Daphne tucked her hands deeper into her muffler and shivered, though she didn't know whether it was due to the chill or her anticipation. This was it – the Third Task of the Triwizard Cup – and she couldn't wait to see Harry in action.
The two weeks she, and the others, had spent as Harry's practise opponents had been an eye opener to her. She wasn't sure what she had thought Harry's duelling lessons with Sirius were like, but she had never imagined that Harry would be as adept and deadly as he was.
They had practised in the Come and Go Room at least once a day for two weeks, though on weekends they had normally practised three or four times, and none of them had managed to land a curse on Harry once. Daphne knew that some of the boys had found it demoralising, to be beaten so thoroughly time and time again, but for her it was more evidence of her good luck.
"I'm glad it's not me down there." Neville commented lowly, from his seat to her left.
"Me too." Luna agreed, from his other side.
Daphne thoroughly agreed with the sentiment and she saw Astoria nodding at her side.
Draco, who was sitting on Astoria's other side, scoffed as they watched as the two Beauxbaton Champions entered the arena at opposite ends, before settling down behind boulders and not moving.
"How is this an advantage for Harry?" He asked in frustration. "If he had been allowed to enter first he could have at least spent the time preparing."
"I think the idea is that these two are supposed to knock each other, so that Harry doesn't have to." Neville commented.
"Why would they?" Draco asked rhetorically. "The best strategy would be to stay put and wait until everyone was in. Not to mention that they're starting five hundred feet away from each other. By the time they reach each other, Harry will have entered the arena anyway."
Viktor Krum entered next, about a hundred feet to Delacour's left and directly opposite where Harry was waiting. Unlike the others, he began to creep forward towards the massive fire pillar between him and Harry's starting place.
"Idiot." Draco commented. "Clearly he's taken one too many bludgers in the head. Why doesn't he just stay where he started?"
"Maybe he wants a better starting position?" Neville suggested. "If he stayed behind that rock until everybody was in the arena he might find himself a bit stuck."
Draco scoffed again. "Gryffindors – always rushing into battle."
"So you admit that Krum would be a Gryffindor then?" Neville sounded triumphant.
"If this is his strategy, you can have him." Draco answered, as they watched Krum come to a halt near another of the small boulders.
Daphne turned to watch Diggory enter the arena about two hundred feet to Harry's right. He, like Krum, ignored boulder nearest to him and began to move further into the arena.
"Delacour's moving." Neville commented. "That ridge looks like it will be handy."
"Only if she uses it correctly." Daphne pointed out, turning to watch the half-veela slowly climb up the ridge until she was peering over it. "If she's not careful she could end up trapped behind it."
"How?" Astoria asked curiously.
"If someone decides to do what she's doing, only on the other side, then she would be left with very little cover." Daphne explained, just as Delacour began to cast spells at where Krum was crouched behind a boulder.
Krum threw himself out of the way of her first spell, before quickly moving around the boulder so that it gave him better cover. Then he returned fire.
"There goes Viserova." Draco commented, nodding towards where the Bulgarian girl was starting opposite to Diggory's starting position.
Daphne bent over and pulled Harry's invisibility cloak out of her bag, before draping it across her legs. "Harry's next."
She watched as Viserova crept forward until she was hiding behind one of the two absolutely ginormous boulders in the arena. It meant that she was right next to the pool of water, and in a good position to target both Diggory and Moreau – the bitchy Beaxbatons champion. At least she would be if Moreau ever came out from behind the boulder she was hiding behind.
"Ooh, Viktor almost got Delacour with that one." Neville exclaimed excitedly. "It was close."
"I can't believe she hasn't hit him yet." Draco groused. "Harry would have destroyed the boulder he's hiding behind by now."
"Harry's starting." Astoria told them.
Daphne looked down at Harry and watched as he entered the arena in a crouched position – he was already making better decisions that the other champions.
"Merlin," Neville exclaimed, as Harry's robes rippled. "Imagine being about to perform a Switching Spell that accurately."
Daphne started in shock as she felt something on her knees, before realising that it was just Harry summoning his invisibility cloak. She could see his sword and scabbard flying through the air towards Harry as well.
"Ha, look at Potter!" Weasley's voice travelled easily down to where Daphne was sitting. "He's just hiding behind a rock. Coward!"
Draco and Neville both stiffened, but Daphne was glad to see that they were wise enough not to engage with the idiot.
Daphne watched as Harry buckled his scabbard around his waist and then threw his cloak over his head, before enjoying the gasps of the students around her.
"Where'd he go?"
"What happened?"
"Is that an invisibility cloak?"
Daphne glanced towards where Krum and Delacour were still exchanging curses – neither of them managing to land a hit. If they were an indication of the skill levels of the champions, Harry was going to win easily.
Though, as she watched, Delacour send a ball of fire at the boulder Krum was crouched behind. The ball of fire hit the boulder harmlessly, but the next one had Krum diving out of the way. That was more like it.
"Woah!" Neville exclaimed. "Look at Viserova."
Daphne turned towards the other end of the arena to see Viserova somehow causing the water from the pool to rise up as a tall wave which then crashed out of the pool and over the boulder that Moreau was crouched behind – the wave knocked Moreau off her balance and onto her back.
"Impressive." Daphne agreed, as Viserova followed the wave up with a purple curse that Moreau only just managed to roll out of the way of.
"Harry's about to do something." Luna told them in a sing song tone of voice.
Daphne turned back to where she had last seen Harry, feeling as though she was trying to watch bludger, just in time to see three blue spells appear out of nowhere and fly towards the second ginormous boulder.
"Is he…" Draco trailed off, as the spells hit the boulder one after the other – exploding it into pieces.
"It was at least twenty feet wide!" Neville exclaimed. "How does he do that?"
"He's the reincarnation of Merlin." Luna said airily.
Daphne's head swung around. "What?!"
Luna burst into a peel laughter. "I'm kidding."
"Oh," Daphne could feel her face heating up. "Of course."
"Look," Draco started. "One of the boulder pieces hit Viktor and knocked him over."
Daphne watched as the Bulgarian champion pulled himself upright, before being hit in the chest with a pink spell from Fleur that knocked him back down. This time he didn't move again and, within seconds, Daphne could see Professor Flitwick summoning his unconscious body to the side of the arena.
"Go, Diggory!" A student behind them exclaimed excitedly, as a horn blew signalling that one champion had been eliminated.
Daphne looked around just in time to see Diggory's red spell hit Moreau in the head, causing the girl to drop like a stone. Seconds later, she was summoned out of the arena too.
"I thought Krum would put up a better fight." Neville sighed. "I can't believe Delacour managed to take him out."
"Harry did most of the work." Draco retorted defensively. "Delacour just swept in to get the credit."
"I doubt Harry minds." Daphne pointed out. "Dealcour just did his dirty work for him and now he can concentrate on taking her out."
With Harry still hidden under his invisibility cloak, Daphne turned her attention towards where Diggory was sprinting towards the third ginormous rock in the arena only just managing to dodge Viserova barrage of spells.
It was a good strategy on Diggory's part, since now both he and Viserova were safely behind rocks of approximately the same size and Viserova wouldn't be able to use a wave of water to knock him off his feet.
47-47-47
Harry grimaced as he began to approach the fire pillar that was between him and either Fleur or Viktor (or possible both of them). The heat from the pillar was intense and he could already feel himself beginning to sweat. He changed direction slightly, and decided to creep quietly along the base of the ridge on his left. Not only would it put at least twenty feet between him and the pillar, but it would also prevent himself from announcing his position by stepping noisily through the rubble that had once been a boulder.
He was almost even with fire pillar when he saw Fleur, standing behind a small boulder her eyes sweeping across the arena. Harry stiffened when her gaze reached him, before letting out a relieved breath when she made no indication of seeing him.
Her presence, along with the fact that there was no sign of Viktor, meant that the Bulgarian champion had probably been eliminated. It was surprising, since he'd expected Viktor to last a while, but it was good to know.
Harry crept forward until he had halved the distance between him and Fleur, before turning his attention to the fire pillar that was almost at a right angle to him and Fleur.
"Draconifors!" He murmured quietly, before watching in satisfaction as a dragon made entirely of flames emerged from the pillar. Harry jabbed his wand towards Fleur and watched in anticipation as the fire dragon hurtled towards her, its mouth wide open.
Fleur looked startled for a moment, before leathery wings sudden appeared behind her and her face elongated into a bird's head. She stood still unaffected as the fire rushed towards her and then surrounded her, hiding her from view.
Harry cursed himself. Merlin, how stupid was he? Using fire to try and attack a Veela – and after his friends had told her that she had been unaffected by the fire during the First Task. He allowed the fire to dissipate, bringing Fleur back into view.
"Homenum Revelio!" Fleur exclaimed, her wand sweeping across the arena.
Damn, damn, damn, Harry knew that spell and he knew that his invisibility cloak wouldn't be able to hide him from her spell. As though on cue, he felt something swoop over him and saw Fleur's gaze focus on his position. She brought her wand up and, after a moment's thought, Harry quickly shrugged off the invisibility cloak and pulled his sword from its scabbard just in time to use it to deflect Fleur's first spell.
"Everte Statum!" Harry cast, before stepping out of the path of Fleur's second spell. "Langlock!"
Fleur sidestepped his spells easily, before returning fire.
Harry grimaced as the fireballs flew towards him. "Frigidus ignis! Frigidus ignis! Frigidus ignis!" He breathed a sigh of relief as his spells froze the fireballs, before gasping when he saw Fleur's next spell was only seconds away from hitting him.
Side stepping the spell, Harry brought his wand up again. "Expulso!"
The boulder Fleur was standing behind exploded into pieces, but Fleur's magical shield protected her from the flying pieces of rock.
"Orbis!" Harry cast quickly, while Fleur was still occupied with her shield. "Stupefy! Confundus!"
Fleur stepped to side of Harry's curses, just in time for the first one to hit the ground just in front of where she had been standing. She raised her hand to return fire, before looking down in horror as the ground sunk beneath her causing her to sink up to waist. She struggled for a few moments, before having to abandon her attempts for a shield to block Harry's curses.
"Confundus!" Harry cast again, striding forward. "Stupefy!" :Sleep!:
Fleur's shield managed to deflect the first two curses, before her eyes widened in horror when the third one flew through it as though it wasn't there. The spell hit her chest and she immediately slumped forward unconscious.
Remembering what Snape had said about summoning them once they were unconscious, Harry looked around cautiously before striding forward and pulling her unconscious body out of the soft ground. Immediately, Fleur's body rose into the air and began to fly slowly towards the edge of the arena.
A horn blew, announcing that another champion had been eliminated, and Harry nodded in satisfaction. He'd been a bit sloppy at first, but he'd definitely gotten better and now there were only three of them left.
Picking up his invisibility cloak, Harry threw it over his head again before laying his wand on the palm of his hand. "Point me, Cedric Diggory."
48-48-48
Draco groaned as Harry stopped to pull Fleur's unconscious body out of the ground. Sometimes his cousin's goody-goody sensibilities were painful. Harry was in a fight for his life, or at least for the Triwizard Cup, and he was taking the time to help his enemies. It was ridiculous!
Thankfully though, Harry seemed to regain his good sense after that and put the invisibility cloak back on. Still, as useful as the invisibility cloak was for Harry, it didn't exactly make for good entertainment, so Draco turned his attention towards where Diggory and Viserova were both still battling it out from behind their ginormous boulders. Neither of them had even gotten close to hitting the other yet, mostly because they were both using the boulders to hide behind.
The boulders, which were at least twenty feet in diameter and ten feet tall, were approximately the same size as the one that Harry had exploded in just three curses, but neither Diggory or Viserova's had even attempted to blow their opponents shelter apart yet.
Though, that wasn't particularly surprising. After all, who in their right mind would even consider blowing apart a rock that big?
"Harry's duelling is much more interesting." Astoria commented quietly, as they watched Viserova's curse fly harmlessly past the boulder Diggory was hiding behind.
Draco looked down at her. "It is. Hopefully he'll get involved again soon."
"Who do you think he'll take out first?" Astoria asked, tilting her face up towards him.
"I don't know." Draco admitted. "Viserova is his biggest competition, but he hasn't seen her duel so he won't know that. Diggory would be the easiest one to hit."
"I hope he takes out Diggory." Astoria commented. "I want to see him and Viserova duel. His fire dragon and her water wave would look incredible together."
Draco didn't disagree. "Are you warm enough?"
Astoria smiled sweetly. "Yes, thank you. This muffler is wonderful."
Draco tried not to feel too jealous as he glanced towards the muffler that was preventing him from holding her hand. "I'm glad."
"What the..!"
"Where'd that come from?!"
"It must have been Potter."
Draco turned back to the arena just in time to see a red spell hit Diggory in the chest. "Go, Harry!"
The other students around them protested loudly as Diggory's unconscious body was summoned out of the arena to the sound of the horn blowing. Draco wasn't sure what they thought Harry had done wrong, but their irrational belief that Harry was a Death Eater was clearly affecting their judgement.
"There he is." Neville said, pointing to where Harry was standing behind the boulder that Diggory had been using for cover. "He must have decided not to use the invisibility cloak anymore."
"It would restrict his movements." Draco pointed out. "Besides which, Viserova knows he's there now. A simple human revealing charm would give his position away."
They watched as Harry pulled his sword out of his scabbard, before stepping out from behind the boulder. A blue spell flew out of his wand and towards the boulder that Viserova was hiding behind, and then another, and then a third one.
Draco watched in anticipation as they each hit the boulder, before frowning in confusion when the third spell hit and the boulder remained standing. "Why didn't it explode?"
"Maybe he's getting tired." Astoria suggested. "I would be."
Draco shook his head. "I'm seen Harry do a lot more than this without getting tired. Maybe she did something to the boulder?"
48-48-48
Harry frowned as his Expluso Curses didn't destroy the boulder. He was sure that if he hit it with enough Expulso Curses it would explode eventually, but maybe he should try another strategy. After all, it was just down to him and Nina. If there was ever going to be a time to show off – now would be it.
He brought his sword up in his left hand to deflect the three curses that Nina had sent towards him, all the while casting with his right hand. "Flipendo! Immobulus! Obscuro!"
Nina ducked behind the boulder seconds before the curses would have hit her and Harry grimaced in frustration. That was going to get annoying very quickly.
He stepped behind his own boulder and turned towards the pool of water to his right. If his memory of the arena was correct then the pool was bent around the boulder that Nina was hiding behind.
Harry pointed his wand at the water. "Draconifors!" The shape of a dragon made entirely of water rose from the water, and, with a jab of Harry's wand, dove behind Nina's boulder.
Nina came into sight immediately, ducking out of the way of the dragon, her wand raised defensively as its head snapped down towards her. Suddenly a stream of fire left her wand, colliding with the dragon made of water. There was a loud hissing sound and a burst of steam made it hard to see what was happening. When the steam dispersed the water dragon was gone and Nina was standing in front of the boulder her wand raised in preparation.
Harry sidestepped her first spell. "Colloshoo! Stupefy!"
Nina ducked beneath the spells with ease, before sending back a volley of her own.
"Flipendo!" Harry stepped away from her first spell, before using his sword to block the second and third ones. "Bombarda!"
Harry grinned as she deflecting his spells with a shield, before retaliating. She was a much better dueller than Fleur had been, and her style reminded Harry of Sirius' style. Which meant that Harry couldn't just depend on typical duelling technique to defeat her – he would need to use something out of the box.
He deflected her next spells, while looking around at their surrounding for something to use. He could use the water again, but he'd already one that once and she had dealt with it easily. He was sure that she had cast something on the boulder she was standing in front of to make it harder to break, so that was out – except…
Harry sidestepped her next spell. "Immobulus! Accio boulder! Stupefy!"
At first nothing happened and Harry frowned in disappointment, but then the boulder seemed to shift slightly. Harry stepped away from Nina's next volley of spells and focused his attention on the boulder.
"Accio boulder!"
48-48-48
"What's he doing?" Daphne frowned down at Harry who didn't seem to be focussing on his duel. He was still dodging and deflecting Viserova's spells, but he didn't seem to be returning fire. It was almost as though he was preparing for something big.
"Is that rock moving?!" Neville exclaimed suddenly. "Are you kidding me?!"
Daphne's mouth dropped open as the boulder behind Viserova suddenly jerked forward, knocking the Bulgarian champion off her feet.
"That's impossible!" Draco protested. "It must have weighed several tons."
"At least." Neville agreed, sounding just as shocked.
They watched as Viserova pushed herself to her feet, before collapsing again when Harry took advantage of her distraction to hit her with a red spell.
"Yes!" Neville exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air as the horn was blown for the fifth time. "Go Harry!"
Daphne smiled proudly as Harry watched Viserova's unconscious body be summoned out of the arena, before turning to bow to the judges who were seated together at the end of the arena.
Harry had done it! He was the Triwizard Champion! He had…
She gasped as a large group of wizards in black cloaks suddenly appeared in the middle of the arena with a sharp crack. Was this part of the task?
"They're Death Eaters!" Draco exclaimed suddenly, surging to his feet.
Daphne whipped her head around to face her friend as the students around them started screaming in horror. "What?!"
"Voldemort's there too!" Draco told them, seemingly unaware of the panic he was causing around them. "He's going to kill Harry!"