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Chapter 144 - Chapter 144 Magical Force!

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Ivan wobbled a bit as his shoes attempted to leave his feet, but he held firm, shooting another stunner at Harry. Without time to move away from the spell, Harry was forced to intercept it with a stunner of his own, neutralizing it in the air. Harry strafed around Ivan, going for a disarming charm again, but Ivan simply dispelled the spell as it got close. The pair locked eyes as they shot a spell at each other.

"Glacius!" Harry incanted, shooting forth a burst of extreme cold.

"Incendio!" Ivan called at the same time, a gout of flame bursting forth and meeting the ice in the middle of the pair.

The two spells were evenly matched for a moment, before both were dropped as the combatants each rolled to their left and fired off another spell.

"Depulso!" Ivan called, a sharp spike of magical force shooting forth rapidly from his wand.

"Flipendo Maxima!" Harry shot back, the spell leaving his wand just as the spike of magic entered his shoulder. The pain was pretty bad, Harry noticed, but his focus sent it away from his mind. Ivan wobbled substantially, the knockback charm catching him terribly off guard.

"Accio Ivan's Shoe!" Harry called forth, fully sending Ivan to the floor as his feet shot out from under him. "Expelliarmus!" Harry incanted, sending the wand flying from Ivan's loosened grip.

"Winner by disarming! Harry Potter! He moves on to the Finals!" the announcer said, and Harry let out a deep breath. He regretted that pretty quickly though, as the pain in his shoulder brought itself back to the forefront of his mind. Without the adrenaline of the duel to keep his mind away from it, he recognized just how badly it hurt. It wasn't a Basilisk bite, so Harry could honestly say he had had worse, this didn't feel good at all though.

Ignoring his pain, Harry walked over to where Ivan laid on the floor, and offered his hand to his opponent. "Good match. You got me pretty good with that piercing charm. Hurts like the dickens."

Ivan got up without Harry's help. "You beat me…. I must say, this wasn't what I expected." Ivan said, looking at the hole in Harry's shoulder. The spell had certainly hit it's mark, a centimeter-wide hole was clearly seen in Harry's shoulder, and allowed a clean view to the other side. "Such an injury must have debilitated you. How could you still cast?"

"Well, I've had worse." Harry said, taking his hand and covering the wound. "After getting bitten by a basilisk, regular wounds lose a bit of their impact. Beyond that, I've been in enough life and death fights that an injury like this isn't enough to stop me from fighting." Harry briefly thought back to his 'duel' with Quirrell, and his fight with the Basilisk. Most children would never have their life truly threatened at all. Harry had no less than 2 life-threatening duels in as many years.

"Had anyone else made such a claim to me I would call their bluff. You though Mister Potter…. I believe you. You've bested me, for now. Do not expect a repeat of this when we return next year." Ivan said, before yelling over the crowd. "Can we please have a mediwizard? I believe Mister Potter is in need of one."

"I'm alri–" Harry started, before pulling his hand away and noticing how much blood had started to ooze from his wound. "You know what, a medi-wizard sounds good."

The tournament medic, as well as Ted Tonks quickly made their way over to Harry, where they quickly got to work on healing the wound. Thankfully, since the wound was a clean shot straight through him, a standard wound closing charm and some blood replenishing potions was enough to get Harry back in top shape.

While they were treating Harry, Ivan had stepped away to speak with his father and brother. He returned a few moments later. Harry looked to him as he spoke. "While they were healing you, the other Semi-Final match happened. Your final opponent is Marianne Levigne. You won't lose to her, I won't allow someone who bested me to be any less than number 1."

"I'll give it my all, Ivan, but win or lose doesn't matter, just the drive to be the best." Harry said, looking over at the Bulgarian boy.

"So you say." Ivan said, before walking off.

Harry couldn't understand Ivan really. Was winning that important to him? Harry hoped that he could make peace with the fact that he wasn't number 1.

Twenty minutes and one wiggenweld potion later, Harry and Marianne stood across from each other. "Itz a shame that you got to be zhe one to beat Ivan, I wanted a rematch from last year." Marianne said, her accent coming through. "I suppose you also had such a desire, so it balances out. When I beat you, I'll have victory by proxy zen."

"Counting your chickens before they hatch eh? You've still got to beat me Marianne." Harry said, excitement in his voice. He hadn't gotten to square off against Marianne before, but he had seen her other matches. Her control over fire was well and truly breathtaking, and was one of the reasons Harry had prepared his Glacius spell as much as he had.

"I suppose you are correct that I should not underestimate you. Ivan made that mistake last year, and it almost cost him everything." She said, stancing up. "We'll see who the better duelist is. Give it your all!"

"With pleasure!" Harry said, entering his stance as well. The bell for the start of the match rang, and both contestants fired off a spell.

"Aguamenti!" Marianne fired off, a wide spray of water shooting forth from her wand, soaking everything around her.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry had fired, but the force of the water had knocked it off course. Harry was shocked. Marianne's fire magic would be significantly weaker if the area was soaked… wouldn't it?

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