Disclaimer: I own nothing...Not even the plot. That I stole from Jan McNeville cause she wasn't gonna use it. Hope you enjoy. Review Yadda Yadda Yadda.

Hermione Granger, Gryffindor bookworm extraordinaire, sat on a chair, grabbed her water bottle and promptly emptied it of it's contents. She was at the British National Fencing Championship.

Hermione had been fencing for almost as long as she could remember. Her father, a former champion, had passed on his love, and apparently his talent, for the sport to his only daughter. This summer , between her sixth and seventh years at Hogwarts, she had turned 17, and was finally old enough to be eligible for nationals. Now here she sat just one bout away from being named the top ranked woman fencer in Brittan.

In five minutes she would be facing the defending champion for the top ranking. And this was not merely last years champ. Angelina Todd had held the title for the last three years.

In five minutes she would be in front of a crowd of several thousand people, challenging a champion with more than twice her experience for a national title, and she was nervous.

Actually, that may have been an understatement. Nervous meant butterflies in the stomach. Hermione felt like a swarm of Cornish pixies were doing the Charleston in her stomach.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. In a few minutes we will be holding the final bouts to decide the Men and Women's foil champions. This year however we have added one final bout to the days competitions. After the Men's and Women's bouts, we will have the champions face each other for the title, "CHAMPION OF THE BRITTISH FOIL". The Women's bout will be held on the North platform and the Men's will be held on the East platform. Would the fencers please report accordingly."

The announcer finished speaking over the Public Address system and as his words sank in Hermione no longer felt nervous. She now felt rather sick.

"Hermione?" Her head shot up at her mother's voice next to her sholder. "Are you alright dear?"

"I think so" she said straitening up and focing a long slow breath out. "That last bit just caught me a bit off guard...No pun intended." She said with a slight smile, before grabing her mask and blade from the chair on her other side.

With a chuckle her father placed an arm around her shouldes and said "No mater what happens, we could not be prouder of you. Now lets get to the north platform."