BOOM!
A violent, explosive gust of wind sent both Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson flying back through the air like rag dolls caught in a hurricane.
Years of intensive training experience and battle drills allowed the two to instinctively execute landing maneuvers despite the chaos. They tucked and rolled across the soft forest earth, absorbing the impact through their shoulders and backs, then quickly scrambled and took defensive cover behind two thick spruce trees.
Draco pressed his back against the rough bark, breathing hard. He peeked cautiously out from behind his spruce and shot a quick, assessing glance at the developing battlefield situation.
What he saw made pure rage surge through his mind, turning his cold gray eyes a faint, bloodshot shade of red!
In just one exchange, his hunting team had lost three people to enemy action. Three students down, including Daphne who'd fallen into that cursed trap.
Now, aside from himself, only Zabini, Nott, and Astoria remained conscious and combat-capable!
Whoosh!
A beam of blue spell-light rapidly expanded in Draco's field of vision, growing larger as it approached his position with alarming speed.
He hastily yanked his head back behind cover. The aggressive spell grazed dangerously past his bangs, so close he could feel the heat. It singed several strands of his hair with an acrid smell before striking the ground behind him with a tremendous bang.
Before he could express any sentiment about his narrow escape, before he could curse his attacker, he heard an urgent shout ring out near his ear from across the clearing!
"The team that's not the champions is Slytherin—they have five people still standing! Get Astoria out of the zone first!"
Immediately after this shouted command, sharp whistling sounds rang out continuously through the air!
"Longbottom!" Draco snarled the name like a curse.
He was nearly consumed entirely by overwhelming fury at hearing that voice. He and Pansy who was spewing vicious curses under her breath beside him, immediately charged out from behind their spruces.
The chaotic scene they witnessed as they emerged made Draco's already roiling anger intensify even further!
Longbottom seemed to instinctively know he was Draco's most difficult opponent. Wielding that gleaming silver Gryffindor sword that caught the light with every movement, he had charged aggressively toward Blaise and Nott with clear purpose.
His swift speed and frustratingly elusive movement techniques dodging, weaving, never staying still made even Draco feel secretly alarmed despite his fury!
However, Longbottom's impressive swordsmanship wasn't the main issue troubling Draco.
What truly infuriated him was that Cedric Diggory and that scattered-brained Ravenclaw girl Luna Lovegood were pouring concentrated magical firepower onto Astoria!
"Despicable Gryffindor!" Draco roared in anger.
He charged forward recklessly with Pansy close at his heels.
The very instant Daphne had fallen screaming into the concealed trap, Astoria had reacted with impressive speed and clarity of thought. She immediately leaned over the edge to look anxiously into the pit, assessing her sister's condition.
Daphne hadn't lost consciousness from the fall, which was both good and terrible. She had landed relatively safely in a thick pile of soft, cushioning plants that had broken her fall.
But these seemingly innocent plants had strange, bulbous purple seed pods attached to them. The pods began exploding with violent crackling sounds the very moment they were disturbed by Daphne's impact, splattering juice everywhere.
The burning liquid caused painful pustules to erupt immediately on Daphne's exposed face and hands and any skin it touched.
The effect looked absolutely horrifying, like some terrible plague!
Daphne shielded her face desperately with one arm while screaming in agony.
With just one quick glance at her sister's dire situation, Astoria made a cold judgment: Daphne was "beyond saving".
After a few agonizing milliseconds of internal struggle. Astoria made the hardest decision. She decided to abandon any attempt at rescuing her sister from the trap.
At least for now.
She turned around immediately, forcing herself not to hear Daphne's screams. Her normally sweet, fair young face was showing unusual steely determination and cold anger.
Fortunately for Astoria's chances of survival, Cedric's team hadn't classified her as a major threat in their initial tactical assessment.
So she wasn't included in their devastating first round of coordinated targets.
This meant that on this chaotic battlefield where life and death could be decided in literally a single second, her brief moment of hesitation and distraction went completely unpunished by enemy fire.
She heard Neville Longbottom's shout about team composition and spun around with speed. As she turned, her sharp gaze caught Cedric and Lovegood already raising their wands toward her position with clear hostile intent.
They'd identified her as the next target.
Cedric's attack was textbook standard and technically proper—an extremely fast Stunning Spell fired with excellent form and considerable power.
Lovegood, meanwhile, deployed her distinctive signature magic with that dreamy expression she always wore. Her wand shot out a large, flowing string of bizarre, colorful musical note-shaped objects that danced through the air.
Astoria had seen this unusual spell many times during Physical Education training sessions. Those innocent-looking notes would explode with considerable force upon contact with anything solid, and even after firing them, Lovegood still maintained a certain impressive degree of control over their flight paths.
Astoria was surprised to discover that even in this genuinely critical moment, she could maintain such unusual calmness.
Astoria responded instantly with her own signature magic, the spell she'd practiced more than any other.
The instant she raised her wand in a smooth motion, a strong magical breeze ruffled her soft golden hair, making it stream behind her. Cold determination flashed in her blue eyes.
Around where she crouched in a defensive posture, fallen leaves carpeting the ground rose up in response to her magical summons. They lifted into the air, slicing through the space with sharp whistling sounds!
The individual leaves transformed mid-flight into dozens of small bird-shaped creatures approximately the size of sparrows—a display of advanced, combat-ready transfiguration so exquisite and technically perfect that it brought a gleam to Professor McGonagall's stern eyes as she watched from the viewing stands!
Many summoned birds spun together with coordinated movements to form a horizontal, rotating tornado of sharp beaks and wings. The defensive formation positioned itself protectively in front of Astoria's vulnerable position.
Cedric's red Stunning Spell arrived first, moving with considerable velocity. It struck the swirling defensive formation, erasing and dispersing a corner of the protective tornado like an eraser removing pencil marks.
The colorful musical notes followed immediately after, beginning to assault and detonate against the flock of transfigured birds with explosive force!
Clink, clink, clink!
The collision of summoned birds and enchanted notes produced surprisingly crisp, almost pleasant sounds like fingers tapping rhythmically against the finest, thinnest crystal goblets!
In the brief half-second that Luna's silvery eyes met Astoria's blue ones across the battlefield, both young girls' summons had been completely consumed and destroyed in their fierce, beautiful clash!
However, in terms of tactical results and battlefield positioning, Astoria had definitely gained the upper hand in this exchange.
She had successfully defended against the dangerous, coordinated first round of attacks from both Cedric and Luna!
This defensive success immediately reversed the developing situation on the battlefield!
Neville stood alone with his silver sword, successfully intercepting and engaging both Blaise and Nott simultaneously through superior skill. Meanwhile, Draco and Pansy had now entered the active battle, charging in to support their harassed teammates!
The odds had shifted.
Draco glared with burning hatred at Longbottom, who was blocking Blaise and Nott's combined advance with that gleaming sword. He had to reluctantly admit, though it irritated him deeply, that this formerly cowardly fool really was different now.
Draco desperately wanted to rush forward immediately and take down Longbottom first, to eliminate the greatest threat. But his cold tactical assessment of the situation made Draco forcibly control this vengeful impulse.
He had to help Astoria escape the predicament of being focused fired upon first!
After Astoria's first successful exchange with Cedric and Luna ended in her favor, both sides immediately displayed distinctly different strategic intentions and tactical approaches.
Catching sight of the approaching Draco and Pansy from the corner of her eye, Astoria immediately changed her defensive position. She narrowly dodged Cedric's predictive Disarming Charm while rolling toward her right front.
She intended to form a proper attacking angle with the supporting Draco and Pansy, to create crossfire!
Her swift movements fell under the careful tactical scrutiny of both Cedric and Luna, and the two Hogwarts champions immediately perceived her intelligent intention.
"I'll hold off Malfoy and Parkinson—finish Greengrass quickly before they can coordinate!" Cedric commanded, his expression was shifting to grim determination.
He immediately showed the champion's instinctive sense of responsibility and tactical awareness. Waving his wand in a complex pattern to deflect an incoming spell, he rapidly shifted his own position away from Luna's side.
He advanced several aggressive steps forward, deliberately drawing attention and forcing Draco and Pansy to halt their charge or engage him directly.
Cedric was well aware that attacking Malfoy's hunting group now, after lying low and conserving energy until this critical point, was extremely unwise from a strategic perspective.
They hadn't expected or planned for Malfoy to be the first to stumble into their prepared encirclement. Their original tactical plan had been to ambush one of the other champion teams when they were already weakened.
But the moment Daphne Greengrass had mistakenly fallen into their concealed trap, triggering the ambush, they no longer had any choice in the matter!
The battle had been forced upon them.
In the intense instant when their eyes met across the chaotic battlefield, both Cedric and Draco saw the determination burning in each other's gaze.
Neville versus Blaise and Nott. Cedric versus Draco and Pansy. Luna versus Astoria.
Three separate duels were happening simultaneously. There was no room for retreat, no possibility of disengagement.
The most intense, violent showdown had begun!
As the two youngest competitors fighting on the field, Luna Lovegood and Astoria Greengrass fought like two elegant, deadly "summoners" wielding creation magic.
They were both using their distinctive signature spells to contend with each other in a duel that was as beautiful as it was dangerous.
Under Luna's cheerful, almost elf-like movements, gleaming, unconventional musical notes of every color streaked through the space between them like brilliant meteors crossing the night sky.
The notes pressured Astoria from multiple directions simultaneously, creating zones of danger.
Deadly explosive force lurked within the dreamlike, deceptive colors!
However, Astoria's performance was proving no less swift or impressive than Luna's creative assault. Like a symphony conductor directing an invisible orchestra, she continuously waved her wand.
Gray "streams" of transfigured leaves and small creatures flowed protectively around her body in constant motion. From time to time, a "stream" would branch off to attack Luna directly, forcing her to dodge or counter.
The fierce determination burning in Astoria's young eyes was deeply moving to watch!
The confrontation between Cedric and the pair of Draco and Pansy lacked the aesthetic, almost artistic quality of the two young girls' elegant duel. But it was undoubtedly the most immediately dangerous engagement on the battlefield!
Cedric's wand moved with incredible speed. Intense flashes of multicolored light constantly erupted and detonated in the space directly in front of him.
Every flash represented a spell he had skillfully deflected with precision counter-curses or blocked with hastily erected magical barriers.
Suddenly, amid the chaotic "spell rain" of continuous attacks, Pansy's eyes flashed with cunning malice. She fired a spell that was clearly, obviously off-target from Cedric's position.
Based on its trajectory and angle, the spell couldn't possibly hit Cedric directly. It was heading past him.
Cedric's expression immediately grew solemn. He sharply flicked his wand, sending a quick Disarming Charm to intercept and counter Pansy's deceptive spell.
Her transparent attempt to sneak attack Luna from an angle and provide supporting fire for the struggling Astoria thoroughly thwarted, Pansy became visibly furious. Her face was flushed with rage.
She intensely increased her personal attack speed in retaliation, and the brilliant flashes exploding in rapid series in front of Cedric became even more intense and numerous. The constant detonations obscured his vision, creating a blinding light show.
Meanwhile, Draco flicked his wrist in a subtle motion. A small, coal-black serpent appeared and slithered rapidly into the concealing dead leaves carpeting the ground.
The conjured snake moved with swift speed, rapidly arcing around Cedric's position along a curved flanking path. It sought his blind spot.
Bang!
Without any warning, Cedric suddenly dove hard to the side in a desperate roll. He barely dodged several incoming spells.
Before he could even stand back up fully, an expertly timed Exploding Charm from his wand turned Draco's flanking snake into nothing more than a wisp of dissipating black smoke!
"Diggory!" Draco screamed the name.
With his planned support maneuver foiled again by Cedric's superior awareness, Draco's pale face turned completely ashen with impotent fury. He roared incoherently, his voice was cracking.
Faced with Draco's explosive rage and increasingly desperate attacks, the sweat-drenched Cedric, now back on his feet and breathing hard showed a slight, triumphant smile despite his exhaustion.
With Hufflepuff's tenacity, he had successfully built an impenetrable defensive wall between the Slytherins and Luna, firmly protecting her!
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