The first taskkkkkk! Enjoy :)
October 12th seemed to come in the blink of an eye. It was the day of the first task, and I lay in bed with my face buried in Greystoke's fur. "Fay, what're you still doing in bed?" Luna rushed through the door. "The first task is in half an hour! We're waiting at the arena! Get up, lazy bones!"
"Ughhhhh…" I groaned; I was tired, and extremely nervous. None of the Hogwarts competitors (me, Susan Bones, Harry, Malfoy, Parvarti, and Pansy Parkinson) had any idea of what the first task would entail, so that only made it worse. It was going to be even harder to work with differing houses who usually hated each other any other day.
Luna sat on my bed as I threw on my uniform and hustled to put my makeup on. I put on an extra layer of mascara and threw my hair up in a ponytail. I looked in the mirror.
Hm...I should get a haircut… I touched my head, stalling.
"Hello?" Luna snapped her fingers in front of my face. "Let's go!" She grabbed my hand and practically dragged me out of our room.
I felt like Luna was doing my walking for me when we arrived at the arena; my legs had gone back to feeling like noodles. Luna gave me a kiss on the cheek and straightened my tie before she left for the stands, and I made my way over to the other 5 competitors. Harry stood at the end of the line. I smiled at him, and he smiled back. "Nervous?"
"Oh yeah." Harry nodded, not embarrassed to admit it. I scooted closer to him. He noticed but didn't recoil. In fact, I could've sworn I'd heard a small chuckle. All 12 of the competitors had their wands gripped in one hand, and their brooms in the other. Flying was not a challenge for me. It came quite naturally, to be honest. I noticed Pansy and Malfoy staring at the American team with disgust.
"Americans…" Malfoy spat, "They don't stand a chance against us. Well, at least you and me, anyway." He told Pansey, eyeing me and Harry.
"Oh, for fuck's sake, Malfoy." I sighed, not in the mood to put up with his bullshit, "just this once can you stifle your enormous fucking ego and contribute to the team? And maybe, just maybe Hogwarts might have the slightest chance of winning the tournament."
Malfoy looked astonished that I'd sworn at him, but soon he grinned pompously, "Like I said, we'll win because of us. You'll see." He threw his arm around Pansy's shoulder, "You can thank me later, Woodcroft."
Before I could argue back, Dumbledore had announced with his wand pressed to his neck, "ATTENTION! I'd like to start off the first task of the Clash of Magic by welcoming our competitor, Beetlerot Institution of Sorcery and Witchcraft from the United States."
"Pffft." Malfoy rolled his eyes.
"I wish you the best of luck as well as our Hogwarts team of Draco Malfoy of Slytherin,"
"Announced first as per usual." Malfoy smiled smugly.
"Susan Bones of Hufflepuff, Parvarti Patil of Gryffindor, Harry Potter of Gryffindor, Pansy Parkinson of Slytherin, and Fay Woodcroft of Ravenclaw." Loud cheers followed each of our names, slightly less for me and Harry. We smiled and waved at the small section of people who had applauded us. "This task requires you to pluck up your courage and strength in order to defeat your individual doppelgängers." Dumbledore revealed.
Doppelgänger? I had no idea what the word meant. I assumed it was another wizard slang term.
"Good luck to you all. Our first contestant is Angelica Mockridge of Beetlerot." A tall, skinny, blonde girl from the American team walked to the middle of the arena. All of us watched anxiously, waiting for this 'doppelgänger' to appear. The stands fell silent. A moment later, an apparition materialized right in front of Angelica. It wore her same exact outfit, had her same long blonde hair, and stood just as tall as she did. The closer I looked, the clearer it became. It was her.
We have to fight ourselves?
The doppelgänger pulled out its wand, alerting Angelica.
"Alarte ascendare!" She yelled, her wand stuck out. The doppelgänger used the shield charm to block the spell.
"DEPULSO!" It sent Angelica flying backward toward the stands. With a look of sheer terror on her face, Angelica hopped onto her broom and tried to get away. Her doppelgänger followed close behind, leaving the arena empty besides the remaining contestants. Chatter filled the stands.
"Coward…" Malfoy muttered.
Harry looked over and noticed the discomfort in my face, "Are you alright?"
"Y-yeah…"
He placed a hand on my shoulder and smiled, making me tremble, "You'll be fine."
I nodded. I wondered when Angelica would return, if she would return at all.
Two hours had passed, and three students had been disqualified from the tournament. Angelica was suffering from broken bones and had been rushed to the hospital wing, Parvarti had been put under the body-bind curse, and was still in it, and Pansy had just not returned. I was up next. I shuffled over to the center of the arena, my heart beating at the speed of light. Luna was giving me thumbs up and blowing kisses. Hermione, Cho, and Padma sat next to her smiling and waving. A few stands down sat professor Snape, surrounded by the Slytherin house. His piercing black eyes were locked on me, hardly ever blinking.
My attention turned to the apparition forming in front of me. I was staring myself in the face, only my doppelgänger had fierce, blood red eyes that I'd sworn I'd seen before. I could feel myself shivering in fear, but I wasn't going to fly off like Angelica. I was going to stand and fight, that was until my doppelgänger caught me by surprise and pointed its wand at me, "Everte statum!" I flipped backward and landed hard on my back. "Lacarnum Inflamarae!" A ball of fire came at me, but I quickly dodged it. I hopped on my broom; it would seem I was counteracting my 'standing and fighting'. I kicked off the ground and soared into the sky. I looked back. My doppelgänger was already hot on my tail. It cast the spell again, but this time it hit me. It burnt the back of my clothes and hair. I shrieked in pain and flew downward.
"Immobulus!" I turned around on my broom to cast the spell. It caused my doppelgänger to freeze which bought me some time. I flew over the Black Lake and into the Forbidden Forest. I knew it was off limits to all students, but I hoped I could escape there.
The deeper I flew into the forest, the darker it became. So dark that I eventually had to stop. I looked back, silence surrounding me. For all I knew, I could've been the only living soul in the forest. I landed, caught my breath, and started to shiver; the temperature had dropped considerably. I then noticed a depressing, dark figure gliding silently toward me, and, instead of running away, I stupidly stood and stared. It was cloaked and at least 10 feet tall. The decision not to run away was a poor one, because the figure had pulled back its hood, and I could feel it sucking, like my face was being stretched. I screamed in horror. I soon realized that this figure must have been a dementor. It had empty eye sockets and horrible scabby skin. It grabbed me by the neck and sucked powerfully. I tried to scream for help, but it only came out as a faint whisper. Remembering I had my wand in my possession, I tried to think up any possible spell I could use to repel the dementor. I recalled that one Luna had taught me in the room of requirement...the one she said could save a person from a dementor attack.
What the fuck is it called?!
I couldn't remember. I rummaged my brain for any clue as to what the spell was called.
...Ex...Expetro...Expectro...
I could feel the life being sucked out of me to the point where I had become nearly immobile.
EXPECTO...
I panicked.
Patro...Patronus?...EXPECTO...EXPECT...EXPECTO PATRONUM.
Feeling death closing in, I whipped out my wand and screamed with all my might, "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
A beautiful string of light emerged from my wand and formed into the same fox as before. Though very little, it stood strong and proud in front of me. I couldn't see anything over the shield, but after about a minute, it died down and the dementor was gone. I whimpered as tears escaped my eyes.
I nearly died.
But it wasn't over. I turned around just in time to dodge the cruciartus curse from my doppelgänger's wand. Unfortunately, I was too weak to miss the following spell.
"Sectumsempra!" I fell to the floor in excruciating pain, feeling like I'd been slashed by a sword. Blood oozed from my arms and legs, creating puddles below me. I was definitely going to die. I watched through half shut eyes my doppelgänger walk slowly toward me, presumably ready to kill me. I shut my eyes. I pictured Luna crying over my grave, and Hermione, Harry, Parvarti, and Neville giving a tear-filled eulogy.
You selfish cow...You can't die...Get up and fight!
I forced myself up, as painful as it was, and yelled, "AVADA KEDAVRA!" In the blink of an eye, my doppelgänger died right in front of me. I sighed deeply.
I've done it.
Desperate to get out of the forest, I hopped onto my broom and flew back to the arena. The breeze whipped through my choppy hair; I'd lost a fair amount of it from the fire. A loud applause welcomed me back, but before I landed, I blacked out.
Something bad had happened, I just couldn't remember what. Pain was spiraling through my body. I was covered in scars and gashes and dried blood, and I'd sworn I'd broke something. Luna sat on the side of the bed, "Wakey wakey. You're still in, Fay." She smiled.
"…Huh?"
"You're still in the tournament. You did it." She put a hand on my shoulder.
"H-how? What happened?" I winced in pain.
"You had a rather nasty fall. You flew back to the arena and…well…you collapsed off your broom in midair…"
"I'm surprised her screaming didn't wake you up." Angelica complained from across the room, holding an ice pack on her head. We ignored her.
"I'm just glad you're okay." Luna smiled and stroked my hand. She occasionally stopped to wipe a tear away from her cheek.
"Orchideous!" A voice called, and a bouquet of flowers appeared on my bedside table. It was Hagrid. "'Ello, Fay. Tha was quite a fall you 'ad!"
"Hello, Hagrid." I grinned. This man I'd only met a few months ago was already like a father to me. Just the sight of him made me feel better. "Yeah…I…I really can't remember." I asked who else was still in the tournament and who had been disqualified. I was quite happy to learn a Slytherin, Pansy, had been disqualified despite her being on my team. Luna told me that her doppelgänger had left her stranded on the top of the Astronomy tower and she couldn't get down. I laughed. Malfoy was wrong. "Agh!" A sharp pain shot up my arm. "Everything bloody hurts..."
"I'll take care of that, dear." The matron, Madam Pomfrey, made her way over to me with a cup of tea. She placed it on my bedside table next to the flowers. She turned to my visitors, "She must rest." hinting at them to leave.
"Take care, Fay." Hagrid nodded and left.
"I love you." Luna smiled, kissed my cheek, and followed behind him, waving before the door shut.
After sipping my tea and taking a short nap, Pomfrey returned to my bedside with her wand, "Brackium amendo!" All of a sudden, the pain I felt in my arms and legs had gone. "Episkey!" The split on my lip and the gashes on my body disappeared. It was as if the battle had never happened.
I shook my head and grinned in disbelief, "Incredible..."