Chapter 85 — A Change of Plans
Chapter 85: A Change of Plans
"Ladies and gentlemen! Today we bring you the next match! This year, just as last year, the champion of the first age group has shown the nerve to challenge not only a competitor from the thirteen-to-fourteen age group, but the winner of the fifteen-to-sixteen group as well!"
The stands erupted. I stood before the platform and felt a pang of regret that some of our group had to return to Hogwarts: their request for a short study leave had been refused, despite all of them being exemplary students.
Though that was beside the point now.
"Calling to the platform the winner of the first two age groups, Draco Black!"
I stepped up.
"And his formidable opponent, Inna Liman!"
We walked to the center of the platform. I moved to kiss the air above her hand by force of habit, but she simply gripped my hand firmly, making her feelings on the subject clear.
"Separate."
She released my hand and we moved to our positions, faced each other, and exchanged the traditional bow.
"Bout begins in three... two... one... start!"
I decided to press the attack immediately, sending a rapid sequence at my opponent: a Fire Lance, a volley of air-bullets, a compact ball of lightning, and several explosive spells. She went straight on the defensive.
I buried her under a relentless barrage, the most powerful spells aimed not to harm directly but to crack open a new shield, before lighter follow-ups finished it off.
She clearly hadn't expected this kind of aggression from me. In previous bouts I had never forced opponents onto the defensive like this. And no, I wasn't reacting to her refusal to let me observe the courtesy at the start: it was simply that she was older, more experienced, and had been watching my bouts carefully. I needed to knock her off balance.
Blow after blow, I kept her pinned in defense.
She wasn't about to lose in a hurry, though; she held her ground with considerable skill.
A Shield Charm deflected a small lightning bolt she managed to fire in my direction, but it didn't give her the opening she needed to counterattack. I kept the pressure on without pause, and eventually she couldn't take it any longer.
She understood perfectly well that sitting in a tight defense and occasionally snapping back would only lead to defeat. So she committed: she poured as much magic as she could into her shield, then began building several spells at once. But at that moment five powerful spells slammed into her shield and it shattered.
I had to lean aside to let her return fire pass over me, and I took part of it on my own shield, but her attack went no further, because her shield was gone and she had to raise another.
And it was plain that this was costing her greatly.
She was beginning to breathe hard.
Three spells and her next shield shattered. In a last desperate attempt she hurled an Explosive Hex at me and I moved to take it on my shield... And at that exact moment, with a grinding screech, a rift tore open directly between us, and creatures began pouring through.
What in the—
Without moving from my spot, I raised my wand and channeled half my remaining reserves into the spell.
"Fiendfyre!"
A literal wall of Fiendfyre blazed up in front of the rift, and the flame consumed every small creature that tumbled into it with ravenous hunger.
"Evacuate the spectators!"
I called out to the referee. He nodded and pressed his wand to his throat.
"Ladies and gentlemen, an unforeseen incident has occurred. You will be informed in due course about the continuation of the tournament. For now, I ask all of you to leave the stands and make your way to the pre-designated shelters. The Aurors will direct you."
While he spoke, our mothers, Flitwick, the Delacours, and everyone else who had stayed to watch the bout leapt down from the box and formed a semicircle facing the breach.
"Draco, how long can you hold it?"
"Well, there are a great many creatures in there, and Fiendfyre sustains itself, but it becomes harder and harder to control. I think I can hold it for five minutes. After that, it'll need to be dispersed."
"Hold on. We'll prepare a proper defensive line."
The Aurors were already with us, adding their own workings to the fortifications.
"That's it."
I held the spell for approximately five minutes.
"I can't maintain it any longer. I'm bringing the fire down!"
I dispersed the Fiendfyre and immediately fell back towards the fortifications. They had been thrown together quickly, but even so, they protected the Aurors and everyone else who had stayed to hold the line, including me, once I was behind them.
"Draco, are you all right?"
Fleur was at my side, casting a quick, anxious look over me.
"I'll live. Give me a couple of minutes and I'll be back in it."
"Stay and rest."
One of the Aurors turned to me.
"You've given us the time we needed to organize. Because of you, a great many civilians will survive today. It's a pity we can't always react like this. These rifts tend to open where there are no Aurors at all."
I simply shrugged.
After a couple of minutes, when I rejoined the fight, nobody said a word. The creatures were coming through in staggering numbers, far more than in that wretched incident in France the previous summer.
"When will they stop?!"
At that moment a red projectile flew out of the breach, struck one of the creatures, and detonated.
"That..."
I looked at Fleur in surprise. She was standing beside me.
"It looks as though someone on the other side is also trying to kill them. Or it was aimed at us and hit the creature by mistake."
"Mm."
I shook my head.
"I'd like to believe the first, but it's too early to say what that red projectile was."
"Agreed."
Fleur nodded, and we continued destroying the creatures when suddenly something else came through the breach, another creature, but significantly larger than anything we had seen. It vaguely resembled a large bear, and the bony protrusions across its body served as armor, which became obvious the moment several spells bounced off it.
"HRRAAAAH!"
The creature reared up on its hind legs. I immediately sent a powerful Severing Hex straight into its underbelly, which split it open cleanly, and it sank to the ground and dissolved into black smoke. But this was not the end. Now these larger creatures were also pouring through the breach, and dealing with them was considerably harder. Not all of them were obliging enough to rear up and give me a clear shot.
And the endless smaller creatures kept demanding attention at the same time.
"We're building a second line, hold on as long as you can!"
I watched my recent opponent fall back with several Aurors and begin constructing a new defensive position. Without Auror support things became significantly harder, and I decided to use Fiendfyre a second time.
"Fiendfyre!"
The flame roared up and sealed the breach, consuming every creature that tried to force its way through.
I went down on one knee; the fight had already cost me a great deal of magic, and controlling the fire now demanded pure willpower, as did staying conscious.
"Take it, Draco!"
Bella was suddenly beside me, hands on my shoulders. A flick of her wand, and the crushing weight lifted. She had taken the spell from me.
"Thank you."
Fleur caught me before I fell backwards and steadied me, keeping her eyes on the Fiendfyre as it consumed the creatures.
Holding the spell was far easier for Bella, but I didn't understand why she hadn't simply cast it herself from the start. I would need to ask her about that later. For now I needed to recover.
I reached for a small pouch on my mother's hip and found a vial of General Strengthening Potion. It wouldn't restore my magic, but it would at least help me feel steadier on my feet.
"We're ready, fall back!"
We all made it to the second line.
"How long can you hold it?"
"About twenty minutes."
Bella said it as though it were the most ordinary thing in the world.
"Then why didn't you cast Fiendfyre in the first place?!"
"Don't shout at me."
Bella threw a sharp look at the Auror.
"As for your question, I didn't do it because the situation gets worse every month. Another year or two and there will be very few safe places left on this planet. We all need to learn what creatures exist on the other side. We need to learn how to fight them and develop tactics."
"Fleur, a favour."
I took a small keychain pendant in the shape of a battle axe. She enlarged it with a flick of her wand. I grabbed it, adjusted my grip, and gave it a testing swing.
"Draco, don't you dare."
Narcissa was watching me carefully.
"Mother, I'm not losing my mind. I have no intention of walking into the space between the creatures and the spells. But if they breach the line, you'll need someone who can draw their attention."
"No."
"Yes."
I simply didn't listen, and kept my eyes on the breach. Bella allowed the Fiendfyre to disperse, and the creatures once again threw themselves at us in a wave.
Some time later.
"Is that it?"
We stood watching the breach. The relentless flood of creatures had finally slowed. Now only a handful emerged per minute, and we were handling them without difficulty.
"Not until the breach closes. No."
I shook my head, answering one of the Aurors. By this point I had been forced to use the axe, if only briefly. Even so, I was drenched in sweat and streaked with blood from several wounds the creatures had left, not dangerous ones, but unpleasant enough, and they bled freely.
"Draco, come here."
Narcissa called me over. When I reached her, she cleaned my wounds with one sweep of her wand, wrapped me in bandages with another, and then removed all the blood that had spilled onto the ground around me with a third.
"There. That's better."
She looked me over carefully. I gave her a grateful nod.
"Thank you."
"Thank you. The axe genuinely helped."
"Glad to hear it."
I smiled at her, then went over to Fleur, who was sitting on the ground with her back against the wall of the defensive structure.
"How are you?"
"Awful."
She sighed.
"Although right now I'm less worried about us than about Penny."
"There's nothing to worry about there. Hogwarts is safe, for now, at least. Those creatures aren't a threat to her. Not with the number of students and staff there."
I looked thoughtfully at the rift.
"Even if a breach opened just outside the grounds and creatures flooded in, they'd be buried in Stunning Spells. She's safe. I'm more concerned about our quarter and the Veela coven."
"You know..."
Jean spoke up unexpectedly.
"I think I'll accept your invitation after all."
He directed this at Bella and Narcissa.
"If the rifts grow any stronger, I won't be able to protect my family and friends with what I have now. And you've already begun building defenses that would at least let a person sell their life dearly."
"Father..."
Fleur looked at Jean with shining eyes.
"Are we moving to Britain?"
"Yes, and you and Gabrielle will have the chance to choose where to continue your schooling, Beauxbatons or Hogwarts."
"I choose big brother!"
Gabrielle, who had stayed close to us throughout but wisely kept out of the fighting, announced this with enormous enthusiasm.
"And I..."
But at that moment something happened that none of us expected, and Fleur stopped mid-sentence: a creature resembling a bull came crashing through the breach, the rift slammed shut behind it, and a human figure dangled from its horns.
[The bear-creature]
[The bull-creature]
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