CHAPTER TWO
The Dynamic Duo
Despite the haste of Walsh's summoning, there wasn't all that much for them to do that night.
Following protocol, Felica ordered the Cadets to fan out and sweep the hostel and surrounding area with revealing spells for any indication of who had killed the still unknown wizard. They needed to know how the killer could have committed such an act without anyone- not even the victim- casting a single spell.
But they found nothing.
When Michael asked after witnesses, Walsh pointed out that they were all Muggles. He shrugged. "They still could have seen something useful." It was a long shot, as only one in a thousand Muggles were unaffected by the Veil, but it was their best bet.
During a case, Felicia would normally ask the Cadets to handle the spellwork so they could gain field experience. But as she was the only one adept at Legilimency (in truth, the only one who had ever attempted it), she refrained this time.
As the working girls lived in the "hostel", they were taken to the police station while other arrangements could be made. Walsh took them with him to go see them. Leaving the boys to observe from behind the one-way mirror, Felicia removed her Ouroboros and stepped into the interrogation room. She questioned the girls one by one while maintaining an intimidating level of eye contact.
Only to come up short.
"Nothing," she sighed, leaning back in her seat after the last witness was escorted from the room. "She didn't see anything."
"So it was a waste of time?" Walsh asked rhetorically. He scowled at the one-way mirror.
"Lovely," Michael muttered. "So now he has a personal grudge against me on top of his usual bad demeanour." Terry patted him on the back pityingly.
"There, there," he said consolingly. "He was never going to like us anyway." Unsurprisingly, this did little to help.
"You alright?" Harry asked Anthony. They were both leaning against the back wall. He took the opportunity to finally ask while the other two were busy squabbling. "You hid it better than the others, but I could tell you were rattled by the crime scene."
"Like you weren't?" Anthony asked defensively. He deflated when Harry only gave him a raised eyebrow in response. "The way the victim was offed- it matches more than one of Lancer's kills."
Anyone else would have leaned away from Anthony then, asking why he had taken the time to study Lancer's work, but Harry understood exactly why. He had done the same with Voldemort. "You think he's operating again?"
"He's free now, isn't he? It was weird when he wasn't doing anything." Anthony's dark eyes were glittering in the gloom. It was only now that Harry realised the lack of reports on Lancer hadn't been good news for all of them. He was saved from thinking of an appropriate response when the door opened.
"What now?" Michael asked Felicia as she and Walsh returned to the observing room. "How do we track the killer down?"
"First of all, I need to report this to the Commander," Felicia said firmly. "Now that we know it was a wizard that was killed, the threat level on this case just shot up. We might not even be the squad that deals with it. Second," she added hastily before Harry could tell her of Anthony's hunch, "the trail has gone cold. No tracks, no witness reports, not even a clue as to what kind of creature this killer could even be."
"So there's nothing for us to do," Michael summarised sourly.
"Terrific," Terry sighed happily. They all stared at him. "What?" He asked defensively. "It's almost one o'clock. I'm tired!"
That seemed to be enough to prompt Felicia. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but Terry's actually right for once." She ignored his whining. "Go home," she ordered. "Get some rest."
Harry opened his mouth to inform her of the possible involvement of an Acolyte, but a warning glance from Anthony dissuaded him. He kept his lips sealed, trusting Anthony to tell her when it became necessary.
"What's going to happen to those women?" Harry asked. While he knew prostitution existed in the Wizarding World, it was typically a Custodian issue. It was almost unheard of for Aurors to get involved, so he didn't know what the procedure was here.
Walsh answered. "That's for me and my colleagues to worry about. Social Workers are already involved, but I doubt any of them have homes they want to go back to." His expression softened when he noticed Harry's frown. "We'll help them, lad. Don't worry."
Harry appreciated it, but he returned to Brightstone House in a dark mood. The time it took for him to apparate to The Leaky Cauldron only to Floo back home didn't help, but after what he'd seen tonight, he already knew he wouldn't be able to sleep.
Walking silently through the house, he entered his bedroom to change out of his spare uniform. Making a mental note to return it to his locker during his next shift, Harry went back downstairs. Passing by the rooms on the first floor, he was able to ascertain that all of his guardians were soundly asleep, and he tried not to feel too disappointed by this.
While Nicolas kept a strict personal schedule and Remus enjoyed his sleep a little too much, he could usually trust Maia to be up and about at all hours of the night. Like him, she often had unpleasant dreams she never spoke about, and took steps to avoid them. He was glad she was sleeping so peacefully though, even though it was probably a secret date with his boss that had settled her.
Feeling restless, he summoned a jacket and made for the garage. He made sure to cast the Muffling Charm before tapping his wand against the ignition of his bike. Knowing that he wasn't going to cross paths with any Muggles, he decided to forgo a helmet before accelerating out of the garage and onto the rough path by the river.
Taking off before he got too close to the trees, Harry flew Hugo II north in the direction of England. He wasn't even in the mood to try and skim the waves with his wheels like he always did. He was aimlessly wandering, knowing that his squadmates would be getting ready for bed by now and not wanting to disturb them.
He was just considering calling The Marauders, certain that at least a few would be awake and causing trouble when he realised the direction he was flying in. After a moment's consideration, he continued, silently wondering why he hadn't thought of her in the first place.
Wheels touching down on a grassy hill on the outskirts of Portsmouth, Harry cut the engine and allowed his momentum and gravity to take him the rest of the way towards a certain cottage in the far distance. When the bike finally slowed to a stop, Harry dismounted and made the rest of the journey on foot. Any other day, he would have driven up to her door, but given the hour and the likelihood of her parents being home, he thought subtlety might be the way to go.
Using his Invisibility Cloak to slip through whatever defences the house had, Harry jumped over the fence and walked through the back garden. If he hadn't spotted the light coming from Lisa's room, he wouldn't have bothered landing.
Flicking his wand, he conjured a little robin to fly up to her window and tap its tiny beak against the glass. Lowering his hood when he saw shadows moving within, he smiled up at Lisa when she opened the window to peer down at him.
"I wasn't being literal when I said you were welcome here at any time, Harry." Her words may not have been welcoming, but her smile was.
"I wanted to see you." Harry shrugged like it was no big deal, even though he would have been annoyed if he were on the other side of this conversation. "Besides, I knew you'd be too hyped up to sleep after your show."
Lisa sighed. "It's almost two in the morning. You could have come over when the sun was up." Nevertheless, she leaned back into her room and opened her window as wide as it would go.
Smiling, Harry muttered, "Ascendio!" and floated into the air. Gripping her windowsill, he climbed inside and examined her room. Much like her dormitory at school, the walls were plastered with posters with bands and singers of various genres and her shelves held twice as many albums than books. He caught sight of a Heart's Darkest Curse book open on her bedside table and put on a mocking, low voice. "For me, there is no sun without you, because your face is brighter than the dawn."
Lisa eyed him strangely for a moment before recognition dawned in her eyes. "You read it?" She asked excitedly, and just a little too loudly apparently.
"Lisa?" A man's voice called. There was a firm knock on the door just before it opened. A man with salt and pepper hair stuck his head in the room. "Who are you talking to?"
"Dad!" Lisa snapped. "You can't just come in without me telling you to!"
"I think I just did," Mr Turpin's gaze swept the room. "I could have sworn I heard a man's voice in here," he muttered. Harry wondered how good his impression was. He didn't think his voice was that deep.
"Well, there isn't." Lisa narrowed her eyes at her father, but she didn't protest when he surreptitiously waved his wand. "Don't you trust me?"
Mr Turpin only relaxed when his Human-Presence-Revealing Spell came up negative. "Of course I trust you," he said reassuringly. He stepped forward to peck her on the forehead. "I trust you so much I won't even ask why the window is open," he added, leaving Harry glad he'd hidden Hugo II under a layer of concealing spells.
He only lowered the hood of his Cloak when he was sure Mr Turpin wouldn't be bursting in again. "Well, that was a little too close for comfort," he said quietly, hoping the man's sharp ears wouldn't be sensitive enough to hear him now. "What was it your dad does again?"
"He's a Custodian," Lisa said. "Why do you ask?"
So if he catches me in here, he's definitely going to start flinging spells. Lovely. Harry groaned internally, but outwardly, he said, "No reason."
Lisa seemed less curious about his interest in her father's line of work and more about his summer reading. "You've read The Heart's Darkest Curse?" She asked incredulously. "You?"
"You said it was good," Harry shrugged. "And you and the girls wouldn't stop talking about the show, so..." he trailed off. "I'm only on the second book though, so don't spoil it for me."
"I wouldn't dare," she said happily. She tugged on his arm until he sat with her on the end of her bed. "What do you think of it so far?"
Harry bought himself a moment to think by adjusting his sitting position, but he struggled to come up with something positive to say. "The characters are entertaining," was what he said at last. That was what Remus had said when Harry had borrowed the first book from him. In reality, he thought the protagonist was as dull as dishwater, but the romance was hilariously overdramatic, so he still had fun with it. Just not the kind of fun a genuine fan would appreciate.
"You didn't have to read it just for me, silly." However, her expression betrayed her words as her wide smile gave away her true thoughts.
"I know I didn't have to," Harry said sheepishly. "I don't have to do anything. I did it because I wanted to."
Lisa hummed. "Actions not words. I remember." Her voice shifted. The low, indefinable tenor that appeared only when she wanted him to kiss her was audible to his ears, so he obeyed. When they pulled apart a minute later, she whispered teasingly, "I didn't know there was a tender side to you," as she gently pressed her forehead into his. "You big softy."
"Is that how you want to play it? After you wrote hold me close underneath the moonlight?"
Lisa's expression sobered. "That's not about you," she said feebly, pulling away from him.
"Right," he drew out the word. "Even though you asked me to in the Astronomy Tower? On the last night of the year? Underneath the-?"
"Stop." Lisa groaned, palming her face. "I never should have invited you to come and watch."
Harry smiled. It was rare to see the usually bold Lisa look so embarrassed. "I was flattered. Honestly. Though it did make me wonder how many other lyrics about me went over my head."
"What brings you here so late?" Lisa asked seriously. Her pink cheeks made it obvious that she was trying to change the subject. "What happened on your mission?"
Harry shrugged, knowing that he wasn't allowed to discuss it. "I can't say, but I wouldn't even if I could," he said, his voice hardly louder than a murmur. "It was bad." Lisa quickly took the hand nearest to her, squeezing it between both of her own.
"Was anyone hurt?"
"No," he said quickly. When she sighed in relief, he added, "Not one of us anyway." Harry hadn't come here looking for comfort, but he found it anyway as Lisa pulled him into an embrace, hand rubbing his back soothingly.
After a while, he pulled away from her, intent on reaching home before the early summer sun could brighten the sky, but Lisa wouldn't let him go. "It's late," she said. "Or maybe it's early. Either way, you should stay here."
Harry frowned. "I don't think your parents would be too happy if I knocked on the door and asked for their spare room." Lisa held his gaze, waiting for him to catch up. When he finally did, all he could say was, "Oh."
"Yeah. Oh." Lisa repeated. She waited for his answer.
For the first time, he noticed what she was wearing. Back at Hogwarts, her nightwear was a series of thick pyjamas and fluffy slippers to combat the late-night chill that overtook the castle even in spring. Now, during this hot summer night, she wore lighter garb: a pair of shorts and a baggy Bejewelled Heroines t-shirt she'd gotten from the concert they went to in December.
"You have really nice legs," Harry said finally. It was far from his first time noticing, but it was definitely the first time he'd said it out loud.
Fortunately, Lisa took it well. She let out a bark of laughter, as his random observation caught her off guard, before clasping a hand over her mouth and snapping her head towards the door. After a minute when no footsteps were heard, they both relaxed. Mr Turpin must have fallen asleep.
"If you come with me back to my place, there's less chance your dad will kill me in my sleep," Harry pointed out. He hoped she would forget his earlier comment entirely. Judging by her knowing look, he knew that was unlikely. There were going to be plenty of jokes made at his expense in the future.
"If I sneak out in the middle of the night to go sleep at a boy's house, my parents would kill me," Lisa said. She got up and started drawing her sheets back.
"You're a bad influence on me, Turpin," Harry sighed, not knowing why he was fighting this anyway. Taking off his jacket and trainers, he climbed onto the bed beside her. Even though there was more than enough room for them both, Lisa moved in close, trapping him between the hard wall and her soft curves.
"Don't get any funny ideas," she warned, cuddling into him. "We're only here to sleep."
"You're the one who talked me into this, remember?"
Lisa smirked. "Your memory's gone all wonky. Maybe because you were so fixated on my legs, you lecher."
The first joke arrived a lot sooner than I thought it would, Harry thought amused.
Deciding to lean into it, he shifted so that he was lying on his back and Lisa was half on top of him, her head now resting on his chest. "Since when is it a crime to be attracted to your girlfriend?" He half-shrugged to not jostle her head. "That was just the first time I've gotten a good look at your legs," he lied. This did not help as much as he thought it would.
"The first time?" Lisa hummed and turned her head to look up at him. Her face was close enough for him to count the individual freckles across her nose. "Then what else drew you to me?" Her voice was low, and not just because she thought her parents might hear.
"Erm…" Harry's mind flicked through a hundred different responses, each one more embarrassing than the last. Finally, steeling his nerve, he muttered, "Why don't I show you?" Rolling them over so he was on top of her, he stole a kiss as his hand began to trace the smooth skin above her knee before exploring up her thigh to the hem of her shorts.
He froze when she stiffened, wondering if he had crossed an invisible line, but when he felt her cool fingers begin to creep beneath his shirt to touch his back, he relaxed into her and deepened the kiss.
Neither of them got any sleep that night.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
The sun had already risen by the time Harry left Lisa's house. He half-considered flying Hugo II straight to Hogwarts for Triumvirate training, but there wasn't nearly enough time to fly to Scotland.
Quickly parking in the garage, he tore up the stairs to his bedroom and changed into his training gear before rushing back downstairs. But before he could make it to the fireplace, Maia stepped out of the kitchen with a bowl of porridge in hand.
"Tell me you're not just getting home now," she sighed. "Commander Boot is working your squad too hard."
"No, I was-" Harry stopped. "How did you know I was summoned to the Citadel?"
Maia froze. Her spoonful of porridge was halfway to her mouth. "Erm..."
Harry groaned. Forgetting he was in a rush, he crashed down on the sofa. "I thought I was being paranoid, but it's true. You and Felicia?"
"It just happened," Maia shrugged. "We met when you asked me to bring in that case file you left in your bathroom."
Harry blushed at the reminder. "I like having something to read when I'm on the loo, okay? Wait, don't distract me!"
"Does it bother you?" Maia asked. "Truly?"
Had anyone else asked him that, Harry would have replied with a childish "Yes!" But his godmother had a bad habit of putting his wants before her needs. "No. I'm just a little annoyed that you and Remus keep going after my teachers. I mean, of all the women in the world-"
"I'll tell her I won't see her again."
"No!" A part of him wondered how she had gotten him to change his stance with two sentences, but he was mostly worried that he'd ruined things for her. "Do you like her?"
"Yes."
"Then go out with her. Just don't let it interfere with my career, okay? I'm serious about being an Auror."
Maia beamed at him. "You're a good kid. Do you want me to make you breakfast?" He raised his eyebrows. "Do you want me to ask the Automaton to make you breakfast?" She corrected.
"No, I-" he checked the clock- "have exactly eleven minutes to get to the gate of Hogwarts for Triumvirate training."
"That's a shame," Maia sighed thoughtfully. "I was going to ask where you'd been all night if you weren't at work."
Harry blanched. "Got to go! Bye!" He hurried into the fireplace and disappeared in a burst of emerald flames. The last thing he heard was Maia's laughter.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
After a long morning spent hunting a specific Acromantula in the Forbidden Forest while a pair of Aurors hunted him, Harry was now in the middle of a less physically demanding training session with his master.
He was lying on his back beside the river and Nicolas was sitting cross-legged next to him. The two were meditating to tap into a greater source of power.
Or at least he was trying to. He hadn't slept in almost thirty-four hours, so it was a struggle to stay awake.
His apprenticeship had been going well this summer. His master helped him fine-tune all that he had already learned to a fine point. However, between all the training for the Triwizard and his duties as a Cadet, Harry's free time was quite thin on the ground, but he made it work.
Carving out time for his family and friends had been difficult to figure out at first. Especially when Nicolas got into a strop back in May over their regular Sunday meetings being cancelled.
"I remember when you used to pester me for additional training and lessons, but now you don't even have any time for your old master anymore." Nicolas had complained.
Harry had known that Nicolas was just trying to get a rise out of him, so he didn't take the bait. "I have some free time in my schedule," he said casually. "I suppose I could pencil you in somewhere. I'd have to move some things around and-"
"I was just joking," Nicolas said quickly. "You need to take some time for yourself as well. If you work relentlessly for months on end, you'll end up burning out long before the Triwizard starts. Make time to relax and unwind."
"I'm planning on it," Harry said defensively.
Nicolas looked down at him doubtfully. "I know you," was all he said.
Harry sighed. "Yeah, alright."
He took his master's advice to heart. After all, it had worked for the Qualifying Rounds.
While making time to go out with his friends or laze around the house afforded him shorter sessions with his master, Nicolas managed to squeeze in a lot within what little time they had. Harry was glad, and not just because he enjoyed spending time with his master, which he did, but because of what he was teaching him.
While his body appeared to be napping underneath the orange glow of the early evening sun, his mind was focusing at its very limit as he turned his senses inward.
He had come to view his Mana Reserves as a well, one that grew in depth the stronger he became, but something that was still limited. In comparison, the energy that swirled within his soul was akin to a vast ocean.
Harry's breath hitched as he felt the warm energy flow aimlessly around him. He wanted nothing more than to reach out and fill himself with it. He would be unstoppable with it flowing through his veins-
"Careful now." Nicolas' voice rumbled in the far distance like thunder. "While it may seem vast to you, your Life Force is severely limited. It cannot replenish itself the way your Mana Reserves can."
There was no need for concern, as his master's voice had already ruined his concentration. Feeling as though he were being pulled to the surface, Harry gasped as his eyes snapped open. He sat up abruptly, only to find Nicolas peering at him curiously.
"Well?" He asked. "How was it?"
Harry shuddered. Even with this summer's record-breaking temperatures, his skin felt like it was freezing compared to the luxuriating warmth of his Life Force. "Euphoric when I was in there, but now," he rubbed his arms, hoping the goosebumps would fade quickly. "It's terrifying."
Nicolas moved around in his cross-legged pose so that he was facing Harry directly. "How so?"
"It felt like I was in a completely different world in there," Harry said haltingly. He was unsure how to describe it. "I knew that I would die if I took too much of the energy within, but I was still going to do it anyway." Now that he was starting to warm up, he stopped rubbing his arms and brought his hands up to eye level to examine them as he clenched and unclenched them. "My real body feels clumsy in comparison to what I was."
Nicolas looked worried. "Using my Life Force is something of a trump card for me, as I can not die. I expect that Voldemort is the same with this technique." He shook his head, miserably. "You, however, are extremely mortal. You must be tremendously discerning when using this technique, do you understand? Only when the alternative is certain death."
Harry nodded slowly. "If Dolohov was aware of this technique, then the other Acolytes must know it too."
Nicolas hummed, sounding less concerned with this than he'd been about Harry wasting his Life Force. "Yes, but as they are mortal, they will be as careful as you are with the technique."
Harry was about to ask how he could know that for sure when he felt a familiar buzzing in his pocket. Hoping it wasn't another emergency from the Citadel, he opened his compact mirror and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it was only Terry.
"I should call you more often if you're that happy to see me," Terry chirped.
"What do you want?" Harry asked, annoyed. "I'm training." He tipped the mirror so that his friend could see Nicolas. The two exchanged polite greetings. Terry had always been a little in awe of Harry's master.
"You're already annoyed, so I'm guessing you've seen it then?" Terry asked.
Harry's brows furrowed. "Seen what?"
"Ah. So, you're just in your usual tetchy mood then," Terry muttered as he fumbled with something outside of the mirror's view. "I'm talking about this." He lifted a magazine cover for Harry to see. Before he could ask why Terry was reading Witch Weekly, his mouth fell open at the headline. Nicolas, who had peeked over his shoulder to take a look, started to chuckle.
Boy-Who-Lived Parties With Rising Star!
"It's not that bad," Terry said, as he flicked through the article. One of the moving pictures Harry caught a glimpse of was of him and Lisa kissing furiously in The White Wyvern. "Just mentions you going to a gig with friends last night and how you've been going out with Lisa for a while now. It's a little more complimentary towards Lisa than I would like, but not bad. Nothing negative about you, I swear."
Harry could feel his face burning. "It's not that, it's just-" He wasn't sure how to explain his discomfort at having complete strangers knowing details of his personal life without sounding more paranoid than usual.
Terry's expression softened. "Seriously, the only people who read Witch Weekly are old ladies like my mum." Harry heard Joan's yell of outrage somewhere in the background, but Terry didn't look the least bit concerned. "This isn't a big deal."
"He's right." Nicolas had stopped laughing when he noticed how uncomfortable Harry was. He placed a firm hand on his shoulder. "But I have a few friends at some media outlets. If this discomforts you, I can ask for a favour or two-"
"No." Harry shook his head. "It's not like they're making up lies about me. If I give them grief about reporting the truth- even if it is private- then I'll just be some spoiled, famous brat throwing his weight around. I'll just have to be more careful in the future."
Nicolas clearly didn't agree, but he respected Harry's wishes. "If you're sure."
"I don't think he will be when he sees the shirtless pictures they've got of him," Terry snickered. However, when Harry whirled around on him (thinking that Witch Weekly had somehow found out about what he and Lisa had got up to the night before) he hastily added, "I'm joking! I'm joking!"
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Magmify! The earth cracked open at the exact point Harry jabbed his wand at it. A spew of hot magma shot out of the ground and created a moat between himself and his opponent.
Still falling from when he had propelled himself into the air, Harry hit the ground in a roll and came up on one knee, just in time to counter the incoming series of spells with a hundred crows.
Kingsley, as he'd asked Harry to call him when they were off duty, was forced to keep his distance by the lava moat, but he countered Harry's counter with several dozen conjured blades coated in electricity. Instead of the typical response that someone would have when over fifty electric knives were hurtled towards them at top speed, Harry just smiled.
Even during the duels that moved at blinding speeds such as this one, there was such a thing as moving too soon, so Harry waited until the last possible instant before flicking his wand. Restituo! Just when the knives were close enough for him to see the field's reflection on their steel, they flickered and switched places with what few crows had managed to get past Kingsley's flames.
While his crows knew not to attack him as they would his opponent, it still wasn't fun having twenty flaming birds fly right at you. But it was worth it to finally win a duel against Kingsley. Hearing him cry out as he was nailed by his own attack was like music to Harry's ears.
Petrificus Totalus! Kingsley's arms and legs snapped together and he toppled over. Harry transfigured the lava into cool stone before swaggering up to him cockily. "Told you I'd get you back for last week. Finite Incantatem!"
The Lieutenant sighed in relief when he regained control of his limbs. He healed his knife wounds before accepting Harry's offered hand. "That you did, but-"
And that was the last thing Harry remembered before his world went dark.
Opening his eyes, he sat up and examined his surroundings. He was still in the duelling arena in the shadow of the Citadel, but he was now alone with Moody. Cedric, Eliza and Kingsley had all left. "What happened?" He asked as he climbed to his feet.
"What happened is that you let your guard down. Again." Moody grunted.
Harry scowled. "The Tournament won't ambush us with tricks, sneak attacks and new rules the way you do!" He was angry at Moody, but he was mostly angry at himself. Even after months of this treatment, he still kept dropping his guard around the grizzled Auror whenever he went a little while without singling him out.
"You have no idea what they'll do!" Moody snapped. "You have to be ready for anything if you want to win!" When Harry gritted his teeth and turned away in response, he asked, "Does that make you angry? Good! Use that."
Harry glanced back at him, dubiously. "Anger clouds judgement."
Moody hummed. "So, you have been using Occlumency to control your emotions. I thought so." He nodded approvingly before correcting him. "Too much anger clouds your judgement, yes, but a very specific amount could be used to push you further than you've ever gone before."
"How?"
Moody answered his question with one of his own. "Have you ever noticed a difference between how you fight in the real world compared to duels at school or training?" When Harry nodded, he smiled knowingly. "You feel stronger then, don't you? With your life on the line, some piece of scum threatening to do something awful if you don't stop them?"
"Yeah," Harry said distantly. His mind went back to the fights he'd experienced against Rogues and Death Eaters. "It's like someone cast a Supersensory Charm on me. My whole world opens up and I'm able to notice things I would have missed normally. Everything I've ever practised starts coming together better than it ever has in training or school duels."
Moody's smile widened with every word out of Harry's mouth, stretching the scars that were across his face to a horrible degree. "Now imagine if you could control exactly when you enter that state." Harry's eyes widened. "Don't think of it as losing control, but simply using another tool in your arsenal. You could be powerful enough to smash through any shield, even a Combat Avatar."
Harry knew Moody was talking about his duel against Eliza. He was trying to goad him by using the memory of his loss, but he was too confused to care about that right now. Aside from the interrogation after the Camden incident, he and Moody had never spoken one-on-one like this before. He was starting to think he'd been missing out.
"Alright then," Harry nodded determinedly at his coach. "Teach me."
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
The investigation into their new serial killer was less exciting and more draining than Harry had expected.
Commander Boot had deemed the kills too irregular to assign to a higher-ranking squad, so it was on them to figure out who the killer was. Any other time, the best and brightest of the London Citadel would have been all over this, but considering that Death Eater sightings, attacks and skirmishes had become alarmingly common this summer, it was now considered low enough priority to be given to a Cadet Squad.
Harry would have considered this a sign of how much the Commander trusted their abilities if there was actually anything for them to do. Aside from a few emergency calls that they had responded to when no one else was available, their squad was practically benched while working on this case. All they were allowed to do was visit the other crime scenes and go over the evidence they had until they found something.
The only interesting thing to happen was when the victim was identified as Graham Underhill by his Ouroboros. As it turned out, he was a rather prominent Ministry official. He was the Assistant Head of the Department of International Magical Co-operation.
Telling his family of his demise was not a pleasant experience, especially considering where he had been found.
Felicia had already asked the Cadets to keep the kids busy while she broke the news to the widow. Harry animated the youngest's stuffed animals to re-enact the First Battle of Hogsmeade in the playroom, but not even Gryffindor and Slytherin's legendary duel was enough to cover up Mrs Underhill's gasp of outrage. They heard it all the way from the sitting room.
"How dare you?!" He heard her shout. He cast a quick Muffling Charm to prevent the startled little boy from hearing any more.
He hurried downstairs, only to find Mrs Underhill chasing the rest of his team from her house with red sparks streaming from the end of her wand. "Out! Get out and never insult my husband's good name again!"
Harry decided it would be better if he escaped out the back door rather than trying to squeeze past her.
"Well, that was terrible." Terry sighed once they had met back up at the Citadel. As a sign of how bad they all felt, not one of them tried to reprimand him.
Later, just a week before school started up again, Harry and the other boys sat at their desks in their expanded cubicle, restless. They took turns repeatedly glancing at the frozen clock.
After suffering through this behaviour all afternoon, Felicia had enough. "You can go." She dismissed them with a shooing gesture.
"Are you sure?" Anthony asked dutifully. "Our shift doesn't end for another three hours." Michael reached over and smacked him on the arm.
Fortunately, Felicia was happy to be rid of them. "You're all so jittery that you'd be of no use to me if something does end up happening." She smiled sincerely. "Seriously, you've been working hard on this case. Just go and enjoy your holiday."
"Two days isn't really a holiday," Terry said mischievously. "Maybe you could give us Monday off too?" Michael shoved him out of the cubicle before he could get on Felicia's nerves and cost them their early departure.
"Bye, Captain!" Michael said cheerfully as he wrestled Terry out of sight.
Harry hung back as he packed his things by hand. He waited for Anthony to leave before asking, "Got any plans this weekend?"
Felicia didn't even look up from the roll of parchment she was studying. "No, nothing special."
"Really?" Harry asked innocently. "Not even a date?" It was an incredibly inappropriate question to ask your boss, but her sudden stiffening made him think it was worth it.
"Well…" Felicia paused as though considering coming clean, before finally settling with a lame, "no."
"If you say so." Harry shrugged casually. He paused just as he was about to leave. "Her favourite food is lasagna and she's easily impressed by anyone who can cook without an Automaton. If that helps."
"What? How do you-?" Felicia looked up from her parchment, only to find herself alone in the cubicle. "How long have you known?!"
Harry chuckled to himself as he left the bullpen. The odd looks being sent her way only made it funnier for him.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
The 1994 Duelling World Cup was being held in Argentina.
As a community without a school of magic, Argentinian sorcerers tended to live closely to their non-magical counterparts. They passed down their knowledge of the Esoteric Arts through family or community covens.
As the Argentinian Ministry of Magic was afraid that the Muggles would notice the sheer influx of witches and wizards from around the world who came to spectate, they decided it was best to hold the World Cup away from any of their towns and cities. Instead, they attempted to hold the event in the largest Wizarding outpost in the Patagonian Desert.
Attempted being the operative word.
The Patagonian Desert was sparse when it came to Muggle settlements. Because of this, it was mainly used as farmland for the magical settlers to grow potion ingredients and raise herds of magical creatures such as Nogtails and Mooncalfs. When they caught wind of what the Ministry of Magic was trying to pull, the local farmers and ranchers heavily protested this arrangement, adamant that so many tourists would destroy their carefully maintained farming environments.
The protests became such a nuisance that the Advocate of Commerce had to step in and bring a stop to it. In the end, the Ministry simply gave up and decided to build the arena far away from any owned land, at the very edge of the desert, a stone's throw away from the Atlantic Ocean.
When Harry had been booking their tickets, this had sounded like a glamourous destination to him, but he had forgotten to take the different hemisphere into account.
"Dress for cold weather," Terry's cousin Callum warned them. He was the most travelled of them all. "It's going to be freezing, especially at night." He was right, as the moment their Portkey dropped them off, a brisk ocean breeze swept over them.
While the ocean was to their right, there was a sea of colourful tents to their left. It seemed to cover every inch of available space in the desert, and it all surrounded the massive duelling arena that was identical to the one he and Nicolas had watched the Top 64 matches in last summer.
"Come on, let's get going," Cedric said authoritatively. "We don't want to be here when the next party arrives." There were grumbles all around, but everyone followed him as he walked off. While Harry had been the one to organise this outing, he wanted no part in trying to corral this disparate group.
Initially, this end-of-summer holiday was only meant to be for himself, Anthony, Michael and Terry, but he'd made the mistake of mentioning it to Lisa who had asked to tag along. When he hesitantly agreed, she turned around and invited her friends without a word to him. He couldn't say anything about it as they were all paying for their own tickets.
Anthony and Terry were obviously annoyed by this, but Michael had been on his side. Though he changed his tune when Padma dumped him last week. He invited Susan and Megan to act as buffers between himself and his ex. Then Anthony invited Luna, explaining that he didn't want her to feel left out, which none of them believed.
Terry had been angry that he was the only one to abide by their initial agreement, so he went out of his way to invite the rest of The Marauders. He even invited the ones who had graduated and were living in other countries, like Callum and Charlie. Callum had even invited his girlfriend Sally to tag along, plausibly to help him keep an eye on them, but really to have a little getaway together.
To make matters worse, Eliza had invited herself along when he and Cedric were discussing the trip during training. "It'll be a good chance to scope out the competition," she had said seriously, as though it brought the matter to a close. Knowing that she seldom went out of her way to socialise, Harry didn't have the heart to uninvite her.
So that was how their party went from four people to twenty-five. The Marauders' coffers would be depleted after this little trip.
As they walked along the long rows between the tents, they passed by dozens of vendors selling merchandise, food and knickknacks. Harry would have preferred to brush past all of this, but couldn't because of the dense crowds. Worse, their party kept losing members as they were distracted by all that was on sale.
Cedric made a valiant effort to keep the group together, even looking towards their older friends for assistance that was never coming. But they were all slowly separated into smaller factions, intrigued by different things.
"Oh, that's lovely," Luna said wistfully. Her large, pale eyes were fixed on a display of magical creature ornaments constructed from Mermish Crystal. She walked off towards the vendor without a word to anyone, leaving Anthony to hurry after her.
"Do you think mum would like a Nogtail?" Fred asked as he observed a small pen of demonic piglets.
George shrugged. "Only one way to find out." The two walked over to the little herd, already counting how much money they had on them.
"No, no, no," Charlie said as he went after them. "If you lot buy her a Nogtail, I'll be the one who gets blamed for not stopping you."
"Brillant," George grinned. "No consequences for us."
"Where are you going?" Maria asked as Eddie was about to wander off.
"To go buy those special owl treats." He gestured to a pretty girl who was selling premium owl treats that were shaped like mice and animated to give owls the pleasure of a hunt.
Maria stared at him blankly. "You don't own an owl."
Eddie shrugged. "If that girl smiles at me again, I'll get two." Maria went after him before he could do so. Instead of helping his girlfriend, Lee just doubled over with laughter.
While Cedric looked like he might start pulling his hair out, Harry was less concerned. They all had their tickets and were booked to sit together. The bigger concern was when they were leaving because the Portkey was departing at a set time, with or without them. But he'd worry about that tonight.
As what remained of their initial group passed a vendor selling grilled meat, Padma turned to him with an innocent smile. "Would you like a chicken leg, Harry?" Her smile turned devious. "I hear how much you like legs." The girls tittered, even Amanda who would normally be red-faced at such an insinuation. Lisa smacked Padma's shoulder but without any heat.
Harry had no reasonable way to respond to that. Deciding discretion was the better part of valour, he dropped his pace to walk alongside Terry and Susan. This only made the girls laugh harder.
During that night in her bedroom- and in the fortnight that followed- Harry and Lisa didn't do all that much together. Not really. At least not when compared to the things Eddie and Lee spoke so boldly of. Still, he felt embarrassed that Lisa would tell her friends any of what they did do, as it had felt incredibly private.
"What's that about?" Terry asked. He was stuffing his pockets full of vacuum-sealed Doxy eggs that were being sold at a discount.
"Nothing," Harry shrugged casually, glad for once that Terry and Lisa didn't get along. "Just girls being girls."
"Hey!" Susan snapped.
Harry raised an eyebrow at her. "I've seen you and Megan giggle exactly like that before."
"Still," she frowned. "That's such a generalisation." Harry rolled his eyes, but before he could respond, Michael's voice caught his attention.
"If you want them, you should buy them," he was telling Megan. "They'd look really good on you!"
"Thanks, but it's a bit steep," Megan said warily, eyeing the price tag.
"I can buy it for you," Michael said happily. With his blonde hair and big brown eyes, he reminded Harry of a golden retriever seeking positive affirmation.
Megan quickly shook her head. "No, thanks." She increased her pace to catch up to Susan, but Michael followed.
"Looking at him now, you'd never think Padma broke his heart a week ago," Susan said lowly so the pair wouldn't hear. It was wrong of them, but Harry and Terry exchanged smothered grins at the memory of Michael wailing that he'd never love again. Susan smirked at making them crack up.
Harry was glad to see her acting like her old self again. It had taken a while, but she eventually got over the election loss. In a show of Hufflepuff spirit, she picked herself back up and declared that a single loss wouldn't be enough to make her give up.
Privately, Harry thought she was setting herself up for disappointment. While he knew her well enough to see how suitable she was for the role, most people didn't. They recognised her only as the daughter of Gilbert Bones and judged her accordingly. Michael had only just managed to escape his mother's dark shadow, and that was only after he'd helped destroy the Prometheus Artifice and was given public accolades for it by the Magister and the Auror Corps.
To reach her goal, Susan would need to pull off something equally as heroic or awe-inspiring to gain the mass approval she needed from her peers. It certainly wasn't fair to her, but it was the reality of her situation.
"Do you want to buy that?" Harry asked, noticing her glance a second time at a particular bottle of perfume on a vendor's stand.
"No, it's too intense." Susan turned away and picked up the pace. "A witch should favour delicate scents." When Harry pulled a face, she seemed to realise she was quoting one of her fake grandmother's lessons again. "Whatever," she muttered but was unable to hide her embarrassment.
Harry glanced back at the stall, consideringly.
As they weren't planning on staying the night, they didn't bother trying to find a spot to set up camp and instead went directly to the stadium. Cedric and Eliza were already waiting in the queue and they joined them. The others arrived slowly in twos and threes, carrying their purchases as none of them had thought to bring bags.
Once they were inside, they quickly located their seats at the very bottom row, right next to the duels themselves. All that would separate them from the action was a railing and the protective Barrier. The stadium's seats were already half-full, and Harry felt the old anticipation of witnessing a fantastic duel wash over him.
The excitement was dulled slightly when he saw who he was seated next to. While he was happy to have Lisa on his right, Eliza had taken the seat to his left without even a word to Anthony (who looked too intimidated to protest that she'd stolen his seat) and made Cedric sit on her other side.
"Make sure you pay attention," she told him sternly.
"Right," Harry said sourly. He didn't say what he really thought, which was that this was their break away from training. He waved down a passing Automaton for a pineapple soda if only to give himself a moment where he could turn away from her. If he spoke his mind, it would only devolve into another argument.
Soon, the remaining seats were filled, and the rowdy spectators were given exactly what they wanted when the quarter-finalists entered the arena. Harry didn't recognise any of them. He knew that their rival from Uagadou, Ekon Adebayo, had managed to crack the Top 16 but stumbled against one of the current quarter-finalists.
No, while the one-on-one duels were certainly impressive, what they had truly come to see were the duels for the Doubles Championship. Or to be more precise, they had come to see the Molotov twins.
Unfortunately, while the twins performed well during their quarter-final and semi-final duels, Harry didn't see what all the fuss was about. At least until the finals.
When the last duel of the day arrived, the Finals for the Doubles Championship, Harry sat forward. The names they'd been anticipating flashed onto the Odeon across from them, exactly as it did in millions of Wizarding homes around the world. Next to him, he felt Eliza do the same.
LU HONGCHAN and JINHUA CHENCHEN vs ANDREI MOLOTOV and STEPAN MOLOTOV
Aside from the duellists' names and moving images, the Odeon carried all the standard information with it, such as age, nationality, qualifications and profession. Hongchan and Chenchen were both Aurors of the Guangzhou Citadel, but the Molotovs were both seventeen and headed into their final year at Koldovstoretz. By all rights, the odds should have been against them, but they were the favourites to win and Hongchan and Chenchen clearly knew this, as they both looked nervous stepping into the arena.
In contrast, the Molotovs casually strolled to the arena's centre, the pair almost dripping with confidence. They were both weedy boys with neatly combed blonde hair and- as they were identical- it was difficult for Harry to tell which one was which. But the preceding semi-final round had been enough for him to observe the differences between the two. One was almost abnormally calm, his expression unbothered even amid spellfire, while the other walked with a smirk that turned into a wide smile when he duelled. The joy he clearly felt in the exchange of spells was something Harry recognised from within himself.
More than that though, the calm twin tended to rely heavily on defence, shielding both himself and his twin from harm, while the other threw himself headfirst into the fight. The Molotov twins were the personification of the sword and shield style.
When the four met in the centre, the referee made them all shake hands and went over the rules before sending them back to their respective corners; the Molotovs to his right and Hongchan and Chenchen to his left. In the few moments where the Barrier around the arena was raised and the referee stepped onto his platform, the two pairs stared hard at one another, as though they were trying to win through intimidation alone.
"BEGIN!"
Hongchan and Chenchen began offensively, each firing three Martial Spells at their opponents. Instead of beginning with an attack of their own, the calm twin jabbed his wand outward in a stabbing motion and a whirl of smoke shrouded both him and his brother. The spells flew into the smoke, and for the briefest moment, Harry wondered if the twins had been overhyped. But then a pair of identical figures darted out from the smoke unscathed.
And then another pair. And then another.
The crowd let out noises of appreciation as the arena was overtaken by a dozen sprinting Molotovs. The Auror pair were caught off guard by this advanced illusion, but they didn't let it stop them from conjuring elemental whips (lightning for Hongchan and fire for Chenchen) and using them to sweep through the optical illusions. However, they managed to cut through all the images of the smirking twin without finding the real one.
There was a moment's pause, and that was all that the Molotovs needed.
The packed earth of the arena floor cracked open and Hongchan and Chenchen fell into a deep pit that was suddenly formed underneath their feet. With a bark of laughter that was muffled by the Barrier, the smirking twin was propelled out of the same pit and he pointed his wand down at the out-of-sight Auror pair.
The same thin mist Harry had seen Mason Calvet cast last year was shot out the end of his wand. He hissed as he could already imagine what the corrosive gas would do to the two trapped wizards. Except, they weren't trapped at all.
Hongchan and Chenchen came back with a vengeance.
An immense surge of water was fired out of the pit, through the corrosive mist and directly at the now falling twin. But he didn't look fazed in the slightest. The calm twin, having hung back after he had cast the illusion for his brother, was now sprinting forward from his starting position and had conjured a flying metallic platform for his brother to land upon, zipping him out of the way before the water could hit him.
Hongchan or Chenchen (Harry didn't know which because they were still underground) didn't hesitate to press their advantage. The water, still surging upwards, was transfigured into ice and before it could fall on top of them, they turned it into shards that were each as long as a sword and sent them hurtling in every direction.
The still-smirking twin twirled his wand over himself, but instead of creating some kind of shield, the ground beneath him leapt up and encased him in earthen armour. He happily took the blow when the ice shards struck him in the torso.
The calm twin didn't appear as happy to have sharp projectiles thrown at him, but he still didn't blink. He flicked his wand and a wall of earth shot out of the ground to shield him from the ice. Instead of waiting around for the Aurors to follow up on their attack, he tapped the wall with his wand, causing it to fall forward before stepping onto it and flying it over the pit.
Harry would have thought this suicidal, but the calm twin had obviously picked up on something he hadn't. Just then, Hongchan and Chenchen came flying out of the pit in a dense ball of rotating water.
The calm twin leapt off the platform when it passed over the pit, firing two spells back upon it as he did so, before landing on the other side in a roll. As the Aurors tried to gain altitude on their opponents, they were met with an enlargened and unbreakable ceiling that had been made to trap them.
The water orb was meant to be a defensive move- something to allow them to escape and regroup once they had the aerial advantage- but the calm twin had instead used it to corral them. Before they could even think to try and make it out from under the impromptu ceiling, the smirking twin was already getting into position before his brother.
Harry had expected them to try and end the duel with something flashy and impressive, but what they did next caught him, the crowd and, most especially, their opponents completely off guard.
The calm twin crouched down behind his brother for a better angle before launching a Banishing Charm at his backside. The armoured boy was sent hurtling at top speeds toward Hongchan and Chenchen.
Poor Hongchan got the worst of it. The smirking twin shot into their orb of water, tackled him around the middle, and allowed his momentum to carry them back out before slamming Hongchan's back into the ceiling. Despite the Unbreakable Charm that had been cast on it, the sheer force of the impact was enough to make the earthen ceiling crack. From the way his body slumped afterwards, it was obvious that the blow had been enough to knock Hongchan out.
Even through the distortion of rotating water, Harry could see Chenchen turn his head to track his partner's trajectory. This was another mistake as he didn't see the incoming attack from underneath.
A dense pillar of earth shot out of the ground and directly into Chenchen's feet. It carried him out of the now-falling water and propelled him into the same ceiling his partner had been slammed into two seconds earlier. The impact was so great it shattered the Unbreakable Charm completely.
As Hongchan and Chenchen fell like ragdolls back to the arena floor- the remains of the unbreakable ceiling falling with them- the Molotovs raised their fists in triumph to the roaring crowd.
Eliza leaned over towards him. "We're going to have to beat them, you know."
"It won't happen with our shoddy teamwork," Harry grumbled. He didn't take his eyes away from the awarding ceremony.
The smirking twin, whom Lord Akingbade had referred to as Andrei, was blowing kisses to the still-cheering crowd. His brother, Stepan, gracefully accepted the two golden trophies from the Magister on behalf of himself and his distracted twin.
Eliza frowned at his response, but it was clear she agreed with him. "We still have time to improve."
"Yeah, four whole weeks." Harry rolled his eyes. "Let's just agree to not face them together if we can help it. We have to keep them apart."
Harry could see that this didn't sit well with her. Nevertheless, as her eyes studied the replay of their winning manoeuvre that was playing on the massive Odeons all over the stadium, she reluctantly accepted his strategy.
"Fine," Eliza muttered, now staring hungrily at the trophies Stepan was struggling to hold in his arms while Andrei continued to revel under the attention of his adoring crowd. "Whatever it takes to bring them down."