Harry Potter Versus

Chapter One

The Hulk

Published April 28, 2012

Harry Potter awakened slowly, feeling groggy and hung over. He rubbed his eyes, trying to get the sleep out of them, and felt his glasses still on his face; how had he managed to drink so much that he'd fallen asleep in the middle of his birthday party? At least he was lying down on something soft.

At last able to get his eyes open, Harry looked around, expecting to find himself in a room at the Leaky Cauldron, or at least on the floor with a Cushioning Charm beneath him. But he wasn't in a building at all.

Harry sat up and looked around blearily, sleepiness still tugging at his eyelids. He was outside somewhere; there was a grove of trees around him, with bushes and other ground cover growing haphazardly, and an open field with rocky terrain ahead of him. Next to him, on his right side was his trusted holly wand, the wand he'd had since his eleventh birthday, nine years ago yesterday, when he'd attended a party in his honor at the Leaky Cauldron given by his fellow Aurors and his best mate, Ron Weasley.

It had been a festive evening, Harry remembered. He, Ron, and several Aurors were also celebrating his second year in the Auror Department, and the Merlin's Best mead and firewhiskey had flowed freely. Gawain Robards, who'd been reinstated as Head Auror by Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt after his election to the leadership of Wizarding Britain's government, had toasted him for his hard work in clearing up many of the loose ends left after Voldemort's death and the disbandment of his Death Eaters. Everyone there had had a good time. So what was he doing here?

It must be a bit of taking the mickey out of me, Harry thought. Part of Auror Training was a survival exercise where an Auror trainee was placed in a wilderness area, in any of a half-dozen countries across Scandinavia and Europe, and was expected to make his way back to headquarters, while other Auror trainees attempted to apprehend him before he could make it back.

Harry had never gone through that training, though he had taken most of the other coursework that Aurors normally went through. Ron, who had gone to work with George at the joke shop after the Battle of Hogwarts, was currently in Auror Training as well, though he'd been given the same opportunity Harry had—Kingsley had wanted them to become Aurors straightaway, right after the battle; he'd considered the year they spent finding Voldemort's Horcruxes sufficient "training" and convincing evidence that they were ready for the Auror position, even without the requisite N.E.W.T.S., but Ron had felt he needed to go through the training before becoming an Auror himself. Kingsley would have made Hermione an Auror as well if she hadn't decided to return to Hogwarts to complete her last year of education.

Still a little sleepy, Harry leaned back on his hands for a moment, resting, until he realized that his left hand was on top of something other than grass. He picked up the object and found that it was a sealed envelope, addressed to H.J. Potter. It was a Muggle envelope, made of paper with the flap glued shut. Harry ran two fingers along one side, using a small wandless spell Hermione had taught him, and the side of the envelope split open. Inside was a letter, which Harry unfolded and began reading.

To Harry Potter,

Greetings from an Admirer!

I have been observing your career at the Ministry for the past two years and congratulate you on the progress you've made; both you and Ron Weasley have made tremendous strides there despite the fact that both of you are riding on the coattails of Minister Shacklebolt's futile attempt to reform Wizarding Britain's government, along with the help of Hermione Granger. Without her influence on Shacklebolt, you and Weasley would have been sacked long ago.

Was this person serious? Harry wondered, frowning at the letter. Hermione had only been working at the Ministry since last year, after she'd earned five N.E.W.T.S. at Hogwarts, all with Outstanding scores. She was currently working in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, trying to get more rights for house-elves; a continuation of her efforts with S.P.E.W. the organization she had formed at Hogwarts in her fourth year. He and Ron, in the Auror Department, had nothing directly to do with her. How was that in any way "riding on her coattails?" Shaking his head in disbelief, Harry continued to read.

I'm sure this is not something you can admit right now, but no matter — I do not intend to debate politics with you. We are here for a different reason, which I am sure you are quite keen to learn about.

I propose a test of your wizard abilities against an opponent who is physically stronger than you, but has no innate magical abilities of his own. That should not be a disability for him, however — he can be quite resistant to many magical spells. Your objective is to stop him before he leaves the combat arena, a circle with a radius of about one hundred miles from your current location.

As to where you are… for now, let this remain my secret. It is isolated from human contact, both wizards and Muggles, but there are human towns within a hundred miles of where you are right now, and if your opponent in this little contest were to enter one of those towns, serious damage and perhaps injury or even death could occur to the humans living there.

This was madness. Harry could not imagine anyone capable of such destruction without magical abilities. Even with them, a wizard could not cause much destruction before an Auror team was dispatched to stop him and to prevent more property damage or harm to people.

And who would have done something like this to him? Harry had briefly wondered if George and Ron were playing a prank on him, but they would not have written what this letter accused him of, even in jest. The same went for anyone in the Auror Office — some of the long-time Aurors there had initially opposed him joining their ranks, especially without the expected education or training, but they had come to see what being an Auror meant to him, and had accepted him as one of their own.

Most of them had, at least. Harry had been learning to think like an Auror for the past two years; he had to at least consider the possibility that this could be a malicious trick by someone in the Auror Office, harboring resentment toward him, was perpetrating on him. There were a couple of candidates he could think of. Both Everard Proudfoot and Thomas Savage had been cool toward Harry when he began his Auror duties, refusing to partner with a "rookie." Now, two years later, they had both attended Harry's party the previous evening, but had remained aloof, sitting away from him and next to each other; Harry had noticed them laughing quietly together when Harry was being toasted by other Aurors. Either one of them might have set up this confrontation with…who or whatever Harry was supposed to confront. He went back to reading the letter.

Now, as to the identity of your opponent… you should find him quite a challenge. He was originally an American physicist and radiation expert who was exposed to gamma radiation. That should have killed him, but instead it somehow forced a mutation to his DNA that cascaded throughout his entire physical structure, allowing him to transform into a large, green-skinned hulk of a human during periods of increased stress to his system. In fact, he was code-named "The Hulk" by the American military.

If you are able to prevent him from reaching an inhabited area without him killing you, you will be returned to London where you may continue your Auror activities. If not — well, my point about your lack of real ability will have been made.

Look sharp, now! The Hulk has been set loose even as you are reading this. Time to prove that you are an Auror in fact, not just in name.

The letter ended without signature, not that Harry had expected one. He refolded the letter and replaced it in the envelope — it could come in handy later for identifying the author if — when! — he returned to the Ministry.

Harry stood and unconsciously dusted himself off, noticing he was still wearing the jeans and black T-shirt he'd had on last night at the Leaky Cauldron. The t-shirt was a present from Hermione two Christmas past — on it were white letters that said, "I defeated Lord Voldemort and all I got was this lousy t-shirt!" Seeing the name on still tended to make many wizards uncomfortable, though Muggles who'd seen it mostly thought Voldemort was a character in a video game or comic book.

Harry walked to the edge of the grove of trees and surveyed the field in front of him. Beyond it he could see rocky hills, while off to the right there was a sparsely-populated forest. On the left, the field turned into a dry plain. Beyond that Harry sensed even dryer terrain. It did not feel like he was anywhere in England, or even Scotland or Ireland.

Pointing his wand straight into the air, Harry silently cast Comperius Locus, the Location Charm. The strength of the resulting sensation would tell him about how far he was from a known location — in this case Ministry of Magic Headquarters in London. A strong sensation would be relatively close while a weaker one would mean he was some distance away.

There was no sensation at all. Harry pondered that for a moment — it meant he was very far away from London, on the order of thousands of miles distant. He could be in Eastern Asia, or North or South America. It was worth noting, he recalled, that Auror trainees (the ones who actually took the full Auror Training Courses, unlike him) were brought to various locations around the world so they could cast the Location Charm using landmarks from that region.

If the letter-writer was even half-truthful, Harry was going to have to find this Hulk creature and incapacitate it somehow, assuming he couldn't force it back into its human form. He began casting a series of Homenum Revelio spells, hoping to locate the creature, but nothing was showing — ah! Off to the right there was the flash of a revealing aura. Whatever this Hulk was, he was also near enough to human for the revealment charm to work. The size of the aura told Harry the Hulk was several hundred yards away. Harry quickly cast a charm for detecting Anti-Disapparition jinxes in the area; detecting none, he turned on the spot, Apparating toward the location of the creature.

Not too closely, though, because he didn't want to alert the creature with the sound of his appearance. He appeared at the edge of the forest he'd seen from the grove of trees, now a few hundred yards and more behind him. Another quick Homenum spell showed the Hulk's aura to be about forty yards away and in a sitting or resting position. The aura had also been unusually large, making Harry wonder just how big this Hulk was supposed to be. A mountain troll could grow to 12 feet in height — this human wasn't that big, but he didn't seem to be much smaller, either.

Reaching up to tap the top of his head with his wand, to cast the Disillusionment Charm, Harry suddenly remembered — his Invisibility Cloak was in his mokeskin pouch! The pouch, a gift from Hagrid the summer before he, Hermione and Ron began their hunt for Voldemort's Horcruxes, had turned out to be very useful during that time. Harry quietly drew the pouch from beneath his robes, reached in, and took out the Cloak, then pulled it silently over him, disappearing into thin air.

Before he began his approach, Harry cast one final charm: the Quieting Charm, a useful spell the Ministry kept under wraps and out of the books of standard spells. It prevented any sound a person made from being heard outside a limited range. Very useful for approaching targets while Disillusioned or Cloaked — it kept them from hearing you even if they couldn't see you. Now invisible and silent, Harry moved toward the human's position.

When the Hulk finally came into view, in a small clearing not far from the edge of the forest, Harry stopped, momentarily impressed by his appearance. The Hulk looked immensely powerful for a human, like something chiseled from living rock or metal. It wasn't as big as a mountain troll, but was easily seven or eight feet tall, he estimated. The creature was sitting against an outcropping of rock, seemingly half-asleep. Its legs were pulled up in front of it, with huge forearms resting on its knees. The head was bent forward, the eyes lidded, and its breathing was clearly audible (the Quieting Charm didn't impede sound coming inward, only outward).

Then the Auror in him took over, and Harry began calculating how he might render such a being harmless. A Stunner was highly unlikely to work; it took several cast simultaneously to work on Hagrid, and this creature looked like it could easily manhandle the half-giant.

How resistant was this — Hulk — to magic, really, Harry wondered. The letter was suspect — he couldn't just take the word of someone who would put him in this kind of situation. Chains might hold him, Harry estimated, but anything he conjured would not last long before fading away. He'd have to Transfigure some from nearby resources, enough to bind its arms and legs tightly. Something like the kind of chains he'd seen Charlie Weasley and other dragon wranglers use on the dragons for the Triwizard Tournament, Harry decided. Then, he hoped, he could use a powerful Sleep Charm on the creature, like the one Fleur had used on her dragon during the first Triwizard Tournament task.

At that moment the Hulk raised its head and looked around. Its gaze turned in Harry's direction; the creature frowned, then snarled. "Puny human!" it roared, in a basso profundo voice. "Leave Hulk alone!"

For a bare moment Harry froze, confused. How can it see me? he thought in bewilderment. I'm under the Cloak! Then the Hulk surged to his feet, muscles rippling, and bared his teeth in a snarl of rage, and Harry's Auror skills took over. His wand snapped up, pointing toward the behemoth, and he shouted, "Dormius Profundum Suscitos!" at the same time moving his wand in the complicated patterns needed to evoke the spell.

The Hulk collapsed to his knees and fell forward, just barely catching himself on his hands. "Hulk smash…puny…human…" it growled, then fell over on its side. "Hulk…crush…" but then the creature rolled over onto its back and lay still. "Hulk…tired…" he muttered, as Harry watched warily from beneath the Cloak. And just that quickly, it seemed, the fight was over. Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He removed the Cloak, stowing it in his mokeskin pouch again. Now he could see about those chains…

There were several boulders nearby; Harry went over to the nearest one and began Transfiguring it into a length of chain long enough to wrap around the Hulks arms and legs. It would take a few seconds to complete the spell — he needed a couple dozen yards of chain, at least, to secure the monster…

The man-monster, Harry reminded himself. The Hulk had been a human once, at least according to the suspect letter. But he saw no reason to doubt that part of it. In any case, the Hulk could speak; Harry had to assume it was intelligent enough to understand what was happening to it once it woke up again. He didn't want to make things too uncomfortable for it. To do anything more than what was needed to keep it from attacking others would be cruel.

With the chains Transfigured, Harry turned his wand back toward the Hulk, using the Hover Charm to lift the creature's body a few feet in the air. The Hulk must weight upwards of a thousand pounds, Harry estimated, as its body rose very slowly in the air. The chains he'd created shot out from where they lay, wrapping around the Hulk's arms and legs, and Harry had them both pull tight, then magically fastened the first and last links to each other, securing the chains. That should hold him! Harry thought, pleased that he was able to end this conflict so quickly —

The Hulk's eyes opened, and with a roar of rage it snapped the chain binding its arms, sending broken links flying in all directions. Surprised, Harry still managed to create a Shield Charm to protect himself, and bits of broken metal ricocheted off his shield.

This Hulk was a lot stronger than he'd supposed, Harry realized, watching as it reached down and ripped the chain binding its legs apart. The Hover Charm broke and the Hulk slammed into the ground, but was instantly on its feet again and looking menacingly at Harry.

"Puny human attacks Hulk!" the monster roared, then reached down and grabbed two large rocks from the ground. Holding one in each hand, arms spread wide, the Hulk growled, "Leave Hulk alone!" then slammed the rocks together, sending a hail of broken pieces toward Harry.

Time to retreat, Harry thought. He would have to come up with a better strategy. He turned on the spot and Disapparated just as the shards of rock reached him.

Harry reappeared where he'd first awakened, then grunted and sat down hard on the ground, a hand going to a sharp pain in his right side. He felt a sticky warm wetness and realized that a piece of broken rock had hit him. It hadn't penetrated deeply but there was a grinding pain that told him it had fractured a rib or two. Just marvelous, he thought, angry at himself for being wounded. He would lose precious time tending to his injuries while the Hulk was doing who-knows-what.

Harry laid back, flat on the ground, to make it easier to extract the piece of rock from his side. The Auror training included basic first aid spells for setting broken bones and repairing wounds. Harry put his wand tip over the hole in his side and muttered the spell to draw the rock from his side, gritting his teeth in pain as it wriggled free. "Urgh," he grunted as the rock popped out and dropped on the ground beside him.

"Episkey," he muttered, and moaned as the cracked ribs painfully mended themselves. That was the worst of it, he knew. A final spell conjured a bandage to cover the wound in his side. Harry sat up, grunting as pain shot through him, pain he didn't have time for if he was going to find a way to keep the Hulk from reaching any nearby towns.

The mysterious writer of the letter he'd found earlier had told the truth about one thing, at least: the Hulk was resistant to magic. It had awakened from Harry's Bewitched Sleep spell and that should not have happened. Neither should the Hulk have been able to see Harry beneath his Invisibility Cloak!

Anomalies like this would make for some interesting conversations with the Weasleys and Hermione over a few butterbeers after this was all over, but right now Harry didn't have enough time to think about them — he had to contain the Hulk, somehow. And if the Hulk was resistant to magic he would have to do it indirectly — not using magic on the Hulk, but in ways to affect the environment to control or contain him — which, if the way he'd shattered those chains earlier, was not going to be easy…

Harry paused, listening to a sound that had begun to intrude on his thoughts. It was a low, thrumming sound, seemingly coming from all around him, and it was getting louder by the second. Then the ground began to shudder with each thrum, and Harry realized the Hulk must be on the move, and coming directly toward him. Sure enough, when Harry ran forward, to the edge of the grove he'd first appeared in, he could see the Hulk crossing the field toward him. His speed was incredible — he must be traveling four or five times as fast as a normal man could run! At his speed, he would be at the grove in seconds. Harry tensed, preparing for a fight he was unsure how to win.

But halfway across the clearing, the Hulk suddenly took a long, low leap forward, then jumped, shooting upward into the sky! Harry ran out of the grove, following the arc of the Hulk's leap until he disappeared beyond the horizon of the tree grove. "Bloody hell," Harry muttered, frustrated yet relieved at the same time. The Hulk had decided to run away, but that didn't make things any easier for Harry, who still had to stop him before he reached a populated area. Fortunately, there was a simple way for him to follow the man-monster. Harry reached into his mokeskin bag and pulled out a broom, a Nimbus 2100. Not the top broomstick in the Wizarding world these days (that honor still went to the Firebolt) but it was affordable, and having a broom was a handy item for occasions just like this. Harry quickly mounted the Nimbus and took off into the sky.

Once Harry was in the air, the figure of the Hulk was immediately noticeable as it bounded in miles-long leaps across the increasingly drier, rockier terrain. Harry had no idea how far they were from any populated areas, but he couldn't let the Hulk get close to one. He urged the Nimbus forward, shooting around the Hulk and getting in front of him. Harry pointed his wand and shouted, "Descendo!" The Hulk immediately began to fall earthward, slamming into the ground and blasting out a crater. Harry flew downward as well, taking the fight to the Hulk.

But even as he neared the ground the Hulk had clambered to his feet within the bowl of the crater he'd made, glaring up at Harry. "Stupid human makes Hulk mad!" he shouted at him. "The madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets!" He surged up out of the crater, grabbing a boulder several times his size and heaving it effortlessly at Harry, who easily dodged it. I need a new strategy, Harry thought, as the Hulk looked around for another boulder to heave at him. I wonder what would happen if I tried to just talk to it? If this Hulk was once a human, could I get through the monster and talk to the man inside it?

Well, it was worth a try, at least.

Harry landed around twenty yards from the Hulk, stepping off his broom and leaving it where it lay; he didn't want anything threatening in his hands, even a broomstick. "Hulk, stop!" he said, holding up his empty hands. "I don't want to fight you."

"Puny human tries to trick Hulk!" it growled at him, suspicious. "Puny humans always try to trick Hulk!"

"No trick," Harry shook his head, speaking slowly. "I don't want us to fight. You don't need to hurt anyone."

"Puny humans hurt Hulk!" the behemoth said, almost accusingly. "Puny humans won't leave Hulk alone. Hulk wants to be left alone."

"I understand," Harry nodded, moving slowly forward. A little closer and he could use some of the Legilimency techniques he'd been trained in; if he could understand the Hulk's motivations he could use them to convince the creature he meant him no harm, and if he could calm it down enough he might convince it not to attack anyone.

If not… well, he might have to use the Imperius Curse and simply command the Hulk to obey him. If it worked on him in the first place…

"I want to be left alone sometimes, too," Harry murmured, keeping his voice low and non-threatening. He had finally caught the Hulk's eye, and was trying to see past the surface layers of the creature's mind, the levels that were filled with rage and unhappiness. If he were more advanced in Legilimency, Harry might have been able to influence the Hulk to become calmer, less enraged, but it was all he could do now just to sort out his emotions and try to soothe them. "We can find some place where you can be left alone."

"Hulk wants to go home," the creature said, almost plaintively.

"Where is home?" Harry asked, still making eye contact, but the Hulk seemed not to understand. "Where is home, Hulk?" Harry repeated, trying to get him to think about a location.

"Home…" The idea was beginning to filter through; Harry could see the idea forming in the Hulk's thoughts. "Hulk wants…to go…home…" The words were disjointed, slurred, and Hulk seemed to stagger as he finished speaking. Harry reached for his thoughts, to learn where he called home, but the Hulk shook himself then glared at Harry.

"Puny human is in Hulk's head!" he roared, clenching his fists menacingly.

"No!" Harry raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I mean you no harm —" He was dangerously close to the Hulk; only fifteen yards separated them at the moment —

The Hulk charged.

Harry instantly Apparated behind the Hulk, his wand out and trained on the creature's back even as he reappeared, thirty yards from where he'd been. His Legilimency wasn't nearly advanced enough for him to affect the Hulk's mind to any degree; he would have to resort to more straightforward — and less desirable — methods. "Imperio!" Harry said loudly.

The Hulk's body jerked convulsively. Relax, Harry commanded, but the sensation flowing down his arm, the curious sensation he hadn't felt since he, Hermione, Ron and Griphook invaded Gringotts in 1998, was nothing like what he'd felt then. His arm shook with the effort of touching the Hulk's mind.

The Hulk was feeling it as well. The green behemoth shook his head confusedly, trying to shake loose the euphoria of surrender flowing into him. "Hulk — won't!" the monster snarled, slamming his hands against his head to drive the sensations from it. "Get — out — of — Hulk's — head!"

Relax, Harry thought again, harder, gritting his teeth, then taking his wand in both hands, as if holding it tighter would somehow make the curse work. Be calm! You don't need to fight me!

The Hulk had turned and was walking slowly, haltingly, toward Harry, still batting its own head back and forth between its huge hands, trying to drive the voice out. It was fifteen yards away, then ten, and Harry was tempted to throw the Cruciatus Curse, to bring the Hulk down with pain —

But no. The monster was fueled by rage, and the pain of the Cruciatus, awful as it was (and Harry knew firsthand just how awful) would only fuel that rage even more, making the creature stronger. It had as much as said so, earlier: The madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets. The Imperius had to get through.

Because if it didn't, he was going to have a hell of a fight on his hands.

The Hulk's movements had slowed to almost a crawl but he was still moving forward. The Imperius was working but not enough. What else could he do to stop the Hulk without seriously harming him? Auror training was meant to train you to detect, track and stop or apprehend Dark wizards, it didn't necessarily make you more creative in spell-casting — but there was enough material laying around where that he should be able to come up with something.

Harry took a few steps back and dropped his arms, ending the spell, then Disapparated before the Hulk could charge him again. The Hulk looked around, trying to see where he went, but Harry had appeared near a rock outcropping forty yards from the creature and stepped behind it. There were a lot of rocks and boulders here, and Harry had a few ideas how to use them.

The Hulk was still looking around, nearly satisfied he'd been left alone again, when a nearby pile of rocks suddenly stood up, taking on a barely humanoid form. Another pile of rocks did the same thing, and a third. The three stone creatures began advancing on the Hulk, moving to surround him.

"Puny rock men attack Hulk?" the Hulk snarled, almost sounding contemptuous. "Hulk will smash them!"

Maybe not, Harry thought, watching from behind the outcropping. It had taken some effort, but he had put Unbreakable Charms on the rocks before casting the spell that animated them into humanoid shapes. Even the Hulk (Harry hoped) would not be able to break an object that had been made Unbreakable. The rock men's task was to hold the Hulk as long as they could while Harry figured out a more permanent way to counteract his strength and rage.

The rock men reached the Hulk, and the behemoth slammed a fist into the closest one, sending it flying across the rocky plain. It slammed into a rock outcropping, then fell forward onto the ground, separating into its constituent pieces. But a moment the rocks reformed their humanoid shape and began walking back toward the Hulk as it battled the other rock creatures, which were attempting to grab hold of his arms and restrain him.

Hulk shook one rock man loose, flinging him away, but the other one had grabbed his arm and twisted it behind the Hulk, and the first rock man, returning to the fray, had grabbed the other arm and was wrestling it behind the Hulk as well. The Hulk roared in anger and frustration, but the third rock man grabbed his legs from behind, and the creatures on his arms forced him forward onto the ground, pinning him.

"Hulk smash puny rock men!" the Hulk howled furiously, but it looked like they had the upper hand on him. For the moment, Harry reminded himself. If the Hulk kept getting stronger as his anger increased, he would eventually be able to overpower the rock creatures. And Harry would be no closer to stopping him than before.

The Hulk was jerking back and forth, trying to shake off the rock-creatures' hold on him. He would likely escape before long, and if Harry couldn't come up with another way to stop him —

Ministry protocol on dangerous, uncontrollable creatures, whether they were Being or Beast, called for termination if harm to other humans was imminent. It was considered self-defense, both for the Auror and for non-combatants in the area — an "out" that gave the Auror a justification for killing.

But Harry had caused enough death already, even if only indirectly. Everyone that had died in the Second War with Voldemort had died because of him. Order of the Phoenix members, Ministry personnel, witches and wizards who'd fought with them at Hogwarts — even Death Eaters, even Voldemort's death, as necessary as it was, were all on his conscience. Harry had caused enough death already in his short twenty years of life. If there was anything he could do, anything, to keep from taking a life, he would do it.

The fight was progressing badly for the rock men. The Hulk had grabbed one around its "neck" — really just a melon-sized rock that held the pumpkin-sized rock on its "shoulders," and squeezed it between his forearm and bicep. Nothing was happening, but the Hulk's expression became progressively wilder until — the rock suddenly burst into pieces! The Hulk had actually broken an object that had been Unbreakable-Charmed!

After that the Hulk seemed to know what to do. Instead of simply hitting the rock men, he grabbed them and began squeezing them until they shattered. Soon the plain they had fought on was littered with rocky debris. And Harry was running out of options to combat the man-monster.

Talking with him hadn't worked. Going up against him physically, even indirectly, wasn't working. Trying to take him on directly would be foolhardy in the extreme. Auror training was comprehensive but it didn't train you to take on creatures like this — an oversight Harry planned to bring to the attention of the Head's office, assuming he survived.

But how could he fight a being like this, someone with enough strength to shatter an object made Unbreakable? If only there was a way to neutralize that strength, to keep the Hulk from bringing it to bear against things Harry created! Even iron bands inches thick, Transfigured around the Hulk's arms and legs, would eventually succumb to his ever-increasing strength.

The Hulk had finished roaring in victory over the shattered rocks that had been attacking him. "Hulk breaks puny rock-men! Hulk is strongest one there is!" It would seem so, Harry silently agreed. He needed a solution, fast, before the Hulk decided to leap away and Harry was forced to give chase. They must still be miles away from any human population, but with the miles-long leaps the Hulk was capable of, a few bounds could change that situation quickly, and Harry would be forced to act to protect them.

His arm came up involuntarily, to cast a Prismatic Sphere spell around the Hulk, to keep him from bounding away. But he held off the spell — the Hulk would merely start bashing the sphere walls, trying to break it, and eventually Harry's energy would run out and the Hulk would succeed. Once the spell was cast, the sphere remained immobile, and even though the caster could pass through the walls unharmed, no one else could — in fact they would be harmed if they tried. But that probably wouldn't apply to the Hulk. If he could just make the sphere move —

But wait a minute. He didn't have to use a spell! What if he could create a physical shell around the Hulk, one big enough that he couldn't press against opposite sides at the same time, and made it Unbreakable? That would take quite a large shell, probably eleven or twelve feet in diameter, and the energy he'd expend making it Unbreakable would be significant. But once he was inside a sphere like that, the Hulk couldn't squeeze it between his hands or arms, and he couldn't touch both sides at the same time, so he couldn't break it that way either!

But he had to act quickly — the Hulk had been looking around, probably trying to find Harry, and was now eyeing the skies. Harry stepped out from behind the outcropping and once again incanted, "Dormius Profundum Suscitos!" the Bewitched Sleep Charm before the Hulk could turn and charge him. Once again the man-monster dropped to the ground, asleep.

But not for long, Harry knew. The spell had lasted barely a minute the last time he cast it on the Hulk, and he had to assume it would last even less time now. His eyes found a decent-sized rock and he began Transfiguring it, envisioning a hollow sphere ten — no, twelve — feet in diameter. The sphere would be of glass; Harry wanted to be able to see the Hulk inside it, so he could know what it was doing. Transfiguring a sphere twelve feet in diameter, even a hollow one, was going to take a fair amount of energy; Charming that sphere to be Unbreakable would take even more energy. The sphere formed, and Harry cast the Unbreakable Charm on it, staggering afterwards. He was getting tired. But he still had one final spell to cast.

The Hulk was lying on his back, his arms splayed out to either side. Harry walked over to his side, slower than usual because of the energy he'd just expended, and picked up a rock lying near the unconscious man-monster.

"Portus," he said, tapping the rock, and it glowed blue for a moment. He dropped the rock onto the Hulk's open hand. After a five second delay it would —

The Hulk's hand suddenly clamped shut, and his eyes snapped open. "Puny human!" he roared, seeing Harry standing over him. Harry backpedaled, but tripped over his own legs and fell. The Hulk was up in a moment, standing over him, then reached for him with his open hand. Harry flinched and closed his eyes, expecting to be grabbed and crushed —

There was a loud whoosh and crack as the Hulk vanished, and air rushed into the Hulk-sized hole he'd left behind. Harry slowly opened his eyes. The Portkey he'd created had sent the Hulk into the hollow sphere. Inside the sphere, the Hulk was looking around, confused and enraged by the sudden confinement. As Harry watched, he slammed his fist against the sphere several times, to no effect.

Harry watched, barely breathing though he felt like gulping air — he felt drained of energy and breath from the spell casting he'd just performed. After smashing his fists against the sphere several more times, the Hulk began rolling it around the plain, slamming it into boulders and rock outcroppings, trying to break it that way. He even rolled it toward Harry, who rolled out of its way barely in time, then dragged himself to his feet and Apparated behind a stand of boulders.

After resting a few moments to recover some strength and catch his breath, Harry peered around the boulders to see what Hulk was doing. The unbreakable glass sphere was embedded halfway into the ground — the Hulk was jumping up and down inside it, trying to break it that way. He probably wasn't going to succeed, but… Harry couldn't take that chance. He had to keep the sphere away from objects that might break it; if for example the Hulk tried to wedge it between two rocks…

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Harry cried, swishing and flicking his wand in the prescribed manner, and the sphere slowly rose into the air. The Hulk was heavy, Harry realized — he could barely get it six feet off the ground. The Hulk was now showing a burst of frenzied energy; he slammed into the walls of the sphere, sending it flying one way across the plain, then another, then high into the air, and back down almost to the ground.

How long this went on, Harry had no idea. The effort to keep the sphere aloft was rapidly depleting whatever energy he had left, but he couldn't take the chance the Hulk might find a way on the ground to break the sphere and escape, with Harry too tired to follow him.

But something was happening to the Hulk as well. He was leaning against the wall of the sphere, his chest expanding and contracting rapidly. That was confusing — what was going — oh! Harry suddenly realized he'd made no allowance for air inside the sphere! Could the Hulk be that powerful and still susceptible to running out of air?

Maybe it didn't matter now, because Harry had exhausted all of his energy. The sphere dropped to the ground, and Harry fell forward, barely conscious. He would have to cancel the Unbreakable Charm on the sphere and hope the Hulk could shatter it before he became unconscious. Otherwise he would suffocate inside the sphere with no air to breathe. As for Harry — they might throw him out of the Aurors, assuming he even survived this, but he wasn't going to cause the death of another being, not even someone like the Hulk.

Harry slowly lifted his wand, murmuring "Fi— Fi— Fini—" But before he could end the spell on the sphere his wand slipped from his nerveless fingers, and he passed into darkness.

=ooo=

When Harry awoke sometime later, he was still lying where he'd fallen, but there was no sign of the sphere, or the Hulk. Had he somehow gotten away? Harry dimly wondered, trying to organize his thoughts. His wand was on the ground in front of him, and he slowly picked it up, wondering what he should do next. Auror protocol required him to reassess the situation and report to HQ for further direction, but before Harry could do even that much he would have to get some food and water in himself; his stomach felt like he hadn't eaten for a week.

Harry stood, slowly, trying to determine which direction he should go. As he stood, he felt something slide off the back of his shirt. Looking around, he found another envelope on the ground. It was the same kind of envelope he'd found earlier, made of Muggle paper and sealed shut.

This time, instead of picking it up himself, Harry bent over it with his wand, casting several detection spells, trying to determine who had last touched it. If he knew the person, there were spells that would reveal who it was. But whoever had dropped this on his back while he was unconscious was a stranger to him. Now, though, he could cast similar spells on anyone he met to determine if they were the person who'd handled the envelope.

Harry levitated the envelope up to chest level (slowly — he was still tired from his ordeal earlier) and slit the envelope open with a spell, then drew what was inside out magically, without touching it. It was another letter.

Bravo, Harry!

Brilliant job handling the Hulk! I was quite impressed that you were able to "forget" to allow for him to breathe inside the sphere you created, which was itself a masterful way to neutralize his strength.

Forget? Harry was thinking. He'd been tired, not thinking clearly — of course I'd forgotten to Charm the sphere so the Hulk could breathe! Did he think Harry had done that on purpose?

But had he? In retrospect, he'd seen that situation before — when Hermione had trapped Rita Skeeter in her Animagus beetle form inside a glass jar that had an Unbreakable Charm on it. She'd told them on the trip back to London that the jar had an Air-Freshening Charm cast inside it as well, so she could keep it sealed the entire time Skeeter was in the jar. Harry looked back at the letter.

I'm so impressed with your handling of the Hulk, Harry, that I confess an interest in seeing just how well you can handle yourself in a similar situation with another opponent.

Harry grimaced. He was definitely not interested in repeating anything like this again!

I know that's not something you want to hear, my lad, so I hasten to point out you really have no choice.

You think so? Harry was tempted to reach out and crumple the letter in anger, but he needed to keep from touching it so it could be used by the Auror Department to trace whoever had written it.

By the way, unless this letter is touched by a human hand within a minute after it leaves the envelope it came in, they will both disintegrate. That's the only way you'll have any clue as to who I am. The choice is yours.

The letter ended there. Clever, Harry realized, chagrinned. His touch on the letter would make tracing its author harder, but not impossible. Harry reached out, taking the letter.

Another paragraph appeared below the last one, which Harry quickly read.

If you're reading this you've decided to keep the letter. By doing so you've also decided to keep playing our game — the letter is a Portkey that will take you to your next opponent by the time you read —

The familiar hook behind the navel sensation suddenly caught Harry as he and the letter disappeared in a whooshing whirlwind of color.

=ooo=

Author's Note: This started as a one-shot, but I imagine there are numerous other characters Harry could go up against.