Chapter 11
The dueling team was sitting in the Hufflepuff common room going over some final preparations, while Darrel was in his element, "Now Ravenclaw may not have the best quittditch team, but in the past they have had an admirable dueling team. One that is usually always first or second. There spell variety in the older years is whats generally the killer, so remember if you don' recognize it, dodge it. The line up for today is going to be seeds 2,4,6,8,10,12 , meaning, myself, Diggory, Macavoy, Preece, Applebee, and Potter will be taking up arms today. Harry you are going to have the honor of opening up the tournament with a victory. Now lets all head to the Great Hall as a unit, PUFFS FIGHT?"
And the team called back, "TO WIN!"
This led to the dueling team leading the way to the great hall with the rest of the house following shortly behind the team. Harry was a little nervous opening up the tournament for his house, mostly because he knew as it was there were already going to be a lot of eyes on him, and now he was going to start the show.
Arriving in the great hall it was clear the Ravenclaws had been there for quite some time, as they were all exchanging simple stinging hexes and the like to warm up a bit, and their uniforms were admittedly cooler than the badgers yellow and black. Harry did humbly think that the name Potter did look pretty good on his black and yellow uniform though. The uniform consisted of a tuck in shirt, with your seed number and last name on the back, and some pants that were your houses alternate color, for Hufflepuff thankfully that was black. Harry thought that Neville's Gryffindor gold look ridiculous as pants, and the Slytherin silver didn't look much better. Ravenclaw had the superior looking jerseys in Harry's opinion, black and blue, were pretty easy to manipulate. The eagle on the front of their jerseys' however didn't look near as cool as the Hufflepuff badger the young Potter thought.
All trivial thoughts of uniform went out the window though as Harry saw Remus, Lily, James, Sirius, Jack, and Rosalie sitting in the stands waving up at him. The heir to the Potter line smiled up at his family, as they took to the opposite side of the dueling platform, that was a long solid mantle. From what Tonks had told him this was the Jr. standard for dueling, while the adult standard of dueling had a circular ring. Harry thought the straight line would actually require more skill, but then again he wasn't a dueling pro just yet, so he kept his opinion to himself.
Dumbledore stood in the middle of the ring giving encouraging smiles to all the students present when he called out, "With both teams here the match will be under way soon. Today's match up is Ravenclaw Vs. Hufflepuff. I will be today's judge, and will be happy to watch such promising young duelist attempt to gain glory among their peers, and attempt to take home the dueling gauntlet!"
Harry had yet to see the dueling gauntlet, but from what he was told it was a lot like the quittditch cup, only bigger. Tamsin Applebee and Harry exchanged spells for few minutes in attempt to warm up. Applebee was one of those free spirit types that Harry had taking a friendly interest in. The girl was in third year, and she had a mean streak a mile wide when it came to dueling. The brunette however was kind outside of dueling practice and was often seen helping Muggleborns as she herself came from the muggle world.
Dumbledore after some time called the match to a start announcing, "Both twelfth or eleventh seed duelist please enter the dueling pitch."
Harry looked across to see a third year boy stepping on to the platform clearly excited that he was going to get his first match up against a first year, however being a Ravenclaw meant that you never underestimated your enemies as that would be disastrously unwise. Dumbledore's voice carried throughout the great hall as he called match proceedings, "Mr. Potter, Mr. Stretton, face each other, bow."
Both boys gave each other a low respectful bow, but Harry had a feeling it was more because he was the boy who lived, than the fact that he was his opponents dueler. Something that Harry could tell by looking at the starstruck boy in the eyes. When they reached the other side of the pitch, the cheering suddenly stopped, while Dumbledore counted down, "3...2...1...Begin!"
Harry immediately let his instincts cut in, and took a fake step forward throwing his arm out towards his opponent as if he was going to cast something powerful, but when the young man stepped back to throw up a shield nothing came, but that forced him onto the defensive. With two stunners followed by an over powered disarming charm, the boy was put out of the duel before he could cast a single spell. This led to an eruption from the Hufflepuff section, and Harry received a motion from his captain that signaled he wanted to have words with him before they continued. Before this happened though Harry went over to his opponent helping him up and shaking his hand, "Good luck in your next duel mate."
Micheal Stretton was many things, but arrogant or mean was not one of them, "I would wish you the same, but its against my house, so I will have to pass on that. Good charm work, maybe next time!"
Harry smiled at the boy then walked over to his captain while the audience applauded his good sportsmanship. Darrel kept a very serious look on his face, but when he started speaking he could hear the excitement, "Well done Harry. You already did your job. Anything you can win after this, is a going to be just a pat on the back. If we all eliminate one dueler, we win every time. Do what you can, but don't over tax yourself, so the team can get in their and win this thing."
Harry nodded as he stepped back into the pitch to see Marietta Edgecombe step into the slot. Dumbledore called the pleasantries, and introductions, and as they bowed Harry knew the dueling level caliber just went up a notch. The ninth seed dueler was only a year above him, but age was nothing but a number. As they pointed wands at each other, she did not even wait for Dumbledore to say begin, the moment the number one came out of his mouth a spell was fired, " Reducto!"
Quickly scrambling out of the way it was clear that this Ravenclaw was not going to make the same mistake as her housemate. The girl was fast and she sent a barrage of blasting hexes at him attempting to blast him off the platform, but after dodging the first two curses, Harry threw up his full shield, which caused his dueling captain to explode with cheering, while the rest of his housemates just applauded, clearly confused why their captain was so excited. After a full minute of Harry's shield not even moving Marietta clearly appeared tired, and when Harry dropped his shield, the next spell came so fast, she rose her shield, but magical exhaustion had clearly come over her, and broke her shield and took her to the ground. The dueling captain Rodger Davies was on the platform reviving his team mate clearly looking furious at the first year who was usurping his lower tier duelers. This time Harry merely bowed to his opponent, as not wanting to approach the clearly irate Ravenclaw quittditch and dueling captain. The girl appeared disgruntled, but gave the boy a nod of respect and acknowledgment.
When Harry went over to his captain Darrel pounded him on the back, "Two wins in your first match, very impressive Potter. You scrape one more win, and I think Rodger Davies will be the only one that can stand up to three or four duelers. You are doing great, just keep your head in it, and eliminate as much as you can. Rodger won't go down easy, and I'd prefer Cedric and Heidi to get a few shots at him before I have to."
Harry nodded his head in understanding and turned to face the rather large fourth year Keeper, Grant Page. Knowing this was going to be an aggressive fight, as Grant already really disliked Harry for making him look so bad in the quittditch match. The keeper was the number seven seed in this duel, and Harry being at number twelve made this look slightly unmatched, but Harry kept his nerve, knowing he would need it in this fight against the older boy. When Dumbledore counted down Harry began smiling as he remembered a lesson that the head of Ravenclaw house had taught him while growing up. He could clearly hear the words of the tiny half-goblin, 'Death Eaters especially have a tendency to be overly aggressive. If you find yourself in a one on one fight, don't be to defensive, they may just over power you at the beginning and leave you no chance to come back from it. Strike hard and fast.'
With those words ringing through his ears the second Dumbledore counted them off Harry took a sprint forward break rolling under the first curse and then barraging the boy with quick and various blasters. Grant was obviously taken a back by the sudden aggression from the dueler who had kept his cool in the past two matches, put up shield after shield, but when Harry was suddenly sending out silent freeze charms, and stupefy he knew the match was lost. When Harry came within five feet of the boy he blasted a shield breaker, then followed it with the Perificus Totalus silent cast, which left the boy completely immobile. In a quick display of pure brilliant tactics Harry disarmed his opponent and waited for Dumbledore to call it. It only took a moment for the beaming headmaster to do so, and Harry unfroze the boy and handed him back his wand wishing him look in his next match.
Looking out to the stands Harry could tell his family felt ten foot tall at that moment. With a dueling protegee and quittditch extraordinaire they knew they had an heir and son to be proud of. James himself looked like he was on cloud nine, despite looking slightly uncomfortable when he walked in wearing badger colors. At that moment the young man felt like he could've convinced his dad to wear any colors except maybe green and silver, and he would've remained at his ten foot height!
Darrel was bouncing on his toes when Harry made it over to him, "That was a hell of a tactic Potter. The fifth seed dueler is a fifth year though, if you can win this one, count your lucky cards, because that leaves five of our duelers to beat two of their duelers. Robert Hillard is a speed demon, but if you hit him with your chain spell your golden. You take him then all there is left is Clearwater, and Davies. I still can't believe they have her at third seed, but hey your doing fantastic. If you can't beat Robert don't take it hard, but the chain Harry, the chain, should work!"
Cedric was standing next to Rodger and gave a last bit of advise very quietly, "Hillard's father was a death eater Harry, be careful he may be crafty."
Harry looked across the pitch to see a young man standing their with his hands crossed behind his back and no wand in site. Taking a steady breath of determination Harry trudged forward to take on the OWL student. When the bowing took place Hillard barely inclined his head which made Harry feel a sudden hatred towards the boy.
When they reached the other end of the platform Harry took a final deep breath and when the countdown was over for the first time in many years neither opponent moved. Some people seemed to be waiting with baited breath as the two stood off towards each other. Neither threw a spell, but both stared at each other in a attacking position. Harry who could feel the tension in the room brinking so started off the fight with an immediate shield breaker, but the curse sailed towards the boy, and he merely flicked his wand and the spell came firing back at him, causing Harry to spin out of the way and see many spells coming at him at with rapid fire. Harry threw up the standard protego, but it was instantly broken, and the fire charm was also coming straight at him causing him to reverse the effects with augimentai. At that moment he realized his opponent had yet to say a word. His dueling was completely silent.
The water turned solid as the heat over came the element and this allowed Hillard to banish the solid rock towards Harry causing the boy to yelp as he was forced to blast it with an exploding hex. This sent rock shards everywhere, and Harry was on the ropes once again by the boy who would not stop flinging the stunning spell at him. Finally Harry stopped defending and began to dodge while he threw two spells at nearby rocks causing them to turn animate and fly towards the dueler. Realizing to late what Harry had done, Hillard attempted to destroy the rock creatures, but by the time he had done so, Harry was half way through his five chain spell, "Reducto, stupefy, deprimo, expelliarmus, incarcerous!"
It was one of the fastest chains Harry had ever thrown, but that only seemed to make it more effective, because by the last curse his opponent had lost his wand and was effectively tied up. The Hufflepuff stands erupted into cheers. Harry however was just staring at the boy who was giving him a look that could kill. He couldn't understand the aggression, but when the ropes were taken off of him he stormed over to the boy, "You cheated!"
Darrel Abbot was at his side in a moment, "And how exactly is that? I didn't see any illegal moves made by Potter, or I am sure Dumbledore would've called it out!"
Hillard growled, "He is under some type of strengthening solution or something, no first year is that powerful! Much less know how to shield and transfigure like what he just did."
Rodger Davies was heading there way with a few other students from the team, when Cedric stood protectively in front of Harry, "Just because a first year beat you Hillard doesn't mean you can accuse him of cheating. He made this team, and couldn't have been under those potion effects every practice. The only reason Tonks and Abbot didn't make him a higher seed is because he is a first year!"
Hillard took a threatening step forward, but before he could his captain gripped his arm, "Go sit back down Hillard, that will be Potter's last victory. He is going up against Clearwater next."
Robert Hillard spat, "I hope Penelope puts that kid in the hospital wing."
It was clear the Hufflepuffs had heard what he said, but the other teachers had not, but Darrel drew his wand and was getting ready to curse the boy, but Harry stopped him, "If you curse him we may have to surrender. I am still in this fight with Clearwater, so lets stick it to them by putting a victory in our columns."
Darrel nodded his head and glared at the boys back as he went back to the side where Tonks was putting a comforting arm on his shoulder. Harry however looked over at the pretty fifth year prefect knowing he was in trouble. Flitwick had told him he had a charms protege in his house, and heard that she was almost the first fourth year prefect in a hundred years. The only reason she wasn't given the status was because she was a muggleborn. Instantly having respect for her, the green eyed young man was also weary of her reputed skill.
Before Harry knew it Dumbledore was counting down, and Harry was taking deep breaths. He had already taken out four duelers, if he can at least wear out Penelope then maybe even the tenth seed Hufflepuff could finish her off. It was with these thoughts Harry blitzed his opponent. Penelope did have some speed behind her blocking, but real skill was in spell variation. She was constantly using a shield Harry had never seen before causing the spells to bounce right back at him, which made spit firing stunners a little harder. Her spell work was also mostly silent, but the shield she kept using was said out loud, but he couldn't get a good enunciation. She also kept firing a jet of water, which unlike aguamentai, it was more solid, and coming in a much faster jet. He recognized the charm his mother used on him once or twice, and it was the Aqua Erecto charm. He wasn't sure how to perform it, but he also wasn't sure how to counter it either, which was proving to be a problem. She used incendio even a few times to try and get him out of the match, but it was clear that Harry was simply to fast, but quickly exhausting. Penelope however had not dueled four opponents before Harry, and dueling someone with such skill and speed was actually quite refreshing to the girl.
The two duelist had gradually been getting closer, and Harry was getting ready to take advantage of it. Just as he was about to get off the expulso jinx he found himself flying through the air. The crowd gasped, and he even thought he might have heard someone scream, but as he was coming down he shot the Arresto Momentum charm, and was stunned about three feet above the ground.
Awaking he felt a slight crimson taste in his mouth, and Cedric a long with Darrel were hovering over him, "Alright Harry?"
Groaning Harry got up and the audience cheered, while professor Flitwick was berating his student for such a reckless tactic. Seeing trouble Harry walked over to the girl offering her hand, "Alate Ascendare? I've never heard of it being used in a duel before. It was a pleasure Ms. Clearwater, I hope we can to duel again next year."
Carefully she took the boys hand, "I'm sorry Potter, I was on the ropes. I don't even know why that spells came to mind. You dueled very well today. I do hope we can duel each other again for practice. Had you not dueled four other opponents before me, perhaps things would have been different."
Taking it all in stride Harry began to walk back towards the side lines where Madame Pomfrey was waiting on him, "I'm fine Poppy!"
The women rolled her eyes, "You would be bleeding to death right in front me, and say you were fine Mr. Potter. Just let me run a check on you!"
Harry ignored the women as he joked to Tamsin, "I softened her up for ya! Go finish her off."
Tamsin gulped as Dumbledore called her last name, and she walked onto the platform and took her position. Chancing a glance at his parents, the Potters were clearly thrilled about their sons performance, and now they were pulling for his house to take a victory, which thrilled the heir to the family.
Tamsin came out swinging against Penelope, but after the prefect spun around and began firing back the duel was brought quickly to a close.
Harry watched Malcolm stand up and flex his muscles and take the stage. Between quittditch and dueling he was pretty well built, and the young man thought he would be a good match against Penelope. He was quickly proven right, as they had the longest duel of the day, where he eventually ended up over powering the girl with blasters. Malcolm look pretty tired, but when fourth year and captain Rodger Davies took the floor he straightened up. Harry saw Darrel call him over, and when they broke from their huddle Malcolm took a determined look. When Dumbledore counted them off Rodger was quickly able to prove why he was the dueling captain. With a blasting hex so powerful part of the stand came up, Malcolm was thrown backwards off the platform. Dumbledore instantly called it, and Madame Pomfrey was with the sixth year Hufflepuff in a moment. Darrel glared speaking more to himself than to his team, "I hope I get a chance at this pretty boy. Wipe that smug grin right off his face."
Heidi took the boys hand to calm him and gave it a reassuring squeeze as her name was called up to the platform. Harry heard his captain encourage her, "His spells are over powered, its why he is such a good duelist. Keep up your dodge game and wear him down. If you can sneak a spell in there and finish him off great, but Cedric and I will take him down. Just go out there and do your best."
Heidi gave the two finger salute and with a smile stepped up to the fourth year Ravenclaw boy. Something Harry quickly realized was that the boy was a good dueler. His spells weren't just over powered, but he also had a sense of grace when he was dueling. Heidi and he were dancing more than they were dueling. Something that would eventually undo the boy, but she stood strong against him. Everyone could tell it was wearing on her, but since most of the dueling was silent casting the Hufflepuffs cheered her on. With a well placed cutting curse she actually managed to cut the boy, which Harry thought would end the match, but it only proved to send Rodger into a rage. Clearly the good looking boy took it personally when she slightly disfigured his face, and sent a powerful barrage of curses straight at her. One included a bone breaker that connected with her hand, which forced her to drop her wand and get stunned. Her scream of pain was still heard by all though when she was hit with that hex.
Cedric growled, "I'm going to make him bleed."
Harry wouldn't recognize it right away, but later he would figure out that the two older boys had liked the pretty blonde as more than just a friend, however at the time he was just surprised to see Cedric wish anyone ill will. When he jumped onto the platform, spectators could tell there was a sharp rise in tension between the two teams. The Hufflepuff contingent was booing as there prefect was hexed with such an awful curse, but Cedric seemed to be in a zone of anger. He exchanged words with his captain quickly, "I'll try to leave a few pieces of you to blast at, but no promises that he is going to make it to you on the next duel."
Darrel nodded, and continued to glare at his rival seeker, "Do what it takes, but be careful. That is a nasty hex that I would've expected from a Slytherin, not a Ravenclaw. We clearly underestimated his tenacity. I'm glad you weren't able to pull it off against Clearwater Potter, if he had done that to you, I think there might have been an uprising."
This led to some snickering, but Cedric came to an even face as he clutched his captain and friends hand. Harry watched the boy march toward the isle, and when Dumbledore called for them to bow, neither did. Harry felt the tension in the air continue to rise, and when the duel began it was ferocious. The two dueled like demons, and as the fight raged on the young man seemed to notice that Rodger was starting to throw darker curses. Nothing illegal, but certainly they were darker in origin. He recognized the bone breaker a few times, an exploding hex, the gouging curse, the piercing hex, and even something that looked suspiciously like the arrow shooting hex, that the Appleby Arrows use at their games. Deep down the boy questioned if dueling like this was really proper in a school function, but since Dumbledore nor any of the other teachers have objected yet, he figured they must not have rules set up against something like this.
Cedric was fighting like a man straight out of hell, but it simply wasn't enough. He couldn't get anything through, while Rodger was beginning to hit with cutting curses, and even the piercing hex in the shoulder, but Diggory was just not going to go quietly. At some point both duelers stopped heaving for breath, but it finally came to an end when Cedric knocked Rodger down with the knock back jinx, and proceeded to banish him off of the platform! This led to an eruption of cheering on the Hufflepuff contingent, and the crowd itself had applauded a spectacular duel. Everyone seemed to note however that things between the two were a bit more personal than what met the eye. Both fought with serious ferocity, and it was clear no respect was shared between the two as neither bowed or offered congratulations on a duel well fought.
Darrel merely shook his head at the bad sportsmanship displayed by his counterpart captain, and shook hands with most of the Ravenclaw duelers, especially Penelope Clearwater who was a good sport about losing, as she had done the best on her team.
Hufflepuffs could now say something that had probably not been said in many years. One they had the best quittditch and dueling record in the school. Two they were ahead on house points by a significant margin, and it was only continuing to grow. And three they easily have the highest prospect aspect since Dumbledore or The Dark Lord himself. This left some pride in the air as the Hufflepuffs congratulated there housemates on two astounding victories in just under a week.
After his house had given him some breathing room, he saw a red missile coming straight at him, and the only thing he could do was brace himself for the impacting hug, "Harry you did awesome! You handled some of those older kids like they were nothing!"
Harry bent down to her level saying, "If you just keep training with Moony then when you get to Hogwarts you'll be able to do the same. Battle magic runs through our veins Rosalie!"
Jack agreed, "Almost every Potter is a dueling beast. Grandpa Charlus, dad, Harry, and were next Rosalie!"
Harry smiled at his siblings embracing both of them in a group hug saying, "I celebrated with my team last time. Let me go to the common room, talk with my captain, change, then we can all go get something to eat. Thanks for coming guys."
Before the young man could head off his dad caught him on the shoulder, "You did good today son. I am glad to see your training so hard has paid off."
Harry's dad embraced him, but he felt something go into his pocket, and gave a look of acknowledgment to his godfather who had made the slip with his fathers help. He then hugged his mother and followed his captain back to the common room. Cedric and Rodger stood up at the front, with Rodger speaking excitedly, "Were doing great guys. Lets keep up the hard work, and prepare for our match against Slytherin. Everyone grab a butterbeer and just hang loose, that was a great win, and I intend to see five more coming our way! Badgers fight?"
And the whole house roared, "TO WIN!"
Harry was all smiles as he walked towards his group of friends, but before he made it he opened his pocket to read the parchment, it was a simple message that gave a clear warning, "Watch your back around Hillard and Davies."
Harry seemed to look towards the common room door as he began to head out, and only felt a little trepidation until he met up with his family and Neville who congratulated him on a spectacular showing and win.
(A/N) So I don't know if the last chapter was just awful or something, but six reviews kind of hurt my feelings lol. I have a pretty fair number of followers, and favorites, and I ask that you guys show me some this week, and maybe I will post on Wednesday to return the love :)! Otherwise next Sunday Chapter 12 of the Badgers Champion will commence! Cheers, and thanks for reading!
