How to Freeze an Entire Field without Getting Expelled
Percy had a slightly arrogant smile as, with his right hand, he tapped twice on the sword-shaped pendant he wore around his neck. On his necklace he had two sword-shaped pendants; but one of them was not just an accessory, it was a gift from his Aunt Mor: a special sword.
When he tapped it twice, the pendant gave off a flash and quickly grew until it reached the perfect size for Percy.
The sword was beautiful. It was a medieval weapon known as a bastard sword. The blade was straight, long, double-edged, well polished, and its tip narrowed subtly, which showed that it would be very effective for piercing. The guard was cross-shaped, with straight arms that curved slightly; it had a fairly simple design, without unnecessary details that could hinder performance. The handle was long, covered with black leather or something similar; long enough to be held with two hands, or with one if Percy preferred. And at the end, the rounded metal pommel balanced the weight of the blade… or served, in some cases, to deliver quite hard blows.
"Wow," Ron, Neville, and Grover said when they saw the sword in Percy's hands; especially because of the ability to store it inside his pendant.
"And you haven't even seen its other powers," Percy said with arrogance when he heard his friends' surprise, almost raising his nose toward the sky with so much pride.
"Hmph."
Harry, who had already seen that sword and had even fought against his brother countless times, was not surprised at all. He took his magic tome out of his bag with one hand; everyone gave him a strange look upon seeing a book appear so suddenly, except Grover, who could notice runes in a language he immediately recognized.
Harry opened the magic tome, holding it with one hand, while in the other he kept his wand.
"Huh? You're going to use your wand?" Percy asked, since he knew perfectly well that Harry didn't even need it when he used his magic tome.
"Yes. I discovered something I want to try," Harry said calmly as he looked at his brother, ready for the fight.
Percy simply shrugged, not giving it importance.
"Today we'll finally see who is truly the strongest; I'll defeat you once and for all, breaking the score of seven hundred wins and seven hundred losses," Percy said seriously.
"Wow, you really do spend your whole time fighting," Ron said, amused by those numbers. Not even his own brothers had fought that much… well, maybe they had, especially the twins.
"Neville, give the signal to start," Percy said, looking at his friend.
Neville was slightly surprised at being chosen. He was nervous at the possibility that both would get hurt; but seeing Percy and Harry's fixed stares, he just accepted it.
Since he had no idea how to properly start a duel, he shouted:
"Just start already!"
This made Percy and Harry look confused for a moment before remembering that yes, they had to begin.
Percy quickly lowered his body slightly and ran at full speed toward Harry, surprising Grover, Ron, and Neville with the power and speed in his legs.
Meanwhile, Harry, without taking his eyes off Percy, moved his wand gently.
"Ice," he murmured as the book in his left hand flipped its pages rapidly until it stopped on a particular one. It glowed for an instant, and the words inscribed on it lit up.
The ground suddenly froze at high speed, covering the grass instantly and advancing until it almost reached Ron and the others, who felt their feet stick to the ice.
The impact left them speechless; especially Grover, whose eyes were so wide they looked like they were about to fall out.
"Up!" Ron shouted when he saw that Percy had jumped just in time, dodging the ice while his sword swung downward toward his brother. Ron was really surprised and worried; Percy would attack Harry without hesitation with that sword. He could kill him.
But Harry did not flinch. He moved his wand again, aiming directly at Percy at point-blank range as the sword came down toward him.
"Disarm," he said.
The spell struck Percy, sending him flying and forcing him to drop his sword.
Percy flipped in the air before falling on one knee. He groaned a bit from the pain of the fall, though he had cushioned part of the impact.
Meanwhile, Grover and the others opened their eyes wide in panic when they saw Harry standing there… with Percy's sword going through his stomach and buried into the ground behind him.
"Harry! We have to call the nurse right now!" Ron shouted, running toward him.
But as soon as he took a step, Harry suddenly disappeared, as if he had been a mirage.
"Ouch," was suddenly heard.
Percy was lying on the ground, completely tied up by a magic rope, while Harry struck him on the head.
"Idiot. Were you trying to kill me?" Harry said furiously when he saw his illusion had been pierced. He gave Percy another good knock while Percy, tied up, could only squirm like a worm.
"Hey, you know it won't hurt you unless I want it to," Percy complained as he received another hit.
"Shut up. What if you subconsciously wanted to hurt me?" Harry said, still angry.
"That'll never happen!" Percy shouted… right before receiving another hit.
"Huh? Huh? What happened? Why was there another Harry?" Ron asked, confused and shocked.
Neville also had his eyes wide open, unable to understand.
Grover, meanwhile, was surprised and urgently thinking about something.
"It was an illusion," Harry said calmly before giving Percy another hit.
"Come on, Harry. You know how hard it was for me to finally cut something real with that sword… I really have to want to cut you with all my strength to make it work," Percy complained.
Of course, Harry knew that. Percy's special sword had that power: it could cut absolutely everything. But to do so, you had to desire it with your whole being. If not, it couldn't even cut butter; it just passed through objects without harming them… including whole tables without leaving a single mark.
Knowing this, Harry simply looked at his brother before releasing him.
"By the way," Percy said as he rubbed the sore spot on his head from all the knocks, "how is it that you can use magic now without checking the enchantment and without closing your book? I thought that, even if you didn't need to recite the spell, you still had to do the invocation ritual, which was closing it," Percy said, staring at his brother.
After all, Harry had used two spells in a row without searching for the spell or activating it in the usual way.
"Oh, that."
Harry smiled a little, proud. "I discovered that I don't need to complete the ritual as long as I use my wand. It acts as a direct connection to the ritual, which makes my magic easier. It's really useful; with this I don't have to keep closing and opening my book between spells. Also, just by saying the spell I want, the tome responds automatically. Cool, right?" Harry said with a proud, almost boyish smile.
It was as if the wand created a perfect union with his magic tome. Maybe Aunt Mor, who had given him the book, had known this from the very beginning.
"Well… yeah," Percy said, although when he realized he had just lost so easily, when their fights usually lasted much longer, he got slightly annoyed.
"So… I won," Harry said with a teasing smile directed at his brother.
Percy growled, irritated. "It was only because you caught me off guard."
"But I won… right?" Harry insisted with that smug smile.
"Yes, you won. Happy?" Percy said, annoyed. He tapped his necklace, and the sword, still stuck in the ground, glowed for a moment before turning into a small light that returned to the pendant, reappearing as a tiny sword. "You really are a bad winner," Percy said as he walked away grumbling so he wouldn't have to see his brother's smug face.
"Huh? Harry? You're already here?" a voice called from Hagrid's house. The groundskeeper stepped out, surprised and genuinely happy to see him.
Then he looked to the side… where the grass was completely frozen, as well as some of the pumpkins he had planted.
"Oh no… my pumpkins," he said as he ran to check if he could save any of them.
The five children opened their eyes wide and looked at Harry, who now had a very guilty expression. Percy gave him a mocking smile… until he remembered that technically it was also his fault, since he had insisted on fighting there.
So he whispered, "Just whistle like nothing happened; that makes it less suspicious. That's what Sirius taught us."
Percy tried to whistle awkwardly.
"Oh, crap… I don't know how to whistle," he remembered, putting his hands on his head.
Harry just sighed and walked toward Hagrid to help him save the pumpkins he would use for Halloween. The other boys also approached. Grover and Neville grabbed Percy from both sides to drag him with them and force him to help, taking him away from any dumb plans.
Meanwhile, in some nearby bushes, no one noticed that they moved slightly. Between the leaves, some very curly hair peeked out, and two curious eyes observed the scene; they focused especially on the ice on the ground and the children before hiding again in silence.