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The noise from the arena could be heard from where the students who would be participating in the tournament were waiting. The youngest bunch of students, those who would combat one another first, were rather silent and not speaking amongst even the members of their own house. The nerves were quite easy to see while the older students did better to hide any signs of worry.
Neville was one of the students who were doing the worst at hiding their concerns as he sat in the corner, his knees pressed together as he did his best to look as small as possible. Given that his bracket consisted of those who were in the first, second and third year of study, it meant that his possible challengers could have years more experience than him. Of the first year students, perhaps only one or two first years from each house had signed up, knowing that they would be fighting an uphill battle.
For being the house of the courageous, Neville was the only first year student from Gryffidor.
That fact alone did not particularly help Neville in the slightest.
"Whatcha doing back here?"
The innocent question nearly sent Neville into a state of shock as he nearly fell off the chair he had been sitting on. "Tracy? What are you doing here? Did you enter the tournament as well?" asked Neville as he tried to get his thoughts together.
"Like I'd have any chance in something like this," scoffed Tracy as she sat on the same chair as Neville, cosying up to him in a way which made his cheeks brighten. "I've come to cheer you on."
"Wait...really?" asked Neville. "Why wouldn't you support someone in your own house?"
"Please, like I'd want to support any of them," said Tracy with a bit of a sneer. "Most of them won't even talk to me properly because my blood isn't as pure."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," said Neville sincerely.
"It's okay, I got used to it very early on," said Tracy as she averted her gaze slightly. As concerned as Neville was given the quick change of time, he knew that if Tracy didn't want to talk about it, he wouldn't force her to do so.
The awkwardness of the situation however got more uncomfortable as somebody else walked up to them, planting her hands on her hips. "Davis, just what do you think you're doing here?" interrogated Susan Bones, one of the few other first year students in attendance.
"I'm here to support my friend, is there something wrong with that?" asked Tracy in a playful way.
"It's only meat to be competitors only back here, you're not allowed to be here," scolded Susan.
"Nobody told me that," declared Tracy in a way which made it very clear that she had been told just that but had simply decided not to listen.
Susan's features scrunched up as she stared at the two students and Neville had lived amongst judgemental eyes from his family long enough to see her scrutinizing both him and Tracy for sitting in such close proximity. Part of it would likely be that aspect alone, let alone the fact that they were from opposing houses. Given what Neville, along with Harry and Hermione, had heard in regards to the Hufflepuff house, it wasn't surprising to find Susan glowering at them in such a way.
Before Susan could say anything else however, her name was called forth to compete in her first match up. "This isn't over," she said threateningly as she walked away.
When she was safely out of range, Neville turned to look at the girl who was still sitting right next to him. "You're not leaving before she gets back, are you?"
Tracy just beamed a wide smile at him. "Where would be the fun in that?"
...
"This is so much bigger than what I had in mind?"
"So she says after seeing the giant three headed dog."
"That, at least, I had been told beforehand and been able to mentally brace myself. This however is more dangerous simply because if this is anything like normal Wizard's Chess, then if I make a wrong move then it's very possible that the oncoming attack could very well kill you."
"Like anything else that we've encountered so far couldn't have done the same."
"Alright guys, focus," said Harry as he tried to get everybody on the same page. Internally he swore that it was easier when everything seemed so much more threatening first time round. "Daphne, you able to keep us alive and win this at the same time?"
"It'll be tough," said Daphne as she analyzed the board and the pieces that everybody would have to utilize. "I'll have to take some time to come up with the right strategy depending on how the opponent decides to play but I reckon we should all be able to make it through."
Harry grumbled something incoherent, having preferred to have heard that Daphne would have been able to do it all without any real fear. Still though, he had to consider the lives at stake and given how hard standard pieces destroyed one another, Daphne wasn't wrong in saying that one wrong move could easily put somebody into the infirmary, if they were lucky. "Okay, we're trusting you Daphne."
"Right then," said Daphne before addressing everybody in the room. "Follow my instructions and we'll all get through this. Now, take your places and don't make any sudden moves because if you waste one of my turns out of worry, the giant pieces will be the last of your concerns."
...
Neville stood on his side of the stage, his grip on his wand causing the whites of his knuckles to shine. The fights that had come and gone before him had been done so in short time, one person having gained an immediate advantage and had not stopped their attack for a moment. Part of him had wished that each of the fights had just gone on for a handful more seconds just so that it could have spared him for just a few moments longer.
"Don't embarrass us Longbottom!" shouted someone, causing a small chorus of chuckles to ring out. Neville could feel a little bit of anger from the fact that it had been Ron, somebody who he shared a bedroom with, who had spoke out of the crowd and gotten his peers to laugh at him.
Taking a calming breath, Neville looked over at his opponent, a second year Ravenclaw student. He had heard what their name had been momentarily but given the nerves that had crawled through his system he had already forgotten who it was he was fighting. In actuality though, it did not matter who it was that was in front of him. All Neville knew was that he had to win.
The sounds around Neville began to fade as his focus became sharper, his only concern being the person in front of him. It was part of this concentration however that nearly made him miss the start of the duel and only from having spent so much time in combat against the Weasley twins forced him to bring forth a shield, the attack from the Ravenclaw student crashing against it.
There were gasps of awe from the crowd and Neville couldn't help but think that they were doing so because he had managed to survive the first attack. Even his opponent clearly hadn't thought that he would survive the first blow as no follow up immediately came. When they did react however, Neville watched carefully as their next spell was cast. Instead of raising a shield like before, the Longbottom heir ducked beneath it, allowing the spell to miss him entirely.
Even though the duel hadn't gone on for longer than a dozen seconds, it seemed that the second year student was getting flustered that the battle had already gone on for that long. Their roar of anger accompanied their next spell and once more Neville raised up a shield to defend himself before countering. "Locomotor Wibbly," cast Neville as he pointed his wand straight ahead. The Ravenclaw student clearly wasn't prepared for any kind of counter attack, taking the spell head on and feeling the effects immediately as their legs began to collapse beneath them, unable to maintain their balance. Bracing themselves for their fall, Neville watched as their grip on their wand flattered and their prized possession spilled from their hands. Without their wand, and without the ability to walk over and collect their wand, the official in charge of the duel had no choice but to make their announcement.
"Due to their opponent being unable to continue, Neville Longbottom is the winner and will proceed to the next round!"
Several seconds passed before applause broke out, the pause having been due to the fact that many couldn't believe what it was that they saw. Turning to face the audience, Neville could see that many of the first year Gryffindor boys were whispering behind cusped hands to one another, likely saying that he had just gotten lucky or that they could have done better. If that was true, while his performance had impressed a majority of the school, it hadn't made his time in the Gryffindor common room any easier.
Neville gave a light bow, before walking back towards the waiting room. "That was awesome Neville!" squealed Tracy as he arrived, the young Slytherin still not caring that she was in an area for competitors only. "The way you made it look like you didn't have the upper hand before taking them out with one shot, it was so cool!"
"Thanks," said Neville sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head, not quite sure how to take the compliment being given to him.
"Well done Longbottom, I honestly didn't think you had that in you," said Susan, her back leaning against the nearby wall as she had her arms crossed over her chest. "Good use of the Jelly Legs Jinx, given it's not taught in our grade it was rather surprising to see you use it."
Neville swallowed a small lump in his throat as he recalled the spell being used on him over and over by either of the Weasley twins while training him. Given it was more of a novelty jinx as opposed to one designed to cause pain, it was easy to understand why the two of them were so adapt at it. "I had good teachers," said Neville after a small pause.
Susan's eyes sharpened as she pushed herself off of the wall. "We'll see if your teachers were good enough next round. I'll see you on the dueling platform."
Tracy and Neville watched Susan walk away. Neville knew that Susan wouldn't pull any punches in their upcoming bout and he wouldn't be able to catch her off guard. Silently he hoped that the rest of his friends were doing well on their end.
...
Daphne considered the options laid out before her. She could see the finishing pattern in her mind, two good moves would be all it would take. However, there was the distinct issue that it would cost the team their bishop. In most instances that would be no issue.
The fact that the part of the bishop was currently being played by George Weasley made it a much more harrowing decision. Seemingly reading her mind, George looked over to where she herself was stationed. "You're seeing the same thing I'm seeing," he said calmly. "Frankly if we decide not to take this path it could cause more issues down the line and we'll find ourself in a very similar situation where we might not have a choice to retreat."
"Just give me a minute, I'm thinking," said Daphne.
"Look, the main benefit that I can see is if I move, their bishop will take me out and thankfully he's the only one without a pointy weapon," said George with a shrug.
"You preparing yourself to get walloped brother of mine," said Fred, his voice lacking his usual cheeriness as he watched the situation from his position on the board.
"I'm just going to picture it as our dear mother of us reprimanding me for something you did," said George, trying to remain lighthearted in the dire circumstance.
"No!" proclaimed Hermione loudly. "We're all getting through this together, that was the plan! We're not sacrificing anybody. Tell them Harry, tell them that there is another option."
Harry remained silent as he considered just what was being asked of him. They were five in number and there was no guarantee that there wouldn't be more tasks ahead that would require all of their skills. Alternatively this could very well be the last task that they had to accomplish and whatever lay at the end could very well just be through the next door. Harry didn't know if he had it in him though to actively ask someone to take a massive strike for the benefit of the group.
"It's not really fair for you to put so much pressure on him Hermione," said George casually. "Sometimes you have to be the bigger person and make the decisions yourself."
To emphasize his point, George walked off of his space and into the spot where he knew he needed to be. Daphne found herself closing her eyes at his actions, her stomach having sunk at the knowledge that he was willing to go through with this. Hermione's hands had come up to cover her mouth in horror. Fred raised his arm up to salute his brother's courage.
Harry merely watched as the enemies bishop slid forward. He knew that what he was about to witness could be overly brutal but he silently told himself that he would not turn away. To do so would be dishonorable give the sacrifice George had willingly made.
The bishop's staff whisked through the air before striking true, crashing against George's arm. A sickening crack rang out as the teenager was launched off of the board, crashing onto the pavers surrounding the game. Hermione's squeal of horror bounced off of the walls having bore witness to what they had seen.
Daphne took a deep breath as she prepared to command the final act of the game. The sooner that it was over the sooner they could see just what damage had been done.
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