Harry Potter and the Order Of the Phoenix [100]
Harry mouthed “Good luck” to Cho as stepped into the middle of the circle, not that she needed it. She was an outstanding student, and Crabbe was… not. Cho bowed to Crabbe, but he barely moved his head, either out of wanting to be disrespectful, or because he was absorbed in Cho’s beauty.
“Five… six… seven… go!” yelled Professor Flitwick, too excited to notice he said the wrong numbers.
“Eks-pehl-ee-arhm-uss,” mumbled Crabbe, sounding out the spell as he went. Nothing came out of his wand.
“Maherius!” yelled Cho, much more confidently and quickly than Crabbe. The red beam hit Crabbe right in the shoulder. He immediately gripped it and let out a scream, dropping his wand in the process.
“Accio wand!” yelled Cho. Crabbe’s wand flew right from the floor to her hand. Crabbe was now on the floor, gripping his shoulder for dear life.
“Miss Chang is the winner!” said Professor Flitwick, throwing Crabbe’s name high into the air. Cho walked over to Crabbe, and dropped his wand on his stomach before she walked back to the circle. Malfoy and Goyle had to drag Crabbe back. It took him several minutes to calm down from the spell.
Cho smiled at Harry. As she did, a new feeling came over Harry. What would he do if he had to fight Cho? Would he lose on purpose and lose her respect? Or would he win and lose her love? Or would he try his best and have her still win, making him feel embarrassed?
Before Harry could think about it for too long, Professor Flitwick took the names for the next match out of the hat.
“The next competitors are…”
“Not Cho, not Cho…” thought Harry.
“Mr. Harry Potter!”
“Oh no, even worse…” thought Harry.
“Against…”
“Not Cho, not Cho…” hoped Harry again.
“Mr. Gregory Goyle!”
Harry breathed a huge sigh of relief. Ron patted him on the back, and Cho gave him an encouraging smile as he walked towards the center. Malfoy pushed Goyle into the center, whispering something in his ear and laughing.
Harry’s immediate thought was that being in the center of circle, and viewing it from a first-person perspective, was a lot different than being on the outside and seeing it from a third-person perspective. He could see Goyle, right in front of him, with Malfoy directly behind him, a sinister smile on his face. Harry could see everyone around him and what they were doing: some were chewing gum, some were practicing spells, some had their hands in their pockets, rocking back and forth, and some were glaring right at them. It was very nerve wrecking. Professor Flitwick shot over between them.
“Ready… set… go!” he yelled.
“Slugus Arostos!” yelled Goyle, sounding better than Crabbe, perhaps because he wasn’t fighting a girl.
“Kano Micro!” yelled Harry in reply. Just as Goyle’s spell was about to hit him, he dropped on the ground, and did a forward roll, avoiding it perfectly. When he stood back up, there was no sign of Goyle anywhere.
“Where are you?” asked Harry, looking around.
“He’s right there!” said Ron, pointing to the ground, causing everyone, including Harry, to start laughing. Where Goyle used to be, there was now a small bug with a wand next to it. Harry bent down to get the wand, and saw that the bug was a very small Goyle, jumping up and down, waving his arms, squeaking out incoherent words.
“Engorgio!” said Harry, trying to keep from laughing too hard. Goyle returned to his normal, but quite large, size. Harry gave him back his wand.
“Harry Potter is the winner!” said Professor Flitwick, spinning around, and tossing Goyle’s name into the air. Harry walked back to his spot in the circle, getting some congratulations from Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Cho.
“Our next match is… Mr. Justin Finch-Fletchley against… Mr. Sy- Syin… Tci!”
Tci walked into the center of the circle, looking extremely confident. He took his jacket off, and to everyone’s surprise, and the girl’s delight, he had no shirt on under it. Harry noticed he was extremely muscular, and he had several scars all over. What was the deal with him? Tci reached into the sheath on his back with his gloved