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Chapter 37 Preliminary Task
Senna pretended to be energetic as Madam Pomfrey examined her condition. But things didn't look good, she was already exhausted even though she must've slept for twelve hours.
Headmaster Roberts seemed very confident in Senna though Professor Snape and Pomfrey did not agree.
But they couldn't force her to stay. She was in a binding magical contract with the Goblet of Fire.
She left her Headmaster's office with Professor Snape. He didn't seem like himself, he hadn't said a word since they left, though Professor Snape had never been much of a talker. They got closer the the green tent and he walked her down the stone steps and out into the cold November morning.
When they arrived, he put his hand on her shoulder. The sudden contact made her jump.
"Don't push yourself too hard." He told her.
"Thanks." Senna said in a distant voice. He left her there, at the entrance of the tent. Senna entered.
The blonde Beauxbaton girl sat on the bench in the center of the tent, her chin held up high, while Krum, from Durmstrang, stood with his arms crossed, looking rather grumpy. Cedric paced the cabin, and managed to throw her a nervous smile when she entered. This surprised Senna, as most were most comfortable pretending she did not exist.
"Good, we are all here! Come on in, come on in, make yourself comfortable please." said Bagman enthusiastically. "When the audience has assembled, I'm going to be offering one of you this box," he held a small box in his hands and shook it at them, "From which you will select a name, and if your own name is selected, you will have to select again. The name that you receive will be your opponent in our task for today, a duel. There will be two rounds. First you will face the opponent that you select, then the winner of each round will face each other, and the winner of that round is the winner of this Preliminary Task."
"Preliminary? Are ye saying zat zit is not ze real task?" Fleur complained.
"Oh but it is real. The winner of this task will receive just as many points as winning first place on any other task."
The champions all straighten up at his words. The winner of both duels will have a huge advantage over the others. Cedric nodded. Fleur Delacour and Krum made eye contact with each other once, before going back to their spots.
Soon, hundreds of pairs of feet could be heard passing the tent, people were talking excitedly, laughing, shouting, and making noises of excitement.
Senna was nervous.
Cedric had stopped his pacing and leaned against the tent pole, seeming nervous, but his boyish face conveyed a certain good-naturedness. Cedric's mind was going to the disarming spell, and he was even considering using a stunning spell if needed… To Senna, that was child's play. No offense to Hogwarts, but she hoped to get Cedric, he seemed to be the least menacing of the Champions.
Even as girly as Fleur was, with her polished nails and perfect makeup, there was a blaze in her eyes that told her that this girl meant business. She couldn't hear Fleur's thoughts at all, that would make things harder.
Krum's thoughts were muffled, as he was practicing occlumency, but he wasn't very good at it. She caught whiffs of jinxes, and even hexes, he would consider using. Senna would feel sorry for anyone paired with him.
Bagman opened the box, in which the champions took the queue to stand and gather around him. "Hmm, let's see, I suppose we'll do ladies first," he offered the box to Fleur. Senna wondered if she should be offended that Fleur was the only one considered a lady.
Fleur put a hand inside the box, and pulled out a card with the name, Cedric Digory.
"Wonderful, and that sorts it!" Bagman closed the box. "Ms. Delacour, you are paired with Digory. And Krum, you are with Snape."
"Er.. okay." Senna said.
Fleur turned to give Cedric a welcoming smile. Her beauty and part-veela heritage had a powerful effect, and she dazed him into speechlessness.
Well, Senna thought, she knew how that duel was going to go.
She looked over to Krum, who for the first time, smirked. She caught some of his thoughts, I've got the squib, this is going to be easy.
Senna looked away and clenched her teeth. She would do her best to make it anything but easy. Senna pulled out the bumble fruit from her pocket and began to snack on it.
"Alright, Ms. Delacour, Digory, out into the arena you go!" He gestured to the tent opening, "I am going to run now, best of luck you two!"
After a few minutes, Senna could hear Bagmans voice, which was now magically amplified in the distance. "Our champions, Fleur Delacour and Cedric Digory are in their ready position, and now—oh! Here they go!"
The crowd roared with applause.
Some shouts were heard, and then more applause.
"A gentleman, this one is, how noble to wait for your opponent to stand!" The commentary continued. "Wow, that is some fast wand work, oh my, how is Digory going to get out of this bind?"
Another few minutes passed, then the crowd roared with applause again.
"And there you have it, Ms. Delacour is the winner!"
Senna waited anxiously, as the crowd continued to roar, and then the roaring faded.
The crowd was nearly silent when Bagman's voice came again.
"And let's welcome our next dueling pair, Senna Severus Snape, and Viktor Krum!"
Senna and Krum took their queue and left through the tent's flap. Applause shattered at the mention of Krum's name. Of course, Senna thought, he was a famous Quidditch player. Senna could already tell from his thoughts that he wasn't the most intelligent wizard, but he was athletic, and rather brutish in nature.
They walked through the trees and passed a fenced enclosure. They were in a large area, similar to the one's muggles use for baseball games.
The referee motioned for them to stand in the center of the arena. Senna's heart pounded as her mind tried to come up with a plan to outsmart Krum, but it didn't look hopeful.
There were hundreds of faces staring down at them from stands that had been magically erected for this event. The stands were stacked so high, she couldn't make out the individual faces staring down at her.
North of the Area, there was there was a long table with a fancy chairs, which she could make out the plump figure of Roberts, along with the tall and grey bearded Dumbledore, large frame of Madame Maxime, maybe Karkaroff, and several other ministry wizards, where Senna deduced from the flare of their robes, were probably important members of the ministry.
"Welcome, Champions!" The arena referee continued to motion them forward. "When I blow this whistle, you will take out your wands, take three steps back, and then proceed with the duel. The winner of this match must render their opponent unable to continue, or unconscious."
Senna turned to the referee. "That doesn't mean disarmed, does it?" Senna asked. Senna even left her wand in her room, since it would be pointless to carry it. She would only risk breaking it if she fell wrong.
"Well, most surrender when disarmed, but technically no."
"Great." Senna sighed in relief. "One more question," Senna pointed to one of the metallic silver orbs that floated and bounced near her head, "What are those?"
"Projectoralls," The referee pointed behind Senna, Senna followed his finger to see a large image of her and Krum being projected onto a floating screen in mid air, "For the audience to see better."
Senna shrugged, finding it rather irritating that her every disgrace would be plastered onto a large screen in real time.
"On your marks! Wands out—" And then he blew the whistle.
Bagman announced something to the crowd, but Senna paid no attention, she was hyper focused on Krum and Krum only.
"I'll let you forfeit. Vot is the point of dueling, you've got no magic?"
"I hate to break it to you, but magic isn't everything."
Krum didn't answer. He held his wand in front of his nose, waiting.
Senna rolled her shoulders back in an attempt to limber up. The tracksuit top Roberts had given her was a size too small, and it was difficult to move. Senna decided her mobility was more important than her pride, so she began to unzip the top.
"Vat are you doing?" Krum asked her, sounding flustered. "You cannot take your clothes off."
Senna rolled her eyes. "Don't worry I'm not much to look at, trust me."
"You cannot fight, you are not a witch." Krum insisted.
Senna pushed the top off her shoulders, leaving herself in a sports bra, and then tossed the top several feet away.
Krum's eyes bulged when he saw her very scarred and ugly skin. She knew what it looked like to him, she saw a faint mirror of it in his mind. It was shocking, and repulsive.
"But I can." Senna sighed. "I've only been a witch for five years, you see. I've been fighting for much longer than that."
"Fighting?" Krum looked at her, his eyes wide with bewilderment.
"Yup." Senna bent her knees into a crouch, "Fighting people, fighting frozen winters and scorching summers, fighting to eat, to live, for the right to exist, every second of every day."
Senna watched as his eyes grew wider. He was unsure of what to make of her statements, but it was throwing him off his game. That was good. "I took down a Death Eater without a wand, what makes you think I can't do the same to you?"
Krum's lip pulled over his teeth. He had given up on getting her to forfeit.
Senna read his first move in his mind, a split second before his arm lashed out, Flipendo, he said in his head.
Senna ducked and lunged forward with lightning switness. He had left himself wide open, not anticipating how fast Senna was capable of moving. She struck him with her open hand, a blow to his chest that sent him backward. He staggered backward, nearly falling over, but he caught himself and his wand appeared under his arm, a new jinx on his mind.
Again, the split second warning of his thought made this manageable. Senna stepped to the side, the jinx blazing passed her. She was close to him now, so that when he threw another jinx in quick succession, Senna swiped his hand to the side, and used his crouched position to her advantage, by driving her knee up into his chin—hard.
His body followed his head, and he fell backwards.
He was stubborn—she had to give him credit for that. He rolled to his side, his wand in his hand, but hearing his thoughts, Senna was prepared.
Vermi—Krums started in his head, but he was too late. Senna planted a side kick to his head, not hard enough to kill him—hopefully—just hard enough to knock him out.
The whistle blew again, and the referee started toward them. "Our winner!" he called out.
An applause rose from the crowd, to Senna's surprise. It wasn't the same roar from when the famous Krum walked into the arena, but it wasn't awkwardly quiet either.
A group of healers in white robes rushed into the arena with a stretcher for Krum.
Senna was instructed to wait in the tent for the second match. She picked up her tracksuit top and put it on before heading back to the tent.
Fleur was sitting on the center bench, her sky blue tracksuit was now dirty from landing on the arena floor. Senna wished she could've seen her match with Cedric, so she would have a better idea of what to expect. But at least, Fleur hadn't seen her either, so she was in for a surprise as well.
Fleur's eyes met her own briefly, then Fleur tore them away. She seemed very much surprised it was Senna walking back through the tent and not Krum.
Senna could feel the lead weight accumulating in her extremities. She hung on to the rush of adrenaline, trying to prevent her limbs from feeling like stone. She needed her agility now more than ever.
"Well that was a surprise!" She heard Bagman announce, "Two matches down, one more to go. Here we are for our final match determining the winner of today's Task, please welcome back Beauxbatons' lovely Fleur Delacour and Brownwell's brave Senna Snape!"
The crowd roared, drowning out the sound of the whistle. Senna wasn't sure if the whistle even blew, but Fleur had gotten up to leave the tent, so Senna followed.
They met the referee in the center of the arena once more. Senna felt her heart pumping quickly, and tried to send that energy to her limbs that were starting to go numb. Senna clenched her fists in frustration. She hated this curse with every fiber of her body. To feel so helpless and weak, and not in control of her own body.
Senna met those fierce blue eyes. Fleur's occlumency was flawless, she didn't hear a peep from her.
The referee stated the instructions again, then her and Fleur took their three steps back, then faced forward. Fleur held her wand up to her face in position.
"Are we ready?" The referee asked.
Senna threw her jacket off again, standing in her sports bra.
"Yes." Senna said.
Fleur's eyes widened in horror when she took in Senna's marred skin. Then her nose wrinkled in disgust. Senna sighed, this reaction was starting to get on her nerves.
"Ugly, isn't it?" Senna teased. "But not everyone has the privilege of being a pretty princess like you."
But Fleur did not respond, she merely drew her wand, and Senna got into a defensive stance.
But Fleur did not move right away, just stared at her with her fierce blue eyes.
Senna noticed that her wand hand trembled. She didn't need legilimency to know that Fleur was scared of her. This was good. One thing that Senna knew about magic, is that it was directly affected by the casters' emotions. Magic was best casted while the person was calm, focused, and confident. But if you were nervous or scared, then magic was less likely to behave as intended.
If Senna could psych her out, then it could turn the tables in her direction.
Fleur looked Senna up and down, sizing her up.
"Since you are wondering if I have any tricks up my sleeves, I'll have you know that I am not wearing any sleeves." Senna grinned and held up her bare arms, amused by her own joke.
But Fleur was not amused. Her eyes grew wider with fear. "Zats impossible! You shouldn't be able to read my mind."
Senna grabbed the opportunity and used Fleur's assumption to her advantage. She rolled her eyes dramatically. "Your occlumency is good, but it's not good enough, I'm afraid." Senna lied, taking a confident step forward.
It worked. Fleur looked shaken by this, and retreated a step backwards.
Senna made the first move, lunging forward towards Fleur's core, to which Fleur panicked and cast a hastily made shield charm in front of her. She ducked and rolled to Fleur's left side—the side most vulnerable to right-handed witches—and threw her ankle out as Fleur tried to swing around to jinx her.
Fleur fell on her back with a pathetic cry, but managed to swing her wand again on her way down, "Obscuro!"
Senna wasn't able to doge the blindfolding charm. Something wrapped itself around her eyes, putting her in complete darkness. Legilimecy would have been very helpful right now, Senna thought as she tried to pry the magical blindfold.
She heard the crunch of gravel, and the obscure sound that magic makes when it flies through air—Senna threw herself to the side, she wasn't sure what direction it was, but it seemed to take her out of the line of fire.
"You can't really blindfold a legilimens, I can always just see through your eyes instead of my own." Senna lied with as much confidence as she could muster.
Senna heard the gravel crunch again, giving Fleur's position away. She found herself being thankful for her street-rat past, because she found that she was able to visualize her environment. Years of navigating the dark streets of the ghetto she grew up in came to her advantage now.
It was like being nine-years-old again, in the cover of darkness, her shirt full of stolen goods, the angry store owner at her tail. She relied on that darkness, because if she couldn't see, neither could her opponent, so survival depended on how well you could rely on the rest of your senses.
Fleur however, could see her just fine. This was not good.
Fleur took another step.
That was her right foot, Senna thought. Senna ducked and rolled. She heard Fleur shuffle again, then another whir of magic zipped passed her head.
"Maybe it would've been better for you just to keep my vision and use your Veela charm, I have a weak spot for pretty girls, you know."
"Zat is disgusting!" Fleur said, insulted.
Fleur moved again, she heard the sound of Fleur's foot twisting in the gravel, and her mind visualized the rest of her body moving to conjure a large spell of some sort. Senna's intuition told her that Fleur had left her core open again, so Senna moved—fast.
Senna lunged forward with all the speed she could muster. It felt weird—aiming for a target you weren't entirely sure was there. She felt a prickle of magic graze her cheek, it made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She wasn't sure what spell that was, but was glad she didn't get a face full of it. Senna's intuition was correct. There was something there.
Senna's fist came into contact with Fleur's solar plexus, and Senna heard the air leave her lungs with a whooshing sound.
And now that she knew where Fleur's torso was, she could deduce the location of the rest of her. She swiped her hand towards Fleur's right side, grabbing her wand arm, shoved her foot into Fleurs knee and forcing it to buckle, then twisted her arm behind her back, using her weight to force her to the ground.
Fleur let out a surprised yell, and then a grunt when she collided with the hard arena ground.
Fleur struggled for a few moments before the whistle blew again, signifying the end of the duel.
A large hand came down on her shoulder, letting her know to let the poor girl go.
Senna released Fleur and stepped away. The referee spun her around and tapped her face with his wand and the blindfold fell off.
"There you have it, folks!" Bagmans voice boomed. "The winning points for the Preliminary Task goes to Brownwell's Senna Severus Snape!"
But Senna wasn't sure if the crowd had given her an applause or not, her hearing was replaced with a loud ringing. Her vision grew blurry too.
Senna walked to the steps of the arena with as much grace as she could muster, but with the andernaline wearing off, there was nothing stopping the heavy feeling from moving up her legs. Senna stumbled but grabbed onto the rail. The mark on her neck began to burn. It scorched her, getting hotter and hotter. Senna clasped her neck, Sinking her nails into her skin, trying to reach through and claw Malos.
Senna tried very hard to put one foot in front of the other, but her vision had begun to black out.
Large hands caught her on the steps, and then she was being carried up the stairs. "You did it, Senna." It was her Headmaster's voice. "You were amazing."