THIRD TASK (OPEN TO ALL)

by **Briony Romain** Wed Jun 27, 2012 8:29 am

Briony had decided that this time she would kick off the tasks, and she had the two people that she needed by her side, she had thought that there would be no better way to look at the strength of the contestants in this task, than by getting them to fight.

Smirking a little bit she nodded to both Raven and to Richard before turning to the hall to see if there would be anyone coming in to watch the students in the task, or if it would just be them like it was last time. With a small hum Briony cracked her knuckles and addressed those that were already there.

"The third task, is a battle between the schools, each champion from each school will battle a head of house from the opposite institution. Aquila Wilson, you will battle Richard Romain. Humphrey Williams, you will battle Raven Drake."

As she spoke she gestured to each of the professors, if they didn't know who they were they would soon enough.

"One hit." Briony spoke "Is all that needs to be landed on these professors, do this, and you will win, the first student to land a hit on their opponent will win this task. We will begin when you tell me that you are ready."

by **Humphrey Williams** Wed Jun 27, 2012 8:38 am

It was the day of the third task, and if he lost then it would be tied up going into the last task. Right now Hogwarts was ahead, Humphrey wanted to keep it that way. Walking in, he listened as Headmistress Romain announced the task.

After she announced what he had to do, he cursed inside his head. No way! Raven Drake, she is like the scariest person ever, skilled too. I really hate my luck sometimes. Toughen up, let's go. Humphrey thought to himself.

"I'm ready Headmistress!" Humphrey bellowed, trying to sound more confident than he was. Clearing his mind using his Occlumency training, he tuned out everything. All he had to do was land a hit before Aquila, who was fighting Professor Romain. He knew he had it in him, and this was his moment to shine.

by **Airen Auditoren** Wed Jun 27, 2012 9:22 am

Airen entered the arena in the Durmstrang school. He was a bit disappointed that he wasn't able to compete in this task, but that meant that Humphrey would get his chance to shine sooner. So Airen thought it was best this way. He gave a nod of respect to the high master and the headmistress.

He climbed up to his seat in the rafters and sat. He waited for the contestants to arrive and for the task to begin.

by **Annika Bauermeister** Wed Jun 27, 2012 10:07 am

Annika had heard some whispers that the third task would involve that Humhrey guy from Hogwarts. Thinking it might be interesting to see just what he had in the way of skill, she decided to look into the contest herself rather than listen to the gossip at the dinning table afterward.

As she walked in she heard that the task was going to be quite a bit more dangerous than the last one she saw. They actually had to duel with professors, and not just any professor but the heads of houses. The most fromidable being her potions instructor. That was a task she wouldn't even wish on a deadly rival.

"This should be awesome," she thought as she took a seat to watch the
battle. "Why aren't there more students hear to support the school? this is wierdly empty?"

by **Tess McCartney** Wed Jun 27, 2012 10:31 am

Walking towards the stadium, she knew that this was something she had to do for her friend. She had been to the last lesson because of Victoria, but now she was still here for Humphrey.

Sitting down, she smiled at his confidence, but still felt a tremor running down her body once she remembered who he was fighting. Raven Drake, she had met her once on the other side of the battle and she knew how tough she could be. She gripped the seat and waited for the battle to begin.

She didn't want to scream, not wanting to distract him, so she merely bit her bottom lip in worry hoping he would be fine.

by **Aquila Wilson** Wed Jun 27, 2012 12:52 pm

Aquila could hear her heart pounding in her ears, and determination boiled within her. Her face was set, her jaw straining and aching for Aquila had been constantly grinding it as she thought - not caring now how it hurt. She held firm, trying not to let her nerves deter her. She was determined to win this for Durmstrang. She wasn't about to let some no-good Brit take this away from her, however she wouldn't be rude. As much as she wanted to let her prejudice consume her, she'd realised that she had nothing against Britain. It had startled her a bit, but the only thing they'd ever done was attack the Durmstrang ship, and that was just in retaliation (a rumour) of Durmstrang's attack on the Hogwart's ball a few years ago.

She rolled her eyes at herself, now was simply not the time to think about such things. Now, was the time to be worrying about her feet. A rush of panic flooded her as the colour drained from her already pale face and took on a green tinge. Why now, of all times, did her cancer have to take effect? Making her struggle to walk in a straight line unless she watched what she was doing. How could she battle if she couldn't even look up? This would be a challenge indeed, but she knew she could do it. She had to believe in herself. She looked up at the small amount of people watching and gulped as the Hogwarts headmistress began to speak. Nerves of steel, she reminded herself. She bobbed her head at her own thoughts and crossed her arms, trying to look tough whilst the pale of her face and the green colour showed she was nervous.

And I signed up to this because I thought it would be fun, she thought sourly. She looked horrified at the proposed task, and looked over at the boy - Humpty? Humphrey! - with a pained expression. Fight? Lehrer Drake? How? She shook her head and wished she could give the Hogwarts boy some tips. The 'tips', would be run screaming because she has knives and she's scary. Mind you, she was sure that this Romain guy would probably just as terrifying. Aquila took in a shuddery breath and looked down at her feet as she walked forwards a few steps, trying to think of spells. Many ran through her mind, and she knew she'd have to pull all the stops to win. This was so not going to be easy, but damn it all she was GOING to win, no matter the cost. Gulp. Even if it was her own arm.

by **Zara Hawkins** Wed Jun 27, 2012 2:57 pm

Zara wanted to be there to watch the third task since Humphrey was competing in it. Hopefully their little training session would pay off.

When she heard what he had to do, she felt rather scared and sick to the stomach. He had to duel with a professor? Even worse, he had to duel Raven. Even though Zara had never actually met the woman, she had heard about the crazy stuff she'd done. Even just looking at her, Zara could tell she wasn't nice.

Zara sat down in the arena and watched her friend. Zara had no idea what he might have been thinking, but she hoped that he would put his fear behind him and just go for it.

by **Dmitra Diamante** Wed Jun 27, 2012 4:07 pm

Dmitra watched the Durmstrang champion, Aquila, anxiously. They weren't friends, but she was representing Durmstrang in the tournament, and so Dmitra supported her with all her heart. But she wasn't looking so healthy, she appeared pale and greenish, and she was slightly staggering. Not good.

Then when the Hogwarts Headmistress announced the task, Dmitra groaned. Dang. Why the hell couldn't she have been given this one? Dueling was so her thing, even if the Hogwarts Professor would have been damn difficult to defeat, Dmitra definitely preferred it to a dark maze, traps and murderous badgers like she faced in her last task. Well, nothing could be done now. She could simply pray, and cheer Aquila on.

by **Humphrey Williams** Thu Jun 28, 2012 6:41 am

Aquila Wilson was up there with him now, and she looked as if she was about to be sick. He felt for her, because he was every bit as nervous. The difference though, was that Humphrey had learned from his Occlumency lessons how to calm himself. Those lessons were coming in handy now, and he felt ready. A part of him was still terrified, but the greater part was eager for the opportunity to show what he was made of. This was his chance, to show that he deserved to be at Hogwarts. Show that he was a good choice for this task.

Looking over at Aquila, he decided that it was best to show a little bit of friendliness. Offering his hand to her, Humphrey said, "Good luck, Aquila." Just because they were opponents, didn't mean they couldn't help to show friendship between the schools. Even if she didn't shake his hand, he felt better having attempted to be nice to her. Somehow, Aquila reminded him of Pyxis, and they did have the same last name. He wondered if they could be related, but surely they couldn't be. Pushing that thought out of his mind, he refocused.

There was one thing he had learned from Airen that could be useful at this moment. One of the lessons, Airen had said that he could win any fight. The key was studying your opponent, and finding the weakness. Raven Drake was his opponent now, how could he find a weakness that he could exploit. Well, one thing that was always useful, was surprise. Thinking over the spells he knew, Humphrey thought of two that could be combined. It would be tricky, but it may be enough to distract her, catch her off guard for a moment. Since all he needed was one hit, it just might work.

by **Briony Romain** Sat Jun 30, 2012 1:42 am

Briony nodded when the two contestants seemed to be ready for the task to begin, she hoped that both of them would come out of this thing alive but she had told Richard and Raven that they were not to hold back, what would be the point if they did that?

Frowning a little she motioned for the two of them to step forwards and she nodded to both competators.

"Good luck to the both of you." she said with a faint smile, before retreating from the arena.

by **Darcie Vane** Sat Jun 30, 2012 2:28 am

Darcie had come to watch the task this time because of the fact that it was Aquila's task, she knew that she was nervous and that she needed some support so she would be there to give her that support.

Her face had paled when she had been told that they would be fighting the head of houses from the opposing school, and she had been even more worried when she had been partnered with Richard, although Darcie knew that Richard would never harm a child, not even if he had to.

Biting her lip she waved down to Aquila and gave her the thumbs up before shouting;

"Woooo!! Go Aquila! You can do it girl!"

by **Lucian Ciero** Sat Jun 30, 2012 2:32 am

Lucian, although he had not agreed with her choice to enter the competition, had never voiced it or told Aquila that he did not want her to do this, he knew that it would be dangerous despite what they said and he was going to make sure that she wasn't harmed.

If he had to interrupt the task himself he would do, the truth was, he had lost too many people close to him already.

Biting his lip he looked sternly down onto the arena, he hoped that the man he had seen in battle would not be so harsh as to actually hurt Aquila, if he was, he was sure that he would have no problems dealing with Lucian afterwards.

by **Raven 'The Sweeney' Drake** Sat Jun 30, 2012 3:25 am

Raven grinned manically, she stepped forwards and her eyes focused on the boy that she would soon be duelling, she had seen him before when she had attacked Hogwarts, and she would be more than happy to have him as a partner for this duel.

Taking out her razor in one hand Raven flicked it open and she tilted her head to one side as she stared at the boy in front of her, when it seemed that they were ready to begin, she smirked and stepped forwards a little closer to him, bowing languidly.

Then taking her wand in the other hand, she threw away her leather trenchcoat and held out her hand with her razor in.

"What are you waiting for, child?" she asked calmly, her purple eyes dissolving slowly to black.

by **Humphrey Williams** Sat Jun 30, 2012 3:35 am

His opponent, Raven drake stepped forwards with a crazy grin on her face. It was clear she was dangerous, and she took out a razor in one hand. Next, she drew her wand, and then threw away her trenchcoat. She was taunting him, but he was going to stick to his plan.

"Alright Miss Drake, let's get this show on the road." Humphrey said clearly, not letting his fear show. Her purple eyes were now black, and it creeped him out a bit. He wasn't going to let that throw him off though. Waving his wand, he cast the avis charm, and conjured some canaries. "Oppugno!" Humphrey bellowed, and they zoomed towards her. After they got a little closer, he set them on fire. "Incendio!" Let's see how she dealt with that.

by **Richard Romain** Sat Jun 30, 2012 5:56 am

Richard rolled his neck a little bit to loosen the muscles there. He was ready to do his part for this little tournament but he wasn't going to be too harsh on the girl. He took a few steps closer to the girl, his wand held neutrally at his side. Deciding to give her something to give her some comfort, he bowed slightly,

"Sie können beginnen." he told her in his native german before smirking, "Don't hold back... or I might break you by accident."

by **Aquila Wilson** Sun Jul 01, 2012 3:06 pm

Aquila's head snapped up from being fixed on her feet and she eyed Humphrey's hand warily, before she took it and shook it once. "And to you, Humphrey," she would've stepped back, but didn't trust her feet. Her nerves were making it even harder. She looked down at them once more and sighed. "Why do you have to do this now?" She muttered to herself. She sucked in a deep breath and lifted her head once more. She knew she could do this, she just had to distract Richard for a moment so she could land a spell on him. But how could she distract him? She frowned in puzzlement.

It wasn't long before it hit her, and Aquila shook her head at her own stupidity. Of course! She felt a confident smile cross her face as she looked up at Richard. She watched as he bowed and wasn't sure what to do. She recalled that it was polite so bow before battle, so she rather hesitantly returned the bow. Her eyebrows rose at his German, and then she felt a grin her face and she tried not to laugh softly at him. She was meant to be scowling at him and proving that she wasn't some weak little girl.

She let the smile drop as she raised her wand hand, adding a shake to give off a more innocent little girl effect. She widened her eyes slightly, as if this was going to be hard for her to do. Whilst she pretended to struggle with thinking of a spell by frowning and muttering to herself, she felt the energy build up inside of her until the warm fuzzy feeling filled her entire body. Ready, she now lifted her other hand in a flash of movement and the earth by his feet lifted up and twisted in a complicated way to capture his attention. She flicked her hand and moved the earth towards him, as if she was going to hit him with it before she shouted a series of spells, "Rictumpsempra! Expelliarmus! Stupefy! Incendio!" The jets of light shot out of her wand as the wall of earth dropped away and she gasped for breath. She felt her legs buckle underneath her and to her surprised, she dropped to her knees. Oh, right, the sickness. She used all of her remaining energy to push herself back up and stumbled back a few steps. Stop it! She growled to herself as she regained her footing once more and looked up to see if her attempts had worked - or failed miserably.

by **Raven 'The Sweeney' Drake** Mon Jul 02, 2012 7:43 pm

Raven couldn't help but cackle at the boys attempt to harm her, she knew that Briony had told her to go easy on the child but, she wasn't, and she knew that if he landed a hit on her it would be physically when she too was gaining a hit on him. That was part of battle after all, you did not escape scar free.

"Wingardium leviosa." she said simply and a large rock levitated itself to stop all of the attacks that the boy had sent her way, propelling the rock through the air towards Humphrey, Raven released it from the spell so it would continue on it's path.

Laughing to herself Raven decided to play with the boy a little and she sped around him, much in the manner that the Death Eaters used to, leaving a trail of black smoke behind her, prodding and poking Humphrey as she ran around him, Raven took out her razor and prepared for more lethal hits next round.

by **MelodyLovegood** Mon Jul 02, 2012 8:50 pm

Melody was worried for the champions,she had heard scary things about Raven Drake but she was sure that she wouldn't be allowed to kill anyone at least and hopefully would go easy with so many people watching.

by **Briony Romain** Tue Jul 03, 2012 12:48 am

Briony almost cursed under her breath when she saw that Raven was not going to be able to hold herself back, even though it was quite funny that she was now beginning to taunt and tease Humphrey by running around him and trying to jab him.

The other contestant Aquila however looked to be unsteady on her feet and she raised an eyebrow at her, was she unfit to perform in the challenge, maybe she would need to step in and help her, although she was sure her husband would know not to take it too far, and her attentions were better focused on keeping Raven sane.

by **Humphrey Williams** Tue Jul 03, 2012 1:16 am

"Repulso!" Humphrey yelled, and sent the rock flying away. That was a weak attack, and had never been likely to hit him. But, it had been an effective shield.

Raven was stepping it up a notch, and it was time for him to as well. He was much quicker than the average human, since he was a werewolf, and he had on the Boots of Aeolus which also made him quicker. Humphrey looked at her circling him, and timed it so he was able to run out of the circle.

Once he was out, he thought about what to do. Finally, an idea came to him, and he smiled. "Aguamenti!" A jet of water flew out of his wand, making the ground slick. This way she would be forced to slow down, or she would slip on the water. Now, it was time to cast some of the spells he knew. "Riktumsempra! Stupefy! Furnunculus! Petrificus Totalus! Incarcerous!" All of those spells were fairly useful in their own way.

Humphrey had one more idea, "Baubilious." he said, and a bright white light shone from the end of his wand. Hopefully, it would surprise her for a second. He followed it up with one of his favorite spells. "Cantis!" Humphrey bellowed. If it landed, Raven would burst into song, which would be awesome.

by **Richard Romain** Mon Jul 09, 2012 4:57 am

Richard watched the girl try to school her features. She seemed to think that she had something going for her here. To be quite honest it was rather an amusing notion. As amusing as it was blindingly stupid. Did she honestly think that he didn't know she was faking it?

Her twitching was too uniform to be genuine and it never once made her lose him as a target. To be honest she was a decent actor and on someone less experienced than himself she might have stood a chance. But when the earth moved in a complex pattern his eyebrow actually rose as he settled it down with a quick wave of his wand.

When he heard her spells he had to smile slightly. She had used a classic example of a distraction using transfiguration but it wasn't quite slick enough to work, she'd obviously not had extensive practice in it but that was to be expected. To counter all of the spells she sent his way, Richard knelt down quickly and tapped the ground with his wand,

"Dotosta." he said clearly. The ground rose up in the shape of a wall, blocking all of the spells. He flicked his wand at the wall, "Bombarda."

The remains of the wall went flying at Aquila.

by **Doctor Florence Nettle** Mon Jul 09, 2012 10:35 pm

Deciding that he'd seen enough, The Doctor blocked the spells that had been flying with a barrier set up through runes on the floor. He gave both Richard and Raven a look and they both put their wands away before moving back up to wherever they waited before.

Turning to the two students, The Doctor paused for a second. Briony and he had had a very long discussion about who the winner was but in the end it was obvious, at least to him. He reached out and took Aquila's hand and held it above her head,

"Winner of the third task..." he grinned, "Aquila Wilson!"