Chapter 7.4- Doom Days

“Nothing much. Vour friend is stupid, and Vou are weak. Vhat else is there to say about British vizards?” He asked with a scoff through his thick accent. I stared him down, contemplating replying but just thought better of it. We were going to be facing a guaranteed wizardkiller as ‘Profitable Beasts and Where to Hunt them’ described our opponent so there was no need in speaking to someone who could be dead by the end of the day. I briefly contemplated deciding to hasten his journey there by planning some sort of betrayal but thought better of it. Krum, like it or not, was a popular athlete. Getting him killed in such a public forum was guaranteed to be the kind of thing that would stick. I wouldn’t be saving his life if it came to that though.

When it became clear that I was not going to reply, Fleur barked out another laugh from her corner. I just turned to Cedric instead and began whispering to him about the beast we were about to face.

In no time at all, the canon that signified that it was our time to step into the ring rang out. Krum was the first one out. I stared at Fleur for a second and our eyes met before she followed the Bulgarian with a huff. I wondered what each of them had in mind to deal with the threat. Part of me was certain that they knew what was coming so that meant they would have had time to cook up plans.

 Cŵn Annwn didn’t tend to have weaknesses that one could just prepare for but weeks of time to a resourceful enough wizard were practically an eternity when it came to cooking up plans.

“Good luck, Harry” Cedric said while squeezing my shoulder before stepping in. He was the only one of the lot who viewed me even slightly as competition, and I relished the chance to force the others too eat their words.

I stepped through the exit and closed my eyes for a second to allow hem adapt to the sudden influx of light. It had never really hit me how dark the tent had been.

The arena was just as expected. A large barren field. The grassy plains of the quidditch pitch had been replaced with flat earth. The field was dotted with boulders here and there. For perhaps the first time, it truly sunk in just how large the quidditch pitch was. Doom’s memories struggled to come up with a similar sized field from all his memories of his first life but struggled to come up with anything. The sound was another factor that he hadn’t expected. Morgana above, wizards could get loud!

“Last but not least we have Harry Potter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry” it was then I realised the reason they were so loud was because they were cheering for our names being announced. At my name, there was a small rictus of boos erupting from the crowd but it was thankfully drowned out by cheering. Either I had more fans than I thought or they were all just caught up in he spectacle of the thing. Both were equally likely.

“And now their opponent, the mythical Cŵn Annwn” Bagman’s voice cracked at the end as he screamed the name of the beast for all to hear. I wondered how they would get it in for a second since I didn’t see any openings in the arena but there was a whoosh of air and I had my question answered. Portkey.