*****
Hogwarts Castle. "Dueling" Hall.
There were two people on the podium: the Hero of Magical England and a little-known magician, who, however, showed promise of becoming a powerful magician.
So they bowed to each other, and then stood in convenient positions for attack.
"I remind you: we will follow the rules," the goblin said loudly to the floor, standing on a special platform intended for judges. - On the count of three, you can start the fight.
All the students looked with anticipation and excitement at the two young magicians who stood in front of them. Most of them believed that Potter should undoubtedly win. However, those who had even heard of his opponent had reasonable doubts.
- Do you think he will win? — Astoria asked excitedly (which is not typical for her), having uttered the phrase in a matter of moments.
"I don't know," Neville shrugged, not at all worried about his friend. "The question is, what does Kol decide to show us all?"
"What are you talking about?" the snake asked, puzzled.
- The battle! — Professor Charm's shout did not allow her to finish her sentence, forcing her to turn all her attention to herself.
*Pop* A blue bolt of lightning broke the sound barrier and flew towards Calder. A bright flash then blinded everyone's eyes.
- Kya! - the especially impressionable girls screamed.
Waves ran across the surface of the dome, inviting a spell. Wilson did not defend himself, but simply moved his head to the side, letting the spell pass him by.
Seeing the result, Potter just smiled contentedly. A wave of the wand and several steel daggers imbued with mana fly towards the opponent. Transfiguration at its finest.
An elusively quick stroke of the wand and an impenetrable ice shield appears in front of Calder, which withstands the blow of steel daggers with honor. One more swing, and the whole structure "flows" into a dozen ice daggers, exactly like the ones Harry sent. A moment and they rush to the Boy Who Lived.
By rolling to the side, Potter thereby avoided most of the blades (they hit the dome and scattered into ice crumbs). He defended himself from the others with the incredible strength of Protego, but even so, the click on the handle itself entered into a transparent film.
"Not bad, Wilson," Potter suddenly spoke, rising to his feet. "You really don't waste your time at this school." Not like some - a fleeting glance towards the quiet students.
However, his opponent was not inclined to talk. He barely audibly whispered something under his breath and with a wave of his wand sent an energy slash at Potter that hummed and picked up speed.
The smile disappeared from Harry's face, becoming serious, he created a steel wall in front of him, hoping to protect himself from the spell.
*Scree* The metal of the wall creaked pitifully, only to shatter into billions of fragments a second later.
A rain of metal particles began to fall, glittering in the rays of light.
- Fluctus! (Wave) - A wave of compressed air sent by Potter picked up the metal parts and rushed towards Calder with a roar.
Without waiting for the result, Harry fired a few more spells, just to boot.
*Bam!* Faced with the earthen wall (which grew in front of Wilson in a second), the wind fell. The same fate befell two rays of the spell, colliding with the wall, they scattered into colored sparks.
- Bombarda! — a bright scarlet ball crashed into the wall with a roar, only to explode a second later, destroying the wall. Fragments of earth like shrapnel scattered in different directions.
A cloud of dust rose, blocking the view. Everyone looked at him in horror. Of course, to cast a dangerous spell on a classmate... Only a couple of reasonable ones still continued to relax and look into this cloud.
"Grande Momentun," Wilson's icy voice swelled in the silence. Following his command, the entire dust cloud was dispersed by powerful gusts of wind.
Everyone looked with some shock at Calder, who still stood still and continued to look at the world with his indifferent eyes.
Looking at his opponent and not noticing that his attacks did not bring any results, the Hero began to slowly boil.
- Great! Just great! — his ringing voice was heard again in the silence. - Let's raise the stakes! Nuntii sors! (Messengers of Fate)
In an instant, about three dozen small holes appeared around Harry. From which, a moment later, a whole flock of black crows appeared.
- Kar! — dozens of loud sounds filled the space.
Slashing his wand from top to bottom, like a sword, Potter sent his army to attack.
- Bombarda! Seko!...
Many spells coupled with birds rushed towards the young man. However, when he saw this whole picture, he did not stand there like a pillar. Pointing his wand at himself, he muttered:
"Quaestum (intensification)," his body was engulfed in as many weak flashes as possible, only to fall a moment later as a light film over his entire body.
Swing - many ice plates appear in front of him. One more swing, and they began to dance in a circle.
As soon as the birds fly into the affected area, one of the plates flies out to cut them off. Collision - explosion.
- Ignis Turbine! (Fire tornado) - all the fire that formed after the explosion swirled around Calder, cutting off his path to escape.
Actions began to dance. The ice wave from Calder destroyed the fire tornado. Ice spears rushed towards Potter, but were intercepted halfway by fireballs. There was an explosion.
With a wave of his wand and a quick shout, the ground around Wilson turns into a swamp. Jumping into the air, Calder turned the ground into an icy wasteland with one swing.
The fight continued. On the one hand, a wide variety of ice spells flew: bombs that froze everything around; spears and swords pierce most defensive spells; ice snakes, bats and other living creatures. In contrast to it, the spells of fire and earth were directed: puddles and walls of mud; stone peaks; fireballs; lava monsters (Some kind of golem that looked very scary, but after a second it was impaled on a pike).
Two opposites collided. Ice versus fire and earth. Explosions, shock waves, rising and falling temperatures, snowfall and rain of fire. In just five minutes, they used so many different spells that most of the children felt useless.
Another loud explosion sounded, accompanied by gusts of hot and icy wind.
- Yes, they will kill each other! — the third-year girl couldn't stand it. "Shouldn't you stop them!?" — an accusatory cry was directed towards the professors.
"We are in complete control of the situation, my dear," a little flirtation from Lockhart, what could be more familiar? If only he had looked at the girl, instead of taking his eyes off the duel unfolding in front of him.
"I would advise you, Miss Lawrence," the gloomy professor intervened in the conversation. - Watch the duel more closely. Maybe you will learn something - Snape without reproaches is not Snape.
Gradually, the momentum of the battle began to subside, which allowed the audience to look at what was going on there?
- How many times can I repeat this??? - Potter shouted angrily, sending another fireball at his opponent. A second later, he collided with the same ball, but ice. - Arrr!
And it's true that for every spell, be it a tornado, a sword, a spear, a bomb or a bird, Calder answered exactly the same, but made of ice. Ice Seko, ice bombard, ice fetters... all of this was "copied" by him and directed against the Hero.
- Why is he doing this? - Astoria asked, not addressing anyone, looking carefully at the battle.
"It drives the opponent crazy," Neville answered her seriously. "Whether it's charms, spells, or even movements - Calder masterfully repeats this, though in his own way, which cannot help but infuriate him," he fell silent for a while, but then continued. "Once during a training sparring he used this method against me. You can't even imagine how infuriating this is.
"Kol is making Harry's brainsnatchers prevent him from thinking clearly," Luna contributed, looking only at Calder. "Harry isn't himself anymore."
And indeed, Potter's spells became stronger and stronger, and he himself was shaking violently. Shortness of breath appeared.
- Vincula prae dolore! (chains of agony) - suddenly for everyone, Potter pulled himself together and unexpectedly sent a spell towards Calder.
- Aaah!
Hundreds of screams rang out throughout the hall. Dozens of scarlet holes appeared around the incomprehensible Calder.
*Ring-ring* The screams were replaced by the sounds of hundreds of chain links. From those same gaps chains with spikes burst out and a moment later entwined Calder's figure. Blood flowed.
- Kya! - the screams of children filled the hall. Some especially impressionable people fainted.
And Potter just looked at it all indifferently. He understood from the very beginning what Wilson was up to, so he played along. And when he waited for the right moment, he struck. Everything is as true magicians do in a direct collision.
"Well, that was fun," Potter said calmly, and then turned to the professor and said. - I think it's time to end the fight.
-What are you talking about, young man? — the half-goblin did not understand him. His grin alerted the hero. - The battle is not over yet.
- What are you talking about? ...
"Tempus sperarum glacialis (Ice Age)," his opponent's calm voice coming from right behind him took him by surprise.
As soon as he turned around, his body was covered with indestructible ice, and he felt a blade at his throat. Slowly, Wilson appeared in front of him, holding an ice blade to his pride.
— The winner is Calder Wilson! — the loud voice of the half-goblin signaled the end of the duel.
With a slight crunch, all the ice broke into crystals, which a moment later were picked up by the wind (and where it came from) and carried to the ceiling of the Great Hall.
*****
—The winner is Calder Wilson! — the professor's cry ended our duel. With a light pop, the dome protecting Potter and me from everyone disappeared.
A small message and my spell is dispelled. Well, it was a "good" duel. I didn't show anything beyond what was expected of me, but I saw quite a lot.
- How? - Potter's question sounded quite quietly, but I heard it. I wave my wand and an exact copy of me appears next to me. "Illusion," his eyes flashed with realization. - But the chains of agony dispel light spells.
Another swing and my copy appears next to me, but made of ice. Another wave and the illusion falls on her.
"During the dust cloud, you replaced yourself with a puppet," I see he understood everything. "And then he was simply next to her, hidden by his own ice." And when I was distracted by my "victory", it crept up on me under the spell of illusion.
"That's right," a slight nod on my part. - You're absolutely right. If you hadn't been distracted, I would have lost.
- Why is that? - He looked at me warily.
"I'm on the verge of exhaustion," I lied. I still have about forty percent of the reserve left. De Harry himself had about twenty. Hmm, if I didn't need this production, I could have finished it faster. Eh
"Ha ha ha," Potter's laughter echoed throughout the hall. "My pride ruined me, but I was one step away from victory." - Here he fell silent, and then extended his hand to me. - Congratulations.
"Thank you," I shook the outstretched hand.
The next fifteen minutes were filled with nothing but conversations. All the students were animatedly discussing what had happened, and the professors "scold" us. They say we shouldn't have used such powerful spells. Especially Potter's chains of agony. The whole meaning lies in the name - incomparable pain will overwhelm your mind. Spikes are needed for better contact and that's all.
Finally, after another ten minutes of analyzing the mistakes (already milking everyone) and explaining where we needed to go, we were released. The next lesson is tomorrow. While we are on vacation, professors can afford this.
Well, it was a productive activity. I was once again convinced of Lockhart's abilities, received evidence that Potter was knowledgeable at least in Occlumency (he couldn't suppress emotions so quickly without it. And with empathy, I perfectly felt that I was experiencing all that anger. It is possible that it was artificially inflated .), and maybe even more.
Well, now the couple will do their training, and then start preparing for Yule. But there are only a few days left... Although the celebration begins on the twentieth of December, the ritual itself...
*****
Twenty-fourth December. Evening. Hogwarts Castle. Ravenclaw Common Room.
Going down to the living room of my faculty, I noticed that Astoria and Luna were already waiting for me, sitting by the fireplace. As soon as they saw me, they immediately jumped up from their seats.
- Well, are you ready? - I said and examined them. Hmm, everyone has a bag of gifts. Well, that's not bad.
"Yes," Astoria was positive as always.
"Yeah," Luna nodded slightly. Well, there's nothing to say about her.
"Then let's go," turning around on the spot and straightening the bag hanging from my shoulder, I headed towards the exit.
As you might guess, I finally decided to perform the ritual with my friends. The more magicians, the better. And their Mana is not contaminated by anything (like some magicians), and there are no serious curses (I still remember Weasley's aura. So far I have not found an explanation for this phenomenon). So everything should be fine.
Going down to the stairs we met Neva there. After greeting him, we went together to one of the secret exits (near the library).
While we walked in silence, I thought about the events of the last few days. My actions during the duel. As it is not difficult to guess, the students present then told everyone they could about our duel with Harry. And most importantly, they set everything up in such a way that Potter allowed me to win. Of course, some will understand that in a real battle he would already be dead, but this is insignificant.
Because of this, the whole castle is shaking. Whispers can be heard on every corner. Well, the better the impression made, the better for me. Our reputation is everything (how I don't want to do this. I would like a book in my hands and a remote corner...)
Potter himself faded into the background, or rather the theme of the "heir". Of course, this is temporary, but this is enough for the Hero for now. From time to time I experience positive emotions directed at me from him. Great.
Ten minutes later we approached the desired passage. But they were already waiting for us there. Three people: Potter, Greengrass and Crystal.
Well, it seems I know who is to blame.
*****