Chapter 23
Reece's first duel had gone okay, he'd managed to beat his opponent quickly and only come out with a few broken fingers due to a nasty hex that had been sent his way as a last resort. Yaxley had celebrated of course, as his boy hadn't been knocked out in the first round and was proving himself to all sorts of important people. The average age of competitors there was sixteen, no one going over the age of eighteen and no one going under the age of thirteen. At fourteen Reece was one of the youngest and had just beaten one of the two thirteen year olds that had been entered.
His second duel, the morning after his first was against a fifteen year old American girl and she may have been short but boy did she pack a lot of power and determination. At first she targeted the fingers had previously been broken and fixed but as it was giving Reece open shots, she'd changed her strategy to spells she could channel best. Reece had managed to gain the win and continue in the competition, but consequently he'd come out with burns all over his arms, legs and even one his neck, much to the annoyance of the mediwitches on site. Yaxley had ironically whipped out the firewhisky to celebrate the win, and it was only just past lunch when he and some new friends were sharing it out.
The third duel that he took part in was against a large, built up seventeen year old girl from Poland. She seemed to have a fascination with tripping jinxes and comical hexes, much to Reece's chagrin. And although he managed to dodge and block many of them, he was caught in the legs a few times and each time landed with his face in the dirt. But he'd still won, surprisingly. As someone who hadn't really taken part in many duels he seemed to have a certain talent for the magical sport – even though he did come out with my injuries here and there.
In his fourth battle that would take him through to the finals he took on a boy from Germany that appeared to be the same age as himself. They had fought back and forth valiantly, until every drain of magic in them had run out. It had come down to resilience, and Reece pulled through, taking a valuable quarter final spot that would see him face a winner of a future duel.
So here he was, standing toe to toe with his opponent as they chose the stipulations for the second quarter final match of the day. They may have been toe to toe, but they were not eye to eye. Reece couldn't lie, this guy was huge. He appeared to be Russian, and at eighteen the guy had a dark moustache that covered his top lip that matched his slicked back, greasy black hair. Standing at a towering six foot four and being quite bulky, Reece couldn't say that he was not intimidating. But this wasn't a fight club, this was a wizard's duel. Therefore anything could happen. And Reece could come out on top.
"We have one round, one winner!" A male voice announced to the arena, causing cheers to erupt from all parts of the stands. "But this is no simple duel, as we have seen up to now! As you will not be fighting on a simple field, so hold on steady my friends, because the ground these guys will be battling on will now change to boulders and rubble! Covered with ICE!"
As the stipulations were announced the ground began to change under the feet of Reece and his opponent. The grass began to turn grey, shifting ever so slowly as parts of the land began to rise a form high boulders and rocks. Once all the rocks had been formed, and there was no grass to be seen, lethal black ice began to coat the high boulders and started to form on most parts of the gravel under foot as well. Reece gripped his wand as he felt his right foot slide across the ground beside him, and knowing that this was to be no easy task he glared across to see the bored expression of his opponent.
"Now hold onto your seats, ladies and gentlemen because this is going to be an icy ride." Many people booed and hissed at the awful comment, but as the claxon sounded the two boys began to trek towards one another, throwing disarming spells, stunners and jinxes at each other while attempting to navigate the black ice. Reece took the first hit, not being able to judge the hex thrown at him as he had to catch himself on the ice. Instantly he felt the warm sensation of an uncommon nosebleed hex begin to take effect, and blood began to stream over his lips and onto his robe. Instinctively, Reece ducked behind a large rock, gaining his composure before pointing his wand round the side and firing a couple of rogue conjunctivitis curses in the direction of the Russian.
"Oh and it looks like a bloody nose is the least of your problems when firing rogue spells! Looks like Russia's taken a huge hit there!" Reece smirked through the blood as he overheard that he'd managed to hit his target with awfully fired spells such as those. He lunged out from behind the boulder, almost slipping on ice as he did so, just to meet a string of bat-bogey hexes being sent in his direction. Putting up a quick shield, he managed to block them and before the large figure could get out of the way, Reece sent a rapid army of stunners at his opponent, knocking him right out. "And there we have it, Britain steals the win with a simple stunner!"
As the ground began to level out again and return to its original flat, grassy landscape Reece made his way off of the field and into the welcoming arm of Yaxley. A mediwitch shot over, casting a quick spell and patting round his mouth with a wet towel to clear the blood that had been running down his chin.
"That's how a Lestrange does it." Yaxley jeered as he put an arm over Reece's shoulder and took him past a couple of people who were congratulating him on another win. "Let's go and get some food lad, you must be starving after that." He took Reece outside to where a vendor seemed to be stationed, selling all sorts of food as well as magical recreational items. "You know, Britain, we should live up to your name here," Yaxley announced as he approached the vendor with stacks of galleons in his hands. "Two fish and chips, salt and vinegar on them both as well, thank you."
"Once we've got these can we go and watch the next duel? The winner will be my opponent and I really want to scout them both." Reece muttered as Yaxley handed over the right amount of money to pay for the food.
"You're so close to winning Reece, we can taste it." Of course, it would be we not you. It always was 'we' with Yaxley, ever the manipulator. The Slytherin, pureblood green had fit him well in his time and Reece figured it still did now. "The amount of people I've spoken to here over the last three days," He said as he ate a chip out of the cone and handed the other cone to Reece. "You've impressed a lot of people here and I hear that if you pick up that trophy, you'll be on the front of the Prophet. Imagine that my boy. Imagine that."
And he did imagine that. In fact it even seemed possible until he'd watched his two potential opponents enter from the stands and take up their positions. One was a boy, around the age of fifteen or sixteen and the other… A girl. Age didn't matter and it didn't define the beauty of this creature or affect the shine of her long blonde hair. Her opponent appeared to be mesmerized, standing with his mouth agape as the stipulations were chosen for the fight. Reece looked at her. She was making him feel things, and the rational side of him knew what he was feeling was artificial. This girl, she had to be veela. There was no other way that she could be so alluring from so far away and Reece was worried. He had to learn to control himself, because he already knew – before the duel even started – that this girl was going to be his opposition in the semi-final.
He had been right, the boy had barely even fought back against the girl and she had taken him out gracefully with spells that could have been destructive to his wellbeing. This could be his fate.
"That girl, she's part veela there's no other way she could have done that to that guy." Reece said to Yaxley once they had gone back to the tent to rest for the semi-final that was taking place later that night. "How do I block her emotionally? So I can look at her without thinking of how pretty she is."
"I've not had much experience with veela, fortunately." Yaxley grumbled as he drank a cup of tea that had been made by magical appliances. "Some people say that if you're strong enough, you can push back your feelings for the veela and make them inadequate." He grunted, obviously not too fond of this opinion. "And others say that if you can overpower your thoughts of the veela with something more dominating for your emotional being, then you aren't frozen by their beauty as you are thinking of someone else. But you don't have a love life, I hope, so you'll have to try the first one."
"I hope?" Reece questioned. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well I don't know if your father had any marriage arranged for you, so I figure it would be a shame for you to fall in love if you are set to marry someone better suited." It was clear to Reece that Yaxley had no clue how to explain the pureblood situation, so he didn't fight back for now. At least Yaxley had given him help, because now he'd think of Granger and not the bloody French blonde.
The night came round quickly, as Reece had slept through the rest of the day trying to regain as much lost energy as he could. The sleep did wonders, and he woke up feeling pumped and focused. This battle was not going to be an easy one, and he knew that. But the idea to think of an overpowering thought such as Granger was a good one, because Christ was she overpowering.
He stood on the grass once again, and he thought of Granger, everything about her really. Her eyes, that cute laugh of hers, her stubborn nature. Everything.
"Ay up it's our first semi-final of the night, welcome back ladies and gents I do hope we've had a good tea! I don't know about you all but I can't wait to see who will be the first competitor to advance to the final. We've got a good one for you: Britain in the form of Reece Lestrange and France in the form of Fleur Delacour!" The crowd cheered for the competitors, eagerly awaiting the announcement of the chosen stipulation. Reece looked at Fleur and she looked right back at him, smirking. She knew what she was up to, thinking he could be easily controlled like her last opponent. He thought of Hermione though; even when Fleur smiled, showing her straight white teeth to him he still thought of the Gryffindor golden girl.
"Stipulation has been announced my friends! There is now a flag in the middle of the grass, you all see that?" Reece looked to the centre to see a small white pole around a metre tall appear. On top was a triangular black flag. "The rules are simple. You get the flag, you get that spot in the final. Do what you need to get it, just don't kill each other!"
The claxon sounded and the two began sprinting towards the centre of the field, Reece firing the first spell to let her know that he wasn't to be controlled. She blocked it swiftly with a glare, throwing back all sorts of vicious hexes and jelly jinxes. Reece ducked and dodged, throwing up a silver shield as they both managed to get themselves only a metre or so away from the flag. Fleur lunged for it first, and Reece manged to stop her by obscuring her vision, casting a spell that set a blindfold over her eyes. It seemed like a good idea at the time but as she couldn't see, Fleur continued to fire stunners and other spells at him and everywhere else for that matter. He began to sprint towards the flag, and managed to get fingertips away before one of her strong stunners penetrated his shield and sent him flying through the air. Reece fell quickly, hitting the ground with a thud and sliding as she managed to get rid of the blindfold.
Seeing her opportunity Fleur made a dash for the targeted item. But as Reece hadn't dropped his wand he quickly cast a powerful disarming spell, hitting her in the chest and sending her even further back than he went. Scrambling to his feet, Reece began sprinting back towards the flag, but as he approached she began to fire a variety of spells. Anything to stop him from beating her. Reece did his best to stop and block them, even sending multiple jelly jinxes to try and knock her to the floor. The amount of spells he was sending eventually became too much, and one spell finally broke through her shield.
Suddenly Fleur found herself falling to the floor, her body glued together in a bind. Reece took it as his biggest opening so far, and he made a lunge for the flag. He got it, much to the amusement and anger of Fleur Delacour. She lay flat on the ground, swallowing her pride and trying to accept that she could now only win third prize. Reece held up the flag, showing the spectators that he had won for a good few seconds before he pointed his wand at Fleur and cast the counter curse. He couldn't just leave the girl there like that. She stood up, grabbing her wand and brushing herself off as she did so. When she began walking towards him, Reece had no idea what to expect.
"You 'ave a lot ov skill, Britain." She shouted to him over the crowd as they began to walk off the field. Reece had to admit, her English was far from great. But her duelling was incredible. And her clear veela abilities seemed to make her even more of a threat when battling.
"Et vous êtes un opportuniste talentueux, France." (And you are a talented opportunist, France.) All those years of Yaxley teaching him French were suddenly coming in handy. Reece figured it would be best to try and understand her language, as she couldn't really speak his.
"Ah donc vous parlez de ma langue. Eh bien bonne chance avec la première place." (Ah so you can speak my language. Well good luck with first place.) Fleur smiled at him as they made their way off the pitch, and as Yaxley approached he couldn't help but be polite to her.
"Vous n'aurez pas besoin d'elle er, mais bonne chance pour la troisième place." (You won't need it er, but good luck for the third place.) So yes, he had to pause as his French wasn't perfect. But it was at least getting him by.
"Making new veela friends are we?" Yaxley teased once she was out of earshot. "That's fine you know son, the Delacours aren't exactly a poor family and even though they've got a bit of veela in them, it's fine to know them as long as you're not a mate." Reece nodded as the two made their way out of the medical area and up to the stands, getting ready to watch the other semi-final. This was the last chance to scout his opponents.