Chapter 103 - Summoner's Cup - (Betting) Favorites Emerge
***** Regular Chapter ***** A/N: Not too much happens in the fourth book between the second and third tasks.... So Im taking this time to set things up. Hinted at it previously, but got a few things on the go in the background of this story.... should become more evident soon *****
"And with that powerful and well aimed shot, Harry takes the game, set, and match, advancing to the playoff rounds!" Lee's voice boomed throughout the courtyard, narrating the current 'spotlight match' that was just finishing between Harry and Roger Davies.
A week had passed since the last Hogsmeade weekend where Jordan had met Sirius, and he had been busier than ever. And not just with studying for his N.E.W.Ts and teaching his various classes, as per usual.
He had been busy travelling back and forth, in his limited spare time to check in on the presence of a large dog at his Hogsmeade shop.
Thats right!
Jordan had also spent some time setting up Sirius in his shop!
Feeling rather bad for Harry's Godfather, especially as the last Black, Khan had brought Sirius in his animagus form to his Hogsmeade shop, providing him with a much better place to stay over a cave, even going so far as to hire him as an employee, and name him the official mascot of the shop!
Lenny of course didn't mind, and truthfully rather appreciated the large well behaved dog, especially over his other housemate, Fastidio.
Unfortunately, his travel buddy for the past year, Buckbeak, was not able to stay with Sirius, being too large an animal to constantly stay shut up in Jordan's shop.
Obviously Sirius didn't want to release Buckbeak to the wild, especially in the Hogwarts lands, with what happened last year, Buckbeak barely escaping his own execution at the Ministry's hands. He was even going to originally refuse Jordan's offer for shelter (and employment) before Khan had also offered to take care of Buckbeak for him.
After assuring Sirius that he had some "secret place" where all his magical beasts stayed, safe and free of poachers (and ministry staff), Sirius finally agreed, being especially convinced when he saw how powerful and well cared for Silverwing was in Khan's care.
And although Sirius would be missing his friend, he knew that at the very least, Buckbeak would enjoy staying with Khan and all his magical beasts, than he would being stuck cooped up with him in a small cave/shop.
Buckbeak however, did not necessarily 'enjoy' his time staying with Khan's beasts, as Jordan had placed him inside the same vivarium as his battle beasts, his rationale being that he was already familiar with Silverwing.
Unfortunately Buckbeak was not quite as large or nearly as fearsome as any of Khan's current beasts, and therefore was quite intimidated amongst them all.
Not that this was his fault, of course; being on the run with Sirius for most of the year, he was not able to eat regularly.
Whereas with Khan's battle beasts, all of them had grown up in the safety and security of the Vivariums, not to mention constantly fed by Deek, Teek and Zeke, resulting in them all growing quite large and fearsome.
Stella, aside from being her unique golden color, was quite a bit larger than the average unicorn; Standing a full foot taller than his next tallest unicorn, with her horn even being a half foot longer than average, she passively gave off a rather confusing 'ferociously innocent' aura to those around her.
Lord and Prince were of course, both quite large for Graphorns, with Lord appearing as large as the Beauxbatons Carriage, and his son Prince slowly catching up.
Not to say that Prince was slow at growing or a runt... quite the opposite actually! Jordan in fact, remembered noting that Prince was already larger than Lord was when he had first encountered him all those years ago. It was just that compared to his huge father, well.... you get it.
Even Yama was quite muscular and lean, looking more like a thoroughbred racehorse with his build, over a typical Thestral.
Poor Buckbeak, even if he wasn't currently underfed, would probably STILL be intimidated actually, with all of Khan's current beasts come to think of it....
Jordan, Sirius and Buckbeak weren't the only ones who had been busy the past week however.
Not even close.
You see, the previous holiday that passed, 'Whit Monday', typically marked the last holiday of the school year before summer - As such, most schools increased the workload for their students after this holiday passed, in preparation for their end of year exams.
Hogwarts was no exception.
Homework increased. Assignment length doubled. Weekly tests in almost every subject.
No matter the class, all students found themselves increasingly busy, with little to no time for leisurely activities.
For the next few weeks even, students would be seen studying everywhere they went; from eating in the great hall with a book, to walking around the castle studying, to some students even studying in the washrooms!
Hell, even the lines for the Summoner's Court boards and for Crossed Wand duels had lessened with how busy everyone was.
Khan of course, noticed this, and with the weather outside being a lot nicer lately with it raining a lot less frequently being mid May, decided to host the next rounds of his Summoner's Court Tournament, wanting to both take advantage of the nicer weather, while also bringing up the mood of his students.
*Cheers*
Which brought us to today, the Sunday of the second official weekend of the Summoner's Cup, with the crowd cheering the contestants, as they battled it out on the various Summoner's court boards.
Rounds three and four had passed by yesterday on the Saturday without incident, and having the competition cut down from 128 yesterday, to 32 competing today, a few favorites had emerged amongst the rest of the spectating and cheering students, with Fred and George Weasley obviously taking advantage, offering different betting odds for each of the remaining contestants.
Cedric Diggory was THE favorite to win out of the top 32 who had made it to Sunday, having the lowest betting odds currently. And although Khan had yet to see the pretty-boy play an actual game before, it wasn't too hard for him to believe with Cedric's skill shown in his various classes he had taught.
Hermione had also emerged as a favorite to win the entire tournament, to nobody's surprise. She had always demonstrated herself to be quite capable both in class and with a wand, and here at the tournament, this was on full display.
Utilizing different strategies every game, her opponents were constantly caught off guard, and could do nothing but watch, as she completely stomped them, winning all of her matches so far, in straight sets.
Her complete domination thus far, had actually garnered her some fans, much to Khan's amusement.
Not that he didn't think she deserved fans, or anything like that. It was just that he happened to know most of the boys that were in her fanclub, and they were.... unique to say the least.
Appearing to consist mainly of no-name Ravenclaw boys (Jordan noticing them making up various signs of support for her in the common room previously), they would soon become quite the united force, vocal in their support and admiration for the girl, showing up to all of her matches and cheering her on with wild intensity.
That weekend in fact, it became quite the common sight to see, not to mention hear, this group of fans specifically, all shouting various 'sports' chants in unison, at Hermione's various games.
'Hermione has gotten herself quite the supportive fans.' Khan thought to himself at the time. 'Either that or they bet big money on her with the twins.....
Unbeknownst to Jordan however, the support was not specifically for Hermione, but rather, for the Summoner's court game in general!
And similar to superfans of Quidditch, these nerds, who would later called themselves the 'Summoner's Students', wanted to know everything about the game!
They had watched all the other matches collectively, and ended up later analyzing and compiling various tendencies and known habits all contestants!
They learned all the rules of his Summoner's Court game, even going to so far as to bother Jordan inside their Ravenclaw dormitory, to see if they could find any loopholes or make use of different strategies!
They took measurements. Had various diagrams of possible variations for Summoner's court boards, and unique strategies crafted for each!
They even created a miniature sized Summoner's Court board for them to practice and attempt all their various theories and strategies.
These nerds were in actual reality, huge fans of the game itself, Summoner's Court, and Hermione just happened to be the most exiting for them (as nerds) to watch, especially with all the different strategies she employed in her various games.
Another favorite, was actually someone unknown.... at least to the spectating students. You see, this specific student, always came with an animated full headpiece, that completely covered her face.
Simply known as the 'Masked Student', the only thing that anyone knew about this mysterious participant, was that they had participated in the Preliminary Tournament as well, indicating they were either a first, second or third year, and quite young to have made it this far in the tournament.
This however, did not stop the various students, from betting on her to win the Championship with the Weasley Twins. And whether it was due to them being impressed with her outfit, or her uniquely chaotic playstyle, that had her opponents guessing at her every move, only the students betting would ever know.
Khan of course, knew this student to be Luna, and was truthfully rather proud of the strange girl. It was hard to think that she was receiving fans and bets to outright win the tournament now, when just a few months ago she was getting bullied.
Funnily enough, the 'masked student' was not the only person from the preliminaries that ended up making it to the top 32, with one other also joining her. And interestingly, this student was also a betting favorite (although Khan suspected that the Twins had influenced (pranked) more than a few students into betting for her to win).
Thats right! Ginny Weasley had surprisingly made it to Sunday as well, and although not completely dominating her matches in the same way the other (betting) favorites had, dropping a few sets, she had still won convincingly enough that she made it with relative ease even as a Third year.
Harry was obviously one of the favorites, as evidenced by his presence currently on the main court. And while many might think that he was a favorite due to his various titles of 'Triwizard Champion' and 'The Boy Who Lived', truthfully he was currently a favorite amongst the students (and the betting odds) due to his skill with the Summoning charm, not to mention his playing style.
Employing a rather aggressive style, rather than using precision to gain his points by going after the highest points every shot, Harry chose to go on the offensive, and instead knock the enemy's balls off the board, paying little regard to the amount of points he gained with each shot.
Even if his shot was too powerful, and he ended up knocking his own ball off alongside the opponent's ball, Harry simply wouldn't care, being just as aggressive the next shot.
In Harry's head, if his opponent had zero balls left on the board, it didn't matter if he scored 10 points, he would still win!
And well, needless to say, after Harry's impressive showing yesterday, not to mention beating Roger Davies just now to officially advance to the round of 16, it did appear that his strategy was showing to be rather successful.
*CHEERS*
Evidently, it also made for rather exciting Summoner's court matches. Especially if the cheers that were currently coming from the stands were any indication.
"Well done Harry!" Hermione rushed the court, crushing her best friend in a Hermy-hug of congratulations.
"Yes, good job Harry! I knew you'd make it to the top 16 at least!" Neville spoke up complimenting his 'new' closer friend, and following a little bit behind the rushing Hermione.
"Thanks guys, I appreciate you all coming!" Harry replied grateful for his friends' support, before going on and excitedly recounting the match and the various decisions he made behind each of his moves to his friends.
It had become very normal by now, to see Neville, Harry and Hermione spending time together, and thus nobody made much of a fuss at the three friends excitedly having a discussion at center court....
"I really do hate to break up this lovely gathering, especially after such an impressive win, against a sixth year no less... but it's time for the next match."
Til now anyways.
Looking over, Harry saw Khan, arm in arm with Fleur, walking on to the court, smirk wide on his face, as he approached the trio.
"Wow.... these guys were really impressive, weren't they everyone?! Lets have a big round of applause for our contestants! They fought hard today, and did a great job!" He announced, his voice now sonorus-powered, as he also addressed the crowd, in addition to Harry et al.
*CHEER*
The crowd of course, roared in response.
He paused a waited a few moments for the applause to die down, before continuing.
"Now, I know normally, on previous tournament days, we have had multiple matches occurring at the same time, on multiple different courts. And that was mainly due to the sheer number of matches we had to get through in our previous rounds."
"However, we have gone from a total of 609 contestants, down to 32. So in light of that, we're doing things a bit differently today!"
"As we are now in the top 32, and will only be having 16 matches today, with even less on the following tournament days, all of our remaining matches will now be played on the main court!"
Located in the Quidditch stadium, Khan had co-opted the stadium entirely, setting up a Summoner's court board in the middle to act as the main Championship court for the tournament.
*CHEERS*
And needless to say, the students were quite excited to hear that.
Not only were each of the matches displayed on the main court commentated by Lee Jordan, but Khan had even gone so far as to set up (Fleur asked her father for him) a giant 'Visio Lumina spell' over top of the stadium, to act as a giant screen of sorts, and to allow those sitting at any level seat (since they were quidditch stands after all) to watch the game.
"Will the next contestants please come to the court? Actually, I just need one contestant to come, since we already have one of them here! "
"Will Daphne Greengrass please come to Center Court?"
Khan paused dramatically, before continuing.
"Your next opponent will be Hermione Granger."
Harry and Neville wished Hermione good luck, before quickly scurrying off the court, not wanting to distract their friend during her important match.
And it was a good thing they did, as after only a few more moments, Daphne walked onto the court, accompanied by loud cheers from the crowd.
Evidently, she had been ready for her match and waiting nearby to be called.
With her signature Icy demeanor, Daphne took her position on the board, Hermione beside her as they eyed each other in competitiveness.
'This should be a good match..... They are academic rivals after all.' Khan's face unknowingly started to grin, at that thought, before he finished off his announcement.
"Granger vs. Greengrass! Our two top fourth year witches face off!"
"And with a spot for top 16 on the line, who will emerge victorious?"