Disclaimer: Everything belongs to J.K Rowling.

Chapter 25: The First Dance of Violence

It was three days until my first duel of the tournament but the event officially began with an opening ceremony today. The duelling rinks were located all over the tree; the only thing in common between them was that they were circular and held small stands for the onlookers. Ida, as I had finally learned the Ravenclaw girl was called, started her tournament today. About ten students from Hogwarts had been allowed to travel and watch the duel, all of them her friends. I wondered if Ron and Hermione would do the same. I really hoped so. I never thought I would really miss them when thinking about going, I rarely saw them outside of classes after all.

But I did. I really did.

It was a frisk morning with the air having cool humidity. The circle where the combatants stood was made entirely of gleaming wood, carved straight from the tree. Leaves from branches were covering the sun conveniently, giving the rink an almost desolate look. I didn't know what to expect from the duel but when Ida fired her first spell I felt very underwhelmed. Basics on posture and selecting the right opportunity was totally lost on her. Her opponent, a short lad with blonde hair, caught onto this quickly and punished her again and again.

Watching others fights was a good thing, I decided silently. It was clear as day that Ida had no clue as to when she was supposed to attack; every time a spell flew from her wand she almost got caught by one herself. The fight ended with her opponent scoring ten points against her meagre two. That would mean that Ida had a minus eight point difference and a loss. It would be difficult for her to qualify to the knockout stages but Flitwick seemed greatly enthused when Ida descended the stage with her head hung low.

He said a few quiet words and she perked up a little. She wasn't quite as happy to see her friends now as she had been earlier though.

Montague scratched his head with a frown. "That wasn't even close." He sighed heavily. "I will face one of the Görans later."

The Norwegian school called 'Görans' had won 29 out of the 47 'Duelling Days', including seven out of the last nine. They sent four students but all of them were considered strong favourites. The betting odds on them were abysmal, it was almost at the point you lost money if you betted on them and won. It would be when they started to get knocked out that things would get interesting in the betting culture.

There was a large hall close to the ground. It was inside the tree's trunk where all manner of people went to place their bets on the tournament. Most of them were very rich, people who went there reminded me a lot about the likes of Lucius Malfoy.

I accompanied the rest of the Hogwarts delegation back to our small house and locked myself inside my room again. Boisterous laughter and explosions rocked my room, it felt like the place would be shaken off the tree and plummet to the ground. After about half an hour or so, the noise stopped and I could focus on my advanced demobilisation spell in peace and quiet.

My stomach eventually groaned loudly and I had to concede and grab something to eat. Still, it felt like I had made some good progress.

The place had been reinvigorated by the duelling actually starting. No one sent suspicious glances and sneered at me angrily, in its place was excited chatter about the latest happenings. I overheard that one from the 'Görans' school had won a duel ten to one, that was poor from his opponent. No matter how good the lad from 'Görans' was.

My schoolmates were not at our resigned seats at the lunch table which meant I had the opportunity to eat alone with some peace. Or so I thought. Just as I had filled my plates with some pesto pasta with parmesan cheese, the Americans next to us sat down looking very downtrodden, apart from Alice.

"Potter!" Alice whispered to me.

I met her gaze. "Yeah?"

"Have you heard?"

"About what?"

"About the duel!" Alice was almost bouncing up and down in her seat by now.

I raised my eyebrows. "Be more specific, which duel are we talking about here?"

She rolled her eyes. "The duel between Van Hoofen and Sanga!"

I looked at her blankly. "Am I supposed to know who they are?"

Her mouth hung open. "Wait, you don't know who they are?!" she almost shouted at me.

I winced as I saw heads turning towards us. "A little louder, please. I don't think they heard us outside."

"Seriously! You must know who they are!" She looked torn between bewilderment and laughter.

"Since I don't, I obviously mustn't know," I said with a pair of raised brows.

She shook her head in disappointment. "It's the world champion and the European champion in duelling." When seeing my blank smile she sighed. "Don't tell me you didn't watch the opening ceremony."

"I thought it was just between two competitors," I exclaimed indignantly. "It didn't say that they were world champions anywhere."

"Because everyone knows who they are!" she shouted in frustration.

"Well, not everyone…" I stated matter-of-factly.

She rolled her eyes. "You're incredible, you come here knowing nothing about the tournament or about duelling at all."

"Thanks," I said curtly. "And for the record, I do know something about duelling."

"Sure, we'll see in a couple of days I suppose."

I frowned. "You'll watch my duel?"

She snorted. "Yeah, duh. And so will everyone else."

"Why though? There were like thirty people watching Clara, my schoolmate, earlier this morning?"

Alice chuckled at my remark. "And how many killing curses has she survived?"

I opened my mouth to speak but closed it again. Of course my fame wouldn't stop just because I strayed beyond the borders of Britain. Lucky me.

"Fair enough," I said with an exasperated shake of my head. "When are you duelling then?"

Alice smiled widely. "Tomorrow actually, against a Greek dude, short, muscular and enjoys eating mussels for breakfast."

I raised my eyebrows. "I'm sure that information will come in handy."

She laughed. "You never know."

"Anyway," she continued brightly. "I will obviously see you tomorrow, right?" She arched an eyebrow at me.

I rolled my eyes with a smile. "I usually only watch duells of people who aren't disturbing my peace at any given moment."

"Great!" she exclaimed. "See you there then!"

I chuckled as I returned to my food to eat. Just as I was about to finish she whispered to me again.

"Pssst! Potter."

I gave her a deadpan look. "Why are you whispering? There's no one but us here anymore." It was true, her schoolmates had just left.

She shrugged absently. "It feels more important then, you know?"

"I don't."

"Ehh whatever… Anyways, I have a question." Alice smiled at me shyly.

"You usually do," I remarked dryly.

Alice rolled her eyes but smiled brightly. "Perhaps, but I was wondering if you wanted to watch the quidditch game?"

I arched an eyebrow. "Don't you have friends to go with?"

"Yeah, but I saw your 'friends' go towards the field earlier," she made quotation marks with her hands as she said the word 'friends'. How perceptive.

"Why does that matter?"

She tilted her head and smiled sadly. "Loneliness isn't nice," she said simply.

That was a little bit too close to home from what was essentially a stranger.

I met her gaze. "I'm fine, I'll have plenty of time to prepare for the tournament this way."

She shrugged. "Aight, I'll see you tomorrow then." Alice wiped her hands on a napkin and smiled before she left me sitting at the table with only my thoughts for company.

As I sat there by myself I realised that she was right.

Loneliness isn't nice.

-()-

Montague lost ten points to two.

Dumbledore has been asked to 'step away' by Hogwarts' governors.

In other totally unsurprising news, I was sitting alone in my room and preparing for my duel. Alice's duel was about to begin in an hour, which I had actually decided to attend despite my better judgement. Rowena had seemed overjoyed that I was going for some reason. That was nice as well.

When the book was secured in the silver bag I escaped the confines of my room quietly. Duelling rink number 37 was only two branches away from mine, the walk was short. The air was oppressively hot and the humidity made it almost difficult to breathe. Still, the duelling circle looked as inviting as usual. I couldn't wait to get out there myself and show what I could do.

Alice hugged someone from her entourage and walked out into the circle with confident steps. The contrast between the girl there and the one I'd talked with couldn't have been greater. Alice was so laid back and full of energy - the girl in the ring had a solemn frown and chin raised in an almost mocking way.

Her opponent was a muscular guy from a school in Greece, just as she said. Whether he liked mussels or not was unclear from where I sat.

The two contestants glared at each other and bowed upon the referee's command. Then the referee fired a jet of light in the ground between them and the duel began. The crowd was larger than when Ida had duelled and everyone was leaning forwards in anticipation. It was very anticlimactic but I found myself raising my eyebrows at the start; neither of them fired a spell, or made any move to do so. I briefly wondered if a basilisk had looked them in the eye before Alice flicked her wand once, twice, thrice and bolts of lights burst forward at great speeds.

It became immediately apparent that Hogwarts' participants were nowhere near the standard for this tournament. When Alice conjured a wolf made of solid steel to charge her opponent I couldn't help but be impressed. When her opponent created a magnet to attract the wolf and then flung it towards Alice, I realised that these two were really good.

Doubts began to creep into my mind. I'd studied so hard and had a good feeling about my first duel. The bar was higher than I'd imagined most combatants would manage. Perhaps Alice and her opponent were just really good.

But I doubted it.

The duel died down a little when it returned to the traditional exchange of bolts of lights and shields. They traded points every now and then but it was difficult to know who would actually win. Eventually, Alice managed to scrape a win with eight points to seven. She opted for the route to disarm her opponent and then summon the wand into her grasp. Still, she got the victory with positive points.

A big crowd of people descended to where the competitors were now shaking hands with each other. I really didn't have anything to say; I made myself scarce and returned to the comfort of my books again. The doubt kept nagging at the back of my mind, keeping me from being able to focus. I yawned loudly and turned my lamp off to sleep. Three o'clock read the magical clock at my nightstand. Another late night of studying.

But the thought still haunted me.

I wasn't that much better than the other Hogwarts students. What if I failed horribly?

-()-

All the duels I'd watched before my own had been among the branches just above where everyone lived, when the place for my own duel was revealed I realised that mine was an exception. And justifiably so, I'd only ever seen as many people at one place here at the dinner with everyone crammed inside the hall.

People were everywhere. Since I was the one duelling I had a booth just for myself and my entourage; this shielded me from talking to and seeing everyone but the noise was overwhelming all the same. Hundreds of conversations and chatters coalesced into one single overbearing shroud of chaos. Perhaps I should have been flattered since watching me was such a huge attraction but I couldn't make myself see it that way. They weren't here for me, they were here because of me. Me simply being there was enough for them, I had no doubt in my mind that every single person in those stands would love to see me fail.

When I'd seen that no one from Hogwarts had been allowed to travel here to see me I felt a sting of an emotion I couldn't quite place. I'd been looking forward to seeing Hermione and Ron or anybody I knew, alas, perhaps I couldn't have both friends and this tournament.

I found myself increasingly doubting my decisions to leave Hogwarts. With Dumbeldore gone, there would be nothing to stop Umbridge. I knew McGonagall, Flitwick and most professors weren't on her side, but they couldn't go up against the full power of the ministry.

I'd heard that some aurors had been sent to Hogwarts to help keep the students safe. There had apparently been some violence in connection to some quidditch game.

Either way, I doubted that I could just stroll into Hogwarts and take out all the aurors to save my friends from the claws of Umbridge.

I had learned much, but not that much.

Strangely, I didn't feel nervous or concerned for my duel at all. It wasn't that I thought I would win easily, I was just confident I would be able to do well. As long as I won it would be fine, losing would make it hard to qualify. All the anxiety from yesterday was gone somehow. I just looked forward to it.

I stifled a yawn and stretched in an attempt to gain some energy. Staying up until three o'clock wasn't anything I regretted since I needed all the time I could get to practice but I had to admit that it left me a little tired. Tiredness could be overcome easily, not knowing enough could not be overcome easily.

Spectators all around the large, circular arena began to settle down in their seats. I stared up at the stands in contemplation. It wasn't anything like the humble pits for the other duels, this screamed splendour and elegance. From the shining blank branches to the padded seats.

"Ey Potter!" I heard a female voice shout from the stands close to where I stood. There she sat with a smile on her face, Alice.

I walked over and rolled my eyes. "Do you have another question for me?"

She smirked. "No, but I have some tips for you." She glanced at my competitor on the other side of the circle. "You already know he's from Koldovstoretz I assume?"

"I'm not that oblivious, thank you."

She rolled her eyes. "That's debatable. Either way, I bet you don't know that he has an irrational fear of fairies and has a proclivity to use muggle weapons."

I snorted. "I don't even want to know how you know these things." I smiled at her. "But thank you."

She smiled back at me unevenly. "Just win, okay? I convinced my father to bet a tenner on you."

I nodded. "I hadn't planned to win earlier, but now that your father has placed his faith in me, I am forced to."

She rolled her eyes but a smile slipped through. "You better."

I waved goodbye and returned to where Flitwick was waiting for me with a serene smile.

"Go out and have fun Mr. Potter and good luck!" Flitwick strided gracefully to his designated seat as a coach and sat down with a smile. I took a deep breath and walked up to the plattform. It was unsurprisingly made of solid, dark wood but it was beautiful. Natural patterns of wood ran over the floor like vines clinging on a wall. It was rather ironic that we would have to defile this piece of art. My opponent appeared on the other end and eyed me with his chin raised. He was white as a sheet but towered over me by at least a decimeter. His clothes were a violent shade or red and had the crest of his school woven on his chest.

My own attire was black with details of red, luckily my master hadn't been able to change that colour. I had no intention to go out on stage in purple.

The referee had eyebrows so thick I could barely see his eyes and was dressed in a striped black and white shirt. He beckoned the both of us over.

"Alright fellas," he began gruffly in an accent I couldn't place. "I want a fair duel. You know the rules, no fatal spells, no leaving the circle, yeah?"

We both nodded quietly.

"Great, good luck out there fellas."

Me and my opponent returned to our sides of the circle. I tried to ignore the hundreds of eyes staring down at me. I guess the benefit of the triwizard tournament was that I had some prior experience with performing in front of a crowd. My opponent looked slightly green and glanced around the room with a grimace. That was something to take advantage of.

I met his eyes from across the room and bowed curtly. In return I got nothing but a stiff twitch of his back, his eyes were radiating absolutely nothing. No anger, no hate, it was almost strange fighting when it was so impersonal.

I didn't take my eyes off my opponent for a second. As such, I only noticed the referee moving in my periphery just before the spell hit the ground with a bang.

I just about managed to fling up a shield in time to block his array of spells flying towards me. My shield exploded and I sidestepped the next spells to send a pink light in return, forcing him to take a step to the right. Intent on not making my small opening slip away, I fired a pair of ropes for his ankles. He summoned a wave of fire and burned them to ash before he turned that against me. The flames flew towards me and were just to embrace me in a hot, excruciating hug of pain as I spun my wand in a circle and summoned a strong wind forcing them back at him. He realised his mistake and ended the spell before any harm could be done.

There was complete silence in the arena, no one said a thing. Neither of us moved either. Both of us remained frozen in our stances awaiting for our dance of violence to begin anew.

Both of us reawoke at the same time and my vibrating, violet light collided against his golden one in a shower of sparks and delights. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my abdomen and I looked down to see my clothes oozing and screaming.

"Point, Cheryshev," the referee announced clearly.

Fair enough.

I got in position again and awaited the light between us. I sidestepped his barrage this time and conjured a spear of steel which I sent charging to his chest. He stepped to the side and caught the spear in his own hands. My shock was almost so complete I got hit by another one of his spells but a shield was erected just in time. He spun the spear eloquently and flung it towards me. I tried to transfigure the spear into a flock of birds.

It failed.

It was too late when I realised that though.

The spear struck my right thigh with such force I was flung backwards and landed on my arse with a stab of pain.

"Point, Cheryshev."

I ignored the referee completely. My gaze was firmly locked on the spear of metal sticking out from my thigh. Blood was pouring out in heaves. Then the pain came searing down on me like a diving eagle. I bit my lip to prevent myself from screaming. With a deep breath I tried to vanish the spear from my thigh but no spell worked on it. Cheryshev must have done something with it.

I braced myself and tore it out with a scream of pain. If the blood had been pouring earlier, I didn't know what to call this. Another glaring problem presented itself, I barely knew any healing spells. As such, I settled for simply cauterising the wound and hoping for the best. I got up with a wobbling leg and was forced to put my weight on the other leg.

Another blast of light emerged between us and the duel began anew. My opponent's visage held no emotion, he could have been watching a movie or taken notes during a lesson, there was no telling.

He always aimed slightly to the left side of my body to force me to take steps to the right, which flared with pain for each time.

Eventually he hit me with an 'impedimenta'. Three points.

A bite from a fox. Four points.

Sword cut on the shoulder. Five points.

My breathing was laboured and my thigh screamed in agony and anguish. Nothing I tried was working. No technique I had read about, worked. No spell I had practised helped. No strategy gave me relief but for a second.

I couldn't think properly. The nerves of my thigh screamed so much to overpower all other coherent thoughts.

A tripping jinx. Six points.

A spell to change the colour of my clothes. Seven points.

Aguamenti. Eight points.

A rock. Nine points.

A slap.

-()-

A faint knock came from my shut door. I sighed loudly from my resting position on my bed where I was staring at the ceiling.

"Come in."

The door slid open to reveal the miniature charms Professor. He smiled jovially as usual but it seemed a little forced to me.

"You should go to lunch with us Mr. Potter. You need something to eat." Flitwick smiled at me sympathetically.

"I'm fine Professor, I just need a little time to think." I smiled forcedly at him.

Flitwick sat down on a chair. "You are not the first person to lose ten to nill, Mr. Potter."

I chuckled darkly. "Perhaps not, but I was aiming for the top, not avoiding the bottom."

Flitwick tilted his head and observed me. "I could say that you should curb your ambitions…" He smiled at me. "But I know that won't happen. You are a smart lad, Mr. Potter, whatever is bothering you, I'm sure you will find a way to fix it."

Flitwick stood up and left without another word. The silence was complete. Cold and cautious.

I couldn't go to lunch. I had missed dinner yesterday due to the rather serious injuries and breakfast for the same reason. Now that my injuries were all healed I was expected to return to the hall to eat with everybody else. Only I couldn't.

The time between the duel and being enveloped by unconsciousness was vivid to me, it was laced with pain and laughter. I remembered laughter ringing from the crowd, I remembered angry shouts. I remembered the emotionless face of my opponent. I clenched my fists in anger. How could he remain emotionless as he tore my very being apart in front of everyone? Not a single twitch of a single facial muscle. Not a single hint of…anything.

Then I remembered little of being carried off on a stretcher. I heard laughter directed at me and people shouting at me furiously. I couldn't return to lunch. I could stand looks of hate, scorn and even fear. Pity and mocking…

That was another thing entirely.

I stood up and stalked over to the corner where I had thrown my silver bag. The ancient book just lay in my lap for more time than I could count. I ran my fingers over the cover affectionately, still, I felt nothing but trepidation for opening it. My master didn't know how the duel went, that would mean that I would have to retell everything.

I closed my eyes and opened the book. The first page was empty as usual. After minutes of just staring absently at the piece of paper, a sentence of purple letters appeared on the tired paper.

"How did the duel go?" it read.

I dipped my quill in the ink and put it against the paper. "Horribly."

The pages of the book started to shine.

I smiled weakly, despite myself, and leaned forwards into the warm and comfortable escape from reality.

My master was sitting patiently. Her gaze was cool and collected. "Please explain."

So I did. I tried to remember every single minute detail from talking to Alice to ending up on a stretcher. It almost felt like someone else was talking about events which had happened to someone else. Mistakes someone else had made, not me.

When I finished, silence hung heavy in the air. I stared at my feet with intensity. I felt my vision blur at moments and didn't dare to look up and see my master's disappointed look.

"I'm sorry."

My gaze never left my feet. "I am the one who should be sorry," I answered like a robot. "I have failed you, I haven't learned what you asked me to."

I heard my master let out a long sigh. "Shit."

My gaze snapped up to look at her.

She shook her head. "I had hoped I wouldn't have to get sentimental again so soon," she said grimaced as if she had tasted something bitter.

I smiled, despite myself.

"I shouldn't have let this madness go one for as long as it has," Rowena continued.

I frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Her piercing gaze met mine. "I knew you could reach the stars, that you would reach the stars, eventually," she said. "But I have led you down a path which isn't beneficial for either of us. Your obsession with studying has grown too large."

I shook my head. "You're talking like learning is a bad thing."

She sighed with a pained smile. "It is for you."

I scoffed. "That's ironic. You spent your entire life learning things, yet you tell me it's a bad thing."

Rowena stared at the ceiling absently for a couple of seconds. "I, like you, spent all of my freetime, inside, studying magic and walking further down that path than everyone else."

"Then what is the problem here?"

Rowena's eyes were a little glazed over. "It was the greatest mistake of my life," she whispered softly.

"You're saying becoming one of the most powerful witches ever was the greatest mistake of your life?" I asked incredulously.

"YES!" she shouted at me. "I may have learned a thing or two, but at what cost?" My master looked close to breaking down completely. "I spent all of my time in a small cottage I owned, devouring knowledge like it was a delicious dish. The thing was, I never shared that meal with anyone. I always sat there by myself, reading, learning, regressing."

"You became the greatest, most knowledgeable, most powerful witch ever. The best master," I added. "I wouldn't call that regressing."

She shook her head bitterly. "No, I regressed in everything but my knowledge. One by one, I stopped talking to my friends and…my family." A single tear streaked down her cheek. "And then, one day, I realised I didn't have any friends anymore."

Didn't have friends anymore.

"I became so focused on reaching further that I lost sight of what was really important." She frowned. "Having knowledge and…being powerful doesn't matter if you don't have anyone to help, if you don't have anyone to be powerful for." She looked at me pleadingly. "I thought you wouldn't turn out like me, you had friends who cared about you." Rowena put her face in her hands. "I ruined you."

"No," I responded quickly. "You helped me."

She looked up at me with glistening eyes, forcing a smile on her face. "I hoped that I would be able to keep you from becoming what I became. I failed."

"But I want to become like you," I protested.

The founder of Hogwarts smiled sadly at me. "No, you don't. If I could, I would throw away everything I knew for a chance to get my friends back…to get my family back. There is nothing I regret more than leaving them behind. There is nothing I hate more about myself than how I treated them."

I remained silent, I opened my mouth a few times but closed it again. I had no idea what to say.

"Please," she said with her voice wavering slightly. "Please don't make the same mistakes I did. Please don't walk further down this path."

I ran a hand through my hair. "You want me to stop studying with you completely?"

"I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to, but no. Just limit yourself, spend time with your friends and loved ones." She locked her eyes in mine with determination. "Nothing is more important. You exhausted yourself last year up until now. Everyone needs to have fun sometimes, everyone needs to be happy. Otherwise…" Rowena trailed off and remained quiet.

"I will try," I promised solemnly.

"No, don't try," she said resolutely. "Do it. Please."