Disclaimer: I own nothing other than the plot. The original concepts belong to JKR and Warner Brothers. Any concepts brought from other fictions are either coincidental or will be used in their own way, and no plagiarism is meant.

A/n: I hope you all are enjoying this. As of right now I have two works on here, feel free to check out my other one if you enjoy PJO. As for updates on this one, I am looking at every week, maybe a little longer, though it depends on work and school. The same for my other fiction. Just a notice that the next chapters will mostly be training and growing better. After all, magic does a lot but things don't simply happen.

The offer

Monday

Harry's POV

I had truly never felt so sore in my life. Beatings, killing Quirrelmort, nothing made my body ache like this. I thought the diminutive professor was joking when he gave me the warning. Clearly he had not been.

Let's start from the beginning though.

Yesterday I decided to wander the castle after visiting Madam Pomfrey for the Skelegro, searching halfheartedly for a room to practice controlling my magic in, when Professor Flitwick found me. After quickly going over what had occurred the previous day, he invited me for my first lesson in dueling, focused on dodging. I agreed, thinking it would be a short lesson, and that I would be able to walk fine afterwards. I was severely wrong.

There were dozens of welts, small cuts, and bruises from the stinging hexes and odd tripping jinx. I probably dodged less than a third of them in the two hours of practice, but he was impressed that it was that many. Apparently most who took this lesson, often quit being able to dodge after the twentieth or thirtieth hit. While the stinging hexes started out as about the pain of a small pinch, they increased in strength, and by the end, felt like I was being smacked with a baton. The tripping jinxes were added in as a bonus for lasting so long, as it threw me off and often cost me getting hit once or twice.

Naturally, he healed the cuts and welts, but believed that the bruising and the pain was necessary, as it allowed my body to naturally adapt and learn to strengthen itself. I took his word for it, but internally, I was begging for a pain potion. After the practice, and twenty minutes of rest with snacks of fresh fruit, he had me conjure my best shield, which was the basic second year Aegis shield, only good for low powered hexes and jinxes. He tested it, before telling me to practice with the Protogo Shield, a common all-purpose spell shield, and dismissing me until Wednesday. A voice calling my name shook me from my thoughts and pain.

"Harry, are you ok?" Hermione asked, carrying a stack of books. The girl had been freaking out over missing a month's worth of lessons, and was pushing hard to get caught up, despite the petrified victims being allowed to have notes for exams, unless they were fifth or seventh years.

"Sore, Flitwick's training is super painful. Though it may pay off if I fight another massive snake." I quipped.

"I still wonder why you do it…" Hermione muttered, more to herself than me.

"Because, for two reasons really. One is that I need to be better. The life and death situations are getting a bit out of hand. The second is because it is an adrenaline rush, almost equal to diving at full speed to catch the snitch. And that was just training, I can't wait to actually start dueling."

She rolled her eyes. "Boys"

"Not sure why you're putting in all that effort mate, chess is perfect." Ron said, partially muffled by food. I sighed, not even considering explaining it again.

"Oh well, we have an hour until Transfiguration, so I am going to go for a run, as much as I can anyways, and I'll meet you in class." I said, taking one last bite of oatmeal before heading out to the lake.

It was still spring, and quite nice, if a little chilly. The early morning dew coated the grass, and the birds were singing their tunes. Off in the distance, you could hear some of the creatures of the forest making noises, and Fang barking from Hagrid's hut. I enjoyed the rather painful experience of running while sore, and was rather disappointed at being winded so easily. I was clearly starting to get lazy, not having to run from my cousin every day, and my only saving grace on that was the million odd steps in the school.

After a quick pitstop to the showers at the quidditch field, I jogged to class, taking a seat with Neville in the front as Professor Mcgonagall started to go over inanimate to inanimate transfiguration. We were learning larger and more complex objects, today's object in question being a wood crate to a chair. Not the easiest thing, as she had explained. The hardest part being moving the nails to keep the chair intact, and capable of supporting our weight, as that was what we were being judged on. We were supposed to have this down by next Monday, but on my third attempt, I managed it.

"Well let us see you sit on it, Mr. Potter." She requested. Hermione looked shocked that I nailed the change first, and was watching the test intently.

I slowly applied my weight to it, and as my back started pushing, it fell apart, causing me to fall, gaining another bruise. Laughter rang out, but with a few quick words, McGonagall had them silent and focusing on their own crates again.

"Good attempt, but do you know where you went wrong?" She asked, making me stop from picking myself up from the floor to think.

"I didn't account for the support on the back, only on the legs, so when I sat, it broke the back off." She nodded with a small smile.

"Try again Mr. Potter, I am sure you will have it by the end of class." With that, she walked away.

I did manage it by the end of class, Hermione getting close to having it correct, but oftentimes having the legs break outwards. When class was dismissed, I walked up to McGonagall, Neville seemed interested and chose to stay, and obviously the other two wouldn't leave without me.

"Professor, I wanted to change my electives for next year, and drop Divination, and replace it with Ancient Runes and Arithmancy." I spoke, shocking Hemione.

Ron spluttered. "But mate, I thought we agreed to take those classes together!"

"We did, but I got a book on runes, and it looks interesting. Besides, I asked Katie yesterday, and apparently the Divination teacher is a nutter who drinks cherry a lot."

McGongagall choked at that. "Mr. Potter, please refrain from such comments, even if there is some truth behind them. As for your request, it is granted. I will inform the headmaster of the changes and ensure it is logged for when I make your schedule next year."

I nodded, and stared at Ron, making him quickly give up hope that I would change my mind. "Is she really like that Professor?" Neville spoke.

"If it weren't for the fact I do not speak ill of my coworkers… Mr. Longbottom, the professor for the class is, how should I word it… vastly inaccurate, as is the branch of magic in question. Every year a student's death is predicted, and so far none have happened. I would advise you to consider carefully on pursuing the subject, as most places would rather see Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, or Muggle Studies." Neville frowned, considering her words.

"What do you think, Harry?" He asked me.

"How about I lend you the book I got on Runes, and you can make the choice for yourself. Personally, it sounds far more useful, but it is always up to you." He nodded, and after a quick goodbye to the professor, we headed to history, where I promptly ignored the professor, and continued reading the Beginners Dueling Guide.

Amongst the most peculiar tactics seen is the use of different utility charms. Charms in which would generally do no true harm to someone, unless the environment or another spell is involved. Using this strategy will often open your opponent's defenses wide. Banishing charms are the most common, and a strong enough one would cause the opponent to stumble, disrupting their shield. A good combination for using a spell like the banisher, is to use a fire or lightning charm beforehand, and following the banisher, a stunner or impact hex.

Interesting, but what about summoning? It was a charm I had marked to practice, but was it usable in a duel? Or combat? Summoning an object from behind the person could work well. Or what about summoning a person? Was it possible? I would need to ask Flitwick about it later.

Another use of charms in duels is under the branch of elemental magic. Elemental magic is often limited to roughly five spells, as most elemental spells are too magically demanding to use in a prolonged duel. For instance, Aguamenti or Incendio are low level spells, capable of being controlled and used precisely, or to be used as powerful as one can manage. Where a basic lightning bolt like the Fulmen Sol charm would be a medium class spell, and is harder to aim. Spells far more powerful like the fire based Confringo explosive curse would be considered high drain spells, though it can be cast with less energy, making it more usable with a lower effect.

I quickly noted down the spells in my protected journal, making sure to look up more information about them later. I had known about the first two, though the Aguamenti charm is actually considered a sixth year spell, but the others were new, and the information was important. I made another note to look for shields that work for lightning and fire, as Protogo only worked for spells, not elemental or physical attacks.

Hermione was attempting to glance at the dueling book and my notes, though her trying to take notes for class kept stopping her, so as class let out, she asked me what I had read and learned. Of course, her finding out about the elemental magic made her wonder what different kinds there were and what she was capable of learning. Madam Pince was quick to shut her down though, as the non-academic elemental spells were in the restricted section, and without a note, inaccessible.

"What spells were mentioned there? And are we capable of doing them?" She could get really single minded sometimes, and despite the urge to sigh and tell her she can read the book when I am done, I explained the few spells it had mentioned, and she seemed curious to test a few of them out, until I said to find a teacher to supervise or to do it outside where she was less likely to hurt herself. She still had a small burn mark from learning the Bluebell flames on her own in first year.

"Besides, we have exams in three weeks, and you should be focused on catching up and reviewing instead."

"Then you should be too, Harry. Despite your recently found geniusness, you need to review what you already went over to make sure you have it down." I sighed, knowing she was right. I had forgotten a lot of the basic principles of transfiguration, and despite having the best defense practical in the year, my actual knowledge was lacking.

We sat with Neville, studying until dinner, as Mondays were our short days for classes. After dinner, I went back up to the room before knocking out the Potions Essay on the properties of Orvroot, which was used in a burn salve often used by dragon handlers, and the Strengthening Solution as a binding and stabilizing ingredient. It was shorter than we normally got, as half a roll. I took my time with it though, and with a little assistance from Neville for my handwriting, in return with helping him with his essay, it was done and put away.

Three weeks later…

"Expelliarmus, Depluso, Fulmen Solpora." I entoned, aiming at the dueling dummy, dodging what was supposed to be a stunner.

"Not bad Mr. Potter, quicker than your first attempt at the spells, yet you are still exaggerating the wand movement, causing your accuracy to suffer." Flitwick spoke from the left, staring at me with faux disappointment.

"Sorry professor, I am getting better though."

"You are. Not shouting what you are casting is a good start. You are almost to non-verbal casting, and even have some of the first year spells down if I am right." He replied.

I did have some down, the unlocking charm, levitation charms and the lighting charm were both silent and without wand movements, and most transfiguration now was solely intent based, something that I was grasping quickly. I could do most first year pranking hexes wordlessly, but none of those were actually useful. Or so Flitwick said, before proceeding to block and dodge every single one when I wanted to attempt to prove him wrong. Something Flitwick noticed is that new spells were easier to do nonverbally compared to spells I had known, and he theorized that learning nonverbal casting was easier if the habits for verbal incantations weren't built first.

"You are learning quickly, however, next week will be an off week. While you will be working out, we will not be doing any meetings, so you are able to better focus on the exams. Don't roll your eyes at me, I know you aren't pleased about them but it is only five days." He chastised.

"Sorry Professor, I just am not looking forward to being in a chair all day for the next week, and it is costing me my fun here learning." I quipped, he just dismissed me with an amused shake of the head.

Truthfully, I wasn't looking forward to them because Hermione wouldn't calm down, and had irritated Ron over wanting help to study. Neville and I took turns with the subjects we were each best at, yet she was still wanting to study more. Merlin help us once we were about to actually sit the things.

I got halfway up to the tower, walking down the main stretch of the fifth floor corridor to the shortcut from the fifth to the seventh floor, when suddenly feeling a pull towards something. Interesting.

I followed it, dropping my wand into my hand. While I still was overpowering every single spell, I at least wasn't breaking things as much anymore. I still owed Flitwick four training dummies.

I walked to a blank stretch of wall, between two suits of armor, that was about 8 feet wide. I didn't understand why I wanted to be here, but something made me think it was an interesting wall. Luckily it was still only eight in the morning, and as it was sunday, no one was on this floor to notice me acting weird.

I probably stared at this wall for five minutes, not moving or anything. Was I under a compulsion?

I reached out to touch it, only for my hand to slide through… nothing?

Intriguing. Should I walk into the room? Yes? Well, the last unexplored room led me to a Basilisk, but surely there weren't two of those here. Why not, after all, my luck has kept me alive, and I don't have any pressing engagements.

Pushing through the wall, I walked into a well lit study living room mix. It had painted brown stone, different from the rest of the castle, a fireplace, and oak wood shelves full of books I didn't recognize, a couch, a small counter with a sink and what seemed to be a closet. I walked further in to see multiple empty portraits with different kinds of scenery, including one of Hogwarts, and one with an unmoving man. He had long dark hair, green eyes, and a sharp face. I didn't recognize him, but it probably didn't matter anyways, as the portrait seemed non magical. Looking around more, I saw a hallway that led further back from the entrance, and decided to search it. I found a nice office complete with a desk and more books, none of which I recognized, and a comfortable chair. I continued onto a bedroom, bathroom, a room that might have once been a potions lab, and an empty room, not fit with anything.

Sighing, I walked back to the entrance, and looked at some of the books. All of them were highly advanced, some being on blood and ritual magic from what I could tell, others being about battlemagic, history, goblins, potions, divination, and mathematics. There were some more normal ones I did recognize, different potions books that had similar recipes, dueling books with spells that did similar things, and oddly enough, a book on the Odyssey. Weird, especially considering the age of the book, 1452, which probably made it one of the oldest prints.

I stood back from the books, debating on what to do. I could tell the headmaster, who would likely not want me reading books on some of the topics here, or keep this place to myself, and have a nice place to escape and practice magic alone, or study. It would be useful, especially in the summer when I have some time alone. Plus, it had this comforting feeling to it, quiet and homely, with a smell of pine and apples. I sat for a few minutes in the office, practicing my Occlumency.

I was slowly starting to progress, now being able to clear my mind, but I was struggling to fall into my mindscape. It was the second step of being able to protect my mind, in which I had to organize my thoughts and truly understand myself. Once I completed this, it allowed me more control over my mind and magic, making spells easier to cast and my mind more aware of itself, once this part was accomplished, I would be able to intentionally repulse attacks, instead of doing it subconsciously which is dangerous to the person, as they could harm their mind by fighting someone so much stronger, or harm the other person by ejecting the connection between minds with enough force to cause backlash, or (sometimes) temporary brain damage.

I left once I gave up trying to enter my mindscape, heading to the tower for a shower before sitting down in the corner of the common room with my book on runes. Oddly enough it was peaceful. The twins had kept their pranking to a minimum the past two weeks, most people were quiet studying, and most of my friends were out somewhere, odd, but probably because I wasn't around. Granted, I was in that… Living quarters? For nearly an hour and a half, it isn't surprising they aren't here.

"Hey Harry!" The cheerful voice of my teammate called out, drawing me out from my thinking.

"Hey Katie! How are you?" Katie is the third and youngest chaser on the quidditch team, being only a year older than me. She was talented, outgoing, a flirt who enjoyed getting reactions out of her male friends, and had a wicked sense of humor at times.

"I'm good, I am just pretending my first exam tomorrow isn't trying to pass whatever exam Snape comes up with. Despite his much improved attitude, I still think he is going to go out and completely screw us on our exams." She replied, not losing the cheer in her tone.

"Eh, Better it be Snape than McGonagall. I know full well she is going to push me hard on the exam thanks to my much improved work. I'm not looking forward to it. With Snape, you accept its bound to be a T on your papers, regardless of what you hand him." She sighed.

"Fair enough. Fancy a game of quidditch later? There's a pickup game going on at one."

"I think I will pass, my body is sore enough from working out this morning. Flitwick increased the amount of exercises he wants me to do again. Getting into the shape he wants me in isn't fun." I replied.

"Ah, but the benefits are amazing. It certainly doesn't hurt that you have cleaned yourself up, and got rid of those glasses." She replied back. If I hadn't already adjusted to her over the past two years, I would have been more flustered, but I was getting better.

"Yea. Turns out glasses don't pick up girls as well as getting them lost in my eyes unimpeded." I said, barely holding my composure. She leaned a little closer, still standing, staring into my eyes for a moment.

"Yea, hopefully I don't get lost in them too often, as there are plenty of other fine things to look at too." I conceded at the up and down look she gave me as she said it, looking away as I felt my cheeks heat like they normally did.

"You win," I muttered.

"Ha. Maybe next time, but for now I want food, and a history book that won't put me to sleep. See you around Harry." She said, waving as she walked to the portrait hole, vanishing from sight a few moments later.

Hermoine and Neville returned while later, saying they had been in the library studying. Neville was improving on his book knowledge, but for some reason he still had issues with casting spells. Ron had left them to go watch the pickup match, something that irked Hermione. Hermione, of course, focused her attention on me, as I wasn't studying either.

"Harry, Ancient Runes don't matter right now. You should be focused on History or Defense." I frowned at that. History was hard, but hardly mattered as any other history books besides the school issued one, had much better information in it, and was far less dry. Defense on the other hand had been easy. With Lockhart gone, we had an Auror teaching us, on loan from the ministry. His name was Gawain Robards, a Master Auror who had been on the force for sixteen years. He survived the war and had been a far better teacher than Quirrel or Lockhart. His lessons were demanding, but we were rapidly catching up on the work we had been denied having from a terrible teacher.

"I am doing fine Hermione, I don't care about History, and I am one of the top in class for Defense and Transfiguration. Besides, I don't want a headache from studying too hard the day before exams start." I replied, not fazed by the unimpressed look on her face.

"Fine, but don't complain to me when you don't do as well as you expected." she huffed.

"Hermione, you are stressing yourself out, you need to relax for a bit or else you won't do well on the exams. Overworking yourself too much is just as bad as not studying at all." Neville said. He had been subject to her studying spree, even though he was thankful for it.

"He's right, Hermione. Take a break. You have the advantage of being allowed a page of notes for the exam, so take a breather, enjoy Hogwarts and all of its magic for the day." I said, catching her gaze for a moment. She conceded, and after forcing her to put her things in the dorm, we went for a walk, wandering the school and grounds, talking about different memories and just enjoying the weather and quiet.

Saturday…

I was enjoying the day. My morning exercises went great, no exams anymore, just relaxation. At least, I was until I was interrupted by an unexpected pop.

"Mr. Potters sir, Professor Flitsy requests yous meet him." an elf I didn't recognize said, having appeared and scared the daylights out of me. It almost got banished, had I not been laid back like I was.

"Alright, I will head there now." I got up, and watched as the elf disappeared, and so I made my way to the Charm's classroom, where he would likely be. I opened the door and walked in, immediately rolling to the left as I entered, a red light passing me as I did.

"Good job, now again." I threw up a shield as I recovered myself, watching it break a few seconds later from a lack of power and focus, a banisher missing me by inches. I snapped my wand up.

"Depulso" I missed as he stepped aside, flinging another stunner at me. "Protogo"

The spell flew off the shield to the side, and I dropped it as I stepped sideways past another spell, a cutting curse. I threw the next spell on my mind without thinking."Fulmen Sol"

There was a reason the spell was not meant for small spaces. My three core wand immediately reacted, a golden white lighting bolt flew from my wand, blinding me temporarily. Then came the reason it was never supposed to be used in close quarters. The bolt impacted, carving out a chunk of stone from the outside wall, the deafening bang following in millisecond later as the noise proceeded to blow out both Professor Flitwick's eardrums and my own. As my vision cleared, I saw I had missed, though I was unsure of if it was my aim, a shield, or he dodged entirely. I felt the blood starting to run down from my ears as I shot a body binder, missing entirely in my concussed state. Naturally, he responded in kind, and ten seconds later I was bound, tied up, and stuck to the wall.

"NICE JOB MR. POTTER, YOU PASSED THE TEST!" Flitwick yelled.

"WHAT" I barely understood him and wasn't sure I heard was right.

"MADAM POMFREY" I did understand that one.

I followed him up to her, and she sat there chastising us for about ten minutes about being irresponsible with magic, and threatening to keep us for observation because we clearly suffered brain damage to let off magic like that in such a small room. Unfortunately, she had already healed us, so we remembered every word of it, as it was probably the only time she had ever been angry at someone so openly.

"I am sorry for the ranting, however, you are an adult with a mastery, including over the spell that did this. For this to have happened, you were being irresponsible, or he was being negligent. And Mr. Potter, I expected better of you, and I do hope you learned your lesson. Next time you will be kept here for a week. Do not be so foolish again." She finally concluded.

"Oh, and ten points from both Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, for being negligent while using magic." And with that, we were kicked from the hospital wing.

"Uh" I managed out.

"Mr. Potter, I don't presume to need to say it, but we are never telling anyone in my house that I just lost us points… as a teacher and head of house." Flitwick uttered.

"Sir, I don't think I have ever been yelled at in such a manner before. I feel like a six year old…" I sighed, this was not how I saw my Saturday going.

"Anyways, what did you learn?" Flitwick asked

"Do not irritate the Matron. Do not walk into your class without being prepared to use offensive magic. Be prepared for friends to be foes. And do not use spells inappropriate for the environment you are in. Did I get them all?" I replied, with a small amount of sarcasm coming at the end.

"Yes Mr. Potter, that was all of them. Also, rolling cost you time, however, it kept you in the fight, and that is what matters. Either way, good reaction speed, and good accuracy. We still need to work on not overpowering your spells, but you have gotten a lot better. Before, you might have blown out the wall instead." He led the way back to his class, as we continued to talk strategy. He repaired his classroom before we sat at his desk.

"The reason I wished to meet is to talk about this summer. The headmaster informed the staff, and as a number of us are here often throughout the summer, we have decided to give you a little extra instruction. Well, mostly Minerva and I, but also the Ancient Runes teacher, Bathsheda Babbling. And Albus says he wants to teach you a few things. However, I was wondering if you were interested in going to watch the World Dueling League. England's finals are two weeks after the term ends, and the World finals would be just over a month after, the first week of July, in Paris, France. I get tickets due to being a renowned champion, and can ask for extra. I believe this would be a great opportunity for you to see where you need to be to win next year, as well as getting to see some of the competition."

"Has Professor Dumbledore approved of it?" I asked.

"Of course, I wouldn't be asking otherwise. He believes it to be an opportunity to see advanced techniques, including transfiguration and conjuration during dueling, something we have yet to start on, and something he or Minerva would be better at teaching than me." He replied.

This was actually an incredible opportunity. Getting to travel would be a new experience, except I get to skip all of the hassle that my relatives complained about. He kept me for a while longer, Conjuring ceramic plates to hit with banishing charms as accuracy practice, and speed practice once he felt my accuracy was high enough. My casting was improving quickly, something I was proud of.

Apparently I got that from my parents, as my father was a hitwizard before he died, and my mother was working to earn her charms mastery. From how Flitwick makes it sound though, she wasn't far behind my father in Dueling, capable of holding her own and was amazing fighting alongside my father. It made me happy to think of having this connection with them, and I hoped they were watching, proud of the work I was putting into this. I knew this wasn't my real endgame, that I would need to learn magic forbidden in dueling, how to do things not found in dueling, but this was a start, the foundation for what would come later.