Chapter 12- Too Many Voldemorts

It took the entire next week, and a few days into October to finally rebuild the Great Hall. The house elves were working overtime, and they could not be happier. Every day Harry walked by, he saw at least a hundred of them, bucket in one hand, some sort of

magical tool in the other, and a smile on their face. Sharing their enthusiasm was Malfoy. Everywhere, all that people talked about was his mighty victory over Harry. Some knew the two of them were friends now, some didn't. It didn't matter to them, no one stopped praising Malfoy for his magnificent transformation and wishing that they had seen it.

However, once the week got closer to Friday, the school-wide talk turned from the Dueling Club to the Wizard Duel Card Game Club. From what Harry had been hearing, there would be many more people attending this week's meeting than the handful that came to the last one. Despite all the hype, it wasn't really the meeting that Harry was looking forward to, but the meeting afterwards, with Cho.

"Come on Harry!" called Ron, about an hour before the club would meet. "I want to get down there early, so we can have some time to practice."

"Alright, alright," said Harry, rolling off of his bed, and onto the floor. He put his book down, and walked over to Ron, who was busy adding a few final touches to his deck. They walked down to the common room together, where both of them met a very angry looking Hermione.

"Where do you think you're going, Harry?" she demanded, her arms crossed and a single foot stomping.

"Um, to the Wizard Duel Club Meeting," said Harry, as if it were very obvious.

"Not this time," she said seriously.

"What do you mean?" asked Ron.

"You're not skipping this Prefect's Meeting!" barked Hermione. "It's the first one of the year, and it's a very important one."

Harry groaned.

"Oh come on Hermione," he sighed. "Not today…."

"Harry," she said, "with privileges come responsibilities. This is one of your responsibilities. You have to attend these meetings, so come on."

"But I'll miss the Wizard Duel meeting!"

"If you hurry up I'm sure you'll have time for both," said Hermione quickly, checking her watch. "But come on, we have to hurry now! Let's go!"

"Fine," sighed Harry, allowing Hermione to drag him out of the room. "See you later Ron! Don't wait up for me…."

"Don't worry, I won't," grinned Ron as they stepped out of the room. "Have fun!"

"So what exactly do we do at these meetings?" asked Harry as they started walking.

"You never did read your manual, did you?" asked Hermione, shaking her head. Seeing Harry do the same, she continued. "Well, I'll never know how you got to be a Prefect. I mean, sure you're grades are okay and all but-"

"Can you just tell me about the meetings?"

"Well, we do lots of stuff really," she explained. "We talk about things to change around the school to make it better, give the opinions of our house classmates on issues, nominate new prefects for next year, and more. It's really quite fun!"

"I'm sure," said Harry, rolling his eyes, just as they were passing the newly made Great Hall.

"Wow, the house elves really did a great job on it," smiled Hermione with her arms on her sides. She stopped for a minute to just look around. "And to think, they did all this… with pay!"

"Yeah, that's great Hermione," said Harry, not sharing her enthusiasm for equal elf rights. "But don't we have to go to the meeting?"

"Look at how beautiful they made the ceiling!" gasped Hermione, not paying attention to Harry. "And the walls, and the floor! Oh my! Just look at how well they did it, I can't believe they were paid to do this! Oh and look at-"

"Hermione!" yelled Harry, bringing her out of her catatonic state. "You dragged me away from the Wizard Duel meeting, and after that, we had better go now."

"Alright," said Hermione, taking one last look and then walking back.

She lead the rest of the way, still making a comment every now and then about house elves and such. By the time they reached the room, Harry was really wishing he was with Ron at the club meeting.

"Be sure to put your prefect badge on," said Hermione, fixing hers so that it was perfectly straight. "If you walk through the door without one on, you'll be blown backwards fifty feet."

"Wow," said Harry, taking his out of his pocket and attaching it to his robe, resisting the urge just to try out the trap anyways. He didn't really like wearing all the time like Hermione did. Though he liked the honor of being a Prefect, Harry wasn't sure he enjoyed all the power he had over the other students, especially those others who were worthy of his position.

Once Hermione was satisfied with how Harry's badge looked, she opened the door and revealed the inside. To Harry's surprise, it wasn't elaborate at all. There were no posters, banners, fountains or anything in the room. All the was were several school desk chairs set out before two slightly larger chairs, with the words 'Head Boy' engraved onto one, and 'Head Girl' engraved onto the other. As soon as the two of them entered, all twenty heads turned towards them.

"Ah, I'm happy to see that Harry Potter has finally decided to join us," said the Head Boy, Joe Bob. He gave a weak smile, and waved his arm in the direction of the chairs.

"Time to sit down, Harry," said Hermione, nudging him in the side. The two of them took the only two chairs left.

"Now that were are all here," said the Head Girl, Dora, "and since it is the first meeting of the year, I think we should all introduce ourselves, so that we can refer to each other by name and not just by house and year. So, let us begin with a roll call."

"I will call out your grade, then house, then name," continued Joe Bob. "When you are called, simply say: 'Here,' I don't want any 'presents' or other such nonsense, got it? Alright. Let us begin with," he opened up a small scroll that was on the floor next to his chair, "Fifth Year Prefect for Gryffindor House, Aniruddha Gollapalli."

"Here," said a tall, Indian boy whom Harry thought he had seen before in the common room.

"Fifth Year Prefect for Gryffindor House, Megan Williams."

"Here."

"Fifth Year Prefect for Ravenclaw House, Zac Peeples."

"Here."

"Fifth Year Prefect for Ravenclaw House, Holly Smith."

"Here"

"Fifth Year Prefect for Hufflepuff House, Andrew Arena."

"Here."

"Fifth Year Prefect for Hufflepuff House, Andrea Anera."

"Here."

"Fifth Year Prefect for Slytherin House, Geoff Halliday."

"Here."

"Fifth Year Prefect for Slytherin House, Kush Raj."

"Here."

"Sixth Year Prefect for Gryffindor House, Harry Potter."

"Here," said Harry quickly, slouching in his chair. This roll call was taking forever.

"Sixth Year Prefect for Gryffindor House, Hermione Granger."

"Here," said Hermione loudly and proudly.

"Sixth Year Prefect for Ravenclaw House, Paulo Calvacanti."

"Here."

"Sixth Year Prefect for Ravenclaw House, Lisa Turpin."

"Here."

"Sixth Year Prefect for Hufflepuff House, Ernie Macmillan."

"Here."

"Sixth Year Prefect for Hufflepuff House, Hannah Abbot."

"Here."

"Sixth Year Prefect for Slytherin House, Draco Malfoy."

"Here," said Malfoy, about as enthusiastically as Harry. For a fraction of a second, Harry wished he were in Slytherin, so he could sit there next to Malfoy and have a good time, instead of sitting here next to uptight Hermione.

"Sixth Year Prefect for Slytherin House, Pansy Parkinson."

"Here."

"Seventh Year Prefect, and Head Boy, for Gryffindor House, Joe Bob BobJoe…. Here!" said the Head Boy, chuckling to himself. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Seventh Year Prefect for Gryffindor House, Casey Wilson."

"Here."

"Seventh Year Prefect for Ravenclaw House, Felix Malinkevich."

"Here."

"Seventh Year Prefect for Ravenclaw House, Montana Sweet."

"Here."

"Seventh Year Prefect for Hufflepuff House, Shane Joyce."

"Here."

"Seventh Year Prefect for Hufflepuff House, Tricia McMillan."

"Here."

"Seventh Year Prefect for Slytherin House, Max Kashdan."

"Here."

"Seventh Year Prefect, and Head Girl, for Slytherin House, Dora TheExplorer."

"Here," said the girl next to him.

"Excellent," said Joe Bob, putting the scroll away. "Everyone is here."

"Now, down to business," said Dora. "We have much to discuss…."

"Ah yes, we have hundreds of topics," added Joe Bob, hitting the armrest of this chair with his hand and staring blankly at the crowd of students. Then, after waiting a

second or two, he gave a small cough that echoed throughout the room. "So… does anyone have anything to talk about, because I sure as heck don't."

The Sixth Year Ravenclaw Prefect, Paulo, raised his hand.

"Yes!" said Joe Bob, pointing at him. "What is it?"

Paulo stood up.

"I was just wondering," he said quite loudly, "how does this school intend to deal with the letters from You-Know-Who, sent to us just a matter of weeks ago? Is the body of professors planning some sort of show of aggression to their senders, or are we going to take the passive side of the imbroglio and merely allow time to nurse this wound?"

"Well, that is a very god question, Paulo," said Joe Bob, clearing his throat. "There are many things that are planned for the letters, most of which have happened already. Watch and you shall see."

He reached into his pocket, and took out his letter from Voldemort. Harry was shocked to see that he still had it, and even more so that it appeared as though it had been opened.

"You can make it into an elephant!" He threw the letter out in front of him so that it hovered in the air, and shot a magical beam at it. The letter instantly turned into a two dimensional version of an elephant, and gave a roar. There was some scattered laughing.

"Or even an owl," he said, magicking the letter again, and turning the elephant into an origami version of an owl. It gave a hoot and flew around rather awkwardly. "Look! A letter that carries letters!" There was a bit more laughter this time.

"And don't underestimate the letter's power as a mode of transportation," continued Joe Bob, hitting the owl with yet another beam, and making it into a spaceship which he jumped into and flew about the room in. "Yeehaw!" This time, everyone except Harry laughed. He just didn't see how Joe Bob could take such a serious situation like this and twist it into some sort of comedic act.

"And last but not least," said Joe Bob, jumping out of the paper ship and into his chair "the letter's natural power as fire fuel." He conjured a hovering fire, and made the ship fly right into it, causing a small but impressive show of fireworks to appear. To this, everyone except Harry stood up and cheered.

"So as you can see, Paulo," concluded Joe Bob, making the fire disappear and putting the ashes from the letter into a small trashcan by making a magical dustpan appear. "There are many things to do with the letter, though I most highly recommend the last one."

"Why didn't you stand up, Harry?" asked Hermione when everyone sat down.

"I don't know," said Harry, staring at Joe Bob. "There's just something about him that strikes me as… odd."

"How so?" asked Hermione.

"Like how he still has his letter, and how he made what should have been a very serious question's answer into a funny show."

"Oh Harry," said Hermione, "you really have to lighten up. I mean, most of the kids kept their letters just for show, and comedy is a god way to escape fear. I think what Joe Bob did was commendable almost."

"Whatever," said Harry, turning his attention back to the Head Boy and Girl. They were answering another question that someone else had asked and Harry had missed. Then, just when Harry was beginning to understand what the question was, he

saw the trashcan that Joe Bob had put the ashes of the letter in glow a faint blue. The ashes slowly then rose out of the bin, and went under Joe Bob's chair where they materialized back into the letter. Harry rubbed his eyes and shook his head, just to be sure that what he just saw happen had actually occurred. He looked around furiously, to see if anyone else had notice, but they were all nodding and commenting on the current topic. Harry looked at Joe Bob, and saw a small smile on his face… he had brought his letter back.

"Is there a problem, Harry?" asked Joe Bob, turning to look at him. "You were looking around the room like a madman… is everything alright?"

"Well…" said Harry, his minds racing. Should he say he saw him bring back his letter? "No… everything's fine."

"That was certainly a fun and interesting meeting," said Hermione as everyone was standing up and getting ready to leave.

"Yeah, sure," said Harry, not really paying attention to her. He checked his watch. Good; if he hurried, he could still make it in time for the Wizard Duel club meeting. "I've got to go, Hermione. See you later!"

"Fine, go have fun at your little kiddy game club," called Hermione after him.

"Oh, you know you had fun cheering me on at the last meeting, Hermione," Harry yelled back at her.

"Err… well, see you later Harry!"

Harry ran towards the room where the club would meet. As he got closer, he removed his Prefect Badge, and put it down into the dark depths of his pocket. He didn't want anyone there thinking they had to go easy on him because if they beat him in a match he'd take away points from their house. Shortly after, Harry arrived at the room where Ak and Ron were in the middle of a match to show everyone how the game was played.

"-and now I attack with my last Bewitched Tea Cup!" said Ron. They were using the holographic table for the demonstration, and Harry saw Ron's cup spill some hot tea onto Ak's deck. "And since my five teacups have a power of five each, you have to discard the top twenty-five cards of your deck! Take that Ak!"

"A good move," said Ak as Harry sat down. He was amazed to see that there were at least seventy people in the room this time. The space was almost entirely filled, and Harry had to work his way through the crowd for a front row seat. "But not good enough."

"What do you mean?" asked Ron. "I have twenty cards in my deck and five fighters out in play. You, on the other hand, have four cards in your deck with no fighters out. Next turn, when my cups attack again, you're dead! There's no way you can win."

"Ha, you shall see," said Ak, allowing the table to give him his card. "For my first action, I shall play the Increase Time Spell which gives me an additional action during my turn. I now have a total of three actions to use instead of two.

"And now, I shall play… Voldemort!" Ak threw the card out onto the field, and when it materialized, there were a few shrieks of terror and surprise, though not too many. After all, most of the people here came from hearing about Harry's victory over

Ak, and knew from that that Voldemort was a card. "And you should know his special ability, Ron. When he comes into play, all of your cards are discarded."

"No!" yelled Ron, seeing his five teacups shatter and explode. A nice little effect.

"Now you have nothing to defend you from his power," grinned Ak.

"Nice try," said Ron. "It's not like he can even attack this turn! You just played him, and you can only attack at the beginning of your turn."

"I already knew that," said Ak. "And to fix that problem, I will play, the Quick-Attack Spell!" Ak placed the spell onto Voldemort, and little winged shoes appeared on his feet. "Now I can attack you."

"Once last thing, Ak," said Ron. "I have twenty cards, and Vold- er, You-Know-Who only has a power of ten. I won't lose this turn."

"Ron you fool," yelled Ak, looking a little annoyed. "I've had this all planned out. I know that little thing, and to resolve it, I will play Unholy Strength Curse. It doubles one of my fighter's power for a single turn. Now he has sufficient power."

"So I…"

"Lose!" yelled Ak, having his Voldemort attack Ron and making his deck vanish. All the holographic cards on the table disappeared and the decks were released from their holders. "Good game Ron."

"Yeah, I didn't expect to win against you anyways," sighed Ron, taking his deck out of the slot, not really sounding as though he truly believed in what he just said.

"Now!" said Ak to the rest of the people there. "Now that you all know how to play, it is time for the club tournament to begin! It will be a single elimination tournament, each of you will face one other, and the winner will go on."

"Like how the Dueling Club used to do it!" piped a little voice from somewhere in the crowd. Harry thought is sounded like Joe.

"Yes, but not exactly," said Ak. "You see, if I put all of your names into a hat, and read them all out, it would take far too long and this meeting wouldn't be over until next week. So, to make all of our lives easier, I and the rest of my fellow heads of the club have already put all of your names up on this chart." He waved his hand in the direction of a wall of the room. On it was a massive chart that had everyone's name in individual boxes at the bottom. Connecting every consecutive two boxes was a single line, and another line went up that was perpendicular to that one. Connected to that line was another box which began the whole process over again, connecting every two consecutive boxes, until it went all the way up to the top to a single box where the winner's name would be put. It was like a pyramid going up, made out of lines and boxes.

"You will fight the person in the box that is connected to yours," continued Ak. "Whoever wins will have their name magically put in the box above your two, and the process will begin again until there is only one champion. Those who lose are free to roam the playing area and watch. The holographic table will only be used for the final match. Are you ready to begin?"

"Yeah!" yelled the crowd excitedly.

Ak smiled.

"Excellent. Just go over to the wall, check the chart, and see who you have to face. Good luck to you all!"

Harry, along with everyone else in the room, ran over to the massive chart and checked who his first opponent was. It was some kid who he had never heard of, and would therefore be hard to find. Luckily, the kid found him first. Sometimes, it came in handy to be popular.

"Are you, Harry Potter?" he asked. The kid was around three feet tall, and his head was about twice as large as his incredibly skinny body. It looked as though one good wind would knock him over and cause him to break.

"Uh, yeah. That's me."

The kid stuck out his tongue in quite an odd way, and scrunched his eyes closed and made some sort of squeaking noise which seemed to come out from his spine rather than his mouth.

"Great! Let's play!" he squealed.

It was an incredibly easy game. The kid took forever to get a fighter out into play, and when he finally did manage to put send out a house elf, Harry already had ten other fighters ready to go, and the kid had around five cards left in his deck. The house elf was quickly made history, and the kid's deck count was zero.

"Good game!" screeched the kid as he gathered up all his cards and mushed them together into one giant pile.

"Yeah… sure," said Harry, walking away slowly, back to the chart on the wall to see who his next match would be against. He saw that it would be against someone he knew, Seamus for a change, and he looked around the mass of people for him. After searching for a second, he saw that Seamus was readily engaged in a match that looked like a win for him. To kill some time, Harry decided to talk to Ak about some new strategies. He looked around for him, and saw, like himself, that he had beaten his opponent already and was just waiting around for his next victim to finish his current game.

"Hey Ak!" called Harry, stepping over a few kids to make his way to him.

"What's up Harry? You beat your opponent already too?"

"Yeah, he was pretty easy."

There was a few second of silence as they both surveyed the playing field.

"I can't believe how many people came here," said Ak, biting his bottom lip and nodding his head. "Sixty-four in all. The perfect number for a tournament."

"I saw you in the practice game earlier," said Harry, trying to find out some things about Ak's strategy, just in case it came down to the two of them again. "It looks like you've changed your strategy quite a bit. No more Cloning Chambers or Flobberworms."

"Yeah, I've completely changed my deck around," sighed Ak, rocking back and forth, his cape billowing. "I found my weaknesses from playing against you last time and decided to change my tactics. Now, instead of playing with Flobberworms, I just use Voldemorts."

"What's so great about that card?" asked Harry. "I mean, it's good and rare, but to base a whole deck around it…."

"Oh," grinned Ak, "you shall see Harry… you shall see."

"Hey Harry!" called Seamus. "We've got to play now!"

"Alright," said Harry, turning around, and feeling a little disappointed that he didn't find out more about Ak's deck. "I'm coming."

Compared to his last match, this one was downright difficult. Harry had to actually think before he played some cards, though not very hard. Seamus was just a slightly better version of the kid Harry played last time, they both had about the same quality cards. A few hard ones here and there, but nothing Harry couldn't deal with by playing a few Killing Curses or Stupefies. It was over pretty quickly.

"Good game," said Harry as his phoenix delivered the last blow to Seamus' deck.

"Yeah yeah," he growled back, looking down at the ground and gathering up his scattered cards. Harry shrugged, stood up, and walked over to the chart which already showed that he was the winner of the last match.

"Three more to go," said Harry to himself as he looked at the chart and saw that he was in the quarterfinals. According to the table, his next opponent was some other kid, Susej Tsirch. "Weird name." He looked around for a weird looking kid to match the name, but saw no one.

"Are you Harry Potter?" whispered a kid behind Harry. He turned around, and saw another student that looked almost exactly like his first opponent. But this one was a little bit taller, a ghostly pale all over, shivering slightly, and appeared to be on the verge of tears. He was also holding a small box which Harry assumed contained his cards.

"Yeah," said Harry, eyeing him suspiciously, and trying not to speak too loud. It seemed as though even if he talked too much the kid would explode into a million pieces. "Are you okay?" To this comment, the kid dropped his box of cards, and they spilled all over. He scrunched his eyes up and made his hands into fists.

"Why… does… everyone… ask… me… if… I'm… okay?" he whispered. He began shaking furiously all over, and Harry wondered if he was going to go into a spasm. Just when Harry was about to call for help, the kid threw his hands into the air and ran out of the room, screaming and running over everyone's heads.

"Wow," said Harry as everyone returned to their games after that little moment of insanity. "These new kids are really weird." He turned back to the chart, and saw that it had declared him the winner. Harry's name moved up into the next box and showed his next opponent.

"Aylar," hissed Harry. "That little cheater and card counterfeiter is going to pay." Harry scanned the room for any sign of where he was, and caught sight of him off in a corner. Harry stepped over a few people and cards to make his way over to him, just in time for the match's end.

"Another ten points of damage to you," smiled Aylar, finishing off his opponent. Now, Harry saw that he had put the money he made from selling cards to use. He had rings all up and down all of his fingers that shone all the colors of the rainbow. His robe was made of a thin and silvery cloth that looked finer than silk, but harder the steel as it made a clanking noise when it touched the floor. His hair was done up in a very interesting fashion: it was highlighted gold all over, and he had his bangs come down to cover one eye. He looked more like he was the evil mastermind of a horrible company than a second year student.

"You ready to play, Aylar?" asked Harry, still scanning him.

"It depends, are you ready to be my next victim, Harry?" smiled Aylar, moving his hand in a circular motion and having all the cards float up to it. He pushed his old opponent aside magically and beckoned Harry to sit.

"Nice rings," said Harry, sitting down and shuffling his deck.

"I couldn't say the same for-" said Aylar, before he actually looked at Harry's. He stopped shuffling his cards, and became entranced with Harry's rings. He didn't move at all, he didn't even blink.

"What?" asked Harry after Aylar's staring was beginning to creep him out.

"Wha- oh! Nothing…" said Aylar, shaking his head an coming back to reality. Did he know what Harry's Ring was? "But where on Earth… where did you get that ring?"

"You mean this clear one?" asked Harry, setting his deck down.

"No no!" hissed Aylar, waving his arm. "The other one… the skull one."

"Oh, I… uh… picked it up in a shop," said Harry, drawing his opening hand and trying to enjoy the moment in which he had something Aylar wanted and could not have, no matter how many cards he counterfeited.

"What shop did you-"

"Can we just get on with the game," interrupted Harry. "This is match is in the semifinals after all."

"Yeah, alright," said Aylar, setting his deck down, and summoning his opening cards to his hand telekinetically. "Let's get started."

"And you can go first."

"No, you go first."

"No, you."

"No, you."

"No, you!"

"No, you!"

"No, YOU!"

"Fine!" said Aylar, putting his hands up into the air. "I'll go first…. That will make you lose faster." He laughed and made the top card of his deck float to his hand. "And for my first action," Harry noticed that there was a group of people gathering around them, "I will play… heh, how about this? Harry Potter!" Aylar threw his card onto the playing field, and indeed it was a Harry Potter card.

"I'm a card?" gasped Harry. "Let me see that!" He picked the card up off of the ground, and read it over. "Well, at least I'm a pretty good card… though this one is a counterfeit version." He slapped the card back onto the ground, and squinted at Aylar. He merely shrugged.

"Enh," said Aylar. "Most of my cards are fake but… so are most of the kid's here." He straightened his card out, placed it back on the ground, and returned to examining his hand. "And for my next action, I will play a Merfolk." He set the card down, and Harry wished they were playing on the holographic table so he could see himself interact with Aylar's other cards. "Your turn."

"I know," said Harry, drawing his card, and looking at his hand. An Electo Poli spell, a Stupefy, another Stupefy, a phoenix, a house elf, and a Hippogriff. Not too bad, not great either though. "I'm going to play a phoenix for my first action, and for my second, I will Stupefy myself!" Harry put the cards out.

"What do you mean, Stupefy yourself?" asked Aylar, playing with his rings.

"I mean I'm going to Stupefy your Harry Potter card," said Harry, throwing the Stupefy spell card onto him. "And he can't attack me next turn and kill my phoenix."

"Nice move," said Aylar, beginning his turn. "You've played the best of all my opponents so far… not that that's saying much." He looked around the crowd around them and glared at his previous opponents who all hid their faces. "Anyway, I will of course not attack your phoenix with my Merfolk since its power is much higher. But, I will, for my first action, play Call of the Ocean."

"What's that do?" asked Harry.

"It's pretty nice, actually," smirked Aylar. "I discard one Merfolk in play to search my deck for five other Merfolk and put them into play." He tapped the one he had in play with his finger and it flew over to Aylar's discard pile. Once he did that, he made his deck glow bright, and five new Merfolk cards shot out from inside and into play. Harry noticed that each one had an 'A' in the bottom left hand corner. "Now, I will play Grablulk, The Legendary Merchieftan. He doubles all of my Merfolk's power, but it comes at a slight drawback. Every time one of my Merfolk go to my discard pile, I have to discard cards equal to its power."

"Sounds pretty bad," said Harry, beginning his turn.

"Not really, it usually helps more than it hurts. Especially when I get lots of Merfolk into play."

"Whatever," said Harry, drawing his card. It was another Electo Poli. He was beginning to feel a little nervous; he wasn't getting anything really good that could help him. "I'm going to Stupefy your Harry Potter again," Harry felt so awkward saying that, "and then I'm going to play my Hippogriff." He put the cards down, and ended his turn, not in a much better situation now then he was at the beginning.

"Alright then," said Aylar, grinning. "Prepare to be destroyed, Harry. For my first action, I'm going to play Song of the Seas, which doubles the amount of Merfolk I have in play, and if I have a Grablulk in play, it quadruples my number. So, I now have twenty four Merfolk in play, even though the copied Grablulk don't retain their special abilities." Aylar slammed the card down on the table, and twenty four blank cards magically appeared. Harry raised an eyebrow upon seeing them appear. "That's a little bit of my own magic. It makes it easier to remember how many I have."

"Great," said Harry, feeling like he did at the last match when he was facing thousands of Flobberworms. Where was Voldemort when he needed him?

"And then," continued Aylar, "I am going to play Aqua Nero. It deals damage, divided however I like it, to your fighters, based on my fighters' total power, if they are Merfolk. Since their total power is forty, I will deal twenty to your Hippogriff, and twenty to your phoenix, killing them both." He put the card down, and Harry discarded his two fighters. Things were definitely not going well. "Your turn Harry."

"Great," he sighed, drawing his card. If he didn't get a fighter, he was in trouble. He needed something to block the damage that was going to come to him from the Merfolk. Harry breathed a small sigh of relief when he saw that he got another house elf… a very small sigh of relief. He played it quickly and then drew another card, with the hopes of getting Voldemort, but he instead got another Electo Poli. Harry ended his turn in a very bad position.

"I expected better from you Harry," sighed Aylar as he drew his card. "I really did… but, oh well. First off, I'll attack your house elf with all of my fighters, killing it, leaving you fighter-less. Then, I'm going to play the Ocean card. It transforms the playing field into a massive sea, and increases all of my Merfolk's power by one. Lastly, I will draw a card, and ask you to give up Harry."

"Why should I?" he asked, feeling as though he should, but not really wanting to.

"Because," whispered Aylar, leaning in, "if you don't, you will receive a very bad defeat that could embarrass you."

"More so than giving up?" asked Harry. "I don't think so… besides, I can still win."

"Whatever," said Aylar, leaning back.

Harry started t his deck. He had to get something good… he had to! But, the only thing that could help him in this situation was Voldemort. As much as he hated even saying it, he needed that card! Harry closed his eyes, and reached for the top card. He drew it, turned it around, and opened his eyes.

"Another Electo Poli," sighed Harry, putting it into his hand. "I really have to get rid of a few of those." Next turn, he was dead. He had no fighters left to block the damage, and it would all go to his deck. Unless he could destroy all of Aylar's Merfolk this turn, he was doomed. But, there was no way to do that-

Suddenly, Harry took a closer look at the four Electo Polis in his hand. He noticed, that in addition to dealing two damage to a fighter or a player's deck, it had another special ability.

"If the battlefield is currently water," read Harry off the card, "then Electo Poli deals two damage to all of your opponent's fighters instead of just one." Harry thought about this for a second. "Aylar, the Ocean car makes the battlefield water, right?"

"Yeah," he said, tapping his fingers on the floor and looking very impatient.

"Of course!" said Harry to himself. "Water conducts electricity! Thank you Electo Poli!" Harry took one out of his hand, and set it down into play. "For my first action, I will play Electo Poli! And since the battlefield is water, it deals two damage to all of your cards, Aylar! That means all of your little Merfolk with a power of two are gone!"

He raised an eyebrow.

"So, you killed my Merfolk," said Aylar, discarding them.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" questioned Harry.

"What?" asked Aylar is if he knew what it was.

"Your Grablulk's ability, it makes it so that if I kill a Merfolk, your deck takes damage equal to its power. So you take… eighty damage."

"So?" yelled Aylar, discarding eighty cards from his deck. "That's still not enough to defeat me, I have a hundred card deck!"

"Yes," grinned Harry, "but… I'm going to play another Electo Poli which kills your Grablulks too! Now, Aylar, you are defeated!"

Aylar just stared at Harry for a second, as if in a state of disbelief.

"You…beat… me?" he gasped, looking at Harry still, then turning to his cards.

"Yep," said Harry. "I guess that shows… cheaters never win."

"But I-"

"Try getting some real cards, Aylar," spat Harry, gathering up his deck, and walking away quickly from that horrible cheater, back to the chart to see who he would face in the final match, though he didn't have much doubt about who it was going to be.

"Ak," said Harry to himself, seeing that that was whom he was going to fight. He turned around and saw that the group of students that were watching his and Aylar's match were now migrating over to the last few seconds of Ak's. Apparently, the chart was so confident in Ak's victory, it had already paired him up with Harry for the final.

Harry pushed his way through a few kids and got to the front of the pack. There, he saw who Ak's victim was.

"-and you take… twenty damage, Ron," smiled Ak, finishing Ron off. "And since you have only ten cards left in your deck, I win."

The crowd surrounding the match burst into applause, it must have been a very good match. Harry wished he could have seen it. Ron and Ak shook hands, and they both gathered up their cards.

"Good game," said Ron, looking pleased with himself even though he had lost.

"You fared much better this time than in the exhibition match," said Ak, shuffling his deck back together. "But… not good enough."

"Yeah yeah, I'll get you when we play again."

"Ak!" called Harry suddenly, trying to sound superior. The crowd of students turned to him, and became silent. "It's time."

"Alright then," he said, standing up. "Let's go." He waved a hand toward to the holographic-image-generating table. He began walking over to it, and the group of students followed. But, before Harry went over there, he wanted any sort of helpful information that he could get.

"Hey Ron," he whispered quickly.

"Yeah?" he said, organizing the last few scattered cards.

"How's his deck?" To this, Ron let out a big sigh.

"It's really bad."

"Bad?" asked Harry. "Bad as in… good, right?"

"Bad as in evil."

"Evil? How so?"

Just as Ron opened his mouth to answer, Ak's voice rang through the room.

"Harry!" he bellowed. "Are you ready?"

"Fine, I'm coming," called Harry back, not feeling too confident. As he walked towards the table, the crowd of students parted for him, making a path for him to go through. It was as if he had a shield around him that pushed everyone away from him.

When Harry got to the table, he pulled out the chair opposite of Ak and sat down, staring at Ak's smiling face. He was shuffling his deck, wearing a very distinct and evil grin. Apparently, he was trying to intimidate Harry, and psyche him out or something. But, it wasn't his expression that was affecting Harry, it was the group of students watching them that was. There were so many of them, and they were all compacted into a very small space, all staring right at them… observing their every move. It was like Harry was under a microscope, and hundreds of scientists were trying to look in it at the same time.

Despite all of these distractions, Harry quickly shuffled his deck and put it into the slot in the table. He saw Ak do the same, and the battle began. The table dealt Harry his five starting cards.

"Not too bad," said Harry to himself, eyeing his starting hand. "A Hippogriff, a Stupefy Spell, an Electo Poli, a Phoenix, and an Engorgio Spell."

"Now, let's see who goes first," said Ak, tapping the table with his wand. A large and shiny coin appeared in the middle of the table. It looked like a larger version of a Galleon. "Do you want wizard or ministry?"

"Huh?" asked Harry, very confused. "What are you talking about?"

"You know," sighed Ak. "It's like the Muggle version of heads and tails. There's a wizard head on one side of a Galleon, and a picture of the Ministry of Magic on the other. Which side do you want?"

"Wizard side," said Harry. "You know about heads and tails, eh? Are you a Muggle-born, Ak?"

"Well… yeah," said Ak, not looking as though he were very comfortable about talking about that issue. "You want wizard… okay!" He tapped the holographic coin, and it flew into the air, spun around a few times and then landed back on the table in Harry's favor.

"It is wizards," sighed Ak, "you go first." The galleon disappeared, and the game began. The table dealt Harry his card.

"A Lumos Spell," said Harry to himself as the card appeared before him. After a few seconds of consideration, he figured out what he was going to play. "For my first action, I'll play a phoenix." Harry grabbed the holographic phoenix, and placed it out on the field. The usual burst of lights came and the small holographic fiery bird appeared, flapping its wings and singing every now and then.

"Next, I will play my Hippogriff." Harry did the same thing he did with the phoenix, and the very small version of the Hippogriff appeared, flying around the phoenix, and trying to get it to play. "Your turn."

"Very well," said Ak, getting his card. "Time for the first step on the journey towards your defeat, Harry. For my first action, I will play Grindelwald, the Dark Wizard." Ak dragged the card out onto the table and the small Grindelwald appeared. He looked a lot like Voldemort, around the same height and build. However, instead of being white all over, he was rather… bumpy. He had scabs, scars, boils, and blisters all over his skin, nearly covering all of his body. In fact, the only thing that was entirely visible was one eye that had red veins popping out all over. He looked more like something you'd expect to find in a toilet after you've thrown up in it than anything else.

"Wow," said Harry, "I guess this game has been around for a while. Grindelwald died in 1945.…"

"Yeah," said Ak, throwing off Harry's comment. "Grindelwald is a very vicious card. At any time, I can discard one of my fighters in play to return a fighter from my discard pile or my hand to play. It fits Grindelwald well, he was known for getting rid of old and obsolete followers in exchange for new ones."

"Great…."

"Now, for my second action, I'm going to play… the Sorcerer's Stone." Ak put the card into play, and a blood-red and shiny Stone appeared.

"Now what does that do?"

Ak gave Harry a very wide grin.

"The two cards I have in play now, Harry, make one of the greatest combinations in the entire game. You see, the Sorcerer's Stone's ability is, whenever one of my fighters would be discarded, I instead return it to my hand. Now, Grindelwald's ability's cost is that I discard one of my fighters, but the Sorcerer's Stone prevents my fighters from being discarded. So, basically, I can put any number of fighters from my discard pile or hand into play during my turn."

Harry's mind was spinning. How could that good of a combo exist? Now, Harry would be unable to discard any of Ak's fighters… how could he possibly win?

"That's… good," said Harry, unable to think of anything else.

"Your turn," smiled Ak.

"Okay," gasped Harry. "Well, since Grindelwald's power is higher than either my phoenix's or my Hippogriff's, I'm not going to attack this turn." Ak nodded, and the table gave Harry his card. Harry did a silent cheer.

"Yes!" he said to himself happily. "A Korosucide Spell! It discards one random card that my opponent has in play. Hopefully it will be the Sorcerer's Stone…."

"Are you going to do anything?" asked Ak impatiently, leaning back in his chair. Harry shook himself back into reality. He had been staring at the holographic card for a while and didn't even notice it.

"Yeah. For my first action, I will play… Korosucide!" Harry dragged the card into play and saw that it had an effect on Ak. He immediately sat up and put his hands on the table, knowing that it was a potential threat. Just as he did, the effect of the Korosucide Spell took place. A small mushroom cloud appeared… right over the Sorcerer's Stone, just as Harry had wanted.

"No!" yelled Ak. "You discarded it!"

"Sure did," grinned Harry, watching the Sorcerer's Stone's glow fade, and then move over to the discard pile. "And now I am going to play an Engorgio Spell on my phoenix, doubling its power from eight to sixteen, one more than Grindelwald's! Next turn, when I attack, he's dead! How's that for a comeback, Ak?"

Ak didn't say anything. He just let the table give him his card… and then he smiled.

"What are you smiling about?"

"Nothing," said Ak, letting his face become neutral again. "For my first action, I will play an Apoyiosi Spell on Grindelwald here. That spell makes all damage that goes to him, come to me instead. So, he's safe at least. Next, I'll play… a Summoning Charm, which lets me draw five cards."

"Some nice moves," said Harry, beginning to feel as though he was taking control of the board. "But, I don't think they're good enough, Ak."

"Whatever."

"It's my turn now," announced Harry, "and I will begin by attacking Grindelwald with my phoenix. Since it had the Apoyiosi Spell on it, you take sixteen damage, Ak." Harry watched as the top sixteen cards of his deck went to the discard pile and couldn't help but smile. He let the table give him his card: another Stupefy. Those wouldn't be any good right now, though. Ak wouldn't dare attack with Grindelwald anyways.

"For my first action, I'll draw a card," said Harry, not having anything better to do. The table dealt him his card: a Merging Spell. Now, he could combine his souped-up

phoenix and Hippogriff into a superior creature. "For my last action, I'll combine my two fighters into one, using the Merging Spell!"

Harry flicked the card into play, and watched as his two minions became one. They both shone a bright silver, and then flowed together, like liquid metal. It became harder, and took shape. Color started coming back to the creature, and it gave off a single, bright light. What was revealed was a very interesting beast. It had the body of a Hippogriff, but the wings and head of a phoenix. It didn't look like it could really hold its own in the wild, but it was more than a match for Ak in this game.

"Your turn," said Harry mockingly. Just three attacks with his new fighter, and the game was over. Harry could taste victory. Ak just sighed, and took his card.

"First, I'll play another Summoning Charm," said Ak, getting five more cards. "Then, I'll play a Banishing Charm."

"What does that do?" asked Harry curiously.

"Well, I flip a coin," said Ak, tapping the table with his wand and making the same, large Galleon appear again. "If it's wizards, then you have to discard all but one card in your hand. If its Ministry, then I have to discard all but one card in my hand."

"Sound like fun," said Harry, not having anything really spectacular to lose.

"Let's go!" cried Ak, flipping the coin. It shot up in the air again, spun around, and then landed. Once again, in Harry's favor. "Oh no! Ministry!"

Harry let a small chuckle get out as he watched all but one of the cards in Ak's hands soar over to his discard pile. Harry heard the same from the crowd around him… Ak's luck was definitely somewhere else today. First Harry went first, then the Korosucide Spell worked perfectly, and now he lost almost his entire hand!

"Too bad," said Harry. "But, it's my turn now. Of course, I will attack Grindelwald with my new Hippo-Phoenix, making you lose twenty cards, Ak."

"Yeah yeah," he sighed, "I know."

"Next, I'll take my card." The table shot it at Harry: a Fotia Poli. "Excellent. Now I can end this match even sooner."

"How so?"

"I'm playing Fotia Poli now," smiled Harry. "In case you don't know, it makes you discard the top five cards of your deck, unless you have three or more fighters in play, which you obviously don't."

"Yeah yeah, I know what it does," hissed Ak, watching five more cards leave his deck.

"Now, I'll just draw another card," said Harry happily. He could have jumped for joy when he saw what it was: another Engorgio Spell. Next turn, he was going to double his Hippo-Phoenix's power, and finish off Ak.

"My turn," announced Ak with a very appropriate sad tone to his voice. He took his card, and retained his neutral face. Harry couldn't tell if what he drew was going to help him or not by his expression, he'd just have to wait and see.

"I'm going to play," he announced, "the Kamikaze Spell!"

"What does that do?"

"Yet again, I flip a coin," said Ak, making the Galleon appear again. "If it's wizard side, you discard all but one card of your deck, if it's Ministry side, I discard all but one card of my deck."

"Sounds pretty risky," said Harry, suddenly getting a small pang of nervousness.

"Yeah, and it comes at a cost too," sighed Ak. "I have to discard all of my fighters in play… so bye bye Grindelwald." Harry laughed out loud as Grindelwald exploded in a pussy mess, and then hovered on over to Ak's ever growing discard pile.

"You'd better hope you get Wizard side up," said Harry, not wanting at all for that to happen.

"Believe me," said Ak, tapping the coin with his wand, "I am." The coin, once again, flew into the air, spun around, and landed with a burst of laughter and shock from the crowd and Harry.

"Ministry side!" exclaimed Harry, nearly falling over in his chair. "Ak! What's going on with you today?"

"I… don't… know…" said Ak through gritted teeth as he watch almost all of his cards fly on over to the pile of garbage. "I'll end my turn early this time."

"Whatever!" said Harry ecstatically, throwing his hands into the air. He couldn't believe it. He was going to beat Ak… again! "I'll just attack you with my Hippo-Phoenix and-"

"Not so fast!" yelled Ak suddenly.

"What?" said Harry. "I'm attacking you with my fighter. The game's over! I win!"

"Not really…" said Ak with a really horrible grin on his face.

"What are you talking about?" asked Harry, beginning to get a little annoyed. "You have no cards in your deck! I have won!"

"No, Harry," said Ak quietly. "The battle has just begun. For you see, I am playing… Hell's Concoction."

"How can you play that?" yelled Harry. "It's not even your turn!"

"But that's just it," smiled Ak. "Hell's Concoction only activates under three distinct conditions: one, it has to be in your hand; two, you have to have only used one action during your previous turn; and three, you have to have only one card in your deck."

"Well," said Harry, feeling a little nervous, "what does it do?"

Ak's grin became so wide, Harry thought it was going to fall off his face.

"First of all, it changes the game around so that it's my turn. Then, it returns all of the cards in my discard pile to my hand, except for ten. Those go back to my deck."

"What?" yelled Harry among gasps of shock and surprise from the crowd. "No card can be that powerful!"

"Hell's Concoction is the potion that brought You-Know-Who back from the dead," whispered Ak, letting the table give him all but ten of his cards back. "Giving me a few cards is nothing compared to that."

"That's…not… fair…" whimpered Harry.

"Life's never fair," snarled Ak. "Anyway, back to the game. It's my turn and I'll start off my playing an Increase Time Spell. Now I have three actions. For one of them, I'll play another Sorcerer's Stone, and for another I'll play another Grindelwald."

Ak threw the two cards out on the battlefield, really enjoying Harry's face of terror.

"And now I will play another Increase Time Spell, and using one of those new two actions, I'll play a Voldemort." There were a few screams, but not from seeing

Voldemort appear on the field, just from hearing Ak say the name. "Oh, and by the way, Voldemort kills your little Hippo-Phoenix with his ability."

"Yeah, I know," spat Harry, watching his fighter die and then move on into his discard pile.

"Now, using Grindelwald's ability, I'll discard Voldemort, to put another Voldemort from my hand into play! But, thanks to Mr. Sorcerer Stone over here, the one I discarded stays in play." The other Voldemort appeared next to the other one, and the two glared at each other, as if trying to prove that only one of them was the real one.

"What!" yelled Harry suddenly. "You have two Voldemorts!" Ak smiled.

"I have more than two Harry… I'll 'discard' the two I have in play now to play two more Voldemorts! What are you going to do now?"

Two more Voldemort's materialized on the field, and it was far too many for Harry. He might have been able to deal with one… maybe even two, but four…? How could anyone beat that? The four Voldemort's appeared to be furious at each other. Apparently, they did not like the idea of there being more than one of themselves.

"And now… Harry… it's time for you to lose."

"How so?" questioned Harry, feeling like he wanted to tear out all of his hair.

"I shall play… The Dark Mark card!" Ak slammed it down on the table, and Voldemort's symbol, the skull with the snake going through the mouth appeared a foot above the table, spinning around and giving off green smoke. Some of the younger students screamed and squealed at the sight of it.

"What does it do?" demanded Harry nervously.

"Shh!" said Ak. "What and see!"

Harry looked at the table, and saw that the four Voldemorts were looking at the Dark Mark, fascinated with its being there.

"What are they doing?"

"They are performing the Dark Mark's ability," whispered Ak, watching them. "It is only activated when there are four Voldemorts in play."

"But what does it do?" asked Harry again.

"Oh, it deals one thousand damage to you," said Ak as if it were nothing.

"One thousand damage!" yelled Harry.

"Shh!" said Ak again. Now, the four Voldemorts were walking over to the Dark Mark and they spread out around it, making a square if they were connected. Each of them raised their wands to the Mark, and a red beam shot out of each, hitting it. It glowed red, getting darker and darker every second, until it was suck a dark red it was almost black.

Then, suddenly, the Dark Mark exploded. But, this wasn't a normal explosion with gas and smoke, this explosion made skulls, skeletons, spirits, eyes, body parts, everything fly out of the Mark, each thing giving off unearthly screams. Now, the older students joined the younger ones in giving yelps and hiding.

The explosion filled the entire table, and it continued for a while. But, it eventually did clear, and when it did, all of Harry's deck was in the discard pile, and the four Voldemort's had their arms crossed and were smiling.

"I… lost…" said Harry to himself.

"Yes… yes you did," said Ak, grinning.

Just then the crowd around the table burst into applause and cheers. Apparently, they had all loved Ak's spectacular comeback and wanted to show him just how much they liked it, especially since Harry had beaten him last time.

"Hooray for Ak!" they all yelled, patting him on the back and cheering him on. The students gathered around him until the inevitable came, and Ak was lifted on top of all of their shoulders, smiling and cheering along with them. The group of students, with Ak on top as if he had scored the winning touchdown for a football game, marched around the room a few times and then left, leaving Harry all alone, except for his cards… and Ron.

"You played well," said Ron, patting Harry on the back.

"Yeah yeah, whatever," said Harry quickly, taking his deck out of the slot and beginning to feel really terrible. Losing the Dueling Tournament or the Wizard Duel Tournament wasn't so bad if it was only one, but both? Two big losses on top of each other? It was enough to depress even the happiest of men. "I'll beat him next time."

"Sure you will," said Ron, walking his friend out of the deserted room. "It was a great game though, a really spectacular comeback. I mean, no one… no one ever expected him to play that-"

"Okay Ron!" said Harry, putting his hand up in front of Ron's mouth.

"Yeah, sorry," said Ron, clearing his throat and continuing to walk out of the room.

"There you are!" came a very nice voice from just ahead. Harry looked up, and saw Cho in front of them. "I thought you'd never come out of that room! I looked all over for you in that crowd that just came by! But, here you are, so… are you ready to go Harry?"