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The Duelist by Hawkins
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The Duelist

Hawkins

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and don't make money on my writing. The characters and the world belong to JKR and those she sold it to. I appreciate being able to play in her world.

Chapter 26: Flight of the Phoenix

Feb 21

Harry woke up feeling wonderful. His sense of being reborn had lingered after his animagus transformation. A niggling sense of discomfort and unease that he'd come to associate with the soul fragment wasn't gone, but was significantly reduced, making him wonder how he'd feel if he survived having it completely removed. A quick survey of Hermione's mood through the bond showed she was in an even more ebullient mood than he was. He quickly showered and dressed in his Quidditch robes.

"Ron!" Harry said, poking his friend.

"G'way" Ron mumbled in response.

"Ron, wake up!" Harry said, on the verge of laughing. Ron was always hard to wake and the more things changed, the more they stayed the same with him, "We've Quidditch today! I know you're going to want to eat before we play!"

Ron sat bolt upright. His red hair sticking up everywhere after being shoved into the pillow all night looked almost as unruly as Harry's.

"I'm going to miss breakfast? Quidditch? Be right down! Save me something!" Ron said, hopping out of bed and hurrying toward the shower in his boxers.

Harry walked downstairs into the common room. Hermione was already on the couch reading one of her textbooks. He didn't know how she kept up her pace, but between all their extracurricular activities, she was already actively revising for OWL exams. Harry had benefitted from all her knowledge and in a quick assessment of where he was in relation to the exams, he realized he was more prepared than he would have ever been without the bond. He fully expected to get all outstandings even without extensive revision. Hermione had nothing to worry about, but since he realized being over prepared was just part of her personality, he didn't intervene.

She looked up from the book as soon as he walked into the room, giving him a loving smile. Hermione knew what he was thinking and knew he was right, but not revising would be like walking through the Great Hall without pants on, it might be exhilarating but wasn't worth the stress. She looked Harry up and down; partly to be sure he hadn't forgotten anything, but mostly to appreciate how handsome he looked in his Quidditch gear. She'd always thought so, but it was even more fun to be able to appreciate him openly. His hair was a mess, as always, but it defied taming even more than hers did. They'd tried sleakeasy potion once, just out of curiosity and it hadn't done anything except to make Harry's hair look both greasy and unmanageable at the same time, a rare feat. She sometimes wondered whether the mess was a magical side effect of his core, his hair affected by the magical equivalent of a nuclear powerplant so nearby.

Harry glanced over Hermione as he walked up to her. She was dressed warmly, in jeans for once and several jumpers, but over it all she was wearing one of his old Quidditch jerseys. He never thought of himself as much of a chauvinist and knew Hermione wouldn't have tolerated it if he was, but he couldn't help the warmth he felt when he saw her wearing his jersey with Potter across the back. The tendency to mark his territory was probably an atavistic male trait and so he tried to avoid it, but it still felt good when he saw that she had done it for him.

"Good morning, Hermione!" he said happily, giving her a passionate kiss.

"Good morning, love." She said, after breaking it much sooner than he wanted, "You can have more…but only after you win the game. Gotta keep you motivated, don't we?"

"You'll definitely keep me motivated that way!" Harry grinned, "Ready?"

"Of course, but where's Ron?" Hermione asked.

"Had a bit of a lie in. I woke him and he'll be down, but he said to go ahead and save him some breakfast." Harry answered.

"Like they've ever run out." Hermione huffed, "The House Elves would probably start sacrificing themselves if they ever got close."

"Gross." Harry said, shaking his head at the vivid mental image, worse because Hermione was probably right.

They walked down to the Great Hall and the Gryffindor table. The team was all gathered together with their boyfriends, girlfriends, and other close supporters. Luna was sitting at the table wearing her lion-headed hat, a strange sight on a Ravenclaw, but nothing unusual on Luna.

"Good morning, Luna." Harry said, sliding in across from her, "Ron will be down in a minute."

"Oh, I know." Luna said airily, "He's so hard to wake up, but he's worse after a shag. If I'd worn him out last night, he probably would have missed the game all together."

Harry almost choked on his first sip of pumpkin juice. It was hard to get used to how direct and completely without social hang-ups Luna was. Hermione just smiled. The girl would have bothered her once, but was just an endless source of amusement now. She was almost a protégé with her quick Ravenclaw wit and dedication to academics. Having her around and Harry actually studying had changed the dynamics of their little group immensely. She had hopes that even Ron could be led into some heavy revising with Luna doing the motivating.

"If the game goes well, I've got a little surprise." Luna said, "Something I've been working on. Here's your copy, Hermione." The blonde passed Hermione a sheet of parchment with lyrics written in closely, "Don't tell him or let him see in advance."

"I won't Luna." Hermione assured her, "These look really good."

"Thank you." Luna said, "I've always liked writing. I write for the Quibbler pretty often."

Ginny, as an alternate, was also in her Quidditch gear. Neville sat beside her, pouring over his copy of the parchment.

"So, Harry, what do you think of our chances, today?" Ginny asked.

"What? Oh, good, really good." Harry answered confidently, "I'm feeling on and if Ron has as good a day today as he did the other day… well, let's just say I can't imagine them winning. With Cedric gone, Summerby doesn't have a chance against me. Their chasers are pretty good, but we've got better."

"I can't wait until I can play." Ginny said, "I'm excited to be on the team at all, but I'm really looking forward to playing."

"You said you were going to try out for chaser next year?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, we're going to lose a lot of players next year." Ginny said, "I think I've got a good shot."

"I think so, too." Harry said, "Actually, if the game goes like I think it will, I wonder if Angelina would let you sub in at Seeker after we get enough of a lead. Angelina!"

"What, Harry?" Angelina said, "Where's Ron, by the way?"

"Oh, he's coming in the door now." Harry said, gesturing with his head, "I wanted to ask, if we manage to pile on enough points that there's a good margin, would you mind subbing Ginny in at Seeker? It wouldn't hurt to get her some experience in games."

"That's a big if, Potter." Angelina said, then leaned back, inspecting Ginny, "But yeah, if we're that far ahead, she can play if you're willing. You wouldn't feel bad, being in the game for so long and then coming out before earning the glory?"

"Nah," Harry laughed, "like I need more glory."

"What are you talking about, Mate?" Ron said, settling in next to Luna.

"If we're far enough ahead, Angelina's going to let Ginny sub in at Seeker for the end of the game." Harry said.

"Good idea!" Ron agreed with his mouth full of food, "Don't worry, sis, I'll make sure you get to play."

"Thanks, Ron." Ginny said, sarcastically.

"This is going to be a fun game, Ron." Harry said smiling, "We've been working hard. I want us to get out there and really just enjoy this one. You did awesome last game, really showed those snakes who the 'King' really was."

"I did, didn't I?" Ron said happily.

"Weasley's *my* King." Luna said, leaning against Ron, who blushed, but didn't move away.

They finished breakfast and started to walk out to the pitch.

"Hey, Harry." Neville said quietly.

"Yeah, Nev?" Harry asked.

"That was a really good thing you did, talking to Angelina for Ginny." Neville said, "Even if it doesn't go like you're hoping, she'll appreciate that you made the effort."

"Thanks, Nev." Harry said, "I'm confident or I wouldn't have given her false hope. I think we're going to trounce them."

Neville nodded. Hermione came up besides Harry and draped her arm around his waist. He let himself fall silent, psyching himself up for the game. His mindset for games was a little less intense than for duels, but was otherwise similar. His mind was clear and he responded from a place of pure intuition and reaction. He let himself find that mindspace as he walked, ready for what was going to be one of the best games of his career. They had an experienced chaser line, long the centerpiece of the Gryffindor team. They had twin beaters, second to none. With no false modesty, he acknowledged his own role as one of the best Seekers of recent history. Now, with Ron showing real promise with his last game, Harry was confident Gin was going to get some play.

"So, Harry…" Fred said in the locker room, while they were finishing suiting up with pads.

"…are you going to catch the snitch early or leave it for later?" George finished.

"You two didn't hear?" Harry asked, "I asked Angelina for permission. If we can run the score up high enough, Ginny's going to sub in as Seeker. So I'm going to hold off unless it looks like Summerby's seen it. With luck, I won't be catching the snitch at all."

"Our little sister…" one of the twins started.

"…is going to be on the field?" the other finished.

"I pity the beater…"

"…who tries to hit her."

Both twins looked murderous. Harry smiled. Well, getting the twins motivated was accomplished.

Once they were all dressed, they gathered near the door, ready to take the field as a team. Harry caught Ron's eye and they grinned at each other. Ron made a fist and Harry bumped it. Being teammates was good… this was something Ron had been waiting years to experience and Harry intended to do everything he could to make it a good experience for his friend.

"You've all heard the plan." Angelina said, "We're going to try to run the score up, which will help us win the Quidditch Cup in the end and let us play some of our alternates. Harry, you're going to keep a sharp eye out for the snitch, but not grab it unless it looks like Hufflepuff's close. Feel free to mess with the 'Puffs. Run their Seeker into the ground. Break up some of their Chaser plays. Whatever you can do as long as it doesn't distract you from the snitch too much. Ron, play like you did last game and I'll buy your next Butterbeer. Katie, Alicia - you know what we need to do. Fred, George - keep 'em off of us and busy dodging the Bludgers. Any questions?"

"No!" they all yelled in unison.

"Then let's go Lions!!" Angelina roared. They all took the field roaring, immediately hopping on their brooms and doing a circuit around the field, before landing so Angelina could do the coin toss.

Harry soared to altitude. He felt good…really good. The reborn feeling he'd had since his transformation wasn't wearing off, but felt even stronger once he was flying. His natural talent as a flyer wasn't changed much as a animagus. It certainly wasn't reduced, but any reinforcement of that trait had to be subtle, since his ability as a natural flyer was one of the biggest parts of his personality. He thought auramancy came a little more easily to him, whether due to duration using the skill or transforming into a very magical creature, he wasn't sure. At first he'd had to use the spell via wand and incantation, then he'd learned to do it silently, then wandlessly, and then he'd been able to concentrate to see auras. Now, he could see, feel, hear, and smell magic almost at will, like an instinct. Harry guessed that's how the good aurors were, sensing the traces of magic they needed to identify for their work. He was easily able to spot the snitch, a heavily enchanted item. He kept it in sight, but tried not to pay much attention to it, flying randomly around the pitch.

The Gryffindor chasers immediately seized the Quaffle and flew down the center of the pitch in formation, Angelina in the center with Alicia and Katie on her wings. The Weasley twins flew loose protective positions, one slightly above, one slightly below, ready to return any Bludgers sent at the chasers. Harry kept his eyes open, because if the beaters were protecting the chasers, he was somewhat more open, but his greater maneuverability was always his most potent defense.

Ron sat easily in front of the rings. He looked loose and calm. His success in the prior game was exactly what he needed, Harry thought. Ron was so temperamental. He could be great or he could fall apart, just depending on where he was in his mental space. Harry filed the thought away. Maybe he could talk about the mental game prior to the next DA meeting with his inner-circle. He felt like he'd made a lot of headway there (no pun intended) and maybe he could share some of his process with the others. Most of them didn't need it, but Ron and Neville might benefit from it, even though both were obviously conquering their demons on their own. Harry thought about Neville…why wasn't he on the Quidditch team? He did have that fall during their very first flying lesson and until recently, a lack of confidence, but he was getting to be big and very muscular. He might make a great beater. If he could talk Hermione into trying out for chaser with Ginny, then they would be able to replace a lot of the graduating students. Otherwise, the loss of experience threatened the team and only working with people he knew and trusted might offset that.

Gryffindor had scored a point, Angelina tossing through the left hoop after feinting right, the others masking her switch by flying in front of the Keeper. Now the 'Puffs had the Quaffle and were in the early stages of a push towards the Gryffindor goal. Harry had an idea how to break that up and solve another problem at the same time. He faked a look of surprised discovery and immediately started diving towards the snitch.

"Potter sees the snitch!" Lee Jordan announced, "He's going for it! Summerby tries to catch up, is he too late? They're both in a dive now…they're going to hit the Hufflepuff chasers! Whoa, they just missed them, but the 'Puffs dropped the ball and one of them almost fell off his broom. Are the seekers going to pull up in time? Ouch! Potter pulls out of the dive but Summerby hits the ground, hard! No sign of the snitch, was that a Wronski feint by Potter?"

Harry whooped with joy as his toes kissed the tips of the grass. The g-forces eased off as he leveled out inches above the turf flying at probably close to 250 kilometers per hour after the dive. He heard the thud behind him and felt a little guilty for flying the other seeker into the ground, but Pomphrey was good, he'd be fine.

"They're calling a time-out while Summerby is escorted off the field. Hufflepuff is putting their alternate out, but Patty Jones is an unknown on the pitch and her inexperience can't help the 'Puffs in what is shaping up to be a slaughter!"

Once the alternate seeker to an already inexperience primary took the field, it was clear that things were going to go even worse for the 'Puffs. Ron was playing an excellent game, blocking everything that came his way. The only shot that was even close was the first and once he had the added confidence of having blocked his first shot, he played even better. The experienced chaser line and experienced beaters were just too much for the Hufflepuff team. If the Gryffindors had lost their star players, it might have been different. After an hour, they were ahead 240-20 and Angelina called a time-out.

"Ron, you feeling good?" Angelina asked.

"Yes, Captain, I am!" Ron said, his smile stretched across his face.

"Ok, good, then Harry if you're still willing, I'm going to swap Ginny in for you." The Gryffindor Captain said.

"I'm willing." Harry smiled, "Go get 'em, Gin!"

"Thanks, Harry!" Ginny said, blushing.

"The snitch has been hanging out near their goals as much as anywhere. Look for it against the darker background of the stands, makes it easier to see. Try to put the sun behind you, so you can see the glint of the gold surface." Harry said, giving her some basic advice.

The team took to the air and Harry headed to the bench. He watched Ginny set up a circuit high in the air. He could easily spot the snitch, but couldn't get the information to her. He thought about trying to yell or gesture, but realized he just needed to relax and let Ginny do what she was good at. She was almost as much of a natural flyer as he was and had obsessed about Quidditch much longer. She'd been stealing her brothers' brooms out of the shed to play in secret for years. He could see from her flying that she was more than a match for Summersby, let alone the alternate. She played more on Cho's level, which was quite high.

Ron blocked another goal and a blonde Ravenclaw wearing a lion hat stood and started directing a new cheer.

"Weasley is our King,

Weasley is our King,

He didn't let the Quaffle in

Weasley is our King.

Weasley eats anything,

Bacon, toast, or a waffle,

Flies in front of Lion's Ring,

Stops the Quaffle!

Weasley is our King

Greatest of Men

He doesn't let them in

Weasley is our King

Weasley can save anything,

He never leaves a single ring,

That's why Gryffindors all sing:

Weasley is our King."

(credit to JKR for the original, added verses mine)

He watched her circle and immediately noticed when she saw the snitch. She edged closer to it while trying to look everywhere else as if still searching. Once she truly went for it, everyone's eyes went to her.

"Ginny Weasley, the fourth Weasley on the current Gryffindor team, appears to have seen the snitch. Or is this another Wronski feint? She's diving for it. Jones is lagging behind, seeming not to want to commit in case it is a feint. No, Weasley's got it! Gryffindor wins, 360-80! Ginny Weasley showing she has the family talent that produced the famed Charlie Weasley, the last great Gryffindor seeker before Potter, has caught the snitch!"

Ginny landed and the team mobbed her. Her twin brothers lifted her to their shoulders and the entire team paraded around the pitch.

"Ginny! Ginny! Ginny!" they all chanted.

Harry was hit by a bushy haired missile known as Hermione before he was out of the stadium. After a long, rib crushing hug, she looked up at him.

"It was a good game, Harry." Hermione said, "I'm proud of you."

"Yeah?" Harry asked, "What for? I didn't win it."

"That's exactly it." Hermione said with a gentle smile, "I know how easily you can see the snitch now. I know how well you fly. I know you could have won the game before it had even really started. You didn't so two of your friends could have fun and get some experience playing. By doing it, you gave up some of the glory you would have won and made sure they got some attention. It was a very nice thing to do."

"I never wanted all of the attention I have." Harry said, "Despite Ron's occasional jealousy, I never wanted any of that. It seems like no matter how much I dodge it, I just get more and more famous. Things are going really well for me. Since…since you and I actually, I've felt like I'm on the right track to building up the skills and the power to beat Voldemort. After that, I will be much more famous than I am now and I'll be lucky to ever be able to walk around without attention again. With all that in mind, it's the least I can do to give my friends some of the attention they want. And deserve."

"When did you start to grow up?" Hermione asked with a smirk.

"Oh, about the time I formed the connection to your mind." Harry teased back, "Who knew all it took was a massive infusion of superego from a witch that was practically drowning in it anyway?"

"Oh, Harry," Hermione said, "you didn't even know the word superego before me, did you?"

"Of course not." Harry laughed.

The crowd carried Ginny all the way up to the Gryffindor common room. They all filed in through the portrait hole, the mass funneling in through the narrowed opening. Luna, her lion hat roaring all the way, was arm-in-arm with Ron. She was singing the new Weasley is our King song to him, making up new verses, some of them mildly inappropriate. Harry and Hermione slipped to the side to watch the party begin.

Neville also stood to the side and they watched as he shyly stood there, part of the party, but apart. He was watching Ginny, love and longing in his eyes while she was being passed around above everyone's head. He watched as some of the other Gryffindors hit on the new Quidditch star. Cormac McLaggen was the worst. Neville's mind was already rehearsing how he'd deal with it when she ended up with one of the more outgoing boys, one of the handsomer boys. He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard Ginny.

"Wait!" she called, "Where's Neville?"

She saw him at the edge of the party and squealed, running to him. He was so surprised he barely caught her.

"What are you doing out here, silly?" Ginny asked, "Did you see it? I caught the snitch!"

"I did!" he said, the smile on his face completely out of proportion to his concern about Quidditch, "I never had any doubt."

"No?" Ginny asked with a smile, "I certainly did."

The whole room erupted in cat-calls as she passionately kissed Neville.

"Well, little brother…" George said.

"…aren't you going to threaten to kill Mr. Longbottom?" Fred finished.

Ron looked over lazily, his arm still around Luna. "Nev? Nope. I've got better things to do."

With that he lowered his head and kissed Luna.

"That's, that's so sweet!" Fred said.

"Our little boy is growing up." George said.

"And becoming a lot less of a prat." Fred continued.

"Speaking of prats, we're keeping our girls waiting, aren't we?" George said.

H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr

22 Feb

Sunday was a lazy day, as most of Gryffindor was hung over. Among some of the other houses, it was a day to pursue extracurricular work. In the dungeons, a group of Slytherins practiced in a large empty room, cleared out and warded for extracurricular defense practice. Only the Slytherins didn't call it Defense against the Dark Arts. They called it dueling and had retained an instructor suitable.

"You little maggots!" Dimitriov shouted, his patience for his students wearing thin, "I'm trying to teach you, but you refuse to learn! Once again, show me the wand movement for the Protego charm. I asked you to practice it one hundred times after the last practice, but you're all making movements that look like a drunken baboon trying to use a wand, which makes me doubt whether any of you did what I asked!"

The Slytherins turned pale and hurriedly tried to correct their failings. After working together for weeks, they'd come to respect the tutor hired by their parents to supplement the poor defense tuition available at Hogwarts.

"Protego?" Malfoy drawled, "No wonder none of us are practicing. When are you going to teach us the advanced shields?"

"Advanced shields?" Alex ranted, "What makes you think you deserve to learn advanced shields? Master protego and then I'll teach you more advanced shields. Along the way you may realize you don't need more advanced shields and that with the proper power and more importantly will, you can adapt the basic shield to do what you want. Now again!"

They practiced for hours until most of them were verging on magical exhaustion.

"Your parents hired the recent European Dueling Champion for a reason." Alex said, "My achievements won't help you, though, unless you learn what I'm teaching. You're dismissed. Practice protego five hundred times before we meet again. Practice the stunning charm five hundred times. You may combine those practices with a partner if you wish. Dismissed. Mr. Malfoy, you stay. I want to speak to you."

All the Slytherins left, except Draco. A few of his fellows gave him sympathetic looks as they left, but most of them simply appeared happy it wasn't them. Once the room was empty, Dimitriov conjured two plain wooden chairs and placed them across from each other. Sitting in one, he gestured to the other.

"Sit."

Dimitriov took a few minutes to gather his thoughts.

"We've spoken before. Your father paid the most to get me here and I feel a responsibility towards you. You're also one of the best of this lot. Despite your unspeakable arrogance, you actually do have some intelligence and some drive to better yourself. This, though, why do you insist on behaving as if some spells are beneath you?"

"Because I'm never going to reach my goal by learning protego." Malfoy said, on the verge of tears, "I lost a duel to another student and my father lost all his respect for me. I want to get good enough to beat my rival, but I'm starting to realize how hard it is going to be and how far I have to go. I don't know if I can do it."

"Who is it?" Alex asked.

"Harry Potter." Draco said with a sneer, hatred for the boy clear in his tone.

"Harry Potter." Dimitriov confirmed, "I've never met the boy, but he is famous, of course. Tell me everything. Leave no detail out, especially about the fight."

Malfoy complied, describing every aspect of the exchange, while Alex listened and occasionally clarified details. He seemed to grow more interested as the tale progressed.

"Mr. Malfoy, I want to view your memory of that duel. I have a pensieve with me. It becomes handy at higher levels to review the details of duels, which often happen to quickly to follow at the time."

Alex enlarged the shrunken pensieve he had with him. It was a utilitarian model, spartan and inexpensive as the rare and valuable devices went.

"Think of the duel." He commanded, holding his wand to Draco's head and pulling out a strand, which he placed into the pensieve. "Mr. Malfoy, you can view the memory with me or you can stay out here if it disturbs you."

Both wizards quickly dipped their faces into the memory and were immersed. They watched the entire duel and then emerged, back in their seats in the open room. Dimitriov was silent for several moments, collecting his thoughts and deciding whether to accept or reject his conclusion. He also wanted to decide what to share with Draco Malfoy.

"What did you learn from the duel, Mr. Malfoy?" Alex asked.

"That Potter had somehow become much better than I was." Malfoy said, "We used to fight all the time and we were pretty even, but this was different. I don't know how he did it, but I wanted to get that good. After working on it for so long, though, I'm realizing how much more work than I thought and I'm not even close to what I see in that memory."

"Good." Alex said, "You admit he's good and now you know how much work it takes to get that good. I've talked to you some about honor…have you thought more about it?"

"Some." Draco confirmed hesitantly, "What you say contradicts everything I've learned, though. If respect has to be earned, if it's not just something you're given because of wealth or blood status…what does that mean for me?"

"It means you have a clean slate." Dimitriov said, "And I assure you, it is exactly as I have told you. There are half-bloods or even muggle borns in the dueling circuit that can beat any pureblood. Blood status just does not matter, except that purebloods from countries like this, that have the old biases, often don't work hard enough to reach the top levels. Tell me, name for me the last dueling champion from a British pureblood family."

Draco thought and couldn't remember any.

"You know any of your father's friends would brag incessantly about it." Alex said, "I have to admit something. I told you I didn't know Potter. Now I realize I have heard of him by reputation. His dueling style made me realize, because I hadn't heard his name. Unless you dedicate yourself to a lifetime of practice as your single focus, you're not going to reach his level. You'd hate that life. Do you understand me?"

"You're saying I can't beat him?" Draco hesitantly offered.

"No." Alex said, "You are one of the few that I can see accomplishing it. If you devote your fortune to doing nothing but becoming a better duelist, if you hire the best trainers, tutors, special enhancement coaches...if you do nothing but train, you could eventually reach his level. Then, depending on what happened in the duel, with a little luck you could beat him. In the meantime, you would have sacrificed everything else you are good at. You're a promising potion brewer from what I've heard. You seem to have a talent with young ladies. You'd have to give all that up to have a chance at beating him."

Draco hung his head.

"If you accept what I've told you," Alex continued, "what does his ability mean for his effort?"

"It means he's singlemindedly focused on nothing but dueling, probably since the last time we faced each other." Draco said. Suddenly it was like a lightbulb came on above his head.

"Why would he do that?" Alex asked.

"To beat me!" Draco said, then paused as if hearing what he had said "No, wait, that's stupid. He's Harry Potter. He did it because he's hunted by the Dark Lord."

"Do you have any motivation like that?" Alex asked Draco.

"No, nothing I would sacrifice everything else in my life for." Malfoy answered.

"There's your answer, then." Alex said, "Have you ever talked to him? Really talked to him, not as a verbal assault."

"Once, on the train, I tried to make him my friend. He rejected me completely." Draco said.

"Well, you have two options." Alex said, "You could ignore him. If he's as single mindedly focused as you think he must be, then you'll never have another problem as long as you steer clear of him. Or, you could try to talk to him. You might find you've both grown up since then. Draco, the world's changing. Your country is the last to change and I don't think even Voldemort can defeat the entire rest of the world. If you set yourself up to be like your father, you may win big and become part of a ruling elite in the future, but if you do not, you set yourself up to live the rest of your life in prison, in utter misery. You are a Slytherin. I respect that. I know it means you've got at least the basis to think through these issues and decide on a course of action in your own best interest. Think carefully."

Draco nodded. Standing he started to walk towards the door, but then he turned. Raising his wand, he saluted his teacher in the ancient sign of respect. Alex saluted back and Draco left.

H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr H/Hr

23 Feb

Harry went to breakfast late, having slept in a little in the Room of Requirement. He'd had a very fun night and had been reluctant to leave the warmth of his bed and his bondmate. He and Hermione walked into the Great Hall and noticed all eyes on them. They weren't unaccustomed to attention, but it usually wasn't so blatant. Whispers started and eyes followed them as they walked to their usual places.

"Is it true?" Lavender said as they sat.

"Is what true, Lavender?" Hermione asked, irritated.

"Did you really face He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named last year?" she asked dramatically.

"You know Dumbledore told the whole story already." Hermione said exasperated, "You didn't believe it then?"

"Well…" Lavender said, "I won't say I didn't believe it. You know I didn't think all that muck about Harry being nutters, you know I don't, but I'm not sure what I believed. Now I'm reading it in the Quibbler and it makes a lot of sense. It explains how those prisoners escaped recently. No prisoners ever escape and then Sirius Black escapes and now a lot of Death Eaters escaped. It would take someone as powerful as You-Know-Who to make that happen."

"Voldemort." Hermione said, smirking when Lavender jumped, "You can say it. You're a Gryffindor. Voldemort."

"V…Vol…Voldemort." Lavender said, then looked extremely proud of herself, "Voldemort helped them escape. Well, I wanted you to know I believe you and if you need anything, I'm on your side."

"Thanks, Lavender." Harry said. Looking around the room, he realized a lot of the looks he was receiving weren't unfriendly. The whispers weren't malicious. Of course, there was one person at the Head Table that seemed to feel differently.

"What is everyone whispering about?" Professor Umbridge said, standing up from her seat at breakfast, although it was hard to tell a difference, "There was nothing in the paper this morning, what are you children reading?!"

When everyone ignored her, she got really angry. Her face started turning the color puce that Vernon Dursley's did right before he would explode. She gestured at the Slytherin table, signaling Malfoy to seize one of the newspapers for her. He initially seemed to be looking in her direction, but then a moment later seemed to be looking elsewhere and must not have seen her signal. Vincent Crabbe stood and marched up to a third year Hufflepuff who was reading the Quibbler. He took it away and presented it to Professor Umbridge.

She read the headlines, growing more and more agitated. "Lies! All lies! Spread by attention seeking…" She trailed off after catching the spark of emerald green eyes leveled at her in anger, but continued, "Lying, worthless, blood-traitor rubbish of a newspaper trying to discredit the Ministry and Minister Fudge. We'll see about this!" Umbridge stood and stomped out of the Great Hall, a wave of cheers following her out, silenced at a sharp look from Professor McGonagall.

A succession of owls flew to Harry's and Hermione's places at the Gryffindor table throughout breakfast. The first dropped his complimentary copy of the Quibbler. The others all brought correspondence. Some of it was still insulting, but the majority of it expressed support. Harry smiled. Maybe his reputation was not completely destroyed after all.

Later that day, when Educational Decree 27 was posted, Harry was outraged. He was surprised when Hermione looked smug.

"How can you not be upset? The ministry is using their power to squash our story!" Harry ranted.

"Honestly, Harry!" Hermione huffed, "You say the hat thought you'd do well in Slytherin House? Think! What is going to happen when you tell a bunch of Wizards not to read something? It's not like you can stop the mail, like you could with muggles. This will guarantee everyone reads it."

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Later that day, Harry put on his dueling robes and went to the usual room, having received a note from Dumbledore earlier that their time would be spent there. He walked in and saw a man he'd never met before, along with Ron Weasley, Filius Flitwick, Minerva McGonagall, Poppy Pomphrey, and Albus Dumbledore.

"Harry, this is Alex Dimitriov. He's a recent European Dueling Champion. I bring him here because he came to Professor Flitwick on Sunday with an interesting story." Albus said.

"Oh?" Harry asked, "What was it?"

Albus gestured to Alex to tell his story. Alex gave the broad outline of his lessons with the Slytherins and Draco's story. He told of being intrigued, because as a professional duelist, he could interpret dueling styles almost as easily as a forensic handwriting analyst can interpret a signature. The duel Draco described, although short, fit the dueling style of an anonymous duelist Alex had fought extensively recently. Alex told of going so far as to view the memory in a pensieve.

"So you see, Mr. Potter, after seeing the memory, I knew it was you. You might as well have been wearing a name-tag." Alex said, "None of this makes sense, as you're a fifth year primary school student. There's no way you should be able to fight as you do. So I went to Filius and laid out what I knew and asked him for answers."

"Why do you want these answers?" Harry asked, "Why does it matter to you?"

"Because I am more than just a duelist." Alex said, "Estaban, the current champion, is just a duelist. He doesn't care about honor, he cares about the prize money. I am different. As I have told Draco, the fight reflects your honor and after fighting you, I had to know who you were."

Harry looked at his professors. "You have said you don't want anyone to know my true abilities."

"No, we don't." Flitwick said, "He has already given a wizard's oath not to reveal what he knows about you."

Harry nodded. "Then what?"

"We want him to be one of your teachers." Flitwick said, "He's already taught you much. He's willing to continue as a colleague."

"I need no more money to work with you." Alex said, "I am making enough from the Slytherins, although most are too lazy to really make anything of what I teach them. I want to work with you just to continue working with you. You have potential."

Harry nodded. "I've gotten a lot out of working with you. I'd like to continue working together. Are we dueling today?"

"No, Harry." Albus chuckled, "I thought we'd try something new today. We hope Alex will help take notes and coach you afterwards, but you have a new opponent today."

"Ok, who?" Harry asked, getting excited.

"Me." Albus said with a smile.

Harry's mouth dropped open. He'd dueled Dumbledore before as an exhibition for the DA, but if Albus wanted to duel in front of this crowd, Harry knew it would be more serious.

"Ummmm…." Harry said, "Am I ready for that?"

"Perhaps." Dumbledore said, "Perhaps not. We won't know until we try and I trust you're far enough along that no matter the outcome, you will learn something from it. There are very few wizards strong enough to seriously challenge you as far as power goes. Voldemort is one such. I am another. If you only learn to duel those less powerful than you, you will develop bad habits."

Harry swallowed nervously and nodded his head.

Filius became businesslike. "Take your places."

Dumbledore, dressed in dove grey robes with a thick tapestry like texture, walked sedately to his position across the room from Harry. Harry took his position. He was clearly nervous, but was breathing deeply and seeming to settle into a calmer, detached attitude as the observers watched.

Filius waved his hand, raising barriers in front of the observers. Dimitriov, after a moment's thought, waved his wand through some intricate wand movements, raising his own supplementary wards. Hermione, looking critically at both sets of wards, glanced out at the room, looking at Harry and the Headmaster. She raised an additional set of wards.

"Blimey, what do you thinks going to happen?" Ron asked.

"There's enough power out there that I don't want anything to happen." Dimitriov said, "If you've ever seen a dueling ward fail during a fight between high level opponents, you'll never want to see it again."

Flitwick's voice could be heard, only slightly muffled by the wards, "Gentlemen, salute your opponent."

Dumbledore saluted casually. Harry saluted sharply, every moment crisp. The respect he held for his opponent was clear in every line of his body, but his emotional detachment blunted the sentiment. His conscious mind respected Dumbledore more than words could say, but the Machine lived only to fight and didn't care who except to ruthlessly analyze everything it knew about the legendary Headmaster of Hogwarts.

"Begin!" Flitwick called.

Harry fired off a string of curses immediately, hoping to end the fight early due to the speed of youth. He sent a stunning spell first, followed by a chain of SPEARs, half assuming Dumbledore would get a shield up. The observers could barely follow his wand movements, he was so fast, but the Headmaster was a veteran and barely managed a non-verbal shield before the stunner hit, sending the red bolt bouncing off to the ceiling. The chain of piercing charms linked to blasting hexes hit next and Dumbledore winced, pouring more power into his shield as it glowed, absorbing the spell-fire. As the last spell hit, Albus dropped his shield and swept his wand around in a circle, red flame trailing off the edge of it. The flame exploded outward, becoming a thick column or reddish gold flame. Faces appeared within, lions, phoenices, wolves, all surging at Harry.

"Fiendfyre." Hermione whispered. Ron's eyes were open wide.

Harry hesitated a moment, then waved his wand in front of his body in the shape of a wall and concentrated. The fiendfyre pooled in front of him, climbing higher and higher, seeming to seek any edge to spill over Harry's defensive wall. An intense look of utter focus dominated Harry's expression and the flames reversed direction, leaping at Dumbledore in the shape of a single phoenix, talons outstretched, looking much like Fawkes had while attacking the basilisk. The Headmaster leaned back and with a hacking vertical movement of his wand, banished the flames entirely. Surprisingly, he laughed.

"Good show, my boy!"

However, he never stopped moving. He gestured and conjured what looked like a dozen suits of armor from nothing, an incredible feat of conjuration. With another gesture, all the suits came alive and started marching towards Harry.

Harry blasted them with a stream of SPEARs, the piercing curse delivering the blasting hex right into the hollow interior before detonating. Dumbledore shielded, small fragments pattering off his barrier like rain off an umbrella. Harry didn't have attention to spare and was soon scratched and torn, his dueling robes protecting his body but his hands and face bleeding lightly.

The last animated suit dropped feet away from Harry. He snapped his wand upwards, as if in salute, and all the pieces rose to a massive non-verbal wingardium leviosa. Then he slammed his wand down, as if completing the salute and all the pieces flew at Dumbledore, carried by an overpowered banishing charm.

The Headmaster focused on his shield, strengthening it. All the metal pieces slammed into the center, forming one massive mushroom shaped accretion of metallic fragments before falling to the floor with a clang.

Harry felt his mental barriers struck by a very subtle yet powerful legilimens attack at the same time the metallic pile sprouted eight barbed legs and rose up like a metallic acromantula.

"Oh no!" Ron squeaked, pulling his feet off the floor and hugging them with his hands.

The creature was a nightmare, with rusted fangs dripping green poison. It skittered towards Harry at a frightening rate.

He reinforced his mental shields, trying to trap Dumbledore but unable to grasp the master legilimens' probe. Then he waved his wand in a complicated movement. A glow sprang into being near the ceiling, seemingly out of nowhere, appearing like dark clouds lit from within. Blue-white shafts of blazing incandescence, too bright to look at directly, struck once, twice, then again and again, blowing the metal spider into pieces. Waves of thunder made the room shake and other sounds were muted in comparison.

The Headmaster made a stabbing motion with his wand and an all-too-familiar sickening green bolt shot at Harry, followed by another and another. Without thinking, Harry levitated a piece of the metal spider into the way of the first, dodged the second, blocked the third, and sidestepped the fourth. He retaliated with a chain of SPEARs, which Dumbledore had to dodge, not having enough time to raise a suitably reinforced shield against the shield piercing charm. It was shocking to see such an old man dodge so nimbly, but he avoided each of the curses, which took chunks out of the stone wall behind him.

Dumbledore made a grand gesture with his wand and a red glowing bolt, looking like a stunner flew from his wand tip, but it grew and grew, soon filling half the room as it shot towards Harry. Initially planning on dodging, Harry quickly realized he had to shield and successfully raised one. When the bolt hit, though, it was not only massive, probably a stunner spread wide, but was also incredibly powerful, which shouldn't be possible spread that wide. His shield fell and the massive bolt slammed home. Harry felt his consciousness slip and he tried to hold on through sheer willpower and occlumency, but was unable to just shrug off the powerful spell. All became black.

Harry woke to Dumbledore and Hermione looking down at him.

"Oh, Harry, are you ok?" Hermione asked.

"I'm fine." Harry said, "Nothing's hurt except my pride. I didn't expect to lose to a stunner."

Dumbledore chuckled. "That was not just any stunner. With no false modesty, I can tell you that you should be proud you lasted as long as you did. Few could face me one on one and do even a creditable job. You did much more than that. Given that your one weakness is lack of experience, we just have to continue getting you as much experience in as short a time as we can. When you are ready, let me know and we will duel again."

"Again?" Harry said in disbelief.

"Yes, again." Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling, but hard at the same time, "You want to train, you want to get good enough to defeat Riddle; these are almost impossible tasks, so you must be ready to train at an almost impossible pace."

They dueled until Harry was trembling with exhaustion. Poppy healed minor injuries after each fight, usually Harry's, but occasionally Dumbledore had a scratch, cut, or bruise. At the end of the night, his magical core almost completely depleted, Harry limped up to Gryffindor tower between Ron and Hermione.

"Don't feel bad, Harry." Ron said, "That was brilliant. You were fighting Dumbledore and I could tell he was really trying!"

"Thanks, Ron." Harry mumbled exhaustedly, "I know, I should be proud I've come this far, but all I can see is how much further I have to go."

"You'll get there, Harry." Hermione said, "Ron and I were both taking notes. We've got some ideas, we'll keep working."

23 Feb late night

His left arm burning, the dark robed wizard touched his wand to a specially enchanted portkey and disappeared from his office. He appeared in the basement of a finely decorated mansion. He opened a secret door and entered a large, dimly lit room. A pale skinned wizard sat on a black throne, his hairless head and nostrils flush with his face giving him the look of an albino snake. The summoned wizard went down on one knee, bowing his head under the scrutiny of the Dark Lord. He immediately felt his occlumency shields tested and carefully protected his most guarded memories behinds shields so subtle even the most accomplished legilimens known wouldn't find them.

"You summoned me, Master?" Snape hissed.

"I did, Snape." Voldemort said quietly, "I received news I would have expected to hear from your ears first."

"News, my Lord?" Snape asked.

"Yes," Voldemort said, "I learned that Harry Potter is getting married to the mudblood. Why was I not informed of this?"

"I hardly think Potter's romantic liaisons are any concern of mine." Snape said dismissively.

"I don't ask you to think!" Voldemort said, "Crucio!"

He held Severus under the cruciatus curse for almost a minute before breaking it.

"Not for this, not for any news regarding Harry Potter." Voldemort said more calmly, "Due to plans within plans, this may be significant. There are ancient magics invoked, particularly in a marriage between the soul-bound. This may interfere with one of my schemes. The date I was given was May Day. Have you heard anything different?"

"No, my Lord." Snape said raggedly, "That is the date for which they've reserved the Great Hall."

"Very well." Voldemort said, "Inform me the minute that date changes should you hear of any changes of plan. I will have to accelerate one of my plans. I also want to know any time Dumbledore is not available. Should Harry Potter pass any messages to you for Dumbledore, I want you to delay them and notify me. Is that understood?"

"Yes, my Lord." Snape said, head bowed.

"Very well. Remember, I do not tolerate failure. You are dismissed. Go before Dumbledore notices your absence."

Severus portkeyed back to his office with the carefully protected portkey. Set to take one single member of the faculty from their office to anywhere needed and back, it would not carry anyone else and would not carry multiple passengers. The Headmaster enchanted them himself and didn't want to open Hogwarts to any invaders. Snape had a lot to think about and he needed to inform Dumbledore.

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Feb 24th

Harry was tired, but performed well in Charms and Transfiguration. Hermione was getting antsy about the upcoming OWLs and took notes at a feverish pace. Her own Charms and Transfiguration work were without equal. Ever since their bonding and her increased power, she now combined her own insatiable appetite for knowledge, ruthless work ethic, and peerless organizational skills with Harry's power, confidence, and talent for making things work when they probably shouldn't. If she'd been thought of as the top student before, now she was so much more than she had been that the comparison really wasn't fair. Only Harry was even in the same league and he just didn't value the school work for its own sake to the same degree as Hermione, although he studied diligently to make her happy and picked up knowledge from her. In studying for each class, she pushed them to learn the spells perfectly with a wand, making the movements so tiny and subtle as to seem only a tremble. The incantations were so crisp as to define the word enunciation. Then she pushed them to achieve the non-verbal and then the wandless versions, although they often hid their knowledge of those variants so they didn't stick out too far. Hermione took her schoolwork every bit as seriously as Harry took his dueling and she dragged him along with her. It didn't hurt that they practiced occlumency fanatically and their school memories were organized to perfection compliments of an organizational strategy Hermione had designed.

Care of magical creatures was a bit of relaxation in comparison. It was always good to get outside, although cold in the winter and seeing Hagrid was good, despite the fact that he was anxious due to Umbridge's close monitoring of his teaching. His injuries were also concerning, but they knew he could take care of himself and suspected he was probably hiding another dangerous animal. They didn't want to expose him by trying to help with Umbridge already too interested in him.

Luna told them the Quibbler was reprinting what was the fastest selling issue ever. She was amazed, it was selling even better than the annual Snorkack issue.

That night, Harry dueled Dumbledore again, fighting him again and again until he was on the verge of magical exhaustion. He still hadn't ever won, but he felt like his skills were improving at an exponential rate. Alex pulled him aside after Dumbledore had left.

"Harry, I know what you're doing now is difficult." Alex said in his accented English.

"Getting my arse handed to me over and over again?" Harry asked, "It's pretty easy, actually, it just hurts a lot."

"Do not make light." Alex said sternly, "I am here to give you advice. It is discouraging. I went through this phase in my own training. However, you will find later that despite all the losing, you will look back on this as one of the most productive periods of your training. I know it may be difficult to keep it in your head, but you are facing a legend. Any of the competitors in my situation would pay all the winnings they'd ever made on the circuit for this opportunity, because afterwards they know they'd make it all back. Men like Dumbledore do not train just anyone. For the rest of your life, you will have opportunities due to having been his apprentice. Enjoy it and take advantage of it."

Harry sighed. He knew what Alex was saying was true; it was just hard to keep in mind when he was sore, exhausted, and embarrassed.

"Thank you, Alex." Harry said, "I understand. I appreciate your advice. I could say the same about you…working with you is also an opportunity most people would long for."

"True." Alex said without false modesty, "But I am no Dumbledore."

Harry nodded as he joined Hermione and walked up to bed.

That night they went through their occlumency drills. Harry had neglected them the night before and he never wanted his shields to fail under Voldemort's testing. He'd been sending visions almost every night.

Harry fell asleep easily and quickly recognized another Voldemort vision. He dreamed he was Voldemort and was questioning one of his Death Eaters, a wizard named Rookwood. Rookwood told him that only Harry or Voldemort himself would be able to retrieve the prophecy.

Harry woke from the vision and filed away the information before falling back asleep.

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A/N: There's another chapter ready to post directly after this. I wrote a double long chapter and broke it up out of necessity.

I am furthering my plot, but it seems to always take longer than I mean it to, because I don't want to just summarize.

Part of me wants to end the story at the end of this school year. It would be a little abrupt, but would be a reasonable place to end it. There's going to be a major confrontation and if it were won decisively enough, that would be an end. However, the other part of me thinks it won't end that decisively, but that opens it up to another entire school year, which is maybe longer than I ever thought this story would go. Opinions?

Also, before anyone criticizes too much, I am heavily favoring speed over editing. I know this. I just don't have time as a resident. So this is a rough work and I apologize.