Chapter 17: The Championship (U)

A/N: The U in the brackets stands for unedited. I will come back and some point and edit it properly. Till then just bear with errors.

***

Just like that the school year ended and Ginny returned home after promising to write to Aileen and Gwen.

Back home, she unpacked and took out a small pouch. Inside which there were multiple golden… potions. Yes, potions. She'd pawned off a large number of magical objects from the Room of Lost Things to buy a sack full of potion ingredients. Specifically, ingredients for nutrition potions. She had used these ingredients to make a large number of nutrition potions; enough to last her a long while. Thankfully, these potions had a rather long shelf-life and did not conflict with Stasis Charms, or she would really be stuck.

She realised that as she grew, her nutrient requirement was only increasing. Which made sense, but did not make it any less of a problem. So she now had to carry this pouch around so that her mother didn't discover it. She was only 11 now; she had nothing that even remotely resembled privacy. Well, at least from her mother.

-x-x-x-

The entire Weasley family had a celebration; after all, their youngest had achieved something that few students managed in the entire history of Hogwarts. Plus she had outstanding results in both her years! It was just right that they celebrated!

She finally got to rub it in Percy's face, when she very slowly, very excruciatingly explained how useless his book was and how she still got better grades than he did. His face was priceless! He looked like he had eaten Scabbers!

He tried to retort that she would have all O*'s if she had paid heed to him and his book, but was soon out argued when Fred and George joined in on the fun and pointed out that Snape never gave O*'s. Not even to his precious Slytherins. And to put the final nail on Percy's dreams of having a disciplined younger sister, she explained, "Besides, what matters to the rest of the Wizarding World are the O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s. Which I will ace."

Percy stomped off, face matching his hair in his fury.

What was even more perfect was that Arthur had won the Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw! So they all decided to go to Egypt next month.

It wasn't that they did not want to save the money for the future, but that they couldn't. The Daily Prophet used this 'Grand Prize Galleon Draw' as a sort of advertisement. So they wanted them to do something exciting with the money, not want something so boring as saving! It was quite clearly mentioned in T&C of the lottery ticket that Daily Prophet holds the right to hold the money if they "do not find it interesting enough".

So, they had little choice, really.

So for the month of August, they decided on a trip to Egypt, which Ginny was quite excited about. They each got an allowance of 10 Galleons! Which, in fact, was quite a lot for the Weasleys. And she was pretty sure she would not get this allowance if she had allowed that stupid elf to stop Harry from going through the gateway to Platform 9 ¾. Her family had no way to pay the fine of a whopping 50 Galleon! She reckoned Arthur had borrowed from his friends with the intention of paying them back later. So she gave herself a pat on the back.

But before that, she needed to do something.

-x-x-x-

"No." Arthur Weasley straight out refused.

"But dad, you promised me!" she complained loudly.

"I promised to get you something you'd like! Something harmless! Like a pet. An owl, or a cat, or even a toad. I did not promise to allow you to do something so dangerous!" Arthur rarely raised his voice - especially against his daughter - but this was one of the very few times.

"It's the Under 15 championship! They're not dangerous!" she tried to argue. "They have certified medi-witches and medi-wizards ready in case of the slightest accident! And they mostly stay idle the whole time! The only time they had to do anything was when some wizard got a black eye. And that did not even have anything to do with the matches!

"In fact, even playing quidditch at Hogwarts is more dangerous!" she exclaimed. And statistically, she was quite right. Every quidditch player at Hogwarts will suffer at least one injury every year! Dumbledore's claim of Hogwarts being the safest place is such b*llshit.

"No, means no, young lady." he said in a tone of finality, "I won't change my mind."

'You say that now, dad.'

After that argument, for the next week or so, she tried all sorts of methods to from arguing to trying her best to convince him. But Arthur remained adamant in his decision. Clearly, using logic to appeal to Arthur was not enough! She even threw tantrums - like the old Ginny. It was a wonder, honestly, how she didn't shudder from the sheer cringe.

However, Arthur Weasley was adamant no matter how much sense she made. Thus, seeing that her effort bore no fruit, she decided to bring out the big guns.

So one day after a particularly heated argument, Ginny put on a pouty face, teary eyes and ran out of the house at full speed, while shouting, "You promised, dad! " all while cringing so hard internally that she almost died.

It was super effective!

Despite having been firm in his decision for almost two weeks now, he almost instantly caved in. Such was the power of a daughter who had her dad wrapped around her fingers. Even if he didn't know it.

He had asked around and realised that every argument that Ginny made was factually true and completely valid. And Ginny was usually quite understanding, she had never demanded anything like many other children her age, even compared to her brothers. So he decided - after much research and discussion - to allow her to participate.

The look of pure delight on Ginny's face honestly made his day.

A few days later, Arthur took her to Vertic Alley to get her signed up. Vertic Alley was a more posh version of Diagon Alley. This was where the more well-known organisations like the broom manufacturers like Nimbus, and Cleansweep headquartered. This was also where the most popular newspaper in Britain - The Daily Prophet - had their headquarters.

Among them Duelists' Dominion was a large-ish building that would actually look quite normal if placed in a muggle area, in wizard-sense, that meant it looked really weird surrounded by common buildings (by wizard standards). Also, 'wizard-sense' was a term that she came up with to describe a wizard's common sense.

To register, the participant was required to submit their latest grade card - i.e. - their current qualifications. The '15' in under 15 was actually codswallop. 'The Under 15' here just meant that the participating witch or wizard had not yet passed his O.W.L.s, rather than being indicative of their actual age.

So that meant people like Ginny - who had skipped a year - were at a disadvantage.

But Ginny didn't really care. She was absolutely confident in winning. If she, with all her advantages, did not win, she might as well snap her wand and go live with the muggles.

So after a rather smooth and efficient process (which was remarkably rare for a people with magic), Ginny had finally signed up for the Duelling Championship and was raring to go. Well, actually, not that much. She just wanted the easy money, that was all. No, the real fun would begin much later. This puny Championship was just a stepping stone for her.

-x-x-x-

The Championship would be during the third week of July, and would end just a few days before they left for Egypt. So after a few days of excited waiting, the Weasley family travelled to the Duellist's Dominion building in Vertic Alley.

The building was far more crowded than before, with a large number of witches and wizards blundering around doing things in their eccentric ways.

While they were looking for the place to report their participant's attendance, a jolly sounding voice sounded, "Ah! Arthur! Didn't expect to see you here. Almost thought I saw someone else. No wonder you were asking around about the Duelling Championship. Is it for one of your boys? Is it the twin's I hear about from Cedric?"

Arthur, apparently recognising the voice, greeted back, "Amos! I didn't expect to see you here, either. How is Cedric? He will start his O.W.L. year at Hogwarts this term, eh?"

Cedric, who was to the side, was dragged in by Amos and made to greet the Weasleys. After a bit of small talk, the two families went on their ways.

Having reported her attendance, she learned that the tournament followed a simple elimination format up to top 5. After which, they would have to battle all the other four. The one who had the most wins would be the champion. With approximately 40 participants that meant 5 rounds.

Ginny just shrugged. Whatever format it was, all she needed to do was defeat her opponents.

-x-x-x-

The duel stage was surrounded by a large number of seats much like a muggle soccer stadium, just much smaller. The special thing about this venue was that it could actually intelligently expand itself and spawn more seats when there were more wizards inside. It was a rather marvellous piece of magic.

Or so the older, brown-haired boy that was in the same group told her.

"It is indeed quite interesting, a multi-layered enchantment with at least an extension charm layered with a looped Doubling Charm." Ginny nodded in agreement.

The boy's eyes lit up. "Right?! With the stabilising layers, the Revelio layers and the interaction layers, it must have been a Master Enchanter who made this! This must have cost them a fortune!"

"Well the Duelling Dominion is a pan-European organisation" Ginny shrugged. "If they don't have at least that much money, they might as well close down."

"That is true, indeed." the boy continued after a small pause, "By the way, I'm Irwin Priestly. I'm an O.W.L. year student, in Hogwarts' terms."

"What do you mean in Hogwarts' terms?" Ginny questioned the boy in confusion.

"Ah, you might not know, but some of the older families prefer to homeschool their children as Hogwarts' education far is too general. These families - like my own - have a much more specialised understanding of magic that matches the craft we specialise in. The Ollivanders would be another such example. Well, excluding the current Head, Garrick Ollivander and his father." explained Irwin patiently.

"That is quite interesting, I did not know that." she spoke in astonishment, "Ah pardon my rudeness, I'm Ginny Weasley. I will be a third-year student at Hogwarts this term."

"Weasley, Weasley… I don't seem to recall your family among those that specialise in enchanting, perhaps from your mothers' side?" He looked at Ginny in confusion.

"Mother was a Prewett actually. Prewetts specialised in duelling. My uncle Fabian was supposed to be an excellent duellist with multiple championships under his belt." she smiled at his increasingly confused look. "If you're wondering why I know so much about Enchanting, it's because I study a lot in my free time."

Irwin had a look of realisation on his face.

That was when Ginny's turn came up; and that was also when Irwin realised a massive logical gap in her statement, "Wait, you said you learnt in your free time but you're only a third year, that means at most two years - how can you be so advanced?!" By the time he'd finished his sentence, he was already shouting; but Ginny was already out of 'earshot'.

She just waved him goodbye before turning away, while breathing a relieved sigh. Her Dao of B*llshit allowed her just enough time to get away.

-x-x-x-

Opposite Ginny stood a teenager who looked to be about 15, his demeanour relaxed and lazy; obviously, he held her in contempt.

"Hey, little girl, this ain't a place for kids, y'know?" he sneered contemptuously, making a 'shoo'ing gesture "Go play with your toy broomsticks or something."

She was utterly baffled, "I'm actually impressed that you can say such cliche lines and not die of the cringe." She looked at him in genuine admiration. "I would have killed myself before I even completed that sentence."

"You runt-!" he snarled and aggressively walked forward.

"What? Is your wand so far up your arse that you can't retrieve it anymore? So you resort to fighting barbarically like a muggle?" she gave him a look of utter contempt as if looking at a pile of owl droppings, "Even muggles have class now - they use guns."

The boy's face was already red with fury, and was about to say something but the referee called out, "Wands at the ready!"

The boy stepped back and took out his wand. So did she.

"Face your opponent! And bow!" the two of them merely inclined their heads.

"On three! One - two - three!"

Immediately, Ginny stepped to the side while also orienting her wand side forward to reduce the vulnerable area as much as possible.

"Inflatus!" yelled the boy, a bright blue light shot out of his wand. His movements were far quicker than any of the opponents she'd faced before; which included a third year during the 2nd Duelling Club meeting.

Unfortunately for the boy, she had already stepped to the side far enough to completely avoid the spell. With minimal movement of the wand she calmly incantated, "Expelliarmus!" causing a bright beam of red light to shoot out towards the boy who also sidestepped immediately after realising that his opponent had dodged his spell.

"Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy!" The boy, in a show of tremendous skill, actually chained three stunners left, right and centre; making it impossible for her to dodge.

"Protego!" a translucent, blueish-silver shield sprang into existence. With three loud gongs, the shield broke, but managed to reflect two of the stunners back to her opponent, forcing him to roll to the side. Which in turn created enough delay for Ginny to yell,

"Avis!" With a loud 'bang!' several small yellow birds shot out of her wand, succeeding which Ginny intoned, "Oppugno!" Causing the birds to shoot toward and besiege her opponent who had just returned to his upright state.

"Agghh!" her adversary screamed in pain, waving his hands in an attempt to ward off the offending birds all for naught. The awesome thing about this spell-combo was that it had the ability to hone in on the target, making them a great distraction.

Capitalising on her advantage she yelled, "Expelliarmus!" The spell shot unhindered to her rival who was still busily swatting at the birds and knocked him back onto the ground, while his wand flew out of his hand.

The referee's surprise took only a few moments to subside; after which he declared, "Winner: Participant number 23: Ginny Weasley!"

She walked away while the referee dealt with her overly fond birds that left hickeys all over the boy's body.

In the audience, the Weasley family that had been on the edge of their seats saw Ginny defend against the three stunners using a Shield Charm to defend and then completely dominate her opponent. Arthur, Fred, George and Ron exclaimed at the same time, ""That was wicked!!""

Fred and George looked at each other, ""Let's never get on her bad side!""

"Bloody hell! I reckon she'd make a better teacher for the DADA than we'd ever have!" Ron was flabbergasted.

There was another match in the afternoon, the opponent was not even half as good as her first opponent had been. He was thoroughly beaten, following which they returned home.

On the next day, she beat her opponent again, who was also not as good as her first. She reckoned he would have been a contender for the Top 5 had he not been unlucky enough to meet her.

-x-x-x-

On the third day, Ginny suddenly noticed that the venue was bigger and there were suddenly many more people. For the first three rounds, while there were still quite a few people, it was mostly because of the relatives of the participants - few people cared for a Duel between a bunch of brats. But now, there were at least thrice as many people.

The biggest difference this time was that there was an actual announcer this time around, "Ladies and Gents! Welcome to the Final Round of Britain's Under 15 Duelling Championship!" He just wasn't very good.

"Let us welcome the participants: Mr. Leif Snakebark, Fifth Year. His incredibly quick casting makes him a nightmare for his opponents, leaving them unable to react!" A handsome looking ginger walked out with a smile on his face.

"Mr. Gayelord Colten, also Fifth Year. His impeccable mastery of the Disarming Charm made his opponents question whether they even held their wand!" A tall, rather well built fella stomped his way to the stage.

"Pfft~! Gayelord! Gayelord! Oh, goodness me! Hahahahaha!" Ginny burst out laughing. It was very lucky they were made to walk in from different areas.

"Mr. Wylie Fiddlewood, Fifth Year. If his Impediment Jinx were any better, you'd be going backwards!" the Stocky feller went up the stage.

"Mr. Hiram Buttonwood, Fourth Year, his Shield Charm is so sturdy that it makes his opponents want to bash their heads against it in frustration!" this one was looking rather nervous, with a pale face and unsteady steps

"And last definitely but definitely not the least, we have Ms. Ginny Weasley! And… Good gracious! A Third Year! How long has it been since a Third Year made it to the Finals? A decade? Oh? Almost half a century, you say?

"Let's welcome the youngest member of the Top 5 in half a century! Ms. Ginny Weasley, who has shown a tremendous repertoire of spells with impeccable mastery!"

Ginny leisurely walked over and stood on the stage, ignoring the evaluating looks her to-be-opponents gave her.

"Now that we have our participants, let the duels begin!

"Oh my, my, my, we have a great match right from the start: Ms. Ginny Weasley vs. Mr. Leif Snakebark!"

The referee yelled, "Only those matched will stay on the stage, the rest - be seated!"

"Face your opponents!

"Bow!

"Wands at the ready!

"On three! One - two - three!"

Instantly, Ginny saw a purple bolt of light shoot straight towards her, despite having stepped to the side. 'A non-verbal Jelly-leg Jinx!' she did not expect that at all! She could not dodge, as that sort of physicality was strictly beyond human and required training over decades - someone her age would not even have been self-aware for that long. So she flicked her wand in a non-verbal 'protego', which only managed to deflect it slightly and barely had time to use her momentum from her initial step to the side to roll over. Which turned out to be a good idea, as several spells struck the ground behind her in quick succession.

Before her adversary could continue his volley of spells she quickly chanted, "Fumgilt!" causing a large amount of fog to erupt out of her wand and cover the stadium. She kept rolling, just in case he sent more spells her way.

"Ventus!" Her opponent blew away all the fog, but she had already caught her breath, "Afflatus Maxima! Flipendo! Expelliarmus!" She chained three different spells. Using the Multi-shot jinx she sealed off all pathways of retreat and forced him to use a Shield Charm which was broken by the Multi-shot jinx allowing the Knockback and Disarming Charm to hit him.

"Winner: Ginny Weasley!" the referee announced.

"Stupendous, absolutely stupendous! Such mastery of spells, such speed of casting! Oof! I bet very few N.E.W.T. wizards would be able to show us such a marvellous duel!"

Then a battle between Gayelord Colten and Wylie Fiddlewood ended in Gayelord's defeat. The losers of the two matches duelled it out and the loser, Gayelord, lost once again against Hiram Buttonwood. After a few more matches, Ginny won all four of her matches, making her the winner of the National Championship of Britain.

"Unbelievable! Truly unbelievable! A third-year won the national championship! What a phenomenal prodigy we have!..." While the announcer was gushing all over her, Ginny gave each of her former opponents a quick glance.

Snakebark who came in at 2nd place - having rather easily defeated the other three - was glaring at her. She cockily smirked at him, causing him to almost blow his top. She actually quite admired his skill; she reckoned that he'd have been the champion if not for her.

Buttonwood won the 3rd place, having lost against Snakebark. This fella was actually quite talented. If he'd been in fifth year, there was a good chance he might have beaten Snakebark. Unexpectedly, he looked quite content.

The 4th place belonged to Fiddlewood, who sulked quietly along with Gayelord who lay on his seat, depressed with his performance .

-x-x-x-

The Weasleys were chatting excitedly as they made their way to the Floo Fireplace in the building, when they once again met Amos and Cedric Diggory who had the same destination as them.

"Arthur, you cunning, cunning fellow! You did not tell it was your daughter that would be participating!" the older Diggory exclaimed, while the younger one sent Ginny an scrutinising gaze. He could never have imagined that this young girl that didn't even reach his chest was so skilled with a wand! He wouldn't have believed it even if he was held at wand-point!

But reality was often more bizarre than fantasy. The opponent he had been thrashed by, was in turn beaten to tears by the young girl in front of him. It made him doubt life.

"So you'll be starting Third Year this term, then? Have you decided on your elective subjects?" he inquired curiously.

"That's right." Ginny nodded in affirmation, "I've decided to take Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, while I'm still contemplating Care of Magical Creatures. Though, I'm inclined not to. What electives did you take?" She remembered very little about him other than his status as Cho Chang's boyfriend and the dead guy that helped Harry in reciprocation to his hint about the dragons.

"Those are excellent choices. I took Divination, Care and Muggle Studies, actually. Goodness, I regret taking Divination: it's an utter waste of time." he said emphatically, "I really should have taken Ancient Runes instead! I really, really should have made my choices with more consideration and not taken what my friends chose."

Although he didn't say it explicitly, it was quite obvious that he was trying to warn her to not get peer pressured into taking subjects that she did not really care for.

'As expected of a Hufflepuff.' She remarked.

"Thank you." she gave him a grateful smile to indicate that she understood his implied meaning.

After making small talk, they went on their ways.

On their way to the Floo fireplace, they were met with Leif Snakebark and a tall, rather attractive young woman. Leif, who had also caught sight of her, immediately glared at her and stomped his way to her.

'Just great, another idiot.' she sighed in resignation.

"You! You got lucky this time, but I will defeat you next time!" he pointed at her and exclaimed vehemently. To which she nodded seriously, "You can do it! I believe in you!" She spoke with a lot of encouragement in her tone.

"Pfft~!" the young woman snorted.

"You - ! Ow! Sis!" he started but was quickly interrupted by his sister conking on the back of his head.

"My name is Belladonna, Belladonna Snakebark." The woman - now identified as Belladonna - extended her hand to Arthur and Molly in greeting. "Please forgive my baby brother, he's a tad passionate when it comes to Duelling, and completely forgets his manners." She gave him a pointed look.

He just looked away with a click of his tongue.

"I can understand that, my daughter's not that different…"

"It was nice meeting you, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. You should bring your Ginevra over sometime. Leif and her would make great friends - !"

"We would not!" he exclaimed.

"He's been talking about that redheaded girl that beat him - !"

"I was not!"

Belladonna happily teased her brother, who was completely unaware that his reactions only made her that much happier and made her spill out all his dark history. Ginny gave the fellow a pitying look, she knew fellow tease when she saw one.

Fortunately for Leif, they had already reached the fireplace and had to say goodbye.

"It was nice meeting you guys. I look forward to seeing you again." she smiled and Flooed away along with her brother.

"Well, that's us." said Arthur, taking a pinch of the floo powder.