Year 2: Show Some Strength

Chapter 17: March 2017

For the first few days after the incident with Flint, Louis and Justin walked on eggshells, waiting for him to strike at them. They did their best never to go anywhere alone, made sure to spend as much time in Gryffindor Tower as possible, as nobody from Slytherin could gain access, and fled the vicinity anytime any of the second year Slytherins were nearby, unless it was absolutely vital that they be in the same room, like for classes.

But when nothing happened, the boys began to relax. Perhaps Flint had calmed down, they thought. Perhaps he'd realized that the whole banana peel thing had been a big misunderstanding. Perhaps he had no intention of doing anything to them. So long as they kept their heads down, they should be fine.

Weeks went by, and still, nothing. And then one fateful afternoon, that all changed.

Louis and Justin were just on their way back to the common room after a particularly thrilling astronomy club meeting when they noticed a shadow cross their path. Justin paused for a moment, but Louis kept on walking towards the corner that was coming up to find their path blocked by Darian Reed and Arthur Pritchard.

Louis froze, and Justin bumped into him from behind, not expecting the sudden halt. The Slytherins were smiling and stretching, a frightening sight. Louis and Justin both took a step back and turned as if to run, but Anthony Pearle and Alec Roper had snuck up behind them and were now blocking their exit.

"Nowhere to run," Arthur noted, as he and Darian took another step forward. Anthony and Alec did the same, and Louis got the distinct impression that he and Justin were being herded in like cattle.

"W-what do you w-want?" Louis asked, his voice shaking. He didn't mean for it to, but he couldn't control it. He started having flashbacks to the encounter he and Justin had had in November with the Slytherins and swallowed thickly. His heart began to race and he was worried he might start hyperventilating.

The Slytherins sneered, and then footsteps sounded from down the hall and the six boys all turned to look in that direction. David Flint came around the corner, walked past Arthur and Darian, and stopped right in front of the Gryffindors.

"I know what the two of you have been up to this year," he declared. "Did you think I was an idiot?"

"W-what do you m-mean?" Justin stammered, terrified.

"All those lessons with Professor Derlid?" David said, making air quotes with his fingers when he said 'lessons'. "You think you can overpower us? Overpower me? You think you can take us on and win? Think again."

"W-we didn't… we d-don't…"

"And then to be so cowardly as to hide behind some lame banana peel accident to hurt me?" Flint added. "It's insulting. So now, I'm going to grant your wish."

"Our wish?' Louis frowned. The words sounded good, but the tone was the complete opposite.

"Only the very thing you've been training for all these months," David said, his voice taking on a tone of innocence, while his demeanour showed that he was anything but. "You've been preparing to take us on. Well fine. You'll find I'm very accommodating. Boys?"

He motioned to Anthony and Alec, who moved too quickly for either Justin or Louis to react. The Slytherins pulled the boys' wands from their pockets, and in one swift motion, snapped them like twigs.

A small shower of sparks flew from the middle of each wand where the crack was made – purple sparks for Louis and red for Justin – and Louis could feel the power in his wand die as the dragon heartstring core was torn in two like a blade cutting him somewhere deep inside.

"There," David said, with a terrifying smugness. "No wands. So it'll have to be a physical fight."

"What about your wands?" Louis demanded. Despite the pain of having just watched his wand be destroyed, Louis had more pressing concerns to deal with and forced himself to focus. Somehow, he and Justin needed to get out of there without being torn apart limb from limb. Because if they fought, Louis was pretty sure he was going the same way his wand just had.

David reached into his pockets, grabbed the material at the bottom, and pulled up, turning them inside out. He gestured to the others to do the same and Louis and Justin both noted that none of the five boys was concealing anything in their pockets.

"See? No wands. We left ours back in the dorm," David assured them. "It'll be a fair fight."

"Five against two," Justin scoffed, feigning confidence. Louis had to admire his friend in that moment. He couldn't have feigned anything at this point he was so scared. "I wouldn't call that fair."

"One against one then?" Flint asked. "Very well, I'll concede to it. If you win, we back off. And if we win, we get to do anything we want with you."

Louis and Justin exchanged a look as they tried to decide what to do. But the answer was clear. They had to accept Flint's terms. If they didn't, the five Slytherins would just beat them up anyway. At least one on one they stood a bit of a chance.

"We accept your terms," Justin agreed. "But we get to choose who we fight."

Louis had to admit that this was a brilliant idea, assuming Flint went for it. A fight against Reed would surely end in the hospital wing, but a fight against one of the less muscular of the group could end in victory.

"Alright," Flint said, confidently. He crossed his arms and stepped back, in line with Darian and Arthur. "So who will it be?"

"I pick Arthur," Justin said immediately. He looked apologetically at Louis. Though not someone Louis would consider weak by any estimation, Arthur was the least physically strong of the group. He would be the easiest of the five to fight.

Everyone turned to Louis next, waiting for him to choose his opponent. Louis glanced from one to the next as he evaluated the pros and cons of the four remaining Slytherins in his head.

Darian Reed was obviously out. He was the strongest and deadliest of the Slytherins. Louis didn't stand a chance against him. And Flint was out too. He was the most personally invested in this, as the leader of the group, and would probably prove the most passionate fighter. Which left either Anthony or Alec. Louis compared the two, and decided that Alec looked a bit less menacing.

"I'll fight Alec," Louis decided.

Flint nodded, and motioned to the two selected Slytherins.

Louis felt his heartrate pick up even more speed as Alec stepped towards him and on his left, Arthur stepped towards Justin. The two Slytherins moved around the Gryffindors to isolate them from each other and then took up their battle stances. Meanwhile, the remaining three Slytherins repositioned themselves so as to adequately block any possible escape routes.

"On my count," Flint declared, acting as moderator. "Three… two…"

Louis didn't hear the one, because as Flint counted down, he'd tuned out the rest of the world in an attempt to focus completely and entirely on Alec Roper. Louis moved first, hoping that starting on the offensive would give him an advantage. He used all the techniques he'd learned with Professor Derlid, starting by throwing a couple of punches, and then attempting to get Alec on the ground.

At first, it seemed to Louis that he was winning. Alec wasn't fighting back too much, obviously sticking to the defensive, and Louis hadn't sustained a single hit. But then, Louis broke his concentration as he turned to see how Justin was doing and suddenly an arm had wrapped around his neck and pulled him towards Alec from behind.

Louis struggled to free himself, but the arm was rock solid and wouldn't budge. In front of Louis, he watched Justin fall to the floor and Arthur begin to kick him in the stomach, and Louis shut his eyes so that he wouldn't have to see.

He felt Alec's head come closer to his, and felt the boy's breath as he whispered into Louis' ear.

"I'm sorry for this," the Slytherin boy said.

Suddenly, Louis felt himself be thrown to the ground. He slammed against the stone floor with enough force to knock the wind out of him. His eyes flew open from the shock and he saw Alec's foot coming for his face only moments before it made contact.

He felt his nose break, and blood gushed out, flowing into the stone floor. Louis tried to push himself up, to keep fighting, but a second blow to his groin sent him flying backwards, and he felt himself hit a nearby suit of armor, and the whole thing fell apart, tumbling onto the floor on and around Louis. Sharp edges of the metal cut into his skin, and Louis cried out in pain.

"Do you concede?" he heard Flint call out.

Louis shook his head and tried to pick himself up. Alec moved forward, grabbing him by the front of his shirt, and whirled him around, throwing him into the opposite wall. Louis' back smashed against it and he would have fallen if Alec weren't still holding him up.

With his free hand, Alec began to punch Louis repeatedly in the chest and stomach, and Louis could feel his ribs cracking as he did. He gasped, trying to catch enough breath to surrender, but there wasn't enough time between blows. He was punched in the face again, and everything went black as he was thrown facedown on the ground.

"Ready to give up?" Flint's voice called out. It sounded far away, but Louis knew that this was only because of his weakened state, and that Flint was surely still standing right there.

It took all of his strength, but Louis pushed himself up and forced his right eye open – his left wouldn't cooperate – and nodded.

"I… surrender," Louis could only manage two words before collapsing onto the floor again.

Justin must have surrendered also, because the fighting sounds had stopped, and all five Slytherins were now standing in a circle around the two boys, motionless, as Flint examined them.

"I think they've learned their lesson," Louis heard him say. "But just to ensure nothing like this ever happens again…"

They took Justin first. Louis couldn't see from his position what they did to him, but he could hear the sounds, and more importantly, the screams that his friend made. If his bladder hadn't already betrayed him, Louis was sure it would have in that moment, as he waited in terror, completely helpless, for his turn to come.

His eyes were closed, so the only warning he had that they were coming for him was that Justin had fallen silent. One of the Slytherin boys yanked him up off the ground by his hair, causing Louis' scalp to scream in protest, and then his arms were grabbed and held behind him, so that he couldn't move.

For a couple of minutes, each of the four Slytherins that weren't holding him from behind took turns hitting, kicking, and punching Louis on every available surface they could find. One of them seemed to take a particular interest in where his ribs had been broken, which elicited the most intense of screams. Someone spat in Louis' face, but it barely registered on Louis' radar at that point.

Somewhere along the line, on of the Slytherins left for a moment, and then returned with a large rock, which was smashed repeatedly into Louis' left foot, breaking just about every bone inside. Then, whoever was restraining Louis let go, and he went falling to the ground, unable to support himself on his destroyed foot, even if he'd had the strength.

Even before he'd fully finished falling, he felt a hand wrap around the broken foot and lift it, so that Louis' leg was extended in the air while he lay on the floor on his back. Louis groaned, desperately hoping that the ordeal was almost over.

Had he been able to scream properly, he would probably have been heard across the entire castle when the rock was smashed over and over again against his left kneecap. But Louis had no energy left, and was so far gone that all he could do was moan pathetically.

He knew it was over when his foot was released, and it fell limply to the ground. He could no longer understand words, but noted that someone was talking as he drifted in and out of consciousness. He tried opening his eyes, but couldn't find the strength or energy to complete the feat. He felt a numbness spread throughout his body that he welcomed. He knew he should try to stay conscious, to stay awake, as it was his best chance of remaining alive, but the not feeling was so much better than the pain that he let it in, and allowed himself to drift off into peaceful oblivion.

LlLlLlLlLlL

Louis awoke slowly. He drifted back and forth from awareness to numbness, sometimes able to hear muffled sounds, but unable to make out any of the words being said. He didn't know what had happened to him, or where he was. He couldn't feel much of anything, including his own body, and every time he got close to feeling something, it would become so overwhelming that he would pass out all over again.

When he finally came to, Louis had no idea how much time had passed, only that it had to have been significant, because he was no longer lying on the stone floor of the corridor.

The first thing he felt was someone holding his hand. The hand was soft – most likely female. It took awhile, and a considerable amount of effort, but he eventually managed to open his eyes to see that it was his sister, Victoire. And she was crying.

"Mmmmmm…" Louis tried to speak, but his mouth wouldn't cooperate.

Victoire's head immediately snapped up and Louis could see relief in her face as she saw that her brother was awake.

"Oh Louis, we've been so worried," she said emphatically. "What happened to you?"

"Unghhh…" Louis garbled.

Victoire patted his hand. "Never mind," she said. "You rest. We'll worry about the rest later."

Louis nodded his head and closed his eyes again. He was exhausted, and now that she mentioned it, rest sounded like a great idea.

LlLlLlLlLlL

It took a couple of days for Louis to gather enough strength to stay awake for extended periods of time. As it turned out, he had four broken ribs, a broken foot, a shattered kneecap, a broken nose, and a dislocated shoulder, in addition to all the bruises and scrapes and cuts. Had it only been a small selection of injuries, Madam Eldridge could have had him fixed up in no time. But with so many, she could only focus on one at a time.

The broken bones would be no problem, once Louis became strong enough to drink some skele-gro. The potion would speed up the mending and regrowth of bone and he would be walking again in no time. But Louis' body had been through so much, and the skele-gro was a painful potion, Madam Eldridge didn't want to administer it until he was feeling a bit better.

Justin wasn't much better off than Louis. He had a broken arm and leg, in addition to a few ribs. His nose had somehow remained intact, and his feet and knees had been left alone.

Louis' sisters and cousins were constant visitors to the hospital wing, as was Justin's sister. Louis' parents also came by the first afternoon to visit, only leaving after ensuring with Madam Eldridge that he was going to have a full recovery very soon.

The morning before Louis' skele-gro treatments were scheduled to begin, he was visited in the hospital wing by Headmaster Slinkhard.

"Headmaster!" Louis said in surprise, looking up from his astronomy textbook, which he'd had James fetch from his dorm the previous day.

The Headmaster glanced at Justin, who was asleep, and then took a seat in the chair by Louis' bed.

"Mr. Weasley," he greeted the injured boy. "How are you feeling?"

"Pretty good," Louis replied honestly. He tried to sit up a little straighter and winced when he exacerbated the pain in his knee.

"Don't try to move," Headmaster Slinkhard insisted, holding out a hand to stop him. "I know you've been through an ordeal."

"You can say that again," Louis nodded, groaning as he tried to return to a comfortable position.

"That's actually what I've come to talk to you about," the Headmaster said, getting to the point. "I need to know what happened."

"What happened?" Louis repeated, dumbly.

"To render yourself and Mr. Spinnet to this state," Headmaster Slinkhard clarified. "I assume someone did this to you. A student perhaps. I need to know who, so as to dole out the appropriate punishments. At this time, nobody has come forward, and there were no witnesses – at least none willing to speak out about the incident."

"Oh," Louis said, filled with a sudden panic.

If he named his attackers, it would only end badly for him. Flint and his crew had already made it clear that their mission was to make Louis' and Justin's lives miserable. And since they'd lost the fight, the Slytherins basically owned them now. If Louis turned them in, it would only make things worse in the long run.

"We did it to each other," he lied, glancing at Justin and then at the Headmaster.

The Headmaster frowned, looking between the two boys.

"Are you certain about that?" he asked.

Louis nodded. "Absolutely," he said.

The Headmaster seemed unconvinced.

"You mean for me to believe that the two of you fought so hard that you somehow rendered each other comatose at the same moment? That you delivered these blows to each other while receiving the same back?"

Louis knew it was a lame story, that nobody would believe it, but he was sticking to it. And when Justin awoke, he would warn his friend to stick to it too. It was better, to not get anyone else involved.

"Professor Derlid has been teaching us physical defence," Louis said. "We were practicing, and I guess it got out of hand."

"Mmmhmm," Headmaster Slinkhard murmured. "And you're sure you're not forgetting any important aspects of your story? Perhaps someone joined in this fight? A third person?"

Louis shook his head. "It was just the two of us," he insisted. "We must've been able to keep going because of the adrenaline. When you have a lot of adrenaline, you don't always feel the full extent of your injuries."

"Both your injuries and those of Mr. Spinnet are quite severe," Headmaster Slinkhard pointed out.

Louis nodded. "We got carried away," he said. He lowered his head, as if in shame, hoping to further make his point. "I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

Headmaster Slinkhard pursed his lips, but didn't ask any more questions. He stood and looked once more at Justin.

"I'll be back later to speak with Mr. Spinnet," he declared. "I encourage you to think back to what happened. Maybe there's something else that you're not remembering from the incident. Should you recall anything else, please let me know."

Louis nodded, but knew he wouldn't be telling the Headmaster anything else. Exposing Flint and the others would get them detentions, letters home, house points lost for Slytherin. It would make them angry. And they would only end up taking their anger out on Louis and Justin, but possibly in more subtle ways. No. Louis couldn't tell. He would keep his head down, and stay out of Flint's way. If he was lucky, he'd get through the rest of this year without any more injuries, and then it was only another five before he could get out of this hellhole forever.