One Step Away
Harry lingered just beyond the boundary of the duelling circle—number one. The echo of Cedric's recent clash with Krum still hung heavily in the air, and the crowd's half-muted gasps spoke of anticipation for the next match.
As Madam Pomfrey bustled about, ensuring Cedric was safe, Harry felt the familiar swirl of nerves and adrenaline roiling in his stomach.
'He hits hard and doesn't hold back. Cedric's proof of that,' Harry thought as he watched Cedric being escorted away.
He straightened his shoulders, deciding he'd match force for force if necessary, and crushed any lingering doubts.
Harry closed his eyes for a moment, calling up memories of his own recent bouts.
Four duels, four quick wins: the first two matches dispatched with a single, swift Stunner, and the latter two ending in overpowered blasts of the same spell, each one hitting hard enough that his opponents' shields shattered like glass against the sheer force.
That kind of raw power was satisfying, he had to admit, even if it wasn't his usual style. He also didn't remember his magic being that potent before. His spells seemed charged with an unusual intensity lately.
'Luck's been on my side so far—though that's hardly something to rely on,' he mused, lips curving into a wry half-smile.
Facing Krum, however, would be another matter entirely. The Bulgarian champion was not the sort of opponent to be felled by fortune alone.
He looked down at his wand, resting in the palm of his hand.
A faint coldness pulsed from it, reassuring him in a subtle way.
It struck him as amusing how he'd not even needed Expelliarmus or any other spells in the earlier rounds—the Stunners had simply been enough, almost too easy.
Yet now, with Krum standing across the stone floor—back turned as the Bulgarian champion conferred briefly with one of the Professors—Harry sensed that the single-solution approach would need an upgrade.
'Thankfully, I know lots and lots of spells', Harry mused, lips shifting into a confident smirk.
Being able to see and feel any kind of spell cast in his vicinity had that pleasant advantage to it.
His senses had grown keener over time, letting him pick up on the subtle nuances of magic.
Even now, he could feel the residual magic from Krum's previous duel hanging in the air like invisible smoke.
His hand tightened around his wand as the Bulgarian finally turned to face him.
He advanced to meet Krum in the centre of the circle.
The polished floor still bore faint scorch marks and fine cracks from the curses flung about earlier, a silent testimony to Krum's ferocity.
Harry couldn't help a faint pang of unease—Cedric was one of the best duelists he knew, and yet Krum's relentless assault had left him unconscious within moments.
'If we were fighting, I could have probably won with a single elaborate spell. But duelling?'
Harry pressed his lips together, forcing away any thought of hesitating. It wouldn't help.
"Ah, Potter," came a soft but penetrating voice from off to the side. Professor Flitwick, dwarfed by a small podium, beckoned for Harry and Krum to approach. "Ready, I trust?"
Krum gave a curt nod.
Harry mirrored him, feeling an odd spark of adrenaline surge through him again.
"Wands at the ready, please," Flitwick directed, casting a Sonorous Charm on himself. His voice echoed clearly through the hall, bringing the last of the spectators to rapt silence.
Harry and Krum faced each other, wands raised. Harry's heart hammered, each beat pulsing in his ears. 'Right,' he thought, summoning that well of magic he had tasted in the earlier rounds. He couldn't rely on a single stunner now; Krum wasn't the type to be felled so easily.
"Duelists," Flitwick declared, the slightest tremble of excitement in his own tone, "bow!"
Harry inclined his head in a respectful motion, wand held just below his chin.
Krum responded in kind, a brief, sharp bow.
They both rose smoothly, eyes locked. For a moment, all was still—Harry thought he could almost feel Krum's magic like a static charge in the air, charged and menacing.
"Three…" Flitwick began.
Harry's breathing quickened, but he kept his wand steady, drawing confidence from his ability to feel his opponent.
"Two…"
Krum's wand hand twitched. Harry tensed, anticipating a swift, possibly devastating opening strike.
"One—BEGIN!"
Krum lunged first, wand carving the air. A lance of yellow light blazed across the space between them.
If the Bulgarian had hoped to catch Harry off guard, he miscalculated.
Recognising the spell as a condensed, faster variant of a blinding curse, Harry dodged sideways, feeling heat graze his shoulder as the spell slammed into the far wall with a bright flash.
Muted exclamations fluttered through the crowd.
He had no time to dwell on it; Krum was already weaving his next move. Harry sensed he was transfiguring remnants of shattered stone from an earlier match.
Determined to beat him at his own game, Harry tried to shift the same debris into serpents—only to feel his magic slip from his grasp.
'An anti-transfiguration ward on the rubble?' he realised, eyes widening. Krum's confident smirk told him everything he needed to know.
The Bulgarian's mistake was assuming that Harry didn't know how to counteract his ward—which at first, he didn't… but now?
Now that Harry could feel the ward's magic like a thin film coating the debris, it was fair play.
With a sharp jab of his wand, he sent a precise pulse of magic that shattered Krum's ward, immediately following it with his own transfiguration that turned the approaching birds into serpents that lunged at the Bulgarian.
Taken aback by the abrupt shift, Krum faltered just long enough for one serpent to close in.
Yet, proving his world-class Seeker reflexes, Krum twisted aside and destroyed the remaining snakes with a resonant hex.
Harry, meanwhile, had used that fleeting distraction to line up his next spell.
A modified Stunner, crackling with the same cold, unnatural power from before, shot towards Krum like a bolt of crimson lightning.
Krum threw up a shimmering Shield Charm just in time, but the force of Harry's spell caused it to buckle. The Bulgarian champion staggered back, skidding dangerously close to the edge of the arena.
'One more step and he'd be out,' Harry thought, swallowing a surge of frustration when Krum managed to hold his ground.
The Bulgarian's eyes widened slightly at the sheer power behind Harry's magic.
Not content with that, he transfigured the surrounding rubble into more razor-winged birds, layering them with his own anti-transfiguration ward.
Krum, seeing the impending torrent, tried to freeze it with a downward slash of his wand.
But Harry anticipated this move, flicking his wand to turn the water into a swirling, opaque mist just before it could crystallise.
Now Krum had to deal with the flock of birds that was raining down on him through the obscuring mist, while Harry capitalised on the distraction.
His wand moved in a complex pattern, and the mist itself began to coalesce into chains of ice that sought to entangle his opponent.
The crowd gasped as Krum found himself fighting on multiple fronts.
Try as he might, even Krum's considerable skill couldn't fully protect him from the onslaught.
A particularly vicious bird sliced across his sleeve while an ice chain wrapped around his ankle, causing him to stumble.
The momentary loss of balance was all Harry needed to end the duel.
Harry seized that momentary lapse like a thirsty man in a desert would seize water, and he cast a supercharged Stunner.
It crackled with that same eerie chill, streaking through the haze.
The Bulgarian's hasty Shield Charm, cast off-balance, shattered like spun glass under the impact, and Krum was sent flying backwards, landing unconscious outside the duelling circle.
Thunderous applause shook the hall, and Professor Flitwick's magically enhanced voice boomed, "Winner—Harry Potter!"
Chest tight with exhilaration, Harry lowered his wand. As the realisation of his victory sank in, one final thought glimmered in his mind. 'Now it's just me and Fleur.' A quiet thrill pulsed through him—somewhere between anticipation and amusement—as the crowd continued to roar its approval.
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Chapter 93: Lover's Quarrel
Chapter 94: Time passes
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Chapter 101: Confrontation