Chapter 16- Three Dimensional Dueling
It wasn't much longer before a group of professors came down from the school and helped everyone out of their horrible situations. They cleaned up the leftover dirt from the earth monster and banished the water one back to the sea. Madam Pomfrey brought all fourteen players to the Hospital Wing; all the way Blaise was prancing about and singing about Hufflepuff's ten point victory. Apparently, he had taken less of a liking to Gryffindor after Harry told him to shut up. Things only got worse when Professor McGonagall said she was going to take one hundred points away from each house for appalling and expulsion-worthy behavior due to their spur of the moment fight.
But, it wasn't all bad. From their work together, Harry's team now had a magnificent camaraderie and Harry felt as though he was part of a family when around the six of them, especially when he was all bandaged up like a mummy and sharing a small hospital bed with one of his teammates. His relations especially improved with Ak, now reaching the point of almost a Ron, Hermione, or even a Malfoy friendship.
Also, the news of the match spread like wildfire around the school and even though Harry's team lost, they were still crowned as the winners for beating Hufflepuff in the duel that took place. Harry's reputation was back to its usual insanely high standard that it used to be before he lost to Malfoy in the club and Ak in the card game match.
The unusual Quidditch match additionally turned students attention momentarily away from the cancelled field trip, though not for long. They needed something else to distract their minds… and they were going to get it. Thanks to the new schedule, another Dueling Club meeting was scheduled for the end of the week, and everyone in the school, especially Harry, was looking forward to it. Though… he was also concerned. What if someone tried to steal Hermione's Bracelet again? What if Voldemort got it?
"Shouldn't you just leave it in your room?" Harry asked her before they left the common room that day, a few minutes before that meeting was going to start. She rubbed the Bracelet and glared at him.
"No," she said forcefully.
"Why not?"
"Because…" she said, sounding as if she were trying to make something up on the top of their head. "Because… if I leave it in my room, it will be even easier to steal! Someone could just open up my drawer and take it out."
"But, why don't you just put a charm on the drawer, then? Like Harry did?" suggested Ron, polishing up his wand a bit.
"Oh yeah, you saw what happened when Harry put the supposedly good charm on it," retorted Hermione. "Neville took it as easily from it as if it was a normal drawer."
"But… with the proper precautions-"
"Oh my! Look at he time!" yelled Hermione suddenly, looking at her non-existent watch. "We're going to be late if we don't hurry!"
Harry and Ron looked at each other and shrugged.
"Women and their jewelry," whispered Ron to Harry as they stepped out of the room. "Don't come between the two." Harry laughed out loud and Hermione gave him a piercing gaze again. He just cleared his throat, looked up, and they continued walking.
It wasn't much longer before they arrived at the Great Hall, most of the club already there, as usual. But, there wasn't any sign of Professor Flitwick yet.
"Harry!" Cho called to him when he arrived.
"Hello Cho!" said Harry back, stepping away from Ron and Hermione and over to her. "How are you?"
"Fine as long as you're around," she said back, tossing her hair and causing a few giggles from the younger students in the crowd. "Anyways, do you know what's going to happen for this duel?"
"Sure do," said Harry, feeling proud of himself. This time, Professor Flitwick had visited him when he was in the Hospital Wing, while Harry was trying to figure out the best spell to use to make his bedpan fly out and land on Ernie's head. They talked about and discussed how the next meeting should be run, and they both agreed that the new guerrilla tactics way of fighting was a huge success. So, Harry just decided to improve on an already good thing.
"Oh really? So, what's this one going to be like?"
"Well, it was really inspired by our date," grinned Harry, kicking the floor.
"Oh no! You're not going to light the floor on fire or bring out dragons, are you?"
"What?" said Harry, a little confused. "No. I was inspired by the end of our date, when I flew you home."
"Oh… that part of it."
"Anyways, I thought everyone here would like to experience flight, so we decided to make this a three dimensional guerrilla duel. Instead of only being able to move left and right and forward and backwards, now we'll all be able to move up and down as well, literally adding a whole new dimension to the game."
"Sounds like fun!" exclaimed Cho, just as tiny Professor Flitwick appeared in front of the doors, looking almost out of breath.
"Sorry I'm late," he apologized quickly. "But this trip cancellation has really screwed up everyone's schedules here." Once the word 'trip' left his mouth, a giant groan escaped from every person in the crowd. "Oh come on! It's not that bad. All you have to do is wait a few more months and you'll go anyways. But, now let's forget all about that pyramid nonsense and have a good dueling match!"
Everyone in the crowd cheered, though the field trip was still on their minds… and would be for quite a while.
"Anyways, your captain and I have quite a good match planned for you today! Come in and let's get started!" With that, he magically opened the doors to the Great Hall, revealing a completely empty room, just like it was at the last club meeting. Only this time, on one side of the room there were twenty magical skateboards, each a different color.
"For this duel!" announced Flitwick, closing the massive doors when everyone was inside. "We shall once again be practicing our guerrilla tactics, but this time it shall be even more exciting." He waved an arm over to the side of the room with all of the skateboards. "You see here, over at this wall, there are twenty Soaring Skateboards, each of which might I add is different from every other, and is imported directly from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Each of you will take one and duel on it. If you fall off of your board or if you touch the ground at all, you shall be instantly teleported to me, in a small, clear room where you can observe the rest of the duel but not participate in it." He pointed a finger to a top corner of the room where there was an almost invisible room hanging above everything.
"Now," he continued, "if you'd all please, take a board." He waved his arm in the direction of the assorted skateboards and the group of students ran over to them, picking their favorite. Harry saw that Neville grabbed the one to the far right, a pure black board with two big, red eyes on the top that occasional blinked; and Ernie took the one next to it, one that had flames painted on it that actually moved and roared. They high fived each other and Harry felt almost sick. He chose one that had a picture of white stars on a blue background, and Mike took the one next to his: a white one with black and red Japanese characters all over it. He smiled and began rubbing the board, drooling all over it. Malfoy went for one with a green, hissing snake on it, but Ron, however, was trampled by the running crow, and was left with the only one available when everyone else had chosen theirs: a pink one with a picture of a smiling bunny on the top. Harry burst out laughing when he saw Ron get on it.
"Shut up Harry," he said to him, trying to get his balance, which wasn't very difficult, seeing as it had no wheels.
"Now, I know there are some of you here that have never used these before," said Professor Flitwick, putting his hands up. "But, it is very easy, much easier than using a broomstick. All you have to do is first, step on it. Then, to get it started, say 'up'."
Everyone got in a line and stepped up onto their boards. Almost in unison, they all yelled the same word.
"UP!"
Immediately, the entire club rose to the air, about a foot off the ground. For some, though, even that was too much, and they fell off.
"Now now!" said Professor Flitwick, helping a few kids back on. "That's what the safety is for, to help you stay on when you go higher. To set the safety, just say 'safety', and then a number from one to ten afterwards, depending on how secure you want to be. Now, when you'd normally use these things, you would use the ten setting, of course. But, it is nearly impossible to knock anyone off at that setting, so we'll all just use five instead."
"Safety five!" yelled everyone again, almost immediately after Flitwick had finished talking. Harry felt the board getting tighter on his feet, as if glue had just been poured between his shoes and the top of the board, making it nearly impossible to move his legs. But, Harry found, if he tried hard enough, he could still pull them right off.
"Controlling the boards is even easier," continued Flitwick. "Once the safety is on, the board makes kind of a small telepathic connection with your brain. All you need to do is think that you want to go left, right, forward, backward, up or down and you will. Go ahead! Try it out!"
In his mind, Harry just thought of going forward, the word, along with the sensation it usually gives. Before he had even completed half of his thought, the board shot forward, at speeds rivaling a broomstick. Harry looked behind him and saw that everyone was now very spread out. Some were up, left, right, and one, Joe, collided with the wall.
"Meh okay!" he announced to the not-really-caring crowd, giving double thumbs up, rubbing his back, and then going forward.
"Alright then!" said Professor Flitwick happily, doing a small spin in the air. "Spread out and I will set up a few obstacles!" He took out his wand, muttered a spell, and out of the tip flew hundreds of multicolored beams, flowing off in every direction. Each beam formed its own random shaped obstacle: some were cylinders, come were walls, others were even shaped like people, but they all were hovering in the air, moving around a bit, like an army of balloons. They covered most of the air, making it like the forest they dueled in last time. The barriers would make good places to hide… maybe even too good.
"Hermione," said Harry telepathically to her, using his Animagus abilities. "I think you should come a little closer to me… just in case someone tries to steal your Bracelet again. We can stay together for a little while and if nothing happens, we can split up again."
"Alright," she said back, not looking at him and flying a bit closer.
"Hey Harry!" Malfoy called to him telepathically. "Is it going to come down to me and you again?"
"You know it," Harry called back. "Unless Neville or Ernie takes care of you first."
"Hah! Those two!" laughed Malfoy, maintaining a straight face on his body. "They're barely up to the point that I was at last year."
"What are you talking about?"
"Remember those spells I used on you last year, the ones where I grew four arms, made the field an inferno, and made you feel like a hundred dementors were around?"
"Yeah," shuddered Harry, remembering all too well.
"Well, believe it or not, those are very advanced spells. The stuff that You-Know-Who has taught those two is not even up to that level yet."
"So you mean, if that's what you knew last year, now you have an insanely massive arsenal of dark magic spells at your disposal?"
"You're lucky you have me as a friend and not an enemy," chuckled Malfoy back.
"And now," announced Flitwick, breaking up their conversation, "for a final touch!" He muttered another spell and aimed right at the ground. A massive pool of fire overflowed out of the tip of his wand and right onto the floor of the Great Hall, turning it into a giant sea of flames and molten lava. Everyone went another ten feet higher up, just to escape the heat.
"Harry!" Cho yelled to him from not too far away. "I thought you said you weren't going to light the ground on fire!"
"It's just a little addition to the playing field, to remind you not to touch the ground," Professor Flitwick said, flying around it and making sure it was hot enough. "Now, I don't think any of you will forget!" He flew over to his little safety box in the top corner of the room. "Are you all ready to begin? On your marks… get set… go!"
Harry immediately shot off, aiming for a large, nearby floating wall. He hid behind it, and waited for Hermione. He didn't have to wait too long for her to show up; she came over and flew right next to him.
"Do you really think someone's going to try and steal it again?" she asked, holding onto her Bracelet as if it was the most valuable item in the world, which it almost was.
"I don't know…" said Harry, quickly peering over the side of the wall and watching a small fight going on between Justin and Ginny. She easily beat him with a single spell, and he collapsed to the fiery ground where he was teleported to the safe room with Flitwick.
"Well… what are we going to do?" she asked impatiently.
"Just wait here for a while," said Harry, looking back.
"Oh come on!" she whined. "I want to go out there and fight!" "Who are you and what have you down with Hermione?" Harry asked. Hermione was never that assertive.
"I don't know…" she sighed, flying around a bit. "Just being up here… right in the middle of a meeting… I just want to fight!"
"Well, if nothing happens for a little while, we can go out."
"Fine…"
"SURPRISE!" yelled Ernie and Neville suddenly, popping out of nowhere in front of Harry and Hermione. They both had wide and evil grins on their faces, and their wands were in attack position. The two of them came up so quickly, Harry had no time to react to their surprise attacks.
"Pagos!" they bother yelled together, Neville aiming for Harry and Ernie aiming for Hermione. An icy blue beam erupted from their wands, hitting them both and making Harry feel as though his entire body was no more than a big ice cube.
"What do you want?" yelled Harry, surprised that he could still use his mouth.
"I think we both all know the answer to that," spat Neville, coming a little closer to Harry and eyeing Hermione's Bracelet.
"You can't have it!" Harry yelling, knowing well that he couldn't do anything to stop them.
"Oh yeah?" said Ernie mockingly, hovering closer to Hermione. "Why not?"
"Because it's hers!" yelled someone else. The four of them looked up, and saw Malfoy suddenly drop down from above right down onto Ernie and Neville. He did a fancy turn in the air, hitting Neville's face with his board, and then punching Ernie's nose with his fist while his body was still horizontal. The two of them spat blood in the air, and Harry saw their eyes roll back into their head as they started falling to the floor.
"Malfoy!" yelled Harry and Hermione together, still frozen. "You saved us… again!"
"Yeah, well, I don't want You-Know-Who to get the Bracelet any more than you do," he admitted, performing the counter curse on the two of them. Harry felt the blood start flowing in the body below his head again, and he could move.
"Thanks for saving us, Malfoy," said Harry, moving around in the air a bit. "But, you do know, we are still in a duel, right?"
"Yeah, I know. But, friendships and beating Voldemort are things that are more important than winning a silly duel. Besides… everyone knows I'm better than you anyway."
"Yeah right!" yelled Harry. "I beat you last year at the final tournament!" "But I beat you at the last meeting."
"Yeah, well I-"
"Enough!" yelled Hermione, putting her hands out and signaling for the two boys to stop bickering. "This is more than just a duel now. Voldemort has a strong presence here, and we have to try and be wary of it. If it wasn't for you, Malfoy, he could be making the Immortal Potion right now."
"No he couldn't," said Harry. "I still have the Ring!"
"That's beside the point!" she said, shaking her head and arms. "Let's just take it slow and make sure that no one else tries to get the Bracelet, okay? Then, when it comes down to the three of us, we'll know everything's okay and we can just duel."
"Sounds more like a way to guarantee that you make it to the end rather than a way to help protect the Bracelet," snickered Malfoy, flying over Hermione's head. "Why don't you just give one of us the Bracelet?"
"No," hissed Hermione. "Let's just get back in the game, and see what happens."
"Fine," shrugged Harry. He peered over the large wall that they were hiding behind again to see if the coast was clear. It pretty much was; except for Joe who was flying around aimlessly, wand out, and looking for a fight. "The coast is clear… except for underwear on the outside boy."
"Alright, we'll go out as a group," announced Malfoy. "Follow me."
He quickly hovered to the head of the two and went out slowly, with Harry and Hermione following behind. Not wanting to feel as though he was following behind Malfoy, Harry shot off to the right of him, and yelled at Joe.
"Ha ha!" he yelled at him, taking out his wand. "I see you!"
"Now you don't!" grinned Joe, tapping himself with his wand and disappearing suddenly. Harry stopped in midair.
"Woah, where'd he go?"
"He turned himself invisible," said Malfoy, looking around.
"But Invisibility Charms are far too advanced for Second Years!" exclaimed Hermione, looking around nervously.
"Joe!" Harry yelled. "Come on out and fight!"
"Harry!" yelled Hermione, looking as though she were struggling with some sort of invisible force. "Something's got my Bracelet!"
Harry looked over at her, but he was too late. By the time she was in his sights, the Bracelet had been forced off of her arm, and was zipping around the room, flying at insane speeds.
"Ah!" gasped Hermione. "Hurry and get it!"
Harry didn't even give time to respond. He shot off right after the Bracelet that was zooming around in midair and giving everything he got to try and catch up to it. Despite the fact that the Bracelet was enchanted, it was quite slow and it wasn't too much longer before Harry was right behind it. He extended his arms as much as he could, to try and grab it. When he could just feel the cold metal touch the tips of his fingers, he grabbed hold of it, stopping it right where it was.
Harry gripped the bracelet as hard as he could, so much that the encrusted gems on it were digging into his flesh, almost to the point of bleeding. But, it seemed every second, the force pulling on the other side of Bracelet was getting stronger. So, knowing he was fighting a losing battle, Harry did the only thing he could do: let go.
As soon as his fingers let loose of it, the Bracelet flew high into to the air, not being held onto by anything. Harry watched it soar up to its maximum height, then begin to fall.
"Malfoy!" Harry yelled to him, seeing that he was closer to the falling item. "Get the Bracelet!"
Malfoy nodded and flew right at it, trying to estimate about where it would fall to. He stopped when he was just above the fiery ground, arms up and hands open, ready to catch it. The Bracelet fell, faster and faster towards his wide open palms, until suddenly, an instant before he would have caught it, another force flew by and whisked it off to the side.
Malfoy, a little shaken from not catching it, shot after the Bracelet again, not letting it get more than a few feet away from him. He extended his arms out, ready to grab it, when just then, the Bracelet was 'thrown' by the invisible force through the air, where it was then caught by another force that was well out of Malfoy's range that started flying away with it. It was as if there were invisible people all over, playing a very serious game of keep away….
"That's it!" yelled Harry out loud. "Invisible people! Malfoy!"
"Yeah?" he asked, looking a little tired.
"Do you know any spells that can turn invisible people visible again?"
"Sure do," Malfoy grinned, understanding. He ripped his wand out of his pocket and aimed it in the general direction of everywhere. "Pasvoir!"
A small, almost invisible orb appeared at the tip of his wand that quickly grew to the size of a basketball, then a human, then an elephant, then unimaginable size, almost
filling the entire room. It gave off some sort of electric wave as it expanded, bringing everything that used to be invisible back to the real world.
Harry looked around for signs of anyone, and didn't have to look very hard. Flying all around them was the rest of his Quidditch team, excluding Ak. Joe, Mike, Chris and Akshay were all hovering about, throwing the Bracelet to each other and keeping it well out of the way of Harry or Malfoy. Apparently, they hadn't yet realized that they were no longer invisible and that Harry and Malfoy could see them perfectly.
Just as Mike received the Bracelet from Joe, Harry shot at him, faster than he ever had before. Mike turned to him, still thinking he was invisible, and merely threw it to Chris, thinking that Harry would just now turn his attention to the other 'invisible' force. But, Harry did not such thing. He just kept going straight for Mike and grabbed him by the neck.
"What do you think you're doing?" spat Harry, lifting him up slightly.
"What do you think we're doing?" grinned Mike, not having a bit of a look of surprise or fear on his face. Harry took a closer look at him, and saw that there was something very different about him… his eyes. He had no pupils, irises, nothing. All there was were two white circles. They were definitely not acting on their own… someone else was controlling them, like last time.
But, Harry had a more pressing issue. He could ponder over what was controlling them later. Right now, he had to get the Bracelet back before one of them took it to Voldemort.
He used a stupefy spell on Mike and watched him fall fairly quickly to the flaming ground, then be teleported to Flitwick's safety room which now had more than half of the entire club inside it.
Harry looked at the remaining three children, each of whom seemed to have realized that they were no longer invisible. They threw the Bracelet one last time, to Joe, who shot across the field with it, trying to reach an open window in the side of the Great Hall and escape through it. Harry flew off right after him, to try and catch up, but Malfoy got to him first. He grabbed Joe by the leg and used some sort of Dark Spell that turned his entire body to Stone when he touched Joe with his wand. The transformation of flesh to Stone started at Joe's feet, and worked its way up to his head rather slowly.
Just as his arm was about to become a rock, Joe used every ounce of strength he had and threw the Bracelet to Akshay. He shot off after it, getting ready to catch it, but Harry was faster with his wand.
"Accio Bracelet!" he yelled, aiming right for it. The Bracelet immediately changed its direction and began soaring right over to Harry's hand. He caught it in his palm and held onto it tight. This, however, did not stop Akshay's desire to get it. He gave a hiss, showed off his teeth, and flew right at Harry, arms and hands extended out.
Harry just gave a sigh and shot a Stupefy Spell right at Akshay, hitting him long before he would have gotten to Harry. The spell immediately knocked him out and he fell to the floor unconscious.
Now, the only one left was Chris, and he didn't look as though he was in any hurry to try and attack Harry or Malfoy. He just spun around and shot off. But, he wasn't as fast as either of his opponents, and Harry quickly grabbed hold of him. Malfoy arrived soon after.
"Let go of me!" he yelled, trying to shake Harry's magically enhanced grip off.
"Not until you tell us who has possessed you!" yelled Malfoy, looking as though he was trying as hard as he could to resist the urge to use some sort of torture spell on him.
"Fine!" yelled Chris, stopping his shaking. "I'll tell you who it was."
Just then, his face gave a quick, spastic shake and his eyes turned back to normal.
"Well…?" asked Harry, still not letting go.
"Well what?" asked Chris, looking a little dazed.
"Who was controlling you?" demanded Malfoy, gritting his teeth.
"What?" asked Chris, rubbing his forehead. "What are you talking about?"
"It seems as though whoever was controlling him has just stopped," said Malfoy, looking around, as if trying to see a ghost or something that may have popped out of his head.
"What? Someone was controlling me?"
"Did you recognize the spell used on him?" asked Harry, ignoring Chris and letting go of his leg. Just like last time, whoever had been controlling them removed the spell just before they were about to be told the answer to their question.
"Yeah, but it's not one any of the kids here would know," said Malfoy, looking like he was thinking hard. "It's one that I've only heard of… one that You-Know-Who only teaches to his most elite members. It's an advanced version of the Imperius Curse. It is completely unresistable, that is, once it is cast on you, you can't get it off, now matter what. In addition to that, it also puts some of your strength into the person you're controlling. That would explain why they were all able to put an Invisibility Charm on themselves."
"So, who here could have put it on them?"
"No one we know," said Malfoy, looking down. "Especially not Neville or Ernie. Not only did the person who put the curse on them know the extremely advanced spell, but they were powerful enough to put it on four people at once."
"Excuse me!" interjected Chris suddenly. "But, what's going on here?"
"Oh yeah, that reminds me," said Harry. "We're having a duel Chris, and I'm afraid you've lost. Stupefy!"
Before Chris even realized what was going to happen, the red beam shot out of Harry's wand and hit him, sending him to the fiery ground.
"Now let's find Hermione and give her the Bracelet back," said Harry. Malfoy nodded, and they started off again in search of her. They checked behind the wall where the three of them were hiding previously and sure enough, she was there, biting her nails and hovering from side to side, pacing in midair.
"Hermione, we've got it back!" announced Harry, holding it up to show her. She immediately looked over and her eyes grew wide with a hungry look.
"Gimme that!" she yelled, shooting over to him, ripping the Bracelet out of his hands and quickly putting it back on her arm.
"Ahh," she said, slipping it back on. "That's better."
"Well," sighed Harry, looking around just to be sure. "I guess you were right, Hermione. It has come down to just the three of us."
"NOT EXACTLY!" yelled Neville, one again, coming out of nowhere right on top of the three of them. He fell onto Malfoy's shoulders and squeezed his legs around his neck. He pointed his wand right at Malfoy's chest from his new position.
"Petrificus Totalus!" he yelled. Malfoy's body immediately went stiff and he fell to the ground, was gobbled up by the flames, and then sent to the safety room.
"NO!" yelled Harry.
"I know," sighed Neville sarcastically. "It was a crude spell… but hey, it worked… didn't it?"
"Stupefy!" yelled Harry, shooting backwards a little and aiming right for Neville. The spell blasted from his wand, but too late; he easily dodged it.
"Hah! You'll need better than that to defeat me!" yelled Neville, zooming around. "Something like that may have beaten Ernie, but not me. I'm a year ahead of him."
"Yeah, but you're still a million years behind me!" yelled Harry, going backwards even more, so he would have time to avoid anything that Neville shot at him.
"Think so?" asked Neville, stroking his wand a bit. "Then take this! Onino Hebi!"
A massive, flaming snake erupted out of Neville's wand. It gave an ear shattering hiss and showed off it's mouthful of fangs that was dripping with a light-green venom. It's eyes were the only thing besides its teeth that were not on fire, and they were pure black and never blinking. Once they caught sight of Harry, they didn't move.
The snake lashed out at Harry, like some sort of horrible fire whip. Harry backed away just in time to miss it's deadly bite, but the snake did not look any less determined. It merely doubled its length and tried again. Harry was quickly running out of space to back up into. He had to think of something else….
"Tri Oplo!" yelled Harry quickly, having an idea and aiming right for its head. The three spheres hit, and the snake gave a painful hiss. Harry took this opportunity to quickly dash across the field and stop right behind Neville.
"What do you think you're doing?" he spat as the snake recovered from the hit and turned around to find its victim.
"Let's see how loyal your snake is!" yelled Harry, giving Neville a hard push. The snake immediately turned its attention to this new source of movement and lashed out right at its new target. Harry quickly hovered backwards, out of the way of its attack.
"AAAHHH!" yelled Neville as the snake tore a piece of his flesh off. Just as the snake reared back, to get ready for another bite, Harry decided to show a little mercy.
"Stupefy!" he yelled, hitting the distracted Neville. As soon as the spell hit, Neville went limp and his snake disappeared. Harry watched him fall all the way down to the ground, then disappear.
"Well," sighed Harry to himself, "at least now I don't have to fight Malfoy."
Harry scanned the area for anyone else, to see if anyone was left to fight. Maybe he had just won the duel and he didn't even know it!
"Fucillius!" came a voice from not too far away. Evidently, there were still others on the field. Harry quickly, but stealthily flew over to investigate. He grabbed onto a pear-shaped obstacle and peered over it. There, he saw Hermione engaged in a duel with not one, not two, but three others! It was her against Ak, Tci and Aylar, and she didn't look as though she was going to win.
"Stupefy!" yelled Aylar, delivering the final blow. Hermione collapsed and fell to the ground. But, instead of starting to fight each other as Harry would have expected them to, the three of them just hovered there, as if waiting for someone else to come along. What was going on? Harry decided not to question it right now and to just take advantage of the opportunity of all three of them being sitting ducks.
"Siragus!" he yelled, creeping up over the top of the obstacle and aiming right for the middle of the three. Before any of them realized what was going on, there was a massive explosion in midair, right where Harry had aimed for. When the dust cleared soon after, Harry saw that Aylar and Ak were gone. Only Tci was left, and he looked in bad shape.
"What were you doing?" Harry asked him as he flew down. "You're not supposed to have teams in this. Why didn't the three of you fight each other after you beat Hermione?"
Tci just gave him a dazed look. Blood was all over his face, as was ash and dust. Evidently, the explosion had hit him directly since he was in the middle of the three, and done the most damage to him.
"We can't… do… each other…" he gasped, looking as though he might fall any second, which is exactly what he did an instant later.
"Oh well," Harry shrugged to himself. He remembered that he, Malfoy, and Hermione had kind of been a team before, and that maybe Aylar, Tci, and Ak were doing the same. They were, after all, three of the best fighters there. But, Harry, Hermione and Malfoy had promised to fight each other when everyone else had been defeated….
Suddenly, Harry felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and saw a grinning Ak behind him, with his wand pointing directly at Harry's chest. Before he had time to react, Ak used a Stupefy on him and Harry's world turned black all around him as he fell down towards the fiery ground.
For once, neither himself or Malfoy had won the duel.
A/N: First authors note ever. I must admit myself disappointed. This story hardly got ANY readers. Maybe it just sucked. Or maybe the chapters were too long.. idk. Thanks for the people who did read this story. I hope you enjoyed.