Chapter 22.3- Doom Days

The medical staff rushed to collect Fleur even as I summoned her rosewood wand into my grip from where it remained on the floor. It was best if Krum did not get any ideas. The tiny cameras moving around the arena turned to me and I could see myself on the giant screen.. Was that how I looked when I was pissed? I settled into a calmer smile even as I knew that I would make Krum pay. He had been needlessly brutal, and he had dine it to a woman who had just lost her father. That was cruel. Doom was many things, but he was never cruel. I was never cruel. Sure, I had dished out tough and hard lessons in my time, but never with cruelty as a motivation.

Sure, we were animals as humans, and a certain savagery was par for the course. But there was only ever one solution of a cruel dog- it needed to be put down

I marched up to the stage on hearing my name. Cedric had gotten better sleep than anyone else, to be fair. Considering he’d been knocked out for most of the night. After he was briefly questioned on what had happened, he had been allowed to return to bed even as the rest of us from the hall were expected to give multiple statements.

He offered me a smile that I returned with a fake one. I knew it was. Unfair, but part of me blamed him. Hiogwarts Champion and he’d been knocked out in seconds without even knowing who attacked him- how silly.

The whistle rang out and I struck first. I struck twice. The first disarming charm was shielded more by luck than anything else, b ut my shield breaker quickly followed. When his shield went down, I tore him from his feet with a swish of my wand. With a flick, his wand came sailing in the air, and I caught it in my grip. The crowd was silent. I looked at the timer off to the side of the giant screen- 00:32. He hadn’t even lasted a minute against me. I walked up to him and returned his wand, hilt first, before offering him a hand up.

To his credit, Cedric was a good sport about his loss. He lifted my hand before the crowd while gesturing at me with his other hand. It was probably some calculated move to show Hogwarts Unity or something like that. The crowd ate it up. I just knew that word would focus more in how good of a sport he was than the fact that he hadn’t even lasted long enough for the referee to put down his whistle. We left the stage as the next duel was called- Cedric vs Fleur.

I turned to look at the medical tent, expecting to see her walking out any second now.