A/N – I'm not really sure I need these at the start of every chapter, but for the sake of propriety, I'm merely making castles in the sand that JK Rowling provided. Also, this chapter has turned out to be more expository than action oriented and so is a bit slow and doesn't really progress the plot. I'll aim to rectify that in upcoming chapters…

Chapter 10 – Line 'em up…

"I know how many horcruxes there are."

James and Lily looked at each other and then back at their son. It was James who answered first. "How on earth could you possibly know that?"

Harry recounted his conversation with Luna and Hermione. "It was something Hermione said which got me thinking. I used Uncle Mooney's free-association technique and it came to me. You told me about the prophecy when I was a kid, so I know there's some bizarre connection with me and Riddle, albeit one which I still think is made up by him, but prophecy or no, and I still think it's all a load of crap" the last part was muttered under Harry's breath, however not quietly enough for his parents to miss it "we all know how much intent is important with magic. Riddle has clearly intended for me to be his prophesied nemesis, so his magic is working in line with that intent."

The older two looked thoughtful, Lily in particular was reviewing what he had said, subjecting it to the critical analysis which was her way of thinking and finding it hard to pick holes in her son's hypothesis. "Ok, let's assume that seven is the magic number. It helps but doesn't, knowing how many is all great, but we still don't know where five of them are."

The other two looked at her. Lily shrugged. "If we presume that he intended to make the 7th from our, or probably more specifically, Harry's murder, when that went wrong the ritual which he had already started before he got to the house couldn't be completed. When Harry's instinctual magic channelled the charm I'd cast and sent the curse back to him killing the body holding what was left of his soul, the fragment he'd already fractured off tried to latch on to something, it was clearly moving toward Harry before we stopped it. So that's one horcrux which was never made, agreed?

The other two nodded. "So that's one of seven accounted for. The body which was killed had to contain at least the remaining portion of Riddle's soul, agreed with that too?" Two more nods. "So, I take it you have presumed from what Luna said that the 'key' which has opened a lock is as a result of what happened that night, and that the other key which is in the lock but isn't open is the book?"

"Yes. But there's something worrying me". Harry ran his fingers through his perpetually messy hair. "Seven is a powerful magic number. If Riddle indented to make seven horcruxes, he'd have to leave a portion of his soul in his body. That makes eight soul fragments. Outside of Ankh-Morpork it's as magically inert a number as you'll find."

Lily couldn't help but smile at Harry's reference to Discworld, one of her favourite book series. She shook her head. "As much as you have learned it's easy to forget how much you still don't know. The number of soul fragments on their own is essentially irrelevant, the important part is how many of them have been, by way of the specific ritual, turned into horcruxes. That's what is important and that's where seven comes in. The potential 8th piece of Riddle's soul doesn't matter, other than it has to be destroyed, but you did that in 1981."

James sat there as he watched his son think about what Lily had said. James was in the top 10 percent of Hogwarts students when he was at the castle, but he was happy to acknowledge the fact that his wife was the cerebral powerhouse of the partnership. James prowess in charms and DADA was legendary, but Lily was something of a polymath. She wasn't far behind James in charms, but in terms of transfiguration, potions, arithmancy and runes (both ancient and modern) Lily was something special. Harry, he knew, had the potential to take the best of both of his parents, and showed glimpses of brilliance frequently, but lacked Lily's drive to learn, relying predominantly on his innate abilities and instincts, something James was all too well aware of, hadn't he done the same for the first five years of his schooling?

Harry's voice snapped him out of his woolgathering. "So, we are one down, six to go, and five of those we don't know the first thing about?"

Lily nodded. "It's not all bad though, it would be useful if we could determine what order they were made in. My research has shown that when the horcrux ritual is cast, the caster can't choose how much of the soul is cleaved. It appears that each iteration of the ritual will take half of the soul."

James looked at her, even he hadn't worked out how much Lily had learned of this darkest of arts. "So each time he cast the ritual he'd shave off half of his remaining soul?

"Yes. I've done the calculations. By the seventh casting he would split off, and by default be left with, less than 1% of his soul."

Harry's eyes widened. "That's how it happened." The other two looked at him. "That's how I was able to return the killing curse. You said yourself, magic is about intent, the intent comes from the soul. You also told me that there's a reason the killing curse is particularly nasty. It rends the soul of the caster."

"Yes, without any other rituals the rent soul will eventually re-fuse, but there will be, for want of a better term, a fault-line running through it. If the killing curse is cast often enough, the soul will be so full of these faults that it will cause varying levels of insanity on the caster. That's what has happened with many of Riddles inner circle. Many death eaters will kill with piercing or cutting hexes, even Riddle doesn't always use AK, he saves that for what he considers to be noteworthy deaths. If my research is right, with each horcrux made, the killing curse would require exponentially more magical power to be effective." Lily stopped talking, interested to see if her son had reached a similar conclusion to her.

"So as soon as he cast the killing curse that night, he triggered the ritual to fracture his soul for the seventh time. By then he must have barely had enough of a soul left in his body for magic to cling on to. It meant that the charms that you found and developed would be able to overpower what was left of his intent."

Lily smiled at her son. "Got it in one. It was still a close run thing, I was banking rather heavily on my hunch being correct, but even with Riddle having a fraction of his soul left, the charm only barely worked. It was a crazy long shot which we got lucky with. I had no idea how many times he had fractured his soul by that point, I was shooting for the moon and hoping for a miracle, one that we got. If he'd come after us for his sixth horcrux rather than seventh, I'm sure the charm would have failed."

James decided he should take at least some part in the conversation. "It might be worth having a chat with Luna, although we would need to pre-warn Sirius."

Harry looked at his dad. "Why?"

James sighed. "There's a lot we haven't told you about our time at Hogwarts, or our life in Britain. Partly because it never was caused to come up, partly because it was irrelevant and partly because we just didn't think about it, we were far from here, no plans to return to the UK until we absolutely had to." He summoned Trixie and asked for some drinks for the family. Once those were delivered he spoke again.

"There's much we really should have told you, and now that we are back at Hogwarts for the foreseeable, much that I am going to let you know, I need to get my own thoughts in order first though. I'm glad you have made inroads with the Longbottom boy by the way, we knew his parents very well, they were good people. But I digress."

James took a second to organise his mind. "We were in fifth year, we were all either 15 or about to turn, girls were a frequent topic of discussion." He heard the snort coming from Lily's direction. He just shrugged. "I was already gone on your mother, there was never any doubt for me, Remus wasn't interested in anyone, his 'furry little problem' was, in his mind, an absolute disqualifier whilst the traitor couldn't pull in a brothel."

"JAMES!"

The elder Potter just looked at his wife. "What? It's true. Anyway, Padfoot had become enamoured of a seventh year prefect by the name of Pandora Lysander. She was a beautiful woman, can't deny that, smart too, had a way of thinking about things that on the face of it made no sense, but that always, and I mean always got results. She was one of the most chased girls in the school from her third year on. Sirius was an early bloomer, he was damn near 6 foot by the time he turned 14, and being a Black had inherited the family charm in spades. There's a reason a family as dark as his gets away with things, part of their family magic I guess is an inherent charm. As he got older, he used that charm to his advantage more than once."

A warning grunt from his wife put an end to that line of thought. "Anyway" he continued "Sirius was one of those who had a thing for Pandora. He charmed his way into her good graces during the year and they became something of a couple. The rest of us could see it wouldn't last, Padfoot for all his charm and apparent physical maturity was still, well, Padfoot. Right enough, by midway through our sixth year she'd broken it off and had met Xenophilius Lovegood, Sirius struggled for the longest time to get over it. Xeno was a few years older than her and really was Sirius polar opposite. He wasn't what you'd call an ugly man, but he didn't care about fashion, grooming, he was intelligent and very serious, very driven although with an… eccentricity… about him. Being honest I thought Pandora and he balanced each other. I'd heard a couple of years ago that Pandora had died, Sirius took it badly, he had always carried a small flame for her, despite everything. He was glad she was happy, and certainly wasn't short of glamorous company, but I think he always had a bit of a 'what if' problem in his mind.

Lily interjected. "I'll speak to Luna." She turned to her son. "Can you bring her up here sometime in the next couple of days? Bring Hermione too of course. You can practice whilst Luna and I have a chat."

"Practice what?"

Lily smiled. "You are a champion who, along with your date, will need to open the ball along with the other champions. No son of mine is going to embarrass his date by not being able to dance!"

- oOoOoOo -

The next morning Harry got up early to make sure he had time to shower and get down to the main hall before the heaving masses. He knew Hermione was an early riser and had hoped to catch up with her whilst the hall was still quiet.

His parents had impressed upon him the need to be careful with how much he said. They understood that Harry had made a point of displaying his trust in Hermione on more than one occasion, but had argued that whilst Hermione may be utterly trustworthy, the more people who knew a secret meant that there was a greater risk of that secret being found. Especially when all it took was some knowledge, a wand and the word "legillimens" to rip those secrets out of someone's mind.

Harry had been raised in a family where his training began in earnest the moment he got his wand. That the family were in Japan at the time meant that he could get one at 8, rather than waiting until 11. This was where Remus had come into his own. Being a werewolf meant that he had found himself working on the periphery of magical culture more often than not, especially during the Potter's 'wilderness years'.

After their disappearance from Britain the Potters kept a remarkably low profile. During the first war, both James and Sirius had laid plans and contingencies. They had multiple bank accounts in various names in both the magical and non magical sides of the world. Lily being a muggleborn was key, she knew how the non magical banking systems worked and was able to set up accounts and explain to the other two how to access them.

Both the Potters and Blacks were what would be classed as 'old money' in the non magical world. They had investments, various accounts both at Gringotts in the UK and Europe, as well as the gnome banks dotted about. It was because they were such old money that the banks had no issue with skirting around the boundaries of what was legal on the magical side, and running roughshod over what was legal on the non magical side.

Nor had they forgotten their friend. Remus had a couple of accounts, which he had argued fiercely against receiving, but was eventually browbeaten into accepting. It meant that he was able to take work where he could. Some of the contacts he built up during this time were essential when the Potters and Sirius were able to re-group in the far east and get their missing friend to join them.

This all culminated in an 8 year old Harry being whisked into Nishiki Market, the Kyoto equivalent of Knockturn Alley to receive a very glorious, very expensive, very unregistered and thus very illegal wand. Upon receiving it the Potters launched into training Harry, first turning everything into games, increasing the level of magic and the seriousness as Harry grew older.

They had considered how to overcome the illegality of Harry's wand as they made their way back to Europe over the years. Most European ministries didn't track underage magic anyway, many had a much more egalitarian view, allowing children wands much earlier. Britain could be a problem if they had to return so they had their ministry contact (or Aunt Ami as Harry just knew her) do some clandestine research. It turned out that wands bought overseas were supposed to be registered if a family came to live in the UK. A glaring oversight in the regulations meant that there was no requirement in statute for the registration of wands bought overseas by British families. The Ministry in their arrogance automatically assumed that any magical family in Britain would use a family wand (if they were stupid enough) or would get their wand from Garrick Ollivander.

So Harry found himself sitting at the Gryffindor table at the spot he usually found Hermione, running things through his head as he waited on his friend. He didn't have too long to ruminate before the witch in question made her appearance, a look of surprise clear on her face as she spotted him sitting there.

"Good morning Harry" she beamed at him. "You are up early." She couldn't help but think Harry looked a little pensive this morning.

"Good morning" he replied. "Yeah, I wanted to come down early to catch you before it got too busy. Erm… my mum and dad want to speak to Luna about yesterday and they asked if you had time to come up to the room sometime cause they wanted to speak to Luna and… erm… and… " he paused before rattling out in almost a whisper "andtheywantoteachmehowtodancewithyou".

Hermione frowned as she tried to decipher the stream of apparently connected syllables which flew from Harry's mouth. She was sure she heard the word 'dance' somewhere in there.

"Can we try that last bit again, but this time use, you know, actual words?"

Harry found he couldn't meet Hermione's eyes. "Mum is worried I'll embarrass you at the Ball because I can't dance, so she's determined that her and dad, mostly dad, is going to teach me, she asked if you'd come along so that they can teach me. They figure it would be better learning to dance with you."

Hermione had to carefully school herself to avoid making a triumphal squeak. She wasn't much of a dancer herself, so this would be ideal. She'd get to learn and get to spend more time with Harry. The opportunity for something which was as close to intimacy as she reckoned she would have ever been expected to get at Hogwarts wasn't lost on her either. She smiled at the shy boy before her.

"That would be great. I was worried too, I've never really had to learn either. My parents have been to a few balls and were able to take me to a couple where people were allowed to take children, but I just watched and danced with my dad a couple of times, but that was largely him telling me to just stand on his feet and he'd do all the work. I mean I was only 9, so it…" she stopped talking, aware that she was gabbling on, as was her wont.

Harry finally looked her in the eye and smiled.

The two chatted away over breakfast until Hermione spotted Luna coming through the door to the hall. They both rose to meet her and explained Harry's parents' wish to speak to her to chat about what Luna had seen. Luna for her part seemed a bit taken aback that she was the subject of such interest, but agreed that she would meet up with the Potters after class that afternoon. As they were talking, Marietta Edgecome walked through the door and saw Harry, Luna and Hermione talking. As soon as Harry saw her, a scowl formed on his face, something not missed by the would be bully, who saw the colour drain from her face as she made a point of taking the long way round to get as far away from Harry as she could.

This byplay was not missed by Hermione who fixed a look on Harry who just shrugged. "You know I don't like bullies" was all he replied.

- oOoOoOo -

The rest of the day was uneventful for the most part. It was a potions free day, so there was nothing really to cause Harry any concerns other than the impending dance lessons. If he was being honest, Harry was as much excited as he was nervous. He had been on the receiving end of one of Hermione's hugs on several occasions now, and found himself enjoying the experience very much. It wasn't quite every time they met, but it was clear that Hermione was a hugger.

Lily was as physically affectionate as any mother tends to be, James not so much, a ruffle of the hair or pat on the shoulder was as much as Harry got from his father. Regardless of James' disdain for most of the pureblood traditions, he did grow up in a pureblood house, albeit one very much aligned to the light, and as such it wasn't done for fathers to show overt physical affection. Consequently, Harry had always felt uncomfortable with contact from anyone other than his mother. Hermione was absolutely changing that.

Tonight, however, there would be contact of another sort. Magical contact, for tonight was the first opportunity for Harry to take part in the Hogwarts Duelling Club. To say he was looking forward to it would be an understatement. It was rare for Harry to get to duel against people his own age, normally he was up against Uncle Remus which meant that normally he lost. As he was getting older and his magic was strengthening however, he snuck the occasional win. Harry's persistent honesty made him accept that the wins were usually as a result of either him getting lucky or Remus making a mistake, but every now and then he would see an opening to try something out of the ordinary. He hoped that tonight's excursion would let him see what level he was really at. He also hoped he'd get a chance to square off against Weasley. Or Malfoy. Or Crabbe. Or Goyle. Heck, he'd line them up and pick them off one by one given a chance.

He also presumed that Hermione wouldn't be there, remembering her previous assertion that duelling wasn't for her. True to his word he had discussed duelling strategy with her, but the two had never actually crossed wands. It seemed to be a topic which was assiduously avoided by both for some reason.

So it came to pass that Harry found himself eating in the room with his parents, excitedly waiting until it was time to go to the duelling hall. James had, of course, insisted that he accompanied his son, having already offered his services as a referee to Filius Flitwick who had enthusiastically agreed. As the two Potters entered the room, Harry immediately cast an eye around to see who was there. He allowed himself a tight grin as he saw Weasley in one corner with his clique and Malfoy similarly ensconced in another. His grin widened as he saw an unexpected, but most welcome, mass of chestnut curls bouncing in his direction, the smile on the face of their owner as wide as the one on the young wizard.

"Harry!" breathed out Hermione. He could tell that she had to actively resist the urge to pull him into a hug, and found himself slightly disappointed that she had done so.

"I wasn't expecting you here."

"It was a last minute decision. I thought that after all the help you have given me with strategy, the least I could do is see if it has made any difference. If I get more than a couple of wins I'll count that as a success."

Harry continued to smile at her. "You will" he said without a hint of doubt. "Just remember, sometimes you can know too much, don't over think."

Their impromptu discussion was interrupted by the sound of the part-goblin teacher clearing his throat. "Welcome all, nice to see such a large turn out. I had hoped to see more of our counterparts from the other schools, but not to worry. As you can see, I've been joined by Mr James Potter, he's going to help out tonight, so we can double up on bouts."

"More like he can make sure his son wins" came from the crowd. The two Potters both recognised the voice of Draco Malfoy and had anticipated someone making the comment. Harry scowled, given that he now owed his father a month's worth of broom maintenance. The two had bet on this very event, Potter the Elder saying that Malfoy or one of his goons would make the comment, Potter the Younger backing a Weasley or one of his cohort.

It was James who answered, his voice deliberately light and even. "Not at all, I will be making a point of ensuring that I'm nowhere near Harry when he is up. In fact I've already agreed with Professor Flitwick that I will oversee the sixth and seventh years amongst us, whilst he was take the fourth and fifth years. I will also be helping out with the junior years when it's their evening."|

Flitwick nodded and clapped his hands. "As Mr Potter has indicated, we will be split as follows: sixth and seventh years will be with Mr Potter on the far platform. Fourth and fifth years will be with me on the near platform. Please make your way."

As the students dispersed, Harry took another look around. Most of group he was in was still unknown to him, save the usual suspects. Before he could ask Hermione about the protocol, the Professor spoke again.

"I am aware that Mr Potter won't know how this works. Tonight we will draw at random. We try to have an even split of house match ups but that's not always possible. Winners of each bout will progress to face another match winner, the losers will do the same. Ultimately the two undefeated will face off in the final bout."

With that, Flitwick organised the assembled throng into some kind of order, drew his wand and pointed it into the air. "Temere punctum duos!" Two flashes of light escaped the tip of the wand, the first moved to hover over a Slytherin called Blaise Zabini, the second over a Hufflepuff called Sally Ann Perks. He called the two to the side and then repeated the incantation, pairing people off. Eventually the light came to hover over Hermione, who had started to look nervous. Harry leaned into her and gently bumped his shoulder into hers whispering "you have this". The second light hovered over a Ravenclaw, Anthony Goldenstein. There were only six left by now, and right on cue, the next light stopped at Harry, it's partner over a fifth year Gryffindor called Cormac McLaggen, who looked positively delighted to have the match up.

Harry had noted that Weasley was up against a Ravenclaw (Sue Li he later found out) whilst Malfoy was up against another 'Claw, Justin Finch-Fletchley. He would be keeping a close eye on those two.

Flitwick got everyone's attention again. "Now, you know the rules, incapacitating and disarming only. Anything likely to cause serious injury will see the match stopped by me, with force if needed, and your next stop will be at the Headmaster's office. Understood?"

All participants nodded. Harry couldn't help himself and raised his hand. "Stunners allowed?" he asked.

Flitwick raised an eyebrow. "You can cast a stunner already?"

Harry shrugged. "Can't everyone?" he asked with a note of incredibility in his voice.

"Mr Potter, stunners are fifth year spells at Hogwarts, but if you can cast one, it certainly falls in the category of incapacitating, any firth years in the group would be free to use them, so absolutely."

Harry heard a snigger from behind. "Like that prick can cast a stunner, he's just trying to show off for the bookworm, fuck knows why." Ron Weasley was deliberately making sure that Harry could just hear what was said. For his part, Harry just smirked and prayed that he'd get the chance to face the blowhard at some point.

Harry paid some attention to the early bouts, just enough to be able to work out who was likely to win, and what their style was like. He paid closer attention to Malfoy and Weasley, noting that the former was fast but unfocussed, relying on his speed to try and overwhelm, whilst the latter wasn't as fast, also lacked a bit of power, but was clearly able to think several moves ahead. However it wasn't until Professor called out for Hermione to take her position that he really switched on.

"Remember, you don't have to be perfect, you just have to be better than him. It's a foregone conclusion" he whispered to her as she pulled her hair into a ponytail. She gave him a nervous smile and stepped up to the platform. With the preliminaries out of the way, she struck a classic duellists pose (as did her opponent) and waited for the countdown. As soon as the command 'FIGHT!"' rang out she was, in line with Harry's instruction, on the move, something which surprised the watchers. Whilst she had only been to the duelling club twice before it had become clear that she would stand still at the command and with very deliberate movements start off, making her a static target and putting her on the defensive immediately. Given that, it was a testament to her skill and ability that she won any bouts. She had the power, she had the knowledge, but she didn't have the attitude, and it's that which Harry had tried to drum into her. The bout was fairly even until Hermione unleashed a salvo of bluebell flames, designed to distract, closely followed by some freezing water (the idea courtesy of the story she had eventually coaxed out of Harry relating to his meeting with Luna's tormentors). As she had hoped this threw her opponent out of kilter allowing her to triple up with a binding spell which trapped Goldenstein's legs, a bludgeoning hex which knocked him over and the coup de gras was a disarming jinx which saw his wand fly into her hand.

A polite and clearly surprised round of applause was drowned out by a hollering Harry Potter, cheering loudly exclaiming "that was brilliant!", causing the young witch to blush. After some congratulatory words from Flitwick, it was Harry's turn.

He winked at Hermione as they passed and he made his way to the platform, carefully noting the bits and pieces which were lying around. Whilst most duelling was charms based, there was much to be said for the use of tactical transfiguration, something he hoped to keep up his sleeve for the most appropriate moment, but also something he was willing to use as needed. As he was contemplating the resources at his disposal he became aware that the duelling wards had been erected and that his opponent, a vaguely handsome if boorish and smarmy sort from what he could gather, was saying something.

"Sorry, wasn't paying attention. You said?"

McLaggen just snorted. "Yeah right, like you weren't shaking there. Time for you to see how a real man from a real school fights."

Harry just shrugged. "If you say so."

"Three. Two. One. FIGHT!"

It soon became clear where Hermione had learned her lessons from. The 't' of fight was still echoing around the room when Harry started moving. As he had expected, the arrogant fifth year thought that his extra year would mean his magic was stronger, his spells more dangerous and that a few overpowered hexes would see the match over. McLaggen wasn't expecting a wide air hammer spell to hit him with such accuracy from a constantly moving Harry Potter. The concentrated mass of air knocked the older boy back several paces and before he knew it, he was on the defensive.

Harry followed his initial attack up with a flurry of annoying but ultimately harmless spells, stingers, tickling hexes, all second and third year stuff. McLaggen had recognised that and with a smarmy grin shouted out "keep throwing the baby stuff Potter, I can take this all day long".

"Divello!". McLaggen hadn't even heard of that one and hadn't realised that Harry had used the distraction caused by his relatively harmless spells to close the gap enough that he couldn't dodge or deflect the hex. Suddenly his skin felt like it was being pulled apart in a thousand different directions. His arms started flailing to try and ward off whatever invisible force was trying to pluck him like a chicken, which of course meant that it was all too easy for Harry to end the bout with "expelliramus!"

As soon as he had the older boy's wand in his hand, Harry cast the 'finite' which ended the plucking spell and after handing McLaggen's wand to Flitwick gave a cursory bow and without as much as a second glance, went to join his friend. Hermione looked at him with pride. "Now that was amazing!" she said. "You are so teaching me some of the stuff you know."

Harry nodded. "Of course." Nothing else needed to be said, which was just as well as the second rounds were being set up. Hermione was paired up with a Slytherin from her year, Pansy Parkinson. Harry noticed that the matchup had made her tense up. A raised eyebrow was enough to ask the question.

"Last time I came to the duelling club, my worst loss was to her. She really doesn't like me, she's a pureblood bigot who couldnt' handle that I was better than her in the classrooms, when she was able to face me here she made sure it hurt."

Harry nodded and in his mind added another name to his ever growing shit-list. "That was then, this is now. You've learned since then, you will do much better this time." He had paid scant attention to the Slytherin's opening match and now was regretting that. He was dragged out of his thoughts when his second match was made.

"Mr Potter versus Mr Malfoy."

The grin on Harry's face was feral. The blonde Slytherin was also grinning, thinking that this was his chance to show everyone how much better he was than the interloper. Before he could focus on wiping the smirk off the blonde's face however, he had to focus on Hermione.

"Remember, don't overthink, watch her eyes as well as her wand, keep moving."

Hermione nodded and once again made her way to the platform. As with the last time, as soon as the command to fight rang out she was on the move. This time, her opponent expected it and was tracking her , but finding it harder to get her spells on target. Hermione for her part was following a similar pattern to her first bout, something Harry noticed straight away. He wanted to shout to her that she was being predictable, but a) the wards would have muffled his voice and b) he wouldn't want to distract her in any event. Hermione meanwhile had found herself on the back foot, shanghaied by her own thoughts as much as anything else. She fleetingly remembered what Harry had done and tried to unleash a similar flurry of annoyance spells, hoping to distract Parkinson and buy herself a bit of time. The Slytherin batted the spells away and before she was able to go back on the offensive, found herself having to dodge a flock of angry canaries which Hermione had conjured. Seeing the opening, Hermione repeated her previous winning strategy of bluebell flames and frigid water, but this time, the Slytherin witch was ready for it and with a quick 'ventus' was able to cause a localised tornado of air to send both the spells harmlessly off.

Harry watching noticed this and in his mind was cycling through a number of options he would have used. The wand motion to cast the ventus left an opening which could be exploited, but he knew his friend would spend too long thinking about what to do next. His supposition was proved correct when he saw Parkinson unleash bludgeoning hexes which Hermione only just managed to dodge as she cast another set of canaries at her opponent. For once, Parkinson was caught out, clearly not expecting Hermione to recycle a spell, something she'd not done up to now. As Parkinson was banishing the canaries, Hermione followed up with a bludegeoning hex of her own which was slightly off target but managed to clip the wand arm of her opponent, throwing her off balance. Thinking that she'd never have a better chance, Hermione followed up with a 'restringo' tying hex which she was pleased to see hit, leaving the way clear for her to disarm her opponent, leading to a triumphal roar from Harry in the watching throng.

As Hermione bowed and handed the wand over to Flitwick, no one could miss the look of anger on Parkinson's face. It was clear the Slytherin was raging at being beaten, however, the pureblood princess wannabe that she was knew that protocol had to be followed and gave the most cursory bow she thought she would get away with before storming over to where Malfoy and the other Slytherins were congregated.

Harry could see them clearly try to persuade Parkinson that Hermione had simply gotten lucky, and as much as it gripped his gonads, he had to agree. There had been many points during the fight that Hermione could have taken a clear offensive, it was luck that a poorly aimed spell just got enough of the target. Not that he was going to tell Hermione that, of course!

The witch in question had made her way back to his side, still clearly out of breath following her exertations. "I told you you could do it" he said, eliciting a beaming smile.

"I got lucky"

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "Don't underestimate luck. There's always a degree of luck involved in a duel, even if it's just the luck in picking the right spell at the right time."

Before they could get more involved, Harry heard his name being called. It was time for him to square up to Malfoy. Having watch the blonde's first bout, he had a plan in mind.

He made his way to the platform for the second time and waited to feel the wards go up. As soon as they did he stepped to the edge of the platform and leaned into the ward, making it look like he was just stretching, feeling his back interact with the magical barrier. 'Interesting' he thought. The ward would stop any spells, but should also stop the duellists being knocked clear of the platform, something which might be useful.

The Slytherin was glowering at him. "You got lucky last time Potter" he spat. "Just like your little mudblood got lucky earlier." Harry knew that Malfoy was trying to rile him to make him lose focus, something which Uncle Remus had mentioned repeatedly. "But that's to be expected from you, I mean being a halfblood shit from a mudblood whore and a blood traitor and all."

Harry felt his rage spike, but choked it down. This was not the time to lose control. His anger could be an ally or a foe, the former if he was able to control it, the latter if he let it control him. He cricked his neck and rolled his shoulders, his eyes never leaving his opponent, not saying a word but tensing, waiting for the countdown. He had planned to draw this out, but after Malfoy's insults, all bets were off. No messing about, no playing with his opponent, he wanted to take him down, hard.

"Three. Two. One. FIGHT!"

Just as the last time, as soon as the command rang out, Harry was on the move. He had expected Malfoy to cast quickly and randomly, and was not disappointed. It was like the blonde had learned from Harry's own match and was casting innocuous spells, but ones which could be quickly chained. Harry was just as quick however and between his physical movements and a couple of deflection spells which intercepted the hexes flying toward him was moving into the position he wanted to be. Up to this point, all of Harry's spells had been defensive. He had decided early on that he was going to let Malfoy lead, confident that his defence was better than Malfoy's offence.

Malfoy had moved a couple of steps closer and was casting harder jinxes now, pushing Harry back until he was almost at the edge of the platform. Harry however, had a plan.

Malfoy of course couldn't help but taunt his opponent. "Look at you, running around like the shit you are. I told you that you were just luck… Urgh!"

Harry hadn't expected the blonde to lose focus so early and switch to taunting, but when that's what happened he quickly took advantage. He made a snap decision and threw himself backwards, relying on the wards. It meant that Malfoy's knockback jinx hit him, Harry feeling the pain of the impact, but as he was already moving backwards, the impact was minimised and as he had hoped, the wards caught him and bounced him back into the platfor. Switching to offence he unleashed a knockback jinx of his own which hit Malfoy square in the chest. Being as quickly cast as it was, it didn't have the power Harry had hoped for but it was enough to push the Slytherin back. Charging forward Harry unleashed another barrage of spells, summoning some of the blocks of wood which were immediately behind Malfoy in the hope that they would collide with the blonde on the way past. They didn't but the distraction the summoning caused was all Harry needed.

Two flicks of his wand saw one of the blocks of wood beside him flying up wards, being enlarged as it moved before being banished in the direction of Malfoy. Another banisher followed, he had expected Malfoy to try a reducto on the now large block of wood flying toward him, but the Slytherin chose instead to duck out of the way. As he pivoted back upright the second banisher hit him, sending him flying back into the wards. His recovery was nowhere near as graceful as Harry's was and he knew that he was out of position. Before he had a chance to recover he was hit with a bludgeoning hex. He was just aware of Harry shouting 'aestus!' when he felt his skin heat up, making it feel like he was burning. This soon changed to a feeling of intense cold as he was hit with Harry's 'glacio' spell, before Malfoy's world went black courtesy of Harry's stunner, a spell with which the Slyerin was becoming intimately familiar.

Malfoy being knocked out was the signal for the end of the match. Harry followed the protocol and bowed, before walking away, leaving Flitwick to cast the rennervate spell which would revive Malfoy who skulked back to what Harry had dubbed the Slytherin corner looking every bit as disgruntled as Parkinson had earlier.

"We are going to have to keep an eye on those two" mused Harry has he made his way back to Hermione who picked up on his comment. She shrugged.

"Probably, but that will be no real difference than the way it's always been. Well, for me anyway."

Harry was not pleased by this, but wasn't able to press further as the next set of match ups were being drawn. Harry was aware of the risk that he would be paired off against Hermione, something he was keen to avoid. Fortunately, luck was on his side as Hermione was paired with Susan Bones whilst Harry himself got his second wish of the evening in the shape of Ronald Weasley.

Hermione's match was far from a classic. It became clear very early on that Susan Bones was a very talented duellist. Growing up with Amelia Bones as an aunt had clearly given her the same kind of advantages that Harry himself had enjoyed by having ready access to Remus Lupin, himself no slouch in duelling. Hermione held her own for a while, but was getting run ragged by the focussed Hufflepuff. Luck was not going to be on the Gryffindor's side this time. Susan wore her down and eventually disarmed her following a cunning combination of transfigured blocks which were turned into nets and banished toward her as she had been backed into a corner with nowhere really to go, the nets were then restricted around her trapping her arms and leaving Susan with a straightforward disarming jinx.

As she made her way back, Harry could see that she was disappointed, but he for one was proud. "You were magnificent" he said. "I would have struggled against her, she's good, like really good. I hope I get a chance to go up against her, I'm not sure I'd win, but it would be interesting. I guarantee you there is no one else out there who would have lasted half as long against her as you did."

Hermione blushed a little at the praise, but Harry was pleased to see that the droop of her shoulders had been pushed away and she was standing that little more proudly. "What could I have done better?" she asked.

"We need to work on getting you to mix things up a bit more. You are mobile enough now, but you are predictable. There were a couple of opportunities in all of your bouts that you missed because you had it in your head that you were following a pattern. There's no logic to a fight, yes you can plan a few moves ahead, but you need to be able to adapt those plans on the fly." Hermione nodded at that. For all that she had improved, she knew that she was still focussed more on form and articulation and Harry was right, she went in with a plan, when that worked she stuck to it. "We can go through more stuff in time."

Hermione glanced round and saw Ron Weasley glaring at the two. "Don't underestimate him" she said, pointing to the ginger headed boy. "His brothers are notorious pranksters, they will have shown him some nasty jinxes and hexes."

"Worth knowing" Harry acknowledged. "Give him his due, he's a decent tactician too. But then, so am I."

It was time. Harry couldn't work out which fight he was looking forward to more, the one against Malfoy or the one against Weasley. As he had against Malfoy, Harry was determined that he was going in hard.

To his grudging credit, Harry had to admit that Weasley looked much more focussed than the Slytherin had. There was no posturing, no taunting. Harry had correctly determined that Weasley was a good strategist and as such will have been closely watching the other matches. He will have seen that Harry took advantage of slip up by his opponents.

For his part, Harry had a completely different strategy of his own for this one. No messing about, no defensive dancing around looking for openings, for this one, he was going to be on the front foot.

The countdown was made and the fight began. Weasley was clearly expecting Harry to be on the move the same way he had been for his other fights and started off by casting wide ranging hexes in a broad pattern, but Harry, to Weasley's surprise, just cast a solid 'protego' and charged forward. It was a move worthy of any Gryffindor, Harry heaved toward the rapidly retreating redhead, batting away spells before shouting 'maleus incantator!"

The phrase meant 'Hammer of the Wizards" and was a very old almost entirely forgotten specific variant of a blugeoning hex which had the benefit of being able to bypass most common shield charms, having a specific magical signature which was designed to break anything created by a wizard and then strike them. Weasley was sent flying backward as Harry continued his assault, this time calling on one of his godfather's favourites. "Levicorpus!". Before he knew what was happening, Weasley was upside down as if being dangled by the feet from an invisible crane. As Harry had suspected, weasley had not charmed his robes and they did what robes did when subject to gravity and fell over his upside down face. Harry was still charging forward at this point and manually snatched the wand out of the flailing arm of the redread, ending the match.

Flitwick called the result and lowered Weasley back to the ground before handing him the wand back and calling for the two to bow as protocol dictated. Harry bowed, but kept his eyes on the Weasley who barely bowed, although for once, it wasn't anything to do with disrespect, more to do with the impact of Harry's hammer spell. Flitwick noted the discomfort that Weasley was in as had Harry and both moved toward the Gryffindor. "You ok?" Harry asked. Weasley glared at him but didn't snark back.

"Ribs" he wheezed out. Flitwick nodded as he cast a couple of diagnostic spells.

"It was a legal but hard hex, had Mr Potter followed up with more of the same he could have done some real damage, regardless I think it best to get you to the infirmary. Weasley just nodded.

Flitwick called together the rest of the class and called it for the evening. There should have been one more round of bouts, but as there were a couple of students in need to Madam Pomfrey's attention following their bouts. James agreed with the decision and the meeting dispersed.

No one had noticed the ripples in the air which indicated that the loose magic which always managed to fly around in the duelling room when so many people were in such an exited state was interacting with a disillusionment spell, so as they walked out there were wholly ignorant of the fact that a pair of hidden eyes was watching them.

The owner of those eyes had been keeping an eye on Harry throughout the evening. Those same eyes found themselves flicking back and forth between Harry, James and Hermione. There was plotting to be done.