A/N: I'm spoiling you, did you know? I posted Goat2 yesterday, and I'm posting this one today. I hope you appreciate the quick updates! :)
Chapter 24
Out of control
The only drawback of the whole day was having to listen to the stupid (and 36 minutes long) tirade of the Minister for Magic. Daniel had fallen asleep during it, but got awoken by the sound of a dozen trumpets indicating that Albus Dumbledore was about to start the tournament.
"Oh, good, then Fudge has finished blabbering," Dan rubbed his eyes to chase away the last remains of drowsiness – he didn't want to miss a single second of the duels.
The tournament was probably the most interesting thing he had ever seen.
The first round with eighteen couples duelling took three whole hours. By the time it was finished, the Quidditch stadium was full of moaning and whimpering seventh-years trying to stop their noses from bleeding or cradling broken arms. Dumbledore must have prepared for this, given that a dozen of mediwizards had come from St. Mungo's to help out Madame Pomfrey with the casualties.
"That was bloody brilliant, wasn't it?" Norbert said as they walked back to the Great Hall for lunch and the seventh year girls' quiz show.
"I'd rather say it was just bloody," Daniel shrugged.
"I don't really care about the duels, I'm more interested in the quiz," Gilda commented. "It will be fun and Professor Weasley will surely be a terrific game show host."
The guests who had been present at the stadium weren't allowed into the Great Hall for the quiz, because it was full enough with the students, not to mention that the staff table had been moved aside to give room for a small stage. On the stage there were ten small podiums in a semi-circle facing a higher podium.
This time no student seemed to be really interested in lunch – everyone was excited about the quiz, especially because many of the pure-blooded wizards and witches had never seen such a thing before.
After lunch, McGonagall read out the names of the ten best-performing girls and they climbed up to the stage to get further questions from Hermione.
Dan was enjoying himself quite much, especially when the contestants told wrong answers. The three best were two Ravenclaw and one Gryffindor witches. They'd be playing in the third round right before sundown.
After lunch, everyone rushed back to the Quidditch pitch for the second round of the duels. This round seemed to be even ruder than the first one – these sevenths years (especially the Slytherins) really seemed to know some tricky curses.
"Dumbledore was right. We could learn from these," Daniel said, ogling a Hufflepuff boy being dragged off the pitch by mediwizards.
"I for one don't want to see you doing stuff like this, Dan," Miss Lockhart said. "On the other hand – you wouldn't be able to perform these curses at all."
Daniel felt a great desire to tell her 'but of course I could', but held himself back.
After the second round, six male students were chosen as the best – they'd combat for the title of Champion right after the girls' final round.
The third round of the females turned out to be even more interesting than the second one: the three best-performing girls were given three questions and the one being able to give the wittiest answers was the winner. These questions weren't based on academic knowledge they had acquired at Hogwarts, these were questions testing how quick-working their minds were and how clever answers they could give for tricky questions. The winner was a Ravenclaw, to everyone's not so big surprise. She wasn't pretty at all, she had glasses and pimples (reminded Dan of Moaning Myrtle a bit), but she got named Queen of Beauty and Love and got the right to crown the winner of the final duel, who was a Gryffindor (equally pimply with large front teeth).
"Two of a kind, I see," Norbert whispered to his friends. Dan chuckled, but Gilda gave him a reprimanding look.
"Just because they don't look like Brad Pitt and Catherine Zeta-Jones, they can be really great."
"They don't look like who and who?" Norbert raised an eyebrow.
"Never mind, Muggle stuff," the girl waved, then directed her attention back to the crowning ceremony: the bespectacled Ravenclaw girl sat on some kind of a throne, the winning champion walked up to her, then fell to his knees. The Queen rose to her feet and placed a wreath of golden laurels on the boy's head. The boy gave her a huge grin, all his huge front-teeth showing.
"My, they've fallen in love with each other," Norbert wrinkled his nose.
"Love doesn't depend on looks, when will you learn that, huh?" Gilda scowled.
"Oh, yes, it does," young Malfoy retorted.
"Leave him," Dan leant to the girl and whispered into her ears, "he's just grouchy because Lily has broken up with him."
"I heard that!" Norbert huffed. "And she didn't break up with me! We have never really been in a relationship!"
"Glad to hear that. I wouldn't want my sister having little Malfoys any time soon."
"Ha-ha," his friend grunted.
"Cheer up, Norb, we are finally going back for dinner and we'll get to taste that fabulous tart!" Gilda said.
The cake was indeed very delicious, and – to Kevin's horror – it wasn't handed around according to the colours of the houses – he and the other Weasleys (and about half of the Gryffindors) were given slices with green icing.
"I'm not eating a Slytherin-coloured cake!" Kevin fumed and pushed his plate away from himself.
"Then you shouldn't be eating salad, spinach, kiwi and green-apples, too," Lancelot pointed out. "They're all Slytherin coloured."
Kevin gave him a 'shut-up-if-you-don't-want-me-to-break-your-nose' stare.
"Okay, okay, I just wanted to point it out to you," Lancelot shrugged. "Say, if you're not eating your slice, can I have it?"
His cousin gave him a 'dream-about-it' glance and pulled the plate back to himself.
* * * * *
The next five days passed in similar mood, with the exception that there was no cake left after the Hogwarts Birthday Party.
The staff seemed to have worked a lot on organising the events, because every evening at dinner there was something new to see or listen to, for example Celestina Warbeck; a comedian group playing the parody version of a wizard drama called Pride and Polyjuice; and even the music group called Wacky Wizards made some disco-feeling on the fourth day.
The fifth day was special for Daniel, since some of his relatives and friends were in third year and competed that day.
"I still can't believe that I've become Queen!" Lily Potter beamed at her little brother that evening before dinner. Her eyes were brimmed with tears and Dan had to admit that she looked really very pretty in the Queen's attire (a peach-coloured long, sweeping silk gown and a tiny crown made of sparkling crystals).
David Dursley – winner of the day's duel and the holder of the title Champion in the third year – kept casting dreamy glances at the beautiful queen, only to be nudged back to reality by Circe Diggory, his girlfriend. Yvette Weasley also needed to nudge her boyfriend, Christopher Wood, back into reality, since the boy had set his eyes on Lily and didn't seem to want to divert his stare ever since Lily had become Queen of Beauty and Love.
Harry was very proud of his daughter and cousin David. It was still hard for him to believe that someone who had come from the Dursley family could prove to be so very talented a wizard.
"So, my little Princess has become a Queen, eh?" he turned to Lily with a huge grin.
"Don't call me little princess in front of everyone, dad," she blushed.
"As you wish, Your Majesty," Harry bowed playfully. "Would your Majesty give me the honour of this dance?"
"Certainly, good sir," Lily laughed and let Harry lead her to the dance floor – this night a famous Austrian wizard band was playing Strauss waltzes.
"Don't you want to ask me for a dance?" Gilda pouted at the Slytherin table, watching everybody else dancing.
"Which one of us?" asked Norbert and Daniel in chorus.
She shrugged. "It doesn't matter. I just thought that at least one of you would be gallant enough to ask me. Oh well, it's late already. I go upstairs, I still want to study a bit for the day after tomorrow."
"Still studying? Mental, that one," Norbert whispered to his friend as the girl left the table.
"Perhaps. But maybe she's right. If she wins the quiz, then it was worth to study that much," Dan shrugged. "I just hope that tomorrow Yvette won't win the title of the Queen."
Yvette didn't, which only made Christopher Wood appreciate Lily Potter even more, to Yvette's utter disgust.
* * * * *
Finally the big day had come for the first-year students, too.
Daniel hadn't slept too much the previous night – he was feeling nervous. It was strange, though, because on the first of May he hadn't been feeling nervous and had managed to have a good-night's sleep, although he had believed that day to be the day of their battle. Probably the reason for his nervousness was the fact that now he wasn't facing the unknown – he knew what to expect, and it was rather unnerving. He would have rather faced the unknown, then he wouldn't have needed to feel jittery. Maybe it would have been better if he hadn't seen all those rude battles… He simply didn't feel like being dragged off the pitch by mediwizards. Norbert tried to calm him, saying that first-years usually didn't know curses to really harm each other, so there was nothing to worry about. Still, Daniel did worry.
"Cheer up, Dan! You still have an hour before the first round!" Gilda told him. "Eat something, you'll need your strength."
Young Potter forced only two or three small chunks of pumpkin pasties down, but left the Great Hall with the feeling of the pasties tap-dancing in his stomach. He and Norbert wished Gilda good luck for the fifty-question test, grabbed their broomsticks and headed for the pitch.
"Why does it seem so much less pretty today?" Dan asked his friend who was clutching at the handle of one of the Slytherin team's broomsticks. The stadium looked exactly the way it had the previous days, but somehow it seemed to be formidable to the boy now.
He caught a glimpse of his mother, father and siblings madly waving at him from the Gryffindor stands. He forced a smile and waved back, trying to look very brave, then entered one of the changing rooms.
To his great relief, Kevin seemed to have chosen the other changing room, along with Lancelot. Around half past ten, Viviane and Valentine put in an appearance.
"We don't think we managed to pass the test, but we don't really mind, do we?" Viv said.
"Not at all," Val shook her head. "Mum will surely be disappointed, but we never regarded this competition as more than a mere game, and we had fun. Imagine, what stupid questions we have been given: one of them asked the exact datum of the Goblin Revolutions. Now come on, who remembers that?"
"1612," said Norbert.
"Really? I never knew you were actually listening to Binn's rambling," Dan said. "You always seemed to be occupied with drawing dragons at History of Magic."
"When you're drawing, you can still keep your ears open," his friend shrugged. "And what kind of questions did you have besides this one?"
"Well," Valentine said, "I don't recall each of them, but the worst was asking the ingredients of the forgetfulness potion. I doubt that anyone could give those properly."
"I think I managed to," came a voice from the door of the changing room.
"Gil!" Dan's face lit up. "How did it go? How many questions could you answer?"
"49, but I'm not sure about the 37th, too. Anyway, we'll find out at lunch. And you, boys? Feeling a bit queasy?"
"Not just a bit," Dan grimaced. "Now that you mention it, I want to throw up."
"I suggest you do it outside," Miss Lockhart smiled.
"I think I can hold it back," the boy took deep breaths.
"I'm sure you can. Good luck," she leant closer and kissed him on the cheek. He blushed to the root of his hair, making the twins grin widely.
"Hey, I'm not getting one?" young Malfoy pouted.
"But of course you are," Gilda stepped to him and kissed his cheek, too. "Good luck to you both!"
"Yeah, good luck! Try and stay on your brooms! Val and I have to go and say good luck to Lance and Kevin as well!" Viv said and all three girls exited.
Soon the whole changing room got packed with people. Besides several people whom they had only known by sight, Dan and Norbert's three dormitory mates Jerry Travers, Donald Rookwood and Iago Rosier were there, along with the Ravenclaw John Nash, the Hufflepuff Rowan Atkinson and the Gryffindor Nigel Bailey. Daniel wondered why someone like Nigel could volunteer for a tournament – Nigel was very much like Neville Longbottom – always made all charms go wrong. Well, at least he was indeed a Gryffindor, being brave enough to try, even if he was likely to fail. This was something Daniel couldn't have told about himself: back when he hadn't been an Imaginer, he hadn't wanted to take part in the duels at all, fearing that he'd suck. He had only dared to enter the tournament when he had realised that he could do almost anything with his Imaginer powers. He chastised himself for not having been as brave as Nigel Bailey and also decided to keep the Imagining to a minimum. He wanted to play fair as much as possible.
As ten o'clock came, the twenty-four contestants heard Dumbledore announce the final day of the tournament. Soon people started to get called out of the changing rooms, in the order their names had been drawn. With every new person leaving the room, Daniel got more and more nervous. He couldn't see what was going on out on the pitch, but he could hear it very clearly. According to the commentator, Rowan Atkinson was just being taken off the pitch to get both his broken legs fixed.
"Not so dangerous, eh?" Dan turned to his friend, who only shrugged. Dan hoped that in case he also needed some limbs to be fixed, Gilderoy Lockhart would be kept far from him.
Finally, after one and a half hours of waiting, Daniel heard his name called.
He exited the changing room and, blinking in the sunshine, walked into the middle of the pitch where his opponent – a Gryffindor called Tom Parris – was waiting for him.
"Duellers, bow to each other," Dumbledore instructed.
While bowing slightly, young Potter caught the glance of his father who gave him the thumbs-up. He felt a little bit encouraged by it.
"Go, Dan!" a female voice shouted from the Slytherin stands and he looked up to see Gilda touch her hand to her lips and blow him a kiss. If nothing, then this did encourage him. He mounted his broom – so did Tom Parris.
The two combatants flew to the opposite ends of the stadium, waiting for the headmaster's sign to charge at each other. Dan cast a second glance at Gilda who seemed to be crumpling a handkerchief. She looked really endearing, downright sweet… wait, there was a shower of green sparks!
Dan spurred his Nimbus 4000, and with his wand in his outstretched hand, he sped towards Parris. As they got within ten feet, Dan shouted Reducio, pointing his wand at the other student's broom. However, nothing happened. Parris cast the jelly-leg jinx at Dan, making his legs wobble so much that the Nimbus practically wobbled out from under him. He found himself on the ground and got the idea that he had done something wrong. Well, if he couldn't perform the spell the normal way, he'd Imagine. As Tom made a small circle in the air, grinning madly at the other boy sprawling on the grass, Dan raised his wand and repeated the spell, this time concentrating on using his Imaginer powers as well. Parris didn't have any more time to grin, because his broomstick got reduced to its tenth and he equally fell off. His tiny broomstick hovered out of reach.
Now that they had both fallen, they were even.
"Not bad, Potter!" Parris said. "But what do you say to this?" he pointed his wand at Dan's robes and shouted Incendio!
It happened too quick for Dan to realise that he should be casting the extinguishing charm on himself – he acted on instinct and imagined the fire put out without even using a wand, and – in the meantime – shouted Engorgio at Parris' broomstick again, making the now normal sized broomstick swoop down on its owner from behind (without Tom seeing it), and slapping him hard on the butt with its twigs, making him 'fly' a couple of feet before hitting the ground.
"Now, now, can't you use anything else but size-changing charms, Potter?" Tom mocked, shouting Rictusempra a second later.
Doubling up with laughter, Dan raised his wand (his hand was shaking madly in the fit of giggles), and imagined Parris getting the Confundus Charm. He had somehow managed to utter its incantation as well between two laughs, but he knew that it wasn't the incantation that affected Tom, but his Imagining.
However, the charm worked pretty well, because Parris stopped and looked at his wand. "What is this?" he frowned, swinging the wand aside. "And what am I doing here?" he looked around, totally perplexed. "Is this some kind of a football match? I hate football. I'm going home to my mummy. Where's my mummy? Do I have a mummy at all?"
"Er… she's that way, I think," Dan pointed at the Gryffindor stands, and – to his great amusement – Tom walked off the pitch, looking for his mother.
"The match is over, the winner is Daniel Potter," announced the commentator. "Next pair: Lancelot Weasley and Norbert-Devilsmoor Malfoy."
* * * * *
At lunch, Gilda seemed very nervous.
"Calm down, Gil, I'm sure you have passed the test and you'll get a chance for the second round!" Dan told her between two slurps of orange juice.
"You two are talking easily, you know that you have passed the first round, but I cannot be sure! You two have the opportunity to prepare yourselves properly and screw up your courage for the second one, but I'm still in doubt!"
"Hey, chin up!" Dan reached out and patted her hand. "Everything's going to be okay. I know it will."
She gave him a grateful smile. "You know, Dan, I loved the Confundus charm. That poor boy was hilarious, looking for his mummy!"
"Yeah, especially when his mum rose from her seat in the stands and shouted 'I'm here, sonnie! Come to mummy, dear!'" Norbert quoted Tom Parris' mother's words.
Dan snorted into his plate. "I'm glad you liked it. You were great, too. Poor Lance, I hope Madame Pomfrey managed to fix him. And poor Uncle Percy! He looked as white as a sheet! I have never seen him losing his dignity before… you know what? He deserved to be humiliated a bit. He and Lance are two of a kind. Stuck-up, way too self-confident."
Dumbledore silenced the hall by sending up red sparks and Professor McGonagall started reading out the names of the ten contestants who'd be playing in the second round.
"Liu Chang, Dorothea Crockford, Julia Dumbledore, Eliza Eliot, Lavinia Flint, Morena Gaillardo, Gilda Lockhart, April May, Nellie Oleson, Viviane Weasley."
"Hah, you're in, Gil!" Dan patted the girl on the shoulder. "And Viv's too!"
"And Liu's too," Norbert pointed out.
"Liu?" Dan waved. "Who cares for Liu? I'll be rooting for you, Gil!"
"Thanks," she smiled and rose from her seat to join the other nine girls on the stage.
Hermione adjusted her black robes (strangely, they reminded a bit of those black clothes Anne Robinson used to wear, but everyone knew that Hermione wouldn't be as nasty as Anne.)
"Well, you know the routine: twenty questions, ten seconds for each, and answer as many as possible" the 'game show host' said with an encouraging smile to the ten scared first-years. "Please, try to eject a shower of green sparks to check whether your wands are working properly. Thank you. And now, let the quiz begin. Who was Hogwarts' headmaster before Albus Dumbledore?"
Julie Dumbledore was the first to eject sparks. "Armando Dippet."
"Correct," Hermione said. "Who wrote Gadding with Ghouls?"
"Gilderoy Lockhart!" Gilda beamed and the whole Hall started to laugh.
"Correct. What is the name of Jupiter's biggest moon?"
"Callisto!" Liu Chang shouted, making Gilda grimace. Liu had always been good at Astronomy.
"Correct. When did witches and wizards first use flying broomsticks?"
"962 A.D.!" Liu replied again.
"Exactly," Hermione sent the girl a smile. "What magical creature has a golden-coloured baby?"
"The unicorn!" this time it was Viviane. Well, if no one, then she had to know it… she and her twin and Kevin had been visiting Angel ever since September.
"Correct. Which mountain is the highest in the world?"
"The Mount Everest!" Morena Gaillardo replied.
"Correct. Which British wizard band is the most popular?"
"The SPEW!" Gilda yelled enthusiastically. She was a great S.P.E.W. supporter and a fan of that band as well – she even had the badge SPEW on her school bag.
"Exactly. Who was Merlin's greatest antagonist?"
"Mim!"
"Correct, Ms. Crockford. What did the Muggle Alfred Nobel invent?"
April May's wand ejected sparks, but she seemed to have regretted it. "Er… electricity?"
"No, he invited the dynamite. Who wrote A History of Magic?"
"Miranda Goshawk!"
"No, Miss Dumbledore, it was Bathilda Bagshot. I have always been confusing them, too," Hermione smiled. "What kind of magical creature has the body of a lion but…"
"Sphinx!"
"Now, now, Miss Lockhart, I haven't even finished it," Professor Weasley said. "However, it's correct. What is the nationality of Joseph Wronsky?"
"Polish," Lavinia Flint replied.
"Correct," (Lavinia drew herself up and sleeked her long, brown hair – some students had to fight down the urge of laughter). "What does the abbreviation quasar stand for?"
"That's easy. Quasi stellar radio source," Liu said, giving Gilda a belittling grin.
"Correct. What was Sammy the Smelly famous for?"
"He never bathed," the up till silent Muggle-born Eliza Eliot replied.
"Exactly. What does the spell Impervius do?"
"Er… makes stuff water-repellent?" April May said very quietly.
"Correct. Whose idea was to build Hogwarts?"
"Helga Hufflepuff!" Eliza said.
"Exactly. When was the Hogwarts Express built?"
"1867."
"Correct, Miss Eliot. Since when has Ollivander's been running in Diagon Alley?"
"382 A.D," said Nellie Oleson.
"No, 382 B.C.," Hermione shook her head. "What kind of incantation is used to make one's teeth grow?" she seemed to be somehow awkward about asking this question, but what could she do? It was written on the sheet she had to read out. The ten seconds were up. "No one? Densaugeo. And the last question: where would you look for a bezoar?"
Silence again.
"No one?" Professor Weasley gave the girls an amused stare. "Well, I think you should maybe look into Magical Drafts and Potions, or you could ask Professor Snape. I'm sure he'd give you a long description. The short version is that you can find it in a goat's stomach."
At the staff table, Aberforth Dumbledore started to chuckle for some reason, only to get a rather strict glance from his brother Albus.
"Well," Professor Weasley announced, "The results stand thus: the three students giving the most correct answers are Miss Chang, Miss Eliot and Miss Lockhart. Congratulations, ladies, you are in the third round."
"See, I told you that you'd do okay!" Dan said cheerfully as Gilda walked back to the Slytherin table.
"You were wonderful!" Norbert added enthusiastically.
"Thanks," the girl grinned. Somehow, Lavinia Flint didn't look as happy as Gilda as she seated herself next to Norbert.
Daniel stole a glance at Liu Chang, who seemed to be very taken with herself. She caught his glance and looked away immediately. She must have been hurt the last time when Dan had rejected her invitation to her birthday-party. Somehow Dan didn't mind if she was mad at him. He seriously hoped that the winner of the girls' contest would be Gilda, or if not her, then at least that Elliot girl. Anyone but Liu…
* * * * *
On their way back to the Quidditch stadium, the trio met the Potter family.
"I'm very proud of you, son!" Harry beamed at Daniel. "And you two also performed wonderfully," he turned to Gilda and Norbert.
"Thank you, Professor Potter," young Malfoy grinned.
"Really, Dan, we are so proud of you!" Rose chimed in. "You have learnt from us how to turn other people into a laughing stock!"
"Now go and make a ridicule of your next opponent, Dannie!" Robert added.
Their father and mother shot the triplets a scolding look, then they all climbed the stands with Gilda in tow.
"Good for her…" Daniel sighed, eyeing the Lockhart girl. "She can now sit back and watch as we let ourselves be flattened."
"Then don't let yourself be flattened. So simple," Norbert shrugged and the two boys entered the right-hand changing room. Now only twelve people were competing. The six winners of the second round would go for the third round.
"You know, I don't understand it," Dan dropped himself onto a bench. "In the third round there will be six people competing, right? Three couples. Then there are going to be three winners. Now, how can three winners be paired off?"
"We'll see. Anyway, don't worry about that right now. First we have to live to see the remaining three contestants, and one can never be sure that one lives to see it."
"Don't be so such a pessimist, Norb," Dan said.
"I'll try not to… but somehow I have the feeling that I won't get into the third round."
"Me too," young Potter sighed. "But it doesn't matter. At least we've got past the first one and that's saying something. You're better than Lancelot. I'm better than Parris."
"…and you're better than Kevin, too," his friend said.
"Really… what if I'll have to fight him?"
"Then turn him into a cockroach."
"Nah. I'm mad at him, all right, but I don't really want to hurt him. I mean… he's still my relative."
"You didn't have pangs of remorse when we were playing Quidditch against Gryffindor."
"Because that was different. Quidditch is not as dangerous as this tournament. There you could only get hit by a Bludger or fall off your broom, but here lots of other things could happen to you."
"So, who is being pessimistic?" Norbert smirked and sank onto the bench next to his friend. "Relax, Potty. You'll do fine."
"I hope so. Just not Kevin, not Kevin…" Dan mumbled.
Soon, four other students arrived at the changing room and the six of them waited impatiently for the second round to begin.
Finally the harsh sound of trumpets tore at the air and Dumbledore announced the beginning of the second round.
This time Norbert's name got drawn earlier than Dan's. Dan gave him the thumbs-up as he exited to face his opponent, the Ravenclaw John Nash.
Normally it wasn't allowed for the contestants to peer out of the changing rooms, onto the pitch, but Daniel couldn't fight down his curiosity – he needed to see his friend's duel.
He had to admit that Norbert was doing it rather nicely, but so was Nash. Their duel lasted almost ten minutes, and ended – to Dan's utter horror – with Norbert's defeat. He watched as his friend – on somewhat wobbly legs – climbed the stands and sat down next to Gilda.
For a second, Dan felt envious. Norbert had it all behind himself. He hadn't won, but he had fought bravely and now didn't need to worry anymore. *Oh, come on, get a grip, Potter!* Dan chastised himself. *You should be happy about still having the chance to compete and win!* Still, he wasn't feeling happy. Maybe he'd be feeling a bit better if he only knew that his opponent wouldn't be Kevin…
The commentator's voice announced the next couple: Iago Rosier and a Hufflepuff called Jones. Dan slumped back onto the bench, not a bit interested in the duel. He kept fiddling with his fingers, waiting for it to end, to hear the next couple's names.
"John Williams and Kevin Weasley!"
*Whew.* young Potter let out a sigh of relief. He couldn't be in a pair with his cousin. At least not in this round. But, he needed to see Kevin's performance. He hadn't seen him in the first round, but he wanted to know what Kevin was capable of, so he peered out onto the pitch again. *Huh, not bad… definitely not bad… ouch, that must have hurt… show him, Kevin! Oops! Have I just thought that?* he shook his head. *Go, Williams!*
Despite Daniel's silent rooting against his cousin, young Weasley won the duel.
"Nigel Bailey and Daniel Potter!"
Dan hopped up, suddenly feeling full of energy. Bailey was going to be a pushover. He was a great bungler! But… how could he have managed to get into the second round, then? Well, probably he had been paired off with another great bungler - that would explain it.
The two boys bowed to each other, then mounted their broomsticks and flew off to the opposite ends of the pitch.
Dumbledore waved his wand, ejecting a shower of green sparks.
Young Potter practically shot off towards the other boy, whose broomstick didn't seem to be half as quick as his – perhaps because it wasn't a Nimbus, or because its rider wasn't too talented in flying. Well, that was Nigel's problem, after all, and Dan didn't let it bother him at all. As they came within wand-shot, Daniel applied a severing charm on his opponent's broomstick's twigs. Good that the twins had broken his twigs at the Quidditch match, he thought, otherwise it probably wouldn't have occurred to him to try it on Nigel.
The Gryffindor boy lost control of his broom and it dumped him onto the grass, making him do several somersaults before he came to a standstill.
Dan – very gallantly – let him sit up before he directed his wand at him with the intention of sending Nigel into a bewitched sleep. However, the incantation didn't work.
*Oh, damn, of course it's too advanced magic for me to do without Imagining!* he fumed, barely able to jerk his broom out of the way of a Furunculus curse. *Whew, that was close! Now, what about a…* a happy grin spread on Dan's face and he concentrated on one thing that would disable his opponent in shouting hexes at him: the babbling curse.
"Loco…m…ort…moto…rtis…" no one really understood what Nigel wanted to say, but it was obvious for everyone that the duel was over: one of the opponents wasn't able to utter spells, thus couldn't perform Finite Incantatem as well and couldn't carry on at all.
With a wide grin Daniel flew off the pitch, up into the stands where his family and two friends were seated.
"Well done, son," Harry smiled at him.
"It was a piece of cake, dad. I really don't understand how this Bailey guy could get into the second round, really…"
"Easily: his opponent was afraid of flying and got sick on his broom, so Nigel was proclaimed winner," Gilda said. "Ah, good for you, you're in the third round, Dan!"
"You are in the third round, too," the boy reminded her.
"Yes, but it is going to begin soon and I'm starting to get jittery again," she sighed.
"Don't be," the boy put an arm around her shoulder. "You'll be all right. And even if you don't win, I'll still regard you as the queen."
Harry and Ginny exchanged an amused glance, seeing their son holding Gilderoy's daughter.
Gilderoy Lockhart himself didn't seem to have realised how intimately Harry's son was hugging Gilda – he was occupied with a mirror. While everyone in the stadium was watching the last two couples' battles, he was trying to detect any grey hairs and pull them out. He didn't even notice that the spectators around him were chuckling and pointing at him. Those few times he looked up, he cast a mad glance at Severus Snape, whose teeth were shining in the May sunshine.
* * * * *
There was half an hour of break before the girls' third round to allow the spectators to stretch their limbs a bit.
The three friends decided to take a walk around the Quidditch stadium. It had been Norbert's idea to allay Gilda's fears.
"Take deep breaths and relax. You'll do fine. You have heard what kind of questions the others got, didn't you? You just have to give sensible answers and you'll win."
"That's not so easy, Norbert," she frowned. "Many of the previous third-round questions were really difficult and tricky, since they were all made up by Professor Weasley. They looked simple at first, but you could easily make a fool of yourself when answering them. I don't want to become a laughing-stock."
"You won't, Gil," Dan took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. "I'm sure you'll give wonderful answers and everyone will be taken by your cleverness. You're a very smart girl. Almost as smart as my Aunt Hermione and that's saying something."
She gave him a brilliant smile. "Thanks."
"You're welcome," he smiled back, blushing slightly.
"How romantic," Norbert grimaced. "C'mon Romeo and Juliet, we've got to go back, only five minutes left."
As they walked back to the stadium, they met Draco Malfoy, who was accompanied by Gabrielle Delacour (Malfoy). Draco was sizing up his little brother in his usual belittling way: his hands were in his pockets and his face revealed contempt.
"You could have done better than that, you know," he said.
"I tried. Sorry," Norbert shrugged.
"Sorry is not enough. You're a Malfoy and you've brought shame on the family's name."
"No, he didn't!" Daniel cut in.
"Stay out of this, Potty," the banker barked. "I'm seriously disappointed in you, Norbert. You practically let that bloke defeat you."
"Let him?" the boy paled. "You're out of your mind!"
"Am not. I've seen what I've seen," Draco folded his arms before his chest. "Father used to give me private duelling lessons. I trust he gave some to you, too. You must have come to Hogwarts knowing more about Dark Arts than others at their seventh year. Still, you let a pathetic little mudblood win."
"I'm not listening to any more of this!" Norbert's eyes gleamed with fury. "Come on, guys!" he hurried past his brother, into the stadium.
"Zat was very mean o' you," Gabrielle scowled at her husband. "'Ow could you treat your leetle bruzzer like zat? You might be disappointed in Nohrbert, but I'm even more disappointed in you!" with that she turned on her heels and started down the path back to Hogsmeade.
"But, Gabie! Gabie!" he ran after her. "You must understand this! This is about family honour! I have told you how much family honour meant to me, haven't I? That is why I married you!"
"Oh, yeah?" she doubled back, her face that of a very angry Veela. "You 'ave married me because o' family 'onour and nothing else, I take? Well, o' course! You wanted to save ze money for your leetle bruzzer, eh? Oh, don't take me for a fool, Drhaco! You didn't care for your bruzzer when you did zat, did you? You don't care for anyone but yourhself! I'm deesgusted by you! Troth or not, I've 'ad enough o' being your wife!"
"My wife?" he laughed shrilly. "You never even let me shag you, for heaven's sake! And you call yourself my wife?!?"
"No more, Drhaco!" she threw something at the ground and stormed away.
He bent down to pick up the little object – the serpent-ring he had given her at their troth. "With or without this ring, you're still my wife for another eight months…" he whispered, following her receding figure with his eyes. "And I'll see that you'll remain it after those eight months are over."
* * * * *
While the second round of the quiz show took place in the Great Hall, (where the guests couldn't see it), the third round took place on the pitch, open for everyone.
By the time the spectators returned after the break, there was a small dais with three chairs placed at the middle of the pitch. Three fluffy pink earmuffs were lying on the chairs – they must have been borrowed from Professor Sprout.
"You know the drill, girls," Hermione Weasley said with magically enhanced voice.
The three contestants nodded, sitting down on the chairs. In the third round there were three questions that all three girls had to answer, but they weren't allowed to hear each other's answers, because that could have influenced theirs. While one of them was answering a question, the other two had to wear the wonderful earmuffs that even gave protection against mandrake screams. Each question was repeated to every contestant, seeing to it that all contestants heard them right before they had to answer them, so that none of them could have more time to contemplate her answer than the other two girls.
There was a five-person jury to decide whose answers were the wittiest. The jury didn't contain any of the Hogwarts staff members, to avoid partiality. Today's jury consisted of Madame Rosmerta, Amos Diggory, Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher and Sirius Black.
"All right, then. I will ask the questions in alphabetic order: I will always start with Miss Chang, then comes Miss Eliot, and finally Miss Lockhart," Hermione said with an encouraging smile. "Now, Miss Eliot and Miss Lockhart, please, put on your earmuffs. Thank you. Today's first question: Miss Chang, if you caught a goldfish that fulfilled three wishes and at least one of those should be directed at yourself, what three things would you wish for and why?"
"Well…" Liu knitted her eyebrows. "First I'd wish for world-peace. No more wars in the world, that would be nice, wouldn't it? Secondly: I'd wish that no one would be starving anymore. Food for everyone. Thirdly… wish something for myself? Well, that's easy. A happy family with a mother and father."
Harry squinted at Cho sitting nearby to see that tears were welling up in her eyes. He sighed. If only he could help her! But there was no way he could help…
Eliza Eliot seemed to have greater difficulties with the question. "First… I'd wish for… the lack of illnesses. There would be no cancer, no AIDS, everyone would be healthy and would die of age, not of illnesses. Secondly… I'd wish for the end of environment pollution. There would be no hole in the ozone layer, the waters would be clear and the air fresh. We'd live a healthy life on a healthy planet. And thirdly… well, for me, right? I'd like to be treated equally by all my schoolmates. I'm Muggle-born and lots of people here still despise us Muggle-borns. I'd end it and have more respect than I have now."
"That was a very good wish, I think, Miss Eliot, "Professor Weasley nodded. If no one, then she could understand it what it was like to be treated like a second-class person just because she wasn't pure-blooded.
It was Gilda's turn. "Hm… three wishes, three wishes… well, first I'd end the oppression of the females on this planet. I'd make them have equal rights in all countries, even in the Muslim ones. It's unfair that they are treated like shit, as though they were no better than a mangy dog… I know this from experience, I'm half Egyptian and women there are wrapped up in those ugly black clothes… in many countries they even have to hide their faces and they are sentenced to death if two inches of their wrists show out of their clothes! Men have the right to have several wives in certain countries, even the Mormons are polygamous. So, why can't women also have more than one husband? They should be allowed! Or if not, then men also should be allowed to have only one! So, that's my first wish: equal rights to women! My second one… well… I fear that the wars are going to kill this planet… and the air and water pollution, too… I might sound pessimistic, but I don't need to be a diviner to see that Earth is running towards its doom. So, I wish that technology developed quicker and if it comes to that, mankind would be able to leave Earth and get to know the galaxy. I know this sounds far-fetched, but… one day we might need it. As for the third wish… for myself… I'd wish for three more wishes."
An agreeing murmur ran down the spectators and Gilderoy Lockhart flashed his daughter with a huge smile (that almost looked as fancy as Snape's) radiating the message 'that's my girl!', then returned to his mirror.
"Thank you, Miss Lockhart," Professor Weasley spoke up. "Now, Miss Eliot and Miss Lockhart, please, put your earmuffs back on."
After the fluffy pink earmuffs got placed onto the two girls' heads, Hermione turned to Liu again.
"The second question: Miss Chang, if you had an opportunity to meet any person in the world – dead or alive – and ask him or her a question, then whom would you like to meet and what question would you ask them?"
Liu seemed contemplative for a while. Then a sad little smile appeared on her face. "I'd like to meet my father and ask him why he left my mother and me."
Up in the Gryffindor stands, Harry looked over Ginny's shoulder to catch a glimpse of Cho again. The pain on the woman's face was unmistakable. Harry's heart ached for her, especially because he knew that she must have been feeling not only sad but guilty as well: it was Cho who had left Liu's father, not the other way around, she had just fed Liu a tale about a nasty guy who didn't care for them. But the fact was that Cho had been in love with Harry, that's why she hadn't been able to stay with that Ross or whatever the name of Liu's dad was.
"Thank you, Miss Chang," Hermione motioned Eliza Eliot to take off her earmuffs and repeated the question to her.
"Well…" Eliza pursed her lips. "I'd like to meet David Copperfield and ask him how he does all this stuff without magic. I mean… he's a Muggle. I'd like to know how he can do all the tricks without magic."
"Thank you, Miss Eliot," Hermione nodded and turned to Gilda. "Miss Lockhart, if you had an opportunity to meet any person in the world – dead or alive – and ask him or her a question, then whom would you like to meet and what question would you ask them?"
Gilda's eyes narrowed and she started furrowing her brow. "I s'pose… I'd like to meet Voldemort."
The spectators gasped as one single entity and Gilderoy Lockhart dropped the mirror he had been holding.
"And, what question would you ask him?" Professor Weasley asked with a bit quivering voice.
"I'd ask him what has turned him evil. I simply don't understand why someone would turn evil just because his father didn't want him and his mother. There are cases even in the Muggle world when you can hear about orphans raping other orphans and things like that… but why would someone want to kill everyone and rule over the world just because he was an orphan? Of course he was Slytherin's heir, and as we know, Salazar Slytherin wasn't the nicest chap in the world, but somehow I doubt that his bad blood would have such a huge effect on a descendant who lived a thousand years after him. I would like to know, really know, how someone can turn so terribly evil."
"Wow, she's got some nerve!" Norbert whispered to Daniel, who nodded. He had liked Gilda for a while, but after this reply, he couldn't help but admire her. Liu and Eliza seemed to be dumbfounded by Gilda's answer. Liu even shot her a nasty glance, clearly envious of the gasps that could be heard after the 'I'd like to meet Voldemort' reply.
Eliza and Gilda put the earmuffs back on and Hermione asked the third question:
"Miss Chang, what do you think the most important thing in life is and give your reasons."
"Love," Liu replied. "Without love it isn't worth living. Everyone needs to be loved or they'll turn as evil as You-Know-Who. I'm sure that the answer to Gilda's question is that You-Know-Who never got any love from anyone in his childhood, that's why he turned evil."
"Thank you, Miss Chang," Hermione nodded, but didn't totally agree with Liu. Certainly love was necessary, but it wasn't automatic that you turned evil if you didn't get love. Harry, for example, hadn't got love till his eleventh birthday, and still he had managed to remain a generous and kind-hearted person.
"Miss Eliot, what do you think the most important thing in life is and also give your reasons."
"Well, health, of course," Eliza replied at once. "Because illness can make your whole life go wrong. Even if you are loved by your family and friends, you won't be happy, you cannot be happy if you are sick. Especially if you are seriously ill, like you have cancer. If you have health, you have everything."
"Well, if that's your opinion, we certainly appreciate it," Professor Weasley said and motioned Gilda to take off the earmuffs.
"The most important thing in life?" Gilda mused after having heard the question. "Well… sex."
Several gasps could be heard again and Gilderoy Lockhart seemed to have shrunk, trying to get out of sight with a 'that's-not-my-daughter'-stare on his face.
"Uh… interesting opinion, Miss Lockhart," Hermione gave her an amused look. "Could you explain it?"
"Well," Gilda shrugged, "you asked what was the most important thing in life. And I said that it was sex, because without sex there wouldn't be life at all…" she directed her stare at her shoes, feeling rather embarrassed. Maybe she shouldn't have been so outspoken… But as soon as the toothpaste was out the tube, it was hard to get it back in... She squinted at Liu who was eyeing her with a 'you-loser' sort of glance. And Liu must have been right – she had crossed the line. Saying something like that! If a seventh-year had said that, then it'd be sort of okay, but hearing such a line from an eleven-year-old kid's mouth must have shocked the members of the jury. Oh well, it was just a game, after all, she thought.
"All right," Hermione said. "All three of you have given us interesting answers. Now the jury needs time to discuss them and the results will be revealed right before the boys' third round, as usual. Now, fifteen minutes break."
Gilda was happy to flop down next to Dan and Norbert at last.
"You've really got some nerve, Gil!" Daniel told her.
"No, I think I rather have a serious mental disease," she wrinkled her nose. "I don't know why I said that. It just slipped out of my mouth… it was the very first thing that came to my mind and I said it without reconsidering it!"
"First thoughts are said to be right," Harry interjected. "You gave really intriguing replies, Miss Lockhart."
"Well… thank you, Professor," Gilda said, having no idea whether Harry was complimenting her or mocking her. She glanced back at her father who was still sitting hunched in a back row, trying to look as small as possible. Even this way, several people turned around to point at him and whisper 'he's the father of that girl!'
Before the fifteen minutes were up, Daniel headed for the changing room again. Now only he and other five contestants were competing. The other two boys sharing the changing room with Dan were a Ravenclaw and a Hufflepuff. All the three other contestants occupying the other changing room were Gryffindors. *It seems I always have to fight Gryffindors.* Dan heaved a sigh. His insides were turning into jelly again as the beginning of the third round neared.
Finally trumpets' sound tore at the air and Albus Dumbledore's voice spoke up, announcing the results of the girls' third round: "I must tell that the jury had a very difficult decision to make this time. All three ladies gave very clever and interesting replies – replies that proved them to be witty and mature for their young age. However, the jury had to make a decision and chose one of them for us to be crowned now… Let me announce that the queen's second maid of honour is Eliza Eliot. Give her a big hand, ladies and gentlemen!"
The crowd started to clap fervently as Eliza received a small bronze diadem from the headmaster. She gave the spectators a sheepish smile – a smile that held a hint of sadness.
"The queen's second maid of honour is Liu-Ling Chang! Give her an even bigger hand!"
Midst cheering and applause, Liu walked up to the headmaster with a sullen face. She looked not only a bit sad like Eliza, but downright hurt. She didn't smile at all when she received her silver diadem.
"This leaves, certainly, one person to be today's Queen of Beauty and Love: Gilda Lockhart!" Dumbledore said, beaming. "Please, come forward, Your Majesty."
"Hey, he's calling you!" Norbert nudged Gilda who was sitting next to him with a dumbfounded expression. She didn't seem to be breathing, didn't seem to be living at all… her mouth hung open and her eyes bulged. "Anybody home?" he shook her gently.
"Huh?" she blinked.
"Dumbledore's calling you. You're the queen."
"A… am I?" she asked in a hoarse voice. Certainly she had known it when Liu had been called, but it somehow hadn't sunk in. Her? The queen?
"Yeah," Norbert nodded. "Now, move on!"
"Don't let the headmaster wait, Miss Lockhart," Harry gave her a smile.
"Go, dear," Ginny added encouragingly.
Gilda slowly stood up and Norbert hopped up from his seat to help her, because she looked as though she'd collapse any second. With the boy's help she managed to climb up to the top box.
"And now, let me crown Your Majesty," Albus said. Gilda sunk to her knees, trembling. How much she had been longing for this to happen, but now that it did, she couldn't believe it… After she got her crown, she slowly stood up and saw that her father had turned around in his seat to face the top box, his expression radiating 'that's my girl, a real Lockhart!' She sent him a proud smile. Finally she had managed to make her father be proud of her. The thought filled her with eternal joy.
She slightly shifted her glance to the pitch and saw three heads appear in the door of the changing room to the right. One of them belonged to Daniel, who was gazing up at her with sheer admiration. She hid a smile and waved at him, then took place in the top box – the queen would be watching the final round of the tournament from her throne.
* * * * *
Daniel was aware that if he won the next duel against whichever opponent he'd get, he'd have to fight once more for the title of the Champion. He was quite happy when Kevin Weasley got paired off with the Hufflepuff boy – if the Hufflepuff boy defeated Kevin, then Daniel wouldn't have to worry about him. But somehow he had a certain feeling that the Hufflepuff boy was to lose the duel.
If Professor Trelawney's feelings had proved as true as Daniel's now, then she very possibly wouldn't still be sitting at Hogwarts teaching, but would be sitting at Delphi as an oracle…
Certainly Kevin had won.
This meant that if Dan managed to defeat his next opponent, then he had a 50% chance to have to fight against his cousin next.
Daniel got paired off with a Gryffindor called Sean Smith. He had seen this Sean fighting in the first two rounds and had to admit that he was quite good. However, he was no Imaginer while Dan was one. After trying to use magic the normal way in the first two rounds and almost losing the duels just because of that, Daniel decided to use only Imagining in the battle against the Smith boy. Using only his special powers, Sean proved to be a pushover for Dan. After mere four minutes of duelling, Sean staggered off the pitch under the mixed effects of a jelly-leg jinx and a Quietus charm – the latter disabling his vocal cords, depriving him of the chance to say Finite Incantatem or any other spell at all. This type of charm had proved useful in Nigel Bailey's case as well, with the exception that Dan had used a babbling curse back then. If Smith had paid better attention to Dan dealing with Nigel, he might have assumed that Dan might try something like this again and would have been able to prepare and deflect the curse.
Oh well, it was Sean's problem that he hadn't paid attention, wasn't it?
Knowing that he'd have to duel again, Dan walked back to the changing room and waited until the duel between the remaining Gryffindor and Ravenclaw ended. It had been quite a nasty battle for two first-years: the Gryffindor boy had a broken arm and jaw, the Ravenclaw got knocked unconscious by his own broom that the Gryffindor contestant had bewitched to beat its owner. Neither of them was able to continue fighting.
Now nothing could save Dan from having to fight against his cousin.
"Ladies and gentlewizards," Albus Dumbledore rose from his seat. "Let me announce the beginning of the last duel of the millennial wizard-knight tournament. The two competitors are Daniel Leonard Potter and Kevin Frederick Weasley. Let us greet them on the pitch and wish them a very successful duel!"
The spectators cheered as the two boys flew out of the opposite changing rooms – Daniel on his Nimbus 4000, Kevin on his brand new Rocket 5001.
They slightly – very slightly – bowed their heads to each other, waiting for the headmaster's signal to begin the duel.
Daniel took deep breaths, trying to calm himself – to no avail. He had never been so nervous about anything before. He knew that he could defeat Kevin if he wanted, he could easily defeat him if he only used his powers, he could humble him and trample on him, but… he wasn't sure whether that was what he wanted. *A Slytherin, am I?* he thought. For the time being, he didn't feel a Slytherin at all. He couldn't find it in his heart to actually harm his cousin, no matter what Kevin had done or said to him. He wished that a lightning would strike into the goalposts, spreading fire all over the stadium… then the duel would be cancelled. But then again, it would still be held later…
Dumbledore's wand ejected a shower of green sparks.
*Here we go!* Dan braced himself and spurred his broomstick. Somehow this time he and his opponent seemed to have got within wand-shot much quicker, than in the previous three duels… barely had they shot forward when they had already reached the middle of the pitch – and to the crowd's great surprise they flew past each other with wands held out – they flew to the opposite ends of the pitch, practically doing no more than changing places.
*Why hasn't Kevin thrown a curse on me?* Dan wondered. *And why haven't I thrown a curse on him?*
He didn't have much time to contemplate this, because his cousin again spurred his Rocket 5001 towards him. Kevin seemed equally surprised by his own and Dan's 'doing-nothing'.
To their even greater surprise they reached the middle of the pitch again, hovering mere feet from each other, eyeing each other without a word.
Finally it was Kevin who broke the silence, but it was no spell that left his mouth: "Have you chickened out, Potter?"
"No, what gives you that idea?" Daniel asked.
"You didn't dare curse me the first time."
"I thought it was you who didn't dare curse me," came the answer.
"Oh, really?" the Weasley boy's expression turned mocking. "Then watch this!"
"What?" Dan grinned as he held out his wand in front of himself to deflect Kevin's little wind-charm that was supposed to knock him off of his broom. Kevin gasped as Daniel not only didn't fall off his broom, but the 'wind' turned into a small funnel-shaped thing looking like a tiny tornado, and it got sucked into Daniel's wand.
"How did you…?" the Weasley boy breathed.
But young Potter didn't answer – instead he flicked his wand and the tornado suddenly gushed out of it, right at Kevin, sending him down into the grass, then ran back into Daniel's wand. Good that he had learnt to control forces of nature the Imaginer way, Daniel thought and hopped off of his broom while Kevin stood up from his sprawling position. Kevin's expression revealed not only surprise, but also fear, and a silent question: 'why on Earth have you got off your broom?'.
Although the question remained unspoken, Daniel understood it pretty well. "I want us to be equal. It's easy cursing you from my broom when I can fly out of the way of your curses. Now we are even."
Kevin's dumbstruck expression turned into an outraged and deeply hurt one. "I don't need your pity!" he howled. "Diffindo!"
"Ow!" Dan hissed as his robes were cut open and fell off him. Now he was standing there in a T-shirt and jeans. How good that his whole family preferred Muggle clothing underneath the wizard robes! Very possibly someone like a Malfoy would now be standing in front of everyone in nothing more than a pair of boxers. Hm, that wasn't even a bad idea! *Two can play at this game,* Dan thought and pointed his wand at Kevin, but didn't say any incantation, just imagined the exact way a Malfoy would look like after a de-robing.
Before Kevin knew what was happening to him, the whole crowd started to laugh at his sky-blue boxers revealed due to Daniel's vivid imagination.
"Reparo!" shouted Kevin at himself, but the spell didn't work, since his opponent hadn't used Diffindo. What exactly Daniel had used Kevin didn't know, but he was close to exploding with rage when he realised that the spell didn't restore his clothing.
"What have you done to me?" he yelled.
"Nothing more than further-developed your own idea," Dan shrugged, contemplating what to do next. However, the enraged Kevin was quicker and wanted to give him just as much embarrassment in return, so he shouted "Tarantallegra!"
For several seconds Daniel lost control of his legs that made him do the most difficult steps of an Irish tap-dance.
"Not bad, Daniel Flatley!" Kevin smirked and gave his cousin a Twitchy Ears Hex to go with his madly dancing legs. The smirk, however, vanished from his face when he saw Dan's eyes closing, his legs ceasing to dance and ears stopping to twitch. Dan seemed to have gone into something like a trance, but only for three or four seconds then opened his eyes and sent Kevin a smile.
"Hey, thanks, Kev, that was some exercise. I'm definitely going to get Irish dance lessons during the summer holidays."
"Are you making fun of me, Slytherin?" The-Boy-In-Sky-Blue-Boxers hissed.
"No, I truly enjoyed it," Dan replied calmly. "So, are we duelling or chatting, Gryffindor?" he uttered the 'Gryffindor' part with just as great contempt as Kevin had uttered 'Slytherin'.
"No way! Leosortia!" his cousin bellowed. Daniel watched curiously as something blossomed out of the tip of Kevin's wand and dropped to the ground with 'meow'.
"This… is a lion for you?" young Potter pointed at the baby-lion that Kevin had conjured. Very likely Kevin had wanted to conjure a real, huge, threatening lion to demonstrate the superiority of Gryffindor house, but hadn't succeeded. Dan felt like being under the Rictusempra curse – he couldn't help but laugh.
Kevin's fists clenched and roses of embarrassment appeared on his cheeks. "Okay, then, show me that you can do better, Potter!"
Dan shrugged and flicked his wand for a diversion, shouting Serpensortia, while in fact imagining a snake slithering out of the tip of his wand.
Up in the stands Harry gasped – he still well remembered that Duelling Club in his second year. Back then the snake had been black and tiny. This one, however, was poisonous green with huge fangs – and it was huge.
A loud murmur ran down the stadium and Albus Dumbledore stiffened in his seat.
Daniel had conjured a basilisk.
*No, it can't be!* Dan's mind screamed. *I only wanted a small one! A cute, little one!* Daniel clearly remembered having imagined a small grey snake. Then – how did this one appear here? He had been long past the 'misimagining-stuff' period. He hadn't misimagined anything for months! Still, he had no control over his powers now. He knew what he had imagined, and something totally different appeared. Why, for heaven's sake?
However, he couldn't contemplate this at all, because the basilisk charged at them.
Kevin's eyes bulged with fear as the huge serpent towered over them. His legs turned jelly with panic and his hand holding the wand was trembling. He tried to point his wand a bit higher, at the beast, but the basilisk's tail whipped out towards him and knocked the wand out of his hand. Now he really looked petrified with horror.
Daniel didn't know what to do. For four or five seconds he was eyeing the basilisk that seemed to be eyeing Kevin. Kevin was retreating on barely working legs, his eyes on the serpent's ugly face… that was when Daniel realised that this wasn't a real basilisk. Maybe it just looked like one, but it was some other type of serpent… Daniel had no idea, but of one thing he was sure: had it been a real basilisk then Kevin would have long died of its stare… But, if wasn't real, then how could it look so real? Dan clenched his fists and knitted his eyebrows, trying hard to imagine-vanish this creature he had so carelessly conjured - to no avail. It was still there, advancing on Kevin… in the next instant its tail whipped again, jerking Kevin's legs out from under him. Kevin hit the ground and seemed to have lost his consciousness. Daniel saw that the pseudo-basilisk charged at his cousin with its fangs bared, and the only sensible – or not so sensible – thing he could think of was to jump forward and hurl himself at Kevin's body.
A/N: the 'if you have health, you have everything' is something that my grandpa used to tell me, and though I don't totally agree, I think it's still quite sensible, so I decided to use it.
Love Goddess: Lily likes Norbert, but she realised she wasn't in love with him. She likes him as a friend.
Houou: Harry and Remus won't always be at each other's throats, I promise.
Kit Cloudkicker: you'll find out in chapter 27.
Altec: just wait it out, and your opinion might change. Mile High Club? Sorry, I have no idea what kind of a club that is :(
AmandaPanda: of course Sev and Beryl will make up! :)
goldenstar555: glad you did. I hope you liked the description in this chapter, too.
maureen: what's your favourite boy's name, then? I'm curious to know, really.
VegaKeep: more S/B in the next chapter.
Indigo Ziona: well, you got to see more Imagining! :D
C-chan: wow, you must be right about the chess! I made a mistake there! Sorry, but I'm not much of a chess player. I agree, Muggle meteorologists tend to be terrible at forecasting the weather, too. We in Hungary have a meteorologist who always wears bowtie and talks as if he thought he was the centre of the universe. Reminds me of an older Gilderoy Lockhart ;)
Katrina: well, very likely those things are connected. Wait till chapters 27-29 and you won't be confused anymore :) I don't like Cho and Liu (almost hate Cho), but in this chapter I felt sorry for both of them. No, Dave and Lily won't end up together, since they are related. It'd be sort of an incest, don't you think? I agree, I'm pretty sure that JKR made mistake concerning the number of students studying at Hogwarts. But, the fact that only five male and two female Gryffindors are mentioned in Harry's year, doesn't mean that there aren't any more. *shrugs* Wow, you came up with a rather interesting theory as 'Lily'. Not correct, but interesting, nevertheless.
Inigma: I haven't been reading fifth year fics for ages. I though there was no point, since OotP would come soon. No, the last chapter won't be wedding at Christmas ;) Is your friend who is called Tatyana Russian, by any chance? What? Lily – pregnant? No way! She's just 13, for heaven's sake!
BigDaddy753: well, Dan didn't knock Kevin the f**k out, he rather saved his life… or did he? You'll find out from the next chapter (I know, I know, evil cliffie again!)
SiriDragon: I know Norb and Lily are cute together… sorry. You'll get what you wanted concerning Dan and Gilda ;) They aren't really going out – YET.
Laina: of course Snape and Beryl will make up :D
The Millenium One: um… who's in love? You meant Lily?
2Coolio: nope, Liu didn't make Queen and Dan's powers worked pretty well… until the 'basilisk' came.
PheonixFire: when ISN'T Cho annoying? ;) Okay, you're right about the Easter thingie, I just didn't remember that being mentioned after the Aunt Marge part.
Red Ridding Hood: Quodpot is the American version of Quidditch (see Quidditch Through the Ages).
rebkos: Ivo the raven isn't important.
Mage: well, you'll see whether the N/L breakup will last or not.
Beauty in Disguise: Ginny should kill Cho? LOL. Snape and Beryl will get together in chapter 27.
Alexander Phoenix: there has always been a debate in the HP fandom whether Blaise is a he or a she. Since I read Cassandra Claire's works, I regarded Blaise as a she.
Tap Dancing Widow: I also feel bad for pooooor Gildy! No, the good-life-for-Harry won't last for long.
Nefertiri: it's something else but has something to do with Tatyana.
Colibi: I hope you liked the tournament :)
Inken: no, none of your assumptions is correct. But I'm happy you liked Snape :D
Hermione We@sley: I hope the tournament was cool enough :) You'll find out what's going on with Lily in chapter 28, no sooner, sorry. Glad you liked Snape's reaction.
candycaneOgram: certainly only the first years' tournament was important enough to describe it in a detailed way. The Quidditch match, however, will be shown properly in the next chapter. Well, about Dan and Kevin's friendship… just wait till the next chappie ;) No, Tatyana's disappearance has nothing to do with the tournament. It is connected to other things I'm not revealing till chapter 29. You want Cho to die in the Quidditch match? LOL. I think Dan fears that if he took the book to the common room, then someone would find it. About Lucius and the house-elves… you'll find out in chapter 28 or 29, I'm not sure which one.
Lana Riddle: glad you liked it :)
King Jasbon: my birthday is 19 February. Had I known that your birthday was 28 March, I would have mentioned your name in the 'dedication-section' :)
Mistri: sure, feel free to borrow the Green Flame Torch (you're about the fifth person asking for the same permission ;)
ruffled owl: well, now you got the tournament, I hope you didn't find it too lame. (I'm not exactly an action-writer, you know)
heavenly182angel: IMHO means In My Humble Opinion.
CheezyStars: it's funny that sometimes people tell me that another reviewer is their best friend… I'm happy to know that people 'spread' my fics to each other ;)
sabby: no, Voldie doesn't have a son (I shudder at the mere thought of him having sex with a woman… yuck)
Romina: I'm glad you regard my fic as an 'obsession', LOL.
Any last requests: are you sure? Don't be sure! Yeah, Snape being sexy sounds very hilarious.
Myr Halcyon: I don't think that the competition is that sexist. At first I was playing with the thought of girls riding broomsticks and throwing hexes at each other just like boys, but then thought: "women are always considered stupid by men, so why not show those males that females can also be witty?" If you think this is sexism, then I'm surprised. I don't think that Crime and Punishment is that romantic… there's Sonya the prostitute who falls for Raskolnikov, but they aren't really *romancing* in the book, at least I didn't think they were. Have you already reached the part when the officer tells Raskolnikov how he managed to find out that Raskolnikov was the murderer? I particularly liked that part.
Autumn Dreams: bingo, Gilda will use a hairdo from her dad's book ;) Snape will find out about the baby in chapter 26.
TaMaraR: glad you liked Dan rejecting Liu's invitation :D Down with the Changs!
Lioness-07863: Dan and Gilda will get together in chapter 30, no sooner. No, Gilda was *really* reading a book on hairdos, believe me.
CloverWeave: no, that book Gilda was reading isn't that important. So, you're also a Lily/Norbert shipper? :)
Princess Ginny: you'll find out about the winner in the next chapter. Can't give you a hint about why Lily's acting weird, wait till chapter 28 :)
X-Tow-Naga: I totally agree with the one dorm/year/house, but it was our wonderful JKR who said that there were 1000 Hogwarts students, so it was she who messed it up :) Well, Lily and Norbert aren't gf/bf now. Yeah, Dan could have imagined his friends forgetting about seeing him sneaking out… I think. But not even he can think of everything (in other words: not even the poor author can think of everything ;) Thanks for the grammar correction.
Sarah: no, this fic won't have a sequel, but I'm sure that after having read OotP I'll write new novel-length fics. What kind of prediction of yours did you get right? I'm curious to know :)
Lady Schezar: well, from a certain point of view I'm a comedy writer – see Gadding with Goats, it's total comedy :)
Bucky: I think I'll dedicate one chapter to you in the future :D Okay, let Snape have twins! (though they won't be born in the fic, so I won't be stating that there are two kids, however, if you want him to have twins, then you're free to imagine that he'll have twins ;)
Wood's secret lover: thanks for pointing out that little mistake, I was giggling madly when I read it :)
seashell: I hope you're healthy again!
jasper: I did :) Glad you like Dan and Gilda.
xaebhal: yep, you seem to know me well enough ;)
Toby Haine: yes, it was a nice change that I ended chapter 23 with a non-cliffie, huh? How unusual of me! But now you got the cliffie *evil laugh*