Chapter 33: The Eurasia Dueling League
Professor Snape glared out over his potions class, his fingers tapping his desk ruefully, his eyes narrowed behind his greasy hair, which had fallen before his face. The dungeon classroom was immersed in a deadly silence as the Slytherins and Gryffindors were hunched over the final part of their Potions O.W.L exam: the written exam. Every so often, a groan would emit from the corner of the dungeon, and when this unlucky student happened to be a Gryffindor, Snape would put a checkmark next to the student's name, reminding himself to take off large numbers of points for the interruption.
Snape's eyes fell on Harry, who was hunched over his parchment in the far back, his quill scribbling furiously all the information he could possibly think of to answer the questions. A small smirk played on the corners of Snape's mouth as he contemplated taking points away from Harry for writing too noisily, but instead of reaching for his paper, which already had several marks next to Harry's name, he just continued to stare at the boy, wondering what was going on in his head.
Harry lifted his eyes several times to look at Snape, shuddering slightly each time upon realizing that Snape was still staring at him. But, vowing not to let the greasy-haired weasel distract him, Harry pursed his lips and turned his attention back to answering his next essay: Explain the differences required when making a sleeping potion using Rorlweed and a sleeping potion using Gupplewort. Fun, Harry thought.
Ron walked out of the dungeons two hours later, a dreamy expression on his face. "You know what, we're almost done, only two exams left and then we're finished," he said in a higher pitched voice than usual, lifting his eyes up to the ceiling in relief.
"For now. Our NEWTS will be coming up sooner than we think though," Hermione said thoughtfully, reaching around and pulling a notebook from her knapsack, "we should probably start a revising schedule pretty soon."
No one had a verbal answer to her statement. Ron shoved her in annoyance, Harry rolled his eyes, and Adrienne just stared blankly, wondering what about newts they had to study: They were pretty boring animals. The four made their way through the castle, trying to ignore the odd stares directed at them. The word had spread, and fast. Newspapers around the world were spouting the story of a confirmed return of Voldemort, while the Ministry was running at full force to counterattack these "rumors." So, naturally, as a large bit of gossip is never overlooked, all student attention was directed at Harry and Adrienne, trying to discern what had happened "the night the court burned," a phrase Fred and George coined from their song, which they hummed as they walked in step to the beat everywhere they went.
"Seems that this is a regular occurrence now," Hermione muttered.
Harry followed her gaze to the closed door several feet away from them. The Defense against the Dark Arts classroom was dark and locked. A notice posted on the door announced that all further defense classes were cancelled for the year.
"What, they all die?" Adrienne asked in a meek voice, her eyes fixated upon the closed door.
"I think the position is jinxed," Ron whispered suddenly, nodding furiously, "that's the only explanation."
"Ever heard of a position being jinxed?" Harry asked, more to himself than anyone, actually agreeing with Ron.
"They all die?" Adrienne asked again, a horrified look flying across her face.
"They all leave," Hermione corrected, "quite unexpectedly."
"So, do we take the O.W.Ls in Defense without a review?" Ron asked awkwardly, crossing his fingers in hopes that that particular exam would be called off.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "If you would have began revising with me when I began my schedule, you wouldn't need a review, now would you?" she snapped, glaring at him.
Harry blushed in embarrassment as Hermione's eyes swept to him too, chastising him for his lack of studious effort.
"Grades, I never placed much importance in grades," Adrienne muttered, eyeing Hermione apprehensively, wondering if this would amount to another fight about Ron and Harry's academics, as it had the previous night.
"And that's why you're failing Transfiguration," Hermione responded, although her tone was much lighter, almost sympathetic… almost.
"We'll see who fails Transfiguration." Adrienne raised her eyebrows and drew her wand. "I've been practicing," she drawled and then flicked her wand at a stray paper lying on the floor. It promptly transfigured into a toad and hopped away, croaking in a crispy manner.
"Ok," Adrienne said in a short voice, lowering her wand, "if we have to transfigure anything into a toad, then I'm good to go," she called after Harry, Hermione, and Ron, who, trying to suppress laughter, had began to walk down the corridor. "Hey, guys! Wait up!" And Adrienne scrambled after the trio ahead.
"Nah, don't do it that way, you leave yourself wide open," Adrienne remarked as she walked to the edge of the dueling ring, her hands on her hips and her wand sticking out from the bun at the back of her head. "You're standing straight at him. Look at your hips, see they're parallel to him."
"What's your point?" Samantha asked as she and Rodney both dropped their wands at Adrienne's interruption.
"Adrienne, please, let them finish their duel," McGonagall snapped, glaring at Adrienne over her spectacles.
Adrienne rolled her eyes but continued to stare at Samantha."You stand like that and you may as well wear a big sign that says 'Hit me!' because that is the most undefensive stance you could take without dropping your wand and just standing there waiting to be finished off," she continued, saluting herself into the ring.
"Listen, I've dueled like this since I began, and I think it's fine," Samantha snapped at Adrienne.
"Oh boy, that's something to be proud of." Adrienne reached up and drew her wand from her hair, tilting her head to the side to eye Samantha.
"Look, raise your wand at me, and I'll try and hit you with a spell. You block."
Adrienne pointed her wand at Samantha, straight at her face, and then with a flick of her wrist shouted "Wingardium Leviosa" and repositioned the wand at her shoulder. At the same time, Samantha blocked, and then yelled as she flew up into the air.
"Now, you see that? Didn't work. Want to know why, or do you just want to hang there… be Samantha, the Amazing Hovering Witch?" Adrienne asked, pointing her wand straight at Samantha.
"Set her down, Adrienne!" McGonagall ordered, striding to the edge of the ring and drawing her wand.
"Hold your horses, I'm teaching. Do I interrupt you when you're teaching?" Adrienne asked irritably. She had decided that if she couldn't compete during the dueling final, she was going to take up the unofficial role of assistant head coach, much to Professor McGonagall's dismay. "Let me explain this one and then I'll get out of your hair."
"That's what you said last time," McGonagall replied, "Fine, but make it quick," yet she kept her wand ready at her side.
Turning back to Samantha, Adrienne continued as if she'd never been interrupted. "Now, when you have your hips turned to your opponent like that, it just makes their target larger. You have to stand at an angle, you know, one foot in front of the other, your hips to the side. Like this."
Adrienne turned so only her head was facing Samantha, the front of her torso facing the wall.
"Ya see that? Look, only my side is a target now, much smaller. Makes it easier to lunge out of the way of unblockable curses too." Suddenly Adrienne whipped around, letting Samantha fall the three feet back to the ground. "They should work on lunging techniques too, Professor," Adrienne suggested to McGonagall.
"It really was a curse?" Ron whispered to Harry as he, Harry, and Hermione stood at the side of the classroom, watching Adrienne trying to offer her advice.
Harry nodded. "Some old curse, Dumbledore told me yesterday that he thinks he knows what it was. He's heard rumors I guess."
"She does know a thing or two about dueling," Hermione commented as McGonagall saluted into the ring and dragged Adrienne from it.
"Yeah, but she doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut," Harry laughed as Adrienne stomped her foot and pounded away from where McGonagall had drug her to.
"She just won't listen to reason," Adrienne said in a huff as she approached them. "I told her that I could help, you know, give some pointers, because she sure doesn't know it all."
"And like you do?" Hermione asked in a semi-joking way. She thought very highly of McGonagall.
"One day I will," Adrienne answered with certainty.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione laughed at her, shaking their heads in disbelief.
"Ok, maybe not, but I can pretend," she said sullenly, but then her face brightened. "Anyone want to learn how to lunge?"
"Tomorrow's it, our last exam," Hermione said, a twinge of nostalgia in her voice.
"Yes!" Adrienne shouted in relief as she flopped down onto the edge of Hermione's four poster.
"How's the Transfiguration practice going?" Hermione asked as she reached for her large binder on her bedside table.
Adrienne rolled her eyes. "Well, yesterday I tried to change a mouse into a snuff-box, you know, thought I'd start out with some easy first year stuff."
"Congratulations on it," Hermione answered, smiling at the girl sitting in a pair of unmatching pajamas.
"Nah, hold that thought. I turned my mouse into a pretty toad with whiskers."
Hermione groaned. "Adrienne, you can't be turning anything to toads tomorrow!"
"Wait, but it gets better!" Adrienne exclaimed, sitting up and puffing her chest out with pride. "If I do say so myself, I swear my toad had the same markings as the snuffbox I saw in the Gallows last summer. And plus, at least I'm not blowing things up or sliming classrooms; toads are an improvement."
"Not by much," Hermione muttered darkly. "Are you going back to Salem for the summer?"
"Yup, you can come and visit though," Adrienne replied.
"The Dursley's won't let you go with Harry?" Hermione asked.
"He didn't ask; from his stories I think my staying there would have disastrous results," Adrienne replied nonchalantly. "But you, and Ron, and Harry can come visit me anytime. Plus, we can bug Professor Glenn. He's so funny when he gets angry."
"What will your other professor's say if you don't do well on your O.W.Ls?" Hermione asked.
Adrienne cocked her head to the side. "What does that stand for again?"
Hermione made a face but didn't answer before Adrienne continued speaking.
"I don't think it matters because one, they don't know what it means either, and two, as long as I don't cause an accident, they're happy," Adrienne replied cheerily. "But, perhaps we should revise a little more?"
Adrienne's gaze fell on Crookshanks. Hermione, picking up on Adrienne's line of sight, shuddered and jumped up.
"No, I think Crookshanks and I are tired," Hermione said quickly, wrapping Crookshanks in a protective embrace.
"Suit yourself," Adrienne replied and made her way to her own bed.
"She's a tad bossy, goes off on tangents, and has a terrible temper… but she very well may be the best choice," Professor McGonagall said reluctantly, clearly not pleased with her own recommendation for the position.
"And you know I can't do any competitive league coaching because of my position on the Board, it would be a major conflict of interest," Professor Lycé said, leaning back in her chair in the Staff Room.
"I personally don't want her being given any sort of power, as little as it may be," Snape snapped bitterly.
"The letter from the Board clearly states, if I'm not mistaken, Jasmine, that due to her international ranking, that she's barred from competing in even school competitions," Dumbledore answered, ignoring Snape.
Professor Lycé nodded. "Yes, the Board did just vote on that several weeks ago. I personally give my recommendation. And Severus, it isn't as if she were to have any sort of title. I'd be doing all the administrative duties, she'd only be coaching. The two would be strictly separated. I would even pick the team."
"It would be a gross injustice to those from other houses, especially those from Slytherin," Snape fired back. His face was contorted in deep anger, and his teeth were barred. "You cannot even begin to assure me that she'd remain impartial after her little incident at the last dueling competition."
"Most likely Mr. Potter would make the team?" Dumbledore asked Professor Lycé, a thoughtful expression on his face.
"Unless a drastic decline in his performance is noticeable, yes," Lycé answered.
"Albus, Harry, as much as he and Draco dislike each other, would definitely make sure that she treats all the teammates equally. You know he'd do that," McGonagall said in a reluctant voice.
"Couldn't we pay someone from outside the school to come in and coach," Snape suggested, raising a greasy eyebrow.
"Minister Fudge has reduced our funding for next year. The budget doesn't allow for the salary of an additional professor," Dumbledore replied, shuffling through a pile of letters before him.
"So she wouldn't be paid?" Snape said in a humored tone.
"No," Dumbledore replied, "but it would be her team. She'd be announced as the coach. But you're right, she wouldn't be paid."
"I think it's a mistake," Snape muttered.
"I think you were a mistake too," McGonagall said shortly, a small smirk playing on her lips.
"Wise a - " Snape started, but Dumbledore quickly interrupted.
"We'll wait until after the Tournament," he instructed, and everyone except Snape nodded.
"Anyone nervous? Good because nervousness does not support a good tournament," Adrienne said jauntily as she followed the Gryffindor Primary Team into the Great Hall.
"Go away, Miss Miles," Professor McGonagall ordered.
"Ok," Adrienne conceded, much to McGonagall's surprise, and slouched away toward the stands, her expression slightly downcast.
The Great Hall was filled with the rumble of loud, excited chatter as students poured in to watch the final dueling competition of the year: Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor. The students had made various flags and banners to support their chosen team, and to Adrienne's disappointment, it looked as if only the Gryffindors were there to cheer on their own team, the other houses had signs for Ravenclaw.
"Going to be disappointed when you lose?" Adrienne asked a Ravenclaw who looked like she was a seven year.
The girl glared back at Adrienne. Adrienne shrugged her shoulders and continued walking along the stands, searching for an open seat. These open seats, however, had the funny tendency to suddenly disappear as she neared. Adrienne didn't meet stares with any of the students who were looking at her, nor did she reply to any of the comments made by the Slytherins.
Her return from Salem hadn't earned her any popularity, especially in the light of Harry escaping yet again from the clutches of Voldemort. It didn't matter to anyone that Adrienne had blown up a cauldron and thus taken out several Death Eaters with one blow. As it turned out, the only people who cared about this was the American Ministry of Magic, who sent her a scathing letter banning her from returning to the Ministry Center of the Gallows. Adrienne glared at this, especially at remembering that Harry hadn't even come under suspicion. According to the Ministry, the poor hero had had the unfortunate experience of being lost in a Ministry building at the same time that Adrienne was. They too, like the English Ministry, didn't buy the story of Voldemort being the true cause of the night's events.
"Corruption," Adrienne muttered as she finally found a seat next to Fred and George.
The two red heads smiled innocently at her.
"You look thirsty," Fred said, sidling over to her, a large and semi-sincere grin on his face.
"Nah," Adrienne replied, eyeing the two suspiciously.
"Now don't you lie to us, come on, we're practically family. Tell us the truth. You're famished," George said dramatically.
"Here, want some of our water?" Fred asked, handing her a small bottle filled with clear liquid.
Adrienne held out her hands to ward off the bottle. "Um, thanks but no thanks. Don't take it personally or anything, but I wouldn't drink anything from you, no matter what," she said, continuing to hold out her arms.
"What? We're only trying to offer our aid to our brother's leading lady," George said, a look of crushed pride splashed across his face, "And you accuse us of trying to inflict undue magical harm just because we think you look thirsty?"
"Yeah," Adrienne replied, nodding.
Fred turned away, shaking his head disappointedly. He and George shared pained expressions, which didn't last long, as Seamus Finnegan had just taken the seat before them.
"Seamus will drink anything," George whispered, suppressing a laugh, and then bent down to tap Seamus on the shoulder.
Adrienne turned her attention to the ring down on the center of the floor. She took a deep breath and crossed her fingers. "Good luck guys," she whispered.
"And here it is, the Hogwarts Dueling Final. Back for a second match are the Gryffindor Primary Team, and the undefeated Ravenclaw Primary Team."
Cheers rang through the air as Neville began his announcements, his voice shaking as it usually did at the beginning of each match he commentated.
"The Gryffindor team has made a change to its line up. Fourth year Ginny Weasley has been moved up to the Primary team, and Lee Jordan has been made co-captain with Harry Potter."
Murmurs rose through the stands and Adrienne just shrugged her shoulders, and then jumped up. "Go Ginny!" She shouted, and then sat back down, her face red, "I sounded like a cheerleader," she moaned.
"The meet should be beginning in just a few minutes folks, so sit back and enjoy."
Harry, Hermione, and Ron sat quietly in their designated seats, each staring blankly into the center of the dueling ring. Directly across from them, the seven Ravenclaw duelers were also staring into the center, some wringing their hands in nervousness, but not Cho. Harry chanced a glance in her direction and watched with mild apprehension as she leaned back in her chair and yawned. Clearly she's not the type to get nervous, Harry thought as McGonagall blocked his view.
"All right, this is it," she said, her crisp voice slightly wavering. Her eyes slid down the line of her duelers, not pausing on any face longer than the other. "We've spent countless hours practicing, running drills, and even lunging," she paused at that, a slight grimace overtaking her face.
"I'm still sore from that," Lee complained with a painful expression, pretending to massage his legs.
McGonagall ignored him. "We've only lost one game this year, an admirable effort for your first year of dueling. But, if we can… please, let's this time show the Ravenclaws that there's more bite in our team?"
"Sure thing. Everyone, bare those teeth and growl," Ron said spiritedly, doing just that.
The team burst into laughter, and one by one, each teammate tried their best at imitating a lion.
"That wasn't very reassuring," Lee joked at Hermione's grow. "You're supposed to sound intimidating, not like you ate a bad fowl."
Hermione glowered and crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow at Lee.
"That's it, the scary Hermione face. Let us all take off in the opposite direction, as she might make us study until our brains, completely saturated, leak out our ears," Ron whispered to Harry.
"Don't let her hear you say that," Harry hissed back.
"Don't let me hear you say what?" Hermione interrupted, leaning across Harry to glare at Ron.
"That you look ravishing today," Ron replied, smiling sweetly.
"And so do you? Have a date with Neville's toad, have you?" Hermione answered without hesitation.
But before Ron could think up another quip, Neville had returned to announcing, and the cheery atmosphere of the team was suddenly cut short.
"The judges have just taken their respective seats and are motioning for the first duelers to take their places. Dueling first for Ravenclaw is Robert Grant, who will be facing Gryffindor's Ginny Weasley," Neville said as Ginny stood up, biting her bottom lip.
The team whispered words of encouragement and offered last minute advice and pats on the back as she walked past them.
"Duelers, on my mark," Dumbledore said after Robert and Ginny had bowed and raised their wands.
Ginny took a deep breath as Dumbledore signaled them to begin.
Shouting "Expelliarmus," Ginny jumped out of the way of Robert's attack, using the time gained from jumping instead of blocking to shout back, "Tarantallegra."
The two continued tossing spells and curses back and forth for several minutes, and the flashes of the spells reflected off the darkened night sky showing on the Great Hall's ceiling.
As the duel pushed the ten-minute mark, the first slip-up happened. Ginny, in an attempt to shoot a spell over her shoulder as Robert lunged behind her, fumbled her wand.
"Stupefy!" Robert shouted, and without thinking, Ginny threw her feet up in front of her and fell toward the ground, barely missing the curse.
She landed with a thud and the room rose with sympathetic groans, and then several disappointed moans as Ginny rolled out of the way of another curse, shooting her hand up and positioning it at Robert.
"Expelliarmus," Ginny shouted exactly as Robert shot the same spell.
Ginny was quicker though, and again rolled away, letting the spell ricochet off the flooring and off into the ceiling. Robert wasn't as lucky, and his wand clattered to the ground just at Ginny's feet.
"That's one point to Gryffindor," Neville announced as Ginny handed Robert back his wand, simultaneously trying to brush the dirt off her robes. "Wait a second, the judges still haven't raised the maroon flag to announce the Gryffindor victory."
Indeed, Dumbledore was bent close to Professor Vector, seemingly in deep conversation.
"Why aren't they raising the flag?" Harry asked, leaning toward Hermione.
"I don't think Professor Vector liked that Ginny won while laying on the ground," she replied matter-of-factly, her brown eyes watching the judge's table intensely. "I bet Professor Dumbledore will raise it soon though."
Hermione was right. As soon as Dumbledore raised the flag, Neville called out the next duelers' names. Harry wished Ron good luck, and then winced when he saw Ron's opponent.
Ron's opponent, Baird VonHensly, a large blonde haired seventh-year was already in the ring when Ron saluted himself in. He reminded Ron greatly of a younger, less hairier Hagrid, which didn't do much for Ron's already high-strung nerves.
"Duelers, face your opponents."
Ron tightened his grip on his wand and locked eyes with Baird's.
"Duelers, bow."
Looking back on his duel with Baird, who Ron later learned was actually descended from the intermarriage of a remarkably well-mannered troll and giantess some hundred years ago, Ron didn't understand why he had chosen the method of attack he had in the first place. He had, on the first spell cast, tried to stun Baird, but to his intense dismay and horror, instead of falling down with a loud thump, Baird had only shook his head and smiled a dazed smile as he shouted back the same spell.
"Well, who knew that your stunning spell wouldn't be enough to stop him? I mean, look at him, doesn't he remind you of that troll from our first year?" Harry asked in a consoling manner once Ron had been enervated and returned to his seat.
"Kind of, maybe his nose…" Ron mumbled, clearly embarrassed. "I should have put more power behind that spell. Did you see it? It barely fazed him."
Rodney hadn't faired much better in his duel. His opponent, Lisette Warburton had hit him with the unblockable Vertigo Curse. Despite hearing the yell of "Lunge!" from the stands, he didn't manage to remember to do so before the curse hit him.
"And the score stands at 2 - 1 Ravenclaw," Neville announced, keeping an eye on his toad, who was tottering dangerously close to the edge of the table. "Gryffindor's going to have to get atop their game if they're going to take home the championship."
During Rodney's duel, McGonagall had been watching the other team, her eyes narrowed as she surveyed each dueler's manner. Cho's struck her as odd, but McGonagall didn't understand until Cho had drawn her wand and stood up as Lisette had disarmed Rodney.
"They're switching places," McGonagall muttered angrily, jumping from her seat with amazing agility for someone her age. "Listen up, Potter, you're going next," she said as she strode down the line.
Harry jerked his head up in surprise, his mouth slightly open. "Wait a second, I thought I was going last?" he said in horror.
"Professor Flitwick moved Chang up. She's dueling next. If I'm not mistaken, they're moving up all their top players to try and finish the tournament now instead of waiting until the end to land all the points. You duel Chang, which means, you're up," McGonagall said, casting a glance over her shoulder to make sure Cho was indeed standing.
"And onto the fourth rotation. From Gryffindor, dueling next is Hermione Granger. And from Ravenclaw is Padma Pa - " Neville paused as Cho and Harry saluted themselves into the ring. Cho didn't look happy to see Harry standing opposite her, especially when she was expecting Hermione.
"Looks like there's been a last minute line-up change. And we have Gryffindor's Harry Potter." Shrieks of support rang through the hall, mingled with boos from the Slytherins and various other students. "And Ravenclaw's Cho Chang!"
"What are you doing up here?" Cho hissed as she and Harry bowed.
Harry shrugged his shoulders. "Following you," was all he replied.
"Duelers, on my mark. Three, two, one, mark!"
"Rictusempra!" Cho yelled as she lunged to the left, and shouted in rapid succession, "Expelliarmus, Densuago, Stupefy."
Harry blocked all successfully just in time to begin another rapid session of blocks.
"That's how Harbinger Sveltsen dueled," Adrienne whispered to Fred, who was watching the scene before him with intense concentration. Adrienne didn't think she'd ever seen Fred so focused on one thing this long.
"Who's Harbinger Sveltsen?" he asked, not taking his eyes from the rapid fire of spells echoing around the ring.
"He's a dueler from Sweden. Took the international title five times in the 30s and 40s," Adrienne answered. "He always wore his opponent out first, then got him when he was tired. Pretty good technique, really, but you have to have the stamina to keep it up. Lots of duelers who try it usually wear themselves out too."
It didn't look like Cho was about to wear out though. And with wide-eyes, Harry realized that she'd practiced this before. By the look on her face, he knew he was right. She wasn't even beginning to show signs of exhaustion, and Harry couldn't help but think that perhaps she was better than him.
"Locomortor Mortis!" Cho cried, and again Harry blocked.
"He hasn't tried one offensive move at all," Hermione moaned, crossing her fingers, "Come on Harry!"
As Harry continued a defense, waving his wand before him desperately, trying to block all the spells Cho was casting, his eyes fell at the end of the Gryffindor team line, where Samantha was swaying back and forth as she always did when she was nervous.
"That's it!" Harry whispered as he blocked the stunning spell. He locked eyes with Cho as she cast her next spell, but instead of blocking it, Harry leapt to the side, yelling "Expelliarmus!"
Cho glared at him but blocked, shooting back the same spell, and again Harry jumped out of the way, using the spare time to try the leg-locker curse.
"And Potter is back in the game!" Neville announced as Cho blocked the curse.
"He's going to get tired jumping around like that," Ron whispered back to Hermione, "He's not in that kind of shape to spend all night being a human jumping bean."
"I think he has a plan," Hermione answered, crossing her fingers even tighter.
Indeed, Harry did have a plan. It seemed that he had gotten quite good at developing strategies during stressful situations. Again, his eyes narrowed in concentration he locked eyes with Cho as she shouted "Stupefy!" Her arm moved to shoot the same curse at the spot next to him, but Harry didn't lunge out of the way this time. Instead, he blocked the stunning spell, sent back the Expelliarmus spell, and then, as she raised her wand to block it, lowered his target and shouted, "Stupefy!"
The spell hit her smack in the stomach.
"And the two teams, with three rotations to go, are tied 2 -2!" Neville exclaimed, "And I think Cho Change and Harry Potter have broken the record for the longest duel, having spent 25 minutes in the dueling ring."
Harry collapsed into the seat next to Hermione, breathing hard. "We're tied now?" he asked.
Hermione nodded.
"Good," was all he replied.
"You should have seen the look on her face the first time you jumped out of the way!" Ron exclaimed, hitting Harry on the back. "She was so sure she'd take this one!"
"And now, wait, they're changing order again! Up next is MaryAnn Webber and," Neville paused to see who was going to stand up from the Gryffindor side. "And Hermione Granger."
"I don't remember her," Adrienne whispered to Fred, who shrugged her away, too interested in the tournament to put up with her constant interruptions.
"George," Adrienne hissed, leaning behind Fred and tapping his brother on his shoulder. "I don't remember her."
"That's because she's replacing her sister, who had a nasty encounter in Herbology. Got too close to the Merital Nycium."
"Sorry, I guess I missed that Herbology lesson, but the what?" she asked.
"The Merital Nycium," George repeated, leaning back to look at her, "eats brains. It clamps itself onto your ear and sucks."
Adrienne made a horrified face. "It what? Is she ok? Is she dead? Do they have her on machines like in the Muggle world? Could Madam Pomfrey heal her?" she said in rapid succession.
"Shh," Fred ordered.
George held up a hand. "She's ok, you can survive a partial lobotomy. But it took the part that controls speech and stuff like that," he said in a suffering voice.
Adrienne stared ahead, wide eyed. She slowly lifted a hand to her ear, as if it hurt. "Did her head cave in?" she asked, turning back to George, who was giggling with Fred.
"Wait a second. That plant doesn't eat brains, does it?" she asked slowly, a scowl forming on her face. "Come on, then what does it do?"
They didn't answer her, instead turning back to the match just to see that it was over.
"OH! I missed it!" George moaned, hitting his knee. He turned to glare at Adrienne. "Next time keep your dumb questions to yourself."
Adrienne was going to reply that if George hadn't lied to her, he wouldn't have missed the game, but decided against it. Instead she leaned down to ask Seamus what happened.
"It wasn't very exciting. Hermione won easily. MaryAnn really was out of her league. Tried some fancy stuff and Hermione just brushed it aside and got her with the Vertigo curse and then disarmed her."
Adrienne sat back in her seat, vowing not to talk the rest of the tournament lest she miss anything exciting.
"With a score of 3 - 2, Gryffindor is in the lead, but not in the clear. All Ravenclaw needs to do is win the last two duels and the tournament is theirs," Neville said as the next competitors, Olivia Jester and Lee Jordan, raised their wands.
"Anoptico!" Lee yelled and Olivia ducked.
"Ex - expell..iarmus," Olivia stuttered, but Lee too had, unfortunately for Olivia, also hurled the disarming spell at her.
The Great Hall filled with the cheers of the Gryffindor supporters, as Neville announced the score: 4 - 2, Gryffindor.
"And with Lee Jordan's winning duel, Gryffindor has taken the championship. With one rotation left, Ravenclaw can opt to finish out the tournament, or concede the victory." Neville watched intently as Padma Patil and Samantha Henderson waited at the edge of the ring. "And it looks like the final rotation will take place."
Adrienne sat up bolt in her seat and squinted to see better, leaning forward as Samantha and Padma bowed. Adrienne crossed her fingers under her legs.
"Mind your stance," Adrienne whispered to herself, wishing Samantha could hear.
"Stupefy!" Padma shouted as soon as Dumbledore had said "mark."
Samantha blocked it with some difficulty, as Padma had sent the spell at her left hip.
"Rictusempra!" Samantha yelled in return and then fumbled to block it as Padma had reflected it back to her.
Harry winced as Samantha almost missed a block.
"She's barely making her blocks. Any second now she's going to be too slow in reaching the next one," Hermione whispered to him.
Harry nodded his agreement and glanced at McGonagall who also had a defeated look on her face, and who's mouth was twitching, almost as if she wanted to yell something to Samantha. But, of course, once a player was in the ring, it was an unspoken rule that no one was to yell advice, but according to Adrienne, this rule wasn't punished by the judges. Harry continued to watch McGonagall, quite able to tell how the rotation was going by her facial expressions.
Suddenly, Harry saw McGonagall redirect her vision, this time to the audience, and Harry followed. There, standing up in the stands was Adrienne, her hands crossed before her, and a scowl on her face, obviously not pleased about the direction the rotation was heading. Sitting so close to the yells of the duelers, Harry couldn't hear the other students yelling at Adrienne to sit down. He stared at Adrienne for a second, and then smiled.
"Samantha! Change your stance!" Harry suddenly yelled. He promptly ducked down behind Ron, fearing McGonagall's wrath, but it didn't come.
Adrienne watched, a grin creeping onto her face, as Samantha rotated her feet. "That's more like it," Adrienne murmured. "Excuse me. Pardon me. Out of my way. Sorry about the foot!" She made her way to the edge of the stands, preparing to greet the team on their victory.
"Don't you want to see if Samantha's going to win?" someone called behind her. Adrienne turned around and raised an eyebrow at Alicia Spinnet, who had called after her.
Adrienne shook her head. "No, I'll just congratulate her when she does."
The remaining part of the final week of the term flew by as if Father Time had been in a hurry to move onto another part of the year. O.W.L. scores were handed out, which put a damper on Gryffindor's double victory both on the Quidditch pitch and in the dueling ring. Samantha had indeed won her match, and had came up to Adrienne afterward to ask if the following year she might be able to offer some more pointers.
Trunks were removed from their dusty homes under the beds, and wardrobes were emptied. Tears were shed, both from the prospect of leaving dear friends, and from McGonagall handing out the O.W.L. and NEWT scores.
To no one's surprise, Hermione had received O.W.L.s in all the subjects she sat. Harry pulling away 9, and Ron 7. Adrienne refused to open her envelope, and put Harry in a headlock when he tried to open it for her.
The Great Hall was once again decorated in Maroon and Gold to celebrate Hogwarts winning the House Cup again, although it was only due to their Quidditch and dueling victories. The only complaint Harry had as he was sitting and listening to Dumbledore's annual end of term speech, was that the end-of-year feast was not up to the exciting standard that had been set by the previous years, but Harry did relish the fact that it wasn't depressing either.
Ron was leaning back in his chair, mumbling threats to kill himself if the food didn't arrive soon, Harry was listening to Dumbledore speak with as much attention as he could muster, and Hermione was sitting straight-backed, completely enthralled. Adrienne was sitting across from the three, and was asleep, her head atop her plate.
"In light of this year's successful reinstatement of House dueling teams," Dumbledore started, having finished his obligatory reminder of not practicing magic over the holiday, "after much deliberation between professors and the Board of Governors, we have decided that next year will mark the first year that Hogwarts will participate in the Eurasia Dueling League."
Ron sat up bolt in his chair. "Does that mean what I think it means?" he asked excitedly to Harry.
"I think so," Harry replied, "Shhh, he'll say more."
"The League team will be decided by Professor Lycé and myself at the beginning of next year, and will be a traveling team."
"Adrienne, Adrienne, wake up!" Harry urged, tapping her head. "You'll want to hear this."
Adrienne pulled her head up from the plate, her hair hanging in her face, a small clump stuck to the side of her mouth. "What?"
"There's going to be a League team next year!" Harry exclaimed, smiling and thoroughly expecting her to leap for joy.
"Oh," Adrienne said, her face hidden by her hair. "Sounds like fun. Love to hear how it does."
"Aren't you going to try out?" Ron asked, his face frozen at the idea that she wouldn't.
"Can you?" Hermione asked, "because I didn't think..."
"Adrienne Miles!" Dumbledore's voice echoed through the room, and one by one, mouth's gapping open, the students turned to look at Adrienne.
"What did I do now?" Adrienne mumbled exasperatedly, reaching up and pulling her hair from her face.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione cast confused expressions at one another… neither of them had been listening to Dumbledore during the past minute.
Adrienne turned around in her seat and stared up at the High Table, where all the Professors were staring down at her, except Snape, who was scowling at Dumbledore.
"What did he say?" Harry asked Ron, who just shrugged.
Adrienne looked to her left and right and then threw her hands into the air. "Fine, I confess. I snuck into the kitchens and bribed the House Elves for pudding last night. Geez, you don't have to make a public announcement about it. A simple, private, 'Adrienne, start scrubbing,' would have sufficed," she said, blushing and crossing her arms.
"I'm sorry, Miss Miles, but we weren't discussing stealing pudding," Dumbledore said, trying very hard to keep his face straight and not laugh.
"Oh, whoops, forget I said anything," she said, turning even redder and lowering her head into her hands.
"That's where my pudding went!" Filch shouted as he jumped up, but Hagrid pushed him back into his seat.
"We were, Miss Miles, discussing next year's League Team," Dumbledore continued, "Professor Lycé has recommended you as the coach. Hogwarts' Board of Governors sent their approval this morning."
Adrienne slowly lifted her head and stared at Dumbledore, her mouth hanging open.
"Seriously?" she whispered, suddenly hoarse.
"Congratulations!" Harry exclaimed, jumping up to hug her, but couldn't reach across the table.
"Seriously?" Adrienne repeated, this time so everyone could hear. Dumbledore nodded and Adrienne promptly fainted.
"She's going to permanently injure herself if she keeps this up," Hermione sighed.
Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Adrienne stood on the top of the Entrance Steps, watching as the horseless carriages made their way toward the castle.
"You promise you'll come and visit me?" Adrienne asked as she gave both Hermione, Ron, and Harry a hug.
"We will," Harry answered.
"And maybe you can come and stay before next term starts. Mum already said that Hermione and Harry could come," Ron announced, kissing her on the cheek, only because McGonagall was watching though.
"Why aren't you going on the train?" Harry asked as he levitated his trunk before him.
Adrienne rolled her eyes. "Professor Glenn got the wrong date on the ticket. My plane leaves tomorrow."
"Why don't you just take a port-key?" Hermione asked, "That would be the most logical thing."
"Yeah, but Professor Bell decided that I need to learn how to better manage myself in the Muggle world. I think those were her exact words, actually," Adrienne replied. "So, today I get to help Filch clean. Seems he's still angry about the pudding."
"So, the Legend of the Golden Serpent, eh?" Harry said after eating lunch.
"When you received that first letter from Sirius, you never thought it would involve you, would it?" Hermione said, raising an eyebrow.
"No, let alone that it would involve Adrienne," Harry answered. "I wish I could have seen Sirius, tell him everything that happened. But I guess a letter'll do."
"Where is he?" Ron asked, leaning forward in his chair, which were covered in discarded and inedible Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.
"Dumbledore has him off doing something, I don't know what."
"Adrienne's really going to be the League coach next year? But the other professors are continuing to coach the House teams, right?" Hermione asked, eyeing Ron's candy mess with distaste.
"That's what Adrienne told me," Harry replied.
"Must do something for her self-esteem, this coaching business," Ron interjected, obediently cleaning up the beans, "I mean, finding out you're some ancient type of witch and then finding out that it doesn't matter because you bite at that type of magic too has to hurt. And coupled with being cursed…"
"At least she doesn't have to spend the summer with the Dursleys! Speaking of which, wait until the Dursleys hear I'm going to America to visit my long-lost sister," Harry laughed.
"They'll lock you up for lunacy," Hermione replied.
Ron leaned forward, an angelic smile on his face. "Don't worry about that. We'll free you if they do. Forgot to tell you, Dad wrote me last night… he bought a new car."