Arch Mage, the Path of Magic Chapter 11 (Patreon)

Hey friends and fans, Kairomaru is here with another chapter of Arch Mage, the Path of Magic! Summer begins and with it, Harry’s first appearance at the Under 17 Dueling Circuit, also known as the Junior Dueling League! Oh, those poor children. They have no idea of the force they will soon face.

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So, without further delay, please enjoy.

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Chapter 11 – Summer and the Junior Dueling League

There was murmuring throughout the large room filled with Witches and Wizards of all ages. The center of the room was dominated by a regulation Dueling platform. The long and semi-narrow wooden platform was where today’s event would be held to start off this summer’s Junior Dueling League. Any Witch or Wizard under the age of seventeen could join the League to learn the traditional art of Dueling, a longstanding Magical tradition to be sure and one that was heavily promoted amongst the staunchest of Pureblood Families.

In a flash of green flames from one of the large fireplaces, Sirius Black emerged. A second flash of green fire and Harry Potter stepped forward and stood next to his godfather. A simple wave of his hand had the soot removed from both of their robes. A third flaring of the Floo revealed Nymphadora Tonks, who was quickly followed by Andromeda and Ted. Harry waved and removed the soot from the three of them as well.

“Thank you, Harry.” Andromeda smiled at her surrogate nephew.

“Always so polite.” Ted chuckled, knowing that Harry had quite the impolite prankster side to him as well.

“Thanks, Harrikins.” Tonks playfully ruffled his hair.

“Yep…” Harry shook out his hair and it fell back into the normal Potter hair, messy as always, but not looking like a bird’s nest anymore.

“Quite the turnout.” Sirius looked at all of the gathered Wizards and Witches. “I knew the Dueling Circuit had a lot of support, but I’d say most of the old Families are here in some capacity.”

“What do you expect?” Andromeda replied while making a mental note of people that she’d like to say hello to while they were here. “Dueling is one of the few things that both the Traditionalists and the Progressives agree on, aside from Quidditch.”

“True, true.” Ted nodded, as the family walked through the venue, many eyes were on them and even more on Harry specifically. “You won’t find much in the Magical World that has as much support as Quidditch and Dueling.”

“I’m looking forward to this…” Tonks had a knowing smirk on her lips. “We should get some snacks before Harry’s first match.” She eyed the small stalls set up for that very purpose.

“I’ll do my best to make you proud, Nym.” Harry chuckled at the Metamorphmagus.

“You better.” Tonks teased him right back.

“Let’s find us some good seats near the front.” Sirius laughed as he led the group forward towards the stands set up around the Dueling platform.

Just under an hour later and the first event of the Junior Dueling League began. It was little surprise that Harry’s Family were surrounded by many of the influential members of British Magical Society. Everyone wanted to see Harry Potter and what he was capable of. Many of the Witches and Wizards that were chatting with Sirius, Andromeda, and Ted had children of their own in Hogwarts and had gotten letters about Harry’s amazing spellcasting. Tonks was just grinning knowingly as she occasionally had some popcorn from the snacks she’d bought.

“Our first match for the Junior Dueling League for 1992 will start off, as is tradition, with our youngest competitors.” The Wizard announcing the event declared with a Sonorus Charm to be heard by everyone. “The eleven/twelve-year-old competitors with at least a year of schooling under their belts, are now ready to show us what they’ve learned.” He easily raised the crowd’s excitement as applause and some cheering was heard. “As always, the matches are chosen at random from the box that the Judges hold.” He motioned to three older people in Duelist Robes of high quality, two Wizards and one Witch, that were sitting behind a velvet-covered table near the Dueling platform. A polite applause was had for the veteran Duelists from the crowd.

The Witch at the Judge’s table tapped the top of the ornate wooden box with her wand and a folded piece of paper flew out of it and headed for the announcer’s hand. The male at the end of the table tapped the top of the box with his wand next. Like before, a folded piece of paper flew from the box and into the announcer’s hand.

“Our first two competitors have been decided!” The announcer declared as he unfolded both small papers. “Our first competitor is young Zacharias Smith.” A small commotion was made as a boy around Harry’s age stood up from his seat. What looked like his parents gave him encouragement as he walked up the short stairs and then to the center of the Dueling Platform. “Facing Mr. Smith is Harry Potter!” The announcer didn’t change his tone, but anyone close enough could see his eyes widen at the name. They might’ve also noticed Zacharias going a bit pale at who his opponent was going to be.

“Go get ‘em, Harry!” Sirius beamed at his godson happily.

“You’ll do great.” Ted gave the boy thumbs up.

“Don’t hurt him, Harry, a formal Duel isn’t about maiming the other person.” Andromeda acted as the voice of reason and restraint as she often did.

“Knock him off the platform and you win automatically, Harrikins!” Tonks immediately encouraged overkill much to her mother’s exasperation.

“I’ll do my best.” Harry assured his family as he walked up the opposite set of short stairs that Zacharias had. He walked towards the center of the platform and stood across from Zacharias with the announcer between them.

“Salute.” The announcer looked between the two boys. Zacharias raised his wand in front of himself, the tip even with his brown eyes. Harry merely raised his hand before his chest, open palm to show he wasn’t hiding anything. “Where’s your wand, Mr. Potter?” The announcer questioned the almost-twelve-year-old.

“I don’t need a wand to use Magic, sir.” Harry looked at the man. “I didn’t buy one from Ollivander’s because I’d never use it.”

“It’s true,” Zacharias spoke up for Harry. “We’re in the same year at Hogwarts. I’ve seen him do incredibly advanced Magic without a wand.”

“One moment,” The announcer blinked at the information before turning to the three Judges and having a quiet conversation. All three Judges shot confused looks at Harry for a moment before resuming their talks. A few moments later and the deliberation was done as the announcer walked back to the two boys. “Very well, you’re allowed to Duel wandlessly, Mr. Potter. However, if you should lose because of the lack of a wand, then you’ll be required to use one from now on in the Junior Dueling League.”

“That’s fair. Thank you for your concern.” Harry agreed without issue. He could already hear some of the murmuring about his lack of a wand among the crowd. Not to mention the people that were wondering why the first match was being held up.

“Head to your respective starting positions and take your preferred casting stance.” The announcer instructed and both boys turned away from each other to head to the opposite ends of the long Dueling platform. When they reached their respective ends, Zacharias put his right foot forward, his wand in his right hand and aimed in Harry’s direction. Harry, not wanting to come off as rude or condescending, took a similar stance with his right leg forward and his right hand raised to chest level. “I’ll count down from three, when I say ‘begin’ you may cast your first spells. Am I clear?” He looked between the two boys and after receiving a nod from Zacharias and one from Harry, continued with the match. “Three, two, one…Begin!”

“Flipendo, Flipendo, Flipendo!” Zacharias jabbed his wand forward in three quick motions, each sending a blue spell at Harry like a bolt. A few of the onlookers commented on the speed appreciatively for a first time Duelist.

“Barrier.” Harry spoke, even if he didn’t need to, just to give the audience something to work with. The translucent barrier formed between him and the three incoming spells instantly. Each of the blue bolts struck the barrier and dispersed without fail. A few in the audience were rather vocal about the unknown Shield Charm. “Float.” Harry cast his spell and Zacharias yelped as he found himself off the ground. With a push of his Magic, Harry had Zacharias outside of the platform area before he released his spell. The other boy landed on his feet unsteadily but stood up just fine a second later.

“Out of bounds!” The announcer declared. “The winner of the first match is Harry Potter. The applause only took a second to spread throughout the crowd, even as many shocked exclamations about Wandless Magic were also heard.

“Way to go, Harry!” Sirius and Tonks both cheered loudly for Harry’s first victory. Andromeda and Ted were smiling brightly, but settled for applauding rather than cheering loudly like the other two.

Zacharias walked back up onto the platform a moment later. He and Harry gave each other a polite bow, as was tradition, before they were sent off so that the next match could begin. Harry headed towards his family with a grin and was welcomed by an overly dramatic hug from Sirius. Tonks also ruffled his hair again, congratulating him on his win before offering him snacks.

The other first round matches between the youngest Duelists continued. Nothing really caught Harry’s eye, but he did recognize some familiar faces from Hogwarts. Draco Malfoy, Theodore Nott, and Blaise Zabini were part of the Junior League. He also noticed Susan Bones from Hufflepuff and Terry Boot from his own House. Before too long, it was time for Harry’s second match.

“Potter.” Theodore Nott gave the traditional bow and salute as they stood across from each other.

“Nott.” Harry returned the bow and salute before they turned away from each other and walked to their respective starting positions.

“Begin!” The announcer started the match after the counting down from three.

“Caerullious!” Theodore swished his wand in a wide arc sending a wave of blue sparks at Harry.

“Wind.” Harry spoke and a fierce gale was sent forward from his position. The blue sparks scattered to nothing. Whatever spell Theodore was about to cast while Harry’s vision was obscured was stopped as the other boy covered his eyes with his left arm from the harsh wind. “Bind.” Harry’s next spell was similar in effect to Petrificus Totalus, locking the body in place, but his was infinitely variable in that he could lock someone into their current position, or force them into a specific position and then bind them. In this case, Theodore was locked in place as he stood, completely unable to move. “I’ll take that.” Harry smiled as he reached out with a Summoning Charm to take the other boy’s wand away.

“Disarmed.” The Witch at the Judge’s table ended the match with her declaration.

“Winner of the match, Harry Potter.” The announcer declared to much applause, and the two loud cheers of Tonks and Sirius.

“Never stood a chance.” Theodore sighed as he and Harry shared the after-Duel bow.

“Keep trying, you’ll get better with experience.” Harry encouraged the other boy. Dueling was able to keep his interest, so he’d like to have as many competent opponents as possible. If encouraging his competitors helped with that, all the better. The two walked away from each other without another word.

“Having fun, Harrikins?” Tonks asked when Harry sat next to her to watch the other matches.

“I doubt any of them are going to compare to our little backyard fights.” Harry shrugged with a grin.

“You can’t compare kids your age to an Auror.” Tonks laughed at his statement.

“Auror Cadet, wasn’t it?” Harry jibed at her with a smirk.

“Shush you!” Tonks hushed him with a swat to his arm. “I’ll make Auror before you finish your second year at Hogwarts.”

“I know.” Harry’s smug little grin quickly saw him in a headlock and getting a noogie from Tonks.

“Behave you two.” Andromeda admonished as the next match was about to start.

“Oh, Susan versus Blaise, that might be interesting.” Harry leaned forward a little after being freed from the headlock.

“Begin!” The announcer called out and the first spell of the Duel was launched by Susan.

Susan started off with a barrage of Flipendo Jinxes. Blaise countered with his own, the spells all clashing in the middle of the Dueling platform. Blaise whipped his wand forward and a line of brightly crackling green sparks was sent at Susan. The Hufflepuff surprised most of the onlookers by casting a Protego Charm to block the sparks. It wasn’t a large shield by any means, but it was fully formed, something that not many First Year students could claim to do.

“Aguamenti!” Susan pointed her wand at Blaise and a jet of water was launched across the platform. Blaise managed to sidestep the water-making charm, but couldn’t get off a counter before Susan cast again. “Impedimenta!” The spell flew quickly to strike Blaise, the Slytherin boy now appearing to move in slow-motion. “Expelliarmus!” Susan ended the Duel by blasting Blaise’s wand out of his hand.

“Disarmed.” The Wizard on the left side of the Judge’s table declared the match over.

“She’s definitely the Boss Lady’s niece.” Tonks whistled at Susan’s performance. “Nothing overly harmful, but enough to subdue and disarm. Top notch performance if she plans to follow her aunt into the DMLE.”

“Maybe I’ll get to duel her today?” Harry looked hopeful at the chance. It would be an interesting match at least.

Harry’s next match was actually against Draco. The two both gave the pre-Duel bow before moving to their respective positions. Harry noticed the look that Draco was giving him, but didn’t know why the blonde boy seemed to dislike him. They didn’t really interact that much at Hogwarts. Aside from the few times that Harry would end Draco’s attempts to bully other students when he was in the area, he’d never done anything harmful to the other boy.

“Begin!” The announcer started the match.

“Everte Statum!” Draco cast first with a sharp motion of his wand.

“Hmm?” Harry wasn’t familiar with this spell, but based on the name it would probably throw him backwards if it hit him. That was a really big if though. The spell ended as it ran into Harry’s Barrier spell and Draco was clearly trying not to stare. “My turn.” He stomped on the platform and Draco squawked as the wood he stood on suddenly flipped sideways and threw him from the platform. The wood returned to its normal state a second later as if it had never moved at all.

“Out of bounds.” One of the Judges called out and the match ended there.

“Don’t think this is over, Potter.” Draco muttered as they bowed after the Duel.

“I didn’t know anything was started.” Harry replied honestly, but this just seemed to irritate the other boy as he practically stalked away. Harry simply returned to his seat wondering what Draco’s problem was.

“I wonder how Lucius will take that?” Sirius chortled at Harry’s easy victory. “No way the boy doesn’t tell his father about it.”

“Be nice, Sirius.” Andromeda sighed as she briefly looked over to see her sister, Narcissa, whispering to Draco. “Even if they’re not close, they are still family.”

“Family I’d cast out if I was allowed.” Sirius had no love for those that had sided with Voldemort. He wouldn’t change his mind about that, not after what the Dark Lord had done with his band of Death Eaters.

“Let’s just watch the Duels. Take our minds off that particular topic, alright?” Ted spoke up to move past the topic at hand. The Black Family history was a dark one, but the future was what they made of it. There was no use dwelling on the past in Ted’s mind.

As it turned out, Harry and Susan were the top two in their age bracket. Harry made a mental note to say something to Terry before he left. His Housemate had done fairly well, but hadn’t made it to the final rounds. The smiling Spellcaster and the niece of the current Head of the DMLE both stepped onto the Dueling platform ready for their coming Duel. After the pre-Duel traditions of bowing and moving to their starting positions, the two took up their preferred stances and waited.

“Three, two, one…Begin!” The announcer started the match, much to the excitement of spectators.

“Fumos!” Susan cast and from the tip of her wand a thick smoke billowed. The smokescreen quickly blocked sight of the girl while she prepared her next spell.

“Barrier.” Harry raised his spell and waited. He was very curious as to what else Susan had up her sleeves.

“Aculeo!” Susan incanted, sending a Stinging Hex at Harry through the smoke. “Flipendo! Aculeo! Impedimenta!”

The barrage of spells hit Harry’s Barrier over and over again. Behind it, the Spellcrafter raised an eyebrow, wondering if Susan thought she was making contact. She probably had no way of seeing through her own smokescreen. With a grin Harry cast his next spell. “Wind.” The gale blasted the smokescreen away quickly, while also sending some hats flying off their owner’s heads in the crowd.

“Ah…right.” Susan saw the Barrier spell and realized her plan hadn’t worked out at all. She’d seen this spell of Harry’s before and knew it put Protego to shame.

“Hey Susan, that was a neat combo.” Harry praised his year mate with a smile. “Do you not want to see something cool?”

“Do I not want to see something cool?” Susan looked puzzled by his phrasing. “Don’t you mean ‘Do I want to see something cool?’ Harry?”

“Nope!” Harry clasped his hands together, fingers entwined. “My sight-reducing spell is a lot better than a smokescreen! Black Out!” All around Harry pitch blackness seemingly formed from nothing. In a short moment that darkness spread to cover the entire Dueling platform in a dome of jet-black Magic.

“What the heck?!” Susan cried out as all light vanished and she was left completely blind within Harry’s spell. “Lumos!” She cast the basic Charm only to see the ball of light and nothing else. The light didn’t push back the darkness at all!

“Yeah, that’s not going to work.” Harry’s voice came from the darkness.

“Flipendo!” Susan cast, her Lumos vanishing as the Jinx was launched at where Harry’s voice had come from.

“Susan…you know that won’t work either, right?” Harry reminded her of his Barrier spell.

“Wait…how many spells can you maintain at the same time?” Susan tried to swipe her hand through the blackness to catch hold of Harry while she talked.

“Enough.” Harry shrugged, even though Susan couldn’t see it. “Bind.” He spoke, not because he needed to, but to give Susan a bit of warning that a spell was being used on her. With his opponent immobilized, he pulled her wand from her hand and then cancelled the Black Out spell.

“What the heck was that?” The announcer questioned as the dome of pitch blackness dispersed.

“Just a spell.” Harry waved off, before showing that he had Susan’s wand in hand.

“R-right, disarmed.” The Witch at the Judge’s table made the call and the match ended in Harry’s favor.

“For the first year bracket, the winner is Harry Potter!” The announcer declared with his voice once more amplified by a Sonorus Charm.

“That was a nice match, Susan. Let’s Duel again sometime.” Harry removed the Bind spell and handed Susan her wand back.

“Thanks, Harry, but I don’t think you even had to try very hard.” Susan accepted her wand back with a lopsided smile.

“You’ll improve with time and experience, Susan, don’t sell yourself short.” Harry assured her with a smile.

“Then I hope that you’re ready to lose next time.” Susan’s mood improved and she laughed while challenging him.

“I look forward to it.” Harry chuckled along with her. The two gave each other the post-Duel bow before heading off the Dueling platform to let the next group start their rounds of matches.

“Congratulations, Harry!” Sirius beamed at him before nearly lifting him off his feet in a hug.

“It was fun.” Harry grinned once he was set down. “Not as much fun as roughhousing with Nym, but fun.”

“As if these kids could compare to me.” Tonks’s faux pompousness got a smile out of Harry.

“Well, let’s settle in for a bit to watch the rest of the matches.” Sirius grinned as they all took their seats again. “If I was told correctly, the first place of each bracket gets to challenge someone from a higher bracket if they want.”

“I would like that.” Harry nodded with a gleam in his green eyes.

“You’re a bad influence on Harry.” Andromeda looked at Sirius with a resigned sigh.

“I am the best influence on Harry!” Sirius declared with his nose in the air.

“Eh, six out of ten.” Harry snickered and Ted chuckled at Sirius’s over the top reaction. The Head of the Black Family had one hand over his heart and an overly dramatic look of shock on his face.

“Harry! My godson! How could you wound me so?!” Sirius questioned while clearly suppressing laughter of his own.

“Men…” Andromeda rolled her eyes at all three of them. Tonks was just grinning widely at all of it.

Over the next brackets, covering all the other Duelist under the age of seventeen, Harry watched on with a sharp eye. He saw a few spells that he didn’t know, but he could probably make better versions of later. What he was really interested in was picking out his future opponent. His initial thought was just to choose the winner of the oldest bracket, but he conceded that a different Duelist might interest him more. Unfortunately, none of the younger Duelists showed the kind of spellcasting that got Harry’s attention. So, he decided that the winner of the eldest bracket would be his opponent.

“Now, as we like to do for the Junior League, all of the top placers in their respective brackets can choose someone of a higher bracket to Duel, if they so choose.” The announcer smiled at the six winners that stood before the audience. “Mr. Potter, as you’re the youngest, you may choose first.”

“I’d like to Duel with Mr. Runcorn, if he’ll oblige me.” Harry looked at the sixteen-year-old with a smile. Alexander Runcorn was the top of the eldest bracket right now. Apparently from a fairly old Magical Family, Harry couldn’t recall if he’d ever seen the older boy at Hogwarts.

“It would be my pleasure, Mr. Potter.” Alexander nodded to the almost twelve-year-old.

“Very well, we have our first match.” The announcer smiled at the two boys. He quickly turned to the winner of the second youngest bracket, a girl named Lillian Moon, to ask her if she wanted to challenge someone from a higher bracket. It didn’t take long for the others to choose their own opponents either.

‘Huh, none of them picked Alexander or the runner-up of the eldest bracket.’ Harry noticed of all the other winners’ choices. He made his way to the center of the Dueling platform to meet Alexander. The two saluted and then bowed before heading to their opposite ends of the platform. ‘Well, head in the game. Let’s see if this will be more fun.’

“Three, two, one…Begin!” The announcer started the match with little fanfare.

“Protego Totalum!” Alexander cast a powerful and modified version of the standard Shield Charm. This particular variant affecting a set area and lingering for a good length of time. It would also stop most spells and objects from passing it with little difficulty. “Stupefy!” The follow up spell was sent at Harry in about the time it took to blink.

“Barrier.” Harry formed a cube around himself this time, rather than a single wall. The Stunning Spell splashed harmlessly against Harry’s spell as the prodigious Spellcrafter took a moment to think about how to get around Alexander’s shield.

“Aguamenti! Glacius Duo!” Alexander wasn’t idle in his casting just because Harry was. The older teen doused Harry’s Barrier spell in water before using the empowered version of the Freezing Spell. Harry’s Barrier was now encased in ice completely, blocking off his sight and making his normally translucent barrier much more opaque.

“Let’s see…” Harry cast his still imperfect Mage Sight spell and adjusted it until he could see through the ice surrounding him. He looked at the very Magic that made up the Protego Totalum and began to parse through its structure. “Yeah, it’s not too different from my Barrier Spell…much less effective in stopping spells though. Okay…yeah, that should work.”

“Um…did I win?” Alexander looked at the announcer and the three Judges curiously. Harry hadn’t made a move for several moments after his barrier had been encased in ice.

The shattering of ice answered his question before any of the Judges could. Harry had his right hand raised and with a twist of his hand, Alexander’s Protego Totalum disappeared with a loud popping sound. With a wide grin, Harry raised his left hand.

“That was an interesting idea, Alexander.” Harry nodded to the older boy. “I’ll show you something interesting as thanks.” In Harry’s left palm a flame snapped to life. Many people wondered if Harry was going to start tossing fireballs at Alexander…at least until they noticed the slight pull that they felt on their Magic.

“W-Wh-What is that?!” The announcer questioned with his Sonorus Charm still active. His question was echoed by all three Judges and many members of the audience.

“Harry! You be careful!” Andromeda had stood up to shout at her surrogate nephew. She’d seen that oddly burning flame before. Seeing what appeared to be fire in slow motion, along with that slight pull on her Magic, was all she needed to know that Harry had just conjured Primal Fire.

“This is a very special Magical Fire, Alexander.” Harry held up the flames in his left palm. “Some people even call it the Flame of Creation.”

That claim had many reeling in their seats!

“Incombustum!” Alexander cast and was quickly surrounded by a light-blue glow as the Charm took effect. “Finite Incantatem!” He pointed his wand at the fire in Harry’s hand to end the spell, only to nearly gape when the flames increased in size instead.

“Yeah, that’s not going to work, I’m afraid.” Harry mentioned as he moved the Primal Fire into the path of the Stupefy that Alexander had just fired at him. The red light was instantly consumed by the slowly moving fire, making the flames grow larger as they fed off the Magic. “Neither will the Flame-Freezing Charm that you cast on yourself earlier.”

“Protego Totalum!” Alexander recast his shield, apparently putting more of his Magic into it as the teen seemed to be slightly winded afterwards.

“Hold still now.” Harry cautioned the teen. “Wouldn’t want to hit you directly with this.” He sent the Primal Fire forward by feeding his own Magic into the flames and allowing them to grow, but also shaping them into a long stream of fire at the same time. Such control over a Magical Fire like this was often believed to be impossible. Fiendfyre, a cursed flame that could burn Magic as fuel, was notoriously hard to control and could kill the caster just as easily as whatever or whoever they were aiming at.

The Primal Fire touched the Protego Totalum and spread across the entire surface of the protective Charm. The shield was consumed almost instantly and the flames now surrounded Alexander. Harry fed his own Magic into the fire and a lance of it struck Alexander’s right arm. The Flame-Freezing Charm vanished as it too was consumed. The older teen blinked at not feeling any pain as the Primal Fire washed over his limb. That was until his eyes suddenly rolled up into his head and he collapsed to the platform. His wand fell from his limp fingers as Harry stopped feeding the Magical Flames.

Drawing the Primal Fire back to him took a bit of focus on Harry’s part. It had plenty of Magic now and could stay burning for a while by itself. The Spellcrafter still drew it all together, leading it along with his Magic always just out of reach. The most interesting aspect of Primal Fire was its combustion process. It consumed Magic and Time in place of fuel and oxygen, but instead of putting out heat, it let off a diffused form of Magic that certain fire-aligned creatures absolutely loved. Even the average Witch and Wizard could enjoy it, provided they knew how to keep their own Magic from being pulled on, of course.

“Just have to snuff it out.” Harry used Magic Manipulation to reach into the Primal Fire and draw out all of the extra Magic it had consumed. The flames quickly shrank back down into the small handful that Harry had originally conjured. He snuffed them out by clenching his hand as easily as one might extinguish a candle. “There we are.” Not hearing any announcement of his victory, Harry looked over to the announcer and the three Judges. All of them were staring at Harry wide-eyed, like they’d never seen anything like him before.

To be fair…they hadn’t.

“So…do I win?” Harry questioned loudly enough to snap them out of their stupor.

“Huh? Oh! Um, yes, yes! The winner of the match is Harry Potter!” The announcer declared only for Sirius, Tonks, Andromeda, and Ted to clap while the rest of the audience sat in stunned silence. Aside from the reporter and cameraman that had been sent to cover the Junior Dueling League’s first meeting.

“This is going to land the front page!” The man, Elmer Cross, was a career journalist for the Daily Prophet. Usually, the Dueling Junior League was a nice feel-good piece for the third page, sometimes the second if one of the young Duelists showed exceptional skill and future promise. But this? Oh ho, this was Elmer’s biggest story since the Potion Scandal of Eighty-Four! “You got pictures of all of Harry Potter’s Duels, right?” He looked at his cameraman expectantly.

“Of course, especially the last one!” The cameraman nearly scoffed at Elmer. Like he’d miss out on the bonus he was surely going to get from Barnabas Cuffe, the Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Prophet, for these amazing pictures!

Back on the dueling platform, Harry was being questioned by the two on-site Healers as to what had happened to Alexander.

“He’ll be fine, he’s just got a bit of Magical Exhaustion is all.” Harry assured the two. “Primal Fire burns Magic, when it makes contact with a Witch or Wizard, it can consume their Magic to grow. As I’m aware, Wizards and Witches need our Magic to function optimally. That’s why I only let the fire touch his arm. It consumed a lot of his remaining Magic, but didn’t take anything from his organs that could’ve caused a problem.” He finished with a calm look to hopefully ease their concern.

“That does fit with the symptoms that Mr. Runcorn is showing.” The Healer on the right could only sigh in relief. “If it’s just Magical Exhaustion then a day of rest and maybe a Pepper-Up Potion should see him back to normal.” It was good that they didn’t have to worry about a severe injury at least.

“Thank you for the information, Mr. Potter.” The Healer on the left nodded to the boy. “And congratulations on your victory.”

“Thank you very much.” Harry smiled and left them to levitate Alexander off the platform and over to his parents.

The following Duels weren’t nearly as spectacular, but were still a showcase of future talent. Many more eyes were on Harry now though. It was only at the end of the meet that Harry and his family were approached by the announcer.

“Can I help you with something?” Sirius was quick to put himself between the man and Harry.

“Yes, I just wanted to inform you of something that I believe will interest Mr. Potter.” The Wizard smiled politely. “You see, at the end of the summer, before the kids go back to school, we hold a small international tournament with our closest neighbors. Young Duelists from the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Britain get together to compete. This year it’s being held right here in England, since we won the last tournament.”

“So, you’re saying that Harry has a chance to compete in this end of summer tournament?” Sirius questioned with a quick glance at Harry. His godson did seem interested in the idea at least.

“I’d say he has more than a chance.” The announcer laughed, getting a chuckle out of Harry in the process. “Usually, the two eldest brackets make up our small team of four. But I’m sure Harry will easily secure himself a spot if today’s Duels were anything to go by.”

“What do you think, Harry? You plan on staying on the Junior League Circuit for the summer?” Sirius already knew the answer, but it was better to ask.

“Yeah, it’s fun and I get to practice the spells I make.” Harry nodded his acceptance. “Besides, seeing what spells Wizards and Witches from other countries use could be very interesting.” He couldn’t deny his curiosity and desire to see more Magic. This was starting to look like an even more interesting endeavor than he’d expected it to be.

“Wonderful!” The announcer smiled at the information. “We’ll be looking forward to your future as a Duelist, Mr. Potter.”

“I’ll do my best.” Harry smiled at the man.

Tonks barely held back a snort and ignored the look Andromeda shot her way. If Harry really did his best, none of these kids would have a chance. She’d been roughhousing and spell fighting with Harry for years now. If anyone knew even a bit of what Harry was capable of, it was her!

It was certainly looking like an interesting summer for Harry Potter and Family.

-End Chapter-

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I think we all expected this, right?

Sorry kids, you’ve got no chance! Harry can figure out your spells, block them, counter them, or straight up UNDO them! He’s going to rise to the Top of the Dueling Circuit one day! He wants to add it to his list of accomplishments after all!

Titles have to be earned and every achievement helps!

Will Harry stomp the competition at the end of summer tournament?

Is a certain plot still being schemed by a certain someone?

How will this summer play out and will Harry and Family be set upon by a well-meaning, but manic visitor bearing a warning of danger?

Keep reading to find out!

Until I get your reviews, later!