Harry Potter : Bloodraven-Chapter 294: The Opening Gambit (III) (CH - 313)

"Now that we have that cleared up, let's move on…"

Mavrick looked over the six champions, eyes narrowing slightly as if arranging them in his mind, then lifted his head. "First, let's make some groups."

He pointed casually. "You, you, and you. To the left…"

Without naming names, because frankly he did not remember everyone there, he simply pointed to one from each school and made his selection.

Harry, Fleur, and Krum as a result nodded and walked to the right, while the rest followed Maverick's gesture to the left.

It certainly looked random, but Harry knew his professor never did anything without reason. And why had it suddenly turned into a team exercise? Had Professor McGonagall not clearly said there would be no teaming up during the champion selection trial?

He hesitated for a moment, his Gryffindor brain already twitching, and before he could stop himself, his hand was in the air.

"Yes, Potter?" Maverick motioned for him to speak. "For a second, I thought you were Granger."

Harry rubbed the back of his neck, knowing better, but still asked anyway. "Um… Professor, does this mean the task requires us to team up?"

Maverick lifted an eyebrow and slid his hands into his trouser pockets.

"No," he said simply. "The six of you will not be teaming up with one another. And…" he paused, "no more questions about the task, please."

The six champions all nodded quietly, exchanging thoughtful glances.

"I bet there's some hidden meaning behind that…" With a hand on his chin, Harry murmured, inclining his head to the half-veela beside him.

"Really… is that your gut talking, Monsieur Harry, or is it your understanding of the professor, being his direct pupil?" Fleur asked, lips curling into a half smile.

The two were not strangers. They had known each other for three years now, meeting again and again during the Quidditch interschool tournament. Fleur, especially, had been making an effort to get closer to Harry, which, of course, Harry still did not have the faintest clue about.

"Wait... you're Master Caesar's personal apprentice?" Krum asked, clearly surprised. He was not unfamiliar with either of them for similar reasons, though he wasn't particularly close as Fleur was to Harry.

"Ah… how'd you know about that?" Harry asked, glancing at Fleur, clearly taken aback. After all, his training with Maverick was supposed to be a secret that not even the Hogwarts students or even the professors knew, except for a select few.

"You forget who I am, Monsieur…" the veela's smile did not fade as she gave him a sideways glance.

Krum: Are you two deliberately ignoring me?

"Now then." Maverick's voice pulled their attention forward again, "Before we go any further, I want to make sure of something. You should all be comfortable with the Disarming Charm, Binding Charm, Exploding Charm, and you should have some progress in transfiguration after training with your mentors. If not, raise your hand."

The champions exchanged quick looks, yet no hands went up. The past weeks of training had indeed been specifically structured around those very spells Maverick mentioned, and everyone seemed to have a decent grasp of them.

"Good…"

Maverick nodded once and raised his hand. The space around wavered, as if reality itself had taken a breath. The walls faded, the ceiling dissolved, and grass rolled beneath their feet, opening into a vast field like a football stadium. At each far end, a single white flag stood quietly in the distance.

"Amazing. What manner of magic is this?" Viktor Krum turned slowly in place, eyes wide as he took in the spectacle around them.

And it wasn't just him. Everyone except Harry and Cedric stood wide-eyed, taking it all in. The soft wind against their faces only deepened the confusion, making it impossible to tell whether this was reality or a carefully crafted illusion.

"Did we get teleported?" Fleur also spoke her mind, eyes drifting across the open field, her calm expression unable to hide the slight tremor in her gaze.

"This is just an illusion…" Harry said quietly, then paused. "...I think."

He and Cedric had faced similar scenes before during the first Muggle science class each year, but even so, the line between illusion and reality was never easy to tell.

Maverick paid no attention to their stunned expressions and spoke once everything was in place.

"Listen up."

His voice rolled across the open field, pulling their focus back to him even as disbelief still clung to their faces.

"On my signal, Group A," he said, gesturing to Harry's trio, "shall move to the right, and Group B to the left."

He lifted his hand once more, and the space beside him rippled as two shapes began to form, slowly stepping out of nothing.

They were not people, just towering humanoid figures, exaggerated in height, even taller than Hagrid and Maxime. Two stone statues clad in ancient armor, swords held firmly like warriors ready for battle.

Once again, the champions stood spellbound at the casual display of magic. This was not transfiguration, nor was it something taken from a storage ring. Just like their surroundings earlier, the figures emerged slowly, as if peeling themselves out of empty air.

Clang!

Clang!

The puppets acted as one, massive swords rising together, each blade towering over Viktor Krum, the tallest among them. Then, with a sharp, clockwork spin, they slammed the tips into the earth and locked their gaze forward.

"That's so cool… Ron would've been completely jaw-dropped, I bet." Harry said, eyes shining.

"Cool?"

Fleur swallowed and spoke hesitantly. The sword's impact had sent a small tremor through the ground, one they could feel even from where they stood. "Monsieur, do you English have another definition for cool?"

"Are we supposed to fight those?" Krum asked, a few beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

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