Lashay took a deep breath as she tied her long, braided hair into a tight ponytail before she piled it onto of her head. The task could have easily been done with a quick wave of her hand, but she had done it by hand to give herself something to do, to steady her nerves. As she worked, she never once took her gaze off of the reflection in the mirror.

A tall, willowy and well-muscled young black woman with long braided hair stared back at her, dressed in a black duelling tunic and long black pants while her feet were completely bare. Since as Harry Potter, she had been born as a British boy, the sight of her current incarnation's face was a surprise for her at first before she became totally used to it, but it was like that when she was Zi Yuan.

"Nervous?" Lashay's eyes flickered and she spotted her twin sister, Lanisha.

"Yeah," Lashay replied, trying not to think too much about what was coming up. The duelling tournament she and her sister had both signed up for, right on the cusp of their graduation from Uaguado, the school they'd attended and studied at since when they were eleven, was just another door for them to pass through on their way to the wide world. She turned to face Lanisha, a warm smile on her face.

"Any idea which one of us is going first?" She asked, hoping a casual conversation would stop the butterflies in her stomach.

The expression on Lanisha's face told her it wasn't what she wanted to say. It looked like she was just as nervous. "No, but what are your plans for when you leave Uagadou? I heard a rumour saying you wanted to travel to Egypt and see if you could learn from a Necromancer there?"

It had been a shock for her to discover necromancy, which would be classified as a dark art under Dumbledore's eyes, was common in Africa. But when she had learnt of it, she had instantly decided to study it to give her a better understanding of the magic that went into it. In any case, as Harry Potter, she had learnt Voldemort had used necromancy-based magic, in the form of the Horcrux to become immortal.

Necromancy made many people think of waking up the dead, it was more complicated than that. Necromancy was a study of dark spells and rituals which studied magical creatures with immensely long lives, or had no souls like vampires, and studied the souls of people and animals. Uagadou had touched on it, and the teachers had made it dangerously blunt and clear Horcruxes did not work, but Lashay wanted to study the magic and the processes involved with them to gain a better understanding of how they worked, how to find them, and even better, how to destroy them all.

"Nothing so singular. I want to gain masteries in different arts before I look for a well-paying job," Lashay explained.

Lanisha understood. While her specialities lay in transfiguration, astronomy, runes, dark arts and defence against the dark arts, and charms, Lashay was talented in runes, the dark arts, defence against the dark arts, charms, and potions.

"I know what you mean," Lanisha said. And she did. She was planning to become an Auror. Lashay planned on becoming a potions mistress and since she was already a rune savant, she had invented several new runes and had begun a small business. Inspired by that, Lanisha had begun her own business creating and selling astronomical rune charts which mapped out the positions of the stars and planets, and she had even created a few transfiguration spells.

Their moment together wasn't meant to last, and both sisters jumped in fright when they heard the duelling horn.

Nerves returning, Lashay turned to her twin. "Let's get them, sister," she said.

"Definitely, sister. Good luck."

"May Lady Magic be with us," Lashay was solemn, but then she grinned. She had practiced her skills a lot recently in preparation, and she hoped she was more than ready.

-8-

The tournament was an old Uagadou tradition, and it was open to witches and wizards, mages, warlocks, sorcerers and sorceresses, shamans and witch doctors, and necromancers who had been invited. Africa had a caste system, with the different ranks of wizards on top of each other, their titles evolving with each ranking if they wanted to excel although most didn't bother.

Lanisha and Lashay both took their seats on the benches. After they greeted their fellow students, the twins focused forward. Lashay didn't bother listening to the Headmaster, clad in his long, flowing robes of deep orange and yellow-gold with a traditional African pattern. She had heard it before, she had heard over the years how Uagadou had produced many witches and wizards of great power in the cradle of life and magic of Earth, and how each year the graduating classes would go off into the world of work but not until they had finished with this incredible time of the year, but despite turning her brain off a little, she made sure to set her hearing up so she could hear the names.

The rules of the tournament were simple; two of the best of the year would be called up to open before a new champion was called up, and they would battle their opponents, use their spell repertoire and whatever was in their arsenal and if their opponent was beaten seven times, then they would lose, and then they would have to fight against another until either they won again, or they lost. But if they were tied, then they would fight together until the final rounds.

Lashay had begun to calm down as the tournament began with the sound of the bell, beginning with an Egyptian boy and an Arab girl. The boy quickly showed off his talents, using an Egyptian ring which he used against a steady stream of opponents, but he struggled quickly against a girl who transformed into a snake before transforming rapidly into an elephant.

Lashay gigged. Animagus transformation was one of the specialities of the school, and being able to become a multi-animagus seemingly out of a simple thought was another. It was done using imaging in the mind, and simply telling your magic to become that animal, and it helped if you were an animagus to start with, so then they could handle it. Lashay planned on taking the knowledge with her to Hogwarts again so she could replicate it there since the methods of becoming an animagus differed.

The elephant trumpeted violently, and loudly, spooking everyone and giving the girl the chance to defeat the Egyptian, who was then sent out. The Arab girl showed while she was a good master of charms and was quick on her feet, curses and duelling were not her strong points. And she was sent off quickly.

"Lashay Onai!"

Lanisha gripped her hand tightly and wished her luck while she stood up, and headed into the ring. She stood on the sand, ignoring the grit after years of practice.

Her first opponent was Lanisha, much to her shock, but she stood up when the Headmaster called again and she walked quickly into the ring. The two sisters studied each other, both of them going through everything they knew of the other's capabilities.

It was Lashay who started first, waving her hands to cast some fairly low-powered curses just to keep Lanisha on her toes. Lanisha flicked her hands, sending silent curses towards her sister, but Lashay clicked her fingers and a massive block of stone materialised out of nowhere. The spells destroyed the block instantly, but Lashay was quickly adapting, showing off her talents for duelling. She used household spells to block off her sister's attacks. She conjured mirrors behind Lanisha, who didn't notice them, and she bounced off Lanisha's attacks so her twin had to fight back against her spells when they bounced off.

And then Lashay unleashed one of her secret weapons. She had mastered several low-level necromantic and arcane spells. Clasping her hands together, she generated a bubble shield around her body so Lanishas' spells bounced off it, with sounds ringing like a church bell, while she conjured up black wraiths that rushed towards her sister.

Lashay grinned listening to her sister's panicky screams, but the phantoms were as bothersome as a poltergeist, and they didn't last long while Lashay performed her next trick. She grabbed a handful of sand, and she spoke in Ancient African. Lanishas's eyes widened in shock as she listened to her sister chanting, and she quickly flicked her hands to stop it, but the alchemical spells had finished and the sand transformed into seven-foot tall glass statues that charged at her. Lanisha just blasted them to pieces, but she knew Lashay had proven herself as an inventive alchemist and necromancer.

Well done.

But the duel was not finished…as Lanisha focused on her animagus forms. She transformed into a hippo and charged at her sister, but she knew better than to underestimate her. Quickly focusing inward on her magic, Lashay bounced from her lioness animagus form, and she pictured a smaller animal, a meerkat.

Squeaking she darted out of the way of the hippo before she transformed into her elephant form underneath her sister. The hippo bellowed in shock as the elephant trumped loudly and threw her away.

The two sisters were sent off in a draw.