A/N: Sorry for the long delay. I am trying to finish up a Masters degree and this past term was rather reading and writing intensive. So the last thing I wanted to do with my free time was write. This chapter was also re-written at least three times. The chapter establishes more plot and less humour based then the previous chapters. I think the next chapter will make up for that. LOL.

Tournament Furies

Harry Potter was furious.

The reaction of the Hogwarts student body was infuriating. Since he arrived at the magical school he'd been both raised up and vilified. The Boy-Who-Lived was a hero of magical Britain. Harry Potter was the subject of suspicion and derision. The fact they resided in the same body made them seem schizophrenic. Did they toss a coin every morning to decide which one he would be each day?

Harry's close circle of friends watched uneasily as Harry paced back and forth in the unused classroom. They could see Harry's inner wolf straining and snarling to get out. In the end, only one had the courage to approach him.

"Harry, you need to calm down."

Padma had stepped in front of her pacing boyfriend. He came to an abrupt stop due to the surprising obstacle.

"I know you're angry, but you need to pull it back. You need to be clear headed to think about this."

Surprised, Harry jerked to a halt. "Think about what? Nott was just trying to build his position in Slytherin by doing what Malfoy couldn't – take me on."

"Bugger Nott …and Malfoy too!" Padma growled. "You said you set the ward line to replace your name with Malfoy's; that you didn't put his name in yourself." Harry was shocked to hear the vulgarity come from his girlfriend's mouth but then he focused on what she said.

"I didn't want someone to enter me in the tournament. You know that."

"Yes, Harry, but think! The fact Malfoy's name came out means someone did try to force you into the Tournament. Now you are tied into it anyway! Could Dumbledore be the one that wanted you in this bloody Tournament?"

Harry suddenly understood the fear in the Ravenclaw witch's eyes. He wrapped her into a hug. "This is just Dumbledore's way of getting back at me for the prank. He can't prove it was me so he just gives me extra work disguised as a 'host'."

Padma pushed him back a bit. "But that means you're still involved, Harry! How do we know that isn't enough for whoever planted your name in the Goblet? Even if it was just the Ministry looking for publicity they can still exploit your involvement."

"She's right, mate," Ernie commented from his chair nearby.

"Surely, Professor Dumbledore wouldn't be part of anything that would hurt Harry," Hermione protested.

Ernie shrugged, "Was it Dumbledore's idea or did someone else suggest it? I don't know either way, I just said it was a possibility. And, don't call me 'Shirley'." Hermione absently smacked the Hufflepuff in the back of his head as Harry snickered at his friend's reference. The others just ignored them out of long practice.

"In either case, I don't see a way for you to avoid it, Harry," Daphne added. "We need to keep our eyes open and watch until we can neutralize whatever their plan is and then reverse it so they learn their lesson."

"And that is?" Ron asked from his seat nearby.

Daphne smiled across the small gap between them. "Simple. You mess with us and you suffer – painfully and a very long time." Ron blanched slightly at the flat delivery coupled with the emotionless face save for a small, eager smile. But then he nodded his agreement.

The conversation continued on for a while with nothing being satisfied except someone needed Harry to be involved in the Tournament and the six would keep alert.

-I-

The next day Harry was pulled out of Potions class along with Draco Malfoy for the Wand Weighing Ceremony. The blonde ignored Harry and strutted off in the direction of the Great Hall. Harry was happy enough to have the git ignore him.

The champions were still gathering when Harry walked in a minute after Malfoy. The little ponce was already standing in a corner with a curly-blonde haired witch wearing red glasses encrusted with fake-looking jewels Harry had never seen before. While she looked nothing like his aunt, something about her expression reminded Harry forcibly of Petunia. The woman had the same pinched, false pleasant expression that Petunia got when she was gathering gossip from her 'friends'. From the scroll floating beside her with a quill taking down what Malfoy said it wasn't hard to guess she was a reporter.

'Wow,' Harry thought, 'there's a match made in Hell: Malfoy and a magical Petunia.'

Harry turned from the dreadful pair only to bump into someone.

"I'm sorry…," he started only to be interrupted.

"What are you doing here, leetle boy? This is for Champions and their sponsors only. You may leave now."

Before Harry could respond, another voice intruded, "Ah Fleur, I believe this is Harry Potter, the wizard Headmaster Dumbledore declared our 'host' for the events."

The beautiful blonde witch rolled her eyes as though praying for strength. "Oh, very well. You, boy! You shall speak to the Chef de cuisine. Last night's bouillabaisse was of very poor quality. Also I expect a decent quality and selection of Comté cheese & Vin jaune to be provided to our table before the meal.

"Are you getting this, little boy?" the witch demanded. "Or," she asked in a condescending tone, "are you unable to put up even a little resistance to my aura, tout petit?"

Harry turned to look at the person who had initially identified him to the French witch. She was a cute witch with short black hair and grey eyes. She was just a bit taller than Harry but probably a stone lighter. Her expression was crossed between amused and embarrassed at Fleur's behaviour.

"Hello, my name is Harry Potter." Harry extended his hand in greeting.

She extended her hand in response as she said, "I am Michele Desmarais. It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr Potter."

Harry took her hand and gently raised it up to lightly kiss the knuckles as Padfoot had shown him. "The pleasure is all mine, Mademoiselle Desmarais. Welcome to Hogwarts. We are blessed to have such a beautiful and promising witch to be visiting us. But please call me Harry." The French witch blushed at Harry's actions and words.

Harry glanced over to see Fleur's face flushed with embarrassment. To Ms Desmarais he said, "I appear to have angered your friend, Mlle Delacour. Perhaps her choice of wand storage placement has led to a negative impact on waste removal functions?"

While Michele Desmarais and Fleur Delacour looked confused by Harry's question, Harry heard chocked laughter coming from an older male teen dressed in Beaxbatons robes.

"And you must be M Alfonse DiGiamotto, Beaxbaton's representative from the 'Boneyard'." The wizard had light brown hair with the olive-toned skin that spoke of Italian background.

The teen wizard took Harry's offered hand with a smile. "It is a pleasure to meet you as well, Mr Potter. And I'm afraid you are correct. My cousin often has her wand shoved so far up her arse it makes her a bit constipated. Glad to have another guy around here that recognizes that too. Call me Al."

Fleur let out an indignant huff and whirled around and stalked off away from them. After a squeaked, "Excuse me," Michele followed her.

Harry grinned at the French wizard. "Call me Harry, Al. You're her cousin?"

"Mom is her aunt on her father's side. Grandfather was the French Ministry's ambassador to Italy. That is where Mom met Dad."

"But your accent is American?"

"Dad's the Italian ambassador to the American Department of Magic. I've lived in Boston since I was four. I wanted to go to Salem but Mom was afraid I was getting too 'American' so here I am."

"And how is that working out?"

The wizard laughed. "Well, I am the only guy at the school that Fleur's allure has absolutely no impact on since I'm a near enough blood relative. I am impressed you were able to throw it off. Don't judge her too bad. Fleur can be a real sweetheart with her friends and family. Being a complete bitch is just her way of dealing with the way most people react to her in public." Harry had to laugh at the older teen's blunt assessment of his cousin.

"I think I can appreciate at least a part of that," Harry responded. "I didn't know I was famous until I was about to start school. The reaction when I went shopping in Diagon Alley the first time was … disturbing."

"Hmmm," Al hummed with a mischievous grin. "Maybe we should set you up with Fleur. A wizarding power couple! The press would have a field day!" Harry was about to respond when a new and rather unpleasant voice interrupted him.

"What's this I hear? Could there be romance budding within the Tri-Wizard Tournament?" It was the reporter he saw talking to Malfoy. Up close he could see she also had three gold false teeth.

"Rita Skeeter from the Daily Prophet. Now tell me Mr Potter, did you first fall for Ms Delacour when she arrived at Hogwarts or was it just now that you awoke to her charms?"

Harry wanted to smack someone. At this point he would be happy to do it to either the nosy reporter or the chortling French-Italian wizard standing next to him.

"Miss Skeeter, M DiGiamotto was simply making a poor joke. I am currently seeing someone and am perfectly happy with that situation." Harry thought that was a good way of handling it.

Or not.

"Oh tell me Harry – who is the lucky witch to have captured your eye?"

"That is a private matter between myself and the young lady in question. Now, if you would please excuse me, I see Professor Dumbledore signalling for me. Maybe you can speak to M DiGiamotto here. He is the son and grandson of ambassadors from Italy and France."

Before either Skeeter or Al could protest, Harry slipped away into the crowd.

'Serves him right for trying to set me up,' Harry thought.

"That was clever, Harry Potter. Press should be whipped like dogs 'til they know their place," a stocky teenage wizard commented when Harry tried to slip by. Harry recognized him too.

"Congratulations on getting selected as a Champion, Mr Krum," Harry said politely. "Your play at the World Cup was brilliant."

"You saw that?" the Bulgarian wizard grunted out through his thick accent.

"My godfather got tickets. I play Seeker for Gryffindor so I was taking notes on what worked for you and Lynch."

"Lynch is excellent technical Seeker – very methodical, good flyer. Not so good at reading the Snitch or the flow of the game. Cedric Diggory tell me you best Seeker in Hogwarts. Maybe we have three way Seeker duel – keep my skills sharp since I can't practice here."

"That sounds like it would be wicked," Harry said with a grin. "My captain was devastated when our season was cancelled because of the Tournament."

Krum grunted agreement. "Our Headmaster do the same. Stupid since most of school still back home."

Krum leaned forward to Harry's ear. "We of Durmstrang respect strength and skill, Harry Potter. We have seen and respect your strength of mind and will. We very curious to see if strength of magic equals them. Perhaps some time we get a chance to duel with wand too, no? Be very interesting to see."

The Bulgarian Seeker suddenly wrapped the younger wizard into a great bear hug. Then he roared out. "You I like Harry Potter! We talk again later." And then he was gone.

"I don't know Harry," Roger Davies commented as he walked up and handed Harry a mug of butterbeer. "You seem to have a love-hate relationship going with all of the other champions."

"It's all part of the Boy-Who-Lived mystique," Cedric explained to his friend as he joined them. "Every year since Harry got here has to have some bizarre events going on that no one ever really explains. We get the rumours of course but never the real story."

"What is this- pick on Harry day?" The older boys laughed.

"Well, you are the one responsible for all of this chaos," Cedric answered with a grin.

"No, it wasn't," Harry shot back. "That was this bloke's fault." He pointed at Roger. "He wanted to add extra champions."

"No, I wanted to add me, not everyone else," Roger answered. He had a smug grin as he waited for Harry's comeback.

That comeback was prevented when voices were suddenly raised near the table where Ollivander was set up for the ceremony.

"This is impossible! My son is too young to participate in this Tournament. He should be excused immediately!" Harry didn't even need to turn around to realize it was Lucius Malfoy.

"He's my baby! It is too dangerous!" a new voice added. Narcissa Malfoy.

"Father! Mother! Please! I know I can do this! The Goblet would not have selected me if I didn't have the skill to compete! Please stop embarrassing me!"

"First time I've ever heard the little shite say please," Roger muttered.

Harry almost felt sorry for the Slytherin brat. In under a minute his own parents had probably destroyed their son's confidence and his position within the school and Slytherin. The fact they ran completely over Draco's protests and were still yelling at Dumbledore was making it even worse. The parallels to his aunt, uncle and cousin were a bit scary.

'Maybe being locked in my cupboard and ignoring me wasn't the worst thing they could have done to me,' Harry mused.

Unaware of Harry's thoughts, Cedric said, "Yah, he's a little shite but with parents like that the brat probably never had a chance."

"The Goblet of Fire creates a magical contract, Malfoy," Crouch sneered back at Lucius Malfoy. "Your little … son can quit but his magic stays behind. Feel free to take him and go."

"Now Barty, that is not very constructive," Dumbledore admonished. "Perhaps we can take this up in the privacy of my office?"

The elder Malfoys seemed to finally realize they had become the centre of attention. Without a word they tried to draw their tattered dignity around themselves. Finally, Lucius gave a simple nod of agreement.

The rest of the wand weighing ceremony went as it was planned. It was interesting learning about by whom and with what everyone's wands were made. The revelation of Fleur's vella heritage simply confirmed what Harry strongly suspected. The fact Al's wand was made with a Sasquatch hair core was cool. Sarah Dimitriova of Durmstrang's wand had a core made from a ground megalodon tooth. The rare ancient magical shark was thought extinct by Muggles and even magicals considered them almost a myth.

"Ah. Mr Potter, I wondered if I'd see you here."

"Hello, Mr Ollivander. It's nice to see you again," Harry answered politely. The old man was creepy but for some reason Harry liked the man. Plus his knowledge of wandlore was second to none in Britain

The strange old wand maker nodded absently. "And your wand – it is still operating effectively?"

Harry drew out his holly wand at the question. "Yes, sir." He handed the wand over to the wand maker.

The old wizard looked down the wand like it was a pool cue before spinning it in his hand. "Yes, definitely one of my best creations." The man studied the wand for a few seconds.

"I see you have used this wand well, Mr Potter. Its connection to you has grown stronger since you acquired it. Such a strong connection even then. Remarkable." He handed the wand back to Harry.

"Treasure this wand, Mr Potter. As you care for it, it will surely care for you."

Harry nodded with a twinge of guilt. He'd never really thought about it. The Holly and Phoenix Feather wand was simply his- like his hand; a part of him. He took it for granted.

"I will," Harry assured the wand maker with a mental promise to pay more attention to his wand.

"See that you do. And I shall send you a wand holder. I don't want to hear that one of my greatest creations was broken because you sat on it."

-II-

Harry argued Quidditch and brooms with the three Durmstrang champions and Cedric the rest of the time until Dumbledore and the Malfoys returned to the room. Krum championed the broom he rode in the Quidditch World Cup, a Lithuanian model called a 'Žaibas' which translated into English was a 'Lightning'. Victor claimed the broom was much more stable on tight turns and only fractionally slower than a Firebolt in a straight run. The five agreed to spend the next Saturday flying just for fun.

The conversation came to an end when Dumbledore, the Malfoys, the other School Heads and the Ministry representatives returned to the room.

"May I have your attention?" Dumbledore called out as the room became hushed. "After discussion with my counterparts, we are deviating slightly from the previously planned order of events.

"On the 28st of November, our first task will be a test of magical strength, quick wits, and spell knowledge. We shall be holding a Magical Duelling Tournament. The champions will be divided into three groups. Each group will consist of one champion from each school chosen randomly. Each champion will duel the other two members of their group twice. The champion with the most victories from each group will then move to a final group of three champions. This round each champion will only face their opponents only once. Each win is worth 10 points while a draw is worth 5 points; giving a maximum number of points available to each champion as sixty points.

"Professor Flitwick of Hogwarts, a former International Duelling Circuit champion, and Professor Groer of Durmstang, also a former champion of the International Duelling Circuit, have agreed to honour us as of Masters of the Arena. Professor Moody of Hogwarts and Professor Davis of Beaxbatons shall serve as Masters of Wards.

"The first round will occur on the last weekend of November. The final round will occur the next Saturday. There shall be two duelling courts and it will alternate so only one duel is occurring at a time. For the final rounds, only one court shall be used."

As Dumbledore smiled at the excited faces of the nine champions, Harry could see the arrogant confidence on Draco Malfoy's face. However from long association (unwilling though it was) Harry could also see determination and some fear in those eyes.

'Probably wants to prove himself to his parents after their argument with Dumbledore,' Harry decided. Malfoy would have two chances to score points. There was little chance of Malfo making it into the final three round.

"Now, as I am sure we are all aware, we have nine Champions. We shall divide our champions into three divisions with the three Champions from each school making up one division. Each champion shall duel the other two members of their division with ten points awarded to the winner of each duel. The winner of each division will advance to the second round. Inclusion in the second round guarantees a finish in the top three no matter how many duels have been won."

A low murmuring broke out amongst the champions and assembled witnesses as Dumbledore paused a moment. Then the Headmaster's eyes settled on Harry with his customary twinkle. Harry could almost feel the shoe starting to fall.

"Mr Potter will serve us as our Master of Ceremonies and student commentator during the matches."

"You mean an excellent Ministry poster boy?" Harry muttered as he noticed the wide smiles on Crouch and Bagman's faces. He was already thinking of Padma and her reaction to the latest news. However, Cedric and the Durmstrang students snickered at Harry's comment.

"It won't be too bad, Harry," Cedric commented with a grin. "Just pretend you are Lee at one of our Quidditch matches. At least you won't have any rogue Bludgers after you."

"You Seekers- always afraid of a flying ball," August Penev commented in a mocking manner.

Victor scowled at his classmate. "August is a Beater. Can't fly too well so just hovers in one place swinging piece of wood at empty air." August sneered back but Harry could see amusement in both boys' eyes.

The mocking conversation continued as the champions with their 'host' left the ceremony room. Harry smiled but really didn't take part. He really felt the need to get out of the castle and let the Beast run free through the forest.

It had nothing to do with wanting to avoid Padma a wee bit longer.

28 November 1994

If Harry thought Padma wouldn't take his inclusion in the duelling contest, even as the MC, well her reaction had nothing on Padfoot's. The older Marauder started by calling Dumbledore a senile, manipulative old bastard. Then he got nasty. It was quite an educational discussion for Harry.

Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be much that could be done. Bartemius Crouch was standing firm in an unholy alliance with Lucius Malfoy and Ludo Bagman. Sirius reckoned that the Ministry wanted the Boy-Who-Lived associated with the Tournament to increase its stature while Malfoy wanted a distraction from his son's participation. Between Sirius's incarceration and being the last of the Blacks, the Ancient and Noble Family of Black no longer had the sway it once did in the Wizengamot. Sure, they were 'apologetic' for the 'error' of placing him in Azkaban without even a trial but that didn't translate into a political power. The Potters never had any significant political stature and as an underage wizard, even Harry's hero status didn't any help since it was that very status that seemed to be driving the Ministry.

Instead, the Marauders announced their plan to prepare Harry to perform an MC's job properly. Or didn't so much announce as simply claim Harry's Sundays and his time from 5-7 every weekday morning. When Harry complained about the lost sleep, Sirius countered that he was missing something even better to be there so Harry could just deal with it.

Dumbledore authorized the Marauder's visits to the castle for what Sirius referred to as "showmanship" training. However, neither Marauder felt it important to mention what they considered showmanship training to be.

Their training was a combination of three skills. The first was simply to understand the standard student duelling rules as sanctioned by the ICW. To this end they had Harry study the rules and watch memories of several matches seen by themselves, and Professor Flitwick with the Charms master on hand to provide critique and commentary. Harry enjoyed listening to the small professor cheerfully deliver brutal critiques to both himself and his opponents in various duels.

The second part was the most uncomfortable for Harry – public speaking. Harry was never comfortable in front of crowds. Having to speak intelligently in front of three school and the other visitors was not a happy thought for Harry.

But it was the third item that they spent the most time on. Remus and Sirius decided that if he had to speak on it then he should know it. They ran him through exercises and duels until he thought he would drop. Then they taught him how to fight.

Harry was is in the top five students in his class and regularly scored well above his classmates in Defence class. Although many of the darker Slytherins and their allies would argue his scores as favouritism, most simply recognized Harry as being the most gifted Defence student in the current student body. So Harry felt rather confident that he would be able to do well in their training.

Big mistake.

What Harry forgot was Sirius and Remus along with his parents fought the Death Eaters on numerous occasions. For all that they were only a few years out of Hogwarts, the Marauders and Lily were potent fighters against the Voldemort's forces. In addition, Sirius received the training required of the scion of the Black Family. That gave the dog animagus a large variety of decidedly grey spells to choose from in a fight. Remus, as the scholar of the Marauders, was also well-read with a deep if not as dangerous spell selection. However, he also had the strength and endurance of a werewolf to counter Harry's own natural advantages.

Harry found that the sessions were enjoyable and he was learning a lot. By the time the First Task came around, Harry was disappointed to be ending the duelling sessions with the Marauders.

-III-

The Quidditch stands were used for the First Task due to the large number of people that wanted to attend. The duelling platforms were set up on the pitch and the stands were expanded to handle the greater numbers. It wasn't nearly as large as the Quidditch stands for the World Cup, but it was still rather impressive. Professor Flitwick also placed a dome over the arena that blocked the wind and kept the area comfortable enough that no one would freeze in the cold December Scottish day.

To Harry's combined relief and irritation, the two commentators from the Wizarding Wireless mostly ignored Harry's presence during the matches. They only asked him questions between matches and then it was mostly about how the students felt about the Tournament.

For his part, Harry was just glad not to be in the Tournament. The Durmstang students were ruthless in their fighting style. It was very similar to the Black style Sirius used but rougher, not as refined. The Beauxbaton students went for polished and graceful displays of power. If Durmstrang was a battle axe, Beauxbatons was a rapier.

The three Hogwarts students didn't really have a 'style' to speak of. Cedric and Roger were rather flexible with a good range of spells but did not seem to have any underlying strategy in their approach. Their tactics were reactionary and only dealt with the immediate threats of their opponent. Harry wondered if it was because of the revolving door of Defence professor Hogwarts had experienced. Harry suspected the Hogwarts champions had received some training over the past few weeks from Professor Moody much as Harry had from the Marauders.

As to Malfoy, Harry almost felt sorry for the brat.

Almost

-IV-

It was the fifth match of the Task when Draco Malfoy first appeared in the stadium.

"Ah, I see our next participant, Draco Malfoy, now approaching the platform," commented William Blowhard, one of the commentators.

"Yes, it is," confirmed his co-commentator Shelia Gale. "He looks very smart and confident in those fitted duelling robes. I understand the young Mr Malfoy is considered the top Defence student in the lower half of the current Hogwarts students. He'll need that to hold his own considering the skill levels already seen in the previous matches."

Harry was laughing inside at the comment about Malfoy's Defence scores so he missed the question at first. The pair of commentators had for the most part ignored Harry's presence since the duels started (and he was just as happy with that), so he was a bit surprised when they turned to him and asked his opinion.

"Excuse me?" Harry responded in surprise.

"Come now, Mr Potter," Shelia smiled condescendingly. "You are in the same year as Mr Malfoy. Surely you have some insight into his prowess with a wand."

With a sincere smile he learnt from Sirius, Harry answered, "Well, I will say I've seen Draco Malfoy do things with a wand I've never seen another student duplicate. He obviously takes after his father's magical talent."

"Well said, Mr Potter," William stated with an approving nod. The pair then moved on to other comments once again ignoring Harry.

Cedric and Roger were the first champions to duel. They put on a nice display of power and talent. Cedric pulled out the win and the two English commentators were prolific with their positive comments for both champions.

Then it was Durmstrang's turn. Sarah Dimitriova fought August Penev in a quick brutal display. Their spells were powerful, silent, and nasty. Harry recognized many of the spells from the books Sirius provided from the Black family library as being barely legal in most parts of the world. Penev was eventually flung from the duelling platform with a smashed knee. The commentators were now rather negative on the poor sportsmanship of the Durmstrang duelists' spells. No one asked Harry but he rather doubted Roger or Cedric would have been able to defend against many of the spells.

The Beauxbatons duel was a rapier to the Durmstrang hammer. It was graceful, almost a dance, with a skill neither of the other two schools had evinced so far. Fleur won by forcing Michele Desmarais to surrender her wand. Now the commentators slyly suggested either Michele was a coward or taking a dive for the part-human Fleur.

Then Krum came out to defeat Sarah Dimitriova with only two spells. If her spells were powerful in the first fight, Krum must have thrown a good chunk of his magical core into his spells. Even the commentators were stunned as they expected the Seeker to go for grace and skill over power. Harry thought it was like watching the Death Star taking out Alderaan.

Now, it was Draco and Roger's turn on the platform.

Draco strutted up to the platform to the approving murmurs of the commentators. Harry wondered if Malfoy Sr. owned the Wizarding Wireless or if these two were simply natural suck-ups. Roger came out determined to make up for the near run he'd had in his first fight. Harry thought he looked ready to rip Malfoy a new arsehole. Harry grinned. This could be fun.

The fight was everything Harry could have wanted. Malfoy started out well but the spells were somewhat … questionable in nature. This seemed to infuriate Roger. The Ravenclaw Seventh year then seemed to give the Slytherin boy a lesson in duelling etiquette. Harry felt like clapping at the display.

"Roger just performed an excellent riverso manoeuvre that almost allowed him to perform a manual seizure of Malfoy's wand," Harry commented absently. "Roger has Malfoy's measure now but he should end it quickly before Malfoy does something out of desperation that only a tyro would try." The pair of commentators stopped watching the match to stare at Harry is surprise.

"That was rather insightful, Mr Potter," William said in a surprised tone.

"Professor Flitwick was kind enough to give me a bit of training on magical duelling since this event was announced," Harry admitted in a humble tone. He didn't mention the practical training with his insane 'uncles'.

"One of the great Duelists of our time," Shelia said with a smile. "It seems our Boy-Who-Lived has made something of a duelling expert out of himself. Maybe one day you could be duelling out there." Harry resisted rolling his eyes at her. Why did magicals seem to expect so much out of the Boy-Who-Lived and then treated him as a complete toe-rag?

Malfoy lost when he lost his temper and was called out on a foul by Professor Groer. Predictably the commentators decried this as a great injustice. They still didn't shut up about it an hour later when Cedric almost launched the git into orbit with a modified Blasting Curse that was 'cushioned' to prevent real injury. The commentators still tried to make it sound like a near run thing but couldn't be too harsh as Cedric came from a Pureblooded, Ministry-connected family also.

The final round came down to Krum, Fleur, and Cedric. It quickly became apparent that the Hogwarts champion was outclassed on the duelling platform. Fleur, who managed to scrape a win against Alfonse to Harry's disappointment, made poor Cedric look as bad as Malfoy. Victor Krum was actually somewhat merciful and ended it quickly without injuring his fellow Seeker.

The final duel between Fleur and Krum was a thing of beauty to Harry.

Fleur Delacour may have been a witch with a B, but she was quick witted, fast with her wand, and incredibly skilled. Harry was impressed with the variety of spells the French witch was able to call on in an instant. She was as graceful as a dancer but moved like a martial artist, dodging more spells then she blocked. Hitting her with a spell while stopping her onslaught would be a challenge for any wizard. And more the fool they if they were also distracted by her obvious feminine charms.

Victor Krum was a Viking warrior out of old. He fought with a brutal passion. He shrugged off many of the annoying hexes and curses Fleur sent his way while sending the same over-powered spells towards the Veela witch that he sent in his first rounds. Harry was impressed with the Bulgarian's ability to keep up that level of magical output.

In the end, Fleur's grace was not sufficient to bring down Victor in the duel. In a true fight without the spell restrictions of a formal duel, maybe Fleur would have prevailed since she managed to land a surprising number of her spells on Krum. Of course in a true fight Victor would have been freed of those same restrictions.

-V-

"Well, that was certainly an excellent display of duelling prowess," Dumbledore said with a smile as he stood facing the stands of students and spectators who'd watched the duelling. "Well done to Mr Krum on his victory and, indeed, to all of our champions on their courage, skill, and determination." The Headmaster led the audience in applauding the champions.

When the applause died down, Dumbledore continued. "Next month we shall again see our champion in action. This time it will be a challenge that they will have to face the unknown; a true test of courage, skill, and wits.

"But first, we shall have the traditional Yule Ball led by our champions, sponsored by the British Ministry of Magic and hosted by our very own Boy-Who-Lived, Mr Harry Potter. Students of Fourth year and above are welcome to attend. Third years may only attend as the date of an older student. Now, I wish you good day." The old wizard walked of smiling as though he hadn't a care in the world.

"Barmy old coot," Shelia said in an aside to her partner. The two commentators left without a word to Harry although he saw them stop to wish their best to the Malfoys.

Harry had other concerns. As much as Padma and Hermione worried about his forced inclusion in the Tournament, even as a 'host', there was no way either of them were going to be willing to let him skip the Yule Ball.

That meant he was going to have to dance.

Bugger!

"Don't call me 'Shirley'" = Airplane! (1980) The late great Leslie Nielsen