Chapter 9.4- Doom Days

“And now we will have the Judges for their scoring. To begin with, I must first of all introduce the judges themselves. Starting from left to right, we have the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore himself. Next to him, we have the Beuxbatons Headmistress Olympe Maxime, and then the Durmstrang Headmaster, Igor Karkoroff. From the ICW, we have the lovely and delectable Kemi Olawoyin, and her partner Victoria Bellona, and to round things off we have Bartemius Crouch from the Ministry of Magic. Each judge will award each champion a score out of 10 based on the following criteria: success at the task, magical talent displayed, difficulty of magic performed, breadth of magic performed, and several other things I can’t really pronounce” He said with a chuckle that the crowd was clearly supposed to join him in. Instead, there was just dead silence. I noted the names of the ICW witches mentally. Kemi and Victoria.

“The Champions will be adressed in the order in which they left the arena” Now it was Dumbledore that was speaking, and he did not look pleased. In fact, this was the first time either Doom or Potter would be seeing the old man wear a smile that failed to make his eyes tinkle. Even from this far away, they could notice his displeasure. Riddle was an old hand at it and that part of me found the old man’s gaze to be nothing worthy of note.

“First of all, Victor Krum. Your use of offensive magic was commendable but you failed to adapt when your initial tactics failed and your defensive skills proved to be below par.” He said, and then shot out a glowing six from his wand. The Durmstrang coalition offered some halfhearted cheers but the rest of the arena was silent. Krum had not been so impressive once the Hellhound gave him its full attention. Maxime, silent as the grave simply shot up a glowing four into the sky.

Karkaroff looked like he’d swallowed a lemon at Maxime’s scores. He waved his wand the first time and nothing happened. He looked at the piece of wood like it had betrayed him and Olawoyin leaned over to whisper something in his ears. His scowl deepened as he shot a glowing five from his wand. “Zey took oaths to grade fairly” Fleur whispered, seemingly to no one in particular and suddenly things made sense again.

Olawoyin’s wand produced a gleaming five, and she herself said nothing but gave Krum a kind look. Bellona gave a one, getting shocked gasps and boos from the Durmstrang group and even parts of the other two schools. Almost like she was explaining herself she said, “Like the Supreme Mugwump said, you failed to adapt your tactics, and being overcome by an opponent who was running straight at you does not tell well of your intelligence. You might have been abandoned by your comrades to face the beast alone but you should also have seen that coming” Her voice was gruff and she spoke without an accent I could discern. Crouch’s four rounded things off, he also declined to speak. Twenty Five out of Sixty (25/60), I mentally tallied with a smile. Well, Krum was going to be starting from far behind the eight ball.

“Next, Cedric Diggory. Excellent use of transfiguration, and the ability to tell when you are outmatched can not be overstated in value” Dumbledore began with a genuine smile sent at the pureblood Hufflepuff. To cheers and gasps, he produced a brilliant eight. Cedric was all smiles. Maxime spoke this time, “Brilliant transfiguration, a substandard shield charm and little more. Five” She said, giving him one more point than she had given Krum. Karkoroff sent a silent two into the sky that drew boos from the audience. “I agree with the Supreme Mugwump” Olawoyin said, shooting up a seven. Her partner seemed to be the opposite because she looked less than pleased. “It is cowardice to flee the battlefield before even sustaining any real wounds” She said, shooting out a one that joined her previous score for Krum as the lowest scores given out so far. Crouch gave a six, once again choosing to say nothing. Twenty Nine out of Sixty (29/60) for Diggory. The scores from Karkoroff and Bellona seemed to be fatal to his hopes of building a meaningful lead over Krum.

Both boys who had received their scores were like polar opposites in their reactions. Krum was scowling, sullen, and solitary, while Cedric was smiling and waving to the crowd of adoring fans.

“Fleur Delacour. I have not heard a sleeping charm cast with such adeptness since your own Grandmother, I suspect. Music is the greatest magic of them all. Thank you for giving us the opportunity” Dumbledore said, and shot up the first ten of the tournament. The entire stadium felt like it was shaking. Such was the applause. With a bright smile and a quick, “Well done”, Maxime shot out a Nine. More applause. Karkoroff, with a smile that seemed disgustful shot out a Five. He received boos from far and wide in return for his actions.

“So many look down upon the effects of support magic to their detriment. You performed admirably.” She shot out an eight. Her teammate and seeming opposite went the other route- “You never made any attempts to engage the beast on your own. The second it was bound, you then tried to steal the kill for yourself and still managed to fail to do that.” She shot out a Two, which was the highest score she had given so far. Crouch grunted and awarded an eight. Forty-Two out of Sixty (42/60).

“Harry Potter. While the use of the Unforgivable spells might be legal against beasts, those spells are still considered unforgivable for a reason.” Was all Dumbledore said relating to my performance before shooting out a Four. The fact that his magic had not stopped him meant he genuinely believed the drivel he had just spoken. That was the score he thought the best performance by far deserved. Part of me ached to reply but I swallowed the urge. Silence had followed Dumbledore’s proclamation, and I was not going to be the one to break it.

Neither it seems, would Maxime. She shot out her Nine with no words. I took note of the victory, but my thought still went back to Dumbledore’s words. I hadn’t been the only to use a killing course in the arena. That had been the first fucking thing Krum had tried. So why the fuck was I being punished for managing to succeed where the other boy had failed.

Karkoroff’s scowl looked venemous. He stabbed his wand into the air and a massive Nine shot out. He himself looked at the score with some amount of shock. The silence that had marked Dumbledore’s announcement had long since disappeared but it hadn’t turned into full on cheers until Karkaroff’s score went up. Olawoyin was smiling. “Superb. Superb work. I find myself disagreeing with the Supreme Mugwump here. You displayed a wide variety of magical skills, from charms to transfiguration to the dark arts and even elemental conjuration. I daresay even Grindlewald himself would have been hard pressed to replicate such a perfectly conjured bolt of lightning. And then there was the Runic magic. I did not expect to hear my native tongue spoken at Hogwarts, and doing so brought me no small amount of joy. Runic based magic marrying elder Futhark and Yoruba. I doubt there’s a single textbook you’d have found something like that in. I, myself, did not even think it possible and would have called you insane if you’d theorized it without this demonstration. Well done.” She said finally and I felt my spirits soar as she shot a ten into the sky. Doom cared little for the validation of others, but both Potter and Riddle had grown starved of it.

The next was Bellona, and while she was not smiling, she did look less irritated with me than she was with the others. “You slayed Cwn Anwnn.” She said, and shot up a gleaming Ten from her wand. My smile refused to be hiding as my lips pulled themselves back of their own accord. The crowd was screaming their pleasure now. Silent as ever, Crouch shot out a Seven from his wand. I could not complain, even if a few in the crowd did do so. Altogether, my scores came up to Forty-Nine out of Sixty (49/60).

“There you have it folks. The first task. The ranking stand with Krum in Last place with 25 points, Diggory in third with 29, Delacour in second by some margin with 42, and Potter in first after killing the mythical Cwn Anwnn himself, with a whopping 49 points. Of course, the competition is far from over and now there remains six more opportunities for our champions to impress us and show us what they are made of” Bagman’s voice rang out, cutting through the cheers like a scythe through wheat.

A/N; And that’s the chappy.