Ch 7:

Harry led Jake to the Gryffindor common room, guiding him because Jake had never been there before. However, their arrival didn't go unnoticed, as curious and conflicted gazes from other students met them upon their arrival.

Jake, always one for light-hearted banter, broke the tension with a joking remark. "Hey, why's everyone got a long face?" he asked, a playful grin on his face. "Hogwarts officially has two champions, and they're both Gryffindors. Doesn't that prove we jocks are the best?" His words elicited a few chuckles from students around the room.

Amidst the mixed reactions, an angry Irish Gryffindor named Seamus couldn't hold back his frustration. "We're tired of all his showboating," he shouted, referring to Harry. "He always has to steal the spotlight. This was a chance for someone else to shine, and once again, he's going to take all the glory. We're sick of it."

Dean, another student in Harry's year, chimed in, echoing Seamus's sentiments. "Yeah, that's right," he agreed. "It's always Harry, Dumbledore's precious little Golden Boy. And now the whole school is once again going to turn against our house because of him."

Jake observed the room and noticed that about half of the Gryffindors were nodding along in agreement. It seemed these individuals had unresolved issues with Harry. "Huh, seems like these people had beef with Harry before," Jake thought to himself. He decided to address the situation head-on.

"Listen, guys and gals," Jake spoke up, his voice carrying across the common room. "Every single person, or at least most of you, who wanted to be in the tournament entered. And if the Goblet picked Terry over you, that's just how it is. There's nothing you can do about it. And you all grouping up together in the common room and whining is honestly pretty weak." Jake added his two cents, hoping to inject some reason into the conversation.

However, the complaints continued, with Ron Weasley, who Jake believed to be Harry's friend, accusing Harry of cheating. Jake was disappointed to see Ron turning against his friend. He glared at Ron and expressed his disapproval. "Hey, man, I gotta say, that's super lame. Just because you didn't get chosen, you immediately turn on your best mate? That's not cool at all," Jake reproached Ron, who looked slightly ashamed.

Jake then addressed the room once more, defending Harry's potential innocence. "And you all know what?" he declared. "Even if Harry did put his name in and managed to trick the Goblet, good for him. That means he managed to outsmart not only a couple-hundred-year-old magical object, but also Dumbledore himself. And to me, that's pretty damn impressive."

Fred and George, sitting at the back of the room, applauded Harry's supposed achievement. "Here, here!" "Damn right it was well done, Harry!" they exclaimed. "You are truly the son of a Marauder that we thought you were! Very impressive." They continued, trying to sway the mood of the room. Some of the angrier individuals seemed to be swayed by their lighthearted support. Outsmarting Dumbledore was no small feat in their eyes, even if that wasn't what actually happened…

As the tension lingered, Jake decided it was time to retire for the day. He called out to Harry, who was still standing on the floor for the fourth-year boys. "Alright, Harry, bright and early at 8:00 tomorrow. I'm going to show you some super awesome spells that will definitely help you out in this tournament. So be sure to be up," Jake said as he headed up to the fifth-year's floor where his assigned room was located.

Harry, feeling a mix of gratitude and relief, nodded at Jake's words. He appreciated his friend's support amidst the growing doubts and hostility from some of their fellow Gryffindors.

—

After a restful night's sleep, Jake woke up feeling refreshed. The magically enchanted beds at Hogwarts were incredibly comfortable, and he appreciated their soft fluffiness. As he made his way downstairs to the common room, he noticed Ron and Harry playing chess together. It seemed that Ron had apologized to Harry the previous night, and they had made up. Good for them! Hermione was nearby, engrossed in a thick book on magical math… Jake couldn't help but find the concept of magical math horrifying. Wasn't magic supposed to disprove math!?

"Alright, Harry, and you too if you want to come, let's head outside by the lake so we don't accidentally blow up the school or something. I haven't tested these spells, and I'm not sure how strong they are," Jake suggested.

"How do you know if you've learned the spells if you've never actually used them?" Hermione asked smugly.

"I don't know," Jake answered thoughtfully. "It's like as soon as I read about them in the book and learned how to do them, it just clicked in my mind, and I knew I could do them. That's really the only way I can explain it."

The group of four students exited the Gryffindor common room and headed outside toward the lake. Once they reached the grassy shore, Jake turned to the three younger students.

"Alright, guys, what's the first thing any aspiring mage should know if they're thinking about combat with other magical people?" Jake asked.

"The Expelliarmus charm?" Harry suggested.

"The stunning spell," Ron chimed in.

"How to cast a shield," Hermione answered correctly.

Jake pointed at Hermione with a nod. "You got it in one, young lady," he said, winking at her. Hermione grumbled, "You're only two years older than me."

"Alright, guys, I'm going to cast the Shield Charm, and I want you to fire some of your strongest spells at me," Jake instructed. Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged surprised glances. Did Jake really think his shield could withstand all three of their spells simultaneously?

"Is that safe?" Harry asked cautiously.

"Don't worry about it," Jake reassured them. "Alright, here I go. Protego!" As he said the incantation, a massive shield appeared in front of him. It was much larger and thicker than any Protego they had seen before, measuring at least 10 feet wide and nearly a foot thick. The shield seemed impenetrable, and what amazed them even more was that Jake cast it wandlessly. They had never witnessed wandless magic before!

"Wow, holy crap!" Ron exclaimed, while Harry and Hermione nodded in agreement. "That's the coolest shield I've ever seen. It's just a giant wall of pure magic. I don't think we'll be able to scratch that thing, but I'll give it a shot." Ron pointed his wand at Jake and cast the Bombarda spell, but it fizzled out upon contact with the shield.

"You'll have to do better than that," Jake taunted, making Ron and Harry pout in annoyance.

"Come on, mate," Ron said. "We're only fourth-years, and that's the strongest spell we know." Harry nodded in agreement.

Hermione glared at the two boys, irritated by their lack of effort. "Maybe if you two picked up a book once in a while, you'd know some stronger spells. Let me demonstrate." She pointed her wand at Jake's shield and cast the Reducto spell, a more powerful blasting charm. The spell hit the shield with a better-sounding explosion, but it still had no effect… Hermione looked down in disappointment. Jake chuckled, amused by her failed attempt to outshine Harry and Ron.

"Alright, so now that you've seen my super awesome shield in action, do you want me to teach you how to cast it?" Jake asked, trying to hide his disappointment at their lack of surprise.

Ron spoke up on behalf of the group. "Mate, hate to break it to you, but we all learned how to cast Protego in our second year. It's the most basic shield charm. I have no idea why yours is so much stronger, though. You must just have a ton of magical power and you're severely overcharging it." Ron said, his voice tinged with a bit of envy.

"Even if you have a lot of magic, you're kind of wasting a lot overpowering a mere protego. You should learn a more advanced shield." Hermione sagely chimed in.

"Do you know any better shields?" Jake curiously asked her.

Hermione just shook her head no. "They don't teach the super advanced spells until after newts are completed. They don't want students hurting themselves. Those spells also aren't in the regular section of the library." She said disappointed in herself for not knowing something.

"Huh, well, that's disappointing. It appears that you guys already know two of the spells that I found out yesterday. The other one was Bombarda as well," Jake said. "Hey, how about you guys cast Protego, and I'll fire a Bombarda at your shields. Let's see how well they hold up." After he said that, the three students took horrified looks on their faces. If his shield spell was so powerful, his Bombarda might actually rip through their shields and kill them all. The three of them frantically shook their heads, refusing to let him cast magic at them. They didn't want to die, after all.

Jake just let out a sigh of disappointment. "Well, at least Harry knew two of the spells I wanted to teach him. Maybe he knows the third one as well, who knows." Jake thought they were the most basic yet useful of all the spells he learned. Time for him to give a demonstration of the third one for them. "Alright then, everybody, why don't you take a couple steps back as I demonstrate the third most useful spell I found yesterday from the library." Jake turned towards the lake and pointed his hand at it, then he cast the spell as he channeled his magic through his arm. "Incendio!" he called out.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione had horrified looks on their faces as they witnessed Jake cast his spell. Incendio was normally just a small spell that could conjure a small stream of fire, not even enough to be lethal towards a person, just enough to burn them slightly. Jake's Incendio spell, however, was an absolute torrent of fire. Harry and Hermione looked like a bomb had just gone off over the school's lake. None of the three of them had ever even seen Fiendfyre in person, but they could imagine this is what it looked like as Jake's flamethrower fired out, 20 feet thick and at least a dozen feet high of pure devastation and heat that absolutely evaporated all the water it touched! And then... boom! The spell actually caused a massive steam explosion that sent ripples across the entire lake with an incredibly loud blast, knocking them all backward a couple of feet!

Jake just smiled at the sheer devastation his flamethrower spell had just caused. "That was freaking awesome!" he thought to himself in glee. When learning magic, this is exactly what you imagined it being: super awesome fire spells, explosions, magical shields, the absolute works for anyone who's ever enjoyed a video game before! As he finished his thought, he turned back from the lake to the three younger students and saw the complete shock on their faces. Maybe he overdid it a bit...

"Well, what do you all think about that? Do you guys know this spell too? Because judging from your faces, clearly you don't. Wasn't it awesome!?" Jake asked the somewhat terrified three younger students.

The three of them just nodded along as Jake spoke, not wanting to argue with him apparently. Hermione absolutely didn't even want to argue that they already knew the spell. Did they even know the spell? Clearly, HIS was on a whole different level! Were they doing it wrong the whole time? Was everyone doing it wrong the whole time? Because that clearly was not an Incendio. Hermione thought to herself in shock, 'That was definitely the legendary dark spell, Fiendfyre!'

"Well, Harry, I'm going to head up to the Great Hall and grab some food. I want you to stay out here for at least half an hour and practice the Incendio spell over the lake. Try to cast it at least half as strong as I did," Jake instructed, leaving Harry blankly nodding in response. "See you later, guys!" Jake called as he made his way back to the castle.

As they watched Jake leave, Harry turned to the others. "So, should I actually practice?" he asked, unsure.

"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt," Ron replied with a smirk. "Though I highly doubt you'll get anywhere close to Jake's level. That fire spell was incredible. Good thing Seamus wasn't here; he might have had a heart attack from that explosion."

Harry laughed at Ron's comment and approached the lake, preparing to cast his own Incendio spell. However, before he could do so, a dozen aquatic heads emerged from the water, belonging to the lake's mermaids. They glared at Harry, carrying spears and looking furious.

"Oh wow," Hermione gasped in awe. "It's the lake mermaids! I've never seen them before, let alone a dozen of them. They're so beautiful, but... oh no, they look mad!"

Suddenly, the mermaids let out an unholy shriek, the loudest sound the students had ever heard. They all clutched their ears in agony. Hermione shouted, "I don't think they liked Jake casting that massive explosion on their lake! We have to get out of here!" Hermione exclaimed, fear evident in her voice.

The three of them wasted no time and quickly turned to flee from the enraged mermaids. The mermaids' shrieks continued to echo behind them, filled with anger and annoyance at having their peaceful sanctuary disrupted by the students' reckless actions. As they ran, Harry, Ron, and Hermione could already imagine the formal complaint the mermaids would lodge with the Headmaster against them. They didn't do it! It was Jake! They were internally sobbing at being framed….