Alexandra Dursley {Golden Trio}

Chapter 119 - Rounds Two, Three, and Four

 Marlene and Hannah wore matching expressions as they stepped onto the stage. They both looked equally nervous, yet had a fierce, Slytherin-esque, determined glint in their eyes. They wanted to win this very badly. "THREE!" Al shouted and they opened into a lively rainbow of spells, dodging and weaving. They were even faster than Harry and Theo had been, and the duel lasted a lot longer, brown and blonde hair flying from their now undone ponytails.

 Once or twice Al thought Hannah was going to hit Marlene, but the fifth year blocked and dodged sufficiently, until Hannah roared, "STUPEFY!" and Marlene crumpled. There were thunders of cheers from the Hufflepuffs, and thankfully Marlene didn't look too let down. After all - Hannah was a sixth year. She looked around triumphantly, breathing heavily through her mess of hair, not grinning, but she offered a small smile when they shook hands. Al was sure she knew what she had thought when she cast that spell. She was thinking of her Ma.

 "You alright?" Al asked, placing a hand on her back when she descended the steps.

 "Yeah, I'm fine," she said, producing another fake smile. "Thanks though, Al."

 "Al Dursley of Slytherin and Neville Longbottom of Gryffindor!" Flitwick announced, and Al got up, grinning encouragingly at Neville who smiled back. Neville surprised Al in his ability to dodge spells so quickly, especially as Al was so well-versed in silent spellwork that she only ever spoke when she wanted particular force behind it. It was over within the minute though, as Al conjured a cloud of purple smoke, moved to the other side of the stage and leaned round, and hit Neville with a stunning spell. The Slytherins cheered enthusiastically and Al and Neville shook hands, both of them grinning and happy that they'd had a good duel.

 "Harry Potter of Gryffindor and Luna Lovegood of Ravenclaw!" Unfortunately this duel was over far quicker than Luna versus Ernie, because Harry didn't even give her the chance to put up a shield before he had dodged her reductor curse and disarmed her. Everyone clapped politely, but couldn't help but feel a little bit disappointed that it was over so fast.

 "OK," Al announced, still clapping, "Well done there Harry! Now we've got Ginny Weasley of Gryffindor and Padma Patil of Ravenclaw." As good as Padma was at dodging, even with as many of the spells she had memorised she wasn't quite a match for Ginny, who hit her with a powerful bat-bogey hex two minutes in, that was so extreme that Padma had to tap-out and give the victory to Ginny, who went and sat next to Harry, Neville and Seamus.

 "So, for round three we have: Hannah Abbott of Hufflepuff, me of Slytherin, Harry Potter of Gryffindor, and Ginny Weasley of Gryffindor!" There were enthusiastic cheers from everyone except the Ravenclaws, who clapped politely. "First up we have Hannah Abbott of Hufflepuff versus Al Dursley of Slytherin!" It felt weird to refer to herself in the third person, but she pushed it from her mind as she faced a purposeful-looking Hannah. Al didn't even mind if she lost, she thought as she bowed; Hannah was a worthy opponent.

 Al spent the start of the duel blocking Hannah's attempts to stun her, and soon Hannah reverted to saying spells out loud, making them harder to block silently. Harder, but not impossible. Al silently conjured some yellow birds using avis and quickly sent them flying at Hannah with oppugno. But Hannah seemed to be ready for this and brutally performed a silent incendio, hitting all of them with a burst of flame, and they dropped to the ground, some of them smouldering, all of them blackened.

 Slightly taken by surprise, Al let her guard down, and was skimmed with a silent disarming spell, making her wand clatter to the ground between them. Al knew she could do wandless magic, but wasn't sure of she wanted to show it off just yet, so she dived and rolled across the platform, avoiding Hannah's bursts of flames. She'd just grabbed it and noticed the bottom of her trousers had caught fire. She put it out with augamenti, before sending eight stunners Hannah's way in the space of three seconds. Only one of them hit her, but it was enough, and she flew back unconscious, meaning Al had won.

 Al revived Hannah herself, helping her up as both girls grinned. "That was great," Hannah panted, properly smiling for the first time in what must have been months, "That felt really great!"

 "You did a fantastic job," Al said, "I was really enjoying myself." Eventually, the Slytherins died down, and Al called, "Harry Potter of Gryffindor and Ginny Weasley of Gryffindor!" up to the platform.

 This duel was almost as spectacular as Al's and Hannah's had been, with burst of fire, jets of water, and clouds of coloured smoke from both parties. They made the biggest mess of the platform so far, placing three giant holes in the middle of it. The duel ended almost ten minutes in, when Ginny made the platform into a slide, and forced Harry off it with an impressive knockback jinx.

 "So, for our final round," Flitwick announced while Al got ready to go up, "We have Al Dursley of Slytherin versus Ginny Weasley of Gryffindor!"

 There were cheers, claps, and stomps from all around as people waved their green and red banners and shouted the finalists' names. Al bowed and stood poised and ready for Ginny's attack. "THREE!" Flitwick called, and the two girls were off, spells flying in every possible direction, every other move was a dodge. Al managed to catch the ends of Ginny's robes alight, but she put them out quicker than they'd set on fire, and while Al marvelled at this one of Ginny's bat-bogey-hexes bounced off Flitwick's spectator shield and hit her.

 Her nose stretched painfully and she screwed her eyes shut and tried to cast the counter curse on herself. She succeeded just in time to see a bright red depulso soaring towards her. It hit her full on in the chest and she flew backwards, so high into the air she could see the tops of everyone's heads.

 On her way down, she realised she was going to land off the platform, so she quickly conjured a single fifteen foot plank of wood that hovered ten feet above the platform. She continued to fight Ginny from up there, the high ground giving her a tremendous advantage. Ginny seemed to realise this, as she ran and jumped at the end of the plank, catching it in her hands and pulling herself up. The plank tipped precariously, and Al jumped off the end, conjuring another plank fourteen feet above the platform and landing on it, scurrying to the middle when she tipped it.

Ginny clambered onto this one too and Al conjured another one to jump onto, and another, and another, until Ginny caught on and conjured her own, trying to cut Al off. They were now twenty feet in the air, and Ginny leaped onto a plank above Al. Al fired up at her, and then hit the plank with a confringo. She watched as it burst, splinters of wood flying everywhere and Ginny fell, almost in slow motion. "Arresto momentum!" Al shouted, and Ginny slowed, landing on the ground with a gentle thud, blood gushing from a wound on her head.

 Pomfrey rushed over to her, and by the time Al had clambered down back onto the platform, Ginny was hobbling towards her, smiling like she was the happiest person in the world, while the Slytherins cheered louder than anyone else in the room. "You deserve that win," Ginny shouted to her over the din while they shook hands.

 Flitwick walked over and handed her the trophy, identical to the one she'd won at the end of her fourth year. "Our reigning champion has done it again!" Flitwick shouted, "Al Dursley, duelling champion of nineteen-ninety-seven!" The cheers and claps deafened Al as she shook everyone else's hands, as many people as possible congratulating her, professors, friends and students alike.

 "Excellent conjuring, Dursley," McGonagall told her warmly, "I must tell Weasley too..."

 "Well done, Dursley," Snape said stiffly as she shook his hand, "Another victory for Slytherin."

 "Thanks, Sir," Al said politely, not wanting to ruin her mood, before turning to Harry who was next to her and whispering, "Git." The faint knot in her stomach tightened slightly. She hadn't seen much of Snape this year, but was now sharply reminded of that cellar.

  When most of the ruckus had died down, she thanked Flitwick, before heading down to her dorm to shower before dinner, trophy in hand and surrounded by a swarm of over-joyed Slytherins.