"Oh really? Would you like to test yourself against my allure? I have yet to meet a man who could stop themselves from grovelling in front of me if I wanted to," Fleur informed him, her lips curled into a doubtful smirk.
"Try me." Harry looked straight into her bright, blue eyes. He saw them shimmer slightly and her hair fluttered when her face suddenly seemed to take on a surreal, dreamlike beauty. Everything around him seemed to fade out of existence as he was drawn to her perfectly smooth skin, lusciously red and moist lips... This must be the allure, thought Harry, as he poured a bit more strength into his occlumency. Inside his mind, he could feel as if there were flower petals flying in the wind, floating through the clouds. He shot them down with his spaceship, and the Fleur in front of him went back to looking like the beautiful, but realistically pretty, Fleur.
"You're going to have to do better than that, Fleur." The witch was surprised, but playfully pouted as she turned up the strength of her allure. In the distance, it seemed like many of the male officials were having a hard time staying in their seats. Harry was one again shooting down blooming roses inside his mind, not letting any bit of the allure affect him. Completely ready for it this time, Fleur didn't even begin looking dreamy and Harry could look away from her easily to enjoy seeing everyone else's reactions. He heard a scuffle coming from the medical tent- apparently Krum and Cedric were both finished their checkups and were now scrambling over each other to get to Fleur. "I think it's about time you turned it off, Fleur," he said, laughing and pointing at the two older champions.
Fleur immediately turned down the allure, looking at Harry with a very curious expression. Krum recovered first, stopping himself immediately and holding Cedric back until Fleur ended her allure completely. "I haff vorked vith cheerleaders at practice vith Bulgarian team, but they never turned on full allure this close to me," growled Krum. He was obviously more angry at himself for succumbing to Fleur than at her for using it. Cedric just kept silent in embarrassment.
"It looks like all of our champions have finished their post-race checkups and are now ready for their final scores!" shouted Bagman with his enhanced voice. The four of them were escorted back to the start/finish line, where a small stage for them had been placed. Each of the officials also made sure they had their eggs with them before telling them to go onstage.
"Last to arrive was Cedric Diggory, with a time of two hours, ten minutes and twenty-nine seconds. He will be awarded thirty-three points. Twenty for placing fourth, with thirteen bonus points for excellent use of the earmuff charm in the ravine, taking minimal injuries against the harpies, and for restraining the Zuu. Cedric was the only competitor to suffer no deductions." Images of Cedric's performance at those particular obstacles were being projected above by the display orbs. The crowd cheered especially hard the moment Cedric lassoed the Zuu, as well as when he took on the harpies by himself on the way back. Cedric simply smiled and waved without letting his disappointment show.
"In third place, we have Viktor Krum, with a time of one hour, fifty-four minutes, and ten seconds. He will be awarded fifty-four points. Forty for placing third, with eighteen bonus points and four deductions. His powerful spellwork was displayed when disabling the Zuu with the bone-breaker curse, as well as fending off the harpies. Additional points were awarded for bravery, being the first to attempt to retrieve the egg. Points were deducted for sustaining injuries in the ravine, burns in the log maze, and hitting the vine net." Harry tried to keep a straight face as he realized every one of Krum's deductions were caused by him. Krum remained as stoic as ever, only bowing slightly to the judges' table. The crowd cheered when they were shown Krum's fight with the harpies as well as his retrieval of the egg.
"In second place, we have Harry Potter, with a time of one hour, fifty-three minutes, and eighteen seconds. He will be awarded seventy points. Sixty for placing second, with sixteen bonus points and six deductions. His exceptional flying ability was demonstrated against the windswept valley, the Zuu, and the harpies. Additional bonus points were awarded for being the first to successfully retrieve the egg and great use of simple spells." The orbs projected his modified light spells against the harpies, smoke-spewing charm at the windswept valley, and the flame-freezing charm against Krum. Bagman continued. "Deductions were for sustaining injuries in the ravine, twice, as well as against the harpies." Harry winced, knowing how much the quick exposure to the bats' screams had affected him. He followed Cedric's example and simply smiled and waved to everyone.
"In first place is Fleur Delacour, with a time of one hour, forty-two minutes, and twenty-two seconds. She will be awarded ninety-one points. Eighty points are for arriving in first place, with fourteen bonus points and three deductions. The bonus points are for her skilful use of the disillusionment charms to get past the harpies and clearing the spiders in the ravine. The deductions are for being the last to retrieve the egg as well as taking the least action against the Zuu." Fleur did have to admit that, while she arrived first, she hung around and waited for five minutes, while Krum and Cedric did most of the work in taking it down. Still, she was in first place, and the crowds cheered for her. She blew some kisses for the photographers, holding her golden egg up for everyone to see.
It took another half-hour of standing on stage and waving before all the announcements and speeches were finally over and the photographers were satisfied with photos for tomorrow's paper. They were led back into another tent, where Bagman and other officials joined them. One of them asked for their eggs for safe keeping, which they all handed over. Bagman then sat them down to inform them of the next task.
"Good show today, everyone. I dare say that if all of you can keep up this kind of excitement we'll have no trouble selling out all the events! Now, the next one is the first Trial of Champions. It'll be held three weeks from now, on December 10th. The trial of champions is going to be a simple duel, standard European Duelling League rules. You will each have three duels, beginning at eleven in the morning, with a two-hour break in between each one. They'll be held at Hogwarts. Simple enough, eh? I hope to see some action between all of you!" Bagman cheerfully left, and Harry felt an intense dread. He had just cost Krum twenty points... or twenty-four points, depending on how you counted it. Krum was also an experienced dueller at Durmstrang.
Harry walked out of the tent as quickly as his legs could carry him. Hermione was already waiting for him and leapt into his arms when she saw him. "Harry! You were fantastic out there!"
"Thanks, Hermione. You know I couldn't have done it without you. You taught me so much in the past few weeks."
.
.
.
🎉The novel is available in PDF, visit us in our Ko-Fi store🎉
🎉ko-fi.com/madarasama125🎉