"Ladies and Gentleman of the court! Tonight we give tribute to our most ancient customs. Tonight we debut the festival of the goddess! Please join me in honoring Duke Scorpius Malfoy and Duke Albus Peverell who have been chosen this year to pay homage to their bloodlines and to our race!"

Explosive applause rang out as the two of us made our way up onto the raised battleground. I shared an annoyed glance with my dad at the announcer's use of the Ducal title when addressing me. It was an obvious slight to James who had not even been invited. Lily had noticed it too. As I mounted the steps on the left side of the stadium I spied across the way the dashing vision of Scorpius, striding up an identical trail opposite me.

Cheers and clapping continued as we elegantly performed the most formal pre-duel ceremonies. The washing of our hands and wand, the flourished bows, the head tilts to acknowledge each other. It had all been carefully choreographed. I thought then of the songs i'd written and how familiar rhythm had become to me over the summer. There was a kind of music in all of this, I realized. It had given me inspiration for a new melody.

"Al… this is the one time you won't win. I can't allow myself to lose. Not after what you promised me..."

I sighed and shook my head from side to side. He would not win this I thought disappointedly.

"BEGIN!" The Announcer exploded as a bell rang in the distance.

Scorpius smashed a leg into the ground causing a rectangular pillar of stone seven feet high to rise from the floor. With three quick sword like motions of his wand he had cut square sections of rock from the pillar as easily as a laser though tracing paper. Without a moments delay he sent them flying towards me with powerful striking motions of his fists. Elemental War magic as I had discovered over the summer was much more physically violent. It required an intensity of magical transmission so potent that only extremely gifted witches or wizards could perform any variety of its arts. Usually it was a qualification for advanced grand sorcerers or warlock status. I had no idea Scorpius had mastered it in combat.

It hit me momentarily that he was too young to be able to have mastered it. This was his application of theoretical knowledge. My realization that it must have been the aging potions we had taken led me to believe I too might be able to invoke the potential in me. I used magic to stream some water from the pools into sharp slippery ribbons that sliced right through the oncoming missiles with ease. I was shocked and elated by my own ability. Scorpius's surprise attack however had been to his decisive advantage. My initial delay in blocking pushed me on the defensive as wave after wave of rocks flew towards me. I was forced to leap and dodge the larger pieces as a continuous barrage of smaller debris pelted my arms and legs. I finally thought of a counter maneuver which ended up being my undoing. I poured an immense amount of magic into my heel letting my downward stomp split the earth into a chasm that reached and stretched outwards towards Scor. It was exhausting. The move left me winded and i had to momentarily kneel to regain my footing.

I had barely registered the crowds gasps or cheering.

The twit managed to jump out of the way by seizing onto a new pillar that rose in response to his spells. The blond then reached his palm out to explode a section of the chasm with a detonation charm, causing water to flood into it from the adjacent fountain pools. I took his incomprehensible move as an opportunity to continue my assault.

"Incarcerous Maligne!" I shot, aiming for the pillar that Scorpius had just managed to mount. Chains flew from my wand to wrap themselves around the stone monolith, squeezing so tightly that it caused the hard earth to crumble and break beneath him. I could have cast my own detonation charm at it but I wasn't trying to kill him. He leapt backwards towards the chasm raising his wand directly at my face. I prepared my aim to deflect any spell that I could think he might send my way. What I hadn't expected was for him to use his unarmed hand to send a wave of water rushing through the chasm I had created. The walls of dirt and clay on either side made the wave jet forward at incredible speed. It hit me like a boulder, sending me soaring through the air and onto my back. My wand had rolled out of my grasp and I heard the magical bell that indicated I had lost the point before I had even found the time to blink.

"First Point goes to Duke Scorpius Malfoy."

I grabbed my wand and began attacking him almost as soon as I stood up. I hadn't even registered if the bell had rang again to indicate we could resume dueling. I don't remember why I was so mad, or why I thought it was so important to win this duel. Something had taken hold of me and wouldn't let go. Arcanis had wanted me to show off... so I'll show off.

"Bombarda Maxima!" I cried deliberately avoiding Scor.

I aimed instead for the ground on either side of his feet, creating furious eruptions of rock particles that flew dangerously in every direction. He wrenched both arms angrily upwards forcing his hands to meet in a clapping motion above his head. The movement combined with a whispered spell caused two thin plates of clay to rise barrier like around him for protection. Just as I ran forward aiming at his face, he extended his hand claw-like towards me and twisted, retracting all of his fingers back into a tight fist. When he did, the puddles of water that surrounded me turned instantly to frozen ice. Without proper traction I slipped headlong, collapsing like a crumpled puppet in the middle of the stage. He took the opportunity to melt and refreeze the mess, rearranging the ice around my right arm and leg to bind me in place. At the same time he started to charge directly at me. I raised my left arm, about to cast a spell when he caught it with his right.

"I can still cast spells like this you imbeci—" As I spoke I noticed my words were being drowned out somehow. No sound... no... energy... I realized to my horror that he was using his mouth to create a vacuum like vortex, pulling the air away from around my face. My vision began to blur as my lungs failed to pull in oxygen. He leaned in closer and closer, sucking in all the air around me. My vision began to blur and it looked almost like he was performing a dementors kiss… My eyes went wide as the idea hit me. If this continued any longer I would lose. Two points to zero. I couldn't lose to him! Not like this!

I remembered how I stopped him the last time he'd immobilized me. He realized what I was thinking and scowled, almost daring me to try.

I hated him for this.

I lunged forward grabbing his mouth with mine in a move that shocked the crowd. Immediately the vortex stopped and I found the strength to break my arm and leg free of the ice. I brought my hand to the back of his head to keep our mouths together as I summoned magic from deep within me. He struggled endlessly for a release but I wouldn't let him. Just at the last second I grabbed a fist full of his hair and yanked his head backwards as a torrent of overwhelming flames blew out from my mouth. The entire hall was silent as they realized I could have cooked him from the inside out had I chosen to. Even Scorpius looked shocked. He looked just as equally angry as he wiped his mouth with his hand.

"Point goes to—"

"Shut up you imbecile!" I barked blasting the announcer off of his podium with a flick of my wrist. There were several gasps from the audience at my poor form. In that moment i couldn't have cared less. I put excalibur between my teeth, clapping my hands together in front of me. My hair and clothing began to levitate and rise as I called forth an eruption of magical energy through my nightfyre crystal. At once six pillars rose up from the sparring grounds in a hexagonal shape, with a larger pillar at its center. Before Scor could fully recover from the shock, I leapt gracefully backwards onto the central column of rock as it rose higher upwards, readying myself for a final round. With a view of the stage below I could easily target him with deadly precision.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

I lifted my hands open palmed towards the sky, willing through my shout for raging balls of fire to burst forth from the air above them. Heat coalesced into sparks and then raging flames. Missile after fiery missile rocketed downwards at the scrambling figure as he played with a ribbon of water as a shield. I had used a ribbon of water in our first round but only to cut through the rock. I smirked knowing eventually the heat from my attacks would evaporate his defense.

I thought I had the upper hand until he launched the stream at me, funneling as much of the water on the stage as he could manage with his twirling wand and left hand. I abandoned the rain of fire to focus my attention on splitting the stream in half, deflecting the force to either side of me. Little did I know that he had anticipated my movements. The two jets of water swung serpentine to curve around me from behind, spinning and spinning like a spiders thread.

I managed to summon a bubble of protective energy just as the water created a perfect sphere that had meant to entrap me. It took only a moment to build up enough magic to blast the watery cocoon into harmless rain. In all the time I had known Scorpius I had no idea he had such a command of martial magic. What he did next astounded again.

He cast a series of inaudible spells that at first seemed to have no affect. Then he began sprinting towards the monoliths, intending no doubt to close the distance between us. He leapt up onto the rocks as if he were climbing trees in the forbidden forest, using magic to jump from stone to stone. His palms were red and bloodied as his delicate hands scrambled upwards against the rough material.

I had already summoned more fire to attack with when I noticed that the flames were weak and sputtered pathetically in the moonlight.

"What did you do?"

Then as if in answer to my question, I watched enraged as melodius noxciferae began to grow like moss all around the drenched pillars. The fungal mosses were releasing a purple cloud that interfered with my magical fire. When did he learn to manipulate plants like that?

"Noxaldramine gas!"

"You rely too much on your flames Albus. Its too predictable a move!" Scorpius shot, lunging for my chest with my wand in his hand. I flung myself off of my perch and towards the ground, rolling at the hard impact. "I have to hand it to you Albus. You did give me a great idea on how to make ammunition! Incarcerous Maligne!" Scor screamed, summoning chains around the six pillars. He had copied my move! There was an enormous cracking sound as each monolith turned into a hail of rubble beneath the constricting pressure of the metal tethers. The pieces however stayed suspended magically in the air. Scor smirked, as if to taunt me, before propelling wave after wave of the jagged projectiles my way.

If he's expecting me to use fire then i suppose i'll have to simply do this. I streamed water into whip like tendrils rapidly alternating the temperature and density of the molecules so that i could slice through the oncoming barrage just as he had used against my missiles. This time i had copied him.

The more rocks he threw, the faster i shredded them. The boulders soon became cobbles which i then turned into pieces no larger than pebbles. The problem was that the smaller the rocks became the faster he could move them through space. This wasn't looking good for me.

I realized suddenly as we struggled back and forth that i had never combined this many spells before. My mind was thrumming with energy and calculations. I had cast charms on my muscles so they could move faster in directing the whips. I had set enchantments on my eyes so they could keep up with the explosive speed of the moving particles. It hit me after a while that there were no longer any rocks, they had transformed into a maelstrom of sand and silt, whirling dangerously around me. The battle had reached a point where i could no longer subdivide his attacks. And while the sand was a good deal less dangerous than the boulders, i could now barely catch Scorpius's outline through the sand storm, which meant i couldn't defend against a new magical attack.

Scorpius pulled both hands together to tighten the cloud in around me and i knew my only chance had come.

"Hows this for fire Scorpius!" I shouted, spinning myself in circles. I released the entirety of the spells i'd cast on my body to accumulate it back inside my lungs. When id gathered enough energy i exhaled a torrent of fire that mixed and molded the sand into a chaotic glass dome. The structure glowed hot around me, threatening to bake me alive. This sphere was not like the water he'd tried to trap me in before. This time nobody could see what I was doing inside.

Silence took over the gardens. Utter and complete silence. I could imagine the grand audience outside. All the guests watching with bated breath. Scorpius no doubt confused and curious if he'd won.

It was then that the idea struck me. Something i hadn't quite expected. I applied a series of simple magics to change the imperfect glowing sphere into an enormous bulb of prismatic mirrors. Scorpius knew it was over the moment the the ball blossomed into a flower of opaline glass. A spark had gripped me while the storm had raged around me. Something had ignited a memory within my mind. It was a fraction of a theory i had glimpsed while reading the book of death, that night in the darkwood. I wasn't even sure it would work. Looking back on it i'm not even sure how i did what I had at the time. I wouldn't realize until years later that i had invoked a power unseen by wizarding kind in over five millennia. How like a Potter... How like my brother and father of me to risk revealing a secret... merely to show off. It was stupid, but I knew Arcanis would love it. I would be the talk of the magical world after this.

"Lumos Solem!" I cast at the core of the structure. Immediately the light split into seven beams each hitting seven petals which split those into seven. It was a web of light growing more and more powerful. At once all the beams met again in the center, colliding explosively with my body.

Every element is affected by a facet of magic, every emotion, every spell governed by seven facets. I summoned forth my every desire and fear. Of death, of life. My fear of rejection. My love and anger towards Scorpius. If fiendfyre was the fire of the font of hate, then this surely was the fire of rebirth. "Phoenix fire"

The flames engulfed me in swirling shades of purples and golds. I felt so immensely powerful that my limbs began to shake and tremble under the pressure. It was like being drunk on life. I could sense my glowing wings flap once and in a moment i had closed the enormous distance between us on the battlefield. I was standing in front of Scorpius on his pillar, awash in golden flames, my hair rippling. I tapped him gently on the forehead before the blackness consumed me.

"You lose." I called out to the crowd before i collapsed forward onto the stunned fool. The last thing i remember before everything went blank was a cacophony of roaring applauses, angry shouts and shrieks of fear and surprise. A chorus of cheering and applause... My vision faded in and out. I could see the spectators racing from their seats. I could see my mum and dad terrified. The Valois patriarch was standing clapping vehemently, his face lit with a hunger. Lust dripped from his eyes. My gaze shifted to a hooded figure behind all the rest. Cloaked in elite guards robes. He'd taken off his mask... and i could see his black eyes... his twisted smile...

"ma...rvo...lo?"

"Albus! Are your alright? Albus! For fucks sake Al! What have you done?"