the kids walked over, and surrounded the table. "As most of you know, you get two actions per turn, and an action is either playing a fighter, an effect, using a fighter's ability, or drawing an additional card. For my turn, I will use my first action by playing a fighter: Boggart!"
Ak reached and grabbed hold of one of the cards in his hand that were invisible to Harry. He picked it up, and placed it on the field. There was a flash of light in the spot he chose for a second, then the Boggart appeared in its normal form: a floating blob.
"For my next action," continued Ak, "I will draw an additional card. Since you can only attack at the beginning of your turn, and I have used my two actions, my turn is now over. Harry, you may begin."
"Thank you Ak," said Harry, trying not to laugh at him explaining in detail each move that he made. The table automatically drew his card for him; it was a pensieve. The blue, smoking cauldron looked like a miniature version of a real one. After thinking for a second, Harry made his first move.
"For my first action," began Harry, "I will play a phoenix." Following what Ak did, Harry grabbed hold of his holographic phoenix that way busy flapping its fiery wings, picked it up, and placed it on the field. There was a small burst of color, and it appeared in the spot he had placed it. Immediately, the boggart turned into a phoenix too, due to its special ability.
"Next, I will play a stupefy spell on Ak's boggart." Harry picked up the holographic wand with the green spell coming out, and placed it on the Boggart. After the colors flashed, Ak's boggart returned to its normal form, and fell onto the table from its hovering position. It wasn't quite dead, but severely wounded, and unable to attack.
"Nice move there, Harry," said Ak. "But, it's my turn now!" The table drew his card for him. "I choose not to attack with my boggart, since it is so weak, would be slaughtered by Harry's phoenix, and it is unable to due to the Stupefy Spell having been played one it. So, I will begin my turn by playing a Flobberworm card." He dragged the it onto the table, and the pathetic grub appeared. Suddenly, the Boggart disappeared. "And, playing Flobberworm requires that I discard one of my fighters in play, so my boggart is gone."
"Hah, what a waste," said Harry. Flobberworm was a very pathetic card. It had almost no power, and it cost you a fighter to play. Ak was worse than he had thought.
"That's what you think," smiled Ak. "But, I still have another action. I will play… Cloning Chamber!" Ak dragged it out into the field of play, and a small, metallic box appeared that was giving off smoke and bouncing up and down a little.
"What does that do?" asked Harry, having never seen that card before.
Ak smiled.
"It's a very rare card," he grinned. "At the beginning and end of each of my turns, I get to make a copy of a creature that I have that has a power of one. So, Harry, meet my other worm." The Cloning Chamber made a small explosion sound, and a second Flobberworm appeared next to the other. "Your turn Harry."
"Yeah yeah, two Flobberworms is still is nothing," he said, the table giving him his next card: another pensieve. "Now, I attack one of your worms." Harry's phoenix
dived at the worm, causing it to burst into flames and turn into a small pile of ash that quickly disappeared. Harry smiled. This was Wizard Duel as it was meant to be played.
"Now, I shall play a house elf," announced Harry, dragging it out and making it appear. "And, I shall use a Merging Spell to combine my phoenix and house elf into a superior creature." Harry moved the spell over the two fighters and they both shone brightly for a second and then melted together. After giving off a quick, white flash, the new creature appeared: a house elf that had extra-long phoenix wings and four, flaming arms.
"Your turn Ak," said Harry, trying to sound menacing and intimidating. But, it wasn't working. Ak looked as calm and cool as he ever did. He merely allowed the table to giving him his card, and then begin his turn. Immediately, another Flobberworm appeared on the table, due to the Cloning Chamber.
"Alright… I shall begin by playing… another cloning chamber!" He dragged it out, right next to the other one. Harry felt a single drop of sweat come down his forehead. Now the Flobberworms would quadruple twice during his turn….
"Then, I will draw a another card, ending my turn, and I gain six more worms," said Ak. As soon as the word left his mouth, six new Flobberworms appeared, making for a grand total of eight. "Your turn."
"Yeah yeah," said Harry, trying to remain calm with the gaze of the eight other members of the club on him. His new fighter, the half house elf and phoenix attacked one of the Flobberworms, lowering the number by one. Harry drew his card: another pensieve! He had to get rid of some of those later.
"Alright," began Harry, "I'm going to play a disarming spell on one of the Cloning Chambers!" Harry dragged his card over the Chamber, and watched it disappear, right into Ak's discard pile. "Good, one down. Now, I'll play a pensieve." The bowl appeared on the board, appearing to have the mystery liquid in it too.
"My turn," said Ak, still not looking shaken. He drew his card, fourteen new Flobberworms appeared, and he gave a wide smile. "Well then, for my first action, I shall play another Cloning Chamber!" He dragged it out and it appeared, taking away some of Harry's hope with it. "Then for my second action… yet another Cloning Chamber!"
Harry's mouth dropped, and he heard some laughs from the observing crowd as it appeared in play. "I'll end my turn now… and gain sixty three more Flobberworms!" They all appeared, now as a pyramid of Flobberworms, stacked on top of each other, peaking at about a foot high. They were making the most horrible sucking sound and giving off some sort of horrible liquid that flowed all the way down the side and onto the surface of the table. Whether you were fighting it or in control of it, it was not a pleasant sight
Harry swallowed hard and began his turn. If all of those attacked his half-house elf-half-phoenix fighter, it would be killed instantly, allowing Ak to deal all the damage directly to his deck the next turn, and annihilate him. He had to find a way to protect his card and his deck… then he remembered! The pensieves! After his fighter attacked and killed a single Flobberworm, Harry drew his card (a Stupefy) and began his plan.
"For my first action, I will put my fighter into my pensieve." The half-house elf-half-phoenix disappeared, and the pensieve turned red. "Just so that you know," said Harry, talking to the crowd who didn't know as much as he or Ak, "a pensieve, when you
put a fighter into one, gains power equal to the fighter's power, but it cannot attack, only defend. When the pensieve dies, the fighter you put in it comes out unscathed."
"Yeah yeah, keep going with your turn," said Ak, looking very satisfied with himself.
"And for my last action, I will play another pensieve." Harry moved it out and watched it appear right next to his other one. He would have to stall for a while until he could find a way to wipe out all of the Flobberworms at once or kill the Cloning Chambers.
"My turn!" said Ak excitedly, getting his card. As soon as it went into his hand, two hundred and fifty two more Flobberworms appeared on the table. "First of all, I will attack with all of my Flobberworms!" The mass of grubs, after vibrating for a few seconds, fell over right onto Harry's pensieve with his fighter inside, making it break open, and his half-house elf-half-phoenix to come out. "Now, even though I don't need to, for my actions, I will play two Cloning Spells on my Flobberworms, doubling them each time, giving me a total of… one thousand three hundred and forty-four! Now, I end my turn, and get an additional four thousand thirty two!"
The amount of worms was almost overwhelming. The pile went ten feet off of the table now, and took up most of the surface of it, except for a small area designated for Harry's two cards. Ak gave a superior-looking smile.
"Don't get too cocky," said Harry, trying to sound cool, and drawing his card (an Avada Kedavra curse… useless against the Flobberworms). Harry played his other pensieve, and put his fighter into one of them, trying to stall for more time… something had to happen to turn the tides of this battle!
But, it was now Ak's turn, and he got and additional sixteen thousand, one hundred twenty-eight bugs. He attacked the pensieve, breaking it, and forcing the fighter out. Ak skipped his actions, just wanting to get this battle with as soon as possible. He got sixty four thousand, five hundred twelve more.
"That Cloning Chamber card should be banned," commented Harry, attacking one of them with his half-house elf-half-phoenix.
"Oh Harry," laughed Ak behind his ever growing pile of grotesqueness. "That card is so rare… I'm probably the only person on Earth with four of them. I've had to trade away most of my collection to get them from other players."
"Yeah yeah, sure." Harry drew his card, and was happy to see it wasn't another stupefy, it was a Sap Strength Spell. "For my first action, I will use The Sap Strength Spell, allowing me to improve one of my fighter's power by one per fighter my opponent has in play. My target is obviously the half-house elf-half-phoenix, making his power… eighty thousand, and twenty six."
"What's the point?" laughed Ak. "Even if your fighter has a million power, it can still only attack one fighter at a time!"
"Yeah, I know," groaned Harry. This was his last turn to stall… something had to happen soon. "Then, I will put my fighter into my last pensieve, and end my turn." Ak shrugged, and drew his card. He attacked the pensieve, breaking it, and forcing the high powered half-house elf-half-phoenix out. His pile of grubs tripled, he skipped his actions, and then it doubled again… giving an insane amount of Flobberworms… seven-hundred and seventy-four thousand, one hundred forty-four.
It was now Harry's turn, and all eyes were on him. All of his pensieves were gone and he had to get something good this turn or else his fighter would be destroyed and he would lose the turn afterwards. Harry closed his eyes, and hoped for a miracle…. The table gave him his card.
Harry breathed a sigh of relief, and gave a massive smile.
"For my first action!" announced Harry, feeling great at the promise of victory. "I shall play… Voldemort!" There were a few shrieks of surprise and fear when Voldemort appeared on the field, in all his horrible glory compressed into four inches. Harry saw Ak's eyes grow wide. "And as you obviously know, Ak, Voldemort has a special ability. When he comes into play, all fighters that your opponent controls are sent to the discard pile! Goodbye Flobberworms!" In an instant, the pile of Flobberworms that was practically overflowing off of the table and bursting through the rood disappeared, allowing Harry to get a better view of Ak's terrified face.
"And for my last action, I shall use the Quick-Attack Spell on my half-house elf-half-phoenix fighter. And, Ak, since you have no other fighters out, all the damage goes directly to your deck, making all your cards in it go to the discard pile, and causing you to lose the game!"
"Yay!" cheered Hermione.
"Go Harry!" yelled Ron, throwing his hands into the air.
"I… lost…" gasped Ak, letting his forehead fall into his hands. All the lights and cards on the table disappeared and Harry removed his deck from the slot.
"Good game," he said to Ak, offering his hand. Ak stood up, brushed himself off, and shook Harry's hand, trying to force a smile.
"Yeah, good game," he said. "You know, that was my first lost… ever."
"Well, first time for everything," said Harry. Then, checking his watch, "Oh! I'm sorry Ak, but we've got to go, we're terribly late!"
"Yeah," whispered Ak, looking through his cards. "Go ahead."
"Alright," called Harry, walking out the door with Ron and Hermione following behind him. "See you later!" When they walked out of the room, Harry heard all of the kids in the classroom suddenly burst into chatter, talking about the match, and wanting to start some games of their own.
"Wow," said Ron, "you were saved by Voldemort…. The irony is overwhelming."
"Shut up," said Harry. He hoped he didn't hurt Ak too badly.
"Oh don't worry Harry," said Hermione, as if she read his mind. "That loss probably did more for Ak than it hurt him. The tale of that match will spread around the school, and the club will gain popularity. By the next meeting, there'll probably be many more members."
"Yeah, all eager to see my Voldemort card," groaned Harry. He wasn't sure how he felt. He had won, but it was because of Voldemort. Even though he was only a card… it still felt as though he had actually helped him win, which was not a good feeling.
They soon arrived right outside of Dumbledore's office, and were surprised to see Professor McGonagall standing outside.
"What are you doing here?" Ron asked her.
"I could ask you three the same," she said, looking awfully surprised. "I'm locking up the room, but why are you here?"
"We uh… had to ask Professor Dumbledore something," said Harry.
"Well, I'm sorry to say, but Dumbledore has left for the Ministry on urgent business. He is the Minister you know, and has plenty of other work."
"When did he leave?" asked Hermione.
"Just a few minutes ago," said Professor McGonagall. Harry could have kicked himself in the head. If he had only not stopped for the meeting, he could have given the Stone to Dumbledore.
"Well, when is he coming back?" asked Harry.
"Oh, not for several days," she sighed. "I'm afraid he won't be back for at least a week or two."
"Well, thanks anyway," sighed Harry.
"By the way," asked Professor McGonagall happily, "what was in the package Harry?"
"Oh… that," said Harry. He had to think of something. "Err- it was… some of Hedwig's Owl pellets that I left at home."
"Owl pellets?" asked Professor McGonagall, Hermione, and Ron together.
"Yeah… I have a whole collection of them…" said Harry, trying to smile.
"Well, I'm not going to pry into your personal life," said Professor McGonagall, wincing at Harry, and walking away. "But I will tell you to return to your common room now."
"Yes professor," said the three of them, walking back.
"Now what are we going to do?" asked Ron.
"We'll just have to hide the Stone from ourselves and not use it for a while," said Harry.
"Yeah, easier said than done," commented Hermione. "Even I'm tempted to use it! Infinite life and money…. I mean, come on!"
"Yeah, come on!" said Ron.
"I guess I'll have to watch it then," sighed Harry, giving the password (piez) and stepping inside. "I'll hide it somewhere and put a trap on it so none of us, or anyone else for that matter, can touch it."
"Fine," said Hermione, walking to the girl's dormitory from the empty common room. "Good night." Harry and Ron walked up to their room, and found everyone else to have already gone to bed. Harry opened one of his drawers in the stand next to his bed, put the Stone inside it, and put a trap on it that he learned in Charms. He put the most dangerous one he knew on it, one that caused a small explosion if you touched it without saying the password first, which he designated as 'Dumbledore'.
Harry climbed into bed, and tried to fall asleep… but the Stone was calling to him. He tried to concentrate on Neville's breathing, but it didn't help. The temptation to use the Stone was so much, Harry thought his brain was going to leak out of his ears…. He didn't get much sleep that night.