I heard voices of encouragement from different sides, someone patting somebody on the shoulder, pushing him into the circle. That's funny. I drank a little, but the idea of "swinging fists" seemed very interesting to me. Just as I took a step forward, Hermione intercepted me by the arm.
"Is that even wise?" she asked anxiously.
"Not at all," I smiled back. "But if I win, there's a reward from the fluffy princess."
The girls who were standing next to us immediately blushed, not forgetting to give out the typical: "Whee!." Kindergarten, really.
"Max..."
"Everything will be fine. What have we guys never gotten in the face? It's routine."
"Ha!" clapped Seamus on my shoulder. "Well said!"
It's routine."
"Ha!" clapped Seamus on my shoulder. "My man!"
Walking to the center of the ring, to the mustachioed man, I looked around at the smirking and warming up guys from fourteen to seventeen or eighteen. Some were a little tipsy, but overall, nothing special, just guys.
"That's it? No more young braves?!" shouted the man, looking around the crowd questioningly. "Well, that's enough for us! How many of you are there? Aha... Okay... Twelve! That's great! Come on, let's split up into three men."
Guided by a way that he alone knew, the mustachioed redheaded man split us into four groups.
"You're all familiar with the idea of our fights, it's simple, but for newcomers, I'll tell you again! There are three people in one fight. Whoever stays on his feet goes to the next round. After the triples, the rest come out one on one. Then the last two. So! The first three! You!"
The man pointed his hand at one of the teams.
"According to the rules, from outerwear, pants, and shoes. Torso naked - there were precedents for concealed carry. All kicks except the knees. And yes! No magic! Get ready!"
To the hooting of the crowd, the boys quickly threw off their jackets and shirts, handing them to their comrades. I, on the other hand, looked around at everyone else. It was hard to tell, but nothing special: some a little fat, some thin, tall, short. The only one who stood out among the others was a redheaded boy about seventeen years old with broad shoulders. I think I stand out, too - I'm taller than my peers, and I've been working on myself for a year now... Damn, scars! Well, it's too late to think about it.
The other three dispersed around the edge of the circle, and the redheaded man gave the go-ahead. The boys didn't circle around, throwing themselves clumsily into the same pile, punching each other in the face. Lavishly, with swings and a youthful "Hey!" The crowd cheered, shouted, and yelled, "Hit him! Hit him!" But the guys didn't last long. One was knocked out with a double punch, and after about fifteen seconds, the second of the three guys ran out of steam and missed the first one swinging hook and then the second, falling over on his side.
"The first winner!" the mustachioed man jumped up to the medium-sized redheaded guy. A few others ran up with the man, picked up the losers, and dragged them to a vacant patch of ground among the spectators. There the guys were poured with water from buckets with relish, and they jumped, coming to their senses. One wizard waved his wand unnoticed by the Aurors, nodded, patted the boys on the shoulder, and gave each of them a bottle of potions.
Another fight followed, and then another. My threesome was the last. As I approached Hermione, who was standing in the front row among our classmates and other Hogwarts students, I threw off my jacket and T-shirt and handed them to the girl.
"Wow!" Seamus and Dean were surprised. "I think we shouldn't have ignored the library."
"Books are like that," Dean grinned. "Heavy. You'll build up quite a bit of muscle while you're carrying them."
As soon as I stepped back, I saw the girls literally pounce on Hermione with questions, giggling and nodding in my direction. Chatterboxes. My opponents were looking at me with apprehension. Yeah... They're kind of older. One's a little fat, one's a little thin. And that's about how the mustachioed man split us into threes - all different. Sneaky mustache bug.
"Fight!" shouted the sly bug.
Those two decided to team up and deal with me first. All right, then. Having shifted with them on the same line, I covered myself from the big guy with a thin one. From a broad, typical street right punch, I covered myself with a hard block with my left and immediately hit a straight one. I didn't use my hemomancy, but it looked like I had a good punch without it - the nose crunched with relish, and the guy was thrown to the second opponent. He brushed the fallen comrade off like a fly, and the fallen one collapsed on the grass of the ring, grabbing his nose, which was bleeding profusely.
The big guy tried to go to my feet, but I grabbed him by the hair, bouncing back and pushing him down, dropping him. Without a second thought, I slammed him on the back of the head, and he passed out - I'd used a lot of force. Maybe he even smashed his nose on the ground.
The first one to drop out recovered and stood up, scaring people with his face bloody as shit, his nose swollen and slightly displaced. His eyes were red with tears, almost impossible to hold back from this kind of trauma when he wasn't used to it. He was so angry.
"Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!" with a roar, the guy lunged at me, swinging his right.
Waiting for him to get closer and start striking, I moved to my right and hit him myself - the guy blocked. Another one. And another one. My punches were strong, and I even pushed him a little. Here he got tangled up in his legs and started to fall, spreading his arms to the side. Immediately I got close. The guy wasn't down yet, and I had already caught up with him with one punch to the head. The guy fell and wanted to cover with his hands again, but I was simply on top of him, pinning his hands to the ground with my knees. A finishing blow and the opponent was knocked out.
"And we have a winner!" the mustachioed man literally materialized next to me, grabbing my arm, lifting that one to the sky.
My pulse quickened slightly, my mood crept upward. There was even some excitement! Maybe I should really loosen the occlumency a little in terms of control? Confundus did not pass even in the middle of the year, even with a close and powerful performance.