Harry Potter and the Mind Mage
By James Milamber
A/N: Ahh…I really, really like this chapter. Read on, you'll see why. :)
Harry awoke early Friday morning feeling refreshed and ready to face the day – until he remembered that today was the last day of the tournament. It was around about then that a weight settled in the region of his stomach.
Slipping out of bed carefully so as to not wake Ginny, he crept over to the window. From there he could see the grounds and beyond to the Forest, bathed in a half-light from the very small tip of sun that was visible over the hills.
He watched the scene as the light grew steadily brighter, his mind running scenarios for the day to come, each more absurd than the last. Finally, as the sun slipped completely above the hills and he heard the sounds of someone waking behind him, he mentally shook himself – brooding would accomplish nothing, and in any case, he'd find out what Dumbledore had up his sleeve soon enough.
He heard a soft step behind him, and half turned to see Alex heading his way, stifling a yawn with one hand.
'What, Gryffindor's resident hero not able to sleep?' he asked dryly, pouring himself a glass of water from the pitcher on the table under the window.
Harry smiled slightly in response. 'I can't help but wonder what Dumbledore's got in store for us,' he whispered, mindful of the four other boys asleep – not to mention Ginny.
'Yeah, I kinda know what you mean,' Alex patted him on the shoulder. 'Not to worry, I'm fairly sure we'll come out on top, so to speak. So long as ferret face doesn't win, I'll be happy.'
Harry couldn't help but chuckle. 'Yeah, I dunno if I'd like to be him when Isabelle gets her hands on him.'
'Amen to that,' Alex affirmed. 'Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to stumble off and have a shower.'
'Don't drown,' Harry called softly after the dark haired boy as he left the room, receiving a negligent wave in response.
It was rather odd, Harry decided as he moved to the end of his bed to collect clothes for the day, just how quickly Alex and Cassie had been accepted into the group. He found it hard to imagine Hogwarts without them both, now, but they had only arrived a little under four months ago. It really was uncanny, and Harry strongly suspected the Prophecy was involved – it seemed to be drawing the people it needed together, and to Hell with the normal rules. He briefly wondered if it were possible for a Prophecy to have something of an awareness when a soft moan alerted him to the fact that Ginny was waking.
He dressed quickly, carefully avoiding the clothes Ginny had thrown seemingly at random into his trunk. Whatever else she was good at, it apparently didn't include neatness. When he was done, he slipped out the door and headed down the stairs to the common room.
Not long after people began to trickle down from the dorms. The first of the group to emerge was Cassie, smiling warmly as she crossed the common room to where he sat restlessly staring out the window.
'Nervous?' she asked quietly, seating herself next to him on the couch.
'A bit, yeah,' Harry admitted with a sigh, turning away from the window to face her.
'You don't need to be, you know,' she said comfortably, leaning back into the deep cushions and smiling. 'I have a feeling this is all going to come down to you and Isabelle, and since you're the one that's trained her, you can't really lose, can you? Doesn't matter who wins – even if it's her, you still win by proxy.'
Harry thought a moment. 'Yeah, I guess so,' he said finally. 'It's just…' He left it hanging.
'I know the feeling,' she assured him. 'Don't worry, everything will be fine.'
'Famous last words,' Harry muttered.
Cassie laughed, patting him lightly on the shoulder. 'Indeed they are, my friend, so I won't repeat them. All you have to do it get your butt out there and win, got it?'
Harry couldn't help but smile at that. 'Yeah, I got it.'
'Good,' she said, standing up and hauling him to his feet. 'Now, since your girlfriend just came down from her dorm, and I'm not even going to bother asking how she managed to sneak from yours to hers, I'll scoot and leave you with her.' She turned to walk away, leaving a bemused Harry behind. 'Oh, and Harry?' she said over her shoulder. 'Don't even think about going easy on Bela. She'll get offended, and I've noticed she's got a right temper.'
'I'll keep that in mind,' he called as she vanished out the portrait hole. Ginny reached him not long after, rubbing sleep from her eyes and looking curiously after the retreating girl.
'What was that all about?' she asked curiously.
Harry shook his head ruefully, still smiling. 'They're just full of surprises, it seems.' He looked down at Ginny, and saw confusion in her eyes. 'Never mind,' Harry said, taking hold of her hand and pulling her towards the portrait hole. 'I'm starved, let's eat.'
'Great, now you're sounding like my prat of a brother,' Ginny rolled her eyes playfully as they left the room.
A few hours later, when the whole school was once again assembled in the Great Hall for the final rounds of the tournament, Dumbledore finally revealed his grand plan to an eagerly awaiting student body.
'There will be two Melee rounds, consisting of five students each,' he announced to the silent Hall. 'The winners of each Melee will take the floor against each other, and the winner of that duel will also be the winner of the tournament.'
The students crowding the stands broke into whispers as Alex watched the Headmaster re-seat himself with one eyebrow raised.
'Well, that answers that, then,' he said finally.
'Yeah, I guess so,' Harry replied. 'I suppose our theories were kind of right, then.'
'I just hope I get put in the melee with Malfoy,' Isabelle said with a feral gleam in her dark eyes.
'The first melee match will consist of Isabelle Lestrange and Elizabeth Richmond from Gryffindor, Michael Corner and Luke Wernett from Ravenclaw, and Draco Malfoy from Slytherin.'
'I wouldn't want to be ferret right now,' Ron said, glaring across the Hall at the Slytherin in question. 'Hit him once for me, would you Isabelle?'
'Gladly,' she said, idly rolling her wand between her fingers so that red and green sparks shot from the end. She got to her feet and, trailed by Elizabeth, made her way out to the ring.
'Do you reckon he stands a chance?' Cassie asked cheekily as they watched the ex-Slytherin take her place.
Alex snorted. 'Hardly,' he said with contempt. 'The little snot-rag won't know what's hit him once she's through with him.'
Harry only half listened to their conversation – he was too busy glaring at Michael Corner, his mind dwelling on the incident at the Halloween Ball. Ginny, seeing where his gaze rested and guessing what he was thinking, snuggled against his shoulder. His arm went around her almost automatically as McGonagall's voice resounded around the Hall, signaling the start of the match.
Isabelle immediately leapt forwards, her wand leveled at Luke Wernett and a hex forming on her lips before the echoes of McGonagall's announcement had even begun to fade. The Ravenclaw, who had immediately assumed Malfoy to be the biggest threat and thus gone after him first, had a shocked look on his face as the Body-Bind took him cleanly in the back, and he fell rigidly to the floor, his wand rolling away from his inert form.
Acting on impulse, Isabelle summoned the downed boy's wand and gripped it tightly in her left hand. Now doubly armed, she began firing hexes as fast as she could with her own wand, using the other to shield herself and block.
'You've got to admit, she's got style,' Alex said proudly as Isabelle took down Michael Corner by leveling both wands at him and firing off twin Stunners. The dark skinned boy managed to deflect one, while the other hit his left arm. It didn't knock him out, but slowed him enough for Elizabeth to finish him with an odd curse that seemed to take away control of his muscles. Michael collapsed in a quivering heap, his eyes wide with fear, and Harry couldn't help but feel a twinge of satisfaction.
With the Ravenclaws down, the two Gryffindors turned on Malfoy, who until now had been only peripherally involved, seemingly content to allow the girls to take away some of the competition. At Michael's fall he sprung into action, hurling hexes for all he was worth.
Isabelle shielded herself from a particularly nasty curse with her own wand, simultaneously leveling her stolen wand at the blond Slytherin. 'Reducto!' she yelled, and the half strength spell took Malfoy in the shoulder while he was distracted by Elizabeth, hurling him to the ground. He recovered quickly, firing a Body Bind at Isabelle, who deftly blocked it. Seemingly growing frustrated with his failed attempts to subdue the Gryffindors, he aimed his wand at the flagstones at Elizabeth's feet. 'Barathrum!'
Elizabeth let out an odd, surprised squawk as the ground gave way, and she slid unceremoniously into the large pit that had opened up in front of her. Malfoy flicked his wand again, and the floor promptly sealed itself over her.
'Nice trick, dear cousin,' Isabelle called, stalking from side to side like a restless lion. A fitting description, she mused, smiling so her teeth showed. 'Now, I think it's time to end this, hmm?'
'I'm not going to argue,' Malfoy smirked, then leveled his wand. 'Commoveo!'
Isabelle didn't even flinch as the burst of yellow light shot towards her, instead pointing her wand straight up and saying, 'Effluo!' She vanished from sight, and the spell continued harmlessly to impact against the shields.
By this point, Alex's grin was almost splitting his face in two, and Ron wasn't much better off as he watched a perplexed Malfoy looking around carefully, trying to spot the ex-Slytherin. Cassie glanced at Hermione and rolled her eyes at the pair of them.
Suddenly Malfoy froze, his eyes darting nervously from side to side. Isabelle dropped the Invisibility spell, and they saw she had crept up behind her old Housemate and had her wand pressed to the back of his neck.
'You lose, cousin,' she breathed.
Malfoy snarled, but wisely remained still. 'This isn't over, traitorous bitch,' he said, his voice near dripping with hatred.
'Big words, but can you back them up?' she asked, eyeing the back of his head, wishing she could see his expression. She had a feeling it would be rather…entertaining. 'No, I don't think you can. I hold all the cards here, and I think it's time I prove that to you. Obsequium!'
To his credit, Malfoy tried to fight the effects of the spell. Isabelle stood behind him, grimly keeping her wand trained on the back of his head. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and his limbs started to shake violently as his face contorted with the effort he was expending. Finally his head bowed, and his wand dropped from his hand.
'Isabelle Lestrange wins, and goes on to the final round!' McGonagall's voice was almost drowned out by the cheers of the students. Isabelle smiled smugly as she left the ring, and was enveloped in a bear hug by a jubilant Alex when she arrived back at the Gryffindor corner.
'Ha HA!' he crowed, lifting her from the ground and spinning her around. 'You, my dear, are absolutely amazing, you know that?'
'Of course I know that,' Isabelle said calmly. 'Now would you put me down please?'
Alex laughed, setting her back down. She grinned up at him, leaning in to kiss him soundly before breaking away from him and rejoining the rest of the group, who were standing a little way back.
'That was bloody brilliant!' Ron said enthusiastically. 'What was that spell you used at the end?'
'Submission,' the ex-Slytherin smirked. 'Pretty self explanatory, really. Just proving once and for all which of us is the stronger-willed. Draco's always been far too full of himself.'
'No arguments here,' a recently unearthed Elizabeth joined the group, still shaking dirt out of her long hair.
'You okay?' Michael asked her, concern written over his features, but Elizabeth waved him off.
'I'm fine, or at least I will be after I have a nice long bath,' she wrinkled her nose. 'Congratulations, by the way,' she added to Isabelle.
'Thanks,' Isabelle nodded. 'You weren't so bad yourself.'
'Until Malfoy started rearranging the floor, of course,' the older Gryffindor said dryly.
'There is that,' Isabelle agreed with a straight face.
Once Madam Pomfrey had seen to everyone's injuries, which were all minor, McGonagall announced the second melee – slightly unnecessary, as all the students left out of the first one knew who they were. 'The second melee match of the day will be between Harry Potter and Hermione Granger of Gryffindor, Joseph Bounds of Hufflepuff, Cho Chang of Ravenclaw and Blaise Zabini of Slytherin.'
Harry's expression grew grim as he heard the list called out – not only would he be up against Hermione, but also Cho – he had watched her progress through her previous rounds with mild interest, and she had done quite well so far. It would be an interesting match, of that he was certain. He turned to look at Hermione, nodding slightly when he caught her gaze. Gently disengaging himself from Ginny, the two stood.
'Good luck, both of you,' Isabelle said as Harry gave Zith to Ginny, the snake quite content to curl up in her lap.
Harry nodded again in reply, not really trusting himself to speak. He glanced at Hermione, who was also looking slightly grim. He didn't relish the thought of having to fight her.
'Come on, Harry,' she said eventually, crossing the small space between them. 'We'd best get out there.' He took a deep breath, steeling himself for the battle ahead, and turned to walk shoulder to shoulder with Hermione towards the arena.
A/N: MUAHAHAHA!!! I love my job…truly I do…
Review Responses:
nebulia: Mind. Gutter. OUT!!! They're just sleeping in the same bed.
JeanieBeanie33: Boring? BORING?!? (wanders off muttering darkly)
(blinks) That's it? Come on, people…hit the little button in the corner and leave a review. You know you want to…
