FicWad

Harry Potter and the Celestial Zone
Chapter 14
25th July 2005


"No! I refuse! I will NOT play against Slytherian; they're a bunch of stuck up barbarians who don't know the meaning of fair play. I didn't even want to play in the first place, and only against teams that actually know the meaning of 'rules' as I know it." Hermione was ranting at Ron who was trying to put her in the starting line-up against Slytherian for the cup. Hermione had exploded, as Harry softly predicted from the sofa in front of the fire.

Deciding that Ron was not allowed to push Hermione around, he spoke up, "Ron you may be captain, but remember who put the Ravenclaw keeper in. You don't have the right to boss people around; if you force it you may regret it before you know it." Ron was incensed, "What are you? My mother? My keeper? Or perhaps you just want to get into Hermione's pants!"

Chuckling softly, Harry turned Hermione round to face him, profile to Ron, "hmmm, what do you say Hermy? About this pants thing. I don't think it's a bad idea, do you?" Ron was speechless, but Hermione didn't even try to say anything, crushing her lips against Harry's hard. Ron froze, and if it had been a comic, he'd have turned to stone. Harry eventually broke the lip lock and turned to the frozen Ron, "That's why neither of us will be playing tomorrow. Have fun explaining to Ginny!"

Ginny, of course, blew up, "YOU DID WHAT?????? HOW THE HELL DID YOU THINK UP THAT...BLASTED IDEA THAT HERMIONE WOULD ACTUALLY ACCEED TO YOU THAT WAY?? YOU'RE LUCKY I'M NOT ABSTAINING EITHER!" Ron again froze, and Ginny stalked away wearing a death glare that would have put the Basilisk from her second year to shame. She stalked from the common room, drawing awed stares and angry glares alike from the rest of the Gryffindors.

.........

Harry had no doubt that the match would go to Gryffindor; their chasers were just too good. Ron too had a part in it, in that he was actually a good keeper, but Harry wondered if it would be Gryffindor winning the match, or Slytherian losing the match. If the Slytherian defense was off form, Gryffindor would have no trouble scoring points, so Slytherian would have lost the match.

Thankfully, Harry didn't have to worry too much. Ginny must have really been upset and angry, because she was an absolute devil out on the pitch. Once the quaffle landed in her hands, it was a forgone conclusion; sure she missed once, but she still landed 170 points for herself. Ron seemed to be playing off though; twice he just totally missed the quaffle, staring in the wrong direction, twice he totally misread the attacking chaser's moves, and the last Slytherian goal he just sat there and didn't do anything. Fortunately, Gryffindor had pulled away so far that Malfoy decided to pull a 'Krum' as Harry called it, and caught the snitch.

"And Malfoy catches the snitch, but Slytherian loses, 250-200. Match to Gryffindor!" The stands erupted into cheers, and the Slytherians gathered around Malfoy and his team, who glared at the Gryffindors. Harry remained in the stands while the rest of his housemates broiled out onto the pitch, hugging and cheering the players. Harry chuckled; Malfoy had earned his respect on that play, catching the snitch when he realized that his team had no way of winning at that point.

Hermione leaned against him, "Well at least they won. Could have been better with you there, but I'm not complaining. Ron needs to learn that he can't push people around just because he's captain." Harry kissed her and chuckled, "with you teaching him, he'll learn. I doubt anyone else could make him learn." There was a definite grin in his voice and Hermione laughed.

Ginny flew up, "C'mon love birds, Ron's getting unbearable with all his blustering about winning even without you two. You got your brooms? Otherwise we could ride on mine up to the tower." Harry chuckled and enlarged his broom, motioning Hermione on with him, "Let's go then, Ron will have to learn another time."

.........

"Exactly what do you expect to achieve in asking me to your office, headmaster? You know perfectly well that you won't garner anything from speaking to me, while I could probably gather much more from any one conversation." Albus Dumbledore sighed; he'd hoped that some time on his own would soften Harry somewhat and allow him to open up again. Apparently not; Harry was now walking around the office, poking at various silver instruments that he used to keep tabs on his more important people.

"I don't know where we went wrong Harry, but you must trust me. I'm the only one who can help you prepare for Tom adequately." Harry paused and pulled a book from a low shelf, "just from that one statement I can gather three things. Firstly is that you need me rather than my needing you, because you're trying oh so hard to bring me on a guilt trip. That would have been your next set of sentences if I'd asked why I had to trust you. Still, the real answer is the same: I don't.

"The second thing is your ego. You feel that you've faced Tom so many times that you, and only you, know him inside out. That is impossible. Tom used many magical rituals in and before the first war to gain the level of power he had. When he was reborn he was already close to that. When you faced him in the Department of Mysteries he was just about the same level, which is where you were. Now, though, he has grown beyond and has gained new power. It is the reason that I am now the person who knows him inside-out, and not you.

"The last thing is a level of trust you feel you need between yourself and I. I'll tell you right away that you don't have it. When Voldemort's gone you don't want another Dark Lord on your hands, there you have my promise not to turn to the evil way. Dark does not mean evil, it never has and it never will." He paused here and glared at Dumbledore, pushing for anything he'd missed. Finally he snorted, "You wanted to know where I learned the powerful martial arts. Tomorrow you'll have a taste of a sect member roughly equal to myself. Good evening."

Albus wanted to call out as Harry floated down the stairwell, but knew he couldn't achieve anything that way. The only thing he'd learned today was something he'd learned from other meetings with Harry; and that was the simple fact that Harry didn't feel he needed his headmaster anymore. He sighed again, as he did so often these days; if Harry was right and Blaise was actually a fake, he'd better be prepared. He opened a secret compartment under his desk and pulled out several objects.

At first glance, one would wonder why the headmaster of Hogwarts was putting on jewelry, but that wasn't the case. These pieces of jewelry were actually objects of power. The ring was an heirloom of the Dumbledore family, and granted another third's power to the wearer as long as he or she was of direct Dumbledore blood. The bracelet was elven made, enchanted by the mages of Trystram, and would grant him another half of power. The last was necklace, with an amulet of rubies and sapphires. It was dwarven made, and therefore of a most durable material called Mithril, and dwarven enchanted, so it didn't give him magical power, but provided him with a degree of protection and strength, which he would need.

.........

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Today we will witness the semi-finals of our first Dueling Tournament. We will today have two matches, the first being Headmaster Albus Dumbledore against Slytherian 6th year Blaise Zabini and Draco Malfoy against Harry Potter. The matches will begin in an hour, please mark your seats." Minerva McGonagall was making the announcements, not trusting to any students with outsiders present. All the ministry heads had decided to attend the match, as had several parents.

The Great Hall had been cleared of benches and tables, spectator stands taking their places in lining the walls. Powerful shields had been set up to protect the audience, which included distinguished people like Luscious Malfoy. There was only one dueling stage, and it would be cleared after each match. The sky overhead was dark and lightning played across the ceiling in a spectacular display. The first match of Albus Dumbledore against Blaise Zabini was to start soon and both duelists were on their respective sides preparing.

She'd heard about Harry's comment to the headmaster about how a student had been switched, and he'd confided in her that it was in fact Blaise who'd been switched, and that Dumbledore would lose. Privately she agreed with him, but couldn't do anything about it even though it was quite obvious 'Blaise' was dueling differently. Where she'd normally throw semi-powerful spells and dodge, the new Blaise who'd returned after the holidays used more shields and physical combat. It was enough for her, but obviously not enough for Albus.

The stands became noisy and crowded as people filed into their seats. The entire Weasley clan had decided to attend and all seven sat with Hermione Granger in the second row, a stripe of red in a sea of other colors. Fudge sat in the first row with a Daily Prophet reporter, talking; Minerva assumed they were talking about how Fudge had engineered the idea of a match, especially in such times of trouble. She shook her head; sure the magical world required some semblance of order and control, but Fudge just wasn't the person to do it.

Realizing that the match was supposed to start soon, she moved swiftly to the centre of the stage and raised her hands for quiet. The spectators quickly stopped talking, hanging onto her every word, "The first semi-final match of Blaise Zabini against Albus Dumbledore will begin shortly. It is a single round match, by default lasting until either dueler is stunned, disarmed, or in any other way unable to continue dueling. By default no fatal moves are allowed, though the rules can be changed if there is mutual consent. All forms of dueling are allowed." She paused here for everything she'd said to sink in. When she was sure she was completely understood she began again, "Duelists bow to each other." They bowed, "you may begin when the feather stops moving." She dropped a feather and removed herself from the dueling stage."

Everyone tensed. Blaise's eyes began to glow red; Dumbledore activated his various devices with a small surge of pure magic, and gave off an orange aura. The feather continued toward the floor; Blaise took a step back and turned, profile to the headmaster; Albus drew back and lifted his wand, profiling himself as well. The feather drifted; the duelists began circling each other. The feather touched the ground; all of a sudden motion burst forth. Albus fired of several quick stunners and switched to a powerful shielding charm. Blaise jumped back and braced herself against one of the shields before igniting her spirit weapon and charging.

...

Harry watched from the top of the stands, studying Blaise. He was sure she was the missing Xuan Mao, ex-student of Xue Wu. She started off by going to the Amalgamation of Body and Sword; Dumbledore fired several hexes and curses, but kept his shielding up to hold off Xuan's sword strokes. Her's was a Scimitar, with patterns of demons and ghouls on the blade; it glinted with each stroke, mirroring her fury and power. Harry reached out with his senses, probing the headmaster; he was now about twice as powerful as previously and Harry wanted to know why.

He found his answer quickly and chuckled softly; he should have known the aged dueling champion had power devices. Harry frowned; it sure helped, but could it defeat Xuan? He probed the shielding again; it was beginning to weaken. The two had been going back and forth for about half an hour now and Xuan showed no signs of slowing. He frowned as she shifted to an Amalgamate of Celestial Forces and Body, renewing her attack with even more power and ferocity.

This time Harry probed her and was satisfied with what he found. Apparently she'd recently mastered the first stage of the PanGu Celestial Forces Formula, which increased her powers greatly, but nowhere near what he'd fear. Sure his own Sword and Body Amalgamate wasn't quite up to her Celestial Forces Formulae, but he was certain he made up in skill. He shifted his attention away, completely assured that Xuan would beat the Headmaster.

Turning slightly, he studied Draco Malfoy, at the foot of the stands watching the match with rapt attention. He chuckled; there was no way Malfoy could beat Xuan, not when he couldn't even properly use dark curses. He closed his eyes and probed the younger Malfoy, searching for some indication of his inclination on the coming match. Harry frowned; he hadn't known much about his finances apart from the fact that it was an incredibly large amount. Apparently Draco knew more and was going to set monetary conditions on the match, even half his fortune was an incredible amount.

He searched deeper into Draco's mind; reviewing age old pureblood laws and regulations, dueling rules from back then, various dark and unforgivable curses and hexes. He pulled out; he knew more than enough on his own to beat the Malfoy heir, but if he wanted half the Potter-Black fortune, then he'd have to remember to stake half the Malfoy fortune too; and since only the head of the Malfoy family, Luscious Malfoy, could authorize that, he would probably have to duel Luscious after that too.

Refocusing on the present match, he noticed Dumbledore leap out of the way as his shields failed under a Yuan Yin strike. Several powerful curses did him no good, and Xuan soon had him at sword point, and facing a lost match. Harry sighed; it had taken longer than he'd anticipated, but now he'd have to take out Draco. As amusing as it was he really wished he could simply be rid of the Malfoys once and for all.

"Match to Blaise Zabini." Minerva McGonagall was shocked that Albus had lost, but she controlled herself, internally reeling with Harry's suspicions being proven correct. She waited till the applause had died down and the stage cleared before she announced the next match up, "We will have half an hour's break between matches, refreshments have been served. The next match, Draco Malfoy against Harry Potter, will begin shortly after."

.........

Luscious Malfoy stood near his son in a secluded corner; the second match was to begin shortly and he knew about the plan, "You know what to do then? You must remember to set the rules before the first spell is cast. The unforgivables are notoriously powerful, but very hard to cast. Be fully aware of what you're doing when you do initiate those rules." Draco nodded; he didn't like being daddy's boy, but in this case it worked to his advantage. Plus, 60% of what he'd win was his alone; nothing to scoff at.

"The second round will begin in 10 minutes. The two contestants are to report to the arena immediately. Spectators please retake your seats in 5 minutes." Minerva's voice rang through the Great Hall and Entrance Hall, and Draco left his father's side instantly. Harry shared a quick kiss and grope with Hermione before swiftly moving to the Dueling arena, his Dragon Robes flowing around him like royalty. If he'd paid attention, one would have spotted Severus Snape watching him with a twitching eye. If anyone bothered with Legimency on him, they'd have known he was wondering where Harry had learned the walk.

The arena had been cleared, and the ground now lacked any and all scarring from Blaise's sword strokes and Dumbledore's spells. Harry gazed around, marveling at how large the area now seemed relative to how small it had looked when Blaise and Dumbledore had been battling. McGonagall called their attention back to herself by clearing her throat, "You both know the default rules of the duel? Very well, are there any changes you wish to make?"

Draco cleared his throat, "Yes there are. I wish to make two changes. First is wagering of family fortunes based on outcome. Meaning that when Potter loses he'll have to hand over half the Potter fortune while if, on the off chance, I lose, I will hand over half my inheritance." McGonagall's eyes narrowed but she didn't interrupt, "the second is the spells used. Only unforgivables as offensive magic, meaning either till Potter is incapacitated in some way, or he dies."

Harry jumped in, "Your father has overall control of the Malfoy wealth. Therefore I insist that if you lose, then he and I duel just to insure that you don't get away with any of it. On the unforgivables, you must concede that there is a possibility that you'll lose, or the rule proposals are voided as stated in existing statues. Furthermore, are we bound to British unforgivables only or are you talking about all unforgivables?"

The transfiguration professor inclined her head, "Agreed, you must state which unforgivables you are intending for use, as well as conceding the possibility of your loss." Draco scowled, "Fine, so there is a remote chance of me losing; I've conceded that now alright? I intend to use all unforgivable curses, such that Potter can be killed." He cackled, "and yes I'm sure father will be willing to duel you on the off chance that I lose." Harry smiled in a eerie manner.

...

Minerva McGonagall sealed the deal with her wand, and both Harry and Draco felt the deal tighten a hold around them. They moved to either end of the dueling area, taking their places and glaring pure hatred at each other. McGonagall moved to the centre and gestured to the audience for silence before she spoke, "For the second round we have, within the rules, a change to the guidelines of the duel. Mr Malfoy is pitting half the Malfoy fortune against half the Potter fortune on the outcome of this match. He has further agreed that for the purposes of instant satisfaction, Mr Luscious Malfoy will duel Mr Potter should his son lose."

There was an uproar at that, with the entire audience screaming either for or against the wager and the reporters began snapping pictures rapidly while auto quills rapidly scribbled on pieces of parchment. The three on the platform waited till the noise had died down before the Minervaa continued, "Furthermore, young Mr Malfoy has also asked, and Mr Potter agreed, that only unforgivable curses be allowed as offensive magic." Even greater uproar sounded, but Harry had become tired of it. Waving his wand and surreptitiously his left hand as well, he cast a mass silencing charm over the audience.

He glared at each and every one of them, "If he wants it I have no objections. Just to remind all of you, especially the minister, that rules modified within a duel are exempt to lawsuits and legal charges. What goes on within this shielded area remains here and is legally not allowed out. Now if we've cleared everything I have one last mention here: If anything untruthful or false gets into the media about the duel then whichever paper it is will be destroyed." He glared at them again before bowing slightly to McGonagall, "professor."

Professor McGonagall nodded to him, "thank you Mr. Potter, we must indeed get over the supposedly taboo. You may begin once the feather touches the ground." She again pulled out a portkey and disappeared, leaving Draco at Harry's mercy.

...

Draco Malfoy prided himself on his abilities with the unforgivable curses. Ever since his first year he'd been trained in them by his father; the Agrave was a new one that he hadn't had any real experience with, so he botched it his first time. No matter, now was for real. The feather descended slowly and he pulled out his wand, pointing it straight at Potter's heart.

Harry was unfazed when Draco pulled his wand on him; he drew his own wand, loosely held in his right hand, ready to swing up at the slightest notice. He focused himself, rising slightly as his inner energy core drew the winds around him. Finally the feather touched the ground, and movement exploded out of both sides. Draco profiled and jumped across Harry's path, "CRUCIO!" Harry had leapt upwards, buoyed by the air currents, aimed his wand carefully, "Teljesség Megkínoz!"

His voice was controlled, unlike Draco's, but his spell was more effective, no doubt due to the fact that his hit while Draco's missed entirely. The Malfoy heir screamed in pain and fell to the ground; he thought the Crutatious was painful when he'd first tasted it, but this was another thing altogether. He rolled around, trying to get Potter's aim off him. It didn't work though. One of the best parts of the Hungarian Unforgivable was that it only needed to be aimed correctly at casting time, after which it lasted a good few minutes before it wore off.

He strolled back to his side of the stage and waited till the spell ended. When it did, Harry again waited will Draco regained his feet before casting his second curse, "Multiplicus Fragmen Os Parvulus." Four red jets of light sprung toward the Malfoy heir's four limbes, hitting three. Draco managed to keep his wand arm out of the blast, but his left thigh bone, right shin bone, and left forearm all broke nastily. Harry cocked his head as Draco screamed in pain again, "You want it to end yet?"

Draco soon regained his feet, "just one curse and you'll be dead Potter, and you can't do it like me. AVADA KEDAVRA!!" Malfoy launched the killing curse, and the spectators all gasped fear. Harry conjured a block of stone in the spell's path, and it broke into tiny fragments instead. Before the smoke had completely cleared, he launched his own attack, "Számûz Mindörökké Lelki!" This time nobody moved; it was a never-before-heard spell on the British Isles because it was also a Hungarian unforgivable.

Draco didn't move either, and ended up getting hit. A small ball of light appeared just above his head and he collapsed; Harry walked over and cast the sonorous charm on himself, "Just so nobody disputes my winning this match, Avada Kedavra!" Everyone gasped, and a few people screamed too. Harry kicked Draco's body for good measure and collected the ball of light in a glass tube before sealing it and casting the unbreakable charm on it.

"Match to Mr. Potter. If you don't mind, Mr. Potter, perhaps you could explain some of the spell work used here today before you duel Mr Malfoy?" Minerva was shocked, but still interested. Harry nodded soberly, "Of course. Firstly I must caution all of you here to never use an unforgivable to duel because it isn't terribly good on your psyche. The first spell, crucio, we all know well enough for now. The second, Teljesség Megkínoz, is the Hungarian equivalent of the Crutatious, except that it causes more pain and works for a limited time. The Fragmen Os Parvulus is an old Latin curse that was named an unforgivable by Merlin himself because it can be used in specific torture. The spell is like the bone breaking curse, just that it is more localized than the bone breaker.

"The Avada Kedavra we're all very familiar with through Voldemort, so I won't go into it. More importantly I suppose is my last spell, Számûz Mindörökké Lelki. Back when it was first created, Dementors didn't roam the world like they used to so long ago. The Hungarians of back then created the spell, mimicking the later dementors. With the modern Dementors, the body dies basically an hour of so after the soul is sucked out. The body then goes on with its involuntary muscles till those muscles deteriorate by themselves. With this spell, the soul is removed from the body, and basically hangs just outside.

"The difference is that the Hungarian curse doesn't kill the body as well, or even that quickly. That is why back in those days the curse was not used instead of absolute destruction. If I hadn't destroyed the body, the soul could have been returned and Draco Malfoy would have returned. Because of the surrounding magic and somewhat dark taint to the spell itself, returning the soul to the body would simply create a dementor within a week depending on how good his mental shielding becomes." Harry paused here and conjured a glass of water for himself, "many of you wonder why and how the golden Boy-Who-Lived can have become such an evil entity."

The looks on the faces of people around showed he'd gotten it right on the head. He chuckled and continued, "I was searching for a way to destroy Tom. I wouldn't have used the spells if Draco Malfoy hadn't asked for it. Either way, Mr. Malfoy, I'm waiting."

...

"So you're actually rather knowledgeable about spell work; you'll find yourself very short handed in this one Potter." Luscious leveled his wand at Harry's chest, charging a spell, causing his wand to glow brightly. Harry chuckled, "Spell work only? Spell craft too old boy, I'll show you one of my older crafts, unless you want to go with the unforgivables only?" The Malfoy patriach growled, "to the death, and to the victor go all the spoils. All of them." Harry wondered why his eyes suddenly flickered to Narcissa but put it off.

"To the death then, whenever you're ready." Harry leveled his own wand at Malfoy, charging his own spell, causing his wand tip to produce a poisonous orange. The elder Malfoy growled in anger, "Statim Conseco! Statim Conseco!" two quick powerful multi-cutting curses flew at Harry, who ducked both and jumped before firing his own, "This is over Malfoy! összes Kormányzás!" the Malfoy patriach suddenly seized up and stared blankly straight ahead.

Harry circled him, keeping his wand firmly aimed, "Excellent try. However, I have apparently survived your attack and you're now under my control. The spell I used is the Hungarian equivalent of the Imperius, except that the victim doesn't get a feeling of anything. Now, before I disarm you, I had a purpose in having you duel me after Draco: I have reason to believe you're not entirely truthful to the rest of the wizarding world. The loophole in this spell is that while the Imperius controls you completely, this spell doubles up as a truth serum. Therefore you can only answer my questions to the fullest and most honest extent."

Doubious murmurs racd through the audience, so Harry went for the affirmative first, "Head of Unspeakables, I'm sure you've heard of this curse. Have I left anything out of the explanation?" a soft, "No, totally true and uncovered." Came from a shadowy corner of the stands. Harry smiled and turned, "Mdm Bones, may I cross check that with you?" She too gave an affirmative, and Harry turned back to his subject, "So Mr. Malfoy, tell me: are you a death eater?" The entire audience was in uproar at his question; Fudge was yelling for aurors to capture him. Harry smiled throughout, and wandlessly silenced the entire Hall apart from himself and Malfoy, "You can't hear his answer if you keep making noise. Answer me Luscious."

"Yes I am a Death Eater." Harry smiled, "There, not so hard was it? Now tell me, how close to Voldemort are you?" the answer was as monotonous as with Veritaserum, "I am part of his Private Circle along with Bellatrix LeStrangle, Rudolphous LeStrangle, Christopher Parkinson, and Peter Pettigrew. Pettigrew hasn't been turning up for meetings though." Harry smiled at everyone in the audience, all of whom seemed frozen in shock. Just for fun, Harry released the spell on Fudge, who instantly began yelling, "PETTIGREW WAS A HERO! I WON'T LET YOU DEFAME HIS NAME! HE DIED AT SIRIUS BLACK'S HANDS!"

Harry threw the silencer back on and conjured a desk, a stack of blank parchment, several quills, and bottles of ink and turned to Luscious, "Was Sirius Black a Death Eater?" "No." Harry turned to Amelia Bones, "Is this substantial enough to reopen the Black case?" she nodded and Harry again turned to the man in front of him. Casting several charms on him he commanded, "you will now write out everything about the Death Eaters, Voldemort, the First War, and Second War so far that you know. After that you will expose your Dark Mark."

Albus chose this point to interrupt, "But Harry surely it isn't neseccary to go to such lengths to discredit the father of your childhood nemesis?" Harry turned to him and growled, his eyes glowed and his aura sprang up, while wind whipped round the Hall, "Don't you dare use my name ever again. The only things you may speak to me of are school related. I am over the age of consent, and you have no legal holding over me. So unless you're saying that a truth spell as powerful as Veritaserum can be lied through, SHUT THE BLOODY HELL UP!"

Two tense hours later, Luscious Malfoy stood up from the desk stoically and ripped off his left sleeve, exposing the Dark Mark hidden there. Harry nodded, "seal those papers with your magic, make sure it is provable that you wrote those." He did just that, and Harry made him drop his wand. Minerva stepped up, her face a complete mask, "Match to Mr. Potter. Will the Goblin representative please come here." Harry stunned Malfoy and stood up, about to walk away, when several dozen aurors burst in through the doors, "By order of the Ministry of Magic and Chief Mugwump Dumbledore, we are here to arrest Harry James Potter on charges of defamation and dark magic usage."

Harry couldn't bear it; he laughed. Not the laugh of a mad man, rather the laugh of someone secure in the knowledge that he couldn't be beaten, "You want to arrest me? Peh! Have Mdm Bones review what happened before you try anything, or I'll be forced to take out all of you." Amelia came up, "Indeed; I'm surprised at you Albus, what Harry did was entirely within his rights as stated in the duel rules. And you Cornelius, I'm surprised you didn't think of the press! Their all onto the story of you defending a death eater though, and I've made several copies of the papers Malfoy wrote out. Mr. Potter, these are yours, I have mine, and the Unspeakables have theirs. All of you, back. Leave. NOW!"