Sweating Bullets

Harry and Fleur stared at each other as the Great Hall continued filling with students and teachers. Both knew that when Professor Dumbledore had granted them permission that afternoon to use the Great Hall for their duel after the evening meal that word would travel fast but neither of them expected this. It seemed that nearly the entire school, including the students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, had shown up to watch them. Harry would admit to being rather nervous, though his outward appearance had no telltale sign of this. He was confident in his dueling ability and knew that he had come a long way since the World Cup but he also knew how skilled Fleur was and didn't want to make a fool of himself. He was well aware that she was still the better duelist but felt sure that he could give her a good fight; at least he hoped he could.

"Are you ready 'Arry?" Fleur called. Harry gave her a nod and shifted himself into a dueling stance, with his body turned so that his right leg faced her and his wand was held in front of his face, causing his opponent to groan aloud. She had been in more than enough duels to know that people who stood in an actual dueling stance tended to observe the unspoken rules of a duel. In addition to being very boring matches the opposing duelist was usually stiff and predictable, making the duels short and minimally challenging. Given the way Harry fought at the World Cup, Fleur expected more from him and disappointingly lamented that she likely wouldn't get the challenge she was seeking.

For her part Fleur fell into her own "stance," for lack of a better term. It wasn't an actual stance in the same way Harry's was, it was more the way she carried herself as opposed to actually standing a certain way. Fleur had learned long ago that her opponent's mentality was just as important to the duel as their magical ability and mental prowess and she used it to her advantage. By appearing uninterested and even ditzy at times she was often able to lull her opponent into a false sense of security that she was able to take advantage of. It was an integral part of her dueling style and something that her instructors often praised her for. She usually took it a step further when facing a male, acting as though she was interested in them though she held back this time, sure that Harry wouldn't fall for it.

As she was wont to do when dueling someone for the first time, Fleur's first instinct was to find out what kind of duelist Harry was and what he was capable of. She had an idea of course but would be a fool to assume that he hadn't improved since they dueled together. The young woman sent a powerful hex to her opponent that would be duel-ending if it hit, though she didn't expect it to. Indeed she was not surprised when it didn't make contact with him, however the way he avoided it did shock her. Most duelists (especially at Harry's age) tended to be overly excited and would have either nearly dived out of the way or used a Shield Charm but her young opponent calmly sidestepped the spell and let it pass by him. Knowing Harry as she did, the French Witch suspected he was hiding something and began bombarding him with spells, intending to force him to reveal his secret. The more spells she threw at him, the more Fleur became convinced that Harry was using his apparent adherence to traditional dueling as a facade and that he was in fact attempting to use it as a cover to catch her off guard.

Eventually, after being bombarded with a myriad of spells, Harry dropped his stance, ceasing his facade of adhering to the rules of traditional dueling. Swearing under his breath, he batted a spell away with a simple flick of his wand, a hard and focused look appearing on his face. Fleur smirked at the change, having seen that very same face once before and knowing that all pretenses had just been dropped; she was admittedly slightly worried at the implication of his power by merely batting her spell away but she didn't dwell on it, knowing that doing so would only serve to distract her. Even the spectators could sense a change and a hush fell over the Great Hall.

The two of them began circling each other like two raging bulls, the previous onslaught by Fleur all but forgotten as though it were nothing more than a warm up before the actual duel began. Other than firing a few random spells at each other they did little more pace, each attempting to feel out their opponent and play mind games, as Fleur demonstrated when she flashed Harry a flirtatious smile and batted her eyelashes at him. Despite the slow pace of the duel, it was immediately obvious that the young man was considerably more skilled than he was at the World Cup; the few spells he had used thus far were beyond what a typical Fourth Year would know and were all cast without him uttering so much as a single syllable. Realizing that her victory, which she was sure of at first, wasn't quite as certain anymore, the French Witch knew she would have to come up with something more unorthodox to defeat her opponent. This was made even more obvious when (whether becoming impatient or sensing something she didn't, she wasn't sure) he began rapidly firing off spells at her, forcing her to go on the defensive.

Drowning out the excitement and sudden cheers of the crowd, she began darting around the Great Hall, never staying in one place for more than a few seconds, and fired off every spell she could think of in an attempt to slow Harry's offense. She partially succeeded (at least now he wasn't chaining together spells at a blistering speed) and more importantly provided herself with an opening she desperately needed. Seizing her opportunity Fleur started using more complex and powerful spells in an effort to force Harry to abandon his attack in favor of defense. As before she was only partially successful: while her opponent didn't completely cease his assault, nor did he defend himself like she expected he would, he did have to take the time to deflect the spells he could and dodge the ones he couldn't. It was interesting to Fleur that he didn't even try to use a Shield Charm but she didn't have time to think about it. The momentary pauses in his casting gave her even more of an opening and his attacks decreased in frequency even further.

The longer the duel went the more Fleur could tell that Harry, while definitely more skilled than he was at the World Cup, still wasn't quite as skilled as the young woman. It elicited strange feelings for her. On one hand it gave her a boost of confidence that she desperately needed, though she would never actually admit that to anyone. On the other hand it discouraged her even more than she already was because it meant that Harry, who was three years younger than her, was already closer to her skill level than she would like to admit. It was disheartening to know that not only had he improved so much in such a short time but by the time he was her age he would likely be better than her, if his current improvement was any indication to go by. It wasn't something that she could let herself be distracted by at the time however, knowing that doing so would likely spell her end.

Apparently, despite her best efforts, the thoughts that plagued her were more intrusive than she anticipated because she found herself defending from a sudden onslaught from Harry which threatened to put her back on the defensive. Refusing to relinquish the control she had over the duel, the Witch answered his aggression with a display of her own, earning excited cheers from the crowd. Her attack seemed to be working and she nearly let herself get cocky when her opponent cast a spell towards her midriff, one that was too low to duck under and too high to merely jump over. Thinking quickly, and showing off her impressive flexibility and magical talent, Fleur leaped and used her momentum to bring her legs up behind her, her limbs spread eagle and her magic holding her aloft as the spell passed under her body. Her display, which almost looked like a Muggle superhero in flight, earned an impressive gasp from the spectators and she the opportunity of looking at a clearly shocked Harry to send a spell of her own at him. Despite his shock, the Boy-Who-Lived was still aware enough to swat it away and cast another spell at her, this one slightly higher and forcing her to drop to her knees and lean back to avoid it.

From her spot on the floor, Fleur sent a spell to Harry at such an angle that he was forced to throw himself backwards to avoid it, fortunately managing to not knock the wind from his body when he landed. As soon as he hit the floor, the young man pushed off with his hands and sprang back to his feet, earning more sounds of astonishment from the crowd, and fired a Stunning Spell at the young woman just as she cast a spell of her own at him. The two were forced to dodge and the duel suddenly halted, as if their actions had signaled the end of a round. They began circling each other, both breathing heavily this time, as they tried to decide their next move.

Noticing something over her opponent's shoulder, the young woman pointed her wand at him, causing him to sidestep and get a confused look on his face when no spell actually came from her wand. Immediately realizing that there must be something behind him, Harry threw himself forward to the floor again as a small rock flew over his head. Knowing that staying stationary would likely mean the end of the duel, the teen rolled onto his back (a spell fired from Fleur hitting where he was laying just seconds after he moved) and kipped back up to his feet again. No sooner had he regained a vertical base than Harry cast a spell over his shoulder, not expecting to even come close to hitting Fleur but hoping that it would give him a small window to turn around without being bombarded. Unfortunately his plan failed when he turned and saw a number of spells flying at him, not giving him enough of a chance to dodge and forcing him to bat away the ones closest to him and hastily erect a Shield. It quickly broke but did its job when the last of Fleur's spells dissipated against it.

Realizing the trouble he was in, the Hogwarts teen knew he needed to do something drastic and decided to try a spell he had developed with Sirius but had yet to try in anything more than just practice. Without any kind of wand movement, he suddenly appeared to blink rapidly, causing Fleur's head to hurt. Try though she might, the young woman had to turn her head away (while the audience had to shift their gaze from Harry to her), despite knowing that doing so would kill her momentum and open herself up to further offense. She cursed herself for letting this happen, though admittedly she didn't just hand him the opportunity, and turned her head back just in time to see a large fireball flying towards her. Without a second's hesitation she dropped to the ground and smelled some of her hair being singed as the ball of fire flew over her. The stench of burning hair filled her nose as the fireball hit the wall and dissipated, oddly enough without leaving any trace of its existence, though Fleur had used the opportunity to cast a spell towards Harry and didn't notice any of this. The young Wizard hadn't expected an attack from the French student as she lay on the floor and only managed to dodge at the last second, giving Fleur enough of an opening to rise to her feet and press Harry back onto the defensive.

The young woman felt her confidence grow as she continued to deny her opponent the opportunity to mount any offense but a look of confusion suddenly fell over her face when he leaned in towards her, as if he were going to run to her. In an instant she felt something solid collide into her and found herself back on the ground with Harry standing over her. She kicked at him to prevent him from using the opportunity to cast a spell, sprang back to her feet, and backhanding him, busting open his bottom lip. He spat the blood from his mouth and headbutted her, causing just as much damage to himself if his dazed expression was any indication. His attack backfiring, Fleur managed to recover first and launched herself at him, pinning him to the ground and causing his wand to fly from his hand. She pointed her own wand at him and he held his hands up in a gesture of surrender.

Realizing that the duel had come to an abrupt end, the crowd erupted after a moment of stunned silence while the victorious Witch rose to her feet and held her hand out for Harry. The Boy-Who-Lived accepted it and allowed her to help pull him up and the two stood looking at each other, both breathing heavily as the crowd continued to raucously applaud their efforts. Without a word Fleur healed his busted lip while Ron handed Harry his wand and the young man healed the cut over her eyebrow that he had given her when he headbutted her. It shocked the young woman when he grabbed her wrist and held her arm up in victory, though she quickly recovered and gave him a gracious smile. The crowd began cheering even louder for her (if that was even possible) and she felt elated, not because she won the duel but because up until that point she wasn't really sure how the Hogwarts student body would act towards her but this helped alleviate some of the trepidation she felt. That was also the moment that she realized Harry was now the same height as her, which she thought was an odd thing to notice at that time.

"You 'ave gotten much better since zis summer 'Arry," Fleur began as he released her arm and their friends came over to them, "but you were not bad zen either."

"I still think it was mostly due to luck," Harry responded with a shrug, "but either way I can't just let you off easy. I gotta make sure to keep up with you so you'll have some competition." The young woman smiled at him.

"I zink zat Monsieur Black would provide a better challenge but 'e might not be as distracting. 'E is not as 'andsome as you." Harry chuckled but didn't get to respond when Fleur's friends joined them.

"You did very well 'Arry," one of the French students said, who Harry recognized as the boy who said something to Fleur before the feast yesterday. He grasped the teen's hand in a firm handshake and continued, "my name is Jacques and it is obvious now why Fleur speaks so 'ighly of you. She is ze best in our school so we did not expect you to do so well but eet was impressive."

"Yeah that was wicked mate," Ron praised, clapping his best friend on the back. "It's too bad you didn't win though."

"You actually did do better than we thought you would," Hermione added.

"Nice to know you all have so much faith in me," the Boy-Who-Lived quipped, earning a giggle from Fleur.

"Oh you know what I mean. It's just that Fleur is three years older than you and has so much more experience. Beauxbatons even has an actual dueling club and Fleur is a champion duelist."

"Yes but zis was much closer to a fight zan a duel 'Ermione," Fleur told the younger woman, coming to Harry's defense. "Most at Beauxbatons try to duel but 'Arry has already proven zat 'e is excellent in a fight. 'Owever 'e 'as obviously learned some new zings over ze summer. Tell me 'Arry, what was ze last spell you cast, the one zat seemed like you Apparated?" The small group began moving out of the Great Hall as Fleur spoke, the crowd having already dispersed during their conversation, though other students in the halls could still be heard discussing the wonderous duel.

"It's a spell that I worked on with Sirius. It's supposed to propel the caster in whichever direction they want to go but right now I can only use it to go forward a certain distance. We're still working on it so that you can go in any other direction and we wanna make it so you don't have to lean in the direction you wanna go, that way it comes as an actual surprise and is harder to defend against. We want it to be able to be used for both offense and defense, either quickly escape from being trapped or to close a gap like I did and physically attack your opponent. We both know that most Witches and Wizards completely disregard Muggle fighting, especially purebloods, so Sirius and I wanted to use that to our advantage. It might not be enough to actually win a fight but anything you can do to gain the upper hand is worth it."

"Is that not risky zough?" Jacques asked. "Willingly getting zat close to ze enemy gives you less time to dodge or conjure a shield, does eet not?"

"It's actually rather brilliant," Ron responded, his strategic mind already having assessed the positives of the spell. "If Harry can control the distance he travels and get close enough to his opponent it can be enough to keep them from casting a spell, since you usually need enough room for the wand movement too. Even if they still can, a punch or a kick is quicker than any spell you can cast and like Harry said, most Witches and Wizards don't even consider Muggle fighting to be worthy of using so they don't expect it. As long as they don't expect it then it gives whoever uses it a distinct advantage."

"Yeah it'll be nice when we get to that point," Harry said. "Right now we can't even control how far we travel, I just knew that it was a far enough distance that I could knock Fleur over. It was entirely by accident that I stopped right by her but it didn't end up helping me, as you all saw."

"I want to learn zis 'Arry," Fleur spoke up. "Perhaps togezzer we can work on ze distance. Maybe we can even get it so zat we are right on top of each ozzer." There was no denying the flirting tone in Fleur's voice in her last sentence, causing Ron, Hermione, and Jacques to look at her in shock while the other two girls who were with them, both also from Beauxbatons as well but had yet to say anything looked, merely smiled smugly. For his part, Harry completely froze with his mouth ajar. Fleur giggled as the group came to a halt while Harry tried to regain his composure.

"Er sure," he finally responded, noticing that his mouth had suddenly gone very dry. "I guess, I guess we can try that sometime."

"Great. 'Ow about we start tonight, say seven o'clock after dinner, just you and me?" Harry's eyes widened at the thought of being alone with her and the continued flirting in her voice and could only bring himself to nod. "I look forward it zen." She left with her three friends, the other two girls giggling and whispering while Jacques still looked surprised. Ron and Hermione looked at Harry who could only shrug his shoulders in confusion, his eyes still wide in shock.


Author's Notes: So I've had over half of this chapter written for several years now but I've never been able to finish it until recently. I realized that I wasn't satisfied with practically all of it and once I started rewriting it I was much more pleased with it so it only took a few weeks to write. I'm so much happier with how it turned out. Now it's much less clunky and everything flows together better. Hopefully you all agree and the next chapter should be out in a few weeks.