Harry
Over the last few weeks of September and for practically the entire first two weeks of October, all of the conversation in the school had been on the dueling tournament that would at last be taking place today. Ever since Dumbledore had announced the tournament back in the second week of classes Harry had made it his personal mission to make sure that he would be more prepared than every other first year by the time the tournament came around. And he had to say that so far he thought his mission had been going quite well, although it had started off to a slow start.
During the first few days of classes Harry went into his classes expecting that no one there would have read as much or studied as much as he had over the summer. He was quickly proven wrong. Not only had a few of the students read just as much as him it seemed, a few of them had also read ahead a lot more than he had.
Daphne, who had been sorted into Slytherin, while she did not go out of her way to try and make him look bad during the first few weeks of class, had honestly made him sound and look like a muggle with her performance in their classes. Harry knew from basically seeing her almost at least once every month growing up that Daphne was smart and would give him a run for his money in the classroom. However, he did not expect her to be so far ahead of him right from the start. He guessed that maybe she hadn't been sharing everything that she had been reading in the Black family library. Luckily for him though, after about the third week of classes Daphne shifted her focus off from making him look bad and had started a house rivalry with another Slytherin named Marik Ose. The two of them seemed to be in a fierce competition to be known as the top student in the Slytherin house.
Marik Ose had been the boy in the boat with Harry at the start of the term. Although Harry had never actually said anything to Marik, he had pinned Marik, along with Daphne, as his personal competition and rivals after the first few weeks of classes. Marik and Daphne were in almost all of his classes outside of astronomy and herbology, and in every class the two Slytherins seemed to excel in. Marik had even managed to get house points from McGonagall and Snape in the same day, a feat that from what was being said around Hogwarts did not happen often.
Harry had come into this year at Hogwarts embarrassingly with a bit of an ego. He had assumed he would be the best, it would be easy, and he would not have to work much harder than he had in the years before coming to Hogwarts. All it took was the first two weeks of Daphne making him look like a fool, and Marik out-working, out-studying, and out-performing him in their classes before Harry was humbled. Since then Harry had made it his vendetta to kick his studying and research into a higher level and make sure that by the end of the term he was the best in his year.
Since then his class performance and overall feelings had begun to improve greatly. Not only had he been able to answer a few questions quicker and better than Daphne, he had also managed in transfiguration class to turn his mouse into a needle quicker than even Marik had been able too, although only by about five seconds. Outside of the classroom however, things had not been going as smoothly as Harry had hoped.
To be honest, outside of Neville, Harry did not really have anyone that he had become friends with yet at Hogwarts. Even Neville really wasn't his friend. The two of them had only exchanged a few short conversations since the Express ride to Hogwarts. For the most part Harry was okay with it though. After all not having to take time to talk to friends meant he had more time to study and do research.
Outside of Neville Harry's social life at Hogwarts had been about as poor as he had expected it to be. Most of the other Gryffindors were more interested in Quidditch, chess, and pulling pranks. All of which he had zero interest in.
The worst part about his house though, was that everyone in it wanted to be friends with the famous Harry Potter and not the real Harry. A fellow Gryffindor boy named Ron one day had asked if he could sit with Harry in the common room and study together, but after just a few minutes of Ron asking questions that made absolutely no sense, copying all of Harry's notes, and repeatedly asking about the night he had been attacked Harry had got up and left.
Apparently Ron found this upsetting and had attempted to cast a spell at Harry as he left the table. Unfortunately for Ron Professor McGonagall had chosen that exact moment to check in on her house and had deducted twenty points from Gryffindor, given Ron a week of detentions, and made him write seventeen inches on proper wand movements for stunning spells before Ron could even get a word in. Since then Ron and a lot of the other Gryffindor's had excluded Harry from their groups and conversations, because apparently it was his fault for them losing points. Even with the house turmoil, drama, and rocky start to the school year though all in all Harry was still enjoying his time at Hogwarts and was doing his best to not let any of it get in his way of becoming the top first year.
Looking up at the clock on the wall above his table in the library Harry figured it was just about time to make his way down to the Great Hall for the dueling tournament. Overall he was feeling quite confident going into the tournament today. Since it had been announced he had pretty much lived inside of his charms and transfiguration books. After his classes finished each day he would spend the first few hours in the library researching new spells and would then spend the later hours in the afternoon in a practice room. Luckily classes had been cancelled today because of the tournament so he had taken advantage of the free morning to get some last minute research in.
He had spent the past few days adding to the research he had done on transfiguring spells. He figured since all of the first years had shield spells in their dark arts book that most would look to defend with a shield. He learned the shield spell first as a backup plan but he had been mainly working on using transfiguring spells as both his main offensive and defensive approach for the tourney. Since transfiguring spells was not taught until the end of second year he figured he would be able to catch everyone by surprise with it.
Unfortunately Professor McGonagall had not been lying to them during their first day of class when she said that transfiguration was one of the hardest subjects to master. So far he could consistently turn spells into smoke, but turning a spell into another spell of his choice had proven to be harder than he had hoped. The only spell that he had managed to be able to send back from a transfigured spell had been the expelliarmus spell. A spell he figured that almost every first year knew how to defend against. Still, even though the expelliarmus spell was an easier one he was hoping the act of transfiguring a spell in a duel would be enough to throw his opponents off guard.
Getting up from his desk in the library he put the books back onto the shelves and made his way out of the library and towards the Great Hall. The halls of the castle were filled to the brim with students all caught up in excited chatter. Progress to the Great Hall was slow as it seemed every person inside the castle was making their way to the Hall at that moment.
The Great Hall itself had been completely transformed from the normal four tabled dining Hall. Instead, all of the tables were removed and had been replaced by a single platform that stretched down the middle of the Hall. The platform was about as wide as two of the house tables put together, and about the same size in length. The teacher's table was still in the same spot to afford the professors the best view, and all of the students were sitting on bleachers that had been summoned along the sides of the Hall.
Harry had expected that he would be nervous coming into the tournament, especially since every student of Hogwarts would be watching him duel. However that nervousness from the students watching was nothing compared to the nervousness he felt when he found out that his performance in the tournament would play a role in the ability portion of his grade in his classes. As soon as he had heard that he couldn't have cared less about all of the students watching.
After waiting for the large group of Ravenclaws ahead of him to make their way into the Hall, Harry looked for a seat in the front row so he could get a good view of the dueling platform and be able to take notes on the competition. After receiving a glare from a group of first year Gryffindors with none other than Ron at their center he decided the other side of the Hall might be a little better. After avoiding the usual stares that all of the students gave him, he found a seat next to a group of second year Hufflepuffs in the first row that were too busy talking amongst each other to give him any notice.
The students continued to file into the Great Hall and with them the loud chatter and gossip of people betting who would win for each year grew louder. Ron's brothers Fred and George, who were third year Gryffindors, had been walking around taking people's bets on each year's victor. Harry was surprised that the teachers were not yelling at them or stopping them but instead were just smiling and Dumbledore was even giggling at the two boys as they made their way around the stands. Apparently not many of the upper years cared about the lower years by the bets that he heard, most were looking forward to the sixth and seventh year duels. He couldn't really blame them; honestly he was just as excited to get to witness upper level magic as he was excited to win the tournament.
Fred and George seemed to have taken all of the bets being offered as the last few students made their way into the Hall. Apparently a seventh year named Regulus Montpellier was the favorite to win the seventh year tournament by the number of times Harry had heard people place their bets on him. As the last students got their seats in the nosebleed section of the stands the chatter in the Great Hall ceased and Dumbledore made his way to the podium.
"Welcome all to this year's dueling tournament being held in honor of our very own Professor Flitwick being named the Dueling Master of Europe for the eleventh straight year. Let us first before we begin give him a well-earned round of applause." The stands erupted with a large round of applause especially from all of the Ravenclaw students. The small professor rose from his chair behind the table and gave a bow to everyone in the Great Hall.
From what his parents had told him Harry knew that Professor Flitwick had not only won the Dueling Master's Championship more than a few times, but that each year he had completely dominated it. His father had told him that there were only a few people in the world who could have a chance to beat him and they were all either dead, in prison, or Dumbledore. Harry wondered why Dumbledore never participated in the tourney.
"Before we begin I would like to go over the rules for the tournament. First you were all given the prohibited types of magic and spell lists for your year by your Head of Houses, if any prohibited spells are used today not only will you forfeit your spot in the tournament, but you may very well find yourself on the Express back home. The tournament will be divided by year level and in each level the tournament will follow a bracket style of randomly chosen matches until only a single student remains.
"Rounds will have a time limit of five minutes each and any duels lasting longer than that will be ruled as a draw with no winner. As you were told before by your professors your performance, abilities shown, and spell usage in today's tournament will play a factor in your overall ability grade by your professors at the end of the term," Dumbledore said to the crowd of students. Although all of the students had known this for some time any mention of the end of year grades sent a panic through the mass of students, Harry included.
"As well as this. . ." Dumbledore continued, waiting for the chatter to die down again. "The winner of each year will represent Hogwarts in the newly created EMSDC, or European Magic Students Dueling Championship." At the mention of this Harry along with the rest of the students full attention was on Dumbledore and this newly mentioned dueling championship. "The EMSDC has been a collaboration of the ministers of magic from England, Germany, and France as a way to bring a healthy competition between the schools, along with a way to push all students of magic to become the best that they can. If you win in today's tournament you will represent your year and your school as you go up against the winners of both Durmstrang Institute and Beauxbatons Academy in the upcoming summer. The winner of that tournament not only receives recognition as the Student Dueling Champion of Europe for their year, but also will receive prize money."
If anyone in the Great Hall had not been drooling before they certainly were now. Harry couldn't believe it! If he had been anxious or nervous before it was nothing compared to how he felt now. If he won today not only would he help his grades out, be known by all of the of the students of Hogwarts as the best dueler in his year, but he would also have the chance of being recognized by all of Europe as the best dueler in his year. He had to win. Harry's mind at the prospect of thinking how big winning the tournament truly was now immediately went to what the Sorting Hat had said to him the night of the Sorting ceremony.
You do not like that you were given fame and glory, yet you still seek fame and glory. You are already a legend but you wish to make your legend on your own I can see.
The Hat, he realized now, had pretty much hit the nail on the head. He hated that people knew him, recognized him, and considered him famous for something that he really didn't even do. They all say he defeated the dark lord but really he was just a baby who probably didn't do anything but cry. At home his fame was never an issue because his parents treated him normal and like any other kid, but at Hogwarts people like Ron treated him as if he were a spoiled brat that was only any good because the teachers favored him because he was 'famous'. Neville had even told him one time that he had heard a group of Slytherin students say that Harry didn't have to turn in assignments to McGonagall because he was 'the boy who lived'.
While this was all obviously untrue, it infuriated him more than anything else. Harry had grown up reading stories of people becoming great heroes like in The Tales of Merlin and even some of his mother's favorite muggle books like the Lord of the Rings. He had grown up before his parents had told him the story of that night wanting to become a great and powerful wizard like Merlin had. He wanted to go on an adventure to become a hero of legend like Bilbo, Frodo, and Sam had. Harry simply wanted to be the best and create a legend of his own, not be the boy who lived.
The reason he studied so much, read books constantly, and practiced so hard was with all this in mind. He wanted to begin in the creation of his own legend. This tournament was the perfect place to start to show people that he was in fact not just the boy who lived, but instead an intelligent, hard-working, powerful wizard. To do that though, he would have to out duel all of the other first years. Dumbledore started to continue waking him and the other students from their dazes and daydreams.
"Now it is time to let the tournament begin!" Dumbledore said and the crowd of students erupted into applause. "We will begin with the first years." Dumbledore flicked his wand and immediately above him colorful lines of magic formed a tournament bracket much like the ones shown in the daily prophet during the Quidditch World Cup tournaments. The inside lines of the bracket were blank but the top two lines on the outside slowly begin to have names written onto them. Harry sighed in relief as he saw that his name was not one of the ones listed first.
"Neville Longbottom and Cho Chang please make your way onto the dueling platform!" Dumbledore announced and the two students made their way onto the dueling platform. Neville looked paler than nearly-headless Nick. His hands were shaking so much Harry thought for sure Neville was going to drop his wand. In the few short conversations and class demonstrations that Harry had with Neville if he had been a betting man, like the rest of the students here, he would not be putting his money on Neville in this one.
He had never seen the Cho Chang girl before but just based off of appearances she looked a lot more confident than Neville did. The two opponents, now on the stage, made their way towards the center, bowed, and made their way back to their opposite sides. Neville earned some snickers from the crowd when he tripped ungracefully over his own foot on his way back to his side of the dueling platform.
"I will count to three and on three your duel will begin," Dumbledore announced to the two students. "One. . . Two. . . Three!" Dumbledore shouted.
"Windumgusto!" Cho shouted before Neville even opened his mouth. Immediately a large gust of wind shot from Cho's wand and hit Neville square in the chest sending him flying backwards off the stage hard onto the ground of the Hall.
Well that was quick. He thought to himself as the crowd erupted into cheers for Cho, especially from the Hufflepuff section. The spell she had used was a spell that although was not taught in the first year Harry remembered seeing it in one of his common spell books. It was a smart tactic to use and he would have to remember that one. Most of the strategies he had been thinking of had been based on disarming or incapacitating his opponent, it had not crossed his mind to simply force them off the stage.
As Cho made her way back to her section in the stands and a group of Gryffindors helped Neville up and back to his seat the next two names formed themselves on the bracket. The next two opponents would be Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy. Harry had no idea who the Draco boy was but he did recognize the Hermione girl from the boat ride and Sorting ceremony their first day. Just like the first duel he didn't have much info on how good either one of these two were. Even though Draco was a Slytherin and he had classes with the Slytherins, outside of Daphne and Marik he did not really pay much attention to anyone else.
The crowd got quiet again as the two new opponents walked on the dueling platform and made their way towards the middle. Draco said something to the Hermione girl when they were in the middle that drew some murmurs from the people sitting near the middle of the platform; however the Hermione girl kept a focused look on her face as she bowed and made her way back to her side. As the two faced each other he could already tell that this duel looked like it might be better than the last one. The Hermione girl on her side looked focused and confident, and Draco on his side looked quite smug and had a creepy grin on his face. The two raised their wands ready for the duel to begin.
"One… Two… Three!" Dumbledore shouted again and the duel got started.
"Rictusempra!" Draco shouted the tickling charm. The spell that would result in the person it hit being sent flying and then feeling like they were being tickled when they landed. The Hermione girl took a strange tactic when the duel started. Instead of trying to cast an offensive spell she simply went to a crouched position and right when Draco cast the spell and summoned a shield.
"Protego!" Hermione used the shield spell and a bright silver shield of light formed in front of her. She seemed to take aim with it and when the spell hit the shield it deflected right back at Draco. Harry watched as the spell missed Draco and went right over his head. Draco got a smug look on his head and turned his head around to watch the spell go past his head, which was a mistake on his part. As soon as his head turned he was immediately met by a disarming spell to the face.
"Expelliarmus!" Hermione shouted the spell before Draco could even realize what was happening. His wand made its way to Hermione's hands as Draco's body went flying backwards from the impact of the spell.
"Hermione Granger is the Winner!" Dumbledore shouted from the podium and the Hall erupted into applause led by the Ravenclaw section.
This was exactly why he had wanted to sit in the front row and get a good seat to watch the tournament. Already he had seen two good strategies used. Hermione had played Draco for a fool. She had aimed that spell high on purpose to distract him. By starting with a defensive spell Harry couldn't blame Draco for thinking he had the offensive advantage. It was a smart and sly strategy. So far both Cho and Hermione looked to be tough opponents, especially since both had won using less than three spells each. As amazing as the two duels had been Harry hoped the next duel would last a bit longer than five seconds though so he could see some more of what he might be up against.
Draco seemed to be throwing a tantrum as he got up from the floor and left the Great Hall dramatically after his defeat with a loud flurry of excuses. Harry watched the Hermione girl make her way back to where she had been sitting. He noticed that she sat down and hugged the boy he had pinned as his rival, Marik Ose. The two of them exchanged conversations it looked like over the duel that Hermione had just won, and apparently Marik had found something about it funny. As Harry watched the two of them the next two names began writing themselves.
"Ronald Weasley will go up against Marik Ose!" Dumbledore announced the next two opponents. Harry couldn't help but smile at the names announced. Harry shared almost all of his classes with the two people just announced. While he called Marik his rival he didn't actually dislike or hate him, he just saw him as one of his biggest competitions in his year. Ron on the other hand, Harry did not like.
From what he had seen in their charms and dark arts classes Ron had about the same magical prowess as a teacup and Marik. . . well Marik was pretty good. The two of them like the others before them made their way to the center of the stage as the others had done before them.
Much like Draco, Ron was walking with an attempted swagger and a large smug grin on his face. Marik on the other hand looked calm and like this was just another normal day in class.
Harry heard Ron's brothers from across the Hall placing a bet against Ron, which again caused Harry to smile. Ron and Marik bowed and made their way back to their sides. Harry leaned over to make sure he got a good view of this one.
"One… Two… Three!" Dumbledore shouted!
"Expelliarmus!" Marik shouted as soon as the duel started. Ron tried to get a spell out, but before he could say anything the spell had hit him sending him flying across the Hall and his wand flying into Marik's hand. Marik was already heading back to his seat before Ron even landed on the ground. The Slytherins in the Hall started the applause following the victory and all the other houses outside of Gryffindor followed shortly. Harry couldn't help but applaud Marik for giving Ron what he deserved.
Another quick and interesting duel. Although the disarming spell was a good display of how quick, accurate, and good Marik was, unfortunately just like the other duels it was not long enough to really give him any ideas of what everyone else was capable of.
Harry watched Marik this time sit down next to the Granger girl and receive a hug as a reward for his victory, for some reason he couldn't help but feel a sting of jealousy at the sight. However, that feeling went away quickly as Dumbledore announced the next two opponents.
"Harry Potter will go up against Padma Patil!" The stands got quiet as his name was announced, just as it had when McGonagall announced his name during the Sorting ceremony. All eyes were on him. It was his time to shine. With one last internal sigh he shook of the nervous feelings lingering in his head, stood up, and made his way to the dueling platform.
He had never seen the girl that he would be facing before. From the blue and bronze on her dueling robes he could assume she was in Ravenclaw though. As he made his way up the steps on his side of the stage his mind began racing with what strategy he wanted to use. Most of the people that had won before him seemed to be holding back somewhat. He highly doubted that each of the spells they had used had been the toughest they knew. When he won the first round he did not want to go into the second round not knowing any of his opponents' tricks and them knowing all of his. He probably shouldn't use any of the transfiguration spells he had been working on yet, that would be his secret weapon for later.
He approached the girl at the center of the stage and gave her the ceremonial bow before turning back and heading to his side. His father had told him one time when he was young and they were talking about the different houses of Hogwarts, that the only person he met that read more than a Ravenclaw was his mother. Ravenclaw students were well known for being bookworms; which honestly made it a surprise when the Hat announced he would be a Gryffindor. So because she was a Ravenclaw she most likely had read a lot of the spell books that first years had, so he could not underestimate her. He did not want to overestimate her either and use all his good spells. He would just go with the flow. He gripped his wand tight as he readied himself and Dumbledore began.
"One… Two… Three!" Dumbledore shouted!
"Tarantallegra!" Harry cast the dancing charm at Padma hoping the impact would knock her off the stage, and if not at least incapacitate her long enough to get her wand from her. However just as he finished launching his spell Padma had just finished sending one of her own his way.
"Petrificus totalus!" Padma shouted at him and sent the body binding spell his way.
"Protego!" He cast the shield spell without even thinking and the spell rebounded and headed back at Padma. His first spell had apparently missed or been banished by the girl as she was quickly throwing up another shield spell to banish her reflected spell that was heading back at her. Quickly thinking Harry came up with his next approach.
"Accio Padma's shoes!" He sent the summoning spell at Padma who after banishing her reflecting spell look confused for a moment at what Harry was trying to do. This was his chance. Catching her off guard for a second while Padma was just about to use the counter spell to his accio he moved in for the final strike.
"Expelliarmus!" Although she kept her shoes on, the second of distraction resulted in his spell striking Padma directly in the chest and sent her flying across the stage. Harry grabbed her wand out of the air and allowed himself a brief smile as he won the duel. After a few seconds the crowd erupted in cheers. After giving her wand back to Padma, Harry made his way back to his seat.
Padma had ended up being tougher than he had expected but he had won! Although he knew the tournament was far from over he couldn't help but feel happy after his first win. It felt good to show everyone there that he was good at magic. As the next two names formed Harry replayed the duel in his head over the next few minutes going over the mistakes he made and what he had to make sure did not happen in the next duel.
As the rest of the first round continued for the most part no one else really stood out as that impressive outside of Daphne, who Harry thought unfortunately for him had the most dominate first round out of anyone. She managed to hit a boy named Crabbe with a confundus charm that had Crabbe so confused he cast an expelliarmus spell on himself. The confundus was a spell that wasn't even in their first year spell books.
The last duel of the first round for the first years was a close one between Blaise Zabini and Katie Bell. Katie just barely managed to win with an expelliarmus that barely hit Blaise in the leg. After the last duel of the first round Dumbledore asked for a round of applause for the winners of the first round. As the applause began to die down the first names for the second round appeared on the bracket.
"Daphne Black will be up against Marik Ose!" Dumbledore announced. Immediately Harry could hear chatter throughout the Hall from the first years. Harry could not hide showing a little bit of excitement and anxious feelings at this matchup as well. All of the first year Gryffindors and Slytherins who had classes together knew that Marik and Daphne did not like each other very much.
Harry was not necessarily sure if something had happened or if it was just simply them both trying to prove they were the top Slytherin in their year. Whatever it was in almost every class whenever Daphne did a spell Marik had to do two spells, or whenever Marik answered a question Daphne had a better answer lined up. Looking around the Hall he could see all of the Slytherin students whispering as the two opponents made their way up onto the stage.
Daphne had her usual cold stone mask on while Marik again looked calm and collected. Harry was sure this was the best matchup so far today and was excited to see who brought out the big guns first. Harry guessed since Sirius was technically family and therefore Daphne was technically his cousin that he would root for her but honestly he did not care who won, he just wanted to see some good magic. At the center of the stage Marik bowed to Daphne who sort of bent over a little before making her way back to her side of the dueling stage. Dumbledore again got ready to start the duel.
"One… Two… Three!" Dumbledore announced
"Petrificus tota. . !" Daphne shouted.
"Incarcerous!" Marik yelled. Daphne's spell never made it close to Marik as the spell that Harry had never heard of sent a flurry of ropes from Marik's wand towards Daphne. The ropes tied her up and bound her to the ground before she was able to even finish her spell. Harry and apparently the rest of the students were in awe. Not only had Marik cast some sort of spell that Harry had never seen or heard of, he had made it look easy. Daphne had dominated in her first round and here she was not even able to get a single spell off. The crowd around him starting with Hermione and followed by the Slytherins began to cheer the victor.
Harry couldn't believe how good Marik was. Unfortunately it all happened so fast that Harry only heard part of what the spell sounded like and missed most of it. He knew that whatever the spell was, to be able to conjure ropes from out of seemingly nowhere and have the ability to control them all in one spell was something definitely not in their first year books. Making a mental note to research the spell later that night Harry's amazement at the last duel did not last long as the next names began to form.
"Hermione Granger will go up against Katie Bell!" Dumbledore announced to the students. This was going to be another good one. While Katie mainly used basic spells throughout her duel that the rest of the students had, she had shown to be really good at dodging spells during her duel with Blaise. Without even using a shield once she had managed to make three of his spells miss. The Hermione girl during her first duel had not used that many spells and the ones she did use were just as simple as any of the others. However, her use of a protego as a form of offensive strategy instead of a defensive strategy did make Harry think that Hermione was playing things smart. Both of the opponents bowed and were now ready to go.
"One… Two… Three!" Dumbledore announced.
"Expelliarmus!" Katie Bell shouted as she began moving on the stage. She was one of the few people so far that actually used movement to her advantage. Most first years so far could not concentrate on a spell whilst moving.
"Confundus, protego, stupefy!" Hermione sent off a chain of spells without ever stopping her wand movements. Each spells end wand movement had been the starting spot for the next, and she had been able to send three spells out in the time most people get one spell out. Not only that, but she had cast a stupefy spell. Harry knew from his Dad's short term as an auror was a spell used by aurors a lot to knockout their opponents. This was another spell that he knew was not in any first year books.
The first spell went wide right hitting where Katie had started the duel. The Protego was summoned right in time to deflect Katie's expelliarmus which headed right back at Katie. This time Katie instead of moving was forced to summon a shield which fortunately for her was right in time to banish her initial expelliarmus but unfortunately for her disappeared right as Hermione's stupefy hit her in the chest.
The collision immediately knocked Katie out and like a ragdoll and she collapsed to the floor with a thud.
Holy hippogriff was all Harry could think. That was two duels in a row where spells that he did not know how to cast had been used. Marik's had used one he had never even heard of and Hermione had just used a perfect spell chain that was almost impossible to avoid along with a spell that he imagined probably wasn't learned by first or second year students. He was definitely going to have to step up his game if he wanted to win this. Applause again erupted for the winner and as it died down again Harry saw his name being written on the next empty slot in the bracket. He readied himself.
"Harry Potter will go up against Cho Chang," Dumbledore announced.
Again as it had in the first round the crowd went silent for a moment before the Hufflepuff section erupted with cheers of Cho. As he made his way up to the stage for his second duel of the tournament he thought back to Cho's first duel. Cho had used the windumgusto spell against Neville to force him off the platform. He would have to keep an eye on that spell along with any others that may attempt to do the same.
He made his way to the center of the platform and bowed. As Cho bowed he suddenly had a random thought of a story that Remus told him of Sirius asking a girl on a date to some Yule Ball thing who said no and later cried when they were kissing on a date a few months later. After shaking the random thought from his head he made his way back thinking of what strategy he should go with. He did not know if he should go ahead and use his transfiguration spells during this duel. It was only the second round, but Cho had shown that she was more than capable.
He decided as he raised his wand that he would start with other spells again this time but if he had to he would go with his transfiguration spells.
"One… Two… Three!" Dumbledore shouted, announcing the start of the duel.
"Expelliarmus!" Cho yelled the levitation spell at Harry. Harry had decided to take a note from Hermione's duel. He would have to give her credit later.
"Aguamenti, protego!" Harry chained the two spells together. Just like Hermione had done the first spell's wand movement ended right where his protego spell needed to start. The first spell, like Hermione's spell had also done in her first duel, was meant to be just a distraction.
A jet of water shot forth from his wand at Cho who raised a shield up, which did protect her from getting wet, but also resulted in doing exactly what Harry had hoped it would. As the loud jet of water shot from his wand not only was Cho not able to hear him put up his shield, but the water hitting Cho's shield also made her blind to her own expelliarmus spell that Harry had reflected right back at her. Just as his water jet stopped and Cho's shield went down she was hit with her own disarming spell and her wand was sent flying towards Harry ending the duel.
Besides the few students on Cho's end of the platform that had gotten wet as a result of her deflecting his water jet, Harry laughed when he saw Ron was one of them; the rest of the students began to applaud. After returning Cho's wand Harry made his way back to his seat again feeling accomplished and happy at winning.
"Thank you for the great idea," he said with an unexpected confidence to the Hermione girl as he made his way past her back to his seat.
"You're welcome!" he heard her shout as he walked away from her and sat back down. He felt pretty good about that duel. He had only used spells that first years learned but had used them in a way that was smart enough to work, without revealing all of his tricks. Plus with that duel out of the way he was just two duels away from winning the tournament.
"Parvati Patil will face up against Pansy Parkinson!" Dumbledore announced. This duel did not interest Harry too much based on their respective performances in the first round, although he did make sure to pay attention and take notes in case he had to face one of them next round. The duel in the end was a pretty boring duel. Pansy and Parvati both just cast a simple offensive spell and then summoned a shield to deflect the others spell.
The match went on for about three minutes before finally Parvati got bold and used a petrificus totalus spell instead of summoning a shield. Luckily for her it hit Pansy right before Pansy's expelliarmus hit her. So that was it for the second round. In the semifinals it would be him, Marik, Hermione, and Parvati. Without any break Dumbledore began announcing the next duel.
"The first duel of the semi-finals will be between Marik Ose and… Parvati Patil!" Dumbledore announced and Harry felt a quick wave of disappointment come over him. He had been hoping to go against Marik this round. Although Marik had proven to be far better than even Harry had expected, Harry wanted to go against his rival already and show everyone he was the best. That meant though he would be going up against Hermione who had more than proved herself in the first two rounds to be a very strong opponent. Harry would not be able to use her own strategies against her this time to win. Marik and Parvati bowed and readied themselves as Dumbledore announced the start of the first duel of the semifinals.
"One. . . Two… Three!" Dumbledore announced.
"Expellia…" Parvati started.
"Confundus!" Marik had cast the spell so quick halfway through Parvati's opening spell just like he had done with Daphne. Parvati dropped her wand and began walking around the platform staring at the ceiling looking very confused. Marik just slowly walked over to the where her wand lay on the ground picked it up and just like that the duel was over. As the crowd erupted with applause Harry couldn't help but think that's about as good as he imagined the duel going for Parvati the way Marik had been performing so far. As Marik and Parvati made their way back to their seats Harry got mentally prepared for his duel Hermione.
"The last duel before the finals will be between Hermione Granger and Harry Potter!" This time as Dumbledore announced the pair of duelists there was no pause at the sound of Harry's name, only excited cheers from the crowd ready for another duel. Harry made his way around to his side of the platform ready to finally let loose and not hold anything back. He could not hold back against Hermione if he wanted to win.
"You better not try and copy me in this one!" Hermione said with a wink and a smile on her face as the two of them made their way to the middle of the dueling platform.
"I saw you taking notes during my last duel too you know, you better not copy me either!" he answered with a confident flirt that he was not sure where the bloody hell it came from. Too much time with Sirius he guessed.
After the bow no further conversation was had as both of them put on their serious faces and made their way to their respective sides. Harry was feeling a lot more confident going into this duel than he had been going into the first two. He knew exactly what spells he wanted to use and figured the semifinals was the time to start bringing them out.
"One…" Dumbledore began and Harry gripped his wand tight. "Two…" Dumbledore continued and he let out one last sigh of anxiousness "Three!" Dumbledore announced.
"Expelliarmus!" Hermione immediately cast the disarming spell towards him.
"Protego!" Harry quickly summoned the shield letting the Granger girl take the offensive. Not wanting to copy her strategy again or be predictable he reflected the spell right back at her.
"Stupefy!" Hermione sent the high-powered spell she had won the previous duel with right at him. While Harry did not know how to cast the spell or even that much about it he assumed it was too powerful to deflect with his level of a protego shield spell. It was time to bring out his big guns.
"Transmorgo!" He shouted the transfiguration spell at the oncoming stupefy spell. Imagining smoke in his head as his spell collided with Hermione's the two spells burst into a cloud of black smoke. Without hesitating knowing from his practice that he was only good enough at the spell to keep the smoke around for a few seconds he began moving forward.
"Confundus!" He heard Hermione yell from the other side of the smoke. Without a clear sight of him though the spell went far to the left of him, missing him by a mile. Ready to strike he broke into a run and began his next assault.
"Aguamenti!" He shouted the water spell out as he ran towards Hermione.
"Incendio!" Hermione shouted. Well he had not expected that. What normally was just a simple fire starter spell Hermione had managed to make more into a flamethrower spell. His jet of water was immediately turned to nothing but steam. Time to think on his feet. "Expelliarmus!" Hermione, after finishing with the water, quickly sent another spell his way.
"Protego!" The shield quickly appeared in front of him as he cast the spell. Thinking quickly the next spell popped into his head instinctively. Instead of reflecting the spell he decided to use it to his advantage. As soon as he banished the spell he rolled to his left. "Levicorpus!" Harry cast the spell that he remembered Sirius telling him about. He didn't wait to see if the spell hit her though. Without hesitation Harry rolled back to his right. "Tarantallegra!" He cast the spell and could not have hoped for better results.
Hermione had been able to easily deflect his levicorpus spell as he had expected her to. Hermione, luckily for him, had decided to be smart and send his own spell right back at him. Fortunately for him he had rolled to the right and her spell had been directed to where Harry had previously been standing. This mistake on Hermione's part gave him just enough time as well as an open shot for his tarantallegra spell to hit. Hermione was forced through the air about four feet back where her body instantly began uncontrollably dancing.
Harry felt guilty for the few seconds of uncontrollable dancing that Hermione was forced into due to his spell before she was released from it, especially after the glare she gave him as she made her way back to her seat. Harry could not help but let a smile creep on his face though at the realization that he was going to the finals. For a moment he even allowed himself to soak in the loud cheers that had emerged from the Gryffindor section. Even Ron's brothers Fred and George had come up to him and in between their laughter at a dancing Hermione and told him well done. He knew he would only be allowed to feel accomplished for a few short seconds though. It was the finals time.
Down the stands he saw his finals opponent Marik talking to Hermione who looked visibly upset that she had lost. He felt bad for her; she looked so sad and upset. He wanted to go say sorry, although he did not know really what to apologize for. However, before he could do that his attention was brought back to dueling as Dumbledore hushed the crowd.
"Will our two first year finalists please make their way to the dueling stage," Dumbledore announced. Harry left the Gryffindor crowd that had made their way up to him following his victory and made his way back to the stage. Harry's full focus was now back on dueling. He had made it this far, now it was time to win. Marik had proved that he was a worthy opponent and an excellent wizard beyond what Harry had expected. From what Marik had shown in his previous duels Harry would have to be prepared for an onslaught of spells that he might have never even heard of.
Unfortunately for Harry, his duel with Hermione had resulted in him using all of his known transfiguration spells that he had hoped would win him the tournament. He would have to be extra disciplined, and even craftier to win this duel. Making his way up his side of the dueling stage's stairs he noticed as Marik made his way up the side opposite that he still had the same casual grin on his face and appeared as if this upcoming finals duel would be just as easy as his others had been. Harry took that look as a challenge he would gladly accept. The two boys made their way to the center of the stage.
"Good luck Harry. You have put up quite a fun show to watch today," Marik said with a smile towards him.
"You too," Harry responded. Even with one of the biggest moments of his life about to take place if he had been taught one thing in life so far it was to respect magic. And Marik certainly had shown that he had quite a lot of magic. Marik nodded as the both of them bowed and made their ways back to their sides. Harry was confident. Even with what Marik had shown he had faith enough in his quick thinking to feel that he could win this duel.
"Before we begin the duel I want to congratulate the both of you on making it this far. You both have put on incredible performances of magic and should be proud. However, there can only be one winner. Are our two duelists ready?" Dumbledore asked with a sparkle in his eyes. Harry saw Mark nod from across the stage. Harry nodded too. "Well then it is time for the first year's final!" Dumbledore announced and the crowd erupted. Harry was surprised to hear the majority of the Gryffindor students chanting Potter. As he looked around even a few Hufflepuffs seemed to be joining in as well. Those who remained along with the Slytherin and Ravenclaw house were all chanting for Ose. Harry tightened his grip and began to focus; he did his best to put the crowd out of his head.
"Just as before, on three the duel will begin," Harry could feel his heart pounding.
"One. . ." Dumbledore announced.
"Two. . ." Dumbledore shouted.
"THREE!" Dumbledore yelled.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry shouted
"Confundus!" Marik shouted at the same time. The two spells collided in the center of the stage sending off a surge of magic. Harry had no time to waste though.
"Tarantallegra!" Harry sent the spell he had beat Hermione with towards Marik.
"Expelliarmus!" Marik had cast the spell just as Harry cast his.
"Transmorgo!" Harry took the opportunity to counter Marik's spell. His spell hit Marik's expelliarmus spell around the halfway mark of the platform and erupted into smoke. Harry started to make his next move.
"Deprimo!" Harry heard Marik cast the wind damaging spell from the other side of the smoke. The spell had two results. The first was that the wind rushing towards Harry brought with him all of the smoke that his transmorgo spell had caused. The second was that if that spell hit him much like Cho did to Neville it would force him off the stage. He had to put a shield up.
"Protego!" The shield formed in front of Harry as he cast the spell absorbing the now flurry of black smoked winds that hit it.
"Expelliarmus. . . Lumos maxima!" Harry heard Marik cast two more spells from somewhere on the other side of the flurry of smoke.
"Transmorgo!" The spell had been Harry's first extinct as soon as he heard Marik cast expelliarmus again. However as soon as he cast it he realized he had made a mistake. Right as the smoke cleared he saw that Marik had not even cast the expelliarmus at him but simply just straight up in the air. He had just cast it to get Harry to reveal his position. Which Harry did as soon as he cast the transmorgo spell. Harry's spell went on to hit absolutely nothing, but by revealing where he was in the smoke Marik's Lumos maxima spell hit him full force and Harry was immediately blinded.
"Stupefy!" Harry heard Marik cast.
"Protego!" Hoping he picked the right direction to shield, as well as hoping that his shield would defend against the spell Harry cast the shield spell. At first he thought that he had chosen the right direction and his shield had worked as he felt the impact of Marik's stupefy on his shield. However, that feeling was quickly proven wrong. The lumos maxima spell had made Harry's world a bright white but as soon as he felt the impact of Marik's spell that white slowly faded to a black. He felt his body fly through the air. As the last bits of white faded to black he never felt his body land. But he did feel the feeling of overwhelming defeat at losing the duel.
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