It took the Hogwarts faculty almost two weeks to find the proper enchantments to get rid of the graffiti, during which time the students were forbidden from visiting that portion of the grounds. The incident became the subject of virtually every conversation at Hogwarts. Who could have done it?
"It's got to be someone with a good grasp of magic to have the faculty have such a hard time getting it off. An older, strong Charms student, or…"
Seth didn't finish his thought as he conversed with them in Astronomy. The idea that a teacher at Hogwarts might have done something like what had happened was too unthinkable even to put into words.
"Do you think this will mean they hold off on the competition?" Jane asked.
"I don't imagine so. It's still just words after all. And there's no reason to think this would mean the competition would be more dangerous."
"Seth's right," Lily said. "If anything, this will probably make Sinistra even more determined to do it. She thinks we need it so the Squibs can be more fully integrated here, as well as so we can protect ourselves from nutters like the person who wrote that rubbish."
Jane and Seth nodded in agreement. The trio would end up being correct in their judgment, as soon after, Sinistra made an address to the school concerning both the incident and the competition.
"I want to express my firm commitment to inclusivity of everyone here at Hogwarts and my commitment to finding and punishing whoever committed this act of hate," she said. "This furthers my belief that we need to unite as a community and make sure we are ever vigilant against threats, and I believe the Dueling Cup will do exactly that."
And so it was that the next week, the first part of the four-part competition was set to be played. As they had been told by their Transfiguration Professor and Head of House, Professor Bones, after she quieted the talkative room down with her trademark wit that made her a student favorite, each part of the competition was composed of multiple components, with each year being part of a component that corresponded to their dueling skill level. Everyone had to participate in one part during the year, with the Squib students participating at the first year level unless they could otherwise indicate they were at a different one. Each House would win a point for each part they won, and the point total would be tallied at the end of the year, at which time a winner was to be determined.
The whole school arrived at the Quidditch Pitch to find out about and participate in the first part. The excitement over the competition had managed to usurp the incident as the topic predominating over students' conversations as the date of the first part had approached, proving Sinistra's argument to an extent, Lily supposed. The excitement was palpable as they walked onto the pitch from almost everyone. Still though, Lily thought she saw Robin looking at the Quidditch hoops wistfully as she walked on.
For a time, everyone just stood still, waiting for something to happen. Then quite suddenly, something did. The grass in the middle of pitch shot up in height, and tangled together, tightening into a distinct pattern. As the grass grew, one could see the grass had turned into two intersecting walls, forming an x shape in the middle of the Quidditch pitch, although eventually the walls grew big enough that they could not see over it from the triangular section of wallless ground that had been made where they were standing, and the wall stretched up far above their heads, easily 50 feet in the air. The students gathered gasped in awe. Some of them touched the wall and one particular, less bright student ran into it and was repelled, surprised to find it was much stronger than the grass that composed it, leaving him whimpering in pain.
Everyone was so distracted, they did not notice Aurora Sinistra seamlessly making her way to the front of the crowd until she spoke.
"As you can see, the wall has separated the pitch into four quadrants, one of which we stand in now. Each House will be in one of the quadrants. If you tap the wall like so", Sinistra said tapping it, "And say Venifore."
As Sinistra said it and stepped back, a strange looking, short, skinny creature with long pointed ears emerged, and after smirking, charged at Sinistra.
"Flipendo" she said calmly, and it was promptly knocked back to the ground. As it happened, the ground underneath everyone's feet rumbled and they all gasped again, as the ground, and thus they, all rose into the air to a higher point on the wall, which had been absorbed partially by the ground as the ground elevated.
"You can probably see what the point is. When the component starts, you will need five participants at each level. When you all successfully repel acreature, you will move on to the next level, where new creatures, advanced enough for the next group, will be presented. There will be seven levels, one for each year. The first house to the top will win this component. Do not fear failing in your task, as a charm is in place to get in between you and the creature, and make sure it can't harm you. If you will all proceed to your quadrants as directed, you can begin when the wall closes your quadrant off. You have ten minutes to plan. I wish you all good luck."
She waved her wand and the ground and students were returned back to the correct height relative to the wall. Sinistra gave her directions and Hufflepuff was directed to the quadrant farthest from where they currently stood on the pitch. After they took the minute or so to trudge to the quadrant and get everyone together, the older students started to make a plan.
"All right, whose DADA marks were at least EE level last year?" asked Iris Finch-Fletchley, a seventh year who seemed to have taken de facto leadership over the House for the part.
A couple dozen students raised their hands. As this happened, Jane whispered to Lily, "Whole thing's a bit boring, you want to sit this one out with me?". Lily nodded, holding in a laugh, as she knew that Jane could not meet the standard Iris described while Lily could, and that it was extremely likely that were this not the situation, Jane would have very different opinions on how boring she found the event to be. Still, Lily didn't need much prodding to be convinced not to participate. After the last two years, she didn't want to be part of anything even remotely adjacent to danger, and she was thus hoping to put off her participation in the Competition as long as possible. Lily was broken from her thought by Iris giving orders to the assembled Hufflepuffs.
"Ok, that's great. Paul, you can be with me at the seventh level. Owen, you're good for the fourth. What's your name, you with pink hair? You can take the final spot for fifth," Iris detailed, managing the motley group of students into a team.
"What about first years?" came a high pitched voice from behind Lily.
"I don't know, who do you lot think is the best at DADA in your year?" Iris asked.
The first-years subsequently began to shout out names, many seeming to favor themselves, while others, including Irene's cousin, vehemently resisted, before most were sufficiently pressured into relenting after a time, although Irene's cousin seemed to successfully fend off the calls for action. And thus, a line formed in front of the wall as the students awaited the Competition's beginning, while Lily and Jane did the same lying back on the grass while looking up as the sun shone down on them.
The moment came with the wall closing off the quadrant around them and the clear voice of Aurora Sinistra coming from what was undoubtedly a voice-enhancing charm, "Let the first annual House Dueling Cup begin!"
Suddenly Lily watched as the air directly in front of the line of students, between them and the wall took on a shimmering quality, with everything in front of them transparent, but slightly blurry, as if everything was being seen through water. It happened so suddenly that Lily flinched a bit and said "Whoah". No one else seemed to react.
Jane saw Lily's reaction and frowned "What's wrong?"
"You didn't see that?" Lily asked. Jane shook her head, looking bemused.
As Lily began to respond, she realized what it had to be. The faculty must have put a disillusionment charm over the protective enchantments, so as not to interfere with the students' dueling experience. As a Present Seer, only Lily would be able to see it.
"Nevermind, it's nothing," Lily said, which Jane seemed to accept.
The first student, a girl with curly, blond hair, stepped up to the wall and tapped it while saying "Venifore" before stepping back. From the wall emerged another creature, also gray-skinned, but more muscular and seeming somewhat hunched over compared to the creature Sinistra had demonstrated by fighting against. This one Lily recognized as a ghoul, which shambled over to where the student was standing.
"Flipendo," the student declared, and the ghoul was knocked backwards, as Lily and the others felt the ground under themselves begin to move slightly, seeming almost anxious at the opportunity to literally rise up in the near future. The ghoul made its way back into the wall, muttering and rubbing it's head, and the protective charm disappeared from Lily's view.
The next student stepped up to the wall, performed the incantation and allowed another creature to come out as the protection returned. This sequence of events was repeated for this and the next participant at the level, with both managing to incapacitate the creatures that faced them within a few moments of their emergence from the wall. Lily and Jane only half paid attention, talking, and haphazardly throwing grass at each other as they watched. But when the group got to the fourth student, they reached an impasse. Despite repeated attempts, the boy with the long, flowing black hair and freckles kept either failing to produce the charm or misfiring. Meanwhile, the creature, a grey furred thing that looked like a big cat with oversized ears, kept bumping into the barrier and hissing at them.
"Ok Freyin, just stay calm and focus," Iris said, attempting to strike a soothing tone while speaking to the current participant.
"Just do it, we're getting behind," said one of the students' first-year contemporaries.
While blunt, Lily had to admit the student was right, as she heard the distant rumble that indicated another house had gotten to the next level already. Further groans of exasperation caused Lily to turn back to their quadrant where she saw that the creature, apparently bored, had re-entered the wall, causing the protective charm to disappear with it.
"Oh come on, Sai, how about you come up and do it? We all know you can!" said the same first year who had just complained, to a person next to Lily.
Recognizing the name, Lily turned to see Irene's cousin sitting beside her. His face had paled at the suggestion. "I told you I don't want to," he murmured.
"Look, how about you just try once, and if you can't do it, you don't have to try again?" Iris suggested. The rest of the House began yelling their encouragement, and after a few moments of this, Sai slowly got up to raucous cheers and started moving towards the wall. He moved tentatively, but eventually got to where he could reach the wall, before saying the incantation in a voice so soft that it was barely discernible to Lily from where she sat.
As Lily watched Sai back up, she waited expectantly to see the familiar watery barrier form a few yards in front of her, but this time, she did not see it. She briefly wondered if the wall was withholding the next creature because they were not able to deviate from the original order of students, but momentarily, the wall seemed to move again, and the same catlike creature emerged, without the translucent barrier appearing with it. Immediately, the creature snarled loudly, surprising them all.
Chills ran down Lily's spine, and she stood up suddenly. "Something's wrong," she said.
"Wha-what do you mean?" Jane asked in surprise.
But before Lily could answer, she watched the creature launch itself into a sprint, much faster than it had run when the prior student had faced it. And then, many different things seemed to happen in just a few moments. Everyone seemed shocked for a second before breaking their silence to encourage Sai. But Lily had tuned this out, already having pulled out her wand and run towards where Sai was.
Despite the yells of the others Hufflepuffs, Sai's wand remained at his side, as he was frozen in fear and shock at the rapidly developing situation. As the creature got to a few feet from where Sai was standing, beyond where the barrier had been in previous turns, Lily aimed her wand and yelled "Flipendo".
The jet of blue light emerged from her wand, zipped ahead… and shot right over the left ear of the creature. A half second later it was on top of Sai, and the situation seemed to become dreamlike for Lily, time slowing down as she watched the thing clawing and biting at Sai, as his screams intermingled with those of the other Hufflepuffs and she saw Iris going for her wand and…
"Pertrificus Totalus"
Even as Lily aimed the wand and uttered the incantation, she felt divorced from it, as the muscles in her arms and vocal cords seemed to work almost on their own. She watched the creature's paws snap towards it's body as it slowly fell off of Sai and made a dull thud as it hit the ground, which echoed on into the sudden and overwhelming silence.
