"I believe in my friends, my brothers" Peter returned firmly, standing proudly and looking upon the other four with pure fondness.
"With that much loyalty Wormy you should be a bloody Puff" Sirius declared.
"As long as I've got you guys I wouldn't care what house I was in" Peter announced seriously.
Harry smiled at the boy.
'There's definitely something different about him' he thought just as proudly as Peter was stood.
"Time to go" he said simply, noticing that his moment of departure had come.
At Harry's declaration Peter picked up his goblet and began banging it rhythmically on the Gryffindor table, being joined by the rest of the group a moment later. Soon enough most of the students and teachers in the hall were mimicking the action, creating a deafening noise as people began cheering and shouting last minute words of encouragement in his direction.
Harry nodded his gratitude and left the castle once more, only this time to the sound of an impromptu orchestra leading his march into battle.
(BREAK)
Charlus and Dorea had just sat down to breakfast when they were interrupted by a snowy white owl entering the kitchen, clutching a note for the duo.
Charlus took the missive and gently scratched Hedwig's head, offering her some bacon before opening the envelope and reading the contents.
"Oh bollocks" he cursed.
"What is it? Dorea asked nervously. She had been very on edge since Harry had accepted the duel with Dolohov.
Charlus swallowed.
"It's today" Charlus answered, giving a rueful shake of his head.
"Today?" Dorea asked urgently.
Charlus nodded.
"Come on, let's get ready and head to the school, he will go straight back there" he sighed.
Dorea nodded dumbly and allowed herself to be led to the bedroom by her husband, her thoughts with the green eyed boy and what he faced.
(BREAK)
Harry arrived at the given location, an abandoned barn in the county of Norfolk, and immediately began casting detection charms to ensure that Malfoy and his cohorts had kept to their word; that it would only be himself and Dolohov present for the duel.
After he was satisfied that there was only one other person in the barn and surrounding area, he steeled himself and entered the building.
Immediately he felt a spell sailing towards him and he nimbly sidestepped it, causing it to smash into the wooden door he had just come through, obliterating it instantly.
Instead of the goading he had come to expect from Death Eaters, Dolohov again launched another curse at the teen which Harry simply batted aside, giving him his first glimpse of the man.
Something was wrong and Harry knew it.
The man in front of him was indeed Antonin Dolohov but there was several things that had alarm bells ringing in the younger man's mind. Firstly, Dolohov's eyes were bright red and his face was twisted in a look of pure fury and hatred.
The next thing that caught his notice was that the barn had already been largely dismantled by offensive magic, clearly his opponent had been very impatient while waiting for him.
Then it hit him as he saw the man's eyes return to normal before once again flaring up red.
'Potions, they've dosed him with potions' he growled inwardly. 'Draught of Rage, no doubt, but what else?' He was again forced to dodge as Dolohov screamed in fury and began firing spell after spell at him ion quick succession, each one more powerful than the one that preceded it.
The shock that Harry was feeling gave way to his own built up rage as he quickly returned fire and cheered internally as he caught the man in the face with a Bonebreaker, collapsing most of the bones.
He celebrated too soon however.
Instead of spilling into a broken heap on the ground, unable to continue, the man simply gurgled out a roar of rage, spewing a large amount of blood from what used to be his mouth and did not even deviate from his casting, even for a second.
In his moment of laxity Harry was once again surprised and paid the price. A cutting curse grazed his cheek, opening a deep wound and a Bonebreaker of Dolohov's caught his off shoulder, sending him several feet back from the force.
Harry growled in annoyance at himself for being hit and quickly resumed his defensive work, simply batting the spells aside, destroying more and more of the structure, which was rapidly showing signs of falling in on itself.
He knew he had to act quickly or he would be trapped or crushed by the large wooden beams that the barn had been constructed from.
He wandlessly summoned a pile of large, splintered pieces of wood that had been damaged and waited for the right moment to strike.
Dolohov by now was more furious than imaginable and was completely focused on blasting the boy in front of him to smithereens, not thinking of having to defend himself through the red haze he was looking through as he continued his onslaught.
"Damn" Harry cursed himself as he raised a large silver dome shield around himself.
In his shock and surprise he had not even focused his magic correctly as Charlus had taught him. Clearly he had not quite managed to master it enough for it to be completely instinctual as yet.
He took a breath with in his shield and closed his eyes, allowing his magic to flow as he did so, immediately noticing that everything felt easier to deal with in his calmer state.
The spells that Dolohov was firing felt slower now, giving him more time to react and attempt an attack of his own.
Deciding that he had taken enough time, he dropped his shield and banished the pile of beams he had summoned towards the other man, again batting away the curses headed his way in plenty of time.
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