I'm at 6000 words in the chapter right now. It's coming along nicely, but not quickly. HJ's opponents are in this order - Fleur, Cedric, and Aimee on day one and Athena and Victor on day two. I'm writing the section with Cedric right now.

After this chapter is over, I'll be taking a break from the fanfic world through the rest of the month.

My original novel is at 60000 words and has about 35-40000 words left for completion. If I want it up on Amazon by July/August time frame, it needs to be finished, edited and typeset. In between TML5 and Lie11, I cranked out 8100 words of it and my coauthor and I hammered out the rest of the plot.

Once it gets to the typesetting phase, I'll release a portion of the first chapter as a promo.

 

Just you wait. Within 24hrs of it's release, there'll be slash fics of it on ff.net. :lol:

 

Oh God! The Horror!

 

That would be slightly flattering and highly disturbing.

Jim

 

Ooh! Ooh! Tell you what, after the book is published, I'll try to write an anal-with-several-guys scene involving the hero. Just for all the nice people here at DLP, ok?


On second thought, maybe not.

 

*smirks* Yeah, you go right ahead and do that. I'll be amused, anyways. Won't stop me from trying to find a way to strangle you with your spinal cord, but amusing nonetheless lol

 

One of these prolly. From Jbern's Fanficauthors page.

The View from My Room (written in March to June)- about 6000 words. SciFi Drama about the 1st human born on the moon and the struggles he faces being famous for just being born. On the eve of his leaving the Moon to go to Earth for the first time he faces some tough decisions. Was written for the Jim Baen contest (didn't win). Was submitted to Writers of the Future quarter 3 (didn't win). I may tidy it up and send it as a straight submission to Analog or save it for a rainy day.

Adventurers Beware! - (written in August/September)about 4000 words. Fantasy Humor a tongue in cheek look at how townspeople view the bumbling adventurers who create havoc every where they go. For anyone who's ever played a RPG before, it answers the question how did the people at the bar always know where the next adventure is? This is my entry into this quarters Writers of the Future. The results aren't due until mid-December.

A Sharp Mind - (written in September/October)2500 words. Dark Post Apocalyptic short story about a zombie infestation. Submitted to Apex Digests Halloween contest. (Didn't win). Expanded to 3500 words and submitted to Speculative Realm - a small anthology and currently awaiting their decision.
Raw and Real - (written in September/October)2500 words. Dark Werewolf story about a man producing a live pay per view Werewolf hunt. I'm final chopping it this weekend with Musings of Apathy's help (amongst others) and submitting it to a different Halloween contest. The results for this in December.
Reality Bites - Hard! - (In progress) 2000 words. A short Vampire story about problems faced in the modern world.
Existence - (In progress) currently 3500 words and about 50 percent complete. A 2nd person pov story that details a nearly immortal swamp creature's struggle against the humans starting to infest his (in this case your) swamp. It's on hold for the time beng while I work on the novel length material. Since 2nd person is a tough style to market, when I finish it, I'll shop it around, but if it generates no real interest I could easily post it here.

 

Yes! Shrek lives again!

 

Actually, those are the short stories. I've got one or two of them out waiting for rejection letters.

The novel is Dead Eye. It's a paranormal adventure involving a hardluck Army grunt coming back wounded from Iraq. His right eye receives a donor cornea from a dead psychic and that's when his trouble really starts.

It's coauthored with John Cornell (Kokopelli) who helped me out on To Fight the Coming Darkness. We started this back in June. Imagine my horror when my sister-in-law told me about the Jessica Alba movie The Eye. Fortunately, the premise and the characters are different enough that I don't really have to worry, but it was pretty annoying to think that I was 40000 words into a novel only to see someone making a movie. I haven't seen it, but it looked more along the lines of a straight horror.

 

I'll buy a copy.........Now get to updating LOL

 

You know what I will actually go out and spend money on your book, instead of acquiring it through other ways.

The Eye, was quite possibly might have been the worst movie ever made, and that is an accomplishment. Hopefully your book isn't along those lines.

Anyway, realistically when can we ever expect an update for TLL, after your book has been published, and you are famous?

 

Philly Homer vbmenu_register("postmenu_176786", true);
Auror Apprentice
What you call elephant cum I call mouthwash


Really!?!?!?!?!? That's kinda.....disturbing

 

Jim, if you become famous, I'll dig up my old arguments of how you have the best chance of being published and proceed to grind them into the faces of everyone who gave you shit over your work here at DLP. Probably with celebratory beer and your book in hand.

 

Actually, I think I'd prefer an update for Turn Me Loose...........

 

Oh hell no!

TLIL first!

The sheer comedy of Harry duelling Fleur would be worth-while.

Even funnier would be if he used his animagus form. The look on Fleur's face...



Just a shame Jbern hasn't done a Slythern!Harry massive AU.

I mean, seriously. If Harry took runes, he could have inscribed shield and size-expansion runes onto a platinum disk and then used that at Privet Drive to get a better deal. Which would be in line with a slytherin-esque persona

Now all we need is Kwan as a judge for the tournament.

"Stupid Harry beat stupid Veela"

Gotta wonder if Harry could create a partial Horcrux from the memories of JP. Really depends upon what your view of a soul is and what constitutes it.

 

Wouldn't that be "Stupid horny cook beat stupid blonde birdie"?

 

Hrm...perhaps.

I'd bet Kwan would make a reference to a hooker he once met, just to piss Fleur off XD

 

Either that, or offer to show her the uses of Crucios in the bedroom. Or at tea parties, social events, and when being propositioned.......

 

Thanks for all the comments. Since, I'm headed off to the dentist this morning, I probably won't make any progress on things, but I'll do something I haven't done in a while - which is post a tease. It's a true tease, because it stops short of HJ's duel with Fleur...

Enjoy

Chapter 11 - No title yet

November 12, 1994

I sit on a stone bench with the sorting hat of Hogwarts as my lone companion. In front of me, is the grassy field of the Quidditch pitch. On it are three recently erected dueling platforms and little flags for each competitor. It’s a twenty foot path of stone connecting two ten foot wide circles – professional dueling platforms. Throngs of fans continue to fill the stadium as I focus on tuning their noise out. It’s something that Harry Potter did instinctively, but in reality it had been something that James Potter had worked long and hard at.

My mind focuses on the opening spells I’ll use, while I stare at the flags marking where each champion will stand. Every professional duelist knows that only your first three to five spells can be scripted. After that, it is a matter of thinking on your feet and reacting to your opponent. On the opposite end of the nearest dueling platform is a blue flag with the name Delacour written in elegant script. Though I would have preferred the first duel be against Krum, I’ll settle for taking Fleur down a notch or two.

So engrossed in my own thoughts, I fail to notice the young girl, maybe nine or at most ten standing a few feet from me. “You are Harry Potter.” The young girl makes a statement, in French, rather than posing a question.

“Yes I am.” I contemplate telling her that I’m Neville Longbottom, but there is no need for me to be cheeky.

“My sister is going to beat you! My sister is going to beat you! My sister is going to beat you! I bet you’re scared!”

It’s hard not to smile at the singsong, childish taunts of the young girl. “I’m glad you’re so certain.”

“Fleur’s the best and you don’t have a chance against her! You’re going to lose! You’re going to lose!”

“Gabrielle!” Fleur approaches with a stern look on her face. Her short cape flutters in the slight breeze. Fine leathers adorned with the crest of her school cover her body. My leathers are black with the Hogwarts crest and a red cape for Gryffindor. I’m only wearing the red one as a personal favor to Minerva.

“What?” Gabrielle shoots back while rolling her eyes at her older sister for spoiling her fun.

“Do not taunt my opponent. It is both unbecoming and completely unnecessary.”

The Hat, who obviously knows French as well, leaps all over that, trying to rile me up. “Potter, are you going to take that shit from her?”

I shrug. I’ll save the actual malice for Krum. Besides, I know Fleur actually does have a heart beating somewhere under that frosty exterior. “I figured, I’d let the results speak for themselves.”

Fleur looks distastefully at the Hat, “Trust the English to make even their items vulgar.”

“Potter, is it too late for me to change my wager on the outcome. I don’t just believe you’re going to beat her, but I’m beginning to doubt she’ll last more than a minute.”

She snorts derisively and crosses her arms. “I do believe you are mistaken.”

“What? You do believe you’ll last more than a minute? Considering Potter is immune to your charm, what makes you think that anything else you have will work?”

“You sound quite certain of your champion who happens to have three less years of training than I do.”

“Three extra years of subpar French magical training? Do you still have that mandatory first year etiquette class? Oh, that’s a sure winner. At least you’ll know how to lose gracefully! Potter! Hit her with a belching jinx and see how long she can do it without making a noise. I recall they actually use that as a training technique.”

Oh now she’s mad. I on the other hand remain impressed. The Hat is a remarkably evil piece of magic. It’s gleaned enough from my mind to make some guesses about what might get under Delacour’s skin the most. Hermione couldn’t wait to bring it back to me after her first “interview” with it.

Glaring at me, she sputters, “It is you Potter, who won’t last more than a minute!”

“Hey, leave me out of this. You’re the one getting into an argument with a magical hat.”

The Hat is damn near cackling now. Whatever it says next can’t be good. “Potter, did you know that their renowned Charms program not only teaches them how to apply cleaning and folding Charms, but they can’t pass their first year until they can expertly use them. I’ve always heard that if you can’t get a house elf, you should hire a French witch for a maid.”

Oh sweet Merlin, the Hat’s trying to get me injured for its own twisted amusement!

“Hat, drop it. Fleur, don’t bother listening to it.” I’m trying to be neutral, but watching the Hat spin her up is downright amusing. I wonder how long before I start to grin? Damn, I think I just did.

“How about that action Potter? Is it too late to fetch your elf to change my bet?”

“Just let it go Hat.”

“Well in that case, summon the elf anyway. You could conjure some towels and see if the girl can match your elf in a domestic charms match? My money is on the elf!”

“You won’t think this is so funny when your wand is in my hand, Harry Potter!”

“Yeah!” Gabrielle joins in.

The Hat just smiles widely almost to its brim, “Well then Miss Delacour, how about a little wager of our own? If he wins, you wear a French maid outfit.”

She smiles viciously. “If I win, the leetle boy spends a day in a Beauxbatons uniform – a female one.”

I protest. “I don’t want any part of this!”

“What’s the matter, Harry Potter? Are you scared? You know you’re going to lose.” The little sprog chimes in.

“Come on Potter, you’ve been saying how much the ice bitch could use a dose of humility.” The Hat adds. The sister gasps and I can see Fleur bristling and start to wonder if our duel might be on the verge of starting early.

Oh alright, I’ll play. “Okay, but the maid outfit is complete with feather duster and the winner poses with the loser for pictures.” I’ll send a copy to Sirius in France. Even if I lose, he’ll get a laugh.

“Fine, it is a deal then. Come Gabrielle, it looks like they are ready to start with the first duel.”

I watch Fleur drag her sister away for a moment before looking at the Hat. It answers my unasked question. “You’re fixated on Krum, but you have four duels before him. Get your damn mind off of him and concentrate on your opponents or you will actually get beaten. Plus, I just like to piss on the French every chance I get.”

“Dare I ask why?”

“I’m English. Do I need any other reason?”

Again, I shrug, “No. I suppose not. If I lose, I’m putting a glamour on you to look like a beret for the pictures.”

“If you lose, I’ll never let you hear the end of it.”

------

Cedric looks a little nervous up on the middle platform with Krum staring up at him trying to play a mental game with him. Could he have been taught a bit of Legilmency? Bagman’s voice is introducing the duelers. I make it a point to clap loudly for Cedric.

His strength should be Transfiguration. Hogwarts is traditionally the strongest school in that art. Matching Beauxbatons’ reputation in Charms and Runes and Durmstrang’s vaunted Dark Arts and Arithmancy. As much as I hate to admit it Potions is supposedly a strength of the Hogwarts curriculum as well, though in my opinion things have taken a dive since Slughorn retired. Reputation can only do so much.

The referee is a French instructor to prevent bias, or at least minimize it. The crowd goes wild as they bow and begin pacing away from each other. The referee backs out as the ward makers activate the dueling wards to shield the crowd from errant spells. I recognize Bill Weasley checking the set nearest Krum and making some last second adjustments.

Part of the reason for three separate platforms is that the wards can reach saturation and need to be discharged in between matches. Also, the platforms themselves tend to take a beating and often need to be repaired before they can be used again. This isn’t Snape taking out that idiot Lockhart in a single spell.

They spin, almost as one and the crowd drops to near silence. The referee gazes at both of them before shouting, “Begin!”

Neville, Seamus, and Dean have all been given Omnioculars and are seated in different parts of the stadium. Ron’s still being a git and even though I’d bought Ginny a pair, I didn’t plan on asking her either. It’s not as good as having a Pensieve, but I should be able to gather some good intelligence on my opponents. I’m letting them keep them at the end of the school year as payment.

Krum immediately opens with a smoky curse that splits into two tendrils. I recognize it as a pain giver. One of the tendrils is disrupted by the long line of rope that Cedric sends straight through it on a trajectory towards Viktor. Diggory dispels the remnants of Viktor’s curse while the Bulgarian vanishes the rope. A heavy bludgeoner pounds on Cedric’s shield and nearly breaks through. Krum follows it with two more in succession. Diggory lets his shield eat the last one and easily dodges the other, while conjuring …a rabbit?

The fleet footed creature takes off at Krum and I wonder what Cedric’s game is. Will he engorge it, transfigure it, or simply use it as a distraction? His engorgement misses. Krum’s cutter doesn’t. Guess rabbit’s feet aren’t so lucky after all. Cedric fires off a quick disarming charm, getting sloppy and shouting the spell. Viktor sidesteps it and hurls a hex I don’t recognize. Cedric doesn’t either and erects a shield. The spell splatters on the shield. Now I recognize it! Diggory’s shield turns dark blue and it fully obscures his view. Viktor immediately follows with a pair of ropes, while Cedric is hurriedly dropping his shield and trying to clear the blue smoke blocking his view.

He’s not moving fast enough. Cedric vanishes one rope and tries to evade the second, but it starts coiling around his leg. Viktor already has two more on their way. It’s only a matter of seconds now before the Hufflepuff is overwhelmed.

“Come on conjure a gust of wind! It’s your only…hope!” Before the sentence is out of my mouth Diggory is already trussed up like a Christmas present. The French referee looks and verifies that Cedric won’t be able to continue before declaring Krum the winner. The crowd roars in approval. Viktor leers at me and has to be reminded by the referee to release my fellow Hogwarts student from the ropes constricting him.

He walks back exulting the crowd by raising his repeatedly raising his arms. He walks past me and loudly declares in English, “I have seen the best Hogwarts has to offer. I am unimpressed.”

“Keep running that mouth, Krum. I’ll shove those words so far down your throat that you’ll be shitting them out for a week.”

“Too bad we can’t use seconds, Potter. You might stand a chance against Delacour’s tiny sister, then again maybe not.”

Athena Manos and Aimee Beaucourt are already stepping onto their platform while Bagman’s voice recaps the victory in just slightly over a minute of dueling. The warders are busy dissipating the energy absorbed on the first platform as another walks along it melding stone into the areas damaged during the brief match.

It’s a reversal of roles from the broom race. Manos exudes an air of confidence and Beaucourt now looks uneasy. The Durmstrang witch moves smartly through the formalities. I’m fairly certain that Aimee is already beaten and there hasn’t even been a spell exchanged.

Flitwick barely gets begin out of his mouth before Manos’s first spell is on the way. Aimee dives out of the way and sends five little birds out of her wand to harass Athena. A casual swish of her wand spews a gout of flame which incinerates the birds as they reach the halfway mark – cooked fowl anyone?

Aimee’s bludgeoner and follow on stunner are swatted away with a dueler’s shield surrounding Athena’s non-wand arm. Aimee thinks for a moment that she’s won when her stunner connects with Athena’s hand. That opening allows the witch from Greece to land some kind of vile hex along the French witch’s midriff. She howls and falls to her left, clutching at her stomach, and sending an errant spell that Athena didn’t need to block with her shielded arm, but does anyway.

Give Aimee a little credit, clearly in pain, she staggers to her feet. The awkward movements actually help her dodge a banisher and a shot of chain. It’s far easier to conjure rope than chain. She’s just showing off at this point. Aimee rotates to start vanishing the chain, but instead of wrapping around Aimee, Athena causes it to snap like a whip against Beaucourt’s leg drawing blood and a yelp of pain from the outclassed girl, who manages to vanish it on her second attempt.

Athena is taking her time and demonstrating her skill, toying with Beaucourt. She reapplies the duelist shield, but only to her hand and arrogantly gestures to her opponent to attack her. Aimee tries elemental conjuration and tries to pelt her with hailstones reminding me of my fight with the imposter. Her opponent looks annoyed that she can demonstrate her vastly superior shielding skills and instead uses a wall of flames to melt the ice balls.

A gust of wind from the Durmstrang’s wand fans the flames higher and obscures Beaucourt’s view of her opponent. Athena quickly repositions while beginning a complex casting – a mirror spell, spawning an illusionary version of herself. When the fire dies the French witch faces two opponents on the platform both moving identically. Aimee throws a stunner, which both dodge. Manos uses colorless magic to prevent Aimee from guessing which is the real opponent. I know that the one closest to me is the real one and salute the Greek witch. She actually dodges closer to a bludgeoner to make it appear that the illusion is actually the real her.

Aimee buys the deception and ends up being banished hard into the dueling wards. Athena sends a pummeling hex as well catching the wand arm and sending the Beauxbaton girl right back to the ground, while Athena does several quick steps to mingle with her illusion.

Manos doesn’t even bother hiding her predatory smile as she so completely dominates her opponent. She lands a Confundus charm that has Aimee staring blankly for a moment. Instead of finishing her off, Athena “decorates” Aimee with enlarged teeth and a long moustache on her face before Aimee starts to come out of it. The crowd is screaming its approval. The disarming charm is almost a relief, but strikes Beaucourt with enough strength to hurl her backwards into the wards again and leave her face down on the stone. Athena summons the wand and looks at it, while Flitwick declares her the winner.

Instead of banishing the wand back to Aimee, Athena sets it down in the middle of her circle and steps off the platform. This forces Aimee to walk the length of the platform to retrieve her wand and undo the minor hexes. It’s often called the “walk of shame” and done by the victor to signify that the loser was an “unworthy” opponent.

“Not exactly good sportsmanship, eh Potter?” The Hat comments.

I agree, “Not really, but I heard she took a lot of shit over how badly she flew and I think she wanted to make a definitive statement.”

“Odd, the smile on her face makes me think that the bitch enjoys humiliating people. She’s a brawler and likes to dole out the punishment. Don’t forget HJ, I’ve been to Durmstrang before and they have an unspoken motto. It translates into, ‘You are either Durmstrang, or you are nothing.’ Forget about that now and go win us a bet.”

I start off the bench towards my platform. “How is that different from you and this little bet you suckered Fleur into?”

“I’m not the champion HJ. You are. I get entertained no matter who wins or loses. That’s the difference.”

------