Chapter 143 few more moments!
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The two aggressive duelists traded spells back and forth for a few more moments when Ivan slipped in something Harry hadn’t expected. A stray spell kicked up part of the arena behind Thomas, and Ivan moved to where Thomas was between the two. One summoning Charm had the piece of the arena slam into Thomas’s back, which dazed him long enough for Ivan to disarm him. Ivan had proven victorious over the Austrian competitor.
Harry hadn’t had any time to process that match before his own started. His opponent, a girl from Portugal was a year older than him it seemed, and was dressed in what appeared to be a school uniform version of dueling armor. "Lisboa Escola de Feiticeira" was emblazoned across her chest. Harry has to assume it was the name of a school or some such. When the bell rang for them to start their match, Harry’s opponent conjured a large stone that blocked Harry’s initial disarming charm, before she banished it towards him. Harry dodged out of the way, preparing a counterattack when she performed the move again, keeping him on his toes. Harry’s shock at seeing someone conjure items like this quickly faded though, as he began keeping track of how long it took her to conjure a stone. About a second each time it seemed, although her banishing of the stone was near instant. Harry briefly considered letting her tire herself out, from what he knew true conjuration was a difficult process, and was very taxing; that thought went away when he realized he would need to keep dodging these stones. Dodging was probably more tiring. A flash of inspiration caught Harry, and he knew what he needed to do. Just as she was about to finish conjuring her stone, Harry immediately sent a banishing charm towards it, which connected just as soon as it came into existence. With no time to react, his opponent fell victim to her own trick as the stone slammed into her chest, knocking the wind out of her. Harry quickly followed his advantage with a tripping jinx and a disarming charm, which sent her to the floor with her wand safely in Harry’s hand. Harry raised his hand, showing that he had two wands in it, and was declared the victor, as he walked over to help the girl up.
"Good match. You doing okay?" Harry asked, as she started to realize what happened.
"Oh, I lost. Oh well, good job banishing my stone like that. Would have never thought of that timeframe as a weakness." She said, her voice thickly accented. "I will be fine though. More shocked than anything. Good luck in the rest of the tournament, you better not lose!"
"No plans on it!" Harry said, as he and the girl walked off the platform, and she made her way to the healer on hand. Her ribs were definitely bruised, but that’s a minor issue for a trained mediwizard.
Another few matches passed, with Harry noticing it was now the semi-finals. Alongside himself there was Ivan Krum, Marianne Levigne, and a boy a year older than him from Latvia. Harry unfortunately found that his next opponent was Ivan.
"Are you prepared for our match Potter?" Ivan asked, making his way to Harry on the sidelines of the arena.
"I certainly hope so." Harry said, nervous. Ivan seemed as though he was being polite, there wasn’t any malice behind his words as far as he could tell.
"I hope you are. While I defeated you last time, I cannot say it was a victory I revel in. You were a mere novice who managed to catch me off guard. Your skills are very good. I hope to see them improved this time. Do not expect to win however. You will not defeat me. You are a worthy rival, but one who will fall before me, much like the Wagner boy from Austria." Ivan said. "He too was much improved, I saw his match against you last year. To think you all have closed the gap so quickly. Even Marianne, who I defeated with no issue last year seems to have made improvements beyond what I thought was possible."
"We’re all just doing our best. We all want to win, but more than that, most of us just want to be the best we can be. If I lose to you, so be it. I don’t need a trophy to know how much stronger I’ve gotten." Harry said, looking at his soon to be opponent.
Ivan paused at that. Like he hadn’t ever thought about it before. He turned to look at Harry. "May the best man win."
"Let’s hope." Harry said, as the pair made their way to the stage.
There was an excitement in the crowd as Ivan and Harry walked up to the platform. The announcer had introduced them as the first and second place participants from the previous year’s tournament, and was milking the rematch angle for as much as it was worth. Harry thought it was a bit overdone, but it really seemed to get the crowd going. He supposed he couldn’t fault them for that, he was excited to. Harry took a moment to try and single out a voice in the crowd, it wasn’t too difficult, she was cheering the loudest, like she said she would.
"Go Harry! You can do it!" Andromeda Tonks cried out, belting encouragement for her son. Harry smiled. He knew she’d be proud of him win or lose, but that extra encouragement resolved him forward. He would beat Ivan this time. He wouldn’t let it happen any other way.
The bell for the round went off and Harry and Ivan immediately fired a spell at each other. Ivan fired a stunner, which Harry dodged with a strafe, and Harry fired a disarming charm, which Ivan pivoted around. Harry dashed forward to close the distance, ducking under a second stunner fired by Ivan before attempting to banish Ivan’s shoes.