AN: To clear up some confusion from the last chapter, from what I understand Romilda Vane is in the same year as Ginny so as a third year she'd be able to go to Hogsmede. And to those who were complaining about wanting to see the 'date', I didn't show the full thing because it would have been repetitive of Harry and Fleur doing couple things while refusing to acknowledge it. I'm planning on saving that stuff for once they're official in the story.
A Chance Encounter
Chapter 12
-Harry-
"Ladies…and…Gentleman!" the booming voice of Ludo bagman filled air as Harry stood with his fellow champions, the platform they were on covered in curtains as it brought itself, and therefore them, to the site of the first task, "ARE…YOU…REAAAAAADY?!" the crowd roared in answer as Harry worked to steady his breathing. He was no stranger to danger and had 'performed' in front of a crowd before, but this was a bit beyond a quidditch match.
"Relax Harry." Fleur noticed his nerves as she gave him a gentle smile, her presence helping calm him, "You'll be fine. I know you're more than skilled enough to take second place."
"So humble to think you'll be in third or fourth then." Cedric interjected, a teasing grin on his face.
"Indeed, after all, I shall be ze one to win today." Viktor huffed, holding an exaggerated expression of mock arrogance before the four of them laughed. The sound helping replace any tension into eagerness to compete against respected rivals.
"Then, ladies and gentleman, to you and our champions I present…THE SIEGE!" with a flourish, the curtains of their platform are ripped away as they finally get a look at the first task. They were in a truly massive arena, the crowd filled with not just students but seemingly as many people as had attended the World Cup over the summer, if not more. Then at the heart of the arena stood a stone fortress. Given the shouting of the crowd there'd been something concealing what the arena held before this.
"Merde." Fleur grimaced at seeing the massive structure, people in red robes moving about the walls of the structure, "Well…I suppose it could be worse."
"Yeah, we could be fighting dragons." Harry snorted as the crowd finally calmed down enough for Bagman to continue.
"The task is simple ladies and gentleman. The Champions are supposed to be the best and brightest of their generation. The 'Heroes' of their land's magical academies. Heroes are known to both defend and invade. So, to this end, the task will be for each Champion to lay siege upon this fortification! In the secure vault below the fort lays the clue needed for the next task. After each champion has their go the fortress will be reset for the next one. And of course, what is a fort without its defenders? The Champion will have to get through an auror contingent! The Champions of Beauxbatons will have to contend with British Aurors. The Hogwarts Champion will have to face Bulgarian Aurors. And the Champion of Durmstrang will face the French boys in red."
"This will be quite the spectacle." Viktor nodded to the various floating crystals scattered throughout the stands. The glimpses he could catch looked like they were showing close up views of the fortress from the outside and within. Likely to ensure those who were spectating would at least be suitably entertained.
"So, let's put on one hell of a show, shall we?" Cedric grinned as Harry and the others quickly matched it. This was going to be fun.
-Hermione-
"Kick some ass, Fleur!" Ron cheered, most of the other Gryffindors around them echoing it as Hermione rolled her eyes good naturedly. The crowd was quite energetic, even more so than it had been at the world cup. Then again there was a lot more national pride going on here. Right now, Fleur was getting ready to go first, the aurors on the ramparts looking, for the most part, smug and cocky.
"Five sickles says she doesn't even have to cast a spell." Fred snickered from behind her.
"She's not that good." Ginny huffed, the redhead still not over her jealousy of Harry and Fleur's clear attraction.
"She's part Veela little Gin Gin." George grinned happily, tugging his sister's cheek playfully "And…well most of the aurors still on the force aren't exactly England's 'best and brightest'. Not with Fudge at the helm."
"So, you think the allure is all she's going to need?" Hermione was curious if they'd be right. As much as she hated to admit it the twins were the single best ones around that she knew for 'reading' people. They had to be given how much they liked pranking people and wanted to avoid going too far and traumatizing someone again like they did Ron with the spider when he was younger.
"I'd say it's a solid eighty percent chance or so." Fred mused, "The Allure is stupid hard to resist. You saw how many people fell under it back at the world cup yeah?"
"Your dad didn't." Hermione realized.
"That's because Dad's awesome." George scoffed with a smug smirk that the rest of his siblings, even the still grumpy Ginny, nodded in complete agreement.
"Plus, he knows Mom would kill him if he fell for something as basic as that." Fred snickered as the red-haired siblings nodded again.
"Fair enough." Hermione chuckled as a canon blast echoed through the arena, Fleur charging from the platform as the curtains close up again. The other Champions apparently not supposed to see what the others did.
As she ran, Fleur's wand began to twirl, her sprint becoming a dance as music filled the arena. The sound was so gentle and serene that Hermione forgot all about the tournament for a moment, relaxing as more and more of her senses started to be bombarded. She heard Fleur's Music, both the beautiful singing and the sounds coming from her wand. She saw the blonde Frenchwoman dancing as she moved ever closer to the arena. She felt gentle warmth on her skin as fire danced around the part veela. Soft scents found her nose, bringing forth happy memories as she let herself drift away to the sensations. Fleur was hitting every sense except taste, but something told Hermione that in doing so she was just increasing the craving for more that those attracted to Fleur in 'that' way were feeling.
The Aurors were no different, clearly unprepared for the intense sensory bombardment as Fleur grew ever closer to the fortress, her song asking to please oh please be let in. And so, they lowered the gate.
She asked to be taken to the treasures, and so she had an escort falling over themselves to accommodate her.
Where the Veela at the world cup had been a crude greatsword, bluntly smashing people over the head with their power; Fleur was being a delicate scalpel. Targeted, precise, and far more potent. Hermione, through the haze of the experience, wondered how long it had Taken Fleur to create spells like this that revolved around her inherent magical abilities.
And then it was over. Cutting off abruptly enough to make her stagger, Hermione looked around as the canon fired again "And there we have it! What a miraculous way to start the tournament!" Bagman cheered as he came out of his daze, "Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons has demonstrated a remarkable mastery of charms and her own natural ability to lay siege to her fortress without having to harm a single soul! And now for our judge's scores!"
While the Judges considered, Ron snorted "Well Fred, you're lucky nobody took that bet or you'd be out five sickles."
"She used her allure little brother." Fred raised an eyebrow.
"Ah, but it wasn't just the allure, now was it?" Ron grinned as George happily laughed at his twin.
"The Judges are giving the scores!" Angelina pointed eagerly, stopping any potential continued bickering.
Madame Delacour went first, as Fleur's headmistress, and gave a perfect ten, Crouch and Bagman following afterward with nines.
Then Dumbledore gave her a one.
"Wow, he's not bitter at all." Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Probably going to be some sort of bullshit about 'Mind Magics' being something he's against." Ron scoffed, "Like it's any different than the Ministry obliviating muggles? Or love potions being legal?"
"I'd say the crowd would agree with you." Katie Bell grimaced at the overwhelming chorus of 'boos' aimed at a surprised Dumbledore. Karkaroff seemed to find it funny and wrapped up the scores with a seven. Still biased but nowhere near as bad as Dumbledore's.
-Dumbledore-
Steepling his fingers and tuning out the crowd that had been whining like spoiled children since he made his first score, Dumbledore waited for the Fortress to be reset.
After the Delacour girl had gone, Krum went up and while Delacour had gone for subtle precision through controlling magics, Krum went for overwhelming power. Blasting curses, disarming spells, and magically reinforcing his own body for enhanced strength and speed. The aurors gathered from each country were all deemed to be the 'average'. They weren't the weakest of the bunch nor were they the countries best. They were the closest to the base line that could be acquired.
The Champions meanwhile were the best and brightest from each academy, all in the prime of their youth. Viktor Krum had decimated the Fortress and knocked out several of the aurors defending it, thankfully not causing any permanent injuries. He'd given the boy a respectable eight which had only made the fickle crowd boo him again, spouting some nonsense about sexism. Karkaroff of course provided a ten while Maxime gave a seven, Crouch and Bagman offering nines.
Krum's onslaught had made them have to repair the fortress before Diggory could be let out at it, and the boy was prepared at the very least.
Unlike his fellow Champions who'd already gone, Diggory didn't rely on subtle control or unstoppable force, but overwhelming numbers. Transfiguration after transfiguration turning every bit of spare rubble into wolves, into bears, into dragons and boars. The Fortress became a pitched battleground as the aurors worked to take down the transfigured beasts that sought to subdue them. Meanwhile Diggory was able to move about in rapid swift dashes of blurred light and smoke. The young man didn't need to bother fighting the defenders himself with his transfigured army, so he was able to focus on simply gaining his prize. He'd given the boy a nine, as did the other judges barring Karkaroff who once again gave a seven.
But now it was Potter's turn. And once this was done, he'd have time to go to the ICW to see what the 'emergency meeting' that had been called today had been about. With his obligations to the tournament, he'd been unable to attend, meaning he'd had to send a proxy for England and his position was, once again, given to another for a day.
-Harry-
Letting out a deep breath, Harry braced himself as he waited for the canon to go off and signal for him to begin. He could feel his magic pulsing under his skin, echoing his own eagerness.
Hearing the canon, Harry shot forward charging towards the fortress as spells rained down his way.
Thrusting out his palm, he called forth his shimmering ethereal shield as it absorbed the magic much to the shock of the audience and his attackers.
Grinning widely, grateful for the juice, Harry thrust out his other hand, releasing the magic in the form of a shining sword.
"Time to speed things up." Harry felt his jersey-like shirt ripple before his wings ripped through it, the cloth falling around him in tatters as he surged forward through the air.
Tuning out Bagman's shocked commentary, Harry used his shield and sword to continued to cut through any magic or conjured items sent his way, reaching the gate rapidly as he slapped a palm against the reinforced oak. Without even slowing, he deconstructed the structure as he burst into the fortress, changing his sword into a whip. Lashing out he began to destabilize the structure around its defenders, forcing them to have to prioritize themselves over stopping him.
He had to move fast, to keep his momentum if he wanted to keep what he showed to just what had been used so far after all. He had to save some tricks for the other tasks.
He continued, delving deeper and deeper into the keep, not letting a single spell get past his shield as he eventually reached the vault, deconstructing it like he had the gate to reveal a scroll on a pedestal. The second his hand wrapped around it the canon fired once more, signaling that he'd on the task.
Grinning, Harry flew out, nodding to Fleur and their fellow Champions, Cedric and Viktor gaping at the wings they hadn't seen before.
Then the scores began.
Madame Maxime and Bagman gave him perfect tens. Crouch gave him a nine and crouch a seven.
And Dumbledore a one as the crowd roared their displeasure.
-Martin Delacour-
"It is decided!" the Supreme Mugwump for the day declared, banging their gavel "Sirius Black, thanks to the overwhelming evidence of Pensive memories and veritaserum, The International Confederation of Warlocks declares you innocent of all charges. Representative Blackthorn, you are to inform your Ministry that reparations are to be made posthaste and that we expect answers about how such an abhorrent breach of justice was permitted." Martin smirked as the declaration was made, Dumbledore's replacement for the day nodding terrified while Sirius was cheering and ugly crying at finally being declared a free man. It was lovely to see what progress could be made when Dumbledore was kept out of the picture.