Enormous thorny vines — each as thick as a grown man's waist — burst from the torn-up ground with a roar of breaking soil. Under Barnabas's control, they whipped up through clouds of dust and slammed down at Sean like living battering rams.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The once-flat lawn of the manor was now a churned battlefield, riddled with deep ditches and pits where the massive vines struck.
Sean narrowed his eyes at the writhing tangle sweeping toward him. His wand flicked in tight, relentless arcs — each slash severing vines cleanly at their roots. In the same breath, he thrust his wand forward — flames roared to life, blooming into a rolling fire cloud that surged along the ground like a living tide. Coiling tongues of fire split off, slithering toward Barnabas like flaming serpents.
Barnabas snapped his wand sideways at the ornamental lake nearby. Instantly, torrents of water gushed out, crashing into the fire snakes and quenching them in a hiss of steam that rolled across the battlefield in thick white billows.
Behind that wall of steam, both wizards raised their wands at the same time. Twin jets — one crimson, one deep violet — pierced the mist and slammed together in midair. Sparks danced and tiny arcs of lightning flickered at the collision point, each wizard forcing more raw magic into the beam, locking them in a deadlock of sheer power.
But before the standoff could resolve, a swirl of pure white mist drifted down between them. From it stepped Gideon — face stony, eyes cold. He lifted one hand, and a flawless white wand appeared in his grip. With a single flick, a golden thread of light spun out from its tip, curling through the corridor like living silk.
As the golden thread touched the colliding spells, it wrapped around them like a binding vine. Gideon flicked his wand upward — the beams shuddered, broke apart, then rocketed harmlessly skyward. They tangled together in the open air, exploded in a crackle of sparks, and faded into nothing.
Lowering his wand, Gideon's cold gaze passed from Sean to Barnabas."I don't want to see you two fighting on family grounds again," he said, his voice cutting through the lingering steam. "If there's a next time… I won't be this polite."
With that, Gideon turned — his eyes landed briefly on Beatrice, who had rushed out of the family hospital behind him. She gave him a stiff, careful salute — but Gideon didn't spare her so much as a nod. He turned away and vanished back into Bulstrode Manor without another word.
Barnabas didn't say a thing either. With a dark glance at Sean, he moved forward, collected Beatrice and Miles, and strode away.
Sean exhaled slowly. A subtle glow flickered in the corner of his vision — the panel's new prompt:
[Duel ended in a draw. Ability extraction reduced. Randomly extracting one ability from the opponent.]
[Extracting…]
[Extraction complete. Gained: Herbivicus LV5]
Seeing the prompt on his panel, Sean, who had been about to leave, suddenly paused.
There were seven levels to any spell — from LV0 up to LV5MAX. In other words, the ranking went: LV0, LV1, LV2, LV3, LV4, then LV5, and finally LV5MAX at the peak.
Of course, Sean wasn't overly concerned about the level of Herbivicus itself — what bothered him was how weak Barnabas's Herbivicus had looked compared to what he'd just acquired. The power Barnabas had shown was far below what Sean knew the spell was truly capable of.
In other words — Barnabas had deliberately held back, letting Sean push him.
But why? That didn't make sense. Barnabas had no reason to just hand him a victory — unless… he hadn't done it for Sean's benefit at all.
He'd done it for someone else's eyes.
And who else but Gideon Bulstrode, the current head of the Bulstrode family?
Interesting, Sean thought, a faint smirk curling at the corner of his mouth. Even his own father needs to be kept in the dark? Looks like my dear uncle Barnabas is planning something much bigger.
Not long after Sean returned to the Bulstrode Manor's main house, Aldridge hurried over. He scanned Sean up and down, clearly searching for injuries — only when he saw none did he finally breathe a quiet sigh of relief.
"Master Sean, thank Merlin you're alright."
Sean gave him a warm smile. "Aldridge — how was it, catching up with your old friends?"
"Thank you for asking, Master. It was a good talk — very good, in fact."
"Good," Sean said lightly. "Then this trip wasn't wasted for either of us."
Meanwhile, Barnabas had already taken Miles and Beatrice and quietly slipped away from Bulstrode Manor, choosing to stay for a while with Beatrice's family — the Fawleys.
Sean wasn't surprised at all by Barnabas's sudden departure — or rather, his tactical retreat.
Over the next few days at Bulstrode Manor, Sean and Aldridge made full use of the time. With Aldridge by his side, Sean toured the grounds, noting every corner worth remembering. But what truly delighted him was the library.
The Bulstrode family's library was vast and thorough — packed with books that couldn't even be bought on the open market anymore. Potions, Transfiguration, obscure branches of Alchemy — Sean devoured them all, hour after hour, Aldridge patiently at his side, ready to bring him tea or pull down another dusty tome.
Originally, the plan had been for the family to stay just one night — but with the Bulstrodes' carefully polite "hospitality," that one night stretched into three.
"Sean, how have you found life here at Bulstrode Manor lately?"
Hearing Gideon's question, Sean nodded slightly. "It's been very good. Thank you, Grandfather, for the hospitality."
"Good," Gideon said with a faint smile. "By the way — you may take any of the books you've been reading back home with you. This isn't Hogwarts — the Bulstrode Family Library doesn't come with the same petty restrictions. If you want to read something, take it. If you never return it — so be it."
"Thank you, Grandfather."
In truth, there were a few books Sean had quietly marked aside to borrow — but he hadn't asked yet, not knowing if the Bulstrodes would allow it. Now, with Gideon's explicit permission, Sean certainly wasn't going to be shy about packing a few away.
Gideon studied him for a moment longer, then asked, "Sean, what do you think of Bulstrode Manor?"
The sudden question caught Sean off guard. He paused for just an instant, then gave an honest answer. "The grounds are beautiful. I like it here a lot. And the training village nearby — it's very well arranged. It can help a lot of the younger ones."
Gideon gave a slow nod, then fixed his sharp eyes on his grandson. "Sean. I plan to separate the training area out — make it more independent. Are you interested in taking charge of it?"
"Taking charge?" Sean looked at Gideon like he might have gone mad. "Grandfather, I still have my studies, my own research. I can't possibly take on something that big."
Gideon only chuckled, as if he'd expected that answer. "Of course. That's why I've already arranged Aldridge to stay at your side. He'll handle the day-to-day as your agent. With him, you won't have any trouble."
Aldridge?If it was him, then yes — there really wouldn't be any trouble. Aldridge had deep roots in the training area. The children adored him, many even looked up to him like a hero. With Aldridge there, Sean wouldn't have to worry about the daily grind at all.
But even so, Sean didn't agree right away. Instead, he looked Gideon straight in the eye and asked calmly, "Grandfather — be honest with me. What is it you really want?"