ELIMINATION, ROUND 1
Harry stood opposite to his opponent, a tall lanky boy from Durmstrang, some Sasha Asimov. The duo was separated by twenty feet as they stood on the stoned floor. The entire floor was floating over the lush green grass of the original stadium ground, an ingenuity that was only possible through runic combinations. Being natural at runes, Harry could not help but appreciate the ingenuity of the architects.
The rule was simple. The first person to fall would be eliminated, while the one left standing would move on. It was clear and simple, and the rules would remain unchanged until the quarterfinals would begin. Twirling his wand loosely on his palm, as he had done during his duel with Auror Tonks, Harry waited for his opponent to begin.
The commentary was going on at full volume, as the commentators kept informing the audience about the results of every single duel. Harry waited for the referee to give the signal.
THREE, TWO, ONE...DUEL!
The Russian started off by firing multiple blasting curses at Harry who efficiently dodged them, weaving his way towards his opponent. His opponent got tensed seeing the lack of any success and proceeded to firing high powered bone breakers. Harry side stepped the two curses and fired out a powerful Expelliarmus. The spell hurled out his opponent's wand, hurling him away at the same time.
"Now that was a powerful Expelliarmus. And with one single shot, Harry Potter moves on for his next."
Fleur stood her ground as her opponent took a standard dueling stance. The boy started to throw a series of cutting curses which Fleur deflected with a wide area shield and threw a powerful blasting curse back at her opponent, securing her victory.
"Fleur Delacour moves to the next round of Elimination."
ELIMINATION, ROUND 2.
The opponent was quick. Harry had to give him that, but not as quick as the dummies in the Room had been, and Harry had blasted them to shreds even then. He fired a series of low powered reductor curses, making it difficult for his opponent to remain in any particular spot. The boy in front of him, dived out of the spell.
How Predictable.
Harry immediately fired an Impedimenta, slowing the boy down, midway. Another blasting curse and the quick diver was out of the game.
Fleur was facing a problem. She was facing Andrew Wilkes, a dueling champion of her own school, and a year senior to her. The boy was quick, his reflexes sharp and his attacks powerful. He did not waste spells, just high powered cutting and blasting curses. Fleur was having a hard time holding her ground. A cunning idea rising out of her mind, she allowed an Expelliarmus to hit her, and as expected, her wand shot out of her hand upwards. Wilkes had perhaps taken that as his win, as could be seen by the lax in his posture. Fleur took the advantage and shot out two fireballs out of her hand, taking Andrew by surprise. The boy hastily drew up a shield but it was not enough. The fireballs hit his shield with a resounding gong, shattering them and hurling him down. Fleur walked forward and collected her wand, her face smiling in victory.
"Ooh that was sneaky. But within the rules. Fleur Delacour moves in for the next round."
"So this... Harry Potter, he is the new Lord of Slytherin, you say?"
Albus Dumbledore nodded. Although he suffered from a pathological need to keep secrets, he knew better than doing that in front of his mentor, a man who if he wanted, could easily outdo him in a duel any day. Albus had been fortunate, or rather unfortunate to see him once radiating his magic. The feeling was... overwhelming. If Harry Potter was an elemental, it made things complicated. The prophecy was about the defeat of Voldemort, it never said anything about Harry's personal inclinations. It would not do to defeat one dark lord and then leave the throne empty for a much deadlier dark lord to take the place. There was a reason elementals were hated by wizards, after all. He knew Harry was an instinctually good person at heart, but situations and experiences could change the best of men. Albus knew that, he had seen the rise of two deadly dark lords, close up and personally.
"I want you to bring him here. I want to... analyze him personally," his eyes glancing up at his student, "without any outside interference. If it helps, I promise he will not suffer. If he is not a threat, he will be unharmed. And if he is..."
The unsaid threat hung in the air.
"Where is he, right now?"
"He is participating in the dueling tournament here in France."
"All the better." He got up from his couch. "I haven't been to any dueling tournaments recently, Albus. Would you mind accompanying an old man for a leisurely walk?"
ELIMINATION, ROUND 3.
The girl was deadly. Attractive but deadly. Wonderful combination. Wonderful, dangerous and deadly. The way she was swaying her hips, it was an obvious play to cause a distraction. And when the opponent was distracted, she would pull out the big guns. Bone breakers, flame spells and body binds. Yes, she was good.
Harry raised his shield for the second time during the match. The dueling style of the girl, Issa her name was, Harry reminded himself, was clearly unconventional. Her style of dueling was... completely random. At times, she would fire in one style and then midway, she would jump to another, flipping almost effortlessly while her opponents got confused by her switching tactics.
Harry smirked. He was enjoying this duel.
He raised a wide area deflecting shield, causing her spells to splash against his. He rapid fired two curses, an Incendio and a Glacius spell near her, causing the spells to collide, causing a steamy mist to arise out of it. Taking advantage, he fired off a Patronus at her.
"Oh! Did you see that? Harry Potter just fired off a fully-fledged Patronus right in the middle of the fight, without even stopping or breaking his stride. I wonder what other powers Harry Potter has held up in his sleeve."
Issa had previously thought that she had finally got the edge. Her opponent, quite strong and sharp, if she was honest with herself, had raised a deflecting shield to cause her spells to splash against them. She was about to move in for the kill when the two rapidly fired spells caused the steamy mist to blur her sight. She was busy removing the mist away when the blasted wolf Patronus of all things broke in through the mist towards her. She hastily raised a shield but to her shock, the wolf broke through it, causing her mind to go into disarray. Patronuses didn't behave like that.
She had hardly been able to regain her hold on the ground when the unexpected reductor hit her, blasting her away.
"And after another fantastic duel, Harry Potter moves in for the final round of elimination. He will now be facing the other winner from Group 3, Caroline Beaufort. The winner of this duel shall move in for the quarterfinals."
Caroline. Caroline Beaufort. Fleur's friend. He watched as Caroline took the opposite side of the dueling ground, smirking at him.
"Let's see if your words are true, Mr. 'age, yes; experience, no.' Shall we?"
Harry smirked. "Bring it on," his wand back to his loosely hung position. Caroline saw his gesture and raised an eyebrow. Taking Harry's gesture as a challenge, she raised some very fine shields and started hurling reductor and confringo curses at full speed.
Harry smirked. He weaved through the curses, deflecting them when necessary, and moved in towards Caroline. It was a risky move, but the results it offered were great. Caroline sensed his play and kept firing curses, which grew increasingly tandem with time. She could not allow the boy to come close to her, else she would have the short end of the stick.
"Seems like Caroline Beaufort is having some trouble taming the quick movements of Harry Potter."
Harry smirked at the sexual innuendo behind the commentary, and moved in for the kill. He was almost near the frontage of Caroline's shields, when Caroline decided to stop her attempts and begin throwing impedimenta spells. Harry used a deflector, transfigured a bull out of the stone chips on the battleground, and ordered it to barge on the shields.
Caroline was now facing a literal bull hammering on her shields. She let the shields fall, as she transfigured the barging bull into a frog. She never saw the blasting curse coming her way.
"And with quick move, Harry Potter moves in to the quarterfinals. What a spectacular dueling, ladies and gentlemen."
Fleur was in a dilemma. She was sad for her best mate Caro who had been eliminated, and yet happy for Harry who had aced the duel, effortlessly she might add. And top of it all, her opponent was hammering at her shields. No matter what she did, the pale blonde, one Draco Malfoy, was consistently firing borderline dark blasting curses on her shields. Spells she could deflect, but dark curses were another thing. Fleur knew she would have to do something else she would be out of the game.
She gave her shields one final energy boost, before using her hands to hurl fireballs at her opponent, who got disarrayed by the sudden advent of the fireballs, and was having trouble with them. Spells would splash against shields, no problems. Fireballs though, if the shield managed to intercept them, would splash over on it, causing a layer of flame that covered the sight of the caster, allowing the opponent to cast more spells.
Fleur used the distraction to gather up some of her innate energy and fired off a powerful stunner. The stunner hit the shields full head on, causing a resounding gong, and pushing Draco a few steps back, completely disheveled. The final hammer fist spell from Fleur hurled Malfoy out of the ring.
"A stunning move by Fleur Delacour, who enters the quarterfinals. With this, the process of elimination ends for the day and we shall move on to the quarter finals from tomorrow. Have a great day Ladies and gentle-wizards. The betting corner is in the south end for our more enthusiastic viewers. Have a great day!"
"Hey Fleur."
Fleur looked up to find her newest friend, Harry Potter walking up to her. She walked up to him, and hugged him, surprising herself. She did not notice the raised eyebrows that her family and Caroline gave her. After her brief hug, she stepped back and blushed lightly, only to be brought back into reality by the enthusiastic shouts of her sister Gabrielle.
"Papa, is that Harry Potter? I want to talk to him. Please Papa Please." She begged. Sebastian Delacour sniggered at his daughter's antics and took her to where Fleur was standing with Harry. Introducing him, he remarked. "Harry, this is my youngest, Gabrielle. She is... quite enthusiastic about you." He said with a grin.
Harry looked down at the little girl hiding behind her father's robes. Gabrielle, he reminded himself. This was no Ginny Weasley. This was a tiny little girl, about eight or nine in age, Harry guessed. Walking towards her and kneeling down, he forwarded his hand towards her and smiled.
"How are you Gabrielle?"
Gabrielle squeaked, her face imitating a ripe tomato. Fleur chortled at her sister's embarrassment. She knew Gabrielle was madly crushing on her friend. A slightly jealous feeling shot through her. Where had that come from? She wondered.
"I am fine. You are my biggest hero." Gabrielle squeaked out, using her hands to display how 'big' a hero Harry was to her. Harry chortled in return, his hands running through the little girl's lustrous hair. Gabrielle seemed to melt at the touch.
Harry stood up, and introduced Filius to the rest of the group. "Mr. Delacour, Fleur, this is my professor and former dueling champion, Filius Flitwick," je indicated at his charms professor. "He was the one who decided to sponsor and prepare me for the tournament."
Filius nodded, and he shook his tiny hands with Sebastian, who remarked, "Your protégé is quite a remarkable duelist, Professor Flitwick." The charms master squeaked in appreciation and nodded.
Turning to Harry, Sebastian continued, "You dueled very well Harry. Ever thought of becoming an Auror? Or a Hit Wizard perhaps? Your dueling skills would take you far in that field."
"Thank you Mr. Delacour, but I am still keeping my options open. I want to study different branches of magic at first, and see what takes my fancy. Till then, I have my House business ventures to manage." He replied genially.
Sebastian nodded. This was a remarkable young man, not like the bigots he usually dealt with. He noticed his daughter was quite comfortable around him too. An idea for a near future came to his mind, but he filed that for later.
"We were heading for lunch, why don't you both join us?"
Sirius Black was in a hurry. Well not just him, but the entire team, that is, a werewolf who had been freshly cured of dragon pox, a stern head of DMLE and an overexcited ponytailed Bones heiress, were all in a hurry. They had been delayed at Thailand by two days, and had thus missed Harry's elimination round. Although he had full faith on his godson's potential, he felt that he had once again let down Harry by not being there for the tournament as he promised.
He had just reached the city of Paris with his entire group in tow. Not knowing where Harry would be at the moment, he decided that the best thing to do would be to go to the venue itself. Harry would obviously be somewhere around the place. Using the coordinates provided, he apparated for the spot.
They reached in front of what seemed to be a great mundane stadium, although right now it was completely warded all around, with different variations of notice-me-not and spell-proofing. He crossed the wards, brought some elite tickets for the rest of his family. It would not do to get some silly corner seat, and not be able to see his godson dueling in all his glory.
"Sirius, look there," Remus cried out; his voice still croaky due to the after effects of the disease. They spotted the tiny half goblin walking on the pavement, towards the cafeteria. And walking beside him, head held high, was his godson, who was busy talking to some blonde girl, who was busy chatting up to him, waving her hands in a handy-dandy fashion.
"I hope that is not his new girlfriend. Daphne will not be pleased if it is." Susan muttered.
Amelia looked down at her niece and replied back in a condescending tone. "Suzy, it is not good to say like that. You know Harry better than make some premonitions about him. And even if that could be his new girlfriend, he would still be legally correct. As lord of multiple houses, it is his right, should he choose to marry multiple girls for his different houses."
Susan frowned. Lord of multiple houses or not, Daphne would not be happy about it. Daphne was her best friend. She decided to cross Harry about it later.
"Now come, lets meet them." Amelia finished, as she strode with her fiancé towards Harry.
Harry was busy chatting away with Fleur when a rather familiar voice called him from behind. It was his godfather and the rest of the group. Harry felt a bit bad that his godfather had not been for his elimination round, but then, he was busy spending time with Fleur, to have noticed their absence. He excused himself as he rushed to greet his godfather.
"Sirius!" he hugged, and then stepped back. With a mock anger, he scowled, "Where were you during the elimination?"
Sirius looked completely guilty, as he looked down on the ground, finding the stones on the pavement very interesting at the moment. Remus caught on to the discussion, "That would be because of me, Harry. I guess my treatment took a bit more time than expected."
Harry walked over and hugged him. "How are you now Moony?"
Remus smiled. "Better."
"Ahem!" Harry turned his head at the distraction. Susan was standing in the middle, her arms folded before her breast.
Harry rushed towards her and gave her a gripping hug. Susan hugged him back, but there was a certain... coldness about her. Harry decided to talk to her about it later.
"Won't you introduce us to your new friend, Harry?" Susan replied bitingly.
"Huh? Oh yeah sure. Everyone, meet Fleur Delacour. Fleur, meet everyone." He smirked, at Sirius' frowning expression at Harry's improper introduction.
"Nice to meet you Fleur. I am Amelia Bones, and this is my niece Susan." Susan nodded frostily at Fleur, who nodded back, eyebrows raised at the frosty behavior of the ponytailed redhead in front of her.
Sirius introduced himself to her. "I am Sirius Black. This young man here, who has got no sense of proper decorum," Harry maturely stuck out his tongue at Sirius, "is my godson. I think I might know your father."
"You should. After all, I saved your arse twice." Came the heavy voice of Sebastian from behind.
"Sebastian!" Sirius called out genially, "it has been long, old friend"
"Old friend, indeed. Tell me Black, how did you of all people managed to get thrown into prison for a decade?" Sebastian remarked.
"It is a long story. I am surprised you know Harry."
"Well he was quite quick at gaining the attention of my eldest daughter." Sebastian smirked, as Fleur blushed. Susan narrowed her eyes. Nudging Harry in his ribs, she whispered, "You and I have a lot to discuss. Get an excuse."
Harry understood the situation now. He nodded resiliently. Turning to the others, he cleared his throat loudly. "I uhm... want to show Susan around a bit. Meet you in ten minutes."
Sirius nodded and turned back to his friend. "So heading for lunch, are we?"
"Yes. Come on Fleur, we are getting late." Fleur looked back at Harry who was walking away with that redhead, Susan, Fleur reminded herself. A sick feeling rose in her throat, but she controlled it and walked forward with the rest of her family.
"Enjoying the tournament Harry?" Susan asked, her biting tongue still dominant.
"Yes." Harry let out.
"I can see that, almost like any of the other Pureblood bigot would." She replied sassily.
Harry narrowed his eyes at the veiled insult. "What do you mean?"
"What I mean is that you are finally entering into your proper Pureblood form. Having one betrothed sitting at home, you spending time with another-"
"Susan you are not making any sense."
"Am I? Then please explain to me Lord Potter, why are you two-timing with this Veela here when you have already a person betrothed to you? One girl not enough for your exquisite tastes?"
"Shut up Susan. You are clearly out of your mind. Fleur is, well she is a friend. A very nice friend no doubt, but just a friend. We share some similar pasts so I can relate myself to her quite well."
"And of course, she being a Veela is just the extra cream."
"Her Veela nature does not matter to me. I am, apparently immune to her allure."
What?
Susan was shocked.
"So she doesn't have you twirled around her little finger?" she asked, her anger a bit subdued.
"Like Daphne does? "Harry chortled, "No she doesn't. But I expected you to at least talk to me before jumping to conclusions Susan. I am disappointed."
"but?"
"Let's go for lunch. I am famished and it's getting quite late." Harry headed out towards the cafeteria with a subdued Susan following him silently.
###I know I am being bombarded with reviews and PM's; all asking me the same question. Is this a Harry/multi story? I will just say that there is a reason the story tagline displays a Harry/Daphne. More than that, well you will have to wait and read on. I am not about to be giving out any spoilers.
###Reviews, please.
