Weapon

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Weapon (Possession Chapter LXXVI)
Chapter XXV - Duel
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Harry looked around with narrowed eyes, shifting his grip on the wand. His fingers were sweaty. Not from fear, but from nerves. He didn\'t want to do too well here. That was what was making him nervous.

He\'d agreed to this perhaps a little too easily. There were a mixture of Aurors, Professors - Order members all, and some of the younger, sprightlier examinations Professors were facing him.

Apparently this was what they meant by advanced examination. A duel.

Harry grimaced as he recalled the instructions for this test. \"Show us what you can do.\" What they really meant was show us the extent of your power. The Order must be getting desperate to have him as a fighter, although he knew Voldemort hadn\'t done anything recently. After the loss of his base, he was still regrouping, although everyone was expecting at least a token reprisal.

They didn\'t know the Dark Lord, though. Why make a token reprisal when you could wait slightly longer and attack at full strength? Harry didn\'t know what the attack was going to be, but he had felt his beloved planning it.

Right now, however, that wasn\'t his concern. He had the last bit of his DADA Practical OWL to get through, and the rest of his OWLs to complete. The Order and the Dark Lord would clash again and again because at the moment neither force had the manpower needed to land a decisive blow; that was probably the reason why he was standing here. The Order was hoping he could become the power they required to win. He\'d said it himself; he would be the weapon.

And to be the weapon, he had to win here.

The shadows were wrapped around him, so that even if any of the surrounding witches and wizards were more powerful than expected, he would be safe. Theoretically, he should be safe anyway, as this was just a test. However, when dueling at the level that was expected here, there could be no such thing as absolute safe guards. The shadows were under his robes, forming a protective layer against his skin; he could feel them moving slowly. They were as powerful as always, and had been invigorated by their recent feast, but it was also making them slightly sluggish. Hence, they had chosen the direct option of protecting him, physically manifesting themselves against him, so that if anything got past his defenses, it would not get past them.

Standing apart from the group surrounding him were watchers. The examination professors who were too old, some members of the Order, and some members of staff were gathered on the far side of the Hall, next to the remains of Ikhan. They were watching from behind a protective barrier that had been slung between two pillars. The area had been designated safe, although whether it would remain that way was anyone\'s guess. Dumbledore wasn\'t present, but Harry was sure he was watching some how.

The duel was to be magical, physical, and any combination of the two that the combatants could carry out. There were other duelists waiting to take the place of the fallen and it would continue until Harry surrendered or was knocked out, or until there was no one left to fight. From the self-assured arrogance Harry could feel from the few Aurors who had agreed to fight a fifth year student, they were expecting this to be easy. They really should just who the fifth year student they were fighting was.

He loosened and tightened his fingers on the yew wand once more, lowering his head slightly to look over the rims of his glasses at the leading Auror, the smile of a much older man appearing on his lips as he took the initiative.

\"Serpentsortia!\" He said easily, hissing further instructions as the snake materialized into existence. £Wrap around me and hinder physical attacks. Only attack yourself when the opportunity presents itself.£

£Yes, Master.£

Harry felt some of his attackers draw back. The charm was one usually used by Slytherins, with their affinity for serpents, but without parseltougue they couldn\'t use the true power of the summoned serpent; they just relied on it attacking the first thing it saw. No strategy at all.

\"You said to show what I could do.\"

\"We did indeed, boy, we did indeed,\" one of the Aurors replied with a chuckle. It was one of the older ones, one who knew how much the Ministry needed the help and was prepared to take it from anywhere. \"Impedimenta,\" they snapped the curse out.

The serpent that was now loosely wrapped around Harry flicked its tail contemptuously, blocking the curse and rebounding it back towards another wizard who wasn\'t nimble enough to dodge. As a magical construct it was only minimally affected by magic other than that of its creator, unless, of course, its controlling magical node was destroyed. That was the true advantage of summoning things in battle.

Harry nudged the serpent with his toe, indicating that he was going to move before he leapt at the unfortunate wizard who was struggling to remain balanced. The man saw him coming, brown eyes snapped wide when he realized he was out of this battle. A quick tap to the wizard’s temple and Harry was jumping back to the protective coils of the serpent, the trained Aurors only now beginning to catch up. They obviously hadn\'t expected him to be so direct.

One down, lots more to go, Harry thought.

A couple of the older witches and wizards, mostly the examination professors who were sprightly enough to be joining in, had taken advantage of his opening moves and had grouped themselves together, two of them weaving a barrier around the group. The others were chanting longer and more complicated charms. They\'d probably been combat Aurors when they were younger. They knew how to fight.

\"Protes!\" Harry said, casting the multi-purpose protection charm around himself. Whatever the older group was going to attack with, it would show their wisdom and he had full respect for that.

\"Sonici, Darkshale,\" Harry continued, casting before the Aurors forced him into protective motions. Still, the sound waves weakened one of the Order members enough for the Darkshale to take effect. Unfortunately, one of the other Order members cast the counter before Harry could finish her.

Two Aurors ran up behind him, hoping to grab him before the snake noticed but the serpent spun snapping at them, fangs glistening and they quickly retreated slightly, drawing their weapons as they prepared to draw the snake away.

Harry suppressed a grin, casting a quick glance towards the older professors who were still chanting. There were three groups attacking him but they weren\'t working together and if he dodged right he could have one group take out another.

The examination professors were being cautious, as expected from the experience gained through the years. They had taken the standard approach - establish defenses then attack. They\'d also seen what he was capable of over the past few practical OWLs, which was probably why they were taking so long with these charms, hoping that he couldn\'t counter them immediately. In general, the longer the charm took to cast, the longer the counter charm took; in combat, you couldn\'t afford to waste time. But that was only true if you didn\'t have the sheer power to simply nullify the curse through will alone. That\'s what made fighting wizards of Dumbledore and Voldemort\'s strength so challenging. They didn\'t always need the words to make their magic work; they only needed the will behind their power.

The Aurors were more used to combat but they weren\'t all from the same Unit, hence the physical attacks from some while the others preferred magic as each ran through their Unit\'s usual initial attack pattern.

And finally, the Order members were working together; what they lacked in experience they were making up for in teamwork, each looking out for each other, but only occasionally looking out for the Aurors or Professors.

Still, against him, who only had to worry about himself, the gaps in the wholes defenses should be enough to bring them down.

\"Pel\'seld!\" The examination Professors finished chanting, moving their wands as one as they gestured towards the serpent that was currently providing most of Harry\'s protection.

The Protes barrier helped but there were coils of the serpent that weren’t completely protected and the professors had aimed at them. The snake gave a surprised hiss, its coal black eyes widening slightly as the magic hit it and traveled inwards towards the small node of controlling magic. Harry hissed as well, as the first waves of the Pel\'seld struck his spell and began unraveling it. He could have reinforced it, forcing the serpent to remain in existence but he decided to let it go, hissing one last order towards it.

£Attack!£

The snake was fading but recognized the last command of its master, surging forward, fangs barred to attack the Aurors with their weapons drawn. The impact was not as great as it should have been because the magic was untangling but having an eight foot long snake spring at you was enough to unsettle most wizards, and two of the Aurors went down under the disappearing coils of the serpent. A third was bitten and wobbled for a few moments before falling, as the poison took effect.

\"He\'s only asleep,\" Harry reassured everyone, in between casting several charms towards the various groups, as he began hopping around to avoid their continuing attacks.

The watchers were stunned. While the level of magic displayed so far was not excessive, the precision was. Watching was beautiful, both for the sheer accuracy being displayed by all involved, and because many of the spells or counter-charms were very pretty when cast. The splash of curses against magical shields was especially enthralling and as Harry cast a series of curses towards the Professors, the radiance reflected from their shield caused many watchers to sigh at the utter splendor.

Emerald eyes narrowed as Harry continued to dodge, bringing his left hand up to reinforce his shield. The Aurors were beginning to attack physically now, so he had to dodge both charms and swords and it almost felt like he was dancing... not that he really knew how to dance, he recalled ruefully. He kept looking over to the Professors, sensing from them the greatest danger.

The Aurors didn\'t believe he was capable, and while they were fast losing that belief with every spell and attack he dodged, they wouldn\'t completely lose it until they were defeated.

The Order knew what he was capable of, but he could sense from them still a sense of awe, a reticence to attack another Order member, or maybe just to attack him. He was sure that they would lose that before he was through though.

From the Professors though... they knew what he could do, and they were serious about this fight. They weren\'t holding back. In fact, Harry could sense from the sidelines that a few of them, who were watching were split as to who they should be cheering for. Tofty though was unashamedly cheering him on.

Harry grinned as the old wizard\'s voice broke through to everyone. \"Don\'t hold back Harry!\" There was a gleeful note in Tofty\'s voice, mixed with a certain amount of pride, and Harry could almost see the man reminiscing in the future that he had examined Harry Potter himself.

\"All right,\" he whispered waving towards Tofty as he gathered himself. \"Are you ready?\" Harry asked conversationally, turning to face the Professors.

\"Any time you are, pup,\" one of them responded.

\"Let\'s go!\" He said suddenly, tossing his wand from his right to left hand as the Sword of Gryffindor materialized before him. He tapped his foot lightly on the stone beneath him once before jumping into action. \"Shatterous! Sonici, Petrifus Totalus, Darkshale!\" The first curse was directed towards their shield, which with a slice from his sword collapsed, and the other three towards the two wizards who had been holding the shield; sonici to weaken them and the other two to finish them. The two collapsed but were caught by their fellows.

Harry jumped away, grinning as some of the Aurors attacks missed him and hit the gathered Professors, taking out two more. \"Thanks,\" he said cheekily, jumping back and around to attack the members of the Order.

The Order members had decided to apply a similar technique to the one used by the Professors, and stood in regimented lines, each one backing up the others. There was a shimmering shield held around the whole group by the back row, leaving the other two rows free to attack. He guessed that the front row would be purely offensive while the middle row would concentrate on neutralizing his attacks before they could break the shield. It was neat, efficient and logical.

And he would require some time to wear them down.

With a flick of his left hand, he sent a jolt of raw magic through the wand towards the Aurors, smiling wanly as it sent them flying. There had only been two left, and while there was a second wave to come, Harry wagered that they\'d take their time to consider their actions before they rushed into this duel. And while the Auror\'s were considering, the Professors were regrouping, and that gave him time to deal with the Order.

Harry angled his shield to face the Order, but he kept a part of it facing the Professors in case they recovered quicker than expected. The shield extended around him completely, the angling of it was more focusing on where it was strongest. He flicked Gryffindor\'s sword around and jammed the point between two flagstones so that he could cast with both hands.

This is going to be interesting. Harry thought as he gathered himself slightly, looking over at the Order members. Right hand defense, left attack. He thought to himself as he tried to formulate a plan.

\"Darkshale, Absentia, Impedimenta, Petrifus totalus!\" The first wave of jinxes from the Order were designed to test his reactions and defenses. With a frown he flicked his right hand up, reinforcing his shield and letting the curses splash against it. They had an idea of how good his attacking abilities were. It was time to demonstrate defense. But he wasn\'t going to be a sitting duck.

\"Omiasma,\" Harry said, gesturing with his left hand and was pleased to see that the very stones seemed to spew forth an obscuring haze. He quickly took two steps to the left and grinned as something pinged into the place he had been standing.

\"Zephyr.\"

Harry didn\'t recognize the voices but he guessed it was the second row of the Order when a breeze sprang out of no-where and began pushing the mists away. The mist quickly became tattered and as soon as his outline was visible the first row resumed their task. He nodded to himself. The arrangement was indeed efficient.

\"Furnunculus, Shatterous, Sonici.\" He grinned as he recognized some of his own jinxes being cast back, but he wasn\'t going to make it that easy and dove and rolled out of the way of the sound waves. Even with a shield, they would be painful.

\"Solaris!\" He cried, this time putting as much effort into the brilliant charm as he dared risk. The light was incredible and his eyes watered as he dodged left again. If his eyes were watering, and he had the natural protection of both casting the spell and a power of light, then it must be blinding to the Order members it was directed at. He began muttering a longer charm under his breath, not wanting to give them any warning. It wasn\'t an attack, rather a defense but it looked like he was going to need it.

It took a few moments longer this time for the counter to be cast. After all, this charm wasn\'t one you wanted to counter that often. \"Tsukiyoru!\" The counter charm might have been delayed but the follow up curses weren\'t.

\"Shatterous, Gomu Gomu, Etalosi, Lohalgewing, Stilletos.\"

The edge of the seeming hail of stilettos slammed up against his shield as Harry ducked away. They were compensating nicely for his movement and he was going to have to take the initiative soon, or else they would just wear him down. Pure magical curses against the strength of a protes shield was okay, but they knew as did he, that physically based charms were the way to bring it down.

Harry paused in his low chant, borrowing a move directly from the Dark Lord\'s battle with Lucius, except that he didn\'t aim up. \"Masonitroy,\" he called, aiming his power into the large stones on the floor just before the Order\'s shield. The stone shattered and Harry frowned as he thought he heard something cry out in pain. From the broken rock a fine powder rose, surrounding the Order members, and Harry resumed his chant.

\"Zephyr.\" The counter was repeated.

\"Sonici!\" The entire offensive line cried, obviously hoping to create a wave wide enough to catch him in. And being a combined physical and magical attack it should be strong enough to take down his shield, even if it did nothing else.

\"Komarachni,\" was echoed in the call of the Sonici, one of them had obviously got the instructions wrong.

Harry grinned, whispering the final words on his charm as his next move dawned upon him with almost terrible clarity. \"Sheltol,\" the magically generated sound waves broke through his protes only to be halted by the stronger almost absolute barrier. The magic dissipated in colorful rainbows and Harry pursed his lips as he looked around for the effects of the other charm before he realized that none of the Order members had made a mistake. It was the opening move of the second round of Aurors.

He had to finish with the Order quickly. Because he\'d been using so much light magic, Fawkes\' presence was awake in his mind, and that was one of the reasons he hadn\'t been commanding the shadows. Besides, it added to the view that while he knew about them and could control them he was still new at it. But with Fawkes awake, that meant he could contact the other Order members.

This was going to hurt.

Emerald eyes narrowed as Harry grabbed at the mental presence of the firebird. There was an indignant squawk but the bird\'s defenses were low because no one was meant to be able to do this. He clenched his teeth, lowering his gaze as he prepared to strike, ignoring the small struggles the phoenix was making against his grip. In his own mind, he ruled supreme and the bird needed reminding of that.

Harry did though, as he reached out through the phoenix to touch the other Order members, ensure that he was only reaching towards those who were present in the Great Hall. There was no need to incapacitate the entire Order and he rather imagined that as soon as he released Fawkes, the bird would be reinforcing his mental defenses within every Order member to ensure that no one else even attempted this.

He grimaced as he forcefully called forth some memories and literally threw them with some of the feelings they invoked into the minds of the other Order members. The memory of the pain of the cruciatus curse made his bones ache and the mind shattering fear he had felt witnessing the rebirth of the Dark Lord almost made him whimper but for the other warm memories were his true thoughts on Voldemort which wrapped around him like a blanket, hidden from the phoenix, but supportive.

The other members of the Order did not have such protection though and while they wouldn\'t see the memories, they would experience the emotions and the pain. As expected they screamed, even Fawkes screamed and there was a visible flinching from the watchers as they tried to see what Harry had done. Several of them fell, hugging themselves as they tried to ease the pain and through his own pain, Harry tried to lift the memories as much as he could from them, redirecting the energy towards those holding the shield.

When it fell, it happened all at once because the Order members seemed to fall in unison, probably because Fawkes\' presence retreated forcefully from them all as the phoenix tried to escape Harry\'s grasp. A single crack appeared in the shield and raced with lightning speed over the entire surface. It almost looked like a feather, or the veins on a left. And then, the segments of the shield vanished, the magic returning into the streams that flowed through Hogwarts.

Harry gasped pulling back the memories and releasing Fawkes, and spat one further curse \"Stupefy! Bounce!\" He added the instruction, willing his magic to obey. Fawkes\' mental presence vanished almost entirely from him but the Order\'s tattoo itched. It was not something he could attend to now though.

The curse hit the leading Order members and knocked them out but instead of vanishing when its target was unconscious, this jinx ricocheted hitting further Order members until it almost looked like a small pile of dominoes falling. He didn\'t get a chance to admire his handiwork because the shadows screamed into his ear.

::Master, dodge right!:: The lingering phantom pain from the memory of cruciatus eased as he jumped, grabbing Gryffindor\'s sword as he rolled on the hard stones and sprang to his feet, turning to glare at what had attacked him.

At least that answered the question of where the Komarachni summon had gone.

The summoned spider was huge. It was as big as one of Hagrid\'s Acromantulas and by the streams of magic all over it; it was the result of the combined summons of two... no three Aurors in the second wave.

Harry smiled, shaking off the last of the phantom pain as he lowered his glasses to look directly into the spider\'s six plate-like eyes.

The spider jerked, its legs skittering and tapping heavily on the stones as it tried to back away but the Aurors held it firmly into position. Emerald eyes continued to stare and under the pressure the spider began swaying from side to side.

He could see the sweat beginning to form on the Auror\'s brows and the questions forming on some of the watchers lips and deliberately stuck his tongue out, distracting them. The Aurors started, that he could be so childish and in their moment of inattention the spider popped out of existence.

\"Huh?\"

The blurted question came from the watchers who were still behind their shield at the far end of the Hall. Harry guessed that they\'d been able to follow everything else, even if everything else was at times, things he should not yet be able to do, but the dispelling of a summon was not meant to be that easy. He shrugged. They said to show them what he could do.

\"Let\'s finish this,\" Harry invited, glancing between the second wave of gathered Aurors and the few examination professors who had pulled themselves away from their fallen companions to continue the duel.

Harry flicked his wrist, returning the Sword of Gryffindor to his aura before he slid his wand back into the holster in the small of his back. With his hands free he brought them together in front of him, cupping them as he gathered the power. The Aurors and Professors were attacking but his sheltol was holding.

A soft gentle light pooled in his hands and he pulled them apart, making the light bigger before he nodded.

The shadows had been waiting and rushed forward to consume the light he offered to them. They greedily ate it and as he replenished it, further shadows came forth to partake of the bounty. The power sphere in his hands changed from light to dark but kept growing larger with each moment, and it was with sparkling eyes that Harry raised it over his head.

With a sudden motion he pulled his hands down, flinging light shards everywhere. The shadows scattered, pursuing their food, and Harry grinned as they whipped around the room, knocking out both the still attacking Aurors and Professors.

A few even slipped through the defensive barrier of the watchers and knocked one or two of them out.

It wasn\'t as chaotic as it looked. Harry hadn\'t just released his servants without restraint, no matter what it might look like to anyone watching. He didn\'t control their entire movement but he had made it clear to them that they were to do no more than to knock out his attackers. They were not to eat any of the Aurors or Professors, or Order members’ light. Not yet, not now.

He wasn\'t ready for it and he couldn\'t reveal himself.

They had agreed easily, and for the little chore that this was, they had been well feed today with what he had given them anyway.

From the far side of the great Hall there came the sound of one pair of hands clapping and Harry looked over tiredly to see Sirius standing there. \"Absolute victory,\" the man said looking around as he moved into the room.

There were three piles of people - the examination Professors, the Aurors and the members of the Order - and all of them were unconscious. A few of the watchers were also unconscious and were already being tended to by their companions. Some of the watchers began moving towards the others to begin helping them.

Sirius walked up to Harry, laying one hand on his shoulder gently. \"Are you okay?\" he asked.

Harry smiled wanly, nodding. \"Just a bit tired.\"

\"It\'s to be expected,\" Sirius said. \"You\'re still not of age.\" The animagus turned black eyes towards Professor Tofty, who was carefully approaching Harry. \"You\'ve got enough information for his examination?\"

\"Yes, yes, more than enough,\" the old wizard said.

\"Good, then I\'m sure you won\'t object to me taking Harry, so that this,\" he flicked his free hand in the direction of Harry\'s opponents, \"can be cleaned up.\"

\"No, no, that\'s fine,\" Tofty said. \"I just wanted to congratulate young Harry on a job very well done.\"

\"Thank you, Sir.\"

\"Now go, your Godfather is right. This will resolve itself faster if you aren\'t here.\"

Harry nodded and allowed Sirius to steer him from the Great Hall. However he didn\'t miss the way his Godfather was muttering under his breath and he rather imagined that Sirius would get very little sleep tonight because one, he\'d get lectured on showing his abilities so openly and two the Aurors would no doubt want an explanation from the Order about how it was possible for a fifth year student to be so powerful.

He shrugged. It wasn\'t his concern. Not yet. The outcome of today should get him into combat quicker, which would hopefully allow everything to finish sooner.

Probably not, but at least he would feel that he was moving in the right direction.

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Darkshale - Casts darkness around the individual targeted meaning that they can\'t see and thus can\'t fight

Gomu Gomu - Rubber (anyone watched One Piece?)– A curse that makes your body behave like rubber

Italosi - isolate – sensory deprivation curse

Komarachni - \'Come Arachnid\', Come Spider - Summoning spell for a spider, similar to Serpentosia

Lohalgewing - Howling Gale – fairly self-explanatory

Omiasma - Miasma – usually an evil aura or like but in this case an obscuring mist

Pel\'sled - long, multipurpose charm that removes or disables other charms. It\'s the word \'De-spell\' rearranged.

Shatterous – shatter – breaks things

Sheltol - contraction of Shelter and Total - Total Shelter – a very strong shield.

Solaris - Like a very bright version of Lumos, but also creates natural sunlight so is good for use against vampires.

Sonici - Sonic - A sound attack utilizing sound waves to paralyze the target

Tsukiyoru - Tsuki = Moon, Yoru = Night - Moon Night - Dampens the light from a Solaris charm into the more gentle light from the moon.

Zephyr - Wind to blow away the obscuring haze.

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