Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Merlin, nor anything else recognizable. No profit is coming from this. I am merely playing in the sandboxes of those far more famous than myself.
Unbetaed.
So glad I finally got to write this chapter! I have been building up to this for a while now! Please let me know what you think! This is the most action that I have ever written, I think… And I'm a little unsure with how it turned out.
Without further ado, I present to you…
.
.
.
.
.
What Went Wrong?
~x~
Ch 8: The Duel
~x~
The day of the duel dawned bright and early.
Despite it being a Saturday, Harry woke with the first light of dawn and found himself unable to go back to sleep. He stepped into the still dark Main Hall of the Chambers with a sigh. He knew that at this early hour, it was pretty much guaranteed that he was the first one of the quartet to wake up.
His first instinct was to just get an early start in the study researching— he knew it wouldn't be too long before Hermione joined him anyways, she always got up rather early— but quickly decided against it. With his very public duel scheduled to occur in the late morning, he knew that there was no way he would be able to actually focus. If anything, he would just manage to annoy Hermione and eventually get himself kicked out of the study.
Everything had already been set up and approved for the coming duel. Keeping his word, Godric had sat down with Salazar after dinner two nights ago and the two of them had come up with a list of spells that they both agreed to for the duel. They weren't reducing themselves to tickling charms, of course, but they did make sure that none of their spells were considered outright 'dark magic' for this modern age. There were a few borderline curses on the list though.
They had then approached Dumbledore with the list. The elderly headmaster had seemed relieved when he had looked the list over, and Salazar was certain that it was due to his own participation in the duel.
It had annoyed the black haired teen slightly, but he had forced himself to get over it pretty quickly. 'Still,' a part of him wanted to argue in frustration, 'It was my idea to come up with approved spells in the first place. Godric is just as likely to throw around "dark" magic as me!'.
In addition, Dumbledore had suggested that the two founders utilize the quidditch field for their duel.
"After all, I am sure we will get a full stadium of eager students wanting to watch such a presentation!" He had said with a twinkle in his eyes.
Joy.
The headmaster had also agreed to set up some basic wards around the field for a layer of added protection for those seated in the stands.
All in all, everything was ready for the duel.
Salazar took a deep breath as he glanced once more at the doors that he knew housed his sleeping friends. He knew that waiting for one of them to wake before venturing out of the chambers would be the responsible thing to do, but he was tired of waiting and having nothing better to do than think on the coming duel. So, with a last glance at their closed doors, Harry strode towards the Chamber's exit and made his way up and out of the Girl's Lavatory.
Walking slowly towards the Great Hall, Harry was genuinely thankful for the quiet and empty halls of the early weekend morning. It made him realize how long it had been since he had truly had any alone time. He certainly hadn't been alone— unless he was in his own bedroom, that was— since arriving here, and before that, he had been first on the run with Ron and Hermione as they fought Voldemort the first time. And then, after Voldemort's defeat, he had been with Hermione almost unceasingly as they worked on creating the ritual that had gotten them here in the first place.
He found it mildly ironic that before that, he had desperately been wishing to not always be alone whilst living at the Dursley's.
Regardless, he found himself enjoying his quiet walk with only Hogwarts, and her gentle sentience in the back of his mind for company.
Upon arrival at the Great Hall, Salazar was not too surprised to note that only a few were up and already partaking in breakfast. Up at the High Table, Severus Snape, along with who he believed were the muggle studies professor and the arithmancy professor, were the only ones seated. He gave Snape a brief nod before turning his attention towards the students' tables.
The lack of students seated also did not surprise him in the least. No Hufflepuffs or Gryffindors had made their way into the Great Hall at this early hour. On the other hand, there was actually a handful of Ravenclaws already eating at the far end of their table. All were older students, who, if Harry had to guess, were probably stressing over their soon to come NEWTS.
Turning his head at last to the Slytherin table, Salazar quickly noted that there was only one student already up and eating.
Draco Malfoy.
With a touch of hesitation, which was easily overtaken by his own curiosity, Salazar found himself approaching the blond boy. As he made his way over, he glanced up at the High Table once more, wondering if Snape would stop him from sitting alone with a student. To his surprise, he noted that the Potions Master seemed to be making a point of ignoring the raven haired teens actions. Smiling to himself, Salazar returned his attention to the Malfoy heir.
"Good morning." He greeted neutrally as he approached.
The blond boy's shoulders visibly stiffened at his unexpected greeting, before he seemingly forced himself to relax and turn his head around. Salazar could still see the nervousness in his eyes, however. "Good morning," the Malfoy heir echoed. "To what do I owe the honor of your attention?"
Salazar gave the boy a slight smirk. Malfoy thought it was an honor to have his attention? Well, he supposed there were some perks to being Salazar Slytherin. "Nothing. I simply thought I'd say hello. I do believe that you are the only Slytherin that I have yet to actually speak with in this time period."
Sitting down next to the Malfoy heir, Salazar quickly dished his plate up with some eggs and fruit.
"I thought the other Slytherins would have already warned you away from me, and told you about your heir?"
"Yes, they have. But why is that exactly," Salazar asked, his fork hovering above his plate, "I have, of course, already heard your housemates opinions about you, but I am rather curious about your side of the story."
"My parents were followers of the Dark Lord." He started bluntly, "When I was thirteen, I almost died due to following the Dark Lord's orders. After that, my parents decided to distance themselves from him and returned to France for their own safety. I'll probably join them after I graduate."
"Probably?"
Draco shrugged before answering. He seemed a lot more comfortable around him, Salazar noted. "This is my home. I'd rather not leave it if I can help it."
Salazar nodded thoughtfully. "I can certainly understand that. I can also understand why most of the Slytherins seem to stay away from you, but what I don't understand is that I don't think I've ever seen you with any other students."
Draco snorted. "Please. Who would want to hang around me? I'm an outcast! None of the other Slytherins would dare be seen with me."
Salazar raised an eyebrow. "It can't possibly be that bad. While I have no doubt that those who are supporters— or, at least their parents are supporters— would shun you, surely the more neutral parties would be willing to at least give you a chance!"
"You don't understand!" Draco exclaimed fervently, with just a touch of desperation, "Those who support the Dark Lord would kill me if it weren't for Uncle Severus and the fact that Dumbledore is headmaster! They only shun me because that is the worse thing they can do given the current circumstances. The neutral parties wouldn't dare be seen with me; it would only incur the wrath of those who do support him! I go out of my way to avoid every Slytherin just to make things easier for everyone. As for all the students outside of Slytherin, well, I am still a Malfoy."
"You say that like it's a bad thing. Is it?"
"No!" Malfoy responded instantly, "I'm proud of my heritage! It's just—"
Malfoy cut himself off, and after a moment of silence, Salazar prompted, "It's just..?"
Malfoy sighed looking down at his mostly untouched breakfast, "The Malfoy's are not very well liked in Great Britain, okay? We were respected, yes, for our money and status in society, but now? Nobody would be caught dead hanging around me."
"I'm still sitting here, aren't I?" Salazar asked after a moment.
Malfoy looked up at the older teenager, his eyes narrowing, "Why is that, anyway? You must know that I somewhat openly stand against your heir?"
"I'm aware." Salazar said carefully, "It's part of what I find so curious about you. Besides, I never said I support this 'supposed heir'. I'm not even sure if I believe that he really is my heir. I certainly don't have any children to speak of currently."
Malfoy looked confused. "But I thought you were a Dark Wizard?" he stated, but it came out as more of a question.
"I am." Salazar agreed easily. "But 'dark' is just a label— and if I am not mistaken, its meaning has changed greatly since the time when Hogwart's was founded. Besides, 'dark' is most certainly not synonymous with 'evil', and I rather like to think that I am not evil."
Draco nodded thoughtfully and went back to his breakfast. Salazar too turned his attention back towards his plate and took a bite of his eggs.
As Salazar ate the last bite of his eggs, he noticed that a few more students were beginning to trickle in. No more Slytherins yet though.
Regardless, he stood up and offered Draco a small smile, "It was nice talking with you, Mr. Malfoy. Truly."
With that, Salazar turned and made his way up to the High Table and took a seat next to Snape.
"What did you think of him?" Severus asked quietly, as soon as he was seated.
Salazar furrowed his brows. "He seemed like a good kid." He responded slowly, not entirely sure why Snape was asking. "Cunning for sure, but also lonely."
Snape nodded slightly in agreement but refused to comment further on the topic. With a shake of his head, Salazar let his thoughts drift back to the coming duel.
~x~
After breakfast, Salazar had headed back down to his suite to get himself ready for the duel. He had had a few hours to kill before the duel was set to occur, and most of that time he spent pacing in his bedroom. He had gotten himself ready for the duel almost immediately after returning to his suite. Now all he had to do was wait.
And pace.
He had decided to don the same clothes that he had arrived in, seeing as they were the most duel worthy clothes that he currently had in his possession. Actually, they were dueling garments. The outfit that he had arrived in had been modeled after what he had typically worn in battle.
Most of the clothes that he and the others had been wearing for the last few weeks had been provided for them by the Headmaster. Thus, he luckily hadn't had to wear his more medieval clothing everyday. It wasn't that the battle garments were uncomfortable or anything, Harry just felt a little self conscious in them.
They were rather striking after all.
Most of his outfit consisted of form fitting black leather, and along with his black hair— which he had pulled back into a ponytail for the duel— his alabaster skin and green eyes stood out even more strikingly. He was still a little worried about letting his scar be so visible, but he figured that since Voldemort had never been defeated, he couldn't have given anyone a similar scar.
As for his clothing, his legs were completely covered from view by black flexible pants and black combat boots pulled up over the tops. Likewise, his upper body was covered by a form fitting black leather-armor jacket with a high collar. The material that most of the clothing was made up of was in fact basilisk hide. His original battle armor had been made from a snake he had killed on his travels with Merlin, but unfortunately, the original had been lost in time. So Harry— prior to their departure to this new reality— with the help of Ron, had been forced to harvest Cyrene's carcass for materials to have a new set made. It had luckily not decayed too much since her death at the end of his second year. He supposed that that was one of the perks of her being a magical creature.
Anyways, the leather armor was practically a twin to his original set, and it fit him like a glove.
Next came his weapons. Like Godric had informed the Gryffindors last Thursday, when the duel had been first brought up, Salazar was absolutely hopeless when it came to fighting with most weapons. The one weapon that he did have some talent in though was daggers and knives. He assumed that this was mostly due to his rough childhood. Knives got him out of quite a bit of trouble when he was a child, as well as being necessary to kill any wild game he managed to capture— it also happened to be the only weapon that he had managed to get ahold of as a child and successfully conceal on his person.
In total, he had three weapons with him: two knives, strapped on his back— which he wasn't too bad at throwing— and an ornate dagger which was kept in its sheath on his right leg. The knives weren't anything special— actually, he had picked them up in a somewhat sketchy shop in Knockturn Alley before he came here. The dagger, however was another story.
He was forever thankful when Helga had retrieved his beautiful dagger from somewhere safe that she had stashed it after his death.
Like Godric's sword, and Helga's prized axe, his dagger was also a gift from Godric's father. A custom work made by the goblins. Of course, back then, the goblins did not run a Wizarding bank. Instead, they mostly kept to their own kingdoms and stayed away from the humans. Some of the older magical families, such as the Gryffindors were in contact with various magical creatures of old, which was how Gilbert Gryffindor had obtained the custom made weapons for his children. Salazar was pretty sure that the man considered him some sort of honorary Gryffindor; at least, that was the only reason that he could think of as to why the late Lord Gryffindor would also gift him a weapon.
The dagger's blade was made from the same pure Goblin silver as Godric's sword, however, unlike the sword, the dagger's hilt was also made of silver, inlayed with both emeralds and diamonds. Also unlike Godric's sword, his name was not written anywhere on the dagger. However, if one looked closely, they would notice that the hilt itself was actually made to appear like a very abstract 'S'.
And of course his wand was strapped to his right wrist, ready to be ejected from it's holster at any moment.
Over the top of everything, and even hiding his weapons mostly from view, was his shimmery dark green cloak with silver clasps. The cloak had been commissioned from Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions shortly before he had left.
A knock on his door broke his train of thoughts. He quickly strode over to the door and opened it. Godric stood on the other side, looking to be similarly dressed in the clothes he had arrived in, his trusty sword strapped to his side.
Unlike the leather that Salazar wore, Godric had on his stereotypical golden chainmail that had been preserved in the Gryffindor vault that had once been located beneath their castle. The castle was long gone now— nothing was left except for parts of the outer wall, hidden from the naked eye by wards— however the vault had been preserved due to all the ancient wards and blood magic that had been cast upon it. Whilst he and Hermione had worked on the ritual that brought them here, the two Weasley siblings had sought out the old vault, eventually uncovering it and successfully finding a lot of their old possessions. Harry was pretty sure that that was where his dagger had been kept, actually.
As for the red cloak with the golden Gryffindor family crest that Godric wore over the top, well, that had had to be remade. It had been commissioned at the same time as his, actually. Harry was pretty sure that Madam Malkin had though that they were a bit loony or something. If Salazar was honest, he would say that Godric's attire reminded him of the clothes that he had seen the knights of Camelot wearing in various paintings Merlin had shown him.
"Ready?" Godric asked, eyeing Salazar's apparel.
"As ready as I'll ever be," Salazar sighed back, as he stepped forward.
Godric rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, Harry. Try not to be so dramatic. Whatever happened to your Gryffindor spirit?"
"I remembered I was in fact a Slytherin." Harry retorted with a slight laugh. "Besides, I almost was put in Slytherin by your annoying hat. Probably would have been too if it hadn't been for you and Malfoy. I was pretty determined to be put in the same house as my very first friend, and to stay away from Malfoy."
Ron huffed in amusement, but did not respond. Harry could tell he was touched by his comment however. The two began to make their way out of the Chambers and towards the Quidditch field.
Like the Thursday afternoon that the quartet had spent by the Black Lake, the sun was shining brightly today too. It seemed that the good weather was going to hold out through the weekend.
When they arrived at the Quidditch field, they were greeted by an already overflowing stadium. Many students were actually seated on the field itself. Actually, there seemed to be more than just students and professors in the stands. Salazar spotted a good number of people he recognized as Order members also sprinkled amongst the crowds.
The Headmaster, and Heads of Houses, along with Helga and a slightly annoyed looking Rowena were standing in the middle of the pitch waiting for them.
The pair wasted no time in striding over to the small group.
"Sorry. Did we make you guys wait on us?" Godric asked.
"No, no." Dumbledore responded merrily. "We all just arrived a bit early, I'm afraid. Everyone is pretty excited to watch the two of you duel it seems. Myself included!"
'Great,' Salazar thought to himself with just a touch of sarcasm.
"Now," Dumbledore continued. "I have placed a protective field around the inner portion of the Quidditch pitch. You can see that it is tied to the grey stones I have situated around us. It should protect your audience from any backlash. Just make sure that the two of you remain within the protective field. I will activate it as soon as I step out of the protected zone."
Salazar nodded absentmindedly as he looked around them. Sure enough, he could just spot the grey stones that were sticking up in the grass. Dumbledore had created a pretty large oval shaped area for them to fight within. It seemed that the students had already been informed of the protection too, as some were situated just outside the protected area for front row seating.
"It all looks good to me, Headmaster." Godric agreed.
"Splendid! We will just leave you two to it then!" Dumbledore replied with a smile as he moved to step out of the oval. The others quickly followed him.
"Be careful you two!" Rowena called as she was pulled after the others by Helga. Salazar took a moment to watch them cross the boundary. The group had come to a stop right outside the ward are were watching expectantly. With a sigh, Salazar turned his attention back on Godric.
"Ready?" Godric grinned.
Salazar dipped his head, and as one, the two turned away from each other and strode to opposite ends of the oval field. He was slightly surprised to find Draco seated all alone at his end of the oval, just past the boundary.
With a touch of hesitation, Salazar undid the silver clasp of his cloak and pulled it off, letting all of his weapons and black armor become undisguised in the stark sunlight. Folding it under his arm, he held it out to the boy.
"Would you mind holding onto this for me?" he asked, he didn't really know why he kept reaching out to this version of Draco Malfoy today, but the boy had certainly caught his interest. He was just so different than how he was in their world. "It can be a pain to fight in."
Draco blinked in surprise before hesitantly reaching out for the beautiful cloak. "S-sure."
Salazar nodded towards him once more before glancing once more at where the Headmaster was standing. He could see Dumbledore murmuring under his breath, and with a wave of his wand the air shimmered where he knew the ward to be before it disappeared from view again.
He then turned on his heels to face Godric. Godric had already faced his direction and had taken off his own red cloak, displaying his beautifully made magical golden chainmail. Around his waist a brown leather belt was tied, which served to hold his chainmail both closer to his body and also hold the sheath for his sword. If Salazar hadn't known any better, he would assume he was facing a fearsome Knight, rather than his friend.
Next to his friend's valiant getup, he was pretty sure he looked downright villainy. It honestly made him feel a little more self conscious than he already was.
Taking a deep breath, he flicked his wand out of its holster and into his hand, never taking his eyes off of his friend. In response, Godric drew both his wand and his sword and gave the sword a few experimental swings.
As one, the two began to slowly step towards each other and to Salazar, their audience's voices became distant background noice.
"Lacarnum Inflamarae!" Godric shouted suddenly.
Salazar spun out of the way as a decent sized fireball flew directly at him. He took a moment to watch it impact with the ward and dissipate into nothingness. Nodding to himself that the protections were indeed working as intended, Salazar turned his attention back towards Godric just in time to duck around the red haired man's sword.
Salazar quickly backed up a few paces— moving closer towards the center of the dueling oval— before pointing his wand at the ground and casting a silent explosion charm at the earth. His spell caused dirt and grass to explode upwards like a makeshift wall, successfully keeping Godric from getting too close to him again and temporarily obscuring him from view.
Reestablishing the distance between them, Salazar unsheathed his dagger and switched his wand to his non dominant hand. It was far easier for him to cast spells with his non dominant hand than it was to wield the dagger.
While he was busy reorganizing himself, Godric was not exactly standing idle either. The man had instead transfigured four life sized golems out of the earth. The red head quickly animated them and together, the five figures rushed towards Salazar.
Salazar make quick work with three out of the four golems with well placed 'Bombarda Maxima' spells before he was forced to once again deal with Godric's sword. This time, he met it straight on with his dagger.
A loud metallic clank resounded throughout the stadium as the two goblin made weapons crossed blades.
Knowing that in a battle of strength, Godric would win every time, Salazar quickly shot a spell at Godric's stomach at point blank range. It probably wasn't the most honorable move, but Salazar didn't exactly have a choice. 'Besides', he reasoned with himself, 'Godric should have seen it coming. I don't exactly fight fair.'
The silent 'Everte Statum' spell hit Godric straight on and caused the redhead to fly backwards. Salazar didn't watch to see where his friend landed however, because his attention was quickly diverted towards the final golem.
"Avifors!" The raven haired teen barked aloud. The spell hit the golem dead on and the clay creation erupted into a flock of birds. He followed up the spell with a second silent one, directing the birds to attack Godric.
Godric, recognizing what he had done, quickly cast a silent 'Vera Verto' charm, causing dozens of water goblets to fall from the sky onto the field around them.
Salazar chuckled slightly and couldn't help but call out to his friend. "Really Godric, I know you are fond of Transfiguration, but I didn't think you would be using such a basic spell during one of our duels, even if we are restricting ourselves."
Godric shrugged good-naturedly, pausing in his spell play. "Its always good for students to see that even a mundane spell that you learn in the classroom can be helpful in a real duel."
Salazar merely grinned in return and shot a powerful water charm at Godric. Godric countered the curse with a stream of fire. The two elemental spells met in the middle and the entire field exploded in heavy hissing steam, which made Salazar's entire world go white.
He couldn't see anything.
Salazar cursed his stupidity and quickly moved to his left in fear of Godric's sword. Holding his dagger with his teeth, Salazar grabbed one of the two throwing knives from its sheath on his back and threw it in the direction that he had come from before casting another spell that forced all of the steam to dissipate.
Sure enough, Godric now stood exactly where he had been standing, his sword mid swing. His eyes widened when he saw the approaching knife and with practiced control, he brought his sword up to block the knife's trajectory.
Godric sent a silent purple colored hex in retaliation and Salazar batted it away with an easy counter-charm. Removing the dagger from his mouth and placing it back into its sheath, Salazar steadied himself for another round of intense spell casting.
As Salazar had expected, the duo then proceeded to trade curses and counter curses with each other, in a way that was more akin to that of a modern competitive duel. Harry was honestly glad for the slight break from running around the dueling arena. If this duel had shown him anything, it was that he was sorely out of shape. He supposed that that was to be expected though, seeing as he had been spending most of his time since the defeat of Voldemort locked in a study with Rowena.
It was eye opening though, to say the least.
It seemed he wasn't the only one who had noticed his physical shape, or lack there of, "You are really out of shape there, aren't you, Sally?" Godric commented tauntingly with an amused grin.
At this point, Salazar had moved closer to the wards where a large number of students were seated. Godric stood closer to the center of the dueling arena. He narrowed his eyes in annoyance. He knew the students could hear Godric as clearly as he could.
Instead of responding vocally, Salazar merely sent another pair of silent hexes at his friend. Godric ducked under one of them and brought up a shield to block the other.
While his focus remained on Godric, Salazar could here the worried murmurs of the students seated behind him. In confusion, he glanced back at them, only to find their eyes tracking the trajectory of the spell that Godric had just successfully ducked. Instead of dissipating on the wards like it should have, he was shocked to find that it had instead traveled beyond them, hitting one of the stone pillars that made up the foundation for the stadium. Luckily, it didn't seem to cause any damage.
Eyes widening with realization, Salazar turned back to face his friend and opened his mouth to alert Godric of the new situation, only to find a yellow curse tracking straight towards him.
Instinctual reflexes kicked in and Salazar spun out of its way, only to watch in what felt like slow motion as it made its way towards a group of first year students.
Thrusting up his dominant right hand— the hand that wasn't currently carrying his wand— he incanted the first spell that came to his mind.
"Scildan!"
The word was out of his mouth before he could even think properly and he could feel his eyes burn with the familiar heat that came with the casting of an Olde Magick spell. A hazy white shield ghosted into existence around the first years in response to his spell, causing the wayward curse to bounce harmlessly off to the side where it struck the grass and sizzled out.
Around him, the stadium had gone quiet.
Salazar had frozen, his eyes staring wide at where the yellow curse had hit the grass. He couldn't believe what he had just done, and in front of an audience too!
Harry hadn't even known if he could use Olde Magick before now, to be honest. He hadn't actually tried yet since regaining his old memories. He had honestly been a bit afraid to, seeing as it had been the indirect cause for his death and the root for so much animosity between himself and Godric.
"Salazar!"
Salazar felt his stomach turn upside down at the sound of Godric's furious voice.
"What. The. Hell!"
Salazar took a second to glance over at where the Dumbledore was still standing with with the Heads of House, Helga and Rowena. Both Helga and Rowena's faces had gone stark white. He didn't even take the time to look at the others. He didn't want to see their expressions.
Blinking his eyes quickly, Salazar struggled to keep control of his emotions as he finally turned to face Godric.
While Salazar had stood frozen, the red head had taken the time to stride over to Salazar. Thus when Salazar had turned around, he found himself standing nose to nose with his friend, and oh was Godric pissed.
He felt sick.
"What were you thinking?!" Godric continued to rant loudly, "Dark Magic, Salazar? And so close to the students too! What if something went wrong, huh? What would you have done then? You know how chaotic that magic can be! I can't believe you—!"
It was just like old times.
In fact, Harry could hardly see Ron in the redheaded man standing before him, only Godric. And going off of what Godric was saying, it sounded like he was a bit caught up in the moment too. Salazar's mind was a bit too jumbled at that point to really think too hard on that little fact.
He too was having a hard time keeping in the present.
"I was thinking that I needed to protect the students." Salazar cut off Godric's rant, his voice unnaturally calm as he worked to keep his emotions in check.
"And you forgot you could use your wand to do that just as easily," Godric scoffed. "I am so tired of you using that sorcery so unrestricted. One of these days, you are going to get someone killed. "
Salazar narrowed his eyes at the barely hidden barb. "I can control myself just fine, thank you."
"Clearly not!" Godric responded instantly, "Otherwise you would have used your wand just now instead of that—"
"Guys!" Helga's voice barked out, temporarily drawing Salazar's attention away from Godric. He could see her and Rowena along with some of the professors rapidly approaching in the corner of his eye.
In the back of his mind, Salazar noted that Godric was still ranting.
"Godric!" Salazar finally interrupted, "If I hadn't cast that spell, the students would have been hit with whatever that yellow curse you threw at me was. I didn't have time to even think, if I had, I would have used New Magic!"
"Would you have?" Godric questioned dubiously, "Because I don't believe you. You are too obsessed with using that sorcery. Its your default. You made that obvious because clearly using sorcery is more instinctive for youthan using wand magic."
By this time, the others had reached them.
Rowena quickly came in between them, gently pushing Godric backwards, while Helga grabbed Salazar's elbow tightly, as if to keep him from physically assaulting Godric. As if she thought he'd do that.
"Guys!" Helga repeated, just as insistently, "Not here."
'It really is just like old times.' Salazar thought to himself humorlessly. His emotions were getting harder and harder to keep in check as the realization of what had just happened sunk in. So many of the fears that he had had since remembering who he was suddenly seemed so much more real.
He didn't know if he could handle such a rejection a second time.
Not now.
Not after how much he had lost as Harry Potter.
Abruptly, Salazar turned on his heels, ripping out of Helga's grip and stalking off in the direction of the castle. He needed to get away from his friends, or else he really was going to lose his control. So, just like he had done some many times in his past life, Salazar ran.
He could feel tears prickling his eyes as he turned his back on both his friends and the entire populace of Hogwarts.
Salazar knew that the duel had been a bad idea.
.
.
.
.
.
AN: Please don't forget to Review!
Does this count as a cliffhanger..? hehe.
We are finally getting to see some action! And the story is finally building in its plot! So exciting!
Here is a list of all spells that I actually named. All were found on wiki and are actual spells used in Harry Potter or Merlin:
Lacarnum Inflamarae- Creates a fireball. Hermione used a low powered version 1st year.
Bombarda Maxima- creates large, violent explosion.
Everte Statum- Dueling spell that causes opponent to fly backwards (powerful, at least in the HP movies.)
Avifors- Turns target into a flock of birds.
Vera Verto- Transfigures an animal into a water goblet. Taught in 2nd year
Scildan- The Shield Spell from the tv series, Merlin. In the show, this spell is only used to protect its castor, so I have taken some liberties to allow Salazar to use it to protect others.
Till next time!
~Dawn
