A Simple Change of Mind - Chapter 17

Hey everyone! peeking behind the curtain of shame for not posting for 10 days again. Life has been kicking my ass, and I have been trying my best to fight it. It's been very hard times, but thanksfully, it's getting better now. 

And hopefully, I can say that I am back to my usual writing routine.

I knew I was meant to post the new chapter of His Destiny, but unfortunately, I wasn't able to form a chapter that I was satisfied enough with. After deleting that, I decided to write this chapter, which has been on my mind for a while now. It's a long one, and I hope you like it.

Thank you for your support, patience, and love. I feel like I am saying this in every post, but it will never be enough.

There are numerous times where a witch or wizard is put on a spot to perform under immense pressure.

It could be the time of end-of-year exams where they find themselves under pressure to pass or fail their year.

It could be the time when they were given responsibilities like being made a prefect or head boy or girl.

Or it could also be the time when a quidditch player has to perform their best under the suffocating pressure of the whole school.

But nothing could be comparable to what the duelling teams of Hogwarts and Beauxbaton were feeling right now.

It was the third week of November, and the day of the first fight of the duelling competition in the Tri Wizard Tournament was here.

The tournament coordinators, who involved Dumbledore and ministry workers, have magically created a big dome-shaped stadium in the forest behind the school.

The stadium was large enough to have thousands of supporters and viewers, with a big field in between the stands for the fight.

Sitting in the booth directly atop the duelling circuit was an excited Ludo Bagman, who was chosen as the commentator and announcer of the tournament. With him in the box were the three participating school headmasters as the judges of the fight with Barty Crouch.

With a split-eating grin, the former beater brought the microphone close to his mouth and began the introduction.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMAN! Today we are all present here in this magnificent stadium to watch the very first battle of the eagerly anticipated duelling championship!!”

The crowd roared in cheer and craze. Everyone was excited to see the fights they had been waiting for.

No disrespect to the quiz competition team; the students and even the elders who were here have been waiting for the duelling competition more than anything.

And now, finally, that day was here. The stadium was filled with all the students of Hogwarts, including the students who were here to represent the other two European schools.

There was also a big list of guests and elders who were here to see and enjoy the battle. Some of them were even the powerful peoples of each of the three nations, involving politicians and heads of houses.

Among them sitting in the front row were the Bulgarian duelling team, who were ready to watch the battle between their rivals with keen eyes. Although one raven-haired witch was there to see her boyfriend present himself to the world and prove that he was more than just his name.

Maria had full confidence that, after today, everyone will know Harry Potter, not just from what happened when he was a toddler but based on what he would accomplish today by showcasing his wand prowess.

Being from the enemy team, she wasn’t supposed to support anyone from the other two schools, but she didn’t care. She would support her Harry no matter what, even if she had to deal with her schoolmate's glare.

“Now let’s welcome the two teams!” Ludo Bagman yelled excitedly and flourished his hand at the tunnel entrance of the stadium. “First of all, the challenging and visitor team from France. Please welcome the elegant fighters of BEAUXBATONS!!”

From the tunnel, out came the French school team with their heads high. There were some cheers from their schoolmates, but the boos from the home crowd unfortunately drowned them out.

Despite that, the seven French fighters, dressed in their navy blue battle robes, marched to their team stand on one side of the battlefield, with Fleur Delacour on the lead as the captain.

Once the focus was off them, it went back to the tunnel, with this time an excited silence echoing through the stadium.

“And Now!” Bagman yelled like the showman he was. “It’s time for none other than the pride of the United Kingdom. Please welcome with your whole heart and support the ferocious fighters of HOGWARTS!!!”

There was definitely a bias in the way Bagman introduced his own former school team, but it was nothing like the thunderous applause and cheers from the crowd for the home team.

Leading the team from the front came Harry Potter, with all six other starting fighters and four in reserve following him. Garbed in their almost black battle robes, the Hogwarts fighters cut a dangerous figure.

Despite the almost deafening cheers, the whole team's focus was set on the impending battle, with their faces set in stone. Showing no emotion.

Once at their stand, the crowd finally calmed down enough for Bagman to explain the rules of the match.

“Now the time is finally here for the waiting you have been waiting for!” Bagman spread his arm, and the crowd cheered with him.

“As all of you know, the two teams have seven fighters each.” The former beater began explaining the rules of the match. “Both teams will send one of the fighters to fight the one sent from the opposing team. You can recall the fighter you sent after they won the match if you want to do so. And as such, this battle will only be over when all seven fighters of one team are defeated and only one team is standing at last.”

“Is that clear?” Asked the stocky build man to the two team captains, who stepped forward and nodded their heads.

"Well, then it’s finally time to begin the fight!!”

As the crowd went wild, the two captains, Harry Potter and Fleur Delacour, clashed eyes and both sent a hard stare at each other, which was broken when Harry smirked, pissing the Veela, who strode back to her team.

Harry chuckled, shaking his head, and turned back to go back to his team to discuss their game plan. As soon as his back was to the crowd, his face was back to seriousness.

“Alright guys, the time we have been waiting for patiently is finally here,” Harry called out, spreading his arms to bring his team into a huddle. “For the last month, we have been trying our best to become the best, and it is finally time to show it.”

His motivated, passionate words ignited fire in everyone's eyes as they nodded their heads with a small smile on their faces.

“Now for our game plan, it is important to understand that using our brain in the fight is as important as using our power through our wand.” Harry began looking into each of everyone's eyes. “This fight can easily be won or lost by how we take it on. Which is why we will send each of our fighters carefully while considering our opponents.”

Seeing the agreement of everyone, Harry continued. “And starting right now, we don’t know anything about our opponent, which is why, first, I am sending you Edward.”

The 7th year Slytherin nodded his head, but there was a frown of confusion on his face, and Harry elongated his decision. “I am choosing you first because, without knowing anything about the opponent, I am using my hard-hitter fighter first. I know you can surprise your opponent with your power and unsettle them enough to win the fight."

Edward, the proud Slytherin that he was, puffed his chest out, making the females in the group roll their eyes.

“Don’t worry, Potter; it doesn’t matter who my opponent is; they are all going to lose.”

Edward's overinflated pride was definitely one of his weaknesses and an annoying thing that grated Harry. At times like this, Harry wished it was the other Slytherin who was in his team instead of him as his eyes glazed towards Audrey—the girl he had to beat to qualify—who had a scowl on her face see looked at her annoying housemate.

But despite his inner feeding, Harry forced a smile in encouragement. “I know you will.”

Hearing a whistle in the back informing them the time limit for strategy was over and fighters were ordered to go on the battlefield, Harry turned back to his team with his right hand outstretched.

“It’s time to show the world what Hogwarts has. With me on three." The whole team put their hands on top of his as Harry began the count: “1…2…3!” On the three, all 11 raised their hands and yelled.

“HOGWARTS!”

With the blood pumping and the home crowd behind them, Hogwarts fighters were ready to prove themselves in front of the world as to why they were the best.

Edward stepped on the field with his head held high in his inflated pride, and the others took their seats on the players bench.

From the Beauxbatons side, an average-height blonde-haired boy stepped up first with an arrogant stagger in his step. It was unclear whether it was because of his lack of confidence in his powers or if he was like that in general.

“The first fighter from Hogwarts is Leo Edward!” The crowd cheered while Edward waved his hand, soaking up the moment.

“And from the Beauxbaton, it is Aleń Seydoux.” Aleń did the same as his opponent, although with a much less loud cheer.

The two boys then faced each other, and when Bagman shot a loud bang with his wand, the fight began.

The two proved how cocky they were as they started the fight by firing at each other. Shaking his head, Harry watched as the two traded fire without any gameplan and only with the hunger to win in their minds.

The crowd might be loving the tactless exchange of spells, but it was clear to anyone with experienced eyes that these two were not cut out to be professional duellers.

There was nothing in the way they were fighting. No tactics, no strategy play, and no use of battle intelligence. It truly felt like watching two bulls butt head-on at each other.

But soon, it proved that it was obvious who was going to win the fight.

Edward might be the more powerful one of the two, as he kept throwing powerful spells to put down his opponent. But he was unsuccessful because of the single fact that his opponent was much faster than him.

The blonde-haired boy was smart enough to at least finally realise after fighting for a minute straight that his rival, despite being powerful, was too slow.

After noticing that, for the first time in the fight, someone actually used his brain instead of a wand, the Beauxbaton fighter moved from left to right, dodging the spells of Edward, which left behind a crater and dust showing the power in the spell.

But using such power was clearly taking a toll on Slytherin, as he started sweating and breathing heavily, feeling his deflated power. Despite this, he kept casting spells while scowling in frustration at his quick-footed foe, who was dodging the attacks with a superior smirk on his face.

“Use your fucking brain, you idiot,” Harry muttered irritatingly, seeing his team member fight idiotically. “Are we sure the hat didn't make a mistake by putting him in Slytherin instead of Gryffindor?” He asked his team.

“Believe me, Potter, I have been asking the same thing since my first year.” Audrey sneered, glaring at the fellow snake, who was now screaming spells as much as his frustration. Agreeing with her, Warrington also nodded his head. “If you want an example, he is just like Malfoy, but only older and without a wealthy father.”

“Oh brilliant, just our luck that somehow he made it into our team,” Harry grumbled, wishing the idiot would realise how close he was to his defeat.

Unfortunately, Edward didn't, and when he became too tired, his opponent sent a banishing charm, making him fly out of the battlefield.

Watching his teammate lay on the grid with his wand slipping from his hand, Harry shook his head at the humiliating state of the cocky Slytherin while the French team roared in cheer.

Turning his head from the defeated boy, who was escorted out by the medical students who were helping him take him to Madame Pompfrey, Harry looked at Angelina and called her name.

"Angelina,” the Gryffindor, turned her head and stood at his command. “You will go now.”

Angelina's eyes widened before she smiled in excitement and stepped forward onto the stage. But before that, Harry stopped her, and she looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

Harry looked at the Beauxbaton boy, who was smirking with more confidence after his first win. Seeing that he wasn't going back to the bench, Harry smiled lightly and leaned closer to Angelina.

“He is a fast fighter.” Leaning closer, the dark-coloured girl listened closely to his captain. “Because of his height and build, he is quick on his feet. And on our team, you are one of the fastest fighters. I am not sending you because you have the same fighting style; I am sending you because you are more powerful and I know you can defeat him. Make him feel relax, stroke his confidence, and then put him on his face.”

As she listened to him, Angelina smile Berne wider and wider until she was beaming in pride, and when Harry was done, she nodded at him with full confidence. “Don’t worry, I got it.”

“I know you do." Harry grinned at her, and patting her shoulder, he pushed her to the stage.

Taking a deep breath, Angelina focused herself and stepped forward to face her opponent.

“The next fighter from Hogwarts is Angelina Jones!” The Gryffindor crowd erupted in excitement as their fellow housemates stepped in to fight.

Seeing her, the blonde boy smiled widely and said it pityingly. “Don’t worry, I won’t take as much time as I did in defeating your teammate. I respect women, especially a beautiful one like you.”

His supposedly ‘charming’ words fell on the dead ears of Angelina, who just muttered quietly. “And that will be your last mistake.”

With the bang of Bagman’s wand, the duel started, and the blonde went straight into attack. Swinging his wand, he let spells fly from his wand towards Angelina, who jumped back and dodged them.

Just like Harry told her, Angelina kept dodging the spell, hopping around the field, which, just as they expected, made her opponent more confident. The smile on his face became wider, seeing the way his opponent was not even firing back and was only saving herself from his attack.

It was frustrating for Angelina to see the superior expression on his face, but she kept her cool and kept following the plan.

"Oh, come on, are you not even going to fight back?” Aleń said in mock disappointment, shaking his head, “I thought you English never ran like a coward. What has happened now? Or is it maybe the girls of England are like that?”

Not taking the bait, Angelica instead smirked, seeing the surroundings of the arrogant boy, and, for the first time in the fight, she leapt into attack.

This was the moment she had been waiting for when this doucheback would get his guard down, and that moment was here.

Making a three-chain spell, she let it fly with a swipe of her wand, and the blonde boy had to jump back to not get hit.

Not dithered by it, Angelina walked forward, showing her own quick feet and shoving her opponent, who was doing nothing but dodging the spellfire for his life.

But it was for nothing because he was right where the Gryffindor girl wanted him to be. The terrain they were fighting on was very rough, and because of that, there were many rocks and stones littered around.

And when one of her cutting spells hit Aleń legs, the French boy hissed in pain, and without knowing it, he stepped on a rock.

Arms falling around and eyes wide, the last thing the blonde saw was the smirking face of Angelina before he got the air knocked out of him.

With the chains of ‘depulso','stupefy'', and 'expelliarmus', Angelina quickly had her opponent defeated and unconscious on the ground.

Once he hit the floor, the crowd erupted in cheer, and Angelina smiled in pride, with her teammate cheering her on as well.

When it died down and the defeated fighter was carried away, French captain Fleur sent her next opponent after discussing it with her team.

But when the tall, black-haired girl she had sent was on the field, Harry's voice was suddenly heard.

"Angelina, come back.” Hearing his command, Angelina was surprised but still did as he told her and stepped back to the bench.

“Good job, but you should take some rest.” Harry smiled, patting her shoulder, and despite not feeling tired, Angelina nodded and grinned at her teammates, congratulating her on her win.

Harry then looked at the remaining Slytherin on his team and waved him over. "Warrington, it’s your turn.”

The big, quiet Slytherin stood up, nodding his head, and stepped onto the field. Harry looked at the opposing end and smiled, seeing the furious face of Fleur.

He had a hunch that, seeing how he had strategically sent Angelina after observing her fighters, she would do the same. Which was exactly what she did, but what she didn't expect was for Harry to change his fighter.

“From the Beauxbaton, the next fighter is Isabelle Hernandez, and unexpectedly, Harry Potter is changing the fighters! And this time Cassius Warrington will be the one on the battlefield!”

In between the cheering crowd, the two opponents faced each other, and after bowing and following the true protocol of duelling, they shifted into their stance.

And when the bang rang, the fight started.

Cassius Warrington had always been a very curious case for Harry. Since the first time he saw him in his first year, the quiet Slytherin has been a mystery. Unlike his housemates, he was most alone and an aloof boy who always stayed on his own with very few friends.

But despite that, he was one of Slytherin's pride and jewels, which was proved by the fact that, alongside Angelina and Harry, he was the only one to get selected in the starting position of two different competition teams.

For his whole school life, Harry has never been able to predict anything about the Slytherin boy, which was why he has sent him to fight next.

And he was proven correct with how mysterious the big guy was as he went straight into defence while his opponent charged at him. For someone his size, people would expect Warrington to be an aggressive fighter; instead, he was the opposite. And by the way he was doing it, he was very good at it.

Despite how good Beaxbaton Isabelle was, as she used her charm skill perfectly, she still couldn’t get a scratch on Warrington, who used transfiguration to shield himself masterfully.

His transfiguration skills were really exceptional, as he built a forte of animals at his command and attacked his opponent with them.

Eyes widening Isabelle used a whip of flame from her wand and tried cutting down the incoming feral animals, but it wasn’t enough. The number of them was too overwhelming for her.

Spinning away from the lunge of a rock wolf with his teeth, Isabelle tried to use a blasting spell at it to destroy it, but she soon felt the hair on her arm raise in alarm as something was behind her.

Turning back, her eyes opened in horror as a transfigured dog speared at her with his head and sent her flying away.

Skidding along the rough ground, she held her broken arm in pain as her teammates gasped, and when she looked up, she saw a red spell coming right at her before she lost consciousness.

The home crowd erupted in cheer once again, and the Beauxbaton groaned at the defeat of their second fighter.

Harry bobbed his head and clapped, feeling impressed by the Slytherin performance.

And looking at him, for the first time, he saw a smile on Warrington's face from the applause of everyone.

“By showcasing his transfiguration skills, Cassius Warrington wins this bout for Hogwarts, and the Beauxbaton have lost their second fighter!” Batman yelled in between the roads of the crowd.

From the corner of his eyes, Harry saw Fleur send her next fighter, who was a very feminine-looking boy, and he decided to give Warrington the rest.

"Cassius, come back." Slytherin nodded without any question and made his way back to the bench among his teammates, who thumped his back with grins on their faces.

Turning to his seeker rival, Harry decided on his next fighter.

"Cedric, it’s your turn to bring us closer to our victory.” Harry smiled and got a bright one back from the sixth-year Hufflepuff.

“The captain Delacour has decided to send Pierre Dubois, while the captain Harry Potter has again decided to call back his fighter and has sent Cedric Diggory!”

The Hufflepuff waved the badger flag as Cedric faced his opponent with a friendly smile on his face.

“How disappointing! I wanted to fight Harry Potter." Pierre sighed, holding his face and gazing hungrily at Harry. He then turned to Cedric, looked at him from up and down, and licked his lips. “But I guess you are not zo bad either. Oh yes, I will enjoy fighting you.”

Cedric's smile turned into a horror expression that he tried not to show while Harry was gagging and a giggling Susan was patting his back.

Harry's first impression was right; this boy was clearly too feminine.

Fortunately for Cedric, who was squirming under the stare of his opponent, Bagman fired the bang, and he went into offence to finish this fight as quickly as he could.

He just hoped Cho wouldn’t take his opponent flirting in a bad way.

Harry, whose face was finally back to its usual shade, focused back on the fight and prayed that Cedric would defeat Pierre so that he wouldn’t have to fight him.

“He is not wrong, you know." Susan whispered with a sly smile. “You are one fine, sexy piece of meat.”

Harry growled and pinched her bubbly ass, making her shriek. Turning his attention back to the fight, he focused back on it, and he was happy with what he saw.

Even after the uncomfortable flirting by his opponent, Cedric looked full-on focused, which was one of the things Harry admired about him.

The Hufflepuff, true to his house, did everything with full focus and with resolve to make it complete. His determination also showed in the way he fought.

It seemed that Pierre liked to flirt or throw comments in between the fights to unsettle his opponents. But unfortunately for him, he was facing Cedric Diggory, who, with his eyes narrowed, had only one thing on his mind.

To defeat his opponent.

His determination proved fruitful as he battled the Beauxbaton boy, who tried to use his flamboyant style of fighting but was unsuccessful.

In just a few minutes of fighting, Cedric had trapped Pierre's foot in the ground, and with a disarming spell, he ended the fight.

The Hogwarts winning streak continued, and the crowd once again erupted in cheer.

Harry looked at the opposition end and smirked smugly, seeing the concern and panicked face of Fleur, who had just seen her third fighter get defeated in a row.

"Cool, calm, and collected—those are perfect words to describe Hogwarts Cedric Diggory, who won his fight as well. With the three fighters down, who will the captain Delacour send next?”

Harry was also curious, just like Bagman, to see who would be next, and he saw Fleur send a mocha-coloured girl who looked to be the youngest of their group.

Hearing a gasp from his right Harry turned and saw Susan looking at the Beaubxbaton girl with a narrowed gaze.

“You know her, Susan?” He asked his teammate and lover.

The red-haired girl nodded her head, her eyes still on the other end. “Her name is Anaïs Roux. She is the daughter of the French head of DMLE. She is a year older than us, and I met her when my aunt took me to international parties sometime.” Susan told him and crossed her arms. “And it is safe to say we have a sort of rivalry after the many times she has tried to flaunt her supposed accomplishments in front of me.”

Harry hummed, seeing the scowl on her face, and decided on his next fighter.

"Cedric,” the Hufflepuff, looked back, and seeing the nod of his captain, he understood and stepped back to the bench.

Harry, after patting Cedric for a job well done, turned to Susan, who was watching him with hopeful eyes. He then titled his head to the field with a smirk on his face.

Susan beamed brightly and gave her thanks with a smooching kiss in front of everyone. After pulling back and leaving behind a dazed Harry, she stepped on the field with determined steps. Finally, she has a chance to get her years-long revenge.

Anaïs smirked, looking at her opponent. “It’s so disrespectful that they have sent the weakest one to fight me,” the black-haired girl said, shaking her head.

“Why don’t you shut up and fight so we can see who truly is the weakest?” Susan replied back and then smiled innocently. “But then again, you never knew how to stop chatting shit.”

Anaïs darkened in anger upon hearing her insult, and she clutched her wand tightly as she waited for the bang to start the fight.

Noticing her knuckles, Susan smirked internally, knowing she had already won the psychological part of the battle.

She was in the head of her opponent, and it just became easier for her to win.

When the bang sounded, it was instantly drowned out by the boom of the two fighter spells connecting.

Anyone in the stadium could sense the tension between the two girls immediately, as they both sent a red spell that met in the middle, creating a shockwave.

With her spell cancelled out by her rival, Susan quickly shifted to her right and fired off a chain of 'incendio', 'depulso', and'reducto’. 

The three spells went flying one after another towards Anaïs, who put up a shimmering blue ‘protego’. But she was left shocked when, after successfully absorbing the first two spells, it broke like a glass from the 'reducto'.

Only by an inch of breath did she dodge the red spell by rolling on the ground to her left.

Susan smirked at the shocked look of her opponent. Harry had focused on one thing the most in their training, and it was how to overpower a spell to surprise your opponent.

If it weren’t for him, she would still be using the same power in all her spells, which used to make her use a longer chain of spells.

But after a couple of months of training with Harry, she has made a big leap with his help, and now she was no longer conservative in using her power.

Seeing her opponent unsettled, Susan pressed forward. Swiping her wand on the ground, she pulled up four big boulders of rock, and then, swinging her wand like a sword, she vanished them to her rival.

Eyes wide in stunned disbelief at the use of a powerful spell from someone she never thought much of, Anaïs leapt back and fired ‘bombarda’ in rows to break the boulders.

Seeing the girl she has always mocked and taunted Anaïs felt insulted being forced to the defence by the same girl.

Face red with anger, she screamed, and with fury, she twirled her wand in a circle and turned the debris around her into a small shock of rock birds.

She then, with a snarl, slashed her wand and sent the birds flying straight to her opponent.

Susan narrowed her eyes at the incoming attack, and taking a deep breath, she spun in a circle three times and created a wind storm around her. Coming out of her third spin, she finished it with her wand straight at the flocks of birds, and the wind storm she created slammed into them. 

Ana's smile transformed into an open-mouthed shock as all her birds turned to dust from their crushing in the magically created storm.

Susan smiled in smugness, noticing the face of her rival. She then decided she had shown enough to the girl who had always irritated her, and it was now time to end this duel.

Centring herself, she twirled her wand like a ballerina behind her, and then, swinging her wand in a half circle over her head, she pointed her wand at Anaïs and whispered a spell she learned from her family magic.

“Venti dis”

The tip of her wand turned blue, and she held on to it as a gust of wind fired from it at an unbelievable speed.

Anaïs gasped with her hands shaking, and she crouched down to hold on to the ground and used a charm hurriedly as the wind hit her with the force of a hippogriff.

The spell she used prevented her from flying away with the wind, as it stuck her to the ground and created a golden shield around her. But she still slid almost a couple of metres from where she was, such was the power of the spell.

The crowd also gasped in amazement at the powerful spell, and Amelia Bones, who was in the stand to watch her niece fight, beamed with praise and a hidden shock.

She couldn’t believe that Susan knew that wind spell and that she could perform it so well despite how young she was. In fact, Amelia would even say that was the most powerful wind push any member of the Bones family in history has done at such a young age.

When the wind finally died down, Anaïs finally breathed a sigh of relief and thanked her lucky star for having survived that attack.

But she then realised the vulnerable position she was in, and when she looked up, she saw the two spells coming towards her. Although she was screaming from inside to stop the attack, her body refused to obey her. In the end, she just closed her eyes and accepted her defeat.

Susan Bones was better than she was; she just had to live with that. That was the last thought in her mind before the spells hit her, and she fell unconscious with her wand slipping from her hand.

The stadium leapt from their seats and roared wildly, seeing the brilliant use of magic. Among them, one of the loudest was Amelia Bones, who was loudly clapping and shouting her niece's names.

Going by the faces of the Lord around her, it was quite an unusual sight to see the usually stoic woman react like that. But whoever called blamed her?

Susan smiled and basked in her glory before she felt the drain on her magic after using that powerful spell, and she held on to her knees while taking deep breaths.

Harry, who was also grinning widely with pride and love for her girlfriend, saw her panting and ran to the field to support her.

Finding her arm on a wide shoulder and feeling strong arms around her, Susan looked and saw the grinning face of Harry.

“So how did I do?" She asked with a tired smile.

"Bloody, fucking good,” Harry told her with a proud smile and kiss to her head.

Susan leaned into his embrace with a loving smile and sighed. “I hope Auntie liked it, especially that last spell.”

Harry snorted and smirked. "Well, going by the way, she is almost leaping out of her seat. I would say she definitely liked what she saw.”

Susan turned her head where her aunt was and blushed, seeing the uncharacteristically way she was celebrating her victory.

Harry chuckled, noticing her blushing but smiling face, and brought her back to their bench, where Susan was swarmed with her teammates.

“That was amazing, Susie!” Daphne exclaimed, hugging her friend.

“I know.” Susan beamed with pride and returned her friend's excitement.

Harry smiled, seeing her enjoy her well-deserved moment, and turned to choose the next fighter.

Since he and Leo were the only ones left to fight, it would make sense that one of them should go next. But Harry wanted to save his second-strongest fighter, Leo, for the time of need.

As for himself, he was only looking for one fight in this battle as his eyes found the gorgeous Veela, who was staring right back at him with an angry and concerned face.

With four of her teammates out, there were only three left, including her. Whereas Hogwarts still has six of its fighters left. The match was almost out of her hands, and she only hoped that her next fighter would finally bring down one of their opponents.

Deciding to just randomly select, Harry thumped the back of his Hufflepuff teammate.

"Cedric, you look like you are ready for a fight again." Harry cocked his eyebrow.

“I am” Cedric nodded, not feeling tired at all.

"Good.” Harry smiled. “Because I am asking a favour from you to win another fight for us.”

“You got it, Harry." Cedric smiled with his full white teeth and jogged to the battlefield.

"Ah, he is a good guy. But I don’t think he will win this fight.” Harry muttered, scratching his chin as he watched the third last fighter of Beauxbaton enter the field.

There were only three left in their opposition team, and the chances were they were the most powerful of their team. Or so he hoped, because if Harry was being honest, the last four weren’t any special.

The new fighter of the French school was a short but stocky-built seventh-year boy named Benoit Fournier.

By the look of his body, Harry would guess he was a robust-style fighter with the power to pack. Although Warrington was an example of how you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, this guy could be the same.

But when the fight started and finished in just two minutes, Harry was proven right.

Benoit was a fighter who preferred power over movement. And for the second time in the battle, Hogwarts lost.

Cedric just couldn’t handle the overwhelming power of his opponent, who was destroying terrain with just one of his spells.

Which was why it wasn’t hard enough for Benoit to break through any defence of Cedric and knock him out.

“Finally! After four losses in a row, Beauxbaton finally wins a fight! Benoit Fournier just showed that if you have enough power, you don’t need any speed! Now it will be interesting to see if Hogwarts captain Harry Potter does the same thing he did after the first fight.”

Hearing Bagman's words, Harry wanted to do exactly that, but he decided to use an unmovable force against a very breakable force.

"Warrington, let’s see if you can withhold his power.” Harry challenged the Slytherin and raised his eyebrows in amusement when he got a smirk back from a normally stoic man.

Harry crossed his arm as he waited to see what would be an entertaining fight.

And... it did not disappoint.

Beloit once again tried to bulldoze his opponent's defence, but this time he was against someone who was pretty good at transfiguration. And everyone knew transfiguration was the magical area best for defence.

Warrington really proved that he was one of the best defensive fighters. Despite destroying many of his conjured walls, he continued to sprout them with ease.

But the same couldn’t be said for the powerful French boy, who, after trying to find a hole in his opponent's defence by literally blowing everything away, soon found himself depleted.

And when that happened, Warrington struck like a snake, waiting to kill his prey.

Transfiguring a pair of chains, he bound his opponent and forced Benoit to forfeit the match. Effectively handing Warrington his second win of the day.

“He just really is something else, isn’t he? Cassius Warrington, for the second time of the day, comes out victorious, and Beauxbaton's building hope suffers a big blow! Only two fighters remain, including the captain herself. It will be interesting to see if Fleur Delacour will come to fight next.”

Harry smirked because he already knew the answer to that, as his opposition team captain sent her last fighter instead of going herself.

Warrington looked back at his captain for his decision, and Harry shook his head. The Slytherin nodded and turned back for his third fight of the day.

“It seems Captain Fleur has decided that she will go last, as she sent his last fighter, Mael Martin! On the other hand, Captain Harry Potter has decided to stick with his current undefeated fighter.”

Mael Martin, in Harry’s opinion, was the most intriguing member of the French team. He was a tall, slim boy, showing he would be very quick on his feet, and there was always no emotion on his face.

If Harry has learned something in life, it's that the most emotionless people are always the most dangerous.

It was now up to be seen whether Mael was another example of that claim.

Five minutes later, when the home crowd had wide eyes in shock and panic and the French crowd was roaring the loudest, Harry had his answer.

It wasn’t that Mael defeated Warrington; it was him defeating Cassius and Angelina one after another that left the crowd in shock.

For the whole five minutes, Warrington was the only fighter with two wins. But now Mael has matched that, and he has done it back to back.

Harry, though, instead of worrying, was very impressed by the emotionless boy who had defeated two of his fighters, and he wasn't even sweating.

Mael's fighting style was exactly as expected. He was very quick on his feet and didn’t stand in one place for even a second. He even packed a surprising amount of power into his spells.

But it was his outstanding battle IQ that made him so dangerous.

Mael fought like a chess player, with him always one step ahead of his opponent. He was too smart and too quick for a hitter to get a read on him before they found themselves without their wand.

It seemed there was no weakness in his game, but the same couldn’t be said for Harry.

After watching him defeat Warrington with no problem, Harry zoned in on the next fight between the French guy and Angelina.

It was then that he noticed something very interesting. Mael had a strong preference for his right hand.

In both fights, Harry noticed that the unfazed guy always tried to move to his right to get the vision of his opponent with his right hand in an easy attacking zone.

Although it was small, it was easy to spot for someone who had spent a lot of time duelling.

And Harry knew there was only one member of his team who would have noticed that strange occurrence in Mael's fight. Which meant he was the only one who could use this against the seemingly unstoppable guy.

Harry turned to the only member of his team beside himself who hadn’t gone to fight, and he wasn’t surprised to find him staring at him already.

"Leo, it's finally your turn,” Harry said, holding the shoulder of the Hogwarts head boy.

Leo was the seventh-year Ravenclaw and this year's chosen head boy of Hogwarts. He was tall and just an inch shorter than Harry, something that irked him as Harry was three years younger than him.

He had dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. He was also the chaser of his house team, which showed in his lean build, but he didn’t tryout for a position on the quidditch team in this tournament.

The reason for that was that he was the son of an international dueller, and like his father, he wanted to be a dueller more than a quidditch player. And his father was very proud when he told him the news of his selection, though the senior Alder was also a little disappointed that he wasn’t chosen as captain.

People would have thought that Leo himself would be angry, as he was known as her best dueller of hogwarts. Leo would have felt the same if he hadn’t seen Harry defeat his friend and fellow head girl, Audrey Rosier.

Being a fellow duelist of hers for many years, Leo knew if there was anyone who could defeat her the way Potter did, that man deserved his respect.

Also, after only a few training sessions with the boy who lived, Leo had to admit Harry Potter was very good, and as hard as it was to admit, he was even better than him.

“Finally! I have been so bored waiting for when I will fight,” the Ravenclaw seventh-year sighed dramatically.

Harry chuckled at his acting and then turned serious, leaning closer to his teammate.

“Did you notice something?” Harry asked quietly. 

“I did.” Leo nodded. “He is always moving to his right to get a gelded from that sight. It seems that it’s possible to make it uncomfortable for him by forcing him to fight on his left side.”

Harry smiled, feeling impressed by his acute observation. “You know what you have to do,” he said, squeezing his teammates shoulders.

Leo nodded with a confident smile on his face, then stepped on the terrain. After waiting for so long, it was finally his turn to fight, and the opponent seemed to be a challenging one as well.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen, it seems Captain Potter is bringing his big gun in the form of head boy Leo Alder. It will be interesting to see if Leo is able to beat the seemingly too-good Mael Martin.”

If Leo was affected by the commentary, he didn’t show it, as he still had a small smile on his face while facing his emotionless opponent.

After bowing to each other, the fighters took a couple of steps back, shifted into their stances, and waited for the bang.

When the bang did sound, Mael, as he always did, made the first move while moving to his right already.

But this time his opponent shielded himself from the yellow spell flying towards him and retaliated swiftly, just as he had planned.

Seeing the ‘bone breaker’ flying straight to his right, Mael had no other option but to step to his left to dodge the spell.

Smirking Leo had his opponent right where he wanted, and he began pressing, not letting him breathe for a moment.

Which worked much to Leo and Harry joy as Mael was forced to keep going on his left side, and it showed how much of a weakness it was of him that he wasn’t even able to fire one spell.

Going by the panicked face of Fleur Harry, I could guess she knows her opponent has figured out her strongest teammate weakness. 

Though still under pressure from the barrage of spells, Mael was able to read his opponent and was finally able to fire a spell back.

Unfortunately for him and his captain, the spell was off target, which was so unlike him.

Leo smirked, seeing the spell fly past him without even being close to him. Finally, there was an expression on the face of Mael Martin after being in the uncomfortable position he was in for the first time in the day. So Ravenclaw decided now was the time to end the fight.

Gripping his wand with both of his hands, Leo slammed it on the ground, and after a pulse of power from him, the whole battlefield shook on its own.

The home crowd watched in excitement and amazement, while the French crowd was in fear, seeing their star fighter struggling to even stand.

For the first time in a long time, Mael's eyes widened, panicking as he found himself in a situation where he was the one losing, and he had no idea how to defend himself.

When Leo, who was sweating now, made a last tremor with a great roar, the biggest ground shake happened, and Mael was thrown from the field with his whole body in the air. The poor boy didn’t even know what happened before he was flying away out of the field and straight at his team stand, where he landed right beside his captain's feet.

Fleur's face showed the result of the fight, and if not that, then the crowd going crazy was enough to prove that Hogwarts was now one step away from victory.

Harry clapped along with the crowd for his teammate with an impressed smile. He didn’t know how good the head boy really was, but after seeing him fight seriously, Harry was left pretty impressed.

Especially that last spell. To bring an earthquake to such a wide area was an astounding feat.

With a sigh, Fleur watched as the medical team carried her downed teammate away. She was the only one left in her team, and she had to defeat the three remaining opposition fighters by herself.

It wasn’t an easy situation; hell, it was actually an impossible situation, but Fleur Delacour wasn't some weak girl who downed her tools in front of a situation like this.

Hardening her resolve, the gorgeous Veela face became serious and in focus as she straightened her posture and walked to the field with all the grace she was born with.

She was ready to do anything to win this battle for her team as the captain she was. But at first, there was only one man she wanted to fight, and it depends on that fight if she has any chances of pulling off this miracle.

Which was why, as she stood in front of the latest fighter who defeated the last of her team, she didn’t look at him. No, instead, her eyes were right on Harry, who was staring back at her with a knowing expression.

Harry saw the challenging fire in those sapphire eyes of Fleur and knew what she wanted. Declining a beautiful girl like her was something Harry could never do. Also, he wanted the same.

"Sorry, Susan, it seems you will not get to fight again today." Harry turned to his buxom girlfriend and sighed in mock apology.

“Oh well, no problem." Susan shrugged, trying to hide her smile. “But do sure to defeat that Frenchie, or else I will have to.”

"Oh, don’t you worry, love,” Harry whispered, stealing a kiss from her and stepping on to the field at last.

"Leo, it’s my turn for some fun,” Harry said to his teammates standing beside him on the terrain, which was in its worst state after what it went through the whole day.

“Are you sure? I can defeat her; you don’t have to.” Leo raised his eyebrow and smirked. “It will be quite a statement if we win without our captain fighting once.”

“It would have been, but there are two problems." Harry confided in his overconfident teammate. "First, I don’t want to hurt your pride, but you can’t defeat her. She is a duelling champion for a reason.”

Leo's lips thinned, but after thinking about it like a Ravenclaw, he knew Harry was right.

“And second,” Harry continued, this time with a smile on his face and his eyes on the platinum blonde girl on the other side. “Both of us have been waiting for this fight for a few weeks now.”

Leo looked at his captain, and then at the other team captain, who had her eyes right on Harry. Noticing the intense stare between them, he chuckled and shook his head in amusement.

“I don’t know how you do it, but somehow you do it, so I’m not surprised.” Leo said it with a smirk and an impressed face. “But don’t you already have enough? Leave some for us as well.”

Harry turned to the head boy and raised his eyebrow. “What do you mean, us? Don’t you have a girlfriend?”

Leo stuttered, his face turning red. “F- First of all, it’s ironic coming from you. But also..” With a scarred face, the Ravenclaw leaned closer and whispered. “Please don’t tell Sera what I said. Will you?”

Harry bit his lips to stop the smile and took a thinking pose, as if he were contemplating the answer. All the while, Leo was sweating in fear and hope.

After a couple seconds of acting, Harry finally sighed. "Alright, I won't.”

“Thank you, Harry.” Leo smiled in relief and then thumped his captain's shoulder. “And win this fight, will you? Or it will be embarrassing for you to lose to another team captain."

“Don’t you worry.” Harry smirked and turned back to Fleur, whose face was twisting in impatience.

Leo nodded one last time and walked back to the bench, high-fiving his happy teammate.

As the two captains faced each other, they both went into their own world, forgetting about everyone else. Even the bagman, who was loudly introducing what could be the last fight of the day, was mute to the two champions.

“Took you long enough” Fleur said with an arrogant smirk. “I zhough you will be scared of me and let anyone else fighz.”

Harry tried not to stare at her very kissable lips while they moved and replied back. "Oh, don’t you worry, your pretty head. You knew I was going to fight you; no need to lie.” He tutted, shaking his finger, and then smiled slyly. “Or maybe you are trying to put on a brave face, and the truth is that you are scared because you know you're going to lose.”

Fleur narrowed her eyes and greeted her teeth, as if she wanted to screech in anger. With a deep breath, she did not let her emotions take control, thus giving her opponent satisfaction by taking his bait.

She instead put on a beautiful smile and said, “We will see who wins.”

"Oh, we will.” Harry whispered with his eyes alight in challenge and an excited smile on his face.

Both bowed to each other and, taking the steps, got into their own special stances.

The stage was set, the fighters were ready, and the crowd was at the edge of their seats, as they all knew this would be a fight to see.

Which would come out on top.

The Beauxbaton duelling and Tri Wizard Champion Fleur Delacour...

Or…

..

. The boy who lived, Hogwarts Tri-Wizard champion Harry Potter.

 P/S: The next update will be the new chapter of DyTSM, which I can promise will be out before the end of this month, which is on Sunday.