'Something to do with Noble and Most Ancient Houses?' said Harry from beside her, sounding puzzled. 'I didn't violate some kind of crazy law by firing on Daphne, did I?'
'Not quite,' the man said with heavy irony. 'Since Miss Greengrass did not invoke the correct dueling forms, she is not entitled to demand that you be stripped of your House name. Although of course I would not have permitted a formal duel. Wars do not respect such rules.' The Defense Professor leaned forward and rested his chin on steepled hands, as though sitting upright had already tired him. His eyes gazed at them, sharp and dangerous. 'General Malfoy. Why did I call you here?'
'General Potter against the two of us isn't a fair fight anymore,' Draco Malfoy said in a quiet voice.
'What?' blurted Hermione. 'We almost had them, if Daphne hadn't fainted -'
'Miss Greengrass did not faint from magical exhaustion,' Professor Quirrell said dryly. 'Mr. Potter shot her in the back with a Sleep Hex while your soldiers were distracted by the sight of their general flying into a wall. But congratulations nonetheless, Miss Granger, on almost defeating two Chaotic Legionnaires with a mere twenty-four Sunshine Soldiers.'
The blood flaming in her cheeks grew a little hotter. 'That - that was just - if I'd only figured out he was wearing armor -'
Professor Quirrell gazed at her from over touched fingers. 'Of course there are ways you could have won, Miss Granger. There always are, in every lost battle. The world around us redunds with opportunities, explodes with opportunities, which nearly all folk ignore because it would require them to violate a habit of thought; in every battle a thousand Hufflepuff bones waiting to be sharpened into spears. If you had thought to try a massed Finite Incantatem on general principles, you would have dispelled Mr. Potter's suit of chainmail and everything else he was wearing except his underwear, which leads me to suspect that Mr. Potter did not quite realize his own vulnerability. Or you could have had your soldiers swarm Mr. Potter and Mr. Longbottom and physically wrest the wands from their hands. Mr. Malfoy's own response was not what I would term well-reasoned, but at least he did not wholly ignore his thousand alternatives.' A sardonic smile. 'But you, Miss Granger, had the misfortune to remember how to cast the Stunning Hex, and so you did not search your excellent memory for a dozen easier spells that might have proved efficacious. And you pinned all your army's hopes on your own person, so they lost spirit when you fell. Afterward they continued to cast their futile Sleep Hexes, governed by the habits of fighting that had been trained into them, unable to break the pattern as Mr. Malfoy did. I cannot quite comprehend what goes through people's minds when they repeat the same failed strategy over and over, but apparently it is an astonishingly rare realization that you can try something else. And so the Sunshine Regiment was wiped out by two soldiers.' The Defense Professor grinned mirthlessly. 'One perceives certain similarities to how fifty Death Eaters dominated all of magical Britain, and how our much-loved Ministry continues in its rule.'
The Defense Professor sighed. 'Nonetheless, Miss Granger, the fact remains that this is not the first such defeat for you. In the previous battle, you and Mr. Malfoy united your forces, and yet you were fought to a standstill, so that you and Mr. Malfoy had to pursue Mr. Potter onto the roof. The Chaos Legion has now demonstrated, twice in succession, military strength equal to both other armies combined. This leaves me no choice. General Potter, you will select eight soldiers from your army, including at least one Chaotic Lieutenant, to be divided among Dragon Army and the Sunshine Regiment -'
'What?' Hermione burst out again, she glanced over at the other generals and saw that Harry looked as shocked as her, while Draco Malfoy only looked resigned.
'General Potter is stronger than both of you together,' Professor Quirrell said with calm precision. 'Your contest is over, he has won, and it is time to rebalance the three armies to present him with a renewed challenge.'
'Professor Quirrell!' said Harry. 'I didn't -'
'This is my decision as the Professor of Battle Magic at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and it is not subject to negotiation.' The words were still precise, but the look in Professor Quirrell's eyes chilled Hermione's blood, even though he was glaring at Harry and not at her. 'And I find it suspicious, Mr. Potter, that the moment you wished to isolate Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy and force them to chase you onto the roof, you were able to annihilate just exactly as much of their united force as you pleased. Indeed, that is the level of performance I expected of you since the start of this year, and I am annoyed to discover that you have been holding back in my classes this entire time! I have seen what you can truly do, Mr. Potter. You are far beyond the point where Mr. Malfoy or Miss Granger can fight you on an equal level, and you will not be permitted to pretend otherwise. This, Mr. Potter, I tell you in my capacity as your professor: For you to learn to your full potential, you must exercise your full abilities and not hold back for any reason - particularly not childish frets over what your friends might think!'
She left the Defense Professor's office with a larger army, and less dignity, and feeling a lot like a sad little bug that had just been squished, and trying very very hard not to cry.
'I wasn't holding back!' Harry said as soon as they turned the first corner away from Professor Quirrell's office, the moment the wooden door faded out of sight behind the stone walls. 'I wasn't pretending, I never let either of you win!'
She didn't answer, couldn't answer, it would all break loose if she tried to say a word.
'Really?' said Draco Malfoy. The Dragon General still had that air of resignation. 'Because Quirrell's right, you know, it's suspicious that you could beat nearly everyone in both our armies as soon as you wanted to make us chase you onto the roof. And didn't you say something then, Potter, about us needing to beat you when you were fighting for real?'
The burning sensation was creeping up her throat, and when it reached her eyes she would burst into tears, and from then on she would be just a crying little girl to both of them.
'That -' Harry's voice said urgently, she wasn't looking at him but his voice sounded like he had his head turned toward her. 'That was - I tried a lot harder that time, there was an important reason, I had to, so I used a whole bunch of tricks I'd been saving up - and -'
She'd always been trying her hardest, every time.
'- and I, I let out a side of myself I wouldn't usually use for something like Defense class -'
So if she ever got close to winning against Harry when it really mattered, he could just go into his dark side and crush her, was that it?
...of course it was. She couldn't even look Harry in the eyes when he was being scary, how had she ever thought she could beat him for real?
The corridor forked, and Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy went left toward a staircase that climbed to the second
