On 17th July, Harry was sitting cross legged in the Chamber of secrets with his eyes closed. He was currently searching for his Animagus form. This was something he was already doing for the past week and half. He had taken three days to find his Animagus landscape- the place where he would meet his Animagus in his mindscape. Once he had found his core, he had worked on connecting it through his body in a sense. The first time he had achieved seeing the connections, his mind was blown away from its sheer beauty. It looked similar to a diagram of blood vessels in the Human body from a biology textbook but much more beautiful. It simply was mesmerizing. Emerald channels connecting parts of his body to his gut. These were the magical channels in his body.
Salazar and Helga had started teaching him how to manipulate these channels effectively.
But back to his Animagus form. So far, he had discerned that it was a feline of some form. A big one. He had to find this form and merge with it. Once he did so, he would gain the ability of Animagus transformation and also, some of the Animagus' positive capabilities may get carried over to his human form in minor quantities. As he had discerned that it was probably a feline so it was likely that he would become more graceful, have better balance or might get better hearing, something that could only be obtained by the mindscape method and not the potion method. The ability would be watered down in his human form than that of his Animagus but an improvement was an improvement regardless of how minor it may be.
Harry heard a roar. The same one he had been hearing countless times in his Animagus landscape, but it was much closer this time. Harry hoped he was a lion or a tiger. Then for the first time he felt a shift in the air. From the vegetation around the landscape, a dark figure emerged almost silently. It was around 2 meters in length and a little above 5 feet in height. Its fur was dark brown which in low light would look black. It looked muscular and heavy. But it's most prominent feature was its large, long, sharp teeth which looked like daggers. It also had emerald eyes, the same ones as him.
It was a Sabretooth Tiger, well cat technically but who cared.
It prowled towards Harry; its movements silent. Harry stood his ground. This was where the animal would judge him worthy. If he fled, he would need to repeat the whole process again. Salazar and Helga had told him to stay there despite any fear he might feel once Harry had told them that his animal was a big-ass feline. If the animal attacked, he would wake up like one would after a bad dream.
The feline stopped in front of him, looking straight into his eyes, judging his worth. Harry slowly raised his hand. The sabretooth tiger made no move. Harry gently petted it on its head. The animal closed its eyes and moved forward, its nose touching Harry's heart. Harry instinctively knew about the animal. Its food habit, likes, dislikes, abilities, hunting techniques etc. Harry came to know that despite the size of the animal it could run at around 50 miles an hour(80kmph), the same as a lion. It used its large teeth and sharp claws to hunt animals for its prey. It was also agile but not as agile as a leopard, at least that's what Harry could gain. How he could tell so much, he had no fucking idea.
Its hunting tactic was to sneak towards a prey item as silently as possible and then throw as much weight and weaponry at it, in order to score a quick kill. The Sabretooth's huge feet provided cushioning and let them sneak up on prey with the utmost silence. Think about that for a second: a 2-meter-long animal, weighing 500lbs with extremely powerful limbs that can stalk you in almost perfect silence before killing you. Deadly.
Harry was broken from his thoughts as he felt himself merging with the Sabretooth Tiger. His body structure changed. Bones lengthened, his skin turned to fur, his teeth grew and a tail sprouted. Once it the process was over, which was strangely painless and smooth, Harry let out a roar which echoed through the chamber deep under Hogwarts.
"Bloody Hell!" Salazar gasped. Even Helga was shocked as she didn't chastise Salazar for his language.
Harry let out another roar before willing himself into his human form. Harry changed back into a human, thankfully keeping his clothes on.
"A Sabretooth Cat." Salazar let out a low whistle.
"It looks so majestic. You have a wonderful Animagus form Harry dear."
"I agree, it is awesome, but I have a question. When the animal and I merged, I got a shitload of information and..."
"...you could tell all about its habits, diet, hunting, speed, and other characteristics? " Salazar finished Harry's statement.
"Yes. So how did it happen?"
"The merging of a person with his or her Animagus form by the mind arts method usually does that. When the inner animal merges with the wizard or witch, its mind also merges with the normal mind. This is the reason that those who use the potion don't get the extra advantages of the Animagus transformation. The potion only enables one to replicate the animal form of the inner animal and not merge with it."
"Wow."
"Indeed. Now practice the transformation till you can do it in the blink of an eye."
Harry nodded and started the practice. It took him an hour and half of continuous practice to do it flawlessly in speed. Now he could transform in mid-stride effortlessly.
Harry turned the time-turner back and apparated back to Somerset to their home. It was a testament to his magical power and skill that he could apparate to a place more than 700Km away effortlessly in a single apparation jump. Most Average witches and Wizards could do only 150 to 200 km at the most in a single jump.
But Harry didn't even think about this fact now for two reasons: One, it was common for him now and two, he was thinking of ways to scare Sirius when his Padfoot form made an appearance next time.
On the 23rd of July, Harry along with Sirius and Flitwick arrived in the French Ministry's Portkey arrival point in Paris by an international portkey. "Portkey from Britain. Please deposit your Portkey in the box before proceeding to the security checks. The French Ministry wishes you a fruitful journey." A automated voice sounded.
Sirius put the Firewhiskey Bottle in the box and the three men proceeded ahead. A wizard checked them and their luggage for any illegal artifacts or items before giving them a go ahead. They went to give their names to the witch sitting on a desk. Sirius presented their identification and documents.
"British citizens: Sirius Black, Filius Flitwick and a minor, H- Harry - Harry POTTER!" She spoke in a French accent.
"Yes." Harry replied dryly. Even in France he was famous beyond belief. Seriously!
"It is an honor to meet you sir." The Lady said in French
"It's good to meet you too madam. Now, if you could clear us, I would be grateful." Harry replied in perfect French.
"Oui, Monsieur Potter. " After sometime the Lady cleared them but before they left she interrupted "Mr. Potter, Eight year old daughter is your huge fan. Can you give an autograph for her please."
Harry nodded before writing 'For the sweetest girl in the world, my best wishes.' and then wrote his name in a stylish manner on a piece of parchment adding a smiley to it.
"Merci." The lady said and Harry just gave her a charming smile. He didn't like giving autographs but refusing one could damage his image. Salazar and Helga had convinced him to accept his fame and embrace it long ago stating that even though he may not like it, his fame would become useful in certain situations that he will face in his future and also that he couldn't run away from it, so better embrace it.
He was now at his destination. Tomorrow would be his first match. He wanted to win this competition, not only for self-satisfaction but to make his parents, Sirius, Remus, Flitwick, Salazar and Helga proud. He had promised his mom that he will be the best and he intended to keep it.
In the past month, he had been pushed to his limits in every practice session. He was taught a lot of things by Flitwick especially tricks and use of charms in dueling. He had shown him how to use a Scrougify- the cleaning spell in a duel. Yes, a Merlin-be-damned household charm in a fucking duel. In the demonstration, Flitwick had shot the spell in his eyes temporarily blinding him painfully and proceeded to stun him. Harry just marvelled at the creative use of spells. Another example of this creativity was summoning his shoe in the middle of a duel, causing Harry to loose balance and fall on his butt.
Harry had mastered the spell deflection technique even though it took him a week to get the hang of it. Now he didn't need to shield against every spell he was unable to dodge.
"Pup, how do you know to speak French? And how can you speak it so fluently"
"I learnt it in Muggle school. One of my favorite teachers there was the French teacher. She taught me when I expressed interest in the subject." Harry smoothly lied.
He wasn't going to tell Sirius that he was using a charm created by Rowena Ravenclaw that enabled him to speak and understand French without a problem. She had even invented a translation spell to read books in foreign languages. It was limited to Human languages. One couldn't speak or understand Mermish, parseltounge, Troll, Gobbledegook, etc by these spells. He remembered what Salazar had said about Ravenclaw creating these charms, "Rowena had an endless hunger for knowledge. She was not going to be stopped by something as puny as a language barrier."
"Harry, Sirius, we are going to Portkey to the Hotel. Hold this envelope." Flitwick said, handing him an envelope. Harry took it and Flitwick tapped his wand.
After a portkey trip, Harry found himself in a Hotel. It was a muggle hotel which had been exclusively booked for the French ministry for this tournament. Harry was sure that the muggles were under a shitload of mind altering spells to pull this off and protect the statute of secrecy. They were greeted by a wizard wearing muggle clothes. How did Harry know? The man had the French ministry symbol on his shirt.
They soon checked in and went to their rooms.
"NEXT UP WE HAVE DAVID ABASCAL OF SPAIN VERSUS HARRY POTTER, WHO IS AN INDIVIDUAL COMPETITOR SPONSORED BY DUELING MASTER, FILIUS FLITWICK!"
There were several people who stared in shock at Harry's name. Harry could feel the anticipation radiating from the crowd as he ascended the dueling platform. There were several whispers he could hear from the crowd.
Harry took a deep breath before stepping onto the platform. He could see Flitwick standing at a corner near the Platform from where he ascended. He saw Sirius sitting in the front row in the crowd. Then Harry saw his opponent. His opponent was a teenage boy who looked 16 years old. He had average height and a lean built.
Harry and his opponent walked towards each other and met at the middle of the platform. The referee came and instructed them to put on the safety shields on each other. After they did so, the referee even checked if it was perfectly cast. At his nod, the opponents bowed to each other, before walking back to their positions. The shields around the platform went up as the Referee went to a side. The noise of the crowd vanished.
"Begin in 3...2...1!" The referee fired a bang with his wand. Harry immediately began his spell chain. ' Stupefy, Expelliarmus, Pila Incendio, Bombarda."
All this while his opponent only had the time to yell "Protego Maxima" Harry mentally shook his head. Who casted verbally in such competitions? To his opponent's credit, the shield was decently powered and held under the onslaught.
Harry immediately conjured a flock of birds and send it at his opponent. Protego maxima didn't protect from physical attacks and also prevented spell fire from both sides.
David had to abandon the shield and shot a burst of flames at the birds, non verbally this time. Harry was waiting for this. As the birds burnt and smoke rose, Harry shot 4 stunners in rapid succession. His opponent dodged two, but was struck by the third, ending the duel.
"WINNER IS HARRY POTTER!" The shields around the platform went down. Harry could hear cheering from the crowd. He could see Sirius jumping up and down in his place. Flitwick gave him a nod. Harry saw the referee enervate his opponent. They shook hands before leaving the platform. Harry had won 1 duel. He needed to win 3 out of the next 4 duels atleast to proceed to the next round. Harry intended to win all of them.
Out of more than 250 competitors, only 46 proceeded to the Round 2. The criteria to proceed from the first two rounds was simple: Win 4 out of 5 duels atleast to proceed ahead. From the third round the rules would change according to the number of people who would win. This round would be held on the 25th of July.
Harry had currently won all 5 duels and was one of the 12 people out of 40 to do so. In Harry's opinion the duels were rather easy to win. None of them had taken more than three minutes to win.
Harry once again ascended the dueling platform to face his opponent. It was a girl from Japan who looked around 15 or 16 but was a head shorter than Harry. She smiled at him softly before bowing to him. Harry returned the bow and the smile. They took their positions.
Harry analyzed her stance. It was the same as professor Flitwick. She was going to jump around a lot.
"Begin in 3...2...1!" The referee fired a bang with his wand.
Harry fired a dozen spells consisting of stunners, Diffindos, and Expelliarmuses at the girl. She dodged the first four before deflecting three of the spells. Then she had to erect a shield to protect herself. Harry could see her frown at his speed of casting. Harry internally grinned. He wasn't even casting at full speed!
She returned fire with a Reducto, Obstupefio and a Conlido. Harry effortlessly dodged all of them. She was fast, Harry would give her that, but her speed was similar to Tonks, if not a little slower.
Harry shot Lacero and a Reducto, followed by a Flippendo to mix things up. The girl dodged the first before shielding from the next two.
Harry continued his onslaught with a fireball and a Bludgeoner. The shield broke and the girl was thrown back on her butt. Thankfully, for her the spell was watered down due to her shield. She quickly rolled out of Harry's stunner and disarmer before getting to her feet and sending a flock of birds at Harry.
'Time for transfiguration. Lets show her why it is a bad idea to use transfiguration against the son of James Potter' Harry thought to himself.
He waved his wand transfiguring the birds into spikes and shooting them at the girl. She conjured a marble slab to intercept the spikes. Harry transfigured the slab into a Wolf. The girl's eyes widened before she had to role out of the way to avoid the animal. She quickly undid the transfiguration and banished the slab at Harry.
Harry converted the slab to a Golem and animated it. The Golem ran at the girl. She shot some basting hexes at the Golem managing to take off its head and arm before she was hit with the Golem's other arm on her leg. She cried out in pain as the cracking of bone could be clearly heard. She shot lightning at the Golem managing to break it to pieces.
The girl suddenly had to roll out of the way as Harry had shot an advanced stunner at her again. She returned fire with a Bone breaker which Harry swatted aside and sent a choking hex and a blinding hex at her. She dodged the first but was impacted by the second.
Harry finished the duel with an Expelliarmus, disarming the Japanese girl and catching her wand in his hand.
"HARRY POTTER WINS."
The girl took her wand wordlessly from Harry. He had broken her winning streak. It was natural for her to be upset.
"Good duel." Harry told her.
She nodded and went off the platform and so did Harry.
Harry threw himself on the bed as soon as he reached the Hotel room. He wasn't tired but wished to call it a day. The day had been full of victories for him. He had not lost a single match and was one of the five contestants in the competition remaining with a perfect record. Out of 46 people only 16 would go into round 3. Rest all were out.
The judges had decided to keep the third round as a knockout format. Only one match will take place for a competitor. If you win, you go ahead. If you lose, you go home. Next round would again be the same format. In the semi-finals, the four people will compete for the trophy by dueling with each other and the winner would be decided by the points table.
Harry got up after fifteen minutes of lying leisurely on the bed and went to freshen up. He removed the dueling robes he had been given and put them in the laundry basket. He would get cleaned, pressed robes in the morning courtesy of the house elves. It was a white robe with his name written on the back.
After that he went to Sirius's and Flitwick's rooms and called them for dinner. He was hungry, goddamn it and these two were taking their time. Soon they came out and they went to eat dinner. Harry chose to eat simple sandwiches and soup instead of going for something fancy.
"Harry, you were impressive today. You didn't lose a single match. Continue this and you will take the trophy home."
"Yes professor. I will"
"You were impressive indeed. I am sure that you would have given James and I a run for our Galleons when we were in Hit-wizard training." Sirius said.
"I would like to remind you that you lost in all the three duels we have had since I came back from Hogwarts was won by me. So I won't have merely given you a run for your Galleons but defeated you." Harry replied cheekily. Sirius glared at him for reminding him of his defeats.
Harry remembered the last duel they had. It was a few days ago. After Sirius was disarmed, he tried to attack Harry by converting into Padfoot. Harry in retaliation had transformed into the Sabretooth giving Sirius the scare of his life. He had ran away with his tail between his legs both literally and figuratively. After that he had cried over the fact that Harry had followed the Marauders footsteps and they ought to give Harry a marauder name. Even Remus was delighted. They were yet to name him as all the names they had given so far were horrible and Harry had rejected them.
"Sirius's defeats aside, I noticed that you didn't duel at your fullest today. You were holding back"
Harry nodded. "It wasn't necessary. If it is needed in the next rounds it would be a nasty surprise to the opponent to see me faster and much better than expected."
Flitwick nodded at the explanation.
"Tomorrow you cannot afford to lose a single match, Harry. It is knockouts. If you lose you are out."
"I know professor. I will win all the matches." Harry stated with conviction.
"Good. Now finish your food and go to sleep. You will need your energy tomorrow."
Harry won the next two knock out rounds with almost no difficulty. It wasn't the easiest duel he had done but it didn't compare to the training he had received from Flitwick. If Harry had to compare them, they would have been around Nymphadora Tonks' level duelers- Good in their own right but not enough to challenge Harry. To his surprise he had to face the Japanese girl again in Round 4. She had tried to use new tricks but Harry had defeated her again.
Currently Harry walked towards Sirius and Flitwick. They had broken for Lunch and the Final round would start at 3PM. There were 4 Finalist: A 15-year-old boy from Greece who had lost 1 match so far, a 17-year-old boy from India who was unbeaten and a girl from the French Female Duelist Association (FFDA) who was also unbeaten so far and of course, Harry himself.
"HARRY! FINALS PUP! YOU ARE IN THE FINAL ROUND!" Sirius said jumping up and down while hugging Harry as they met.
Harry smiled. He was in the top 4.
They ate lunch in silence. Harry was using Occlumency to calm his nerves.
"Harry, now each duels would happen one by one. So when you are sitting outside, see your opponent's carefully. Analyze them. I will also be helping you with that." Harry nodded. So far, several duels had taken place simultaneously. There were several screens displaying the duels around the field so that the audience could see the duels, whichever they wished for. The finals will also be played in several places around the world, thanks to some artifacts developed to act like Muggle cameras and televisions. It was a company Harry had heard about before and had bought several shares too. He had made a huge profit due to it. They were also going to be used for the Quidditch world cup, taking place in Britain this year. Sirius had procured four VVIP Top Box tickets for the Finals, courtesy of the minister as a reparation due to his unlawful imprisonment. So, Harry, Sirius, Nymphadora and Andromeda were going to go.
Remus wasn't coming as there was a full moon the following day. They had even asked Professor Flitwick but he had declined saying that he needed to be at Hogwarts to prepare for the next school year as the finals were on 28th of August, Sunday and the term began on 1st September as usual which meant they had to attend classes on Friday and got the weekend off before the classes began in the regular fashion.
"Let us go Harry, It is 2.40. The round will begin in 20 minutes." Professor Flitwick said and Harry nodded. They bid Sirius Goodbye as he went to sit in the audience and they went to sit in the contestant area. The Indian boy was already there chattering in Hindi with his instructor. Harry did the translation spell and he understood that the instructor was telling the boy to keep calm and stick to their practice. Harry cancelled the spell giving them privacy. The Greek boy was pacing along the benches while the fourth contestant was nowhere to be seen.
Harry decided to ignore them and closed his eyes and escaped to his mind place to calm himself. A couple of minutes before 3 PM, he was told to go and stand near the platform and go and bow when his name was called by an official.
"Ladies and Gentlemen. Today we have gathered here to witness the finals of the Under-18 ICW World Dueling League. So far, we have had 4 rounds and now we have our 4 FINALISTS! First, THEMIS ROUVAS from GREECE! Next, we have YASH KAPOOR from INDIA! Next FLEUR DELACOUR from French Female Duelist Association. And Last but not the least HARRY POTTER, an Individual competitor sponsored by Duel Master, the great Filius Flitwick. Let's have a huge round of applause for these young contestants." The announcer announced.
Harry walked onto the stage amongst thunderous applause. He gave a charming smile at them. The screens showed his face to the whole audience.
"The first duel will be between HARRY POTTER and THEMIS ROUVAS." The audience cheered again.
Harry bowed to his opponent after the referee checked the safety shield. They took their stances.
"3..."
'Firm stance, he will go for an explosive start most likely.'
"2..."
'Legs widely spread. He relies on shielding.
"1... BEGIN" The shot went off and the Greek boy immediately casted. Harry was bang on in his assumption. He dodged the first two explosion hexes and swatted a piercing curse aside.
Harry responded with a Fireball followed by a Bludgeoner, a concussion hex and a punching hex aimed at the boy's groin. As expected the boy erected a full body shield protecting himself before firing off a trio of Reductos. Harry dodged with ease and shot half dozen arrows at the boy.
His opponent flicked his wand and the arrows stopped in mid-air. They were promptly banished back at Harry who, transfigured them to snakes and sent them at his opponent. His opponent fired a wide area cutting severing curse, cutting off the snakes necks and then firing Bone breakers and piercing curses at Harry. Harry, in a show of his agility, ducked under the first, jumped between the next two and avoided the last two by swaying out of the way. His opponent seeing this sent an Incendio at him.
Harry waved his wand at the incoming wave of fire and it took the shape of a bird before rushing back at its caster. The boy fired at aguamenti at the fire, extinguishing it and producing a lot of steam in the process. The visibility dropped due to the steam and Harry aided it with a Fumos. His opponent panicked and started to fire in random directions. Harry swatted aside a Bone breaker which would have impacted him and activated mage sight. He could instantly see his opponent's magical core and aura. He casted a Expelliarmus, Stupefy and Petrificus Totalus before blowing away the smoke with a breeze from his wand.
When the fog cleared, the Greek boy was on the floor and his wand was in Harry's hands. He heard thunderous applause as the shields around the dueling platform went down. Harry went back to the contestant stands after the usual Handshake with his opponent.
Next was the girl and the dude from India. Their duel began and Harry started noting each of their styles. The girl preferred to use charms and a wide variety of spells. The boy on the other hand used elemental spells and transfiguration mainly. He hardly fired any hexes or curses throughout the duel. Harry had to admit that both were extremely skilled. He winced as the girl was hit by a fire-whip but to his surprise she looked unfazed.
"Harry, she is a Veela- atleast I think so. Do not use fire spells against her. Use water and ice spells. Veelas are natural fire elementals. Normal fire won't affect them." Flitwick whispered to Harry urgently. Harry nodded. He had to admit that the girl looked beautiful on screen. It didn't necessarily mean that she was a Veela but Harry decided to keep his occlumency at the fullest regardless.
The duel between them continued for another two minutes before the boy made a mistake and ended up stunned.
Half an hour later Harry once again found himself on the dueling platform facing the Indian champion, Yash Kapoor. The tournament officials had given them time to recover from their matches. The French girl and the Greek boy had gone first before Harry. The girl had won within a minute as the Greek boy tried to avoid a disarmer but fell into her Body-bind.
After that Harry and the Indian boy had ascended to duel. After the usual Shields and bow they turned to face each other. If Harry won this, his silver medal was guaranteed in every case.
They took stances and as soon as the bang went off, Harry needed to shield from the Lightning bolt that his opponent had shot at him. Harry return fire with a Bone breaker and a Bludgeoner which his opponent deflected before sending flaming spikes at Harry. Harry mentally took note of this variation of the spell.
He conjured a Marble block on which the spikes got embedded before one of his favorite tricks was turned against him. His opponent transfigured the slab into a leopard which pounced on Harry. Harry dove out of the way but the transfigured animal scored a nasty claw mark on Harry's left arm. It was the first time Harry was injured during this tournament.
Harry immediately got up and undid the transfiguration before he had to shield from an advanced stunner sent his way by his opponent. Harry retaliated with a barrage of half dozen spells consisting of Stunners, bone-breakers, blasting hexes and disarmers. His opponent flawlessly protected himself from the spells by either dodging or swatting the spells away before waving his wand. Harry was confused for a millisecond as nothing happened before he understood as something slammed into his legs causing him to lose balance. His opponent had summoned the marble slab from behind Harry, impacting Harry's legs.
Harry fell on the ground, hissing in pain. The marble slab was banished again towards him by his opponent as it reached half way. Harry shot a Bombarda maxima at the slab, reducing it to dust. He had to roll out of the way of another stunner and getting to his feet, wincing a bit due to the pain. His body had started healing but it would atleast take a few minutes to heal completely. The duel won't last that long. His bleeding from his arm had stopped but the three claw marks could clearly be seen.
Harry immediately shot a Bludgeoner, a piercing curse, Reducto and a Lacero at his opponent. He dodged the first three but was nicked by the Lacero, scoring a cut on his left arm. His opponent hissed out in pain and shot a flock of flaming birds at Harry.
Harry erected a wall of water which extinguished the Birds before twirling his wand causing the water to go towards his opponents feet and freeze the floor into a thin layer of ice underneath him. He nearly got hit by an Expelliarmus but was saved by his reflexes in this process.
Harry immediately waved his wand saying "Ventus Tempestas" producing high velocity wind from his wand end. It was an elemental spell that needed an incantation, nearly all wind elemental spells did.
His opponent lost balance and fell to the floor, immediately erecting a shield to protect himself.
Harry, seeing this fired a couple of overpowered blasting curses and followed it up with a dozen stunners. His opponent tried to get up but the ice was making it impossible. The shield broke and the last two stunners raced towards the boy, both impacting and knocking the Indian boy out cold.
"HARRY POTTER WINS!" The referee announced and the shields went down, making Harry nearly shut his ears at the sudden rise in noise. The audience was cheering like mad by now. Harry was grateful for the silencing charms in the shields around the platform or else it would have been a massive distraction for the duelist.
He smiled at the applause. Now the competition was between Harry and the French girl for the trophy.
"Mr. Kapoor." Harry called out to the Indian boy he had dueled a few minutes ago. They were once again given a 30 minutes break before the final matches after they had walked off the platform.
The person in question looked towards Harry. "Harry Potter. I must say that you are an excellent duelist. There was no shame in loosing to you."
"And so are you. I must say that you are the first person to score a hit on me throughout this league." Harry returned.
"Really?"
"Yes. I just came here to wish you luck for the next match. I hope you win the next match for the second Runner-up."
"I too hope so. It would be a shame to go home without a medal. Well... anyway, All the best to you too for the finals. I hope you win. I am supporting you."
Harry nodded but was interrupted by a female voice. "You said the exactly same theeng' to me a few moments ago." The French girl said appearing from behind them, her English thick with French accent. Harry turned to see the girl. He had to admit that she looked extremely beautiful with platinum blonde hair and high cheekbones. She had an hourglass figure too.
"I actually hope that you both defeat each other, if such a thing is possible. Then all four of us could take a medal home."
"They don't work like that. We would have a rematch if we somehow defeat each other." Harry remarked.
"That's a shame. Anyways, I wish you both Luck. I have to leave now. Coach calls." Yash Kapoor said before leaving the two finalists. Harry was amused by how the other boy had escaped the situation of telling them both, 'I hope you win.'
Harry saw the girl scrutinizing him. "I am sorry, I didn't catch your name." Harry said politely. He remembered her name perfectly but wished to break the ice between them.
The girl smirked in response. "I will let you read my name off the trophy."
"I would like to remind you that the runner-up trophy doesn't have a name written on it, so you would have to tell me." Harry smirked back.
"Fleur Delacour" She replied with her nose in the air
"Harry Potter. A pleasure to meet the runner-up of the U-18 WDL." Harry said kissing her knuckles.
"We will see leetle boy." She said and left.
"That we will." Harry whispered before moving towards Flitwick.
The crowd was cheering wildly as Harry ascended the stairs. Flitwick thumped his back in encouragement as Harry passed. Several in the crowd were chanting his name.
"WELCOME, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN TO THE FINALS OF THE U-18 ICW WORLD DUELLING LEAGUE. ON ONE SIDE, REPRESENTING THE FRENCH FEMALE DUELING ASSOCIATION, WE HAVE FLEUR DELACOUR AND FACING HER IS THE ONE AND ONLY... HARRY POTTER. BOTH THE COMPETITORS ARE UNDEFEATED SO FAR, BUT TODAY ONLY ONE WILL TAKE THE TROPHY HOME. LET US GIVE THEM A HUGE ROUND OF APPLAUSE." The announcer said. He was the head of the French Magical sports and Games department as far as Harry knew.
A few minutes ago, Yash Kapoor had defeated his opponent, taking the third place in the league. Now was his chance.
He looked around and caught Sirius's eye. Sirius gave him a huge smile and thumbs up as Harry walked towards the centre of the stage to meet his opponent.
Harry was nervous. The moment he had tirelessly trained for since the past two months was here. The battle for the title of the champion.
They put the shields on each other and bowed to each other before walking back and taking stance.
The shields went up and the noise from the crowd was cut off. Harry took a deep breath.
'Mum, Dad. I know you are watching over me.'
"3..."
'I have reached the finals of the U-18 WDL and am going to face off my opponent.'
"2..."
'Give me your blessings to win this.'
"1..."
'And I hope to do you proud.'
"BEGIN!"