"What does that mean?" Draco asked with a frown. Hermione covered her mouth and Harry stared at Axle, waiting for an answer.

"How do you say it in Britain?" he asked, trying to think of the term. "In Sweden we say 'kyssar.'"

"That's gross," Draco said, putting his fork down like he was going to be sick.

"Snogging," Harry said. "That's what we call it here, and Draco's right. We don't want to hear about it."

Hermione giggled loudly then, still covering her mouth and Harry and Draco both looked over at her.

"It's not funny, I know," Hermione said. Then she lowered her voice and leaned in so only they could hear. "But it's Professor Snape and he never seems to like anyone because he's always in such a sour mood, and well... it's cute actually."

"Ugh," Draco said, pushing his plate away from him. "It's bad enough seeing my parents do it, I don't want to see it happen here too."

Harry thought about aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. He never saw them kiss except for every morning when his uncle left for work he'd give her a peck on the cheek and every evening when he got home she'd give him a peck on the cheek.

"Teachers don't kyssar at Hogwarts?"

"Not in public!" Draco said, wishing they'd just change the topic already.

"At Boden there are many teachers that are married to other teachers or staff. One teacher's wife and children live with him at the school. It is not uncommon there to see kyssar in the hallways."

"Well we see students kissing in the hallways," Hermione said.

"Everyone else is kind of old at Hogwarts," Harry told Axle. "The Headmaster is probably 100, Professor McGonagall is..."

"68," Hermione said matter of factly and Harry nodded. "Professor Flitwick is 70, Treylwaney is-"

"Let's not talk about Treylwaney , ok?" Draco asked. "I don't want to think about her kissing anyone... that's just wrong." He shuddered.

Harry laughed then and had to agree. "I think Snape is the youngest teacher there. Madam Hooch is maybe ten years older than he is and I'm not sure about Hagrid."

"Well Sinistra is about the same age as Snape," Hermione said.

"Change of subject," Draco pleaded, covering one ear as he tried to finish his breakfast. "It's bad enough you've put the image of him and Adeline kissing in my head, I don't need to have the image of him and Sinistra together too."

"Is kyssar even allowed at Hogwarts?" Axle asked.

"Well, yes," Hermione said, "but they don't like to see it too much. Professors or Prefects will stop couples who are a little... too interested in each other."

"Like Professor Snape and Adeline," Axle said and Draco finally stood up with his plate and napkin and moved to another table, causing Hermione to giggle again and Harry to shake his head.

Harry hadn't told his friends about what had happened the night before and as far as he could tell they didn't know about it. He knew Adeline and Snape knew and possibly Gan, but wasn't sure if they'd told other teachers that he'd tried to run away. As he went to Occlumency with Snape that morning, he wondered what Snape had in mind for keeping him from going back to the Dursleys. He'd already tried everything. Ron's parents asked if he could stay with them every summer and he always asked if he could stay at Hogwarts at least twice at the end of every school year. What could Snape do that he couldn't? He supposed he hadn't been clearing his mind effectively because Snape was able to see his thoughts as he invaded Harry's mind.

"You are supposed to be occluding, not worrying."

"I'm not worried," Harry said, feeling a little snarky. "Just curious." He was glad that the other Occlumency students were outside waiting for their turn or else had already left.

"I have written to the Headmaster telling him that I would like to continue your training after Gemini has ended. If he agrees, you will come with me when school is over. I sent him a schedule detailing rigorous academic and practical activities."

"So you intend to torture me for the rest of the summer?" he was incredulous.

"I intend to do no such thing," Snape said crossly as he sat up and straightened his shirt, giving off the air that he was 'proper.' "I am aware however that you must spend a certain ammount of time at home for the wards to be effective and that you have not yet spent the required amount of time there. As such the Headmaster must see greater benefit in letting you come with me than returning home. He may yet insist that you go home for Christmas to fulfil the wards time requirements, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it."

"Oh."

"Now concentrate."

Harry closed his eyes but with his questions about the end of the summer out of the way, Axle's story about seeing Snape and Adeline kissing came to the forefront of his mind and as soon as Snape entered it he backed out of his own accord. Harry opened his eyes and tried not to be too interested in Snape's red face. Harry hadnt actually seen them kissing, but as hard as he tried not to imagine it, he could still see it in his mind's eye.

"You were supposed to be in your cabin."

"I was!" Harry protested. "I didn't see anything I swear!"

Snape gave him a doubtful frown.

"Axle saw it and he told me and Draco this morning. We told him we didn't want to hear it but he told it anyway."

"Is that why Draco moved to another table at breakfast?"

Harry nodded.

"Be gone. I can see that I will not be able to get you to concentrate this morning."

Harry was up out of his chair faster than Snape thought possible and out the door. Harry shook his head as he walked towards the place where he and Gan met for Root tutoring during the day. Why had Snape come after him last night? Was it because it was his duty as staff, or was it becuase Adeline had asked him to? He supposed it didn't matter. Either reason was for his own sake and not Harry's.

* * *

Two days before the duel Harry was surprised when he went to meet Gan for Root Tutoring in the evening in the woods and found Snape there with him.

"What's going on?" Harry asked, setting his bag down between the tangled roots of one of the trees that had mangos growing off of it.

"The duel is in two days," said Snape. "It can not hurt you to have as much help as you can get until then."

"What are we going to do then? You said you didn't approve of me doing root."

"Whether I approve or not does not negate the fact that it is what you have chosen to do."

Harry looked to Gan to see what he thought about this, but the man only stared back at him patiently.

"Ok."

Snape pointed up into the branches of the tree Harry usually sat beneath and Harry looked and was surprised to find tiny white fruits the size of grapes.

"There are not really rules for the duel about using potions or other items to help you so long as the item is not a weapon. What you see above you is moon fruit. They are not yet the size they should be picked at, but I believe you would do well to eat one before your duel."

"Ok, what's moonfruit?"

"It only grows under the light of a full moon. It will help you cast stronger spells and will help you focus your energy. I would not," Severus cautioned, "recommend eating more than two moon fruits in a month. You should however eat one now to see how it will make you feel and to practice root with it so that you will know what your limits are with it during the duel."

"Because they are so small," Gan said, "it will only last for ten or fifteen minutes. Not enough time to last you through the entire duel tournament which could last up to two hours. When you use it during the tournament will be up to you, but I would suggest waiting until you face your last opponent."

"If I make it that far," Harry said. He didn't know who he was going to be paired up with at first. "What happens if you eat more than two in a month?"

"At any size, eating more than two in thirty days will make your magic become dangerously wild. It would be powerful and you would not be able to control it in the same manner that young untrained children cannot control their bursts of accidental magic. In some cases wizards who have dosed themselves too highly with moonfruit have had their accidental magic turn inward and have died, and at other times they have eaten so much that they have depleted their magical core and become squibs."

"I don't want that," Harry said. Snape motioned that Harry should climb the tree to get some, and he did so, pulling one of the white grapesized fruits from one of the lower branches.

"I just eat it?" he confirmed and they nodded. He popped it into his mouth and was not impressed by the bitter taste and the crunchy nature of it.

"I don't like it," Harry said, trying not to gag. "It's crunchy and sharp... like eating glass."

"It's not ripe yet," Gan said. "When it's ripe it will be gelatanous and the size of a small apple."

"Ew, that doesn't sound any better," Harry said, but as he spoke he could feel the magic coursing through him, like it was trying desperately hard to come out of his arms and through his hands.

"It's... strange," Harry said.

"Assume the first Root position and defend yourself," Gan said before stepping back out of the way. Snape stood in front of him with his wand up and Harry frowned. He was going to practice duel Snape? Snape hadn't been too happy the last time Harry had used Root against him.

Without warning Snape threw a stinging hex at Harry and Harry fell backwards to get out of the way of it, hitting the ground. As soon as his hands touched the cold damp earth though, he felt more aware of the life and magic around him than he had ever been before. It must have been the moon fruit helping him. From the ground Harry leaned forward and pushed his palms into the earth and imagined a hole opening up beneath Snape's feet. The man looked startled as the solid ground turned to mud beneath him and the soles of his shoes sank into it. As he was trying to extricate himself Harry used his wand to send an Expeliarmus at him but Snape, looking irritated threw up a fast shield and blocked him. Harry threw his own stinging hex at his Professor, but was blocked again.

Finally the Potions Master got free of the mud but Harry dropped his wand and dug his hands into the dirt again and wondered what else he could do with Root and the strange moonfruit in his system. With his mind he urged roots and vines to come up from the ground and tangle themselves around Snape's shoes. The vines climbed several inches, entangling Snape's feet, but before they could get further, Harry was hit with a curse that made his wand arm go numb. Using his left hand he picked up his wand and cast a shield around himself just in time to keep himself from being hit with a stunning charm. Thinking about what he had done to Acel during the first part of the tournament, Harry threw up his hands and shouted "NO!" and a blast of hot air hit Snape in the chest, knocking him off balance, though because his feet were rooted to the spot, he didn't fall over.

They exchanged several more curses, hexes, and charms with Harry dodging quickly using Root and Snape blocking before the man finally silently thought a spell and took Harry by surprise, incapacitating him. As Harry lay there dazed, he could feel the moonfruit leaving his system.

"That was, surpisingly good Potter," Snape said as he and Gan helped Harry sit up. Harry's head was spinning and he wondered what spell had been used.

"What did you send at me?"

"A stupor charm. It makes you feel as though you are mildly inebriated."

"When will it go away?"

"When you drink some coffee." Snape and Gan lifted him to his feet and walked him (in a very zig zaggy way) out of the woods and down the hill to the empty Dining Hall where Gan brought Harry some coffee. After a few sips the effect started to dissipate and after a full cup Harry felt back to normal. Gan and Snape went over Harry's tactics with him and told him how he could improve for the duel.

"Before the duel will you teach me that charm?" He could only imagine how powerful it would be if he had moon fruit in his system when he cast it.

"In the morning."

They sent Harry to bed after they were sure he could walk straight, but Harry didn't go to his cabin. Instead he went and knocked on Hermione's cabin door as the last of the light faded. She opened it and seemed surprised to see him there. Usually she visited him, not the other way around.

"Harry. Is everything ok?"

"Do you have any of your Hogwarts books with you?"

"Of course I do."

"Will you help me find some spells to use during the duel? Snape just got me with a stupor charm. I want to find spells like that... things that will disorient whoever I'm fighting against."

"I think we can come up with some good ones."

Harry sat down on her porch steps and a few moments later Hermione came out with a heavy book of charms and a glass jar full of fairy lights. Leaving the door open behind her to give them some more light, she sat beside him on the steps and opened the heavy tomb.

"How about this one? It makes you go cross eyed. And there's another that makes everything seem upside for a few moments."

"Good, lets learn those," Harry said.

When Snape left the Dining Hall forty minutes later to find Adeline (he wanted to spend some time talking with her before he headed to his own cabin for the night), he spotted Harry and Hermione on her porch pouring over a book. When he passed by again a half hour later on his way to his cabin, they were still there, practicing spells, and he had a feeling they'd be there well into the night.

"I think all the teachers have gone to bed," Hermione told Harry as soon as Snape went into his cabin and closed the door across the compound.

"Let's go practice some of these bigger charms then. I wish we could get Axle or Draco to help, but I don't want to show them any of these in case I have to go up against them."

"What about Ernie?"

"No," said Harry. He didn't want to ask Ernie for anything and pretend that he was really his friend. It still rubbed him the wrong way that Ernie seemed to only want to be his friend to be associated with him.

"Wait!" said Hermione, "I have an idea!" She left and hurried down the long line of girl's cabins, and Harry wondered what she was doing until she came back a few minutes later with Lyn, the girl from Kahr, who looked like she'd just been woken from sleep.

"Hermione, we can't practice with her. No offense Lyn, but I have to duel with Kushi and you'll just tell him what we practice."

"No," Lyn said. "How do I say it? The way you are with Draco Malfoy, is the way I am with Kushi."

"Er..." Harry said, uncertain of what she meant.

"A friendly rivarly," Hermione clarified, and then Hary nodded.

"You promise you won't tell?" he asked.

"Kushi always bests me when we duel. I wish to learn what I can here so I can go back to Kahr and best him. I will show him I am worthy to be his wife instead of Juchi."

Hermione ushered them down the path to the small cove beach in the darkness, taking the jar of fairy lights with them.

"What do you mean wife?" Harry asked. "You're only nine aren't you? Kushi's what... ten?"

"He's eleven. In our culture parents arrange their children's marriages as children and it is rare to change minds that have already been made up."

"Does Kushi like you?" Hermione asked. Harry could tell she thought it was odd too to talk about liking someone as young as nine and eleven.

"Yes he does, but I must prove I am worthy of him to get his parents to change their minds. I must be the best in all that I do. That is why I came here. Juchi, Kushi's promised wife, did not get to come. She is twelve and she did not work as hard as I did to come here. She does not want to marry Kushi. She dislikes him because he is thin and has no muscles. She likes an older boy."

"So she let you beat her out in academics to come here," Harry said.

"Yes. Kushi knows but he will not let me win or his parents will know."

"Why do you have to beat him instead of Juchi?" Hermione asked.

"It is our way. Juchi is older and seen to be stronger and more talented than Kushi which is why his parents chose her. Kushi's parents have more money than Juchi's family, which is why her family agreed. I am not older, and my family has no more or less money than Kushi's."

"It all seems confusing," Harry said as they made the beach and walked out about fifteen paces from each other so they could duel. The tide had come in and there was less beach here than normal.

"Not more confusing than your culture is to me."

"You know, Draco and I aren't trying to get married," Harry said with a laugh, becuase she had said she and Kushi were like him and Draco.

"No... you are like... friends. But both of you want to win at whatever you do."

"Sounds about right," Harry said, though two months ago he would never have described the relationship as friendly or even thought it possible.

Hermione stood back and decided to direct their late night dueling session. She told Lyn to use Root against Harry while Harry practiced the new spells, and after they had practicd they switched roles and Harry tried to get used to using Root while on top of sand while Lyn practiced the new spells on him. Harry did fairly well but in the end got hit with the upside down spell twice and found himself unable to do anything once he'd been hit with it until the counter was given.

"This is going to be great," Harry said as they made their way back to their cabins at almost two in the morning. He was wide awake after their dueling and the coffee Snape and Gan had given him hours earlier, and felt further invigorated by the crisp, cool night air.

He said goodbye to Hermione and Lyn and made his way up the hill to his cabin. He was halfway there when a voice stopped him.

"I sent you to bed over four hours ago." Harry stopped and turned to find Snape in the darkness. He was leaning against the bathroom building at the end of Harry's row of cabins.

"There's no curfew."

"That is beside the point."

"I was practicing."

"With two girls alone on the beach?"

Harry actually laughed then. Hermione was Ron's girlfriend, and Lyn was far to young for him to have any interest in. Snape seemed chargrined by Harry's laughter.

"Oh come on," Harry said. "What do you think we were doing?"

"I did not imply that you were doing anything. I was merely curious as to why you did not wait until morning to practice and why you chose such a remote location."

"We didn't want anyone else to see what we were practicing."

"Hm."

"I'm going to bed now, I promise," Harry said, and when Snape didn't do anything but continue to stare at him with his arms crossed as he leaned against the building, Harry walked off to his own cabin, still laughing. Inside as he pulled his shoes off and sat on his bed, he wondered that Snape had the ability to make him laugh. He'd never done that before. Harry was in a good mood as he fell asleep, and was in a good mood the next morning.

Harry didn't practice dueling the next day, and instead spent the day on the beach with Draco. Axle was nowhere to be found, but neither was Basia, and Hermione wanted to study some more with Lyn since there were only a few days left of school. She had seemed to take up Lyn's cause with full heart. Harry had asked Draco if he wanted to duel, but not knowing if they would go up against each other, Draco had refused, saying he didn't want to give Harry any of his secrets. Instead they headed down to the beach and ended up finally exploring that cave. The cave, as it turned out, went all the way from the cliff ledge where they had once fought the boys from the other schools, all the way up to the side of the practice field where it was covered with shrubbery and hidden from view. Harry thought it was funny that he'd never noticed the upper entrance before as he had freuqently set his bag right by this set of shrubs. He thought it would have been an excellent place to hide during the first part of the tournament if he had known about it.

That night Harry went to bed early since the big duel was the next morning. He wanted to be well rested. He already had a piece of moon fruit ready, sitting on his desk. His plan was to take it secretly so no one else would get ideas and go searching for it up in the woods during a break in the duel.

Early the next morning, Harry woke to a knock on his door, and found Snape and Gan on the other side. Gan handed him a cup of strong tea and Snape had a plate of eggs and bacon for him with silverware.

"I'm eating in here?" Harry asked.

"The duel starts in two hours and we wanted to discuss final tactics with you with some amount of privacy."

"Draco's going to be jealous you know," Harry said and Snape cleared his throat.

"I have already spoken to him about tactics and spells. He had a good grasp of magery and I will be going to see him in half an hour when he is done with breakfast."

"Oh," Harry said. Maybe after Harry had told him he didn't want tutoring from him anymore the man had decided to help Draco. It didn't matter to Harry, Draco deserved to have some help too.

Snape made Harry tell them what new spells he had learned the other night with Hermione and what he planned on doing with them, and then taught Harry the easy charm he had used against him two nights before. When he left to go next door to speak to Draco, Gan closed the door and asked Harry if he wanted to meditate before the duel. Harry nodded and they sat on the floor and Gan talked him through a different kind of meditation, one meant to help focus and channel his power before a battle. In the end Harry felt sort of amped up and not relaxed like he usually did during meditation. They left a few minutes before the duel was supposed to start and when they got to the center of the compound where a large round platform with ropes around the egdes had been set up, Snape and Draco were already there. The entire school had turned out and Harry was interested to see that both Blazhe and August were standing with Kushi talking to him. Lyn was also standing with Kushi and Harry figured it was for moral support, hoping she hadn't told him all of the spells he planned on using.

"Duelers, we are about to start," Professor Camille said, and Harry, Draco, Axle, Kushi, and Mae Greenwood, the seventh year Hufflepuff who had entered the competition accidentally stood around her in a semi circle, ready to hear the rules. Voice amplified so the crowd could hear, she explained about the three stages of the duel and said, "No unforgivables or maiming disfigurement spells are to be used. If you do not know the counter to a spell, you are not allowed to use it. In this first round, the first one to be incapacitated will be elimanated. Are there any questions? No? Good. All duelers will please enter the ring.

Harry climbed between the ropes and decided that for this first duel, because there were so many people in the ring, he would just stick with the spells he knew. He didn't want to knock out anyone from Hogwarts to start with, but he also didn't want to knock out Axle or Kushi. He was friendly with everyone in the ring except for Mae, but Draco's words kept coming back to him about how someone from Hogwarts should try to win this tournament to show that they were the best. Suddenly Harry wished that he'd thought to talk to Mae and Draco beforehand about a strategy for this first round and chosen someone to gang up on to knock them out quickly.

Harry was starting to feel nervous when Proffessor Camille said, "I am placing a shield around the arena ring so that no spells will accidentally hit the crowd. When you hear the whistle you may begin. When you hear two blasts of the whistle, you must stop immediately." Everyone nodded that they understood, and watched as she and Adeline placed a large shield spell around the platform that extended an extra few feet in all directions. They could tell where the boundary was because people crowded around them to watch at the edge of the spell. Harry watched as Camille lifted the whistle to her lips, still undecided about who to fire off his first spell at, and then it blew.

Before Harry knew what was happening, Mae, Draco, and Kushi had all sent a spell off at him simultaneously and he dropped to the ground faster than he thought possible and flattened himself to the platform. He rolled and sent the upside down spell at Mae. It hit her and she stumbled, confused. Draco and Kushi sent more spells at him as Axle sent a spell at Draco. Draco turned his attention away from Harry and got into a side duel with Axle while Harry took on Kushi and tried to ignore Mae who was confused and sending off spells into the air. Kushi sent what looked like a ball of ice at Harry and it hit him in the hand as he tried to get up, freezing his hand solid. He used his wand to throw an Expelliarmus at Kushi who was caught by surprise and thrown backwards as his wand went flying into the air. There was a double blast of the whistle, and Harry stopped, turning to see who was out. Axle was lying on the ground, petrified and bound with chains. Draco had boils on one arm and blood pouring out of his nose.

The shield was removed from the ring and professors rushed in to counter all of the spells that had been done (finally helping Mae to see things right side up again), and to stop Draco's bleeding nose.

"Axle is out of the competition," Professor Camille announced when he had been unpetrified and taken out of the ring. "The next round will be Draco versus Kushi, and after that, Harry versus Mae. Harry and Mae, please leave the ring and go beyond the shield circle."

Harry climbed out between the ropes and went to stand next to Hermione as the shield went back up again. Draco and Kushi faced off on opposite sides of the circular platform and Kushi took a root stance that Harry was not proficient at yet. He hoped Draco won because if he had to face Kushi later he was not feeling confident about his choice to focus on Root Defense as a strategy. Maybe Professor Snape had been right and he should have tried to learn magery.

Draco and Kushi dueled for almost five minutes, Kushi using a surprising amount of Magery and Draco holding his own until Kushi abandoned his use of magery and going back to Root. He threw several spells from his hands at Draco in rapid succession and finally hit Draco in the chest with something, knocking him out cold. The whistle blew twice and shield came down. As the Professors went in to handle things and Harry headed to the platform, Hermione said, "Good luck Harry."

He didn't feel like he needed luck against Mae, but he knew that when he won he'd be facing down Kushi, and that made him feel anxious.

When the shield was in place again and the whistle blew, Harry didn't want to use the upside down spell against her again. It would be too obvious to do it twice and he was hoping Kushi didn't realize he had been the one who had used against her in the first round so he could use it against Kushi later. Instead he put his shoes flat against the platform as best as he could and tried to let energy flow up from the white wood and through his hands. He aimed a blast of hot air at her and she leapt out of the way just in time, sending off several spells Harry didn't know existed at him. He threw up a shield which stopped the first one, dodged the second one and was hit with the third, which made his hair suddenly feel very tight on his head. He didn't have time to reach up to see what was going on though, and instead used the stupor spell Snape had taught him that morning, hitting her with it. As soon as she stumbled he used a stinging hex and cast a jelly legs jinx at her before petrifying her and casting robes to bind her. She was down and out in a matter of seconds and the whistle blew twice.

"Before the final round there will be a fifteen minute break," Camille announced and Harry climbed out of the ring. He was glad there would be a break. He wanted to talk to Draco and see if he could tell him anything about what Kushi had used against him.

"He's fast," Draco said, looking irritated that he had lost as he sat on a bench looking like he was nursing a headache. "He likes to dodge spells without blocking them though I don't know what you're going to do with that. I don't think he's good enough to switch back and forth between Root and other types of spellwork though... he uses one for a while and then switches and uses that for a while before switching back. Maybe you could get him there."

"I could try to trick him," Harry said thoughtfully, possibilities already running through his mind. He didn't know if he could mire Kushi's feet down with Root like he had done to Snape two nights before because they were on wood, not dirt, but he'd have to think of a way. If he couldn't best him with Magery or Root, both of which Kushi seemed to be proficient at, he'd have to surprise him somehow.

The fifteen minutes passed by faster than Harry thought as he talked over possibilities with Draco and Hermione, and before he knew it he was climbing back into the ring. A lot of people from Durmstrang and Beaubatons were standing beind Kushi and cheering for him as the shield went up, but all of the Gryffindors, the Boden students, and a smattering from the other schools were cheering for Harry.

"When the whistle blows you may begin," Camille said, and Harry still wasn't sure how to surprise him until he saw Blazhe with a smug look standing in the distance behind Kushi with his arms crossed. Kushi probably wouldn't be expecting Muggle tactics to be used. Harry remembered how Blazhe had surprised him on their first day of learning Muggle Defense on the training field, and as the whistle blew, Harry dove at Kushi launching himself from the platform. Kushi was surprised as Harry knocked him to the ground and they struggled for almost two minutes hitting each other as Harry tried to pin Kushi down. Harry had lost his wand somewhere and was trying to keep a hand or a foot or anything flat on the surface of the platform while trying to keep Kushi from doing the same. Harry thought he could easily pin Kushi because he was smaller, but finally Kushi pushed Harry off of him and dove for his own wand. Harry stuck his hands flat on the platform and imagined the platform melting under Kushi. Kushi yelped and dove away from the soft spot that had formed in the platform, slipping in the newly liquified paint, and picked up his wand, casting something at Harry wordlessly. The iceball Harry had been hit with before flew at him but Harry raised his hand and thought a shield and it came up, shattering the ice around him. Harry dove for his wand as Kushi cast another wordless spell and when he got to it sent the upside down spell at the younger boy. It hit him but he didn't seem as disoriented by it as Mae had. He properly aimed his wand at Harry and hit him with something that took Harry's breath away. Panicking Harry dug in his pocket for the small moonfruit and stuffed it in his mouth, chewing it up halfway and then swallowing it. Like before he could feel his magic coursing through him and he put his hands to the platform again and imagined it melting. Kushi slipped in more liquified paint as he tried to get up, covering his arms and legs with the white goop and Harry used his wand to send an angry stinging hex at him, which hit his ankle and made the younger boy yelp. Kushi let go of his wand and unable to stand on his injured ankle threw his entire body flat on the ground and concentrated. A shockwave went out towards Harry a the platform seemed to move. Harry tried to jump into the air to avoid it but was too late and ended up flat on his stomach, where he smacked his chin hard on the wood. He could tell he was bleeding but rolled as Kushi sent something else at him with Root and then sent a binding charm at him, which only hit his already injured foot, tangling it in a mess of ropes.

They exchanged several more hexes, charms, and jinxes, and just when Harry thought he had the upper hand, Kushi went back into Root mode and dodged every one of them before sending the ice spell at Harry again. This time it hit him in the face and disoriented by the cold and the thick blue ice he was having to look through, the cross eyed spell Harry sent off missed Kushi and Kushi got Harry with a binding spell. Harry was tied, and through the ice heard two blasts of the whistle. He was out.

Within second someone was at Harry's side and melting the ice (for which Harry was greatful because he couldn't breath with it), and helping him up.

With the help of a Professor Kushi stood up and made his way to Harry where he grinned.

"I won," he said, and Harry nodded. He could tell it was a great victory for the younger boy.

"Practice," Harry said, "because the next time we face off I'll give you a run for your money, I promise."

"I will!" he said and went off to the cheering of the 14 or so students who had been rooting for him.

"You lasted a surprisingly long time," Severus said as Harry climbed down from the platform.

"How long were we in there?" Harry asked.

"Almost fifteen minutes," Hermione said. "It was mesmerizing watching the two of you."

"Yeah," said Draco, "but just so you know, we all thought you'd lost your mind when you dove at him."

"I was hoping to surprise him."

All five of the duelers went to the infirmary building to be checked out and given bruise balm, and were released. Harry had to have a skin stiching spell on his chin to stop the bleeding and was given a blood restorative potion, but was fine within a few minutes. They had the rest of the day to themselves and after a couple of hours, grew tired of talking about the duels.

"I'm excited for tomorrow," Hermione said. "We finally get to see some of the other schools."

"I wish we could see Kahr," Harry said.

"Me too," said Hermione, "but it isn't allowed." They were going to get the chance to see Boden, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons but the monks at Kahr had a rule against anyone visiting who wasn't a student of the school, or an invited guest of a specific student or teacher. Something about throwing the 'balance' of the magic off that surrounded the school.

"Do you know where we're visiting tomorro?" Harry asked.

"Beauxbatons and Durmstrang," said Draco. "Father says they always visit Beauxbatons and Durmstrang first, then Hogwarts and Boden."

There was a bonfire that night and Harry went with his friends. He was surprised to see that the teachers went too, and watched with a morbid curiosity as Snape left the bonfire early with Adeline.

"Kyssar," Axle joked and elbowed Harry, but he didn't think it was funny and Draco shot Axle an irritated look as well.