AN: Hope everyone has had a wonderful week.
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LadyKitai - Hopefully you enjoy this chapter, since you enjoyed the start of the dueling competition. Harry/Ginny is certainly one of my preferred pairings as well, and that was my original intent for this story, but it has shifted. I do now intend to have the story be Harry/Ginny/Katie. Hopefully it won't disappoint to hard.
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mwinter1 - Ha, I guess you'll just have to see. Thanks!
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Arctic Wolf Fury - Ah, you have returned! Did you at least get to see some doom puppies in person? Thanks, glad you enjoyed the chapter, despite my egregious error of not having doom puppies. I offer my sincerest of apologies, but even Astra needs some time for herself to do doom puppy things. I of course wish to continue being paid, so I made sure to fix myself and added some doom puppy to this chapter, but I'm afraid to say it is not much. You will have to wait until next chapter for a large doom puppy presence.
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JustAngry - Thanks for your reviews. Hopefully you will be less disappointed with my direction with the story.
Chapter 24
"This is so cool, Harry," Ron said eagerly, looking around at the various stages for events and seeing the people walking around, either to see events, or to prepare for them.
Harry smiled and nodded in agreement, happy to have his best mate there with him, especially since it wasn't limited to just him.
"Doing us all sorts of proud, Harrikens," George said, while Fred nodded in agreement.
Ginny and Hermione were just behind them conversing with Dora. To Harry, it was the whole crew of people he was happy to have around along with a great deal of others. He had Ron, Ginny, Fred, George, and Mrs. Weasley, who had been kind enough to pick up Hermione and bring her with them.
Alicia, Katie, and Angelina were there, this time with Mrs. Spinnet and Jamie, Alicia's sister, both of whom were very nice and Harry enjoyed seeing them again. They had managed to find Lee Jordan and his father, the former of whom had also made it to the Second Round of the Under 18 bracket, and while Harry and Lee weren't great friends, they were quite friendly what with Harry's strong friendship with Alicia, Katie, Angelina, Fred, and George, and he enjoyed seeing him.
Then, of course, there was his family: Dora, Sirius, Remus, and even Mad-Eye at this point, and then lastly, there were a great deal of Dora, Sirius, Remus, and Mad-Eye's friends and coworkers, many of whom Harry considered friends or at least he considered himself on good terms with them. This included Lexie, Kingsley, Savage, Kelly, Nicole, Stacey, Hestia Jones, Brian Proudfoot, June Caleb, Steven Knight, and Alexis Montgomery, the latter five Harry had either never met or only met briefly, but who all seemed friendly. Harry especially enjoyed seeing his rather extroverted and flirtatious godfather meeting his match with Alexis, who he clearly had some sort of history with.
"What's first?" Ginny asked, looking around just as eagerly as her brother. Harry knew they didn't get to leave the Burrow all that often during the summers.
"Harry's got a sword duel first," Sirius said. "They'll have offset him so that he can do his one duel before making his back over to the dueling stages for the Under 16 bracket."
"Too bad I'll miss that because of archery," Angelina muttered.
"I'm sorry I'll miss your archery event," Harry responded, also a bit frustrated. He wanted to support his friend.
Angelina smiled at him and ruffled his hair, which he batted away playfully. She and Alicia loved to do that, either teasingly or affectionately, and he couldn't help but enjoy it, just as they enjoyed his play at stopping them.
"Who are you facing?" Ginny asked, looking at Harry, who looked down at his information sheet.
"Looks like I'll be facing Susan Bones," Harry said, a bit bummed that he wouldn't be facing Malfoy, who probably wasn't going to enjoy the fact that he'd have to fight Marina Witcher.
"That'll be a tough match, little brother," Dora said, "but I believe you can do it."
"Let's head over and find out," Harry said, and the large group started making its way over there, various conversations between various people flowing easily.
When they got there, they saw that Malfoy and Marina were already on the stage, and Harry was happy to see that Malfoy did indeed look nervous. Across from their group, Lucius Malfoy and Malfoy's mother, Narcissa, if Harry remembered correctly, were watching, and Harry could see that Lucius had a scowl on his face. He likely had hoped his son would make it to the finals, but Harry wasn't sure anyone was going to beat Marina with a blade.
"Ooh, Malfoy looks nervous," Ron said gleefully, having already been informed about Marina Witcher.
"He should be," Katie said. Angelina had told her and Alicia to watch Harry, rather than her archery set. "Harry gave a good show against her yesterday, but lost, and she beat Malfoy yesterday too. Unless Malfoy's improved a lot, she's already got this one."
"Do you have a chance against her at all?" George asked Harry, looking interested.
"Not unless she has a bad day, I have a good day, and maybe she breaks her leg," Harry said dryly, much to the amazement of his friends. "She's just better. Much better. Unless there's an upset, I think she'll win this overall tournament, but we'll see."
"Clan Witcher, are you ready?" The announcer asked, looking at Marina who smiled and nodded easily, getting into her unorthodox stance. "Heir Malfoy, are you ready?" Malfoy nodded coldly, his eyes never leaving Marina, his body in an aggressive stance.
"Begin!"
Marina held firm as Malfoy rushed forward and jabbed his blade towards her. She parried the blade to her left and spun, slashing at him, and Malfoy just managed to dodge her blade, a scowl on his face. He slashed at her, and she deftly parried his blade, and they continued to exchange blows with Malfoy looking like he was attempting to overpower her, while Marina gracefully countered his blows, using his own strength against him. Still, Harry had to give Malfoy credit. He was holding up against her well enough, clearly taking his loss from the previous day to heart, and learning from the experience.
She spun, slashed, stabbed, cut, and parried, slowly outlasting Malfoy's offense, proving that Malfoy's attempt to overpower her was foolhardy. As the duel continued, it became clearer and clearer that Malfoy was losing ground, losing energy, and slowly being overwhelmed, until finally, Marina leapt forward, side stepping Malfoy's blade and brought hers down near the hilt, knocking Malfoy's blade from her hand, and she placed her blade to his chest, ending the duel.'
"Clan Witcher wins!" the announcer called out, and there were claps and cheers around the stage as Malfoy grabbed his blade and stormed off the stage angrily.
"Good luck, Harry," Katie said, kissing his cheek, while Alicia ruffled his hair, and her words were echoed by many.
"You've got this!" Lexie and Dora said.
"Kick ass, kiddo," Sirius said, and Harry grinned at them all as he made his way onto the stage, watching Susan Bones make her way up opposite him.
Susan smiled tersely at him, and he tried to return a warm smile.
"Heiress Bones, are you ready?" the announcer asked, and Susan nodded, assuming a ready stance.
"Lord Potter, are you ready?" Harry was still a bit thrown off at the title. He nodded, and assumed his ready stance.
"Begin!"
Susan and Harry both rushed at each other and Susan swung for Harry's midsection. He ducked under the blade, and kicked out, striking Susan in her stomach, forcing her back as she gasped, grimacing in pain. Harry moved forward, striking at her and she parried his blade, retaliating hard, and he dodged back, letting her blade swing past him. He jabbed his blade forward, hitting her left shoulder, and Susan let out a grunt of pain, backing off. Harry pushed forward, increasing his speed, pushing Susan back, who was now desperately trying to fend him off with her one injured arm, and probably bruised stomach. Finally, Harry feinted at her injured arm before hitting her in the hip on the left side, causing her to gasp in pain, and buckle down on her knees. Harry swiftly disarmed her and put his blade to her throat, ending the fight.
"Lord Potter wins!"
Harry offered Susan a hand and she gratefully took it, and nodded appreciatively.
"Good match, Lord Potter."
"You as well, Heiress Bones," Harry said, choosing to honor her formality. "In the future though, Harry is just fine."
Susan nodded with a slight smile, and then she limped off the stage and Harry made his own way off, smiling at his friends and family who were cheering for him.
"You've made the finals!" Alicia said.
"Congratulations, Harry!" Hermione said, looking impressed.
"Bloody brilliant, mate," Ron yelled.
Harry glanced over to see that the Archery competition was still going.
"If we hurry, we can see Angelina finish up," Harry said, and Alicia, Katie, Dora, and Ginny all smiled and nodded, and the five of them led the way over to the Archery range, the adults mostly trailing, still caught up in their own conversations.
They reached the range as Angelina was grabbing her last set of six arrows. Harry glanced at the magical scoreboard, seeing that she was currently in fourth place.
"She's not going to make it unless she shoots very well," Alicia said a bit sadly. "Her father won't be happy."
"She doesn't care though," Katie said back, and Alicia nodded, but then Katie sighed. "You're right, though, of course."
Harry frowned, never happy hearing about Angelina's father, since he never heard anything good about the man. His friend deserved better.
Alicia's prediction proved true as Angelina was unable to move into third place, taking fourth overall, but not moving on to the finals. Angelina came off the field looking disappointed, and Harry knew that she hated to lose.
Angelina smiled at him however, her frown fading.
"How did you do?" she asked.
"Made it through to tomorrow," Harry said, and Angelina beamed at him.
"I knew you would. Too bad I missed it."
"Well, you'll get to watch me duel, and I get to watch you," Harry said. "That'll make up for it for both of us."
"Let's get to it then," Ron said impatiently. "They've already finished the first two duels."
Angelina rolled her eyes, and they made their way over to the wizard's duel stages where the Under 16 and Under 18 brackets were going on. Sirius looked at the standings.
"For the Under 16 bracket, Kara Flint defeated Diana Carter, and Cormac McLaggen beat Terry Strickland. Emma Vane and Ava Conners are about to begin," Sirius said, nodding to the two witches on stage. "For the Under 18 bracket, Cassius Warrington defeated Dorian Claude and Scarlet Barrows beat Kenneth Towler. Roger Davies is about to duel Zacharia Stone."
"Too bad Kenneth lost," Fred muttered, and George, Angelina, Alicia, and Lee all nodded, all being his fellow Gryffindor yearmates.
"Hopefully Davies loses," Lee said, looking over at Davies who did not seem like he was going to lose against Stone. "He's an arrogant enough wanker as is."
Harry focused more on Ava and Vane who were dancing about, fairly even with each other, however after almost two minutes Ava managed to disarm Vane, taking the win. Next up for the Under 16 was Susan Bones against Cho Chang, and while Harry wished to watch it, he had a more important duel to watch - Alicia vs Percy Chase.
"Good luck, Leash," Harry said, as she received hugs from her two best friends, her mum and her sister, and she ruffled Harry's hair before she made her way onto the stage against a willowy boy.
"She's got this," Ron said confidently. "That guy looks like a stiff breeze would blow him away."
"Don't be too quick to judge," Mad-Eye growled, eyeing Chase. "You'd be surprised who can duel and who can't."
Mad-Eye's words proved true as Chase launched a barrage of spells towards Alicia and she was just barely able to avoid the barrage of spells, returning a handful of lower level spells, and Harry grimaced. Alicia was outmatched.
"Come on, Licia!" Jamie called out, but Harry could see that she and her mum could also see that Alicia was in trouble.
Chase kept up the pressure, and Alicia was looking overwhelmed, but then Harry smiled as Chase got overconfident and savored the kill, dropping his guard slightly and Alicia did an extremely bright lumos maxima, which caused Chase to shield his eyes, and Alicia managed to sink a jelly fingers jinx causing him to drop his wand. His eyes widened in shock and horror as she then hit him with a body-bind, winning the duel.
"Great job, Alicia!" Jamie cheered as Alicia grinned, coming off the stage and was mobbed by her friends and family.
After giving Alicia a hug, Harry focused back on the Under 16 bracket seeing Susan Bones losing to Cho Chang, but Harry suspected that had more to do with her injuries from her duel with Harry, and he felt a bit bad about that. Seeing that though, he turned back to the Under 18 stage, and wished Angelina good luck, giving her a hug before she went up to face some boy named Tory Stollz. After this, they'd watch one duel before Katie was up, and then one more before he was up. Then it would nearly be time for the Under 21 brackets and Dora's time.
Angelina started off the duel, firing a round of hexes at Stollz who scowled as he was forced to dodge them. Harry had noticed that even in the Under 18 bracket, not everyone was able to shield properly. Harry suspected it was because of how few good DADA professors there had been. Harry realized that he'd never actually seen Angelina or Alicia use a shield charm either, and he wondered if his friends were capable of doing one, or at least capable in a duel setting.
Angelina and Stollz continued to trade back spells, but it was clear that Angelina was the more mobile of the two and had the better reflexes, likely due to her Quidditch training, and it wasn't long before she landed a disarming charm, ending the duel.
Angelina was beaming as she came off the stage to cheers, receiving hugs and congratulations from all her friends. From there, they moved back over to the Under 16 stage and watched Malfoy beat a girl named Gabrielle Truman, except for Fred and George who remained to watch Lee duel Kernie Koser.
Finally, Katie was up against one of Harry's Slytherin yearmates, Daphne Greengrass, the beautiful Slytherin Ice Queen. Harry didn't know Daphne really at all, but he knew of her, and he also knew she wasn't one of the Slytherins who went around antagonizing everyone else. She tended to remain aloof, spending her time with a few of her friends.
Katie and Greengrass both started exchanging spellfire as soon as the duel began. Katie was the more mobile of the two, which was unsurprising to Harry, but Greengrass clearly knew more spells, which was startling, especially since Katie was a grade older, and supposedly the teacher before Quirrell had been competent.
"Come on, Katie," Harry whispered.
Katie couldn't have heard him, but he cheered with his friends as she took a different approach, charging at Greengrass who faltered a bit with the bold approach. Katie then showed off her hard earned athleticism rolling under Greengrass's hasty body-bind, and hit her with a disarming charm and then a body-bind, taking the win.
"That's my girl!" Angelina hollered, whistling with the twins, and Katie grinned as she came back to them, leaving Greengrass to walk stiffly off the stage in the opposite direction.
Katie took hugs and congratulations for her hard fought victory when Harry noticed the twins coming over to them with a dejected looking Lee Jordan, which told Harry that he lost his duel with Kernie Koser.
Harry paid close attention in the second to last duel, watching as Marina dueled Kevin Entwhistle. Entwhistle was a good enough duelist that Marina wasn't able to end the duel quickly, which gave Harry longer to analyze her style and skill. She was good, her footwork and speed from the sword translating well, and she certainly knew how to shield, but otherwise, Harry felt that he stood a chance against her. She was very good, but he knew he was decent himself, and he thought he might even have a slight edge on her with wand speed. The question was whether it would be enough or not.
As Marina walked off the stage after having secured her win, Harry passed her, and she smiled at him.
"Good luck, Harry," she said, and he grinned at her.
"Thanks, Marina," he answered.
Blaise Zabini was already ready, glaring at Harry. Harry returned the glare with interest. He'd never really interacted with Zabini, but most Slytherins loathed Gryffindors on principle, and vice versa. Zabini, while not one of Malfoy's lackeys, was among those types of Slytherins.
"Lord Zabini, are you ready?" the announcer asked, and Zabini nodded sharply.
"Lord Potter?"
Harry nodded.
"Begin!"
Zabini fired off the first spell, and Harry deftly stepped to the left, dodging it, returning with two stunners and a tripping jinx. Zabini dived out of the way of the spells, and Harry continued to push the boy, using mostly fourth and fifth year spells that Zabini was seemingly unable to block, since it seemed like he didn't know the shield charm. This kept Zabini on the defense, doing his best to dodge, but with Harry's speed, Zabini couldn't even counter. After a minute, Harry finally managed to hit Zabini with a leg locker, and then he blasted Zabini off the stage with a knockback jinx.
"Winner, Lord Potter!"
Harry had made it into the third round.
The Under 21 bracket was just as exciting as it had been the day before, perhaps even more so, since most of the people who made it through were more accomplished duelists. Harry continued to recognize certain last names, while also noting some of the people that Dora had mentioned as having been her old schoolmates.
Dora's old friend, Tulip Karasu, lost a match against Owen Mulciber, a last name he recognized. Another of Dora's old mates, Andre Egwu, barely survived a duel with Micah Ghent, managing a rather lucky win. Shady Jae Kim befuddled and won against Levi Rosier. Barnaby Lee blasted Nick Frobisher completely off the stage with a banishing charm. Parvati and Padma's older brother, Elias, narrowly defeated Linus Harrow. Dora's former fellow Auror Trainee, Talbott Winger, thrashed Silas Avery.
The two duels Harry was looking forward to the most lived up to his hopes. Sofia absolutely destroyed Marcus Flint, who had been foolish enough to try and taunt and insult her to try and get under her skin, like he used to do on the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch. Unfortunately for him, Sofia had been more than capable of beating him, but kept him in the ring long enough to hex him and curse him as much as she wanted before blasting him out of the ring with enough force to knock him unconscious. Dora was able to show her skills off a bit more by dueling some guy named Wilfred Titus. Titus had been skilled, but Dora was able to show off her skill with Transfiguration, using another trick Harry had read about, where she conjured vines which seized Titus by the legs and pulled him to the floor, rather violently, making it easy for her to hit him with a stunner and complete his defeat.
After an enjoyable lunch, they all enjoyed watching the Open bracket, which had two Rounds for the day, where Harry was again impressed by the magic and skills demonstrated, though once again, he felt some of the DMLE members held back to help prevent injuries on their parts. It cost quite a few of them, including Angelina's dad, which Harry noticed caused apprehension in the girl, which once again made him nervous. He also sadly noted that some of the hinted Death Eaters he'd heard about, Lucius Malfoy, Amycus Carrow, Thorfinn Rowle, and old Reginald Lestrange all did very well. Still, he enjoyed cheering on Lexie, Kingsley, Savage, Kelly, Nicole, Stacey and some of his new acquaintances, Alexis, Hestia, and Proudfoot, all of whom performed well. However, Stacey, Nicole, and Kelly all failed to win their first duels, much to their sorrow and frustration. Dora confided that the three witches were unlikely to come back to watch the rest of the Tournament, their pride wounded with their loss. It probably didn't help that it had been Savage to beat Stacey, and Kingsley had beat Nicole.
Hestia also lost her second duel of the day against Elijah Yaxley, and Proudfoot lost his second duel against Corban Yaxley.
Still, there were quite a few great wins. Lexie beat one of her fellow Aurors, John Dawlish, who was one of the two captains, and who was a bit conceited, so she was jumping with joy. She then beat her fellow teammate, Steven Knight, in the Third Round. Alexis defeated one of the Carrow Siblings, Alecto, and then one of her fellow Aurors, Jackson Carlson.
The Double's event was once again interesting to watch, with two rounds taking place just like with the Singles. Dora and Lexie and Kingsley and Savage seemed to be the two dominant teams from what Harry could tell, with a Witcher team, Sofia and Kane Witcher, being the other notable team, and by the end of both rounds, it seemed clear to most people there that it would be the old Aurors against their younger protegees for the final match, unless the Witcher team intervened.
The rest of their group moved on, and afterwards, Harry enjoyed a large meal at the Burrow with Dora, Sirius, Kingsley, Savage, Remus, Alexis, Lexie, and Angelina, Katie, Alicia, Mrs. Spinnet, Jamie, and of course Ron, Fred, George, Ginny, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, who had been kind enough to invite everyone over for a bite to eat, which Mrs. Weasley prepared happily.
They enjoyed talking about everything they had witnessed, and talking about the previous day, while Astra went around begging for food and attention, neither of which she had to beg hard for, and then afterwards they enjoyed a quick pickup Quidditch game.
**HP**
The next day saw a smaller, but no less enthusiastic group ready for the third day. All the Aurors had also been forced to report to the Ministry in the morning, though Harry knew he'd see them all (at least the ones still competing) for the Open bracket . . . unless something really bad happened.
Still, Mad-Eye had picked him up and was there to watch as was Sirius and Remus. He also had the Weasleys again, minus Mrs. Weasley who had stayed home to deal with some issues at the house. Lastly was Angelina, Alicia, Katie, and Hermione. Angelina's father, of course, had been called in with the rest of the Aurors, but Angelina said she was going home with the Spinnets anyway. Alicia's family had to work again, so other than Mad-Eye, it was Harry and most of his friends, save Angelina who was up first for the day for her duel, enjoying bickering and teasing as Harry warmed up for the final match of the Sword Tournament against Marina Witcher
"Are you ready for this, Harry?" Marina asked, as he stood across from her on the stage.
"Ready as ever," Harry called back and she smiled.
"If you don't mind me asking, how long have you been learning the sword?" Marina asked, and Harry glanced at her curiously.
"I started learning in the summer between my second and third year," he answered, and she nodded slowly.
"Well, then, I guess I better get this win done with," Marina said with a smirk. "Who knows if I'll ever win again."
Harry laughed. "Who said you're going to win today?"
Marina's smirk became almost feral.
"Because, today, I'm going all out."
Harry's eyes narrowed, but he couldn't help his lips twitching towards a smile.
"Clan Witcher, are you ready?" the announcer called out, and Marina got into her familiar stance and nodded.
"Lord Potter?"
Harry got into a ready position, and nodded.
"You've got this, Harry!" he could hear Alicia and Katie calling out.
"Win this, mate!" Ron called out.
"Come on, Harry!" Hermione and Ginny were yelling, and Marina smiled
"You've got this, Marina!"
"Come on, Marina! Show him what it's like facing a Witcher!" a volley of voices seemed to sound, as a counter to Harry's support, and Marina chuckled softly.
"Begin!"
Harry and Marina both rushed at each other, Harry swinging from up high, Marina coming with a blow from down low. Their blades collided, and they exchanged a volley of quick blows. Harry pushed himself forward, striking at Marina's left side, and she spun away, striking at his right arm, but he had learned, and dropped low, letting her blade go over his head. He swung at her legs, and she just barely managed to evade a blow. She jabbed her blade forward, and Harry blocked her blade, stumbling to his feet as she pushed her offensive ruthlessly forward, keeping him on his heels.
Harry stopped his retreat, side stepping right, and bringing his blade down hard at the base of Marina's blade, forcing the sword from her hand. Gasps were heard around the crowd as Harry pushed his blade forward to end the match and win, but Marina stepped forward, pushing within his reach, and she grabbed his arms, forcing his blade up, and Harry's eyes widened as she literally twisted and flipped him over her shoulder, throwing him to the ground. She then picked up her blade and put it against Harry's throat, smiling at him cheekily.
"Bloody hell," Harry muttered with a groan, and her smile widened.
"Clan Witcher wins!"
Marina offered her hand and Harry took it, as she helped him up.
"Great match, Harry," Marina said, as she turned back towards her cheering family. "I look forward to seeing an even better showing from you in the Wizard's Duels."
Harry stared after her before he turned and returned to his friends who all congratulated him on a good match and for almost managing to win.
"You did good, lad," Mad-Eye said, nodding in approval. "You can't win them all, but you gave as good a showing as anybody could against her. You just need to be more vigilant."
"Thanks, Mad-Eye," Harry responded.
"Seriously, Harry," Ron said. "How were you supposed to know the mad woman could flip you like a pancake?"
Harry snorted as the Twins chortled, and the chasers and Hermione all laughed as they made their way over to the Wizard's dueling stages, hoping to catch the end of Angelina's duel, and they just managed to make it, and see a very satisfying sight of Angelina leaving a hairless, tapdancing, and wandless Cassius Warrington on the stage, taking her first win for the day.
They had two rounds to go through today, assuming they all survived both rounds. This would take them down to the final two, which would be the finals tomorrow morning. The Under 21 and Open Brackets had three matches today, to also take them down to their final two, so that the finals of all events that hadn't already occurred would finish tomorrow morning, making it so few if any people had to try and take four full days off of work.
Congratulating Angelina with a round of quick hugs for making the Final Four, they quickly moved over to the Under 16 stage to see Malfoy still dueling with Ava, though Harry was disheartened to see that Ava was being pushed back and starting to look worse for wear. It wasn't much longer before Ava was hit with a throwing hex, which hurled her to the edge of the stage and knocked the wind out of her. She quickly succumbed to a body-bind, ending the match.
Now, Katie was taking hugs and wishes of good luck as she made her way onto the stage to face Cho Chang.
"Who are you rooting for, Harry?" Hermione asked teasingly, and got a snort from Ron, while Alicia and Angelina narrowed their eyes at him. "Cho is looking very pretty up there."
"I'm rooting for my friend," Harry said firmly, not rising up to the bait, even if he had blushed slightly. "I want Katie to win."
"It's not like he's losing out whichever he chooses," Angelina said, a smirk on her face. "I've seen Harry checking out Katie on the Quidditch Pitch."
"Indeed," Fred said. "We think it's why he likes being a Seeker so much."
"So much more time to watch the lovely Ms. Bell's flying," George agreed.
"I'm not sure it's her flying he's been watching," Fred said with a smirk.
Alicia, Angelina, Ginny, and Hermione laughed, while Ron and the Twins smirked, and Harry sighed, his face re
"Katie is very pretty," Harry admitted, "but her looks have nothing to do with me wanting her to win!"
"Nice save, kiddo," Sirius said, amused.
"How the bloody hell did I get stuck babysitting this bunch," Mad-Eye muttered under his breath, and Harry smirked at the ex-Auror, who was probably enjoying himself more than he'd admit.
"There's hope for you yet, Har," Alicia said, ruffling his hair, and he batted her arm away with a mock scowl and she giggled, grinning at him, before she glanced at her sheet, looking at it closely. She was up next on the other stage.
Katie and Cho both started out offensively, casting body-binds at each other almost at the same time, with Katie having taken a page out of Harry's book and also sending a jelly-fingers jinx right after her first spell, hoping to restrict Cho's movement.
Both girls however, managed to avoid the other's spells and were soon exchanging a volley of spells against each other, both showcasing their knowledge of hexes and jinxes and their ability to deflect hexes and jinxes. Harry had to admit that they were very evenly matched, both in reflexes, casting speed, and magical knowledge. He thought Katie might have a slight edge in her style or strategy, but over the past couple days, she had picked up on some things watching others duel, plus having talked to the many Aurors and DMLE personnel that had been hanging around them, so it made sense she had improved on her style and stratagems in the short time since the Tournament had begun. He wasn't sure if Cho had stuck around to watch the other brackets or not nor did he know if Cho had any family that were duelists.
Harry started cheering when Katie decided to reuse her move from the day before and she charged forward at Cho who hesitated long enough for Katie to dive under Cho's delayed spell, and Cho was blasted off her feet by a knockback jinx, her wand flying over Katie's head, as Cho had let it go.
"Now, that was well done," Mad-Eye muttered under his breath, and Harry nodded in agreement.
"She's going to be one hell of a duelist someday," Sirius said, looking impressed.
Katie turned and started walking back off the stage, beaming, looking extremely excited. Harry noticed Cho basically throw a very unattractive tantrum as she stomped off the stage in the opposite direction, which made him grimace before he focused back on his friend who hugged him, Alicia, Angelina, Fred, and George in a mob of bodies like they did after a Quidditch victory.
"Nice job, Katie!" Hermione complimented from behind them as they all disentangled.
"Alright, Alicia, let's get over to your match," Harry said, when Alicia stopped him from leading the way to her stage.
"Harry, Marina's already on her way to beating Cormac," Alicia said, looking a bit bummed as well. "I'll be fine. You stay here, and we can hopefully both watch each other's duels next round."
Harry sighed and nodded, seeing that Alicia was right, and Alicia hurried off to make it on stage before she was disqualified with Angelina, Katie, Fred, and George following her. Ginny, Ron, and Hermione stayed with him, and they all turned back to the stage where Cormac McLaggen was on his heels trying to hold off the feisty witch, his face a mixture of nervousness and anger, which was a far sight different than the confident swagger he'd had when he'd walked onto the stage.
He managed to hold on for quite a bit longer than Harry would have thought, but eventually, he too fell to Marina Witcher, leaving just Harry and Kara Flint left before the start of the new round.
Harry walked on, unsurprised to see the typical sneer from most of the Slytherins he'd interacted with, but he could see the nervousness in her bearing. She at least didn't hold the arrogance of Nott, Malfoy, and Zabini who'd assumed or still assumed they could beat him easily and that he couldn't compete with them.
That realistic approach didn't save her though as Harry quickly put away the duel, choosing to simply blast through her hex deflection with a reductor curse and then stun her, something which caused a bit more injury than probably needed, but something he didn't feel bad about, since it was rather light compared to what the Under 18s were doing, and very meager compared to some of the Under 21 and Open bracket injuries. She left with some bruised ribs, a bruised tailbone, and a wounded pride. Harry left with a win and hopes of seeing the rest of Alicia's match in the small interlude between now and the start of the next round.
Unfortunately, he did make it in time to see the duel end, but it was seeing Cedric Diggory stun Alicia and win the match, with her falling off the stage unconscious.
Harry ran over to where Angelina, Katie, Fred, and George were already reviving her and looking after a now glum looking Alicia. She took the sympathetic hugs and their attempts to cheer her up, pointing out that she had made it to the final eight and had done a really good job. Harry knew the defeat would still sting, and he couldn't help but hope that Angelina would get some revenge on Diggory, but looking at the updated list, he could see that Angelina was facing Graham Montegue in her second match . . . and Harry's second match was to begin in the next five minutes against . . . Katie. He'd get to watch Angelina after either losing to Katie or beating her.
Harry glanced at Katie who winked at him, grinning, having looked at the list herself.
"Oh, Katie Kat and Harry are against each other in the semi-finals," Alicia said, trying to move on from her loss. She grinned. "That should be a good match."
"We'll find out," Katie said, moving towards Harry, and she kissed him on the cheek slowly before walking back towards the Under 16 stage. "I'll try not to embarrass you too much!" she called back, and Harry, who had been a bit stunned by the kiss, snorted in amusement, while a slightly jealous looking Ron, an impressed looking Ginny, and an amused Hermione laughed at him, while Alicia, Angelina, Fred, and George smirked evilly. Harry was one of Katie's favorite targets.
Harry, and his supporters (Ginny, Ron, and Hermione) followed their older friends back to the stage, and Harry followed Katie on, deciding that she'd asked for it. He was going to have some fun.
"Ms. Bell, are you ready?"
Katie got into a ready stance, a smile on her face as she nodded.
"Lord Potter?"
Harry mirrored Katie's stance and disposition, nodding.
"Begin!"
Harry dodged Katie's body-bind and yelled, "Fumos!" concealing himself in a smokescreen. He moved right avoiding the spells Katie was throwing blindly, not being able to see him, but he could sense her.
"Pelagus Operuit Caput! Anteoclatia! Cauda cattus germinare! Pullulent cattus aures et scriptor!"
Harry heard Katie squeak in surprise, and he moved out of the smoke and laughed seeing that he had predicted well in trying to box her in and she'd been hit with his last two hexes and now had two perky cat ears poking out of her long brown hair, and he knew when she turned around he'd see a bushy tail, a tail he could just slightly see hanging down from her behind. Her face also had cute wispy little cat's whiskers on it. He heard Angelina, Alicia, Fred, and George roaring with laughter as Katie grabbed the ears on the top of her hear, felt the whiskers on her face, and then felt behind her, likely feeling the tail, and then she glared at him, though he could see the amusement in her flashing eyes.
"Cute ears . . . Kat," Harry said, grinning wide.
"Oh, you're asking for it!" Katie shrieked, and she started launching a volley of hexes, jinxes, and curses at him, and he couldn't help but laugh as he started dodging and deflecting them, returning with his own spells occasionally, but mostly letting her tire out as he let his mobility and shield keep him safe.
"Come on, Harry, fight back!" Katie called over at him, and Harry laughed.
"As you wish," Harry replied cheerfully, dodging the the nasty slug vomiting curse she sent at him. "Rictumsempra! Locomotor Wibbly! Lomotor Mortis! Steleus! Glacius!"
Katie spun away from his first spell, and rolled to the ground, avoiding the second, missing out on the other three which had boxed her in, managing to evade his trap, however, Harry didn't let her recover from the ground.
"Morsus! Langlok! Immobulus!"
Katie avoided the first and third spell, but was hit by his second hex, and he saw her eyes widen as she pointed her wand at him to attempt to counter his spell and no words came out, her tongue glued to the roof of her mouth. He could see her sigh and then he let her get to her feet and she signaled to the official that she had lost.
"Lord Potter wins!"
Harry walked over, already removing the spells he'd hit Katie with and she shook her head, and hugged him, and kissed his cheek.
"Congrats, Harry," she said. "Thanks for a fun match."
"Anytime, Katie," Harry said, grinning as the two of them walked arm in arm off the stage to their friends, which had grown now that most of the adults had apparently shown up.
"I'm still going to get you back for that, though," Katie whispered, and Harry laughed, not expecting any different.
"The cat's tail, whiskers, and ears were priceless, kiddo," Sirius said, wiping away an imaginary tear. "You do your godfather proud!"
"Please, that's more my brand of humor," Remus said, mock pompously. "Clearly he takes after me from my year as his teacher."
"Great job, you two!" a voice called out, and Harry glanced over in surprise at Dora making her way to them with a small group of people. It seems the Aurors had finally gotten away from work. "That was a lot of fun to watch!"
"Thanks, Dora," Harry said.
With Dora was Lexie, Kingsley, Savage, Alexis, and June.
"Angelina's just getting onto the stage for her last duel," Alicia said. "Let's get over there."
Most of the group, minus a few of the adults who were deep in their own conversations, and weren't too attached to watching Angelina's match, quickly moved back to the other stage and found Angelina having already started a fierce match with another member of their rival Slytherin Quidditch team members.
"Come on, Angie," Harry heard Alicia mutter next to him. "Beat that vile bastard."
"Language," Hermione scolded, but Alicia ignored her.
Angelina and Montague continued to exchange spellfire, though Montague was capable of shielding while Angelina relied on her mobility. Harry was thinking that it was going to come down to who was the most fit when Montague decided to try and remove Angelina's mobility and fired a reductor curse down at Angelina's feet, causing chunks of the ring to be blasted apart, which unfortunately, hit Angelina, who only whimpered in pain, rolling away, and getting back up, cuts on her arms and face.
Montague continued pushing his offense, trying the same trick again and again, but Angelina had learned and was managing to avoid most of the shrapnel, but it didn't stop her from losing her footing on the now uneven and non-compact ring, and Harry and his friends all gasped as Angelina misstepped and her ankle buckled under her weight, and she cried out as she fell to the floor.
Montague laughed, which proved to be his undoing as a clench-jawed Anglelina managed to launch a disarming charm which blasted Montague off his feet and disarmed him, giving her the win.
Alicia, Katie, and Harry helped Angelina off the stage and over to the medi-witch, who was able to heal Angelina fairly quickly, but warned her that her sprained ankle would be slower to heal, and that she needed to rest, meaning that she was going into the finals against Diggory, who'd beaten Davies, at a disadvantage.
Still, making it to the finals was cause for celebration, so rather than think glumly about the future, they celebrated that two of them had made it to their respective finals.
That good cheer continued as Dora thrashed Jae Kim in her first match and then beat a rather talented, but unknown man named Ezekiel Sparrows in the second round, taking her to the semi-finals, and then winning a very hard duel against her former fellow Cadet, Talbott Winger, securing her spot in the finals for the next day against her rival, Sofia Witcher-Cortez.
Kingsley too, made it to the finals, beating his fellow Auror, June Caleb, then, Amycus Carrow, and lastly he beat out Savage, much to his best friend's chagrin. He would face Kane Witcher in the finals, who had beaten out Lucius Malfoy in the last match of the day to make it to the finals, who also sadly beat out Lexie and Alexis, much to both witches' frustration.
In the doubles, Lexie and Dora continued to dominate, beating out two other Aurors teams, Clayton Norton and Jackson Carlson, and John Dawlish and Rye Williams, before besting a third team which consisted of two relatively unknown witches who worked quite well together, but struggled to match against the two skilled Auror squad mates. Kingsley and Savage likewise destroyed most of their opponents with only one duo nearly stopping them: Kane Witcher and Sofia Witcher-Cortez. The Witcher duo had proven to be quite the match, but after an incredible duel that left everyone in awe, Savage managed to take advantage of Sofia's youth and blasted her off the stage, allowing for Savage and Kingsley to combine their efforts and take down Kane.
As Harry went to bed that night, Astra curled up at his feet, he couldn't help but be excited for the finals, knowing he'd get to compete himself, and then watch a very good friend, his sister, and a man Harry admired and liked compete as well. It was going to be a good day. He knew it.
**HP**
Harry was happy to see that they still had a fairly large crew of people the next day for the final day of the tournament. Alicia and Katie came out to support him and Angelina, despite their losses the previous day, but the three Chasers were like sisters to each other, so it made sense they would support Angelina, though when the two girls mentioned they would never miss him in the finals either, he couldn't help but smile happily at his friends. Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Ginny, Mrs. Weasley, and even Mr. Weasley all came as well to support him in the finals, something that meant a lot to him.
From the other adults, Mad-Eye, Sirius, Dora, and Remus were all there, as well as Kingsley of course for his own match, but Harry was also happy to see that Savage, Alexis, Lexie, and Hestia all came out to support Kingsley as well, despite their losses, and all were interested in watching his own match as well as Angelina's since they'd gotten to know the girl over the week.
With Savage came his wife, Siobhan, a petite brunette, and their young daughter, Aisling, a little black haired angel, who was determined to stay curled up in Kinglsey's or Alexis's arms. Siobhan had just as wicked a sense of humor as her husband, and was very good at riling up Kingsley, but that made sense since she, Savage, and Alexis were Kingsley's best friends, and Kingsley was godfather to their daughter, which explained her joy at seeing "Unca King" and "Aunt Alex." Alexis was apparently the godmother.
Harry hadn't realized that Kingsley and Hestia were actually dating, which definitely explained her presence, though she was bright, warm, and friendly, so Harry could have seen her showing up just to support her friends.
Alexis being so close to Kingsley explained her presence, but it was fun watching her spend a fair amount of time flirting and messing with Sirius, who was lapping up the attention. Considering the abuse he'd gotten from his godfather over the past week, Harry figured he'd have to step it up on teasing Sirius about Alexis.
Lexie was just there early to support her team lead and friends, which apparently included Harry, and then of course she would compete with Dora against her team lead and other friend in the doubles championship after the Open Singles one.
With all the support, he figured he needed to give a really good showing, and he hoped to win. Though, he had seen that Marina was very good, so he knew that it was going to be a tough match. That was further driven home with Mad-Eye.
"Listen, lad," Mad-Eye said gruffly. "You can't hold back in this match. The Witcher Clan breeds Aurors, hitwizards and hitwitches, and professional duelists like rabbits. You can bet she's gone through much of the same things I've done with you, but with not only her uncle, but her other "aunts" and "uncles" and "brothers" and "sisters" around the world. Give her everything you've got."
Harry thought about that advice a lot as he stared across at Marina, already having gotten his hugs, cheek kisses, and slaps on the back with rounds of good luck. What did Mad-Eye mean about not holding back? Sure, he hadn't really had to go all out against anyone yet, but that was more because he hadn't needed to, not because he was holding back.
"You better give me a good duel, Harry," Marina said teasingly. "I want to see what you've got."
Harry frowned, wondering if she thought he'd been holding back as well. He nodded at her, and she nodded back, looking satisfied, a competitive glint on her face. She seemed to be looking for a challenge, and Harry guessed she was hoping he would provide it.
"Clan Witcher, are you ready?"
A firm nod.
"Lord Potter, are you ready?"
Harry nodded.
"Begin!"
Harry fired off the first spell, launching a knee reversal hex, which Marina deflected with her wand, batting it away, and Harry's eyes widened in surprise. That was a technique he'd read about, but had no experience with himself, yet. It was supposed to be very difficult and quite advanced, with basically a point shield being formed on the tip of the wand to deflect spells, but it had an added advantage of not requiring any words for use as well as conserving magical strength, since the shield was so small, and being condensed, it could repel most spells. The risk with it, of course, was that if you missed batting the spell away, you would be unable to dodge the spell afterwards.
Marina grinned and launched back two stunners and an impediment curse, which Harry shielded himself from before they started upping the pace of the duel, spinning out of the way of certain spells, shielding others, or countering others where he recognized the spell, trying to wear each other down or force a misstep.
Marina covered her area in smoke, concealing herself, and Harry grinned, reaching out with his senses, and he fired a stunner, a slug vomiting hex, and another knee reversal in the direction he could feel her presence, but to his surprise, all three spells were reflected, though he could tell she'd just barely managed to deflect them.
She walked out of the fog, giving him a knowing look, which told him she likely knew the mind art herself. Deciding to try something different, Harry casting a freezing charm on the ring in Marina's direction, causing a coat of ice to form, and he grinned as she slipped slightly, and he cast an immobilizing charm at her, but she dropped to the ground, letting the ice help her slide away, and then she cast a quick incendio, burning away the ice. She fired back a jelly fingers jinx and a stunner, which he deflected.
"Stop holding back, Potter," Marina called out to him. "Give me everything you've got!"
Harry frowned as she started launching a volley of spells at him, and as he felt his shield buckle from the first two, he realized she was overpowering her spells to attempt to break through.
Harry started dodging her offensive frenzy, countering when he could, but she seemed to have decided to adopt an overpowering strategy, with her spells nearly shattering his shield each time they hit, forcing him to raise another to survive, while his spells did little against her shield. This was another technique he'd read about, but had no experience with outside of his elemental magic. He didn't know how to consciously raise or lower the power of his normal spells.
Realizing he was in trouble, he started trying to think of how he could break her offense and defense. He knew her strategy involved outlasting him since what she was doing required a lot of energy, but he didn't know whether he could outlast her or not. It was a gamble that she was taking, but should he call her on it?
He barely avoided a stunner that pierced his shield and he knew he needed to think of something quick. What hadn't he tried yet . . . then it hit him.
He managed to dodge another one of her stunners, and then he yelled, "Tenebris industria telum!"
His own shadow absorbed into his body and shot out of his wand in the form of a black bolt. Marina put up her overpowered shield, but Harry's spell blasted the shield apart with part of the spell managing to get through, hitting Marina in the chest and launching her back with a grunt of pain.
He heard gasps of incredulity from the crowd. He thought he saw satisfaction in Marina's eyes before they narrowed at him with determination.
"Auget tenebras!" Harry called out, darkness growing around him, replacing what he'd just used up. "Speculum solidum tenebris!"
His dark shield formed just in time to absorb her retaliating stunner and disarming charm, fueling his growing darkness, taking some of the strain off of his own magic. Harry started launching black bolts of energy and lower powered cutting curses, and she was forced to dodge his spells, not trusting her shield to stop his elemental spells. Harry knew, though, that he needed to end the duel soon.
"Umbra cavea!" Harry called out and a large mass of the darkness he had created rushed forward and Marina could do nothing to stop it from forming into a thin cage around her, halting her movements. She cast two spells through the cage, but Harry shielded himself, feeding her spells into the cage. "Tenebris somnum!"
Marina raised her shield, knowing she couldn't dodge, but it did nothing as Harry's spell flew right through her shield and hit her and she fell to the floor unconscious, his elemental sleeping charm winning the duel.
Around him he heard cheers and clapping as he moved forward, dropping the cage, and canceling the sleeping spell, and Marina blinked in confusion as he offered her a hand up. She grinned, and took his hand.
"Nice duel, Harry," she said.
"You're better than me," Harry said, truthfully, but she shook her head.
"I know more techniques, but you know more powerful magic, and your reflexes and skills are on par with or better than my own," she disagreed. "Today, magic won. This was the most fun I've had outside of dueling my own family. I look forward to doing this again someday."
"Me too," Harry said, smiling, and they both turned to return to their respective friends and families.
Harry was mobbed by his, those who'd never witnessed his elemental magic before or at least not like that, exclaiming over it, and complimenting his abilities, and the others simply complimenting him on a job well done.
"That was brilliant, Harry!" Angelina, Alicia, and Katie alle exclaimed.
"Incredible, mate," Ron, Fred, and George agreed.
"Nicely done, lad," Mad-Eye said, approvingly. "Still got a lot of work to do, and still need to practice constant vigilance, but you're getting there."
"Thanks, Mad-Eye," Harry said, glad that he'd made his mentor proud, and glad that he was continuing to make a name for himself beyond his Boy-Who-Lived moniker. He'd won his first dueling tournament, and he was going to make sure it wasn't his last.
Now though, it was time to watch Angelina face Cedric Diggory.
The two soon-to-be sixth years were already on the stage, facing each other, Diggory looking determined, but still a rather easy-going feel to his stance, whereas Angelina seemed tense, her eyes narrowed, her expression fierce. Harry could tell she really wanted to win this duel, though he wasn't sure if it was just her competitive side, her desire to be a good duelist, or an issue with Diggory that had her so serious.
Angelina got off the first spell, firing a disarming charm that Diggory deflected with a hex deflection shield and he countered with a stunner that she dodged.
Harry smiled as she shot a jet of water at Diggory, who tried to shield himself from getting wet, but only prevented his upper body from getting wet. Angelina then hit the water with a freezing charm, which encased Diggory's feet, keeping him firmly stuck.
She fired two quick jelly-fingers jinxes and a body-bind, but Diggory threw up a shield, reflecting Angelina's spells, buying him time to unfreeze his feet, and he dodged her next spell and cast a drying charm on himself before he conjured a wolf which ran at Angelina. She blasted the dog away, but lost her footing while dodging Diggory's stunner, her ankle not sustaining her weight and he saw her grimace in pain.
Diggory continued forward, sending spells at her, spells she couldn't use a hex deflection on, and she was forced to dodge, but with her mobility greatly decreased, it wasn't long before she was too slow and Diggory hit her with a disarming charm and the duel was over.
Angelina hobbled off the stage before she was supported by Alicia and Katie. Dora had the girls help Angelina down into a conjured chair so that she could fix her ankle.
"You did really well, Lina," Harry said, trying to be comforting, and she sighed.
"I don't know enough defensive magic," she said flatly, "and he was good enough to beat my athleticism."
Dora tapped Angelina's ankle, and Angelina sighed in relief as the sprain was repaired, though she knew it would still be weaker and more prone to injuries over the next week while it still healed slightly.
"Thanks, Tonks," Angelina said.
"No problem, babe," Dora said with a smile. "Harry's right though. You did brilliantly."
Ginny nodded in agreement from where she was standing behind Dora.
"Better than us," Alicia and Katie both said, and Angelina smiled at them all.
"You'll get pretty boy Diggory next time," Ron said, and Fred and George nodded in agreement.
"Maybe," Angelina said glumly. "He's considered the best in our year. I really wanted to beat him."
"We can work on it this next year, so you beat him next time," Harry said firmly, and Angelina beamed at him.
With Angelina's defeat, they were down to the last two Singles events, Dora and Kingsley, and Harry suddenly realized that they were both facing Witchers just like he had.
The final two singles duels were very similar in many ways, Harry noticed, as they occurred.
Dora was a fully fledged Auror, one who had been trained by one of the greatest Aurors of all time and was still being mentored by one of the most knowledgeable, powerful, and skilled Aurors on active duty. She was months away from a Mastery in Transfiguration and Transmutation, and perhaps a year and a few months away from an Offensive and Defensive Sorcery Mastery. She was a witch on a path to being one of the best duelists in the country and possibly the continent one day.
Kingsley was a wizard already considered one of the best in his profession. He was on a path that would eventually have him compared to Albus Dumbledore in terms of knowledge, power, and possibly even skill. Being Dora's mentor, she had adapted some of his style just as he'd adapted some things from her.
Their opponents, a curse-breaker and Auror respectively; both dueling champions and members of the legendary Witcher Clan. Also both very skilled practitioners of magic.
Both duels had similarities. Kingsley and Kane Witcher showed far more skill and diversity in their spell work, but the two younger witches were almost as impressive.
Harry and his friends watched captivated as the two witches conjured animals, knives, and walls, as they ripped apart each other's shields, blasted the ring into pieces, slapped away spells with flicks of their wrists, as they created rings of fire, enshrouded each other in water and ice, as they used pieces of the destroyed ring as protection and as weapons to launch at each other, and doing it all silently, and with incredible speed and precision. Harry had never seen Dora let loose, but he was seeing it now, and it was incredible.
If only she had as much precision when trying to walk around the house.
The duel lasted nearly fifteen minutes before Dora was able to finally, for the first time, best her rival utilizing a lesser known shield-destruction curse which shredded Sofia's shield, and smashed her back to the edge of the ring, which crumbled under the weight of her attempted recovery and due to the spell damage throughout the duel, allowing Dora to win by ring out, to a mixture of her frustration and pride. It wasn't the win Dora had wanted, but she had at least managed to finally beat her rival after all of her improvement under Mad-Eye and Kingsley.
Kingsley's and Kane's was similar, and yet even more impressive as both men utilized elemental magic, conjuring miniature storms to batter at each other, throwing lightning bolts and spears of fire, creating illusions to befuddle all who were watching. They created entirely new landscapes on the ring, attempting to utilize transfigurations and charms to create openings in which they hoped to strike, but which usually ended with a slugfest of spells that left both men bleeding from various injuries and left the crowd more shocked and awe-inspired, but cheering loudly.
After nearly a half-hour though, Kingsley finally managed to land a decisive hit with a partial withering curse to Kane's wand arm, causing the man to drop his wand in pain as his arm shriveled up, giving Kingsley the win, and making it the first time in some time that no Witcher won any bracket of the British Dueling Tournament.
After watching the singles championships, he, like all his friends and the others with them, eagerly got comfortable to watch the doubles championship: Lexie and Dora against Kingsley and Savage.
By all accounts, the elders should have this in the bag, but with how much of a beating Kingsley had just taken trying to beat Kane, there was a possibility that his abilities were diminished enough to make a difference.
It ended up being quite an incredible duel. Harry got to see Lexie showcase some of her own elemental magic, getting to witness her abilities with wind to counter Kingsley's own wind abilities, while Dora did her best to counter Savage's earth and fire abilities with her transfiguration skills. It was easy to witness how tired both Kingsley and Dora were, and fairly soon it seemed both teams had come to the unanimous decision to cut to the chase and the fight dissolved into a slugfest of hexes, jinxes, and curses.
Surprisingly, Kingsley was the first to fall, his injuries and exhaustion playing a greater part as they all thought it could, but unfortunately, the two younger witches weren't able to capitalize as Savage used a well placed shield destruction curse and advanced stunner to remove Lexie from the duel almost immediately after.
From there, it dissolved into a rather fun fight with Savage and Dora both smiling wide as they taunted each other, Dora calling him a cranky old geezer who should just quit so he could get to his pudding and naptime (which got Siobhan roaring with laughter), while Savage made cracks about her being a clumsy young punk and having a less impressive arrest record compared to her younger brother (which had Harry laughing). Finally though, experience won out, and Savage managed to wear Dora down before he finally stunned her, ending the duel.
Harry was glad for his sister and her mentor for their victories in the singles duels, and neither Lexie or Dora took their loss in the doubles all that hard, rather proud with how well they'd done, so he was more than happy to celebrate that with them as well.
More importantly though, he like many of his friends had seen exactly how good the duelists were at the top echelons, and Harry now had a greater understanding of how far he had to go, but at the same time, he had never felt more determined to one day be there with the best of the best. While some of his friends had been disheartened with the skill, he was energized. He had a long way to go, but he would get there. He was sure of it.