A/N: I feel like this story needs a warning for inconsistent pacing...oh well.
Background:
For those who don't know, the swords wielded by Shinigami are, in Bleach, called Zanpakutou. They each have special abilities, unique to each blade/person. These can be activated with a special "release phrase." Reina's (who is a OC) zanpakutou is called Maboroshi-gitusne, or "Phantom/Illusion Fox."
(Did I have to go there because of my user name and the fact that illusions get a bad rap in the Bleach 'verse? Yes, yes I did.)
If you have any questions, or if there are things I didn't get quite right (thanks Guest 907, I've updated the chapter 1 info!), please let me know!
"Your next task will be in one month, on April 15. Specific directions will be given at the time of the task, but you will be allowed to bring anything you think you might need – within reason, and so long as it is legal and you have it somewhere on your person at the beginning of the task," Percy Weasley said with a great deal of self-importance. The champions were in varying stages of "pissed as hell people were taken" and "it's freaking cold, hurry up."
The other judges seemed to agree more with their champions, but then again, the information was important for the next task. Madame Pomfrey, however, spent the time eyeing Percy Weasley with a fair bit of irritation. Why this briefing couldn't have occurred in her hospital wing, where the students would be warm was beyond her, although she chalked it up to "Ministry paranoia."
"The use of summoning or similar spells to acquire items offsite will be prohibited. Those spells will, however, be allowed to retrieve something if it is lost onsite.
"As this task will be focused on ingenuity and information gathering, there will be clues hidden around the castle. Once you have gathered a sufficient amount of information, carefully consider which items you wish to bring with you to the task."
The champions, having (for the most part) been stuck in a lake for over an hour because of a screaming/singing egg, were not looking forward to trying to puzzle out more riddles, or however the next task's information would be stored.
At least they were unlikely to have to tackle a banshee or some other shrieking creature.
(And it'd be warmer in April.)
~IiI~
The morning of April 15 arrived with chilly winds and bright sunshine, which were observed with consternation by the champions as the five were escorted to the tent they had been forced to wait within for the first task. It had been a long few months of harassing teachers, following bizarre directions from ghosts and House Elves (somehow, Krum was banned from the kitchens, and no one was ever going to forget Suzuki running after Peeves, shouting for the poltergeist to "come back here and give me your clue, you 12th division reject!").
Thankfully, everyone had avoided the attempts at sabotage (ranging from pranks and a devastating prank war between Beauxbatons and Shinou, with the Weasley twins as both judges and third party chaos creators), with Hogwarts having to deal with the greatest number of poisoning attempts, Durmstrang the most number of misinformation, Beauxbatons with the greatest number of hexes and curses, and Shinou with...actually, no one was sure what happened to the Shinou students.
("Where are they sleeping?" Fred hissed to George.
"No a place we can get to, apparently," his twin replied.
"You mean we cannot repay them for the prank they pulled on our carriage this morning?" Fleur nearly shrieked. "We spent the last week perfecting an equal prank!" Her fellow Beauxbatons students nodded with some of the most terrifying faces the twins had ever seen - and they had seen their mother fit to spank them a number of times.
The Shinou student hiding near the ceiling of the classroom barely managed to prevent himself from cackling. The living were so much fun to mess with!)
Still, it was a relieved, but undeniably irritated, group that met in the tent near the Quidditch pitch.
"Alright! Everyone here? Got everything you need? Excellent!" Bagman exclaimed with the enthusiasm of someone who survives off adrenalin, early mornings, and caffeine being injected directly into their body every morning at four. Ah, magic.
The champions made varying noises and gestures of agreement, albeit after the man had already assumed they were prepared.
"Good! Now, each of you will pick a color. As you all know, that color corresponds to a structure on the field, which you will need to protect from not only your fellow competitors, but also various winged creatures."
None of the contestants look particularly thrilled at the thought of more winged creatures, considering their initial run-in with dragons and the lack of information on that particular obstacle. Apart from Reina, who honestly looked a little too excited, the champions clearly hoped dragons haven't been reused in this task. Once was enough (too much, really), for all of them.
(Harry also hoped that there would be no Cornish Pixies, but given how much Ludo Bagman reminded Harry of Lockhart, Harry wasn't reassured at there wouldn't be any of the little nuisances.)
"Got it? Wonderful! Now, when the cannon goes off, you will be permitted to exit the tent and go to your respective areas. You will be sent out in order of points. So first to leave will be Miss Suzuki, then Mr. Potter, Mr. Krum, Mr. Diggory, and then Miss Delacour. Establish some form of protection around your tent, and once Miss Delacour has had half an hour to raise her protections, all the structures will rise into the air. Whosever structure is the last one standing will be declared the winner."
"If our structures are ruined, are we still allowed to try and destroy the others'?" asked Cedric.
"Yes, you are! But you won't get quite as many points for taking out another's tent, if your own isn't still standing," Bagman practically chirped.
Harry was not the only one to find that tone offensive given the task before them. They were just being sent out to fling spells out at each other, after all.
At least it wasn't (probably) dragons again.
~IiI~
Harry, Viktor, and Cedric had all prepared by bringing their brooms. While there were other ways of somehow being suspended in air, they didn't allow as much flexibility in maneuvering, nor the acceleration that brooms had and were incredibly difficult to master, relying upon a mastery of at least the basics of Wandless Magic (according to Hermione, at least). On the other hand, protection is a difficult thing to achieve when one has no real idea of what the attackers are going to throw at them.
Reina chanted under her breath, with her hands raised in front of her, and began erecting a series of shimmering blue walls and a ceiling around her purple tent.
Harry began by utilizing about half of the various pranks Fred and George had given him in different locations around his circus-esque scarlet tent. With no background in Runes, he couldn't perform any truly amazing wards, but the few that Bill had sent back, via Ron, would probably give any of the others a nasty surprise.
Viktor, not unlike Reina, started muttering charms and curses under his breath as he walked on the thin platform his mustard yellow tent rested upon.
Cedric opted for more transfiguration, summoning various rocks and plants from around the stadium to him and turning them into a sea of winged creatures (including a small dragon, just for laughs) and honey badgers to guard his bright orange tent.
Fleur, broom-less, opened her bag and pulled out five small pentagonal stones, which she arranged around her voluminous periwinkle blue tent.
~IiI~
With a sharp whistle, the five tents and their respective platforms rose into the sky.
"Alright contestants, on the second whistle now."
TWEET!
"And they're off! The boys, all Quidditch players seem to be in their element here. Three seekers on brooms – for all those who wanted to see Potter go against Krum after the first task, this is your chance! And Diggory, the only one to have beaten Potter in Quidditch! This will be a – great Scott, is Suzuki running on air?!"
Yes, she was. And in the race between the Shinou Academy student and Quidditch players on some of the fastest brooms available, she seemed to be winning.
"And she's taken out Potter's tent with an explosive red spell, that one she used against her dragon - I don't think any of us can forget it, dodging the various goops and clouds of smoke that are coming from his defenses! Alas, Potter is no longer able to win this task, but now he is no longer tied down by protecting his tent! And it seems like he has a bone to pick with Suzuki after that stunt of her's."
"Expeliarmus!"
Reina dodged.
"Fernunculous!"
Again, she dodged.
"Immobilis!"
Not only did she dodge, Reina actually sped up and suddenly disappeared.
"What?!" The audience shouted.
"Merlin's beard! What's this? Suzuki looks like she's just Disapparated on Hogwarts grounds, but as anyone can tell you, that should be impossible!"
Having lost sight of the other contestant, Harry turned to work on Viktor's tent.
Cedric was not so lucky.
"Headmaster Kurosaki, how is your student Disapparating on Hogwarts grounds?!" Professor McGonagall shouted to be heard of the din. That, at least, silenced the Judge's and Professor's booths.
"She's not." Bagman moved his wand, which was acting like a microphone, to in front of Kurosaki's mouth, so all could hear the explanation. The Headmaster's scowl deepened, but he continued, "What you know as Apparition is not a widely practiced art at Shinou. There's very little need when we ourselves are capable of moving at great speeds to get where we want to go, without feeling like we're being squeezed through a straw."
"What?! This is a physical talent?!" Bagman asked.
"Well, it's not purely physical-the body wouldn't be able to withstand the speeds otherwise, but it is not purely magical either." Kurosaki shrugged.
"Amazing."
~IiI~
Of course, in the wake of a faster opponent who could change direction on a Knut, there was little the broom-bound champions could do to protect their tents.
Fleur was a slightly different story.
Maintaining her balance on the thin ledge around her tent was tricky, but the fireballs the French witch was throwing were certainly doing better than the defenses of the other contestants. Cedric's birds were mere annoyances to Reina, and needless to say the dragon was no real defense, either, while she attacked his tent and the Badger couldn't get through the Japanese student's defense around her own tent. Viktor's curses were holding up better against the foreign magical assault, but were still crumbling at an alarming rate.
After all, Shinou was a school of battle first and foremost, and those wanting to be taken in by the elusive 16th division were known to demonstrate just a bit more destructiveness than others (unless they wanted to go to the 11th, but that's a slightly different situation. "Accidental" collateral damage is different from accidental collateral damage, after all).
Still, it was becoming increasingly obvious to the other competitors that they should team up if they wanted a chance to beat the Japanese girl.
Noticing the state of Viktor's wards, Harry and Cedric moved to assist him in defending his tent (since the three of them had realized that attempting to break the barriers around Reina's tent would take far more time than they had at the moment). Fleur, from her stationary post, had no problem attempting to hit the other girl's tent. Not that the fire really did much to the barrier...but perhaps superheating it might cause it crack?
~IiI~
Given the number of opponents she was now facing (for all that the birds were really only annoyances and the dragon was a pale imitation of the real thing, with no magical protections imbued in its skin), and the constant assault on her own tent, Reina grimaced and finally unsheathed her sword. Until this point, it had been largely ignored by her fellow contestants and the judges themselves. Thrusting the sword into the air, Reina shouted, "Twist and deceive, Maboroshi-gitsune!"
~IiI~
"She has a SWORD?" Bagman shouted, his statement amplified by the incredulous shouts of most of the audience.
The others in the judges' booth turned to look at the Shinou Headmaster.
He stared back calmly. "Durmstrang used staves in their demonstration, we used swords. Why no one has commented on the fact that we bring them with us as you do you wands, I have no idea. But honestly, you didn't think our military school doesn't have weapons instruction, did you?"
Given that the Japanese school was still a functioning military academy, and they could hardly protest the use of weapons given that each and every wand could be counted as one, the others in the booth turned away.
~IiI~
"Harry! Your broom!" Cedric yelled.
"What?"
"YOUR. BROOM."
Harry glanced over his shoulder, in time to see odd, green fire burning away the twigs of his Firebolt's tail.
Reina takes the chance to explode Krum's tent with a quick chant ending in "Byakurai!" and a blue bolt of lightening.
"Merlin's balls!" Harry dove swiftly to join Fleur on her thin perch, shouting a quick "Aguamenti!" to try and...wait, the water went right through the flames.
"An illusion?" Harry muttered, before he was nearly knocked off the ledge by Krum coming in for a hard landing due to a similar problem.
Before the Durmstrang student's curses could get any more profane, Harry shouted, "Krum, it's not real! The fire's an illusion!"
"Vat?"
"Yeah, it's -"
"JUMP!" Fleur shouted, as a blue light, just like the one that had exploded Krum's tent, came streaking towards them.
Harry and Krum returned to the skies, right before Fleur's tent exploded, and the witch was left to flutter to the ground on black, partially transformed wings.
She groaned, "I hate having to do that," upon reaching the ground, and rubbed her arms as the feathers slowly retracted.
The boys landed beside her and began stretching out their limbs.
"Hey, Reina, have you ever played Quidditch?" Cedric asked. "Because if you haven't you need to. You'd make a great beater, or a Chaser - I think being a seeker would be too easy for you, and boring, but we should totally have a game between your classmates and us - and Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. Inter-school unity and all that!"
Reina blinked. "Um. I don't know what Quidditch is?"
Harry, Viktor, and Cedric shared a smirk. "We'll teach you."
Fleur groaned in sympathy. "Now you will never get them to shut up," she tells the other champion.
~IiI~
Thus, Shinou came in first, Beauxbatons second (for being the last tent destroyed), Durmstrang third and Hogwarts fourth and fifth. Considering the lack of structured classes offered at Hogwarts that actually taught the types of protections the students would have needed (as they were covered in seventh year charms, which Cedric had opted not to take, and should have been covered in various Defense Against the Dark Arts classes since second year, which usually wasn't due to a spotty curriculum and lack of competent teachers), the two Brits did quite well.
Still, no one was going to forget what the Shinou student did anytime soon.
(While it might have made them feel better to know that Reina was 230 years old, understanding the equivalent maturity and number of years spent studying likely wouldn't have made a difference).
~IiI~
"To give you all a taste of the French and Beauxbatons culture, we shall be teaching all those present a simple dance our students have voted to teach you. It is the first dance the first years learn, and is consequently one of the most nostalgic of all the dances taught at Beauxbatons."
"Durmstrang students have voted to give a short lesson on the differences between staves and wands." The professor looked pained by this fact. "Although there are many secrets surrounding these ancient magical foci, a brief summary will not go...amiss."
Some one had decided to let the Weasley Twins decide the Hogwarts lesson...or perhaps they merely hijacked it.
"Shinou has been volunteered to teach you how to use swords and other weapons, along with a brief demonstration of how one can use both a weapon and magic in combat." All the Japanese professors look amused by that statement, although some of the students look...worried.
Dumbledore beamed. "These demonstrations will take place next weekend - and will start Thursday. Classes have been canceled to accommodate the new events!"
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