Disclaimer 1: I've taken a little creative liberty with spells and their effects, while keeping them as close to canon as possible.
Disclaimer 2: Tried my best to keep the chapter from getting cumbersome. Long though. Thought about splitting it into two, but this made sense.
Disclaimer 3: Lots of OC's is a problem this fic has been dealing with since the first chapter. The expansive nature of the story has made it unavoidable. I mean, Fleur is quite literally the only named Beauxbatons student in canon.
Disclaimer 4: Still don't own Harry Potter. Eternally grateful to the lady who does though. Please enjoy.
Chapter 16: All or Nothing
The first duel of the day would turn out to be the one with the least riding on it, as it played out. Daphne, it seemed, had not taken kindly to the French school refusing to put out their best first. Angry stunners and disarmers flew from her wand as she danced around the rocky arena. It was an all-out attack from the normally defence oriented witch that caught everyone by surprise, especially her opponent. Daphne's first barrage had the much-older boy on the back foot and the second had him on the ropes.
Lee's commentary summed it up succinctly, "...and the Frenchman just barely misses being skewered. The fierceness of the attack has completely caught him off guard. Ooooh... brilliant skill...GREEEENGRAASSSS! The stunner finds the mark! The stunner finds the mark! It's over in under a minute. How do you like that for a statement?" The French and Bulgarian announcers were barely getting a word in. The majority English crowd cheered in delight that Daphne had kept her word and the French captain's prediction had been broken this early.
After the duel was over, it was the turn of the French school to send their next member. Referee Julio had to give a short blast of his whistle to indicate they were taking too long. Harry tensed. Juan was walking out. He was regretting letting Daphne go first now.
Since the winning team was allowed to change members though, Harry signaled to Daphne. She stalked over, looking like thunder. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she almost yelled at him.
"Relax. I told you I'm going second, didn't I?"
"That's only if I lost."
"Not necessarily. Switching is part of the strategy. You can come back for the next duel."
Daphne looked like she was having a hard time arguing with him when he was being reasonable. Just then, Jordan chose to turn his attention, and therefore the crowd's, on them. "...and it looks like Greengrass doesn't want to come off. She's having a heated debate with her captain."
"You're not the only one that has a score to settle with that asshole." Harry's first thought was that he had never heard Daphne speak so…brazenly before. Her very persona was based on being the ever-dignified Ice Queen after all. His second thought was that Juan had been pressing all kinds of buttons in just two weeks. "Besides, I have something to prove, Potter. I don't expect you to understand, but I can't stop now." Her last few words had sounded desperate, and it showed in her eyes.
Harry sighed. Daphne was obviously going for a clean sweep- a very bad idea when up against unknown opponents in a new format. It wasn't that he couldn't pull authority, but she looked ready to wrestle a troll if she had to though. He made his decision. "Say please, Harry."
"You have got to be joking!"
"I would've settled for thank you, but you used "Potter" again."
Daphne turned around before grumbling the words, although they could just as well have been a threat, and walked back. Harry just sighed again, realizing he had just let his best chance to publicly humiliate Juan slip through his hands. Oh well, he thought, what he intended to do to Juan wasn't meant for public viewing anyway. Or maybe it was.
The second match had already started by the time Harry had retaken his seat. Daphne was in motion with her starting barrage of stunners and disarmers. Juan simply moved behind one of the larger rocky outcrop to protect himself and transfigured another rock into a small wolf. But it's short stature was offset my massive protruding fangs, glowing eyes and powerful legs. It jumped out from behind the rocky outcrop and headed straight for Daphne. She was already sending a barrage of curses at the fox that were missing because of its size and agility.
In those few moments, Juan cast a disillusionment charm on himself and moved away from the outcrop, unseen by Daphne. The disillusionment charm wore off as soon as the invisible person used a spell, which meant it wasn't often seen in duelling, and therefore, often not expected. The rest had been a disaster. Daphne, still believing her foe was behind the rocky outcrop, blasted the whole thing up with a massive explosion curse that sent rubble flying. But she never saw Juan come up behind and use a curse that earned him a warning. Flags went up indicating as much, but his bone-breaker caught Daphne right in the side, crumpling her. Harry had heard the sound of multiple ribs breaking and the pained expression on Daphne's face said it all as she went down. He was sure it was over, given that the curse had stuck her on the side she held her wand.
But the crowd let out a collective gasp as Daphne fired a fast, dangerous looking curse at Juan from the ground. Juan's bone-breaker had broken his disillusionment and she could see where he was. His shield couldn't have been more timely. The curse, that raised a warning flag for Daphne, bounced off the flaming red shield with a huge gong, leaving Daphne in deep trouble.
Juan made a show of it. First, he disarmed Daphne after breaking her shield. Pain preventing any movement, she had been overpowered. Instead of summoning the wand and ending the duel, Juan pointed his wand at Daphne and said, "Quit, or you will be humiliated." His voice sounded amplified under the ward walls, clearly audible over the audience's din.
It wasn't anything new in duelling. Showboating and intimidating the other teams was all considered part of the game. But it had been the way Juan had gone about it that irked Harry. Daphne had refused to quit until the end, trying to drag herself to her wand. The result was that she had been hit with multiple stinging hexes, her hair had been charmed to turn into the color of her underwear, bright pink with white stripes, jelly-leg jinx and forced to puke slugs. The final humiliation came when, after he had summoned her wand, he walked to the center of the arena, and placed it there. Daphne was forced to make the "walk of shame", unsteadily, in pain and puking slugs, to retrieve her wand and at least counteract some of the hexes.
"Think it's brutal, kid? Not all pain comes from cuts and curses, you know. Duelling is a different kind of beast."
The Hat's words rang true. Daphne's face was contorted more with humiliation than with pain as she limped out of the dugout with Tracy to the medical tent nearby, away from the crowd. Neither returned for the rest of the day.
Harry hadn't said a word to Daphne. There was absolutely nothing he could've said that would've even remotely helped. No, what he was going to do was take control as captain and make sure Juan's next fight would be against him. In that vein, he handed the Hat to a very worried Hermione and stepped out.
Jordan, who had gone subdued, finally seemed to rouse himself, "And we have the Hogwarts captain walking out to avenge his fallen comrade. Potter made it very clear he'd be doing his talking in the arena and oh... What is this? It seems we won't get our first "clash of champions" yet as Juan St. Pierre retreats to their dugout. Strategic, do you think?"
"Yes, of course. Captain Bayard is known for his ability to read the flow of any game brilliantly. That he is an excellent duellist is just the bonus."
Bayard surveyed his team once more, going through the possibilities. Juan had made it abundantly clear that he would be a good bait for Potter. But now that he had been baited out, Bayard was facing a problem. Fleur Delacour seemed unwilling to take on the task of fighting him. She had said she was willing to go, of course, but the reluctance had been plain to see.
Bayard considered his other options. Celestine had offered to go and fight the "leetle boy", but he didn't want to use such valuable pieces yet. He turned to Juan's friend and another member of the team, Sebastian. He was not the strongest duellist, but he specialized in defense. That would be perfect right now to scout out the Hogwarts captain. There were all kinds of rumors floating around Harry Potter and Bayard wanted to know how much was truth and how much was fiction.
"What do you think, Sebastian?"
Unlike his friend Juan, Sebastian had none of that subtle charm. He just replied, "Consider Potter history," and stalked into the arena, more like a thug than a duellist. Bayard sighed. At this rate, this was going to be a long day.
The scoreboard on the screen now stood at 1-1. Although, every Hogwarts supporter sensed that it had not been an even trade. Daphne's humiliation still rankled and there were already scuffles breaking out in the stands.
Trying not to let the fact that this was the first time there were so many people watching him register, Harry took in the arena he was going to be fighting in. Even though completely enclosed by the stands like a colosseum, there was a pleasant breeze playing across the stretch of dirt and rock, kicking up small dust clouds. The Durmstrang student announcer was now explaining how the rules of disqualification work and why Juan was still in the game after using a dark curse.
Harry grit his teeth seeing someone other than Juan come out of the Beauxbatons dugout, until he recognized Sebastian. He was constantly around Juan and Fleur had called him a creep who spread nasty rumors about her. Well, Harry thought, I don't get the cake yet. But I'll settle for a muffin right now. Besides, the French captain was testing the waters, trying to get a read on him, by sending out his scout. He was about to show Bayard where he could stick that idea.
Even as they were bowing to each other, one of the plans Harry had for using the terrain, seemed to be possible. Or rather, the best possible option. Harry wasn't so nice that he wouldn't take advantage of a sure thing. Fleur and him had agreed to share all the information they knew, but only with each other. This meant that Harry knew Sebastian had opened all his qualification duels by putting up his strongest shield. It was a solid scouting move. Most opening barrages in duelling were useless against a good shield.
Harry gulped as he waited for the whistle to blow. It almost looked too good to be true. Sebastian was positioned in a very viable spot for his plan to work, right off the bat. The whistle blew and Harry had already moved from where he was standing, just in case Sebastian had not chosen to go for the shield. He had. Perfect.
Even before the shield popped into existence, Harry had pointed at a Boulder some ten feet to the left of Sebastian and bellowed, venom in his heart pouring out as words, "BOMBARDA". And he didn't stop. With another good pull on his magic, he fired a dangerously strong bludgeoner right towards where Sebastian's shield had now formed. Two extremely legal spells, albeit with a little extra power. Well, okay. A lot.
Just like with the death eaters at the world Cup, pieces of rock turned to shrapnel as the boulder exploded. While Sebastian's shield protected his front, his side and back were completely exposed. He caught a faceful of hot, searing rock fragments as well as some in his leg, buckling his knees instantly. It would have taken a very well-trained duellist to keep the shield up in that moment. Sebastian's powerful shield flickered out almost as quickly as it had formed. The bludgeoner caught him full on.
Sebastian was dragged along on the ground before crashing into the ward wall with a resounding crash. The second impact tossed him into the air like a rag doll before he hit the ground three seconds later, catching some serious air time. Needless to say, he was unconscious.
The whistle blew immediately, the only sound for another few seconds before Jordan found his voice, "S-S-SEVEN SECONDS... Holy... Harry Potter has... Is Sebastian still in one piece? And someone for fuck's sake, look up the records for the quickest duel."
"The record for the quickest victory in a sanctioned duel is 3.8 seconds," the French announcer supplied over the thunderous roaring of the crowd. "I do believe Mr. Potter's achievement will easily fall within the top ten though."
"There you have it, folks. A loud and clear reply by the English captain. It's 2-1 Hogwarts. How will the French camp react?" Jordan seemed to have switched to mentioning countries on purpose. Daphne's and Harry's duels would actually light the fire to a powder keg that would explode later in the evening between the two sets of fans. For now, though, the English had taken to loudly jeering at their French compatriots.
There was no helping it. Harry still had a lot of strategy to consider and there was no denying his anger at what had been done to Daphne. But it was still hard not to enjoy the moment. A capacity crowd either cheering or booing him, influenced by his every actions. Yeah, he was going to get used to this very quickly...
Juan saw the dangerous glint in Harry's eyes as he eyed the Beauxbatons dugout. There was now do doubt in his mind that at least some of the stories he had heard about him were true. Sebastian had been no pushover, having earned his place on a team filled with skilled duellists. It was obvious that Potter was trying to juggernaut and rip through the French team as fast and brutally as possible until he reached Juan. It was a worrying thought and had him a little shook. But fortunately, they had the perfect countermeasure.
Bayard was someone who took this business very seriously. There's no way he'd fail to see the threat. Juan went over to the French captain who seemed to hear him with a slightly distasteful expression before nodding in agreement. Bayard turned to Fleur, "I'm sorry, Miss Delacour. But could I ask you to go out there and give it your best?"
Everyone turned to look at the silver-haired veela, except for Jasmin who avoided her eyes. Fleur though was hoping for some sign from her sister, not that she needed it, but she would've liked it. This wasn't easy for her either. The silence stretched as the others looked from one sister to another, before, "Good luck, Bell. Don't hold back."
Fleur smiled, turned on her heels, and without a word to anyone else, walked out onto the arena.
"Here comes the next fighter from. Beauxbatons. It's Fleurrrr Delacourrr," Jordan sang, before adding, "Easy there, you creeps. She's fourteen. And having to make a hard choice between fighting his girlfriend and continuing his rampage, is the Hogwarts captain."
Harry internally groaned at the loud amounts of cheers, catcalls and jeers that had generated. There was random yelling from different sources. Trust Lee to drop the bombs. It wasn't a secret or anything, but annoying to deal with all the same, now that it was out in the open.
Besides, his mind had already been made up on the subject well before the duelling started. He waited until Fleur's lithe form had made it to the center of the arena and he had had a chance to gaze at her beautiful blue eyes, before turning around and heading for the Hogwarts dugout, disappointed groans following him.
"Cyr, you're up," Harry said curtly, taking the Hat from Hermione. The older girl nodded, jaws tightening with determination before stepping out.
"The fourth duel is between Madeline Cyr and Fleur Delacour. It's 2-1 now and the victor is the first to 7. The whistle's blown aaaand we're off. Quick movements from both witches. Delacour is definitely faster with her wand work though. You can see Cyr is compensating for it with her superior charms. Oh my! What's this? I may have spoken too soon. Of course a veela would be the superior charms user... "
Indeed, Fleur's ability in the duelling arena caught Harry a little by surprise. Sure, he had never had a chance to see her seriously fight before, but she had always been down-spoken about it. But watching her, it was clear to see she had some training and a lot of talent waiting to be exploited.
Fleur used movement as key, much like Daphne had. But her movements were more graceful and seemed to flow flawlessly with her wand work. She had already placed a Confundo on Cyr and was now in the process of conjuring some kind of charmed water whip that was wrapping the Hogwarts witch in it.
"Not bad, huh?" Harry asked the Hat silently.
"Which one are you referring to? Her skill or her ass? You've been admiring both."
"Both, then."
"Her duelling skills need work. Her ass needs to be worke-"
"Alright, that's enough out of you."
Unable to relieve herself from the water wrapping itself around her, Cyr fired two desperate stunners at Fleur, both surprisingly accurate. Unfortunately, Fleur had already danced away from where she had been and was in the process of applying the final touch.
"Glaciate"
The water whip instantly froze, starting from the tip of Fleur's wand to Cyr's body, almost completely icing her and immobilizing her.
"And that's a dominant victory for the French witch everyone. Let's see now what Captain Potter has in mind to combat her... "
"Natalie's cannon fodder, Hat. I was hoping to scout Bayard with her"
"You don't see it yet, welp. But silver princess staying in the game is a problem. You're not going to fight or strategize freely until she's out."
"So I'll send Cedric then."
"And if they pull back your girl and send Bayard out? The simpleton is a valuable piece and exposing him when you're not at an advantage is a bad move. Send your remaining wench."
"...score is 2-2, and coming out to represent Hogwarts is none other than the Head Girl of the school. This will be a battle between two attractive witches. Not that we're not thankful, but you do wonder if Potter has a plan."
"It could be he's avoiding sending men against a veela who would obviously have the advantage," the French witch theorized. "It doesn't look like Fleur Delacour will be pulled back, so, yes indeed, the fifth duel will be between Fleur Delacour and Natalie McDonald."
Harry witnessed a similar opening exchange between the witches as the duel before. The only difference was that Natalie, being much more athletic, was able to dodge most of Fleur's charms and jinxes, though not as gracefully. Fleur seemed content to maintain distance and fire away. However, it was costing her a lot of energy and it was obvious she was slowing down and her spells were losing potency.
The deadlock was broken when Natalie's non-verbal jelly-leg jinx found it's mark. For a moment, it looked like it was all over for a clearly-exhausted Fleur as her legs buckled. With no way of dodging Natalie's follow up bludgeoner, the obvious thing to do was put up a shield. But instead, drawing inspiration from someone else she knew who attacked when it was time to defend, Fleur fired a stunner right through Natalie's bludgeoner.
It was a double hit. Natalie's bludgeoner caught Fleur square in the shoulder and brought her down with a scream of pain. She couldn't pull herself up for another ten seconds at least. She didn't have to. Fleur's stunner had found it's mark and it was an incapacitated Natalie who lay on the other side of the field.
"...it's a wonderful back-to-back victory for the " Belle of Beauxbatons" and the score now reads 2-3 in favor of the French school," the Beauxbatons announcer was saying, happily.
The Bulgarian added in his thickly accented voice, "Indeed, Nov, Hogwarts hav lost momentum and Captain Potter must be feelin' the pressur."
"You might be onto something, Hat. Watching her fighting in her duelling gear definitely does something for me. I wanna just grab her disheveled body and-"
"For the love of Godric, shut up! Going in yourself now? You might have to soon, either way."
"Nah, I'm trying to bait out someone good. Either Bayard, Celestine or Juan. Hmmm..."
Turning around, he found the entire Hogwarts dugout staring at him, waiting to see who was next. Both Bletchly and Gardner had offered and it made sense for it to be one of them. "Go, Gardner."
The only other Gryffindor in the team nodded his head solemnly. He seemed to say a small prayer before he skipped off the bench and into the arena.
Harry expected Fleur to be pulled out and he wasn't disappointed. Major injuries were usually treated and you get a break to recover from exhaustion. This was the advantage of winning duels under the new format. Harry was pleased to see a lot of people standing and applauding Fleur as she made her way out. He knew how much it would mean to her.
Much to Harry's delight, it was Bayard who stepped forward for the sixth duel of the day, The two tall seventh years bowed to each other before taking their stances, carefully appraising one another. The whistle blew.
Gardner, surprisingly, attacked first. His opening barrage of verbal and non-verbal stunners, shield-breaker and hexes flew towards Bayard in rapid succession. The Frenchman effortlessly levitated the nearest boulder to act as a shield. It took the incoming spells, only losing a few chunks, before transforming into a stone tiger, complete with blade-like claws and fangs. It was such a high level transfiguration spell and yet, Bayard had cast it both non-verbally and effortlessly.
The tiger sprang forward with all the agility and speed of a jungle cat, gasps coming from the crowd both at the creation and it's speed. Panic apparent, Gardner fired multiple "impedimenta" jinxes at the cat until one connected, considerably slowing it down. That had been more than enough of an opening to take aim and blow off the stone tiger's head with an explosion curse.
In the meantime, Bayard had not stopped at transfiguring the boulder. He followed it up with "Avis Grande". Multiple vultures started forming around the Frenchman's head before he sent them, with a wave of his wand, towards Gardner, who had just dealt with the tiger.
Gardner barely had time to dodge the follow-up spells of Bayard as he tried to deal with the vultures on the move. He fought desperately, trying to land cutting curses on the vultures. But Bayard, it seemed had decided he had had enough of a warm up. With a sigh, he fired his most powerful bludgeoner at Gardner, who simply was in no position to shield...
"...clearly, the French captain wanted to send a message to his English counterpart," Jordan was announcing as Gardner was removed in a stretcher thirty seconds later. Much like he had done to Sebastian, Harry noticed that Bayard had hit almost the same area, causing the same amount of damage.
"Maybe Lee's onto something, eh Hat?"
"Go call his bluff and see if the Frenchie wants to dance."
"My thoughts exactly."
The cheers hit a crescendo as Harry walked back onto the arena. The score stood at 2-4 with Hogwarts struggling to get out of their slump. But the crowd was hopeful about the fact both their champions were still in the fighting. It didn't seem to cross their minds that so was the oppositions'.
This would be the last duel with rocky terrain. There was already plenty of debris dotting the field and Harry knew full well what spell he was going to use the first chance he got. But for now, he kept his eyes on Bayard as he neared, daring him, goading him even, into fighting him.
To the great disappointment of the crowd, and Harry, Bayard had already turned and started walking away by the time he was close. Harry grit his teeth, waiting to see who was coming out. He had to fight whoever came and if it was Fleur... maybe the Hat was right. Maybe he did need her to be out of the game before he could focus.
Lee's excited voice, followed by a roar of approval by the crowd, broke through his musings, "Ladies and Gentlemen, looks like we're finally going to be having our first champion vs champion duel. For the seventh match, the fighters will be Harrrry Potter and Celestine Diorrrr. We have seen clinical performances from champions so far, but I have no idea what to expect..."
Expect me to leave an impression on this girl this time, thought Harry to himself. He wasn't vain, but it had been a tough pill to swallow that he had a forgettable face. Celestine took a moment to retie her blonde hair into a bun before she nodded at the Referee. Referee Julio indicated they should bow and Harry found himself at the end of an intense stare as she lowered her head. Great, they never underestimate you when you need them to.
Harry wasn't sure if he had moved before the whistle, but since the duel wasn't stopped, he continued with his favorite opening barrage. Bludgeoner, Cutting curse, rinse and repeat. They weren't loaded like the one he had used to take out Sebastian, but they were enough to have her reconsider shielding.
Celestine was already on the back foot because of how fast Harry had moved. Her first shield barely held against the bludgeoner and her frantic dodging did not save her from two cutting curses tagging her one after another. Barely a few seconds in, Celestine was bleeding.
Realizing the impossibility of directly dealing with this barrage, she dived desperately behind one of the few rocky outcroppings still left standing. A moment to catch her breath and she found her cover exploding over her head. Harry's explosion curse had found the mark. A few feet below and the exploding rocks would have ripped through her.
Celestine cursed mentally, throwing a non-verbal shield over her head to protect her from falling rubble. Who knew this kid would be such a monster?! Never had she felt so dominated in a fight this early. She was yet to perform a single offensive action. Guess the name Harry Potter wasn't famous by accident, she thought wryly. But... she was a champion. Somewhere in the mass of people watching her, sat her mum and girlfriend. And damned if she wasn't going to make herself and her family proud.
With a will, she threw herself out, ready to throw out a rain of spears. The spell died on her lips. Bearing down upon her was a gargantuan stone guardian, made out of hardened rocks and boulders, it's misshapen face and heavy limbs attached to the body by nothing but air. The crowd was going crazy watching the charging golem's thunderous footsteps lightly shake the dome. Another boulder exploded somewhere peppering her with scalding rock, deep cuts and bruises. The pain snapped her out of her reverie. Now or never.
Pulling on every last ounce of magical energy she could muster, Celestine aimed at the golem's head, and bellowed, "LASAR TORMENTUM"
Harry's first thought was that he had to learn the spell. It was a laser cannon, of sorts. The stone golem's head disintegrated into nothingness as the orangish-yellow, tree-trunk sized beam blasted through it. The ward walls shuddered from the impact and a warning flag went up indicating the use of a forbidden spell.
But it had given Celestine some much needed breathing room. Even though Harry went right back on the offensive, she threw herself forwards and behind the remains of the stone golem, now just a pile of rubble. Celestine was breathing heavily like she had run a marathon and every muscle in her body was aching. And she still hadn't fired an offensive spell at Harry Potter.
Not that Celestine had any illusions she would get the chance. That single spell had taken every bit of knowledge, training and energy she had. Celestine wasn't sure if she had enough in her to produce a decent stinging hex. But it had been worth it just to see the surprised look on her opponent's face.
Her cover, the rubble, was transforming now, into chains, trying to wrap her in its folds. In that moment, Celestine knew she was done. She had nothing left to give... But she didn't want to leave with any regrets. With a will, Celestine forced her wand arm towards the direction she knew Harry was in and just as she faded into unconsciousness from using up all her energy, cast a spell with her last conscious breath.
Harry watched the weak, pencil-sized stinging hex come towards him as if in slow motion. He could've parried, dodged, shielded or just generally countered in any number of ways, but for some reason, chose to wait. Just as it was a few feet away from him, the small light arrow flickered and faded, it's aim true, but power insufficient.
Harry sighed. It wasn't hard to guess what had crossed Celestine's mind in her final conscious moments, he mused as the whistle blew and the multitude's din achieved new heights.
Instead of walking back to the dugout, Harry made his way over to Celestine, where his transfigured chains were releasing her still-unconscious form, Already rushing towards them were the medi-wizards. He waited for them to enervate her, give her potions and conduct their basic check up. One of the healers was already mending the deeper cuts.
"... the English captain is not messing around. Celestine is considered one of our best at Beauxbatons and that victory could only be termed dominant. The score now stands at 3-4. The remaining duellists for Hogwarts are Harry Potter, Cedric Diggory and Miles Bletchly. The four for Beauxbatons are Bayard, Fleur, Manon and Juan. We will now take a thirty-minute break from duelling and return with a new terrain. In the meantime, please put your hands together for the cheerleaders from the parti…"
The screen, which had been displaying alternate images of the crowd going nuts, the two champions and medi-wizards in a corner of the field and the French commentator, immediately switched to the girls from the three schools trooping onto the field in their respective outfits.
Harry turned to find Celestine's attractive large, brown eyes on him. Good, he wanted to tell her this and leave. Thankfully, she gave him the perfect opportunity with her first words to him, "Did I get you?"
Harry rubbed his shoulder where her last stinging hex would've made impact. "Yeah, got me out of nowhere just as I started celebrating."
A brief flicker of priceless happiness flooded Celestine's face before immediately turning suspicious, "You... You're lying, aren't you?"
The medi-wizards had already started moving her to a stretcher. Harry waved at her and turned back towards his dugout, "Why would I do that? It's not like we've met before."
The dugout was filled with wide-eyed stares as he made it back, all except Cedric who was just grinning away like a madman. "Glad I didn't go that route," he said, extending a hand to Harry, who took it, matching the grin.
Next to him Cho Chang found the courage to pipe up, "That was really something. Your movements were so fast and you were firing powerful spells one after the other without a break. Are you sure you're alright?"
Harry simply nodded his thanks, taking the Hat back from Hermione. She also handed him a rejuvenating potion saying, "Go on, there are some potions you're allowed to drink between matches. I cleared it with them," Hermione added, nodding at the two tournament officials who had been sitting in a corner from the start. Their job was to make sure no rules were broken in the team dugouts.
"Did you examine it, Hermione?"
Hermione's eyes bulged as she realized her folly, "Oh my god! Good thinking, Harry! It completely slipped my mind."
Harry simply smiled and pulled out his wand. After a thorough examination that revealed nothing, he emptied the contents into his mouth. The rejuvenating potion wasn't the most powerful and was only meant to recover a portion of your spent energy over time. Still, it was considerably better to have, than not.
"How am I doing, Hat?"
"Not bad given the situation, terrible if you had had any ideas of a clean sweep."
"I'm not that delusional. These are good fighters who have trained all their lives. I've had one good year if I'm being honest."
"But?"
Harry grinned, "But, I am still Harry Potter. Not the Boy-Who-Lived or some saviour of the masses, but the man who will forge his name in the annals of history with his deeds. And today, I add another feather to that cap, that's all."
"Well, said. For a small-minded chimp, that is."
"The heck?"
"Want, goal, desire, wish, impulse, need, greed, all of it, is a weakness in and of itself. They'll just prevent you from achieving true inner peace."
"If I know anything about you, then it's that there's a but coming."
"But... If you are going to desire something, then desire it ALL, boy. Why stop at impressing the world when you can bend it to your will? So I say, fuck inner peace and bring on world domination."
"That's like the seventh time I've heard you say it. Are you seriously planning to take over the world or something?"
"It's as they say, kid. If you want something done right, do it yourself. This ill-conceived dust bowl could do with a few changes."
Harry sighed. "Sometimes I think Dumbledore's right. You're going to end up turning me into a Dark Lord."
"And what a darn good one you'll make too."
Fleur stepped out onto the grassy terrain for the eighth duel. The long grass and heated wind reminded her of the Savannah, not that she'd ever visited. Two, reasonably large, dirt hills were the only cover in an otherwise open area. The rejuvenating potion had returned much of her strength and Fleur held her head high as she walked towards the center, receiving a strong ovation.
To her great relief, Harry hadn't come back in, choosing to send out one of the others. She waited for the boy, Miles Bletchly, to stop looking at him repulsively and bow. He did so without breaking eye contact.
Fleur took a deep breath. She had come farther than she thought she could have. But now was not the time to rest on her laurels. There was still so much she was capable of and this was her best chance. Whatever the cost.
Bletchly started off defensively by moving sideways as fast as possible and applying a gripping charm on his hand. Fleur had been told he'd do exactly that. She had already let loose a horizontal cutting curse in the direction Bletchly had moved. His eyes widened, but he brought his wand around in a smooth motion and produced a light grey shield on time.
His speed had caught her by surprise. Before Fleur had a chance to verbalize a shield-breaker, her opponent had countered with a non-verbal Incarcerous. She flicked her wand at the ropes coming her way, charming them into a hoop and sending it right back towards Bletchly. They would automatically entangle him as soon as touched. Barely halfway back, they were sliced apart by the cutting curses Bletchly had followed up with.
As quickly as Fleur had noticed the danger, her shield still hadn't been enough to keep her from getting cut. She was now bleeding from her shoulder. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she was fighting a far more experienced opponent. Fleur let herself take a breath. Dominic, Apolline and Camille were all watching her, she was sure of it. Fortunately, these past two weeks had been an eye-opener like no other. Unlike every other time they had seen her fight, she was not afraid of her heritage anymore. Far from it.
Warning flags went up immediately as Fleur released her, normally tightly-controlled, primary allure. Unlike the one that could drive a man to madness, this was just ordinary veela allure. Within moments, everything from wolf-whistles to swooning was going on in the crowds. Fleur couldn't have cared less. Only the weak would have been affected from this far and it was not her fault England was full of them.
Her main quarry though, was having the desired effect. Bletchly's already weak will had collapsed completely and he was edging towards her with a puffed chest, wand completely forgotten and to his side. She waited until he had gotten half way through his sentence, "Will the beautiful lady please-" before pleasantly stunning him from distance. There were no words to describe the cacophony of noises coming from the masses.
"My oh my, Fleur Delacour has produced an outstanding performance again. This was her third victory today and now Hogwarts find themselves in a precarious position of 3-5. But if there's one thing to take heart from, it's that the remaining members are the two champions. They'll each have to bring down two of their oppo-"
"Jeez, no pressure, Lee," Cedric muttered from next to Harry as they watched the seething form of Bletchly make it back towards them. Barely had he entered the dugout and he rounded on Harry, "Your girlfriend cheated."
As many things as he would have liked to have said, Harry couldn't bring himself to do that to the guy. He put a hand on Bletchly's shoulder, turning him around, "Whatever it is, Miles, I think you're better off doing your explaining to her." He pointed to Bletchly's girlfriend who had been with him and was now looking like she was ready to start hurling fireballs.
With the noise of their fight drowning them out, Cedric said to Harry, "No worries, mate. I'll take her out. Any advice you want to give me about dealing with the allure?"
"Nah, you're not an idiot like Bletchly. At most, you'd have made a bad lapse in judgement. And no, you're not going out. I am."
Cedric was caught completely by surprise. Next to him, Hermione too asked hushedly, "Are you sure? I thought you were avoiding fighting her?"
"Not particularly. Besides, even if Cedric goes out, they'll just pull her back and have someone else come out. Time to break open some eggs."
As he made his way onto the field, Jasmin's voice begging him not to fight Fleur was ringing in his ears. Sorry, Adri. This is for her own good.
"...istory shows it's very possib... Ohhh myyyy. If anyone thought the English captain had a problem doing what needs done, think again. Harry Potter has just walked out... aaand it looks like Beauxbatons is keeping Fleur Delacour in." The noise was reaching obscene levels now. "Looks like the ninth duel will be a battle between lovers. Come on, Referee Julio! No one cares if the ward walls still work, just start the match already!"
Fleur looked so confused that Harry had to steel his heart, telling himself it wouldn't do to have second thoughts now. Tentatively, almost unwillingly, Fleur bowed. Harry kept his short and to the point. Referee Julio finally blew on his whistle.
Harry was happy to see that Fleur hadn't let her competitive edge dull, at first. She moved immediately, but only firing stunners and disarmers in quick succession. Harry almost shook his head. Her desperation to end this quickly couldn't have been more obvious. Or more easier to counter. He watched all three spells flying after him, the third leaving her wand just as the first reached him. Harry caught the spell with his wand and flicked it away with ease. Two more, and he was looking at the astonished face of Fleur Delacour. One parry in the middle of a duel was impressive. Three just spoke of mastery.
Without passing to think about it though, Fleur sent more disarmers and a silent incarcerous. She prayed it would be enough, knowing full well it wouldn't be. As expected, the disarmers were flicked again and her rope spell burned to ash before reaching her opponent. That's what she kept telling herself. An opponent. Not Harry. Not the man you admire. Just someone in your way.
Harry still waited. He had already left several openings to attack, go unused. But his impatience was starting to grow, just like the spectators. There were a few boos punctuating the cheers now. More stunners came his way and he definitely felt a twinge of anger as he flicked them away like flies. Did she not get it yet? He wasn't even bothering to shield and she thought more of the same would work?
Gritting his teeth, Harry waited for the perfect moment. At least she was keeping up her movements even though he wasn't attacking. But the moment came right as she twirled around after firing a spell, the long grass brushing against her tightly-fitting duelling gear. Taking aim at where she was going to be in a second, Harry fired off a loaded bludgeoner, enough to blast her off her feet if Fleur didn't shield. She shielded. And then got blasted off her feet.
Fleur spat out a little blood as she came to a rolling stop. Damn, that had come out of absolutely nowhere. She turned to find Harry advancing, wand at the ready but without firing any spells.
And finally, she felt it. The ominous feeling she had sensed deep within Harry. When he spoke, there was nothing of the boy she remembered. "I thought you knew who you were fighting." The crowd went quiet trying not to miss what was being said, amplified as it was by the dome.
It snapped her out of trance somewhat. Of course, she knew. In fact, she was the only one who truly understood what she was fighting. The monster that swallowed up everything that came in its way. Harry Potter. Mind and instinct came to an agreement, fight or flee. And no way was Fleur Delacour going to flee.
Almost immediately, the warning flag went up, indicating Fleur's second and final warning before she was disqualified. Instead of dispersing her allure, she had focused it on Harry, who had been advancing. And then, she just... let go. There was no need for her to manipulate anything. After all, Harry was the one meant to see this anyway.
Harry saw it coming. He had expected it. And he had certainly experienced it before. Or at least, he thought he had. His experience with the allure yesterday seemed like a trivial tryst as Fleur's power hit him full on.
Everything else faded away and all that mattered was Fleur. Rather than create any illusions, the allure just seemed to enhance and magnify the veelas considerable beauty. The first thing Harry noticed were her features. Her long silver hair that seemed to move slightly, as if caught in a soft breeze. Lustrous. Gleaming. Large blue eyes that reeled him in, filled with promised pleasures. The gentle swell of her wondrous breasts... In slow motion, Harry saw her raise her wand towards him. He let himself smile. As she stood there, more beautiful than any goddess could, defying him, doing whatever it took, Harry firmed his resolve. He was going to make Fleur Delacour his, costs be damned.
With a will that could only come from someone trained by the ruthless Sorting Hat, Harry slammed his Occlumency barriers shut, and just like that, he was back. Fleur's stunner was flicked away again and this time, she just stared at him aghast, wand held loosely in hand.
Harry was smiling at her. The one she remembered from all that time ago, or perhaps it had only been a month. It was the most enigmatic smile she had ever seen. "Well done, Fleur. Only you..." Harry shook his head, chuckling. "Now, I think you've earned your rest." He raised his wand, intent to finish her off apparent.
Something cracked inside Fleur. This man. This man who had come out of nowhere, saved her life and swept her off her feet. He held so much power over her that it was starting to get scary. And now... he could even resist her primary allure? She hadn't used her Highborne powers because it would've instantly disqualified her, but still.
No. No way. Sure, she had Harry's respect. But she wanted more. She wanted him to admire her like she did him. And that meant...
Begging her exhausted limbs to hold on just a little longer, she threw herself out of the way of Harry's stunner. He seemed a little surprised before grinning and going right back on the attack with more stunners and disarmers.
Fleur put up a shield behind her as she headed for one of the dirt hills that could act as her cover. Unable to suppress the smile spreading on her face, she gasped out behind her, "Who's holding back now, 'arry?"
Harry had never felt so alive in a duel. Fighting with this woman and hearing her taunt him, tease him and have so much fun doing it, was seriously setting him off. One more sigh. Yup, he told himself, we're practicing duelling every chance we get. For now though, he needed her to go down quick so he wasn't wasting precious energy meant to torment Juan.
Fleur had just made it to cover when she felt something wrap around her legs. Grass and roots were forming long vines and ropes and heading for her from almost every direction. She sent desperate cutting curses, feeling herself go light-headed from the strain. Just as the vines stopped, Fleur popped her head out of her hiding place to see what Harry was upto. Nothing could have prepared her to find him completely missing.
Wondering what on earth was going on, she cautiously started heading out, a plan forming in her mind. Suddenly, there was movement from her other side. A shriek left Fleur as she felt a strong hand enclose the wrist that was holding her wand. Emerald orbs stared into hers with something burning uncontrollably within. Fleur flushed pink when she realized it was desire, and crimson when she felt him pin her wand hand behind her and bring her close to him. His wand was pointed directly at her lips, almost imperceptibly stroking them... "Yield," he breathed. She almost did instinctively. Never in her life had she wanted to obey more.
"Never," Fleur finally gasped, less out of tiredness this time, enjoying how right this felt, even though her wand hand was still being held tightly behind her. Harry grinned, licking his lips, eyes blazing. The action made Fleur lean forward, and almost snap at his lips, but she held back with restraint, choosing to enjoy the closeness instead. Then, slowly, almost sensually, Harry's left hand let go of Fleur's wrist and worked it's way up towards her wand, touching skin along the way. There was zero resistance. Sapphire blue and Emerald green were busy having a conversation unto themselves.
The whistle blowing seemed to snap Harry and Fleur out of their reverie as much as the audience. The spectators looked around at their neighbors, no idea what they had just witnessed. There were a few jeers, lot of cheers and no small amount of whispers.
Harry let go of his girlfriend with reluctance and he could see the same in her expression. As many things as he would have liked to have told her, this was not the place. With a nod at each other that said infinitely more, both Harry and Fleur turned and walked back to their dugouts.
The next fight would be the longest of the day. Cedric Diggory found himself a surprisingly tough opponent in Manon, who, much like Cedric, preferred to fight from afar with transfiguration. Noon came and went as they battled. Both the duellists had taken up position behind a respective hill as cover and started using anything they could to transfigure. A lack of direct attacking spells meant that the match carried on for well over ten minutes and finally ended with Cedric's transfigured bull impaling Manon in the thigh and incapacitating him by holding him down.
So when Cedric made his way back to the dugout, more exhausted than Harry would have liked, the score read 5-5. The crowd were suitably rowdy as befitting the occasion. The duelling had to be halted for a few minutes as someone had thrown magically active firecrackers in the throng and that had to be dealt with. It gave the announcers plenty of time to recap everything that had happened.
"... job by the Hogwarts champion. You can see the hope in the faces of their supporters now. It's going to be just Harry and Cedric against Bayard and Juan. And it will be Bayard fighting this twelfth duel. We'll see who Hogwarts send out in a moment. It seems the Beauxbatons champion, Juan, will play the role of finisher. Would you say tha..."
Harry put an arm around his remaining teammate, concern shining in his eyes, he whispered, "Ideally, I'd like you to go. But if you need a moment…"
Cedric shook his head determinedly. "It's my own fault I wasted so much energy. I'm a Hogwarts champion too. I gotta take out at least two people, right?"
Harry had no idea where he got that number from, but nodded, slapping his back, "Go get 'em."
Cedric only paused to kiss Cho Chang before taking off, hand already gripping his wand tightly.
Once the niceties had been dealt with, and Referee Julio had blown his oh-so-powerful whistle, Cedric didn't bother holding back. He cast his most powerful spell off the bat. Using the plentiful grass and dirt available as material, the transfigured form of his massive, regenerating bull came to life.
Bayard, who had started off with his favorite spell, a dirt and grass tiger, watched in amusement as his creation got trampled without so much as slowing the charging taurus. The deep claw and fang marks it had left on the bull regenerated in seconds.
Almost lazily, he fired off multiple incarerous spells at the bull's legs, before shielding against Cedric's bone-breaker. The spectators went "oooh" as warning flags went up for Cedric. Harry realized that Cedric really wasn't holding back, as in at all. He wasn't planning to go down without doing some serious damage to Bayard.
The bull, tangled up as it was in ropes, was now being pulled into quicksand that had been conjured below it by Bayard. He seemed to be having no problem dealing with Cedric at distance, something that the Hufflepuff recognized too.
Abandoning the bull to it's fate, Cedric cast a strong fumos spell, producing thick grey smoke and fired a rain of arrows from within. Bayard, unable to see Cedric because of the smoke, had no choice but to shield against the incoming barrage. It was the one opening Cedric had been waiting for. Non-verbally firing off his strongest shield-breaker, he followed it up with an equally silent blood-boiling curse. Another flag went up indicating Cedric's second and final foul. The curse, while extremely potent and debilitating, was easily counteracted and took a long time to kill someone and therefore, did not merit instant disqualification.
Bayard's eyes widened as he recognized both spells heading his way. With no time to dodge, he let the shield-breaker take out his shield and, with pure skill and strength, caught the blood-boiling curse, a narrow blue beam, with his wand and just barely deflected it away from him. Anyone who knew anything about parrying spells was on their feet, applauding. The powerful the spell, the harder it was to parry. That was why the killing curse was considered unstoppable.
Arm aching and wand still vibrating in hand like crazy, Bayard looked up, his calm demeanor gone. He was serious. With a wide swing of his arm, he cast a dark brown curse that no one in the colosseum seemed to recognize. Flags went up though, indicating it was forbidden. But even more strangely, Bayard had fired the curse well away from Cedric and towards the podiums. And as soon as he was done with that action, Bayard turned to Cedric who had just emerged from the smoke firing a stunner. He parried and returned with a shield-breaker. Even if there was no shield, they packed a punch.
It was then, that Bayards plan came alive. The curse he had fired changed direction and headed for Cedric like a targeted missile. Bayard was keeping up a constant barrage of stunners and shield-breakers at the Hogwart's champion.
Cedric realized he was done the moment Bayard's curse changed course. He was already on his legs, anyway.
Switching all his attention and efforts on defense, Cedric tried his best to dodge and shield with timing. He dodged a stunner, let a shield-breaker connect with his gut, feeling like he had been punched but still put up his strongest shield. Bayard's curse pierced right through and caught him in the gut again. The shield-breakers had been a decoy and the double whammy did it. Cedric fell and moved no more.
The medi-wizards were on the pitch much quicker this time, but with each passing second, it became clear there was nothing to seriously worry about. In the end, Cedric was stretchered off to a standing ovation.
"... a true champion to the end. And now, all that's left is the Hogwarts captain who already has three victories under his belt. Ladies and gentlemen, Harrrrry Potterrrr."
Inside the dugout, Hermione quietly took the Hat from Harry, seemingly unable to look at him. Everyone else gave him a quick wish, watching their best hope step out one last time. Right as he exited, Harry heard the Sorting Hat's voice yell out over the din of the crowd, "Remember kid, all or nothing."
It was only as he walked to the center to face Bayard, who had chosen to stay in, that Harry seriously considered the Hat's words. Sure, he didn't actually care about impressing anyone, except maybe Fleur and Jasmin, but the Hat was right. Time to go big.
He had already dug deep within his occlumency barriers in preparation of his first spell. There was no doubt in Harry's mind that it was going to earn him a warning, perhaps even two in one go. The beauty of it was, it wasn't even a Dark curse. It was a Light spell. A jynx in fact. It was, after all, invented by the greatest living wizard of the Light.
Harry didn't even notice Bayard's stare as he closed his eyes and bowed, his mind remembering wise old words, "Only in darkness does light shine brightest." They were going to mean more than words today. He cast around for a memory. The deepest, darkest one he could find. The one that caused him the most fear...
Before he had even completed his bow, Harry's wand was trembling with magical energy in his hand. When he opened his eyes, there was a fire there that had never existed before. All, Hat. I want it all. The whistle blew and time slowed.
With the preparations complete, all Harry had to do was flick his wand, verbalize the spell and let it fly, "Corporis Prohibere."
What erupted was raw fear, given form.
A thick white beam, flame-like in appearance, shot towards Bayard at full speed. The French captain, who had been in the process of casting his first spell, stopped immediately. What he felt coming his way was like nothing he had ever experienced. With no chance to avoid such a fast spell at short range, and not daring to parry the impossible, he cast his sturdiest shield.
Flags went up for Harry. Bayard went down, fully paralyzed, his proud shield crumbling into dust above him. The duel was over.
This time, the spectators stayed silent for a full ten seconds, until Lee could confirm what they weren't sure they had just witnessed. The announcement table itself sat in stunned silence though, with Lee just mouthing into the mic, trying to get his voice out- "kaghh... R... Record...," he whispered, before snapping out of it. "HOLY SHIT, 2.4 SECS. THAT'S A NEW RECORD."
And then, the tumult broke in earnest. The loudest cheer of the day rent the clear afternoon sky. Harry watched the large screen display the entire VIP podium on its feet, applauding. There was no mistaking the uncharacteristic enthusiasm with which Dumbledore was clapping, his expression one of utmost delight. This was the first time he had seen Harry, or for that matter anyone, perform the spell he had so painstakingly created over seventy years. Harry saw other familiar faces like Fudge and Dominique with pure amazement on their faces.
But his feet were already moving towards Bayard as fast as possible. Harry didn't even bother with niceties and cast the counter-spell for Dumbledore's jynx as soon as he was in range for it to work. That seemed to do it. Bayard regained the movement in his limbs, and as soon as he did, his body immediately folded itself into a fetal position. Harry sighed. As the medi-wizards came running, he warned them Bayard wouldn't talk for a while and that a few pepper-up potions might help him along faster.
"Might I ask what exactly you did to him?" the healer asked him, rather sternly.
Harry pursed his lips. Can't lie to a healer, right? "Fear. He's feeling a lot of it. Think of it like being a few inches away from a dementor. Although I don't think chocolate will help him here."
The healer wrinkled her nose in disgust, "And how long will it last?"
"I applied the counter-jynx immediately. It's just the after-effects. An hour at the most."
He got a surprised look, as expected. "Jynx? This is all from just a jynx."
Harry chuckled, nodded and walked away as Bayard was stretchered off the field, still curled up. Yeah, people often underestimate things they didn't fully understand. It was only as he returned back to his position at the center of the arena, Harry remembered who finally had nowhere to hide.
"THISSS is it, folks. The moment you've been waiting for. The score stands tied at 6-6. And this is the Deciderrr! It will be Harry Potter vs Juan St. Pierre. Finisher vs Finisher. Champion vs Champion. The winner takes it allll." The massees looked ready to barge into the arena and start hurling curses at each other.
As Juan walked out, still shaken from his captain's abrupt defeat, Harry couldn't help the evil grin spreading on his face. He had been a good, patient boy and it was finally time to cut the cake. Harry hoped everyone was comfortable. This was going to take a while.
Credit where credit was due. Juan's ability to mask his emotions came though and none of the panic seemed to show when they squared off at the center. To Harry's great delight, Juan initiated conversation himself, the crowd, going silent as the grave, to watch the second clash of champions unfold. "Looks like you're on your last legs, Harry Potter," his voice was suitably goading.
Harry was on no such thing, of course. The day had certainly taken it's toll, but there was still more than enough to be getting on with, especially since he had avoided a drawn-out duel with Bayard. Juan was just hoping Harry would give him something. Anything. A small hint as to how much Harry still had left in the tank. He was given nothing.
There were no bows. Referee Julio blew his whistle again roaring, "BOW!" Neither of the champions moved a muscle, each busy sizing the other up. Since the bow was really more of a custom, the referee had no choice but to begin the match. The bad blood on the field couldn't have been more obvious though.
Juan's cautiousness was apparent from his first move. He threw himself to the side, in case of incoming spells and cast a thick smoke spell without delay. Even before the smokescreen was complete, Juan had started running towards one of the two hills, hurling nothing but stunners and powerful hexes behind him. It was only when he had reached cover that Juan heard the guttural laughing echoing around the dome, the crowd deadly silent.
Harry hadn't even moved from where he was. The spells coming through the smoke were all wide by quite a distance. Juan had been so sure his opponent would charge right off the bat, that he hadn't considered any other possibility.
"Ah Juan, did you really think I'd just end the match this quickly? Do you think I went to all this trouble of cornering you just to win a bet?" The spectators were already enjoying the showboating, but they were too afraid to make any noise in case they missed the show.
Juan felt the rage and hatred in his stomach bubble. This thrice-damned boy was standing in between him and everything he wanted. But the ominous feeling he had been getting since entering the arena had him on edge. Harry's voice echoed again, "A statement is going to be made here, Juan. And you... are the punchline."
The top of the hill he was taking cover under exploded, showering Juan with dirt and debris. Another explosion above him made it clear- his cover wasn't going to last long.
Juan grit his teeth to keep himself from cursing. Most people specialized in one or two fields. Duellists often took up transfiguration or charms as a good support for duelling. He himself was considered the best charms caster in Beauxbatons. But this... kid, as hard as it was to call him that anymore, seemed to be good at it all. Surely though, everyone had a weakness and this kid must too.
It didn't matter, Juan reassured himself. His plan had been set from the start. And now, it was time to spring the trap. The fourth explosion of the hill buried him half in dirt. Three more explosions before there was no cover left. Just enough time too. Warning flags went up to indicate a second warning for Juan. His family spell was derived from one of the most powerful charms in existence and it took time, energy and channeling. Drawing on the happiest memory he could, Juan cast the St. Pierre family patronus spell.
Light cascaded from his wand and coalesced into a tangible form. Made purely in light and clad in what looked like dark brimstone armor, stood a twelve feet tall knight. It's eyes, the only visible part of the face through the helmet, was glowing red. The light blade it wielded was a greatsword, almost as long as the knight was tall. It charged.
A single, razor fast swing of the sword caught Harry who was standing fifteen feet away, opening a gash on his shoulder. The long arms gave the blade incredible reach and made a fearsome whistling sound with each swing, sending jitters through an already excited crowd.
Harry fell back rapidly, firing a cutting curse and an explosion curse on the knight. Both did nothing. Even the explosion didn't slow down it's charge. Moving in earnest now, Harry realized what Juan's game plan was. It was one that suited his personality perfectly.
Transfiguring the ground and grass near the charging Knight's feet into a net made of chains, Harry yanked to break the spell and close the net. It slowed down the knight somewhat as it tripped, hacked through the chains with it's blade and continued charging.
Harry quickly found that he only had to deal with the knight, confirming his theory that Juan had to focus to keep the charm up. It was easier said than done though. Impervious to seemingly all form of direct magic, the reach and potency with which the knight swung it's blade was scary.
On the defensive for the first time the entire day, Harry realized the decision had to be made instantly. He was going to need more speed and movement, and he had the perfect skill. It wasn't about holding back anymore. Now, it was about showing a trump card that could raise questions. And the decision was as quick as the ones he had made the rest of the day. Time to cast the first and only spell he had invented. Well, modified. Well...
A simple switching charm switched the position of one inanimate object with another, the concept being you focused solely on the two objects and their positions. Since Harry had come up with the idea before he learnt the switching charm, the spell had been tinkered just enough to suit his needs. After more than a few "incidents" under Dumbledore's overview, he had created a spell all his own. That had been the point where the Headmaster had said it was time for Harry to continue his magical education on his own.
The opportunity presented itself when the knight finished a huge swing, grazing Harry's arm with the greatsword and drawing blood again. Harry sent a small conjured pebble flying behind the knight. Just as the knight brought the blade down for it's second swing, Harry cast his spell. A modified switching charm that switched one inanimate object for the caster. He called it 'blink'.
And in a blink, he had switched positions with the pebble. Short range teleportation that ignored wards was sure to raise eyebrows, but this was no time to be bothered about unwanted attention. The knight was still looking at where he had been standing, confused. It would only take a few moments for it to turn around and charge again. But, Harry had already made a beeline for Juan.
Even with the knight chasing him, Harry had plenty of time to find Juan crouched behind the hill, his wand glowing white, panting from the effort of keeping up his unique patronus. The French champion just stared in disbelief as Harry appeared before him. His choices were to break the spell or get hit by Harry's, and he chose the latter.
The knight faded away into nonexistence as Juan broke the spell and aimed his wand at Harry, who had just sent a small pebble in his direction. Dodging it with ease, Juan triumphantly cast his non-verbal stunner and watched it sail towards the person he had quickly come to hate with a vengeance.
In one moment, his triumph turned to shock as his opponent just vanished into thin air, the stunner sailing harmlessly onwards. Shock turned to unbearable pain in seconds as his lower body gave out on him.
Harry was more than a little glad that his first 'blink' hadn't raised a warning flag. That opened up all kinds of doors in duelling for him now. And it also meant, he had one forbidden spell left he could use in this match.
The second blink had been choreographed to perfection as he found himself standing right behind Juan, who was still staring at where Harry had been. So close to Juan, Harry almost hit him with a full powered bludgeoner. The time had finally come. He just needed to resist the urge to maim or fatally injure Juan so the duel wasn't stopped. Pointing his wand directly at Juan's hip, Harry fired a vengeful bone-breaker, and heard the satisfying sound of Juan's pained scream and bones cracking. Warning flags went up for Harry's final foul.
With Juan on the ground still moaning in pain, all Harry had to do was disarm or stun him. But instead, he actually put some distance between himself and Juan. This was a show, and he held the baton now. Harry let his wand arm drop loosely to his side.
"So, Juan... Here we are."
The spectators, who had been going berserk watching the patronus knight's incredible performance and Harry blink around the battlefield, fell silent again. As much as it looked like the fight was over, both duellists still held their wands.
Juan looked up from the ground, his face contorted with pain, spitting angrily, "Damn you! What are you?!"
Even though he was smiling, Harry was doing his best not to curse Juan to oblivion. Daphne's humiliation still rankled. "I'm a lot of things to a lot of people, Juan St. Pierre. And today, I'm your...reckoning."
Juan had tried to bring his hand, still holding the wand, towards Harry, only to have the wand flicked out of his hand with a disarmer. All Harry had to do now was summon the wand or stun Juan and Hogwarts would've won.
Harry continued to smile, the jumbotron highlighting his rugged features. "Look at me, Juan."
He did, venom clear in his eyes. "Finish it, then. Just know that I'll have her, one way or another."
Harry pointed his wand right at Juan's face, "Quit, or be crushed."
Juan let out a hysterical laugh, "Never, you fils de pute."
Harry's smile widened, "I was kind of hoping you'd say that."
Wordlessly, he transfigured Juan's clothes into a bikini and a mini skirt with frills. Harry also added in a botched human transfiguration spell to have him sprout a pig-like nose and tail. "Quit, or be crushed."
Even the announcers had gone quiet to let the drama play out and were silently giggling as Juan tried to make his way towards his wand, only to be hit by a jelly-leg jinx. That left him with nothing to do but crawl on his knees with a broken hip.
Harry wasn't done by a long shot, of course. He would've ideally liked to have clobbered Juan to pulp with his bludgeoners. But...he knew there was only so much he could get away with before the match was forcibly stopped. This was bordering on torture, after all.
Juan had just barely made it to his wand, when Harry banished it away from him. It rolled to a stop on the long grass fifteen feet away. He followed it up by transfiguring a capuchin monkey from the dirt around. A really horny, capuchin monkey.
The crowd finally roared in laughter as they watched the little ape climb onto Juan's backside using the pig tail and start to hump. Without his wand, and with a hip that hurt whenever he moved, Juan was trying desperately to get rid of the cretin by planting his butt firmly on the ground.
"Quit, or I'll have him stick it in your mouth. Unless of course, you're enjoying yourself."
More laughter in the stands, although Harry noticed the boos were growing in number the longer this went on. Juan looked ready to fire off an unforgivable if he could reach his wand. Harry decided this had been enough. He still needed to avenge Daphne and that wouldn't happen if the match was stopped by the referee.
"Juan, I do believe you think I'm joking when I say I will crush you. Here... " Harry levitated Juan's wand and dropped it before him. Desperate to get rid of the insistent monkey and hurt Harry, Juan dived forward, picked his wand and pointed it at Harry, just before being blown backwards by a bludgeoner.
Juan couldn't even scream as the power of the spell crushed his thigh muscles and dragged him in the dirt. It was only as he came to a stop that Juan could let loose a moan of pain, both hands clutching his thigh that felt like it was imploding. He wasn't sure where his wand was anymore.
"That was my bludgeoner at half its full power. Would you like another or quit while your limbs are still intact?"
Juan, even with fear and pain apparent on his face, spat out blood, saying, "Fuck you."
Harry sighed. It looked like this really was going to end with the referee stopping the match and declaring him winner. Time to turn down the pain chord and turn up the humiliation. With a silent wave, his transfigured capuchin monkey came bounding up, dodged Juan's feeble attempts to block, climbed his body and forced its entire groin area down his mouth. There were definitely a lot of "ewwwws" from the crowd this time.
Juan caught hold of the monkey by its back and threw it much farther than should have been possible, rage exploding on his face. Harry just pointed his wand at the monkey, "This is a full power bludgeoner, Juan"
The ensuing spell wiped out the monkey on impact and crashed into the massive ward wall with enough force to put some fear even into the crowd now. There were a lot of apprehensive looks being thrown around. Referee Julio was looking towards the tournament officials, silently asking for permission to end the match.
Without a wasted moment, Harry turned his wand on Juan. The ominous feeling he had been giving off, magnified, and when he spoke, the chill in his voice had the whole colosseum shivering, "I won't repeat myself again. Quit, or be crushed." There was no mistaking it for a threat. It was a promise.
The voice that responded couldn't have sounded more in pain, or more defeated, "I... Quit."
A/N: I'm genuinely looking forward to hearing what you guys thought.