Chapter 10
Genevieve came down one morning to find a majority of the students were crowded around the bulletin board in the common room.
“Can you see what it says?” she asked Amit who was notably taller than her.
“They’ve announced what the competitions are going to be. They’re going to have one that seems to be based around knowledge in which participates will show their theoretical skills, one for brewing potions, and one for dueling.”
“Well, those all sound less dangerous than likely anything that was planned for the original tournament. Though I wonder how they choose the competitors.”
“They’re leaving it up to the teachers to choose the best candidates. And it doesn’t need to be the same person for each round.”
“That does give more people a chance to compete,” said Genevieve.
“So it seems sanity has prevailed,” said Evelyn who had just squeezed her way back from wherever in the mob of students she’d been her hair slightly askew.
“Hair check Evie,” said Genevieve and the blond darted over to a mirror to fix her waves.
“So, will you put yourself forth for the duelist position Gen?” queried Evelyn once she finished and the trio headed out of the common room.
“I might.”
“After all your experience a practice duel shouldn’t be that difficult, should it?” said Amit.
“Perhaps not. Though I do actually find a challenge in them since one is required to hold back,” said Genevieve.
“True, as cathartic as it might be, utterly obliterating Leader Prewett would have unfortunate consequences,” said Evelyn cheekily.
“You or Sebastian could easily take the slot for top duelist too,” pointed out Genevieve.
“Possibly. I suppose it will all depend on how Hecat decides to play things out.”
“Hecat’s going to have the time of her life with this,” said Amit.
“That she is,” chuckled Genevieve.
“Ah the reject, the oddball, and the coward,” said a sneering voice behind them they turned to see Leander the boy had grown a few more inches in the intervening summer but otherwise looked much the same. “I suppose Fig here thinks she’s going to be the Hogwarts champion.”
“There’s more than one competitor. Halfwit,” snorted Evelyn. Leander’s face became red as his hair.
“How dare you speak to me like that!”
“You did start the mudslinging,” said Genevieve raising an eyebrow.
“Why you…” Leander went for his wand. Genevieve and Evelyn were both quicker on the draw and prepared to cast spells when Amit called out.
“Oh hello, Professor Sharp!” Leander’s face went from red to white and without even checking to confirm Amit’s claim he darted away. Genevieve turned to look in the direction Amit had waved and saw nobody.
Evelyn began to laugh her mirth spreading to Genevieve and Amit.
“You really are a Ravenclaw!” gasped Genevieve.
“It’s certainly one way to de-escalate a situation,” said Evelyn. Amit looked pleased.
“Well teachers are the only people that prat listens too.”
“You’d think he might have matured with time but he’s still as bad as he was back in first year,” said Evelyn.
“What’d he do in first year?” asked Genevieve.
“Pulled Evelyn’s hair going into the Great Hall for the sorting and broke my telescope,” explained Amit.
“Well, some eggs are just rotten,” declared Genevieve.
“Speaking of Prewett?” came Ominis’s familiar sophisticated cadence as they converged with him and Sebastian in the entrance hall.
“However, could you tell?” she asked with a smile taking his hand and giving it an affectionate squeeze.
“Well, Marvolo and Sirius have left so that significantly cuts down on the number of people qualified to be called a prat,” said Sebastian.
“Also, he went tearing into the Great Hall cursing your name about a minute ago,” added Ominis dryly.
“I didn’t do anything,” huffed Genevieve.
“Prewett better be careful how annoying he gets or I may just ACCIDENTALLY hit a certain body part during the next round of crossed wands,” sneered Evelyn.
“You’re a violent little thing aren’t you, Evie?” said Sebastian cheekily swiftly dodging the whack to the head Evelyn aimed at him and adding.
“Case in point.”
Genevieve giggled leaning on Ominis. Sebastian and Evelyn truly were perfect for each other if they’d just admit it. Sebastian was the only one who could handle Evelyn’s fire, and Genevieve said that with a good deal of admiration, and vice versa regarding Evelyn handling Sebastian. Ah well, she supposed that was what she was for.
HL
Genevieve figured that the only one of the three she was going to bother putting herself up for in terms of the tournament was dueling. She honestly did love a good duel and now the life-threatening stakes were removed she doubted her father would have any objections.
As for the other challenges. She was a decent enough potion brewer but no master and while she’d certainly crammed a great deal of information into her head prior to her first, or rather fifth year, she considered one of her other classmates like Amit or Sophronia Franklin to be better suited to the job.
So when Professor Hecat called for a meeting for anyone interested in dueling she was more than willing to attend. She’d actually called it under the clocktower since her room wasn’t large enough to accommodate the crowd.
Anne, Sebastian, Evelyn, and Natty were also all in attendance as possible competitors, while Phin and Ominis had come along for support. Though Genevieve had a feeling the lanky Slytherin was going to be rooting for Anne.
As far as competitors outside her friend group she recognized a good deal many people from crossed wands including Hector Jenkins, Nerida Roberts, and of course the loathsome Leander.
“Well, I see my defensive or…perhaps explosive fervor may have rubbed off on more people than I realized,” said Hecat dryly as she surveyed the room. The competition was limited to sixth and seventh years which had cut down the number of participants but at around 30 people the number was still not insignificant.
“Mind you this isn’t an excuse to have a go at the foreign students. You’re to be showing off your dueling prowess not letting off any pent-up aggression.”
“No that’s what crossed wands is for,” said Sebastian with a chuckle.
“Now as far as rules go, incapacitation is the goal here. Nothing lethal. In the real world I don’t condone the idea of holding back in a life-or-death situation. Your enemy will not. But practice duels are not the real world.” Genevieve mentally discounted her ancient magic for this exercise it was an unfair advantage, an easy win, and not something she would want to end up demonstrating in front of Spavin should she become the competitor.
Hecat flicked her wand and white lines appeared on a chalk board with their names.
“We’ll be doing this in brackets. You face off against each other winners move on and so forth till we get to the last one.” Everybody crowded around to find their partners to face off. Genevieve’s first one when her turn arrived was Nerida Roberts the Slytherin girl grinned.
“Ready to go?”
“What do those divination cards of yours say?” countered Genevieve playfully. Nerida laughed.
“They say I’m about to have very good luck.” Then they began. Nerida wasn’t bad by any means the same year as Genevieve they were on similar levels of knowledge, at least when it came to classroom knowledge. Nerida however hadn’t had personal tutelage from Professor Hecat and eventually Genevieve blinded her with obscuro before disarming the girl and leaving her stunned on the floor.
“Yield?” she asked. Nerida blinked dazedly and after a moment said.
“Yield.” Genevieve glanced at the chalkboard and saw her name move forward. Then she stepped back to watch more duelists get eliminated.
Anne beat Hector Jenkins and Natty knocked out Cressida Bloom. Sebastian got rid of Charlotte Morrison while Evelyn soundly trounced Sacharissa Tugwood.
Unfortunately Leander did indeed make it through the first round as well however now about just over half of the competition was gone.
The next round came and Genevieve was paired against Leander. The boy sneered.
“Ready to go down?”
“And since when have you won against me?” she goaded. “You haven’t got a chance,” as she’d hoped her words got him to attack first and clumsily. She easily dodged his hex and followed it by sending a glacius he barely managed to deflect. Leander tossed a nearby crate at her but Genevieve intercepted it’s course sending it flying back at him and making him dodge.
This allowed her to get in a diffindo that slashed his wand arm. Leander nearly dropped his wand before recovering to send a confringo towards her. Genevieve’s robes did catch fire and she was miffed she wasted time putting them out with some water. Luckily she’d had the sense to first send some birds to bother the boy.
By the time he’d dealt with those Leander was panting angrily while Genevieve was only slightly out of breath. She kept the blows coming never giving him room to cast another spell till at last his shield slipped and he was sent flying up into the air with an everte statum his wand also falling from his hand. Hecat cast a cushioning charm to help with his fall but the boy was well and truly out of it by the time he stumbled up with Genevieve’s wand pointed between his eyes.
“Yield.” He snarled. Genevieve simply smirked. The competition continued. Natty fell to Anne and at last there were two pairs. Anne and Sebastian and Genevieve and Evelyn. She knew her best friend wasn’t going to go easy so they exchanged fire back and forth for quite a bit neither giving the other room.
Finally Evelyn managed to grab ahold of Genevieve’s robes with a levioso followed by a summoning charm pulling her off her feet and towards her at a fast pace. Thinking quickly Genevieve said.
“Lumos solem!” blinded by the bright light Evelyn dropped the spell and Genevieve cried, “Depulso!” sending her friend flying. In the fall Evelyn lost her wand yet all was not over as the Ravenclaw caused Genevieve to fall by turning the ground beneath her to ice with wandless magic. Deciding against trying to get up just yet Genevieve instead simply aimed from the floor at her opponent and called “Arresto momentum!” Evelyn was a second too late on her shield and Genevieve used the moment of time to stun her and wrap her in tight ropes.
“Yield?” Evelyn grinned back even bound.
“Yield.” The ropes released. Evelyn’s name was crossed out and Genevieve moved forward.
“Don’t you dare go easy Sebbie,” warned Anne and Sebastian laughed.
“I wouldn’t dream of it Annie.” It went to show how well the pair new each other that the twins could practically predict each other’s movements. It took even longer than it had with Genevieve and Evelyn for one of them to finally get a hit in, Anne on Sebastian and from then on the fire between them was furious each sibling giving their all.
Genevieve frankly knew she was in for a tough fight no matter who won. In the end Sebastian managed to stun his sister and disarm her though not before taking several cuts, and a bite from a rather ferocious chomping cabbage, along the way. He looked concerned as he stared down at his sister but his twin merely grinned
“Good show Sebbie.”
“Right then. Last two. Miss Fig. Mr. Sallow,” announced Hecat as Genevieve and Sebastian strode to the middle of the clocktower.
“Right back where we started eh?” said Sebastian.
“Ah yes. My “proper Hogwarts welcome.” Time to see if you learned your lesson the last time.”
“If you mean not to underestimate you than I’m afraid to inform you you’ve lost the element of surprise dear Veevee,” smirked the Slytherin.
“Who says I need surprise?” said Genevieve with a playful grin.
“Alright enough banter you two,” said Hecat rolling her eyes.
They paced back and then bowed.
“One, two…three!”
“Confringo!” exclaimed Genevieve right at the same time as her opponent. Consequently, both had to dodge out of the way of the flames which hit the barrier that Hecat had erected to protect the watchers fizzling out.
“Bombarda!” Sebastian cast and Genevieve blocked the spell, Sebastian was a heavy hitter he’d rely on the more flashy immediately powerful spells. Which to be fair were more in her style but that wasn’t going to win her the match.
She sent a stupefy right past his ear on purpose and his head whipped round at the distraction she flicked her wand and hit him with a leg locker curse that sent him falling to the ground.
Sebastian however was not one to be easily deterred. Instead of trying to get up he aimed at her and cried everte Statum!” her protego came moments to late and she went flying catching herself with a cushioning charm. Unlike Leander she managed to hold onto her wand. But it did give Sebastian time to recover. His eyes glinted with excitement.
“Deprimo!” she dodged wobbling a little on the now uneven ground Sebastian had created with his spell. Now it was time to try something more creative.
“Densaugeo!” luck was on her side for she caught him full in the face with her hex his teeth immediately began to grow like a beaver’s impeding his ability to speak. Not a game ending strategy since he could likely still manage nonverbal but the physical effects were still so jarring he was thrown off and she was able to follow it up with a swift. “Expelliarmus!”
Sebastian’s wand went flying from his hand, just for good measure she caught him with levioso and hit him with the basic cast a couple times before dropping him.
“Yield?” she asked the winded boy. He nodded. Still blocked from properly speaking due to the large teeth. She offered a hand and helped him up before performing the counter jinx shrinking his teeth back to normal size. Once he could speak he said snarkily,
“I yield all powerful one.”
“Our winner is Miss Genevieve Fig. She’ll represent Hogwarts in the duelling competition,” said Professor Hecat and Genevieve caught a hint of pride in the woman’s eagle eyes. Glancing around she also noted the exchange of a few galleons between several students. Not that she was surprised. Crossed wands was already its own ground for betting among students (and according to Hecat teachers) this was unlikely to be any different.
“Well done, Genny,” said Ominis coming up behind her with her other friends. Leander Prewett was shooting her sour looks but she ignored him.
“Not going to lie I’m slightly miffed about getting knocked out of the competition by you but at least it wasn’t Prewett,” said Evelyn with a smile.
“You just wanted a chance to go against Sebastian.”
“Please enough sparks fly between you two on a daily basis without it being literal,” snorted Anne. Sebastian and Evelyn looked stunned.
“I haven’t the slightest clue what you mean Annie,” said Sebastian.
“As if,” scoffed Evelyn defensively. Genevieve rolled her eyes and whispered to Ominis.
“Really starting to sympathize with the people that say how Papa and I saw each other was obvious.”
“Please at least that didn’t go on for nearly four years. Seven including the ones they weren’t flirting and just bickering,” replied Ominis dryly as the couple ironically had begun bickering over some matter or another.
“Well, I’m sure you’ll do the school proud. And my father will be delightfully infuriated,” Phin told her with a lopsided grin.
“You might still make it as champion for one of the other challenges,” said Poppy.
“Possibly.”
“I’m intrigued to find out who the other competitors are going to be. For both Hogwarts and the other schools actually,” said Genevieve.
“Well, the knowledge test is a duo so the top two scorers are going to be winning there,” said Poppy.
“You mentioned you’ll throw your hat into the ring for that one?” Anne asked Phin who nodded.
“I’ve always been pretty good at memorizing facts. I think I may have a chance.”
“Well I’ll be happy to help you practice,” said Anne and Genevieve smiled those two were another set that really ought to try getting together.
“What about the brewing test any ideas there?” asked Evelyn. Nobody in the group particularly specialized in potions.
“Well not Ominis,” joked Sebastian and the blind boy rolled his eyes.
“Ever the tactful one Sebastian.”
“If you wanted tactful you picked the wrong group of friends,” snorted Sebastian which sent them all into gales of laughter.
HL
The staff room was filled with conversation when Eleazar entered it. Most of the usual suspects were present, Professor’s Sharp and Hecat where in chairs by the fireplace. Ronen was at a table with Weasley, Kagowa, Garlick, and Onai. Even Professor’s Moreau and Volkov had chosen to join them. Both were seated on a settee on the far side of the room.
“El! Nice of you to join us!” said Dinah cheerfully.
“Well, I did need a break from grading my fourth-year papers. From the looks of some of them though I fear that they’ve reached the age of being more interested in notes to each other than notes on what makes magic tick.”
“They’ll get over it after a couple of P’s,” chuckled Marguerite. “Especially those academically obsessed Ravenclaws.”
“I see you and Vladmir chose to join us tonight,” said Eleazar walking over to stand by the fireplace.
“There’s only so many evenings with Phineas one can taken,” muttered the Durmstrang teacher to several snickers.
“How do you all put up with him year-round?” queried Marguerite.
“Mutual misery and copious amounts of fire whiskey,” said Dinah dryly lifting a small glass of the liquid.
“So I hear your daughter’s been made dueling champion for Hogwarts!” said Mirabelle brightly. Eleazar smiled proudly.
“That she has. Frankly it falls low on the scale of dangerous things she gets up to so I don’t really have much to complain about.”
“It was close with the Sallow boy but she certainly performed well,” said Dinah a grin on her face.
“And how much money did you win?” snorted Eleazar.
“Only a few galleons. Most people were betting on your daughter.”
“Considering what she pulled off at fifteen alone with limited magical experience I do imagine she’ll be a fierce competitor,” Marguerite admitted. “Though I wouldn’t count out Eloise.” Eleazar neglected to comment on Eloise’s poor attitude. He’d heard a few of her disparaging comments regarding the school.
“Nor my Mikhail,” added Vladamir. “Particularly since she’ll not be utilizing that special power of hers.”
“Hmmm. I’ve no doubt the quality of your students but I assure you my Genevieve does not need her ancient magic to win a duel,” hummed Eleazar.
“We’ll see,” said Vladamir.
“Any ideas on who the other participants are going to be?” asked Dinah.
“I did hear young Phineas Black will be joining the trivia contest,” said Eleazar.
“Is he less insufferable than his father?” inquired Marguerite.
“Significantly,” said Abraham. “One of my finest Slytherin’s if I do say so. Not that the boy’s father would ever recognize it.”
“The tournament could be a good chance to prove himself then if that’s the case,” pointed out Mirabelle.
“I’m still counting on Sophronia Franklin for at least one of the Hogwarts competitors,” said Dinah.
“That girl is rather like a human pensive when it comes to memory recall,” agreed Matilda.
“Adelaide Oakes shouldn’t be counted out though, she’s rather good at that sort of thing too,” pointed out Mirabelle and Eleazar inclined his head.
“We do have a crop of extraordinary students. Aesop what’s your opinion on the brewing contest?”
“Garreth Weasley,” said the teacher without looking up from his book.
“You habitually complain to me about my nephew blowing your dungeon up. Why do you think he’d win?” asked Matilda and Eleazar had to wonder much the same.
“Your nephew likes to experiment which leads to rather unfortunate results far too often. But that doesn’t make him incompetent. In fact as much to my surprise as anyone else’s the last alteration he made truly did enhance the potion.”
“Interesting,” said Eleazar thoughtfully it was very much like the invention of spells in a way. There was certainly some trial and error to be involved.
“Do you have ideas among your candidates?” Professor Shah enquired of the foreign teachers. Vladamir shrugged.
“Speaking for myself, I chose the best of my students already so any one of them could stand a chance.”
“It’s the same for me,” said Marguerite. “Though Mathieu is my pick for brewing if I had to choose.”
“The competition isn’t just in the tournament though you know,” said Madame Kogowa.
“Oh really?” asked Dinah with a glint in her eye that made Eleazar roll his eyes.
“Oh yes, you mean the students that have challenged a few of yours to some broom races?” asked Vladamir.
“Yes, they plan to use the courses Imelda Reyes set up during the year Black cancelled Quidditch,” said Kogowa.
“Black cancelled your Quidditch?” asked Marguerite.
“Some pureblood student got a bludger to the head the previous year,” snorted Aesop. “But between the insistence of Chiyo and most of the student body the board of governors made him give it back.”
“Good thing too I thought Imelda Reyes was going to go mad,” said Professor Shah.
“El’s probably just glad dear Genevieve doesn’t take well to brooms,” chuckled Dinah. “He doesn’t need to add quidditch to the list of things for her to do that nearly scare him to death.”
“That would be on the MINOR end. Though I imagine free falling from a carriage while being chased by a dragon likely didn’t help her feelings on air travel,” quipped Eleazar.
“Merlin’s beard Eleazar what DOES your daughter get up to?” asked Vladamir.
“Sometimes even I don’t want to know,” sighed Eleazar. Well that wasn’t entirely true. He did want his daughter to keep him informed. It was just every time he didn’t think she could get in more dangerous situations…she managed it.
Dinah chuckled.
“She’s Mim’s copy through and through.” Vladamir suddenly groaned and muttered a Bulgarian curse.
“That means I’m going to be fending off requests to come visit Durmstrang from another Fig woman aren’t I?” Eleazar smiled.
“I fear that may be the case.” The headmaster shook his head and motioned for Dinah to pass the fire whiskey while Marguerite burst out laughing.