Dressed as a boy, Ginny was told to work on the offense frontier and she gladly obliged; even learning a lot of useful spells from Harry and Neville.

The team had practiced till the sun was no longer there to give them light. Thankfully, Dumbledore had provided for a unique type of lantern that hung suspended in mid air. Some were available near the food stall for those who wanted to catch some fresh air away from the Hogwarts grounds.

For dinner, Ginny had piled up a couple of sandwiches and a tetrapack of orange juice. It was nowhere near the surreptitious meals that she had had in her house. To say the least, the youngest Weasley was already missing home cooked meals by her mother.

Luna started the conversation by appreciating the instruments that have them light. "These lanterns are lovely."

"They sure are. They are charmed by Dumbledore to help whoever looks for it," Harry supplied.

"I personally think they are made using blue bell lantern charm," Hermione said, inspecting the one that was lighting up their tent.

Harry blinked in response, leading Ginny to smirk discreetly. The boy had no idea what charm was used for that. "Yes." Her smirk, however, did not go unnoticed. "Oh, and Ron. I want to invite you to a duel. One-on-one. Tonight near the Black Lake."

If she thought that he was purposefully picking on her, she did not show. Instead, she simply accepted the challenge. "You're on."

—xoxo—

As promised, Ginny walked down to the lake sharp at eight. A small blue bell lantern hung suspended from the branch of a tree, illuminating the lone figure. Harry was waiting, his arms folded across his chest as he stood leaning against the tree in terse silence. Ginny gulped. He was the High Commander, all right. He would be much more powerful than someone who had never fought in a formal battle before.

"Glad to see you haven't backed out. Most people back out when I ask them for a challenge. Ginny presumed that he heard her footfall as his eyes were still closed.

"I'll have you know that I don't back out easily," Ginny responded, hoping to show confidence by her terrible imitation of a boy's voice.

Harry simply smirked before taking an en garde. He bowed once and Ginny followed his example, remembering her lessons from Flitwick to bow in respect before a duel.

Before an eyelash could be batted, Harry started his rapid fire. Spells of different colours and probably different nature flew towards her in an array of seconds.

Ginny's first instinct was to defend. She shot up her best defensive charm. "Protego!" Taking advantage of Harry's minute moment of surprise, Ginny shot her own spell. "Reducto!" The blue beam of light shot towards Harry, illuminating his smile in the darkness for a split moment before causing an explosion. When the smoke cleared, Harry was nowhere to be found.

"Lesson one: explosion benefits the enemy. Stupefy!" Ginny ducked down immediately upon hearing his voice. She wheeled around on the grass, shaking her bangs out of her eyes and, spotted Harry standing a few feet away from her, his face emanating nothing but serenity. He looked the least tired by the excessive use of magic. "I guess I should not underestimate you, Weasley."

"That's right, you shouldn't! Petrificus Totalus!" Harry extended his hand. An emerald lightning forked down from the skies, hitting the grass beside Ginny and leaving a flaming scorch mark behind. Ginny drew in a breath. Harry was much powerful than he showed. He seemed to be an elementalist. "Y-you are an elementalist?" She voiced her doubt. Harry did not respond. Instead, he closed his eyes.

"I think the battle is not yet done."

Ginny snapped out of her admiration. She looked around, looking for some sort of a plot hole in the surroundings. And she succeeded. "Reducto!" Her blasting curse hit a branch above Harry's head. He looked up right on time to use his own combination of destructive spells. The branch crumbled to ashes all around him, raining down wooden splinters on her as well.

"You need more than just that, Weasley." Harry took a step forward. Then another. "What if I say that. . ." Ginny's breath caught in her throat. His green eyes sparkled with well-concealed amusement in them. His jaw clenched with a word. "you actually don't really require practice." It was her confusion that gave her away with no effort of Harry's at all.  "Lesson two: never engage yourself in your enemy's ted talks. Expelliarmus!"

Ginny's wand flew out of her hand, her eyebrows arched in defeat as she slumped to the ground in exhaustion. She had tried so hard only to be defeated in the cheapest manner possible. "You're doing pretty well for someone who never went to an official magical institution, y'know?" Harry sat down beside her, offering her wand back. His demeanor completely changed from serious to friendly as soon as he took to the ground. "You came up with two tactics, each with the same spell, but still mind-boggling."

"Nevertheless, I lost."

Her reply was bitter but Harry did not seemed to be bothered. He simply shrugged off his coat, falling to the grass and using it as pillow. The Moon's gaze illuminated his sharp features as he spoke. "Sirius says that failure is the first step to success. It's just a practice, Weasley. Losing this one doesn't really count. In fact, when it comes to war, losing anyone does not count.

"That's probably why I stopped caring. The more you care, the more you get hurt." He let out a humorless laugh before adding, "It is the price and satisfaction you get by winning over your foes and the remembrance of a heroic sacrifice that really matters."

For some reason, Harry's statements really bothered her. It gave her a strange fright of losing someone she loved. It was one fear that she could never control. Losing someone you loved was the most terrible thing you would ever experience and she had a nabbing feeling that the conversation did not just abruptly end there. It would ensue one day, perhaps, when Ginny would be able to have some sort of control over what affected her.

Whoa, I was totally inspired by a war soundtrack while writing the fight scenes. I think I like the way it came out. What do you guys think? Was it paced fast enough? Comment!

Thank you for reading!

Miyoko x