Harry
The streets all around the Westfalenstadion were more crowded than he could have ever imagined. Everywhere you looked there were witches and wizards walking down the busy streets and gathering in large groups for the tournament. All of the wizarding shops along the mainstreet had their doors opened wide, and the numerous people who were making their way towards the stadium were stopping at each storefront to see what was out on display. All over each of the buildings along the mainstreet Durmstrang Institute and German flags were hanging and waving in support for their country's school of magic. It was a truly a magical sight to behold.
"There they are," he said, pointing to a group of people that easily stood out among the crowd of witches and wizards. In a sea of colorful robes and tall pointed hats Hermione and Marik's family in their normal muggle clothes stuck out like a sore thumb. His friends' families made their way over to the spot his and Alina's families were all waiting. Just like last year they had all decided to meet up outside of the stadium so that they could all find seats together.
"Hey everyone! Man is this something or what?" Marik's dad said to the group as they all exchanged pleasantries and hugs.
"It is quite the spectacle isn't it?" Hermione's mother added. Both of his muggleborn friends' families looked at everything around them in awe and disbelief. He imagined for them it was always hard to still make any sense of their magical world, and only getting to see it a few times each year must make things even more unbelievable.
"Is this your first time in Germany?" his father asked the newly arrived members to their group.
"No Alden was stationed in Germany for about. . . Well I guess Marik was six, so it must have been for just about three or four months before we left for Japan," Marik's mother answered. He had known Marik had moved a lot but he had never known Marik had lived in either Germany and Japan.
"We both visited for a medical conference when we were younger, but it was nothing like this. A lot more white coats instead of all the robes," Hermione's dad answered.
"Germany is actually a lot stricter with its magical laws than Britain and France are, so I would be surprised if you ever even saw wizards out and about here before now. This is only one of the few days each year where Germany's magical citizens are allowed to gather in such large numbers like this," Alina's mother Hemera added to the conversation.
"I didn't know that. Why is it like that?" he asked his aunt, curious about why Germany's laws were stricter than France and Britain.
"Well after the Great War and the second World War ended, the country was divided between two strong factions of wizarding groups. One of the sides was very supportive of maintaining the secrecy of our world, the other was supportive of ending the secrecy. The two sides went at it for years until the current German Ministry of Magic rose to power and unified the country. To avoid the other side emerging again and to protect their country they enforced very strict laws to maintain the secrecy of German wizards," his aunt answered.
"Never in my days would I have thought there were wizards fighting in wars," Marik's dad, the military man, said as he shook his head in disbelief.
"Well now that we are all here, what do you say we get going," his mother said to the group and they all started off towards the stadium.
He found himself in as much awe this time around as he had been in Paris, France last year. Even though he spent practically all of his time now in the magical world it was still truly amazing to see so many wizards and witches all in one place. You could almost feel the magic in the air surrounding all of the people, which reminded him of the similar feeling you got as you walked around the halls of Hogwarts.
The stadium was huge, and there were thousands of different witches and wizards wearing their school uniforms in support for their school's duelists. He, his parents, and even Daphne's family were all wearing their school robes to show support for Hogwarts as well. Although, no matter how good his mother was at charms his father's robes had been pranked so many times during his years at Hogwarts that they were still a little tight on him, and Sirius's robes unfortunately still smelled like dog.
Harry had even transfigured the crest of his own robes to show support, changing the usual four squared crest into a triangle with three equal spaces for his three friends participating; a Ravenclaw space for Hermione, a Slytherin space for Marik, and a Hufflepuff space for Alina. There wasn't a trace of the usual Gryffindor lion anywhere on his robes.
For a while after their dueling tournament at Hogwarts Harry had been upset that he had lost, even if it was to his best friend. After all he was one of the most competitive people that he knew when it came to magic competitions. He had imagined in the weeks leading up to today that he would hate coming here again for the second time not as the champion of his school, but in the end he was happy that three of his friends were in the tournament, and he was ready to give them his full support.
As the day of the tournament had crept closer and closer he had become increasingly more anxious to come here to see them all duel, especially after hearing what they all were practicing over the last few days. Knowing his friends and how the competition had been last year he was surely in store to witness some incredible magic.
"So Miss Granger, did Hermione say anything to you about having to duel Marik if she wins the tournament? She kept avoiding the topic with me in her letters," he asked Hermione's mom.
When it came to talking about the tournament over the summer Hermione tended to not bring up the topic in her letters, only really mentioning briefly a spell or two that she was working on. He wasn't sure if that meant Hermione was nervous or what, but knowing her he knew that she was definitely going to be ready to duel whoever she had to when the time came. Even if that meant she had to beat Marik.
"She didn't say much about it no. Although she was so busy reading and practicing that it is no surprise," Hermione's mother answered. Hermione reading and practicing a lot, who could have imagined that. "Did your son say much more to you about the tournament?" Hermione's mother asked Marik's parents.
"We didn't even know the tournament was in Germany this year instead of France until that device took us here. Imagine our surprise when we ended up here! I swear that boy gets so lost in his books that he forgets to even eat," Marik's mother answered. That did sound exactly like Marik.
"Here we are," Sirius announced to the group as they arrived in view of the stadium's front gate. Their party made their way in and started following the large, slow moving crowds of people wearing Hogwarts robes to their seats. As they made their way into their section he found himself in a state of awe again, just as he had been the year before when he had entered the stadium. The stadium was completely packed!
The entire far section of the stadium was a seemingly endless sea of Durmstrang supporters. He could see hundreds of signs showing their support and just as many enchanted hats singing the Durmstrang school anthem atop of people's' heads. From the side of the stadium he was in he could see the left half of the stands were designated for the Beauxbatons Academy supporters and the right side was designated for Hogwarts.
He followed his dad's lead towards their section, trying to take in everything he could around him. It was hard to believe that there were even more people here this time around than there had been in last year's tournament. Apparently word had gotten out that this was a show you did not want to miss. As they made their way up the Hogwart's section of the stands he recognized many familiar faces.
Dumbledore and the rest of the Hogwart's teaching staff were impossible to miss in the front row of their school's section. He could see Dumbledore's beard hanging over the railing, waving in the wind, and McGonagall wearing her usual extra pointy crimson and gold hat. The students and families that filled the rest of the section looked like a wild bunch, like something similar to what you would see in an important Quidditch match. He counted countless people wearing huge animal heads of their houses and one Ravenclaw student even had raven wings that were enchanted to flap on her back as she cheered.
Just like last year the dueling platform down below them was again divided into four sections. This time the left half the platform was split in half between a snow covered biome and another biome that looked like a small village, that had a few small houses spread out here and there. On the right side, the platform was split in half between a biome that resembled sort of a volcanic base with black rocks everywhere and on the other half a safari oasis type biome that had a few scattered trees and small lake in its corner.
Turning his head towards his party he saw as Hermione and Marik's parents were scooting down their row in front of him that they all had expressions that were hard not to laugh at. As unbelievable as all this was to him he could only imagine how surreal it was for them.
"I swear I will never get use to this," he heard Marik's father say as they all found their seats.
"It is truly an amazing world isn't it?" Hermione's mother added, her face still one of shock too.
"So is this year's tournament going to play out the same as last year's?" Hermione's father asked the wizard section of their group.
"For the most part it will yes. The only difference is that the winner of each year will face the winner of last year at the end. So that means to be crowned the champion this year you have to win three duels instead of just two," Sirius answered. Sirius had looked a mixture of the world's proudest parent and the world's most nervous man all day. Sirius had not stopped talking about how proud he was of Alina all summer, and how excited he was to watch daddy's-little-girl win. After the first few weeks it had started to get annoying and Harry was excited that it would be over after today. Although, if Alina won Harry would have to spend the rest of the summer hearing how great Sirius thought Alina had performed.
"Marik tried to explain it but was to distracted to do it well. How many times will he have to duel this year?" Marik's mother asked their group.
"Marik will just duel once. He will duel whoever wins the second year tournament," his mother answered.
"And both Hermione and Alina will be in the second year tournament?" Marik's father asked. It was quite clear Marik had made no attempt to talk to his family about this tournament or Hogwarts at all.
"Hermione is in the second year tournament yes, but Alina will be in the first year's tournament. She is one year behind Marik at school. So Marik will only go against Hermione if she wins," Hemera answered Marik's father.
"When she wins," he added instinctively. Hermione's parents both beamed a smile at him in response.
"So Harry who do you think has the edge between Hermione and Marik? I haven't seen Marik duel in a long time," Daphne surprisingly asked from down there row. It was clear that Daphne was just as pissed as he was for not being in the tournament this year, but surprisingly she seemed to be a little happy to support her sister. Although he wasn't sure if happy was the right word to use. She was probably just a little less angry than normal.
"It's hard to say. Marik is a natural at dueling and he has had a lot more training and practice than Hermione does. But like you saw at Hogwart's tournament, Hermione has gotten a lot better at dueling too, and I'm sure she has at least three plans for whatever Marik throws her way. Plus no one can think under pressure better than Hermione can," he answered his cousin as truthfully as he could.
He really didn't know who had the edge between his two friends. Hermione had beat Marik in quite a few duels during their training sessions last year. On the other hand though Marik never used his shadow magic when he dueled, so who knew if Hermione would be able to find a way to counter it.
"Well I hope Hermione does win the first round so she can hit Marik with a few powerful spells and knock some sense into that boy," Marik's father joked.
"I think that is a lost cause," Harry joked backed in response.
Their group over the next few minutes continued to make small talk and discuss the tournament as the last few spectators slowly made their way into the stadium. As his anxiety began to near its max the Minister of Magic from each of the school's respective country made their way out to the center of the stadium. He felt a bit of anger swell over him at the sight of Minister Fudge. After they made it to the center the largest man, who based on his robes he figured was the German Minister of Magic, quieted the crowd.
"Welcome everyone to the second annual European Magic Students Dueling Championship! I am Adal Weber the Minister of Magic of Germany, and I would like to thank you all for making the journey here today. I wish all the contestants the best of luck, and hope that they all give it their best effort so that we all can witness an even better spectacle of magic than last year! This year's tournament will be directed by Durmstrangs' very own Headmaster Igor Karkaroff. Please give him a round of applause," the German minister announced, and a large bearded man in red robes made his way to the center of the dueling arena.
"Thank you minister. I would again like to thank you for making the journey here. Now without wasting anytime I would like to explain this years tournament rules. In this year's tournament there will be two rounds. There are three representatives who will be dueling in each of the first rounds, one duelist from each school will take part in the first round of the tournament for each year. The first person in the first round to accumulate two wins will be named the rounds winner.
"If after three duels have taken place and no one has achieved victory in two duels a second round will take place and the representative who wins the highest total of duels in that round will be deemed the winner. The names and order of the duels are random. After each duel both participants will get a short break and medical attention. If a duelist is ruled unable to progress the next duel will be disqualified.
"In every round but the first year's round, the winner of the first round will go on to duel the winner from the previous year's tournament. There will be one duel between the reigning champion and the challenger. Whoever claims victory will be crowned the dueling champion for their year and will move on to next year's tournament. We will begin this year's tournament with the first year representatives." Loud cheers erupted from the stands causing the Headmaster to pause again.
"From Beauxbatons Academy your first year dueling champion is Kanami Ewing!" The part of the stands that all of the French spectators were sitting in erupted into loud chants for their school's participant. Everyone in the Beauxbaton's section seemed to have their wands raised and sparks of their school's colors were shooting out into the air overhead like fireworks. A tall looking girl with bright blue hair glided out from under the stands towards the center of the stage as her supporters cheered her on.
"Next, from Hogwarts, your first year dueling champion is Alina Black!" In an instant he, their small group, and the entirety of the Hogwarts section were on their feet. Sirius from a few seats down was the loudest person out of the whole section as he had his wand pressed against his neck amplifying his voice as he cheered his daughter on. Daphne sitting next to him, just tapped a finger to her wrist in an attempt to clap for Alina.
He craned his neck to see over the people in front of him to get a good look at Alina. Alina was practically bouncing to the center of the arena. He could see that she had a grin stretching from ear to ear when she turned around. It appeared she could hear Sirius even from way down there as he could see her cheeks blushing as she waved at the Hogwarts section.
"And last, but certainly not least. From Germany's own Durmstrang Institute. . . Lex Smallings!" Durmstrang's Headmaster seemed to put the most effort into announcing his own schools representative's name. An average sized blonde haired boy made his way to the center of the stage like the two other duelists before him. The much larger German section of the stands had started singing their schools anthem as the boy marched.
"Please give one more round of applause for your three first year dueling champions!" The man announced and again the stands erupted. Unlike the rest of the years the first years would only have one round of dueling since their was no previous year champion. That meant Alina would just have to win two duels, like Marik had last year, to be crowned the winner. The Durmstrang Headmaster cleared his throat and began talking again.
"The first duel of the tournament will be between. . . Alina Black and Lex Smallings!" The Durmstrang and Hogwarts sections erupted again into cheers again. Sirius was again screaming at the top of his lungs.
Alina was in the very first duel. Hopefully she could start things off on a good note. The two duelists made their way to the center of the arena where they were each directed to a side. Alina was given the left half of the platform which meant she had the snowy biome and the small village biome to work with. The Durmstrang boy named Lex was given the other side. After the two opponents bowed they made their way to their starting spots.
Just like last year at the center of the arena was a white light that when it turned green would signal the start of the duel. He crossed his fingers as he fixed his eyes on the light, hoping it would give Alina luck. The arena quieted as all eyes were focused on the light at the center of the platform. It turned green and the duel began.
Alina from her side immediately ran towards the snowy biome side while Lex on his side headed towards the safari oasis biome. Both of them chose to avoid heading for cover on their sides and instead charged straight at the other.
"Stupefy!" Harry heard Alina shout the stunning spell.
"Ennervate, tempesta!" Lex countered her spells. Lex's ennervate countered Alina's powerful stupefy spell and his tempesta spell resulted in Alina's snow covered side of the platform to turn into a blizzard. It was almost impossible to see Alina through all the flurries of white snow now.
"Geminio, incarcerous!" he was sure Hermione was smiling from where she was watching as he heard Alina from within the blizzard cast the spell Hermione had used an ample number of times in her duels. Somewhere in the blizzard, unseen to Lex, Harry knew there were at least four other thought projections of Alina waiting to pounce. With her second spell a flurry of ropes shot out of the blizzard towards Lex from six different directions. At least five of them had to be illusions Harry knew, now to find out if Lex did.
"Protego totalum!" Lex went to his knees as he summoned a large area shield around him. From the size of the shield it seemed that it most certainly took a lot of energy from Lex to cast it. The fact that Lex had chosen to protect the area all around him most likely meant that Lex did not know the other ropes were illusions, or if he did know, he at least did not know which was the real one.
The incoming ropes collided with his shield and disappeared immediately. That left Harry as confused as it did Lex it seemed. Even though a few of the ropes were illusions the real ropes should have still just fell to the ground when they collided with Lex's shield. But all of the ropes disappeared, which was impossible unless. . . Harry smiled when he realised a possible strategy Alina was taking.
Smart move. He thought to himself as his smile and anticipation for Alina's next move grew.
"Deprimo, expelliarmus!" he heard what sounded like six Alinas say from inside the blizzard. At once a huge gust of wind carried all of the flying white snow towards the oasis side of the platform. Somewhere inside of the now streaming jet of white snow was Alina's expelliarmus spell. Harry could barely make out about five streams of light flying through the gust of snow, most of which, if not all of which were probably just the illusion spells.
"Impedimenta, stupefy!" Lex was again countering with spells of his own. His impedimenta spell, while it did not stop the oncoming snowstorm and spells, it did slow them down to a snail's pace, making them fairly easy to dodge. He was also able to send a stunner back at Alina in the process. His spell seemed to not hit anything though as it entered the slow moving blizzard and came out the other side at the same speed.
All of the sudden six Alina's came charging out of the blizzard. Each one of them was running at full speed towards Lex. The smartest part about Alina's decision to charge was that she had each one of her thought projections about fifteen feet away from the next. That meant that Lex would have to either get lucky and hit the right Alina with a spell, or destroy each thought projection individually.
"Lumos maxima, stupefy!" all of the Alina's screamed out in unison. Again it was another smart strategy. Even though five of the lumos maxima and stupefy spells were just illusions when six lumos maxima spells are cast regardless of if they are just illusions it makes it almost impossible for you to keep your eyes open.
"Protego!" Lex threw up a quick shield, it was clear that he was currently blinded and that was the best defense he could muster. The shield was no use though. The fact that their was six charging Alina's meant it was already close to impossible for Lex to know where the real stunner was coming from. That combined with the fact that he was now practically blind only solidified it. As the blinding light disappeared from the stadium all that was left in its wake was Alina standing next to the now unconscious body of Durmstrang's Lex. Alina had won!
Sirius was the first person in the stadium to rise to his feet as he began the stadium's loud cheers for the first duel's victor. Harry and the rest of the Hogwart's section quickly followed his lead. Loud chants for Alina, who was now currently beaming a large smile, could be heard echoing throughout the stands. It was hugs all around their group as Sirius had already began bragging about how well Alina had done. Sirius was right too, Alina had done incredible.
He did his best to explain what had happened to Hermione's family while his mother did the same for Mariks'. Hermione's parents seemed to be proud when he mentioned that Hermione had been the one in to come up with the thought projection strategy. Although, they were still nowhere near as proud as Sirius was. After a short break between the duels the stadium again quieted as a now much less happy looking Durmstrang Headmaster made his way to the center of the arena to announce the next duel.
"The second duel will be between Kanami Ewing and Alina Black!" At the announcement of the next two names again the stands erupted into cheers. Alina would be dueling back to back, which meant that she had a chance to win the entire thing right here and now. Sirius again had his wand to his neck amplifying his voice as he cheered the loudest in the stadium for his daughter.
The two duelists made their way to the center of the platform. He noted Alina again looked confident and was all smiles as she skipped her way to the center. The Kanami girl from Beauxbatons looked a lot more serious and determined as she marched to her spot. The girl's bowed and were sent towards their starting sides. Alina this time would again be starting on the left side of the platform and Kanami was given the right. The girls readied their wands as their eyes looked at the light over head waiting for it to change. The light changed and they were off.
"Reducto!" The Kanami girl without moving sent a high powered blast spell towards Alina.
"Expelliarmus!" Alina accepted the challenge and also remained where she had started while she cast her disarming spell.
The blue stream of light coming from Kanami's wand collided with the jet of scarlet light coming from Alina's in the center of the platform. The two spells pushed and pulled at each other as they fought for dominance. Both girls dug in their feet as they balanced themselves and added more power into their spells.
Neither one of the duelists made any attempt to change their tactics for a while as the two of them continued to just try and out power the other with their initial spells. Both of the spells continued to just move around a little in the center but neither one appeared to be letting up.
For at least a full minute the two of them continued their standoff. The Kanami girl began at that point moving her wand around causing her spell stream to send small bursts of magic off towards Alina. Alina quickly countered though and began doing the same on her side. Small bursts of scarlet and blue magic popped all around the stadium but nowhere near either girl, as they were much more focused on maintaining their main magic stream than actually hitting the other. After another few seconds of continuing the power standoff Alina suddenly broke off her spell and started running.
The movement was so quick that Kanami's reducto spell stream continued its path and collided with a large blast into the ground where Alina had been standing moments earlier, sending off a blast snow and rocks from the two biomes.
"Expelliarmus, confundus, petrificus totalus!" The charging Alina sent off a spell chain at Kanami.
"Stupefy, protego!" Kanami tried to counter. However it appeared that the two girl's standoff had drained a lot of Kanami's magical energy. A small powered stupefy spell flew towards Alina who was able to easily dodge the spell at its slower pace. Kanami did not seem to actually have enough juice to throw up a shield though as her protego spell resulted in a small thin shield that barely came up to her knees. This resulted in all three of Alina's spells colliding with Kanami. The girl's wand flew towards Alina as the confundus spell left Kanami confused and the binding spell knocked her stiff on her back.
"SHE WON!" Sirius screamed just as Alina caught the wand out of the air. The Hogwarts section immediately erupted.
"Way to go cuz!" he screamed out, joining Sirius and the rest of the Hogwart's section in their cheers.
"Earning her second win, the winner of the first year tournament in the second annual European Magic Students Dueling Championship is Alina Black from Hogwarts!" the Durmstrang Headmaster announced and the stands went even crazier. Sirius had proud-father-tears streaming down his face as he watched Alina bow to the stands at the center of the platform. Harry noted that she looked exhausted as she bowed. She had clearly used up a lot of magic in the last duel maintaining her initial spell as long as she had. After a good two minute standing ovation they cheers in the Hogwart's section died down and Alina headed of the stage.
They had some intermission time before Hermione and Marik's round would begin to go see and congratulate Alina. A small part of their group all stood up and started making their way to meet Alina.
Overall this year's first year tournament had put on almost as good a show as last year's had. Lex had used a difficult selection of spells throughout his duel with Alina and Kanami had proven that she had a lot of magical power too, just not as much as Alina. They arrived at the duelist greeting area quickly since Sirius had led them in practically a sprint and waited for Alina to come out.
"Alina Congratulations sweetie!" Sirius was the first one to find her as they scanned the room. An exhausted looking Alina was engulfed in a huge hug from her father before she even had time to react.
"Ouch Dad!" Alina groaned from in the hug, Sirius ignored her. Harry couldn't help but smile at how obvious Sirius was making it known that he was proud.
"Congratulations Alina," he said as soon as Sirius finally broke their hug allowing him to give her one as well.
"Thanks Harry! What did you all think?" Alina asked. Even though she was exhausted he could tell she was still obviously excited to hear their thoughts.
"You did amazing Alina," Hemera answered while getting a hug of her own.
"Parents have to tell their kid they did amazing! How did I really do? I almost ran out of juice there in the second duel," Alina announced to their group.
"You did good. Grats sis," Daphne replied, her tone not matching her words.
"Thanks Daph," Alina said, a confused smile on her face.
"Yeah, it was smart of you to break of your spell and charge when you did," he answered her truthfully. From the size and vividness of the color of both Alinas and Konami's spells when they were locked against each other made it clear that both girls had used a lot of power keeping the spells up. If either had hold the spell much longer the duel could have gone either way, depending on who ran out of juice first.
"Yeah, I was surprised I even had enough left for that spell chain, I felt like I was going to faint there at the end," Alina added.
"That use of lumos maxima in the first duel was a clever strategy too Alina. That poor boy looked like a hippogriff in a forest fire," his father added. He always had the worst analogies.
"Thanks Mr. Potter! Can we go up to the stands now? I don't wanna miss any of Hermione's duels! I have to tell her parents how that geminio spell was Hermione's idea too," Alina said in excitement, she was practically dragging Sirius out of the room.
They all followed the seemingly rejuvenated Alina back up to their seats to watch the second year tournament. For the first time that day he felt a sting of nervousness for Hermione as he found his seat.
"So how do you think she is holding up down there?" Alina asked next to him once they sat down.
"I honestly don't know. How did she seem before the tournament?" he asked her.
"Surprisingly confident. She should be though. No one in Europe is smarter than Hermione, and with training buddies like us and Marik I doubt anyone else has had as much experience as she has." Alina answered. Her answer seemed to calm some of the butterflies in his stomach.
"Yeah, you are right. How do you feel right now?" he asked, changing the subject.
"Honestly I am still in disbelief. I knew I could beat that Lex guy a few seconds after we started but that Kanami's strategy came out of nowhere and it threw me off at first. That's why it took me so long to make a move," Alina answered.
"Well you really did a good job. You should be proud and we will make sure that we celebrate your victory," he said with a smile.
"Thanks Harry. It means a lot!" Alina replied and gave him a hug. The stands quieted as the sound signalling for the start of the second round tournament rang. The Durmstrang Headmaster made his way again to the center of the dueling platform.
"It is time to begin the second year's tournament! Before we begin I would like to first bring out the current champion title holder for the second years. From Hogwarts your current second year title holder of champion is Marik Ose!" the Durmstrang Headmaster announced their friend's name and the stands rose to their feet.
Marik made his way out to the center of the platform and threw a few waves to the cheering crowd. Both he and Alina stood up to give a few cheers for their friend, even though it would be at least two duels before he actually dueled.
"Now to announce the three second year challengers that will be dueling to challenge the champion. From Beauxbatons Academy your champion is Fleur Delacour! From Hogwarts your champion is Hermione Granger! And Lastly from the Durmstrang Institute your champion is the Michelle Mueller!" The entirety of the stadium rose to their feet to cheer for their schools champion. All around him the Hogwarts section was shouting for Hermione, who had a serious, determined look on her face. He was too nervous to cheer. As everyone shouted around him he just stared nervously at his friend.
She looked confident. Instead of the normal warm familiar smile that he was used to on her face she wore a face of determination, the type of look that made the long scar on her neck stand out. He crossed his fingers for her. He truly hoped she did well.
He knew even if she downplayed the tournament and what it meant to her, he knew winning this tournament meant the world to Hermione and how competitive she could be. There was no way she would go down easy. The cheers died down after a minute and the the duelists made their way off the platform.
"The first duel will be between Michelle Mueller and Hermione Granger!" The butterflies in his stomach returned again following the announcement of his friend's name. Hermione would be dueling first, that meant no time for her to strategize or warm up.
Hermione was given the left side of the platform while Durmstang's Michelle was given the right. Both girls looked ready for war as they prepared themselves.
"She can do this Harry," Alina whispered from beside him and grabbed his hand, taking it in hers. He nodded back and returned his gaze to the light overhead the platform.
The light changed signalling the start of the duel and without hesitating both duelists were off. Hermione headed quickly towards the snowy side of her platform and Michelle went to the volcanic biome on her side.
"Stupefy, expelliarmus!" Hermione sent off too high powered spells to start the duel off as she ran on her side of the platform.
"Ennervate, expulso!" Michelle countered the stupefy spell and sent an explosion spell back at Hermione as she dodged the disarming spell.
"Subduco, azuflamen!" Hermione countered again with two more powerful spells. The subduco spell stole Michelle's expulso spell and sent it right back at her along with Hermione's second spell, which was a powerful water elemental blast spell.
"Expulso, accio Rocks!" Michelle sent the explosion spell a few feet in front of her. The ground exploded leaving a medium-sized crater in its wake. Michelle quickly followed up the spell by summoning a large number of the rocks from the explosion. She then sent the rocks towards Hermione's incoming spells making them collide at the halfway point of the stadium.
"Erecto, expulso, deprimo, geminio!" Hermione without hesitating sent off another even stronger spell combo at Michelle. After erecting a large pillar of snow Hermione then exploded the pillar and sent it forwards in a wave of wind along with all of the debris towards her opponent. Adding to her strategy she used the geminio spell to create a few extra thought projections of the debris to make it tougher to block.
"Reducio, reducto, protego!" Michelle countered back. She shrank all of the stones headed towards her, including the thought projection pieces, and followed it up by blasting any remaining large pieces. The pieces that made it through all of that found themselves getting deflected off the shield Michelle had summoned. "Incaendium!" Michelle continued casting spells without waiting to give Hermione another chance. Out from the ground underneath the volcanic biome a stream of lava came bursting out. Michelle with her spell controlled the magma and sent it towards Hermione.
"Glacia carca! Glacia sagittas." Hermione chose to defend herself with ice magic. The first spell summoned a prison of ice which trapped and froze all of the magma Michelle had sent towards her inside. Hermione's second spell sent a flurry of ice arrows towards her opponent at high speeds.
"Incendio!" Michelle sent a wave of fire towards the arrows trying to melt them before they hit her.
"Stupefy, expelliarmus, stupefy!" Hermione added another wave of spells right behind her ice arrows.
Michelle still had enough juice in her left to melt a large majority of the arrows headed at her. However she did not have enough time or magic left to block the spells that followed them. One after another Michelle was hit Hermione's three spells and sent flying across the platform. In an instant he, Alina, and the rest of the Hogwarts section were on their feet; cheering as Hermione won the first duel.
"Way to go Hermione!" he couldn't keep himself from shouting as he cheered on his friend.
"I told you she would do it," Alina said. Most of the butterflies had left his stomach but a few remained knowing Hermione was far from done. From the fact that Hermione still had a serious look on her face down on the platform it was clear she understood that too. She still needed one duel to advance to the championship round, and two duels to be crowned the champ.
"Granger's been practicing," Daphne commented as the cheers died down.
"Hermione is always practicing," Harry corrected her.
Hermione left the platform to receive her medical treatment in between duels and he and Alina explained to her parents what just happened while they waited for the announcement of the next names. Apparently Hermione did a much better job of discussing magic with her parents than Marik did with his, because for the most part they actually understood most of what Hermione had done. Harry was still unsure if Marik's parents even knew what a wand was. After what felt like an eternity of waiting the Durmstrang Headmaster made his way to the center of the platform to announce the next two names.
"Durmstrang's second year contestant has been deemed by the medical staff to be unfit to continue participation in the tournament and is therefore disqualified. The next duel was to be between Fleur Delacour and Michelle Mueller but as a result of disqualification Fleur Delacour has been deemed the winner. The next duel will now be between Fleur Delacour and Hermione Granger! The winner of this duel will go on to face the current champion Marik Ose!" the Durmstrang Headmaster announced the names, and the butterflies returned. With the disqualification of Michelle that meant that whoever won this duel would win the challenging round. That meant it was all on the line now.
Hermione made her way over to the right side of the platform this time around and Fleur made her way to the left. Hermione was once again looking all serious and focused. She would have to be to win this.
Fleur had been given the opportunity to see Hermione's first duel and take notes, while Hermione on the other hand, thanks to the disqualification, had not received the same opportunity. They had all watched Fleur duel last year but millions of things could change in a year. All Hermione would have to go off of would be out of date information and instincts. Hermione would have to be smart to win. The light overhead changed and the duelists were off.
"Stupefy!" Both of the girls said in unison as they charged at each other. Both spells collided at the center of the platform and burst in a powerful stream of magic as the girls ran.
"Expelliarmus, aeriactus, expuslo!" Fleur started firing off her first spell chain.
"Geminio, protego, rubyflamen!" Hermione countered with a spell chain of her own. Fleurs first two spells collided with the two thought projections Hermione had produced and Fleur's third spell with Hermione's shield. Hermione had then sent a powerful fire blast spell back at fleur in the meantime.
"Erecto, accio snow, deprimo!" A large chunk of ice erected itself out of the ground in front of Fleur and took the full impact of Hermione's blast spell. Fleur then summoned a large amount of snow from the ground and the blast with her accio spell and with her deprimo spell sent a blizzard flying at Hermione.
"Gravitas, reducto, stupefy!" Hermione increased the gravity a few feet in front of her and all of the snow in the blizzard landed in a large pile in front of her as it found itself unable to escape the intense gravity. Hermione's reducto spell then blasted the pile apart and her stupefy spell went right through towards Fleur.
"Ennervate, diffindo!" Fleur negated Hermione's stupefy spell and aimed her diffindo spell at the ground in front of Hermione. The ground started to split forcing Hermione to run towards the oasis side of her platform.
"Accio water, fulminous!" After escaping the splitting ground Hermione continued to throw spells towards Fleur. With her first spell Hermione summoned all the water from the small pond on her side of the platform. Forming the water into a large orb she sent it right at Fleur. To make things tougher for Fleur Hermione added the lighting spell into the water orb making it a dangerous combo.
"Finite incantatum!" Fleur's spell stopped the ball of water coming towards her but Hermione's lighting spell still continued.
"Stupefy!" Hermione cast another spell.
"Petrificus totalus, protego!" Fleur got off a quick binding spell before summoning a shield just in time to block Hermione's lightning.
"Protego!" he heard Hermione cast.
Hermione's lightning spell collided with Fleur's shield until it disappeared. However Fleur was not able to defend against Hermione's stupefy spell. In a large release of energy the spell collided with Fleur and sent her flying unconscious backwards. Hermione had knocked Fleur out! However it seemed not all was well on Hermione's side.
Apparently Hermione had exhausted a lot of her magical energy so far in the duel as her protego spell was not powerful enough to stop Fleur's binding spell. Hermione's body immediately fell to the ground with a thud as the spell hit her too. The crowd went silent unsure of what this meant. However after a few moments of silence a plethora of gasps could be heard around the stands. Hermione was moving!
Hermione had broken through the bind spell put on her, and was now standing which meant. . . Hermione had won! The rest of the crowd seemed to come to the same conclusion as they all erupted into applause for his friend. Before he could even get his thoughts straight Alina had him wrapped him a hug.
"Hermione won!" Alina kept saying when she released him from their hug. Alina was jumping up in the air pumping her fist in celebration.
"Way to go Hermione!" he added to the loud cheering. Down on the platform Hermione looked utterly exhausted. He could tell even from his seat that she had used up almost all of her magic and would certainly need everyone of the rejuvenation potions she could get before her next duel.
"Harry my boy, do you mind explaining what happened there at the end? We know Hermione used a shield spell, we have seen her cast it before, but why didn't it work?" Hermione's father asked him once the cheers died down a little.
"Witches and wizards only have so much magical energy in them. Just like you get tired from exercising a wizard will get tired from using too much magic. Hermione had used up a lot of her magic already so her shield was a weak one and Fleur's spell went right through it," he did his best to explain it. Hermione's parents seemed to understand as they both nodded.
"How was she able to get up then?" Hermione's mother asked him.
"There is an advanced spell that allows someone to break through binds without saying an incantation or using their wand. It is a very advanced dueling technique. Hermione it seemed had just enough drive left in her to break the binds of Fleur spell."
"Yeah, it is very tough. It took me three months before I was able to break through my first bind and it wasn't even a strong bind. Hermione just broke through a really tough one," Alina added. Hermione's parents both looked proud as they smiled at their answers. Alina was right too. Marik had learned that bind breaking technique from Kingsley and taught it to all of them. Even with all the practice they had done it still was no easy feat to do, especially when low on magic. That only made Hermione's performance that much more impressive.
"Congratulations to you both. But I'm afraid we are going to have to root against Miss Hermione now," Marik's father said to Hermione's parents in front of them. The butterflies returned to his stomach at Marik's father's words.
He had known when Hermione won that she would eventually have to duel Marik, but until now the thought had never really sank in. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to wish them both luck without showing favoritism.
"Harry," Alina said to him, breaking his train of thought. "You root for Hermione and I will root for Marik. That way they both have an equal number of friends rooting for them. Plus I know you want Hermione to win more anyways." She must have been able to tell he was nervous about the next duel.
"Yeah, that sounds like a plan," he replied.
"So do you think she can beat him? You know he isn't going to hold back at all," Alina asked, making the butterflies again start churning.
"I think she can," was all he said. He honestly wasn't sure. Marik, as much as he hated to admit it, was truly a natural when it came to dueling.
Hermione on the other hand had improved on her dueling tremendously since last year. And as much of a natural as Marik was, Hermione had her brain on her side.
For the last time of this round of the tournament the Durmstrang Headmaster, Hermione, and Marik made their way to the center of the platform. He noted Hermione looked rejuvenated and ready to go.
"Before we begin the last duel of the tournament please give a round of applause to Hermione Granger for winning the challengers round of the tournament." The Headmaster paused as the stands erupted again. "Now let the final duel of the second year tournament begin!" the Headmaster announced and pointed Hermione and Marik to their sides of the platform.
For the last duel Marik would be starting on the right side of the stage and Hermione on the left. His two friends exchanged a few words and gave eachother a hug before they made their way to their sides. Alina again grabbed his hand as they waited for the duel to begin. The light once again changed and his friends were off.
"Umbrosio!" Right of the back Marik cast his shadow magic spell, which meant he was serious about winning this thing. Hermione on her side of the platform instead of casting a spell put all her energy into running to the small village on her side. Once there she got out of view from Marik, who had already started advancing towards her.
"Cometas maximum!" Marik cast a spell that Harry had never heard before at the sky. The sky seemed to split open and out of it three huge flaming rocks that looked like meteors came raining down towards the town Hermione was hidden in. In the blink of an eye the meteors collided with the three small buildings exploding them all to rubble and sending a wave of debris and magic throughout the stadium. He tightened his grip on Alina's hand as he craned his neck to see if Hermione had somehow managed to defend herself from that powerful spell.
"Geminio charge! Stupefy, restituo, expelliarmus!" Out of the smoke of debris six charging Hermione's with their wands raised and spells firing came charging out towards Marik. Having dueled with Hermione many times before it was clear that Marik knew only one of those was the real Hermione, as well that the restituo spell had nullified the area he was standing in of magic. Reacting quickly Marik moved out of the area of Hermione's restituo spell had been placed allowing him to once again cast magic.
"Speculum, rensa maho!" Now that he was out of the nullified magic zone Marik countered the charging Hermiones. His first spell created two mirrors in front of him and sent Hermione's stupefy and expelliarmus spell back at two of the thought projections. His second spell summoned a large black chain that he shot towards one of the Hermiones. He crossed his fingers and hoped it was a thought projection. Apparently each of the three targets Marik had aimed at were all thought projections as each one of the spells went right through their targets.
"Incarcerous, stupefy!" The three remaining Hermione's continued to charge and cast spells at Marik. Marik however seemed to be prepared for this. The chain he had summoned was still active and he sent it flying sideways towards all three of the Hermiones, who were now close enough to all be caught up in its chains. The long black chain slammed right through two thought projection Hermione's as well as into the last remaining real Hermione who was sent flying twenty feet across the platform following the impact.
As Hermione's stupefy and expelliarmus spell closed in on Marik Marik lifted his arm and summoned a black shadowy figure out of the ground. The shadowy figure in front of him took the full brunt of Hermione's spells and disappeared into a wave of smoke with the explosion. Hermione who was slowly getting back to her feet seemed clearly in some pain from being hit with Marik's chain. Marik began to slowly walk towards Hermione.
"Stupefy!" Marik cast the spell as soon as Hermione got to her feet.
"Ennervate, glacia sagittas!" Hermione countered Marik's spell and sent a wave of ice arrows back at him.
"Suincendius, yamipulso!" Marik's body burst into fire as he allowed each of the arrows to hit him but melt before they did any damage. His second spell was again one Harry had never heard of. Whatever the spell was it sent a high powered stream of black magic towards Hermione.
"Protego, expulso!" Hermione summoned a quick shield and sent an explosion spell back at Marik. Marik's spell collided with Hermione's shield and a huge wave of black magic went bouncing off of it.
"Sorbeo, umbrocaesa!" Marik again countered her spells as he slowly started walking towards Hermione. Hermione's expulso spell collided with Marik's body which seemed to just absorb the spell. With his second spell Marik slashed his wand through the air and a cutting slash of black magic was sent at Hermione.
"Rest. . ." Hermione started to cast the nullification spell a few feet in front of her to block Marik's incoming spell but found herself unable to. A shadowy figure had emerged out of Hermione's shadow and had Hermione's arm firm in its grasp making it impossible for her to do the necessary wand movements for her spell. Unable to defend herself Marik's black slashing spell collided with Hermione and sent her again flying a few feet back across this platform.
He again craned his neck to see if Hermione was somehow getting to her feet once again. This time though she remained on the ground. . . unmoving, and defeated.
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