A Portrait of The Black Heiress (Harry Potter)

Chapter XII: Choke On That, Puff

The Competition was to be held in the Quidditch Pitch. Two platforms had been fashioned in the middle where the duellists would stand and fight. A long duct had been dug out of the earth and now contained water for duellists to use in battle if they so choose. The Quidditch pitch was completely stripped of grass, so only mud was left and several rocks had been levitated to surround the platform in case they wanted to jump out of the way or find a clever way to use those rocks in some other way.

The competition was set up in such a way that first, two Houses were put up against one another. This year, it was Hufflepuff against Slytherin and Ravenclaw against Gryffindor. Which honestly, was a bit of a disaster as Hufflepuff was currently the second-best team, however, it could have been worse. They could have had to deal with Gryffindor.

Every House would present the arbiter with a ranking list of their duellists. Those weakest at the bottom and those strongest at the top. The weak would start the duel. And the winner would duel the next on the list. On occasion, it occurred that the strongest member of the team never even participated in the competition but there were also instances where the first ranked had to defeat an entire house all by him or herself. It really depended on the level of those below them.

Two duels would happen at the same time. One between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw and one between Hufflepuff and Slytherin. The two losers would have a separate battle to determine third and fourth place. And lastly, there would be the grand final between the two Houses and the competitors last left standing. Sometimes Houses went into the final with their entire team complete, sometimes they only had one person left. For the sake of everyone involved, Gemma hoped they could take out enough Hufflepuffs to get to the final but only lose the few lowest ranked. And she could only pray that Ravenclaw would fight Gryffindor to their very last member.

The arbiter was going to be Professor Flitwick, who was an experienced duellist and well-aware of the many rules and regulations attached to it. It was him, Gemma needed to find before the match began.

"Ah, yes, Farley, a list of your competitors, please."

"Professor," said Farley, "are you familiar with rule 768 of the Hogwarts Duelling Rulebook of 1467?"

"Uhhh," squeaked Professor Flitwick. "You'd have to help me there."

"It states that if I present you with a student aged 11 or 12, they should be given the opportunity to serve in teams when matched against someone aged 15 or above. I have given a spot on my team away to two first-years and they should be allowed to duel together against any member of the opposite team aged 15 or above."

"Miss Farley, I must say, this is highly unusual. Never – in my lifetime – have I heard of a first-year competing. And gosh, you even have a second-year on your team and no seventh-years... Farley, are you sure...?"

"I know what I am doing, Professor," said Gemma confidently.

"Okay, well, I will have to edit some of the matches to better fit the new age range but I'd say your second-year ought to be number 10 and your duo number 9."

"Thank you, professor!"

"What is this I'm hearing?" came the annoying voice of the Gryffindor captain, Percy Weasley. Gemma turned round to face him. "You can't just be allowed to team up your duellists, that's not how this works."

"I am sorry, Mr Weasley," piped Flitwick, "But they haven't broken any rules. However, I am sure your Gryffindors could take two first years."

"She is up to something, Professor!" yelled Percy, face turning red. "Are those two even first years? What if she Polyjuiced them?"