AN: Welcome back for another week! Exciting Dueling this time. Nothing more to say other than Happy Summer for everyone in the northern hemisphere, and Happy 4th of July to those in the U.S.! On with the chapter! Also, please review with ideas for the Tri-Wizard Tournament! We're getting closer by the chapter!
March brought along with it a return to the Dueling tournament for Harry, which was a cause for both excitement and anxiety. Harry did really enjoy the dueling tournaments. Alongside getting to see new places and meet new people, it was also a fun and relatively safe way for him to really let himself loose magically. Classes always required him to hold back, if not magically, than mentally, because he and the Sphinx Club were simply so far ahead of the curve on their studies. The Dueling tournaments, though, saw Harry's fast thinking and raw magical power as a boon, and celebrated it, which made him happy.
This year the dueling tournament was held in Paris, which Harry was admittedly a little disappointed at not being able to spend any real time exploring beforehand. He was sure he'd have a chance too some other time. Harry and Flitwick waited in line for registration, Harry nervously rocking on his heels a bit. Crowds were still something he wasn't a fan of, despite becoming used to the mobs of students that flooded the Hogwarts corridors on a daily basis. Harry idly wondered why that didn't bother him.
"Harry! Monsieur Flitwick! Hello!" came a french accented voice from the crowd. Harry turned to look and saw Fleur and her father coming towards them.
"Ah! The Delacours! Pleased to see you. I take it you are competing again Miss Fleur?" Flitwick asked, a smile on his face at seeing his former student and his daughter.
"Oh yes. I'm very excited. I don't know if you heard, but I topped ze Hippogriff cup last year. A shame zat ze Bulgarian boy that beat me the year before didn't compete though. I would have liked to have beaten him." She said, a smile on her face. "This is my first year in ze Manticore Cup. I hope I do well."
"I'm sure you'll do great Fleur! I'm in my first year of the Hippogriff Cup now. Here's hoping that I can beat Ivan Krum from last year. It'd be nice to see that I have improved." Harry said.
"It seems we both have a rivalry with the Krums then, since his older brother Viktor was my rival until last year. It seems he stopped dueling in favor of Quidditch." Fleur said, before rolling her eyes. "I never understood the appeal of the sport, but I suppose many say the same about Dueling."
"Come now Fleur, Quidditch is a fine game. Maybe I'll have to take you to the World Cup this year. I think it's being held in England." Jean-Paul said, and Flitwick nodded.
"Indeed it is, I've had my coworker Minerva talking my ear off about it. She's very excited for it." Flitwick said with a bit of a chuckle.
"Professor McGongall is a Quidditch buff?" Harry asked, the information somewhat surprising to him.
"Oh yes. She tries to hide it a bit better nowadays, but when we were younger she was not unlike those Muggle football hooligans. I believe I saw her at a Scotland game once with her face painted like the Scotland flag. Don't tell her I told you though, I would hate to be on the receiving end of one of her glares." Flitwick said, going a bit red in the face. Harry could sympathize. Professor McGonagall was nice, but simultaneously terrifying when she wanted to be. Even Snape didn't like being on her bad side.
The Delacours waited in line with Harry and Flitwick as they made their way through registration, conversation being light and joyous, with everyone giving some tips to Harry, who gladly welcomed the advice.
Getting to spend a bit more time with Fleur, Harry began to notice just how pleasant she really was. Harry had gotten the impression she was nice, if a bit competitive during their first meeting the year prior, but time constraints had prevented them from talking more. Now though, he got to see her better, and he was glad he did. Fleur was pretty, inside and out. She seemed kind and courteous, although incredibly competitive. Harry thought she would either get along amazingly with Daphne, or they would declare each other eternal rivals. Either way, Harry would like to introduce them.
The pair of youthful duelists parted ways as the tournament began, and Harry once more felt his nerves catch up to him. He was good, he knew that. He had placed second last year, and now was pretty certain he had far surpassed who Krum had been. Whether or not he was better than Krum now was something he couldn't know though. He had given everything to his training, and had gone even farther this year because of the looming specter of Sirius Black. Was training to fight a mass murderer something Krum did? Harry hoped not. Looking around at the waiting room for the Hippogriff cup contestants, he saw some familiar faces. There was Thomas Wagner from Austria, who Harry was glad to see. There was also Marianne Levigne, the French girl that Krum had frozen. She seemed extra confident today, especially in comparison to what he had seen of her last year. Maybe Krum's freezing had ironically lit a fire underneath her. Also present was Ivan Krum, who had two men with him. The oldest one seemed to be his father, a well dressed man with short cropped hair, and the younger one was probably his brother Viktor. The rest of the gathered attendees seemed to be new blood. Which was a bit unsurprising. From some reading Harry had done, Dueling was a sport that you tended to skew a bit older in terms of learning, so the fact that people like himself, Krum, and Wagner had started before age 13 was rarer.
There were 35 total competitors this year, a significant step up from what came before. The new competitors seemed to have varying levels of confidence. A few Harry could see, would have been right at home with Draco Malfoy. Swaggering around with confidence that Harry couldn't tell if it was earned or not. He wouldn't underestimate them, but they would likely underestimate him. Against those perhaps it would be best to start slow and let them wear themselves out. Some others seemed to have anxieties about the matter like he did, they would likely be best dealt with quickly and decisively. Harry hated that if he wanted to proceed he would have to have them lose. He hoped they would treat it as a learning experience.
His worries were still set on Krum though, Thomas and Marianne were strong competitors sure, but Krum had proven himself to be better than the lot of them in the past. Harry hoped that his training would be enough.
The rounds started shortly thereafter, and Harry took a look at the bracket. It seems that the four returning contestants had all ended up decently far away from each other in the bracket. Seems the earliest Harry could expect to be against any of them would be the semi-finals. That brought some relief to his chest. That would give him some time to gauge how much they had improved, and formulate some kind of strategy.
Within the hour, the first rounds started. Harry's first opponent was a boy a year older than him, and quite a bit larger in stature. Their duel was over fairly quickly. What the older boy had in bravado, he lacked in both experience and skill. He had failed to maneuver himself much at all during the duel, and had only shot out spells that were standard to have known by fourth year. Harry's experience and knowledge won out, as he simply used a tripping jinx knockback charm combination to send him off of the ring.
Harry had the pleasure of getting the chance to see Thomas Wagner, his Austrian opponent from last year, duel with Ivan Krum. Harry knew that Thomas was a competent duelist, if a bit flashy. Harry hoped during the year they had to train, Thomas had learned some control. His hopes were answered when the Duel between Thomas and Ivan began with a simultaneous stunning charm that intercepted each other in mid-air. Both competitors were aggressive duelists, and it seemed each of them had the plan to end this duel quickly. Neither put up much of a defense at all, instead focusing all of their efforts into their offense. Ivan doused the arena with water, and was getting ready to freeze Thomas in it when Thomas sent out a gout of flame that both forced Ivan back, and quickly dried the water. Harry could tell Ivan was getting frustrated. He had gotten better over the past year that was certain; his moves were sharper, and his control was better, but it seemed that Thomas had both closed the gap and made similar gains. That seemed like it destroyed Ivan inside. Harry could feel the vitriol and hatred that rolled off of Ivan.
The two aggressive duelists traded spells back and forth for a few more moments when Ivan slipped in something Harry hadn't expected. A stray spell kicked up part of the arena behind Thomas, and Ivan moved to where Thomas was between the two. One summoning Charm had the piece of the arena slam into Thomas's back, which dazed him long enough for Ivan to disarm him. Ivan had proven victorious over the Austrian competitor.
Harry hadn't had any time to process that match before his own started. His opponent, a girl from Portugal was a year older than him it seemed, and was dressed in what appeared to be a school uniform version of dueling armor. "Lisboa Escola de Feiticeira" was emblazoned across her chest. Harry has to assume it was the name of a school or some such. When the bell rang for them to start their match, Harry's opponent conjured a large stone that blocked Harry's initial disarming charm, before she banished it towards him. Harry dodged out of the way, preparing a counterattack when she performed the move again, keeping him on his toes. Harry's shock at seeing someone conjure items like this quickly faded though, as he began keeping track of how long it took her to conjure a stone. About a second each time it seemed, although her banishing of the stone was near instant. Harry briefly considered letting her tire herself out, from what he knew true conjuration was a difficult process, and was very taxing; that thought went away when he realized he would need to keep dodging these stones. Dodging was probably more tiring. A flash of inspiration caught Harry, and he knew what he needed to do. Just as she was about to finish conjuring her stone, Harry immediately sent a banishing charm towards it, which connected just as soon as it came into existence. With no time to react, his opponent fell victim to her own trick as the stone slammed into her chest, knocking the wind out of her. Harry quickly followed his advantage with a tripping jinx and a disarming charm, which sent her to the floor with her wand safely in Harry's hand. Harry raised his hand, showing that he had two wands in it, and was declared the victor, as he walked over to help the girl up.
"Good match. You doing okay?" Harry asked, as she started to realize what happened.
"Oh, I lost. Oh well, good job banishing my stone like that. Would have never thought of that timeframe as a weakness." She said, her voice thickly accented. "I will be fine though. More shocked than anything. Good luck in the rest of the tournament, you better not lose!"
"No plans on it!" Harry said, as he and the girl walked off the platform, and she made her way to the healer on hand. Her ribs were definitely bruised, but that's a minor issue for a trained mediwizard.
Another few matches passed, with Harry noticing it was now the semi-finals. Alongside himself there was Ivan Krum, Marianne Levigne, and a boy a year older than him from Latvia. Harry unfortunately found that his next opponent was Ivan.
"Are you prepared for our match Potter?" Ivan asked, making his way to Harry on the sidelines of the arena.
"I certainly hope so." Harry said, nervous. Ivan seemed as though he was being polite, there wasn't any malice behind his words as far as he could tell.
"I hope you are. While I defeated you last time, I cannot say it was a victory I revel in. You were a mere novice who managed to catch me off guard. Your skills are very good. I hope to see them improved this time. Do not expect to win however. You will not defeat me. You are a worthy rival, but one who will fall before me, much like the Wagner boy from Austria." Ivan said. "He too was much improved, I saw his match against you last year. To think you all have closed the gap so quickly. Even Marianne, who I defeated with no issue last year seems to have made improvements beyond what I thought was possible."
"We're all just doing our best. We all want to win, but more than that, most of us just want to be the best we can be. If I lose to you, so be it. I don't need a trophy to know how much stronger I've gotten." Harry said, looking at his soon to be opponent.
Ivan paused at that. Like he hadn't ever thought about it before. He turned to look at Harry. "May the best man win."
"Let's hope." Harry said, as the pair made their way to the stage.
There was an excitement in the crowd as Ivan and Harry walked up to the platform. The announcer had introduced them as the first and second place participants from the previous year's tournament, and was milking the rematch angle for as much as it was worth. Harry thought it was a bit overdone, but it really seemed to get the crowd going. He supposed he couldn't fault them for that, he was excited to. Harry took a moment to try and single out a voice in the crowd, it wasn't too difficult, she was cheering the loudest, like she said she would.
"Go Harry! You can do it!" Andromeda Tonks cried out, belting encouragement for her son. Harry smiled. He knew she'd be proud of him win or lose, but that extra encouragement resolved him forward. He would beat Ivan this time. He wouldn't let it happen any other way.
The bell for the round went off and Harry and Ivan immediately fired a spell at each other. Ivan fired a stunner, which Harry dodged with a strafe, and Harry fired a disarming charm, which Ivan pivoted around. Harry dashed forward to close the distance, ducking under a second stunner fired by Ivan before attempting to banish Ivan's shoes.
Ivan wobbled a bit as his shoes attempted to leave his feet, but he held firm, shooting another stunner at Harry. Without time to move away from the spell, Harry was forced to intercept it with a stunner of his own, neutralizing it in the air. Harry strafed around Ivan, going for a disarming charm again, but Ivan simply dispelled the spell as it got close. The pair locked eyes as they shot a spell at each other.
"Glacius!" Harry incanted, shooting forth a burst of extreme cold.
"Incendio!" Ivan called at the same time, a gout of flame bursting forth and meeting the ice in the middle of the pair.
The two spells were evenly matched for a moment, before both were dropped as the combatants each rolled to their left and fired off another spell.
"Depulso!" Ivan called, a sharp spike of magical force shooting forth rapidly from his wand.
"Flipendo Maxima!" Harry shot back, the spell leaving his wand just as the spike of magic entered his shoulder. The pain was pretty bad, Harry noticed, but his focus sent it away from his mind. Ivan wobbled substantially, the knockback charm catching him terribly off guard.
"Accio Ivan's Shoe!" Harry called forth, fully sending Ivan to the floor as his feet shot out from under him. "Expelliarmus!" Harry incanted, sending the wand flying from Ivan's loosened grip.
"Winner by disarming! Harry Potter! He moves on to the Finals!" the announcer said, and Harry let out a deep breath. He regretted that pretty quickly though, as the pain in his shoulder brought itself back to the forefront of his mind. Without the adrenaline of the duel to keep his mind away from it, he recognized just how badly it hurt. It wasn't a Basilisk bite, so Harry could honestly say he had had worse, this didn't feel good at all though.
Ignoring his pain, Harry walked over to where Ivan laid on the floor, and offered his hand to his opponent. "Good match. You got me pretty good with that piercing charm. Hurts like the dickens."
Ivan got up without Harry's help. "You beat me…. I must say, this wasn't what I expected." Ivan said, looking at the hole in Harry's shoulder. The spell had certainly hit it's mark, a centimeter-wide hole was clearly seen in Harry's shoulder, and allowed a clean view to the other side. "Such an injury must have debilitated you. How could you still cast?"
"Well, I've had worse." Harry said, taking his hand and covering the wound. "After getting bitten by a basilisk, regular wounds lose a bit of their impact. Beyond that, I've been in enough life and death fights that an injury like this isn't enough to stop me from fighting." Harry briefly thought back to his 'duel' with Quirrell, and his fight with the Basilisk. Most children would never have their life truly threatened at all. Harry had no less than 2 life-threatening duels in as many years.
"Had anyone else made such a claim to me I would call their bluff. You though Mister Potter…. I believe you. You've bested me, for now. Do not expect a repeat of this when we return next year." Ivan said, before yelling over the crowd. "Can we please have a mediwizard? I believe Mister Potter is in need of one."
"I'm alri–" Harry started, before pulling his hand away and noticing how much blood had started to ooze from his wound. "You know what, a medi-wizard sounds good."
The tournament medic, as well as Ted Tonks quickly made their way over to Harry, where they quickly got to work on healing the wound. Thankfully, since the wound was a clean shot straight through him, a standard wound closing charm and some blood replenishing potions was enough to get Harry back in top shape.
While they were treating Harry, Ivan had stepped away to speak with his father and brother. He returned a few moments later. Harry looked to him as he spoke. "While they were healing you, the other Semi-Final match happened. Your final opponent is Marianne Levigne. You won't lose to her, I won't allow someone who bested me to be any less than number 1."
"I'll give it my all, Ivan, but win or lose doesn't matter, just the drive to be the best." Harry said, looking over at the Bulgarian boy.
"So you say." Ivan said, before walking off.
Harry couldn't understand Ivan really. Was winning that important to him? Harry hoped that he could make peace with the fact that he wasn't number 1.
Twenty minutes and one wiggenweld potion later, Harry and Marianne stood across from each other. "Itz a shame that you got to be zhe one to beat Ivan, I wanted a rematch from last year." Marianne said, her accent coming through. "I suppose you also had such a desire, so it balances out. When I beat you, I'll have victory by proxy zen."
"Counting your chickens before they hatch eh? You've still got to beat me Marianne." Harry said, excitement in his voice. He hadn't gotten to square off against Marianne before, but he had seen her other matches. Her control over fire was well and truly breathtaking, and was one of the reasons Harry had prepared his Glacius spell as much as he had.
"I suppose you are correct that I should not underestimate you. Ivan made that mistake last year, and it almost cost him everything." She said, stancing up. "We'll see who the better duelist is. Give it your all!"
"With pleasure!" Harry said, entering his stance as well. The bell for the start of the match rang, and both contestants fired off a spell.
"Aguamenti!" Marianne fired off, a wide spray of water shooting forth from her wand, soaking everything around her.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry had fired, but the force of the water had knocked it off course. Harry was shocked. Marianne's fire magic would be significantly weaker if the area was soaked… wouldn't it?
Marianne continued flooding the area with water, gracefully dodging the various spells Harry kept sending her way. She contorted her body like a professional gymnast, and Harry briefly wondered if perhaps she was one.
"Glacius!" Marianne called, and soon the entire floor was covered in a thick sheet of ice.
Harry tried to take a step to the side, but realized very quickly that this new terrain would be incredibly difficult to move in. The floor was slippery, and Harry hadn't prepared for this… had this been an attempt at payback for Ivan freezing her last year?
With a wave of her wand, Marianne transfigured her dueling boots into ice skates, and began moving swiftly and gracefully around the arena. Harry was dumbfounded. Was this her plan? Eliminate his ability to move and keep herself so agile? The strategy was brilliant, Harry concluded.
"Flipendo!" Marianne called out, trying to knock Harry back with the spell. Harry brought up a shield to protect himself, and began to weigh his options.
He couldn't compete with Marianne on the ice, he had never ice-skated before, and even if he had he didn't know how to transfigure his shoes like Marianne did. Attempting to melt a path wouldn't work either, as the fire-making charm would leave him defenseless while he tried to use it. He needed to stop her movement superiority… but how?
Harry fired a few stunners in Marianne's direction, not expecting to hit her, but hopefully to keep her more focused on dodging than on making a counterattack. She had to have known he was more likely to run out of magical power than she was to run out of energy to skate. Performing this move at the end of a long tournament was really a stroke of genius. Physical wounds and tiredness could be offset by potions and spells, and that was what the tournament had done. Physically, both himself and Marianne were as fresh as they had been when they arrived this morning, but mentally and magically they were both starting to be worn thin.
Harry racked his brain, trying to think of some solution as he kept on the offensive, just trying to keep her suppressed from shooting spells at him. He was starting to flag though. Man what he'd kill for something soft to lay on and take a nap….
Wait… that was it.
Harry took aim a few paces ahead of where Marianne was skating and cast the softening charm on the ice in front of her. The now wobbly ice immediately caught her blades and sent her tumbling to the floor. Harry followed that up with a quick disarming charm and caught her wand from the air.
"And our champion has been crowned! Winner by disarming! Harry Potter of Hogwarts!" The announcer shouted, as the crowd roared.
Harry cast the flame making charm and began melting his way towards Marianne, who he helped up. "That was some strategy you had there. Really had me on the ropes." Harry said, smiling at her.
"Doesn't seem like it waz enough though. No matter. Congratulations Mr. Potter, on your first first place finish." Marianne said, as she kissed him on the cheek. Harry flushed red a bit. He was glad the girls weren't here, they might get jealous.
"Harry!" Andromeda said as she threw her arms around her son. "You did it! Oh, I'm so proud. I know James and Lily are too. Oh!" She squeezed him tight again, burying her face into his shoulder.
Harry flushed a bit, but hugged her back. "It's okay mom. It's just a tournament, not a big deal."
"Far from it my boy! You've done amazingly. You make me so proud as your instructor." Flitwick said, smiling at the young boy. "Now Andromeda, I believe you should let him go, he has to be awarded his trophy, and then we can go and celebrate. We should see if perhaps the Delacours would like to join us as well, Fleur also came first in her division, so we could do a big celebration for the pair of you."
"Sounds fun! I need to congratulate her." Harry said, as they moved to the podium where Harry received his trophy for winning.
The Delacours did join the group to celebrate Fleur and Harry's victories in the tournament, and Andromeda got some magical pictures of Harry and Fleur holding their trophies. Harry was very excited to tell all of his friends about his victory when he made it back to Hogwarts.
Whether or not a serial killer was after him or not, Harry was on top of the world.