Disclaimer: All portions of the HP universe/worlds/characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies. All portions of the Hunter x Hunter universe/worlds/characters are the property of Yoshihiro Togashi and Shueisha Inc. (publisher). This story is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written for my own enjoyment. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites.
Warnings: Mild to moderate violence, character death, alternate universe (i.e. kiss canon goodbye), angst, drama, and who knows what else.
AN: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.
Chapter Twenty-Five: Grudge x Match x No. Two
Harry sighed as he slipped into his tent around ten p.m. on the ninth; the wizard tired but in a very good mood despite the fact that he'd be facing yet another bully tomorrow afternoon. After the rather boisterous party that had lasted well after sunset (Killua, Gon, and Kalluto had been exceptionally loud and rambunctious), Harry had gone for another walk outside so that he could check up on the matching menaces. Unlike the previous night, there had been no attempts to ambush the wizard as he wandered the streets with Canary at his side (Harry picked up on her presence right away this time) and his eagles tracking him from overhead.
The fifteen year old wizard had earned himself several rather heated kisses when he'd asked Canary if he could take her out on an official date after he finished his third match. She'd then readily agreed to the date; providing he cleared it with Zeno and Gotoh first (the former because he was her employer and the latter because he was something of a father to Canary on top of being her immediate supervisor). Harry had disliked the idea of needing Gotoh's permission to take his girlfriend out on a date but that hadn't stopped him from approaching the man as soon as the two of them had returned to Heaven's Arena.
Gotoh had been less than pleased that Harry was seeking his permission to take Canary out on a date and had proceeded to put Harry through a rather bizarre test that required him to accurately guess which hand the man used to catch the coin he tossed into the air. Harry had given the man a fifty pence coin to use in place of the ten Jenny coin he'd originally planned to use and it had taken all of Harry's self control not to smirk when the man had given him a dirty look over the unspoken accusation that he had intended to cheat.
In truth, Harry had given him the British coin because he intended to cheat; the coin he'd handed over to the man had a tracking spell on it. It had been an underhanded trick but Harry hadn't been about to upset his girlfriend by failing the man's test. Gotoh had been less than pleased when Harry rather easily passed his test and Harry could feel the man's displeasure over the fact that his passing meant that Harry grudgingly had his permission to take Canary on a date.
Getting Zeno's permission had been even easier; all he had to do was mention Canary and date in the same sentence and the Zoldyck patriarch couldn't give his permission fast enough. If Harry hadn't been so excited about the prospect of taking Canary on a date, he might have been more suspicious over how quickly Zeno agreed. As it was, Harry's mind had immediately jumped to the dilemma of where he was going to take Canary on their date and what they were going to do.
He was still wondering what to do for his date when he fell asleep just minutes after crawling into bed.
Harry calmly walked down the ramp towards the Ring where Sadaso was waiting as he balanced a five gallon bottle of water on his shoulder. Unlike the previous day, his entrance was neither late nor flashy. He was also wearing a pair of black jeans, a deep blue t-shirt, the red sash Gunter had given him, Jacob's old hat, practice sword, and his dragon hide boots, gloves, and cloak instead of his sailor's breeches. As he approached the ring, Harry studied Sadaso while he reviewed what he'd learned from the video of the man's last match about his Nen ability.
"Welcome to this morning's main event, ladies and gentlemen; Sadaso versus James Evans," Cocco announced as Harry stopped in the center of the ring and set his bottle of water down on the ground at his feet and used the movement to block his right hand as he cast a containment spell on all four corners of the ring. "Today our challenger is not only on time for his scheduled fight but he is dressed in his usual outfit complete with trench coat; much to the disappointment of a number of ladies in the audience today, including myself."
"And while Mr. Evans performed beyond our wildest expectations yesterday, we have to wonder what he was thinking about scheduling three fights back to back. Will our intrepid challenger eek out another win or will he be pounded into the ground by Sadaso's invisible fist? I also have to wonder what Mr. Evans has planned for today's match as his staff, canvas, and rope are no where in sight and the bottle of water he carried in with him defies all logic. I'm certain that I'm not alone when I say I'm looking forward to seeing what new tricks our challenger will pull out of his hat today!"
"This match will be scored using the point and knock out system. All weapons are allowed and there will be no time limit," the referee declared the moment Cocco finished speaking and Harry used his foot to tip the water bottle over onto its side before he hopped up onto the bottle while maintaining a precarious balance as the water inside of the bottle began pouring out onto the floor. "Ready? Begin!"
Like the referee from the day before, the man overseeing their match hurriedly backed off the ring as the puddle of water began rapidly expanding over a far larger area than a mere five gallons could have covered normally. In truth, the five gallon water bottle that Harry had carried in with him held closer to a hundred and fifty gallons of water courtesy of a Limited Expansion Charm and a Featherweight Charm Harry had cast on the bottle. As the water continued to pour out of the bottle, Harry spun the bottle around in a circle using his feet while at the same time rolling it around in order to spread the water faster.
At the same time, Sadaso formed a misty white hand from his aura and made his first attempt to grab Harry. Harry dodged the grab at the last second by crouching down low without falling from his unstable perch on the water bottle's side as the hand soared right over his head. The Nen arm bent back on itself as the hand turned around to make a second grab and this time Harry launched himself up into the air to avoid hand. The second he landed down on the bottle once more, he spun it so that it rose back up into a standing position now that it was empty.
Once he was steady, Harry brought his hands together in front of his chest as if he was going to pray before he thrust them down towards his sides and out as he cast a wandless Banishing Charm towards the floor that spread the water out further. Following right on the heels of the Banishing Charm, Harry cast a Freezing Charm that froze the water into ice in a radiating circle. Perched as he was up on the water bottle, Harry was safe from the newly formed ice while Sadaso was not that lucky; the other man slipping and sliding before landing heavily on his back when he couldn't gain purchase on the slippery ice after he'd jumped to avoid being frozen in place.
When both the water and ice reached the edge of the ring, the containment ward Harry had cast earlier held the water inside of the ring and forced it up so that it created a short wall the moment the Freezing Spell reached the edges. The ring had now been turned into a self contained ice skating rink.
While Sadaso was attempting to regain his feet, Harry cast one half of the Sailor's Savior Spell onto the ice and the other half onto his boots before he stepped down off the bottle, broke the bottle free of the ice, and tossed the bottle out of the rink to get it out of the way. Another couple of spells smoothed the hole in the ice from where the bottle had been caught so that the floor was now entirely smooth. A polishing spell further increased the slipperiness of the ice and sent Sadaso back to the ground a second time before the man could even get all the way to his feet.
"Did you need a hand up off the floor or were you intending on staying down there on the ground in order to grovel for mercy?" Harry asked tauntingly as he crossed the ring without slipping thanks to the Sailor's Savior Spell.
"You will be the one groveling and begging for mercy before I am finished with you!" Sadaso hissed back as he stopped trying to get up onto his feet and sent his Nen arm grabbing for Harry a third time.
"And just how do you plan to do that when you can't even stand up?" Harry mockingly inquired as he easily side stepped the misty white hand that had attempted to wrap around him; the magic living in his eyes easily allowing him to see the hand while his enhanced sixth sense allowed him to evade the hand when it came back for yet another grab.
His opponent scowled as he sat upon the ice before his Nen hand split into two Nen hands that attempted to catch Harry in a pincer move. The second hand had been an unexpected surprise for the wizard but he took its appearance in stride as he ducked, jumped, and wove his way out of each attempt to capture him. In a way, the additional hand made no difference to Harry's strategy aside from forcing Sadaso to tire himself out just that much faster. Of course, that didn't mean that he didn't have to pay attention in order to avoid getting caught up in the suffocating hands of pure aura.
"What's wrong? No more witty remark? Are you too frightened to stand and fight?" Sadaso taunted from where he was sitting and shivering on the ice as he continuously chased after Harry with his Nen hands.
"No, I was just enjoying the warm up," Harry tossed casually replied as he back flipped out of yet another pincer move.
"Are you sure you can afford to play around here?" Sadaso asked slyly as he split his Nen hands once more so that there were now four hands chasing after the wizard.
"Oh? Is this the part where you threaten me?"
"No; but if you don't forfeit within the next five minutes, your pretty little girlfriend won't be very pretty any more."
Harry actually burst into laughter and lost his footing on the ice for a split second over the notion that someone could get the drop on Canary. He was still laughing when he dropped backwards into a controlled roll to avoid the four hands that had come at him from all different directions. Despite the fact that he found the notion of Canary being turned into a damsel in distress amusing, there was a small part of him that was concerned and bothered by the idea of someone using Canary against him.
"Why are you laughing? Don't you care what happens to your girlfriend?"
"Of course I care what happens to her," Harry retorted as he slid out of yet another trap. "I'm laughing because you're under the impression that my girl is unable to take care of herself. I hate to break it to you… but I really hope who ever it was that you sent after her was not a very close friend because my blue jay won't pull her punches."
"And can she take care of herself when faced with fifty-to-one odds? Can she still fight if her arms have been broken? Or if they've been removed?" Sadaso snidely demanded as he split his arms yet again so that there were now eight of them chasing Harry about the ring. "Better yet, can she still fight if she is dead? And what of the two little boys you've been protecting? Can they protect themselves without you there to hold their hands?"
Harry slid to a stop and ducked under one last attack as his temper, which he'd been holding in check for the most part, ignited over the implied threat. His eyes turned completely gold as he spun on his foot and took a single step in the direction of Sadaso before there was a bright flash of gold and he was suddenly standing right in front of the man. Harry grabbed hold of the man's over tunic with both hands as he pulled him up off the floor so that they were face to face.
"Congratulations, jackass, you just succeeded in pissing me off," Harry growled out before he punched Sadaso in the face; breaking the man's nose and sending him skidding across the ring.
"Clean hit! One point for Mr. Evans," the referee announced from where he was peering over the ice rink wall.
Before Sadaso could hit the wall, Harry appeared behind him in another flash of gold and kicked him in the back; the blow doing far more damage than it normally would do to the man's momentum from the previous blow. Sadaso bent over backwards as Harry's foot connected with him before he was suddenly flying across the ring in the opposite direction once more.
"Critical hit! Two points for Mr. Evans!"
Harry drew his sword and stepped again, intercepting Sadaso yet again in another flash of gold. He swung his weighted practice sword with both hands and caught the flying man across the stomach. Sadaso spit up blood from the force of the blow but Harry didn't stop there as he pulled his wooden blade clear and pushed Sadaso back at the same time as the man windmilled his one arm in an effort to remain on his feet. The wizard then spun around and slammed the flat of the blade across the man's back hard enough that Sadaso let out a scream of agony as his spine snapped with a loud crack.
"Critical hit! Two points to Mr. Evans!"
Harry grabbed hold of Sadaso and lifted him up into the air before he slammed him down hard on the ice, further damaging the man's back. Sadaso cried out again and coughed up more blood before he managed to wrap Harry up in his Nen hands when Harry straightened up and sheathed his sword. The moment the hands wrapped around him, Harry felt as if he'd been dropped into a pool of frozen slush; it was so cold that it burned.
"Critical hit! Two more points to Mr. Evans," the referee called even as Harry was lifted up into the air by Sadaso's invisible arms.
Sadaso grinned through his pain as he watched the smaller male glare at him through the misty white Nen hands from several feet up in the air. Harry let the man think he'd won for all of two minutes before he retaliated by unleashing his Ren for the first time during a match. Sadaso screamed in sheer agony the moment Harry's Ren came into contact with his Nen arm; the golden flames of wild magic scalding him in an instant despite the limited protection his Nen offered. The golden flames rapidly spread outwards from the wizard until they were spilling out over the edge of the frozen ring; the heat rolling off the uncontained magic rapidly melting and evaporating the ice as the Freezing Charm was unraveled by the raw, wild magic.
When the Nen hands holding Harry up off the ground finally broke and gave way under the pain that Sadaso was feeling from Harry's wild magic, Harry dropped down and plowed his elbow right into Sadaso's stomach as he landed on the ground. That move earned Harry yet another two points and brought his total points up to nine. Harry then picked up the now paralyzed bully and hauled him up so that they were face to face once again.
"I hope you made out your will," Harry hissed at the terrified man. "If not for your attempt to get to me through my girlfriend and my friends, I would have allowed you the chance to live and learn from your mistakes but I'm not in a very forgiving mood right now."
"I was only bluffing!" Sadaso cried out desperately as Harry began spinning the man around.
"I don't fucking care at this point," Harry retorted coldly as he released the man and cast a wandless Banishing Charm at the same time.
Sadaso screamed as he flew threw the air. His scream cut off abruptly just five seconds later as he slammed headfirst into the wall; the impact breaking his neck and killing him instantly. Harry watched the broken man hit the floor like a rag doll before he turned his back on the now dead bully and began heading back towards the locker room.
"Critical hit! Knockout! Winner; James Evans!" the referee called as the medics rushed out to deal with Sadaso's corpse; no one yet realizing the other man was dead and not just unconscious.
The crowd went wild but Harry ignored them as he continued walking without looking back; golden flames of pure magic still raging wildly around him as his anger continued unabated. He stepped into the hallway leading to the locker rooms just a minute later to find the normally dimly lit corridor almost pitch black; more than half of the lights lining the walls broken. The sound of flesh hitting flesh accompanied by the sound of groans, grunts, and curses filled the hallway as the sound of the still cheering crowd fell away when the wizard moved further down the hallway.
A silent Lumos sent a streak of golden flames rushing along the ceiling of the hallway and quickly shed light on the battle that had been taking place within the confines of the hallway. Littered up and down the hallway were several bleeding and broken bodies of the thugs that had been hired by Sadaso to kidnap or harm Canary. In the center of the carnage, Canary was currently defending herself from those thugs that hadn't fallen to her weighted baton.
All it took was a one glance to know that the young black girl had been injured (due to the way she was favoring her right arm and side) and that she'd been disarmed (her baton not anywhere in his line of sight).
The instant that he realized his girlfriend had been hurt, Harry's temper (which had already been out of control due to Sadaso's earlier insinuations) skyrocketed to new heights as he threw himself into the fray with a cry of pure fury. A step and a flash of gold and Harry appeared a good six feet off the ground right in front of the huge man that had just been about to punch Canary. Canary would strategically withdraw to the wall the moment she recognized Harry in order to avoid getting caught up in the attack he had obviously just set up.
His wand made its way into his hand without conscious thought and a Blasting Curse hit the huge man in the face at point blank range; killing him instantly. At the same time, the entire corridor became washed in green light when the golden flames of his rage fueled Ren turned Killing Curse green as Harry's rage turned murderous. Screams and curses rang out as the thugs still breathing were burned alive by the searing heat of Harry's unchecked magic as it rapidly filled the entire corridor (bar the small pocket that had formed around Canary to protect her from his fury).
A few of the thugs attempted to flee the scene but they didn't get very far as the moment Harry's feet touched down on the floor, he went after them. With each step he took, a flash of gold would cut through the eerie green light of the magical flames as Harry cut through time and space to reach the men that had dared to harm Canary to get to him. His wand cut through the air time and time again spitting out Blasting Curses and Cutting Curses without even the slightest of hesitation.
The fight was over two minutes later and all that remained of Canary's attackers were several piles of charred ashes that shifted in the air currents stirred by the heat of Harry's still raging magic and their scattered weapons that had been left untouched. The eerie green fire slowly faded back to gold the moment Harry registered that all of thugs had been dealt with and his temper cooled to a slow and steady burn from the raging wild fire it had been as he returned his wand to his left bracer. Gold eyes had then searched for and found a wide eyed Canary leaning up against the wall as she cradled her obviously broken arm and watched him.
Harry approached her slowly while the flames surrounding him gradually dissipated as his magic slowly withdrew into his body with each step he took. The whites and pupils of his eyes returned to their normal colors as the last of the flames vanished, leaving him with golden irises as he stopped right in front of Canary. He searched her eyes intently for any traces of fear or disgust before the knot in his stomach that he hadn't even known was there unraveled as he found nothing but a mixture of surprise, awe, satisfaction, and desire laced with a trace of pain and lingering irritation that he knew wasn't directed at him.
"They hurt you," Harry stated needlessly as his eyes zeroed in on the blood that was trickling down the side of Canary's face from a long shallow cut on the side of her temple where one of the thugs had caught her with a glancing blow using his knife.
"Mostly just my pride," Canary replied as she glanced away from Harry in shame.
"They did this because of me," Harry countered in a low voice laced with pure fury and bitter regret as he reached out to lightly run his left fingers along the bleeding cut on her face and willed his magic to heal the wound without bothering to use any of the healing spells he'd taught himself.
Canary gasped in surprise as his magic washed through her as the torn tissue and skin knitted itself back together seamlessly while washing away the pain. Harry's hand dropped down to lightly cup her shoulder next to heal the torn rotator cuff from when her baton had been ripped from her grasp. Next, he gently pulled her broken arm free of her grip and willed his magic to numb the pain as he set the break before urging his magic to heal the bones and injured tissues. Harry then lifted her arm up out of way and held it there with his right hand while he lightly let his left hand run down her side to heal the deep bruises and cracked ribs there.
His magic then flooded her body searching for any other injuries he hadn't noticed; healing each and every bruise and numbing her pain as it rushed through her. Canary gasped again before she moaned softly; both in relief from the sudden absence of pain and from the feeling of Harry's magic moving through her so intimately. Once his magic had finished healing even the smallest of her injuries, it withdrew and Canary let out a soft whine of protest as she slumped against Harry's chest; the sixteen year old exhausted from the extensive healing on top of her recent fight against the hired thugs.
Harry then gently cradled her face in his hands as he initiated a rather passionate kiss; the first such kiss that Harry had initiated since they'd become a couple the night before his first match. The wizard poured his soul into that kiss in an effort to reassure himself that Canary was there in his arms and relatively unharmed. Magic swirled wildly around the pair as all conscious control of his magic fled in the wake of the potent emotions that were washing through the fifteen year old wizard. An eternity later, Harry reluctantly broke the kiss and brushed a dozen fleeting kisses over Canary's face before he drew back and opened gold irises once more.
"Will you be alright now, my lady jay?" Harry huskily inquired as his hands dropped from her face to her waist in order to hold her steady as she swayed lightly on her feet.
"Hmm, I think so," Canary breathed as she pressed her face into the crook of Harry's neck. "I'll be irritated with myself later though; that fat bastard broke my favorite baton in half after he managed to twist it free from my hand."
"Ah, I had wondered why you weren't swinging your skull basher around when I first arrived," Harry murmured as he turned to scan the hallway for the broken weapon.
The moment he saw the twisted and broken pieces that remained of the weighted baton, he gently extracted himself from Canary's arms and propped her back up against the wall so she wouldn't topple over. He then silently and wandlessly summoned the broken baton to him and caught the heavy pieces the moment they flew to his side. Harry sent his magic into both pieces of twisted metal before he cast a silent Reparo (much like he had the day he'd fixed the damage Wing had done to the wall in his house). The two pieces of metal untwisted and fused back into a single piece before Harry's magic completely withdrew into his core now that Harry was in complete control of both his magic and his emotions.
Harry drew his wand at that point and ran the tip of it along the entire length of the baton; casting several different types of Strengthening Spells and an Unbreakable Spell on the weapon to prevent it from being broken a second time. He then put his wand away before he tucked the repaired baton through his belt and returned his attention to his girlfriend. Harry chuckled softly at the look of disbelief on her face before he swept her up into his arms and turned towards the locker rooms. He had only taken a handful of steps before another presence suddenly registered on his senses and he stopped in his tracks and snapped his gaze up to find Gotoh watching him with an unreadable look.
"Master Zeno sent me to investigate the reason behind your delay when the two of you didn't meet us after the match as previously agreed," Gotoh stated as his gaze swept beyond Harry and Canary to take in the scattered weapons and coarse ash that filled the corridor.
"There was a rather annoying cockroach infestation that needed to be dealt with," Harry explained tightly as gold threaded green eyes briefly flashed gold when the memory of finding Canary beleaguered and injured stirred his dormant rage momentarily before he locked both the memory and his emotions away.
"I see," Gotoh replied as his eyes returned to Harry and the teen cradled in his arms; his expression darkening slightly when he noted the torn and blood soaked uniform that Canary wore. "How serious are your injuries, Canary? Do I need to send for a doctor?"
"I'm fine, sir; James healed all of my injuries the moment the fight was over."
Gotoh's brow furrowed in confusion as the man frowned and ran his eyes over the condition of Canary's uniform once more before he asked, "What were the nature of the injuries healed?"
"Deep laceration to the right temple, severely torn rotator cuff in the right shoulder, multiple complicated fractures along the right ulna and radius, six cracked and severely bruised ribs on the right side, and an assortment of minor bruises and lacerations," Harry rattled off without any hesitation while Canary lightly scowled at him. "And while I healed all of her injuries, she will still need to take it easy for at least two days (that includes no heavy lifting) in order for the injuries to finish healing. That is especially true for the broken bones and torn muscles."
"I will see to it that she gets the rest she needs," Gotoh assured him before he frowned slightly. "Is there any reason why she can't walk on her own right now? I don't recall you mentioning any injuries specific to either leg."
"Healing as much damage as I did takes a considerable amount of energy out of a person and while she is perfectly capable of walking, it is best that she stays off her feet in order to avoid any potential dizzy spells associated with extreme exhaustion," Harry pointed out as he finally began walking once more. A small smirk then flashed across his face as he cheekily added, "Plus it's a good excuse as any to hold her in my arms."
"Behave," Canary hissed as she flushed red with embarrassment and jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow.
"As my lady jay wishes," Harry quipped back unrepentantly.
Gotoh snorted in either amusement or exasperation (possibly both) as he opened the door to the locker room Harry the moment the teen reached the end of the hall where he'd been standing. The man then moved ahead of Harry in order to open the exit for him (and to scan the hall for threats). Harry murmured his thanks as he stepped through the doorway into the brightly lit hallway beyond the locker room. The wizard paused for a moment to allow his eyes to adjust to the change in lighting before he headed towards the lobby and the lifts. By the time the trio reached the lobby, Canary had fallen asleep in Harry's arms; her exhaustion finally catching up to her.
They were met by the rest of their group beside the lifts and more than one pair of eyes critically noted Canary's current position on top of the less than perfect condition of her uniform. The woman butler made just one attempt to whisk the sleeping Canary out of Harry's arms and was rebuffed by a golden glare over the top of Harry's glasses. She scowled at him but made no further attempts to collect the girl. If Canary had been awake, she probably would have jabbed Harry with her elbow a second time but as it was, the older teen slept on blissfully unaware of Harry's possessiveness.
Once they had all piled inside of the lift, Gotoh pressed the button for floor two-oh-five and the doors slid closed with a soft snick. Harry frowned as the lit buttoned stirred a sense of dread in his stomach and shifted his girlfriend in his arms before he turned sideways to press the button for floor two-oh-seven with his elbow. He got a few funny looks from the two adult butlers, both adult Zoldycks, and Kalluto but everyone else in their group was long used to him doing seemingly inexplicable things at the oddest moments.
When the lift stopped on floor two-oh-seven, Harry chivied everyone out before he passed Canary to Wing after a brief hesitation as he instructed, "Bodoro, Killua, Gon, Kalluto, and Zushi; stay here with Wing and Canary for at least ten minutes before you recall the lift to take you down to our floor. If the lift comes back up before the ten minutes have passed, get out of sight and use the stairs once the coast is clear. The rest of you are welcome to either stay here with the others or tagalong to watch the show as I finish removing the pest problem that has taken up residence on our floor; providing that you don't get in my way."
Medical Terms:
Complicated fracture – a simple fracture (one that does not pierce the skin) where there is damage to the surrounding tissue
AN: The only comment I wanted to make was to remind those who think Harry was far too powerful in this chapter that his control was shot to hell when Wing opened his aura nodes. One result of that is that his emotions, specifically his anger, significantly magnified the power he used. For those who think it looks like Canary was portrayed far weaker than in canon, please keep in mind that she was still fighting despite being unarmed and injured and she did not retreat until a furious Harry jumped in and took over. ~ Jenn
10-17-15: Minor edits made to chapter to fix spelling/grammar mistakes and removed unnecessary author's notes.