Chapter 34: Arrival
The Portkey to Moscow activated the moment we all took hold of it, and our party was a sizable one, fifteen of us in all. We arrived at our destination and made straight for the registration hall.
"Good afternoon...
The witch behind the desk looked up at us with a polite smile.
"...Welcome to Moscow. Are you here as spectators or as competitors?"
"Filius Flitwick and his apprentice, Draco Black. Draco Black is competing in the eleven-to-twelve age group. The rest of our party is spectators."
The young witch's expression sharpened immediately. It was hardly surprising. Flitwick had not appeared at championships for quite some time, and here he was with an apprentice in tow. I suspected that if only a handful of people had known about this until now, it would be common knowledge across the entire championship within the hour.
"It is an honor to welcome you, Champion Flitwick."
She gave a respectful nod.
"Have rooms been reserved for you?"
"Yes. Everything has been booked."
"Wonderful. I shall call your escort now. He will take you to your rooms, then show you the way to the competition venue, and after that, if you wish, he can arrange a brief tour of Moscow."
"Thank you."
Flitwick gave a measured nod, and within a few minutes a young man appeared and took us briskly to our rooms. True to form, Grandmother had spared no expense and reserved excellent accommodations for everyone.
"Draco, this is too much..."
Penny came to me with an embarrassed look on her face. Hermione was standing just behind her, eyes lowered, nodding in agreement.
"Girls, for the Blacks, this is not too much. In fact, we could not have booked anything less without it reflecting poorly on the House."
"But..."
"No buts..."
I shook my head.
"...simply accept it. And yes, I don't make gestures like this often. It just so happened that having you here was useful to me, too."
"All right..."
They nodded, and before long we'd left our things in our rooms and made our way to the competition venue, where the dueling platforms had already been prepared.
"This is the arena where the duels will take place. The youngest age group competes in the mornings for two hours, then there's an hour-long break, then the next group, and so on until all participants have competed. The schedule is arranged so that no competitor faces more than one bout per day."
"Where is the food?"
Valpurga looked at the young escort, who immediately launched into a tour of ten different eating establishments of varying degrees of grandeur, from a humble shawarma stand to restaurants staffed by internationally recognized Muggle chefs.
I couldn't resist and bought myself a shawarma, which I ate with considerable enjoyment throughout the tour, despite the mildly pained glances from my mothers and Grandmother. I wasn't the only one. Flitwick and Harry both dug in with equal enthusiasm. The girls, for their part, eventually decided on ice cream.
"That concludes the tour..."
We were brought back to the hotel, where we thanked the young man, pressed a tip into his hand, and watched him vanish with gratifying speed.
"Watch where you're going, you stupid chicken!"
A young woman was shoved in my direction. The impact struck my mental shields with considerable force, but I didn't stumble. I caught her in my arms before she could fall, though the scene must have looked fairly comical given that she was taller than me.
"Are you all right?"
"Yes..."
She nodded and tried to regain her footing and step away from me as quickly and smoothly as she could. I realized the pressure on my mental shields was coming from her.
"...I beg your pardon."
"Ha! Found yourself a little runt to catch you! Quite a pair, the chicken and the midget!"
I frowned slightly. I could see the girl already drawing breath to say something, but I simply hawked up and spat, with a small push of magic behind it, directly into the young man's open mouth as he readied himself for more. It caught him right in the throat.
"You know, there were times when my House had people like you killed for less than an impertinent glance..."
I tilted my head slightly.
"...or has the device on my robes stopped being recognized? Though given the way you treat young women, I suspect you were raised in a barn, which would explain why you do not even know whose name you speak."
"What is going on here?!"
A young woman came running over to us. She had a commanding look about her. The emblem of a mercenary guild pinned to her chest, next to the badge of a Dueling Master, made that immediately clear.
"Marcus, not again?!"
"Mistress, it was them! This girl walked right into me on purpose, and when I tried to tell her she was in the wrong, this boy got involved and spat in my face."
"Eleonora, what a pleasure..."
"Filius?!"
The young woman's face broke into a delighted smile. She bounded over to my mentor and hugged him, lifting him clear off the floor.
"Filius, you old rogue! What brings you here?!"
"Oh, this and that..."
My mentor shrugged amiably once he had been set back down.
"...I am accompanying my apprentice..."
He nodded in my direction.
"...whom I have entered for the eleven-to-twelve tournament. Allow me to introduce him, by the way. This young talent here is Draco Black. He started at Hogwarts this academic year."
The faint smile that had appeared on the young man's face, when he realized his Mistress knew my mentor, faltered. He had grown a shade paler.
"Sir, for the insult to my honor, I challenge you to a duel!"
"Oh, you poor fool..."
Filius shook his head.
"Fili?"
"Watch and see. And forgive me, but I suspect that after this you may find yourself short one apprentice."
"Sir, you have neither honor nor dignity. Your behavior makes that plain, as does your eagerness to challenge someone you believe to be weaker than yourself, in hopes of concealing your own worthlessness. Nevertheless, I, Draco Black, would be delighted to give you a lesson in manners."
I let the smile settle on my lips.
"Your weapon?"
My opponent was not taking me seriously.
"Steel."
His eyes widened slightly, but he still hadn't realized just how badly he had miscalculated.
"To serious injury or death."
A satisfied smirk appeared on his face. Clearly he had something in mind.
"Here and now, and I propose your Mistress as the arbiter, si-i-ir."
"Filius, shall I stop this?"
"Oh, if you are worried about your own apprentice, by all means. As for mine, please do not trouble yourself..."
My mentor waved a dismissive hand.
"...this boy has already tried my patience considerably, and his parents were very insistent that I not interfere with his progress toward the championship trophy. So I shall simply serve as arbiter."
With a flick of her wand, a small magical barrier rose around the two of us, still permeable, for now, to anyone wishing to step out.
"Sir, there was no need. I could have..."
"My dear stranger, believe me. No young woman deserves to be treated the way this particular young man treated you."
It was at this moment that I identified the source of what had been pressing against my mental shields. Veela allure. I had no prejudice against her kind, however, so I simply took her hand, pressed my lips to the air above her fingers, and asked her to step back.
Once everyone had cleared the circle, and the young man opposite had been presented with a small box from which he drew a hand-and-a-half sword, I opened the locket at my throat, removed the miniaturized axe from inside it, and canceled the Shrinking Charm.
"That is against the rules!"
For the first time, genuine alarm showed on his face.
"Is it?"
I glanced questioningly at the young man's Mistress, who curved her lips in a faint, rather pitiless smile as she looked at him.
"The agreed weapon was not swords. It was steel. The young Heir of Black could have produced a halberd, a blacksmith's hammer, or pelted you with cannonballs. None of that would have broken any rule."
She looked at me with a thoughtful expression, then turned to her apprentice with something that looked almost like pity.
"I will, however, offer you both the opportunity to settle this peacefully."
"Oh, Mr. Black need only concede defeat and pay a weregild in gold, weighing exactly his own body weight."
"Refused."
My voice was entirely calm.
"I have no intention of following the lead of a coward and a boor and helping him preserve what passes for his honor. However, if he genuinely wishes to end this, he may pay compensation in gold to both me and the young lady he insulted, an amount equal to his own body weight for each of us. I shall not demand an apology. From someone with so little breeding..."
I shook my head.
"...it would be nothing but hot air in any case."
"Marcus?"
The young woman gave her apprentice a pointed look. He, however, apparently misread the signal entirely, and shook his head with a display of wounded pride.
"As neither party is willing to be reconciled, I ask both of you to prepare. The bout begins in three... two... one..."
Before the count had even reached zero, the young man came at me with his sword raised above his head. He apparently believed the stance I was holding would make it difficult for me to raise my weapon in time to block a downward blow, and broadly speaking, he was right. It would take me a moment to bring the axe up. But why on earth would I want to?
He was physically stronger than me. He was older, after all. Whether he had used enhancement potions was another matter; at his age the cost is considerable, and I had personally chosen to skip them, relying on training and a minimum course of general strengthening drafts instead.
"...zero."
I saw the young woman wince. Her apprentice was nearly on top of me. I made no attempt to defend. I took a single step to the side, turned the axe blade, already angled downward, just a fraction further, and as I stepped forward I brought it through in a sharp, clean arc. The quality of the steel, the edge, and the force of the swing together severed the young man's right hand cleanly from his arm.
"Aaaaaaaah!"
A scream of pain and disbelief rolled through the hall. He stumbled forward several more steps; the sword, which he had been gripping two-handed for the downward blow, fell. His left hand opened, and his right remained attached to the hilt.
"Oh dear..."
I shook my head.
...you seem to have lost your hand? They usually say 'lost your head.' Was that too drastic for you?
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a few of the girls looking away. Harry was staring ahead with a grim expression. The young woman with whom the whole business had started watched the young man with cold, vindicated satisfaction.
"So then, shall we continue? Perhaps you would like to lose the other hand? Or a foot?"
I shook the blood from the axe with a single swing and rested it on my shoulder.
"Or you could simply say two words... Go on, then..."
He was still screaming as I walked towards him.
"I yield! I yield!"
I gave a satisfied nod.
"Excellent. Miss?"
"The Heir of Black has won decisively. As this young man's Mistress, I have no complaint against you whatsoever. His parents, however, are unlikely to feel the same."
"Oh, that need not concern anyone here. Any grievance they wish to raise must be taken to the boy's parents, and they..."
My mentor shook his head.
"I would not wish enemies like that on anyone."
"...understood..."
While they spoke, the young woman had already cast several spells on the young man first, and then on the severed hand.
"...unfortunately, my apprentice will be unable to compete in this tournament. I am withdrawing Marcus Kudesnikov from the competition."
Her voice carried clearly through the hall.
"The Kudesnikovs..."
Bella tapped her lower lip thoughtfully with one finger, then gave a breezy wave of her hand.
"Yes, I remember now... they are utterly insignificant. I alone would be more than enough to flatten their entire House, should they be foolish enough to bring a grievance against the Blacks."
"Miss, your honor has been satisfied."
"Thank you, Heir of Black."
The girl gave a small curtsy.
"My name is Draco. Draco Black. And you are, my dear stranger?"
"Fleur Delacour."
"A pleasure to meet you, Miss Delacour. Would you care to join our party?"
I noticed Harry's eyes going glassy.
"Hmm... I wouldn't mind, but I shall need to inform my parents."
"Of course."
I nodded and she slipped away.
"Harry, pull yourself together..."
I cuffed him firmly on the back of the head.
"What?"
I cleaned the axe and put it away, then tried unsuccessfully to collect my thoughts. She was stunning beyond all reason.
I knew full well that her allure wasn't affecting me, yet I still wanted to take her hand and spirit her away to the edge of the world, where I could wait until we'd both grown up enough to...
I shook my head sharply and drove the thought out.
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