Hermione stood. "Thank you, Mr. Sundown. I'll ask the first question. You suggested earlier that the sport of dueling is declining. Could you tell us why?"
Mr. Sundown smiled. "Ahh, the hard question. To that I shall give the honest answer. The Ministry has thrown its support behind Quidditch."
Harry saw quite a few unhappy Gryffindors who thought to defend their favorite sport.
Hermione rushed out the next question, "Does that Ministry support matter?"
"When the Ministry takes on the costs of organizing and promoting a league of private teams, then training and paying referees, yes, I'd say that was significant. For us as duelists, the money raised at the door of a duel pays our costs if the crowd is large enough. The Quidditch team owners have their costs met by tax galleons before the first person walks into a stadium."
Hermione looked stunned. She always had been about fairness, Harry thought.
"Why do they do that?"
"A law. A vote. Someone bribed someone else. One of those or all of them. I didn't notice when it happened and I can't exactly unravel it now," the duelist said.
"Why not change it?" she asked.
"I can give you the technical process – or I can give you my unofficial opinion..."
"The latter, please," Hermione said.
"The Ministry likes the situation they have now. They would prefer witches and wizards to sit in wooden stands rooting for a few fliers on brooms, heroes in the sky. They prefer this to a hundred or more trained duelists, as in the golden period of my youth, showing off their accomplishments with magic."
"But why?"
Untrained wizards were better than trained ones, Harry pondered. Sad but probably how some people thought.
"A good question. One I shall leave you to debate." He smiled. He had an answer he preferred not give. "I will answer another instead: do I hate Quidditch? No, I do not hate Quidditch. I played on the Gryffindor team as a youth. My granddaughter enjoys watching a game," he pointed to a witch in the room. A Fifth year, Harry thought. "But if Quidditch succeeding comes at the cost of dueling failing, well, I'm against it."
All the more strange that Harry would be playing Quidditch at Hogwarts this year when he wasn't sure it was a good idea. Try telling that to Oliver Wood, though.
"But how do you know?" Hermione asked. She was getting fairly upset.
"The Ministry isn't a subtle thing. Sure, subtle people work there to adjust things to their advantage. But something only lasts at the Ministry, and gets funding year after year, if it has a considerable amount of support from many kinds of people. Dueling is meant to die along with the skills that a duelist possesses and hones. That's why I have come to tempt more of you into this activity – and perform well at it. See? We all have hidden motives. I leapt at this opportunity to talk to all of you – that and to see my granddaughter who visits all too infrequently."
The girl in question shook her head, but this seemed to be a frequent comment from Mr. Sundown.
Hermione looked around the room. "Anyone have a question?" She really was shaken.
A seventh year named Quentin Ardor stood. "I'd like to know how I can see a duel over the Yule break or during the next summer."
Harry listened as Mr. Sundown explained about the scheduling. He also offered to supply a list to duels to Hermione who could post it for any and all Gryffindors. "Although some may arise after the schedule is printed. Certain venues open up. Or certain promoters will announce things late. There is this Frenchman named Delacour who never manages to meet a deadline, but he throws a good tournament."
Fred Weasley stood next. "Could we have a dueling tournament for students at Hogwarts? Or maybe just Gryffindors?"
"If someone wished to start something, I would be happy to advise."
"I can look into what it takes," Hermione said, scribbling yet another note.
"I think I might enjoy learning how to do it." Fred sat down again.
"Better he plays games on a platform than pranks everyone around him," Neville muttered to Harry.
"Too right," Harry said.
Some others asked about Mr. Sundown's tips for specific spells. These were invariably fifth or seventh year students so they must have been thinking about their OWLs or NEWTs.
Finally Hermione stood again and thanked both of the Sundowns. They allowed their pleasure to show on their faces. It was clear they thought they might just have done something for the sport they loved. Harry wouldn't mind watching a duel, not at all.
"A few brief announcements, if you wouldn't mind," Hermione said.
A few people huffed and sat down. No one left.
"Sir Nicholas, our house ghost, asked if he could give a lesson on goblins. He's very unhappy about what Binns keeps saying. Celestina Warbeck, the singer, will give a class on pursuing a career in the arts. She's also something of a painter, I'm told. We have a Healer coming in to give us a lesson on potions, specifically the things we should have learned in Potions class but haven't. For the boys, we have a rather interesting wizard coming in who hunts wand core and potions ingredients from wild creatures like dragons and graphorns."
A cheer went up at this and Harry's voice was among them.
"Just a moment longer. I had more responses than I expected. We will also have our door-keeper, who I refuse to address as the Fat Lady, instruct us on traditions and manners."
.....
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