A Rival Worth Awakening
The Christmas Ball came to an end in a grand way. Everyone enjoyed themselves to the fullest that night, dancing until they were exhausted and enjoying a beautiful evening. Obviously, under the watchful eyes of the professors, who, to be honest, also seemed to be having quite a good time. You could even slightly see Sirius's arrogance at the fact that all the money he had spent had actually been worth it.
It could be said that it had been a sublime, magnificent, and perfect night. There had been no drama, no interruptions, and no attempted attacks, which, for Hogwarts, was probably the greatest victory of all.
The champions behaved exactly as expected; proper and composed. The same went for their partners, who had also enjoyed themselves. And when the party finally ended, everyone separated with bright smiles on their faces before returning to their rooms to finally get some rest.
The next day, no one woke up early. Maybe only the professors, but they still had plenty of things to take care of around the school, even during the holiday season. So the only ones wandering through the corridors were the ghosts, casually floating around while chatting as if the castle belonged to them during these rare moments of silence.
When Harry and Draco came downstairs, lightly yawning in the middle of their conversation…
a large, tangled mane of hair surprised them, leaving both of them somewhat stunned.
When the mess of hair moved, they realized it was none other than Hermione, who had Crookshanks resting on her lap while she gently petted his little head as he purred.
"What?" Hermione said after seeing both of them frozen on the stairs. Then she touched her hair. "Oh. This? It's because of the Sleekeazy's Hair Potion. I used too much, and now the effect is gone," Hermione said, somewhat embarrassed as she touched her very interesting new hairstyle.
Daphne came downstairs right at that moment and, after giving a little jump while staring at her friend as if she had suddenly transformed into a lion, she started laughing in amusement while looking at Hermione's head.
Which annoyed Hermione so much that, like a furious lion, she lunged at her friend. And once again, as usual, the two of them ended up rolling around on the floor in a childish tickle fight while Draco and Harry simply let out a sigh.
Now that the stress of finding a partner for the ball, and the ball itself, was finally out of everyone's systems, they had all gone back to their usual moods. Though they did seem a little calmer than before.
"So…" Hermione started, looking at Draco and Harry while Daphne gave her a hand by helping her fix her hair. "By now, I'm sure you've already figured something out about the egg, right?" she asked while looking at them suspiciously.
"And why exactly should we tell you? You're helping the competition," Harry replied with a faintly smug smile, as if he had already figured something out.
Meanwhile, for some reason, Draco was looking in another direction, as if the wall had suddenly become the most fascinating thing in the world. He even muttered,
"Oh. That stain is new."
Hermione narrowed her eyes at them for a moment. Even Daphne gave both of them the exact same look.
"Well, I have a lot of things to do these days, so I'd better hurry," Harry said calmly as he gave his friends a smile and walked out of Ravenclaw's common room as if nothing had happened, ignoring the stare that was practically stabbing his back.
Draco lightly scratched his ear before leaving without saying anything, also ignoring the stares of both girls.
"Obviously, they were so busy worrying about their dates that they didn't even make any progress," Daphne said while lightly shaking her head.
Hermione nodded in confirmation, because that much was obvious
…
Although Harry had used an excuse to escape the stares of his friends, it was true that he actually had something to do, since Luciel had invited him to join his training the day before the ball.
And since he felt like he hadn't really exercised much lately, he had accepted.
So after separating from his friends, he had arranged to meet Luciel in an empty room.
Swish.
The sound of metal clashing echoed through the room and into the hallways, making the ghosts stop for a moment before continuing on their way.
Inside, Harry was fighting Luciel with swords, dodging and defending. As always, Luciel was an absolute beast when it came to swordsmanship, which made it quite difficult for Harry to attack, leaving him able to do little more than defend himself and keep dodging.
Harry quickly raised his sword, stopping Luciel's strike that had been aimed straight at his shoulder. Of course, the swords had no edge, but getting hit by one of them would still hurt quite a bit.
"To be honest, when you came to get me while holding two swords in your hands, I thought you were coming to murder me for asking your cousin to the ball. Or rather… because she asked me," Harry said with a small smile as he lowered his head and Luciel's blade passed just above him.
"Of course not. I'd only do that if you made her cry," Luciel said with a friendly smile, even though his words were not friendly at all.
Harry was absolutely sure he meant it, so he simply smiled while blocking another strike.
"It's honestly a real shame that a castle this medieval-looking, with decorative suits of armor all over the place, doesn't even have a fencing club," Luciel said as his sword clashed against Harry's once again.
"In general, aside from clubs made by professors for the students who excel in their subjects, and the Quidditch team, I wouldn't really say there are clubs as such. But most of the time we're trying to survive, so I don't think anyone would want one," Harry said with a faint smile.
Luciel smiled at Harry's strange joke, since Harry always said the same thing about Hogwarts even though Luciel had never really seen it as that dangerous.
Well…
Actually, now that he thought about it, the year before, when he had been an exchange student there, they had had a professor who had infiltrated the school. And he had ended up being a powerful dark wizard who transformed into a monster and ended up fighting a giant dragon.
By the way, that monster had turned out to be his father.
Yeah.
Now he understood the joke.
Clang.
"So… have you figured out the secret of the golden egg yet?" Luciel asked as their swords collided again before both of them separated and took their stances, both covered in sweat. Though only Harry was breathing slightly heavier. Luciel looked like he could do this all damn day.
"No. I've been too busy with other things on my mind," Harry said while looking elsewhere, as if he didn't want to tell the truth.
Though Luciel seemed to read him easily.
"Oh, yes. The problem of single men. Luckily, I never had to worry about finding a partner, because fate already decided for me," he said with a touch of arrogance, but also clear happiness.
Harry rolled his eyes for a moment and slashed toward Luciel's neck, taking advantage of his distraction. But Luciel raised his sword with ease and stopped him.
"So, since you didn't have to worry about finding a partner, did you at least figure out the egg's secret?" Harry asked.
"Of course. And I wouldn't mind telling you. After all, I enjoy having an even fight with everyone," Luciel said.
Harry hesitated for a moment, unsure whether he wanted to figure it out on his own or just hear it from someone else.
"I'll tell you in exchange for you telling me something. Why are you fighting in this tournament without using your magic?" Luciel asked Harry seriously. Harry had been hesitating about whether or not to agree, but when he heard Luciel's question, he looked at him for a moment.
"What are you talking about? I used magic when I fought Terra," Harry said, looking at him with one eyebrow raised as both of them stopped.
"Yes, you used magic. Your wand. But I'm talking about your special magic. We both know you're much stronger when you use it. So… why?" Luciel asked.
Harry looked at him for a moment before answering, since he didn't really mind all that much.
"Well, like you said… I enjoy having a bit of even competition with everyone," Harry said with a faint smile.
"Ohhh. Arrogant words," Luciel said with an amused smile. "It's true. If we rely only on normal magic, it would be difficult to defeat you. That's why Draco created a new kind of magic, right? And you even helped him with it," Luciel said while looking at him. "Good. That means if I want to truly fight you, I need to be at the same level. Good," Luciel said while nodding to himself, as a smile that for a moment looked genuinely carnivorous appeared on his lips, full of excitement, full of battle-hungry amusement.
That was enough to make even Harry let go of his own smile for a moment as he looked at him.
As if he had just awakened a rival that maybe would have been wiser not to awaken.
And he was sure Draco was probably thinking the exact same thing Luciel was right now.
But rather than making him nervous…
it only made Harry smile a little more.