Training and Confrontations

Chapter XVI

"You have returned more quickly than I had anticipated."

Peter bowed low. "The Old Man left me a message, Master. I did not wish to linger, and be thought a traitor."

"What was the message?"

"He wished me to go to him and surrender. He would hide me away, and deprive you of my services."

Voldemort's eyes narrowed. "You were not tempted?"

"I was, Master," Wormtail confessed, falling to his knees. He knew there was a good chance he would be punished, but also knew it would be far worse if he tried to hide his temptation and was found out. "Not because I feel you could possibly fail, but only because your service is so hard, Master."

"Is it?" Voldemort snarled.

"Master, I have sacrificed more for you than most. I serve your needs every day. I could never ask more from you, Master, but because I serve you as you need, the others. . . ." He stopped at the evil look his Master was giving him. "So, that was why I was tempted, just for a moment, Master."

"How was this message delivered?"

"In a sealed letter, left with a rather senile house elf."

"And did you bring it?"

"No, Master, just in case there was a trap there."

"I see you have learned from your association with Malfoy," Voldemort taunted.

"You find him valuable, my Lord," Wormtail said, bowing low.

"Tell me everything you saw there before you left."

June 8, Day 39

"There are a lot more people here than I thought there would be," Hermione said. 'Here' was a moderately large wooden amphitheater, set above a stone base. Hermione guessed it held 7,500 or so spectators, and could probably hold at least 1,500 more. The early afternoon sun cast few shadows, and the actual arena looked almost surreal in the bright ultra-clarity.

"Nearly all of the magical community around Ruchak are here, and there are a fair number of the merchant community as well," Astor explained. "There are also quite a few visitors. It never hurts to scout the future competition. The other communities will also host these events over the coming weeks, and they will want to know how their teams stack up. There are adult competitions between the communities in the winter, and some of the competitors here will graduate to the adult teams in a few years."

"Is that why the villa has filled up?" Ginny asked.

"Exactly." A dozen guests, with twice as many servants, had shown up over the previous two days. The eight visitors were mostly staying away from the other guests, except for dinner in the great hall. "Most will be here through the ceremonies on the Solstice, although most will move on to other hosts tonight."

"When do we start the matches?" Ron asked.

"Soon," Astor said. "Are you ready, Harold?"

"For what?"

"To meet at the center, with the other captains."

"I still think Ron or Hermione should be captain," Harry said sullenly.

"No," Astor said yet again, patiently. "You are the center, the heart, so you must captain the team. Hermione or Luna may be your second, should that be needed in a later round."

A wizard in bright canary yellow robes strode to the center of the arena floor. "Teams to the edge! Sponsors and captains, to the center!" The group entered the area, and then Harry and Astor moved towards the man in yellow.

"It looks like there are ten teams this year," Astor said. "That's a good number, sometimes there have been as few as seven. Of course, the Golors will not be happy."

"Who are they?"

"Another family," Astor said with a slight shrug. "They sponsored last year's winning team. If there had been an odd number of teams, they would have gotten a bye in the first round."

Each sponsor swore an oath that each team member was between 14 and 18, and then they withdrew to boast about their teams, and to make challenges which would likely result in many side bets.

Harry tossed a slip of paper with his team name into an urn that reminded him uncomfortably of the Goblet of Fire when his turn came along. The urn smoked a bit after the last slip was entered, and then spat five smoldering balls at the umpire. Harry gave a sigh when it was announced that the first match would be Team Dumbledore against Team Golor.

The basic rules were simple. The grassy arena floor was divided roughly into thirds. Each team defended an area and could only operate in their home area and the neutral ground between the home areas until three of the opposition team members were unconscious, declared disabled by an official, or had surrendered. After the opposition was reduced to three or less, that team could be attacked from anywhere on the arena. The fighters could transfigure or charm anything they wanted to in the arena, but could not fly on broomsticks, or transfigure, charm, or summons anything from outside the arena area.

The Golors were all wizards, and all six reminded Harry a lot of Viktor Krum -- tough, compact, and scowling. They quickly took up their positions, four of them kneeling right behind the line marking their 'territory,' the other two standing perhaps ten feet behind them. These two would cast shields that would protect the front line while allowing their spells to get through.

Harry studied them for a moment and whispered to Ron as they took their places. Harry gave the others a series of hand signals.

The head official moved out of the way (there were five field officials and ten judges) and then shot off sparks, signaling the start of the match.

The Golor sent off a salvo of six stunners, one heading towards Neville, two towards Harry, and three towards Ron. Ron easily rolled out of the way and came up firing his own stunner at one of the kneeling wizards even before the Golor could see what effect their salvo had. Neville also shot off a stunner at the same wizard Ron had targeted, while Luna's shield defended Neville. Ginny and Hermione had also shot at that same wizard. Two of the four spells smashed the shield one of the standing wizards had tried to erect, while the other two stunned the wizard.

Harry, meanwhile, cast a much more complex shielding spell with his wandless left hand, which allowed him to actually capture the stunners and redirect them back towards the Golors while he cast a stunner of his own.

The redirected stunners had lost part of their power by the time they returned, and they were easily deflected. Harry's stunner smashed the shield of the standing Golor on his left, and had enough power to knock him down, although he was back up in less than five seconds.

By then, Ron had been moving to the forward right, firing stunners. Ginny and Luna were moving to the right as well, although more defensively, protecting Ron and themselves. They would soon be in a position to fire down the line of the Golors.

Neville had taken out the Golor that Harry had knocked down, and taken a stunner and a minor hex, which had broken his shield. He retreated back towards Hermione.

Harry was taking on the Golor captain and the team's junior member, who had nothing stronger than a stunner. The crowd was cheering loudly on that side of the amphitheater, because Harry was returning hexes as fast as his two opponents together (although that was in part because the youngest Golor had to physically dodge Harry's hexes). No one had seen Harry cast 'Serpensortia' and send the resulting moderately large but non-poisonous snake off.

So, in just over a minute, Team Dumbledore had knocked out two of the Golors and had an even fight going with Harry against two opponents and had a four against two advantage developing on the other side of the field. The Golors' opening salvo, which obviously usually worked better than it had that day, had been their best move.

Neville and Ginny were hit with minor hexes, which forced them to fall back and only defend. This brought Hermione and Luna forwards. By now, the stunners had been mostly replaced by the reductor curse, meaning there could be serious injury if there was an unshielded hit.

Ron was lucky, all his physical dodges worked, because he managed not to be predictable, but he was now too off-balance to get a coordinated shot off with Ginny. Hermione was too busy shielding herself, Ginny, and Neville to be in on the attack.

At that point, the youngest Golor screamed, as the snake had bit him high on the left calf and was not letting go. Harry, who had been holding back, finally sent off one reductor curse, which blew the Golor captain's shield apart and knocked him on his backside. Harry had him and the snake-bit junior stunned quickly thereafter.

Meanwhile, Ron and Ginny's now-coordinated fire had silenced the remaining two Golors. As silence reigned, the officials came over to make certain the Golors were down. Harry recalled the snake, and then vanished it with an official's approval.

Harry and Luna were unharmed, while Hermione and especially Ron were unharmed but nearly winded. Neville's left arm was numb, while Ginny's left leg was shaking, both easily taken care of.

The entire fight had last just a little over five minutes, less than half the usual time for one of these mock combats. The team received moderate applause as they left the field.

"Not too happy about us, are they?" Ron observed.

"Well, none of them know us," Ginny pointed out.

The Golors were still being taken care of on the field as the sextet sat under the bleachers and drank some cold butter beer. Remus walked up to them, and turned first to Ron. "Ron, do you feel you gave that fight everything you had?"

Ron considered. "I didn't do as well as I should have. I moved out from under my cover too soon."

"But in terms of your effort?"

"I think I did okay at best. I would have done better, but I really did outrun my cover."

"I see. Neville?"

"Yes, I believe the best I could," Neville said in a hesitating voice. Remus seemed upset, and Neville hoped it wasn't at him.

"How about you, Harry?"

"No, of course I wasn't," Harry answered.

"Why not?"

"Because Ron and Neville were too nervous. They need to understand they can do this, with or without me. I could have ended things a bit sooner, and if this were real combat, I would have. But it's not life or death, it's a competition and we'd like to win. Remus, I think Ron, Ginny, and I know more about pacing ourselves in a competition than you do."

"Fair enough," Remus allowed, "just as you realize what you were doing. Let's go watch the next match."

None of the other combats lasted less than nine minutes, the longest was seventeen. The five winning teams of course advanced automatically. The judges would announce in two days which losing team would be allowed to even out the team numbers. The next group of combats would be in four days.

The Dumbledores were the only winning team which had made it through without losing any members. All the others had lost at least two, while one (involved in the longest combat) had lost four. Thinking of possible strategies would keep everyone at Villa Dumbledore talking over the next few days.

That evening, Hermione approached Luna in the women's sauna after Ginny left. "Luna?"

"Yes?"

"Would you mind . . . do you think Harry would mind. . . ?"

"If you joined us early tonight?"

Hermione was blushing, but she nodded and said, "Yes, may I join the two of you early tonight?"

Luna thought a moment, and said, "Actually, wasn't it our turn to be together early?"

"That doesn't matter," Hermione said, unable at that moment to remember whose 'turn' it might be, and not really caring.

"You're right, of course," Luna said. She held out her hand. "Come along. Harry is very good at brushing hair, and other, even more enjoyable things."

June 12, Day 43

As the highest scoring team from the first round, Team Dumbledore got their assignment first, but would fight last. They were facing Team Valaden. They had won in fifteen minutes, and had used a position of two attackers and four defenders.

"The crowd seems louder today," Ginny said before the first match started.

"There is a lot of betting going on," Astor observed. "There aren't many things in this world that draw a crowd. The combats and Quidditch games are the only things that do so during the summer, other than the religious festivals. You can't sit back, gossip, and just have fun during a solemn ceremony, you know."

"True," Ginny agreed.

They watched the other combats. These each lasted just a shade over twenty minutes. Neville asked about that. Astor pointed out that the amount of combat time should increase, since the teams left were stronger, and of course each team now had some idea of how to prepare for the others.

Only one of the combats made it to close-cursing combat, the first time that had happened in the tournament. As Ron pointed out, that was something of a disappointment, since that was actually the type of fighting they would likely have to engage in if they ever face Death Eaters.

When the Dumbledores started to line up the same way they had four days before, the Valadens lined up with their four wizards in the front row and the two witches behind.

'You'd think they stick with a stronger defense after we handled that salvo so well,' Harry thought to himself. He was able to get Ron's attention and call a new formation before the match started.

Ginny moved up to Harry's place while Ron stepped back a few feet. Harry, meanwhile, had moved to the extreme left of their defense line, reaching it just as the sparks signalled the start of the combat.

Harry's movement drew the fire of four of the Valadens. Harry's shields easily held, but this put the Valadens at a real disadvantage to the rest of the Dumbledore team. As soon as the Valadens' attention was back to defending themselves from the rapid fire of four the Dumbledores, Harry waved at Hermione. He sent a powerful jet of blue hex fire arcing over the Valaden's positions, while Hermione sent a jet of red hex fire. The two met about sixty feet in the air and thirty feet behind the Valaden defenders (just short of the seats) and swirled around each other. Hermione quickly dropped out and went back to defending Ginny, Ron, and Neville,

Meanwhile, the hex fire had blended together into swirling black clouds. Harry put more power into the formation, while wandlessly blocking the stray curses that still came his way.

Then the funnel cloud formed.

Several people in the crowd screamed loudly enough to be heard by the Valaden defenders. One glanced back, blinked, and then she ran as the small tornado started to chase her.

Within seconds, the rest of the Valadens were drawn into trying to banish the whirlwind, which had swept up their other back defender. This of course opened them to attacks from the rest of the Dumbledores. As the last Valaden fell, Harry cut the tornado, and then floated the very dizzy and nauseous witch who had been caught up in the wind down to the ground.

The entire battle had lasted just over six minutes.

The crowd sat in silence for a moment, and then broke into applause. Not as enthusiastic applause as the other two winning teams had gathered, but closer to that level than the polite applause they had collected four days before.

"Where the hell did that come from?" Tonks demanded as the sextet exited the arena.

"I've never seen anything like it," Astor admitted.

"Really? I found it in a book in your family's library," Hermione said with a smirk.

"That's what happens when you let us practice alone," Ginny said with a smirk of her own. "We have lots of stuff ready that are even more impressive."

Remus and Astor smiled, having noticed that Ginny had pitched her voice so that several of the remaining teams heard her.

Back in London

"You must scour this house, and find any traces of those who were here," Voldemort stated to Malfoy and Pettigrew. "That portrait and the elf must know more than they have said, but they are fragile. They would break easily."

The two bowed low.

"Take all the time you need. If you need to pull anyone in, do so. If you can not get any useful information from them, by the way, kill the elf and destroy the painting. In fact, destroy every other portrait you find after you question it." Voldemort glared at the cowering Mrs. Black and then disappeared.

"You look uncomfortable," Malfoy said to Pettigrew.

Peter scowled. "I am. There must have been some better way to hide the house."

"Perhaps, but if I remember the theory correctly, if a place has been put under Fidelius once, it's easier to do so the second time. And just think, he trusted you enough to be the Secret Keeper."

Pettigrew turned on Malfoy. "He did it so he wouldn't have to be bothered, and because he knew it would seem like a reward while it actually tortures me."

"Why would it torture you?"

Pettigrew stared at Malfoy for a few moments, and decided he was telling the truth. He didn't know.

"I was the Potters' Secret Keeper. I was the one that led the Master to them." He looked into some inner distance. "I agreed to serve the Master in part because I was weak, and in part because I was sure he would win. I was in Dumbledore's Order, sifting information. It seemed so hopeless in late 1980. So, I was captured, and agreed to send information. I tried to limit the information to minor information, but he squeezed me." He sighed. "I couldn't go back. I'm damned, and I deserve to be damned."

"Really? I'd have thought that if you really believed in an afterlife of any sort, especially one with eternal punishments, you would have sought redemption," Malfoy said.

"You don't think you're damned?"

"Of course not," Malfoy replied. "We have one life, and this is it. We make the most of what we can, and then we die. There are no higher truths, and even if there are, it doesn't matter because we'll never learn them."

"But. . . ."

"But nothing," Malfoy nearly spat. "If you think about it, even if there is some sort of afterlife, it is meaningless. Live for a million years, live for a billion years, and life would still have no meaning. It would just be longer. So, if you want to torture your self about a life of punishment now and an eternity of punishment later, go ahead. It makes no difference to me. I am in no hurry to cut this life off prematurely. I want at least a hundred to a hundred and fifty more years before having to wonder who's right." He turned around. "Come along."

"Where?"

"To the library. Let's see what the old lady had on hand to draw from."

Pettigrew sighed. "Right."

As they passed the portrait, Mrs. Black sniffed, "I thought you sort would be better than the others, but you all lack respect."

"You claim you can't remember the others," Pettigrew pointed out.

"Nonsense! I remember them all perfectly! I am just unable to articulate what I remember, since they used this same foul charm you have! If you took the Fidelius off, I could not recount that your Master had been here."

Malfoy halted and looked at the portrait. "Let's see what we can discover about the time right before the first Fidelius was placed, shall we?"

"But that didn't work when the. . . ."

"He was in a hurry," Malfoy broken in. "He was curious if he could access the information easily. It can't be done that easily. By asking the questions that were asked earlier, she couldn't answer because all the information was tied to the information under the Fidelius. Let's see what she knows if we approach it from the other end of the time-line."