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His Force Precognition screaming at him Dooku Leaped up, pushing off the ground with the Force to avoid the explosion that occurred right where his feet had been a moment before. "Interesting, but you'll have to do better than that." He subsequently ignored a red stunner, before ducking underneath a thrown vase, which Luminara subsequently caught with her own Force powers. Charging forward Dooku closed the distance quickly, summoning up his own Force shield a convex thing which redirected the brunt of the next bombarda, using the momentum of it to fling himself around into an attack.
Harry blocked it, then was suddenly gone. Lily noticed idly that there had been no sound of displaced air or anything else when he apparated, something that only the most powerful wizards in the Wizarding World could have done. Here of course he was the only one who knew the technique but that didn't invalidate how darn good, or how quick, her son had become with combat apparition.
Looking around Dooku gave himself to the Force Precognition and brought his lightsaber up over his head to block Harry's downward stroke. Then Harry disappeared again, coming in once more from the side only to be blocked in turn. "An amazing display of Force power, but unless you can train yourself to fool your opponent's Force Precognition it becomes little more than a parlor trick."
Harry took that in stride, and began to not only apparate but fire out stunners, Force grabs aimed at his opponent's limbs, and a few Bombardas. Dooku responded by summoning up his Force Shield once again, and moving around randomly, so that many of the techniques missed, closing in whenever Harry had to stay put for a moment to fire them off. Eventually he also began to lash out with his own Force powers, grabbing at Harry's body, causing his balance to falter, even at one point launching a mental probe at Harry.
Eventually he closed in, pressing Harry too hard for him to concentrate on his Force techniques. After that, Harry was forced on the defensive, and stayed there for the rest of the match, as Dooku once more began to give him some simple instructions. Drilling him in the various stances and attacks could come later.
Later that evening, Dooku sat on his villas verandas alone with his thoughts, smiling slightly as he thought about what he could do with this young man. The word is legacy.
Dooku was one of the top three blade masters in the Order, and had defeated Master Windu in past lightsaber duels. But his own two padawans, while both excellent with a blade, were not reckoned among the best. He had seen Windu rise to his position and create Vaapad, but even before that, Dooku knew the younger man would go far, he had that much potential. Yet Dooku knew he was getting on in years, his physical prime was behind him now. But Harry Potter's potential dwarfed that of Mace Windu, or any of the other lightsaber masters.
Dooku knew he wasn't actually a natural Master, the type to teach everything he could about the Force to a young padawan, as evidenced by his relationship with his two previous ones. With Qui-Gon he was too distant and cold, and it nearly ended in disaster. With Komari, he never noticed her infatuation until she confessed to him, and then had rejected her automatically, siting both their respective ages and the Jedi Code, which forbade such attachments. But a lightsaber teacher, that he certainly was. Indeed, some of his lessons on the subject had been collected and added to a holocron currently used in the Praxium to teach the beginning of Makashi to younglings.
"Thinking deep thoughts Master Dooku?" A voice asked, and Dooku turned from gazing out over the vista to look at Lily Potter as she floated on the breeze next to him. Her own face was turned away for a moment, before turning to look at him, those bright emerald eyes she shared with her son locking on Dooku's face.
"Not quite deep though perhaps personal, at least somewhat." Dooku replied, standing and bowing to her before returning to his seat, staring up at her thoughtfully. "You have questions." He stated.
"I do, and so do you. I realize how secretive my son and I are about our origins can seem suspicious but it really isn't. There's just no point to wondering about it you see, there is no way to go back there, and nothing for either of us to go back to." Lily finished, waving one hand as if to send the thought away, though of course it wasn't quite as simple as that.
Lily had a lot of questions about what had happened back in the Wizarding World, why Dumbledore had ignored her will and what all she hadn't seen of what he had done to keep Harry with the Dursleys, what had happened to Sirius and Remus, Alice, Rufus and her other friends. But none of that mattered over her son's happiness and safety, and there really was no way they could return anyway.
Dooku nodded, feeling the truth in her words despite not being able to sense it through her mind. "And as for keeping your abilities known only to a select few that at least is easy to understand. Arrogance and pride in your abilities has been the downfall of many Jedi over the eons, and these techniques, the new ways they allow their practitioners use the Force, would feed such feelings. I do have questions, in particular about these runes and the disaster Master Fay and Yoda saw if Harry was taken to Coruscant too soon. But those can be directed at said worthies or are currently unimportant. But I believe you too had questions for me."
Lily paused, turning to look out over the garden and beyond, the view so like something she could have found on Earth yet so unlike you could never forget this was an alien world. "My son has never had a man he could look up to in his life. My husband James… he died in the defense of our family when Harry was but a baby." Despite her ghostly status Lily visibly let out a breath before going on. "Harry asked me once about that night, about how James died, but we've never really sat down and talked about it, and he hasn't asked since."
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