Chapter 18
Harry woke up feeling fully rested. Today was finally the day. He took a shower and dressed in some ordinary muggle clothes before making his way down for breakfast. The wizarding part of the Four Seasons Hotel had its own separate breakfast buffet.
Flitwick was already sitting at a table reading a French newspaper.
"Good morning Harry, I hope you are feeling well today?"
"I do, Professor. I am ready."
"That's excellent to hear, but please, call me Filius when we are not at school."
Harry thanked his dueling mentor and helped himself to some breakfast. He had at least four duels ahead of him and would need all the energy he could get.
The breakfast reminded him of his time with Nick and Penny. Unfortunately, the couple would not be able to watch him duel. They were currently at an international congregation of wizards and witches in Australia.
Nevertheless, he would make them proud.
"Your first duel is due to take place at 11:00. We should leave in about 30 minutes to get you properly registered and checked up."
Harry nodded his agreement and finished his breakfast in silence. Afterward, he went back to his room and packed everything he needed in his backpack. He went back down to the lobby to meet with Flitwick, who would apparate them to the stadium.
They arrived at the apparition point and Harry took a look around. There were people everywhere, happily chatting about the upcoming duels. It was the very same stadium as last time. This year, however, he spotted a lot of younger faces and families in the crowd.
Makes sense, Harry thought, after all the Under-14 and Under-16 championships started today. He watched as people from all over Europe exchanged greetings with friends and families alike. He could hear different languages everywhere, a couple of boys his age spoke German, while a few girls were chatting in quick French. It was truly an international event.
Flitwick led Harry over to the contestants' entrance. They were stopped by a man at the entrance.
"Names and country, please." The man asked in French.
"Filius Flitwick and Harry Potter from magic Britain. Mr. Potter is a contestant for the Under-14 Championship." Flitwick replied in French.
"Very well, Monsieur Potter. Please step inside and hand your wand to the officials for registration." The man said in a thick French accent.
Harry nodded, thanked the man, and stepped through the contestants' entrance. He found himself in a large hall. Along the walls were reserved spots for each participant in the dueling championship. Most of the kids seem to be his age.
It was a roughly equal mix between boys and girls.
They stepped to the front desk, where some officials were skimming through parchments. Harry reluctantly handed over his wand. Let's see if they could spot the most recent modifications to it.
"Eleven inches, made of elder and redwood. The core is Thestral hair. Bought two years ago from Ollivanders in Britain?" The official asked Harry with a raised eyebrow at the materials.
Harry nodded
"Good, it seems to be in good condition. We declare is usable for the duration of the tournament. Please take this needle and provide a single drop of your blood for us. We will check it for any illegal potions and supplements."
Harry pinched his thumb and let a single drop of his blood fall into the small vial. The officials cast a bunch of diagnostic charms on it. Frowning after the last one.
"You have some very interesting magical ingredients in your blood, however, nothing deemed illegal in this tournament. You are hereby declared fit to compete. Your first duel will be in 30 minutes at 11:00 am on Platform Two. Your opponent is Juliette Perrin, from Beauxbaton Academy, France."
Harry thanked the official and made his way over to the section of the wall that read, 'Potter, Britain'. Filius cast a strong notice me not charm and turned to Harry.
"Perrin is a first-time participant, just like you. You have very good chances. The French usually favor a flexible style, alternating between attacking and defending. Be prepared for everything."
"It would not have mattered, even if she was the champion. I will not lose a single match today."
Harry replied calmly, determination set on his face. He sat in a meditative position and did some last-minute exercises to clear his mind and tap deep into his magic core.
Slowly the adrenaline for the upcoming fight started kicking in. This is where Harry felt comfortable. This was exactly what he had wanted.
At ten to eleven, Harry changed into his dueling uniform and tied his Nikes even tighter. At five minutes to eleven Flitwick and Harry made their way to platform two. The last duel had just finished and the eyes of the crowd were on him as he stepped in.
His deep black outfit turned lots of heads towards him. Whereas most of his competitors wore colors representing their nation or school, Harry stood out wearing his black form-fitting robes with the Potter Crest on his back and chest.
He cast a glance at his opponent. The girl, Perrin, was shorter than him, but a year further at Beauxbaton. She seemed confident, giving Harry a sneer as they met next to the referee. The referee explained the rules to both competitors and sternly told them to abide by his commands at all times. Finally, they were told to climb the platform, just as the announcer started.
"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the first duel in the Under-14 category. Today we will hold the group stages, meaning each of the 50 competitors will have four duels, of which they must win two, in order to progress and fight tomorrow.
Our first duel is between Ms. Juliette Perrin of Beauxbaton Academy, France, and Harry Potter of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Britain. Please welcome our competitors!"
A cheer went around the stadium and people everywhere started pointing at Harry. He blocked out everything around him and focused his mind on the duel and his opponent in front of him.
No more playing around. He took his familiar stance from Dolohov and whispers went around the crowd as people seemed to notice what form he took.
Perrin also took position and Harry waited for the beginning of the duel. Deep breaths increased his blood flow and Harry felt the magic and anticipation in every single one of his cells.
"Competitors, get ready!"
"Begin!"
Harry instantly opened with a strong Reducto. Perrin managed to conjure a shield but the force of the spell still pushed her back a couple of feet. Harry gave her no time to rest and followed his attack with a stunner and a disarming charm.
The girl managed to block the first, dodge the second retaliated with her own spells. Harry easily sidestepped them. Swirling around the dueling platform seemingly dancing between his opponent's to spellfire.
The crowd applauded his athleticism and Harry stepped closer to his opponent, increasing the tempo of the duel. He collected his magic and with a groan, he shot an overpowered Reducto at his opponent.
Her shield did not stand and broke as the spell struck. Harry fired two more Reductos that both connected with his opponent's arm and shoulder.
The girl screamed in pain as the second spell knocked her backward, twisting her arm. She was injured already and Harry would finish the duel soon. Desperately, she sends a cutting course towards Harry. It was aimed at his torso and not his chest or head, therefore the referee did not interfere.
Harry grew furious. If this was how it's going to go, then so be it. He responded with his own cutting curse, hitting his mark and cutting deep into the girl's legs. He silenced her scream with a Silencing Charm and followed up with a bone breaker, hitting her wand hand.
With multiple fingers broken and in pain for several injuries, the girl dropped her wand and Harry easily summoned it after stunning her.
The crowd remained silent. Soon, a murmur went around the stadium. Harry's display of magic was not something expected at a children's tournament, let alone from a British competitor. Slowly a couple of people started clapping and stood up to cheer, but the majority remained seated.
"The winner, after brutal domination within one minute and five seconds, is Mr. Potter from Britain."
The announcement went through the stadium. Harry descended from the platform and made his way over to Flitwick.
"Quick and efficient, Harry, just as we discussed. This might only be a teen's tournament, but dueling is primarily a way for you to gain practical combat experience.
None of those fancy rules and regulations matter when you face a Death Eater or Dark Lord in the future. Abide by their rules to a degree where they cant disqualify you, but never go easy on your opponents. I am proud of you."
Harry nodded at his mentor and together they sat on the stands reserved for the participants. He had won his first duel. The first out of four. Time to watch his opponents and analyze what he was up against.
The next match was an Under-16 duel. None of the competitors showed any advanced skills that Harry could not deal with. If this was all the older years had to offer, Harry would wipe the floor with any of them.
Fifteen minutes later another match in his age group took place. Paul Leitner, a German, attending Dumstrang faced off against Enrico Romez, a Spaniard.
Harry reluctantly agreed that Leitner was very good. Far better than any student his age, he had faced so far. He noticed that his technique was almost perfect, but he lacked the raw magic power that Harry possessed in abundance. Still, Leitner would make a formidable opponent.
Leitner was declared the winner and next-up, matches in both age groups were held simultaneously. Harry turned his head to the two Under-14 competitors, Sven Jorg and Dimitri Vanko, that were about to face off on Platform One when something caught his eyes.
A girl walked up to the second platform where the Under-16 tournament would be held. But 'walking' was the wrong term for how she moved. She strode by the officials and other competitors, seemingly floating with grace and her head held high with pride.
The girl was unlike anything Harry had ever seen before. She looked considerably older than the other girls in her age group. Closer to 16-17 than the 15-year-old girls around her. She was tall for her age, too. Probably standing around 5 feet and eight or nine inches in height.
Her most memorable feature, however, was her long silvery blonde hair that she had put in a high ponytail. Like a wave of blonde waterfall, it fell, almost reaching her lower back.
She attracted a lot of stares from around her. Every male in her close proximity stared at her with wide empty eyes and pretty much started drooling like a baby.
She seemed very annoyed by it. Harry could understand her. Even the referee couldn't keep his eyes off of her and had to be replaced by his female colleague, who shot a mean glare at the silver-haired girl as if this was her fault.
The girl, however, ignored the nasty stares from the females around her and the drooling of the boys and men as she took the stairs up to the platform.
People all around the stadium were still staring at her. Harry was getting annoyed. He understood that she was beautiful, in fact, probably the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. But why were the males around her acting like idiots? Flitwick seemed to sense his question.
"She is a Veela, Harry. They are not fully human. Some say they are the descendants of the Greek Sirens. They have a very special magic, called `The Allure', which makes them incredibly attractive and irresistible to most males and boys around them. Not that that a girl, like her, would actually need it of course." Flitwick chuckled.
"Can she not control it? It must be incredibly awkward to be stared at like that all the time. Merlin, this is even worse than whenever I enter the Great Hall!"
Flitwick laughed and continued his explanation.
"Veela usually learn to control their abilities as they grow older. She is competing in the Under-16 category, but you probably noticed that she looks a lot older. I assume she recently went through her Veela maturity.
It is a stage in their life, usually between 16-18, when they undergo what normal girls call puberty. They become a woman and usually find it very difficult to control their powers."
Harry was fascinated by Flitwick's explanation:
"How useful are their abilities in combat?"
Flitwick chuckled:
"The average Veela is not more or less powerful than your average witch. However, a full Veela can transform into a bird-like creature when she is enraged. I have never come across one myself, luckily. She will be a powerful competitor, Harry.
The fact that she went through her maturity early enough to compete in this championship, is proof enough of that. The earlier a Veela matures, the more powerful she usually is."
Harry looked around him. The majority of men and boys were still staring at the girl with glassy eyes, while their wives or the females around them shot them angry looks and tried to shake them out of their trance.
"How could any male dueler even compete against her? They will just stare at her and won't be able to defend themselves."
Indeed, her male competitor tried to shake himself out of his trance but had completely lost his focus. He desperately tried to defend himself against the onslaught of spells from the Veela's wand but to no avail.
Harry noticed that her technique was excellent. She was very precise and powerful. Her stance was strong and she had quick reflexes. It only took her half a minute to turn her opponent into a sobbing mess on the floor. She then strode purposefully from the platform.
"Well, that was not very spectacular...How come the two of us are not affected by it?" Harry asked his mentor.
Flitwick grinned:
"I am a half-goblin, Harry. Her magic does not work on me like it would on humans. Your case, however, is a lot more interesting. It is almost unheard of for someone so young, let alone a teenage boy that is undergoing puberty to not submit to her Allure.
If I had to guess, I'd say that it might be due to your formidable Occlumency shields. You are not completely immune to it. I noticed you were keeping your eyes fixed on her just like any other male.
However, in your case, it was more the curiosity, rather than sexual desire that kept you so fascinated, am I right?"
A slight blush rose on Harry's cheek. Flitwick was partially right. He was very interested in the girl, her Allure and powers. However, he also could not deny that she was incredibly beautiful.
Nevertheless, Harry noticed that she seemed somewhat arrogant. Striding around as if none of the people around her were worth her time. Maybe it was just a coping mechanism...
The girl moved from the platform towards where Flitwick and Harry were seated. She seemed proud of her recent win but still annoyed at the drooling men around her. One of the boys, a tall blond, approached her and seemed to ask her a question.
The girl responded angrily to whatever the boy had said to her and tried to move away. The blond boy must not have liked her reaction, as he gripped her arm and held her firmly in place.
Within a second, her wand was in her hand and she fired a Stinging Hex to the man's groin, who groaned in pain as he fell to his knees.
The people around her were shocked by her violent respondence, but Harry started chuckling. The Veela seemed to notice his chuckles and shot him a glare, but her expression changed as her eyes met his.
Harry stared into the most beautiful dark blue eyes he had ever seen. They were captivating and it took all his willpower to pull himself out of his trance. He had seen those eyes before. They belonged to the woman that stood side by side with his reflection in the Mirror of Erised.
He quickly pushed the memory into the back of his mind and focused his attention back on the girl in front of him, who was now regarding him with a curious look, as if she was evaluating him.
She continued her walk, ignoring the stares all around her, and gave him one last look over her shoulder as she left the main stadium.
Harry gave her a small smile and a brief nod, seemingly approving the way she had dealt with the blonde boy. He watched as the beautiful Veela frowned and quickened her pace until she was around the corner.
"That was an interesting confrontation, Harry. At first, I thought I had lost you to her Allure. From such a short distance and especially if she is looking at you, it can be a lot more powerful. But that was not it, was it? You almost seemed to recognize her..."
Harry ignored Flitwick's open question, seemingly turning his attention to the next duel. His mind, however, was still occupied with the beautiful girl. He had not even gotten to know her name. The announcement had stopped when she entered the arena.
How could it be possible... Was she really the woman from the Mirror? How could the Mirror have shown her reflection and features? So far, Harry had always thought that the blonde woman at his side's reflection was just a dummy for a potential future wife.
A pretty face, to resemble the beautiful family he might one day have...
But could it have been more? Destiny and fate were already using him as a chess piece on the board that was his life. Could the Mirror have shown him something like his Soulmate, was it his destiny to fall in love with this girl? Or was it simply due to chance that she looked exactly like the reflection in the Mirror of Erised?
Harry did not know the answers. He only knew one thing: He wanted to know more about the girl and his best shot at getting closer to her was winning the championship and hopefully receiving the opportunity to challenge her.
The rest of the day passed by. Harry watched his other competitors duel each other and the occasional match in the Under-16 category. He saw the Veela girl two more times and found out that her name was Fleur, Fleur Delacour.
She might look like a beautiful flower, but Harry had seen what she was capable of with a wand in her hand. He was not sure if he himself could beat her at the moment.
He noticed that he was somehow drawn to her and had to force himself to memorize her technique, spell repertoire, and style of fighting, instead of her silvery-blond hair, long legs, and athletic figure.
His own duels barely challenged him. He managed to beat his second opponent, a boy from Dumstrang, after roughly a minute of trading spells. The same went for the third opponent, a girl from Italy, who was admittedly very good at dodging.
However, a couple of conjured robes caught her mid-air, after she attempted some crazy acrobatics over his spell work and had her pummeling to the ground with a nasty crunch. Hary summoned her wand and the duel ended.
His last duel of the day was definitely the hardest. He faced off against Markus Eiche from Switzerland. The boy must have been trained by a Dueling Master similar to how he had been trained by Flitwick.
He was the first opponent that was somewhat capable of linking his spells and chaining them together, a feat that got him cheers from all around the stadium. Harry certainly was not the crowd favorite, thanks to his brutal methods of subduing his opponents.
The grin on Markus's face however quickly vanished as Harry batted his spells aside, almost as if he was annoying to have to raise his wand.
Murmuring went through the crowd at the impressive display of magic. This technique had not even been seen during any of the Under-16 duels so far.
Harry felt confident in his abilities. He had practiced batting away incoming spells with Flitwick for a couple of months now. Finally demonstrating his abilities in front of an audience boosted his confidence.
He directed a powerful Aquamenti at his opponent, who dodged the stream of water but was caught by surprise as the stream changed directions behind him and splashed into his back pushing him over.
He and the rest of the crowd stared in shock at Harry.
Harry had just manipulated the trajectory of a spell after it had left his wand. Even Flitwick stared disbelievingly at Harry. And Harry noticed something else:
Fleur Delacour was watching him from the competitors' stance, ignoring the usual drooling from the boys around, and looked at him with a single delicate eyebrow raised. Harry smirked at her just as something hit upper leg, cutting deep into his flesh.
He hissed in pain and turned his attention back to Markus Eiche, who had managed to get back up from the ground. A moment of distraction had cost him an injury. Had this been a real fight, he might just be dead already.
It was time to finish this. Markus fired a couple more spells at Harry, which the latter simply batted aside again. Then, Harry aimed his wand at Markus and started whispering, too quietly for anyone to hear. His eyes started glowing slightly as the spell took effect.
The crowd looked in shock as the surrounding droplets and patches of water around Markus rose up into the air and started transforming into tiny needles of ice.
One by one the needles shot towards Markus and impaled his skin, tearing through the fabric of his uniform. Markus screamed in pain as the needles started penetrating his skin deeper and deeper.
Patches of blood started forming all over his uniform and the parts of his skin that were not covered by it.
"Mr. Potter, immediately release your spell or be declared disqualified!"
The shouting of the referee brought Harry back into reality and he stopped the spell. It was unnecessary to even summon his opponent's wand.
The boy was sobbing on the floor, unable to move. Only a team of very good healers could make sure that he was in a condition to compete tomorrow morning at this point.
Harry walked out of the arena, followed by Flitwick, who had to run to keep up with his student, just as angry voices started calling for his immediate disqualification.
"Harry, that was very impressive magic. What kind of spell was that?" Flitwick frowned.
"Parseltongue spell." Harry grunted, walking to the apparition point without any further words for his mentor.
The next day, Harry woke up in a grumpy mood. Flitwick had been called back to the officials late last night while Harry enjoyed his hot bath in the hotel room. The charms professor briefed Harry on what had happened last night:
"Some of the judges, especially the French and Swiss, wanted to disqualify you for the spell you used last night. However, technically, they have no legal ground for that.
Your spell, unless you had held it for another minute or longer, was not lethal, only causing a lot of pain and leaving your opponents unable to fight, due to the hundreds of small wounds all over his entire body.
None of the healers had seen that kind of spell and injuries before. I of course did not tell anyone about the true nature of the spell. However, I would be careful with the displays of magic you use in any further duels.
The judges will be extremely picky when it comes to you. Don't give them any reason to make you even more trouble. Be quick and efficient, but refrain from using anything unnecessary just to show off your power.
Also, stay focused during your duels. I noticed what caught your attention and left you with your injury and this aftermath in the first place. I thought you could resist her sufficiently, what happened?"
"I don't know, Filius. Something about her just throws me off!" Harry sighed.
He had spent the majority of the last evening thinking about the french Veela. He just couldn't wrap his head around her and the reflection from the Mirror:
"But I promise to concentrate on the duels instead of the beautiful french nature, especially its flowers." Harry grinned.
Flitwick laughed:
"You do that Harry. Well. After yesterday, 32 competitors out of the 50 progressed to the next stage. Today, you will therefore have only two duels. As you know, it is direct elimination.
After the first round, only 16 Competitors will be left and after the second, only eight. The top eight will face each other in the quarter-finals tomorrow.
The final duel between the best two will be held tomorrow night at 6:00 pm. Right before the Under-16 Final, which will be the main event of the evening." Flitwick added with a knowing grin.
Harry just chuckled and finished his breakfast. Only two duels today, that should be very possible.
"How is the cut on your leg healing?" Flitwick interrupted his thoughts.
"Healing just fine. I treated it with some simple healing spells and put Dittany on the closed wound. You can hardly see the scar anymore."
Flitwick just nodded, pleased with the answer. Harry grabbed his backpack and together they apparated to the arena. His first match started soon.
The arena was a lot more crowded than last time. It seemed people were more interested in the elimination rounds than the group stage. Harry's first match was against Denis Fortier, another Frenchman.
Fortier seemed to be a fan favorite, as he stepped on the platform, greeted by cheers from all over the stadium. Harry made his way up as well. A couple of people in the crowd booed at him. Apparently, they did not approve of him continuing in the competition.
The duel started soon and Fortier opened with a couple of Banishing Charms, followed up by a Stunner. Harry decided to dodge his opponent's first attack and wait for a perfect opportunity. He decreased the distance between himself and his opponent, still not bothering to put up a shield.
His dodging skills were truly spectacular. It was almost like he could sense the kind of spell and trajectory even before it was cast and adopt his stance.
He also moved in a way to just barely dodge the incoming spells, never wasting energy on fancy acrobatics, like he had seen other competitors do. His technique was straightforward, efficient, almost unnatural.
Now, he was only about 15 feet from his opponent, who had just released a somewhat impressive spell chain. Fortier was becoming more and more aggressive...
The last cutting curse could have connected to Harry's upper chest, had he not dodged it. Some people in the crowd growled in anger at the referee's indifference, Harry did not care.
With incredible speed, he sent a stunner towards Fortier, who was so enraged by his own inability to connect his spells that he was not prepared at all. The spell connected and Fortier fell over unconscious.
Harry walked over to his opponent and conjured a blanket for him, tugging him in. Sure it was disrespectful, but who cared, his opponent had used lethal spells on him.
Reluctantly, the referee declared Harry the winner and he left the platform to the cheers from some of the British fans and boos from the Frenchmen. He checked the stance for a certain blonde girl but shrugged and continued his way to Flitwick when he couldn't find her.
"Very well done, Harry!" The Charms Master congratulated him. "A little sassy with the blanket, but I am sure Minerva would give you a couple of points for a nice conjuration."
Harry just grinned and sat down next to his mentor. It was time to watch some of his opponents and wait for his next duel in the afternoon.
Three hours had passed in the arena. Harry had watched every single duel, learning as much about his opponents as possible.
Fleur Delacour had won both her duels flawlessly but did not stick around to watch any of her competitors. Again, Harry thought that the French witch was a bit stuck up and cocky when it came to her abilities.
Harry himself only kept a close eye on one of his competitors. Paul Leitner had successfully beaten all his competitors during the group stage, just like Harry.
He was a competent duellist, probably one of the best in his age group. Harry would give him a run for his money. But he would most likely not meet him until the finals.
His next match was approaching and Harry faced Stefanos Marinaki from the Greek Island Crete. His opponent was skilled, but no match for him.
Harry subdued Marinaki, hitting his shields repeatedly with Shield Breakers and finally connecting with a disarming charm. He waited to be declared the winner and tossed the wand back to his opponent.
Flitwick congratulated him and the two left the arena to grab some dinner in a French restaurant next to the Louvre. Harry was happy with himself.
Today had been a success and he had entered the top eight competitors. He would rest for the night and gather his strength for the final duels tomorrow and hopefully another encounter with his French Flower.
Chapter 19
Harry jumped out of bed the next day and excitedly made his way down to the restaurant for breakfast. Flitwick was reading the newspaper and had a perplexed look on his face.
"Something happened?" Harry asked
Flitwick looked up at him and frowned: "Oh no, nothing for you to worry about, Harry. A colleague of mine published a Charms Paper and pretty much slandered some of the bigger names in the field. The backlash will be hilarious."
Harry shrugged and helped himself to some fruits.
Just like the last two days, the pair apparated to the arena and Harry got ready for his first quarter-final against Ellen Svensson, from Sweden. The tall blonde girl seemed not too comfortable going against Harry, he could see the fear in her blue eyes. This would be a quick duel.
Indeed, the duel did not last long. Svensson was way too passive and allowed him to completely dominate the entire match, not that it was a long match anyway. Harry spared the girl any embarrassment and walked over to her to give her back her wand after summoning it and being declared the winner. The first one down, two more to go… Hopefully even three.
Fleur Delacour also won her quarter-finals. Beating a Russian boy that could barely keep his eyes off her. He seemed almost happy to be beaten close to a bloody pulp by the french beauty.
Paul Leitner had also won his first match of the day, shooting Harry a nasty smirk as he watched his opponent sob from a bone-breaking curse to the hip. Harry was not impressed. If this was all Leitner had to offer, he would embarrass himself in front of the entire arena.
After some lunch Harry won his semi-finals against Nataliya Kozlova, a Russian girl, who knew plenty of darker, almost lethal courses but was rubbish at dodging the stone frisbees Harry shot at her, making her jump from one side of the arena to the other. One of the frisbees connected with her head after Kozlova failed to duck under it.
Her mentor argued for Harry to be disqualified as he had hit his opponent on the head with a spell. However, even the extremely biased judge had to agree, that Kozlova was only hit at that spot since she tried to duck under the conjuration and Harry was declared the winner, giving the girl's mentor a wink as he stepped down the platform.
Leitner had won his semi-final so Harry would be confronting him in the final at 4:00 pm. The French Flower had also won her two matches and disappeared from sight. Would she even bother watching the Under-14 Final to get an idea of who might challenge her, should she win?
At ten to four, Harry breezed through a couple of mental exercises. It was time to show the arena and dueling world that even the second-best competitor was no match against him.
Harry and his opponent faced each other on the platform and shook hands. They were about the same height... Even though Leitner was significantly older than Harry. Leitner would turn 14 in two weeks, barely allowing him to compete in the Under-14 championship in the first place. The two competitors walked to their respective sides of the platform and waited for the announcement.
"Ladies and Gentlemen! It is my pleasure to announce the finalists of the 1993 Under-14 Dueling Championship!"
The crowd cheered louder than ever before. Harry could hear people shouting:
"Leitner! Leitner! Leitner!"
Apparently, Leitner had brought his whole fan club over from Germany.
"Both opponents have not lost a single match over the last three days! Please welcome Paul Leitner from Germany and Harry Potter from Britain!"
Again the crowd cheered and the announcer quickly went over the rules one last time. Harry focused and took his stance. Leitner reminded him too much of Malfoy with that ugly sneer. He would make sure to wash it off of his face properly.
The duel barely began and Leitner was already attacking with a bone breaker to Harry's torso. Harry sidestepped, not wanting to rely on batting a potentially lethal spell away. Leitner followed up with some questionable curses, which Harry was sure to have read about in the Restricted Section over the last two years.
The pair traded spells back and forth, none were able to land any hits yet. Leitner grew frustrated and shot a powerful Incendio towards Harry. Harry whispered a parseltongue spell granting brief immunity to the heat and flames and faced the fire head-on.
People in the crowd screamed as Harry was engulfed in the bright red flames, however with a long fluent motion of his wand he parted the fire and transfigured the wild flames into fiery snakes that slithered towards Leitner. Leitner panicked as none of his spells dealt any visible damage to the snakes.
Harry followed it up by sending two bone breakers at his opponent's feet. Leitner managed to dodge the spells. But one of the fiery serpents reached his leg before Leitner could extinguish them with his most powerful Aguamenti.
Leitner hissed in pain as the leg of his uniform caught fire. He put out the fire and turned his attention back to Harry, no longer smirking. Harry used his momentary advantage and continued his attack. This was taking too long for his liking, time to speed things up a bit.
"Serpensortia!"
Harry hissed, the parseltongue adding further potency to the snake he conjured. The crowd went silent at his blunt use of Parselmagic while the thick Black Mamba made his way over to his opponent.
Leitner's Cutting Curses barely penetrated the snake's skin, which hissed in anger every time it got struck. Meanwhile, Harry released a volley of spells on his opponent who had no chance to dodge them any further, as the snake demanded his attention.
A bone breaker connected with his arm and he dropped his wand. Another Piercing Hex hit him in the lower leg, almost piercing right through. Leitner fell to the ground on his knees. He could not wield his wand anymore.
The duel was pretty much over. Harry vanished his snake before it could strike his fangs into his opponent and instead hit him with a Slug-Vomiting-Charm he had learned from the Weasley twins.
Leitner bent over and started vomiting slugs all over the platform while Harry summoned his wand. The duel was over. He was officially the European Under-14 Champion.
The crowd politely clapped for Harry, as he was declared the winner. Most guests did not move a finger, disappointed in the way Harry had embarrassed almost all of his opponents after brutally submitting them.
Harry made his way over to Flitwick who gave him an approving nod. Together they waited until the Under-16 Final would begin in a couple of hours.
Occasionally people stepped over and congratulated Harry on his victory. Most however, shot him nasty glares. Harry had not made many friends during this tournament. He had also pissed off some powerful European magical families by embarrassing their scions in front of an international crowd.
Still, Harry did not care. He did not come here to network and make friends. He came here to get his name out in the wizarding world. Whether they loved him, hated him, or felt indifferent about him, didn't matter to Harry.
All they should know is that he was powerful and not to be messed with. But it might take a couple more years for that message to sink in, judging by the looks some of the families were shooting at him. Harry dared them to be stupid enough to try anything. He was still running high on adrenaline and was hoping to release some steam.
Finally, the last match of the day started. Fleur Delacour and a dark-skinned boy from Turkey, called Ediz Dogan, were walking to the only remaining dueling platform in the middle, as the other platforms had been removed.
The stadium was almost full with visitors now. Harry secretly envied the two competitors for having such a larger audience than him. However, maybe that will change soon... When he duels the Veela tomorrow.
The French witch once again attracted the stares of pretty much every male in the audience to herself. Harry noticed that Ediz Dogan desperately avoided looking into her eyes. Harry chuckled at that. Why were none of the duelers practicing the mind arts, to at least remain somewhat in control around her?
After the formalities were over and the announcer gave the starting signal, the two Under-16 finalists started trading spells. It seemed as if the Veela had finally found herself an opponent that could at least keep up with her speed and reflexes.
Harry noticed that Delacour seemed to have an affinity for fire, conjuring it with ease and having excellent control when manipulating it. Was the skill somehow related to her being a Veela? Harry would try to look it up in the small magical library of the Four Seasons tonight. He needed all the information he could get when fighting her tomorrow.
The duel continued with an excellent showcase of skill from both sides. However, Delacour was slowly starting to dominate her opponent. She seemed to have the better physical condition, an argument, her athletic body definitely supports, Harry noticed with a grin.
The Veela connected a couple of low-powered piercing hexes. It was obvious that after almost five minutes of continuous spell trading, she was exhausted as well. Dogan was too slow to dodge and took one of them to his shoulder.
It didn't seem to have completely penetrated his body, but it was enough to bring him to his knees as the pain overwhelmed him and Delacour summoned his wand.
She was declared the winner and the Stadium erupted in cheers. The male population especially seemed to be deeply impressed by the performance of the beautiful girl. Harry noticed that Fleur sent a small honest smile to a family of three that were seated in the first row.
The woman was obviously her Mother, Fleur looked almost like a copy of her, however, she seemed slightly taller already as both women hugged after Delacour stepped down from the Platform.
The small girl was undoubtedly her sister. She had run over as soon as her older sister had walked towards them and thrown herself around her torso. Her father was a tall, lean man. He looked very aristocratic and Harry could imagine he was a politician or government official. The Delacours were undoubtedly rich, judging by their expensive robes and the fine jewelry the females wore.
Harry prepared for his moment. He had decided to challenge Fleur publicly as soon as she would be declared the winner.
He stood up from his seat, which the people around him immediately noticed, and stopped their chattering. He cast a Soronus on himself to amplify his voice and pointed his wand high into the air.
Flitwick beside him covered his ears with a grin, he knew what would follow.
A bang as loud as a medieval cannon erupted from Harry's wand and the entire stadium went silent to look at whoever had dared to interrupt the champion's special moment.
Harry waited until the entire stadium was silent and all eyes were on him, he noticed the Delacour family glaring up at him from down at the first row. His voice still amplified he spoke in strong, clear French:
"I, Harry James Potter, challenge Mademoiselle Fleur Delacour to a duel!"
Eyes of the deepest blue met emerald green and for a moment the entire stadium caught their breath, seemingly waiting for the Veela's reaction.
Delacour took out her wand and pointed it to her throat.
"I accept your challenge, Monsieur Potter!"
It was the first time Harry had heard her talk. Her voice was sweet and sounded like a small melody. Again, their eyes locked and Harry could see a reflection of the same determination that must have shown on his face.
"Tomorrow at 11:00 am. After the Award Ceremony!"
Harry's strong voice proclaims and Delacour gave him a short nod before turning back towards her Family.
One thing was certain...none of them would back down tomorrow.
Delacour Manor
"What's wrong, my little Flower?" Sebastian asked his daughter, watching her pick on her vegetables with her fork.
"Nothing, Papa. I am happy that I won the tournament. But it was just as expected." Fleur Delacour says proudly.
"Well, then there should be no reason for you to make such a face. You are a lot more beautiful with a smile gracing your lips, my Flower."
Fleur frowned and sighed.
"Is it about your duel tomorrow and the challenge from the rude Englishman?" Sebastian asked
"No...yes... I don't know. Something about him just throws me off! And I don't know why!"
"Don't worry about him, Fleur, you will defeat him, just like all the others you have faced over the last three days." Appoline intervened with a smile.
Fleur did not look fully convinced at that.
"Do you not disagree with your mother?" Sebastian asks.
"We do not know what else he has been holding back. You have seen him fight, Papa. He is powerful and ruthless."
"He is nothing but a disgrace to the sport of dueling! You saw how he disrespected his opponents and spit on our traditions. You will put him in his place tomorrow, my Flower, I am sure of that!"
Fleur seemed to have regained her confidence: "Of course, I will. I am the best, non?"
"Yes, you are sister." Gabrielle rolled her eyes:
"He was very cute though, you must agree. Tall for his age… and those eyes...I could get lost in them. Could you try to not ruin his eyes tomorrow, please?" Gabrielle begged with a pouting and big puppy eyes.
Fleur laughed, but her father addressed his youngest with a frown: "Gabrielle, you are twelve… you should not be thinking about boys like that yet!"
"Yes, Papa," Gabrielle replied, but Fleur noticed that the mischievous gleam was still present in her eyes.
Her younger sister was right… Harry Potter did have beautiful eyes, maybe she would spare them for Gabi's sake.
August 5th, 1993
It was 10.45 and Harry made his way towards the middle of the stadium where the dueling platform stood. He had just received his trophy for winning the Under-14 Championship. However, no one in the stadium seemed to care about the awards at this point.
The anticipation for the upcoming duel was almost noticeable in the crowd. The stadium was operating at maximum capacity. Harry had never seen so many witches and wizards from around the world in one place.
Word of his challenge had spread around and some other Hogwarts Professors, including McGonagall and even Snape, had made their way over the channel to watch the historic duel. They were accompanied by Dumbeldore and some high-ranking ministry officials from Britain. Harry saw Fudge and his pink toad at some point.
Finally, it was time to begin. He saw Delacour leaving her family and making her way to the platform, her head held high. She was almost even more beautiful than the last couple of days.
Harry also made his way up on the platform after Flitwick wished him good luck and met Delacour in the middle next to the referee. She was tall, but Harry had defeated taller opponents before.
"A shame, they forgot about your most important reward at the ceremony just now. But I am here to save the day." Harry greeted her in fluent french:
"Orchideous", He whispered and a small bouquet of flowers appeared at the tip of his wand. He handed them to Delacour with a small bow, ignoring her glare.
Delacour looked at the bouquet before throwing it to her younger sister, who caught it excitingly and took in their fresh smell as Harry noticed with a chuckle.
"Such impressive magic for a little boy, Monsieur Potter, but I am afraid you will have to do better than that today."
Harry returned her glare and his eyes flashed a slight emerald green. The referee obviously decided that it had been enough chit-chat and gestured for the announcer to begin.
"Ladies and gentlemen… This is what you have all been waiting for!
Britain's most ruthless, against France's feistiest. Both competitors know the rules but I would like to remind them that this is a friendly duel!
You are both champions already and will leave the platform as such, irrespective of what might happen."
Delacour and Harry both snorted at that simultaneously and shot each other an even deeper nasty glare when they noticed.
"Let's see how good you are in a duel against someone that resists your cute little mind games, pretty bird," Harry whispered and turned on the spot to take his position at the other end of the platform.
Delacour looked furious and about ready to strangle Harry with her bare hands. Perfect, Harry thought, he got into her head. It had been a child's play to provoke her enough. The flowers had almost succeeded already.
"On my sign!"
"Begin!"
Delacour immediately attacked Harry with a volley of spells. Her speed was faster than anything his opponents had thrown at him over the last couple of days, however, it was still not comparable to Flitwick's lessons.
Harry mocked her by sidestepping her most powerful spells and easily dodged the others. Delacour got furious and resorted to some darker spells, nothing truly lethal yet, but certainly unpleasant to be hit with.
Harry conjured his strongest shield and watched as spell after spell battered against it. He knew the Veela had good stamina, but he was certain that his own was even better. He started going on the offense. Collecting his magic and shooting his most powerful Reducto at his opponents.
Delacour confidently conjured her shield but stared perplexed at Harry, as it shattered during the impact. Harry shot her a wink and continued his spell chain, switching up the rhythm in order not to become too predictable. Slowly both competitors started to breathe heavier.
Harry decided to go for another provocative maneuver, teasing Delacour to make a mistake. He conjured a couple of small fiery birds and let them rotate around the arena. His opponent prepared for the bird's attack and frowned when instead they simply continued circling her, not bothering to attack or interfere with her spell work.
Then she caught Harry's grin and realized he was playing with her. The birds were supposed to relate to her Veela heritage. She growled in anger and fired Piercing Hex after Piercing Hex at Harry, who quickly had to dodge the first spell and conjure his strongest shield for the others.
Delacour decided to dip into her fire conjuration and started shooting balls of fire from her wand at Harry, who conjured a large wall of water to hide behind and use as a shield.
He needed a plan and a way to end this duel. Slowly the fighting became taxing on his magical core. Soon he would run out of energy. Still holding his wall of water, Harry started punching it with his wand on his side.
On the other side, spears of ice came flying out of the watery wall at Delacour, who hastily erected a weak shield for the first couple, but crumbled under the continuous onslaught.
Harry was almost exhausted when a spear finally connected with the side of her torso, creating a deep gash in her uniform. Delacour hissed in pain and a murmuring went around the stadium. It seemed she had lost.
Harry dropped his watery wall and shot a bone breaker at his opponent's wand arm. The spell connected with her elbow and this time she screamed in pain as her bone splintered. Harry summoned her wand with a grin.
With his opponent's wand, he conjured a single rose and started plucking the blossoms one by one and letting them drop to the floor. He turned to his side where the crowd stood the closest and threw the now blossomless stem towards them when out of the corner of his eye he saw Delacour getting up.
The public humiliation and disrespect were too much for Fleur. The boy would suffer for that. Her avian side broke free and with the last bit of strength, she threw a powerful wandless, deep blue fireball at the boy that had embarrassed her like no one before.
Harry felt the fireball speeding towards him, but it was too late. He was caught at his left shoulder, the fire burning straight through his uniform. The pain was almost unbearable, close to what he had endured during the ritual.
He could smell his burned flesh in the air and rage started overtaking his mind. His eyes started glowing a bright emerald green and raw magic swirled around him. He conjured a giant ball of water around Delacour's head, cutting off her oxygen supply.
The crowd started yelling for the referee to interfere, who seemed too perplexed at the situation.
Delacour started choking, gasping for air and the look in her eye became pleading, begging Harry to stop her suffering and end the spell. Harry looked into those deep blue eyes, the same ones he saw beside his reflection.
Those were the same eyes he saw in the little boy who was clutching his reflection's hands in the Mirror. The same eyes, he had thought about ever since he first met Fleur Delacour three days ago… Because ever since then, he couldn't stop thinking about her.
All of a sudden Harry realized what he was doing. His eyes widened in realization and fear at how far he had taken things. He dropped the spell immediately and fell to his knees, shaking his head… What have I done? Was I really about to kill this girl for angering me in a tournament?
The last things he remembered were the shouts all around him and the flash of a bright red Stunner racing towards him from the referee's wand.
August 7th, 1993
Harry woke up to a white ceiling and white wands. He was awfully reminded of the Hogwarts hospital wing. Please, let him not be in some hospital…
Slowly the memories came back… "Fleur!" Harry gasped.
Was she fine? Harry hoped she didn't endure any long-lasting damage from his last piece of spellwork. He did not mean for things to get out of control like that. There was this rage talking over, coming from somewhere deep inside him. He had never lost control like that before.
The door to the room opened and a woman in white robes stepped through. Shit, he was indeed in a hospital.
"Where am I?" Harry croaked.
"You are in the St. Mungo's Spell Damage Ward, Mr. Potter. You were seriously injured during your last duel. Those burns have not been caused by a normal fire, that was a very dangerous magical fire, young man." The healer explained while taking off the bandages around Harry's shoulder and checking injuries.
Harry risked a look at himself and frowned. Bright pink skin covered a considerable area of his shoulder. The smell almost made him gag.
"You are very lucky that the spell missed your head or chest. This could have been lethal, Mr. Potter. I will apply new bandages and then you have a visitor that wants to see you."
Probably Dumbledore giving me a lecture about going dark…
However, it appeared to not be Dumbeldore, but Flitwick that visited him with a grim expression on his face.
"I didn't mean to lose control like that, Professor. I would never seriously want to kill her. I really don't know what happened, Sir!"
"It's okay, Harry… no one could expect you to remain calm after being hit with that fireball. There is however some... backlash…"
"How bad is it?" Harry frowned.
Flitwick didn't reply but simply threw the Daily Prophet in front of Harry. He opened up the front page:
Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Almost-Killed!
Is the British hero child going dark?
By Rita Skeeter
Over the last week, the European Duelling Championship was held in Paris, France and Britain chose Harry Potter, Hogwarts Starpupil, and the celebrated Boy-Who-Lived to represent the Island and school to the international magical community.
Mr. Potter (13), qualified himself during the group stage of the Tournament and remained undefeated, even winning the Under-14 Championship in the name of Hogwarts and Magical Britain. The means by which he acquired his victory, however, are not the ones one might expect from the Golden Boy, as his friends at Hogwarts call him.
Mr. Potter bluntly disregarded dueling etiquette and publicly embarrassed his opponents each match, after already securing his victory. Mr. Wolfgang Leitner, father of Paul Leitner, one of Potter's competitors, and. the German representative at the ICW had this to say:
"Mr. Potter's behavior was a disgrace for the international magical sport of dueling! He should be banned from ever competing again. I will do everything in my power to make sure Mr. Potter won't be competing, should Germany ever hold a similar event."
Mr. Leitner is not the only one that calls for legal actions against Potter. Things got even worse at the last event of the European Championship, which was supposed to be a friendly duel between the winners of the Under-14 and Under-16 Championship.
Fleur Delacour, daughter of Sebastian Delacour, head of the French Magical Law Enforcement, accepted Potter's challenge in good grace. However, Mr. Potter started openly mocking his competitor during their match, disrespecting her heritage and making fun of her first name.
When Ms. Delacour rightfully retaliated against Potter's insults, Potter suffocated her and almost drowned her. He was stopped by the officials at the tournament before completing his undoubtedly evil mission and potentially ending the poor girl's life.
Mr. Potter has been rightfully disqualified from the last match and his victory against Ms. Delacour has been called invalid by the officials.
Should Mr. Potter be banned from ever competing again in a sanctioned tournament? And how do Albus Dumbeldore and Potter's dueling mentor, Filius Flitwick, respond to the repercussions of the boy's actions?
"One could hardly claim that Mr. Potter is fit to represent Magical Britain on any international stage ever again after his display in Paris," comments Madam Dolores Umbridge, Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic.
This reporter will dive deeper into what might have led the poor child astray and the other mysteries surrounding his life.
For more information about Mr. Potter's years at Hogwarts, including claims of speaking Parseltongue, turn to Page 5.
For more information about the International Duelling Community and a more detailed report on Potter's behavior during the Duels, turn to Page 7.
Merlin's saggy balls… it was indeed bad.
"I am sorry they are dragging you through the mud as well, Professor. Some of the stuff this report wrote is simply dragon dung… Is there no way we could take legal actions against her?"
"I am afraid not, Harry, she is protected by the freedom of the press. Besides, you will find that all her articles are defined as news entertainment and not real news. Therefore she is allowed to make assumptions in it."
Harry frowned. He might be in need of a PR overhaul soon. Flitwick told him that he would be staying at St. Mungos for one more day. All his luggage and personal items had been brought into a room at the Leaky Cauldron, but Dumbeldore had stated his wish for Harry to return to his relatives for the rest of summer as soon as possible.
Flitwick had brought a couple of books for Harry to read during his stay and also left the latest edition of the Daily Prophet with him, before taking his leave. The hospital also had a couple of older editions, so Harry decided to catch up on anything that had happened in the wizarding world ever since he left for Paris. He opened the front page to some edition from a couple of days ago and started reading.
Right on the front page, there was a picture of a dark-haired wizard in prisoner's robes. The headline read:
Mass Murderer Sirius Black breaks out of Azkaban
Apparently, this Sirius Black had been the right hand of Voldemort and a high-ranking Death Eater. He had been imprisoned twelve years ago, only two days after Harry had 'defeated' Voldemort.
Why would he have risked getting captured after Voldemort had disappeared? Why did he not do everything in his power to find his master instead of blowing up a street with some random muggles? Something did not make sense here.
His official sentence was life in prison for the Murder of 13 muggles and another wizard named Peter Pettigrew. Harry frowned… He knew that name. He had read that name before, somewhere at Hogwarts. His memory usually never let him down, but right now, he couldn't for the life of it, remember in what context he had read the name.
Apparently, Black was very dangerous and on the run right now. Dangerous enough that Fudge even told the muggle premier about him. Harry was about to read into the backstory of the events that led to his arrest when the door to his room was opened and Albus 'Disappointment' Dumbeldore walked in.
Harry groaned:
"Let me guess, 'Harry, I am so disappointed in you. The path you're choosing to walk is not the right one. Please return to the side of the light, my boy!'"
Dumbledore chuckled: " Actually, I came to congratulate you on your victory in the Under-14 Championship. What happened afterward is very unfortunate, but not the reason for why I am visiting you right now."
"And why are you visiting me right now, Sir?" Harry rolled his eyes.
"I came to ask you to immediately return to Privet Drive as soon as you are sufficiently healed and remain there for the duration of the rest of the holidays.
That includes no wandering off to Diagon Alley or anywhere else in the wizarding world. I would also like you to stay at the house. So, no more jogging around the streets, Harry. I hope you understand why that is necessary."
Harry had started laughing at some point:
"Why the hell would I do that? I hate it there. I am a wizard, I belong in the wizarding world!"
"Harry, you don't understand. There is a very dangerous man out there that has shown that he is cable of murder. I do not want to risk your health."
Harry frowned, again something did not make sense. Why would the Headmaster specifically request for him to be kept safe?
"I will do it, Headmaster, as soon as you have visited every other magical child in all of Britain and asked the same thing from them. There is something you are not telling me! Why me? Why keep me safe from Black specifically? Tell me now, or I will find out eventually!"
Dumbledore looked at Harry with sadness in his eyes, seemingly thinking about what to tell him.
"Harry… Sirius Black told Voldemort where your parents were hidden and betrayed them… but, that is not all.
Sirius Black is also your Godfather and legal guardian."