KingInTheNorth27: You're welcome! :) I hope you enjoy this fight. Let me know if you liked the 1v2! You made me laugh - 'after reading this chap more chaps please' :D
Nudu13: Yep, we'll see how it goes. Yeah, a broomless flight would be OP. Hehe, here comes the coercing—let me know if you enjoyed our coercing! Haha :D Well, our MC isn't going to have a relationship so early… sex? Sure. I don't need love to enjoy a pretty girl, so you can expect that in the future. Later on, he'll seriously date. If I broke up with my current girlfriend, I'd just find another woman—at least for sex, not for a serious relationship immediately.
***
I didn't wait a single second. I immediately peeled myself off the wall—it was a risky, too static a position. My Protego deflected two more spells before I moved in a blur to the center of the room. Unfortunately, maintaining an active shield while attacking was beyond my current capabilities.
"Everte Statum!" Mulciber bellowed, while Rookwood fired simultaneously: "Petrificus Totalus!"
I caught the Petrificus with the last shimmer of my shield, but I had to throw myself to the right in the final split second to avoid the Everte Statum. The moment my feet found purchase on the floor again, I dropped the shield and returned fire instantly.
"Expelliarmus! Stupefy! Flipendo!" I barked the sequence of spells in a rapid blur of motion.
Rookwood managed to conjure a Protego that deflected my first spell, but the subsequent Stupefy shattered his shield uncompromisingly and hit him square in the chest. Augustus staggered dazed, but the spell didn't knock him out completely—he had likely poured too much of his own strength into the defense. My Flipendo, however, missed its mark; I was aiming for Rookwood, but by a stroke of luck, the spell caught Mulciber in the side. The force of the impact spun him through the air and slammed him against the stone wall with a loud crack.
"Expelliarmus... Diffindo..." the dazed Rookwood mumbled.
His spellcasting, however, was so slow and shaky after that hit that I had no trouble dodging it with a simple sidestep.
"Levioso! Descendo!" My favorite combination hoisted him into the air and promptly slammed him roughly back into the ground. I didn't wait a second. I had to quickly get rid of at least one of them to gain a definitive upper hand.
"Stupefy!" I shouted at Rookwood, who was still recovering on the floor. In that same instant, however, Mulciber appeared in front of him.
"PROTEGO!" Alexander roared, and a clearly visible, pulsing blue shield flared up before him. My spell slammed into it with the force of a runaway train, but the shield held.
"He must have poured a brutal amount of magic into that," I thought to myself as I saw Mulciber's knees buckle under the pressure and his face grow even paler.
"Everte Statum! Flipendo!" I continued the assault.
Alexander surprised me, though. His Protego held firm. At the impact of my spells, the shield shuddered violently and almost faded for a moment, but it stabilized again shortly after.
"Either Alexander is more powerful than I anticipated, or he's putting every last scrap of his magic into that shield," I mused.
"You're more powerful than I expected, Alexander. We can stop right now," I suggested coldly. I felt like Voldemort during one of his famous monologues. "All you have to do is tell me what I want to know."
Rookwood hadn't even managed to stand up yet and was already trying his luck again. "Diffindo!" he cried from the floor, while Mulciber convulsively held the trembling shield over them both.
I didn't even move. I just stood there with my wand hanging loosely at my side, watching the red flash of the spell fly harmlessly a good meter away from me and hit the wall.
"Seriously, Augustus? You want to keep doing this?" I asked, amused. My voice sounded chillingly calm in the silence of the room while the two of them fought for every breath.
Rookwood stood up unsteadily, panting, and looked at Mulciber with a silent question in his eyes. He was looking for a signal to retreat or attack further. Alexander, however, looked determined to take his secrets to the grave; his jaw was set and his gaze hard.
Rookwood saw it in his face too. He understood that negotiations were over, so he immediately turned back to me with his wand ready for a final stand.
It looked like we were continuing. I could lie and say it disappointed me, but honestly? I was glad. I felt a predatory excitement and the intoxicating rush of adrenaline flowing through my veins like liquid fire. With a cold smile on my lips, I gave them a grand gesture with my free hand. The message was clear: "Come on."
"INCENDIO!" Augustus screamed, his face twisted in rage, and a violent jet of fire erupted from his wand directly at me.
My arrogance had hit him exactly where I wanted, but the power of his spell caught me off guard. I blinked in surprise; I definitely hadn't expected elemental magic of this scale from him. The flames rushed toward me with a ravenous hiss, and I knew a simple Protego might not be enough. I had no choice.
"Aguamenti!" I barked, pumping a good quarter of my magical reserve into the spell.
If Augustus's fire was massive, my jet of water was downright gigantic. A mass of water surged through the air, hitting the flames with a deafening hiss. For a moment the fire resisted, but then it yielded to the pressure and my wave slammed violently into Mulciber's Protego.
The entire classroom was soaked in a second. Water sprayed everywhere, except for a small dry circle where Alexander and Augustus huddled. Mulciber's shield was still resisting the pressure of my magic, but Alexander was already on his knees, his face contorted with effort, and I knew this was the end for them.
Suddenly, his shield gave way. Two terrified, guttural screams echoed through the room, and my wave swept them away like ragdolls. The water slammed them both hard against the stone wall at the end of the classroom.
"Lok'tar Ogar!" I thought with a triumphant smile, inspired by a memory of Warcraft. Victory or death. In this case, however, death belonged only to their self-confidence.
Both Rookwood and Mulciber lay on the ground. Augustus was trying to pick himself up with difficulty and shaking hands, while Alexander remained broken and resigned to his fate, lying in a puddle of water. I had to inwardly appreciate Rookwood's power and the almost fanatical loyalty he showed toward his friend—a rare trait in Slytherin.
My appreciation, however, had its limits. A short, lightning-fast Stupefy took care of it. Augustus's body went limp again, and I could finally turn my full attention to Alexander.
"Accio wands!" I called out, watching as their wands flew obediently into my palm. Now they were definitively defenseless. With slow, deliberate steps, I walked toward my goal.
The problem, however, was the water. It was everywhere, though a large part seemed to disappear the moment I broke the spell—otherwise, we would probably have had to swim here. I raised my wand and focused on draining it.
Nothing happened for a moment, but then the surface began to ripple and the water flowed in thin streams directly into the tip of my wand. I felt part of my lost strength returning. The more water—which originally came from my magic—I sucked back in, the more my magical core was restored. It was intoxicating. "I'll have to see if I can absorb someone else's magic or water I didn't conjure myself," I wondered with curiosity.
"Well then, Alexander, we finally have time to talk!" I told him calmly. I knew he hadn't fainted; there simply wasn't any energy left in his body with which to defend himself.
"I have nothing to tell you, Rosier. I don't know anything," he rasped back, though his voice was shaking.
"Oh? You take me for a fool?" I asked in an almost conversational tone. He was trapped here with me, and we both knew he had no choice. In the corner of the room, I noticed the last chair that had somehow miraculously survived.
"Accio! Reparo!" I quickly summoned it and healed the cracks in the wood with a spell. It would be unfortunate if it broke under him at the best part.
"Levioso! Descendo!" I concentrated to make the Descendo very gentle and slow. I watched as his body yielded to my will until he sat down on the chair right in front of me.
Finally, I had Mulciber exactly where I needed him. For an entire month, I had been dealing with problems involving his house, and for another month since Aunt Vespera's visit, I had been waiting for this opportunity. There was no pity left inside me. Even if I had to break every bone in his body, I would get that information out of him.
"The easy way or the hard way, Alexander?" I gave him one last chance. To be honest? After two months of frustration, I secretly hoped he would stay silent. I wanted to pay him back for every second of that waiting.
My wish came true. Alexander remained silent, his head bowed, staring at the ground as if hoping that if he didn't look me in the eye, this nightmare would disappear.
With a smile on my face, I hit him with the back of my hand. It wasn't very hard, but the sound of skin hitting skin shocked him. He certainly hadn't expected a Muggle method of interrogation. His face immediately snapped to the right, and with a groan, he sat motionless. I asked nothing. I hit him again with relish, this time with the other side of my hand. Another groan.
For a moment, I just enjoyed the sight of his absolute helplessness. But then came the finale. I wound up for a right hook, leaned into it with all my weight, and with a sharp pivot on my toes, I put the strength of my entire body into the blow. Alexander flew off the chair, hit the ground hard, and lay there "switched off."
"That felt good," I exhaled. I felt all the tension of the last few weeks finally fall away from me.
"Enervate! Levioso! Descendo!" After this quick combination, Alexander was alert again and sitting on the chair, though he looked like he had just survived a fall from a broom. Blood trickled from the split corner of his mouth and his gaze was blurred.
I wanted to enjoy his pain and growing fear for a little longer. The Muggle way was a pretty good way to relax, but it had one major drawback—it left marks that would be hard to explain in the hospital wing.
"I need to learn some painful curses, like the one for boiling blood," I thought. I had my dagger with me, but I didn't know the counter-curse and I definitely didn't want to kill him.
Alexander raised eyes full of genuine fear and looked at me, but his lips remained tightly shut. I just shrugged indifferently. If he didn't choose to speak, I would pull it out of him with Legilimency.
"Aguamenti!" I put only a pinch of magic into the spell until a ball of water the size of his head gathered above my wand. While I smiled at him in a friendly way, Alexander watched with wide eyes as the mass of water accumulated.
With a simple movement of my mind, I moved the orb to his face. The water immediately surrounded him and he found himself in an absolute vacuum. He began to try desperately to push the water away with his hands, but it was useless. He fell off the chair in terror and writhed on the floor in spasms, but the water bubble was under my total control. It followed him like a shadow.
In my mind, I coldly counted off thirty seconds. When the time was up, I withdrew the water from him. Alexander lay on the floor, wheezing and sucking air into his lungs in deep, painful gasps.
It wasn't as satisfying as I expected. But for the purpose of breaking his will, it would have to do.
"Levioso! Descendo!" Alexander rose again and landed on the chair. "We can continue, Alexander."
"Please, no, enough!" he began to plead piteously, but I was absolutely uninterested in his laments.
"I'm not interested in your pleas, Alexander. You know what I want to know," I replied coldly and immediately began gathering the water above my wand again.
"I... I can't go against my own house!" he cried out in a last desperate flicker of loyalty.
I just shrugged indifferently and started another round. Thirty seconds was mine again. The whole process repeated with the same intensity—the desperate struggle for air, the fall from the chair, and the humiliating thrashing on the floor.
"I need to learn a spell to tie him to the chair, it's annoying having to pick him up every time," I thought pragmatically as I watched his shaking body.
"Levioso! Descendo!" Alexander landed on the chair again. He was broken, and I saw in his eyes that the last remains of his will had finally crumbled to dust.
I waited for a moment, but he still wouldn't speak. So, without a single word, I began gathering the water over my wand again. Alexander watched the growing water ball with animal fear in his eyes. He had had enough. It definitively broke him.
"I'll tell you everything you want to know! Please, no more... please," Mulciber sobbed, shaking so hard his teeth chattered.
I gave him a moment to recover. For a second, I almost felt sorry for him—he looked like a wreck, not like that brave pure-blood wizard from an hour ago. But in this world, I couldn't afford mercy.
When Alexander looked like he had more or less recovered, I began the interrogation. My voice was calm now, almost friendly, which made it even more terrifying in this situation.
"I'm listening, Alexander. What problem does your house have with mine? Your father was a close friend of my father's, after all. Tell me, did you turn against us as soon as they threw him into Azkaban? Just like that? No pride?" I took a step toward him and whispered the final words directly into his face: "No loyalty?"
"It's not like that at all!" Alexander suddenly shouted. His voice cut through the room. The anger in the air was no longer born of fear, but of insulted honor.
"You have a chance to explain it to me then, while I still have some patience left," I replied chillingly. I stood motionless, wand still aimed at his chest, but I caught every change in his voice.
"Our house has no problem with yours! My father respects yours immensely and fondly remembers their time together at Hogwarts," Alexander spat out, looking me straight in the eye. I felt the truth and an unexpected sincerity coming from him. "My father honestly hoped we would be friends as soon as he heard about your existence."
"Then why does my aunt say your house has a problem with ours? Why did she warn me against you? I know you know why. Tell me!" I commanded coldly. I watched every flicker in his face.
I saw Alexander hesitate for a moment, but finally, he spoke. "It's not a problem with our house as a whole. It's a problem with a specific member."
I just nodded curtly, letting him know I was listening and he should continue.
"My uncle... my father's brother," he breathed, and after a short pause, continued. "As the second son, he was for a time resigned to the fact that he would never be the head of the house. After the war, when they locked up your father, however, he gained a new, sick ambition. He believed that no one would ever get out of Azkaban and your father would rot there for life. Your aunt Vespera is still single, she has no husband... and so my uncle decided he would marry into your family and take full control through her. He would get rid of your father for good and sire a new heir with your aunt."
"Your aunt is resisting his pressure," Alexander continued, his voice showing relief that I finally believed him. "For a long time, my father blocked my uncle, and he, as the head of the house, respected him. But over the years, that respect has faded. My uncle's aggression and pressure are escalating. And you suddenly appeared as the heir to the house, Evan's son—a living obstacle. You're in danger. Your aunt probably doesn't know it's just his private war; she thinks my father betrayed the friendship with yours. That's probably why she warned you. I can assure you though, Rosier... we are not your enemies. We don't wish you ill."
When Alexander fell silent, I let the quiet hang in the room. I wasn't stupid. I had been using Legilimency subliminally the whole time. I saw flashes of conversations, snatches of letters, and memories of tense dinners at the Mulcibers. Everything aligned with what he was telling me. One specific memory caught my interest, though—a memory of a conversation with his father, saying with clenched fists that he would rather get rid of his brother.
"Why didn't your father just kill him if he's causing such problems?" I asked directly.
Alexander looked at me shocked. A new flicker of fear appeared in his eyes, this time not of me, but of the very thought I had voiced. "It's... it's a problem. But those who betray their own blood are cursed, Rosier. My father would never do it. Even though he's been very close to it many times, the family bond won't allow him."
I nodded, lost in thought. It made sense.
"See? If you had told me everything I wanted to know directly, you wouldn't have had to suffer like this," I said, but after a moment I continued: "Tell me more about your uncle," I commanded.
As soon as I finished speaking, a memory jumped out at me. I could literally feel it pushing to the surface under the pressure of emotions. It was vivid and loud.
I saw a wizard of average height, somewhat stocky, with a thin mustache under his nose and slicked-back hair. He was measuring me coldly, and as a child, I felt a paralyzing fear. It was as if in that moment he wasn't looking at a nephew, but assessing my value. I lowered my gaze to the ground, when suddenly my father's voice spoke: "What are you doing here, Gregor?" Tension radiated from his tone, but I felt an immediate sense of relief. Even then, I knew I would never be safe near Uncle Gregor.
Alexander was silent for a moment, but then confirmed what I had just seen. "His name is Gregor. He studied at Durmstrang. Father says he isn't particularly strong magically... but he prefers the Dark Arts and won't hesitate for a second to use them. He's arrogant and unpredictable. Father warned me never to stay alone in a room with him."
I smiled slightly. "If Gregor were to have some... unfortunate accident, would it upset your family?" I asked with genuine interest. His answer couldn't change my verdict. Gregor Mulciber had to die. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but his fate was sealed at that moment.
Alexander just shook his head with a bitter smirk. "My father would secretly send you the most expensive champagne he could find for that," he remarked quietly.
I pointed my wand at the limp Rookwood and woke him up with a short, punchy "Enervate!"
Augustus bolted to his feet with surprising speed. He looked around disoriented until his gaze fell on me and especially on Alexander, who sat there broken on the chair with his face marked by my blows. Pure, uncontrolled anger immediately flared in Rookwood's eyes. Even though he was still staggering, he immediately ran toward us, ready to defend his friend to his last breath.
"Augustus, enough!" Alexander called out. His voice was weak and tired, but there was an urgent tone in it that immediately forced Rookwood to stop. It wasn't the command of a master, but the plea of a friend who already understood that this battle was over.
I pulled their wands from my robes and gestured to Mulciber to take his. Alexander tried to stand up, but immediately began to stagger and almost fell before he could touch his own wand.
Rookwood didn't wait and immediately supported him. He aggressively snatched both wands from my palm and glared at me, as if expecting another attack.
"Strange. Such loyalty and courage, Augustus," I remarked with a slight touch of respect and genuine curiosity. "Didn't you mind that Alexander didn't help you in the common room?"
"It was a duel, Rosier," he replied sharply and with undisguised anger in his voice. "Pride demanded that I win or fall alone. Those are the rules."
"And what would you call this fight?" I asked softly.
"An unprovoked attack! We did nothing to you, we left DeMille alone after your warning!" Rookwood snapped. If looks could kill, I probably would have turned to ash right then.
"Augustus, stop. He only wanted me, and he only wanted information," Alexander interrupted him. He looked at me with undisguised tension and concern in his voice. "Everything's fine now... isn't it, Rosier?"
I nodded with a smile. "Perfectly fine. That is... unless you want to continue or take revenge later?" I theatrically raised an eyebrow and fixed a challenging gaze on them.
"No, on our side, everything is fine!" Mulciber blurted out immediately.
Rookwood, however, remained silent. His face was still tense and his jaw tightly set. Only when Alexander gave him an urgent nudge with his elbow did he grit out through his teeth: "No. Everything is fine."
"Are you sure?" I asked with feigned uncertainty and a smile that must have given them goosebumps.
"Yes!" Rookwood shouted now, though suppressed anger still vibrated in his voice.
"I hope so, Augustus," I told him quite directly and without a smile. "Because if we were to have a conflict again, I wouldn't show mercy a second time."
A deathly silence fell over the room. I searched them with my gaze, but I saw no more defiance in their eyes; they looked as though they wanted never to have anything to do with my person again.
Suddenly, the door flew open with a deafening bang and Professor Snape flew into the room with his wand in hand. Agnes ran close behind him, her face pale and agitated.
"Patrik! Are you okay?" Agnes started immediately, and in her voice was immense relief when she saw me standing.
Snape's gaze swept across the room. Although I had absorbed most of the water, the smell of ozone, burning, and the moisture in the air couldn't be hidden. His eyes narrowed and glinted dangerously when he saw the battered Mulciber and the shaking Rookwood.
"What are the three of you doing here? You should have been in the common room! Explain this... mess to me!" Snape attacked in a voice sharp as a razor.
"Don't be angry with them, Professor Snape," I spoke up immediately with a calm, almost innocent smile. "Augustus and Alexander just wanted to show me how a duel between fourth-years goes. They got a bit carried away, didn't you, Alexander?"
"Yes, Professor Snape. Sorry, it won't happen again," Alexander stammered and nodded obediently.
And it's all gone to shit. Snape was staring into Alexander's eyes and I felt the pressure of his Legilimency spreading through the room. I knew he was reading his freshest memories like an open book. I had to do something to snap him out of them immediately.
I quickly stepped directly in front of Mulciber, breaking their eye contact, and asked in a tone as if nothing were happening: "Is everything alright, Professor? Can we return to the common room now?"
Snape froze for a fraction of a second. His gaze moved to me and I felt him examining me. I wasn't sure how much he managed to pull out of Alexander. If he saw even a few seconds of our fight, he knows I lied to his face. He didn't try to use Legilimency on me, though; I was sure my mental shields would have caught such an attack.
His gaze, originally cold and sharp as a razor, surprisingly softened after a while as he looked at me. There was something unreadable in it.
"Yes, everything is fine, Mr. Rosier. You may return to the common room. Mulciber, Rookwood—see that this is not repeated!" Snape commanded and, with a typical dramatic turn on his heel that sent his black robes billowing behind him, left the room.
"Guys," I addressed them calmly as Rookwood threw Alexander's arm over his shoulder, "what happened here today is our private business. I would be very displeased if anyone else found out about our little disagreement."
"Little disagreement?" Rookwood hissed and cast a hateful look at me, but Alexander immediately stopped him with a muffled elbow to the ribs.
"Yes, we'll keep it to ourselves," Mulciber declared firmly and dragged Rookwood out of the room before I could change my mind.
When the door closed behind them, only the two of us remained in the room. Agnes took a step closer to me, that typical, piercing look in her eyes. "What happened here, Patrik?" she asked. Her voice wasn't accusing, just genuinely curious.
I observed her searchingly for a moment. I wondered how much I could trust her, but in the end, I admitted to myself that I had nothing to lose. In that short time, she had grown on me.
"I needed some information from Mulciber. He refused to give it to me the easy way, so I had to persuade them with force," I explained simply, as if it were a common exchange of opinions at dinner.
Agnes just nodded silently. She wasn't shocked at all by the wretched state they had left in, nor that I had handled two older students on my own.
We walked through the dark corridors without a single word. Agnes respected my silence, while I dove deeper into the questions for which I had no answers yet.
Snape. His behavior made no sense. He must have known I was lying to his face—he was a master of Legilimency, after all, and Alexander had no shields. Yet he accepted it. That strange look of his, that sudden softening... Was Snape a close friend of my father's? Or did he owe him something? If he covered for me today, he must have had a damn good reason for it.
Snape was just the beginning; the real problem was named Gregor Mulciber. But how to put an adult wizard with years of practice six feet under? Raw talent and power are one thing, but Gregor wasn't a frightened fourth-year who just needed to be pressed against a wall. He was an adult wizard who had graduated from Durmstrang.
***
Author's note:
Today's chapter is a bit on the darker side, coming in at around 4,500 words. I initially expected it to be short, but once I started writing, I just couldn't stop. Personally, I'm quite happy with how the duel turned out, but I'd love to hear your thoughts—what do you guys think of the action?
We also finally got the answer to the question that has been haunting our MC for the past two months.
What exactly is Snape's connection to our protagonist? Why did he just swallow such a blatant lie without questioning it?
And then there's sweet Agnes, who was genuinely terrified for her friend…
BTW: Did Granger survive? o.O (again :D)
If you like the story, I'll be grateful for every comment, like, or discussion. Your interaction is what motivates me most to continue writing!
Join my Discord – tgdTNZYVKt ! Join our community if you want to influence the direction of the story with your vote. You can also chat with others and share or find new FF recommendations to read!
There's a new poll on Discord — you can decide whose POV will be next.