"Participants, please come up to second floor and get your schedules."

The voice announced over the magically enhanced megaphone, and Harry complied with the directions immediately. The dueling tournament was being hosted inside the famous mundane stadium famously known as Parc De Princes. The French Ministry of Magic had hired the stadium from the mundane government for the tournament. It goes without saying, that the entire stadium had to be magically proofed of spells, to prevent any damage to the building as a whole.

Harry had seen the entire stadium from the inner grounds. Even to his eyes, the stadium was grand. A staggering amount of fifty thousand people could sit there, and that was not including the magically expanded seating arrangements. The fact that he would be dueling international participants, and all the while, would be watched by the world, sent shivers of excitement down his spine. Of course, it was a different kind of excitement that the one had when facing the basilisk or the Dementors, but Harry had to admit to himself, it was thrilling.

Harry walked up to the second floor, to check his matches and their respective timings, and he found that there were four matches he needed to fight to pass the elimination round, four matches to enter the semifinals and then finally the semifinal and the final match. Ten duels, all in all, provided he kept on winning.

He was just about to collect his schedule card and return back to his seat when he turned and found himself facing the all too familiar blue orbs of that mystery girl he had met the previous day at the marketplace. He could feel the surprise in the blue orbs in front of him, the surprise turned confusion in the heart shaped face, which crunched in some confusion. Harry wondered if he should say something.

"Hello?"

The golden curls of the girl fluttered in the light breeze. She was very beautiful, almost angelic, in an innocent kind of way. Her widened eyes seemed to take in his countenance and his expression.

"uhm... hi!"

"Hi..." her voice was quite melodious. Harry countered his own thoughts about the girl. For all he knew, the girl could be an actual angel. The world was magical after all.

"Could you please?" Harry tried.

"Don't feel my allure at all?" she asked him, point black.

Allure?

"I am sorry, I have no idea, what you are talking about."

The girl's face crunched up. Harry thought she looked quite cute when she did that.

"You are not lying to me, are you?" she asked, rather seriously.

"Not at all." Harry said quickly, perhaps a bit too quickly.

The girl stepped back, and stood up to her fullest height. He was just slightly taller than her.

Bringing her hand forwards, she spoke, "Fleur Delacour. Nice to meet you."

Harry shook her hand. "Harry Potter. Same here."

Fleur seemed to remember something, Harry could understand that from her over expressive eyes. "You are the boy-who-lived?"

Harry sighed. "Yes."

"Oh!" Fleur expressed herself intelligently, "My sister has this huge crush on you."

Another Ginny Weasley?

"Fleur?"

Fleur stared at Harry Potter, as if trying to figure out some deep secret.

"Fleur?" came the irritated voice of her father.

She blanched out, and turned back swiftly. Seeing her father standing behind her, she quickly thought of an escape plan. Moving a bit sideward, her tone completely diplomatic, she introduced. "Mr. Potter, this is my father Sebastian Delacour. Dad, this is the famous Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived."

If Harry wasn't an Occlumens, he would have been surprised, shocked and started laughing out loud. The way in which the girl, Fleur Harry reminded himself, had jumped off from her crazy girl avatar to her diplomatic avatar, Harry was almost about to accuse her of having a dual personality or something. Besides, seeing the stern face of the man, her father, who seemed to be quite powerful by looks, Harry did not think that laughing on his daughter would give a good impression to the stern man.

He introduced himself to the large man in front of him. "nice to meet you, sir."

The man shook his hand, and said, "Likewise. I knew your father."

Harry's eyes widened with surprise.

"You do?"

Sebastian nodded. "He was part of the squad that was sent to France during the last war. He and his friend, Sirius Black, I haven't seen a more talented duo. Took out more than half of the death eaters that had tried to break into the meeting."

"Sirius is my godfather. Sir"

"yes, I heard about him being incarcerated. Couldn't believe my ears. That man was more close to your dad than blood family is. I am happy that he had had his trial and has been declared innocent. Is he here too?"

"He will, Sir. By the next two days."

"It will be nice to meet him. That aside, how do you know my daughter? "he asked, a little sternness seeping into his voice.

"I don't, Sir. I just learned her name."

"He is the one I was telling you about, Dad."

"Oh!"

Sebastian looked back at Harry. "My daughter has been in a trance since yesterday, about how you were immune to her allure. I did not believe it, of course, but that did not stop her from seeking you out today."

"Dad! I didn't seek him out." Fleur complained hotly.

Sebastian laughed,

Harry had been looking back and forth at the banter; it was very similar to the Weasley twins. He did not still know what this allure was, but assumed it was something to do with Fleur.

"Sir, if you do not mind me asking, what is this allure, exactly?"

Sebastian looked at Harry for a moment. Determining that his response was innocent enough, he complied. "My daughter Fleur is a Veela. She has this attraction about her, known as the Allure, that tends to make males go... frenzy around her. Boys lose their morality in her presence and try to impress her, and in some cases, try to force themselves on her."

Harry's eyes glinted with fury at the statement. Growing up with Dudley, he had been bullied all his childhood, and hence, had zero tolerance for bullies. What Sebastian was describing, was basically bullying where the bullies even had an excuse, the allure in this case. Harry wondered how Fleur even retained her innocent behavior despite all that.

"I am sorry to hear that. I do not know why, but the allure does not affect me."

Sebastian smiled. "You should come home sometimes. Your father was a friend. Maybe Fleur could do having some more friends. He glanced at his daughter, who blushed for a second.

"I take it you will be participating." Harry nodded. It was glaringly obvious. "Fleur here, is participating as well. What year are you in, at Hogwarts?"

"Fourth." Harry replied succinctly.

"Indeed?" Sebastian's eyebrows raised. "you don't look like that. I would have thought you to be in sixth or seventh, I take it my daughter thought identically."

Fleur blushed deeply.

Just like Daphne.

"She likes you, I think." Nidhogg whispered.

Shut up!

"I just had a growth spurt, recently." Harry explained.

"Well... in that case, I believe I will allow you all to be better acquainted." He smirked, leaving the spot, leaving Fleur and Caroline alone. Caroline came up and shook Harry's hand. "I am Caroline Beaufort. Nice to meet you."

"Harry Potter. Nice to meet you too."

"So Harry! This is the under-nineteen tournament. You being a fourth year, cannot be more than fifteen. I know it's quite unfortunate, for some", she winked as Fleur blushed at her subtle dig, "but do you think you could win against people having higher age and experience?"

Harry stared at her for a second. "People here are higher than me in, age, Yes. Experience, No."

It was not a boast. It was a fact.

"OOH! Confidence. I like it." Caroline winked. "Fleur, he is all yours." She ended with a smirk.

Harry shook his head at their antics.


"So Harry, are you tensed?" Fleur asked, as they sat on the bare ground of the stadium. Lush green grass beneath their toes, chatting amiably.

"Not tensed, really. I just want it to begin as quickly as possible."

"You think you can win?" she asked, curious.

Harry nodded.

"Despite you being just fourteen?"

"My being fourteen did not stop you from sitting here with me." Fleur blushed at the dig. "Why should the tournament be any different?"

Fleur nodded. "it's refreshing to sit and talk with someone other than Caro. You can't' believe how difficult it is to be Fleur Delacour at Beauxbatons."

"believe me, I do. I am Harry Potter after all."

Fleur thought about what he said. Realization flooding through her, she countered, "people stare."

"And also scrutinize every action I take, with tainted glasses of their own prejudice."

"How do you deal with it?"

"Getting stronger. People follow the strong."

"I am not as strong as you." Harry narrowed his eyes at her comment. Fleur continued, "One of the traits of Veela is that we can sense the magical potency of a wizard. My father is a very strong wizard. People fear him. You on the other hand-"

Harry looked at her directly.

"Your magic, its overflowing, abundant, destructive and also protective at the same time. I feel completely washed away by the waves of your magic. How are you so powerful?"

Harry considered the question. "Because I intend to be."

"Hmmm." Fleur reflected. "My skills lie in Charms and Enchanting. After my NEWTS, I plan to get my mastery in Enchanting and Spell creation. You have your OWLs next year, I believe."

Harry thought at Fleur's non-question. The news of his clearing his OWLs would be public coon anyway. Sighing to himself, he replied, "I gave my OWL exams a month ago."

Fleur blanched in surprise. Here was a fourteen-year-old, who had already sat for his OWLs.

"but how could you even sit for it? The syllabus is-"

"Self-study". Harry ended the room for argument.

"I ... see." She didn't.

"Let's go upstairs. The elimination will be starting any moment. Good luck, Harry."

"Good luck to you too, Fleur."


Peter had finally managed to find a baby as per as his Lord's requirements. What followed was beyond what even Peter had anticipated. The dark lord had asked him to collect some of Nagini's venom, collect a few ingredients and prepare a potion. Once it was created, Peter had to pour the potion down the little baby's throat. The baby fainted immediately, or at least that was what Peter thought. The wraith of his lord had then possessed the baby boy. When the boy had woken up, it was no longer alive. Its eyes were glowing red, much like his lord's eyes, and it spoke in that spooky voice.

"I am back, Wormtail."

Peter was completely beside himself. The spooky red eyes of the boy in front of him, seemed to even haunt him during his dreams. Had he been knowledgeable of ancient rituals, he would have known that his lord, whom he had served with so much diligence, had used him in what could be termed as a sacrificial ritual. The first part of the ritual was done, and Peter would now be tortured with nightmares until the last part of the ritual was complete. The last ritual would require Peter's death, thus ending his nightmares for once and forever. There was after all, a reason that the forbidden ritual was referred to as 'the nightmare child.'


The tournament had begun. The candidates were placed in random order. Fleur in Group 2, and Harry in Group 3. To Harry's surprise, there were two familiar names in the list. One was Su li, a Ravenclaw student, a year senior to him. The other was someone he did not, even in his dreams, could have foreseen facing, especially after all the stuff he had went through the last couple of weeks. It was a flabbergasted Harry who saw the name of one opponent he did not want to face.

Draco Malfoy.


### My fifth chapter for the day! I guess this is some kind of a record for me. 5 chapters in a day. I do not think I will be able to update any more before the next couple of days, so decided to give it my best shot today. Hope it has been fun reading, and please review!