Start of the Year Dueling Tournament I
One month into the school year, live house points standings
Slytherin: 23 (Snape has awarded Slytherin 260 points already this year, but the other professors have been reacting accordingly)
Hufflepuff: 19 (Cedric Diggory has been awarded 50 points by Professors Sprout and McGonagall, because he is really good at Herbology and Transfiguration, but Snape has deducted Hufflepuff 150 points)
Ravenclaw: 17 (Frederick Gage has been awarded 15 points by Professor Cash, as he is good at charms, Snape has deducted only 100 points from Ravenclaw, however, Ravenclaw lacks any other standout students aside from Frederick and Penelope Clearwater, so they get points rather slowly)
Gryffindor: 3 (Charlie and Percy Weasley have combined for 100 points from various professors, mostly from Charlie, who is still being rewarded for saving Hogwarts from greater embarrassment at IWSI last year. Unfortunately, the twins have lost 25 points, and Snape has deducted 380 points from the house)
Today is the day, it is time for the start of the year dueling tournament. It has been a while since I have been this excited. Headmaster Gage gets it, dueling, is an important part of a wizard's life, which Dumbledore deprived the students of for far too long. As I entered the dueling hall, I was greeted by the sight of all of the 1st years staring at me, many with eagerness, a few with dread.
Once I got to the center of the main dueling platform, I cast sonorous on myself in order to ensure that all of the students could hear me.
"Welcome students, welcome. Today marks the start of the start of year dueling tournament. I will quickly go over the rules and format one more time, then we will split you into your groups and send you to your respective stages." I took a deep breath and glanced around to see if there were any hands raised, and to my relief there were none.
"Okay, for the rules to remember, no weapons aside from your wand are allowed on the platform, no hitting the crotch area, pulling hair, biting, eye gouging, transfiguring your opponent, or deadly curses. In order to win, you either have to incapacitate your opponent, force them to submit, or knock them off the platform. Any questions?" I asked.
As I glanced over the crowd, I saw a hand raised, so I nodded at the girl, Danielle Jeffers if I remember correctly, and she asked, "Can I use my wand like a baton and beat someone with it?"
I looked at her, a little stunned, "Technically yes," I replied, "but note that if your wand breaks, it will cost at least 50 galleons to replace."
With that, she simply nodded and put her hand back down, while the students around her gave her a wide breadth. I, personally, can't blame them, what a scary question.
"Okay, so you guys will be randomly split in groups of 6, in which, you will duel every person in your group once. Then, we will split you according to your dueling record, how fast you win duels (the faster the better), and how long it takes for you to lose a duel (the longer the better). We will then assign you to one more group of 6 and do one last round robin, after which we will put you into preliminary rankings. Any questions?" I stated.
Many hands were raised, but before I could choose someone, a Slytherin blurted, "So we just have to win quickly, simple."
"1 point from Slytherin, while you are partially correct, please only talk if I call on you." I replied, slightly annoyed.
I then pointed at a Hufflepuff student who had raised him hand.
"When will we find out our rankings?" He asked.
"Good question, Mr. Fried. 1 point to Hufflepuff." I replied, while I heard Ms. Jeffers mutter something about not getting a point for her good question. "The rankings will be posted outside the Great Hall on Monday."
With that, there were no further questions. Then I, with the help of HVH Dumbledore, Headmaster Gage, Professor Snape, Professor McGonagall, Professor Rowle, and Professor Sprout, who were waiting outside for me to finish, split the students into their groups and went to our respective platforms to referee.
The dueling matches were rather boring to watch, as they could at best be considered scuffles. This was due to the fact that few first years could cast powerful spells. However, there were a few that caught my eye.
There was a muggle-born student from Gryffindor, named Bruce Norris, who was clearly experienced in some sort of martial art. He was using his martial ability to win the duels rather than magic, but winning, nonetheless.
The headmaster's son was quite proficient at the stunning spell, he clearly takes after his mother, and was breezing through the competition.
Danielle Jeffers, the scary girl who wanted to use her wand as a baton, was actually quite skilled at the disarming spell, and was dispatching her opponents swiftly. She did beat up a first year Gryffindor girl with her wand though, there might be a personal vendetta there.
One of the Weasley twins, can't tell which, was quite good at the jelly-legs jinx, while the other was more proficient with his fists. Quite a combination those two.
To my surprise, Cedric Diggory, the talented Hufflepuff, struggled quite a bit, he was trying to use transfiguration to win his bouts, but his magical power wasn't quite there yet, and his transfiguration was not smooth enough. He has potential though; I expect him to be quite good at dueling once he enters his third or fourth year. Definitely someone I will keep my eye on.
I also noticed an interesting trend among the first years. The pure-blooded students from less prestigious families dominated the field, for the most part. Following that was the muggle-born students, as almost all of them knew how to fight. This group was then followed by the 'purest' pure-blooded students, who clearly have been too coddled by their parents to take advantage of their exceptional magical power. Overall, I found that the half-blooded students were the ones who struggled the most. There were exceptions of course, and those exceptions, like Danielle Jeffers, were amongst the cream of the crop, but for the most part the half-bloods didn't know how to fight and did not have the magical practice that most of the pure-blooded students had.
First-Year Preliminary Ranking
(Author's note, I am only going to rank the top 10 plus named characters)
1. Danielle Jeffers (Slytherin)-Half-blood
2. Frederick Gage (Ravenclaw)-Pureblood
3. Bruce Norris (Gryffindor)-Muggle-born
4. Annabelle Wright (Gryffindor)-Half-blood
5. Ragnar Bjornsen (Slytherin)-Pureblood
6. Evelyn Longbottom (Ravenclaw)-Pureblood
7. Fred Weasley (Gryffindor)-Pureblood
8. Janette Singleton (Hufflepuff)-Muggle-born
9. Broderick Curtis (Slytherin)-Pureblood
10. Skylar Sykes (Slytherin)-Pureblood
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25. George Weasley (Gryffindor)-Pureblood
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39. Cedric Diggory (Hufflepuff)-Pureblood
40. Heather Amin (Gryffindor)-Muggle-born
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107. Donald Allen (Hufflepuff)-Muggle-born
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135. Emily Zubac (Slytherin)-Half-blood
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147. Justin Fried (Hufflepuff)-Muggle-born
148. Jacob Frost (Hufflepuff)-Half-blood
149. Jason Benton (Ravenclaw)-Muggle-born
150. Molly Gabers (Hufflepuff)-Half-blood