Note: I'm very sorry for the delay in getting this to you. I went on a planned holiday and ended up catching pneumonia while there. Unfortunate, I know. I was ill for about a month and since I'm self-employed I had to really go all out when I got well enough, so the editing for the story fell way behind. Normal service should resume from here! Thanks.
Chapter 42 – To The Victor Goes The Spoils
With the last of his OWL exams over and done with, Harry finally had time to relax. Sort of, anyway, since he did still have to do some work on his duelling. But that work was fun work, and even when it was soul-destroying and hard, it wasn't quite the same thing as frantic Potions revision. The moment Harry woke up the day after completing his Elixir of Evocation he realised exactly what Dee had meant by the Elixir having more work to do.
When Harry had gone to bed, he'd felt mostly clear-headed, but tired. He certainly hadn't felt especially different in any way, not like with his other alchemical works. From the moment he woke, however, things were very different. Everywhere he looked came with a memory attached – sometimes several – and each of those had other bits and pieces attached to it.
It was almost overwhelming. Or would have been if Harry hadn't included procedures in his ritual to account for that.
Harry opened the curtains around his bed. Immediately he remembered that the wyrmsilk rather than a more standard variety came about as a result of an intervention from a former Headmistress, Jacinda Sallow. Sallow had later been elected to the Wizengamot, although according to Professor Flamel, hadn't managed to secure any higher positions than that. But the thought made Harry remember something he'd read in a book, once, when he'd been researching how the Wizengamot was supposed to work and Sallow had in fact—
A pair of socks hit Harry square in the face.
"Oi!" he said, whipping his head around in search of his assailant. It had been Blaise, of course, since none of the others would have thrown socks at him.
"Well, you weren't paying attention," Blaise said with a shrug. "You were just staring at the wall."
Harry felt himself go red.
"Actually, I was… er… just thinking about Jacinda Sallow. You know, because of the curtains?" Harry said. "She sponsored this bill through the Wizengamot in the 1720s that—"
"No one cares, Harry," Blaise said dismissively. "I was going to ask how your Alchemy practical went, but by the sounds of it, you passed. I thought the Elixir was meant to make you smarter or something, not spaced out and boring… but that's alchemy for you, I suppose."
Harry shook the web of connections between everything from his mind. He didn't have to follow up on all of his thoughts. He could simply engage with what was in front of him. And that would be useful for his occlumency, anyway, and definitely would be useful for any further forays into legilimency. Especially since Harry thought his Latin would be better now that his memory had improved, and he could finally read Slytherin's diaries…
No, wait, I'm getting side-tracked, Harry thought. Even that thought brought up a dozen other avenues, but Harry ignored them all.
"I'll be back to normal soon," Harry decided to say instead. "Or not normal, exactly—the Elixir is permanent. But Dee did say it takes some time to settle down. It's just a bit much right now."
Harry shrugged.
"Having a bit of trouble prioritising thoughts, that's all," Harry said. "It will calm down."
Blaise looked sceptical but didn't contradict Harry. If Harry hadn't read up on the Elixir as much as he had, he'd probably be sceptical too. But Harry could now remember essentially everything he'd read about the Elixir, so he was certain his mind would calm down once the repatterning had totally finished.
"Fair enough," Blaise said. "Anyway, fancy doing something fun this afternoon? I'm going to spend the morning working on my hexes for the Tournament, but since you're finally not busy anymore…"
"Definitely!" Harry said. "Yes. After lunch?"
"Yeah, perfect," Blaise said. "Speaking of food… ready for breakfast?"
"Just a sec," Harry said. "Going to nip to the loos. Maybe clean my teeth."
Although… Harry thought. Perhaps he shouldn't clean his teeth before lunch: what was it that he'd read about that? He thought on it as he walked into the bathroom. No, I'm quite sure it's that you're supposed to brush your teeth before eating, he decided as he went about his morning ablutions.
Not that it actually mattered all that much, since wizarding toothpaste was actually a kind of potion that was leagues ahead of anything muggles could produce… not to mention that healers could just regrow teeth. Still, best to keep up the habit.
As he brushed his teeth Harry caught sight of a massive pipe crossing the ceiling. He'd noticed it before, of course, although hadn't thought much about it: it was a pipe in a bathroom. Bathrooms had pipes. But the pipe was very large indeed, easily large enough for a mid-sized basilisk to slip through, which made Harry wonder who exactly had fitted the castle with its bathrooms and plumbing.
Harry's wonderings on that took up another ten minutes, and it wasn't until Blaise came to extricate him from the bathroom that he realised he'd been stood, staring and thinking, at a pipe for all that time.
Get it together, Harry, he thought as he made his way to breakfast.
Over the course of the day after his alchemy practical Harry's mind started to calm down. He retained the ability to recall memories and information with speed and accuracy, but he was better able to control where his thoughts went and he only got lost in spiralling thoughts a handful of times.
And never at an important moment, anyway. So that was fine.
In all, Harry was very pleased with how the year had gone. There was Umbridge and the Inquisition, of course, but Harry – even with his enhanced mental capabilities – couldn't really see a way for him to have done anything differently. Not with what he'd been working with at the time. So aside from the unpleasantness that there had been, and the looming threat of having to work with Umbridge again and again, Harry was happy.
He'd come past the first major milestone of being a wizard, and he didn't think he'd failed anything either. He'd put too much work into it for that, but even if he had, it was done. All behind him. Harry was even looking forward to dropping most of his subjects – no more late-night Astronomy; no need for messy afternoons in the Herbology greenhouses; and he could probably convince Snape to let him drop Ancient Runes, too.
If he could figure out a way of wording it all just right.
The year was over, more or less. The only thing left for Harry to do was compete in the Hogwarts All-Isles Duelling Tournament, and that wasn't work. It was fun, and a good chance to test his skills against NEWT students. But apart from that, all Harry had to do was chill out and enjoy the last days of the year.
That the Inquisition was still lingering, Umbridge at its head, dampened things somewhat, but that was next year's problem, Harry supposed. At least most of the students had stopped whispering rude things about him and his intervention on the Inquisition's behalf during the Easter protests. So Harry settled into an easy routine as the rest of the school finished their exams, spending time with his friends and practising for the tournament with Tracey.
After the year he'd had, it was very nice indeed.
After the end of exams – the fifth years having finally finished the last of their NEWTs, an Alchemy practical exam – there was still a week or so left of term. Harry had looked forward to that time the most: the weather was nice, meaning the grounds made for an excellent space to hang out… and with exams firmly in the past, most students were in good spirits.
The Inquisition even loosened the rules at the end of the school year, with 'unsanctioned groups' of students being given the right to meet once more. Fantastic for Harry and his friends, who took the opportunity to go sit in the gardens.
Since the arrival of Mairi and some of the other artists from Wandwright's the gardens had expanded in size and scope, and many new areas had been grown. Harry and his friends took to one of the newer spaces, a sheltered area filled with exotic plants, trees, and bushes grown into garden furniture. There was enough room for several groups, but apart from Harry and his friends there were only a pair of students using it – twin girls Harry recognised from the Slytherin Common Room, both reading books.
Daphne and Millie lounged on a sunchair out of the shaded portion of the space, while Susan and Justin sat on chairs grown from a large tree next to them. Tracey and Ernie played chess while Harry and Blaise played cards at a little sheltered table grown from some sort of fragrant bush Harry didn't recognise.
"That's Witch's Nose," Harry said. "Play again?"
They'd spent all afternoon there, but dinner was getting closer, and Blaise often wanted to quit after a losing streak.
"Yeah, okay," Blaise said. He dealt the cards again. "It's nice being able to do something like this out in the open again," he said. Then he paused, glancing around the sheltered space, covered as it was by leaves and flowers and other such things. "You know what I mean."
"It really is," Ernie said, looking up from the chess board. "Good bit of fun for the end of the year, you know. And after the year we've had…"
"I'm just glad OWLs are over and I can drop all the shit stuff," Mille said. "No more Astronomy, History, Potions." She sighed. "No more Transfiguration or Defence…"
Blaise sniggered.
"What are you actually keeping? That's like, half the subjects!"
"Oh, don't be snide, Blaise," Daphne said. "Millie likes what she likes. And aren't you only planning on taking Charms, Defence, and Transfiguration next year anyway? So it's not like you've got a massive courseload, is it."
"I mean, fair enough," Blaise said. "You've got me there. We'll both just have to spend our days lounging while the rest of you stress yourselves to death over NEWTs." Blaise shrugged. "Won't we, Millie?"
"Deffo," Millie said. "Magizoology, Charms, and Divination is enough for me. Might do Herbology. Dunno though, seems like a bit of faff."
"I'm not sure what I'm dropping," Harry said. "We've still got our career meetings with Snape, haven't we? So I'll have to see what he'll let me drop…"
"He can't force you to take things you really don't want to," Justin pointed out. "So if you want to drop something you can, you just have to insist."
"You don't insist on anything with Snape!" Tracey said with a little giggle. "If you're lucky he doesn't care about you and lets you do what you want… but he likes Harry, so he won't let him bunk off."
"Snape doesn't like me," Harry muttered. "I suppose he does like me more than he used to, what with, er—you know, the pastoral care sessions we were doing. But I think that means he just barely tolerates me now." Harry still didn't think that would translate to letting him drop Ancient Runes. Snape seemed to believe Harry needed to do the more difficult subjects, so Harry was fully prepared to have to take on six NEWTs including Triple As.
Not that he really wanted to.
"But since it's Snape," Susan said, "that's more than he likes anyone else. So… I think that probably does mean he likes you!"
Harry opened his mouth to argue the point, but Daphne's wand sounded an alarm and cut him off.
"Oh!" Daphne said, jolting up from where she lounged with Millie. "That's my alarm for dinner—I forgot all about it! That scared me."
"Oh, but we're right in the middle of our game!" complained Tracey. She sighed.
"You were winning anyway," Ernie said. "So… shall we call it a draw?"
"Not if I was winning!" Tracey said. "Oh, but I suppose it doesn't matter, anyway. Let's just clear away and get to dinner…"
Harry started to pack up the cards too, then once everyone was ready, they all left the gardens and headed back towards the castle. Harry wasn't too bothered about having to pack up, anyway. Dinner was usually nice after exams because the elves tended to cook better things – more treats and less of the usual dinnertime fare – so that was always good.
The Hufflepuffs and Slytherins parted ways in the Great Hall and sat at their respective tables for dinner. Dinner passed by without incident, at least until the very end when Umbridge stood up and coughed for attention.
"Hem, hem!"
The Hall quietened at once. After a year under Umbridge's heel everyone had realised it paid to listen when she said things.
"What a lovely meal! That treacle tart—scrumptious!" Umbridge said. "We have come almost to the end of the year—lessons are over; exams have all been sat—and now is a time for togetherness and relaxation. We even have the excitement of the Hogwarts School All-Isles Duelling Tournament to look forward to! A first of what we hope to be an enduring tradition! Simply marvellous."
Harry regarded her warily. Umbridge hadn't given a speech like this in quite a while, and even after the little Easter rebellion she'd held back. For her to stand up on a random evening after dinner…
"But today I received word from the Ministry—from the Minister himself, no less! News that will be of incredible interest to all of us here at Hogwarts School! For you see, the Minister has informed me that he is very pleased with the progress of the Inquisition this year. It has, in the Minister's own words, been a 'remarkable reimagining of education in these isles'. We all of course have lived what the Minister has only heard of second-hand, but it is good to hear that our efforts have not gone unnoticed!" continued Umbridge. "But that is not all. The Minister informed me today that there is to be a grand ceremony at the very end of term to formally conclude the Hogwarts High Inquisition! He will of course offer thanks to our hard-working and dedicated Inquisitors, without whom the progress we have made this year would be impossible, and I do believe he will have some kind words to say about the Inquisitorial Squad also! Isn't that lovely?"
Umbridge paused, seemingly to smile obsequiously.
"Attendance at the ceremony will of course be mandatory," Umbridge said. "I am told it will be an event to be proud of! I can announce also that I shall be stepping down as Headmistress of Hogwarts after the end of term—it has been an honour to serve as your High Inquisitor and Headmistress, but it was only ever a temporary posting. I am quite sure that Hogwarts will find itself well looked after for many years to come. That is all I have to say this evening—thank you all for listening."
She left the Great Hall, and as soon as she was gone, it erupted into sound once more. Harry tuned his ear to various parts of the Hall to gauge the mood. Some people were openly thrilled, others had a little more caution, which Harry fully understood.
The Inquisition was over, which was great. But Fudge had considered it a success… so what did that mean for the future?
"Now that's a bit of mixed news," Blaise said. "Happy it's all over, but…"
"But makes you wonder what exactly was successful about it," Tracey finished. "I know. At least Umbridge is off at the end of term—that's something."
"That's good enough for me," Millie declared. "Once she's gone Mr Hagrid can start doing all the fun stuff with us again."
"I wonder if this means the other schools are going to open again," Daphne said. "Since they had to close because of the Inquisition."
Harry thought about it briefly. It was possible, but he thought it unlikely.
"Probably not," Harry offered. But that was irrelevant to Harry. He was much more worried about what Umbridge would have planned moving forward, especially since she still had those faked letters. Would he be required to participate in the ceremony somehow? He wouldn't put it past Umbridge to make him participate. And he doubted she'd let him off, not with Dumbledore's treason charge still on-going.
Maybe Harry really would have to sneak into her office or her quarters to steal them. With improved eyesight, hearing, and his successful Elixir of Evocation Harry thought he could throw something together. He had a good chance, anyway.
Harry got up and joined the flood of students out of the Great Hall and headed back towards the Slytherin Common Room.
"Something wrong?" Tracey asked as they walked.
Harry shook his head, then shrugged.
"No. Yes. Or… I'm just thinking," Harry said. "Pleased that Umbridge and the Inquisition are on the way out, but…" He shrugged again. "There's just a lot left to unpack. Who's going to be the next Headmaster? McGonagall's next in line, but I doubt the Ministry would be happy with her. And if they're going, that means the Ministry is happy with what the Inquisition has done. Fair enough. But what about—you know? Have they done their thing as well? Then there's Dumbledore—the aurors are still out looking for him. It's just a lot, that's all." And that was all without mentioning Harry's own problems, but everyone knew those anyway.
"They'll be fine," Tracey said, "and you'll figure something out for your problems, Harry. You always do—and we're here to help as well. Let's get through the Tournament and then we'll see what we can do about your Umbridge problem." She paused. "I know it must feel silly to take time off for it, but you deserve a bit of a break after the year you've had, so let's go all out for the Tournament. Work out some stress, then come back to the problem. I mean, it's only a couple of days away, anyway."
By then they'd reached the Common Room and the door was still open from the steady stream of students passing through it. Harry ducked inside anyway, since the thing was capricious and closed itself at odd times.
Then he considered Tracey's words.
Everything she'd said was classic Tracey: optimistic and supportive. Her idea to work out his stress with duelling was a reasonable suggestion. Harry knew it was, and he still didn't like it. It wasn't as if he wanted to sit stewing over everything, but it felt like… He sighed.
"You know what," Harry said, "you're right. We'll smash the Tournament and then we'll fix my blackmail problem. Then everything else can just wait until after the summer." And much of the stuff that would have to wait was technically not even Harry's problem anyway, so there was that.
"That's the spirit!" Tracey said with a big grin. "I had an idea for our Doubles matches, actually…"
In no time at all it was the first day of the All-Isles Tournament, the very last Saturday of term, and Harry was dropped right into it. It was a strange experience duelling in the refurbished arena in a proper duel for the first time since the Triwizard Tournament. The arena itself was opened to all four sides instead of being split into four separate arenas, although the actual duelling stage itself was the standard size.
But the fancy entrance system had been removed, and Flitwick hadn't put it back, so duellists had to walk onto the stage. That was more disappointing than Harry had thought it would be, although he supposed it made sense: walking onto the stage wasn't anywhere near as theatrical or dramatic as being magically lifted to it from underground.
Lockhart had taken the opportunity to grandstand, anyway. Harry was quite sure that Lockhart would have taken the opportunity to preen and show himself off even if the Sun was going to explode, so that was no surprise, but Harry could tell that Flitwick was frustrated.
"We are absolutely delighted to have all of you here today," Lockhart was saying, his voice magically enhanced to wash out over the entire arena. "Especially our esteemed guests from the European Dueling Circuit—it is simply fantastic that Hogwarts has been able to arrange an official qualifying tournament for the first time in, well, centuries! The Triwizard Tournament notwithstanding! Now, I shouldn't like to leave dear Filius out of it, because it's his hard work that's got all this going. Indeed, without our dear Professor Flitwick there would be no All-Isles Duelling Tournament! A round of applause for Professor Flitwick, please!" directed Lockhart.
Harry could see Flitwick sigh from where he saw along the edges with the other competitors. No doubt Flitwick had had a little speech prepared thanking the dignitaries from the EDC, maybe even something for the Ministry officials scattered throughout the stands, but Lockhart had taken over instead.
Harry clapped along anyway. Flitwick did deserve the applause, especially for running a much-expanded Duelling Club during the Inquisition and having to deal with Lockhart all the while. It was a testament to his tenacity and skill that he'd managed to get the Ministry to agree to Duelling Club, let alone the All-Isles Tournament. All that and he'd had to convince the EDC to make it into a qualifying tournament.
"And with all that said and done," Lockhart continued, "I shall give over the floor to the wizard himself to formally commence the first Hogwarts All-Isles Duelling Tournament!"
Finally, thought Harry. Lockhart's grandstanding was of little use to anyone save Lockhart himself, but Flitwick could start the actual duelling. The thing Harry had been waiting for.
"Ahem. Well," said Flitwick. "With all that out of the way, I would like to offer my own personal thanks to the officials from the EDC and of course to everyone at the Ministry of Magic who helped make this all happen. But I shan't spend any more time on talking! Not when what we are all here to do today is to watch our duellists do what they do best! And so I should like to formally commence the Hogwarts All-Isles Duelling Tournament. First to duel will be…"
And so the All-Isles Duelling Tournament began. Events from the various categories were woven throughout the day in no particular order which meant Harry was waiting a fair amount of time until his first duel.
And that was a Singles duel with one of the fifth years, a girl whose skills Harry didn't rate at all. He won handily, which was a lovely confidence booster for his first Doubles duel with Tracey later on in the day. But given the schedule of events Harry had a lot of downtime, time he spent watching the duels and, where he had a bit of spare attention to spend, looking over at what the Inquisitors and Ministry officials were doing.
Which admittedly wasn't much at all – they all seemed to be watching the duels. Well. Harry didn't blame them – the standard had become quite high, especially as Flitwick had limited the participants to only the best duellists.
So Harry spent most of his time watching duels and waiting for his own duels, both Single and Double. His final battle in the Singles tournament came first, something for which Harry was both glad and worried. On the one hand, it meant that even if he lost he'd still have another go at the title with Tracey; on the other hand, a loss in the Singles would surely knock his confidence enough that his performance in the Doubles would be poor.
"And as our last bout in the Singles Junior competition," Flitwick was saying, "we have Fred Weasley and Harry Potter. Both Mr Weasley and Mr Potter have previously competed on the Circuit at the Summer Tournament, so I am quite sure that today's bout will be something special!"
But as his final duel in the Singles was against Fred Weasley, Harry wasn't entirely sure he could win. So what if Fred had failed to win the EDC Summer Tournament? He'd still fought at that level, the same as Harry, and he was an actual NEWT student besides. Although… not the best academically, Harry supposed. So there was that. But Harry knew the sorts of spellwork Fred got up to in his spare time, so despite his lack of outstanding academic success, Harry knew he needed to worry.
At least a little.
Well, nothing for it, I suppose, Harry thought as he stepped forward to take his place on the stage.
He waited for the count in, then bowed to start the duel. After that, Harry leapt right into it, keen to put Fred on the back foot. Fred's usual style was to keep up a flurry of minor spells all designed to taunt and annoy, and Harry didn't intend to let him get started.
And so Harry struck first. He jabbed with his wand and cast a swift Knockback followed by a much nastier Bludgeoning Hex. He didn't expect Fred to fall for it, but it left an opening for Harry to send off a sonic boom for some distraction.
Harry lashed out with his wand but dropped his arm when he realised Fred was casting. Unsure whether it would be a deflectable hex or not, Harry moved out of the way. Fred was too tricky for him to risk it; it could be anything ranging from a modified fart charm to something much nastier like a Bludgeoning Hex.
What to do? Harry wondered. He hit back with a Knockback just to be doing something while he considered what to do next.
Except he couldn't think because Fred peppered him with jinxes and the odd hex, and it was all Harry could do to avoid them. He tiptoed this way and that, and occasionally deflected a hex where he was sure it would work. But Harry didn't have much time to think.
But that's not true, is it? Harry thought to himself. He was an occlumens and an alchemist: he could think quickly and calmly if he wanted to. Even in fraught situations.
So that's exactly what he did. He'd been occluding constantly since Snape and Dumbledore had signed off on his skills, anyway. After that it was just a matter of focus.
Fred's going to rely on chaos to keep me off balance, Harry thought as he batted away a minor hex from Fred. He won't want me to get started because he knows I'm stronger than he is. Fred was talented, highly skilled, and knowledgeable… but so was Harry. The difference, Harry realised, was that Fred would break before Harry would.
"Aguamenti!" Harry said, sweeping his wand and dousing the arena floor in water. Then, before Fred could respond, Harry followed it up with a Freezing Charm. "Glacius!"
The water froze.
"Accio Fred's left shoe!" Harry said, aiming his wand right at Fred's feet. The Summoning Charm wouldn't work on a person, but it would work on their shoes. Fred went skidding across the ice, falling to the ground as his shoe dragged him across the floor towards Harry.
Although the Summoning Charm would keep him moving, the ice should make him skid every which way, stopping him from really getting a grip and being able to respond in a useful way. Harry waited for confirmation his plan had worked, then moved on to the next part.
Brilliant, Harry thought. He dropped the Summoning Charm, then readied his wand for a Disarming Charm.
Except Fred didn't stop. Instead, he sped up.
"Oh, fuck," Harry thought. He dived out of the way as Fred came barrelling across the arena, but he was too late.
Fred crashed into Harry with a great thud, sending Harry flying backwards, all his hopes of ending the duel early literally squashed by a man-sized projectile.
Harry skidded to a stop several feet away from where he'd started, but Fred kept going, pushed by whatever spell he'd cast on himself to turn himself into a human bullet.
Definitely worth asking him about that, Harry thought idly as he staggered to his feet. Dizzy, Harry steadied himself while he looked around for Fred.
He'd come to a stop near the edge of the arena.
Harry back away as quick as he dared, mindful of the ice he'd created behind him. Then, keen not to let Fred get started, cast a quick succession of spells at him.
"Flipendo! Depulso! Petrificus Totalus!"
The first two spells hit Fred, sending him right to the edge of the arena and into the Shield Charm protecting the spectators from any errant spells.
The third missed.
Stupid, Harry thought. Of course he'd missed – he'd sent Fred away from where he'd aimed the spell. Harry readied his wand for a Levitation Spell combo.
"Levio—"
A multicoloured jet of light in colours Harry was sure didn't have names hit him square in the chest, stopping his spell.
Except nothing had happened.
Harry felt no pain or discomfort. His vision was fine – better than fine, given his augmentations – and he could still hear everything. He didn't feel at all dizzy or confused.
So what had Fred's spell actually done?
Harry searched through his memories for anything mentioning a violently multicoloured spell which didn't cause pain or any obvious effects, but couldn't come up with anything. Harry took a chance and looked down at his body and robes, just in case Fred had used a weird colour charm or something of that nature…
And realised he was completely, utterly naked.
He was stood in front of the entire population of Hogwarts – students, teachers, and Inquisitors – as well as Ministry officials and members of the press from dozens of countries completely naked.
He immediately covered himself with one hand.
Shit, shit, shit! Harry thought. He had to get himself something proper to wear, something to cover himself or otherwise—
Harry lurched backwards, thrown through the air by a particularly powerful Knockback Hex. He went sprawling across the floor, but his only thought was that he needed something to cover himself up.
So he conjured himself a towel – more of a sheet, really, given the time constraints – and wrapped it around himself, fixing it in place with a tap of his wand.
There, Harry thought. That's sorted it, I can—
Except it hadn't. The sheet was gone, completely disappeared.
"For fuck's sake…" Harry muttered to himself. Fred had used some sort of charm that permanently got rid of his clothes. That such a thing even existed was news to Harry, and it wasn't at all nice to have discovered that fact naked in front of the entire school.
But Fred hadn't stopped. He sent a flurry of spells at Harry, and it was all Harry could do to throw up a quick Shield Charm to protect himself.
Harry took a deep breath. Naked or no, the only thing he could do was fight. So he slipped the part of him – the very large, very worried part of him – that was embarrassed by the situation behind his occlusion. He could deal with his mortification later, and at least none of the papers could legally include any compromising photographs.
So that was something.
And he felt fired up, anyway. Fred had given him a reason to go all out in a way that a mere desire to win could never.
Harry sidestepped a nasty hex from Fred and fired back with one of his own. He fell into an easy pattern, reeling off a collection of spells ranging from benign charms to the most serious of the curses allowed at the Junior level.
"Densaugeo!" Harry said as Fred deflected one of his other hexes. "Confundus!"
Harry ducked. Fred's spell went wide anyway.
"Serpensortia!" said Harry, conjuring a great big snake right near Fred's feet. Then he conjured a vast swarm of bees. But he knew that wouldn't be enough, so Harry peppered Fred with Knockback Hexes – a quick succession, one after the other. Every so often Harry wove in a different kind of spell – hex, jinx, the occasional curse – none of which were strong enough to break through the Shield Charm on their own.
But the onslaught worked, and Fred's Charm shattered.
"Got him," Harry muttered. "Levioso! Depulso! Accio Fred's right shoe!"
As Fred did cartwheels through the air, forced backwards and then right towards Harry, Harry went in for the kill.
"Expelliarmus!"
Then, as Fred's wand flew across the arena, Harry transfigured his robes into a dress. The dress was easy, since Daphne had made them all gush over a new dress sent to the school by her mother, so Harry remembered it well.
A little something for vanishing Harry's clothes. Or whatever it was Fred had done.
Satisfied, Harry covered himself with his free hand and waited for Lockhart to call the duel.
"…now wasn't that interesting!" Lockhart was saying. "An exciting duel—some spells even I didn't recognise in there, let me tell you! But we'll have to award that duel to Potter—Weasley put up a good fight but something got Potter riled up right at the end, and there was just no coming back from it… I do believe that's Potter having won the Junior Singles Tournament! Definitely a well-deserved win, of course, although there was no doubt in my mind that he could do it! Why…"
Harry tuned him out. He'd won, which was good, and he didn't need to listen to Lockhart further. Instead he wanted to head right to the healers – or Flitwick – to get his clothes back. Or to remove that spell that had got rid of his clothes.
Whatever.
Harry shuffled towards the healers and Flitwick with one hand covering his bits, keenly aware of all the eyes on him – and of Fred sauntering up alongside him, still wearing Daphne's dress. Or as best a version of it as Harry could manage, anyway.
"Love the dress," Fred said with a lopsided smile. "Good work, that. Reckon it suits me?"
But Harry wasn't interested in playing nice. Fred had vanished his clothes in front of the entire school and a press contingent besides.
"Bit of a rude trick, the clothes thing," Harry said. "I mean, I know it's a duel, and it's probably part of the spellbook or they'd have disqualified you, but it's a bit far isn't it? Everyone's watching." Harry gestured towards the crowd, then back at himself. "Just, it's a bit far, that's all. Thought we were mates."
Fred stopped.
"Er, Harry, mate… You're not actually naked—it's an hallucination charm. Thought you'd realised with the way you just…" He blinked several times. "You thought you were literally balls out and you just went for it anyway? Mate…"
Harry looked down at himself. He was definitely naked. He couldn't even feel his clothes, let alone see them. But…
"Seriously?" Harry asked.
Fred nodded.
"Yeah." He shrugged. "Er, George came up with it. We wanted to do it to—er—you know, Arlecchino. But we couldn't figure out how to tie it to the—well, never mind. We're at the healers now, anyway. I'll tell them how to reverse it, don't worry."
The healers removed the various spells on each of them, and Harry was able to return to the staging area to wait with Tracey for the rest of their duels. The formal announcement of Harry's win wouldn't come until later when the prizes were given out, but just knowing he'd done it was enough of a boost.
It was near the end of the Tournament that Harry and Tracey had their final doubles bout. Fresh from his win of the Junior Singles, Harry was quietly confident that they would win. Well, or at least that they could win – Diggory was by all accounts an incredibly talented wizard, and Harry had revised his opinions of Jasper Flickey somewhat, too. Diggory and Flickey had several years' worth of lessons over Harry and Tracey, but Harry wasn't too worried about that either.
And neither Diggory nor Flickey would be as tricky as Fred was – Harry certainly wasn't expecting either of them to pull out any custom spells.
Harry knew he and Tracey had everything they needed to win. What they didn't know didn't matter – they'd drilled themselves in the most necessary techniques over and over again.
"Good luck!" Tracey whispered to Harry as they stood ready to duel. "I'm sure we'll smash this, but even if we don't…" She paused. "Even if we don't we should be proud!"
Harry nodded.
"Definitely. But we can win this."
And if they didn't, well, Harry had already won the Singles Tournament. So at least he wouldn't look like a complete twat… although he'd do a lot to prevent Tracey from that fate, too.
"Right," said Tracey, nodding. "Ooh, but we've got to get ready—Lockhart's nearly done talking!"
Harry nodded. He turned his attention to Diggory and Flickey. Neither seemed especially nervous stood under the crowd, but then, they'd duelled at the EDC Summer Tournament. The All-Isles Tournament was nothing next to that.
Harry got his wand ready and prepared to bow. Lockhart dragged out the introductions as long as he could, but even he couldn't make it go on forever, and after a full day of listening to the introductions, Harry knew when he was about to stop.
"…two, one, go!"
Harry bowed, then immediately cast a Shield Charm around himself and Tracey. Nine times out of ten, Diggory and Flickey attacked first. A strategy based on their failure at the Summer Tournament, Harry assumed, since they hadn't done it the previous year.
His assumption paid off.
Twin spells thudded against the Shield Charm, though Harry didn't recognise either of them. To his right Tracey had already fired back with a flurry of minor hexes to test their defences. Nothing struck, the spells instead bouncing off Flickey's Shield Charm.
"Mucus ad nauseam!" said Harry, curling his hand through the wand movement. If he could hit Diggory with the Curse of the Bogies he'd have trouble casting verbal spells – and there were several highly useful spells in the spellbook which Harry didn't think even Diggory would be able to cast non-verbally.
But it didn't work – the spell bounced off the Shield Charm and went flying into the barrier around the stands.
"Bugger," Harry muttered to himself. He'd have to try something stronger next, maybe a nastier curse—
The floor beneath Harry moved, and he stumbled, kept on his feet only by Tracey's quick grab of his arm. Which meant the Shield Charm was no longer up.
Harry swiped up with his wand, conjuring a thick chunk of clay to block Flickey's spell. The clay exploded, bits flying every which way, but Tracey went unhit.
"What was that with the floor?" Harry asked Tracey.
She shrugged.
"Protego!" she said. "No idea. Felt like an earthquake… but we don't get those in Scotland."
"Definitely not localised to directly under my feet, anyway," Harry said. "And how'd they get it through the—"
"Duck!" Tracey said.
Harry ducked. A bright pink light sailed right through Tracey's fading Shield Charm. Although he wasn't sure, Harry thought it a variant of a Tag Charm. Something first years sometimes used to play games of tag out on the grounds… although with a touch more power behind it.
"Let's split them up," Tracey suggested as she replaced Harry's Shield Charm with one of her own. "Can't rely on each other then."
"Although neither can we…" Harry said. But preventing Diggory or Flickey from acting as a pair was a good idea. They just had to figure out how to do it... without having to split apart themselves. "Cover me a sec," he said to Tracey before conjuring a snake near to Diggory as a distraction. It wouldn't be able to pass through the Shield Charm, but most people got nervous around snakes regardless. "Need a think."
Harry calmed his mind.
Immediately he became more aware of everything around him – the sights, sounds, and even the smells – but was able to focus on only the things that mattered. His occlumency and alchemical works had a useful synergy, one which Harry hadn't expected until he'd realised it existed. Using occlumency, Harry could think quickly and clearly without becoming overly distracted by events outside of his head.
But thanks to his successful completion of all three of his OWL alchemical works, Harry's brain had several other augmentations designed to help him think and process various kinds of information. Together, Harry felt almost superhuman, although he knew the effect wasn't quite so spectacular.
Still, it should be enough to help him think a way around Flickey's Shield Charm.
Think, Harry. There's a way around this…
The problem was, the Shield Charm was more than capable of blocking the vast majority of jinxes, hexes, and curses in the Junior level EDC spellbook – and many others which weren't in it. The existence of the Shield Charm in many ways gave the Doubles category its own identity, as many of the common strategies for both offence and defence relied on judicious use of the Shield Charm. It required good timing and teamwork, but then, that was the bread and butter of the Doubles category.
Sort of the point of it.
So Harry didn't think they could rely on Diggory or Flickey being out of synch.
"We've got to move," Harry dimly heard Tracey say. "Too many hazards…"
Harry peeked outside his mind and saw she was right. Diggory peppered the arena floor directly around Harry and Tracey with an assortment of different objects – some looked like marbles, others like rocks and thorns. Lockhart was telling some anecdote, but Harry blocked that out.
It wasn't important.
Harry let Tracey lead, confident she wouldn't lead them astray, and turned his attention inwards again.
Shield Charms could be broken with a powerful enough spell. Harry reckoned he had the power behind his wand to do that, especially against Flickey. But it was a gamble, as Tracey would have to drop her Shield Charm momentarily…
"Depulso!" Harry said, sweeping his wand at the various hazards Diggory at conjured. They went flying back at the pair of fifth years, although they all bounced off the Shield Charm.
Harry glanced at Tracey.
"I'm going to try some Colour Change Charms," Harry said. He peppered Diggory and Flickey with the charms, which could pass through a Shield Charm, and turned various bits and pieces of their sports robes a mish-mash of different colours just to be doing something.
A bright red jet of light shot towards Tracey's Shield Charm and shattered it. It grazed Harry's elbow, tearing his robe and leaving an angry red welt in its wake.
"Sorry!" Tracey said, casting the Shield Charm again. "That spell was strong…"
"It's fine," Harry said. Diggory was a talented wizard, and Tracey had taken rather a lot of spells directly to her shield. "Let's move a bit."
Still ensconced within Tracey's Shield Charm, Harry and Tracey moved across the arena floor, maintaining a distance from Diggory and Flickey but forcing them to reorient themselves.
Harry focused on Diggory and Flickey, on the rhythm of their spell casting. Flickey had to drop his shield so Diggory could cast properly, which meant there was a split second where they were vulnerable.
If Harry could exploit that…
"Flipendo!" Harry said. The spell hit Diggory just as Flickey dropped the shield, sending him flying backwards and cancelling out his spell.
"Nice one!" Tracey said. She took her own opportunity to cast at Flickey, but he'd brought up the Shield Charm once more and it bounced off harmlessly.
"Should have tried disarming him," muttered Harry. He looked over the pair. Diggory was getting back to his feet while Flickey stared at Harry and Tracey, wand out, maintaining his Shield Charm.
The snake was gone, having been vanished a while ago, but its memory gave Harry another idea. He could conjure more than just animals, after all.
The spell to create a hailstorm was reasonably complex, and not one taught during the ordinary course of either OWLs or NEWTs as meteorological charms were considered to be quite specialist. But Harry and Tracey had practised with them specifically, and Harry wanted to try it out.
So, while he and Tracey moved slowly around the arena and Tracey kept up a powerful Shield Charm, Harry worked on his hailstorm. Gradually, as Harry worked through the incantation, clouds appeared in the arena just above Diggory and Flickey.
Thick, heavy, and dark, the clouds burst open and let loose a torrent of large – and very heavy – hailstones. Then Harry cast a modified Levitation Spell on the area around Diggory and Flickey, turning the spot where they'd bunkered down into a whirling maelstrom of icy hell.
"Ooh, nice one," said Tracey. She dropped her Shield Charm. Given conditions within the storm, Harry didn't think Diggory or Flickey would be able to see well enough to get off anything useful anyway.
And Flickey would have to drop his own shield to try vanishing the storm, and that would give them an opportunity to strike.
"Blitzkrieg Combo?" suggested Tracey, looking into the whirling mass of ice. "Could break the Shield Charm."
Harry shrugged.
"Might as well."
The Blitzkrieg Combo consisted of a dozen or so spells of varying severity and could only be used during a Doubles match due to the sheer complexity of the spell chaining. Many of its spells were ones Harry and Tracey could cast in their sleep, but there were several that were more difficult… but Harry supposed they had a little time.
Step, flourish, jab.
Sweep, strike, flick.
Harry worked his way through each of the spells in turn, trusting Tracey to get her own contribution underway. Spell after spell hit the Shield Charm, but it held.
Harry grunted.
They kept at it. Eventually, Flickey's charm broke – only to be replaced in an instant by one from Diggory. The pair of fifth years seemed quite content to play the duel defensively. Quickly, Harry tried to figure out who'd win on points – but couldn't quite decide.
And that was too risky a strategy, anyway. He needed something which could get through the Shield Charm… or something which didn't need to worry about the Shield Charm. Either way.
"D'you reckon I can transfigure the floor into mud?" Harry asked. "Like, a mud pit?"
"Hmm," said Tracey between casts. "We've not done that in lessons."
Harry glanced at his hailstorm. The spell was still functioning, although not as well as it had at the start. He'd definitely need more practise with meteorological spells.
"I know, but after I did that thing with the twins I read up on some of the stuff they must have done to get the thing working," Harry said. He sent a flashbang at Diggory and Flickey. "I think I've got a way to do it…"
"Is it legal?" Tracey said.
Harry paused. That was a good question. Although it was legal to knock opponents clear out of the arena, there were strict rules on how it could be achieved. Vanishing the arena floor was usually forbidden – and prevented by a raft of strong enchantments anyway. Would transfiguring the floor into a mud put count as that?
"Er, not sure," Harry said. "But I wasn't going to let them fall out—I was going to solidify it so they get stuck."
"That needs proper good timing, that does," Tracey said, chewing her lower lip. "And we'd both need to—"
The hailstorm puttered out, its heavy grey clouds dissipating.
"Ah, shit," Harry said. "Well, now or never!"
Harry worked through the transfiguration. Picturing the mud was easy enough – he'd spent a lot of time as a child playing in mud, after all, and even since he'd got to Hogwarts some of his lessons had involved mud. More than that, Harry was able to call upon once-faded memories thanks to his alchemical augmentations.
So the visualisation part was easy enough. Trivial, almost. That just left the spell itself, which was… less so, putting it mildly.
Tracey kept up with her Shield Charms, putting in a valiant effort as Digory and Flickey launched their own assault. Her shield flickered in and out of existence as the pair shattered it again and again, but Harry couldn't afford to help her.
When he finally felt ready he cast the spell, visualising a wide portion of the arena floor as it turned into a thick, wet mud. At first, Diggory and Flickey merely slipped, but as Harry completed his spell they sank into the mud pit.
"Now!" Harry shouted, looking to Tracey. "Duro!"
They cast together, almost perfectly in synch. Twin spells his the mud pit and turned it to stone, trapping Diggory and Flickey half-way into the arena floor.
"Expelliarmus!" Tracey shouted, hitting Diggory square in the face. His wand went flying out of his trapped hand.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry said, taking the wand from Flickey.
He took a deep breath. That was a win. That had to be a win.
Harry turned to Tracey.
"I think we did it!" he said.
She hugged him.
"Me too! Oh, that was brilliant! So much fun. I can't wait to do it again on the Circuit!"
Harry grinned. Her enthusiasm was infectious, even if Harry wasn't sure he had the time to go to the Summer Tournament again. Not with everything. But in that moment, Harry found he didn't care. He let his full range of emotions out from behind his occlusion and allowed himself to become caught up in the thrill of it all.
The presentation of prizes and the closing ceremony happened well after Harry and Tracey's final bout, partially due to Diggory and Flickey's injuries – the mud pit had crushed both their legs. For that, Harry did feel slightly bad, but the healers had it sorted eventually, so Harry couldn't get too bothered by it.
And after that, Lockhart had wanted to grandstand, but eventually the EDC officials were able to present the prizes to the top three fighters – or pairs – in each of the Tournament's categories.
"…and for the Novice Singles second place we award Blaise Zabini an invitation to the European Duelling Circuit's Summer Tournament this year, as well as this medal," the EDC witch was saying. Harry clapped along with everyone else, pleased Blaise had finally seen some success in the Tournament. Of course, he'd come second to Draco, but that couldn't be helped.
And Harry somewhat doubted Voldemort – either of them – would want Draco abroad, so at least Blaise wouldn't have to face him at the Summer Tournament.
"And for first place in the Novice Singles, an invitation to the Summer Tournament and a medal for Draco Malfoy," the witch continued.
Harry clapped politely. Not that he really wanted to, but it looked childish not to, and Harry didn't want to draw any undue attention to himself. The rest of the ceremony proceeded in much the same way, although Harry was called to receive two medals and two separate invitations to the EDC Summer Tournament.
After that, Flitwick had some words to say, and after he was finished, Umbridge stood up to speak.
"We are all deeply proud of the work our students and teachers have done this year in preparation for this tournament," Umbridge said. "This year has been one of great change at Hogwarts School, and I am extremely pleased to say that it has been all for the good. We are of course thrilled to host this tournament and the esteemed officials of the European Duelling Circuit—our reappearance on the world stage could not have come at a better time! I extend my congratulations to the Tournament winners—Mr Malfoy, Miss Hallowfoot and Mr Jones; Mr Potter, and Miss Davis and Mr Potter again! We are all very proud of the success of our students! I am privileged—we are privileged—to have witnessed these duels here today. I shall award fifty House Points to every winning student!"
"But it would be remiss of me not to single out a particular student for a few extra words of congratulations. Rarely has a student won such acclaim as Mr Potter has," Umbridge continued, "and working closely with him over this year I have been able to see firsthand what an excellent student he is."
No doubt Umbridge had intended her words as a compliment, a way to link her own fortunes with what she saw as Harry's rising star… but Harry's stomach curdled at her words. He didn't want to be associated with Umbridge. Certainly not any more than he already had to be.
"And now that we are done," Umbridge said, "I shall like us all to reflect on how the Doubles Tournaments show us just how much we can accomplish when we do it together! Unity and fraternity are the true pillars of success, and we should all remember this! Now, I do believe our champions have some things to discuss with our delightful officials and with the visiting members of the press and so I shan't take up any more of your precious time…"
The crowd was finally allowed to disperse, although Harry had to stick around to speak the press and other officials.
"Why'd she have to say that?" Harry complained to Tracey as they waited for their turn. "I mean, I know why—I'm not stupid. But… ugh…"
"Don't let it ruin your day, Harry," Tracey said. "I know that's easy to say, but… We won! You won twice! We did it! Isn't that just amazing? I feel like we can do anything now! I mean it. We'll sort everything out, just you wait and see."
Harry smiled despite himself.
"Alright, maybe we will…"
Harry spent the rest of the evening giving interviews to the press and chatting with the EDC officials. He even took the opportunity to use some of the things Lockhart had taught him, which was something he hadn't thought he'd ever have to do.
When he finally returned to the castle, he was something approaching content.