"Call me Harry, then. Say, what kind of armour is that? It's certainly a lot better than the robes I'm using."
"There is a very good armour-crafter in Russia. This armour is made from Ironbelly Dragon of Ukraine. I must varn you, his skill does not come cheap."
Harry was about to ask how Viktor could have afforded it, but reminded himself that he was already an international star. By then, the mediwitches were done applying the salves, and most of the small cuts and burns were already healing quickly on both of the champions. With a Pepper-Up potion for each of them, they were quickly back on their feet as they made their way back on stage. As the two of them emerged from the tent, a loud cheer erupted from the crowd.
"It looks like our two champions have returned! I wish I could be so young, to be able to recover from such a beating so quickly. Let's have another round of applause for them!" Harry rolled his eyes as Bagman continued to drum up more excitement from the crowd.
"In fourth place, we have Fleur Delacour! She leaves this event with no wins, but still earned twenty points for her masterful use of the traditional Veela Embersword and Windsurge Shield. In addition, she also showed us the fury of her Veela avian form in her duel against Harry Potter. I know I wouldn't want to cross her!" The audience laughed and applauded, while Fleur bowed to the judges, evidently disappointed in herself. Harry noted a flash of shame cross her face when Bagman mentioned her transformation, as well.
"In third place is Cedric Diggory, who earned thirty-five points with one win, one loss, and one stalemate. He earns an additional fifteen points for his use of a Magehand caster-glove, but his lack of a backup plan once his glove's gems were exhausted prevented him earning full points for his preparation." Cedric seemed rather happy with his results and waved to the crowd while still wearing his jewelled glove.
"Second place goes to Harry Potter, who earned forty-five points with one win and two stalemates. His wide variety of odd trinkets and potions, all of which appear to be hand-made, earned him seventeen points. The judges would like to mention to Mr. Potter that a slightly less volatile set of devices could prevent him from being injured by his own weapon." The crowd chuckled at that, while Harry caught a few disapproving glares from the judges. Apparently a few of them were bowled over by the explosion as well. Knowing that the twins were watching, however, he motioned to Mr. Bagman. "It appears that Mr. Potter has something to say."
With a quick sonorous, Harry made good on his promise to the twins. "I just want to thank Messrs. Fred and George Weasley for their help today. All the devices I used are available, in slightly less volatile form, of course, via owl-order from the Weasley Wizarding Wheezes. You can find them by..." He was interrupted by a firework being launched from the spectator's seats, which shot high up into the air and formed their triple-W logo. Harry could make out the twins standing up and waving. "Um... I guess you can find them right there."
"Thank you, Mr. Potter. I'm sure they will have very profitable times ahead. Finally, in first place, we have Viktor Krum, who won two of his duels and ended the last one in a stalemate and earning sixty points. We must congratulate him for his expert use of the ancient and traditional wizard's staff and combining it with modern hitwizard armour, a very potent combination indeed. He earns the full twenty-five point bonus as a result."
Harry was still in first place thanks to his excellent performance in the Trial of Water, but now Krum was in second, and not very far behind either. As they all walked off the stage, Cedric grinned at Harry. "So, you managed to get Fleur mad, eh? I don't like to admit it, but she's usually the one who's in control, if you know what I mean. What did you do to her?"
I hope he doesn't suspect that I touched her bum or something, Harry thought. "I kind of... dropped her into a swamp. After dodging all of her attacks, that is. I think she was getting a little frustrated already, but the swamp thing pushed her over the edge. How did you do against her?"
"Oh, I was a mess. I thought I'd be safe keeping my distance, but that sword of hers is unpredictable! I must have gotten burned a dozen times before I managed to finally hit her with a quadruple-powered expelliarmus followed by a stunner. Everything weaker just kept getting deflected by that shield of hers. How did you really manage to dodge all her attacks?"
"Um... Moody told me to learn it for duelling. Constant Vigilance and all," Harry lied, not wanting to give away the full extent of his skills. "So, how does that glove work? Where did you get it?"
"Heidi's grandfather is a jeweller, with a particularly special interest in goblin-made trinkets. I think it's called Telamon's Treasure house." Cedric laughed. "He had quite a story to tell about these gloves. Since they were banned from using wands a few centuries ago, they learned to make these instead. Of course, the ministry confiscated all of them and banned these as well right after they found out. He lent it to me, hoping the publicity would be good for his business. I didn't think about interrupting Bagman on stage like you did, though."
The discussion of the gemmed glove took them back all the way to the champion's tent, where they were very quickly briefed on the next trial- the Trial of Earth. Again, it was one month away, and this time they would be back to their standard equipment- regular robes and a wand. The only clue they were left with was, "Study your potions." Harry wanted to protest, because this was the one thing all three other champions had a clear advantage over him. So far, the three-year gap between him and the other champions didn't show very strongly, because the Trial of Air depended mostly on flying skills, the Trial of Water was more about solving a riddle and getting used to an unusual environment, and the Trials of Champions were about quick thinking, good aim, and reflexes as much as power and spell repertoire. This was the first time he'd been told to simply buckle down and study.
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