CHAPTER FOURTEEN
THE DUELING TOURNAMENT
O
"Hey, you know what I just realized?" said Riley as they walked into Herbology. "Second term is Slytherless Fridays."
Scott gave him a questioning look.
"Flying lessons ended after Halloween and Acclimatization ended after Christmas break," explained Riley. "Second semester we don't have any classes with Slytherin on Fridays."
"You didn't realize that until a month into this term?" asked Scott.
And I don't know what you have against the Slytherins, Albus thought to himself. They're a quite agreeable bunch, nothing like my dad described when he was here.
"I like Fridays even better this term," said Exo. "Only two classes."
Riley was still lost in thought, considering now that they'd never had classes with the Hufflepuffs on Wednesdays, when Professor Longbottom entered the greenhouse.
"I've finally graded last week's tests," he announced. "As usual, the highest grade in the class gets the opportunity to be exempted from today's lesson if they so wish."
"Start packing your stuff, Rose," yelled Riley.
"As a matter of fact," said Professor Longbottom quietly, "this time it was not Rose."
The entire class (including Rose) was utterly shocked.
"Aidan?" guessed Scott.
Aidan blushed.
"Nope," said Professor Longbottom.
There was dead silence.
Albus felt a rush of excitement—did he finally beat his cousin at something?
"The highest grade in the class on last week's exam was Mia Moon," said Professor Longbottom, handing back the exam and shaking her hand. "Congratulations, Mia!"
Rose clapped earnestly with the rest of the class—so did Aidan. However, Albus felt like neither of those two would have clapped for each other had the highest grade been given to one of them. It had turned into a constant competition, but (at least for now) they were both competing in a very good and friendly spirit.
"You get to leave early today with a smile on your face!" said Professor Longbottom. "Have a good break."
"Oh, I love Herbology," said Mia. "I think I'll stay."
Albus thought for a moment that he saw a tear form in Professor Longbottom's eye.
"I'll take her free exemption from the class!" announced Riley.
"You most certainly will not," said Professor Longbottom. "Back to seriousness, everybody! Mia, I'm glad you enjoy my lessons so much, I'll try to make it worth your time." He winked at her.
Professor Longbottom then began describing the correct way to shave a Hirsuhedrora. He made a point of mentioning that they were not required to learn the spelling of this name, and the class sighed with relief.
Albus glanced up at Mia, who was intently watching the lecture with those fascinating eyes of hers. Something strange about those eyes was pressing in the back of his mind, but he couldn't remember what it was. He felt like there was someone else he knew with those eyes, but he just hadn't noticed it yet.
"Now, if you would take out your books, please," said Professor Longbottom. "We're now going to go over the way in which the book describes how to shave a Hirsuhedrora, and see why this is more effective with a less excited plant… if your Hirsuhedrora is wriggling its mustache in manly agitation, you're going to want to use the more careful method I just showed you… it takes a little bit longer, but you won't get bitten nearly as often…"
Albus looked through his bag, and his stomach grew gradually more unsettled as he looked through his books, unable to find his Herbology text.
"If you get bitten, you'll have to go down to the hospital wing… It's not terribly uncomfortable, but you will grow a mustache, and depending on the situation, you may or may not want to keep it. If you don't, it has to be magically removed; it'll just grow back if you shave it."
Albus raised his hand.
"Hirsuhedrora is used in a variety of hair-care potions, usually in combination with—yes, Albus?"
"I think I dropped my book somewhere," said Albus.
"Oh," said Professor Longbottom, twisting his mouth. "Well, this is a lesson you probably shouldn't miss. Share with someone, you can retrace your steps after class."
Mia edged over closer to him. "You can share with me," she said.
Albus blushed a little. "Okay," he said, trying not to stare too long at her eyes.
Mia noticed, though, seemingly every time he tried to catch another glimpse throughout the class. She seemed to enjoy the attention. "It's hereditary," she said, pointing to her eyes when Professor Longbottom took a break near the end of class to drink some water. "My mom had it, and my grandma had it. I don't know how far back it goes, but I think it's a really, really long time, we have lots of ancient family portraits with the same eyes."
Professor Longbottom dumped the rest of his water onto the Hirsuhedrora; it shivered and its mustache grew slightly bushier. "Next week, we'll be trimming the Hirsuhedrora," he said. "Rather than shaving it, I mean. The Hirsuhedrora produces more seeds when it's confident about its mustache. And the end of next week, we'll have a competition. The student who trims his or her Hirsuhedrora's mustache to look the best will get the most seeds produced; that student will win a prize. That's it for today! Remember, you're being quizzed on Hirsuhedrorae on Tuesday, you're going to want to know how to identify the female plant. Have a good weekend, everyone."
"I love Herbology," said Mia, putting her book away. "Don't you?"
"Yeah," agreed Albus. "I knew Professor Longbottom before I came here, he's the best."
"It's my best subject," said Mia. "I'm not too good in the other ones, though. Professor Longbottom says he was like that, too."
"Well, if you turn out like him, you've got nothing to worry about!" said Albus.
Mia smiled. "Maybe I will teach Herbology. So where are you going?"
"Er… I don't know," said Albus, looking around. "Gryffindor common room, I guess? There's really nowhere else I need to go…"
"There isn't?"
"…Is there?"
"Don't you need to look for your missing book?" she asked.
"Yeah!" said Albus, smacking his head. "I totally forgot… Thanks."
"No problem, see you later," said Mia, waving.
Albus walked back to the greenhouse, and then retraced his steps from the greenhouse to the History of Magic room. As he turned into the hall by the classroom, he heard his name being called.
"Albus? …Albus!"
He looked around, but he didn't see anyone.
"ALBUS!"
The voice was right next to his ear and he jumped back from the wall, but still, no one was there. Suddenly his head filled with his father's stories, about hearing voices in the walls, and the basilisk—
"Albus, in the pictures, for Merlin's sake!"
"Oh!" said Albus, his eyes finally falling on Litinia, who was standing in the side of a frame containing a wizard named Thonner Gaimond with incredibly wild white hair. "Sorry! I didn't see you in there."
"I was only waving my arms around like a madman," said Litinia. "I've been looking for you all over the castle—you left your Herbology book in the History of Magic classroom! I tried to find you when I saw it, but you had left a while before that and I didn't know which way you'd gone. I've been scouring the classrooms, looking."
"Oh—thank you!"
Perhaps it was because he had just been around Mia, and he was staring at her fascinating eyes a lot that day, but he couldn't help himself from staring at Litinia's eyes for a moment, and suddenly it clicked.
"Hey!" he shouted, pointing at her portrait. "Your eyes!"
"Ah, yes," she said proudly. "It's called heterochromia, I believe. You see, in my left eye, the pigmentation—"
"They're just like Mia Moon's eyes," blurted Albus.
"Who?"
"Mia Moon, one of the Hufflepuffs in my year? She has the same eyes as you."
"Really?" said Litinia. "Here—walk back to the classroom with me, we'll get your book."
Albus told Litinia what Mia Moon looked like, and how her eye color was just like Litinia's. He walked down the hall to the History of Magic classroom while Litinia walked alongside him through the portraits.
"My daughter did have the same eye coloration," said Litinia. "It is possible that the trait was passed down all that way, I suppose."
"So Mia Moon might be your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great—"
"Don't strain yourself," laughed Litinia. "But yes, I suppose that's possible."
"Can we search her ancestry?"
"I doubt it," said Litinia. "The trail would probably go cold somewhere. I don't know who my daughter married, I died when she was an infant. So did my husband."
"Oh," said Albus. "I'm sorry. Do you mind… if…" He trailed off.
"If you ask how we died?" guessed Litinia. "I don't mind at all. I was murdered."
"By who?" asked Albus, startled.
"By my husband," said Litinia.
Albus gawked at her. "How did he die?"
"He killed himself," said Litinia.
"Why?"
"Because he felt bad for killing me."
Albus's head hurt from trying to understand this.
"I still love him," said Litinia, shrugging. "He was beset by a sort of insanity, brought on shortly after the attack of a mulunctapol which left him a Squib for life. It's not that hard for me to talk about it, actually, mainly because it was a full seven hundred years ago. Anyway, tell me… is this Mia a Herbology genius?"
"Yeah!" Albus was remembering when Professor Longbottom was handing back the tests that day. "How did you know?"
"Well, I was the Herbology professor," said Litinia. "Youngest professor in Hogwarts history at the time, in fact! Youngest to die, too. I was wondering if this Mia Moon was like me in other ways."
They turned into the classroom, and Albus almost bumped into Professor Desulgon as the latter was leaving.
"Albus!" said Professor Desulgon. "How are things? I was just about to bring this to you."
He held out the Herbology textbook.
"I also wanted to talk to you for a moment," he admitted. "Would you step in?"
"Sure," said Albus, wondering what it was about—had his grades dropped?
They stepped back into the History of Magic classroom, where Binns was having a discussion with the Fat Friar.
"…seen it myself, in fact," the Friar was saying. "Ancient Greeks learned how to do it first, I believe. Egyptians perfected the process… probably, as Dalton said, to prevent wandering spirits from disturbing their Pharaoh. I find it all very impressive…" He trailed off and looked over.
"Hello again, Friar, Cuthbert," said Professor Desulgon. "Would you mind moving to the next room over? I'd like to have a private chat with Albus. Nothing he's done wrong, just a chat."
"That's fine," said the Friar, bowing. Then he and Binns sailed through the wall and vanished.
"So," said Professor Desulgon, turning to Albus. "Read any more minds lately?"
Albus hadn't been expecting that. "Er, no, sir," he said. "I don't think so."
"Obviously not currently, or you'd have seen that question coming," said Professor Desulgon, smiling. "No, I expected not. I didn't think you'd be able to keep that up. I just wanted to let you know that I think I've figured out why."
Albus turned his full attention to Professor Desulgon, hoping to finally get some answers.
"Devil's Snare," he said, taking out one of his own wands, "is a very aggressive species. Invasive, too—it probes all around, just as one might probe a mind. And in a wand of silver lime, skills in Legilimency are to be expected. However, I was wondering how a first year managed to do this! I came to a conclusion that I think is accurate.
"You have in your pocket a wand matured in Frostflame," he continued. "Wands are getting better, there's no doubt about it. The early twentieth century was when wandmaking really started to take off. Wands got better, and more powerful. Yours is especially aggressive, and strong. Very strong. So strong that it's getting bored in the hands of a first year who cannot use it to its full power. Don't worry—it will become a very useful companion when you are older—but right now, it needs to release energy. The silver lime shell is directing its energy into mind magic.
"Of course, wands generally don't do magic without the consent of their owners. It's not normal. Even if they could, they need the wizard's magic to do it—wands don't have enough power of their own to jump into another wizard's mind. But you are only eleven, and you're not strong enough to break into someone's mind either. Unless there are very special circumstances."
He tapped his own head. "I was running on two hours of sleep, the night you read my mind," he said. "Being tired affects your mind. You're not as in control anymore. Have you ever gone on that little sleep before?"
Albus shook his head.
"You tend to zone out, and your eyes just go out of focus by themselves," said Professor Desulgon. "Your brain is so out-of-whack that some Wizarding governments even ban people from Apparating unless they've had at least four hours of sleep, because it can end very badly. Just like… being drunk." He rolled his eyes. "Harry Lussen's brain was addled, the defenses were down, just like mine—except, from a different cause, of course. That's why you were able to get inside our heads—because our brains were sort of switched off, and without brains, you're kind of brainless. The average person wouldn't be that susceptible to the mind probing of a first year student."
"I understand," said Albus, nodding.
"But at the same time, I feel like this is a good sign, that you're going to become something special when you leave here," added Professor Desulgon, punching Albus's arm.
Albus blinked. There were those high expectations again.
"Anyway, I just figured that you might appreciate an explanation," Professor Desulgon finished. "And you were probably wondering when you'll be able to control it."
Albus nodded vigorously.
"Not for at least four years, I'd expect," replied Professor Desulgon. He shrugged. "Sorry to disappoint you, but that is some extremely advanced magic. No matter how powerful your wand is, I seriously doubt that you'd be able to get anywhere in the field of offensive mind magic before the end of your fifth year."
He had been expecting an answer like that.
"Well, do you have any other questions about this sort of thing?" asked Professor Desulgon.
"Not really," said Albus. "You answered everything. And more. Thank you!"
"Thought you'd appreciate it," he said winking. "So, you coming to the Dueling Tournament finals?"
"Yeah, of course," said Albus. "My cousin's in it!"
"That's right," laughed Professor Desulgon. "Cousins, plural, right? Didn't a Weasley take the Gryffindor spot in every single year?"
"What!" shouted Albus—he'd known that Rose, Roxanne, Lucy, and Louis had won their tournaments, but he hadn't heard that Molly, Dominique, and Victoire had as well.
"I was surprised to hear it wasn't you, actually," said Professor Desulgon. "I mean, Rose is excellent, but you seem to me like master duelist material."
"Oh," said Albus. He didn't really know how to respond to a compliment like that, which was about his future rather than the present. "Thanks! I'll try!"
"If I'm teaching the second years again next year, I'll look forward to seeing you," said Professor Desulgon, and he winked again. "See you after dinner."
He walked out of the classroom.
"You've read minds?" said Litinia, making Albus jump; he'd thought he was alone. "That's quite amazing. The field of mind magic was just becoming more known around my time."
"I didn't do it on purpose," he grinned. "Hey, do you mind if I let Mia know that you have her eyes, so maybe she could talk to you?"
"I would appreciate that, in fact," said Litinia. "See you in History of Magic on Monday, Albus."
"See you, Litinia," said Albus, and he hurried out of the classroom to join his friends in the common room before dinner. After dinner was the Dueling Tournament, and he was really looking forward to that.
O
"Did you know that Moouggles used to have dueling, too?" said Eben.
The first years had taken to the habit of pronouncing "Muggles" as "Moouggles," the way that Mbato had pronounced the term, because it sounded funnier that way.
"They did?" asked Exo.
"Yep," said Kolby. "They used swords, and guns. They still do, except it's not to the death anymore, just like with wizards; it's more for show."
"They can't be as cool as wizard duels," said Toby, watching Professors Longbottom and Desulgon create a large platform in the middle of the Great Hall.
"I sincerely doubt it," said Jonah.
The Great Hall was slowly filling with students for the Defense Association meeting. More students had already shown up than had attended last time, because tonight was the night of the Dueling Tournament, and everyone wanted to watch. Albus wondered if the Quidditch pitch wouldn't have been a better place to hold the tournament—there were so many people. Even a good number of the ghosts had attended, and sat in the air above the students to watch. One of them was a ghost that Albus had never seen before, a young girl with funny-looking glasses and a well-practiced pout.
When the flow of students finally seemed to slow to a trickle, Professor Longbottom climbed onto the platform and waved his wand; a loud CRACK sounded across the room. Everyone fell mostly silent, apart from a few whisperers.
"Here are the rules!" announced Professor Longbottom. "Either incapacitate your opponent or relieve them of their wands. No help from the audience!"
"And no killing," added Professor Desulgon.
Professor Longbottom sighed. "Yes, and no killing. The edges of this arena will have an invisible barrier around them, which I will put into place when both duelists are in their starting positions. No person can cross this barrier until I deem that the match is over and I remove it. They will also absorb any flying spells, so the audience does not have to worry. I hope I do not have to mention that excessive force will absolutely not be tolerated and could result in multiple months of detention.
"The first years' dueling tournament will be first," he continued. "Single elimination, one duelist from each House, no match for third place, so three matches total. Each win in this tournament will earn the winner three points for their House. Each win in the second years' tournament will earn the winner five points for their House… seven points per match for the third years, and so on until the seventh years' matches, in which fifteen points will be on the line at every duel.
"In every tournament, the first matches are determined by a simple rule: the person with the most losses faces the person with the least losses, and the other two will face each other. The winner of those two matches move on to the final. Now, that's enough talking from me, I think. Let us see how much our contenders have practiced for these matches!"
"Hi, Albus," said Mia, walking over as Professor Longbottom left the arena. "Exciting, isn't it? I think Aidan's going to win."
"I don't know, Rose is just as perfect as he is," replied Albus.
"I talked with Litinia today before I came here," she said. "Thanks for telling me about her at dinner. You're right, she has exactly my eyes!"
"I thought it was really cool," he grinned. "Like, you probably have a Hogwarts professor as your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great—"
"Don't strain yourself," laughed Mia.
"That's exactly what she said!" laughed Albus. "I think you must be related to her!"
Albus caught sight of Holly in his peripheral vision. She waved to him, but then her eyes shifted over to Mia, and she looked saddened for a moment. Then she turned and sidled through the crowd away from him.
Albus bit his lip and looked back to Mia. "Er, I'm going to go say hi to a friend," he said.
"All right, see you around, and thanks again," she said brightly.
Albus ducked through the crowd and found Holly looking a little upset in the corner of the room. Nearby were Molly Weasley and her group of friends. Holly glanced up at him, looked on either side of him, and then she smiled.
"Hi," she said.
"Hi, what's up?" said Albus.
With a lot of practice, he'd managed to reach a point where he could sound relatively normal while he talked to her.
"Oh, nothing," she said. "I'm just looking forward to the matches."
"Who do you think's gonna win in our year?" said Albus.
Holly began cheering up more and more as they talked.
"I don't know," she said. "I mean, Rose and Aidan are really good, but I don't know how good Scorpius Malfoy is… Plus, I haven't seen Alec in the common room for forever, I think he's been practicing."
"Practicing?" said Albus, trying not to show too much shock, though this was very unlike the Alec that he knew.
"Yeah, he was in the library a lot, with a lot of books on simple spells. I think he's given up studying and is just learning as much magic as he can."
Professor Longbottom's magnified voice echoed through the hall as several late students rushed in, and everyone looked over. "Direct your attention to the arena now!"
A small wave of dark energy pulsed up from the floor around the arena, and they knew that the barrier was in place. Inside the arena were Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy, wands at the ready, faces completely unreadable.
"Our first match is Scorpius Malfoy of Slytherin versus Rose Weasley of Gryffindor. The match will begin after they bow. We all know the rules. The next match will begin immediately when this one has concluded. Bow to your opponent, now, and commence the duel!"
There was clapping in the Great Hall, but not much, as this was a duel of first years, and apparently they weren't expecting much.
Apparently, they hadn't met Rose.
Rose and Scorpius bowed to each other, and then they held their wands out in front of them.
"Expelliarmus!" shouted Rose.
"Effracturo," said Scorpius calmly at the same time. He deflected her attack into the barrier, where it fizzled out on contact.
Scorpius was dead calm and rigid; not even an eyebrow twitched. Rose slowly moved from side to side, apparently considering her angle.
"Pulvethra!" shouted Rose.
A dull thump could be heard inside the arena, and then dust flew up all around the two duelists, rendering them much more difficult to see.
"Expelliarmus!" came Scorpius's shout.
Rose had moved, and his attack hit the wall. However, she had calculated his position, and when she shouted "Expelliarmus!" her aim was good. Scorpius's wand hit the barrier behind him, and Professor Longbottom blew a whistle.
"Excellent job, excellent job, two points to Gryffindor," said Professor Longbottom, clearing the dust which had already started to settle. "Good use of the Dustkicker Charm, Rose, did you learn that one in class or did you look it up?"
"I looked it up," said Rose proudly.
She caught Aidan's gaze, and they glared at each other for a moment and then grinned. Rose jumped down, and Aidan clambered onto the arena.
He nodded to Alec, who was staring him down with clear concentration. Professor Longbottom stepped down from the raised arena with Scorpius, who returned to the stands, slightly red in the face. The barrier returned around Aidan and Alec.
"Bow, and begin," announced Professor Longbottom.
They bowed, and then raised their wands, but neither struck for a brief moment. The only sounds were older, disinterested students, deep in conversation and ignoring the match completely.
"Tarantallegra!" shouted Alec.
"Rictusempra!" shouted Aidan.
The spells collided in the air, and burst into sparks. "Duodramocula!" yelled Alec as Aidan blinked furiously from the flash caused by the collision.
Aidan looked up at the beam of light from Alec's wand and yelled, "Effracturo!"
He didn't notice that there were two beams of light that burst out of Alec's wand. One of them was shattered by Aidan's counter, but the other struck him in the head and he spun around, dizzy.
He brandished his wand again and yelled, "Expelliarmus!" at the same time that Alec yelled, "Petrificus Totalus!"
Aidan's jet was aimed in the completely wrong direction, whereas Alec's aim was true. Aidan's limbs snapped together, and he fell rigid to the ground.
"The winner is Alec McKinnon!" announced Professor Longbottom.
"Wow," said Molly; Albus tuned in. "That's crazy. Duodramocula is a tough spell for a first year to learn; isn't that the Seeing-Double Jinx?"
"Yeah," said one of her friends, Nicole Waters, who happened to be Scott's sister. "I presume that's why the Hufflepuff kid missed."
Aidan left the arena looking very disappointed, and Rose climbed up to meet Alec.
"He looked as good as your cousin, Mol," said another of Molly's friends. "She's got a fight ahead of her."
"She'll win, Missy, don't worry," responded Molly. "She's got some Hermione in her, she has to."
"Weasley, Thompson, Waters!" called a voice from below; they looked down to see an old-looking female teacher hushing them.
"Bow and begin!" called Professor Longbottom.
"Agerluscio!" yelled Alec immediately, as loud as he could.
Rose had been ready to counter, but instead she mouthed, "What?" as a flash of green filled the room. Albus had never heard of that spell, nor had he heard Alec talk about it. It seemed as if he really had been practicing, learning new spells just for the Dueling Tournament. He watched eagerly to see what Alec was up to.
All around the arena, enormous blades of grass sprung up ten feet high, completely obscuring both duelists. Albus looked over at Molly as she put a hand to her chin and nodded. He heard her mutter, "Interesting. What's he up to?"
"Salimotor!" came Alec's muffled shout from the middle of the new grassland. Alec's head suddenly poked out of the top of the grass—and then, so did the rest of his body. Albus remembered that spell from Professor Plinky's duel with Professor Valon—it was the Jumping Charm. Alec flew into the air, feet flying clear over the top of the grass, and he pointed his wand down and cried, "Duro!"
He landed ten feet above the ground—the grass below him had become so solid that he could stand on the tips of the blades. He looked around at the grass, and noticed movement in a few blades in front of him.
He twirled his wand in that direction, and yelled, "Expelliarmus!"
A wand flew out of the grass and clattered into the barrier.
A whistle sounded, signifying the end of the duel. Professors Valon and Plinky waved their wands, causing the grass to recede all the way into the floor again and disappear. Rose Weasley stood there, her expression a mixture of shock and mild irritation.
"The winner of this duel is Alec McKinnon!"
"Whoa," said Albus; Holly was cheering.
"That's six points to Ravenclaw, and three to Gryffindor," said Professor Longbottom. "Excellent work, Alec. The second years' tournament will now begin! Please come up as quickly as possible when I call your name, because we don't know how much time we will need for our later duels, we could be here all night. Red Pierce of Slytherin and Star Cican of Ravenclaw!"
"It'll take longer as we go up in years, I think," said Molly. "We've got some great duelists in the upper ranks."
Holly poked Albus's waist. "Hey," she whispered. "I beat Alec, and Alec beat Rose and Aidan. Does that mean I'm better than Rose and Aidan?"
Alec's improved a lot since you beat him, Albus thought, but instead he said, "Yeah, it definitely does!"
Holly grinned and turned back to watch the new match.
The second years' tournament was almost as short as the first years'. The Slytherin named Red Pierce beat Star Cican in Ravenclaw. Then Roxanne Weasley made short work of a Hufflepuff named Amber Redden.
When Roxanne and Pierce had finished bowing in the second years' final, Red Pierce gave a complicated wave of his wand and yelled, "Serpensortia!"
A snake burst out of the end of his wand and hissed at Roxanne. She squealed and jumped backwards, and did not notice Pierce firing a Body-Bind curse at her. The match was over in a little under three seconds.
The third years' tournament leaned the other way on the Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry. Lucy Weasley defeated a Slytherin named Seth Wilbanks. Mia Moon's sister Kalina was apparently not just good at Quidditch; she'd taken the Ravenclaw spot and defeated Jack Jumpdecker. The Hufflepuffs in the audience were very displeased; their House had yet to win a single duel.
Lucy and Kalina's duel was much longer than any of the others, mainly due to the fact that both duelists had complete mastery of the Shield Charm. After a lot of failed attempts, Lucy finally got in a jinx which caused the floor under Kalina to turn into ice. Kalina toppled to the floor and was relieved of her wand, and Gryffindor took its first championship title in the Dueling Tournament. Lucy was as perfect as her parents; Molly, however, was a bit more outgoing. The duels so far had all been very straight-forward, with not much creativity—mostly it was the same spells: Shield Charms, Body-Binds, Disarming, and Dissipation. Stunning would probably start coming into play soon. But if Albus knew Molly (and he did), she was going to make it fun. He couldn't wait to see her duels.
Louis Weasley had taken the fourth-year Gryffindor spot with no losses, and he continued his winning streak through Tommy Tattermore of Ravenclaw. Hufflepuff took its first victory through a boy named Owen Ashdown who defeated Red Pierce's brother in Slytherin, and the crowd was pulling for him, but he lost rather easily to Louis's effortless dueling. He was the only fourth-year who seemed to have control over the Stunning Spell, and the Shield Charms it encountered weren't powerful enough to stop the entire spell. Louis was never on the defense.
And then it was Molly's turn. Her first match was against a dreadfully bad duelist from Slytherin named Lou Gibrand; it was a wonder he'd taken the Slytherin title in his year. Maybe it was just nerves. Molly shot five consecutive spells in the first second of the match, and Lou was knocked into the barrier unconscious by the end of the barrage. It happened so quickly that some of the audience turned to each other and asked what happened.
Her opponent was a Hufflepuff named Gabriella Garland who had defeated a Ravenclaw named Phillip Singleton. Gabriella also won handily, and, past the initial indifference to the younger tournaments, almost all of the people in attendance were watching when Molly and Gabriella took the stage.
They bowed to each other, then raised their wands to duel.
"Stupefy!" shouted Gabriella first.
"Protego! Stupefy!"
"Protego! Petrificus Totalus!"
Instead of countering the last one, Molly tumbled to one side, threw her wand out and shouted, "Cadesempra!"
Her move was unexpected and rapid. Molly's opponent was caught off-guard by the large blast radius of her spell; Gabriella flew head over heels backwards. It looked like she was out of the running as Molly brandished her wand once more and shouted, "Stupefy!"
Gabriella swished her wand, shattering the jet of light before it reached her—a nonverbal version of Dissipation that only required the defender's wand to slash through the spell as it traveled. As Gabriella continued to fall, she waved her wand wildly and shouted, "Incendio!"
The hula-hoop-shaped orange blast from Gabriella's wand spun through the air towards Molly for a fraction of a second before Molly ducked, and it clipped the top of her head.
Gabriella landed on four limbs and scrambled to her feet. Molly Weasley's eyes popped out of their sockets in fury as she extinguished her burning hair with her bare hand. "NOT MY HAIR, YOU BITCH!" she shrieked.
"Sportsmanship, girls!" cried Professor Westerling.
"Petrificus Totalus!" yelled Gabriella, stabbing her wand at Molly.
In one swift motion, Molly slashed through the curse, dissipating the spell before it hit her; then she slashed in the other direction, yelling "Stupefy!" and continued swishing her wand through the air in a circle, crying "Circumpulso!" as she gave the wand a final twirl.
As Gabriella let loose a Shield Charm to counter the Stunning Spell, a horizontal wave of light blasted out of Molly's wand. The light smashed into Gabriella's protective barrier and quickly phased through it, continuing to charge forward, delayed by the Shield Charm for no more than half a second.
The spell flashed as it made contact with Gabriella, and she staggered backwards; her Shield Charm disappeared.
"Stupefy!" Molly called out, and this time her aim was good: The Stunning Spell clipped Gabriella's shoulder as she fell. The Hufflepuff hit the floor, knocked out.
"The winner of this duel is Molly Weasley!"
The Gryffindors erupted into cheers while the Hufflepuffs buried their faces in their hands; they still had yet to win a tournament. Gryffindor had won three in a row.
The hopes of the Hufflepuffs were still alive, though. Besides, the older students' duels counted for more. The Hufflepuffs immediately set to making bets on how little time Euan would need to knock out his opponents; the average guess was about three seconds.
Molly jogged back over to her friends and gave knuckle punches to several of them. She winked at Albus.
Rose came jogging over. "What was that spell you used to get past her Shield Charm?" she asked enthusiastically.
Molly flashed a grin, happy that someone noticed her intelligent spell selection. "You mean Circumpulso? That's the Pulse Charm. It's not a powerful spell at all, but you can use it to gain an advantage if your opponent isn't expecting it—that's actually how Professor Desulgon won the 2016 Doubles Dueling Championship! The Pulse Charm looses a pulse that isn't affected by other magical defenses, which just knocks everyone nearby off-balance for a bit. It was invented as a method to get the attention of large, noisy crowds."
The sixth years' duels started on a downer for Gryffindor as Dominique lost to Nella Chelic, the Slytherin Quidditch Captain. Casey Cachwin of Hufflepuff defeated Lorraine Atkinson of Ravenclaw, but lost to Nella Chelic in the longest match yet, and finally, it was down to the seventh years' tournament. Albus caught the tall, handsome head of Euan Yodelhop through the crowd; he looked determined.
Euan faced Victoire first, and the match was terribly one-sided. The perfect Hufflepuff dreamboat was on the offensive during the entire match, and his finishing blow was so spectacularly played that it received cheers. Right as Victoire looked like she might have had a chance to get out of the defensive state, he parried her nonverbal Impediment Jinx, cast a spell into the side of the arena which Conjured a mirror, and then redirected her Stunning Spell into the mirror; the spell rebounded and hit Victoire at an angle she hadn't predicted.
"There you are," said Eftan; Albus turned to see Aidan, Alec, and Eftan approaching him and Holly. Holly waved to Alec and gave him a thumbs-up; Alec slightly blushed.
"Hey, how's it going," said Albus, patting the seats beside him.
"We came to watch Euan Yodelhop win," said Aidan.
"You're gonna be disappointed, it's gonna be Aethan Maddox," said Eftan confidently.
Aethan Maddox was stepping onto the arena now; he had cool, almost gray skin and an unshaven face, but the hair wasn't long enough to look scraggly. It made him look much older than anyone else there, and much cooler. His opponent, a Ravenclaw named Catina Bird, was clambering onto the arena; she was much taller than Albus was accustomed to seeing people, and had awkwardly long arms. She was also very tan and blonde, and had a very idiotic look on her face; she was a direct contrast to her opponent, with his rough and good looks and his serious demeanor.
"Bow and begin!" announced Professor Longbottom.
Catina Bird raised her wand and began firing Stunners at her opponent—just Stunners, about a dozen in a row. Aethan deflected each of them easily without breaking eye contact with Catina. Every once in a while, he snuck in an extra blow that Catina had to work hard to dodge or Dissipate; the spells were flying in strange paths towards Catina and had exotic colors. Never once did Aethan speak a word.
Catina's jets finally stopped as she tried to think of a different strategy. Instead, Aethan stepped forward and began an offensive barrage, firing spell after unknown spell at her, getting closer and closer to her until he was about five feet from her. She had no time to block, and his next jab was straight at her foot; a rope snaked around her entire body and she thudded to the floor. As silent as ever, he walked back to the other side of the raised arena as the barrier faded.
"Holy cow," said Holly. "He beat the pants off of her without using a single verbal spell!"
"Well, he wouldn't," said Eftan. "He's mute!"
"Mute?" said Albus, impressed. Everything this kid did had to be nonverbal; it was a wonder he passed his first few years. This must have been what qualified him to be Head Boy over the apparently perfect Euan Yodelhop.
"And finally, it's time for our last match! Euan Yodelhop against Aethan Maddox. Whenever you two are ready, bow and begin!"
"Time to really see who should have been Head Boy," said Aidan, leering at Eftan and grinning.
"Sure is," said Eftan.
Aethan and Euan bowed to each other, and then raised their wands.
It was a fantastic duel—neither duelist spoke a word in the entirety of the match. They both had the same advantage in that their opponent did not know what attack was coming. Neither did the audience, in fact; it was hard to keep up. Many spells were hard to recognize, but most of them were countered before striking, and so their effects were never realized and they were unidentifiable spells. Albus would have liked a narrator, or a set of Omnioculars that, instead of naming Quidditch moves, named spells.
Suddenly, with a loud blast, Euan Yodelhop rocketed across the arena into the air above Aethan Maddox. He cloaked himself in a Shield Charm and plummeted down directly on top of his surprised foe, and when he landed, he wrestled the wand right out of Aethan's hand by twisting the Slytherin's wrist, and he threw the wand to the side. Then he jumped back from his disarmed opponent and pumped a fist in victory.
It was an incredible move—seeing something involving physical strength was rare in a duel, and completely unexpected by everyone. Professor Longbottom announced the end of the duel, and Aidan was whooping in Eftan's face as the Hufflepuffs burst into cheers, taking their first tournament title.
"Who's Head Boy now?" yelled Aidan in triumph.
"Oh, come on," said Eftan, pouting. "Just because he won the duel doesn't make him any more qualified a Head Boy than Aethan."
"At least he got to show everyone who's superior," said Aidan.
Euan was astonishingly modest. He shook Aethan's hand and grinned sheepishly at the audience, and he looked almost uncomfortable when Professor Longbottom patted him on the back and called for another round of applause. Albus glanced over at Molly; she seemed to be staring at Euan's body (begrudgingly so) with most of the female population (and some of the guys).
At last, it was time for bed. The older students pushed their way to the front of the line of exiting students, and the first years were thus pushed to the back. Albus moved past the stands, which had just been Transfigured back into the House tables.
"Hey," said Albus, following Eftan and gesturing Aidan and Alec over. "You want to meet up to study for the Charms test tomorrow?"
"Sounds good," said Eftan. "Library, after lunch?"
"Great," said Aidan.
"Can I come?" asked Holly, who had appeared from nowhere.
"Sure!" said Albus.
Alec looked peeved. Albus hoped Holly wouldn't notice that.
"See you all tomorrow, then," said Eftan, yawning. He started to depart for his common room.
Albus turned to see Scorpius walking out of the Great Hall. Following him was the boy Albus recognized as Red Pierce. He seemed to be whisper-shouting at Scorpius, and though it was soft, Albus heard some of it as they walked his way.
"…losing to that scum, you really need to step it up, she's a half-blood, kid of a Mudblood and a blood traitor, what's wrong with you?"
His blood turned to boiling ice as he pieced together the meaning. Red Pierce was aggravated at Scorpius for losing to Rose—because Rose was a half-blood? He thought that all of those mentalities were gone.
Scorpius stopped when he looked up and saw Albus. Red Pierce kept walking, shaking his head, and brushed past Albus. He looked around and his eyes narrowed, and then he continued.
Last out of the Great Hall were some older Ravenclaws. As they passed Scorpius, one of them gave a twitch to their wand and Scorpius's feet were swept out from under his body; he fell flat on his back on the floor and the Ravenclaws laughed.
"Hey, what's your problem?" shouted Albus. The Ravenclaws stared him down, then rolled their eyes and continued down the hallway.
Scorpius jumped up and brushed some dust off his robe. He glared at Albus—a response that Albus had not anticipated. Why not a "thank you?"
"What?" shot Albus.
"Why are you doing this?" screamed Scorpius unexpectedly. "Why do you think I need your help?"
Albus pulled himself up to his full height and stared Scorpius in the eye. He glared, but spoke very calmly.
"Why do you think that I think that you need my help? When did I ever say that you needed my help?"
Scorpius looked momentarily flustered, but recovered.
"Well, good," he spat, "because I don't!"
"I never presumed such a thing," said Albus. "I know you don't need my help, I just thought that it couldn't hurt."
Scorpius apparently had no response to this, and he just swept past Albus, muttering to himself.
Eftan gave a short laugh. "Well, at least he's talking to you. He rarely talks to anyone."
"I'd be friends with him if he weren't so…" Albus scratched his head.
"Unfriendly?" said Alec.
"Sure."
Albus frowned. It had been a while since the last time he saw Scorpius bullied, but he always came to Scorpius's defense whenever he saw it happen. Unfortunately, he knew that there were probably many times in which he didn't see it happen.
"Leave him alone, Albus, he'll appreciate it a lot more if you do," murmured Eftan.
"I don't see what his problem is," sighed Albus.
"No one understands him," said Eftan. "Because no one understands what his problem is."
Albus gave that some thought.
"No, no, I didn't mean it like that," protested Eftan. "I didn't mean that you should try to find out more about him. I meant that he's not going to open up to anyone, so you might as well, er… stop trying."
"I feel really bad for him," said Albus.
"Then respect his wishes," shrugged Eftan. "Leave him be."
"Leave him be," huffed Albus. "Fine."
"I think he'd appreciate that, Albus," said Holly.
Albus stared down the hallway where Scorpius had disappeared. Maybe Scorpius just needed time. He turned back to his own path, reluctantly, and trudged forward. Was the problem that no one was friendly towards him? If so, that was a terrible cycle, that he never allowed anyone to extend a friendly hand and so remained mostly friendless. Was he really doing Scorpius a favor by leaving him alone? Maybe Scorpius just didn't know how to act to someone who had been friendly to him.
He went to sleep hoping that he had made a difference. Maybe the difference would take time to sink in.