The right path

Eighteen

When Harry arrived to the Room of Requirements later that day Tom was already there, as he had predicted. But he was not reading as he had initially thought, he was having a very heavy spar with one of the conscious mannequins the room provided.

"Wouldn't it be better if you practiced with a real person, Riddle?"

Harry saw how Tom's shoulders tensed when he heard that. He hadn't noticed Harry before he spoke.

"It would be, if said person was able to catch up with me."

Harry snorted at that. Of course Tom would think himself superior to the others, so much that he didn't even consider them a threat, even now. Well, Harry would give him an opponent, not the sorry excuse of the mannequin.

"I think I'll manage."

That was definitely not something Riddle was expecting, but he wasn't about to turn down the offer. Both boys had been itching to do this ever since their first face off when Harry arrived to Hogwarts.

"I would not be so sure Potter."

A smirk appeared in both of their faces. There was no backing down now. They assumed their fighting stance and faced each other.

To Harry's not so great surprise, Tom's first spell was a nonverbal stupefy, if the wand movement had anything to say about that. Honestly, that boy was a showoff most of the time. Harry ducked easily and sent a disarming spell at him, also nonverbally. If Tom wanted to play, that was what he was going to get.

They continued on with their spar, increasing the difficulty every passing second. Both boys felt the magical currents around them vibrating with their every move, shifting with every spell, hex and jinx. After half an hour or so of intense dueling, they started using bursts of raw magic against each other, in an attempt to overpower their opponent, but even then, their powers were matched. Not once did a spell hit it's target, and Merlin knows it wasn't because of their lack of aim.

Finally, an hour before curfew they had both exhausted their cores, thus stopping the duel. It had been pretty intense, and for them, pretty frustrating, since they couldn't once get the upper hand. Harry of course expected this, with all the 'power to match the Dark Lord' thingy, but he felt quite disheartened with the whole situation nonetheless.

After recovering for some minutes, they decided to start looking for what they originally came here for. Anything about their thing, as they had gotten to call it.

First, they began looking in a neutral magic book about magical connections. There, they found the different classifications of magical connections, including the object-object, the object-person, the place-person, and the interpersonal connections, mainly. Of course there were multiple others to choose from, but they were not relevant in this case. The one, in fact, that made the most sense was the interpersonal connections classification, which studied the multiple ways a person can relate to another by magical means.

When they decided they were going to try their luck in that area, they asked the room for a more specific book. Out of thin air the "The Ancient Magicks of Interpersonal Connections" book appeared. This book in concrete was very difficult to find, since it was published only once before it was banned in the country. Why? Because of the dark nature of many of the rituals portrayed. Sure, it was a book that contained theory, spells and rituals, not all of them dark, but it was enough to make people paranoid.

Soon enough, they ended in a promising theory section. Types of bonds between people. Those were the most powerful connections to be found, and most importantly, some of them didn't require a specific ritual to be present. Perfect place to start.