Disclaimer: I don't own. End of.
AN: Written for the Harry Potter Spells Competition! By CBlack19 and for HedwigBlack's Weekly Challenge.
"Stupefy!" Flitwick shouted and the red beam hit his opponent firmly in the chest. There was a moment of silence as he caught his breath, the hard exercise of the duel catching up with him. It had been a hard fight and he had come close to being knocked out of the fight on more than one occasion.
"And it's amazing! Filius Flitwick has won the European Duelling Championships for England for a third year running!" the announcer yelled and the crowd began cheering.
Filius allowed himself a small smile. That had been very close indeed. His last opponent had almost gotten him with that last jelly-legs jinx and Filius was well aware that he was getting past his prime. As he left the arena, fiddling with his wand, he frowned to himself. The big question for him was what?
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Three days later, Offices of Robards Sports Representatives.
In a quiet office, a young man with short straw blond hair and a long pale face sat opposite a much smaller wizard with a look of surprise on his face.
"What do you mean, you're thinking of retiring!?" Filius's agent Benjy Robards exclaimed when Filius told him what he was planning. "You can't retire, you're the best dueller in the business."
"I think I've done enough duelling for one lifetime," Filius replied philosophically. "I can't spend the rest of my life dodging spells until someone gets lucky."
"But…but…"
"Besides," Filius continued as he leaned back in his chair. "I want to do something productive with my life. I'm not the same bitter and twisted teenager who left Hogwarts eight years ago. I have nothing to prove any more."
"But…"
"I've made plenty of gold as a champion dueller, now all I need is…a change of pace."
"But you've made so many galleons and we could make so much mo-"
"No," Filius said firmly. "It's never been about the money for me and the moment it does, then duelling becomes pointless. No, I've already proven a match for some of Europe's best duellers and nobody can say I'm inferior."
"So what do you plan to do when you retire?" Benjy asked, suddenly changing his tone for something a little more wheedling. "Perhaps you could write a book about your experiences as a champion dueller, I'm sure there are plenty of youngsters who could really benefit from having your experiences."
"I'm sure that Josh Toothill's new book will do that," Filius pointed out with a distracted wave of his head. "And besides which, I've already decided what I want to do."
"Well I hope you would be interested in retaining our services for whatever you're planning," Benjy said with an insincere smile, more out of habit than anything else.
"I'm planning to go into research," Filius said thoughtfully. "I want to explore, to understand the furthest reaches of magic." Benjy slowly reached for his wand, slightly worried about the turn this conversation had taken, but Filius continued. "I want to explore charms in particular. They make up almost ninety percent of the spells that a witch or wizard will use on a daily basis, but most barely begin to understand their limits, or how they work or anything about them!" Warming to his subject, he stood up. "Everyone ignores charms. They're the spells of domestic ordinariness, and because of that, they get ignored, brushed aside and treated like they matter not. Well I disagree. Just because they're used for mundane tasks, doesn't mean that they are unimportant."
"So…let me get this straight," Benjy began in a slightly incredulous tone. "You want to walk away from huge amounts of gold and a future filled with riches, to research CHARMS?"
"Oh yes," Filius replied with a smile. "I'm not a Ravenclaw for nothing you know."
Benjy Robards sat there in stunned disbelief. His father was never going to believe this. He made one last stab at catching Filius before it was too late.
"But surely there must be more productive things for you to research? Things you could do while you continue your career in the duelling circuit?" he asked and Filius gave him a kind smile and a shake of the head.
"You are young and full of life young Master Robards," he said with a kind smile on his face. "But I am no longer so young and my chances to do this research are slipping further and further away. I will leave in four weeks for Germany, where I hear the Great Berlin Magical Library has an extensive collection of charmed objects dating from Grindlewald's era."
"Well please get in contact with us when you're finished," Benjy said, a touch despondently. "I'm sure that a book on your research might actually worth a lot."
"I'll think about it," Filius replied with a smile. "For now, I will no longer require the services of your company and I expect the relevant paperwork to be sent to my address."
"Yes, of course," Benjy answered weakly, before pulling himself up to his full height and he stretched his hand out towards Filius with a smile. "It has been a pleasure working with you and I hope we can do business in the future."
"I'm sure we will, I'm sure we will," he replied as he shook Benjy's hand.
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Four Weeks Later
Filius Flitwick stood in front of his house, suitcase in hand and surveyed his home with an almost apprehensive expression. It was one thing to say that you were planning to travel and explore, but it was another thing to actually do it.
However Filius Flitwick had no intention of backing out now. He had burned his bridges and he knew that if he backed out now, he would never be able to look himself in the mirror again. Especially when he knew in his heart that this WAS what he needed to do, what he wanted to do. And so, with a rueful smile, he gave his old house a wave goodbye and apparated away to his new life.