"And THAT, ladies and gentle-wizards, concludes the semi-finals. The grand finale will be held exactly an hour from now—between Daphne Greengrass of Hogwarts and Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons. Till then, I shall tune out." Lee cheered from his commentary box.
Fleur shook her arms in satisfaction, the tiredness of the duel getting to her. She walked down the battleground and slowly treaded towards Daphne, who was sitting on a chair. As she walked past, she passed a single note to her.
"Your time and luck has run out. Get ready to be defeated."
The hour was over. The finalists were ready. The stage was set. The spectators were cheering. The grand finale between the two duelists was about to begin.
"And finally, the grand finale- the duel of duels—between our two finalists", Lee roared into the megaphone as the audience cheered madly, "on one end-our own Miss Daphne Greengrass representing Hogwarts", the students cheered, especially the Slytherins- "and on the other, Miss Fleur Delacour from Beauxbatons." The Beauxbatons contingent and their headmistress clapped wildly in response. "And now, the two finalists are going to have their final duel of the tournament-the winner will be awarded an amount of eight hundred galleons", lee stopped for a cheer to erupt out suddenly, "and of course, the two finalists are going to get sponsorships from the International Organization of Duelists."
Flitwick stood in the middle, wearing the traditional white robes of a referee. "I hope you will abide by the rules and duel each other fairly. Champions, bow to each other." Fleur gave Daphne a mocking bow, while Daphne jerked her head faintly.
"You are just fourteen, and that too injured... I feel pity for you, little girl." Fleur mocked with fake sadness.
"My victory will feel sweeter when I defeat you even while injured." Daphne countered back with an overblown expression of fake sweetness, much to Fleur's ire.
"Once I show you your place, Harry will understand what he loses by avoiding me..." Fleur countered.
"An extremely haughty Veela perhaps?" Daphne quipped.
"THREE, TWO, ONE..." The audience sucked their breaths in. "DUEL!"
"BOMBARDA MAXIMA!"
Both witches yelled out the same spell, as the two opposing flashes of pale crimson shot out from either wand, colliding with the other midway in a resonating explosion. The audience cheered—the entertainment had begun.
Harry sat alongside Tracy and the rest, looking anxiously at Daphne dueling Fleur on the stage. While he was quite confident in her skills, her injury was a cause of concern. He had always forced her to follow the principle of 'movement over shielding', something that would not work in this case. For one, fleur was a very graceful duelist; it was dead obvious to anyone with experience. The way she moved her lithe body and weaved around the incoming spells—it was spectacular. Daphne had also been coming up quite well along the same lines, but the sudden injury in her abdomen was going to be a problem. His mind went back to the conversation they had—the previous night.
"Daph, there is no way you can go out and duel in this condition." Harry deadpanned.
Daphne looked up at him in shock, her eyes widened at what she was essentially thinking of him betraying her. "Not you too, everyone keeps telling me the same, but you... you taught me how to fight better all this year, and now, when it is time to prove myself-you—you want me to back down because of one little injury?"
"It is not a little injury as you are so fond of saying, Daphne." He snapped, ignoring her protests. "That curse could have killed you. Despite the shielding, the curse hit you and caused significant damage. Dueling tomorrow would tear the newly formed tissues."
"But what about Dela-"
"What about her?"
"I do not want to lose." She confessed. "All the school knows that you train me personally. I do not them to insinuate that it was all talk and no action. I want to prove myself by defeating-"
"You are in the finals. Is that not enough?" Harry pleaded. Daphne could see the tendrils of worry on his handsome face.
"Would it be for you, if you were in my place?"
No reply.
After a silent moment, Harry spoke again. "Your dueling is based on movement, so is hers. Due to your injury, your movement will be restricted. How do you think, you will win?"
Daphne kept silent, as she considered his words. He had said 'will win' and not 'can win'. It meant that on some level, he still thought that she could overpower Delacour.
"I can-I will think of something." She answered, more to herself than to him.
"I do not want to see you in pain." He whispered, leaving the room.
Harry looked at the two duelists, firing overpowered blasting curses at each other, giving a grand start to what seemed to be an interesting duel. He just hoped that Daphne would be fine.
"She will be fine, Harry." He glanced to his side to find Tracy looking at the dueling stage. Her easy-going expression had vanished, leaving an expressionless face. "I know, she will."
"How are you so sure?"
Tracy turned towards him. "Because she would die before losing. Losing to Delacour, it will defeat her at many levels—more than you can possibly understand."
"Try me."
Tracy sighed. "It is a girl thing, Potter. You have not seen her when she used to talk about you when you were all scary to her. She thought that at some point of time, you might truly kill her." Harry chuckled at that, much to her exasperation, but she continued. "Then, when you began teaching her-you did not see the expression she had—she would almost bounce in the room and wax poetic about your abilities. She told me how she went to every session, expecting warm words of encouragement and appreciation, but all she got was more insults, and open-mocking; and she would not have it any other way."
Harry's expression went solemn. "It was nece-" he began, but Tracy rose her palm. "I know. I am not all flirty-and-auburn-hair you know. I understand you did what you felt right, and I can tell you, that despite the hardships, Daphne loved it." She paused. "She was downright Hufflepuff about you."
Harry chuckled again.
"I do not know how much you see, but to her- your teaching means a lot. Already Delacour has you inside a betrothal, and then she has been constantly belittling Daphne ever since the tournament began. In addition, the fact that Ron Weasley of all people grievously injured her has not helped matters. She thinks that if she lost it today, it would mean your defeat, and my best friend is too Hufflepuff to allow that." Tracy chuckled.
"You have her responses correct to a tee." Harry observed.
"We have been friends since we were three. What else do you expect?"
Harry just smiled.
The rocky terrain was a solid arena for a duel finale. It was good both for defense—the rock boulders shielded against the strongest of curses and offense- the ways of using the rocks and pebbles offensively were limitless. Daphne was glad that the terrain was rocky- summoning rocks was a good alternative to dodging, and right now—she could not use the latter. She summoned the rocks in front of her to hinder off the Veela's oncoming barrage, and the large pebbles were a good offense against the Veela's fireballs too.
"Contego forte!" she whispered as a dome shield appeared before her, negating the powerful severing hex that the other girl had fired at her. Eight minutes were over, and Delacour had been the dominant one since the beginning of the duel.
Clearly, she is taking advantage of my injury.
She saw Delacour power up an extensive spell chain and hurl them rapidly at her. She summoned more rocks to deflect the incoming hexes but a powerful banisher sent her out of control, as she dropped to the ground.
Fleur was having the time of her life. This girl-Daphne Greengrass symbolized the things she hated with passion. Perfect pureblood heritage, proper representation in society, and importantly, the girl had her claws into the one person Fleur desired. Ever since the tournament had begun, she wanted to show this... putain... her rightful place. Finally, the opportunity had come to her, and what better than the finale event for belittling the girl? It was a shame that the girl was injured, but merlin forbid if she got something like fairness in the middle of a duel. This was a duel and winning mattered—if the girl wanted sympathy, she should not have agreed to fight in the first place.
"Effligo! Incendio prima! Concido!" she shot out there powerful spells in succession, only to be angered as the girl shielded herself effectively using the rocks. Fleur whipped her wand and cast a wind attack, but the girl shielded from them effectively, throwing up rocks in offense at her.
Clearly, she is stalling. She has yet to do any attack. So far, she has only summoned rocks and deflected my attacks. Nothing else.
Then it came to her. Greengrass was not moving—it meant that the injury must have cost her more than what it seemed. She focused on the girl's stance again. Her knees were slightly bent, allowing her a little amount of movement without severe pressure on the abdomen. Fleur smirked.
Time for the kill.
She whipped her wand in an elaborate arc, making sure to include some confusing spells inside the spell chain she was forming. Greengrass was not attacking, so there was all the time in the world. She concatenated several bludgeoning spells together along with splicing hexes—it would be funny to see the girl struggle with the spells together—and added a powerful banisher towards the end as she shot it towards the unsuspecting girl.
Just as she had expected, Greengrass summoned rocks and tried to do away with the hexes, but the bludgeoners did a nasty job on her shields, forcing her to buckle. The banisher took full advantage of the opportunity and blasted her rocky shield outward, causing her to lose her balance and fall on the ground.
"Aaaah!" the girl cried, holding her abdomen in pain. Even from the distance, Fleur could see the faint drops of fresh blood oozing out from the injured area. Clearly, the newly formed tissues were not that firm yet.
First blood to me.
Harry watched with widened eyes as Daphne fell on the ground, and let out a shriek clutching her abdomen. He shot up from his seat instantly, about to apparate to the stage when he found someone holding him back. Tracy had stopped him by clutching his hand tightly.
"You will not interfere." She warned.
"But Tracy..."
"You will not interfere", Tracy, countered imperiously. "You did not support her initially. The only reason she is fighting now is due to her relentlessness. I won't let you stop her again mid-battle."
"But-"
"No."
Harry sagged down back into his seat. It was a fight for him just as much as it was for her.
"Trust her, Harry." Tracy replied- her voice softened to a degree.
He nodded. "Get up Daph!"
Almost as if in response to his prayers, Daphne got back up. The pain in her abdomen seared, but she used her Occlumency to shove the pain away. Getting up somehow, she cast a quick Episkey on the injured tissue, hoping against hope that the spell would repair it back up. Fortunately, the pain seemed to lessen a bit, though a random spurts of pain continued to shoot up her spine every now and then.
Daphne stood straight and held her ground. Delacour had managed to bring her down, no doubt taking advantage of her injury. She looked at said girl to find her smirking back at her.
"So you still have some fight left in you, is it?"
Daphne did not give any reaction to the taunt. Delacour continued. "Last chance- surrender and things won't have to go messy, or should I say bloody."
"You wish." Daphne hissed back, increasing the other girl's ire. "Just surrender!" Delacour shrieked, as she whipped her wand to hurl several powerful curses at her. Daphne raised another shield to absorb the attacks. Fleur ran towards her, firing powerful curses and hexes. There was no way she could hold her ground if Fleur attacked up close.
This cannot go on forever. I have to do something... but what?
A random idea came to her. It was something she had never tried before, something from a half-remembered dream... An attack move, one that she could do without her movement hindering her. It was almost instinctive.
She whipped her wand outward to the heavens and forced her magic. The burning rocks and pebbles she was using as her defense shot up as a shower of fiery stones parallel to the tip of the wand, shooting upwards like a missile. With a fierce thrust of her wand, she bent the entire fleet towards Fleur who seemed surprised at the sudden attack, hastily rising a shield. The fiery pebbles barged over her shield, making Fleur step back due to the pressure. Daphne focused on the attack and sent a powerful banisher towards her opponent, pushing her back. Fleur sent a succession of fireballs, but a sudden blast from the pebbles broke through her attempts to attack. The banisher hit her hard, pushing her back.
Harry sat on the stands; his eyes filled with disbelief as he witnessed Daphne perform the one move he had seen performed many, many times in his previous world. The move, which had made many experienced fighters including him, confused, making them lose in the fight. The move that suddenly shifted from defense into an overwhelming offense- enough to destabilize the strongest of incoming spell chains.
"Raven..." he whispered, almost in reverence.
"Ignis Espadas!" Daphne yelled, as a powerful fiery arrow shot out of her wand, hitting straight on Fleur's shield, shattering it to pieces, much to the older witch's shock.
"Expelliarmus! Reducto!" The combination of the blasting curse and disarming charm threw the older witch backwards, losing her wand as she dropped down on the ground with a thud.
"AND DAPHNE GREENGRASS WINS THE DUELING TOURNAMENT!" Lee roared into his megaphone, as the crowds lost all signs of stability and cheered in her victory. Daphne slowly felt her legs give out, and just as she was about to fall, a strong pair of hands held her back. It was Harry.
"I won...," she whispered.
"You won." He whispered back.
The aftermath of the dueling contest was not as fun as the contest was. Fleur Delacour was seen stomping back into her tent, while the sponsors had barged in, surrounding Daphne from all sides. At the end of the next thirty minutes, Daphne had to herself, an assortment of various parchments, letters and cards to her. Then there were the bouquets from her friends and other spectators, a cheering hug from her sister and Tracy, and of course, the proud smile on the face of her parents and ultimately, the way her boyfriend was looking at her- it was so endearing. For the first time, life seemed perfect.
"So", Tracy was saying, "direct entry into the main dueling championship, avoiding the elimination rounds. This deserves a real treat, Daph!" she chortled, much to Daphne's exasperation. Her fingers were tightly holding her boyfriend's hands, as she sat up next to him.
"What's next?" she asked.
"Next is- you receiving the imminent chastising from our most illustrious Madam Pomfrey." Harry spoke out in a ringing voice. Daphne frowned as Tracy giggled at his antics. She just held him close. "I am happy I won."
"I am happy for you too, Daph." He promised.
Fleur Delacour paced angrily on the carpet inside her room in the carriage. That... that imbecile girl somehow had the better of her! Her! Fleur Delacour! International dueling champion! It was downright insulting. She was sure that right now, she was the laughing stock of the students—how the great Triwizard champion got defeated by a fourth-year- an injured fourth-year.
It was simply outrageous.
"Fleur?"
Said girl instantly turned towards the doorway, staring into the deep eyes of her father. "Father!" she remarked, coldly.
"Still haven't forgiven me, it seems." Sebastian chuckled.
Fleur turned away, not willing to suffer the man's presence any longer. "What do you want?"
"My precious flower, daughters don't behave like that with their fathers."
"Fathers don't bind their daughter's will forcefully, either." She snapped.
Sebastian narrowed his eyes. Whipping his wand and casting a powerful privacy ward all around, "You should know better than speak about such things in public." He hissed uncharacteristically.
"Or what? You will force me into another-"
"QUIET!" Sebastian hissed. "You know why I did what I did. It's about our-"
"Enough!" Fleur shouted, "Just get out. I will do as you said, I will solve your problem for once and for all, and then- do not face me. Ever."
"Fleur, my baby, I-" Sebastian tried. "Please try to understand." He pleaded.
"NO!" Fleur yelled, her eyes brimming with tears. "I thought you were the best father ever. I thought you- and you made me this. You made me the person I hated most- A Veela who steals other's mates."
"Is this about the Greengrass girl? She can be persuaded-" Sebastian tried. "Potter is in the contract, he has to marry you, and you will become his wife."
"YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND!" she raged. "He loves her. I have seen it. I thought I would defeat her, and show Harry that I am better, but even that chance is gone. You have made me something I despised being the most." She paused. "I hope there is an empty slot in Hell, Papa, for you can be sure you are going there."
Sebastian stood silent. "I suppose I cannot change your mind, then."
Fleur glared defiantly.
"Then I suppose we have nothing to say to each other. Your mother sends her regards." He replied coldly, before turning around and walking away. Fleur watched him leave, and with a humongous force, she shut the door loudly as she fell upon her bed, crying her heart out.
Sebastian growled as he entered the school Hospital wing, knowing that Harry Potter would be there with that Greengrass girl. He opened the door with a rough push, and stood inside, ignoring the filthy look from the school matron.
"Mister Potter, May I have a few minutes?" he asked, keeping his voice as neutral as possible.
Harry glanced at his ailing girlfriend, who was still in bed. She nodded subtly, as he stood up. "Sure."
"I need to have a private... discussion with you, Mister Potter." He muttered, "But this is not the place for it."
"Very well." Harry nodded, as he walked out of the Hospital wing towards one of the unused classrooms. Sebastian followed him back, swiftly. Entering one of the unused classrooms, Harry cast a powerful privacy ward and stared at the man who had been a troublesome entity in both of his lifetimes.
"What do you want?" he sneered, not even keeping up modest expressions. For some reason, Sebastian Delacour always brought out the worst in him.
Sebastian looked at the young man imposingly, trying to intimidate him. "You are not spending any time with your betrothed. You are not abiding by the rules of the contract. You insulted my daughter in presence of the whole school. I hope you have not forgotten about our deal..."
"Your threats, you mean?" Harry pointed out, keeping a suddenly casual demeanor.
"Don't try to be over smart with me, Potter. I own you with that contract. You will marry my daughter and-"
"My first son from your daughter will be the Lord Slytherin, yes I know", Harry snapped, "Get to the point."
"Then why aren't you-" Sebastian raged, but found nothing audible coming out of his lips.
"You seem to be harboring an illusion that you", Harry paused, "what was it that you said? Yes, own me..." His eyes suddenly turned as cold as his voice. "I know the terms of the contract very well, Delacour. I will marry your daughter when the time is appropriate, as is given in the contract. Until then, your daughter is free game. Tell her not to interfere between my love life and me. She has gotten a taste of what you one gets when trying to control Harry Potter."
Sebastian glared angrily. "Let me remind you that your godfather-"
"Is out of your clutches."
"What?"
Harry smirked. "You didn't think I will let you keep the upper hand always, did you?"
Sebastian glared. "Then I assume I just have to use my contacts to ensure that Peverell-"
"Do it, and then you will only wish that you didn't...," Harry hissed.
"I need to remind you who is in control of-" Sebastian began, but stopped midway at Harry's cold glare. He tried to lift his wand but for some reason, his entire body seemed to be petrified. He could have sworn that the boy did not have his wand in his hand. The young man walked close up to him, so much that they were just inches apart. "Tell me, Sebastian", Harry whispered. "Do you feel in control?"
"You- you cannot-" the elder man perspired heavily, as he felt the aura of the mage close up front. It was cold and intimidating.
"I can-and trust me Delacour—the only reason you got the better of me then was because of my ignorance. Now," he paused, "the tables have turned. You might have stuck me in a betrothal, but that also means that you and your family can do nothing to harm me. Nothing. You try anything, and I break the contract. Now bugger off! OUT!" he hissed.
"This is not over." The elder man snarled.
"Of course not. You are still alive, after all." Harry snorted.
Sebastian looked outraged. "You will meet the same sticky end as your parents." He hissed. "I have heard they were meddlesome fools too."
Harry chuckled. "You know, Lucius Malfoy spoke these exact same words to me, right before his own elf kicked his arse."
Sebastian looked furious, as he turned back, darting away from the school compound. Harry returned to his girlfriend's side, sliding his hand into hers.
"Everything all right?" Daphne asked. Harry grinned. "Perfectly."
### AN : I suppose there were some revelations right there, regardless of it being a short chapter. As always, follow, favorite and review...
