A/N: This chapter was beta'd by Bea. Thanks, Bea. Enjoy!

Chapter 47: Finals

Harry and Minerva glanced at each other from either side of Albus as Albus ate lunch in oblivion. Harry was still trying to figure out how Minerva had managed to manipulate her aura well enough to force Harry into his animagus form. She was a bright witch, maybe as bright as Hermione, but not a bloody magical-powerhouse-prodigy! Harry finally concluded that she'd gotten a sense of the aura technique from when she and Harry had learned to become animagi, and that Albus had taught her how to use it. Albus! Harry looked down at his plate and fumed.

And now Minerva knew Harry was in love with Albus. How could she not? Harry's aura had gone from irritated to swooning when he'd mingled with Albus's, and Minerva was right there to feel it. He should have just used a student's aura or something. A student probably wouldn't have even noticed the aura. Damn it.

And there was Albus sitting next to Harry, merrily making a model of Hogwarts out of his lunch food like nothing was different. Harry paused for a moment to look in awe at the food-Hogwarts, wondering if Albus was using magic to make it more realistic. He shook himself and went back to his brooding.

Could Albus know? If he hadn't figured it out before, he wouldn't have reason to figure it out during the duel, unless Minerva's shock had given him away. But he could know anyway!

Something inside Harry asked, would that really be so terrible?

Yes! was Harry's immediate answer. Because then he'd know!

But why would that be so bad? asked that little part. Harry thought about it.

Well, what happens when people confess their romantic feelings? Law suits, sackings, pity, answered Harry.

Or exploration. The thought drifted out of the Fawkes part of his mind.

Well, yes. A date? A relationship? What would a relationship with Albus look like? Matching purple robes? Harry hid a snort of laughter. Lemon scones for breakfast in bed? They certainly wouldn't be wearing matching purple robes in bed…

Harry choked on his food at his own thoughts and glanced sharply to his left to make sure Albus wasn't…reading his mind or something. Albus was licking the peanut butter off the end of a celery stick before adding the celery to his Hogwarts model made out of food. Harry looked up to see that Minerva had also been staring at Albus. She met Harry's eyes and they both blushed and looked away quickly.

Bloody nightmare.

But what about that date? But what about that relationship? Harry liked lemon scones…and had begun to like purple…and certainly liked Albus. What would it be like to live alongside Albus Dumbledore? Would it be worth it to risk a little pity for the chance to be with Albus? A little...law suit... for the chance to live through his life with him?

But as Harry envisioned the future, he knew why not. In Harry's time, there was no old man with messy gray hair and green eyes and glasses alongside Albus Dumbledore. That's why not. It just wouldn't happen.

Damn. Time travel really takes the hope out, Harry thought.

"Am I to understand that you two aren't speaking?" asked Albus, creating a flight of stairs out of chips.

Harry and Minerva both jumped in surprise, having both been deep in thought about Albus.

"What? No. See? Hi, Crockett!"

"Hi, Minerva!"

"How's your lunch!"

"Great! How's yours!"

"Great! Are you looking forward to the—"

"I see…" said Albus. Harry and Minerva fell silent, holding their breath. "I must say, your duel was riveting."

"Ohyourreallythinkso?" they both asked, loudly jumping on the topic.

"Minerva was great—"

"Crockett deserved the win—"

"She really was practicing—"

"He was very resourceful using your aura thing—"

They both fell silent, horrified at the mention of auras. They looked at each other for a beat before jumping in even more loudly to change the topic.

"It was really quite fun!"

"Would love a re-match!"

"I'd love to too!"

They both stopped when Albus raised his hands to plug his ears. He put his hands back down when he saw that Harry and Minerva were finished.

"The only reason I asked was that you, Harry, have yet to reprimand me for helping Minerva practice for the duel, and you, Minerva, have yet to tell me to stop playing with my food."

They were quiet for a moment.

"Well, stop playing with your food."

"I quite like it, actually," said Harry. "The bit there with the celery columns is nice. And I wasn't going to tell you off for the duel after you helped me…well…didn't hinder me winning."

"That was quite interesting, actually," said Albus.

"Goodness. Isn't it time to go?" asked Harry, desperate.

"I do believe it is," said Albus with mild surprise. "I must go prepare for my duel with Fillius. Wish me luck!"

"Good luck," chanted Minerva and Harry flatly. Albus walked away, his food castle disintegrating as he got farther away.

Minerva buried her face in her hands. "Damn it."

Harry laughed. "I've never heard you swear."

"I don't, but it felt like a bloody good time to start."

Harry and Minerva sat alone together at the back of the stadium. The area was pretty empty so they could talk unbothered while they watched Albus and Flitwick duel.

"So you don't think he knows about you…"

"No," said Harry. "I don't think so, but it's Albus. Who knows?"

Down on the field, Flitwick finished chanting something and a circle of symbols appeared, glowing in the grass around Albus. The timer started counting down and Albus started to chant to free himself.

"Why don't you tell him? I mean, at least you're…"

"I'm what?"

"Male."

Harry snorted. "And would you have told him about you before you knew he didn't fancy women?"

"No, but…"

"No but nothing. I'm not doing it."

Albus had gotten out of the ring of symbols and was building a prison of ice around Flitwick. The timer got down to thirty before the ice melted in a rush of water and Flitwick was free.

"Is it because of me?" asked Minerva suddenly.

"What?"

"Are you not telling him because I..."

"No! No, of course not. It's not because of you. I mean…er…"

Minerva raised her eyebrows.

"Well, see, I would think of that…because of you…but didn't because…I'm not going to anyway…because of…other things…My job for one."

"Right…" said Minerva slowly, a smirk lifting the corners of her mouth.

They both looked back down to the duel just in time to see Albus cast a disillusionment charm on himself and disappear. Harry could still see him; he'd been able to see through Albus's disillusionment charms since that day they played quidditch while Harry was drugged.

"Where's he gone?" asked Minerva.

"He's walking around…towards the right side of the field. Towards Flitwick."

"You can see him?"

"Yeah."

Minerva nodded. "Not bad. What's he doing now?"

"Well, Flitwick's trying to counter the charm…But Albus…he's…it looks like he's walking up close behind Flitwick…And now he's standing right behind him, really close."

"He did that to me a few months ago while I was teaching. I thought I was going to have a heart attack."

Harry bit his lip. "He's done that to me, too. God, I love it when he does that. He has no idea what it does…"

Minerva burst out laughing. "You really have it bad, don't you?"

"Yeah…" Harry sighed dramatically, dreamily leaning on his elbow and staring off into space. He held the pose for three seconds before joining Minerva in laughter.

Using the element of surprise, Albus managed to immobilize and disarm Flitwick. He made himself visible once more and the timer started counting down. Harry and Minerva joined the students as they counted down from ten, and the duel ended.

Harry was officially going to duel Albus on Friday.

The rest of Wednesday afternoon buzzed. The finals for the first, second, third, and fourth years were happening one at a time on the field, starting with the fourth years. Dorcas Meadows won the final for the fourth years, taking the class championship title. Harry thought she fully deserved it.

Next were the third-year finals between Dedalus Diggle and Artemis Arma, which Arma won. Cornelius Fudge and Edgar Bones dueled for the second year final, and, after a very intense duel, Bones won.

Finally, Gideon and Fabian Prewett entered the arena. They would have been indistinguishable from each other except that someone had sewn a large red F on the back of Fabian's school robes, and an equally large red G on the back of Gideon's.

Harry frowned. Something was off.

"Is something the matter, Harry?" asked Albus softly from Harry's left. So perceptive.

"Something seems a little off about this duel, but…nothing dangerous. I'll…tell you if I figure anything out."

Minerva was down on the field with Flitwick supervising the duel, so Harry and Albus sat in the stands with a cushion of empty seats around them.

"Can you tell them apart?" asked Harry.

Albus nodded.

"Without the letters?"

"Yes."

Harry squinted. "How?"

"Mr. Fabian Prewett holds his chin a fraction higher."

"Really?"

"Really."

"How did you notice that?"

Albus smiled, but didn't respond.

The whistle blew to start the duel and Fabian and Gideon assumed fighting stances. As soon as they started casting, Harry knew what the matter was. He groaned. "Oh."

"Yes?"

"If I tell you what's wrong, will you promise to let them finish the duel before you disqualify them? I want to see this."

"I promise."

"Really?"

"I trust your judgment," said Albus.

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Well, they've both taken Felix Felecius. I can't think why, though. Maybe they both thought it would give them an edge over the other—but that doesn't seem right…they always work together…"

Just then, the twins vanished from view as billows of gray smoke enveloped a portion of the field.

"Oh, Merlin…" said Harry rubbing his eyes under his glasses.

"And where would they have gotten Felix Felecius? Surely they wouldn't have bought or brewed it."

"I gave it to them— and Albus," Harry smirked, "please don't call me Shirley."

"Betty, then," said Albus with a slight twitch of his lip. "Why did you give them Felix Felecius?"

"Betty?" Harry rolled his eyes. "They won it, Al."

"How did they win it?"

"I had a bunch of Felix and I said I'd give some to anyone who could knock me over. They knocked me over."

Albus frowned. "You challenged students to attack you?"

"Yes. What are you, my body guard?" Harry asked defensively.

"Just a long lost pal, I think."

"Have you been listening to my records?"

"No. Why?"

Harry squinted at Albus for a moment. "I'll show you later. Anyway, I did warn them that I'd know if they used the Felix."

"Did you tell them that its use in competitions is illegal?"

"Yeah."

Albus hummed and fell silent. The thick pillow of smoke stopped growing and began to dissipate in the light winter wind.

"I have a theory," said Albus as the smoke thinned.

"And what is that?"

Two blurred, obscured figures could almost be seen through the black smoke now.

"You were right; they aren't competing. They're working together…"

The figures began to solidify and become clearer.

"To do what?" asked Harry.

"What do they normally do together?"

"Well…Make jokes…Make trouble, I suppose, and…" Harry trailed off as he finally got a good glimpse of the wizards in the smoke. He did a double take, and then looked quickly to Albus, and then looked back down on the field.

"And make fun of their professors, apparently," finished Albus with a light, amused smile.

A perfect Harry Potter look-alike stood on the field in too-tight red robes with a big red "G." A perfect Albus Dumbledore doppelganger stood at his side in matching red, with a great red "F" on his back.

"Blimey…I didn't know they could brew a polyjuice potion…"

"Goodness, am I really that much taller than you?" Albus asked. Students were starting to stare at Harry and Albus, looking between them and their doubles on the field.

"I didn't think so…Oh bollix. He's got the scar too. Hold on…"

Harry focused down on the Gideon who currently looked exactly like Harry (minus a few inches of height and plus one lightning bolt scar). Harry quickly hid Gideon's scar and made him taller, praying that Gideon would pass off the sudden growth as a delayed effect of the potion.

"No adjustments for me?" asked Albus.

"You already look perfect."

"Thank you, Harry," said Albus quietly.

"That's not what I— er—"

Harry was cut off as his own voice boomed across the stadium, magnified magically. "Good afternoon, students! I hope your—er—tournament is good."

"As your headmaster," said Fabian as Albus, "I wanted to tell you—er—that you're all doing really good but that Gid—er…Mr. Prewett and—"

"The other Mr. Prewett—" interrupted Gideon.

"Just did some very…um…good magic that means they win."

"Yeah. They win by default, according to the rules that I, Professor Crockett, made for this duel. And the tournament."

Some of the crowd laughed nervously, catching on to what was happening. More people were staring at Harry and Albus.

"In fact, Professor Dumbledore is going to give us—"

"He means he, er…Professor Dumbledore here," said Gideon as Harry gesturing to Fabian as Albus, "is going to give them—Fabian and Gideon Prewett, that is, their prizes now."

That was when Minerva emerged from the remaining smoke. The twins caught sight of her and the looks of horror on Fabian and Gideon's polyjuiced faces were enough to make the stands erupt with laughter. Fabian and Gideon looked at each other and took off across the field towards one set of goal posts. Minerva followed, raising her wand.

"Do you think we should help her?" asked Harry.

"No. Let's let her have her fun."

Just then, Gideon-Harry and Fabian-Albus each pulled a vial out of their robes, uncorked the vials, and chugged them. They both began to shrink. Gideon's hair lengthened and Fabian's got smoother and darker. Very soon, they were identical again. They were identical Minervas in red robes. There were now three Minervas on the pitch. Harry snorted with laughter and Albus looked like he was chewing on his cheeks to keep from smiling.

Just then, the real Minerva caught up to the twins and immobilized them with an angry slash of her wand. She then turned her wand on her own throat and her voice boomed across the stadium to the rest of the students.

"You are dismissed until tomorrow. Have a good evening," she said curtly before rounding back on the twins. The laughing audience started filing out.

Harry sighed. "It might be the luck potion, but something is telling me I should go and talk her out of punishing them too badly…"

Albus chuckled and they stood up. "If they are so good at transforming themselves, you should assign them detention working on your phoenix project…"

"I can't tell if you're being helpful or making fun of me."

"I assure you I am helpful. Always."

The rest of the afternoon went quickly. Harry and Albus had an argument about who should make the announcement to the school about Gideon and Fabian being disqualified. Harry lost and had to talk to the school at breakfast Thursday morning. During his serious announcement about the Prewett twins' disqualification Harry made the mistake of glancing at Albus and had to fake a violent sneeze to hide his sudden laughter from the hall.

The twins, of course, were in no way discouraged or ashamed. They strutted around afterwards, heroes of their class. Harry was glad of it. He loved their humorous spirit and only made the announcement and agreed to punish them out of obligation.

The first duel on Thursday morning was the final for the fifth years. The duel was over very quickly; Alastor Moody took out his opponent easily and without stalling. The last final was the N.E.W.T. students. Algie Longbottom cheerily strode down onto the field and met a scowling Rufus Scrimgeour for a handshake. The duel started and Longbottom's cheery smile was slowly replaced with a look of fierce concentration to match Scrimgeour's. The day was a little warmer than the first few days of the tournament, so the two duelists were soon sweating under their thick robes and their brows shone in the crisp morning light.

The duelists had very different styles. Longbottom used his creativity and widespread knowledge to aid him, and Scrimgeour used his reflexes and power. Longbottom looked like he was having some measure of fun, smiling in appreciation when he or Scrimgeour did an interesting piece of magic whereas Scrimgeour's face did not change from its concentrated mask.

They sent spells at each other for a few minutes until Longbottom managed to build a shield strong enough to keep Scrimgeour at bay for a while. Harry couldn't tell quite what Longbottom was trying to do, but it looked interesting. He was wrapping himself in magic, using relatively simple spells in very creative ways. He was right in the middle of a longer incantation when Scrimgeour broke through his shield. Longbottom had no choice but to try to finish the incantation, as a partially completed piece of magic could be disastrous. Unfortunately, this left Longbottom relatively helpless and Scrimgeour started sending freezing charms.

Scrimgeour, on the other hand, obviously had not considered the disastrous effects of a partially completed incantation before the freezing charm hit Longbottom. Longbottom froze and was effectively silenced. Nothing happened for a moment, but then a ripple of energy blasted out from Longbottom's wand, distorting the air like a ripple on a pond. The wave slammed into Scrimgeour and sent him flying twenty feet backwards to sprawl unconscious on the grass.

Somehow, despite Scrimgeour's lack of consciousness, Longbottom remained trapped and silenced. The timer was counting down on both duelists, but Longbottom's wore down first. The bell rang and Slughorn and Binns ran onto the field to free Longbottom and wake Scrimgeour up. The audience applauded and Longbottom cheerily went to shake Scrimgeour's hand in defeat.

Harry felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around. Albus stood in the row behind him.

"Tea at three?" he asked. Harry hadn't seen Albus since breakfast.

"Yeah," said Harry. "Thanks for reminding me." As if he'd forgotten.

Albus nodded and swept away again, soon to be lost in the crowd of departing students.

"Right…" muttered Harry.