Chapter 185: Spectating Echoes

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14 February 1994, Hogwarts

After finishing the duel, Harry found himself sitting in his previous seat in the stands, ignoring the stares and whispers that surrounded him. He could somewhat understand the reasoning; none of the other duels were as quick or ended up in such an overwhelming victory. Harry had literally cast a single spell and had used it to defeat Bole, nothing more nothing less. It was the way Harry chose to respond to Dumbledore's little trap.

Defeating an upperclassman without demonstrating a single sign of his abilities was the theme he had chosen to use for the duration of the tournament. After all, it had served him well in the first task.

People probably had no idea what he had done. Perhaps, they thought that he overpowered Bole's shield, which would be ridiculous. To the trained eye, overpowering a shield and using a shield-breaking charm had completely different effects. The first literally disintegrated the shield, while the second broke it akin to a bullet hitting a glass window. It was more precise and more efficient.

The biggest issue would have been its limited diversity. In higher-level duels, incantations and wand movements meant very little. In fact, people often used incorrect wand movements to throw off their opponents. Considering that shield breakers only worked for a single shield, and were completely useless in any other setting, they were considered to be interesting but relatively useless pieces of magic.

Which was why no one saw them coming.

People didn't have Harry's Arcane Hearing. They couldn't hear the magic, understand it as he does, and recognize their chosen shields before they're even cast.

And they couldn't really ban it, at least, without causing some real controversy while looking like hypocrites. After all, modified versions of allowed spells are something that was commonly seen in duelling tournaments. One of the more standard duelling tactics was to use modified variants of spells that travel at different speeds, or sometimes even have different accelerations altogether. And this was just a single aspect. Banning spells modified to include shield breakers would mean that any variation of spells that didn't even include any dark magic would be possible.

And with that, duelling would turn into two mages just flinging curses at each other without any tactics.

Speaking of Dark magic, more than a few spectators kept murmuring about it while looking at him. It was honestly hilarious. Oh, Harry knew more than a few 'dark spells', but he could only use the variants relying on the mysterious outside source of magic that made its effects more pronounced. But he never could muster the hatred or rage necessary to take those spells to new heights. He could probably simulate the magic with his Arcane Hearing, but it would be time-consuming. It also didn't feel right to do it this way, like it would be a very inefficient endeavour.

Harry had learned that during his research on curses with Daphne. Oh, he was great when it came to dispelling curses, but not at casting them. He was just average.

Honestly, it made Harry slightly wary of people who excelled in this type of magic. He could find two types of them from the top of his head. There were the insane mages who were so full of hate and anger that they would lash at the world at every second like Bellatrix Lestrange used to be before she died. And there were the calm mages with ironclad control over their emotions like Harry's guardian, Arcturus Black. While the first type was worrying, the second was far more terrifying to face.

So, when people accused him of using Dark Magic behind his back, Harry couldn't help but find it amusing. They had literally chosen the field of magic that he excelled at the least, and they still tried to accuse him of using it because it sounded bad.

His meagre skills in Alchemy could probably cause more damage than most curses anyway.

Harry's thoughts were interrupted by Ludo Bagman's loud but aggravating voice announcing the start of Daphne's duel. She was pitted against Eddie Carmichael, a somewhat intelligent Ravenclaw that was a year above them. He didn't know much about the boy, only that he was the one challenging Cho Chang for the top spot in his year and that he was stunned immediately after the start of his first task and didn't get to continue.

He turned towards his friend's location and saw her looking up to see him. She looked cool from the outside, but Harry could tell that it was a front and that she was nervous. He gave her a confident smile, and she relaxed slightly.

Both competitors bowed in the centre of the field, bowed and returned back to their side, with their stance positions. Carmichael obviously read a bit about duelling, but his stand was slightly off. Oh, he was an academic then. Harry could respect that. Some people just didn't enjoy fighting.

Daphne must have noticed it as well since her expression turned into a smug grin that seemed to infuriate her opponent. And just like that, the duel started.

The first thing Harry noticed was that Carmichael did not speak when casting a spell. Nonverbal casting, being a sixth-year skill did make this achievement pretty impressive for a fourth year and it would have made for a wonderful surprise. 

Unfortunately for him, Daphne was used to duelling Harry who rarely ever voiced his spells. She went immediately into normal 'combat mode' and shielded herself against the boy's stunning charm.

The duel progressed easily enough, both duelers looking evenly matched from the outside. The spectators just didn't know how much Daphne was holding back since she obviously didn't want to show her trump cards.

It was a shame that they couldn't use any meaningful curses. Daphne was getting disturbingly good with them, and the gleam in her eyes when she used them sometimes scared the crap out of him.

Still, Carmichael ended up falling for a basic trap Harry had taught the blonde. It was a rudimentary lesson on using her surroundings, where Harry cast a spell that seemingly had missed minutes before, and ended up changing the environment in some way, only to be caught in them after forgetting about it.

Daphne cast a small transfiguration spell that didn't change the shape of an object, just its materials into some kind of very strong glue. Carmichael had probably forgotten about it because minutes later, his leg got stuck in it, and it cost him a couple of seconds of concentration that Daphne used to stun him.

It was probably one of the more entertaining duels in the younger tournament bracket, and the audience just started to cheer and applaud them both. Daphne helped her competitor up and gave him a respectful nod, before looking up at Harr's face. The approving smile he had given her made her visibly preen, not that most people would be able to tell.

The blonde, then, proudly turned and left the duelling platform.

And she was right to be proud. Her performance would get her a lot of points and recognition in their house. Unfortunately, Harry wouldn't get the same treatment, not that he really cared about it.

It wasn't exactly a secret that Lucien Bole was one of the Court's rooks. His brutality is dealing with those who broke the unwritten rules of Slytherin, or against members of other houses that go too far, was very well known.

Harry made himself very few friends by beating him in such a humiliating way. Unfortunately for the older boy, Harry would rather face his anger than fall into Dumbledore's trap. If Harry had even performed half as well as Daphne, the Prophet would have been ranting and raving about Dumbledore being right about him all along, the following day.

A few minutes later, Daphne walked gracefully to her former seat next to him, and whispered, "So, how did I do?"

"Splendidly, Daph. You handled yourself very well. I'm proud of you."

The blonde reddened slightly and hit him in the shoulder, "You didn't have to humiliate Bole like this. I know that you don't want to show off, but you kinda did."

"I got lucky."

"Sure, you got lucky by casting a spell that was specifically designed against the shield he put up, a spell that you cast before he even put up the shield, remember?"

Her tone was dry, but Harry could tell that it had a hint of amusement hidden in it.

Harry simply shrugged, "Hey, I just took a gamble and won. The spell isn't that hard to learn."

"Oh, shut up. When are Tracy and Blaise's duels, by the way? I barely had time to speak with them when they were preparing. They probably left just before you came back to the stands."

The last Potter looked at the board and saw his friends' names, "I didn't see them on the way. Tracy's duel is in ten minutes against Crabbe. Well, she has that in the bag. Blaise is the one after her against Katie Bell."

"The chaser in the Gryffindor Quidditch team?"

"Yeah. Don't know much about her duelling or even her spell work."

"Harry don't take this the wrong way," Daphne said with a chuckle, "But you're not a social creature. I wouldn't be surprised if you told me that you don't know the names of our yearmates."

The young man gave her a smug grin that made his friend hit him in the shoulder again, "Violent woman."

"Just keeping you in line, dear," the blonde joked back. Her voice then turned reminiscent slightly, "I wish they didn't do the task on Valentine's Day."

"I have to agree with that. It's very rare that we have good weather in February. A trip in Hogsmeade would have been nice," he replied.

Daphne turned to him with her eyes widened, "You want to go to Hogsmeade?"

"I've been meaning the visit. We haven't really been there since the attack. And with the ministry investing more into the area as well as well-wishers joining in, I heard that the place looks a lot different."

Daphne's expression fell slightly, for a fraction of a second before going back to normal, "Yeah, I heard that Bones insisted on awarding the bounties on Greyback and his pack to the village. They renovated a lot. There were even more stores that opened up. Do you want to sneak there after the duelling tournament? It would be fun…"

Before Harry could respond, he heard cheers from the entire crowd, as well as Ludo Bagman yelling out, "Ladies and gentlemen, we have had some spectacular duels today, and now it's time for one of the most anticipated matches. The Boy Who Lived, Neville Longbottom, will face off against the formidable Slytherin, Cassius Warrington. While Warrington is two years his senior, Longbottom did raise a few eyebrows during his performance in the first task, even if he was not qualified. So, who will win? Experience or Bravery? Now, enough talk, let's see the duel unfold. May the best wizard win."

The excitement in the air, and the cheers that Bagman got after his introduction, were far higher than that of the other duels. Neville was right when he said that most people came here to see him.

As both duelers took their stance, Harry couldn't help but feel a knot of apprehension tighten in his stomach. He had seen that look in Neville's eye before, right as he finished the first task. To his Arcane Hearing, the boy's magic was wild and chaotic, ready to be unleashed at a moment's notice, craving for it, in fact… There was a desperation for recognition, for victory. There was anger, bubbling deep down, barely repressed. This could very easily just go wrong.

As Neville and Warrington faced each other, wands drawn, the arena hushed in anticipation. Moments later, the duelists locked eyes and cast their first spells.

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