...
He wasn't surprised at all that the wizard began firing spell after spell at the trio following his statement.
It had taken him a moment to conclude the man couldn't have been talking about his grandfather in regards to the so-called greatest Dark Lord to ever live, simply because his grandfather wouldn't have hired an idiot to do his job for him.
Which meant the dark lord referenced was the other one. Though if his grandfather was to be believed regarding said lord, he wasn't sure why anyone would feel the need to avenge a fearmonger.
He'd been rather worried at the beginning of the debacle, wondering how dangerous the wizard may or may not be but in truth, it turns out he was rather incompetent.
His gaze focused as he watched on, watching the slow irritation that glossed over the dark wizard's face as his spells ricocheted off the Protego Maxima he'd immediately thrown around the somewhat confused trio.
Unlike its regular variant, the maxima version allowed one to choose how big and more importantly where the shield charm would take effect.
But what was really telling regarding the wizard before him, was that he didn't exactly have a clue as to how the shield charm functioned, to begin with.
Most generally assumed that if enough firepower was thrown at it, it would eventually crack. Truth was, the greatest strength of the shield, doubling as its biggest weakness, was the fact that once cast it relied solely on willpower and the caster's mental state.
Fear, panic, wariness, and caution were all things that weakened it. If a caster was absolutely certain that whatever spell cast against wasn't a threat to them, it had a very difficult time breaking through.
It was partly why Dark Wizards were seen as threats- The delusions of grander actually did play a little into their formidableness.
There were of course exceptions- Namely, the Killing curse, magically empowered physical objects, and naturally, a wizard of his grandfather's caliber could easily rip through it. But the latter was entirely because his grandfather had a multitude of spells designed for that very same purpose
Needless to say, given he was safely hidden behind a tree, far away from the onslaught of spells- His shield charm wasn't breaking any time soon.
The daft wizard on the other hand seemed to think it all to be due to the Boy-Who-Lived's natural talent. Praising and cursing him in the same breath as he grew more and more vexed by the second as he watched his spells fail to cut through, the dark presence he'd noticed earlier growing in strength by the passing second.
The trio on the other, after a moment of confusion regarding their own luck, had simply raised their wands and threw their own spells in retaliation- The action surprising the wizard given his widened eyes.
"Masterful! As expected from you, Potter! To hold a shield charm this powerful, and yet be able to attack-" He twisted his head out of the way of a Reductor sent by the tense Muggleborn in the group.
While Harry and Ron's own spells had limited themselves to what they'd learned during the year- Hermione had settled for a variety she'd likely found in the library, with a majority of them either fizzling out due to lack of experience or failed to make a landing hit on the dark wizard twisting and turning on his own feet.
More likely than not the action was an attempt at mind games, given he doubted the man of his... Stature, wouldn't have a Protego charm up and running.
The trio themselves seemed to be in a hush of whispers- Words he couldn't hear given he'd elected to throw a silencing charm over them if only to prevent the dark prick from hearing any of their plans.
But still, all that aside...
He couldn't help but feel that, much like the tests themselves, the dark wizard was rather... Disappointing.
He was slow on his feet and spells, almost single-minded with the way he seemed to try the same one over and over but more importantly... His spells were driven by passion.
Compared to the duels with his grandfather, he was akin to an ant.
Gellert Grindelwald would've ripped him apart.
But even then, he refused to budge from his position- After all, it could've just been arrogance on the wizard's part that led him to act so carefree, so... incompetent with his choice of attacks.
Yet, it was mostly the dark presence in the air that convinced him that something was entirely not right. With every second that passed, it turned more and more oppressive, more and more... Restless.
Still, he hadn't just been spending his time holding up a shield charm- His wand humming in a build-up of power beside him as he focused.
He was fairly certain the dark wizard had a Protego up, which meant if he wanted any chance at ending this quickly, he had to do it in one attempt.
The moment the wizard realized there was a fourth in the area was the moment he became a target and in essence the moment the shield protecting Hermione and her friends quickly crumbled.
Thankfully, his grandfather had taught him a very efficient spell when it came to shattering through shield charms, and given the build-up of magical power currently overloading it to the extreme, was bound to deal plenty of damage as well.
Hopefully enough to incapacitate the wizard-
"...Enough..." The dark presence in the air seemed to twist all at once as the voice came out of seemingly thin air. The words, to his surprise, elicited a pained reaction from Harry Potter, the boy still inside his shield charm- The two other first years, as well as him, quickly tensed-
To his surprise, even the dark wizard himself seemed to turn... Pale?
"Of... This... Foolishness!" The presence in the air seemed to erupt as a heavy feeling seemed to crush into him and the others, his breathing turning haggard as his eyes widened.
"Finish this! Now!"
On noticing the wand movements from the dark wizard, he cursed as he immediately removed the shield charm and set off a levitation one directly onto Potter.
With a strained smile, the Dark Wizard shrugged and pointed his spell.
"Avada Kedavra!"
The Green Light of Death hit nothing but the Boy-Who-Lived's background as he subtly moved the, for some inane reason, frozen boy out of the way with a flick of his hand. The action, earned a pair of raised eyebrows in response as the dark wizard chuckled.
"Smarter than I gave ya credit for!" The man remarked a gleeful expression on his face as he raised his wand again.
Rodrick pointed his own, directly at the man, as well.
"But with that shield charm gone, you're all sitting du-"
He never even finished as Rodrick calmly intoned and fired off his grandfather's spell.
"Háborús Kalapács!"
His grandfather was rather literal when it came to spell creation, he thought as he watched a gleaming white almost rectangular shape, the size of the man in question, take form and rocket towards the dark wizard, revealing his place on top of the trees, and crash into his shie-
He blinked the slightest bit, dread growing in the pit of his stomach as he watched it crash into the man himself. No signs of a Protego in sight.
...He didn't have a shield charm up?
He was practically frozen as he watched the spell crash the man through two of the trees behind him, his body twisting in a spin in the air after the second before it landed in a crumpled heap.
...Why didn't he have a shield charm?
Yet, before neither he nor the other first-years could react, the Dark Presence in the air, instead of dying down, seemed to grow at a rapidly alarming rate-
"Incompetent..."
Fear lurched into his heart as he watched the man's body twitch.
"Useless..."
The corpse twitched its bones around as it mechanically floated upwards, literal darkness rapidly cloaking it, as black eyes swirled into his sockets.
"...Ill..." The head snapped upwards as his very damaged arms dangled downwards. "Do... it... Myself!"
And with those words, he watched, utterly frozen in fear, as demonic fire surged around the body, enveloping it entirely before starting to expand-
The utterly mad... Thing was about to cast a sacrificial Fiendfyre-
Yet, that was as far as it got as he watched a white light rapidly fill the clearing, and hit the possessed corpse directly in the chest, metaphorically cutting its strings as a hateful voice roared out-
"DUMBLEDORE!" And with that, the spirit of... Truthfully he didn't even want to consider the implications of the source- Whatever was possessing the body erupted from its chest and scattered into the night sky.
It took him a few moments before his gaze landed on the mentioned professor... Who had seemed to appear out of thin air itself, given he hadn't noticed him arrive...
It hadn't taken long before Professor McGonagall arrived on a broom of all things, sweeping down onto the ground as she quickly tended to his no doubt terrified classmates.
A small part of him hoped it might install some caution into the Griffs.
Yet, his only focus was on the headmaster, the man idly staring in his direction, even as he was hidden by both the tree and Disillusionment charm he still held.
...
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Háborús Kalapács: Rough translation of War Hammer.