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"Indeed it is, I've had my coworker Minerva talking my ear off about it. She's very excited for it." Flitwick said with a bit of a chuckle.
"Professor McGongall is a Quidditch buff?" Harry asked, the information somewhat surprising to him.
"Oh yes. She tries to hide it a bit better nowadays, but when we were younger she was not unlike those Muggle football hooligans. I believe I saw her at a Scotland game once with her face painted like the Scotland flag. Don't tell her I told you though, I would hate to be on the receiving end of one of her glares." Flitwick said, going a bit red in the face. Harry could sympathize. Professor McGonagall was nice, but simultaneously terrifying when she wanted to be. Even Snape didn't like being on her bad side.
The Delacours waited in line with Harry and Flitwick as they made their way through registration, conversation being light and joyous, with everyone giving some tips to Harry, who gladly welcomed the advice.
Getting to spend a bit more time with Fleur, Harry began to notice just how pleasant she really was. Harry had gotten the impression she was nice, if a bit competitive during their first meeting the year prior, but time constraints had prevented them from talking more. Now though, he got to see her better, and he was glad he did. Fleur was pretty, inside and out. She seemed kind and courteous, although incredibly competitive. Harry thought she would either get along amazingly with Daphne, or they would declare each other eternal rivals. Either way, Harry would like to introduce them.
The pair of youthful duelists parted ways as the tournament began, and Harry once more felt his nerves catch up to him. He was good, he knew that. He had placed second last year, and now was pretty certain he had far surpassed who Krum had been. Whether or not he was better than Krum now was something he couldn't know though. He had given everything to his training, and had gone even farther this year because of the looming specter of Sirius Black. Was training to fight a mass murderer something Krum did? Harry hoped not. Looking around at the waiting room for the Hippogriff cup contestants, he saw some familiar faces. There was Thomas Wagner from Austria, who Harry was glad to see. There was also Marianne Levigne, the French girl that Krum had frozen. She seemed extra confident today, especially in comparison to what he had seen of her last year. Maybe Krum's freezing had ironically lit a fire underneath her. Also present was Ivan Krum, who had two men with him. The oldest one seemed to be his father, a well dressed man with short cropped hair, and the younger one was probably his brother Viktor. The rest of the gathered attendees seemed to be new blood. Which was a bit unsurprising. From some reading Harry had done, Dueling was a sport that you tended to skew a bit older in terms of learning, so the fact that people like himself, Krum, and Wagner had started before age 13 was rarer.
There were 35 total competitors this year, a significant step up from what came before. The new competitors seemed to have varying levels of confidence. A few Harry could see, would have been right at home with Draco Malfoy. Swaggering around with confidence that Harry couldn't tell if it was earned or not. He wouldn't underestimate them, but they would likely underestimate him. Against those perhaps it would be best to start slow and let them wear themselves out. Some others seemed to have anxieties about the matter like he did, they would likely be best dealt with quickly and decisively. Harry hated that if he wanted to proceed he would have to have them lose. He hoped they would treat it as a learning experience.
His worries were still set on Krum though, Thomas and Marianne were strong competitors sure, but Krum had proven himself to be better than the lot of them in the past. Harry hoped that his training would be enough.
The rounds started shortly thereafter, and Harry took a look at the bracket. It seems that the four returning contestants had all ended up decently far away from each other in the bracket. Seems the earliest Harry could expect to be against any of them would be the semi-finals. That brought some relief to his chest. That would give him some time to gauge how much they had improved, and formulate some kind of strategy.
Within the hour, the first rounds started. Harry's first opponent was a boy a year older than him, and quite a bit larger in stature. Their duel was over fairly quickly. What the older boy had in bravado, he lacked in both experience and skill. He had failed to maneuver himself much at all during the duel, and had only shot out spells that were standard to have known by fourth year. Harry's experience and knowledge won out, as he simply used a tripping jinx knockback charm combination to send him off of the ring.
Harry had the pleasure of getting the chance to see Thomas Wagner, his Austrian opponent from last year, duel with Ivan Krum. Harry knew that Thomas was a competent duelist, if a bit flashy. Harry hoped during the year they had to train, Thomas had learned some control. His hopes were answered when the Duel between Thomas and Ivan began with a simultaneous stunning charm that intercepted each other in mid-air. Both competitors were aggressive duelists, and it seemed each of them had the plan to end this duel quickly. Neither put up much of a defense at all, instead focusing all of their efforts into their offense. Ivan doused the arena with water, and was getting ready to freeze Thomas in it when Thomas sent out a gout of flame that both forced Ivan back, and quickly dried the water. Harry could tell Ivan was getting frustrated. He had gotten better over the past year that was certain; his moves were sharper, and his control was better, but it seemed that Thomas had both closed the gap and made similar gains. That seemed like it destroyed Ivan inside. Harry could feel the vitriol and hatred that rolled off of Ivan.