Hello, hello!
I'm sorry for the sudden slow in updates, but I promise you they will pick up once March rolls in and the first week or two are behind us. Hectic life should tone it down a little by then. That said,
Onwards! Chapter 37.
***
What shocked the students watching the duel between Nikos and Rasmus, was that no quarter was given- even despite the reassurance of Nikos' sigils about the spell protection. Nikos' wand twirled and the white ribbon-like light that snagged around him whiplashed in an odd short of backfire. Rasmus gasped as his wand was yanked from his grip, threatening to disarm him split seconds into the fight. He jumped to hold onto it, and Nikos swung his wand, causing his godson to fly off the floor and follow a very painful route across the air, banging against the walls and floors, against his immobilized arm, his back or the entire side of his body with loud bangs and impressive crushes.
"Those are not spell blows," whispered Hermione as some cringed around her with every smash.
"The little Slytherin's sure getting a wallop," Gaunt muttered, forgetting that she was agreeing with Hermione.
"It's not funny," groused Ron, his eyes dark, making Harry take his eyes off the fight for a moment to look at him.
Rasmus spat a bit of blood from biting his tongue upon a particularly rough landing, still helplessly gripping his trapped wand. Finite wouldn't work with this spell his godfather had taken over from him. Distract him, his thoughts throbbed a little dazedly. With his other hand, he made a violent, sweeping movement and one of the chairs in the corner flew forward and behind Nikos, flipping him over in the air. The white ribbon like spell connecting the two wands disappeared. Nikos fell on his side and rolled on his feet in one fluid motion, but by that time Rasmus had fired another spell. A sizeable fireball struck Nikos squarely in the chest, dragging him a few meters back in the process, which gave Rasmus the time to pick himself up- with difficulty as he had only one working arm to steady his rather battered body with.
And then another limb was taken away, as through the spiraling fire Nikos' wand tip was seen and icicles flew at Rasmus' left leg, knocking it out from under him as it stiffened rigidly in a hard coat of ice. Rasmus slammed once more painfully upon his immobilized arm and groaned, but forced himself to keep his eyes open and hiss a protective shield that kept Nikos' next aggressive spell from striking.
"Sectumsempra!" he shouted against his godfather, his wand shaking from pain and feeling too heavy to move from his position in the floor. And while Nikos was deflecting the curse, trying to keep the slashes from spreading dangerously, he hurled another one: "Expelliarmus!"
Nikos allowed his wand to be taken, and instead tended his hands to Rasmus.
"Accio Rasmus!" he bellowed and Rasmus flew into his arms, right into an armlock that threatened to snap his neck. Rasmus froze, panting, and silence slowly settled down. Nobody was even daring to breathe.
"And that, my unfortunate victims," snarled Nikos in his best impersonation of tv villains, "concludes the fight with your last hope to live- he dies, neck snapped. However, you may be consoled to know that he has weakened me so much the next auror that finds me will make short work of me, and get, of course, all the credit in the process."
He smiled down at Rasmus as he helped him up, called his wand to him and released Rasmus' arm and leg from the debilitating spells, and cast a cursory numbing spell for the bruising. As he did so, his clothes returned to normal and the excessive black dissipated, as did the false blood upon his godson.
He looked up at the onlooking class.
"However, class- if all of you fought like Rasmus here did, do you think I, no matter how great a villain, would stand a chance?"
"Certainly not," Harry was the one who answered, a satisfied smile on his face. This guy was the first DADA professor since Remus Lupin to truly make him excited, feel that he had to learn something he couldn't pick up elsewhere. Nobody else spoke much, but there was adequate fidgeting and whispering.
Nikos grinned and winked at Rasmus.
"10 points to Slytherin, Mr. Snape- that was positively fierce."
Rasmus' mouth quirked up at the edge.
"Thank you, sir." He walked back towards the class, and Nikos began speaking again, walking nonchalantly between the students, appraising them and separating them into pairs.
"That was wild, wasn't it? If I was a really conceited villain, thinking Rasmus was done for, he'd have had me. Because you see, rarely does anyone think the obvious: when someone can still speak and wave a wand, one is still potentially lethal."
"So, when in a duel, we shoot to kill," a Slytherin muttered, glaring as he watched how not all pairs were Slytherin-Gryffindor, but his was.
Nikos arched an eyebrow.
"That depends on who you are facing, of course. Sometimes, you do need to shoot to kill, because that's the only thing you can afford. However, that occasion is called for extremely rarely. Ninety nine per cent of the time you will, however, shoot to incapacitate. The challenge is to understand what that is. Here, who can try answering that?"
Nikos glanced around and nodded.
"Yes, Harry."
"Make them unable to cast spells."
"Yes; 5 points to Gryffindor. That is your primary target. And then, make sure they can't move, because after spells, there may come knives or even guns- muggle things I'll bring to class when you are ready for them."
"Muggle things?" Gaunt sneered. Nikos smiled.
"Does it matter, if it is something that can kill you?"
He didn't wait for an answer, finishing the pairs- he didn't resist matching Rasmus with Harry, and he very deliberately matched Ron with Hermione. Then, he twirled his wand and everyone's non-wand hand snapped immobile to their torso, just like Ron's was.
"Excellent! You're now ready. Let's begin with a few principles, and then you and your partner will duel until someone is incapacitated," Nikos' voice rose in challenge, and he started on his instructions.
Whatever the case, not one is bored or haughty now.
***
Hermione glared as Ron gripped his own wand, his eyes staring at her folded, still arm, his breathing slightly heavy and his eyes not entirely focused.
"What is the matter with you?" she hissed as Nikos corrected and answered questions. "You are not yourself!"
"I'm okay," Ron said weakly, not even trying to sound convincing. "Man, I hate to see you like me."
Hermione frowned, and Ron cringed as he watched the hackles rise in his girl friend.
"Like you…? Is that it? Is that your way of telling me I didn't back you up against Osiris? That that," she pointed at his bad arm, "is my fault?"
"No," Ron's eyes widened in shock, but Hermione's own guilt feelings wrapped up in her desperate anger made it impossible to see it. Her voice escalated in the class:
"If you were Harry, then you'd be right- I left him unguarded just to save your ungrateful hide, Ron! I stopped all that bleeding, leaving Osiris to blow holes through Harry if he could! Don't you dare make it my fault!"
"Excellent," Nikos' voice was suddenly very near. "That must have been a healing feat worth watching, Hermione- and I bet Harry likes it that you didn't leave Ron to bleed to death. That was covering his back just as much."
Hermione's eyes watered.
And before anyone else could speak, Nikos' caught Ron's glance.
"And you, Ron, fought well, and now you will learn to fight even better- all us fighters are learning and there for our own. That's all we can do. Do you understand it?"
Ron swallowed uncomfortably, avoiding Hermione's eyes and Nikos'.
"Uh… I guess."
"You'll know by the time we're done today!" Nikos said excitedly and gave the mark to begin their first exercise.
***
Osiris stroked fondly the ancient stones in Stonehenge, purring as he savoured the power that it was imbued in.
"I always was fond of this particular hub, Usat," he said while Isis was tracing with her fingers winding, odd lines upon the stone floor.
"I know, Ausar," she said, but her voice was heavy. "However, we are here for work."
"I believe, Usat, that Slytherin may have lost the Key," Osiris said. "It was nowhere to be found in any of the places he could have adequately hidden it."
"Don't be daft," Isis snapped, and Osiris grit his teeth, his eyes flashing in rage before he pulled that in. "Slytherin would never lose something as powerful as the Key of Wind. The knot is ready, Ausar. Use your Key."
Osiris turned in a slow and regal manner, pulling his wand from his large, wide sleeve and pointing it at the lines Isis had traced on the floor. Nothing seemed to happen, and Osiris didn't chant any spell, but suddenly the dull chalk-like lines lit up in a powerful, resonant lime green.
Isis' usual satisfied languish smirk returned upon that and in reward to Osiris, her hand snaked up his chest slowly until it reached his neck, caressing his ear.
"My husband," she sighed, "you always… rise to any occasion."
"Mmmm," Osiris smiled, grabbing Isis by the waist. "I was under the impression that we were here for work."
"We have some time, before our… guests arrive," Isis pressed herself against him, her long ebony hair like silk against his chest where it was bare, covered only as much as his robe managed at the sides.
"If, of course, they manage to go past our true faithful," he added, and then pressed his lips upon Isis'.
***
And that's that! I hope you liked it.
Zoe Bright: Nikos is trying to cram some classic fighter bushido that can be found in any culture that has a lot of warring to handle. Greeks generally tend to follow this creed (I'm only out of the fight if I'm dead) when forced into fights, be they war or otherwise. :) And thank you for all your kind words! I am quite swamped myself these days.
Duj: fear of failure often makes someone not want to even try, thus risk it.
RebeccaRoy: Thanks!
Syfy: Yes, I often do. Or I think of what other story I'm supposed to be writing and I'm not, because I'm writing Rasmus in my desperate run to finish him. (eh, the story. I'm not foreshadowing anything :P)
See you next time!