Harry stood calmly in the midst of the howling gales. His hair whipped across his face, revealing the lightning bolt shaped scar that was the bane of his existence. He ignored the cold and looked to the stars twinkling above; stretching out like a blanket of light alongside the half-moon.
He had been waiting for two hours in the shadows on top of the castle's battlements. He did not trust Daniel to act at all honorably. Arriving early allowed him the time to look for traps and ensure that nobody arrived with Daniel to interfere.
He had found and disabled two ward configurations. One was designed to throw him over the parapets should he get within range. A simple finite broke that one which made Harry think Ron had set it up. The other was clever and took two sets of thirteen minutes to break down. Daniel had set up a reversal ward, which would have thrown anything Harry cast back at him and stopped any counters from aiding him against Daniel's attacks.
The ward itself was probably one of the cleverest bits of magic Daniel had ever done. He was just unlucky to have used a ward Harry was familiar with in both book and practical knowledge. Harry had taken one look at it and had remembered it from Ward, Not Just a Pretty Female Charge.
The door to the lower levels banged open. A solitary cloaked figure emerged and ran toward him. Harry lifted his wand and the figure stumbled to a halt and flipped back the hood. Harry's breath caught as he met wide brown eyes glittering with determination.
"Hermione," he breathed, the wind snatching up her name and tossing them over the sides of the ramparts. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to be your second of course!" she yelled above the noise.
"No," Harry stated firmly.
"No?" she said questioningly, the wind gusted blowing a strand of hair across her lips. "Too bad. I'm staying."
"How'd you hear?" he asked angrily, forcing himself to look away from her, blocking the tempting image of her before him.
"The gossip grapevine; where else?" she answered, tucking her wild hair up and off her neck. A few stubborn strands broke free almost instantly but she ignored them.
Harry touched the top of the parapet lightly with his fingers and looked out onto the grounds. Indistinct blobs were darting around. He squinted trying to make them out as he said, "Thought he would have kept it secret."
"No," she said joining him. "He's been boasting in the Gryffs common room. Well Ron more like, but Daniel didn't stop him."
"Where are they?" Harry asked looking round toward where she'd come from as if expecting them to emerge from the shadows.
"The Headmaster is trying to talk them out of it as we speak," she answered with a shrug of her shoulders.
"They took magical oaths," Harry said grimly, a shrewd and calculating look glinting warningly. "To not duel is to be squib."
"That's what I thought," Hermione replied giving him an admiring look. "You wouldn't have left them with a chance to back down from it. Not now."
"What has been happening then?" he asked vaguely, but Hermione understood. She always did.
"The whole of the school is in an uproar. Many are calling for your head. Everyone with a broom is mounting them as we speak and rushing up into the air to watch. Others are running to towers and looking from there."
"So his private humiliation is going to be a rather well publicized humiliation. Ha."
"Harry…" Hermione said determinably, her expression matching his fierce gleam of triumph.
"Yes?" he asked looking down at her upturned face.
"Give him no quarter," she commanded. "Show everyone just how pathetic Daniel Potter is."
The doors banged open again and a pale blond figure came whipping through. Harry recognized Luna immediately. The daft girl was running around without a cloak. He snapped his fingers conjuring one without thought and when Luna barreled into him at top speed, he slung it around her shoulders.
"Daft girl," he muttered affectionately. "I suppose you've heard too."
"I'm here to be your second," Luna said breathlessly, her wide blue eyes darting up to him before turning onto Hermione. "Or third."
Hermione's flushed complexion looked gray and pale as she stared at the cloak draped so casually around the younger girl's shoulders. In her jealousy, it never occurred to her that it had been delivered without the use of a wand. She glanced up at Harry, who was staring wryly down upon the silvery creature before him.
"I'm not in need of either," he told her, plucking the wand from behind Luna's ear and handing it to her. "But if you insist, then who am I to stop you? It's not like I'm a raving mad gerrumph."
"Garrumph," she corrected, gripping the wand tightly and with her other hand readjusting the fit of the cloak. "A gerrumph would just eat you and be done with it."
"Of course," he murmured, "How silly of me. Garrumph's are the ones that like to play with their food."
"There's no such thing--" Hermione began hotly.
Harry turned cold eyes onto her. "As a gerrumph?"
"Or garrumph!"
"You need to get out more," Luna said lightly, her lopsided bird feather earrings whipping through her pale locks. "Not everything is found in books."
"Not everything can be a perfect fantasy world either," Hermione tossed back, hugging herself. "Not everything is fun and games. Some things are awful and hurt worse than anything you can imagine."
Luna gave her a steady look before nodding. "Yes, some things are far worse than anything imaginable. Others," she added looking at Harry, "are even better than your wildest fantasies."
Before Hermione could retort, Harry silenced them both by stepping in front of them and looking out into the shadows. Luna touched the small of Harry's back before slipping backwards. Harry glanced backwards at her briefly before focusing on the shadows again.
Something had moved.
A black dog emerged panting loudly and Harry scowled. "Uncle Sirius," he acknowledged. "If you're here Uncle Remus and my father aren't far behind. Funny, I thought I was dueling Daniel, but it appears he's sent others in his place."
The dog shifted and blurred rising up into the tall slender figure of his godfather. Long black locks of hair whipped free of its moorings. The handsome nearly forty year old man snarled as his wand sprang into his hand.
"Young man, you're in serious trouble!" Sirius yelled hotly across the battlements.
Harry lifted a sardonic brow, its impact lost in the darkness. "Where is my brother? He has to answer for his crimes some day."
"The little muggleborn trollop is just yanking both of your chains."
"Hermione would never do that," Harry declared, holding his hand out to stop her from doing anything.
Sirius raised his free hand in the air. Harry noted the signal for what it was and kept his eyes locked on the man in front of him.
"She wrote Daniel love letters, did you know that? He has a whole box filled that he dug up out of his trunk to show us. A compulsion charm is a pretty lie but it doesn't do that much damage."
"Ah," Harry said knowingly. "I take then Dumbledore didn't tell you how dangerous the locket was to begin with or what it really was. No matter, right? All in the days' work to keep Daniel's reputation unsullied."
"Padfoot," Uncle Lupin said soberly sweeping into view from on top of his ancient broomstick. He alighted and tucked the rapidly shrinking broom into his robes. "Have you convinced him to back down?"
"I was getting to that," the other man said gruffly.
Harry laughed riotously. "I'm not backing down. If Daniel doesn't have the balls for this little fight then he can back down."
"Now Harry," Remus said cajolingly, "please see reason. Daniel has been severely taxed and with…" he stopped and glanced at the two girls behind him. "Well with the you-know-what hanging over him, and of the two of you, it would be better if you declared forfeit."
"And lose my magic?" Harry shouted incredulously. "Not fucking bloody likely!"
"It's for the greater good," the werewolf said reasonably.
"Did Dumbledore stick a hand up your arse? Are you his puppet now?" Harry demanded, relaxing his grip on his wand so his hand wouldn't cramp.
"Harry," Remus said closing his eyes in a wave of tiredness. "Don't push this. There will be consequences if you do."
"I'll take my chances," he replied with a sneer. "What's the worse you can Dumbledore do to me?"
"Not just Dumbledore," Sirius said. "Your parents too."
Harry looked between the two of them and shook his head. "The answer is emphatically no, not happening."
The door banged open, crashing into the solid rock wall as several people filed out onto the cramped settings. Harry watched them come through and shook his head at the lot of them. They were quite the bunch.
Ron and Daniel were huddled together whispering fiercely and he knew they were talking about their well laid traps. Dumbledore wore a worried frown matching perfectly McGonagall's angry glare. Flitwick was there too, the expression on his face unreadable to Harry in the dimness of the rooftop. He looked last at his parents and gave them the barest smirk of acknowledgement.
"Harry James Potter," Lily berated crossly as she stalked towards him. Harry cast a charm to keep her back and she hit the barrier with a bit of a shock. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing?" she demanded, placing her hands on her hips.
"Protecting my right to duel the little shithead you call son and I unfortunately call brother."
"Should have taken the strap to you sooner," James growled, stepping forward. "But Lily kept telling me you were just acting out for the attention."
"The glory hound in this family isn't me so you just point your wand elsewhere," Harry said dispassionately, nodding slightly towards his brother.
"Let us calm down, shall we," Dumbledore said benevolently interposing between Harry and his parents. "Before we do something rash or say something we can't take back."
Lily nodded gratefully and clung to James' arm. Harry let his wand drop because he couldn't hold it out forever.
"Now, as I see it, Harry," said Dumbledore, stroking his beard. "You have two options. The first is to continue with this duel; an illegally challenged duel, mind you. A duel can not be issued on school grounds by students, no matter their adult status. You are a ward of the school and you can not put another of Hogwarts' wards in danger of losing their magic. This is a place of learning not fighting.
"Your second choice is to freely forfeit and we can perhaps come to an agreement. Squibs are able to fly brooms, we could give you young Mr. Blake's spot on the team. That way you can be seen by scouts and have an opportunity to turn professional. Or if that doesn't work, I'm sure Professor Snape wouldn't mind having you as an apprentice. A Potions Mastery would take you far."
Harry looked at the expectant look on Professor Dumbledore's face and the agreeable expressions on his parents' upturned visages and sneered.
"Daniel fights me or turns squib. If he's squib, I become the first heir of the Potter fortune and you can't disown me. A pureblood line must always have an heir, even if a Malfoy wouldn't have us because we've muddy up our bloodline with muggleborns and halfboods."
"I don't have one," Sirius commented wryly from the sidelines.
Harry smirked. "That's because your mother is dead. Alive you would already be tied to Deyanira Yaxley or Lalia Gamp."
"Mother always liked pureblood inbreeding."
"Nevertheless, the Black name will die with you if you don't come to your senses," Harry replied. "You not having children isn't such a great loss, but the Black name still stands for something--"
"Yeah evil--"
"And it shouldn't die out because you're too pigheaded. With the exception of your name, I would say you weren't even marriageable."
"You seem to have a lot of fondness for blood," Dumbledore inserted looking disconcerted.
Harry shook his head at them. "I have pride in the background and in tradition but blood can go hang itself."
"But do you live by that declaration, Harry, or are you pandering to us because you think that's what we want to hear. Do you in fact have another master--"
"You can go hang yourself too," Harry interrupted coldly.
Luna grabbed his free hand and tugged him backwards. Harry followed her pull and stood there proudly, chin tilted upright in defiance. Hermione stood with them uncertain but angry enough to stay. Dumbledore waved his hands at James and Lily and James took the lead.
"Harry, stop this foolishness now or I will disown you," he said, like the idea just came to him.
Lily gasped and looked up at James. "We didn't talk about that!"
"So?" he answered heatedly. "If nobility is all Harry puts pride in what better way than to call him to heel?"
Sirius nodded vigorously while Remus whispered something into James' ear and stepped back demurely. James considered his words and whispered something to Lily which calmed her down. She glanced at Harry and waited.
Daniel and Ron in all this were silent, expectant. Harry threw Daniel a glare and mouthed 'snitch.' His brother's face reddened as did Ron's.
"My stance on this hasn't changed," Harry said loudly over the blustering wind. "The night grows long and Daniel needs to get some hospital rest so we better get a move on."
McGonagall leaned over and said something to Dumbledore and he sighed, his shoulders slumping.
"Harry," he said gravely, "--as the instigator of this duel, I, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore as Headmaster of Hogwarts, do hereby declare Harry James Potter schooling as forfeit. From here on out you are expelled."
Hermione gasped in horror, turning her head aside as furious tears welled up unbidden.
"Perfect," Harry replied, readying his wand again. "Now Dan, let's duel."
Flitwick pushed his way through everyone, the top of his head barely scrapping the top of everyone's waists. He threw a disgusted look towards Dumbledore and McGonagall and aimed his wand at his throat.
"ENOUGH!" he bellowed, startling everyone into silence. "I don't understand all the politics going on here tonight. I'm afraid I never will, but this is beyond foolish! Albus, you can't be serious? You've never expelled a single student in all of your tenure here and you said you never would. That was something I signed on board for, but if this is the way it's going to be we're going to have a long discussion in private later without Professor McGonagall."
"Filius--"
Flitwick waved him off and abrupt faced toward Harry. "Now Mr. Potter, it's quite clear that you are making more enemies right now then friends. I offer my services as your dueling referee… aha… as it were. I promise to be fair and to follow the standard code of rules and ethics."
Harry studied him briefly before nodding his agreement.
"Who are the seconds?" Flitwick asked running roughshod over Dumbledore's complaints as if he weren't even speaking.
"I'm Harry's," both Luna and Hermione said at once and then looked at each other. Hermione looked put out but Luna merely smiled radiantly.
"Well which is it?" Flitwick demanded.
"She is," Luna said chirpily. "I'm his third."
Harry rolled his eyes lightly, keeping his attention more firmly fixated on the adults going batty at the turn of events. James and Sirius looked ready to curse something or someone.
Flitwick blinked. "Thirds. Unusual but accepted."
"I thought you said you didn't need a second!" Daniel yelled pushing his way to the front with Ron stepping up behind him. "You who was all high and mighty earlier about it."
"I changed my mind," Harry said easily, watching McGonagall hover around Dumbledore like a pesky nargle around the mistletoe.
"Figured you would," Ron sneered. "Can't trust you nerdbirds."
"Ten points from Gryffindor," Flitwick said looking outraged at Ron's outburst. "And a detention with Filch is in order I think. Badmouthing other houses, the impudence of it all and in front of a Head of House no less."
"What!" Ron shouted, Remus came up and spoke quietly with Flitwick calming the smaller professor who rescinded on the detention but not on the loss of points.
"Who's your second Mr. Potter?" he asked Daniel.
"Ron is."
"Do you have a third?"
Daniel shook his head looking all the world the spoiled brat. "No, Harry here didn't tell me we could have thirds. It's not fair. I think he's trying to pull a fast one over me."
Flitwick bounced on the balls of his feet. He turned to the adults and offered up the choice of third to those there with the exception of Dumbledore and McGonagall who were professors themselves. James had to fight Sirius for the right of third and managed to win, making Sirius pout. Harry watched on in silent bemusement as his father walked to the spot of third and waited.
"Right," Flitwick said glowering at them all. "As stated by the rules and regulations I am ordering for this space to be cleared of all but the fighters. There will be no distractions or obstacles in the fighting arena. Mount your brooms and get off the battlements."
Dumbledore clearly didn't like this and summoned Fawkes to lift him up off the rooftop and fly him to a better place to watch. McGonagall and Lily ran down the way the came to grab brooms and Remus and Sirius hopped on the broom Remus rode in on.
The others lined up on opposite sides of the battlement and stared down the length of it to their opponents. Harry and Daniel took their position in the middle by Flitwick who hurriedly erected a barrier to catch stray spell fire and several anti-cheating wards on the areas where the others stood. There would be no assistance from those quarters until called for.
"Now, gentlemen," Flitwick started when he was satisfied with the work. "As the official referee I will remind you of the rules of engagement. There shall be no Unforgivables used at any time during this duel. The use of one will automatically disqualify you and the rest of your helpmates.
"You are not to go outside the barriers that I've erected. Both feet must remain firmly planted on the ground with the exception of course being dodging. No use of brooms, carpets, or other transportation device is allowed. For the sake of following regulation I will remind you that Apparition is illegal, though seeing as the wards here at Hogwarts prevent you from doing so it is a moot point.
"Your position as active dueler is rescinded when you are unconscious or disabled. Should you lose your wand to the other, breaking is of course illegal. Muggle fighting can be used sparingly in an attempt to regain a lost wand. You will have two minutes to find a way to get it back or your second will be called in.
"Dark Arts are extremely frowned upon but are not illegal unless they cause death immediately to the opponent. As I presume, Madam Pomfrey is being grabbed at this very moment. All curses and other nasty surprises should be well within her ability to care for, assuming that--nothing is too obscure to use in your arsenal.
"Lastly, as this is a fight, I expect things to get dirty. A clever trick or spell might win you the duel, but and I say this with aha… circumspection show me what you can do. Now wait here while I go speak with each of your teams and relay the rules to them."
Flitwick rushed off going to Daniel's side first and speaking with Ron and James.
"I knew Dad would be on my side," Daniel said smugly. "I've no doubt you've botched things up right nicely with him and Mum."
"Like I care," Harry retorted. "I'm here to whip you and there's nothing you can do about it."
"Oh yeah?" Daniel baited, puffing up his chest. "I'm the Boy Wonder, I'll come out of this smelling better than roses."
"Not if I beat your arse."
"Won't they just say I let you win?" Daniel threw back smirking.
Harry glared. "Even so, watch your back after this because I'm not rescuing you from Voldemort anymore."
"I can get away from the overgrown bat," Daniel said with surety.
"I was there in the cemetery you moron," Harry growled. "How on earth did you think that portkey flew to you?"
"Magic," Daniel said looking a little nervous now. Harry smirked. "I performed a silent--"
"Wandless spell? I don't think so," Harry returned, fiddling idly with his wand. "Let's just hope the Dark Lord doesn't come after you, for your sake."
"Mum and Dad got away from him three times," Daniel stated, tilting his chin up, "All they had was seven years of tuition. It's not like I would need special training--"
"Though you seem to have it in spades and still you're mediocre. The next time you think about going near Hermione remember this," Harry said darkly. "I will kill you."
"She came to me," Daniel said balling his hands into fists.
"Under compulsion charms from you and Voldemort. You might have wiggled your way out of trouble again, because Dumbledore thinks the sun shines out of your arse, but I know differently. Stay away from her. If I even hear a whisper that you or your goons approached her, I will come to you…"
"And kill me," Daniel replied with scorn. "Yeah right. Like you've got it in you."
"Gentlemen," Flitwick said returning to them. "Go to your positions. At my signal the duel will commence. Good luck to you both."
At nearly two in the morning Harry and Daniel crossed the battlements toward opposite ends. Harry reached his first and received a small wave from Luna for encouragement and a worried smile from Hermione. He gave them both a brief reassuring grin and pivoted on his heel. Daniel did the same a second later and sinking into a dueling stance. Harry stayed standing upright, face forward, expectant and still.
Flitwick conjured a chair and levitated himself above the two of them. Several dark blurs hovered at the edges of the tiny professor's shields. Students and teachers on brooms most likely. Harry flicked his gaze back to Daniel wishing for more light to see the expression on his face. Flitwick raised his wand and Harry forced himself to stay loose.
Sparks flew from the tip of Flitwick's wand and Harry launched himself into action. The first spell he threw hurtled down the length between them and splashed against a standard shield. He threw another and dodged incoming flashes of light. He couldn't hear Daniel over the howling wind to know how to block them and after throwing several silencing spells at different heights sunk into a crouch and waited.
A garbled spell halted mid incantation and Harry knew he scored a hit. He rushed forward while his brother attempted to cast a silent finite on himself. He reached the midway point near Flitwick and paused to hurl a quick chopping and hacking curse.
§Light!§ Harry yelled, switching into parseltongue, using the unknown language as a weapon.
Light erupted immediately on the rooftop, revealing the scene in total clarity. Daniel had been nicked by his curse and was bleeding a little, still struggling to perform the silent spell that would release himself. Harry tossed a few interesting hexes toward him, intent on stringing out his brother's humiliation.
Suddenly Daniel fell, a curse sailing over his head, and it took Harry a moment to discern what was happening. Daniel wasn't falling, he was shrinking! Suddenly his brother was gone and Harry was staring at the space Daniel had just stood slightly bewildered. He glanced around the battlements and couldn't spy him.
It wasn't a disillusionment charm because of the shrinking and it couldn't be a bizarre form of wizard travel because Flitwick would've blown a loud noise from his wand. Harry edged to the side of the roof, bracing himself against the parapets.
He cast a revealing charm on his eyes and looked around for any indication of his brother. A slight speck of red scuttled on the ground and Harry focused on it. It was a spider! His brother was an animagus too!
§Change back!§ he said, throwing the magic at his brother's animagus form.
The spider dodged it with a quick hop onto the wall to get up off the floor. The spell dissipated against the stones and Harry cast it again aiming this time where he thought his brother would go instead of at the tiny creature. He missed again but the sport was on. Harry tossed the same spell repeatedly at the moving speck all the while moving closer and closer to it.
"Come on Dan," he taunted, following the scuttling arachnid. "Are you going to cower like that all night?"
When spider Daniel darted into a small crack in the wall Harry shook his head and whispered, §Make a glass jar.§
A glass jar popped into existence and fell into his hand. Harry unscrewed the cap and pointed his wand at the fissure. "Accio spider!"
He caught the flailing critter as it hurtled out. In desperation Daniel started undoing the spell but Harry capped the lid on him before he could grow much bigger than a flesh mottled bug and sealed the jar with an unbreakable charm.
"I do believe," Harry murmured, walking back and presenting the jar to Flitwick. "That this is sufficiently incapacitated.
"Yes," Flitwick agreed with a wink. "Quite."
Harry walked back to his starting point and watched Ron bounce around on the balls of his feet. Ron would be a piece of cake. The lanky boy hadn't nearly the training that Daniel did and look where it got him. A simple silencio was all it took to render all that training a moot point. Perhaps, Dumbledore will push Daniel to get the basis of silent spell casting down.
"You're doing good!" Luna cheered looking excited. "I told you, didn't I?"
He glanced over his shoulder at her and smiled. His gaze drifted to Hermione who's smile had grown a little stronger.
"You sure showed him, even with his animagus form, you still beat him."
"Yeah," he said, feeling satisfaction run through him. "The sodding bastard won't be able to hold his head up at school tomorrow. Now it's time to take care of the others."
Harry faced forward again just as Ron stepped into his dueling position. Harry stifled a laugh at the attempt for cockiness. Ron looked worse than he did right before a particularly gruesome Slytherin-Gryffindor Quidditch match.
Flitwick shot sparks into the air once more and Harry launched a stunner at the redhead. Ron ducked and rolled, putting his Quidditch training to use and fired a disarming hex at the top of his voice. Harry casually placed a standard barrier between him and the spell and fired off a clumsy charm followed immediately by conjuring a snake.
§Strangle the redhead, but don't kill him.§
The snake hissed dumbly and slithered off to fulfill its orders.
Harry ducked a wildly shot jinx that was surprisingly accurate as Ron tripped over his own feet and fell onto the stone floor. Ron gave a garbled yell and hoisted himself back into a standing position. His face was as red as his hair.
The snake was almost there and all Harry had to do was keep Ron occupied. Harry slowed down his attacks, luring the other boy into thinking he had the upper hand, that he was tiring. Grinning, Ron threw a flurry of schoolyard jinxes in an attempt to get back on the offensive. A privates itching hex hit Harry and he gritted his teeth, pausing long enough to cancel the hex before firing back.
Ron smirked then and cast the activation charms on the traps he and Daniel had set up earlier. Harry watched in wicked amusement as the smug grin slid right off of Ron's face. He took advantage of the redhead's break in stride and aimed a mild knock-out hex at Ron and let it go. It flew from his wand and hit the redhead squarely on his chest. The flicker of a half-incanted shield charm died as the snake came up beside the Gryffindor.
The snake hissed a faint war cry and latched itself around Ron's neck, wrapping tightly around the thick column and squeezing. Ron started to choke but being unconscious already from Harry's spell did not fight back. Harry looked at Flitwick waiting for the professor to call the match and cancel the enchantments.
The tiny professor waited a couple of minutes, making sure that Ron wasn't going to emerge from the mild hex before waving his wand in a flurry of wand movements. The snake disappeared and Ron woke up. He was raised gently off the battlements and a broom swooped by revealing a stern looking Madam Pomfrey. She hustled Ron away from the roof and toward the ground to give him some medical attention.
Harry rejoined his friends and stood waiting while his father took up position, his face grim and determined. The last opponent was the toughest one in Harry's opinion. James could duel with the best of them and Harry wouldn't put anything past him.
Father or not, James Potter held a grudge and Harry was under no illusions. He would not be expecting James to exhibit paternal tolerance and prepared himself mentally to not hold back, knowing that James' wouldn't.
Perhaps, Harry thought grimly, being a Potter was the least of his worries as he noted James' gleeful and darkening expression.
Flitwick looked between both duelers and shook his head. Harry focused solely on James, watching the tightening of fingers, the slight shift of grip, the tension in his stance. Harry would know when Flitwick shot off sparks by the sudden uncoiling of James' body.
Harry erected a shield with fractions of a second to spare. The solid gong of an invisible spell sounded as it ricocheted off the metal barrier Harry held up. Harry kept the shield and used his wand to toss back an equally stout curse.
Borderline Dark Arts, it seemed, were not below James. Harry responded in kind, ducking and dodging ones he couldn't hear as James launched a silent attack, twisting and weaving the spells until Harry transfigured himself into a frog and hopped over the wall where he pressed himself flat.
James looked nonplussed at what appeared to be another son moving into his animagus form before he copied what Harry had done and called out a summoning charm. Harry dropped his amphibious state and blocked the summoner before it hit him.
Quickly Harry cast the sonorus spell at James' before the older wizard regrouped. James' magnified voice was so loud that even whispered curses could be heard as shouts. Harry easily swatted away a half dozen incantations and stopped quite a few in their track before James' sensibility took over and he canceled the charm.
A splitter curse sailed over Harry's hair by a millimeter and slammed into the barrier Flitwick set up where it transformed into sound energy with a thunderous cracking noise. Harry cast a wandless tongue-tying hex that would quite literally tie James' tongue in a knot followed by a silent sound blast intent on knocking James off his feet.
The first spell was dodged easily enough, though Harry could see James' tiring. The second spell exploded in a wave of sound doing as it intended and knocking James off his feet. Harry ran down the length of the battlements once more and reached his father just as James tried to stand up. Harry kicked him in the face, blood spurted everywhere.
He reared back to do it again when his foot was caught and he was tugged off balance. His wand clattered on the stone roof. Harry scrambled for it as James struggled upright. James' kicked the wand away from Harry's grasping fingers and towered over him.
He pressed his wand to Harry's nose and smiled darkly. "Don't move," James whispered fiercely.
Harry didn't.
"While I got you here," James said, "Know this: I no-longer consider you my son."
"Ha! That's a laugh. When have you ever--" Harry halted at the jab in the face. He reared away from the wand and glared.
"As soon as Lily and I are home I will take great pleasure in burning your name off of our family tapestry. You are never to claim Potter as your surname again," James said victoriously, pressing his wand back against Harry's nose.
"Too bad I don't give a shit," Harry growled against the press of the mahogany wand. "You screwed yourself. Daniel isn't the Boy Wonder. He never was."
"Liar."
"Don't believe me," Harry said unaffectedly. "You haven't yet; don't start now. Just remember this down the road when I prove Daniel to be the fraud he is."
"The only fraud here is you," James said.
Harry glowered up at his blood-kin matching the older wizard's gaze. Thick, hot emotion roared in Harry. Even sitting there, lost without a wand, he felt powerful. He was not defeated, not by any means.
"You're worthless and you'll always be worthless," James added cruelly.
Harry hated him then. Swift and blistering, rage smoldered inside until, he quite thought he would combust with it. James looking like he was burning too. Harry watched in shock as James turned to black so fast it over before Harry could blink.
James Potter had turned to stone.
º«««º»»»ºEnd Chapter 34º«««º»»»º