The Last Peverell

Chapter 31

Chapter 31

The second day of dueling started similarly to the first. The seventh years started their matches and ended with no Hogwarts win. Jasmine thought their poor performance was rather embarrassing. The team had been decimated by the other schools. None of the students even made it to the second round. Durmstrang and both American schools topped the podium.

The sixth years faired a little bit better, if only thanks to one student. Pandora ended up in the top three, gaining Hogwarts' first medal of the event.

Each duel was fierce and it was obvious that as the matches went on, the students became more and more careless with each attempted counterattack. The magic was haywire and somewhat dangerous, not to mention that they were dead on their feet by the end of the events. Jasmine was surprised that they hadn't had any fist fights yet. It would make declaring the winner so much easier if they would just punch the other fighter out cold and end the magically exhausted stand stills. It would at least add some spice into the morning.

The school from South Dakota really seemed to have something to prove in these matches. They weren't holding anything back and had been in the top three within all of the podium placements. The announcer wasn't all that pleased, the arse, but Jasmine was enjoying watching the different styles of wand work that went into each and every style that they brought to the matches. The wand work was more an extension of themselves than anything else, and their magic was powerful, she figured that they might not use wands during the primary training, which was fascinating, if her hunch was correct.

It wasn't often that Jasmine or Harriet learned new things like this. Once in a lifetime opportunities were still very rare, even for someone who had lived as many lives as Jasmine had.

She sighed as she watched one of the Dakota students transfigured their opponent into a cage and ending the match.

It wasn't long before the remaining fifth years were brought back down to the arena. Lily and James were left in the stands. Jasmine just hoped that a fight wouldn't start between them while she wasn't there to mediate. They were led into the same brick laid room as the day before, it was just as spartan as yesterday, with only a curtain serving as the door and three chairs. The only thing different was the atmosphere. Gone was excitement from the day before. With two of their three members gone it seemed that Sirius and Severus were taking things a bit more seriously. Flitwick had his head poking out of the curtain talking with the officials for the dueling order for the evening, which eventually turned into him leaving the room altogether. Sirius was jumping from foot to foot, halfheartedly mimicking some wand work against the far wall. Severus was teasing the hem of his robe with his fingers, muttering what sounded like potion ingredients under his breath, looking anywhere but at Sirius. Jasmine was stretching on the floor going through a few different scenarios for her upcoming duels.

She couldn't say that she was nervous. This wasn't a life or death situation, it was just a competition. "What's taking Flitwick so long?" Sirius asked, pushing himself away from the wall and towards Jasmine, who was in the center of the room.

"Not sure. Something must have happened with one of the school to have the judges call our coach out," she replied, rolling to her feet.

Jasmine wondered if someone broke the rules. These officials seemed to have really strict guidelines about fraternizing with other schools. It wouldn't be too difficult for an overzealous student to wander into illegal territory...or a rather vengeful student attempting to hurt the person who beat them the day before.