Harry Potter: Raised By Roses

Chapter Sixty-Four: A Fire-Breathing Threat

Then you also had Atem. He was definitely a very interesting guy. He seemed to have powers that focused mainly on a deck of cards that he kept with him. He was able to use them to summon monsters, cast spells, and even set traps. He was certainly a very good contender for the Triwizard Cup.

Krinos saw him during training one day and decided to come over. Since the tree was a lot bigger on the inside than the outside, there were even multiple training rooms for them all to use. Kept them from all being crammed into a single room and risking them from accidentally hitting each other with their magic.

So, Cedric had been in one of the training rooms, firing spells at dummies in frustration. Krinos had come in to check on him when he saw how there was more on his mind than Cedric had been letting them know.

"Incendio," Cedric cast, lighting one of the dummies on fire.

"You know," Krinos started, scaring Cedric a little. "I would appreciate you not using fire spells when we are up in a tree."

The chuckle made Cedric realize that he was joking. But he put out the fire with a wave of his wand anyway. He turned to face the nature mage.

"I will try and remember that next time I train in here," Cedric said, taking the bottle of water that Krinos offered him. "Thanks."

"Of course," Krinos smiled at him. "I see how hard you have been training. You need to take a deep breath and try to pace yourself."

Cedric took a long drink of water before he answered his friend. He was also his crush, but Krinos did not know that.

"As much as I know that Harry does not want to take part in this tournament, he is still tough competition," Cedric tells him. "As are Viktor and Atem. Fleur probably is too and we barely even know anything about her."

"Cedric, you were chosen for a reason," Krinos says. "And as much as I hate for any of my friends, and my brother, to be part of a deadly tournament, the goblet certainly thinks you have a chance. Never question a centuries-old magical artifact, they are usually right."

"Usually," Cedric raised an eyebrow.

"Well, the day I trust the Evil Queen's magic mirror is the day that I trade my nature magic for fire magic," Krinos responded.

Cedric chuckled. "You always know how to make me smile, Krinos."

"Well, one Gardna sibling has to be the funny one," Krinos smirked. "Anyway, I get how you feel like you need to try harder because you are the only normal wand-user in the tournament."

"I mean no offense, but how can you understand when you don't even need a wand to do magic," Cedric tried not to insult Krinos.

Krinos took a seat on the bench in the training room. Cedric sat down next to him.

"I have a lot of friends back home that are holder-type mystic souls," Krinos explains. "Similar to how you use a wand, they also need a focus for their powers."

"You mean like Atem and his cards," Cedric guessed.

"Exactly," Krinos smiled at his smart friend/crush. "They feel weaker than heart-type mystic souls because we do not need a focus. They don't have the same freedom as the heart-type mages do. But when you look at Atem, you can see how strong that they can be."

"And how does that help me," Cedric raised an eyebrow.

"It is not the tool, it is the mage that uses the tool," Krinos tells him. "Just look at Atem. He could stack his deck filled with monsters, but he balances his creatures with spells and traps because he knows brute force is not always the best strategy. You do not need power, you just need skill. And you have plenty of that."