199 Chapter 199: Verdant Snow

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5 March 1994, Hogwarts, Scotland

Daphne Greengrass fidgeted as she waited for her duel to begin. The past few days were filled with practically nothing but training from Harry and while a part of her wanted it to be over with, another treacherous part relished the time they spent together practising duelling manoeuvres and spells that she had never heard of. 

To be perfectly honest, she hadn't really cared about the whole duelling tournament. She was only invested in making her family proud, or at least not making herself a mockery by losing in the preliminaries. She had qualified for the second part of the tournament and that was enough for her. And yet, here she was, in the semifinals of the tournament, ready to fight the head girl of all people.

Penelope Clearwater was a muggleborn with an axe to grind. She was especially vicious when she fought purebloods, which meant that she had to endure a lot of hardships, from being underestimated, or even dismissed entirely. Of course, actual bullying wasn't tolerated in the school. No matter what people liked to say about Dumbledore's tendency for forgiveness even the most heinous crimes, the headmaster was very strict when it came to violence. Well, the blonde didn't know about Dumbledore personally, but McGonagall was always there whenever a fight broke out, and the punishments tended to be severe. It wasn't perfect but it worked well enough.

However, what Dumbledore definitely couldn't do was that ingrained subtle disdain and dismissal of muggleborns. People never really realized they did it. The whole thing wasn't without a reason. Muggleborns, no matter how talented, were always going to be working-class citizens at best. In the ministry, they never got promoted. Daphne could count on one hand the number of heads of departments that were muggleborn in the last three decades, so any political influence they might have had was stifled.

Outside the ministry, they could work in shops, learn a trade or something, but they wouldn't make enough to really rise. The best they could hope for was saving enough to open a new shop themselves, and should they be good enough, they might even make enough gold for people to forget their origins. Florean Fortescue was one such instance. People forgot that he was a very old muggleborn who opened an ice cream shop that became so successful that he was able to open two other branches all over the British Isles.

Finally, the best way for muggleborns to rise above their station would be to gain a mastery. They can't do that without joining a guild, and that often came with a lot of strings. Guilds were very selective of their candidates, and unless someone proved to be extremely talented in a certain field, acceptance came through favours and donations. Clearwater was obviously angling to be accepted in a guild, and she certainly seemed talented enough to be accepted. Considering the older girl's use of complex charms during their duels, she was probably aiming to join the Charms guild, and Daphne honestly wished her good luck.

But the issue came with the fact that Daphne just couldn't afford to be humiliated. Her opponent was fairly vicious when it came to fighting purebloods. She obviously didn't care about age, considering the way she dismantled Chang who was just a year older than Daphne herself. She couldn't really forfeit in the semifinals, since there were only two matches that day. People would be enraged at this happening and the blame would be on her head.

The whole thing was making her nervous.

Harry, who was sitting next to her, held her hand, "Daph, everything is going to be fine."

"She's a lot older than me, Harry, and a lot more experienced. I don't think that I can win."

"Then don't," Harry simply said, surprising her, "This isn't about winning or losing, this is about proving your worth to everyone. I said the same to Tracy. No one is expecting you to win. No one expected Tracy to win either. But did you see anyone mocking her for losing?"

"No," she muttered back.

"That's because she showed them all that she could hold her own. Oh, I'm sure Farley more than humoured her during the duel, so you'll have a harder job, but I believe you can do it. I taught you more than a few tricks to take Clearwater off-guard."

And wasn't that a surprise? Daphne knew that Harry was powerful and that he always held back against them, but the ice magic that he taught her was proof that it was just the tip of the iceberg. It was something that he had created, something beautiful, something personal that he had shared with her, and it warmed her heart to see him giving something this special to her, even if it was technically out of guilt.

Yes, Harry felt guilty. She could understand why he did since it was his fault that she was in this position. She could also understand why he had to forfeit; he couldn't afford to fake a loss in a duel, but he also couldn't really afford to win without proving Dumbledore's rumours to be true. But for all the remnants of the resentment that Daphne had for the situation, the ice magic was more than enough to make up for it.

"Fine. But stop fidgeting," Daphne returned, "You're making me even more nervous."

"I'm just worried," he retorted, "Dumbledore might pull something. And the whole thing with Sirius killing Crouch. Something is happening, something that I can't see, and I don't like it."

Oh, it was one of Harry's few flaws; he couldn't stand not knowing something. He could overthink stuff to an insane degree, but whenever he was stuck, he just became an average moody teenager. Barty Crouch's death was one of those. It was obviously Sirius Black's handiwork, and the Smiling Killer's resurgence during the weekend after months of silence was making a lot of people nervous, especially Harry, who was frankly becoming paranoid.

The fact that Black didn't come after him after recovering meant that the man was plotting something, and Harry couldn't figure it out. And as usual, it ate at him.

He warded their dormitory and made her and their friends' basic protection amulets, and distress beacons. He felt more like a cornered animal, fighting off Dumbledore from the front, and Black from the back. His behaviour was worrying, to say the least. Frankly, if it wasn't for Daphne stressing about her coming duel, she would have smacked him in the head. She probably would after this mess was done with.

She didn't have time to voice her concerns since Bagman decided that this was the best time to announce her duel, "Daphne Greengrass and Penelope Clearwater, please make your way to the arena for your duel."

Harry gave her a warm smile, "Come on, Daph. You're going to do great. I know that."

She tried to smile back at her best friend, but it probably looked more like a grimace than anything else. She turned and slowly walked towards the arena, where Clearwater and Flitwick were waiting for her. The older girl gave her a disdainful look, that made the blonde nervous. Yeah, Clearwater definitely wasn't planning on holding back on her.

By the time they took their stances, the entire crowd faded away. Harry taught her to ignore everything outside the arena. It was just her and her opponent. And with a loud gong, the duel started. As she expected, the Ravenclaw began by sending a barrage of spells at her, probably hoping to overwhelm her.

Daphne countered with a repelling shield. She learned a long time ago to not match an opponent with more raw power than her, spell for spell. It was doomed to fail anyway.

Clearwater easily parried the spells redirected back at her and decided to conjure two lions that leapt at her. Daphne reacted by casting two freezing spells at the animals, which froze them into ice cubes, and dodged the wind cutter that the older girl snuck in between the spells.

For the first time, the blonde decided to go into the attack and sent an ice spear at her opponent. It was a deceptively simple attack, because of the curses that she added to the ice, specifically a piercing curse and a variation of the banishing charm.

As the blonde expected, her opponent tried to destroy the spear with a blasting charm, probably aiming at incorporating the ice shards into her next attack. What she did not expect was the telekinetic blast that occurred the moment her spell hit the spear. She was definitely taken off-guard and tried to conjure a shield to protect her. It worked well against the telekinetic blast, however, it failed to account for the tip of the spear, spelt with a piercing curse slammed towards her and destroyed the shield entirely. She was able to move away, but there was a thin trail of blood on her chest.

Daphne gave her opponent a small smile and went on the attack once more. She cast a blasting curse at the frozen conjured animals and banished the frozen remains towards her opponent, who cast a transfiguration shield. It was a curious spell that Harry showed her, that transfigured everything it touched into sand. Daphne tried to bring down the shield with a stunning charm; it was horribly ineffective against active spells, but in a surprising move, the older girl animated the countless grains of sand into a giant fist that came at the young Slytherin with a blinding speed.

In her desperation, Daphne cast a dome ice shield. It was a standard spell but one that she enhanced using Harry's ice magic. She put a curse on it to make it even more resistant to magic and physical impact. She could feel her shield being battered one step at a time until she had enough and used one of the spells Harry taught her, the Ice Age.

Daphne couldn't do it like Harry did. She just didn't have the raw power and control to suck out the heat of her environment for whole minutes and create a field of absolute zero, but what she could do was send a pulse of cold which would stop any incoming projectile.

She followed the spell with a pulse of telekinesis, throwing everything away from her, causing the fog to rise, mixed with some dry ice. She followed with a charm to see specifically through dry ice. One of the first lessons Harry taught her about duelling was the power of misdirection.

The blonde could see her confused opponent trying to send spells at her, and Daphne decided to conjure ropes of ice far away from her to make the illusion of her presence there and made them attack the older girl. Frustrated, Clearwater vanished the ice with a wave of her wand and conjured a giant gust of wind to remove the fog, which raised up into the air.

Choosing to take advantage of this situation, Daphne used one of the strongest spells in her arsenal. The fog raised in the air started to darken, and the arena started to rain ice. Clearwater used her transfiguration shield once more. Daphne released her control over her spell, before trying to finish off her duel, only to be blasted away by some unseen force.

Daphne was barely able to roll away from an incoming wave of spells coming her way and was able to conjure a reflective ice shield, to reorganize her thoughts. What had just happened?

Her eyes widened when she saw that every magical effect in the arena was negated. Holy shit, did she just cast a wide-area magic counterspell? From the way Clearwater looked tired, it seemed to be the case. Damn, that was just insane for a student to cast something like this.

Before she could think of her next move, a strange sound caught her attention. She'd heard it before in one of her duels against Harry, that terrible noise that at once sounded like angry buzzing and the crackling of dry leaves in an open flame. Fire wasps. Whoever invented this spell was a sadist who somehow combined wasps and fire elemental magic. Harry used it as an example of elemental magic being combined with transfiguration.

Surely enough, a giant cloud of the insect was coming down at her.

Daphne did the only thing she could and cast another burst of her Ice Age spell, killing them, but they were obviously a distraction, and she automatically conjured another shield, just in time to block three stunning charms cast in succession.

Desperate, the blonde tried one of her last tricks by conjuring giant vines of ice, that she cursed with repelling curses, and animated towards her enemy. Daphne couldn't use her crest directly during official duels, but she found out that using ice to mimic a few spells that she mastered from her crest was a lot easier. As far as anyone was concerned, this was just animated ice.

The tentacles intercepted the spells coming at her, redirecting them towards their castor. Clearwater wasn't having it, though, and conjured a giant wave of fire, that melted her ice construct. Knowing that a shield charm, even an elemental one, wouldn't do much against this much fire, Daphne decided to double down and released a beam of pure cold.

It was a form of elemental transfiguration. Apparently, opposing elements tended to prioritize defeating each other automatically. Clearwater's eyes widened when the wave of fire turned into a beam of heat that did its best to counter against the blonde's beam of pure cold. This became a battle of pure magic, something that Daphne just couldn't win against an older opponent. Both duelers moved closer and closer, and Daphne could feel her magic channels heat up from overuse.

The younger girl decided to take a gamble. Stepping backwards, she pretended to lose her footing and dropped to one knee. Sensing her advantage, her opponent closed in to finish off, sending everything she could into her fire. Daphne simply cancelled her spell immediately, and moved away, sending a handful of melted snow at Clearwater's face. It wasn't even a spell. It was just her will made manifest.

Clearwater was taken aback from the action, and tried to wipe it away, Daphne tremblingly tried to send a stunner at her blinded opponent. Alas, Clearwater, clearly distressed sent a pulse of telekinesis sending herself and Daphne flying away.

Both duelers slowly got up. Daphne was disoriented, and she could feel her magical channels burn. She barely had anything left in the tank. When she looked at her opponent, she saw that she wasn't looking any better. She was limping and had a large bruise on her head. Her tournament robes were cut in multiple places, including a rather large bleeding cut on her torso.

As if they had both come to a consensus, both duelers released their wands and cast a spell. Daphne cast a banishing charm, and her eyes widened when she realized that this was the same spell that Clearwater cast as well. Both spells met in the middle, in what seemed to be some kind of weird struggle. Then Daphne found herself flying away from the platform. She turned to see what happened to Clearwater, and her eyes widened when she saw that she was barely in the arena. 

Damn it, she had lost by ring out. Daphne didn't know if it was because she was lighter than Clearwater, or just pushed less magic in it, but she couldn't help but feel angry at the way she had lost.

At least that's how she felt before the world started to move, and she started to sway. The last thing she saw before everything turned to black was Harry's panicked face.

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AN: So, that's the end of the duelling tournament (At least the relevant part. There's still going to be a final, but I won't dedicate a chapter for it). I could have probably dragged it out a bit, but I want to move on with the plot a bit more. As usual, please let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions.

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If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr

I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.