"Now, I will end the duel." He declared, his coat fluttering in the wind.
Silence pervaded the lakeside, only disturbed by the waves, the result of the giant squid's tentacles peeking at the sky, and the rustling of clothes.
Before Smith could retort to Leon's statement, dust moved in front of Leon, taking the form of a mighty sea serpent. With the thickness of a wrist, it glided gracefully towards Smith, like it was swimming across the land.
With a snort, Smith sent a spell sailing towards the serpent made of earth.
The serpent didn't even slow down as the spell slammed down, it maintained its pace and continued to move towards the upset Hufflepuff.
Smith barraged the serpent with spells. Sadly, the beast made of the earth didn't even flinch at the spells. They vanished as soon as they touched its mighty scales.
He went through his repertoire of spells and wasn't met with success, so he changed his target, only for Leon to flick away spells aimed at him.
Unlike what Smith thought, Leon wasn't standing still from the start of the duel, he was enchanting.
As the use of potions is forbidden, his final product is temporary and less powerful, but not something Smith can counter - he made sure of that.
Like an unstoppable juggernaut, the serpent slowly but surely reached Smith with an assured, lazy gait.
Smith jumped away from the serpent and jabbed his wand at the lake again. Before the orbs of water could even float, the serpent swiftly latched onto his leg with the speed of …. a serpent biting onto its prey, making him shift his focus again.
The serpent was moving slowly because Leon wanted it to, not because it couldn't move faster, and Smith witnessed its speed firsthand for a second.
The Hufflepuff gritted his teeth and renewed his assault on the serpent, but it shrugged off the spells like they were water drops.
The serpent slowly twisted around his ankle, moving with the leisurely pace of a hunter who knew its prey wasn't going anywhere.
Smith tried his hardest to stop the inevitable, but the mighty serpent didn't even budge from its path.
He even switched back to peppering Leon with spells, which the other Hufflepuff effortlessly flicked away.
And when he tried to use the spell that floats the water again, the serpent yanked him off his feet, sending him crashing onto the ground.
Smith struggled on the ground before he went for the spell again.
Only for the enchanted dust to pull on his legs again, flipping him to the ground.
Getting the silent warning, Smith ignored the spell and continued to target the serpent.
The silence grew harsh as everyone watched Smith flail around to escape from the serpent or hurt Leon.
"Yield, Smith. There is no shame in giving in when the odds are insurmountable." Leon spoke, his voice neutral.
"No," Smith's voice cracked as he answered. He continued his struggle but before long the serpent reached his arm and slowly twisted his wand arm behind him, taking his wand from him as he struggled on his knees.
"The Winner is Leon!" Tonks announced and with a flick of her wand, the serpent dissolved into dust.
Smith grabbed his wand before running away, his head lowered.
The crowd was silent before cheers resounded, deafening Leon and making the Squid peek out from the lake.
'Damn! I know I am doing this not to let him become a problem for me at unexpected times, but why do I feel like I bullied him?'
The Hufflepuff basked in the cheers with a bittersweet aftertaste and made his way towards his friends.
"Was I too hard on him?" he asked Susan.
"No way, Champ. If anything, you were too soft on him, knowing Smith he would have done more to you if he was in your position." Tonks draped her arm around his shoulder and spoke.
"Champ, Huh! I am not a squirt, anymore?" he asked with a smirk.
"It's a one-time thing, you are still a squirt to me, firstie, don't let it get to your head. If you think your spells give you a leg up on me, you are dead wrong, you couldn't even defeat Cedric who is two years older than you," she said gesturing towards Cedric who was walking towards them with a frown on his face.
A group of Hufflepuffs shuffled in the back as they watched Cedric make his way towards Leon.
"Was it necessary, Leon?" Cedric questioned with a deep frown on his face.
"He is your housemate and-"
"Oh! Come off it, Ced. Leon showed too much restraint if you ask me." Tonks interrupted him.
"I think you also know Smith would have done much worse, Cedric." Susan too chimed in, making Hannah bob her head.
"It doesn't mean, you should needlessly humiliate him in front of everyone, that's not right." Cedric looked conflicted as he spoke.
"I didn't talk about the duel to anyone nor did my friends," Leon gestured towards the girls who supported his claim by nodding their heads. "And there was a reason why drawn out the match, I believe if I show him the crippling distance between us, either he will train madly to cover the distance or will mind his own business from now. Both choices make sure he won't disturb my life at least for some time." Leon explained.
While Cedric is a little naïve in Leon's opinion, he still tries to do what's best for the house, that nature at least gets the older student an explanation from him.
Cedric took a deep breath, his eyes glazing over as he thought things through.
"By the way, Leon. How did you practice the dueler's flick?" Susan asked.
"I helped him.. well help is a big word, he just asked me to fire a spell at him, which he flicked away, easily," Ernie replied, walking up to him with Justin.
"You were so awesome out there, man. The way you just flicked the spells away was just so.. anyway, I thought he practiced the flicks with you." Ernie shook his head and narrowed his eyes.
"I have my ways," Leon shrugged, gesturing for Susan to stay silent.
That was the only time Leon used the dueler's flick before today's match. He didn't want to disturb Susan and Hannah as they were busy with the upcoming quidditch match and frankly, he didn't see the need.
Reaching the Un stage made his movements very efficient- no lightning-fast reflexes or increase in his thought speed though.
As long as he was battle-ready, i.e., he had the thought of deflecting every spell that came his way before the barrage of spells began, he was golden.
It was as if the hardware of his mind was upgraded, as long as the software -thought- entered input, the output would be out very quickly.
In the duel, his mind gave him the real-time pattern he should move his hand in, it didn't give him the dexterity to follow through the pattern though.
If before he could visualize the chess board for the next three turns in an instant- all possible outcomes of his and his opponents taken into account- Now he can visualize, the next seven turns.
While the increase in number is small, the qualitative upgrade required for his brain is not.
However, this didn't mean he could listen, understand, and respond to six different conversations though, maybe he could follow three fast conversations as his brain has to work in real-time, unlike chess or the spells which have obvious patterns they follow.
Leon didn't know how his ancestors picked and chose to enhance different aspects of the brain, but he knew what the answer was going to be if he asked anyway.
After a long-winded self-praise, the word magic will be the answer given by his narcissistic ancestor or it will be because he's a genius.
"Here is your money," Rose broke into the Hufflepuff group and haned him a bag.
"Nice!" Leon stuffed it into his pocket after checking it's weight.
"Cool match, dude." Ron Weasley gave him a half-hearted thump up, looking vexed before he went away with the other Gryffindor boys.
"What's with him?" Cedric asked.
"He just lost some money; he thought his brothers wouldn't mistake when giving out odds and betted against Leo. He should have listened to me," Rose answered in a smug tone.
"I still think you shouldn't gamble," Hermoine muttered behind Rose, making the Potter throw her hands up.
"Why do you think so, Ms Granger?" The popular boy asked, his eyes narrowing on the muggle-born Gryffindor.
"Well! It's gambling, it's wrong." The straight-haired Gryff stuttered out like it was obvious.
"You know you could get addicted.."
Leon gestured to his friends to follow him. Tonks smirked towards Cedric before walking away, mumbling about collecting her earnings.
Rose hesitated, torn between waiting for her friend- who was deep in conversation with Cedric about the severe consequences of being a weak-willed wizard -or joining us. After a moment's deliberation, she sighed and decided to wait for Hermione.
Hannah giggled, as Susan waved, at the irritated Potter before hiding behind her friend as she was subjected to a death glare by the girl who lived.
"So, Susan, ready for our duel?"
She responded by hitting him on the shoulder.
"Not now, let me learn some spells to counter the dueler's flick. Otherwise, it won't be a duel," she said, leveling a mild glare at Leon.
"I thought at least you if not Smith would have a spell that counters flicking, with you know, you guys learning, stunning charm and all."
"Flicking is outdated and mostly used as a last resort in duels of today as it disturbs spell chains and has famous counter spells that look no different than a standard stupefy," Susan explained, her voice taking a deeper tone and her back stiff like she was emulating someone.
"And before you ask, the counter spells explode when they near you- physical explosions, magical explosions and some spells even divide or pick up speed, so flicking isn't used anymore, thus my aunt didn't think I would face a guy like you who dominates a duel without spell chains, especially as a student."
'Maybe I should create some spell chains of my own. On second thought, I had already done it with me using the orbs to create that heat ray. After all, I perfectly melded the wand movements of three different Lumos variations together.' Leon let out a smile at the thought of the heat ray he created.
'Man, I love magic.'
"The odds the twins gave out are correct, you are the abnormal one, dueling is not about flinging spells. It is about footwork, quick thinking, and optimized spell repertoire. You even have to mesh your footwork with spell chains, it's an art. You just.. I don't what to call it." Susan pouted.
"Looks like someone loves dueling." Leon looked at the pouting girl with a raised eyebrow.
"She loves it, you should have seen her. She practiced the three basic footwork more than any dance steps." Hannah chimed in, poking at Susan's cheek.
Leon stopped near a tree and started searching the ground as Hannah started to annoy Susan by poking her face.
"Yep! Let's go to our common room," he said wearing the platinum ring that he hid near the tree roots.
"What's that?" Hannah asked, eyeing his hand, her game with Susan quickly forgotten.
"It's a ring made of platinum, my enchanting aid number one. Generally, every enchanting club member gets gifted with three different types of metal(aids)- not gold or platinum. But I asked for one aid, platinum, instead of three." Leon explained thumbing the ring.
"We know that! You were always mumbling about how unfair that platinum has so little essence compared to other metals. Hannah," She shook her head.
"We are wondering whether you used it in the duel." Susan caught his arm and dragged him away from other students as she whispered.
"Nah! It was my backup plan. If Smith knew a spell that could stop or destroy the serpent made of soil, I would have used platinum essence to make it more inert to his spells. And why are you whispering, I don't think it can be called cheating even if I did use the platinum essence, I checked the rules."
"That's because people don't have time to enchant things in a duel, they generally don't stand around like you did." Susan shook her head like she couldn't believe him. "Do you want Smith hopes to raise again, thinking you only won because of the platinum?"
"Yeah! You are right. And you guys didn't reply earlier, what did you guys think of the duel?"
"You were so cool! You didn't even move a single inch in the entire duel, and .. and you looked so in control the whole time like you were entertaining your aunt's kid." Hannah started talking slowly at first before gushing about how the wind tousled his uniform at the right time, how his hair ruffled as the spells went soaring past him etc.
As Hannah caught, Susan spoke.
"You were very good." She smiled at him. "But I thought you were taking too many chances, I knew what you were trying to do, but Smith could have surprised you," she continued her smile turning into a slight frown.
"Even I was worried he was going to turn the tables, so I had many backup plans, but luckily nothing like that happened," Leon confessed.
His mind was running at full steam during the whole duel, always on the lookout for things outside of his prediction.
It was a little stressful, Leon preferred to surprise his opponents and wrap the battle up quickly. Just like he did with the Slytherins.
"Really? You looked so composed in the field like even a giant couldn't make you move a step." Hannah tilted her head.
"Ha! Obviously, I didn't want Smith to know I was worried. But you are right about the giant though. I wouldn't take a step back when confronted by a hulking brute of 30 ft… I would have laid down, hoping the giant didn't notice me." He laughed.
"I think other than Dumbledore, everyone will take more than one step when they face a giant," Susan muttered.