Chapter 45: Duel ( Part 1)

VEELA COLONY, FRANCE:

Dorea Potter led her husband and friends towards the most oppulent box present in the stadium that was build in order to hold the duel. As Dorea Potter neared the box, the witches guarding the box moved to stop her. Dorea could feel that her husband was ready to attack at any moment. Dorea in order to prevent any mishappenings due to the tense atmosphere, quickly spoke in polite tone, " Please, inform the matriarch that Dorea Potter and her friends wants to meet her."

One of the witches nodded and entered inside the box. A few minutes later, she returned and gestured them to move inside. Dorea Potter moved inside followed by her companions. The inside of the room was tastefully decorated and provided the full view of the stadium and the dueling platform. There were many witches standing guard inside also. In the center of the box was a massive chair on which a very beautiful by veela standards woman was sitting with a tense expression. This woman was the matriarch of the Veela race, Dorea Potter stepped forward and said, " Greetings!!! Matriarch."

The Matriarch smiled and said, " Welcome!!! Dorea. It is sad that we are meeting at a moment like this but I am still glad to see the person who saved my life."

Charles leaned forward and said, " I would have brought you a gift, Ma'am but certain someone didn't tell me who I was going to meet."

Dorea rolled her eyes in annoyance and said, " Matriarch!! This man is my husband, Charles Potter. Please, don't pay any attention to him. He only likes to joke." The indigent shout of Charles after hearing the comment was ignored by everyone present. Dorea then proceeded to introduce everyone to each other. The Matriarch said in serious voice, " Raise the wards."

The wards were raised and the matriarch said, " You wanted to discuss a serious matter with me. What it is?"

Arcturus said, " We wanted to warn you about Alexander Fortis."

The matriarch spoke in inquisitive voice, " The new dark lord?"

Arcturus, " We cannot technically proclaim him a dark lord yet but yes, we wanted to talk to you about him."

Matriarch said, " We are a neutral race so we cannot help you in any way during any conflict so if you have come to seek help, then I am sorry but I can not help you."

Charles, " We are not asking for your help. We are here, to warn you."

Matriarch, " About what?"

Dorea, " Don't provoke him. He is a very dangerous and cunning man."

Matriarch, " Why are you telling me this?"

Leonard, " We know that the ICW higher ups have asked you to embarrass him in order to boost their own image and also to distract him from the duel. Don't do it."

Matriarch, " We were not going to do anything of that sort. I have already ordered all the veelas and descendents to remain around my box and surrounding stands. This area is prohibited to others except you. We learned well in the last war when Grindlewald's forces used muggles to attack our colonies. Thankfully, beside some structural damages, no other harm was done. Our wards were able to hold under their bombardment and Dorea here, was able to convince ICW higher ups to provide us with backup. For this, I am very grateful to you."

Dorea, " It's a relief that you didn't plan to do anything. That man was able to take down our entire Unspeakable force alone, he is not someone who can be taken lightly."

Matriarch, " You were at the battle so tell me, by how much things are emblished by our friends in ICW?"

Charles, " They have changed so much that even I was in doubt whether we and the people of ICW were in the same place or not."

The matriarch softly laughed and said, " I was not able to get an account of the true events which happened there due to all the meetings with the ICW officials and also directing the pig heads of ICW in constructing a proper stadium."

Dorea snorted and spoke," His forces were playing with the Aurors and ICW hit wizards. It certainly wasn't a hard won victory by the forces of light over forces of darkness. There was no deaths on the side of Alexander Fortis as reported by newspapers and Alexander Fortis did not lost that battle. This duel was not proposed by him in order to escape the battle. His forces were not in hundreds but in thousands. Do I need to go on? The amount of lies that were printed by newspapers and spread by ICW mouthpieces truly astonished me."

Matriarch, " What else did you expect? This was their first major defeat after the fall of Grindlewald. They were already not acknowledged by the common wizards and witches before and now after the war, there have been talks of dissolving the ICW and making a new and much more effective international governing body in some sections of the society. This Fortis fellow could prove to be a final nail in the coffin for the ICW. This is the reason for the such a response from the ICW."

Leonard examined the stadium and said, " I don't see any box or such for the opposite party of the duel while I can see Dumbledore's. Where they plan to have them stay before the duel?"

Matriarch sighed, " They didn't construct one for him. They planned to have him wait on the dueling platform while they take their sweet time in conducting the duel. It is another one of their petty tactics to make them appear superior."

Charles, " This is going to be a bloodbath. Alexander Fortis don't deal well with insults as the goblins of the British Gringrots experienced."

Matriarch, " What happened? Our neighbours are awfully efficient in surpressing any news of their domestic situation from leaking outside."

Charles, " Gringrots lost a few floors and thousands of goblins lost their lives as a result of a magical bomb. All of this was because a desk goblin made Alexander Fortis wait for 5 minutes unnecessarily. This is here is on a whole new level, I would not be surprised if a bloodbath occurs here."

Matriarch paled in shock and quickly said to her guards, " When Alexander Fortis comes led him here without waiting for anyone." The guards nodded and one of them moved towards the door to relay the orders. Delia spoke up, " It's too late, his men are already here and they don't look happy."

Everyone looked towards the stadium and saw a group of hooded men with a symbol of fist on their chests standing near the dueling platform and their body language showed their fury. One of the men appriated away and after a few seconds came with a elf like creature who also looked around in anger. The elf like creature then snapped his fingers and the stadium rumbled and expanded to 3 times it's previous size. The newly expanded stadium was divided into two sides with ICW on one side and probably Alexander's forces on the other side with the veelas in the middle. The side of Alexander was modelled after the Roman theater while the ICW's side had wooden benches. The faces of ICW executives were red with anger but before they could say something, thousands of wizards and witches appeared on the other side and took their seats.

Charles turned towards Matriarch and said, " How many people can this stadium hold?"

Matriarch replied, " One Hundred Thousand."

Charles, " That fellow expanded the stadium to 3 times it's size so the other side can hold 200,000 people."

Matriarch said in a shocked tone, " No, their side also holds a 100,000 people. The remaining space was given to us, the veelas as a acknowledgement of our neutrality. Infact, this whole stadium would be converted to a five star stadium and gifted to our race as an appreciation gift."

Leonard, " How do you know this?"

Matriarch continued in shocked tone, " The head elf of Alexander Fortis spoke to me in my mind and informed me of all this. This is the reason of my shock, if the elf is so powerful then how powerful is his master?"

Suddenly a heavy noice echoed throughout the stadium. Everyone looked towards Alexander's side and saw a massive throne made of gold and previous gems put on a raised marble platform. Suddenly, a man appeared in front of the throne and sat on it. The Matriarch asked with deep terror in her voice, " Who is that man?"

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