The TriWizard Tournament is Coming...
*** Le Present
Harry followed the Old men up to Dumbledore's office, listening bemusedly to Hermione's obvious irritation with the little dreamy blonde.
Dumbledore looked at Harry gravely, "You have done the school a great service. The LEAST that I can do is give you an award for special services to the school."
Harry inclined his head, accepting the award.
Dumbledore smiled mischievously, "Along with 200 points to Gryffindor… apiece."
Harry and Hermione grinned at each other.
"Traditionally, the sword is always kept by it's alchemist, so you can keep the Sword of Potter and practise with it, you'll have to get proficient with using it and your wand." Dumbledore smiled, "We'll be practising that for the last few months of this year… On the other hand, there is an event coming up next year that we feel you should know of. We're bringing back the Triwizard Tournament…"
Harry hadn't heard of it before but Hermione gasped in excitement.
"The Triwizard Tournament! Are all the schools on board?" Hermione asked.
Dumbledore nodded, "Beauxbatons had asked for an extra year to decide but Nicolas convinced some of his old acquaintances to agree to the tournament on my request…" Dumbledore trailed off, seeming apprehensive about what he was going to say next.
Arcturus continued, "We wanted you two to enter."
"Arcturus wanted you two to enter."
"It'll be a good test of their skills." The Lord Black protested.
"It's a contest with 7th years in it!" Dumbledore shot back, giving the impression that it was an ongoing debate between the two.
"So? You know that Potter is better than your half-assed 7th years, even that Wood boy isn't at Potter's level, and Granger would almost beat him as well. " Arcturus replied.
"But why force them to compete?"
"We're not making them compete, we're just allowing them to enter, the Goblet will choose whoever the best candidate is, if it's one of the goddamn 7th years then the 7th year will perform, if it's Potter, Potter will perform."
"Professors, it's fine, Hermione and I will enter, though I personally think it's unlikely that we will be chosen over the 7th years." Harry said sceptically.
Dumbledore sighed and nodded, "Very well, though you must make sure to be very prepared."
*** Later
The year was coming to a close, and Arcturus was being more brutal than ever on Harry, because of his possible choosing for the Triwizard tournament.
"There will not only be the traditional competition which will be hard enough, but there will be a duelling and a flying tournament."
Arcturus looked at Harry, "It is expected that the regular participant will take part in the next two competitions too but they will be chosen separately if, for example, the champion is not good at flying."
Harry nodded, "But I am pretty decent at flying too."
"True, which is why we're focussing on your duelling skills. Here let's practise."
Arcturus started off the duel with a lazy spell-chain that Harry batted away without any effort.
"Come on Black, that the best you got?" Harry taunted, despite knowing it would only seal his fate faster.
"No, but you haven't proven yourself worthy of my skill." Arcturus responded lazily.
Harry forced himself not to take offence and instead responded with several unpredictable spell-chains that fizzed out against Arcturus' shield.
Harry sent a shield-piercer at the basic shield, following it up with a quick spell-chain that would hopefully pass through before Arcturus could raise another shield.
Unfortunately for Harry, Arcturus simply moved out of the way before conjuring a serpent of water quickly to buy him some more time.
Harry wrenched control of the serpent and dispelled it, throwing the water at Arcturus' feet and attempting to freeze it, only to be thwarted by a long stream of fire released by Arcturus, which created smoke, that Arcturus threw at Harry's eyes.
Harry sliced forward with his sword to cut through the smoke and give himself enough vision to strike back quickly at Arcturus, knowing that his only chance of victory was to catch Arcturus off guard.
Arcturus deflected the spells off a hastily conjured shield, distracted for the moment, by Harry's spellfire, as Harry created a huge wall of fire which was turned to smoke automatically by Arcturus and sent back at Harry.
Thankfully, Harry was ready for this move, which Arcturus seemed to make every time with a fire or water attack, and used air manipulation to throw the entire thing at Arcturus, winning him precious seconds, in which he didn't attack but continued to draw on the floor, quickly moving around Arcturus, and drawing simple symbols.
The smoke cleared in a few short seconds to reveal Arcturus surrounded by a pink glowing shield that went around all sides of him.
Arcturus dispelled the shield and started throwing more spells at Harry but Harry only grinned and stepped back, throwing spells back immediately.
Arcturus, shielded against the spells even as he attempted to move out of the way… only to hit against a runic enclosure spell.
Harry smiled victoriously and leapt at the trapped Black with his sword, going to touch his neck with the face of the sword.
Arcturus thought fast and moved his wand quickly to dispel the runic binding just in time to push Harry away with a very last minute gust of air that overpowered the boy and blew him into the wall, effectively ending the duel.
Arcturus smiled and clapped.
"Smart one there boy, almost got me too."
Harry got up grumbling, "I shoulda got you."
The Black Lord nodded, "That's right, I'm old and out of my prime, you NEED to be able to beat me, though you've still got a long way to go."
*** Examtime
Both Harry and Hermione did exceedingly well in their second year exams, passing all the practicals with flying colours, not even having to try for defence, and in the blink of an eye, it was time to leave.
"Harry, you'll be coming with me to Black Manor where Sirius is." Arcturus said.
Harry nodded and the Lord apparated them straight to the doorstep, where Harry would talk with his Godfather properly for the first time.
"Hello Harry."
*** End of Chapter