See chap one for standard disclaimers
Cornelius walked into the room and conjured a chair for himself, Madam Umbridge doing the same. He removed his Bowlers hat and wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief that he had removed from his pocket.
"Cornelius, this is quiet a surprise," Dumbledore said, wondering how in the hell he was going to get himself out of this mess.
"Albus," Cornelius acknowledged taking in the presence of the other people in the room. "Simon," he said nodding his head. "Glad to see you made it here."
There was a collective gasp that rippled through the room. How did Simon Conway know the minister so well?
"Is there something I should know," Dumbledore said, hating to be left out of the loop.
"Not at the moment," Fudge said, holding an air of authority that he hadn't ever used on Dumbledore. In the past, Cornelius had always come to Albus for help, but after his meeting today with Simon Conway, Cornelius Fudge found something that he hadn't had since he had decided to run for minister; backbone.
Dumbledore looked at the two men, and knew what had happened.
"Very well," he said, having no other choice.
Dinner that night was quiet. On any other night, there would be an endless stream of chatter, but not tonight. Tonight every spare inch of bench was taken. Every student had come to dinner tonight, the silence was so thick, you could have cut it with a knife.
Every student knew that The Conway brother's father was sitting at the head table. He sat far away from Dumbledore, in between Snape and Hagrid.
By the time that the last dessert dish was cleared away, everyone was waiting with a sort of nervous excitement. Finally Dumbledore stood and asked all of the students to step away from the tables. Clearing the three other tables away, he transfigured the Gryffindor table into a dueling platform.
"I will now ask, that the duelers please step forward," Dumbledore said softly.
Hermione grabbed Ron and Adam once more, whispering fervently to them, in a last ditch effort to help. Nick and Harry ambled up the platform, with only nods from their bothers and father. Though the Conway brothers seemed to be outcasts in the short time they have been at Hogwarts, the Hufflepuff's rallied around Nick, hoping that finally their house could claim some small bit of glory.
Adam and Ron were dressed in their Gryffindor robes while Harry and Nick were dressed in wife beater tee's and loose dark sweat pants, hair spiked and muddled, popping blue bubble gum. The students pointed and whispered, surprised to see that both boy were sporting tattoos. Though no one could make out exactly what the boys had, they could see an outline of something on each of the boys back. Adam and Ron seemed a little put off by what the two were wearing, but said nothing.
The dueler's met in the middle of the platform and gave a slight nod to each other, before turning and walking to their spots. Ron and Nick stood behind a designated line and waited to be sent in.
"Young Mr. Potter and Mr. Conway will begin," Dumbledore said and nodded.
The fight had begun.
Each raised their wands at the same time, but Harry stalled, letting Adam shot the first curse. He blocked it easily enough with a shield, and without anyone noticing, he took a step forward. And so the fight went on. Harry stayed mostly on the defensive side putting up more blocks and dodging more curses that he fired them.
When Adam fired a nasty curse at Harry he saw it to late, concentrating on his next move, he didn't have time to put up a block, so he readied himself to dodge it and did a back flip at the last second, watching as the red light skimmed over his nose. The students clapped and cheered, but no one was really sure if it was for the curse that Adam fired or for the amazing dodge that Harry did.
Harry kept on Advancing on every shot that he fired, and when Adam finally started to notice Harry closing in on him, it seemed to be too late to do anything about. And while Adam though he had the upper hand, and was plotting his next moves to finish this fight, he never saw the blue green curse fly towards him. He braced himself for impact and was surprised when nothing happened. Harry relaxed his stance, and when Adam took a step to fire another curse, he ended up sprawled on the platform floor, holding his throbbing ankle. Harry had transfigured the floor into a sheet of ice.
Harry held up his wand, "do you yield?" he asked in a low almost whispering voice.
Adam shook his head and melted the ice, so all that remained was a puddle of water. His ankle still throbbed, and Adam was sure it was sprained, but he couldn't give up now. He couldn't let this reject best him. They had been fighting now for almost twenty minutes, and both boys knew that it was time to end this.
Adam fired a slashing curse, eliciting gasps from the crowd. Albus sat forward in his seat, but sighed in relief as Harry easily deflected it. Harry muttered a retaliation curse, sending Adam flying backwards. Harry asked again if Adam wanted to yield, but the Gryffindor shook his head and fired another curse at Harry that seemingly missed by a mile.
Harry shook his head and muttered something that Adam couldn't quiet get, and before he knew it he was surrounded by six grim's. But they didn't look anything at all like Adam's Godfather, no these Grim's were mean and foaming at the mouth. Harry held up his wand again, and before Adam could react, he felt his wand being ripped out of his hand. The dogs circled him, poised and ready to attack, and as Harry held up his wand again, Adam was sure that he would order the dogs to attack.
Adam stole a quick look at the head table, and saw his mother clutching his father's arm in fear. His father held an unrecognizable expression on his face, somewhere between worry fear and awe. The headmaster was perched like a hawk at the edge of his seat watching them, no, watching Harry with immense concentration. His head of house was watching Harry with a mixture of awe and fascination. Adam shook his head bitterly. Although there was no was that Adam could talk his way out of this jam, he bitterly admitted defeat. Harry had bested him this time. But there was no way in hell that Adam would let this be the last of it.
"I yield and call in my second," Adam said holding up both hands.
With a lazy flick of his wand, the dogs disappeared and Harry threw Adam his wand back. "I call on my second to take my place," Harry said and stepped behind the line. Nick smiled and patted Harry on the back. The Hufflepuff's cheered as Nick stood and faced Ron.
Ron wasn't scared, though if he were smart, he should have been. Even though Nick Conway was indeed a Hufflepuff, he was not a castoff that no other house wanted. That was for damn sure. He stole a quick look at his brother who was watching a Hufflepuff a girl that always seemed to be watching him. Veronica Collin's, a native of Ireland watched him with fascination. Jake smiled widely at her and winked. If there were ever a ladies man, it would be Jake. Nick shook his head and turned back to Weasley.
Ron Weasley started off in the same fashion as Adam, firing off as many curses as he could. Nick deflected them all with a shield, and stopped to consider how to show the idiot Gryffindor that Hufflepuff's weren't weak.
"You know there are two kinds of duels, Weasley," Nick said putting up a second shield to block Ron's curse. He had spoken loud enough so that everyone could hear him. "My brothers and I," he said casting a protego sending Ron staggering backwards, "like the Clint Eastwood approach. The quick," he said casting a powerful stunner, causing Ron to fall face first to the ground, "and the dead," raising his wand again, making Ron's eyes widen in surprise. "Or in your case," he said and called for Ron's wand, fingering it in his hands when it came to him, "defeated."
The students who had been close enough to hear, busted out laughing, making Ron's face turn as red as his hair. Yes, Nick though smiling to himself, the weasel had been put in his place. As he stepped back behind the line after throwing Weasley's wand back to him, he knew he could have done worse to the Gryffindor boy, but he had a feeling that the real fight had really just begun.
Dumbledore stood and declared the Conway brother's the winners. The hall exploded in cheers, but instead of staying and reviling in their glory, they followed their father out of the hall, leaving Dumbledore watching them as they go.
Later that night, after the commotion had died down, and after their father had left, the boys, having two hours left until curfew, decided to use the abandoned dungeon for their nightly practice session, they knew as they trooped down to the room that their was someone following them, they were trying not to be seen, but the boys could feel the presence of another person, and ignored it. They would draw the unwanted intruder out in due time.
As the door to the unused classroom, which the boys dubbed The Quad, they moved around to set up their gear and cast silencing charms, locking charms, and other charms on the door to keep their follower out.
"You know," Jake said quietly after the last charm was cast. That's the third time this week we have been followed."
"Yeah," Nick said putting his wand back in his holster. "And considering we've only been here a week, that's pretty bad."
"Don't worry bro," Drake said patting him on the back. "We'll take care of it. Now let's just get to work."
Nick sighed, shook his head and sat down. He knew Drake was right, he just hoped they would find out who it was soon.
Later that same night, after hearing the results of the duel, and delivering out a few Cruciatus curses, Voldemort sat pensive in his throne. Harry Conway was turning out to be more powerful then he thought. And it angered him to no end. He needed that boy to set his plan in motion. But since the boys were trained in occumency, and there was no possible way of tracking down Simon Conway, he had to take more drastic steps to ensure the boy would go to the Department of Mysteries.
"Sssstep forward my ssspy," he hissed.
A lone cloaked figure stepped forward and kissed the hem of Voldemort's robes, before stepping back and kneeling in front of him.
"Yes my Lord," the spy said bowing.
Voldemort smiled a thin mischievous smile and continued, "You have been following the Conway brothers. Tell me, what have you learned?"
"My Lord, each morning the Conway brothers take to the Quidditch field for an early morning work out. They are quiet powerful, but I sense they hold much back. They mostly keep to themselves, not socializing with any of the other students. In class they are quiet and reserved. They only answer when called upon. And each night they meet in an unused classroom. My Lord I have not been able to find out what they do, for the charms they put on the door are strong. I cannot do too much without being detected."
The spy kneeled, ready for the Cruciatus curse, which came moments later. Voldemort yelled and threw more curses in anger and demanded to know what the Conway boys were doing.
All in all it seemed to be a very productive meeting.
Meanwhile, in the Gryffindor long after most students were asleep. Adam Potter was pacing. Replaying the conversation that he had with his parents earlier, he paced the well worn rug in the common room and planned.
Flashback…
"Are you alright son?" Lilly asked once Adam had stepped through the portrait of the Potter's room.
"Fine," he said and brushed off her approach to check him over.
"Something on your mind son," James said slowly, knowing an outburst from his son was only moments away.
"You want to tell me," he said spitting the words. "How in the hell, for my whole life you can push me, train me, and put me on this pedestal. Telling me that I'm the damn boy who lived, and then suddenly after fourteen year, you tell me "Oh sorry honey it wasn't you, it was your brother. You remember him? The one we gave up so that-" But he stopped, and rubbed his hand hard over his mouth.
"Adam-" his mother tried, but Adam raised his hand to stop her.
"You didn't want him. That's what you said; you said that you wanted me. And now, now I hear, not from you but from McGonagall, who just let it slip, that you were trying to get him back. What in the hell is going on."
"Son," James said but stopped. He didn't know what to say. He shook his head wondering how in the hell he was going to get out of this mess. He and Lilly decided to wait a little until things calmed down to tell Adam that they were going to try and regain custody of Harry. But when they got the final word, that such a thing would never happen. They decided to drop the matter all together.
While Lilly told Adam as much, James took the moment to truly study his son. Adam Potter was a privileged boy. A privileged boy, James thought bitterly, and an arrogant one to boot. James knew as a boy he was an arrogant, self serving boy. And being that almost got someone killed. And he swore to himself that he would never let his sons grow to be that way. And as he looked now at his fifteen years old son, he knew he failed. But there was Harry, a quiet, powerful and very bitter boy. And no matter whom he called father, Harry would always be a Potter. He would always be James Potter's son.
End of Flashback….
Adam continued to pace, and stopped suddenly, knowing what he was going to do. He sat in his usual chair in front of the fireplace and smiled. He wasn't the son of a Marauder for nothing.
A/N: Hmm…I wonder who is following the Conway brothers and what they are doing in that unused classroom at night. Curious? All you have to do is review to find out. And just what are Fred and George up to?