You Want To Run That By Me Again

Molly Weasley placed her daughter on the stone flagging that she had been standing on when she had been transformed into a dog by Potter. Albus had been nice enough to mark the correct stone so they would make sure she was on the right one at the right time. Stepping back she waited for her daughter to be restored to normal.

Ginny didn't move waiting for the spell Harry had placed on her to reverse itself. After a few moments she felt her bones growing and shifting. It was an uncomfortable and almost painful feeling. She bit her lip to keep from crying out as she once again looked upon a world that had colour in it.

Once she was fully human again, Ginny ignored the older witches and wizards coming toward her and looked around for Harry. She was going to make sure he understood that he was not allowed to do that to her ever again, or she would make their life together hell. She finally spotted him sitting with Luna Lovegood and started to growl as she headed toward the Ravenclaw table to pull her man away from that bitch. Harry was hers and it was time he understood that.

"Miss Weasley," One of the witches got between her and the Ravenclaw table. "You need to come with us please."

Not recognising her as a teacher, Ginny tried to push past the woman. "I've got to talk with Harry first."

"Actually, Miss Weasley, you need to speak with the Headmaster and your Head of House first." A man that Ginny vaguely remembered seeing before the Christmas break took hold of her arm and proceeded to drag her from the Great Hall.

Ginny dug in her heels as the stranger tried to take her from the Great Hall and the man who belonged to her. "Harry! … Harry! … Help me!. … You can't let this man keep us apart!"

Molly opened her mouth to berate Jessup, but Arthur quickly told her. "Not now, Molly, we don't want to make a scene in public."

Molly sniffed and stalked off after Mr. Jessup and her daughter. She was going to give that man a piece of her mind once they were in Dumbledore's office! How dare he haul her daughter off as if she were a common criminal? He should be hauling that Potter boy off, after all he was the one who made her daughter fall in love with him and then treated her like dirt because she made a mistake the previous year.

As the Great Hall doors closed behind the departing group, the level of conversation rose sharply among the students, but it didn't get out of hand since there were still a few teachers there to keep an eye on things.

Most of the older Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students couldn't help wondering just how much longer it would be before the Headmaster admitted defeat in the matter of Harry Potter. Those who had family, either in the Ministry or on the Wizengamot, knew that a law had been passed the previous summer whose sole purpose was to get Potter back to Hogwarts and force him to interact with his peers.

As far as they could see it had been one of the Headmaster's most spectacular failures. Potter not only refused to have anything to do with his housemates in Gryffindor, he had made it quite clear to anyone willing to look beyond the end of their nose that he was using this time to get his revenge on those he thought had wronged him.

About the only success the Headmaster's plan could claim, was it caused near school unity amongst the Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs, Slytherins and the first through third year Gryffindors. They all had one goal in mind: Not to do anything that would attract Potter's attention. One Slytherin fourth year had put it best and in a way it mirrored the school motto: It was better not to wake the sleeping dragon.

As they resumed eating the welcome feast, a couple of Hufflepuffs couldn't help wondering why Ginny Weasley would be expecting Harry Potter to come to her aid, given he had made it quite clear he loathed her.

#######

"Enter," Dumbledore's voice called in response to the knock.

Jessup the American inspector sent by the Wizengamot came in followed by one of his fellow inspectors, Molly, Arthur and Ginny Weasley. Dumbledore could tell from the expression on Molly's face that she was barely containing her rage at the treatment of her daughter.

"Ginny, it's good to see you are back to normal." Dumbledore sounded pleased.

"And no sooner was she human again, than this… man," Molly spat unwilling to remain silent any longer, "dragged her up here, before we even had a chance to make sure she was alright after what that brute Potter did to her."

Ginny was not about to let her mother bad mouth Harry. She was the only one with the right to put him in his place. "Mum, Harry is not a brute! He just doesn't understand that we belong together and reacted badly to my trying to protect what we have."

Arthur just shook his head. He knew Ginny was stubborn, like her mother, but this was ridiculous. Harry had made it quite clear he wanted nothing to do with her or any other member of their family. It would take time, but he was certain she would come to realise and accept that fact. "Ginny, we will discuss your relationship with Harry at another time. Right now we have other matters to take care of."

"You can't mean that expulsion business again!" Molly demanded, looking at Jessup who had been the one to bring it up. "You seriously intend to force the Headmaster to expel my daughter, when she isn't the one at fault. If the blasted Potter boy hadn't led her on all these years…."

"Molly, he has no choice." McGonagall interrupted her rant before it could get started. "For whatever reason, Ginny deliberately attacked and nearly killed another student and it wasn't in a duel, which is the only exception allowed. And for that one exception to apply the reason for the duel must be declared in front of a staff member and fought in front of the staff to be legal. Ginny did none of those things and so she must be expelled. Dumbledore was advised, by the Board of Governors that if he doesn't follow the rules, he will be removed as Headmaster and a new one put in his place." McGonagall held up her hand to silence Molly as she opened her mouth to speak. "And I have already been told the new head of the school won't be me if that happens."

"Headmaster," Ginny spoke up before anyone could ask why McGonagall wouldn't be considered for the post of Headmistress. "May I make a request before you expel me?"

"And what is that my child?" Dumbledore looked at her sadly. This child had had so much promise.

"I would like to spend one final night in Gryffindor Tower, before my wand is snapped. Would that be possible?"

Dumbledore saw no reason not to grant her request and was certain she just wanted to say good-bye to some of her yearmates. A quick glance that the American inspectors showed they were not going to object either. "I see no reason why not, but you will have to leave your wand here with me."

"Albus! How can you think of leaving Ginny without the means to defend herself?" Molly protested. "What if that brute Potter decides to attack her again? She wouldn't be able to stop him."

"Molly, Harry has made it clear that he wants little if any contact with Ginny, I think she will be safe enough this one night in Gryffindor tower." Albus sounded tired.

"Like you've been right about anything concerning that boy since the school year began." Molly crossed her arms and glared at Dumbledore. "You listen to me Dumbledore and listen well. If anything… anything happens to Ginny up in Gryffindor tower tonight and Potter is found to be the cause, you have my word that you are going to pay for it. I don't care how important you seem to think he is to the wizarding world, he is destroying my family. First it was the twins refusing to have anything more to do with us, claiming we turned our backs on a family member, which he most definitely was not. Then Percy is found to be a Deatheater because of him. Ron has lost his prefect status because of that brat and now Ginny is to be expelled…. All because of bloody Potter!"

#########

Ginny sat in her bed in her dorm with the curtains drawn, waiting for her roommates to fall asleep. She felt a little sad that this would be the last time she would be in this dorm or see these girls. They had already started pulling away from her because they knew she was to be expelled and acted as if coming in contact with her would lead to them being expelled too.

Ginny smiled to herself. She would have the last laugh though. Thanks to the potion in her hand she would be Mrs. Harry Potter by the summer. She was certain of it. Harry wouldn't want his child to grow up without a mother or a father. He would do the right thing and marry her and then Ginny would be able to show him just how much she loved him. Once he was hers she would make sure he never looked at another female. There would be no more Luna Lovegoods to trouble their life, because once she and Harry were together, he would realise just how happy he was to be with her and how happy she could make him.

#########

The girls in the Gryffindor sixth year dorm woke early. They wanted to be out of the dorm before Ginny Weasley woke. While they liked her, they didn't want to be around when she was expelled. Seeing a witch's wand snapped was not a pleasant experience and it was one they didn't want to see.

They were surprised when they got down to the common room to find Ginny asleep, her nightclothes messed up and a silly smile on her sleeping face.

"Who's gonna wake her?" Jessie McGuire a muggle-born witch asked. "She has to be in the Headmaster's office before breakfast.

The girls looked back and forth at each other, none of them willing to brave Ginny's well-known temper, until Marion Achtland huffed and grabbed hold of Ginny's shoulder and shook it hard.

"You need to wake up Ginny." Marion called. "You have to see the Headmaster, remember?"

Ginny yawned and stretched like a cat, her face never losing its smile.

"Why did you go to sleep down here when you could've slept in your bed?" Jessie asked. "I mean that couch can't have been very comfortable to sleep on."

"Oh," Ginny's smiled deepened and she blushed as she headed up the stairs. "Considering what happened to me last night on that couch, it felt like I was floating on air."

"Skank," Jessie McGuire sniffed once Ginny was out of hearing range.

The other girls just shrugged.

"I wonder who she screwed?" Marion Achtland commented as they headed for the portrait hole.

"Clearly someone with no taste." Andrea Mitchell told them. "She's been had by nearly every boy she could get at. I still can't believe her parents and brother think she's a virgin."

"Yea," Jessie agreed, "and that started when Potter was sent to Azkaban. Didn't think she was up to her old tricks anymore though, given she wanted to get him back."

"Well, given Potter made it very clear he wanted nothing to do with her, maybe she decided to get some, one last time, before she's kicked out of school." Andrea suggested.

"I wonder who the unfortunate wizard was?" Marion put in.

The girls fell silent as they joined others heading for the Great Hall for breakfast.

########

Jessup watched Ginny Weasley and her parents very carefully as her wand was snapped by Headmaster Dumbledore. His instincts were telling him that something was wrong. She was far too calm for someone who was being expelled from one of the biggest European schools.

"I wonder if they gave Miss Weasley a calming draught before bringing her up here." Jessup whispered to Angela Bellmont, one of his fellow inspectors.

"Why?" She whispered back.

"Her reaction to being expelled is all wrong." Jessup told her. "I've seen kids expelled at some of the magical schools in the US Confederation and the student being expelled is very emotional about having their wand snapped since it is their primary means of doing magic."

"Unless they are capable of doing magic without a wand such as Wiccan, Voodoo, Shamanistic magic such as practiced by the Native Americans and let us not forget techno-pagans who are proving quire successful at mixing technology with magic." Angela reminded him. "If an expelled student was capable of working that kind of magic before then they still should be able to, given it doesn't require a wand. I don't recall ever hearing of any of the magic users in the European magical world, using that style of magic though."

Jessup nodded, conceding that point. "That's true. Those who can work any type of wandless magic are few and far between, but even for them there is some kind of reaction to their wand being snapped. She didn't react at all to her wand being snapped as if it didn't matter to her. So, unless Miss Weasley was given a calming potion prior to being brought up here to keep her from getting hysterical, I think she is planning something."

Angela Bellmont studied the girl intently. Adam was right. The girl was too calm and Angela thought she detected an air of smug satisfaction about her that didn't bode well for someone. "I think we should advise Madame Bones who heads the Aurors Department about our suspcions. I'm fairly certain she won't have any problems arranging for someone to keep an eye on Miss Weasley, given she was the child who was possessed by Voldemort's diary in her first year here. There is no telling how much of what he knew she retained and I am certain that Madame Bones is no more eager than we are to have a Dark Lady make a bid for power given they just got rid of their most recent Dark Lord."

"Agreed. We'll let her know during our meeting at the end of the week." Jessup turned his attention back to the room and saw the Weasley's were leaving.

Dumbledore was looking very old and solemn as he returned to the seat behind the desk. "Of all the duties I have as Headmaster, that is the one I like the least. Snapping a student's wand and expelling them makes me feel as if we at Hogwarts somehow failed them."

"Understandable," Jessup commiserated with the man, "but ultimately each of us is responsible for our own actions."

"True," Dumbledore agreed, "but I feel that people should be given a second chance to correct their mistakes or they never learn whether they be young or old. I intended to try and correct the mistakes I made with Mr. Potter, but I seem to be causing almost as much harm as I do good with my attempt to make amends."

"Headmaster, our inspection is completed and we will be turning our report into the Department of Magical Education before the end of the day." Jessup told him.

"Might I ask what you intend to tell them?" Dumbledore was hoping for some clue as to what they had found. He was fairly certain they were going to recommend that Binns be replaced, but he was not sure about any of the others.

"I'm sorry Headmaster, but that report is confidential until it is presented to the Head of the Department of Magical Education." Jessup told him.

Dumbledore had to strongly resist the temptation to use Legilimency to try and get some advance information. He needed to know what they were going to be doing to his school. He knew from his conversations with Jessup and his fellow inspectors that they were very capable of resisting any attempts to get an idea of what they were up to and it irritated him no end.

"It has been a pleasure to meet you Headmaster." Jessup called as he and his companion headed for the door

##############

The Head of the Department of Magical Education Allyn Gywr eyed the very thick report that had been placed on his desk by the head of the American inspection team with a sigh. "Could you give me the highlights so I know what I am going to be facing with Dumbledore. He is going to fight tooth and nail over this report."

"The school itself is sound though a number of the courses being taught could use some major updating. European magical schools are way behind the rest of the world in certain types of magic that are being taught and I'm not just comparing them to the schools in the US Confederation either. Even the Asian and South American schools are more up to date than their European counterparts." Jessup said from his seat on the other side of the desk. "We have recommended the replacement of the History of Magic teacher because the only history being taught by him is the Goblin Rebellions and the students at Hogwarts need to learn the true history of the magical world… the whole magical world. We also recommend the replacement of the Divination teacher since she is not correctly teaching the aspects that make up divination. She seems far more content with making doom and gloom prophecies and the only students who seem to receive good grades are the ones who follow her mantra of: my world is going to be a complete and unmitigated disaster. We also would like to suggest that the Care of Magical Creatures class be broken up into two levels."

"Why two levels?" Mr. Gwyr asked. He would have thought that they would've have recommended replacing Hagrid completely.

"Professor Hagrid is a very competent teacher when it comes to the large and dangerous creatures, but he is not teaching to the level of his students. The creatures he is teaching about are fine for say sixth and seventh year students, but third through fifth year students in order to acquire a love for the magical creatures that share our world, should be started off with safer creatures and a teacher who can teach them at their level of magical competence in case something does go wrong." Jessup told him. "We also recommend that the Muggle studies teacher be replaced with an actual muggle-born and not a pureblood who is working with information that is at least sixty years out of date."

"Anything else?" Mr. Gwyr had a feeling he hadn't heard the worst yet and there had to be more given the size of the report.

"Yes," Jessup looked very serious. "We strongly recommend that the Heads of the four houses no longer be teachers, but instead former students of at least thirty years of age, with skills at handling children from all walks of life be they muggle or magical. We are also recommending that they serve no more than five or ten years before being replaced. Also we recommend that the houses be mixed together more in the classes and that the classes themselves be broken up based on level of skill or knowledge at each year level."

"Why? The current system has worked just fine." Gwyr couldn't see why they wanted to overturn the house system.

"Actually it has not." Jessup disagreed. "We have ample evidence that because the teachers also have teaching duties and in some cases because they have other duties in addition to teaching, like Professor McGonagall, they are unable to give the students in their houses the attention they need. For example did you know that during her first five years in Ravenclaw house that Luna Lovegood's possessions were constantly broken into and damaged? Professor Flitwick either was never informed, or was unable to devote the time needed to stop the harassment by a group of Miss Lovegood's own housemates who according to the speech given at each sorting were supposed to be her family when she was away from home. May the deity help anyone with a family like that at home. Did you also know that because of her numerous duties, Professor McGonagall was unable to spend adequate time with the students in her House? During Miss Ginny Weasley's first year, she failed to notice any changes in the girl's behaviour? While it may not have changed the outcome any, it is our contention that if each House had had a full time head and not just a part time one, they might have been able to pick up on the signs of possession that Miss Weasley must have shown or at least a change in personality that would indicate that something was wrong. Also according to Mr. Potter, when he tried to tell Professor McGonagall about Miss Umbridge using a restricted artefact on him in detention, he was told to keep his head down and avoid drawing attention to himself and that if he wasn't able to do that he would just have to accept the detentions."

Gwyr stared at the inspector in disbelief. He wouldn't have thought he would ever hear such things reported about Minerva McGonagall. She had always seemed so caring and concerned about the members of her house to him "What are you proposing?"

"As I said before, that the teachers will no longer be Heads of House and that a former student be hired to fulfil that role for each House. Their sole duty will be to be there for the students in their House's needs whether it be as a sounding board because they are homesick, or to help with homework or a problem." Jessup told him. "As for the recommendation about the classes, we think it would be better if all four houses have classes together at each year level rather than just the current system of placing two houses together. Also to avoid the problem of having the classes be too large for the teacher to handle we suggest that the classes be broken up based on skill level or knowledge of the children being taught. This will insure that children who can learn the material more quickly aren't held back and those who maybe need extra help in certain subjects can get that help without being made to feel as though they are worthless or stupid."

############

On January 7th, as the students were finishing up breakfast in the Great Hall, some of them noticed a stranger dressed in muggle clothes quietly entering the Great Hall and nudged their friends to alert them to his presence. These days at Hogwarts, strangers wither meant something very bad or very good was about to happen. They just didn't know what this stranger was going to bring with him.

The wizard, at least they assumed he was a wizard in spite of his muggle attire given he had gotten into Hogwarts, had an aura of power around him and that combined with the way he moved made the students think of Mad-Eye Moody though a younger one with a much slenderer build and shoulder length brown hair. He also seemed to be looking for someone. After a few moments it was apparent that he found the one he was seeking as he headed toward the end of the Ravenclaw table where Harry Potter was again seated next to Luna Lovegood.

Those Ravenclaws closest to the pair were surprised to see Potter smile when this strange wizard greeted him. "Hello Harry."

"Liam, this is a surprise." Potter shook the other wizard's hand. "What are you doing here?"

"It's been a week since the end of Fudge's trial." Dantes reminded him.

"Oh yea, I forgot." Potter nodded. "The duel with Mrs. Weasley is supposed to be today."

"You're still going to be my second aren't you?" Dantes wanted to know.

"Of course." Potter assured him. "Wild Hippogriffs couldn't stop me."

The name Liam sounded familiar and it took the eavesdropping Ravenclaws a few minutes to place make the connection with the articles they'd been reading over the past few weeks. Liam Dantes! Despite his attire of muggle jeans and shirt, this was the Heir to the Ravenclaw line! This man standing near their table was the Heir of their Founder!

Word quickly spread down the table, but before one of the seventh year prefects could greet the Ravenclaw heir, Dumbledore walked up to him. "Lord Ravenclaw, it is a pleasure to see you again. If you will join me in my office we can have our discussion in private."

"Headmaster Dumbledore," Dantes countered dryly, "I did not come to meet with you. I have an honour duel today if you will recall with Molly Prewitt Weasley and it is to be fought here in the Great Hall at 10am."

"Lord Ravenclaw," Dumbledore spoke up trying to be conciliatory. "A duel with Mrs. Weasley will solve nothing and only create more ill feelings between you. One of you should be the better person and apologise and call off this duel."

"Then I suggest you speak to the one who made the challenge and not me." Dantes countered. "If she wishes to retract her challenge, I will have no problem with that, but I will not apologise for what I said regarding her daughter or her family since it is most likely true."

"Lord Ravenclaw by your own admission, you are duelling master, which puts Mrs. Weasley at a severe disadvantage." Dumbledore persisted.

"Which is why I insisted that this duel be a paintball duel." Dantes reminded him.

Aware of the eavesdropping students and not wanting to give them any more ammunition, Dumbledore used the only power he had as Headmaster over a Founder's heir and even then it wasn't absolute. "Lord Ravenclaw, as Headmaster, I must ask that you come to my office so that we can discuss this matter among others in privacy."

Dantes nodded. "Very well Headmaster, I will come to your office, but do not think you will change my mind. The mind that must be changed is Molly Weasley's."

###########

"Lord Ravenclaw, why are you so willing to duel a woman who is nowhere near your equal? You do realise it makes you look like a bully." Dumbledore pointed out once they were in his office.

"I am not the one who offered the challenge to a duel." Dantes reminded him. "I am not the one who wanted to be magically bound appear and fight. Molly Weasley was the one who issued the challenge and magically bound us both to this duel. She either will have to see it through or if she does withdraw or fail to show up, then she will forfeit her honour."

"But we are not talking about a magically binding contract." Dumbledore persisted. "You do not have to duel Mrs. Weasley."

"Actually we are. A challenge to a duel that is made with every intention of it being carried out by the offering party and accepted by the party it was offered to is in fact every bit as binding as the contracts for the Triwizard Tournament, except in this case instead of a person's magic being lost, it's their honour that is." Dantes pulled out his watch and looked at it. "And Molly Weasley has thirty minutes to appear or forfeit the duel and her precious honour."

"But Molly wasn't thinking clearly when she made that challenge. You had just insulted her daughter and her families honour." Dumbles reminded him.

Dantes looked him straight in the eye, "If you want this duel stopped, you are talking to the wrong person. You need to be talking with Mrs. Weasley. I don't know why you are in such a hurry to stop it. No one is going to get hurt. It is simply a paintball duel."

"But it may not stay that way." Dumbledore reminded him.

"It will on my part, unless Mrs. Weasley chooses to sacrifice her honour to win the duel." Dantes countered.

As Dumbledore made a firecall to the Weasley's home, Dantes walked over to the phoenix perch and whispered, "Hello Fawkes."

Fawkes stared into the hazel eyes for a moment and then took a quick look at his bonded before stretching out his head and rubbing it against the man's hand.

"You like me now," Dantes commented in a very low voice, "but will you like me at the end of the year when I give the old fool what he richly deserves?"

Fawkes gave him a reproachful look.

"Oh don't worry, he's not going to be dead, but he's not going to be too happy either." Dantes warned him. "He is going to pay for all the crimes he's committed in his quest for the so-called Greater Good."

Fawkes gave him a soulful look, but Dantes shook his head. "Not even you can change my mind, Fawkes. He has been meddling too long and destroyed too many lives. It ends now, before he can cause more harm. Now I have a question for you. Why do you stay with him, Fawkes? You know he is no longer Light, so why stay."

Fawkes whistled a mournful note.

"So you care about the meddling old coot," Dantes concluded, "and you think you can turn him back toward the Light?"

Fawkes nodded.

"Hate to tell you this, Fawkes, but I think it's too late for him." Dantes told the phoenix softly. "All you are doing with your presence at his side is fooling people into thinking he's still on the side of Light. They don't realise he is Grey and a Dark Grey at that. If he'd done half the things he's done to me to Neville or say even Malfoy someone would be screaming their bloody heads off, if not burning him at the stake, but because I have no one to speak up for me, he gets away with everything he's ever done to me, because you are still here. You may not want to believe me, but just think about it."

Dumbledore pulled his head out of the fire and looked around for Dantes only to seeing him standing near Fawkes petting the phoenix. Dumbledore was glad to see that, it meant that the man was a good person. He'd always found Fawkes to be an excellent judge of character.

"Molly is on her way." Dumbledore announced, getting to his feet.

"So you couldn't convince her to call off the duel either." Dantes concluded.

"Regrettably no," Dumbledore told him. "She has get hold of Arthur since he is her second, but they should be here in time. Since I am not able to change either of your minds there is another matter I would like to discuss with you that concerns Hogwarts itself."

#########

Molly and Arthur Weasley stared around the Great Hall in surprise. The tables and benches were gone. Instead there were wooden barriers scattered around the room.

"You are a little late, Mrs. Weasley." Dantes observed. "I was beginning to wonder if you had changed your mind and decided to sacrifice your honour."

"Not on your life!" Molly hissed.

"Fortunately for me, my life is not on the line and neither is yours, since this is a paintball duel." Dantes pulled a shrunken case out of a pouch at his waist and enlarged it. Opening it, he pulled several items out and handed them to Molly. "You will need these."

Molly looked at the clear, over large things that looked like glasses, a half mask looking thing that looked like it was to be worn on the lower half of someone's face and something wooden that she couldn't figure out. "What are these?"

"These," Dantes tapped the clear large glasses, "are to protect your eyes. The have been treated with an Impervius charm so that the paint won't stick to them so that you will always be able to see. The mask is to be worn so you don't accidentally swallow or breathe in the paint. And last but not least," he slid his wand into the groove on the top of the wooden thing, "this is similar to the muggle pistols used in muggle paintball tournaments. It links to the core of your wand and allows you to aim and fire the orbis pigmento spell that produces the balls of coloured paint."

"You have got to be kidding!" Molly stared at the things in disgust. "We are supposed to be fighting a proper duel, not a children's game. I didn't come here to play some game with you. I came here for a duel to defend my family's honour."

"Actually madam, children in the muggle world and even in the parts of the magical world where this is paintball is used as a form of training and entertainment do not take part in the tournaments, because the paintballs themselves can cause bruising when they make contact. It is primarily adults and older teens that engage in this sport. And as I also told you, madam, unless you want to wind up severely injured or dead, you will stop disputing the original terms agreed to by your second. I have no problem fighting a real duel, but be warned, I will fight to win if that is the case and to me winning will be you dead or permanently incapacitated. I haven't lost a duel yet and you won't be my first." Dantes' expressionless face convinced Molly that he was deadly serious.

"How we know which of us won the duel if we simply use paintballs?" Molly wanted to know. "In a normal duel, the winner is clear because one of the duellists is down and unable to continue duelling."

"That is quite simple, madam," Dantes assured her. "In muggle paintball tournaments and some of the magical ones I have seen and participated in, they have a time limit usually of about thirty minutes to an hour. The ones covered with the most paint are the losers and that is the method we will use. If you are agreeable our duel will last thirty minutes and then we will see which of us is the loser."

"Very well," Molly huffed.

Dantes showed her how to put on the glasses and mask that was to protect the lower half of her face. He also showed her how to make sure her wand was properly slotted in the strange pistol shaped handle so that it would still fire spells.

"Now madam, since you are unfamiliar with the spell we will be using and the means by which it is fired, you may have twenty minutes to practice it." Dantes told her. "The spell is quite simple, a first year could do it. Simply aim at one of the wooden barriers and say orbis pigmento while thinking of the colour you would like the ball of paint to be. Once you can fire it well, we will have our duel."

The three men watched from near the wall as Molly Weasley practised the spell and learned to move around the barriers and obstacles.

"Your wife should've worn different clothes, Mr. Weasley." Dantes observed as she moved around the room. "Her mobility is going to be affected by that skirt of hers, but unless she is good at transfiguration, it is too late for her to change into a pair of pants now."

Arthur had to agree with that assessment, but simply said, "Molly never wears pants. She says it's not proper for a lady to wear men's clothes."

"She may regret that choice before this is over. I see she has also found out that the pistol grip will allow her to fire other spells if needed." Dantes commented, as a red bolt of spell energy hit the barrier Molly was firing at. "The designers left it that way, since some tournaments are fought in the woods where magical creatures among others are roaming about and they didn't want to take away a person's ability to defend themselves, by having to waste time removing their wand from the pistol grip."

As Molly fired several more standard spells at the barrier, Dantes shouted. "Since you now seem to have the paint spell down practise time is up, madam."

Arthur looked around the room and realised that someone was missing. "We need a referee to start and oversee the duel."

"Who would you suggest?" Harry asked.

"Either Dumbledore or Flitwick," Arthur suggested. "Both of them are considered expert duellers, though Flitwick has a Mastery in Duelling along with his Charms mastery."

"If he is available, I would prefer this Flitwick." Dantes named his choice. "Can he be gotten here quickly?"

"He teaches here." Harry told him.

"I would prefer the Headmaster to start the duel." Molly countered.

"I think Flitwick has seventh year Gryffindors right about now," Arthur commented. "Ron and Hermione are both in his class so I know the schedule."

Dantes shrugged, "then let it be Dumbledore."

"Tibby," Arthur called one of the Hogwarts house elves.

When the house elf appeared Arthur made his request and the elf disappeared with a pop. It reappeared a few minutes later and whispered something to Arthur. Arthur nodded his thanks.

"Dumbledore will be down in a few minutes." Arthur announced.

########

Once Dumbledore arrived, Dantes cast a spell to create a visible stopwatch and said, "The clock will start the moment Dumbledore begins the duel and when the alarm sounds the duel is ended, understood, Mrs. Weasley?"

She nodded her understanding.

Dantes glanced at the Headmaster, "Are you going to close the doors to give us some privacy, Dumbledore?"

"No, There is no reason too." Dumbledore told him.

"Very well," Dantes aimed his ash grey wand at the doorway and made an arcing gesture. A bolt of white energy hit the keystone of the doorway arch and a barrier shimmered into being. "That will ensure that no students can enter the Great Hall while the duel is in progress. For their own safety and ours."

Dumbledore nodded, pleased that the man at least cared about the students who went to his ancestor's school. "If you are both ready?"

Dantes nodded.

Molly said, "Lets get this over with."

"Bow," Dumbledore requested and when they had done so, he counted, "Three… two… one."

Both duellists immediately shouted, "orbis pigmento" before dodging for the nearest barricade.

The paint balls of red and green impacted on the shields that Dumbledore had placed a few inches from the walls of the Great Hall to protect them from paint splatters. A student passing by the Great Hall heard the shouting and stopped to watch then realised he was watching a very unusual duel and hurried to get a few of his friends so they could see this as well.

Molly and Dantes darted around firing paint ball spells at each other. Some of them made contact, but not all. The floor and barriers were soon covered in paint.

Molly kept an eye on the clock Dantes had thoughtfully provided, and waited for her chance. She would only get one shot at taking down this man who insulted her honour.

As the time started to run out and Molly was well covered in paint, she saw her chance. Pointing her wand at Dantes, she whispered, "Stupify."

The beam of red light struck Dantes and he collapsed. Harry seeing the deliberate attack by Mrs Weasley, pointed his staff in her direction and shouted, "Incarecerous!"

Ropes wrapped themselves tightly around Molly before anyone else in the room had a chance to react, sending her crashing to the ground.

"Your wife has forfeited her honour, by breaking the terms of the duel." Harry announced.

"I did not!" Molly retorted as Arthur went over to free her. "I never agreed to them! I fought a proper duel and took down my opponent!"

Dumbledore looked at Molly surprised. He never would've expected her to cheat. "Molly, I am afraid that I must agree with Mr. Potter. Having heard the terms that were stated, when you challenged Lord Ravenclaw during Fudge's trial before the High Council and the fact that you did not disagree with them at that time, you were bound to honour them or tell him before the duel began that you would not."

Arthur looked at his wife in surprise, his eyes wide as if he was seeing her for the first time. "Molly," he hissed, "if you were not going to accept the terms you should have said so before the duel started. Not only have you have betrayed the honour of the Prewitts, but the Weasleys as well. I agreed to the terms on your behalf as was proper and never once did you say that you would not abide by them." Arthur shook his head as if to wipe the memory of what his wife had done from his mind. "I am ashamed of you, Molly. Today you showed me that you do not believe in honour, something that we taught our children was one of the most important things they had. I don't know how you will be able to face our children when they learn what you have done. Did you even think of how this will affect them? How people will react to them when they learn who their mother is and what she has done. You have also dragged us even further than ever from any chance of reconciliation with Harry, given he too has seen that you are without honour."

"You're a fool Arthur if you think we have a chance at reconciling with that boy." Molly spat as she struggled with the ropes binding her. "He's a lost cause and in your heart you know it. The only question remaining is how much damage is he going to do before you admit it to yourself."

Dumbledore shook his head sadly. He never thought he would see Molly Weasley sink so low as to violate the terms of a duel. He went over and pointed his wand at Dantes, "Enervate."

Dantes looked up in confusion. "What happened?"

With a thoughtful look on his face, Dumbledore opened his mouth to reply but before he could say anything Harry chimed in, "Mrs. Weasley cheated. She used a Stupify spell on you to knock you out."

Sitting up Dantes looked over at Molly Weasley not with a hateful or angry expression but with an expression that proclaimed louder than words that he knew she was a woman with no honour and that her actions had just confirmed it.

Getting to his feet Dantes walked over to where Molly had been brought to her feet by her husband, still bound by the ropes Harry had placed there.

Removing his wand from the pistol grip he pointed it at her. "Be grateful, madam," Dantes said in calm almost deadly tone of voice, "that I do not attack those unable to retaliate. You have proven you and your family are without honour. By violating the terms of the duel, you have forfeited what little honour you ever held. From this day forward, your dishonour will be plain for all to see when they look at you."

A bolt of grey light left Dantes wand and hit Molly. The ropes binding her vanished, but as both Arthur and Dumbledore watched the word: dishonoured was written across her forehead in red letters.

In the silence that had fallen on the Great Hall after Dantes' spell hit Molly, they all heard the sound of voices near the door way and that was quickly followed by scurrying feet. Dumbledore looked up to see children disappearing from the Great Hall entry way.

"Told you, you should have closed the doors." Dantes commented to Dumbledore as he gestured at the keystone to remove the barrier. "Word of Molly Weasley's dishonour will spread far and wide before you can stop it."

"And unfortunately added to what Ginny has already done by attacking Luna," Harry put in. "The Weasley name may be only a little higher on the scale than the Malfoy name, by the time this makes the rounds."

########

They were just finishing up the final steps on their potions when there was a knock on the lab door. When it opened, Terry Boot stuck his head inside and said quietly, "Professor Wilmot, the Headmaster would like to see Harry Potter as soon as possible."

Wilmot nodded, then she told Harry, "Mr. Potter, since class is almost over, I will grade your potion on what has been done up to this point. If you would like to try and get the grade for the completed potion, you can come back to redo the potion after classes today."

"Yes Professor," Harry turned off the fire under his cauldron and them gathered up his equipment and went to join Boot who was waiting by the door.

"What did you do to upset Dumbledore now, Harry?" Boot inquired. It was well known that these days the only time the Headmaster asked to see Harry was when he had done something to annoy him.

Harry shrugged. "I have no idea. I haven't done anything that could even remotely be considered a problem since the duel between Mrs. Weasley and Lord Ravenclaw and that was several months ago. And that would only be a problem if you were a Weasley."

Boot nodded in agreement with that last statement. Ron Weasley had been avoiding Harry like he had the plague since the duel where his mother dishonoured herself and Gryffindor House by breaking the agreed upon rules of a duel. What no one had been able to figure out was why she had done it. That was a tactic the Slytherins would've used not someone from Gryffindor. Surely beating Dantes wasn't worth the loss of someone's personal honour.

When they arrived at the gargoyle guarding the Headmaster's office, Boot said, "Pepper imps."

The gargoyle slid aside and Terry told Harry, "Go on up, he's waiting for you."

Harry shrugged and headed up the stairs, wondering what the meddling old coot had in mind now.

As soon as Harry had entered the office, he was knocked into the nearest wall by a strong slap to the side of his face.

"How dare you take advantage of my daughter like that," Harry heard a voice he recognized as Molly Weasley's yelling at him. "Haven't you done enough damage to my family? Percy is in Azkaban because of you. The twins won't speak to or even see us, because of you. And now you have to take my baby girl's innocence and get her pregnant. We should have left you in Azkaban."

Harry managed to get out of the way of the woman's flailing arm, long enough to cast, "petrificous totalis."

As he looked around the Headmaster's office, he saw Arthur standing off to one side of Molly his wand out is if he were in the process of trying to cast a spell. Ginny was standing near Fawkes' perch a confident smile on her face as she looked at him.

"Now that the shrew has been silenced at least for now, would someone care to tell me just what the hell she was screaming at me about?" Harry asked taking a seat as far away from the petrified Mrs. Weasley as it was possible to get in the little office.

Unable to contain the news she had for one moment longer, Ginny said. "I'm going to have your baby!"

Harry shook his head certain that there was a problem with his hearing. "You want to run that by me one more time, cause I thought I heard Miss Weasel say she was going to have my baby."

AN: orbis pigmento – ball paint