Chapter Eighteen:
Tournament Preliminaries
A/N:Another prophecy looms in the darkness, will Harry be the one, or will he be yet another in a long list of wizards who have failed since the time of Merlin? All the formalities have been finished and now it's time for the Tournament to begin. Alliances will be made and new enemies will reveal themselves, as our Heroes find themselves caught in the middle of it all. Who will come out of the preliminaries and compete in the actual Worldwide Wizard's Dueling Tournament?
The next morning came and things were still not better between Hermione and Ron, both tried to go on as if neither knew the other. When words were exchanged their conversations were filled with sadness and contempt. The tension was maddening. To prevent a complete blow-up, Harry and Ron left for the Tournament Preliminary Grounds early, leaving Hermione with Ginny and Fleur.
There was plenty of nervousness and anxiety in the air, as they entered the Preliminary Grounds. It was in the same building the Registration Hall and the Tournament Ball had been in. The entire room had been cleared out everything had been replaced by 32 miniature square rings that looked to be 15x15 ft.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I am Auric Orion, your head Tournament Announcer!" said a short, blonde haired wizard in fluorescent orange and yellow robes. "If you will all step up to the front desk, you may draw your assignment in the tournament. If you will take notice each ring has a number. If you draw '1A' or '1B', you will report to Ring #1, '2A' or '2B', report to Ring #2, and so on! Each ring will commence with two Battle Royal style matches. Participants of each match will be determined by the 'A' or 'B' designation on your card. The winners of the two Battle Royal matches will then duel one-on-one with their respective opponents, for a chance to be one of the top 32 wizards to participate in the opening ceremony and compete in the opening round of the tournament!"
Although the women hadn't arrived yet, Harry and Ron each drew their tournament assignments. Harry drew '1A', while Ron drew '23B'.
"Talk about luck!" said Ron excitedly, "I'll actually have a chance at being runner-up, since I won't have to face you until the finals!"
"We'll actually have to make it that far first Ron," said Harry, "If this tournament is half of what Hermione says it is we're all going to have some serious competition."
"It's not like YOU have anything to worry about," said Ron, his voice filled with envy and jealousy.
"What is THAT supposed to mean," said Harry, knowing exactly were this conversation was going.
"Only that you defeated the world's most powerful Dark Lord since the Time of Merlin and you act as if you have any real competition," stated an annoyed Ron.
Harry took a deep breath, not wanting to have this argument with Ron, yet again. "Weasley, Potter, it's about time I found the two of you!" growled "Mad-Eye" Moody. "I already gave the girl's theirs so here is yours!" he handed them two packages, which Ron opened up immediately.
"Dueling Robes!" shouted Ron.
"You really didn't have to," said an embarrassed Harry.
"No pupils of mine are going to the World Tournament not looking their best. Besides Potter, yours actually belonged to your father! He and the others had planned on entering a tournament like this together. I had the others made based on this design." Moody told him.
"Thanks," said Ron.
"Now the changing rooms are over there," said Moody pointing to a far corner of the room. "Don't worry Potter they are all charmed to be self fitting, so don't worry about not being able to fit in it!"
Harry and Ron left to change in their dueling robes, and when they got back, Ginny, Hermione, and Fleur were all chatting with Moody.
Fleur wore simple lilac colored dueling robes that accented her figure perfectly. Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione's robes were similar to the Quidditch robes that Ron, Harry, and Ginny wore at Hogwarts. Hermione wore a dark blue tunic and pants. The robes went down to just above her knees and were completely black. She had a black belt with a dark blue buckle with black boots, shin and wrist guards. There was a black stripe that ran from here shoulders down the length of her blue sleeves. The back had the number 4 and GRANGER written above it in dark blue lettering.
Ginny's was the exact same as Hermione's except they were emerald green and there were two stripes running down the length of the sleeve and had a high collar. Ginny's robes had the number 2 and POTTER written above it in emerald green lettering.
Ron's robes were dark red and black. He had a black stripe that ran down the side of his leg and black slash marks that ran down the length of his arm. The bottom of the robes were styled different the Ginny and Hermione's. The front went half way down his thighs while the black went just past his knees. His robes bore the number 3 and had WEASLEY written above it in dark red lettering.
Harry was embarrassed because his dueling robes were the most different. His robes were styled like Ron's but had a high collar like Ginny's. There were no stripes or slash marks. The tunic and pants were scarlet, and the robe was black. The wrist and shin guards were gold with red borders and had the Gryffindor Lion on them. The belt he wore was red, and had a golden Lion's head belt buckle. The number 1 was written with gold lettering and POTTER was written with scarlet lettering. Harry also had two wand holsters, where everyone else only had one.
Hermione grew silent as Harry and Ron approached. She wouldn't even look at Ron. Ron, however, could do nothing but look at Hermione. Ginny walked up and gave her husband a crushing hug the moment she saw them. "So, what are you tournament assignments?" she asked them, "I got '14B', Hermione got '19A' and Fleur got '21A'."
"I got '1A' and Ron drew '23B'," Harry told her.
"Well, well Potter! I wondered how long it would be before we dueled again!" said Draco Malfoy, his dueling robes were all black and had a high collar. His robes were like Harry and Ron's except there were no wrist or shin guards and he had a simple silver buckle. He wore a cape and the silver fasteners bore both the Malfoy Family Crest, and the symbol of the Tri-Confederation of Wizards. He also had a cane fashioned with a cobra head, much like his father once had. Until that moment, it had not occurred how much Draco actually looked like Lucius Malfoy. "Unfortunately for you, I drew '1B'!"
It was Ron who spoke up for Harry, "What makes you think you're even in Harry's league?"
"What makes you think I'm not, Weasel? Just because Harry here has… certain… abilities… the rest of us could only dream of, doesn't mean that Potter is a guarantee shoe-in for the finals!" Draco said to Ron with a condescending tone.
"Enough, we have enough to get on with, without you two bickering like 1st years!" growled Moody.
"Attention all competitors!" shouted Auric Orion using the sonorous charm, "If you would all step towards your perspective ring assignments, the Tournament Battle Royal round will commence shortly! Now, since we have 32 rings and 329 competitors; each Battle Royal match will have at least five competitors. Four assignments were drawn at random to have the remaining 9 entrants participate in each match. '1A' will have eight competitors, and '1B', '20B', and '25B' will each have seven! A competitor will be eliminated from the battle royal if he leaves the ring, is disarmed, or submits."
Harry and Draco looked at each other, "Don't we have all the luck," complained Draco.
"You only 'ave two extra! Poor 'Arry 'as three!" said Fleur with a stern look.
"Just feel fortunate the rest of you only have to go through four other people!" Draco shot back at Fleur, daring her or anyone else to retort back. When no one else spoke, he turned and immediately went to Ring #1.
"I suppose we should all get to where we need to be!" said Harry awkwardly.
"Good luck 'Arry!" said Fleur giving Harry a hug and a kiss on each cheek, earning her a glare from Ginny, "and you too Ronald," she said turning to Ron, going the same, and got a murderous look from Hermione.
"You too Fleur-Gin, 'Mione, I know you'll both be great," said Harry giving them a hug and a kiss to Ginny.
"Yeah… Good luck," said Ron quickly, before hurrying away to his ring assignment
"My brother is such a prat! I just don't know what you see in him Hermione!" Ginny said to her friend, as she left for her ring assignment as well.