Hello and welcome back to Aloy’s corner! (Yes, I just came up with that. I’m a genius) This, undoubtedly, is everyone’s FAVOURITE part of their day – opening the Owl Post after a long day of Banks lecturing you about turning mice into b̶a̶b̶i̶e̶s̶ objects, or Green shouting at you for sighing way too loudly, and seeing that Aloy Osiris, dueling champion of 2027, role model, has written yet another article for you to enjoy! This one’s going to be quite long, as I’ve got alot to say, so get yourself some pumpkin juice and get to the reading.
The first task of the Triwizard Tournament happened on November 21st, early in the morning, when normal people usually sleep. Those people, whose names I won’t mention, had to wake up extremely early to get ready and head to the huge arena in the middle of nowhere, to watch three innocent looking (no) creatures try and kill students. Can’t expect anything else from Hogwarts, can we? That’s the charm.
Okay, enough talking, let’s jump straight into it!
It all began with the three Champions in a tent. Apparently, according to trusted sources, they each had to reach with their hands into a bag and pull out a rune – each rune symbolised a different creature; Snallygaster, Occamy, or a Nundu.
Cardan Duarte Vs The Snallygaster
With the people in the stands, trying to encourage their favourite champions, Cardan Duarte from Beauxbatons had to go first. You know that blonde, obnoxious girl who won’t shut up and yet you never fully understand what she’s saying? Yes, that’s the one.
“I was at the edge of my seat! That snally was huge and the way it looked at Cardan was like it wanted her for breakfast and dinner! The moment she just poofed and went invisible I held my breath and then it caught her?! Can you imagine being hit with that wing and keep going? She did some magic I have never seen before. It was utterly brilliant how she tricked the Snally and got to the cave, just brilliant!”
– Jamie Koslarevic. [Jeez Jamie, what a suck up]
Dressed in a lovely blue uniform, she left the tent. The Ministry lad started talking about her, as if we even care who she is. I remember something about a blackthorn wand, Portugal, France.. I wasn’t really listening, to be honest. The house elves made this AMAZING new cake, which I s̶t̶o̶l̶e̶ was gifted by them, and brought with me to the task. It’s a chocolate cake, with oreos– wait, where was I?
Anyway, so she leaves that tent, right? And she immediately hides behind one of the rocks. Now, a coward’s move, if you ask me. I bet if I were there, I wouldn’t run. I’d just like, face it, and beat it. Dueling Champion for a reason, lads and lasses.
Then it appears.
The Snallygaster, not me.
The Snallygaster appears, its call sounding through the air. Pretty creepy, if you ask me. She moves along the rocks, and the Snally picks her scent, I guess, and starts searching for Duarte. Then, I blinked, and a very bright flash of light flew across the arena, away from where she was hiding.. Which is pretty smart, you’ve got to admit. The Snally apparently got injured, but it made it WAAAAAY angrier, unfortunately for the Champion. A moment passes, and a swarm of green butterflies starts surrounding the creature, and it just.. Nom nom. The Snallygaster just eats the butterflies.
I’m not really sure what happened then. At that point I couldn’t see Cardan Duarte anymore, and I guess neither could the Snallygaster? It started smelling around, then I blinked again, and she somehow was thrown aside by the Snally’s wing, falling on her arm. It didn’t look too fun, but couldn’t have been worse than when Abigail Bluetooth broke my arm four years ago.
Next moment, there’s a bunch of smoke, and nobody can see anything. Annoying, in my opinion. I came to watch a show, paid 50 galleons– Okay, maybe not. But let’s speak about this for a moment. 50 GALLEONS FOR A TICKET? That’s absurd. Way too much for a show organised in Hogwarts. They should have given a discount to Hogwarts alumnus!
[editor’s note: Aloy’s umbrage is unfounded due to the fact she didn’t have to pay]
The smoke is enough, by the looks of it, and the Snallygaster can’t see Cardan. Neither can we, as I have already said, but then her voice, although muffled, sounds on the other side of the arena. How did she get there so fast, you might wonder? Well, believe it or not, Aloy Osiris has THE answer. I believe the throw voice jinx was cast to get the Snally to the other side, and it worked! Cardan sprints into the cave, and the Snally notices her. It flies up into the air, and tries to race her, tries to get her before she manages to get to cover.. And it fails. It pushed its head into the mouth of the cave, and I’m not exactly sure what happened there, but with the Ministry people on their way down to take hold of it – the Snallygaster roared in pain, and I think its eyes were bloody.
Long story short, Cardan Duarte got 36 points out of 50!
Elliott Reid vs The Nundu
It was all fun and games, but next it was time for real talent! Elliott Reid himself, representing Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Slytherin, seventh year. He didn’t cry when he got the Nundu. I would have.
“It was super cool, like, he almost DIED. That’s got to count for something, right? But then, I dunno, he almost.. died.. couldn’t he have done a somersault out of the way of the FIRST bite, and then given it a good punch on the nose? He’d have been FINE if he did, but he just kept running away.”
– Tom Morgan. [I agree by the way]
First thing I saw was a bubble around his head? I don’t want to disappoint the readers, but I really don’t think it was to protect him from his own farts. Sorry, alright?
A low rumbling growl bursts free, and the bloody gorgeous Nundu appears. To those of you who were too scared to look, it’s black, and looks like a leopard. Even from the stands you could see how beautiful it was. I hope the Nundu is alright
It doesn’t waste any time and leaps at Elliott, though he manages to get out of the way. A second later Elliott just disappears, and people should seriously ask for a refund for their tickets. All of it was pretty scary, and insanely close to end in a tragedy. Elliott was hiding, duh, but the Nundu was circling around the place where he’d disappeared from, as if it could still smell him, or something. I’m not too good with COMC.
I think Elliott did something to the Nundu’s teeth, because the loss of them, or them being altered, REALLY pissed the creature off. It didn’t waste a second and leapt at the Hogwarts Champion once again, trying to take a bite of.. Well, anything really, by the looks of it. Don’t think the Nundu really cares what part of the human body it eats, as long as it is a human. A little boring, but whatever floats the Nundu’s boat, I guess.
Then, some spells were cast, but I doubt they worked. The Nundu didn’t seem even slightly bothered, so it tried to bite off Elliott’s arm.. Again, I’m not too sure what happened there, but I saw a lot of blood. Much more than I ever want to see in my life, you know? It’s a scary image. Elliott Reid, all bloody, and the Nundu on top of him, eager to end his life simply because it’s hungry. It’s haunting, even.. Is that what chocolate feels when we eat it? A thing to consider.
Rumour has it Elliott tried Accio-ing his broom, but I didn’t see the broom in my sight, so.. I guess he was too scared to ask properly. Which, is understandable, although I’m sure that if I, or even.. Fine, even Emily Neutron. If either one of us cast Accio there in the arena, while being haunted by a Nundu, we would have succeeded.. But whatever.
Then, it happened. Honestly I had my eyes closed for the most part, but I think the Nundu finally managed to bite.. Almost bite.. It did something to Elliott’s arm. It seems fine now, I guess, and his arm looked whole the last time I saw the Head Boy around the castle. Can’t say the same about his face, but.. Happens to the best of us. Anyway, the foreign Heads get all worked up and panicky, while Elliott gets the golden cocoon. I’ve never seen it up close, but I’ve heard that it’s beautiful. Weird choice for a prize, but the Ministry is rather strange nowadays. Basically, Elliott got out of there – he’d lost a lot of blood, lost his wand (pretty sure), but at least he got the cocoon, and a bunch of girls running after him to try and get an autograph! (Not me, though.)
Elliott Reid got 44 points out of 50!
Lars Stangeland vs The Occamy
Next, was Durmstrang’s Champion, L̶a̶r̶k̶ ̶S̶t̶a̶n̶g̶e̶l̶a̶n̶d̶. L̶a̶r̶s̶ ̶S̶t̶r̶a̶n̶g̶e̶l̶a̶n̶d̶. Lars Stangeland.
“So unfair. Elliott has to fight a Nundu and gets those marks, and the Durmstrang Champion fights an oversized canary and gets first place!? Besides, the way he just yelled at the bird, it’s probably why it shrunk, because it wanted to leave. I wonder if that’s how he comes to snog his girlfriend.”
– Kulaan Dragon. He’s a first year Slytherin, their common room is in the dungeons, if anyone.. Would like to.. Know.. 🙂
He’s the weird quiet one, and his Headmaster is the one who keeps getting sighted near the Whomping Willow. And, to make things even worse, the deputy Headmistress is the crazy one taken to Azkaban after one.. Incident.. In the dueling room. Don’t ask me for details. And he got the Occamy! The Occamy was hands down the most beautiful of the creatures. It’s a two-legged winged creature with a serpentine body, and it may reach a length of fifteen feet (credit to Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them by Newt Scamander). Quite the thing to deal with, but it’s very beautiful!!
I couldn’t see Lars for a little while, I think he was hiding. Which everyone did, and it makes sense, but my eyes were trained on the blue Occamy as it searched for him. Suddenly, there was SO much smoke. Not the boring type that Cardan Duarte had cast, but it was green. The Occamy looked terrified– Well, as terrified as an Occamy can look, but it backed away from Lars, and it almost broke stones and rocks with its tail. They surely rumbled, and I wonder what the Ministry would have done if it had broken the rocks separating us, the audience with a will and a reason to live, and the TWT Champions who have accepted their deaths?
And that, ladies and gentleman, was when he started showing off. Now, I wouldn’t expect anything different from Lars Stangeland, so I wasn’t even surprised when dark clouds appeared overheard, thunder sounded, and everything went dark in general. Lars does seem like the kind of lad who’d scare the crap out of you by appearing with the lightning, doesn’t he? Weirdly fitting.
One thing the entire audience should blame Lars for is the cold. It got so cold, freezing cold, rain poured down, and nobody even told us to bring umbrellas! Honestly, I was sneezing for days after the task. Demand a refund. Also, that’s an interesting topic for a discussion – can I sue the Ministry of Magic?
Okay, enough of the interesting topics for discussion. So it rains, and Lars Stangeland starts shouting something.. Even with my unbelievable knowledge of foreign language – I couldn’t understand a single part of his words. Do you think the Durmstrang students are in fact English, but try to trick us all by saying they speak a different language? Maybe it’s just something they came up with. My cousin and I came up with a fake language when we were five, it’s not that uncommon.
I saw a flash of light, and then the Occamy shrieked, trying to find shelter.. I suppose a spell hit it. I feel so bad for the Occamy, it didn’t deserve such a treatment.. And it, well, it got really angry. The beast swept its tail, hitting Lars square in the chest, and he was knocked back into a wall. He didn’t move for a few moments, and many people in the audience thought he actually died. Well, SURPRISE SURPRISE WITCHES, he lived! Not only that, but apparently his school had gone completely mad, because the Durmstrangs watching started singing. Again, absolutely no idea what they were singing, but it sounded like the kind of song you’d expect to hear from Durmstrang. Don’t even know what that means, but sounds like the perfect description to me.
Suddenly, the ground bursts into pockmarked space, and the Occamy clatters upon the stone and sand. It tried to, like.. Fill the hole, but it got stranded in one spot, constantly shrinking. I think the rain prevented it from growing bigger, otherwise it probably would have killed Lars by that point.
Lars cast Immobulus at the weak Occamy, and just like that, it was frozen in place, letting the Champion finally get the desired cocoon!
Lars Stangeland got 45 points out of 50!
And that is it! All three of them ended up getting treated by healers. But is anyone really surprised? All three of them left the arena all bloody and stuff. Maybe it was just paint, who knows?
Until next time,
Aloy Osiris
- Dueling champion of 2027
- Role model.