53 Top Four
That day, Draco returned to his hotel room with his mind full of thoughts. He remembered that last year at the Yule Ball, it was Anastasia who approached him first. Even this time at the Dueling Competition, she was the one who spotted him first. Was it just a coincidence?
From what Draco observed over the week, Anastasia wasn't close to anyone. She also seemed to have come to compete alone, without the support of any adults. However, she didn't seem to need to rely on anyone anyway. The girl was very strong and knowledgeable – in the arena, she dueled with unexpected power and ferociousness, while outside of it she was friendly with everyone but close to none.
After hours of thinking about the Russian girl, Draco decided that he wouldn't be able to figure out her intentions even if he spent the whole night pondering the mystery behind her contrasting behavior. As such, he chose to temporarily forget about it and ask Abraxas about the information on her background.
Just when he wanted to get up for dinner, Zosar suddenly appeared in a whirlpool of flames.
• You guessed correctly, • he quickly said to Draco without waiting.
• Yesterday night Harry Potter once again wandered down the Hogwarts corridors to look for the mirror, but this time he met Dumbledore. The old man cautioned him that the mirror would be removed, and just now I confirmed that it's no longer in the classroom. I heard some portraits whisper that it was moved down to the third-floor corridor! •
Draco stroked his familiar's head with appreciation. Before the holidays, Zosar had been tasked with following Harry after Christmas and reporting on the location of the Mirror of Erised.
From the very beginning, Draco's goal had been the Philosopher's stone. However, the boy wasn't sure whether it would be in the same place as the books stated before Dumbledore told Harry that the mirror would be moved and the stone would be placed into it. As such, Draco couldn't make his move and risk exposure.
However, now that he was somewhat certain about the stone's location, he could try his move. Hogwarts was basically empty, save for the few students and staff members who chose to remain at school during the holidays. If the stone disappeared the very next day after it was moved for protection, no one would suspect a first-year who wasn't even in the Castle at the time.
Even better, if the stone's disappearance wasn't discovered until the end of the year when Voldemort battled it out with Harry, then all of the possible traces would have gone cold long ago.
Draco was only worried about two things. First, was the stone in the mirror actually real, or was it just a distraction placed to lure out Voldemort? And second, would the stone be placed into the mirror immediately, or would Draco's guess be off and its placement would occur later in the year?
Zosar sensed Draco's worries and tried to console the boy:
• We have everything ready. Even if the stone is fake or not there, we won't be exposed. Besides, we are doing this for a good cause. Therefore, there is no way we will fail!•
The young phoenix, who was only five years of age, still understood too little about life. He believed that as long as he had good intentions, everything would be alright and all evil people would be punished.
Draco smiled at his familiar and thought that he was still too naïve. If Fawkes was correct in one aspect, it was probably that the small phoenix should have still been under the protection of his mother rather than in the company of humans, who were often two-faced.
Zosar seemed to have sensed Draco's thoughts because the young wizard could see a hint of stubbornness appear in the bird's bright eyes. Neither of them commented on each other's thoughts, however, both of them understood each other perfectly.
"I suppose that there's one thing you said correctly – we are ready, so we won't be exposed," Draco finally broke the brief silence. "Tomorrow night we will go after the stone."
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The next day was the beginning of the duels between the winners of each group in Juniors' Championship. All six participants, each representing a group from A to F, stood on the arena in front of the referee. The stands were full of people, who were interested in seeing the strongest children in the competition. There were twice as many spectators when compared to the duels which happened before.
"Welcome, everyone!" shouted an announcer with his wand's tip placed just below his chin, aimed at the throat to amplify his voice. "Today we will select four competitors out of the remaining six, who will proceed to the semi-finals! Please, welcome them with loud applause!"
The stands thundered with claps and whistles as a response to the announcer's words. After the noise slightly died down, the announcer continued:
"The first duel will be between the winners of Group A and B, followed by duels between D and C, and finally – E and F. The three winners will move on directly to the semi-finals, while the losers will fight it out for the last spot. As such, today we will be watching six duels in total! Please, welcome the first participants – Group A's Anastasia Vasilieva from Koldovstoretz and Group B's Lamont Karlsson from Durmstrang!"
Draco, with the rest of the competitors, moved from the arena to sit in the specially arranged participants' seats.
The blond boy curiously looked as the referee announced the start of the duel, and the commentator began to enthusiastically comment on each contestant's moves.
Anastasia moved with grace as her wand produced one spell after another. Draco was slightly familiar with her dueling style because he spent some time observing his competitor's duels before.
The Russian girl favored elemental spells, such as creating ice on the floor, turning it into the water and sending weak lightning to incapacitate her opponents. She also incorporated these spells into spell chains, which also contained shields and various jinxes. It could be seen that she was the last year's champion not due to luck, but because of real ability.
Her opponent was slightly weaker, in comparison. Although he gave it his all, favoring dark magic and curses, he was quickly put on the defensive by the unusual combination of his opponent's spells. In the end, the student from Durmstrang lost and Anastasia became the first contestant to secure the spot in semi-finals.
The next duel was between two boys – one was twelve and from Romania, while the other was thirteen and from Greece. Draco silently observed the pale dark-haired boy from Romania – no one explicitly said it, however, the boy seemed to be a vampire.
At the beginning of the duel, he rarely used his wand, preferring to dodge the spells while watching his opponent. Two minutes into the duel, the pale boy finally moved with his attack – he waved his wand and a blood-red curse flew out to hit the Greek boy, who was taken by surprise at his competitor's sudden offense.
The curse hit him, and the boy dropped to the ground with a blood-curdling scream of pain. The referee quickly announced the end of the duel, and the Greek boy was moved away to be treated.
Herbert Bludd, the winner of Group D, became the second contestant to enter the semi-finals.
Finally, it was Draco's turn.
The Slytherin boy silently moved into the arena and observed his opponent with a slightly tilted head.
"The next duel is between Obadiah Cox from Ilvermorny and Draco Malfoy from Hogwarts. Begin!"
Draco paid a lot of attention to the winner of Group E, who had a strong build and seemed to be very powerful. Besides, the American boy's school, just like Hogwarts, had four houses. Obadiah was a member of Wampus - the house of warriors. Just from that and from the previously observed duels, Draco concluded that Obadiah was not an easy opponent who could be manipulated using emotions.
The best way to win was to take the initiative and put the other on defensive, however, before Draco could do just that, his opponent already completed his first spell, and the blond boy had no choice but to dodge as his shields were too weak to block it.
Red, blue, purple and orange – all kinds of colors were flying Draco's way as Obadiah went all out with his spells. The Slytherin could only dodge and deflect the magic which came his way.
The few times that he found the opportunity to counterattack, his spells were blocked or dispelled with no trouble. This duel was the hardest that Draco had experienced to date. It reminded the boy of his first duel in the competition, only with the roles reversed as he became the wall which the spells could hit with no expectation that it would ever hit back.
Draco's mind spun as he considered and discarded various options. Finally, seeing that he wouldn't be able to win with his wand skills as his opponent was much better than himself, Draco decided to reveal one of his trump cards.
The blond boy dodged a few unfamiliar spells which came his way and dispelled the ones which targeted the area around himself. He carefully observed his opponent and pretended to get tired from all of the running around.
Obadiah got slightly excited seeing his opponent panting for breath and trying to hide it. The American wizard's offense got even more ferocious in the attempt to win the duel quickly. Finally, he cast the Disarming Charm and Draco's wand flew away.
However, before Obadiah could catch it, Draco moved his hand in the familiar gestured and an 'Expelliarmus' hit his opponent in a stunning display of wandless magic.
The blond boy quickly caught both wands – his own and his opponent's – and before Obadiah could understand what happened, Draco cast a Binding Charm and successfully incapacitated his opponent. This was done in case the other could also use wandless magic.
'Anyway, being careful is important,' Draco thought to himself as he silently observed Obadiah, who now resembled a caterpillar - what with all those ropes twisted around his body, struggling to be released.
The referee's wand released blue sparkles, indicating the duel's end.
The stands, which fell silent at Draco's display, suddenly burst into shouts and applause.
There were a few minutes of silence from the referee, who took out a communication mirror to whisper something to another person on-call. Finally, the referee raised his head and aimed his wand at his throat.
"The winner of the duel is Draco Malfoy from Hogwarts! Next, we will commence the duels to determine the last competitor, who will be allowed the chance to enter the semi-finals!"
Draco breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that his use of wandless magic was admitted as legal under the competition's rules. The Juniors' and Youths' competitions didn't have that many restrictions and the competitors weren't restricted to wand-only magic. If this was the adults' competition, depending on its type, Draco may have been disqualified for breaking the rules.
At the end of the day, the one who became the last competitor to enter the top four was Obadiah Cox. Draco had to admit that the boy certainly deserved it.
"The semi-finals will begin the day after tomorrow! Contestants, get ready and don't be late!" the referee announced the last words and allowed everyone to leave.
Draco's eyes narrowed in thought – since tomorrow he would be free, it was the perfect chance to go after the stone.
