Chapter 6: Cutting Loose

A/N: There we go, another chapter done. Sorry for the long wait after that last cliff hanger. I had my Linear Algebra Mid-Term Exam last night so I finally had some time to write. So you can all celebrate with the longest chapter yet… almost 6k words! I hope this all lives up to your expectations. It might be another little while before I can update again. Thank you so much to all of my followers. As always, please leave me a review to let me know what you guys think.

"I have a plan." The two teams looked to Harry after his calm declaration. "I'll get to Ruby, and help clear out the centre. You guys attack from the outside. Hopefully putting pressure from both sides will redirect their focus away from team CRDL. I know these are only Beowulves folks, but there is still a lot of them. Are we all good?"

At their nods Harry immediately put his plan into action. He'd actually gotten the idea for this from his fight with Cardin several weeks earlier. He raised his wand high into the air, as if about to conduct a symphony, shouting, "Ventus Semita!"

With a great roar, two giant walls of wind rose up in front of him, leaving a narrow path between them to the centre of the hord. The effectiveness of wind spells on moving targets was again displayed as many ranks of Grimm had their forward momentum redirected in different directions, momentarily disrupting their synchronized movement.

Harry barely got to appreciate his handiwork though, because as soon as the spell had taken effect, he had been moving. Running down his 'Path of Wind' was a strange experience, he could both feel and hear it on either side of him, yet his path was calm. It was like standing in the eye of a storm. About halfway there, he managed to redraw his sword and click his wand into place, knowing his fledgling sword skills would be more effective in the close combat he was about to enter. By doing so, he cut the power sustaining his path but as he reached Ruby's side, the Grimm were only just starting to regain their circular pace, and they seemed even more agitated.

"You really shouldn't leave your team behind like that."

"But people were in trouble!" Ruby responded passionately as she slashed at a Grimm that ventured too close.

"I know, but what good would you have been to them if you got yourself trapped alone like this!"

Instead of the expected reply, Harry barely even realized that her scythe was on what appeared a collision course with his head. The fear hadn't even kicked in yet when it was already passed him, striking something with a meaty thump over his shoulder. Jumping away and turning, he saw a Grimm that had been about to tear into his back, fading away on the ground.

"Do you really want to talk about this now?" His fellow team leader sounded exasperated.

He grunted in reply, internally switching between freaking out over his near death to berating himself for not noticing it coming. "Let's just kill some Grimm." The smile he got in return was almost scary coming from a fifteen year-old girl.

Harry saw the next Grimm from the pack beginning its approach. For the first time, he decided to take the offensive approach, seeing as all his other initial Grimm-felling techniques had been huge flops. Hefting his sword, he charged forward in a straight line, but kept his eyes sharp on any movement in its large claws, just as Pyrrha had taught him.

He actually didn't have all that hard of a time reading people, or in this case Grimm, because of the nature of magic itself. Successful dueling in the wizarding world relied heavily on pre-empting your opponent's strikes and analyzing what spells are cast in a matter of seconds. He'd also learned it was a good skill to have if you didn't want to collide head on with the opposing seeker when chasing the snitch.

With this in mind, it was all too easy for Harry to see the beast begin to shift its weight, as it drew one arm back, preparing to strike. Dodging in the opposite direction and ducking downwards, he avoiding the massive swipe of its claws that would have otherwise taken his head off or, at the very least, sent him sprawling. Coming up within its guard, he quickly turned and slashed its overextended limb. His blade bit deeply into its flesh, but not enough to completely remove it. Pulling hard on the handle, Harry was able to remove it with a loud squelch.

He stumbled backwards at the sudden lack of resistance, in the opposite direction of the Beowulf. It had reeled back, howling at the sudden pain in its injuring extremity. He took a moment trying to figure out how he was going to take it down. It was obvious he wasn't strong enough yet to remove limbs with one strike. Before he could come to a decision, a red streak flashed by him again, and within the blink of an eye, the recovering Grimm was missing its head. "Thought you could use a bit of a hand."

Harry scowled, trying to formulate a response amidst the fluttering rose petals, but was soon distracted by the sight of two more Grimm advancing on his position. Preparing how he was going to tackle this new threat, he suddenly realized that as soon as he'd starting fighting with his sword, he'd gone into his training mindset, completely forgetting about his magic. That was going to be rectified soon. Gathering up his magic, he thought of something else he'd been itching to try out, "Fulgur!"

The monstrous boom of thunder spread from his location, as his blade came alive with crackling electricity. The loud sound had actually caused many of the surrounding Beowulves to hesitate, giving him the opening he needed. Rushing forward once again, Harry scored a thin scratch across the one Grimm's chest. The cut itself didn't do much damage, but the shock from the lightning he was channeling managed to send it flying backwards.

As he'd managed to keep the other Grimm in his sight, he easily raised his sword deflecting the momentum of its strike. The shock it received from coming into contact with the blade wasn't enough to send it flying but did cause it to reel backwards. Seeing his chance, Harry thrust the tip forward, impaling it through the chest. He knew it had worked when the its body immediately began to disintegrate.

A moment later, the first Grimm was back for more. Dropping under its attempt at evisceration, Harry was able to dive between its legs, slashing the back of its calf. The effect was immediate, one leg unable to support its weight, it dropped onto all fours, leaving an easy target for him to stab straight through the back.

Panting in exertion, Harry looked around him, to see the formation of Grimm breaking up, several choosing to engage his allies on the other side. However, this didn't stop several more Beowulves from attacking him over the following minutes. After dispatching another two with similar tactics, he had an idle thought back to one of his classes. He was sure one of his professors had mentioned that the Grimm were most vulnerable underneath their bone masks and remembering to the effectiveness with which he'd slayed the Nevermore by stabbing it there, he decided to give it another go.

As the next Grimm advanced upon him, Harry followed his tested practices by avoiding its attacks waiting for the opening to get within striking range. Yet, when the opportunity came, instead of attacking one of its limbs, as he'd become accustomed to doing, he brought his sword down in a large horizontal slash across its face. Except instead of cutting through the mask like butter, as he'd expected, it skidded off and to the side in a shower of sparks. His momentary surprise was enough for the Grimm to backhand him away, where he landed on his back, nearly impaling himself on his own sword.

Struggling into a seated position, Harry gave a quick "Ventus!" to blow back his approaching enemy. Climbing to his feet, he tried to figure out what had went wrong. Even bone shouldn't have been that resistant to his attack. It was that thought with gave Harry an idea. He'd remembered reading about the Bone Breaker Curse last year in his search for defensive spells. He'd never actually tried casting it, seeing how many considered it to be borderline dark, and he had no idea how it would interact with his sword, but he was certain, if the Grimm's masks were indeed some type of bone, this spell should effective. Muttering the incantation, his blade was suddenly suffused with a dark purple glow.

Hoping that it had worked, Harry readied himself for the charging Grimm. Once again, moving out of the way of its attack, Harry held his sword aloft. As the Beowulf moved into the appropropriate position Harry swung his sword hard at its Head like a baseball bat. Even though he'd been hoping it would be effective, he hadn't anticipated this. As the temporarily enchanted weapon connected, the mask shattered like fine china, allowing the blade to continue on, unimpeded, into the soft tissue behind. Harry realized belatedly that his professor hadn't been kidding about the underside of the mask being a weak spot, as his single strike effectively disconnected the upper half of the Grimm's head.

Harry stopped, realizing what he'd just done with such ease, but before he was able to think about it too much, he was attacked again. Harry noticed immediately at the beginning of this fight, that the number of Grimm were starting to dwindle. Utilizing his new technique, Harry was able to dispatch his challenger quickly as well as the next two that followed it. Pulling his sword free from another body, he chanced a look around the clearing, still tense in anticipation of more enemies.

He started to relax almost immediately though, when he saw Nora and Ren take down their last opponent, that is until he saw Pyrrha out of the corner of his eye. She was the farthest away from the rest of the group, fighting the last three Beowulves simultaneously. Normally he wouldn't be concerned, having seen her skills in combat, but it was at this very moment he could see one of the Grimm lunging at her unprotected back. The whole thing seemed to be happening in slow motion. Wanting nothing more to be able to help his partner and friend, Harry felt the panic start to rise in his chest. He twisted in her direction and suddenly disappeared with a loud pop.

An uncomfortable moment later, he reappeared in between Pyrrha and the oncoming danger. Without sparing a thought for the fact that he'd just apparated, Harry brought his sword down on top of the Grimm's head, killing it instantly. Before he could celebrate his accomplishment or before he'd even finished the full movement with his sword, he felt a sudden blinding pain erupted in his side. Looking down, he blinked in confusion at seeing his partners sword cutting into his flesh. He was dimly aware of dropping his own weapon as he tried to figure out what was going on. As the edges of his vision started to get fuzzy, he started to hear a panicked voice calling his name, but he couldn't seem to focus on it. Just before he lost consciousness, Harry finally realized that Pyrrha had probably known where the Grimm was all along, and he'd just gotten in the way.

Harry awoke to a very familiar scene. It seemed, even a universe away, he was destined to have several visits to the hospital wing per year. Attempting to sit up, he gasped as he felt a flare of pain in his side. Glancing down he was met with the sight of bandages wrapped around his torso under his hospital gown.

"That's a nasty cut you got there," Professor Ozpin stepped out of the shadows. "You're lucky it didn't go any deeper and that it missed anything important. Your aura has already done most of the major healing, but it will still be feeling tender for a few days."

"That's good but what about the others? Are they ok? The Grimm-"

"Ah yes. Your comrades are fine. Team CRDL had sustained some injuries but they will be fine. It seems you sustained the worst of them and from what I hear, it wasn't even from the Grimm you were fighting." Ozpin paused. "Miss Nikos was most adamant that she be allowed to stay until you wake. She has been waiting outside for several hours."

"It's not her fault," he blurted out. "I'm the one who got in her way, she had no way of knowing I was behind her." Harry really hoped his partner wasn't going to get punished over this.

"Calm down Harry. I'm not assigning blame here. As you said, it wasn't her fault, but it wasn't your fault either. From what I've gathered you were just attempting to come to your partner's aid, just as she didn't know you were behind her because she wasn't aware you could use your powers to travel from one place to another instantaneously." The Headmaster said the last part with a raised eyebrow. Harry could read between the lines, Ozpin wanted to know why he hadn't told him about that particular ability.

"It's called apparating. That was the first time I've ever done it before though. Where I'm from you're not allowed to get a license until your seventeen."

"I see. And you were able to use this ability in the heat of battle without proper instruction?"

"I don't how it happened. It was almost like accidental magic. It happens a lot to wizards when their young, especially when feeling heightened emotions. I just saw the Beowulf lunging at her back. It was like everything was moving in slow motion. I was so scared of losing her and wanted nothing more to be by her side at that moment, then I just disappeared and reappeared between them."

"Interesting." Ozpin considered this for a moment before seeming to accept my explanation at face value. "As I said before, neither of you will be punished for this. I usually find that the natural consequences of one's mistakes on the battlefield are punishment enough. I hope you and your partner learn from this situation though. Communication is key in all situations going forward."

"Yes sir. I understand."

"Good," Ozpin smiled. "Now, I believe I better let Miss Nikos in. If she has to wait any longer, I believe we'll all have to fear for our safety. Good night."

Barely a moment after he'd left the room, the door opened once again to admit a familiar sight. Harry soon realized that Ozpin had been literal with his earlier comment, as the tall redhead strode towards him. She really must not have left the hospital wing all day, as she was still in her recognizable spartan themed armor from earlier.

"Pyrrha." She stopped a few feet away from his bed, wringing her hands nervously.

"A-are you ok?"

"I'm fine." Pyrrha moved a bit closer at his words. "Ozpin said that my aura has already healed most of the damage. It's still a little sore but the pain should fade soon. It's just a flesh wound." He tried to lighten the mood with a smile but his partner still seemed conflicted.

"I'm sorry. This never should have-"

"Don't worry about it. Like I said, I'm fine. It's no big deal."

"But you're not!" Her raised voice caught his attention immediately. He'd never seen her like this. So upset and unsure of herself, she was usually always so composed. She seemed to realize the same thing because she ducked her head and didn't say anything for a few moments. When she raised her head back up to meet his gaze, he was shocked to see tears pooling in her emerald eyes. "How can you say it's no big deal? You could have died! I almost killed you!"

She fell silent again, seemingly at a loss for words. Harry was unsure of what to do, like he always was, when confronted with a crying member of the opposite sex, but decided to just go with what felt naturally. Reaching out he took her hand in his own. "It's ok. It's my fault I was even there without telling you in the first place. I just thought you were about to be hit and… I… I just can't lose you. You're the closest person I have here on Remnant, yet despite that, it was still my fault for putting myself in your line of fire without communicating properly. We can learn from this though, the both of us. We'll do better in the future."

Harry found himself the recipient of a bone crushing hug that made his side ache uncomfortably, but he wasn't complaining.

"So are we good?" She just nodded in response wiping her eyes. "I guess I'll have to figure out what to say to Ren, Nora and Team RWBY now. They saw me perform lots of magic earlier, I don't think I have any excuses for what I did."

Harry noticed immediately as his partner stiffened at his words. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"When we first got back they were all talking about what you'd done. I'm sorry, I'm not good at hiding stuff… they realized pretty easily that I knew more about it. They started asking me to explain and I told them I didn't know what they were talking about. They didn't believe me and I adventually admitted I did know more, but I told them that they were your secrets and that I wouldn't tell them anything without your permission. Professor Ozpin walked in at that point. He'd heard our conversation and said that since it was getting out anyway, that I should explain the basics. He then pressed the importance of them not spreading the information around and came in here."

"So… you told them?"

"Yes. I'm sorry Harry. I know you trusted me to keep your story safe. Please know I didn't tell them any of the person details you told me. I just explained about where you were from and how you could use real magic. I understand if you're upset with me."

"No no! It's fine. This actually makes it easier. I don't have to worry about telling them myself now. They actually believed you though? Just like that?"

"Well, I think they were a little sceptical at first, but there's not much they could say after what the Headmaster said to them. He clearly believes you. I think they were mostly just shocked. It's really not that hard to believe after seeing the stuff you did yesterday."

"That's good." He let out a huge yawn, eyes blinking sleepily. It seemed the strain on his aura to heal his wound was taking a lot out of him.

"You're still tired," she accused. "I better let you rest."

"Will you… will you just sit with me for a while…. If you don't mind." Harry's eyes were already closing as he uttered his latest request so he didn't notice the big smile that graced his partners face.

"Of course Harry."

"Thanks," the last bit came out mumbled as sleep claimed him once again.

"So what do you say? Are you up for it?" The blonde brawler of team RWBY asked.

"You want me to spar against all of Team RWBY... at once?"

"Exactly!"

"I know I've gotten better with my sword but I don't think I've gotten THAT good yet." Harry shook his head, trying to figure out what the girl was thinking. It was a week after the incident in the Forever Fall Forest and Harry was finally feeling back to his normal self. They'd let him out of the hospital wing the day after his late night chat with Pyrrha, but he'd still been feeling the effects of his injury for several days. Now his team, along with Team RWBY, were in one of the training rooms they'd booked for the afternoon.

"I don't care about your swordwork! I want to see what you can do with your magic!" Yang waved her hand wildly in front of her as if suddenly expecting something to happen.

"Yeah!" Ruby jumped in.

"What my my teammates are trying to say is that, though Pyrrha has been doing a wonderful job helping you in your training, we want to see what you can do against all of us without holding back. Which we're sure you have been doing when you were trying to avoid suspicion," Blake added.

Harry thought it over for a minute, "Are you sure?" He was actually pretty convinced that going full out would leave him with the advantage, seeing as they'd never encountered magic before. He'd have to be careful if they manage to get up close, but with his new found training, he was better equipped to deal with that eventuality than he would have been a few months ago.

"Hell ya!" Yang cried pumping her fist in the air.

Suddenly Pyrrha was at his side speaking in a low tone, "Are you sure want to do this… go up against all four of them alone?" She looked worried. Ever since the incident, he'd noticed her sticking closer to him than usual, as if she was afraid to let him out of her sight.

"I'll be fine. They're right. Without holding back I think I can match them. I have a lot of tricks up my sleeve, you haven't even seen half of them yet. Plus, they're our friends, they won't do anything to cause serious injury."

"Ok. Sorry for… you know… worrying so much."

"It's ok. It just shows you care." Pyrrha blushed at his comment.

"I know you'll do well. Just remember your training, even when not using a sword, you're dodging abilities will still be useful."

"Thanks." He gave her shoulder a quick squeeze. Before she left, she started to lean in towards him. Harry was sure she was about to kiss him, but she froze, meeting his eyes in a moment of awkward uncertainty. Just when he'd thought she'd made up her mind to continue her course of action, they were interrupted.

"Oi, love birds! Hurry it up! We've got a fight to start!" Yang's voice broke the silence.

Both of them flushing a deeper shade of red, Pyrrha gave him a quick hug before hurrying over to the sidelines. Trying to get his mind off of what had almost just transpired, Harry barely noticed Ruby smacking her sister. "Hey! What was that for?"

"Are you guys ready?" Harry asked after ejecting his wand, and leaning his sword against the wall. He wanted as much mobility as possible in this fight and his blade would just slow him down. At their nods acquiescence, he called out to his partner, "Pyrrha! Can you count us down?"

"Of course! 3...2...1...Begin!"

As soon as the match began, Harry saw team RWBY start charging in his direction. It seemed they were planning to get up close where his magic would be less effective, just as he'd predicted.

"Ventus!" The spell had been very effective against Cardin, and he was hoping it would give him some room to fight. The big gust of wind he summoned accomplished what he wanted, but was not as effective as last time he'd used it. While Yang, Blake, and Weiss were blown backwards, Ruby swung her giant scythe downwards straight into the ground, anchoring herself and conveniently aiming the sniper rifle directly towards him.

"Protego!" Harry's shield spell was raised just in time to block the first shot. To his surprise, it shattered his shield on contact, though the dust round was successfully stopped. Luckily for him he'd also dived to the side at the same time, and the rest of Ruby's clip was emptied above his head.

Jumping to his feet he turned to see where his other opponents were, when he felt something impact his leg. Glancing down, he found it was frozen in place, in a long path of ice, obviously conjured by Weiss' rapier. Seeing them all begin their advance once again, Harry aimed his wand at the group's feet, "Bombarda!"

The bright blue spell arched towards it's intended target causing Yang to easily jump out of its way, but that's exactly what he'd intended. As the spell hit the floor, the wave of force that the explosion caused, knocked them all off their feet. Now that he had a moment to concentrate, he focused back at his trapped leg, "Incendio." Wincing at the sudden intense heat, Harry hurriedly applied a flame freezing charm to himself, cursing his thoughtlessness.

As the ice finally melted from around him, and Team RWBY staggered to their feet, Harry decided to switch tactics. "Caligo!"

Thick mist quickly poured from the tip of his wand, filling the room and obscuring all of their views. "Homenum Revelio." The outlines of the opposite team lit up to his eyes through the fog. Creeping slowly forward, he saw a short figure to his right that he was sure was Ruby, the other two nearby he figured were Yang and Weiss from the outlines of their body.

It was only then that he realized he was only counting three opponents. Spinning around he again barely raised a shield to deflect Blake's blow, and cause her to stumble back. He'd found the shield spell was almost more effective with physical attacks here on remnant, than the magical ones he'd used it primarily for before. The massive rebound it tended to cause gave him a moment to recover after every hit.

Retreating back into the fog, he changed directions hoping to throw her off. Keeping his eyes on the raven haired teen's outline, he was shocked to see her immediately turn and head straight in his direction. 'How can she see me? No one can see through this fog. Is she able to hear me walk around?' Harry highly doubted she could hear him, he'd learned to become all but silent from growing up with the Dursley's and Blake would have to have very good hearing to pick up on that from across the room.

Deciding to test his theory, he muttered a quick silencing charm on himself and swiftly ran in the opposite direction. Stopping, he saw Blake's step had faltered as her head swiveled around as if searching for him. 'Hmm… so she could hear me. Interesting.' Any further thoughts on this matter were cut off as something slammed into his back…. hard.

Flying through the air, Harry soon found himself sprawled across the ground. Groaning he pushed himself off the ground, seeing Yang, the one who had obviously hit him, heading his way. The fog he'd created had started to fade.

"There you are! Sorry about that Harry, but couldn't let you hide away from us. Thought I'd start our little reunion off with a Yang!"

"God dammit Yang! Just stop with the puns!" Ruby's voice carried out from the thinning fog on his left.

"Depulso!" His spell impacted the blonde right in her midsection, but it only pushed her back a few feet. Her smile unfaltering she continued walking, cracking her knuckles. 'Did that just make her stronger?'

Knowing he didn't have time to think through a proper plan to deal with Yang, yet he decided to buy himself some time. "Levicorpus!" The girl gave out a surprised shout as she was suddenly hoisted into the air by her ankle.

Ignoring her curses he tried to think of how to deal with the rest of the team, now that they were converging on his location. He had the beginnings of a plan when his train of thought was completely derailed by the girl suspended above him. "Hey Harry! If you wanted to see up my skirt so bad, you could've just asked, you didn't need to go to such lengths!"

"Wait… what?!" It seemed it had all been apart of her plan as a moment later, Harry was once again cartwheeling through the air when Weiss hit him with her glyph enhanced speed. He was feeling very thankful for having his aura unlocked, otherwise the sharp point of her rapier most likely would have skewered him.

Rolling onto his front, he saw the Schnee Heiress preparing for her second strike. "Aguamenti!" He pushed more magic than usual into the spell ensuring it came firing out like a pressure washer instead of the usual slow trickle. He heard Weiss shriek as she was soaked through her clothes. He wasn't done yet, pointing his wand at the big puddle of water, he intoned, "Glacius!' Similar to his match with Cardin, the ground froze over, but this time reaching upwards to the water clinging to Weiss, and immobilizing her legs. 'Let's see how she likes being frozen.'

Apparently she had similar ideas to his own as he saw her immediately rotate Myrtenaster's chamber to the red dust setting. "Oh no you don't. Expelliarmus!" Just as he'd hoped, she immediately lost her grip on her weapon, causing it to go spinning through the air. The problem being was that her weapon went spinning through the air TOWARDS HIM. Diving to the side, he made it out of the way of both the sword, that now stood quivering point down into the ground, and Ruby's sniper round fired at his unprotected back.

Shooting her an annoyed look, she just smiled back innocently, causing him to scowl. He was forced to continue moving as Yang, who'd finally seemed to get comfortable in her position in the air, was now using her height off the ground as an advantage for firing off shots from Ember Celica. Blake also took that moment to reappear, lashing out at him, left and right, using her clones to dodge away from his attempts at retaliation. He needed a way to keep her busy while he figured out how to subdue Weiss and Yang for good.

Just as he was contemplating his options, his eyes scanned across the shelves of practice dummies lined in the corner. He knew the tactic had been effective for Dumbledore back at the Ministry of Magic, but Harry had never tried something so complex even if he did know the charm. Swishing his wand in their direction he watched as five of the dummies rose from their shelves, and he implanted the simple instructions for them to attack Blake. "Incendio!" His thick stream of fire forced forced Blake to jump backwards right into his trap. He knew his animated dummies should keep her busy for a moment, but he had no delusions that they would be enough to defeat her.

Turning away he jogged back over towards the others, dodging more shots from the two sisters. Deciding to deal with Yang first, he chose a simple approach. "Incarcerous!" Thick ropes shot from the end of his wand wrapping around Yang's still floating form and forcing her arms against her body. He had realized that some of the offensive spells he used against her, only seemed to make her more powerful, and he didn't want to take any chances with that, so he'd bound her physically instead.

"Hmmm… who knew you were so kinky Harry!" Harry ignored her turning towards Weiss, though he couldn't quite keep the blush off his face. The white haired teen had started to crack the thick ice holding her prisoner, but had not had much success without her weapon.

Approaching her quickly he shot off a, "Stupefy," catching her before she could fall and twist her ankle. He dispelled the ice with another flick of his wand, and conjured some more ropes, leaving her on the ground.

Blake had already torn through four of the animated practice dummies, and was facing away from him, taking down the fifth. "Petrificus Totalus!" The spell hit her square in the back, causing her body to stiffen and topple backwards. A quick cushioning charm on the floor lessened the impact.

"And then there were two." Harry turned slowly to face his last opponent, his fellow team captain, Ruby Rose. She twirled her weapon between her hands so fast it was a blurr. Harry really did not want to get close to that wickedly sharp scythe. He knew Ruby was fast enough to avoid almost all of his spells and once she got close enough her weapon would give her superior reach. He needed something else. Maybe it was finally time to try out another spell he'd found while researching the year before. He'd been itching to give it a go ever since he'd found it and deemed it too dangerous for the D.A. 'I guess there's no time like the present.' "Fulgur Flagello!"

As soon as he'd finished speaking, there was a loud boom of thunder, much like when he'd tried his other lightning spell the week before. A long whip of lightning extended from his wand. Giving it an experimental twirl, he was shocked to feel the energy that seemed to thrum through his hand. He was pretty sure this might be one of the most powerful spell he'd cast aside from the Patronus Charm. Thinking about the Patronus Charm, he decided to test out it's effect on Grimm at a later point.

His momentary distraction was enough for Ruby to blur forward in a shower of rose petals. Unable to see where she was, he brought the whip down on the floor in front of him as hard as he could. Ruby, suddenly visible, careened to the side avoiding the blow. As the whip crashed down with a loud explosion, it left a large crater in the floor behind.

Seeing Ruby disappear once again, he swung it around him in a large arch hoping to keep her at bay. It seemed to work, as a moment later, she reappeared a little distance away from him. Redirecting his swing towards her she easily blocked it with the shaft of crescent rose. The force of the strike caused the whip to curl around it and get stuck. At first nothing happened, and Harry was starting feel the strain of sustaining the spell, sweat beading his forehead.

With the electrical charge building, and soon running through the whole weapon, eventually something had to give. In this case it was the scope of the rifle part that cracked then shattered. Finally running out of steam, Harry allowed the spell to fade away. Ruby, staring at her singed weapon in shock finally raised her furious eyes in Harry's direction. "You. Hurt. Crescent. Rose!"

Gulping nervously, Harry took a step backwards as Ruby raised her scythe and once again charged. Pumping magic into his wand without a thought, Harry wasn't really sure what happened next. All he knew was a moment later, he felt the large blade lightly pressing against the back of his neck while his own wand, the tip glowing bright red, was pressed under Ruby's chin. They both remained silent for just a moment, "So a tie then?"

"Fine… a tie," Ruby begrudgingly admitted before grumbling, "I still can't believe you damaged Crescent Rose."

"Reparo." Harry had pointed his wand at her weapon before she could react and let out a relieved sigh when everything shifted back into its place. A moment later, he was tackled by his thankful friend. Harry then set about freeing and awakening the others to their relief.

Getting a congratulatory hug from Pyrrha, Harry couldn't help but smile. This had been a fun afternoon, and it had been relief to just let loose with his magic once again. His teammates seemed to have agreed as Nora's voice overrode the group, "That was awesome! Our leader is so cool!"