FFOmega

Part I: Bitter-Sweet Dreams

Chapter 14

Harry awoke before everyone else in his House and left his dorm room, Ron's snoring stopping his intent of an introspective moment. He went into the common room and opened one of the windows and sat on the windowsill, looking out toward the forest. One of his legs dangled out of the window, the other bent up to his chest as he sat there in the early light.

The school year would not be an easy one, academically and socially. He had thought about the incident with Ginny the whole night, and realized what little good would come of the entire situation. He could see in her eyes that it was all past remedy, unless major reconciliation happened, and frankly Harry wasn't sure if he had the time for that.

Thinking about it for just a bit longer, he sighed and got down from the windowsill and went to the bathroom after gathering his things. He didn't need to be crowded the first day so, hoping to avoid the morning rush in the bathroom, he headed to the Prefect's bathroom, and entered, thankful that the password was still the same.

-----

Kyoto awoke hanging upside down from a pipeline in a dark alleyway in a sloth-like position, latched onto the pipe by one arm and one leg. His hair was dingy and matted, and was losing its white color to brown, black and splotches of red. His clothes were soaked and the morning dew had accumulated the bottom of his eyelashes, and the moment he opened his eyes, the liquid got in and stung with the coldness.

He hated mornings. He was as far from a morning person as any other person in existence, which comes with the territory of mostly operating at night for centuries. Opening his eyes, he allowed his limbs to loosen from the pipe they held onto, and he began the fall down from a few stories up down to the alleyway below. Landing, he stood, his eyes raking from the floor and a pair of spike-heeled feet up long legs to a decidedly criminally short skirt to the t-shirt and the face of the woman before him.

Her face was slack as the figure before her had just suddenly dropped down from nowhere. She opened her mouth to speak when she caught his eyes, and her voice caught. His knotted and tangled hair was falling in what would become dreadlocks if left as they were, and his face was drawn and blank. Looking at him, she assumed he was homeless just by the state he was in. She never met his eyes, as his own eyes seemed closed against the early morning light, and were therefore barely opened.

"Hello, sir…are you in need of any kind of help? I was on my way back from work, and there is a shelter in the area I live, I can walk with you there if you like." Her blonde hair glistened in the sun, making the rays all the more harsh to his eyes. He didn't like blondes.

"Actually, you can point me west." She raised an eyebrow at his stupid question. The sun was rising in his eyes, which meant that west was behind him. She pointed behind him, and he made to walk away. As he did, he stopped and spoke away from her, but to her. "Blonde is a bad color to change your hair color to. Your natural brown was a lot better than that shit."

She stared at him as he retreated back down the alleyway. He had a very weird presence, and she was shocked that he hadn't asked at all what she was doing in an alleyway this early in the morning, having been coming "back" from work. However, before she could do much of anything, she heard footsteps. "Stop man, and gimme your wallet, or the bitch gets it!"

The figure had paused, and turned around to look in the direction he had just been facing. And she felt the barrel of a gun to her temple. "Stop, or I kill the whore." His eyes narrowed at the figure in the dark clothes, but his identity really didn't matter, he was a common crook and a thief.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you not to speak about a woman like that? Or was your little bastard ass learning to speak like that from you father calling you mother those words in front of you or something?" Kyoto continued to walk at a sickeningly slow pace toward the two.

"I told you to stop, or this slut gets it!"

"There you go again, talking all bad. You will live to regret it, for at least a few seconds." He walked forward, and the figure began to shake like a leaf in a hurricane. So much so that the gun fell to the ground. And as it did, Kyoto reached him, and the light flashed on his empty eyes, and they seemed to lighten somehow, but suddenly it didn't matter to the woman as she watched, because in an action too fast, he had reached up and punched the man in the face. And then grabbing him by the neck, he lifted him off of the ground.

"Now apologize to her."

"No…really…its okay." She stammered.

"I said apologize to her for making false assumptions and accusations about her!"

"Sir…it's alright, he doesn't have to do that."

"And why shouldn't he apologize for saying those things about you?"

"Well, because they are true. I'm a prostitute. Just started, actually, today was my first day and I got no business, but it's still kinda true."

Kyoto tilted his head to the side. "Oh." He turned from her and looked to the dangling man still being suspended above the ground by his neck. "Well, oh well, he couldn't have known. Regardless, I don't like his kind much." And with a twitch of his hand, the man's neck cracked and Kyoto released the now dead man and his body fell to the ground. Reaching down, he picked up the gun. He looked at it, before handing it to her.

"Take this, and take care of yourself. The business you seem to be in can be fucked up, very fucked up. Protect yourself. And if anything, take whatever he has, and get out of doing that, soon. Life living by selling your body can be horrible." She stared after him as he walked off, before disappearing into a shadow in the alleyways and seemingly disappearing completely.

-----

Baretta was having a very bad day, truthfully. He had a pistol trained on the two entrances into the building, and every so often someone would find a way in, and he would have to attack them separately. He had cleared out several rooms inside of the place, but they just kept coming.

Breaking into a vampire stronghold is never the smartest of ideas, now matter how heavily armed you are. And Baretta was realizing that he would, at the very least, have been a lot better off doing it at any time other than in the dead of night.

The room was one away from what he needed, but the little shits just kept coming, and he wasn't getting a moment to remember the schematics of the building. He got a break when one vampire he shot coming through the door staggered, backing up the swarm for a few moments. Slipping the two handguns into his pouch, he reached into one of the pockets and pulled out a device known as a riot shotgun. It fired a wide-area spread shot, and was powerful for close distances. And loading it, he kicked through the door into the room he needed to be in.

It was so packed full of the dark creatures that the entire room was like a swirling mass of black. "I came for the party, hope I meet the dress code." He muttered, before firing the shotgun at the creatures foolish enough to leap at him. The smart ones hung back, waiting until he ran out of ammo, before they attacked, and the stupid ones were blasted in the face by the shrapnel. They weren't turned to dust, as the casings were normal high-grade buckshot, but regardless of them being alive, one can rarely operate correctly with half of its head missing, regardless of species.

When the shotgun clicked and was out of ammo, Baretta swung the weapon like a bat at the diving vampire before he crouched low, sending another diving figure over his head. He stood and kicked an advancing creature in the crotch as he reloaded the shotgun quickly, and when a vampire dove at him, mouth open, it got a mouthful of the metal of the gun barrels. And pulling the trigger, the thing's head exploded and the shrapnel took out several behind him.

He cleared what appeared to be all of them after about 5 minutes and several different types of weapons. He was almost to the large safe on the other side of the room when he heard rattling of sheet metal. He looked over to the ventilation system, and identified the sound coming from there. He pulled out a handy weapon he had picked up, a short-range grenade launcher. They weren't standard grenades, much smaller and less powerful, but they could serve a purpose. And leveling it at the vent, the second it flew open, he pulled the trigger.

The projectile hit the first vampire in the face before scattering up the metal tube system and exploding. Half of the wall went missing, and bits and pieces littered the floor. When one of the few surviving the explosion was able to see after the dust settled, there was no one left in the room. And the safe was blown open and everything inside was missing.

Heading over to the emergency phone, said vampire called the main building. After 1 ring it was yanked up. "Sir, the safe-house has been compromised. The goods are gone. It was the Fallen." And the line went dead after a very deep and angry scream came before the line simply cut off.

And turning around, the vampire found himself looking down the sleek barrel of one of the famed weapons that The Fallen, Baretta, carried with him. And with a grin, he squeezed the trigger, and soon enough, the creature was reduced to dust, and not because of his vampire heritage, but because over 100 rounds had been fired into his body in several seconds.

And packing away most of what he stole into a tear, he lifted one shoebox-sized box and put it under his arm, before he started leaving the room. He stuck a gray blob on the wall and put on a metallic square before he opened a tear and found himself outside of the building. And with a smile, he pushed a button on a detonator, and with a resounding "boom" the room collapsed and, being the very center of the structure, as followed the rest of the building.

"Fuckin' Vampires…" He muttered before he walked off down the dark street.

-----

Harry moaned loudly as he stretched his back before he began to dress. After a nice shower, he had dried off for the most part, and he was about ready to head out to face the rest of the school. But as he headed toward the door, it opened, and he jumped to the side, hiding in a shower stall waiting for whoever was there to go so he could sneak back out.

And then he heard voices he recognized, and he groaned as he slammed his head against the stall door softly. "So, its settled then for the year, try and get those dances finalized, and get the House Royalty to make appearances and help organize everything."

"House Royalty?"

"Yeah, you know, The Gryffindor King, Harry, the Slytherin Queen, Blaise, the Ravenclaw Princess, Padma, and the Hufflepuff Prince, Zacharias Smith."

"Who decided that? I mean, Smith? I can only think of about 5 people who like him, and that's stretching it, so who the hell would vote for him?"

"It wasn't elected on, it was more…natural. Who everyone in the year gravitates toward." The voice paused. "Like how everyone is gravitating toward Harry since he came back. I have to admit it, he is looking damned good."

And suddenly the stall door was pulled open and Harry found himself on his back, looking up at a very underdressed Katie Bell and Lavender Brown. Actually, underdressed was an overstatement, as both were standing there, naked as the day they were born.

Groaning and slamming his eyes shut, he made to stand himself up, and the second he was standing he apologized continually while still not looking at them before he left through the door and ran all the way back to Gryffindor tower.

When he got back, he sighed and sank down onto a couch for a moment. He wasn't as tired physically as he was just mad about the coming confrontation. Deciding to not deal with it, he went up to the dorm and grabbed his things, jamming them into the white backpack before he slipped on his school robe, not even buttoning it, and placed the backpack on and left the room and the dorm. As he was leaving the common room, he saw Cleo sitting on the couches, looking dressed and ready to go.

"Hey Harry, are you going to breakfast?" Harry nodded, and the girl smiled and asked, "Do you mind if I walk with you? I'd rather not get lost on my first day. The wide-eyed, helpless look is bad for my complexion, if you know what I mean." Harry nodded to the girl, her bubbly attitude, even that early in the morning was amazing. She hopped over and clasped his hand, and they were on their way out when a voice called after them.

"Cleo, already making moves on my man are you? And Harry, look at you, leaving me for another, younger woman, I'm heartbroken." It was Bella. Harry almost smacked his forehead, remembering that the girl more than likely didn't know how to get to the Great Hall from the Gryffindor Common, and it was his duty as "doting boyfriend" to walk her. He smiled before thinking how he was going to work it, and placed his backpack down. He lifted Cleo onto his back, where she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his lower ribs, and he lifted the backpack with one arm and took Bella's hand with his other and they left.

-----

Breakfast was a muted affair for the most part. Blaise was sitting to one side of Harry, Bella across from him next to Cleo, while Hermione was at her usual spot next to him and Ron on the other side of Bella. They ate quietly until schedules were handed out. Harry stared at his schedule when he received it. He had 3 of the 4 classes he had signed up for, as well as several he hadn't.

Transfiguration, Charms and Defense were there, while Care was not. However, what was really confusing him was the 3 classes he hadn't signed up for. Advanced Defense, Advanced Dueling, and…

"Harry…what the bloody hell is 'Advanced DA' and why am I in it?" Blaise asked him. Harry looked at his schedule, seeing he too had it, and he sighed. He realized what it was, and had no idea what was going on and exactly why he was in need of 3 Defense classes. Every one of his friends had the same basic schedule as him. Hermione was freaking out as she had lost both Arithmancy and Astronomy, as she was reduced to the 6 classes she was given.

Blaise still had Potions, but it was during a time that was set aside for all 6th years for Advanced/Remedial tutoring, which meant that she would be taking classes from Snape during that time and there would be a maximum of 5 people in the class. Hermione had the Light Magic class instead of Potions during that time, Ron had another tutorial of Dueling. And Harry sat there, staring at his, as it read, plain and clear, "Dark Arts Tutorial." Bella had the same class as Blaise, which seemed to make Blaise feel a lot better about being alone in the class.

Harry's first class of the day was Defense Against the Dark Arts, the same as everyone else, and that made them all look up to the head table to look for the Defense teacher. And as they did, Dumbledore stood. "Good Morning, students. As you are all, no doubt, receiving your schedules, I suspect you are searching the head table for your Defense teacher. Well, this year, there will be a few changes. First of all, for the first time ever, there will be 2 Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers. They will work together to provide the best education for all of you in this time of war. For the 6th years, one of them shall teach the Advanced Defense course, while the other will be teaching the Advanced Dueling class.

"I would like to introduce Mr. Keith Long and Ms. Angela Madison." Two people entered the hall from a side room, looking deep in conversation. The man was of average height and fairly muscled but far from bulky, with short, cropped hair that was graying and piercing brown eyes. The woman was much younger, looking in her early 30s. She was thin and had an Asian look about her, her long black hair spiraled atop her head and held by what looked like two thin sticks.

"Mr. Long is a retired Auror and Unspeakable, who specialized in dueling, and has won many national and international dueling tournaments. Ms. Madison comes to us as a woman who did revolutionary work in spell creation, as well as defense. She was the inventor of the Protego spell, the basic shielding spell, and many other less known defenses, which will hopefully not be as less-known by the end of this year. Please make them feel welcome." Applause rang out as the two sat down and began to eat. Dumbledore sat and the breakfast progressed, Harry still sitting confused as to half of the classes on his schedule it seemed.

When Breakfast ended, Blaise grabbed his hand while Bella said she would guide Cleo to her next class, and they headed to the Defense class early. When they arrived, they found the classroom was the size of three classrooms. There had been an empty classroom on the sides of the Defense classroom the years before, and it seemed that they had knocked the walls out between them to make the room much bigger, but there weren't any more chairs, less actually. Instead, they were arranged in the best places to be able to see, while there was space in the back that seemed to be there for someone or some people to stand, and in the front was a huge area set up in what seemed to be a dueling area.

Heading in, they found the woman, Angela Madison, doing stretches in the dueling area. She stood as she heard Harry come in, Blaise moving unusually silently and standing behind him, hiding from view. She smiled at them mysteriously and Harry became aware of someone walking behind them. He pulled Blaise in front of him before he spun around, putting himself between Blaise and the man, ready to strikewith wand in one hand and crouched low. The man who had snuck up on them turned out to be Mr. Long.

To anyone, it would look like he was in some kind of dueling stance, but really he had intended to collapse the teacher's chest in with a kick he had found to be very effective for such measures. The man's face slid into a smile as he observed Harry. He nodded one time, and moved to the front of the room, doing a few light hops as if to loosen up before he pulled out his wand and began to twirl it around, showing just how comfortable he was with it.

When the entire class was there, the man spoke, smiling at all of the people who had taken a seat, Harry not being one of them, and in turn, he had stopped Blaise, Bella and Ron from doing the same. There was something about the way that there weren't enough chairs to seat everyone, and how Mr. Long would look at every person that took a seat and seem to make a mental note of who they were, sizing them up. Hermione had rejected his attempts to stop her, saying that she wouldn't be able to take any notes if she was standing. And she would regret that.

"Those of you who have taken the initiative to seat yourselves, congratulate yourselves." Hermione cast a withering look at Harry, almost laced with "I told you so" in her eyes. "Because you have taken such an initiative to go ahead and not await our instructions, you may leave this class. Goodbye." And Hermione's jaw literally fell to the desk, followed almost immediately by her forehead, which rose and slammed into the table twice more. She opened her mouth to seemingly beg, when the man's barking laugh echoed out.

"That was a demonstration to those of you to know what might happen if you go off on your own supposed understanding and do not wait for us to direct you." Ms. Madison spoke with a slight smile cast toward Harry, who she had seen stopping his friends from sitting. "Now, this year will be very interesting. There will be captains, lieutenants and such, who can then organize themselves a team, and that team will have some directives to accomplish."

"How will these captains be elected?" Hermione asked, not even raising her hand as her curiosity got her, and the woman's lips slid into a smile.

"For all you know, I could say everyone who didn't take a seat. But I won't, and that wouldn't be fair." She smiled. "So we are going to have a free-for-all. A mass duel, everything goes outside of things illegal and reviving fallen students. Be creative, and don't hide in the back, trust me, we will know. Now, everyone please stand and feel free to stretch and get ready to do what you like to be prepared. Everything is allowed but illegal curses and spells, remember that. You will have 10 minutes to prepare while we set up the setting of this duel."

Harry slipped his robe off, as well as his backpack, setting them to the side. He checked to make sure Blaise's knives she had given to him were in place, before tying his hair back from his face so his peripheral vision wasn't blocked. He had read between the lines, and the illegal spells talk had basically encouraged them to fight any way they knew how. He whispered to Blaise that if they stay together, they can protect each other. She smiled and he took her hand, leaning over and kissing him. He told the same to Bella, who nodded resolutely, her ebony wand spinning in her hand. Ron had wandered over away from them to speak to someone else, so Harry wasn't able to catch him, and Hermione had pulled out a book of spells and was going through it as fast as she could.

Harry stretched for a bit, before he took a moment to clear his head, slowing his breathing and his heart rate to be calm. When it was announced that the students should come toward the teachers, they all stood and walked over. As they got there, they found the scene change before them. There was what looked like a house, only cut in half down the front so everything could be seen. There were 3 levels, as well as a large area for open battling, and walls all along the side. It was a multi-leveled dueling nightmare. It stirred many of the students there, and Blaise was one of them, but Harry squeezed her hand. He had faith in her, and he knew what kind of dueler Bella was, if she had been able to hold her own and only ever be captured once in years as a Death Eater.

He took the girls to the side, and told them his plan. "Alright, so if I know the students here, I can tell what they are going to do. Now, the Hufflepuff duo, Ernie and Justin, have been notorious for not taking a confrontation head on. I saw they were looking through a book of long-ranged spells, as well as masking and camouflage charms. They are going to head to the top level, hide, and snipe." Bella was staring at him in shock. "What?"

"That was…amazing connection." She smiled fondly at him, and Blaise ruffled the hair on his head with a smile on her face before leaning in to him, he could feel a bit of her fear leave her as he spoke.

Harry noticed Mr. Long standing near him, and the man nodded strongly at him.

"Continue Mr. Potter, this is enlightening."

"Well…The biggest threat we are going to have to deal with is Ron."

"Weasley? Why is that, he isn't the strongest in the group by any leap, I don't see what you mean." Mr. Long spoke.

"I know, and it has nothing to do with power. It's his mind, really. Look over at him, look at his numbers. I can bet you anything I own he has a team that, including him, counts out to 16." Ron was behind Harry, and there was no way he could know that, but Mr. Long looked over and nodded. "Exactly. He is going to run this like a chess game. He hasn't told his team, and Hermione might be close to realizing it, but that's what he is doing. He is going to be their King, as he will install himself in the team as a necessity, commanding them while he stays protected. He will keep Hermione, the Queen, near him."

"Why would Granger be the queen? I understand her knowledge, but why wouldn't she be the king?" Mr. Long asked. He had a pad of paper out, and was making notes seemingly.

"Think about chess. The most powerful piece, if not the most by-the-book piece, is the queen. It is the piece you can count on to be clear about its intent of who and what it is going to attack. That is Hermione in less words. The one piece that you can predict. He wouldn't put her as King because she can't think on the fly like he can, and more importantly, she couldn't lead a team if she needed to and he fell. So he is the King, the game is over if he is gone. Which is what we need to do, take him out."

"Alright, first, how are you going to do that, and second, what do you mean 'by-the-book' in terms of pieces?"

"I'll do second first. The most unorthodox piece is the knight. The one piece that moves differently than every other piece, and, in my opinion, the piece that is most likely to come out of the side and attack a piece that wasn't expecting it. That would be…hmm…Daphne and Padma. None of us have any idea what they can do, so we won't be expecting it. We are going to watch those two, Bella and Blaise, you two keep those two occupied. I'll run up and take down Ron. Hermione, if she gets in the way I will go up against her, but the team will fall apart the second Ron is down. Outside of that, those are the main teams. Once we take down the snipers, the team of 16 should have taken out most everyone else. Then when Ron is gone, they will all go free-for-all really, and we hang back and let them take each other out."

Mr. Long was staring at Harry. He motioned Ms. Madison over and pointed out what he had written. She looked to Harry and the 2 girls, and then back to the notebook. But Harry was ignoring this, "Blaise, keep the knives away unless you can't help it, Bella, watch the spells. Keep them conventional for now, and I will try and use as few spells as possible so I can try and move undetected." The three nodded and Harry slipped his wand into a long pocket on the side of his thigh.

Ms. Madison mouthed "Knives" to Blaise. She smiled and suddenly had 3 throwing knives in her hand. She had begun to juggle them, when Harry snatched them from the air without even looking directly at her, and shook his head, pocketing them. "Bad Blaise." He said off-handedly, still peering at the dueling...arena.

"Bella, do you know of any spells that can cast the entire place in darkness, even for a bit?"

Bella furrowed her brow. "Yes, but no one would be able to see in it, not even you, and if you were to cast a night-vision spell, the moment the darkness spell wore off, you would go temporarily blind, and if you cast a light charm, you would be a fast target."

"Don't worry about that. When it gets to the end, we are still going to be going up against 10 or so of the Ron's group. When I tell you, cast the charm, and I will handle the rest." Bella nodded, and hugged him.

"Be safe. And don't do anything crazy, please."

"This coming from you is damned comical." He muttered, but nodded, his eyes set in determination.

"Everyone prepared? Doesn't matter, get into your positions, and prepare."

-----

Harry had been right. "Ron's Chess Troupe" was as planned, and attacked everyone on the first level of the dueling platform. Harry, Blaise and Bella were on the stairs between the second and third levels. The spells came from the top, sniping out several of the "Pawn" members of the Troupe, and even eliminating Dean, who was acting as a "Bishop". Parvati and Lavender, the "Rooks" rushed forward and did one of the most shocking things of the day. They took out Draco Malfoy, and Vincent Crabbe. Gregory Goyle, showing agility betrayed by his size, dove to the side and fired a Knock-back Jinx, sending Parvati flying sideways, into Lavender and into yet another "Pawn." They were then stunned by the snipers. Harry held his team back until the snipers began to fire at Ron, who they would never be able to get as Hermione was simply standing there, taking out every blast they fired with either the counter, or a Protego while Ron shouted attack orders.

Harry slipped up the stairs, and looked around. He saw where one of them was by the displacement of the shadow. He fired a stunning spell, dropping who turned out to be Ernie, and as Justin turned to fire on him, he dropped flat, and Blaise and Bella hit him with a combination, one girl firing "Expelliarmus" while the other, "Stupefy." Justin was sent into an unconscious state sprawled on the floor after having hit the far wall, and missing his wand.

Bella slid to the side, peering down and firing a long-range spell that paralyzed the opponent's legs, a spell the duo had been using often, to make sure no one knew that the snipers were down. Then easing to the side, Harry looked over the side of the third floor railing to the second floor, where a battle of the Hufflepuffs not part of the Chess Troupe roared against the remaining Slytherins outside of Daphne and Blaise, and the downed Slytherin leader's party. They were, for the most part, taking out each other, except for one person, who was acting much too aggressively, his spells border-lining on illegal. Zacharias Smith was doing a little too well for his own good.

Grabbing the railing and flipping off, holding on to the wooden rail sent his body onto the second level. Harry launched a Stunning spell, which Smith blocked with a Shielding spell, and sent one of his own in turn. Harry dodged, and rolled to the side, before he leapt forward and dive-tackled Smith. He then stunned the other boy, as Bella and Blaise came down the stairs. Harry looked down and looked to the girls, before motioning to the railing. They looked down, and there was the Chess Troupe.

They had, for the most part, taken the bottom floor. Seamus, the other "Bishop", was leading the remaining "Pawns" toward the stairs, while Hermione took up the rear, moving closely behind Ron. Padma was still up, as was Daphne, and they were leading the middle, looking out for anyone on the sides. Harry whispered to the girls, who nodded. And as the girls waited on the other stairs, easing down the sides as the enemies came up, Harry gave the signal, and the entire battlefield was enshrouded in darkness.

Leaping from the railing to the bottom floor, Harry smiled at his friend's predictability. He had ordered them to go up the stairs first, and he followed once it was basically clear. Which meant that, on the bottom floor, the only people left down there were Harry, Hermione and Ron, and the total darkness was leaving them pretty much alone. And being the predictable person that she was, Hermione used a Lumos Maximus spell, which Harry used to locate them. He could pretty much feel and almost see where they were, despite the pure darkness even before the light spell was cast.

He jumped off the wall, coming into her light just a bit before he used the wall to get distance on his jump, and kicked her wand from her hand.

The wand fell and the light lasted for a few seconds before it died. In those seconds he had spun and ducked under an impulsive spell from Ron before leg-sweeping and stunning his friend. The light came on as the girls mostly handled the enemies on the second floor, being that they had set themselves up side by side, so any blast fired forward that hit someone would hit an opponent, while the Chess Troupe had staggered, meaning Padma was taking down some of her own in the process of trying to hit the hidden assailants, as was Daphne.

Harry was looking up at them, when he heard Hermione shout "Stupefy" and something in him clicked. He jumped to the side, rolling along the ground before using his momentum to pop back up onto his feet in a low crouch, one hand on the ground to steady his body, the other holding his wand. Hermione regarded him as they leveled off.

"You can't beat me, Harry, I know more spells than you." She said matter-of-factly.

"But can you cast them without your wand?" He asked, smirking slowly.

"No one can, Harry, you should know that."

"Good." He had read about a spell over the summer, something that Jamie had recommended he learn, as it was one Blaise was partial to using in their friendly duels between mother and daughter over winter break. It disarmed the opponent and/or opponents, at the cost of disarming yourself as well, moving the wands to floating in the air 10 feet above the heads of the duelers. As he blasted her with it, he caught the confused look on Ms. Madison's face as she observed, while Mr. Long had a look as if he thought he understood, but was waiting to see if he was right. "What are you doing, Harry?"

"Can you fight without your wand, Hermione? Because I can, and I very much doubt you can win." She looked stunned, and didn't know what to do for a moment before she dove to the side, grabbing Ron's wand. Harry launched forward, faster than she had seen anyone move, and was behind her, and he started toward the stairs. She blasted a shaky transfiguration that made the surface of the stairs slippery. So, as he started to slip, he used his forward momentum to run 3 steps along the wall to the side of the stairs before he jumped across and onto the railing, running up and kicking Seamus in the back, sending the boy sprawling forward. Harry continued his run, on the railing, able to look down on the bottom floor, before he jumped off of it. He grabbed a hold of his wand, and hers and landed in a low crouch. Hermione sent a disarmer at him, a series of two, one on either side of him. He stayed straight, making her miss, seeing this, she had corrected her aim, sending 4, one to either side of him and one under and one above him. He tossed his wand up, and her wand was sent back to her, and she caught it as his wand landed back in his hand.

"So, about that duel, feel up to it once more, Hermione?" Harry asked. The girl was shaken at his willingness to go up against her, and nodded slowly. Harry simply smiled and dropped down and low. She fired a stunner, and he jumped to the side, dodging it, before just jumping clear over the next spell. He ran to the side, firing stunners, which she blocked with the Shielding spell, and it was then that he realized his friend's problem. She wasn't mobile in her dueling.

And against someone as fast as Harry, that was a problem, a big one. Slipping one of the knives Blaise had given him out and into his free hand, he cast a reflecting spell on it, before he rushed her. She blanched, and fired spells, and he either dodged them or reflected them off of the knife, and Harry jumped, making to kick her. She ducked, and he landed behind her, and dropped her with a stunner to the back. He caught her before she could fall, and he slipped the knife back into its holder as Blaise and Bella came down the stairs. They hugged him, and he turned to the teachers.

Mr. Long was clapping and Ms. Madison was smiling fondly at him, the latter motioned him over while Mr. Long headed to the stairs, going up to count the number of downed opponents.

-----

Ms. Madison smiled again before looking at them 3 inquisitively. "First of all, great job you 3. Now, my first question is how you 3 were able to move so quietly? Everyone made at least some noise, and if no one guessed, there was an echoing charm on the wooden stairs, to make it clear where everyone was."

Blaise answered for them, "Well…I have some training, if you know what I mean…?" Ms. Madison squinted, before nodded slightly. "And Harry has always been able to do that. Bella charmed her feet."

"Alright. Now, who cast the Nightshade Curse?" Bella raised her hand uneasily. "Brilliant spellwork. But from there, how were you, Potter, able to move like that in the dark, and more than that, how were you able to move like that at all?"

"A spell?" He seemed to ask more than say. She shook her head.

"No, because you lost your wand, and even still, you couldn't have cast those spells moving like that, and the spellwork is too hard. I can tell natural movement, and that was all you. So again I ask, how is it that you moved like that?"

"Well…I…I can't really answer that. If you would like to know the full story, ask Professor Dumbledore, but outside of that, let's just say that there have been recent changes to my person to make it so that I can do that." She nodded.

"Alright, last question. How did you know everything that was going to get done in this demonstration?"

"Well, last year we ran a group called the DA, and it basically let me see how people operate. From there, it was connecting things. The girls worked perfectly, and they did a lot more work than me, so in a way I am guilty of 'King'-ing myself, but I think I did hold some of my own, I hope." Harry shrugged. "It was piecing things together. What surprised me was Smith. I don't know what he was doing and why, but it was very interesting watching him work." Harry wasn't going to tattle on Zacharias, but he intended to let what wasn't known stay that way, and ask the boy about it in person.

"Yes, Mr. Smith, and his just legal Dark Arts. Very disturbing, but we shall see what becomes of him. You three did amazing today with your guerilla tactics."

"Uh…gorilla? I didn't know they had magic?" Bella spoke in confusion. Harry struggled to not laugh, and simply smiled at her, as he turned to try and readjust his impartial mask to not make the girl mad.

"No, guerilla." Blaise enunciated.

"Yeah, gorilla." Bella repeated. After that, Harry couldn't hold it in and started laughing. Bella punched him in the arm after Blaise explained guerilla warfare quickly while Harry laughed at the girl's confused face. He held his arm in mock pain and stuck his tongue out at her as the revived students began to file down.

They all stood this time as they headed toward the chairs, and Mr. Long spoke. "Well, we shall do things like this. The people that stayed the longest will have the first choices of seating, and from there the people who were around or we feel faired the best, and they shall have a seat. Anyone who feels up to it may challenge a person for their right to sit at the beginning of each class, and they shall duel it out here, and then we shall have lessons from there."

"This year in this class we won't be covering stupid things such as dark creatures like hinkypinks or whatever the fuck those things are called." Hermione looked appalled at the woman cursing in front of the class, but Harry just smiled. The woman was human after all, and not uptight at all. "We will be studying more important dark creatures, ones that the supposed 'Dark Lord' will be most likely to use. And we shall be working on spells. Those of you in the Advanced Dueling class, which Mr. Long will be teaching will be getting the most training in dueling and will be most likely to be keeping your seats this year if you work well, and on top of that, those of you who would like to petition for a spot in the Dueling class, you can go to Mr. Long, and anyone doing well in the dueling in this class may be asked if they would like a spot."

"On the other hand, those of you in Advanced Defense will be working with Ms. Madison on the spellwork. Also, you will be going into aspects concerning spell creation, as well as using the things around you to defend yourself. The induction system into that class works the same, meaning anyone doing well in this class in one or both aspects may be approached with a chance to join the advanced class that is equivalent to your success. While we aren't allowed to just send someone from this class, if you can not handle the way that this class works, either the coursework, the dueling, or anything else, we can demote you to the 5th year class. This will severely hurt your chances of being able to take the NEWT in Defense."

"Homework is an analysis of your role and or roles in this duel. Do not overstate things that you did or state you did things you didn't as lying isn't the best plan and will hurt you more than help you if you get caught. And you will get caught." Mr. Long took a moment to look menacing before smiling and continuing to speak. "Next class we will be going through a transcript of the entire Duel and we will go over what was done well and badly in two groups. That is all, and have a nice day." And with that everyone headed toward the door. Harry looked at his schedule, and saw he had Charms. He headed out of the door and down the corridor. As he did, he entered and saw Flitwick speaking to Cleo.

"Harry!" She exclaimed and ran over and hugged him. He smiled and lifted her easily, so she was holding onto him, and he held her to the side of his hip.

"This young lady has had advanced tutelage. She mastered Wingardium Leviosa in moments, and moved on. She covered Lumos as well as Nox and even started work on Finite." Harry smiled at her, hugging her happily. Several students in his class entered, and Hannah smiled as she saw her sister smiling and laughing as Harry spun her around in the air. He set her down, and she hugged him before staggering out of the room, trying not to fall down as she left to her next class. As she left, Hannah made to hug her, and the younger girl gave her the finger, and pushed her sister in the side and out of the way before she left the room.

"So, you and Cleo getting close I see. Taking care of her?" Hannah asked, still looking slightly dejected that her sister wanted nothing to do with her. Harry shrugged, and then he took a seat, awaiting the class' beginning. He was still filled energized from the duel, and needed to do something before he started to shake and did something nonsensical like jump out of the window just to do something with himself. It seemed Demons had a shorter ability to cope with energy and even worse, being bored. Yes after a few minutes into the class Harry decided, Demons have A.D.D.

The class was, in a word, boring. And by the time lunch came, Harry was so restless that he felt like running laps around the Great Hall. However, he sat quietly and ate, not even participating in the conversations going on. He ate silently before he headed to Transfiguration. As he was heading there, he heard Blaise's voice.

He turned around, as the girl had taken "Cleo duty", wanting to meet the young girl who had since become what seemed like Harry's baby sister, even though the girl refused to be called that, wanting instead to be looked at as the youngest of Harry's female friends, but the way it was phrased almost seemed to inspire a thought of romantic attachment, so no one really referred to her as that.

He headed over toward where her voice yelled from, and found her being pulled back by Bella, as Dean and Seamus were holding Zacharias Smith, as the boy's nose bled. "Touch me like that again and I will cut your fucking hand off!"

"What the hell happened here?" Harry demanded.

"He grabbed her arse, Potter. It was a shame really, as it didn't even look like a bloody well accident. Idiot, really." Draco Malfoy said, in a way as to make it sound mocking, but it gave the information Harry needed in a way that sounded off-handedly comedic.

"He did what!" Harry shouted. He looked to Smith, and had to resist the urge to hit the boy as, with his surge of energy, he might not stop and kill the boy. But Blaise looked about ready to do that herself. As Zacharias stood, he laughed.

"Ah, Potter can't stand thinking that his girlfriend might have liked it? What, ickle Potty too virginal to touch her the way she likes. Knows damn well the bitch likes to be touched, likes it rough. I can give it to her, no one she's dating could ever do it like me."

Suddenly he was on his back, and Bella was holding her hand. "She's dating me too, bitch, think you can do it better? Think you can do it without that itty-bitty shit between you legs?" And she pulled back and kicked him in the groin so hard he slid across the floor. He groaned loudly, tears showing in his eyes. "Didn't think so." And she spit down on him before taking Harry's hand in one of hers and taking Blaise's in her other, and they walked to class.

-----