Chapter 11: The Qualifiers Begin
The next fortnight passed by in a blur; between her morning runs with Booker and Jeremy, advanced Charms lessons with Mietta, Duellers every Wednesday and Friday and her tutoring with Wanda, learning the combination of spell work and martial arts she herself employed called Mahō no Geijutsu, Liane barely had time to do anything else aside from eat, sleep and attend classes. The first term, however, was drawing to a close, and the two weeks of mid-semester break were just on the horizon; and with them, the qualifiers for the Olympiad.
It was Sunday afternoon, her one day without any other commitments, and Liane was re-reading Standard Book of Spells, Grade Five by the fountain in the Slytherin common room, trailing the fingers of her free hand in the water. Remy and Scorpius were playing a game of exploding snap in the seating area behind her, while Olivia and Hannah quizzed each other on potion names. It was a very quiet, very lazy day, and the common room was nearly empty, most of the other students having found their way out to all sorts of other adventures throughout the castle, a large number of third-to-seventh years having gone to Hogsmeade for the afternoon. Even Remy, often so brightly and vividly coloured in their hair and eyes, was dressed down, a simple mess of brown hair that only just touched their shoulders, with eyes to match.
Which is why it was such a surprise when Rudzani appeared at the top of the stairs.
"Langford, you busy?" he asked. Liane looked up at him and closed her book.
"No, not at the moment; what's up?" she asked.
"I need a hand with a project," he replied, and Liane nodded. Standing up she took her book over to the table and left it with the others, and then headed up to the entrance with Rudzani.
"So what is it we're actually doing?" Liane asked.
"Spellcrafting; we're supposed to be showing Professor Delacroix the principles behind development of new spells, and so I'm going to try and write a spell from scratch. I think I've got something, and I want to test it," he said, leading Liane up to the ground floor.
"You guys get to invent spells?" Liane asked, surprised.
"Yeah, not many people go quite that far. Lion is the best at it so I've heard; I've seen him summon his sound system with a single spell and he's known for his shield spell that acts like a second skin," Rudzani explained. Liane nodded.
"I've seen that; you're saying he made that up?"
Rudzani nodded.
"I'm hoping this one, with some crafting, will stand up against that one," he added. As they stepped outside, Liane stretched, blinking in the afternoon sun as Rudzani moved over onto the practice lawns.
"So what do you need me to do?" Liane asked, stepping down the stairs.
"I've designed a variation on the shield spell; I basically just need you to throw some spells against it to see if it works," he explained. Liane nodded.
"Sounds easy enough. Breakers?" she asked.
"Whatever you want," he said, "breakers, curses, whatever."
The two of them drew their wands and Liane squared off, her back to the lake as she faced Rudzani, his back to the greenhouses in the distance. As Rudzani raised his wand, he waved it side to side quickly.
"Mirror Wall," he cast, and a shimmering silvery barrier rose up in front of him, reaching out towards the sides and lifting about five feet into the air.
Liane looked at the shield and narrowed her eyes. It was clear enough what the intent behind the shield was, and if it worked, she wasn't sure she wanted to fire off anything explosive or flammable. Instead, Liane raised her wand and dropped into a mahō no geijustu stance.
"Flipendo," she cast, and the ripple of force launched across the lawn. When it hit the shield, the barrier went momentarily opaque, and Liane saw that it was not merely silver, but actually reflective, showing an image of her standing a short distance away at the same time it reflected the knockback jinx at her. Liane caught her own redirected jinx on her wand and slashed it to the side.
"It seems to work," she said, breaking her stance.
"Keep it up," Rudzani replied. Liane nodded and dropped back into her stance, the same one Wanda had taught her during Duellers initiation.
"Lagann," she yelled, and her drill launched at the shield. When it hit, there was a moment where the drill froze against the shield, the barrier turning reflective, the spell trailing all the way back to Liane's wand. Liane gritted her teeth, and she felt her wand humming and turning warm in her hand. With a loud crack, the drill blasted through the shield and struck Rudzani in the chest, sending him skidding backwards.
"Ow," he said, rubbing his chest.
"You alright?" Liane asked.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Thanks, Liane; I guess it still needs work," he replied.
"It's a great spell; let me know if you figure it out. The size and effect looks like it's perfect for Duellers," Liane said, placing her wand back into her robes.
"That's sort of what I was aiming for; I wanted it to be done by this week," he said, walking back over to join Liane by the stairs.
"You put your name in to qualify then?" she asked.
"You bet I did. I'm not as quick with the wand work as Booker, Wanda or Molly, and while I'm the better flyer between us, on the ground I'm more a...close-range fighter. This spell ought to help shore up my long-range game," he explained. Liane nodded.
"Good plan. I suppose in that sense flight is my weakness; I'm not terrible, but there are way better flyers in our year," Liane replied.
"On those old school Comets, I wouldn't put much stock in being able to assess your ability. The Slytherin team are all on Nimbus 2001s, except for our seeker and myself; he's got a Firebolt V and I'm on a Nimbus Halo," he said as they walked back up the stairs into the Entrance Hall.
"Means nothing to me, I'm afraid; I'm not too up on the recent broomstick models. I know Scorpius and Albus have both said they have broomsticks at home, the fire-thing you just mentioned," Liane said with a shrug.
"Firebolt V; the fifth series in the Firebolt brand. They're technically not Quidditch brooms; they're racing brooms, designed for speed. It takes a very strong hand to manoeuvre one of those bad boys on a pitch," Rudzani said, "if the Potter boys have the chops to fly those in a game, I'm concerned for our first game against Gryffindor."
"Well if James is as good as Albus, there might be some competition there," Liane said.
As they chatted, Professor Longbottom came down the main stairs, a large scroll of parchment under his arm.
"Hello there, Miss Langford, Mister Mandini, how are you both?" he asked jovially.
"Good, professor; Liane was assisting me with a Charms assignment," Rudzani replied.
"Good to hear. Well, you'll be the first to see this; I've got the qualifier match-ups," he said, patting the parchment.
"Match-ups?" Liane asked, curious.
"You're going to be conducting the qualifiers in pairs; we've randomly assigned the first years into teams of two," Professor Longbottom explained.
"Just the first years, Professor?" Rudzani asked.
"Just so, Mister Mandini; we'll release the second-years match ups tomorrow after the event, and then the third years, and so on," he replied, before drawing his wand. With a wave, the parchment flew across to a bare patch of wall beside the doors to the Great Hall and adhered to the bricks. Once it was in place, Professor Longbottom returned his wand to his robes, smiled and moved through the doors into the Great Hall. Liane stepped forward and looked at the list.
"Let's see; Bertie and Gabriella, interesting. Remy and Mitchell, Albus and Scorpius, well that will be hilarious...where am...ah, there we are; oh," Liane said as she found her name, her eyes widening, "that's going to be fun."
"What, who are you paired with?" Rudzani asked. Liane turned to face him as she stepped away from the list.
"I'm with Yvette; she entered after all," Liane said with a wide grin.
"You seem very pleased; I know she's your friend, but she's not a Dueller or anything, so what's so exciting?" Rudzani asked.
"Because Yvette has skills I'm not sure even she fully understands, and I know what to do to bring the most out of them."
Liane headed downstairs back to the Common Room, a grin plastered on her face. Remy noticed as soon as she entered.
"What are you so excited about?" they asked, slyly, "nothing we should be reporting to Slughorn I hope."
"You," Liane said, pointing across the room, "are a dirty minded little rat. Anyway, the pairings for tomorrow's qualifiers are up in the Entrance Hall."
As soon as they heard, both Remy and Scorpius lept to their feet, racing for the door. Liane ducked aside, heading down the opposite steps as the two of them raced upwards.
"Look at those two; neither one even thought to ask me if I checked their assigned partners," Liane said, wandering across the Common Room.
"Did you?" Hannah asked, lowering the textbook she had open.
"Yeah; Remy's with Mitchell Munroe-" Liane began.
"Ooh, strong team," Olivia remarked.
"Indeed. And Scorpius is with Albus Potter," Liane said, her wolfish, mischievous grin leaping back to her face.
"Ha ha, excellent!" Hannah replied, laughing. Olivia bit her lip.
"Is that wise?" she asked.
"I think it's perfect," Liane said, sitting down with them, "those two are exactly like one another, and they're both so caught up in their history neither one sees it. I've seen them both in Duellers training, they'll be strong or weak depending on whether they can work together."
"If you say so," Olivia said quietly.
"You should come and watch, I'm willing to bet it's going to be more interesting even than the Duellers initiation," Liane said.
"I will; I reckon it's probable that the whole school will be out to see it," Olivia replied.
"That's true," Liane said with a shrug.
"So who did you get paired with?" Hannah asked.
"Yvette; I'm excited, I already have some ideas for how we can use her abilities. The real question now is; what are they going to make us do?" Liane asked.
"Steal an egg from a dragon?" Hannah said dryly.
"If it is I'm stealing Rudzani's broomstick," Liane replied, "he was just telling me how good it is."
By the time Scorpius and Remy returned, the three girls had started a game of exploding snap. Liane looked up to see Scorpius move straight to his room, and Remy walked over, a wry smile on their face.
"He's not happy," they said, sitting down beside Liane.
"He's going to need to get over it," Liane said, "otherwise he's going to crash and burn."
"I'm sure he'll be fine; they were able to work together in the Duellers initiation boat challenge after all," Remy replied.
"Well, if you mean simultaneously hurling yourself into the water as working together," Liane said with a grin.
"They also managed to organise the fastest boat," Remy said, shrugging.
"Well, I honestly do hope they get their act together; I'd love to see them actually get the most out of this event."
Hannah laid down a card from her hand and the entire pile erupted with a crack, sending cards flying across the table.
"So, you got Yvette, huh? The Most Dangerous Student in the School and Ravenclaw's resident fashion guru; should be fun," Remy said with a grin.
"You have no idea; trust me, it's going to be fun," Liane replied.
"Well, now I'm excited," Remy said, swiping across the table with their wand and the cards leapt back into a rough pile.
"You doubting me?" Liane asked.
"Don't get me wrong," Remy said, their hair shifting from brown to blonde, "I love the girl, I think she's incredible. She's clever and witty and beautiful. But she's not a fighter, or even much of a problem solver. She's an artist."
"That is entirely the point," Liane replied, "I've got all the skills I need to fight a monster or another player, or work out a riddle or environment puzzle. But I don't know much about art, and Yvette's marks in History and Muggle Studies, embarrassingly, are vastly higher than mine. Her skill set and mine intersect neatly, meeting in the middle with charms casting," Liane explained.
"Well, I hope for your sake your plan works out. Meanwhile, Mitchell and I will be raking it in," Remy replied.
"We'll see," Liane said, grabbing the deck of cards, "now, does anyone know how to shuffle these without blowing off my fingers?"
As the afternoon wore on and more students moved through the Entrance Hall, seeing the notice posted there, the commotion in the Common Room rose to a fever pitch. Rumours and hypotheticals about the layout of the tests clashed with assessments and wagers on the various teams. Eventually, in order to escape the noise and unwanted advice, Liane, Remy and Hannah moved up to the girls dorm, Olivia deciding to instead go and try and talk to Scorpius.
"I was so close to hexing that obnoxious third-year prat," Liane growled, draping herself across her bed, facing towards Hannah where she sat perched on the edge of her own.
"I would have held him down; how dare he talk about Yvette like that," Remy replied, sitting on Liane's bed, leaning against the headboard.
"Well, I'm glad you didn't; it wouldn't have been much fun tomorrow if the two of you got detention and had to miss it," Hannah replied, digging through her trunk to find a couple of boxes of Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans, tossing one to Remy.
"True. So, what will you be doing tomorrow?" Liane asked, "you coming to watch?"
"Of course; I figure Olivia and I will meet with Cassandra and we'll find somewhere to sit and watch you all compete," Hannah replied.
"On a different note; what were you and Rudzani doing earlier?" Remy asked, nudging Liane with their foot.
"Oh, he was testing a new shield spell, wanted me to try and break it," Liane replied, "I'm so jealous, the older students get to craft their own spells."
"Really? That sounds pretty hard," said Hannah.
"I have no doubt it is, but it also sounds like fun; imagine, blending together spells to create something no-one has ever seen before!" Remy exclaimed, "like; flight charms on a stunner to make it bend in the air, catching people off-guard."
"Ooh, or an enchantment that can make you a better singer and a better dancer," Hannah added, picking up on Remy's excitement.
"Or a fiendfyre patronus," Liane added, and Remy kicked her in the shoulder.
"No! No burning down Hogwarts," Remy said sternly, and Liane laughed.
"I was kidding; could you imagine though? Forget Dementors, anything would be terrified of that," she replied.
"Liane, promise me that you will not learn that spell," Remy said in a low voice. Liane shook her head.
"I can't promise that; I aim to learn every spell. But I will promise not to use it unless the only other choice is death," Liane said, hand over her heart.
"Personally, I think it ought to be an Unforgivable," Hannah said quietly, "there are places in the world that are still nothing more than blackened scars on the ground where that was cast."
"But, it's not totally impossible to fix; the Room of Requirement is proof of that?" Liane said.
"Many people think the room is an enchantment specifically placed by Helga Hufflepuff, so I'm not surprised it was stronger than the fire. But there's not a lot out there to match the power of a founder, and even the room took nearly two decades to heal," Remy explained.
"Well, at least for the now, I can say honestly that there's no danger from me; it's still a ways beyond my skills. Even the Patronus is giving me trouble; I just can't seem to get more than a weak mist," Liane replied dourly.
"You're not doing any worse than the rest of us; Scorpius can't even manage that," Remy replied.
"Meanwhile, the rest of us are still struggling with producing different coloured sparks in emergencies," Hannah said with a slight pout, "so you really have nothing to complain about. You've finished one term of seven years worth of schooling, after all."
Liane grinned. "Ah, but if I want to pass my N.E. early enough to qualify as a Charms or Defence STA, it's never too early to start."
"Between Rose, Yvette and Bertie, you've got some competition there. I almost envy Wesley Pascall, no-one can touch his marks in Potions," Remy added.
"Or Ben Evergreen for Herbology, for that matter," Hannah said with a nod.
The three of them sat and chatted until dinner time, when they went upstairs to find that the decorations around the Great Hall had been changed to show huge banners of past Hogwarts Triwizard Tournament winners, including near the head table two banners showing Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory, the latter showing an 'In Memoriam' heading across the bottom.
The house tables were also lavishly appointed in the house colours, and the prefects were out in force, directing students to sit with their houses for the dinner.
"Oh, pity; I was hoping to chat with Yvette," Liane said as they walked in, instead sitting between Remy and Scorpius at the Slytherin table.
"Hey," she said to Scorpius as she sat down.
"Hi, how are you?" he asked, looking flustered.
"Pretty good. The real question is how are you?" Liane asked with a smile. Scorpius sighed.
"Olivia told me you were happy about my allocation," Scorpius said.
"And you disagree?" she asked. Scorpius leaned back.
"Liane, you just don't understand; the Malfoys and the Potters, we're not just feuding, our fathers were the figureheads for different sides of the war. The war was as much about Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy as it was about Albus Dumbledore and the Dark Lord," he explained.
Liane rubbed the bridge of her nose.
"Scorpius, answer me this honestly; if he had any different name-if he was the same person but was called, I don't know, Jacob Wright-would you like him? Would you two be friends?" she asked. Scorpius fell silent.
"I'll let you think on that; but I honestly believe that if you two accepted each other as people, not as products of your parents, you'll be a strong team," Liane said, and before any more could be said Professor McGonagall had stood up at her chair and looked ready to address the students.
"Congratulations, everyone, for getting through the first term. We could not be more impressed and proud of the culture of responsibility and excellence that we have seen since the first night.
"For tonight, we will be celebrating the beginning of our qualifiers for the Olympiad, and the brave first-year students who, having only just come to Hogwarts, will be putting themselves to the test. Those who succeed will go on to represent Hogwarts against the first-years from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. Then, for the rest of this week, we will see the students from second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh year compete, and at the end of the week we will announced our teams. So celebrate, Hogwarts, and may the competitors rest soundly tonight; you will need your strength," the Headmistress said, and there was a ringing round of applause throughout the hall. As Professor McGonagall sat down, Professor Longbottom rose.
"Before we eat, a small matter of housekeeping for the morrow; competitors will be asked to assemble on the Quidditch pitch before eight am. You will locate your partner with the assistance of the referees, and the stands will be open to any spectators. Anyone not on the field before five to eight will be disqualified, and your disqualification will result in disqualification for your partner as well. The event will be explained in full, and at ten passed eight the event will begin, continuing through until six in the evening," Longbottom explained, before sitting down again. Liane's eyes widened as the food appeared in front of them.
"Ten hours to compete?" she muttered, "what on earth are we doing?"
"Maybe it's a transfiguration challenge; make something out of raw material," Remy guessed.
"Merlin, I hope not," Liane replied.
"Well, we'll see tomorrow; meanwhile," said Scorpius, brightening up, "pass the Yorkshire puddings."
The next day, after her run, Liane dressed comfortably in her spare tracksuit, her robes going over the top. To this she added a pair of woolen hand wraps that she had borrowed from Wanda, and tied her hair back and away from her face. Upstairs, Liane found the others all waiting for her in the Entrance Hall, the rest of the competitors similarly kitted out. Albus was wearing a Holyhead Harpies jersey, and to Liane's surprised pleasure Yvette seemed to have charmed together a thin yet strong looking black suede jumpsuit.
"We all ready?" she asked, and the others nodded. Hannah and Cassandra skipped over and wrapped Liane in a hug.
"We'll be watching the whole way," Cassandra said.
"Good luck," Hannah said, before turning back, "good luck everyone."
With that the two of them and Olivia headed off to join the crowds of spectators.
Liane looked back across her friends; Yvette, at her side. Remy and Mitchell, both looking like they were ready to go already. Bertie and Rose, their partners already walking to the pitch. And Albus and Scorpius; the two of them looked back at Liane, their expressions impassive.
"Alright then, I guess it's time," Liane said, and they started off out the doors, down across the lawns to the Quidditch pitch. Even from the castle, Liane could hear the roar of the crowd, the early morning light glittering across the tall stands. Professor Macmillan was standing at the entrance, and as the group approached he nodded hello.
"Competitors straight through to the field," he said, pointing behind him to where there was already a crowd of first-years on the green pitch, "but first, each of you need to grab one of these." As he said so, he drew a handful of wristbands from a pouch at his hip, handing them out to the competitors. Liane placed it on her wrist, seeing a small black zero marked on the white band. As they walked out, Liane heard a familiar voice booming through the air.
"And here we have the running favourites; we've seen amazing work from these first years, and we're expecting a lot. Ladies and Gentlemen, put your hands together for Yvette Delacroix, Liane Langford, Bertie Macmillan, Scorpius Malfoy, Mitchell Munroe, Albus Potter, Remy Scofield and Rose Weasley!" Lion announced from the commentators box. Liane looked around, locating the box between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff spectator towers, and waved a lazy salute at the window, before she and Yvette walked out into the middle of the field.
Under the Slytherin seating, Liane noticed, an entrance had been widened into a massive archway, leading out to the forest on the other side, and around the field were various pieces of detritus, old wagons, boxes and other oddities. Most intriguingly, hanging about forty feet up from the centre of the field, was a shining globe, like a fairy light the size of a tennis ball.
As the sun rose higher in the east, the stands filled with students from all years, and large view screens were rising into the air over the spectators. At last, the doors around the field began to close, one by one, and the crowds went quiet as the time ran down.
It hit eight o'clock, and Liane looked up to the commentary box.
"Competitors," Lion called, "it is my pleasure to pass you over to Deputy Headmaster Longbottom."
"Thank you, Mister Lyman. Welcome, everyone, to the qualifier event for the first year squad in the first Tri-School Magical Olympiad. This week all the events will be run like the events in the competition; each year level will perform a variation on the same task, scaled in difficulty for the experience of the competitors.
"The event; in the air above you, you will see a star. There are hundreds of these stars, hidden throughout the forest beyond the arch. This one and those beyond are collectable, and each star confers a number of points to the team that collects them. At six o'clock, the teams who has returned to the field with both players will have their points collected.
"But, while the stars will provide points to the team, the players will each have the opportunity to score points alone. Completing challenges, incapacitating other players and performances of bravery or creative thinking will score you points, reckless endangerment of other players will lose you points. The deeper into the forest you go, the more dangerous and challenging the challenges, with the higher rewards.
"Now," Professor Longbottom said, "the competition will start at the sound of the siren. Good luck, competitors!"
Liane turned to Yvette as the crowd broke out into noise once more.
"You ready?" she asked. Yvette nodded.
"I'm not sure how much good I'm going to be for you, but I'm ready to put in the best that I have," she replied.
"Excellent; I'm thinking we should ignore the one here in the stadium, it's going to turn into a quagmire in seconds. We need to get into the forest as quickly as we can," Liane said.
The competitors all began to move around to their chosen starting positions, some clustering near the arch and others taking positions near the various items on the field that could offer cover. Liane and Yvette, along with Bertie and Gabriella, moved over to the side of the field, away from the scrum near both the arch and from the middle of the pitch.
"Okay, competitors, are you ready to go?" Lion's voice boomed out once more, and Liane drew her wand.
"Three."
Liane and Yvette both crouched low, ready to start running as soon as the siren sounded.
"Two."
Liane looked around and saw Bertie nearby. He turned to her and nodded, and she nodded in return.
"One."
Liane pushed up from her crouch, bursting into a run. Out of the corner of her eye she could see others starting to move as well. As Yvette lept up to catch up with Liane, the siren sounded, and the air around them filled with light.