"Oh, I don't think I could," Neville admitted. "Ideally you'd also factor in ley lines and have access to a water source. This would span acres and would need to be far away from any pollutants and I would have to start with the seeds so it would take years to even find the perfect spot, let alone for the planting and everything ." Neville looked very wistful.
"You'd have some wicked powerful trees though," Harry said. "I wonder if you presented this to Ollivander or something. Where does he get his wand wood from? Scale this down, and I think it would be an interesting business venture. Although, maybe don't tell anyone about the sacrifice bit."
...
After the game was more dueling, luckily held inside again and out of the winter chill. There were forty duelists left. With the chaotic first round weeding out only the worst of the worst, there were still plenty of them who were awful. Harry sat next to Sirius who had a lot of wonderfully rude commentary to make about each child's performance.
"Oh! Damn. It's impressive how bad that poor kid missed. Was he aiming?"
Ron's duel was against Malfoy. Every Weasley was on the edge of their seats. Across the Great Hall, Harry could make out the blonde Malfoy family sitting near the Minister. His parents did not look overly concerned, clapping proudly at their annoying son.
"C'mon Ronnie! Grind him into the dirt!" Arthur shouted.
"Arthur!" His wife scolded.
"What? I have to see Lucius Malfoy at the Ministry on Monday morning. One of us will get bragging rights, and it won't be that pretentious bastard. Kick his ass, Ron!" Ron waved at them and stepped onto the platform.
He stared Malfoy down.
"Scared, Weasel?" Malfoy gloated, his voice quiet over the excited cheering of the crowd.
"I was, loads. But that was before I realized I only have to face off with you," Ron said. "Harry's taught me plenty of spells, I'll do just fine, I reckon."
Malfoy went pale.
"I wonder if I'll be able to transfigure you into a ferret?" Ron continued with glee. The referee called out for the match to start with a loud blast of his whistle.
"Serpensortia!"
"Avis!"
Malfoy conjured a snake and Ron conjured a bird - a large owl which promptly picked up the slow-moving creature and ate it with gusto.
Ron then cast something, wordlessly - he heard his family cheer loudly. Malfoy barely dodged out of the way. With a waving flick, Malfoy conjured a blasting wind, the force of which put Ron on his heels. Ron slashed downward, and the dueling platform splintered, rising into a barrier between them. Another slash turned the wood pieces into thick rock.
"Oh, nice transfiguration!" Sirius said. From the sidelines, McGonagall raised an eyebrow and gave a few polite claps at the spellwork.
Malfoy attempted to blast through the barrier, but it barely chipped. Ron peeked around it and fired off some wordless jinxes. Malfoy went down with a jelly-legs jinx and leaned up on his elbows, sending something back at Ron, who hid back behind his barrier with an "eep!"
Malfoy used the moment of respite to regain the use of his legs. His wand cast quickly, and another section of the platform began to shift, morphing into an ornate marbled column.
"He's trying to show off," Harry said. "Pretentious git!"
The whole auditorium heard Ron's snort of laughter. Malfoy paused in his transfiguration.
"What's so funny, Weasel?"
Ron stepped out from behind his shelter, wand loose at his side. Everyone watched, wondering what he was about to do, as Ron casually went over to the marble tower, placed the flat of his hand against it, and tipped it over. It shattered against the ground into shards of wood. It was a shoddy transfiguration. Malfoy made a little squeak of embarrassment as laughter echoed up and down the rows of the audience.
"Let's see you do better!" He sneered, seemingly forgetting that they were supposed to be fighting in his quest to one-up Ron. Ron twisted out a long, complex movement and another pillar, identical to Malfoy's appeared before them.
"He conjured that, not transfigured it!" Hermione said loudly. "I can't believe he convinced me he was stupid and had me look over his homework for him! That lazy boy, why I'll never -"
Harry patted her on the arm. The only person more furious than Hermione was Malfoy.
"Go ahead, tip it over," Ron gloated, arms crossed and confident. Before Malfoy could take a step, Ron summoned the boy's wand and shot Malfoy in the face with something painful. He crashed into the floor, clutching his face. Ron went to fire again, stopped only by the sharp whistle.
The stadium erupted into applause.
McGonagall, who was closest to him, gave him a solid pat on the back, a thin, but pleased smile on her face. She whispered something to him, and the large grin that bloomed across Ron's face was visible even from the far ends of the hall.
"I beat the shit out of Malfoy," he kept repeating. "I reached the final round!"