Chapter 43: Champion Against Champion
"How are you feeling? Ready for the bout?"
Flitwick looked at me with mild interest.
"Yes, Master. I am not at my absolute best, but I will not embarrass myself."
"Good. Go and show them what you are made of."
That was all Flitwick said to me before breakfast. We didn't return to the subject, preferring easy conversation that didn't commit us to anything. An hour later, we stood before the platform, and I kept glancing at the officials as they made their preparations.
"There seem to be even more people than before."
"The more anticipated a bout, the larger the crowd. I expect that next year, if you decide to enter again, things will be much the same, except that more people will come even to the early rounds, because everyone will want to see the Briton who actually achieved something here for once."
Flitwick answered with a slight smile.
"I see."
I closed my eyes and began running through possible scenarios for the fight ahead, turning them over in my mind in something close to a meditative state. I stayed like that until Fleur touched my shoulder.
"It is about to start."
"Right. Thank you."
"And now, our contender! Champion of the eleven-to-twelve age group, the dark horse straight out of Britain! The wizard of four spells! Dra-a-cco Black!"
I sighed and stepped slowly onto the platform.
He really shouldn't have said "wizard of four spells." Though perhaps his words would mislead my opponent and help me win quickly. I shouldn't count on it.
"His opponent... a witch from Germany! She has demonstrated remarkable knowledge and the ability to adapt to any opponent, but will that help her when all she knows about her adversary is that he uses four spells to devastating effect? The enchanting Marie Becker!"
When I noticed Marie arched an eyebrow, I understood she was asking whether we were meeting in the center, and I nodded. We walked forward, and I gallantly pressed my lips to the air just above her hand.
"May the bout be a fair one."
May the strongest prevail.
We exchanged those words and returned to our positions.
"The bout begins in... three... two... one... begin!"
The moment the command was given, I raised a shield and launched a rapid sequence of Disarming, Binding, Immobilizing, and Knockback spells at my opponent. She partially dodged and partially shielded, sending back a combination of Air and Fire spells that amplified each other and shattered my shield. I threw up a replacement instantly, not a standard shield, but an angled one that deflected the spell upward.
Even so, I didn't stop. While her spell was still in flight, I managed to send a pair of Stunning Charms her way and cast a weak illusion of spikes across the ground, making her think I'd Transfigured the platform into a bed of painful barbs.
That didn't save me, however. After the spell glanced upward, five more lightning-class spells caught my shield, destroying it again and nearly striking me directly. I had to roll sideways to avoid them. Coming out of the roll, I sent several Air Battering Charms at her, not as elegant as her own work, but enough to leave her no room to maneuver on the platform and force her onto the defensive.
While she was building a Protego equivalent optimized to counter Air magic, I conjured a simple Lightning Charm, far quicker than anything Air-based. It crossed the distance between us and slipped through her still-forming defense before it was ready, forcing her to dodge, then conjure a far less efficient but much faster shield to absorb the Air Battering Charms that arrived right behind it.
We went still.
The first exchange was over, and both of us had a moment to think. That would last only until one of us made the next move, but it was worth analyzing what had just passed between us.
I caught the faintest twitch at the tip of her wand and decided to move first. My fastest spell, a wordless and gestureless Disarming Charm, left my wand and flew at her. While she was still building her Protego, I had time to release a darker variant of the Disarming Charm, one that passed entirely through ordinary shields.
She didn't know that spell, and she had to roll aside to avoid it. I was already sending the next one, an ordinary Lumos this time, not strong enough to blind, just a small feint designed to make her close her eyes. Instead of closing them, she conjured a cloud of darkness that simply blocked the light. From behind that dark cloud she launched several Air Battering Charms and a volley of fire projectiles, which merged into high-powered Flaming Battering Charms.
With a gesture and a word, a torrent of water rose from my side like a small tsunami, sweeping her Battering Charms aside. It overtook her and began dragging her backward toward the edge of the platform.
"Stop!"
The referee halted the duel as my opponent, brought up short right at the platform's edge, was preparing to send a spell at me.
"Return to the circle."
She blinked slowly, then looked down at her feet. I had a moment to take in my opponent properly, her dueling robes clinging to her soaked figure. She wasn't attractive to me in a romantic sense, being far too young for that, but her build commanded respect. That kind of physique only comes from training every single day.
"First warning. A second warning will award victory to the other side. Back inside the circle."
She nodded and stepped back in, drying and straightening her clothes as she walked.
"Ready?"
"Yes."
We looked at one another, each seeing in the other a worthy opponent, though I suspected she had not quite seen me that way at the start.
"Begin!"
One command and we were back at it, trading spells across the platform once more.
Standard beam spells gave way to fire, air, and water, though these were still the most basic expressions of each element. An Air Battering Charm, a Fire Arrow, a Fire Bolt, and a Lightning Bolt. They might seem like complex manipulations of elemental force, but they are not. They are the simplest forms possible. Any first-year who applied themselves could produce them. The advanced tier of elemental magic is something else entirely: transforming an element into a form it does not naturally take, or giving it properties it does not naturally possess. A flame that does not burn anything. Water that sets fire to everything it touches. Lightning that travels through solid earth.
We were nowhere near that level, nor were the competitors in the older age groups, because advanced transformations of that kind simply take too long in a duel. In the time it takes to conjure, say, a fire phoenix that passes through an opponent and freezes them solid, your opponent will have sent two or three dozen far simpler spells at your head. There are rare individuals who have drilled their advanced spells to a point where the speed becomes competitive, but...
"Stop!"
The referee halted the bout. I winced. My foot had crossed the circle line by half a step.
"First warning! A second warning awards the bout to your opponent. Return to the circle."
I stepped back in and took my stance. A satisfied smile appeared on my opponent's lips.
She was good.
This was not a question of distraction. Thoughts like that did not distract me. She had genuinely maneuvered me into making that mistake. We were playing something like a giant game of chess, or the more complex game of Go, where the aim was to win not only through force but through wit, because no one questions the victor's methods.
"Begin!"
And once again my thoughts slipped away, and my body moved, driven by the reflexes Flitwick had drilled into me, spell after spell flowing toward my opponent, her spells caught on a shield or avoided with a sideways step.
I had to be extremely careful. There was no room in this bout for even a fraction of a second's hesitation, and that was precisely why I had handed most of the fighting over to those reflexes, only steering them occasionally or changing course. It allowed me to react far more quickly.
I adjusted my approach. When an Air spell came at me, the logical counter would have been a Fire spell with slightly more power behind it; the fire would absorb the air. But I calculated that she would be expecting exactly that. So instead of Fire, I sent Lightning, which passed straight through the Air spell, forcing her to shield against it while I stepped clear of the Air spell's path. She had to leap sideways and throw up an Earth Wall, which came out rough and uneven.
"Tss."
She shook her left hand, which the lightning had partially caught.
I did not give her time to recover and sent a new sequence of spells at her, which she began to block with increasing difficulty. At first she still tried to return fire, but gradually she shifted toward pure defense.
I was pleased with that for about two seconds, until a thought crossed my mind: I had used exactly the same trick myself not long ago to beat an opponent. That realization cleared my head rather quickly.
I began treating her actions with considerably more caution.
Step by step, I pressed down on her, trying to force her back another inch, then another.
Spell after spell.
And at last she cracked. She caught sight of the circle's edge out of the corner of her eye and realized how dangerously close she had come to it, and she simply erupted in a storm of spells. I raised my shield, poured more energy into it, and let the wave break against it.
Even so, I had to keep moving to dodge the spells that punched holes in my shield. They were punching holes, yes, but thanks to the excess energy I had channeled into it, the shield continued to hold together. By the time she finally ran dry, my shield was riddled with roughly ten openings and covered in cracks.
But that no longer mattered to her. A few quick Disarming Charms, and I knocked her wand from her hand.
"Victory, Draco Black!"
The crowd erupted. I walked calmly over to my opponent and held out her wand.
"Thank you..."
I inclined my head slightly.
"...it was a splendid duel."
"Yes. But I was the weaker one."
"That happens. Next time you will learn from your mistakes and be stronger for them."
"Yes."
A smile touched the corner of her mouth, and we both bowed to the referee and then to the spectators.
"Does our now two-time winner have anything he wishes to say?"
"Yes..."
I amplified my voice with a spell again.
"...I wish to challenge the champion of the fifteen-to-sixteen age group."
"My goodness."
The referee shook his head, clearly taken aback.
"...I am obliged to ask. Are you certain? I have seen your level, and I know the level of the next group's champion. You will clearly be at a disadvantage."
"If I never challenge those stronger than me, how am I supposed to grow stronger?"
"Hmm. Very well. Tomorrow's bout will be between these two champions: our dark horse from Great Britain, Draco Black, and the champion from Russia, Alexei Gorny!"
The audience erupted again, and I was finally able to leave.
"Hmm."
Flitwick looked at me thoughtfully.
"What?"
"A debatable decision, but I am not going to reproach you for it. You genuinely need to understand where you stand. Go out there tomorrow and show them everything you have."
"Thank you, Master."
I gave a slow nod.
"I, on the other hand, do not approve..."
Fleur shook her head.
"...we both saw what that Gorny is capable of. That German girl could not have handled him, nor could anyone from the younger age groups, and you challenged him anyway. But..."
She took a slow breath and let it out just as slowly.
"...I will be cheering for you."
"Thank you."
I gave her a nod, and we all set off together toward the familiar café, where we settled in to celebrate yet another victory. Fleur had even stopped fretting over her own recent loss, caught up in my joy. She really was a good person.
After the celebration, we went our separate ways, and I finally reached my room and collapsed on the bed, spread out like a starfish.
"I am absolutely exhausted," I said aloud to no one in particular. But lying there wasn't an option. I still needed to wash up. Cleaning up with magic was all well and good, but only a proper hot bath could make me feel human again.
So I forced myself up and made my way to the bathroom, where I soaked for the better part of an hour before finally hauling myself to bed, asleep before another thought could cross my mind.
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