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Of all the things Harry never thought she’d see, Caelum Lestrange and Regulus Black walking into the Dancing Phoenix was at least in the top 5.
Regulus made sense — he had worked with Leo on warding for the tournament in the past. But Lestrange? He was far too much of a snob to patronize the Lower Alleys. For Merlin’s sake, he was wearing full black robes in the middle of a sweltering summer day. Harry had met up with him last week in Diagon to talk about his Mastery thesis, and he’d complained to the waiter about the restaurant’s ineffective Cooling Charms. But he never took the simple solution of dressing for the weather, in a tunic and breeches like Harry and the Lower Alleys residents wore. It was like he was allergic to linen.
Harry hastily snatched up a menu and tried to use it as a shield without being obvious. She’d long since memorized everything the Dancing Phoenix had to offer, but she pretended to be engrossed in choosing between the meatloaf and a grilled sandwich. Through the din of the pub, she could hear the low rumble of Leo’s voice.
She peeked around the menu to see what was happening. Regulus and Leo were talking. Leo was smiling fixedly in the way that he did when he was in full Rogue mode. Caelum wasn’t part of the conversation, judging by the way his mouth stayed closed, but his arms were crossed and he looked decidedly peeved.
Solom quirked an eyebrow at her when he caught her hiding behind the menu. Harry gave him a half-smile and a shrug, gesturing for him to come back to her table later. She was more curious than hungry.
She looked back toward the unlikely trio. Regulus had left — whether he’d left the pub completely or just gone to the loo, she wasn’t sure. Caelum was sneering as he spoke. Leo’s polite affect was gone, and he was echoing Caelum’s annoyed body language. What could they possibly be arguing about? The next moment, Leo pivoted and stalked off to the back room. Harry ducked back behind the menu when Caelum glanced around, but she wasn’t quick enough.
“Potter, is that you?”
“No,” she called back, scrunching down as Caelum crossed the room. “You’ve mistaken me for someone else.”
“You liar,” he said, in a tone of wonder. “Well, well, well. What brings goodie girl to this wretched corner of the world?”
Harry gestured to the menu, giving up on her pretense. “Eating lunch.”
"Sure you are.” He leaned against the back of the chair on the opposite side of her table.
“What are you doing here, then?”
Caelum smirked at her. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“That is the purpose of a question, well spotted,” she quipped.
“Questions are meant to be answered truthfully, not with evasions like ‘eating lunch’. Haven’t they taught you that at your American school?”
“No, we all sit in silence whenever a professor asks a question.” She rolled her eyes. “Eventually they stop asking.”
He drummed his manicured fingernails on the charmed-impervious paper of her menu. “Clearly they don’t have the kind of patience I do.”
Harry laughed incredulously. “Yes, I’ve always said patience is your best quality.”
“Hard decision, with so many to choose from,” Caelum drawled. She might have once taken his arrogant words seriously, but by now, she could hear the hint of humor in them. “Are you actually hungry, or was that just a convenient excuse to spy on successful members of society?”
“You’ll never know.”
While she was considering whether to signal Solom to take her order — did she really want to eat lunch with Caelum in the Dancing Phoenix? — Leo emerged from the backroom and made a beeline straight for her.
“Are you here for practice?” Leo asked, ignoring Caelum’s presence completely.
Caelum looked between her and Leo, frowning. “What on earth could you be practicing with him, Potter?”
Leo finally deigned to look at the other boy. His lazy smirk wasn’t a good look. “Must be frustrating to be so out of the loop.”
Before Caelum could do more than bristle at the remark, Harry interjected, hoping to cut some of the tension. “We’re practicing dueling. Self-defense is important to know, and I like to stay in shape during the summer.”
“Dueling?” Caelum scoffed, eyes sweeping her form.
Harry’s cheeks burned hot from his intense scrutiny. She shifted in her chair.
“Our Harry packs quite a punch.” Leo’s smile turned sharp. “I’ve taught her everything I know. Keep that in mind.”
“Unlike you, Hurst, I have no difficulty keeping multiple things in mind simultaneously,” Caelum said coolly. “Your warning is unnecessary.”
Harry bit her lip, unsure how to defuse the inexplicable tension between her two friends. Her go-to moves from pureblood society never worked with Leo, and Caelum tended to do the opposite of whatever she wanted him to do. For her sixteenth birthday, she’d joked that she wanted Caelum to use Shaped Imbuing to invent a potion to double the length of her strides, so she could keep up as they walked down the Alleys. Instead, he’d given her a potion that glued one’s feet to the floor indefinitely. Still, he'd given her something, which was pretty good evidence of their friendship.
“Do you want to duel?” Harry asked, voice coming out uncertain. She cleared her throat. “I mean, with us?”
Both Leo and Caelum looked flabbergasted at the suggestion.
“Right now?” Caelum said. “Here?” He looked around the Dancing Phoenix. None of Leo’s subjects looked like they were paying attention to the trio at Harry’s table, but she knew better than to take that at face-value. They were much sneakier about eavesdropping than she was.
“Is there a healer on standby?” Leo laughed meanly.
Harry shot Leo an admonishing look. “I hardly think that’ll be necessary for a friendly duel.”
“We’ll see,” Leo said. “Come, Lestrange, we don’t duel in pubs even in the Lower Alleys. There’s a courtyard out back.”
Caelum hesitated to follow Leo, but accompanied Harry after she gave him an encouraging smile. As they walked out into the summer heat, Caelum’s polished boots left swirling footprints in the dust of the courtyard. They wouldn’t stay polished for long, she thought wryly. Hopefully he could be quick on his feet in them — the heavy black robes would be enough of a hindrance.
“I’ll have to bow out of this… fascinating duel. I have things to take care of,” Leo said tightly. “But I’ll be right inside if you need anything. Do try not to kill him, Harry. We just got the last of Marek’s blood out of the dirt last week, and I’d hate to call another clean-up crew.”
Harry laughed as if the comment were a joke. She wasn’t entirely sure it was. She felt a small twinge of sadness she’d be missing out on practice with Leo, who always challenged her. She’d have to go easy on Caelum if she didn’t want to permanently bruise her brewing partner (or at least his ego). Caelum gave Leo’s retreating figure a parting sneer, and then bowed to her. Oh, so it was going to be that kind of duel.
Her opponent began by shooting a Stunning Spell at her, followed closely by the signature white flare of a Stinging Hex. Both were easy to dodge. She started off slow, testing his response time and feeling out his style. Caelum dueled like Aldon Rosier did — elegant casting, technically perfect, but lacking ruthlessness and inventiveness. Like most classically trained purebloods, he hadn’t bothered to build up his physical stamina. He was already breathing hard from dodging and shielding her first few attacks. She cast a fairly powerful Bombardment Hex. He shielded, but the impact of the hex made him stumble.
Harry took the opportunity to close the distance between them. With a sweep of her leg, she knocked his feet out from under him before he had the chance to retaliate. She snatched his wand right out of his hand as he fell.
“You can’t do that,” Caelum panted indignantly from the ground, tangled in his own robes. He made no move to curse her wandlessly, even though she knew he could.
She grinned down at him. “I can, and I did. What are you going to do about it?”
“What are you, a secret freedueling champion?” He shook sweaty hair out of his bright eyes.
Harry winked, tossing his wand into the air and catching it again. “Ready for round two, or do you need to dust off your pride?”
“Oh, it’s on,” he growled.
Caelum could cast faster when he was annoyed, she noted, but he lost some of his finesse. That was typical. She ducked around a Knockback Jinx that rocketed in her direction. Harry countered with a Ventus that blew up the dust in his face, while she retreated to the other side of the courtyard. She was tempted to play her Bubble of Doom move on Caelum. She could easily win without any tricks, with just her speed and her magic, but imagining his likely reaction made her grin to herself. She cast the Fortis shield, ostensibly to deflect a nasty hex, but she didn’t drop the spell.
Caelum stopped casting after his third spell bounced off, clearly thinking she would give up her defence soon when her magic got tired of maintaining the strong shield. She smirked at him, as he narrowed his eyes in suspicion. He had no idea what her magic could do.
Harry took a leisurely step toward him, dragging the bubble with her. Then she took another step. He didn’t back up, casting another probing spell at her shield. She lunged forward, against the drag of the spell behind her. He wasn’t quick enough to dodge the Bubble of Doom, and it collided against him with an ominous crunch.
“What the hell?” Caelum moaned from where he fell. Unlike Ralph, he didn’t spring back up immediately. It took him a moment to get to his feet and steady his wand. That moment was all she needed.
She dropped the shield and danced around towards Caelum’s back, her footwork neat from all her hours of practice with Leo. Harry had her wand at his neck in the space of two heartbeats.
His shoulders slumped below her wand. “I hate you. What was that trick with the shield?”
“The Fortis shield moves with you, when it’s cast instead of Shaped Imbued,” she explained, still grinning as he pouted. “You can use it to move an opponent out of your way … forcefully.”
“Right,” he said slowly, pushing her wand away from his neck. “But isn’t that exhausting to keep up? And physical impact makes it even harder to hold Fortis up — I weigh a lot more than you do.”
“Are you calling me scrawny?” She scrunched up her face in fake offense.
Caelum looked at her too long. Tingling heat crept up Harry’s neck to her face. From the exertion, of course.
“You said it,” he answered eventually. “The shield?”
She shrugged. “It’s no problem for me. Try it out another time. Your magic’s no slouch, I think you’ll find it easier than you’re imagining.”
“I notice you don’t suggest I try it on you,” he pointed out.
“I’d like to minimize my time knocked into the dust today. I have plans later.”
“Oh, do you have some shopping to do?”
She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. His tone was too carefully casual. “Not especially. Why do you ask?”
“I was at an apothecary down Knockturn yesterday,” he said, still in that too-nonchalant voice.
“Were you?” she said, cocking her head curiously. There were several apothecaries deep in Knockturn that he was likely more familiar with than she was. Even if they didn’t know she was Head Auror James Potter’s daughter, and a half-blood, some shopkeepers would hesitate to let a sixteen-year-old girl see what they sold. Their loss. She was a prolific customer.
“The Serpent’s Storeroom, have you heard of it?”
“Maybe in passing.” Harry willed her racing heart to calm down and kept her face pleasantly curious. She and Caelum were both Potions enthusiasts. Maybe he wanted to let her know about a sale at Krait’s, out of the goodness of his heart.
He frowned, his dark brows furrowing. “It’s funny you say that, Potter, since your potions are stocked on the shelves.”
“I’m sorry, what?” she said, putting on her best ‘I’m utterly perplexed’ expression.
“You think I don’t recognize your handwriting? I said to myself, surely not. But I compared it to that sheath of notes you gave me for the Wolfsbane years ago. An exact match. I checked your letters too, to be certain. Besides, they sell your stupid Protection Potion there. And we both know that no one can Shaped Imbue except you, me, and Master Snape.” His expression was challenging, like he was daring her to explain.
Harry wouldn’t fall into that trap, of stumbling explanations and contradicting herself. She crossed her arms and lifted her chin. “You’re mistaken,” she said shortly.
Harry hadn't bothered to use a dictation quill for her potions for Krait, except when she'd been brewing the suppressant for Mr. Malfoy. But here, her carelessness had come back to bite her. She'd forgotten about the notes she'd taken from Remus and given to Caelum all those years ago. And her letters — but she couldn't have guessed Caelum would keep them. They mostly corresponded to set up in-person meetings, or when Caelum wanted to brag about something while she was away at school.
“Are you trying to tell me Master Snape brews for a second-rate apothecary on Knockturn Alley and you, what, label his vials for him?” Caelum snorted.
“Yes. We meet up every Saturday afternoon for that exact purpose,” she said defiantly.
“You can’t lie for shit, can you?”
She sighed. Maybe it was better to give him a small fraction of the truth, so he’d think he knew enough to stop prying. “Fine. I brew potions and sell them at the apothecary. It’s not illegal.”
“But why? Don’t your precious parents pay for your potions?” he pressed.
“I have a stamp-collecting addiction,” Harry said solemnly. “Those Penny Blacks are expensive.”
“Stamps? What nonsense is that?”
“Never mind. Let’s just say it’s not your business what I spend my money on.”
“If it was above board, you’d just tell me,” he said shrewdly. “Is Little Miss Perfect breaking the law?”
“Hardly,” she lied. “It’s girl stuff.”
“Girl stuff, as if. You have more secrets than anyone I know,” Caelum said, sounding disgruntled. “Brewing for a shady Knockturn apothecary to fund some illegal endeavour, I swear. What’s next, Potter? Are you going to reveal you’re leading a house-elf revolution? You travelled back in time to re-invent Wolfsbane? You’re Rigel Black in disguise?”
Harry forced a laugh, though she couldn’t help the way her stomach lurched when he tossed out her most dangerous secret as a joke. “The house-elf revolution is at least 10 years out. You’re safe for now.”
“You think you’re funny?”
“You seem to think so,” she sassed. “I know what you look like when you’re trying not to laugh, your lips go all twitchy and—”
Her hand snapped up by instinct, a shaky red Depasco glimmering in place to intercept whatever spell he’d sent at her. The burnt orange spell dissolved.
“Curse me in the middle of my sentence, will you?” she huffed.
Caelum tossed his head elegantly, bringing his wand up again. “You set the precedent for illegal moves in this duel. I’m only returning the favor. Besides, you never formally called the match.”
“Is that how you want it?” Harry side-stepped a bright blue spell. “See if I go easy on you this time.”
“Go easy? Don’t insult me, Potter.”
“You asked for it,” she muttered. Of course, she still wouldn’t pull out all her tricks, especially the ones she’d exhibited during her duels as Rigel back in the Triwizard Tournament (like runeless arrays, like blood magic). But he’d only gotten a taste of what she was capable of.
He had already figured out that he’d need to move more when dueling with her than he was used to. Her speed and lightness on her feet were two of her greatest strengths in a duel, besides the magical power she normally kept tempered for safety. He dodged a few spells. He still didn’t have the stamina, but he seemed to have a good spatial awareness that helped him evade her spells without too much exertion. She could use that.
While she danced around his spells, she varied the distance between them, lunging forward when he expected her to retreat and retreating when it made more sense to press her advantage. She could see on his face that it confused him. Perfect.
He hadn’t demonstrated an affinity for elemental magic. Most of the spells he’d flung her way were your garden-variety hexes, ones you could find in standard dueling compendiums and gray magic textbooks. Unfortunately for Caelum, her malleable magic was quite good at manipulating the elements.
She conjured a whirling tornado of dust that spun quickly in his direction. He yelped, but he couldn’t dodge it in time. She could hear him coughing and sputtering from inside the tornado before he was able to dispel it. Harry was ready with a lash of flame like a whip. He ducked under it, just in time for his face to meet the other lash of water she sent out with her free hand.
As he retreated to wipe the water from his face, she sprung forward. His loose grip on his wand, while ideal for maneuverability, wasn’t firm enough to stop her from knocking it to the ground. Caelum made a belated grab for it, and finally cast a wandless spell in the form of a Fortis shield that knocked her back. But that wouldn’t make her stumble for long — he could only hold the shield for a handful of seconds, and her third probing kick connected with his legs. They tumbled to the ground together.
She had him, pinning him to the ground while her wand pointed at his neck, his own wand in the dust behind them. She’d won the duel with ease, again.
He grinned up at her. Even dripping with muddy water, his smile made his face so gorgeous that she wanted to hex him with boils (only because she was jealous, of course, never mind that she’d never been jealous of the many other attractive people she knew).
"You lost. Why are you smiling?" she said suspiciously.
"I know something you don't know," he said, smiling even wider.
"And what's that?"
Caelum tilted his face up. For a moment, she thought he might headbutt her, like Ralph had in the Lower Alleys tournament, but her pureblood friend would never deign to hurt himself like that. Instead, his lips brushed her neck.
Her wrist, planted against the ground to hold her up, shook slightly, and she almost lost her balance. That was a move she had not anticipated. Harry forced a breath, in and out. She was only lightheaded because she’d been holding her breath, she told herself. It had nothing to do with their closeness or the barely-there kiss. Her heart was only racing because they’d just dueled, no other reason.
She wasn’t convincing, even to herself.
Her head dipped down closer to his, their lips only a centimeter apart. He took a shaky breath of his own.
“Caelum…” Harry whispered. Which was more surreal a revelation, she wondered: that he was going to kiss her, or that she wanted him to? Three heartbeats later, she closed her eyes.
One heartbeat later, she hit the ground with a thump. Her eyes flew open, and she gaped up at Caelum. He’d jumped to his feet and now held both their wands in his hands.
“I do believe this win goes to me, Potter. Better luck next time.” He was still breathing hard.
As Caelum smiled triumphantly at her, Harry pushed down the strange disappointment that stuck in her throat like marshmallow plant sap. She let herself focus on feeling proud, instead. “I see I’ve taught you how to be a good dueler,” she said, smiling self-deprecatingly. “Take advantage of your opponent’s predictability.”
He surprised her by offering his hand to pull her to her feet. Caelum looked at her, his eyes sparking in a way that made her heart jump again. “You could never be predictable. It’s your best quality.”
“But there are so many. How could you ever choose?” she breathed out.
With the hand that wasn’t gripping hers, Caelum brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “Lucky I don’t have to. I never settle for less than everything I want. And neither do you… right, Potter?” He was so close, his eyes so blue.
And he was right. She never settled for less than what she wanted. Hadn’t she proved that to herself long since?
She leaned forward and proved it again.