The referee blew the whistle, signalling the end of the first duel. Harry was declared the winner, and he returned Fleur's wand to her. They bowed to each other, then to the referee, and stepped off the platform. Immediately, house-elves began popping in to repair the damage. As they walked to the medical tent for another checkup, they passed by Krum and Cedric, who were heading to the other platform for their duel.
"You are always 'iding some surprises for me, aren't you, 'Arry Potter?" Fleur had an annoyed, but amused, grin on her face.
"Well, I guess it used to be common knowledge at Hogwarts two years ago, but I don't think it was enough to make the papers," answered Harry. "Besides, talking to snakes isn't always something I like to advertise."
"Oh? Is there some stigma to your ability? Eet seems useful, even if it is... specialized?"
"What? You don't know about how being a Parselmouth is supposedly a sign of a dark wizard?" Harry couldn't believe it. Everyone had an opinion about it, whether it made him the next rising dark lord or if it shouldn't matter, but he hadn't met another magical who thought absolutely nothing of it.
"Did you perform a dark ritual to receive zis ability?" Fleur asked cautiously. Harry shook his head. "Well zen, eet is no more than a unique skill, is eet not?"
"Yes, I know it's nothing more than a curious talent, but others don't think so," answered Harry.
"Eet must be a silly British thing, zen. In France, people value unique and rare talents. Zat is why our 'eadmistress is a half-giant, and my father chose a Veela to be his wife," Fleur announced proudly.
Harry only nodded, completely flabbergasted by how different things could be between the two countries, separated only by a few dozen kilometres of water. The magical France seemed to have advanced almost in step with their muggle counterparts, whereas the British magicals seemed to do everything they could to resist it.
The medical checkup was quick, and Harry peeked out of the tent as quickly as he could to see the duel between Cedric and Krum. What he saw amazed him. Cedric's side of the arena seemed to be utterly destroyed- Cedric could barely get his footing as there were huge holes on the platform and lots of loose rock. Cedric wasn't letting that go to waste, however, as he continuously summoned all the loose rocks he could, using them to intercept the spells that Krum was throwing at him. Krum, however, didn't appear to be tiring, while Cedric was barely keeping up. In a last-ditch effort, Cedric summoned a smokescreen to hide himself, but Krum kept advancing and summoned a fire-whip, which he swing through the smoke at waist level. A loud crack of the spell hitting a magical shield was heard, and Krum quickly threw a heavy bludgeoner in the direction where his whip stopped. Cedric came flying out of the smoke and fell off the platform, groaning in pain. His robes were lightly scorched, but he didn't appear to have any heavy injuries. He managed to get back on his feet, although he was a little off-balance.
The referee quickly declared Krum the winner, and Cedric was taken to the medical tent to be given potions for his burns and other minor injuries. He would be spending much of his break in the medical tent, probably only getting healed just in time for the next duel. Harry had plans for spending it with more pleasant company. He scanned the crowd, looking for Hermione, and saw her descending down the stairs, against the flow of the crowd. He ran to greet her at the edge of the field, and once again took off on Harry's broom to have lunch at the Great Hall instead of the concession stands around the stadium.
"You know, it's a shame you have to duel Krum last," Hermione remarked as they dug into their sandwiches.
"What? I consider myself lucky!" said Harry. "Saving the worst for last. You saw what happened to Cedric, didn't you?"
"Of course I did. I was taking notes, too. But the thing is, Krum's predictable. He fought exactly the way I expected him to in the first battle. I didn't learn anything about him."
"Oh? And what notes did you get about Cedric? I missed most of his fight."
"He's got variety. He's really good at transfiguration, too. He can perform transfigurations fast enough to mix it in along with his curses and charms." That was pretty important. Unlike other spells, transfiguration required imagery inside the mind with no actual incantation. It would be hard to get a clear image of what Cedric was intent on transfiguring with just a basic Legilimency scan. Even with non-verbal magic, most users still said the incantation to themselves inside their head, making it easy to get a read.
"So I should watch out for his transfigurations? What kinds of things does he usually make?"
"Nothing complicated. He turned some stone to solid metal to give them more weight when he banished them. He also changed the shape of the platform to help block a lot of Krum's spells. Krum did try to disable him in the beginning, but nothing would hold. I don't think you should try, either."
"Wait, Krum tried disabling jinxes? Like Impedimentia? When I looked he was just hurling power spells over and over."
"That was at the beginning. Cedric would cancel the jinxes about as quickly as he got hit with them. When Krum figured it out he just went all-out with his heavy-damage curses. I think he was trying to save energy at first, but in the end he just didn't want to waste time or end up losing."
"Any tips against him, then?" Harry didn't want to waste all his strength fighting the way Krum did. He was certain he wouldn't be able to keep it up, either. Cedric might actually beat him in a battle of pure endurance.
"I'd say just tire him out. Use your legilimency to dodge his attacks as much as possible. If he tries to rest, then go on the offensive, but don't let him stop moving. Krum must have tired him out quite a bit in the first duel already. That's all I can say... he's a well-rounded wizard."
"I was afraid of that. What did you think of my duel? What should I work on?"
"Quite frankly, Harry, you got lucky," Hermione said flatly. "You wasted a lot of energy with the shield charm against that illusion-"
"What? Illusion?"
"Yes, the huge flames. You didn't notice there wasn't any heat? You held your shield up for a full minute against nothing, really. It must have tired you out."
Harry shifted his eyes in embarrassment. He really didn't notice... Fleur had effectively made him waste his strength in the middle of battle. "Well... now that I think about it..."
"Harry, you need to come up with a better plan. You can't just go charging in there."
"Uh, Hermione, you might not have noticed, but charging ahead is pretty much what I do... a lot... I tend to react and go with my gut instincts. When I need a good plan for something, I generally turn to you." He gave her his best pleading, puppy-eyes look he could muster.
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