The Intelligent Potter

*** Present

Presently, Dumbledore led Harry and Hermione to Iliad's suite, which was guarded by a portrait of an old lady, who shared a few features with Daphne, something which Harry didn't miss.

In response to Harry's unasked question, Dumbledore responded, "I thought it would be fitting for Iliad to stay in a suite protected by his own great-grandmother."

Harry noted the fact mentally before walking into the suite, after Dumbledore gave the woman the password.

Iliad Greengrass looked up from the newspaper he had been reading, "Harry Potter." He said as a greeting, "It is good to finally meet you," at that, Iliad raised a hand, which Harry grasped, shaking the hand of the Greengrass Lord.

"Same here, Lord Greengrass." Harry said respectfully.

"Morning, Harry." Daphne acknowledged him with a smile from the other side of the table, where she had been sitting, clearly in conversation with her father.

Harry waved back to his now-friend in response.

Iliad gestured to the half-eaten breakfast on the table, which had been served in communal dishes as there were two of them rather than on single plates, "Would you like some?"

Harry refused politely, "Thanks for the offer, but I've eaten already."

Iliad smiled, "As per my agreement with The Lord Black," he started, "You have been training with my daughter, am I right?" he asked, almost rhetorically.

Harry inclined his head to the question as Iliad continued, "how would you rate the performance of my daughter in combat ability?" he asked, turning his chair, which seemed to slide along the ground, possibly due to magic.

Harry blinked, caught off-guard by the question, while Daphne herself looked slightly awkward, the first time Harry had seen any sort of crack in her mask.

"Well…" he begun, "Daphne is a highly capable duelist, who is far above the standard of the best of Hogwarts' duelers."

Iliad hmmed, apparently dissatisfied by the response, or so his slight frown would seem to have indicated.

"And How would you feel she stacks up against the under-15 worldwide dueling champion?" Iliad asked wryly.

Harry let out an awkward chuckle, "My wide variety of techniques was too much for her to possibly overcome despite her skill." He chose to answer.

"He means to say he kicked my a.s.s." Daphne said, unusually bluntly relative to her regular behavior.

It seemed that she was far more open when around her father, Harry noted, it seemed that he did not know Daphne all that well, now that he really thought about it.

Iliad raised his eyes in a small show of surprise, "Really? Well, maybe a demonstration is in order." He said, brushing nonexistent crumbs off his shirt.

"Are you sure this is the time, Iliad?" Dumbledore asked in slight exasperation from behind Harry, "You dueled Lord Voldemort not 10 hours ago, and now you want to engage in another pointless fight."

Iliad waved it off, "I got away from that fight without serious injury, I can handle a duel with a 14-year-old."

"Very well," Dumbledore sighed, "Follow me, I shall take you both to one of Hogwarts' dueling chambers."

Dumbledore led them all to a large room which Harry had not seen prior to that day.

"You may spar here," Dumbledore said simply before turning to Iliad, "Do not underestimate Harry." He warned before waving his wand a few times to set up protective barriers for the audience, which consisted of Hermione, Daphne and himself.

Harry started, going hard from the very beginning, his spells flying viciously at his enemy, who simply waved them off with simple flicks of his wand in a fairly typical commencement of his duels.

Unlike most of his opponents, Iliad continued to fight with the same strategy slowly increasing his rate of fire, as if to judge Harry's exact level.

Harry decided not to simply keep up his futile barrage of spells, beginning to mix it up, transfiguring the floor under Iliad into quicksand, which the Greengrass Lord dealt with deftly by fl.i.c.k.i.n.g his wand to control the substance, using it to quickly propel himself towards Harry, his wand swiping hard as it sent several beams of differently-colored light flying at Harry, who rolled out of the way, more awkwardly than he would've liked, landing wrong on his right ankle, sending a spike of pain through it, and possibly twisting it as well, reducing Harry's mobility in the duel.

By contrast, Iliad landed with grace appropriate of a man of his stature, turning swiftly and once again training his wand on Harry, who grunted slightly but continued his assault on Iliad, this time calling upon the elements to bombard the older man.

Harry sent a gust of wind which almost took Iliad by surprise, the Greengrass Lord responding at the last minute by deflecting the gust by drawing up with own barrier of stone, rising up from the ground.

In response to the air assault, Iliad responded by materializing water which flew at Harry, freezing into dangerous jagged shards of ice which melted upon reaching a 10-meter radius of Harry as he summoned fire to circle him in defense to Iliad's water-based offense.

In a decision to fight fire with fire, Iliad sent a fire serpent which flew at Harry, who directed his own ring of fire to leave his side and wrap around the serpent, squeezing it into nothingness.

Iliad continued his barrage of spells, forcing Harry to pull up a shield, due to his ankle-caused lack of mobility, much to his own distaste.

Shields were unreliable, and easy to overpower, as Iliad ill.u.s.trated by creating cracks in the screen between him and Harry in a split second, time Harry took to hobble out from behind the shield that shattered just as he moved out of its path, saving him just in time.

Gasping for breath, Harry returned fire to Iliad, but he was at a clear disadvantage, as Iliad didn't seem to want to press the advantage he had over the younger duelist, presumably to test his skills and endurance.

With a grunt, Harry continued his assault with a whip of fire, which he swung at Iliad, who flicked his wand, dissipating the fire simply by sending a powerful gust of air at the weak creation.

Iliad raised his eyebrows, looking slightly unimpressed, and looked like he was about to comment on Harry's performance before curbing himself and continuing with the duel, this time far more viciously, apparently having decided he'd seen all of the young Potter's skills.

Harry waved his wand in a huge circle, creating a circle of whirling air around him in a small emulation of a tornado, before expelling it outward, blowing Iliad, and all the debris from their battle away.

Harry shot a numbing spell at his ankle with a grimace, before drawing The Sword of Potter, which remained hidden under his robes at all times, ever since his kidnapping by Voldemort, and charging at the slightly disoriented Iliad, who shot several spells at him, which Harry deflected from his sword, showing the improved skill with the weapon he had trained by training the past few months, with Arcturus, who was a master of the art.

Iliad realized the danger of letting Harry get close to him a tad late, sending out a desperate gust of air himself to halt Harry, but failing, when his enemy, ready for that response, fought back with his own gust of air, fighting it long enough to get close to Iliad, and swipe at his c.h.e.s.t, missing as the Greengrass Lord gracefully took a step back, and raised a foot, kicking at the sword in an attempt to knock it out of Harry's hand, almost succeeding as Harry was unprepared for a physical assault, ready for his sword to absorb any magical assault upon his person.

Luckily for him, Harry managed to keep his hold on his sword, though just barely, and swung once again, this time stopped by a wall of diamond which had been built in front of him by Iliad just to block the swing.

Harry pulled his sword free, and sent a bombarda at the diamond, only to find it had been a trap all along, as Iliad banished the shards back at Harry, who grunted as he was hit in the leg by one he didn't manage to stop with his late gust of air.

Iliad didn't stop there either, he kept going, making sure to be pushing Harry back at all times, making sure not to let Harry get close enough to try assaulting him a sword once again.

Harry panted with exertion at his magic-intense duel with Iliad, who didn't seem to have tired yet, going strong on his offense, the young Potter's magical core, despite being massive for his age, still not comparing to Iliad's large trained magical reserves.

With a final swipe, Iliad managed to send Harry spinning into a wall, sending a stunner to officially end the duel.

*** End of Chapter

Chapter 51: Training with Iliad

An: 1000 Follows.

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*** Present

Harry pulled his sword free from Iliad's conjured wall of diamond, and sent a bombarda at the diamond, only to find it had been a trap all along, as Iliad banished the shards back at Harry, who grunted as he was hit in the leg by one he didn't manage to stop with his late gust of air.

Iliad didn't stop there either, he kept going, making sure to be pushing Harry back at all times, making sure not to let Harry get close enough to try assaulting him a sword once again.

Harry panted with exertion at his magic-intense duel with Iliad, who didn't seem to have tired yet, going strong on his offense, the young Potter's magical core, despite being massive for his age, still not comparing to Iliad's large trained magical reserves.

With a final swipe, Iliad managed to send Harry spinning into a wall, sending a stunner to officially end the duel.

Harry came to to the sight of Iliad's proffered hand, which he took, helping himself up, wincing slightly as his weight came to rest on his injured ankle.

"Good fight." He said to the Lord Greengrass.

Iliad looked at Harry calculatingly, "Good fight." He replied evenly.

"Was I…yaknow, up to expectations?" Harry said uncertainly at the look of scrutiny he was getting from Iliad.

The Lord Greengrass sighed, "Yes and no."

Harry raised an eyebrow.

"As a 13-year-old," Iliad began, "You are far ahead of any level feasibly expected from any student, even a 7th year and would likely beat many auror trainees, especially with the wide range of magics that have been taught to you by Albus and Arcturus." He continued before hesitating, "However, I fear that you will not be ready to face the Dark Lord anytime soon, you wouldn't have stood a chance at the height of his previous power, but with The Darkness on his side, well, let's just say, any chance you ever had has marginalized significantly."

"It will be a long war" Dumbledore said, standing up and walking over to Harry, "And we will all be there to support him," at this he put his hand on the last Potter's shoulder, radiating comfort.

"The final battle will not be for years to come," Arcturus said, "It is regrettable that Harry has to face the Dark Lord at all, but if and when he does, he will be fully prepared."

Iliad objected almost immediately, "But even the likes of Albus and yourself would stand next to no chance against The Dark Lord and The Darkness, with your decades of experience and training."

"At 13, Harry can fight a fully grown wizard head on," Arcturus said, "by the time he reaches his age of majority, his magical core will be unprecedentedly large, he was destined to fight Voldemort on equal footing, he will not go into the battle short of magical capability." He said with an air of finality.

"You would rely on the prophecy?" Iliad said with slight contempt, "I truly thought you were smarter than that Black."

"Relying on the prophecy?" Arcturus barked back, "Do you SEE us relying on the prophecy? Does the training which allowed the boy to take on a fully grown wizard seem like RELYING on the prophecy?! We are doing our best, Iliad, and HOPING that all the cards will fall in place!" Arcturus said, letting loose of his magic, letting it envelop the room, flowing out of the Lord Black in a steady stream, making the already intimidating figure of the Lord Black even more so.

Iliad glared back at the Lord Black, his pride unwilling to let him back down from the standoff.

He was cut off by Dumbledore just as he opened his mouth to speak, "Enough! Arcturus, Iliad, we can't be squabbling like children! We have to prepare for what is to come, and fighting about it isn't helping anybody. We are not relying on the prophecy to carry us through this, which is why we need your help Iliad, Harry may have to be the one to defeat Voldemort, but he sure as hell doesn't have to be the only one fighting."

Arcturus' magic retreated into its master's body as quickly as it had filled the room.

After a few cold seconds, Iliad also sighed, "Albus is right, we can't be wasting our time like this."

With that the Lord Greengrass walked back into the dueling arena and beckoned Harry, "Come boy, again!"

Harry frowned slightly, indicating his ankle wordlessly.

"You don't always get to fight in ideal conditions, and besides, I'm coming off a duel too." Iliad said dismissively.

Dumbledore moved to stop the duel but Harry waved him off.

"No, I have to do this." Harry said, determinedly.

Iliad grinned, "That's what I'm talking about!" he said before starting the duel at top-notch, letting fire and water fly in equal amounts at his younger opponent with reckless abandon, peppering Harry with spells, who grit his teeth as the numbing spell on his ankle began to wear off at all of the pressure he was forced to put on it to evade Iliad's attacks.

Harry responded to the assault by fighting back once more, incorporating all forms of magic that he knew into the battle but to no end.

Iliad simply outclassed Harry in every way, but he didn't let that get to him, fighting to the best of his abilities, despite the circ.u.mstances.

No matter how valiant the struggle though, Harry was overpowered, taking another stunner to the c.h.e.s.t, only to be revived and given to the count of ten before Iliad started the duel again, unforgivably refusing to let up on Harry.

In the stands, Hermione was distraught at the blatant abuse Harry was taking in his battles with Iliad, and even Daphne was flinching slightly, uncomfortable with the amount of pain her father was ruthlessly inflicting on Harry, seemingly without a care in the world.

After their 5th duel, Dumbledore finally intervened as Harry attempted to get to his feet, barely succeeding, and just about managing to hold onto his wand, having taken a cutting hex to the arm.

"Enough is enough, Iliad" Dumbledore said firmly, "No amount of training means anything if you kill the boy, and I think we need to have a talk about your methods."

Iliad agreed grudgingly, letting Dumbledore take Harry to the infirmary.

*** End of Chapter