Chapter 9
The Dueling Tournament
Hela stood before the oddest house she had seen in the human realm. It was shaped like a chess piece, a rook to be more precise. She knocked thrice, and was surprised when the door opened almost immediately.
A middle-aged man peaked out of the door. He paled when he saw his visitor's appearance. As Hela opened her mouth to explain, the man spoke.
"Luna said you might come -L-Lady Hela, I presume?" The man blabbered, bowing deeply.
Hela felt a tinge of annoyance. Apollo had really gone all out in trying to impress the object of his affection when he gave Cassandra of Troy the gift of foresight. The gift was so powerful, in fact, that its power rivalled the foresight ability that most deities possessed. Thus, she had decided to go to the mortal reincarnate of Cassandra of Troy to get to the bottom of the mysterious occurrences in her realm. She would rather deal with this mortal than go to the gods associated with these powers, since they were seldom helpful.
In the living room, Hela saw a very young girl was occupied with scribbling something in a parchment.
She looked up. "Hello," she smiled. "Please sit down, Lady Hela. Would you care for some garlic juice?"
Hela sat down, politely declining the beverage. She saw that Xenophilius had gone upstairs, leaving the two of them alone in the living room.
"I am sorry to intrude on you in such a manner." Hela began. "I would not be permitted to visit mortal dwellings under normal circumstances, but you are one of the few exceptions."
Luna nodded. "I've seen you once before. When you came to take mama…"
Hela recalled the recent unfortunate death of Pandora Lovegood. It was one of the rare occurrences when she herself went to the mortal plane to collect the soul. She did not realize at that time that the little girl she had seen then had such a powerful gift of sight that she was actually able to see her collecting Pandora's soul. Hela was surprised to find that the child did not harbor any ill will towards her, accepting her mother's death for what it was.
"Some things are unavoidable. I do not revel in my duties." She said, almost apologetically.
"I asked mama not to do that spell," she recalled. "She laughed and said it was safe…"
Hela winced. Apollo's curse was too cruel. Her own mother didn't believe Luna's predictions when it mattered the most. The curse had carried over to any reincarnation of Cassandra who possessed the gift of foresight. Only gods and deities would be able to understand the truth behind her statements before the predictions come to pass. She herself lacked the power to remove the curse. It would require the intervention from the likes of Odin, Zeus, Jupiter, or Apollo himself.
"Would you help me, Luna Lovegood, even though the gods have wronged you so terribly?"
"I'll help." Luna said earnestly. "It's a good change to have someone believe something I say." She extended the parchment she was scribbling on to Hela.
Hela read the contents of the parchment. It contained everything Luna had gleaned about the incident. She was disappointed, but not altogether surprised, to know that Luna too didn't know who the actual perpetuator of the crime was. But she did provide her some knowledge that would be undoubtedly helpful.
"Thank you, Luna Lovegood." Hela smiled. "Your family will have my protection, if a time arises when it is needed."
"Thank you, Lady Hela." She smiled. "Say hello to the snorkacks for me!"
"I will," Hela nodded and disappeared, her mind already occupied with the information Luna had given her.
Harry stood opposite a confident looking Justin Finch-Fletchley, readying himself for his first fight in the defense tournament. The qualifiers were conducted last month, during the second week of May. Six weeks had passed since then, and the rest of the group had helped the four chosen to prepare for the tournament. After all, it was their collective reputation that was at stake.
The tournament was being conducted in the great hall on a Saturday afternoon, and many students were gathered around the makeshift stage where duels were being held. Three fights had concluded so far, and Daphne had already advanced when her turn came up during the second fight. She had sent an unfortunate Goyle flying out of the ring when he taunted her with some insult directed at her sister. The boy had landed twenty feet away from the ring and rolled around for a few meters before Professor Snape stepped in and stopped him from hitting the wall.
Harry noticed that a lot of the students were gathered around his fight, apparently expecting something spectacular from the great Harry Potter. Luckily for them, he wasn't about to let them down.
"Begin!" Professor Flitwick announced.
"Locomotor-"
"Flipendo! Expelliarmus!" Harry fired two spells in succession before Justin had the opportunity to finish the Jelly Legs curse. The first spell caused Justin to lose balance, and the second rid him of his wand.
As Justin's wand clattered on the floor, the students around them broke to excited whispers.
"That was wicked!" He could hear Ron cheer.
"Did you see how fast-" A disbelieving third year exclaimed.
"That's not fair!" A Hufflepuff protested, somehow under the impression that each duelist should only use one spell during a turn. A Gryffindor fourth year standing next to him snorted in laughter and gave Harry a thumbs up.
"Harry Potter wins." Flitwick smiled, helping up Justin. The boy seemed extremely embarrassed at how quickly he had lost.
"Just luck." Harry heard a scoff he distinctly recognized as Malfoy's. He grinned as he left the stage and joined the spectators. The next fight would be Crabbe vs. Hermione, and he was confident in her chances.
"Sagitta Ejecto!" Crabbe shouted as soon as the signal was given. Hermione promptly erected a shield to avoid a flurry of arrows that shot towards her.
"Entomorphis!" He shouted again. This time, Hermione pointed at the ground and muttered a spell, causing the earth to shoot up to block the curse. She promptly blasted the mound of transfigured soil straight at Crabbe. Crabbe immediately launched a shielding charm, causing the dirt to bounce off of the shield harmlessly. As soon as the shield dissipated, however, Crabbe was hit with a disarming spell, and his wand flew out of his grasp. Crabbe made a wild swinging motion to grab the wand, but the spell had already sent it out of his reach.
"Hermione Granger wins!" Flitwick announced jubilantly, happy to see such creative displays of magic from first years.
Eight students moved on to the next round. Harry was relieved to know that he wouldn't have to fight with any of his own teammates this round. Hermione and Susan, however, were unfortunate enough to be paired to fight each other. Daphne would be facing Blaise Zabini, and Harry would be facing Padma Patil.
The high point of the second round was the fight between Hermione and Susan. It was closer than Harry would have thought, with the duel lasting almost three minutes before Hermione disarmed Susan. Harry did not face any problems with Padma, and Daphne breezed past Blaise Zabini, much to the latter's annoyance. Blaise wasn't particularly studious, but he was not happy to be outdone. Malfoy had handily defeated his opponent as well. He was not happy that Harry's group would be dominating the semi-final with three members, while he was the only survivor in his group.
Harry had to admit, he had some of the best students in his year because they had formed their group first. Professor Snape even suggested that the students be redistributed to make the playing field more even, but the headmaster had waved off his concerns. The headmaster observed that everyone in Draco's team had been raised by wizards, and that was a big advantage as far as first years were concerned. So, he had stated, Professor Snape had nothing to complain about.
Although the Professors were supposed to be impartial since the tournament was mixed house, Snape had taken it upon himself to coach Draco's group. Professor McGonagall was affronted by this and did her best to support the other three teams. The other heads of houses remained impartial, albeit highly amused at the proceedings.
Harry saw Draco Malfoy moving towards him, and turned to face him.
"So, Potter." He began, "Your luck has lasted, I see."
"Some of us call it practice." Harry shot back. "But I see why you call reaching this stage luck."
Malfoy frowned. "I believe we shall see who has been lucky very soon." The boy turned around and left.
Professor McGonagall moved towards the centre of the hall and cleared her throat.
"We congratulate all students for their excellent performance so far. I advise those who lost to not be disheartened by their losses, for they will motivate you onwards. To the winners, I would advise you not to let it blind you to your faults." She waited a moment for that to sink in, and announced the semi-final matchups. "The first match of the semi-final will be Draco Malfoy versus Hermione Granger, and the second will be Daphne Greengrass versus Harry Potter."
Harry grinned as he saw that Malfoy looked a little apprehensive. For all his prejudice, he was well-aware that Hermione could pose a very real threat to him.
Draco and Hermione stood facing each other, and Professor Flitwick gave them the signal to begin.
"Lumos Maxima!" Hermione said, pointing her wand directly at Malfoy. The split second of confusion from Malfoy, who was expecting a curse and preparing a shield charm, was enough to fill his vision with light bright enough to sting his eyes. He shielded his eyes with his hands on reflex, and Hermione capitalized that opportunity to execute a disarming charm. Malfoy cursed in dismay as he watched his wand sail away from his grasp.
One of the students gave a snort of laughter, and that triggered many more to follow suit. Malfoy glared at Hermione as he stomped away to retrieve his wand. He was accompanied by jeers as he left the hall, losing without even casting a single spell.
'I'm glad he faced her first.' Harry thought, relieved that he was not the one subject to the humiliating defeat.
"Miss Granger wins." Professor Flitwick declared. "Would Mr Potter and Miss Greengrass take the stage?"
Harry had to admit, he had two steep challenges in front of him if he wanted to win this. Both Daphne and Hermione would be tough to defeat. While Hermione had a repertoire of spells that would make a third year jealous, Daphne excelled in making the best use of the handful of spells she had practiced to near perfection. His matches with Daphne usually went either way, but recently she had begun to get the better of him more often than not. Harry blamed the tight schedule he was operating in. In addition to his duties as a minor god, he was also preoccupied with fulfilling tasks from the hall of requests to earn more blessings. Of course, he could not make use of his divine skills here, for they would attract suspicion and unwanted attention. Besides, that would be cheating.
Professor Flitwick signalled them to begin, and Daphne swept her wand over a wide area, shouting "Fumos!". Harry cast a quick "Flipendo!", but she jumped out of the way to avoid it without letting it interrupt her casting.
Thick smoke ejected out of her wand, and Harry realized the danger immediately. He did not know any spell to blow away the wind, so he would have to improvise.
"Harenae!" He shot a volley of sand towards Daphne's general direction, hoping to blow away some of the smoke as well as reveal her location at the same time. To his disappointment, his spell did not move the smoke, which seemed to be advancing towards him to render him completely lost inside it. He saw a hint of movement out of the corner of his eye and shot a stunning spell. He heard the spell hitting something and grinned. His grin vanished when he saw a disarming charm closing in on him from a completely different direction. Harry jumped and rolled away to avoid the spell and shot a lubricating spell towards the direction where he was attacked from.
It seemed that Daphne was using some spell to avoid her voice from being heard, because he didn't hear her cast the disarming spell. Or, she could've been muttering it -indicating that she had a much better proficiency in casting it.
Harry let out a satisfied smile as he heard a shriek and a thump, indicating that he had hit the target this time and Daphne had slipped due to the spell. He cast an Expelliarmus in the same direction. Since he did not hear a reaction to that, Harry guessed Daphne had used the slipping charm to her advantage and slid away from her position.
The smoke from the fumos spell had finally caught up to him, rendering him completely invisible. He quickly changed his position so that he wouldn't be a sitting duck. He had to be careful in choosing spells now, since he would not know Daphne's exact position. Some spells like the silencing spell and the tongue tying curse required that he point exactly at the target's head. Expelliarmus had a slightly wider range, while spells like the slippery charm had an even greater area of effect. He had to aim based on sounds or hints of movement, but Daphne could fake those to use them as a distraction.
Harry shot a volley of stunners, systematically sweeping the field when he realized that Daphne wasn't attacking. Frustratingly, none of the spells hit the mark. That would mean…
Harry whirled around and shot a stunner, confident that Daphne had somehow gotten behind him. It didn't hit a target, but he did hear a triumphant "Expelliarmus!" from behind his back. Before he could prepare a shield or jump out of the way, the spell hit him and his wand sailed away from his grasp.
Accepting his defeat, Harry looked on curiously as the smoke cleared. He snorted when he saw that Daphne was lying flat on the ground and had cast her spell from that position. His spells probably flew over her and hit the protective boundaries Professor Dumbledore had erected around the stage.
"Daphne Greengrass wins!" Professor Flitwick announced, leading to cheers all around them. Harry helped Daphne up and shook her hand. "Looks like I win this time." She grinned good-naturedly.
The finals were to take place in half an hour, so Daphne quickly sat down to get as much rest as possible. She was understandably nervous at the prospect of facing Hermione.
"I should congratulate you on a match well fought, Mr. Potter." Professor McGonagall said, coming up to him.
"Thank you, Professor." Harry grinned. Others followed suit, congratulating both Harry and Daphne on the spectacular match.
Soon, Hermione and Daphne squared off against each other. Harry could see that even seventh years had come to see the matches, which turned out to be more interesting than they expected. He could see some students making bets, some favouring Hermione and some favouring Daphne. Those two had really driven his defence group to strive for new heights, so Harry knew that their position in the finals were well deserved. He saw that Malfoy had not made a reappearance even to see the final, too insulted by his humiliation in the tournament he planted the seeds for.
"Mundus Aqua!" Hermione started off, running sideways to avoid Daphne's stunner. She completed a series of complicated wand movements and gently slapped the floor with her wand.
In a moment, half of the stage turned to water.
Daphne ran back, looking alarmed as the water reduced the area where she could manoeuvre around. She could no longer replicate the smokescreen strategy she had used against Harry, or make the floor Hermione was standing on slip -Hermione had effectively created a moat that separated her from Daphne, and they would now need to rely on long range spells to hit each other. Daphne wasn't proficient enough in the Finite Incantatum to revert the water back to the floor. Hermione would capitalize on such an opportunity to attack her.
"Stupefy!" Daphne had to revert to her old tricks. The one disadvantage she had is that Hermione was familiar with many of her routine tricks, because Daphne had practiced on a smaller repertoire. She would need to improvise to handle Hermione, who was much more versatile.
Hermione shielded herself and cast another spell. "Caligo!"
Some of the water separating them evaporated and formed a thick mist, obstructing Daphne's vision. She heard Hermione shout "Homenum Revelio!" and cursed. She hastily erected a shield charm, which was battered by multiple stunners. Daphne did not get much of a window opportunity to attack, since she was focussed on maintaining her shield or running around to avoid being hit. It was a very solid strategy. One that Hermione probably saved just for the finals.
"Cadere!" Hermione shouted, and Daphne lost her footing and tripped. An "Expelliarmus!" was heard, and Daphne cried out in dismay as her wand was forcibly removed from her grasp.
"Hermione Granger wins the match and the tournament!" Professor Flitwick announced, leading to cheers erupting from the crowd. Harry clapped wildly along with the rest of his group members, happy that their group was able to do so well in the tournament.
The tournament marked the end of Harry's first year at Hogwarts, as it was the last event held during the academic year. His end of the year exams were quite different from the others, but the faculty had managed to hide this fact well from the students. He was tested more exhaustively, so that even foreknowledge of any of the questions would not have helped him much. Needless to say, Harry regretted the day he used his D-phone to cheat in his first Potions class.
Harry sat in his office in Olympus, answering a rare prayer that came his way. Now that the school year was over, he had a lot more time on his hands. He had taken that time to explore more of Olympus and fulfil as many requests as possible. It was not often that he would come across a request suited for him, but he made sure to capitalize on every such opportunity available. He had not spent any of his in a while, and he was sitting on top of a whopping eight hundred blessings that he accumulated as a result of fulfilling requests and his increased salary as a minor god. He had discussed with Peitho and Sirius to decide which skills he wanted to invest in. He had just received the week's salary, and he was now ready to buy the chosen skills.
"Hermes, god of merchants, I request thee to grant me Lesser Intangibility and Healing Hand."
He felt his stack of eight hundred blessings vanish, and he now had two of the most useful skills a minor god could have. Lesser intangibility allowed him to be intangible -he could pass through objects, and attacks would not harm him when it was in effect. The duration of the ability, and most other divine abilities, depended upon what was called divine power. A god's divine power was proportional to the number of believers they had. Since he did not have a sizeable following, his intangibility lasted for about five minutes for a day. He was informed of this through the D-phone. This would be a nice complement to his Divine Shield ability.
The second ability, Healing Hand, healed minor injuries and ailments. This could be used on himself or on others. The extant of its power or the number of times he could use it was again dependent on the divine power. He would have to find that out through trial and error.
His divine power could be increased if someone explicitly believed in the existence of a god of glue. It would not help if someone believed in Harry Potter, the person, or glue in general. Harry could not, for the life of him, figure out a way to consciously improve his following without going against the rules set forth by the council of gods. Of course, the rules themselves were in place to prevent an all-out bloody competition between the gods to increase their following. The world may even cease to exist if there were no such rules in place, he was told. Lack of belief was the reason why gods sometimes faded out of existence. This was also why it was important to do his job -answer the prayers of his followers, in time. If a god slacked on his duty, it was very easy for them to be left without followers.
As things stood, he had around three hundred followers in earth alone. Around fifty were considered devout, in the sense that they believed in his existence with absolute certainty. The situation was better now than when he first became a minor god. It had improved thanks to him answering the prayers of his followers, and that being spread by word of mouth to others who were willing to believe.
There were also restrictions on how much he could use his powers to convince his followers. The number of requests he could grant from a single person was limited, for example. He had to be careful where he chose to exercise his powers. He could only answer genuine needs, not every whim or fancy.
Harry was jolted out of his musings when he heard a message notification from his computer.
'To Harry Potter, God of Glue, from the office of Hades:
As one of the few deities allowed to roam earth freely, the office of Hades would appreciate the assistance of Harry Potter in a matter that is of concern. It has come to our attention that the demonic beings called by human wizards as dementors have considerably increased in population in the human realm. By order of Hades, their numbers are to be pruned from time to time. Their current population in earth is somewhere around a thousand, and the office of Hades would like their numbers to be below hundred. We will reward two blessings for every fallen dementor in the human realm. If you choose to accept, please note that the office of Hades expects the task to be completed within two years of today. Their highest concentration is in the wizarding prison of Azkaban, where six hundred and fourty two dementors are located at the time of reading this message.'
Harry grinned. He came to know of the horrors of Azkaban from the D-phone, after he looked up the place his Godfather was imprisoned in. He would be more than happy to undertake this quest, and not just because of the blessings.
Harry reached Azkaban with the help of Hermes' portal under the protection of Greater Invisibility and Divine Shield. The D-phone had told him that Divine shield would help make him immune to dementors as long as it was active. With the help of the D-phone, he had determined a location with a relatively lesser number of dementors and no human guards. Looking around, he could spot a few of the wraith like creatures he had seen videos of from his computer.
Harry pointed at one of the dementors and whispered.
'Lance of Lightning!'
Instantly, a bright flash of lightning emanated from his fingertips and went clean through the creature. It gave an unholy shriek and collapsed to the ground, its body turning into ashes and dust. The other dementors immediately scattered, seemingly sensing an unknown danger. Harry could not perform the lance of lightning multiple times a day yet, so he decided that taking on one dementor every night would be enough for now. Satisfied, he opened a portal that would take him home.