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Harry Potter and the Celestial Zone
Chapter 12
22nd July 2005


"Good morning all, we will have our first round of eliminations later this week, and the standings are such. Seeded 16th we have Lavender Brown, 15th we have Blaise Zabini, 14th is Pavarti Patil, 13th is Milicent Bulstrode. As the fourth quartile, the best among them will face the third's champion which is made up of 12th seeded Cho Chang, joined by Luna Lovegood at 11th, 10th is Hannah Abbot, and 9th we have Draco Malfoy." It was the first morning back at Hogwarts from the Christmas holidays and everyone was excited.

Harry and Hermione had been on time this time, as were the other Celestial practitioners. Harry himself had spent some time in Dragon Cavern working on his spiritual mastery and had advanced substantially. He knew the second quartile was made up completely of Professors, while he himself was in the top set. He was slightly upset that Ron hadn't made it in, but then again there were more important things. For example, he'd noticed that Blaise Zabini had started to feel different from her usual self.

At first he thought it was a magical growth spurt; but that had been proven wrong later on when he'd brushed past her in a corridor and something had sparked. He briefly entertained thoughts of the proverbial romantic spark, but dismissed that almost immediately when he examined the energy interaction and felt a kind of affinity for it. Studying it further, he noticed a tinge to it that he immediately associated with Xue Wu, who had stopped over at Celestial Dragon Lake on his way.

That had sealed it for him, which was why he was certain Blaise was in fact the missing Xuan Mao, earlier chosen as the heir to the PanGuHunYuan Dictum. It further explained the sudden vicious attacks seen in "Blaise's" duels that brought her just into the final rounds from mid level rankings. Harry was brought out of his musings by Dumbledore speaking again, "Yes congratulations all of you. But we have the second quartile made up of Professors Flitwick, Minerva, Snape, and myself, not in that particular order."

Most of the hall applauded, but it was somewhat marred by the mutterings that flew through the hall about having an all-professor group. Not many had actually faced the professors, mostly the younger duelers who'd gotten dueling practice and lessons from them. Albus didn't let it stop him though, and plowed on, "in the top quartile, we have seeded 4th, Hermione Granger. Joining them is Neville Longbottom at 3rd, 2nd is Ginny Weasley, and seeded first, we have Harry Potter."

The Great Hall again exploded in applause; mostly from the Gryffindors for their house taking all 4 top spots, while Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff applauded the skill required to get there politely. At the Slytherian table though, Malfoy was loudly complaining about Gryffindors getting favored, and most of his house-mates were backing him with jeers and sneers directed at the Gryffindors. Dumbledore quickly put an end to the excitedness though, "Now that we're done with that, to your classes all of you; Harry please come to my office."

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Harry hardly got to the Headmaster's office when the man himself entered, "Harry my boy, good to see you so well. I take it you had a good breakfast?" Harry blinked, that was definitely not the reason he'd been called here. He sighed, just instinctively and through his partial empathy, he knew that Dumbledore had called him for a more sinister reason that Harry had no interest in.

"Cut to the chase Headmaster, you know as well as I do that you've not called me here for small talk. And before you defend yourself, I know in absolute terms, as you do. So if you could please get on with it, I have a Defense class I do not want to miss." Albus sank slightly and lost the twinkle in his eye, "very well; I missed you when you went to Gringgots, and after that I was just too tied up for anything more. I had intended to tell you that you were to stay in Grimmauld Place, but then you stayed at Hogwarts so that was fine.

"Unfortunately, it appears you didn't really stay in Hogwarts more than 12 hours and instead totally disappeared. I don't know how you got out of Hogwarts without the wards warning me, but I must at this point impress upon you again the importance of staying safe and out of Voldemort's reach. You now know as well as I do what your destiny is and in order to fulfill that you must remain here." Harry almost exploded at that, but managed to control himself.

Instead, he stood up, his green robes adding to the effect of his height, "You seem to be senile, old man. I clearly showed you at the very start of term that I have changed in a way that even you couldn't counter. I got an answer out of you that you wanted to use as a bargaining chip without even moving a finger, then produced a sword without magic, which even with you couldn't. While I agree that I haven't seen as much of Voldemort as you have, I can tell you right away that he's no longer the same.

"In fact, he now has an ally from my world; and his ally is powerful. If you were smarter, you'd have told me about the prophecy in my first year, leading to proper training that would have allowed me to actually survive better when Voldemort was reborn. In fact, Pettigrew would probably have been caught that night instead of returning to Tom's side. You have no idea where I was and yet can preach to me about safety. What do you know about safety when one of your own students was switched over the holidays without you realizing it, even now?"

Harry's right hand flashed out, and the Headmaster's breathing hitched; there on Harry's index and middle fingers, were the house rings to two of the Wizarding world's oldest houses, Black and Potter, "Don't even think of asking how. You knew this would happen, and yet you wish to take up further confrontations against me; I out mass the Malfoy wealth 3 times over, without even taking into account relics and artifacts; I who hold the original Hogwarts Seal that is keyed to the real wards of Hogwarts. You don't get it do you? Well I encourage you to think about it."

Harry flicked his hand and the door burst open, and he floated down silently, leaving the present Headmaster with his head in his hands wondering where he went wrong.

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"Potter you're late! Professor, he should be given detention or something shouldn't he?" Malfoy just couldn't miss the chance to point out Harry's shortcomings. Harry rolled his eyes and snorted before proceeding to Remus's desk and speaking to him quietly, "I was delayed with the Headmaster, though as a side note I'd watch your dealings with him very carefully." Professor Lupin nodded and gestured him back to his seat before beginning his lesson.

"Today class, we will be working on your hand to hand work first, then continue on to some spell revision and then some dueling practice. We've been going through basic punches and kicks, no doubt some of you know more. I will partner you up with a better student to help you improve, in the idea of worst getting best; listen up."

Harry ended up with Malfoy, who couldn't wait for the whistle, and started throwing punches wildly at Harry. Absently, Harry thought it vaguely resembled a Drunken Fist variant that Xing Yun had described to him once, though very sloppy. Instinctively dodging the fists and occasionally feet, Harry tapped spots on Malfoy's body in an effort to get him to close his defenses, "C'mon Malfoy, your defense is none existent, I could beat you in my sleep!"

Almost expectedly, Draco cried out, "fight like a man Potter, you can't hit me even if you tried!" Harry grinned, "If you say so, wimp." Harry suddenly drove forward with a side of his hand against Malfoy's chest; that was all it took to bring Malfoy totally out of it, "I'm done Professor, he asked for it. I'll revive him later." Remus nodded and turned back to watch the rest while Harry took Ron and Pavarti aside to prevent either from blowing up.

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"Harry, good to see you; I didn't get a chance earlier, but I need to ask you a few things about the Celestial Arts stuff. See, Phoenix actually didn't teach me much, instead she left me on my own a lot while contemplating stuff, care to explain it?" it was the end of the day and Neville had caught Harry before he went up to the dorm. Harry was puzzled by the question because Phoenix was actually rather excitable when it came to the spiritual arts.

"Hmmm, I can't be too sure, but I can offer a few ideas as to why. The first is her back ground; previously she could consult with her twin, who isn't around anymore. Back then they'd discuss it and decide what was best, then implement it whereas now it's just her and she's not used to making decisions without someone to consult with that she trusts that much. So she could be contemplating any number of things based on that idea.

"The second possibility is that while she is set on teaching you but does not know how to. Even if Red was still around, he couldn't help her since they were trained at the same time. My guess is that because there's only ever been one method of teaching the Red Phoenix method of cultivation, she has no idea how to. From my point of view it is good that you're versed in the Heavenly way, but that actually complicates her decision. My solution would be to start you on the Phoenix Arrow Formulae and Phoenix Real Body Formula straight away instead of going through the initial stages which are handled in the Heavenly Way.

"The last one could be that you arrival has triggered some sort of memory or thinking form in her mind that has caused her to undergo some sort of introspection. As far as I know it isn't unusual for it to happen to Phoenixes, so there's nothing to worry about there. In fact, there's nothing to worry about any way because it all depends on her; and knowing Phoenix, she'll have something good ironed out for you by summer. Though I wouldn't expect you to get past the Real Body Formula before 7th Year, it is still powerful." Neville nodded, his fears allayed, and turned to go up to the dormitories when Harry called him back, "Just so you know, Phoenix hasn't been around real people before the Dream Cloud assault that I told you about, so if she seems somewhat ignorant don't worry about it."

Hermione had listened in, and was particularly worried, "What about me? Will Zi Yan require all that time to come up with something for me?" Harry laughed softly, "No Hermy, she won't. The thing about the Red Phoenix that may hold Neville back is that they're picked at birth and separated. For you, Zi Yan has spent so much time with Wang Chan that I wouldn't be surprised if they've worked the complete Heavenly Way Heart Sutra into the Dual Hearts Formula, healing and all."

Hermione was totally confused now; all she knew about the Heavenly Way was the Whirlwind Illusion, Quick Lightning, and Thunder-Light Vibration. She hadn't known about any healing and Harry saw it in her expression, "Yes there is. Just that I don't know about it; what I learnt from Xing Yun about the Heavenly Way was the three that I've taught you. However, he also told me about various healing arts and other things that were within the complete Heart Sutra but not mentioned within the initial Celestial Dragon Formula so I wasn't allowed to learn them.

"Any way, we should go to sleep; tomorrow are the playoff selections and you are looking to do well aren't you?" Hermione looked scandalized that she might not want to do her best, and nodded before hurrying up the stairs.

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The selections indeed came quickly, and the Great Hall was soon cleared for 4 raised platforms so the duelers of each group could match wands. Harry was first up against Hermione in their group, Draco lined up against Cho in his, Dumbledore stood across from Filius, and Milicent Bulstrode faced off with Lavender.

At the bell, movement started almost immediately; Harry jumped and waved his hands almost wildly, and all of a sudden a dozen stunners flew at Hermione. For her part, she did well in staying calm and powering up both a wind elemental shield and a shield charm, though one got through and caught her on the arm. Thankfully, the spread weakened the individual stunners and being caught on the shoulder let Hermione stay awake and upright.

Her own counter attack consisted of a leg-locking curse, a redactor curse, a stunning hex, and followed up by a wind elemental palm strike. Harry nodded his respect for her almost ingenious display that would have worked against most other opponents; he wasn't like them though, and opened up with another volley of spells. He first went through 3 quick disarming hexes, several vision impairing jinxes, and followed up with a Thunder-Light Vibration. Hermione was up at the level with him for about a second, and then was thrown back, where her wand was quickly summoned by Harry. The enchantment that decided winner and loser gave Harry the wind and he pulled Hermione to her feet and gave her a hug, "Good effort."

Cho and Draco traded powerful hexes and jinxes from a distance right from the start, but Draco eventually proved to be the more powerful. Cho went to several minor hexes and jinxes at the start, but was soon forced to move to several higher level hexes and curses. Draco then revved the proverbial engine, and they were soon exchanging dangerously powerful curses. Draco threw in several semi-dark curses that would have raised a few eyebrows, but eventually overcame Cho's defenses with several well placed reductor curses followed up by a disarming jinx.

Albus had his hands full with Filius, who dueled like the champion he was; leaping all over the paced with self-charming methods, the diminutive Charms Master evaded nearly all the spells thrown at him, till a wand binding jinx against the stunning hex threw his timing and was disarmed by Dumbledore. They shared a laugh as they walked off the platform, but Harry knew what they were laughing about.

In his spare time, Harry had been looking over Hogwarts Library's contents, and found several dueling records, including the last one Professor Flitwick won against Dumbledore. There was a clear photo of how the tiny dueling champion had timed a jump to coincide with a charged stunning hex that caught Albus in his blind spot. Unable to dodge, the now Headmaster had fallen to Filius, who had retired from dueling right after that, remaining the only person to beat Dumbledore in the circuit. The report had gone on with a memory replay of the match, and Harry now noticed the almost identical display that the two Professors had put up; apparently the Headmaster actually could learn new things.

Between Lavender and Milicent, Harry was undecided. He felt that while Milicent was larger and probably had a larger magical reserve to use, Lavender was small and quicker and could probably evade a bit better. The down side was that Milicent was not as fast as Lavender, while the smaller girl was not as skilled or powerful as Milicent. All in all though, Harry didn't pay too much attention because he knew who'd move on from that group. Lavender eventually won with a Leg-locking hex and a disarming spell.

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The second round quickly started, and Harry grinned right back at Ginny's focused gaze. Almost unexpectedly, she dashed sideways, trailing a wave of hexes and jinxes of all sorts. Harry took a moment to admire the rainbow-like colors before putting up a wide spread shield that covered him completely; the spells crashed into his shield, but quickly fizzled out. Ginny quickly tired and Harry got her with a good stunning hex before reviving her and giving her a hug, "Bit hasty there eh?"

Meanwhile, Albus faced Professor Snape, so Harry didn't bother with it. He paid more attention to Draco against Hannah. Eerily similarly to his own duel with Ginny, Draco went for wave after wave of powerful curses and hexes. Hannah held on for a while, but began to tire; Harry suspected Malfoy had some other power source but didn't have any proof. Hannah moved to lower power shields to keep up her rate of blocking, hoping for a chance to return fire, but Draco didn't let up and managed to get a disarming hex under her guard.

Harry sighed; he hadn't realized the lack of physical ability in the DA and resolved to cure that as soon as possible. There wasn't much more to watch now though, Pavarti had proven to be better at spell work in the DA, so she would beat Lavender, but "Blaise" would move on he knew; the Headmaster was easily the best of the professors group, so there wasn't any doubt from there. He himself had won two, and needed just one more to move on.

He wasn't doubtful of his win; neither of his two earlier opponents had undergone any real training in the Celestial Arts, so they really couldn't hope to beat him that way, which was probably the only way they could. He grinned privately though, when they'd mastered the basics of their respective specialties the contest would be spectacular. Though he knew he could beat them, it was probably only through his earlier start on internal energy.

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Harry turned and stepped back onto the platform just as Neville stepped up. From his own arena, Draco called out, "what's Longbottom doing there? This dueling competition's not for weaklings!" Neville turned round, glared at Draco and conjured a rock that he threw at the blond; not expecting it, Malfoy just barely managed to evade it and by then the dueling had started.

Neither Harry nor Neville made any move for several seconds, staring each other down instead. Neville snapped first, and flew forward with extraordinary speed and went for a combination of palm strikes, "Wind Illusion Strike, Quick Lightning Palm, Thungder-Light Vibration!" Harry was surprised at the amount of power required to generate a combination strike at such speeds, but matched as best he could, "Sky Dragon Flaming Hands."

Neville leapt back and readied his next try, "Quick Exploding Spurt!" Harry was impressed that Neville could pull off this as well, and went to his own protection, "Celestial Dragon Dipper." A green shield screen formed around him and took the exploding lines that Neville directed at him; unperturbed, he kicked it up another notch, "Thunder Whirlwind Vibrating Illusion!" This Harry hadn't heard of before, but was a good sign of Neville's progress; Harry studied it quickly and found slight elements of the Quick Lightning in it as well, and was forced to move up a notch himself, "Blazing Sun Formla: Blazing Energy!"

It was not fully mastered on Harry's part, and he'd only reached the eighth level of the formula, but he sensed Neville's skill was just basic in level. The Blazing Energy formula from the Blazing Sun formula was an improvement on the Celestial Dragon Dipper. Whereas the Dipper gave one a shield that absorbed damage, the Blazing Energy created its own aura that dampened the damaging effects before they reached a shield of fire. Neville's attack was no different, and the shield held.

Neville was stunned, that was his best and Harry had yet something else to cope with it? Harry noticed his opponent's stunned reaction and sympathized, "That was the second part of the Celestial Dragon Formula. I've mastered the initial section of the Celestial Solar Dragon, Celestial Sky Dragon, and Celestial Heaven's Dragon Path, combined into the Celestial Cosmos Formula. The second section is the Blazing Sun Formula that includes the Blazing Energy Formula I've just shown you. In congratulations for forcing me to use it, I will show you another Blazing Sun formula.

"Blazing Sun Formula, Sacred Dragon Fire Thunderbolt!" Harry loosed the dangerous bolt of energy at Neville, and followed it closely. As he expected, Neville managed to block or deflect most of it and was stunned momentarily by the rest, just enough time for Harry to dash forward, "Solar Shock of the Blazing Sun!" Neville landed on the ground, charred and unconscious. Harry frowned, "Madam Pomfrey, he has slight burns on his skin, some cuts on his arms, but the rest of him should be fine."

Harry turned and watched in amazement as Luna duelled Draco to a standstill. The blond pureblood was shocked that this weirdo was actually matching him. Harry, though, realized that Luna's power reserves were flagging and she'd lose. Casting a mild shield around her that would activate when she lost in some way, he turned to watch Blaise toy with Pavarti.

Blaise held back a lot, and eventually Pavarti exhausted herself. Blaise, however, then began displaying Celestial Arts that Harry knew she shouldn't have known if the real Blaise had been there. There was a flash and Pavarti was thrown back and Blaise advanced swiftly, suddenly igniting a sword previously non-existant in her hands. Harry wrung his hands seemingly in dismay, but in truth cast a charm that caused Pavarti to be merely disarmed and thrown back instead of cleaved when the sword completed it's downward arc.

As he predicted, Pavarti was thrown way off the dueling stage and caught by Seamus. The victory went to Blaise, but as the result was announced, Harry shared a knowing glare with her. He had an idea of where she now stood on the Celestial scale, and she knew where her biggest challenge would come from. Harry gave her a pitying stare and left the Great Hall.