Chapter 19 – Round One! Fight!
On the morning of the twenty-third of November Dumbledore announced that classes would be cancelled the next day so that all students could attend the very first set of events in the Triwizard Tournament. As pleased as Harry was to get the whole day off to prepare, he was disappointed to realise he'd have to miss the vast majority of the events in the Pariturium's first round due to how the bouts had been arranged. The four categories – all eight groups – would run concurrently in a purpose-built arena out on the grounds, over a couple of hours just after lunch.
At least the matchups had finally been posted. Flitwick had discreetly pinned it to the outside of his door that morning after breakfast, although no announcement had been made.
Fortunately Harry had a free first thing on Wednesdays, so as soon as word reached him about the list, he went straight there to check it for himself.
"That's bollocks," said Blaise after he'd read the list. "We've only got five in the competition—Beauxbatons has got six in."
"Really?" said Harry. "Let's have a look." He moved Blaise aside to get a look at the list for himself. He did a quick count and saw that Blaise was right. Hogwarts had only five participants in each of the singles categories, and only ten in the doubles – five pairs. "You're right. That is bollocks," he agreed.
"Move out of the way," said Tracey. "You know I'm littler than either of you!"
Harry stepped aside so that Tracey could have a look at the list for herself. She really wasn't very tall, anyway, so Harry could still see his entries on the list by looking over her.
"It says we don't have as many because of the 'home advantage'," said Tracey after she'd looked over the list. "Flitwick wrote it right here at the bottom, see, really tiny."
"So why's Durmstrang only got five as well, then?" said Blaise. Then he looked at the parchment. "Oh, right—because of the 'martial curriculum', apparently." He sighed. "I suppose it doesn't really matter, since we all got on the list anyway... but it does seem a bit unfair."
"Have either of you two heard anything about our matchups?" asked Harry. "I mean, they're just names to me—I've not heard anything about anyone. But you talk to everyone, Trace, so..."
"I haven't heard anything," she said. "And I've really been trying! You know Justine? Well she's been getting 'friendly' with a boy from Beauxbatons, so I asked her if he'd said anything about the duelling but he hasn't, not once. And Florence made a friend from Durmstrang but she hasn't said anything, either. Although actually Florence's new friend is in the singles—Orla Sigridsdottir, I think was her name. But neither of you is against her..."
"Ah, well, you tried," said Harry. He shrugged. "I guess we'll have to go into it blind. But at least we've got names now. I wonder what 'Jokubas Balkus' is like." Harry's first singles bout would be against a student from Durmstrang, a fellow second year, but that was all the information the list contained.
"He's from Durmstrang," said Blaise, "so you know he's had a lot of duelling practise, at least. Mine's from Beauxbatons—Ondine Moulin. Not a clue who she is, and I've been chatting to a couple of the Beauxbatons girls whenever they sit at our table for meals. But at least the Beauxbatons lot don't do duelling normally, so you know it's at least kind of an even footing..."
"Well, they must all be good duellists or they wouldn't have been brought here," said Tracey. "Alright, the Durmstrang lot probably are better—duelling is a normal class for them, isn't it? But we've all been doing loads of practise and I heard they only start duelling in second year anyway, so it's not that much of an advantage for them. They've only been at it for as long as we have!"
Harry nodded.
"That does make me feel a bit better about our chances," he said after a few moments thinking on it. Any of the second year Durmstrang students would only have had a bit more practise with duelling than the Hogwarts students, and that only depending on how Durmstrang timetabled its duelling classes. By the time he progressed in the competition, Harry would have had a fair bit of real-world experience, too.
"And," continued Tracey, "at least we'll all be fighting at different times, so we can cover the matches we'll each miss! Well, not for the doubles, but I'll ask Daphne and Millie to sit in on the doubles and do that for us! So next time we'll know a bit more about what we're up against, won't we?"
"That's actually a good idea," said Blaise. "I wouldn't have thought to do that..."
"I suppose I'm useful for something," said Tracey with a smile.
"Oi, you lot," said an approaching fifth year. "Move off, we've got to look at the lists..."
The three second years left the Charms corridor to the fifth year duellists. Harry didn't feel like he needed to stick around any longer, anyway, since he had names for his opponents in both the single and paired categories. They did have to return to the dungeons to grab their things for Defence, anyway.
Harry got through the rest of his day distractedly, paying only a minimal amount of attention to Defence and Charms—although he did have to reluctantly drag himself out of his thoughts about the duelling to make sure he didn't blow up his cauldron in Potions—in favour of increasingly optimistic daydreams about his bouts the next day.
At dinner that evening all the students from all three schools were much more tight-lipped than usual, as by then everyone had seen the lists of competitors in the duelling and more or less everyone was attempting to wring information out of their counterparts from other schools. Where conversations did happen, they went around in circles and got nowhere.
Fortunately, Harry had sat himself amongst his fellow Slytherins and didn't have to deal with any of that. Instead, he enjoyed his dinner and then settled in for an early night.
The next morning, after a quick forced breakfast which he didn't really feel like eating but had been convinced to by his friends, Harry spent a couple of hours in his little dungeon chamber going over drills with Tracey. Neither of them went too hard at it, since – mostly at Tracey's insistence – they didn't want to tire themselves out before the competition after lunch. Although they did both have a doubles bout later that afternoon, Tracey agreed mainly to help Harry with his defensive manoeuvres for the singles, which Harry honestly felt was a better use of both of their time since their doubles game was already strong and Tracey did need a bit more work on her offensives.
They finished up about half an hour before lunch. Harry felt like they could have pushed it a bit further, but Tracey had refused. Harry did grudgingly agree that Tracey was right – too much last-minute practise could be a bad thing if he didn't take enough time to relax. It still felt wrong to give up before he had to, though.
After getting ready, Harry ate a quick, light lunch and then joined Flitwick and the rest of Hogwarts's duellists in the Entrance Hall to get ready for the start of the contest.
"Settle down, settle down!" shouted Flitwick over the crowd of duellists. Nobody stopped talking. Flitwick tried again, but once more failed to overpower a crowd of fifty or so excited, enthusiastic, teenaged wizards and witches. When that didn't work, Harry watched as the little wizard shot a loud bang out of the end of his wand which quite quickly had the desired effect.
"Now then! As you are hopefully all aware, the duelling competition begins today. The event is being held in a purpose-built arena out on the grounds and—having just come back from touring it—I must say it is certainly fit for purpose! It is easily one of the nicest and most suitable arenas I have ever seen—adjusted for the size of the competition, of course! Now, something you may not be aware of is that press—domestic and international—representatives shall be present today."
That little announcement caused a ripple of noise throughout the gathered crowd, although is fell off after Flitwick clapped his hands together.
Harry felt a little flutter in his stomach at Flitwick's words. He'd been in the papers before, of course – most notably at the end of the summer due to Quirrell – but never for anything he actually wanted people to know about.
"The media presence here today is primarily concerned with the Triwizard Champions competing today, so those of you who are not Mr Diggory can relax somewhat—and Mr Diggory, you shall have to get used to it, I am afraid! It will only get worse after tomorrow's Task!"
Harry had a quick look around for Diggory, although he couldn't see him. The Hufflepuffs had bunched up around him. Harry knew though that Diggory had dropped out of the Junior singles to focus on his Championship for the Gauntlet, although he was still participating in the doubles – and several flying events on top.
It was Diggory's own choice to drop out, but Harry thought he probably could have managed to remain in the singles duelling. It wouldn't have been that much extra work. Then again, the Goblet had picked Diggory for a reason, so presumably the bloke knew what he was doing even if it wasn't what Harry would have done.
"That said," continued Flitwick, "your performance today will be noted if it is particularly good or bad, and the results of today's bouts will be published regardless. In addition, members of the public have been allowed to watch the events today, so all bouts will be spectated. As we are all here, we should make an orderly procession to the arena! Follow me, please."
Flitwick parted the sea of students and left the castle. He led them through the grounds to a space near to the Quidditch pitch where only a day before there had been manicured lawns. Instead, a somewhat squat but fairly impressive-looking arena had been constructed in a Romanesque style which now sat resplendent in their stead, complete with towering arches and massive stonework. Statues depicting gargoyles and many more humanoid figures adorned the very top of the building, which Harry assumed were more than ornamental given wizards' propensity for enchanting bits and pieces of architecture.
A long line of people stretched away from the arena. The members of press Flitwick had warned them about, presumably. Their presence made things a little trickier, at least to Harry, who hadn't been expecting to be watched by random members of the public. It was even possible to tell which of the people queuing were press, as Harry saw several logos he recognised – Wireless broadcasters mainly, along with the Daily Prophet – but many more that he didn't, which he supposed were from international media outfits.
Harry nudged Blaise as they passed by the queuing members of the press.
"Look how long that queue is!"
"There must be someone here from every major European news outlet," said Blaise. "I can see two just from Italy! I didn't realise it'd be quite so well attended..."
"Me either," said Harry. He wondered if he'd ever been in a foreign newspaper before – at least after Voldemort's fall. That had been in newspapers around the world, Harry knew, but surely he hadn't been a feature afterwards.
It would be nice to get a mention for something other than that.
"It's exciting, isn't it?" said Tracey, with a hungry look in her eyes.
Flitwick led the Hogwarts duellists in through a side entrance in the middle of one of the arches and into an ornate chamber filled with comfortable-looking chairs. A couple of tables stood at one end the room loaded with drinks and little snacks.
"This is where we will await our bouts," said Flitwick. "That passageway there leads to the arena stages—of which there are four. When it is your turn you will walk down that passageway and an attendant will direct you to your particular stage, so don't worry about that. After your bout is complete you may return here—it isn't required but there is no space reserved for competitors to sit in the stands, and four enchanted mirrors have been arranged here so that we may view all of the bouts."
He gestured to where four large mirrors sat against the wall facing the chairs.
"Now, if there are no questions there are some last-minute bits of administration which I am unfortunately required to see to," explained Flitwick. He waited for a few moments but nobody seemed to have any questions, and then he disappeared down the passageway to the arena stages.
"Oh, it looks like Daph won't need to take any notes for us!" said Tracey. "Ah, well, I'm sure she'll enjoy the afternoon anyway."
Harry wasn't quite so sure. Daphne didn't enjoy watching duels overly much and had been persuaded to attend on the basis of supporting her friends, but he stayed quiet. Millicent and Theodore would have a more enjoyable time of it, at least.
"Nice setup, though," said Blaise. "Those mirrors are meant to be tricky to get working—they really are pulling out all the stops for this."
"Seems a bit of a waste to put this up for just the Tournament and then pull it down after," said Harry after he settled down into a plush chair.
Blaise shrugged.
"Maybe they'll keep it around for something."
"What, though?" said Harry. "We don't... do anything we could use it for."
"I think after the Tournament's done we should have our own duelling league," said Tracey. "I was talking to Emily—you know, from Adder group?—about this yesterday. They teach duelling at Durmstrang and I know there's a usual duelling club at Beauxbatons so it would be a brilliant idea if we had a league or something like that here, too. And I'm sure there'll be enough interest in it when the Tournament's over. I mean, look at how many people are here today! I bet it would be as popular as Quidditch if we kept up with it!"
Harry supposed Tracey had a point. From just a quick look around there were perhaps fifty people clustered in the waiting area, and although there was some doubling up given that some people were competing in both the single and the paired competitions, Harry thought there should definitely be enough interested people for Hogwarts to support its own duelling league.
"That's a decent idea," said Harry, mulling it over.
"It is, actually," agreed Blaise. "We'll have to wait and see."
"I'm so glad our doubles isn't until later," said Tracey, scanning over the list of fixtures attached to the wall. "That way, we get to watch the other matches first and have a good look at what to expect." She paused. "Although, I don't want to start on the snacks until after we've gone but that table does look tempting..."
Harry nodded.
"Definitely. Mind, my singles match is quite early—I'm fourth, look—but it's not as bad as being first."
Unfortunately for Diggory, whether by coincidence or some desire to spice up the opening of the Pariturium, his doubles Junior match was the opening match in his category. Harry didn't envy the fourth year Hufflepuff at all, not now that he'd seen the long procession of media professionals queuing up outside.
Not to mention the random people watching.
If Diggory did badly today, it could tarnish his reputation for the rest of the Tournament, even in the other events, especially once the press got hold of it. At least it wasn't against Delacour or Krum, although both were competing in the Junior singles rather than the doubles competition.
Of course, the same could be said for Harry if he lost at the first hurdle, but he expected that the attention would, for once, not be focused on him as he was just a lowly Novice competitor in the second year group. A footnote in the larger competition... at least until he won something.
"When's your match, Blaise?" Harry asked. "Oh, never mind—you're eighth, I can see. Not too shabby."
"I was thinking that as well," Blaise said. "Gives me time before and after to settle in and watch. Not as much as Draco, though—he's the last match of the day."
Harry didn't know whether Draco was lucky or not with his fixture. On the one hand, he could watch all the bouts from all the schools that were before his, and get a grip on style and all of that; but on the other hand, he had to watch all of the other bouts and sit there waiting hours for his own, all the while wondering whether he'd done enough preparation.
"Why's he gone and sat over there on his own, anyway?" said Harry, his voice almost a whisper so that the other boy couldn't hear. Not that it would have mattered anyway, since Draco really had gone to sit on his own at the other side of the room, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
Harry didn't especially want Draco to be sat with them, but at the same time, it was odd that Draco had decided not to. They were, after all, classmates, housemates, and dormmates—it would have been natural for them all to sit together, especially as none of Draco's closer friends had qualified.
Blaise shrugged.
"He's been off since we got back to school this year, you know that," Blaise said dismissively. "I stopped paying attention to him a few weeks ago."
"I did ask him if he wanted to walk to the arena with us," said Tracey, "but he just said, 'No thanks,' then walked here on his own. He's not even sitting with Montague. Maybe he's nervous and just wants to be on his own."
Draco certainly didn't look nervous to Harry, and the other boy's performance in the practise duels had been exemplary – much as it pained Harry to admit it – so Harry didn't think Draco would be particularly worried about his performance. Still, Harry didn't think it was anything serious. Just another thing to add to the growing list of 'odd things Draco did'.
"Well, if you asked and he said no..." Harry said, and then shrugged. Although he didn't say it because it felt rude, Harry thought that all three of them would be far more relaxed without Draco there, anyway. Even last year when they'd all nominally been friends Draco could sour the mood in a room.
Flitwick came back out of the tunnel leading to the duelling stages and clapped his hands together for attention. Immediately the noise in the waiting area faded to nothing.
"Excellent! Now, we are almost ready to begin. If our four—er, six—duellists would like to join me, we can take to the stages and get ready for the first bouts. Quickly, now!"
He called on Diggory and another Hufflepuff fourth year boy along with Fred and George Weasley for the doubles, as well as Hermione Granger and Yafir Shafiq for the singles, and led them away through the passageway.
The four large, enchanted mirrors on the wall flickered into life, showing each of the four duelling arenas and a section of the crowd around each of them. Tiered seating rose up away from the duelling stages, and not a single space was empty.
Members of the press were contained in specific sections of the arenas, but all the rest of the seats were filled with Hogwarts staff and students, along with non-competitors from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, and a whole host of witches and wizards from the general public.
"Shit," said Harry. "I didn't think it would be so..." He gestured vaguely at the mirrors.
"Well-attended?" supplied Tracey. "I didn't really think about that, either! I wonder if Mam and Dad managed to get tickets. Actually, does anyone know how they sold tickets? I never heard anything about it, didn't even think about people coming to watch until Flitwick said but with all the people here they must have been giving them out somehow."
"My mother didn't say anything, either," said Blaise, frowning. "But then, maybe they just gave tickets out within the Ministry, or to Hogsmeade residents, you know, something like that. Because if they'd been on general sale my mother definitely would have told me she was trying to get some."
Blaise leaned back in his chair.
"Nothing we can do about it now," he said, and shrugged. "Anyway, who wants to make some bets? I'll put five Sickles down that Diggory loses his match, and for Shafiq to lose his."
"Why for Shafiq to lose?" Harry asked, but then after a quick glance at the board, he realised why. "Oh, right—he's up against Krum. Well, I won't take that, but put me down for Diggory to win."
Blaise produced a quill, a roll of parchment, and an inkpot from the pocket of his sport robe and set it all up on the table.
"Give me a moment," he said. Blaise quickly scratched out a little table to hold the betting information and wrote down the first bet between himself and Harry. "Trace?"
Tracey considered it.
"Well, I do want to support Shafiq since he's in Slytherin and from Hogwarts and he's always been nice to me," Tracey said, "but he is going to lose. I'll take five Sickles for Diggory to win, though. I think you've made a mistake not backing him."
Blaise shrugged and took down the bet.
"Maybe if he had someone better than Jasper Flickey at his side," said Blaise, "but Diggory carries the both of them. I wouldn't have let them through, but that's Flitwick for you. Any takers on Granger to win the prize?"
Harry thought about it and then shook his head.
"Nah. I'm not just going to give you my money, Blaise—she'll win her first match, easy. Don't know about whether she can get to the finals, mind you, but she'll make it past today at any rate. But I'll put five Sickles on Montague to lose, if you want to take it."
"I'll have that, yeah," said Blaise, writing it down.
Harry and Blaise combed through the list of competitors and made quite a few bets, all at Blaise's initial five Sickle rate. Tracey joined in with a couple of them, although she mostly sat it out unless she had a strong opinion about the matchup.
Harry didn't think any of his bets would come to anything, since without having seen the Beauxbatons or Durmstrang duellists actually duel, it was all guesswork with a bit of bias thrown in. But it was a fun diversion from waiting around for the duels to start, and by the time the Ministry official had opened the Pariturium, Blaise was all done with the betting.
"Ooh, chuck me that quill and some parchment, Blaise," said Tracey. "I want to take some notes on the matches."
Once that was done, Harry turned his attention to the four enchanted mirrors which showed the bouts. Although he knew he should focus on the Novice bouts, he couldn't help but switch his gaze between the two Junior bouts. After all, Harry knew that Granger could stall even a skilled opponent for the full five minutes, and the Weasley twins tended to play about as much as possible rather than going straight for the win.
Alright for the points, Harry supposed, but lacking a bit in edge.
Diggory's match was much more interesting to Harry. Diggory let loose an impressive flurry of spells throughout the opening of his doubles bout, including a tricky spell sequence Harry had watched Snape drill the Juniors in, while Flickey mainly served as support. It was a strategy not unlike the one he and Tracey had practised, and although Blaise didn't seem especially impressed with it, it was working for Diggory and Flickey.
"Diggory really is carrying his pair," Harry said, "but Flickey isn't that bad. Look, he just knocked out that Durmstrang girl with that stunner."
"Well, okay, maybe he's not awful," agreed Blaise. "But the one left is putting up a good enough fight it might not matter."
Harry supposed that was true. The loss of her duelling partner had appeared to galvanise Diggory and Flickey's remaining opponent, who was managing to hold her own against the both of them with only a minimal amount of movement. Nothing quite as impressive as a proper combat duel between masters, but better than the Novices had managed, anyway.
"Oh, no!" said Tracey suddenly, her quill hovering above the parchment. "Shafiq just lost his bout! Not even two minutes in! Look!"
Harry looked at the mirror where Shafiq was sprawled across the floor stunned, wand out of hand, and where Krum stood victorious in front of the watching crowd. Harry felt bad for Shafiq – he knew the Slytherin prefect had tried really hard, putting in hours of practise on top of his NEWT studies and prefect duties, and to fall down at the first hurdle would be... well, disastrous. It was a sobering thought that despite all Shafiq's practise, it came to nothing against an opponent of far superior skill.
"That's really rough," said Harry. There was probably a bit of bad luck in it, too, but Krum had picked out by the Goblet of Fire, so perhaps even on his best day Shafiq wouldn't have been able to win.
The mediwizard at Shafiq and Krum's bout revived Shafiq and sent him back to the Hogwarts waiting area. After a few moments Shafiq emerged from the tunnel, a look of pure anguish plastered across his face.
As soon as Shafiq crossed the threshold someone started to clap, and soon the whole room had joined in. Harry thought that was fair enough. Shafiq had been one of the first out, and even though he'd lost, it was a loss to Viktor Krum the international Quidditch star and Triwizard Champion. There were worse ways to go.
Shafiq did look a little bit happier after that, although he slumped down into a chair and looked away from the enchanted mirrors.
After that, everyone else went back to watching the remaining bouts, although they too ended soon enough. Diggory's because he and Flickey managed to disarm their remaining opponent, and Granger's because she'd turned her opponent's hands into rosebushes. A neat little trick, but not a spell Harry would have thought to use. Only the Weasleys' bout went to right up to time, but from what Harry had seen during the duel not because they hadn't been able to end it – they appeared to have been enjoying dragging it out.
All five of the victorious duellists emerged from the tunnel at the same time to a riotous applause. Diggory and Flickey took it with the kind of awkward acceptance that Harry thought he'd have suffered through, whilst the Weasleys joined in with the cheers and even clapped and punched the air as they came back into the room. Granger seemed quite shocked at the response, eyes wide, although she recovered and was the first to take a seat after the bout.
Flitwick came along afterwards and called up the next set of duellists and took them off down the tunnel.
Harry focused more on the Novice level bouts after that, occasionally providing a bit of commentary for Tracey to write down in her notes, and soon enough Flitwick appeared to call Harry up for his first duel of the tournament.
Flitwick led all six of the competitors down the tunnel, which was far more ornately decorated than Harry had expected. It carried through all of the decorative panelling and carvings from the rest of the building, gently lit by dozens and dozens of candles right until the end, where it terminated in four doorways. Four small mirrors enchanted like the ones in the waiting area sat on the wall, one for each of the four doorways.
"Now, listen carefully—you will go through your assigned doors and once inside, stand on the platform. The platform will rise to the duelling stage, and the announcer will announce the match. Remember to bow! And, of course, good luck!" said Flitwick.
Flitwick left Harry just past the door. The chamber beyond was tiny, although decorated in much the same way as the rest of the arena. The lavish décor felt almost incongruous with the room's function as a mere staging area. At the middle of the room was a small wooden platform which Harry stepped onto immediately, his wand in hand.
And then he waited.
Harry counted down from ten in his head, taking a deep breath with every number. He'd practised for this. He'd done countless drills, whether alone, with Tracey, or the other members of the Duelling Club. And if it wasn't enough – well, he would soon know about it.
The stage rose up from the ground and climbed to the arena above slowly. As Harry approached the ceiling, the floorboards rearranged themselves into an opening, and Harry was thrust onto the duelling arena.
Directly opposite Harry saw Jokubas Balkus of Durmstrang emerge from his own waiting room. The spectators fell quiet, or at least the kind of loud quiet that seemed ubiquitous in sports like snooker, darts, or, well, duelling.
Harry's heart beat in his chest, faster and faster, as he waited for the announcer to say something. Waited for him to say anything. After what seemed like an eternity, but which was probably less than a minute, the announcer spoke.
"And this next bout is between Harry Potter of, ah, well—you all know Harry Potter, don't you?" said the announcer. "Needs no introduction. Our fourth bout in the Novice singles category, this is between Hogwarts—the home side, so to speak of course—and Durmstrang. Harry Potter is a second year with no previous duelling experience unless you're counting the-well." The announcer coughed. "His opponent in this bout is Jokubas Balkus of Durmstrang, from Lithuania—big catchment area, Durmstrang—and a fellow second year of similar prior experience although I will note, once again, that Durmstrang is famed for its duelling and martial curriculum."
While the announcer dragged out his introductions and setup and stumbled through a no doubt mangled attempt at French and German, Harry focused his attention on his opponent. The Durmstrang student was tall and thin, with dark hair and a pallid complexion. He wore Durmstrang's blood red sport robe and held his wand with what looked to be a firm grip. He studied Harry in much the same way that Harry had been watching him, and when their eyes met, Harry fought the urge to look away out of politeness.
Harry bowed deeply at the start of the count to begin, mindful of Flitwick's words that many a competitor had been disqualified for forgetfulness. With just a moment left Harry readied himself to immediately throw up a Mirror Charm or, if necessary, dodge a hex.
But Balkus didn't make his move. Instead, the other boy seemed content to watch and wait for Harry to strike first. Harry didn't need to think about what to do, as he'd done so many drills in it that it had become second nature. He shot off two Nudging Charms to sandwich a Knockback Hex and watched for Balkus's response.
The first of the Nudging Charms hit, but Balkus stepped gracefully away from the Knockback Hex in a motion that seemed almost dancelike, and the second Nudging Charm missed its mark.
Not the end of the world.
Harry was disappointed but not entirely surprised and getting in the first hit meant points awarded if the duel went to time.
Harry started to cast a Jelly-Legs Combo, but Balkus was ready with a spell of his own just moments later. Still moving his wand through the first of the motions in his combo, Harry aborted the Jelly-Legs Combo as quickly as possible, just managing to get his wand in the right place for a clumsy Mirror Charm to reflect his opponent's jinx. While Harry dealt with the first of Balkus's spells, a Stinging Jinx hit him just above the knee.
Harry swore. The spot would keep stinging for a while, so he knew it was best to try and ignore it... but that was easier said than done. He felt vaguely aware of the commentary from the announcer, although he'd been trying not to get distracted by it. Flitwick had said – many times over – the commentary was for the crowd, not the duellists.
Not wanting Balkus to get and maintain any forward momentum, Harry got off a quick series of Knockback Hexes to try and break the other boy's rhythm. It worked – at least a little – as Balkus dodged left and then right. He hopped from one foot to the next and Harry's spells went wide.
Although none of his spells hit, Harry felt pleased enough at the result. Balkus had to interrupt his casting to avoid Harry's little barrage, and that was good enough for Harry.
"Colovaria!" said Harry with a jab of his wand. While Balus tried to work out what Harry was doing, the Colour Change Charm struck him right on the sport robe. The red Durmstrang robe changed to a nice Slytherin green instead. Balkus grimaced as he noticed the change and responded with an onslaught of little jinxes and hexes. Harry just about managed to avoid being hit through a combination of cleverly timed Mirror Charms and quick sidesteps. Sloppy, but it worked.
Harry and Balkus traded spells for about another minute, although neither managed to get in another hit – although not for lack of trying. Harry had spent too long drilling his Mirror Charms to let a jinx hit him, and Balkus had a level of manoeuvrability and lightness on his feet Harry envied. Although the tall Durmstrang student looked gangly and ungainly, he moved like a dancer.
After Harry's flashbang followed by a sonic boom failed to have the effect he wanted, he decided to change his strategy. He didn't want the duel to come down to points, after all, since he couldn't be sure he'd scored more points than Balkus.
Instead, Harry knew that he had to end the duel decisively, with Balkus disarmed or knocked out. At the Novice level there were few legal methods of earning a knockout, but Harry didn't think he could pull any of them off. Not without a serious bit of practise, anyway. Harry tried a Stinging Jinx aimed right at the Lithuanian wizard's wand hand, but Balkus countered it with a quick and easy Mirror Charm.
Harry had expected that, so he sent a Knockback Hex right at the same place. Balkus swirled away from it and hit back with a nasty little spell sequence consisting wholly of hexes. Harry just about managed to avoid each of them, but the degree of jumping about was far greater than he'd have wanted.
Just as Harry had righted himself and was preparing for another barrage of Knockbacks, Balkus hit him square in the chest with a Disarming Charm.
Immediately Harry fought the urge to drop his wand. It was more than a subtle compulsion, more than the silky soft suggestion of the Imperius Curse. It was almost like a reflex action, an instinct. He'd kept his wand in practise more often than not, and he certainly wasn't about to let go of his wand in front of dozens of spectators in the stands and whoever else was watching, not to mention what the Daily Prophet would have to say about it.
Harry gripped his wand tighter just to make sure, but he knew Balkus hadn't managed to disarm him. Not yet anyway.
"...an excellent show of willpower from young Potter there," Harry heard the announcer say. "The first example of a Disarmament failure at the Novice level today, in fact!"
The commentary continued, but Harry tuned it out. It wasn't important.
Harry knew that after his failure to Disarm him, Balkus would return to hexes to break Harry's concentration so he could try again. It was what Harry would do, and it was what Flitwick had said to do in just that situation. So Harry thought he needed a distraction.
Harry took a short moment to steady himself, then conjured a swarm of bees right around his opponent's head. While Balkus struggled to avoid the bees swarming about his face, Harry cast a Jelly-Legs Combo – Jelly-legs Jinx into a Pimple Jinx – which struck the flailing Lithuanian on the torso.
Balkus fell to the ground immediately. Tentacles sprouted from his face because of the spell synergy between the two jinxes. Harry watched the flailing tentacles for a moment, then cast a Disarming Charm. Balkus dropped his wand. It rolled across the shiny wooden floor of the duelling arena as bees stung his face and its new tentacles.
"And the bout goes to Harry Potter of Hogwarts!" said the announcer after a brief wait to confirm with the judging panel. "An interesting use of transfiguration here—something of a staple amongst the Hogwarts duellists, you may have noticed—and commiserations to poor Jokubas Balkus of Durmstrang!"
As soon as the bout had been officially decided a mediwizard ran out to repair the damage done to Balkus over the course of the duel. Another approached Harry to check him over, but the Stinging Jinx had faded some time ago so there was nothing for him to do. Instead, Harry just stood there waiting for something to happen while the commentator filled the dead space in the time slot.
"...it is interesting to note that had the duel been decided on the basis of points, Potter would have actually lost! Of course, a successful disarmament is a win except in very exceptional circumstances as any true fan of duelling will know! Most interesting of course—and I have noted this before—is the trend amongst the Hogwarts students..."
The mediwizard nudged Harry forwards and whispered something in his ear.
"Go on, lad—you're supposed to offer to shake the loser's hand!"
Harry mumbled a thanks and set off across the arena towards where Jokubas Balkus waited.
When he reached the tall, pale Lithuanian wizard, Harry stuck out his hand. Balkus regarded Harry warily, and then after a few moments took the offered hand in his own.
"That was a good match," Balkus said in heavily accented English. "Our masters said Hogwarts would not be very good, but you have done well so far."
"I thought I was going to drop my wand when you tried to disarm me, to be honest," Harry said.
Balkus shrugged.
"You are Harry Potter," he said. "It is not a surprise that you are good at this, yes? But perhaps we will face each other again—I am in the paired competition also."
With their exchange over, Harry returned to the spot on the duelling arena that marked out the movable platform which would take him back to the tunnel and waited for it to move. It started to move just as the announcer finished his closing statements.
Harry emerged from the little chamber to see Flitwick just where he'd left them all at the start of their duels.
"Excellent, excellent!" said Flitwick when he saw Harry. "Congratulations on your first win! Exhilarating, isn't it? That rush of endorphins as you win...! Ah, to be in the ring once more! Hurry along back as I'm sure your fellow duellists will want to show their happiness at another Hogwarts win! The other duels are still on-going, so I must remain here, but again—congratulations!"
"Thanks, Professor—it really was good fun."
Harry left Flitwick alone with the little mirrors and returned to the waiting area. As soon as he emerged from the tunnel the other duellists greeted him with raucous applause.
"Nice one, Potter!" someone shouted.
"Knew you could do it!"
Harry paused at the threshold to the tunnel and got out a few thanks yous before sitting back down with Tracey and Blaise. Tracey pushed a little plate with some snacks and a glass with pumpkin juice in it across their little table towards him.
"Well done!" she said once he'd sat down. "That was really good—you've got brilliant at conjuring bees! That was so fast."
"That was alright," said Blaise. "Some of your movements were a bit sloppy, but you did win, so... can't have been all bad."
"Balkus would have actually won if it came to points—that's what the announcer said, anyway," admitted Harry. "I just couldn't hit him—he was so quick with his Mirror Charms and then even with hexes it's like he knew where he needed to step not to get caught. It was a nightmare, to be honest."
Tracey nodded.
"That's what most of the Durmstrang duellists are like," she said, glancing down at the parchment where she'd been making notes. "I think it must be something they practise really hard with, you know, how to move in a way that gets them style points." She looked back towards the enchanted mirrors where the other duels in Harry's set were ending and scratched something down onto the parchment. "But they aren't winning any more than us or Beauxbatons, so that's good, isn't it?"
"Yeah," said Harry. Knowing that Durmstrang, despite its lauded 'martial curriculum' with a focus on duelling, wasn't completely dominating the competition helped quite a lot. That could always change, Harry supposed, but for now it appeared that Flitwick and Snape had done a decent enough job of training their aspirant duellists.
Even if they'd been quite hands off for most of it.
"Balkus is in the doubles as well, by the way," Harry said, nodding towards Tracey. "So we might have to face him again later."
"Well, you'll have me there next time, so it should be easier!" Tracey said, grinning. "Oh, look, the next lot of duels are starting—I'd better write this down. Hang on, sorry!" she said, and returned to her parchment while Harry snacked, and Blaise studied the enchanted mirrors.
As Harry watched the remaining duels over the next hour, he felt rather pleased at the Hogwarts duellists' performance. The Novices in the singles category had only a handful of losses between them – Fred Weasley losing only because he spent more time playing about than going in for the kill – although both Susan and Blaise had managed wins in their own bouts. Not quite a clean sweep but close enough.
Towards the end of the afternoon, however, there were still quite a few disappointed or angry people in the waiting area after their unsuccessful bouts, which had soured the mood somewhat for Harry. Still, he couldn't blame them. To lose in the first round must have felt awful, and even if he and Tracey lost their doubles bout Harry still had his successful singles to look back on. Even so, the sound of crying failed duellists alternating with extended celebrations from those who'd won grated after the first half hour of it.
By the time of Harry and Tracey's first round doubles bout, Harry was ready for the change of scenery.
"Remember to write down—well, it's all there on the page already for you," Tracey said to Blaise just before they left. "I've got it all laid out like how I've been doing it for you, so just write it down! It's important! We can all share this later, see, and I want the notes on the other three matches to look at later." She paused. "And, actually, if you get the time take down notes on me and Harry, too. Okay?"
Blaise sighed, put down his sausage roll, and then made a big show of effort in reaching for Tracey's parchment.
"If I have to," he said. "Go on—don't want to be late for your bout. Good luck," he added just as Harry and Tracey left with the others in their set.
As they walked down the tunnel, Tracey went over some of her observations with Harry, which Harry supposed was less for him and more to calm her own nerves since Harry had read the parchment several times over already. At Tracey's urging, even.
"Our match is against two girls from Beauxbatons," Tracey said, "and one of them has already duelled today—she won. She used loads of charms in her match as well, but that's something all the Beauxbatons lot have been doing. I think their duelling instructor is a fan." She paused, and almost stopped walking. "But they're not as good at dodging as Durmstrang, and they struggle a bit with transfiguration, so if you can use the bees, I think you should, Harry."
"Right, definitely," agreed Harry, although none of the information was new to him. "Didn't DuBois struggle with vanishment in her singles match earlier?" Harry asked. "So I think we can use that against her in this one..."
"She did," confirmed Tracey. "And we definitely need to do that!" She paused. "Not me, mind—I'm no good at conjuring. But you with the bees..."
Harry let Tracey carry on listing her observations while he thought about the upcoming match. He felt different than he had with his first match, the one with Balkus. Less nervous, more excited. His heart still pounded in his chest, but he thought more from anticipation than anxiety this time around.
Flitwick guided them to their staging area, which Harry was glad for, since it was a different one to last time. Once inside, he turned towards Tracey.
"Oh yeah—forgot to say. When we win, we're supposed to offer to shake our opponents' hands. No one told me and I nearly didn't do it—the mediwizard had to say, right at the end," Harry said.
Tracey nodded.
"Thanks," she said. She paused. "Do you really think we can win this? I know we've had loads of practise but..."
"Definitely!" said Harry. "We've worked really hard and we know we work well together. Just... when I did my singles earlier, I found it was better to ignore the announcer and the crowd. Focus on what we've drilled in. All the practise we've done."
Tracey took a deep breath.
"Right. I'm ready," she said as she stepped onto the platform. She adjusted her grip on her wand and then stood up straighter – although still about a head shorter than Harry, even though he hadn't stepped up to the platform yet.
Harry joined her and they waited a few more moments until the platform rose into the duelling arena. Once the platform had taken them to the arena floor, Harry ignored the crowd and the announcer in favour of looking over his competition.
The two girls from Beauxbatons were pretty enough, although Harry supposed it didn't really matter for the purposes of his duel. One of them - Christine DuBois, he remembered from the fixtures list – looked far more confident than the other. Both girls were speaking, although as Harry couldn't lip read and didn't speak French anyway, he couldn't tell what they were saying. DuBois seemed to be looking Harry and Tracey up and down, though, which Harry thought was fair enough.
Next to Harry, Tracey looked around the arena and up at the crowd.
"I didn't realise there would be so many people here!" she said, eyes wide. "You can't really see how big the crowd is on the mirrors..."
"If you're nervous," Harry said, "just ignore the crowd. They go quiet during the duel anyway."
Tracey shook her head.
"It's exciting having so many people here! D'you think they'll mention it in the papers if we win today? I bet Nan will save a clipping if they do!"
"Er, maybe," Harry said. Truthfully, he didn't really think anyone cared about a bunch of second year Novice duellists, but Tracey seemed excited at the prospect of being in the paper, so Harry didn't want to dash her hopes. And – unfortunately – Harry himself simply being in the competition would probably grab a few lines in the Sunday Prophet, so perhaps Tracey did have a chance at getting in if they won.
"We're rather late in the day, ladies and gentlewizards," said the announcer – a different one from Harry's single, and a witch this time, although given that the arena was different too, Harry shouldn't have been surprised. "But this next bout should be no less exciting than those that came before! Now, of course, you wouldn't have seen the bouts, but each pair here today has someone in it who won their singles bout earlier this afternoon. Representing Hogwarts today are second years Tracey Davis and Harry Potter—yes, the Harry Potter—and Potter of course won his singles bout earlier today."
A little murmur went through the crowd at the mention of Harry and his prior win, but he'd expected something like that to happen. And it did feel nice to be recognised for something that he had actually done for once.
"His partner, Davis, has yet to participate in a formal duel," continued the announcer witch. "Their opponents, Christine DuBois and Antoinette Lacroix, are fellow second years representing Beauxbatons Academy. Now, an interesting little thing here is that DuBois won her own singles bout earlier this afternoon, too—so both teams have a blooded duellist! We could be in for a treat here!"
Harry tuned out the announcer as she went through the rest of her introductions in German and in French. Instead, he went over his and Tracey's strategy one more time in his head. Tracey, who moved with far more grace than Harry, would cover most of the defence. That left Harry free to do what he did best – cast a flurry of jinxes and hexes.
The problem was, that sort of strategy was very common amongst doubles duellists for good reasons, and it was likely DuBois and Lacroix had similar plans. Still, Harry knew that he and Tracey could work well as a team, so it was just a matter of playing it out in a real duel.
The four duellists bowed to one another at the announcer's word, and then waited for the count to begin.
As soon as he could, Harry fired off a Knockback Hex at Lacroix to create a bit of distance between the two Beauxbatons girls. Lacroix dodged it with ease but ended up with about a foot of space between herself and DuBois. Harry didn't wait to see her response and immediately sent off a Stinging Jinx at DuBois, who flicked it away with an almost lazy gesture.
Next to DuBois, Lacroix had recovered enough to send off some spells of her own. Harry didn't need to worry about them, though – Tracey caught the first two, then managed to send the third right back at Lacroix.
Harry had just enough time to barely dodge a Screaming Hex from DuBois – a nasty little spell that would make Harry hear ear-splitting screams until it wore off, although thankfully identifiable by its eldritch purple light.
"Sticker combo?" muttered Tracey as she got into place in front of Harry. Harry considered it; they had practised their Sticker Combo in secret, so neither of them could be sure it would actually work, but if it did...
He agreed.
"On one," he said, and counted down. When he reached the end of his count, Harry sprang into action with a Knockback Hex aimed at each of the Beauxbatons girls. As they jumped out of the way, Tracey moved, lightning fast, to get off a pair of Sticking Charms.
Lacroix's feet stuck right to the wooden arena floor, although Tracey's spell just missed DuBois as she dodged Harry's hex. Lacroix stumbled, although didn't go anywhere because of her stuck feet.
While Lacroix fumbled with her wand to try and remove Tracey's Sticking Charm, Harry conjured a swarm of bees around her head. The stuck witch immediately stopped trying to remove the Sticking Charm, and instead swatted at the bees with her hands, seemingly flustered enough not to try vanishment.
Harry left Tracey to deal with Lacroix—he knew from practises that her next move would be a Tickling Charm followed by a Stinging Jinx, and if both worked, Disarmament. And Harry was confident in Tracey's abilities to Disarm a stuck, stung, and panicked witch.
He was less confident in his ability to stop DuBois, who had already won a bout that day and had managed to avoid their spells thus far, but he would have to give it a go anyway.
Once DuBois had assessed the situation, she'd moved on from the Knockback Hex to assist her partner. She got rid of the bees not with Vanishment but with a Wind Charm, which Harry thought was an inferior method, but it did, in fairness, get the bees away from her partner – although they were still buzzing around the arena, angrier than ever.
DuBois lifted the Sticking Charm and both she and Lacroix formed a tight pair once more, ready to duel. Once she'd righted herself, Lacroix fired off a series of Confetti Charms which sent little bits and pieces of coloured paper streaming through the air in front of her.
Then, DuBois cast another Wind Charm and sent the cloud of paper careening into Harry and Tracey. While Tracey used Wind Charms of her own to get rid of the cloud of paper, Harry tried to get in a hit with a Knockback Hex.
He missed.
Then Harry's face started stinging, and then after that both of his knees – DuBois had followed up the Confetti Charms with Stinging Jinxes.
"Ah, shit," he swore.
"Sorry, Harry—it's just there's so much confetti..." said Tracey. "She got me, too!"
Once Tracey had cleared all of the confetti, Harry saw that DuBois and Lacroix had bunched together, tighter than before, with barely a couple of inches between them. Harry cast a sonic boom coupled with the modification to the lighting charm Flitwick had shown him right between the two girls, forcing them apart. Both girls staggered backwards and rubbed at their eyes, giving Harry and Tracey the chance to move.
"Sticker!" said Harry.
Tracey got Lacroix with a second Sticking Charm, sticking her feet right to the arena floor once again, but by the time she'd got to DuBois, the other girl had recovered enough to dodge.
But it didn't matter.
Tracey cast a quick, confident Disarming Charm right at the flailing Lacroix, and knocked the wand from her hand. With Lacroix moved out of the game, Harry and Tracey turned to focus on DuBois, who had stepped away from where her partner was stuck to the floor.
Although DuBois put up a decent enough fight, Harry and Tracey had too much of an advantage with her being a witch down. After about a minute of DuBois dodging and reflecting spells, Harry got her with his Jelly-Legs Combo and a Disarming Charm.
Flailing tentacles sprouted from her face as her wand went flying from her hand.
"And this bout goes to Potter and Davis of Hogwarts!" concluded the announcer. "That little spell synergy there seems to be a favourite of Potter's—he used it in his singles match earlier this afternoon! Could we perhaps see it again in the next round? But it was a rough afternoon for DuBois and Lacroix—and on Lacroix's first outing, too!" she continued.
Harry frowned. He didn't want to become known for a particular strategy or spell combination since he'd lose any element of surprise. He would have to think of – and practise using – a few alternatives.
The medical staff took to the arena floor immediately to assess and repair any damage, although the one attending to Lacroix and DuBois had far more to do than the one assigned to Harry and Tracey. The mediwitch removed the Stinging Jinxes on Harry while the announcer talked through the end of the duel. Then, when it was time, Harry and Tracey crossed the arena floor to offer their hands to DuBois and Lacroix.
At first, DuBois didn't take Harry's hand. Lacroix did, and after a nudge from her friend, DuBois eventually acquiesced and did likewise, although Harry could tell she'd rather have just walked away.
"You will not best me again, 'Arry Potter," said DuBois through grit teeth, not nearly as good-natured or jovial as Jokubas Balkus had been earlier that afternoon.
"Well, that depends on the fixtures, doesn't it?" quipped Harry. "So you'd better hope we don't get matched up in the singles."
DuBois glared at him, then turned and walked back to the platform to wait for it to descend. Lacroix paused for a moment and glanced at Harry and Tracey again before speaking.
"It was a good duel. I am sad, but... c'est la vie." Lacroix shrugged and then joined her partner at the platform.
Harry and Tracey returned to their own platform, and when the announcer had finished up, the platform descended once more.
"It was a little bit rude, what you said to DuBois," said Tracey once they were back in the staging area. "But it doesn't matter now, and I'm so glad we won! That was probably the most fun I've ever had and you know me, I'm always on the lookout for something fun to do! And we get to do it again!"
Harry grinned; Tracey's enthusiasm was infectious.
"That was a fun match," he agreed. "More fun than my first one, anyway—that one was just a bit nervy." Harry put the difference down largely to the fact that going into the doubles, he'd already won a match and so there wasn't nearly as much pressure – and it was always hard not to enjoy something done with a friend. "But we should get going—Flitwick will want to get the next bouts going soon."
The pair of successful duellists left the little staging area to join Flitwick outside. By then the Junior singles bout had finished, so Flitwick wasn't alone. He was stood next to the unsuccessful and dejected fifth year Hufflepuff girl offering his commiserations.
"Ah! Mr Potter and Miss Davis! Congratulations on your bout!" said Flitwick, turning towards them. "A rather successful outing for that Sticking Charm set you've been working on! You should both be very proud."
"The Sticking Charm was a really good idea," Harry said. "Tracey's obviously—most of mine involve hexes... I don't think we'd have won without that first combo—really gave us the momentum to carry on."
"Perhaps, and perhaps not," said Flitwick. "But we will be going over some of the more educational bouts at our next session of Duelling Club, so we shall see! Now, you'd best be getting along—all three of you—as the other two bouts have just ended and I should like to have a word with our Junior doubles pair."
Harry and Tracey walked back along the tunnel with the sobbing Hufflepuff fifth year and emerged from the tunnel to a mixed response. Commiserations for the Hufflepuff – Jenny, Harry thought her name was – mixed with cheers for Harry and Tracey's win.
Harry sat back down with Blaise while Tracey went to get herself some drinks and snacks from the table. Harry settled down to watch the remaining bouts—although this late in the day, there were only a handful left, and the only bout he was really interested in was Draco's.
The last Novice singles bout of the day was Draco's. He won, but he didn't seem overly pleased by it. If anything, it seemed almost like an inconvenience to him to have to go through with it at all. When he returned to the waiting area he went right back to sitting alone in a corner of the room.
Flitwick returned not long after, full of praises for the winners and the losers of the bouts that afternoon. After dispensing a few closing remarks, he dismissed most of the duellists from the arena, although kept some back as their parents had been in attendance and wanted to see them – Draco included.
Draco left without seeing his parents. Harry thought that strange, but didn't have time to think about it further, though, since when they got back to the Common Room, someone had organised a little impromptu party in celebration of the Slytherin duellists' performance that afternoon – and a party was much more fun than wondering about whatever was the matter with Draco.