Chapter 3-The Duel
When Godwin's eyes opened once again, Merula was nowhere to be seen and Rowan was by his side. "Godwin! Are you ok?"
"Yeah..." he slowly got back up as Rowan helped him to his feet.
"I can't believe her — are you going to do anything about it?" He asked as Godwin rubbed his head to check for wounds
"Forget it, she's not worth the energy. There is one thing I'm going to do, though — I need to learn more spells. I won't be any good at finding cursed vaults if I can't defend myself, after all."
When he returned to the Slytherin common room, he was once again approached by Felix.
"I hear something else is going on between you and Merula?" Felix asked.
"How in the hell did you find out?"
"News travels fast in Hogwarts. This girl really seems to have it in for you, Godwin. What did you do to her?" Felix said, frowning slightly.
"No idea, I mean, we had a briefly heated conversation when getting our school books from Diagon Alley, but that's about it. We've been rubbing each other the wrong way ever since."
"I think you may need to learn to defend yourself if you two are going to be clashing like this. We used to have a duelling club — in fact, I believe we still have the book we used, in one of the storage rooms. I'll show you where to find it, and teach you a few lessons, but you must promise to only use the spells you learn in self-defence."
"I promise.", Godwin says, and that was that.
The prefect told Godwin where to find the book, and he went along with Rowan, eventually finding their way to the artifact room. Godwin, upon entering the room, began to notice that his vision had become clouded and before his very eyes he saw a suit of Armor in a corridor of ice, then he saw dragons, giant spiders, glowing light within a column of sorts and other Strange stuff that he did not understand. Just as suddenly as it appeared, Godwin was suddenly jerked away from the Armor, , instead being pulled down a staircase shrouded in mist. As the vision was beginning to fade, he heard a voice whisper to him, "Here the vaults will open!"
Godwin's vision returned to the artifact room; a shiver went up his spine as he fell to one knee. His breath was laboured, cold sweat trickling down his forehead and creeping down the back of his neck, that voice, it sounded like his brother, is dead?
"A vision, that was a vision — and voice along with it, too." Godwin rose up and leaned against the nearby wall. "Where in the hell did that come from?"
Rowan rushed to his side. "What's the matter?"
Godwin took a few seconds to catch his breath and calm himself, then told Rowan about the vision.
"There was a voice as well," Godwin explained, and Rowan shivered, clearly unnerved. Godwin rose back up to his feet.
"Rowan, don't tell anyone this. Please. I'm unpopular enough as it is without people beginning to think I've gone mad." Godwin said, and the pair of them found the book and took it to his first training lesson with the prefect. The room they used was a small rectangle room filled with suits of Armor and markings where previous spells had hit the magically reinforced walls. After going through the details and rules on duelling, they began to get into the actual spells.
"Right then — one of the first spells you should learn is Finite Incantatem, which is a general counter spell for self-defence. Are there any others in particular you're interested in?"
"Rictusempra?
"Nice, a safe spell to learn, that should do fine. Let's begin."
Godwin spent half of lunch with the prefect then went to the grand hall. Upon entering the hall, he walked straight into Merula, their eyes locking onto each other in a brief monument of silence.
"You better do something about your mud-blood friend, his sniffling is driving me crazy." Merula said, before simply walking away. There was only one muggle-born that Godwin was friends with that could be.
"He's got a name, you know!" he yelled after her, before rushing into the hall and looking for Ben. He found him with his head within his arms as Penny sat by him.
"What's up with Ben?" he asked as he sat opposite to them.
"He's a bit worried about the flying lessons we're going to have tomorrow," Penny said.
"It's not that natural to me either — I only ever used a broom once, and that was behind my mum's back. I ended up crashing into my house, smacking into a wall, and breaking my arm." Godwin said with a chuckle Ben whimpered.
"Not helping" Penny sighed, shaking her head, just as Godwin realized what he had said.
"Well, that's not going to happen to you though, Ben! We got Madam Hooch looking out for us, and we only learned how to take off and then come back down again. Do you have any books on flying, Penny?"
"Not on me. Tell you what, stay with Ben and I'll come back with books. We can study together!"
When Penny came back, they spent a good amount of time studying with Ben in hopes that if he knew more, he would fear it less. The next day the two of them joined the flying class with their teacher Madam Hooch. When all of her students had arrived, she lined them up, each one standing on the right side of a broom. and began to lecture on the danger of flying. For some reason unknown to Godwin, Merula was standing next to him.
"Maybe if I'm lucky you'll both fall into the Black Lake." She said, glaring at Godwin.
"Maybe you should take a dip yourself. Could help remove that dirt from your hair." Godwin said, taking the orange highlighted piece of her brown hair in his hand. "How dare you touch me!" Merula yelled. knocking his hand away. Madam Hooch noticed their bickering and glared toward them both. They immediately went quiet.
"Now then, bring your hand over your broom and then say 'up'!"
Godwin peeked over to Merula, where she flicked back her messy hair and commanded her broom in a demanding tone."UP!"
He then watched as the broom shot up and smacked Merula straight on the nose. Merula let out a short, high pitched squeak as she grasped hold of her nose. A wide-grin spread across his face before he broke into a chuckle. Merula's skin flushed ted with embarrassment.
"Shut it!" She hissed as she rubbed her tender nose.
"Up!" Godwin commanded, and the broom floated up an inch away from his hand, before immediately falling to the floor.
"Ha, you're no better!" Merula mocked.
"Well at least it didn't whack me in the nose!" Godwin snapped back.
After everyone eventually summoned their brooms, Madam Hooch then went through how a wizard or witch should sit on their broom; then the time came for lift off.
Charlie Weasley and Merula were the first into the air, closely followed by Godwin and Penny. When Godwin landed back to the solid ground, he turned his attention to Ben, who hadn't even dared mount his broom yet. Godwin walked over in hopes to encourage him.
"Come on Ben — if you fall, I'll be right here to catch you! Just do it!"
"Alright, but only if you're near me!" Ben said, trusting his friend. He went for it, and the broom lifted him into the air. When he came back down again, a wide smile had spread along his face.
"See Ben, I told you it wasn't going to be that bad." Godwin told him; Ben nodded.
"You're right. I guess it felt pretty good once I was in the air." He admitted shyly. It was then that Godwin felt Madam Hooch looming over him. He turned around to see her smiling proudly at her students.
"Mr. La Fey, don't think your helping of Mr. Cooper went unnoticed. That was very kind of you. Ten points to Slytherin!"
When the lesson was over, Merula stormed over to Godwin with Ismelda alongside her and another boy named Barnaby, a tall strong boy with broad shoulders, however he must have been the dumbest student of their year.
"Why in the hell did you help that Gryffindor? What kind of Slytherin are you!?"
Before he could respond, however, Charlie Wesley appeared next to him.
"Back off, Merulla. If you asked me, you Slytherins would be much better off with more people like Godwin" Charlie said, and he and Godwin shared a smile.
"Well, no one asked you, Gryffindor, so butt out!" Ismelda yelled. Penny and her friend Tonks, who had fair skin and short bubblegum pink hair, then proceeded to make her face and hair transform to look like Merula, something which made Godwin look twice.
"Hey Penny, can you see how fuck-ugly I am? I may just make myself barf!" She said with a giggle, Merula's true face proceeding to boil bright red and she reached for her wand.
"What's going on over there? Whether class is over or not, I'll have no fighting on my watch!" Madam Hooch barked at them, the seven of them splitting up as she stormed over. Tonks continued her impression of Merula as they made their way to the great hall then to entertain all of them, but once they got there, Godwin parted ways with them so he could continue training.
Godwin was jumping out the way of and side-stepping a number of spells thrown towards him by the prefect, until one red spell hit its mark, a leg lock curse.
"Finite Incartarum!" Felix said with a flick of his wand followed shortly by a flash of red light, causing the legs to unlock. He helped Godwin up with a smile.
"Well done! You lasted a decent amount of time this round!"
"Thanks, though I'd much prefer it if I didn't get hit at all." Godwin said, rubbing at his slightly sore legs. "Before I went, though, there was this other spell I wanted to learn. I think it's called 'Expelliarmus'?"
"Well, I see nothing wrong with that. It can only disarm."
The lessons continued going past Halloween and until Quidditch season. During the weekend, Godwin enjoyed the first match of the season, Gryffindor vs Slytherin, which ended in a Slytherin victory. On the way back from the stadium, Charlie and Godwin went back and forth.
"You got lucky!, If you didn't catch the stitch, there was no way you would have been able to catch up to us."
"You're kidding, right? With or without the snitch, I'm pretty sure Skye Parker would have caught up eventually. She was scoring goals like crazy!"
"There's no way she would have done that in the time that was left."
"Well, we'll never know, but I bet she could've."
The two of them returned to Hogwarts and walked around continuing to chat about Quidditch, when all of the sudden Penny came running over to them.
"Godwin, I need your help" She cried out as she ran up to them.
"Penny, what's wrong?" Godwin asked as she paused to catch her breath.
"Merula is holding Ben hostage in the courtyard, she won't leave him alone!"
The three of them rushed to the courtyard where Merula was holding Ben hostage for all around to see.
"Merula, what the hell is wrong with you!?" Godwin asked as he ran over with Charlie and Penny, while with Merula there was Ismelda and Barnaby.
"Oh, if it's not Slytherin's worst student! I should have known you would show up here eventually."
"Back off and go back to your common room! I won't sit by and watch you bully one of my Gryffindors!" Charlie yelled.
"Why don't you make me!" Merula said, fixing her gaze upon them, alongside Ismelda and Barnaby. Ben ran for it, running into the crowd.
"You know what, boys? I think it's about time we show this cow that she can't go around pushing everyone around!" Tonks said as she joined them, this time sporting purple hair and slightly darker skin. Tonks grabbed hold of her wand and smirked. Everyone else in the group pulled out their wands, while Penny backed off into the crowd ; all went quiet as the two trios faced off.
"Flipendo!" A stream of red light shot toward him, ready and aimed for Godwin's side. He dodged the spell as it zipped past him, readying his own spell.
"Rictusempra!" He yelled, and a sliver stream of light shot toward Merula. As other spells fired by the other four went off, the onlooking crowd scattered, running for it; Ismelda was going one on one with Charlie, while Barnaby was taking on Tonks. Much like dodgeball, it was all about who got hit first. Barnaby was the first down, though Tonks kept her wand trained on him as she glanced around at the other two duels. She then pivoted around and shifted her wand toward Merula, the red spell going off without a word being uttered, before her gaze then switched back to Barnaby as his finger tips reached for his wand.
"Don't even think about it, throw the wand!" She said, her eyes narrowing at him.
Merula dodged her spell but was hit by a following sliver spell shot by Godwin, which hit her square in the shoulder. She burst into a giggling fit as she desperately tried to re-aim her wand.
"Expelliarmus!"
A red jet of light knocked aside her wand as Godwin slowly advanced towards her, only for a spell fired by Ismelda to lockhis legs together. Losing his balance, he hit the floor. While he undid what was done to him, Tonks turned her wand on Merula.
"Don't go near the wand!" she yelled.
"It's over Ismelda, give up." Charlie demanded as Godwin returned to his feet.
"You're right, it is over. All of you put down your wands!" Snape demanded as he briskly walked into the courtyard with Flitwick. Immediately, everyone dropped their wands and any spell effects were undone. Then all six of them were dragged off by Snape and all of them proceeded to give him their own side of the story.
"By all rights, a lot of you should be expelled! Hogwarts is not a battleground for your petty little squabbles. I'm taking fifty points from all of your houses! Now, everyone leaves us. Apart from you, Godwin and Merula."
Once everyone else had left, Snape's piercing gaze looked down upon them.
"If Slytherin fails to win the house cup this year, it'll be entirely your fault!"
"But sir, Godwin started it!" Merula pleaded
"Don't try that with me, Miss Snyder! Everyone saw you throw the first spell!"
"They baited me!"
"We baited you? You were holding Ben hostage!"
"Silence!" Snape yelled venomously. Immediately, both students quieted. "Merula, you are a very talented young witch, please do not sink to Mister Le Fey's level. Mister Le Fey. . . I knew you would be troubling the second I read your name, and so far, you've done nothing but prove me right."
Before Snape could continue to berate him, the Hogwarts Caretaker came up behind Snape, tapping him upon a shoulder.
"Excuse me sir, we have a problem. It's about the... Le Fey situation." Finch said, all the while glaring at Godwin.
"I see. You two, be on your way!" Snape demanded before walking off with Finch.
The Le Fey Situation? Did he mean Godwin, or could he mean his brother? Either way, Godwin was intrigued. He found himself wondering if he should follow Snape, he saw that Merula began to start following herself. She turned to glare back at him.
"Well? Are you going to just stand there like an idiot?"
Slowly, for reasons he couldn't quite explain even to himself, Godwin started to follow her as she trailed Finch and Snape to a hall. The pair of them peek through the crack of the slightly open door, Merula in front of him while he was left trying to get a good look from behind her.
"I can't see, could you just move a bit?"
"No!"
"Well, can you hear them from here?"
"I would if I didn't have this idiot talking down my ear!" She hissed, and Godwin, finally taking the hint, stayed quiet. He tried to overhear what was being said, but it was no use. He could hear the voices but couldn't make out the words.
Eventually, Merula darted away from the door, and instinctively Godwin followed her. The pair of them ran until they could run no more.
"Well?"
"They were talking about your brother, and mentioned something about not being able to hold back the ice from what I assume is behind the door they were near."
Godwin's face twisted into a look of shock as he remembered the ice from his vision. The cursed vaults must be behind that door!
"What? Do you know something I don't?" Merula asked, noticing the look on his face.
"Maybe."
"Well, I've got news for you — you're not going anywhere near that door without me, and I'll make sure you don't!"
"What's it to you?"
"I want to find the cursed vaults and. . . you know what, it doesn't matter. What does matter is that you're not getting into that corridor without me!"
"Yeah, well, that goes two ways. I have to keep my eye on you. So what now?"
Merula grumbled under her breath as they started off together. "Fine, we'll go together." She said eventually, folding her arms.
"We'll what?"
"You bloody heard me!"
"Alright, alright, fine! Let's do it tonight, then."
The pair of them split up and Godwin returned to the grand hall, where Charlie and Tonks were waiting for him.
"Can you teach me the expelliarmus spell?" Tonks asked.
"Snape wasn't too hard on you, was he?" Charlie asked at the same time.
"Sure, another time — and, well, he was as hard as he ever is with me" He told them both.
"Are you ok?" Penny asked as she came over alongside Ben and Rowan. He reassured her everything was fine, and the group of them sat at a nearby table as he got a few dirty looks from the Slytherin going by.
"Thank you, Godwin. I don't know what I would have done if you didn't show up." Ben said gratefully.
"Anytime, Ben." Godwin said with a smile, then he felt someone lingering behind him and looked around to see his prefect.
"I see we're two hundred points down, Le Fey. I didn't teach you these spells so you could duel Merula. I taught you so you could protect yourself!" He said, sounding slightly irritated.
"She fired the first shot! We were just defending ourselves."
"Yeah, and she was threatening Ben with her wand. She wouldn't let him leave alone." Charlie added.
"While I can understand that, there still were other options. You could have gone straight to a teacher, for one. It would have saved us all a load of trouble if you did."
Godwin opened his mouth to respond, but his words fell short, finding himself unsure of what to say. Without another word said, the prefect walked off.
"Looks like I'm living up to my reputation." Godwin said with a grim smile.
"Who cares about reputation! Do your own thing." Tonks said with a slap on his back.
"You have your friends and that's all that really matters." Penny said with a bright smile, and he couldn't help but smile in return. When everyone eventually began preparing for the next lesson, Godwin gestured to Rowan.
"Hey, can we talk?" Rowan nodded and Godwin took him away from the others.
"Something happened after Snape told us off. Me and Merula followed him and Finch because he was acting weird, and when we did, we overheard him talking about ice."
Rowan's jaw dropped. "Just like the vision you had"
"Yeah, exactly like it, actually. Me and Merula are going tonight, when Finch will be busy working on the portal."
"Are you sure? If you get caught and lose Slytherin more points again, you'll be in serious trouble! Plus, can you even really trust Merula?"
"I've got no choice. It's the only lead I have on finding my brother."
The two of them then left and went to potion class. Snape's piercing gaze stuck on him as he found his seat next to Merula.
"So, did you tell anyone what we saw?" She asked, leaning over to him.
"Yeah, I told Rowan. " He said, and Merula rolled her eyes.
"Of course you did. Well, are you planning to do anything?" She said with a sideways glance.
"Maybe. I still want to know why you're even interested."
Merula then gently whacked him in the arm. "Quiet! Snape keeps looking over at us, we'll talk about this later.''
Snape introduced the lesson a moment later, which was strength potions. Later on, during the lesson, after they had gathered their ingredients and began working on brewing their potion, Godwin glanced over at Merula to see how she was doing her potion. Snape seems to praise her so much that she must be doing something right, only this time, she caught his gaze. "I would pay attention if I were you. You may just learn something," She said with a smug grin. Godwin's cheeks flushed red with embarrassment, but then he spotted something anda wide grin spread across his face.
"Merula, you've done that wrong. You need to stir it seven times, and you've only done it five."
"Focus on your own potion, Le Fey," snapped Ismelda
"Yeah, I've done it perfectly, idiot!" Merula said, only for Snape to appear over Le Fey's shoulder, having clearly been eavesdropping on the conversation.
"Actually, by some miracle, Mister Le Fey is correct. You do need to stir two more times. Please try to focus, Miss Snyder ten points to Slytherin for Mister Le Fey's astuteness." As Snape left, Godwin looked toward Merula.
"Well, you said I may learn something by watching you, and I did. I learnt that you're not so perfect after all." He said with a wide smile, laughing as she stuck her tongue out at him.