Only five days of the school year had passed, and I was forced to admit to myself… that I was mentally fucked up.
Who would have thought that two months of daily duels with my aunt—where with every fight my blood boiled in my veins and my body was flooded with the euphoria of battle—would turn me into a total combat addict?
Honestly, I was starting to get bored. Repetitive, mundane spell drills no longer brought me any excitement… which was precisely why my holiday routine had suited me so well. When Vespera regularly showed me my weaknesses through pain, it forced me to improve. Every duel had meaning. Every mistake hurt.
But at Hogwarts? Now?
My group had decided to focus on drilling spells, intending to test our abilities only at the tournament. To me, that was nonsense. I didn't believe they could truly pose a threat to me. But it was their choice. And one has to respect one's friends.
That was why I was genuinely thrilled when Mulciber and Rookwood finally approached me, agreeing to train together.
So, I walked with them to the seventh floor, where my friends had agreed to let us use the room for the day. My blood boiled in my veins with impatience, and I felt a predatory smile on my face. Finally, something exciting.
While Alexander looked completely calm, Augustus was tense, his impatience almost tangible.
I knew why Alexander had agreed to the proposal of joint training. Our fathers were friends, and he didn't just want to improve magically—he genuinely wanted to build a friendship.
With Augustus, however, it was different. Something entirely else drove him. He was still carrying the helplessness from last year, when I had crushed them both, and now he wanted to prove to himself that he had what it took to defeat me.
I had no doubt he had spent the entire holiday training hard. And that was precisely why I couldn't wait for our fight.
Eventually, we walked silently through the corridors to an empty stone wall, opposite which hung a tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy trying to teach trolls to dance ballet. I looked at the tapestry with an amused smirk. Fortunately, their crotches were covered… unlike that troll I had hunted in the Tatras.
"You want to train in an empty corridor?" Alexander asked curiously.
"No," I shook my head, "we are in front of a secret room."
Both of them immediately started looking around, but I had no intention of wasting time, so I continued:
"This room is secret, and Agnes found it… I would be very unhappy if its secret spread beyond you guys."
I paused for emphasis and then added in a quieter voice:
"The consequences would be… fatal."
Of course they wouldn't be. I certainly wouldn't kill someone over such a triviality… but sending them to the hospital wing? No problem at all.
Rookwood glared at me hostilely, but nodded. Mulciber, on the other hand, gave a calm, agreeable nod.
Originally, one had to walk past the wall three times for the door to open into whatever room was desired. However, I had already developed a certain familiarity with this room. With a short impulse and a thought, I was able to open it.
I didn't know exactly what was behind it. It could have been my strong mind, Legilimency, sensitivity to magic, my own magical power… or even Hogwarts itself, somehow reacting to my thoughts. Maybe it wasn't one thing, but a combination of everything.
I simply opened one wing of the door and nodded to the guys.
"After you."
"Thanks," Augustus muttered, while Alexander followed him coolly.
Augustus Rookwood amused me. With every single gesture and word, I understood him a little better. He reminded me of an acquaintance of mine who hated owing anyone and used politeness as both sword and shield.
And that thank-you felt quite passive-aggressive. Just so he wouldn't accidentally feel like he owed me for a triviality as small as opening a door.
With a broad smile, I followed them in.
I had chosen a classic training room, the template of which was already etched in my mind. On the side were a few armchairs with a small table, behind which stood a gramophone on a pedestal. Off to one side hung a heavy training bag, and in the middle stretched a massive dueling arena. Not far from it stood several self-repairing mannequins.
Alexander calmly scanned the entire room with his eyes, while Augustus inspected it lightning-fast. His shoulders were tense and his back unnaturally stiff, his gaze fixed straight on me.
I couldn't blame him… the last time we were in an empty room, I had defeated them and used rather unpleasant methods to get the information I needed.
"To start off, we'll do a duel, guys," I spoke up after a moment. "The two of you normally against me. Afterwards, we'll review the duel and see what we'll work on for the future. Ready?"
Augustus nodded immediately, his wand appearing in his hand. It took Alexander a moment longer, but eventually he too was ready with a calm nod.
Rookwood looked determined to pay me back for last year, so I was certain he wouldn't hold back. I expected dangerous spells from him, perhaps even of a lethal nature…
But I had no intention of ruining my fun by restricting the duel and dictating what magic he could use.
So with a calm smile, I stepped forward, my white yew wand firmly in my hand. Then I just gave them a nod.
"You can start, guys."
Augustus didn't wait even a hundredth of a second and opened the combination with a harsh:
"Os Frangere!"
Right after that followed an ordinary:
"Everte Statum!"
Meanwhile, Alexander pulled a silver ball from his robes and tossed it into the air.
"Verto!"
With a light side-step and a pull of my shoulder, I calmly dodged the bone-breaker, while the orange jet automatically flew past me.
Meanwhile, Mulciber was noticeably feeding magic into the silver ball, which began to transform into a humanoid silver golem. I could have instantly shattered it with Bombarda, but… where would the fun in that be?
So I nimbly dodged further spells from Rookwood.
"Aculeus!"
"Furnunculus!"
This time I was forced to make a larger leap to the side. Augustus had anticipated me well, though. I dodged the golden jet of Furnunculus precisely, but Aculeus—the purple stinging hex—hit me square in the chest.
It was utterly trivial pain, however, so I brushed it off with just a smile.
Meanwhile, Mulciber's golem had reached a larger size. It resembled a giant goblin, but I could still feel him feeding magic into it. It was slow. I was almost certain he had only started practicing combat transfiguration over the holidays.
"Os Frangere!" Rookwood shouted in an already angry voice, instantly firing more spells right after. "Everte Statum! Punctum!"
I had to decide whether to dodge the bone-breaker. I was curious how my ritual resistance would work against it, but in the end I decided not to risk it.
I pushed off hard to leap to the side, so the remaining spells missed me by a wide margin.
And right then, Alexander sent his golem at me.
For a brief second, its speed caught me off guard, but I reacted instantly:
"Bombarda!"
I struck the golem in the chest. With a metallic screech and an explosion, I blasted a chunk of its torso away, but it kept coming forward anyway. It was heavily charged with magic.
Augustus kept casting, launching a combination:
"Expelliarmus! Petrificus Totalus! Flipendo!"
Right after, he concluded with a calmer, but longer spell:
"Sanguinem ardere sinite."
Mulciber joined in:
"Everte Statum! Avis! Engorgio! Diffindo!"
And the golem was almost upon me.
I was loving it. You could almost say I was dancing between the spells. The multi-colored lights of the incantations flashed around me like a nightclub—from side to side, up and down. I couldn't help but laugh, because I was simply enjoying the fight.
The Petrificus missed me by a hair's breadth, so close I felt it almost comb through my hair. I ducked the blood-red spell with pleasure. Rookwood was clearly trying to boil my blood.
"Bombarda!"
I fired another grey beam at the golem, which was already reaching for me. I struck its right arm dead center, blasting it clean off, but it still managed to hit my chest with its left.
I was thrown backward instantly. I tumbled across the floor, feeling as if I had been struck by a massive force.
And yet, I was still happy.
The golem had saved me from Mulciber's spells by knocking me away, but in their place, a flock of birds was now diving at me—one of them significantly enlarged.
Instinctively, I executed a backward roll, catching sight of a blue flash striking the exact spot where I had been lying moments before.
I sprang to my feet instantly.
From the left, the one-armed golem was rushing at me, and from the right, the flock of birds was hurtling my way.
"Bombarda!"
I aimed the spell at its legs and immediately followed up with a non-verbal Incendio, flooding the space around the conjured birds with fire until their screeching finally stopped.
More spells kept flying at me from the guys, but the legless golem was still dragging itself forward. I decided to finish it.
I darted to the side like lightning—in the opposite direction of where I expected the next volley of spells—and then cast at it:
"Levioso!"
Right after, I shifted direction and pushed off hard sideways, dodging another grey bone-breaker, and pressed on without hesitation:
"Descendo!"
The first yellow beam lifted the golem into the air, and the second, empowered Descendo sent it mercilessly smashing back to the ground. It slammed into the floor with such force that the entire transfiguration collapsed.
Immediately, I kept casting:
"Everte Statum! Flipendo! Locomotor Mortis!"
I launched all three spells at Mulciber.
Clumsily, he managed to dodge to the side, avoiding both the orange and blue beams, but the purple beam of Locomotor Mortis hit him directly. His legs snapped together instantly, and he collapsed to the floor.
Rookwood shouted in anger and cast a furious curse:
"Hamarsslagaz!"
An ethereal white-grey hammer burst from his wand, carrying quite a significant amount of magical power that I could immediately sense. It was relatively slow, but it clearly had quite a wide area of effect, something I wasn't willing to risk.
I was fairly certain a direct hit could kill me.
So I was left with only one option.
With a guttural laugh, I uttered my defensive spell:
"Aegis Aurum!"
A massive, translucent golden dome flared to life around me—my Greek combat shield against a spell of likely Germanic origin.
When the hammer struck my shield, a brutal cracking sound echoed so loudly my ears hurt. I felt the initial impact, which soon spread throughout the entire dome.
My shield held.
Through the translucent golden dome, I saw Mulciber get back to his feet. Augustus had obviously cast Finite, and before I could strike, they pressed their attack.
Alexander led off by conjuring:
"Serpensortia! Avis!"
And finished with dark magic:
"Os Frangere!"
Augustus chose another powerful spell with a desperate cry:
"Swerdaskagaz!"
I completely ignored the approaching creatures. The bone-breaker dissolved against my golden shield with a faint clink, and I waited with a smile for the next Germanic spell.
The snake tried to bite into my dome, while the birds chirped and pecked at the translucent golden surface.
And right then, the white beam struck.
A screeching, slicing sound rang out, and the spell transformed. With a white flash that nearly blinded me, I felt something on my shield like a massive sword attempting to slice through my defense with a powerful two-handed strike—diagonal, from bottom to top.
I had to laugh when I noticed that the spell had simultaneously sliced through the snake and several birds.
With a delighted smile, I dismissed Aegis. I incinerated the remaining birds and then enthusiastically twirled my wand between my fingers.
"Great, Augustus. Great!"
And then I stepped forward without waiting for an answer.
"Cestus Ictus! Punctum! Everte Statum!"
A white, blue-white, and orange beam shot from my wand. I knew his shield should be able to survive the first two stronger spells, which was why I chose a weaker one for the third.
Rookwood immediately responded with a defensive spell:
"Skeldawallaz!"
A narrow, translucent silver shield appeared in front of him, matching his width precisely and extending slightly above his head.
My Cestus struck it with a loud crash. However, the shield held even against the penetrating Punctum and absorbed the orange Statum as well.
Augustus only stumbled after Everte Statum. His shield was even more translucent now, but it was still holding. It likely functioned on fixed magic, much like my Aegis.
Alexander desperately tried to keep fighting from behind Augustus.
"Flipendo! Expelliarmus!"
But he was weak now. Visibly weak. He had poured far too much magical energy into the transfiguration, so I had absolutely no trouble side-stepping the spells and pushing forward.
"Cestus Ictus!"
I fired the white beam, and after a moment's thought added a wine-red spell:
"Hemo Tarsis!"
Rookwood had thrown spells at me that could have killed me. Returning the favor felt only fair.
"Protego!" Alexander shouted immediately beside Augustus. He tried to cover him with his own shield, but his Protego failed and my spells hit Rookwood directly.
Cestus, like an iron fist, completely shattered what was left of the Germanic shield. Even after breaking through, it kept going and struck Augustus square in the stomach.
He doubled over in pain.
And my final spell finished him off.
The wine-red spell instantly caused a violent pressure spike in his body. So I wasn't surprised at all when he collapsed onto his side and started throwing up. His wand slipped from his hand in the process.
For a second, I felt for him. It was a favorite spell of Vespera's, and I'd experienced it firsthand more than once…
But he had used pretty severe spells. And if he had used them on my friends, I would have killed him.
Lightning-fast, I pressed the attack on Mulciber.
"Synapsis Interrum!"
The pink spell hit him straight in the face. Alexander collapsed instantly as his nervous system short-circuited, his wand slipping from his hand as well.
I concluded the duel with a simple:
"Accio wands!"
I caught their wands neatly in midair and walked over to them.
Both fifth-years were lying on the floor. Alexander was merely exhausted, but Augustus must have felt terrible. The smell of his vomit was uncomfortably sharp.
With a few flicks of my wand, I cleaned them both up non-verbally.
Alexander struggled to his feet, while Augustus remained lying down. That didn't stop him from muttering a curt word of thanks, however.
Mulciber and I settled into the armchairs off to the side, and after a few minutes, Rookwood joined us. He stumbled over and collapsed gratefully into a chair.
"You've definitely grown stronger over the holidays," I remarked with a smile.
"Not enough," Rookwood scowled at me.
"Augustus," a tired Alexander admonished him.
I observed them for a moment, thinking. I knew where the problem lay, so I finally decided to be frank.
"I won't apologize for last year," I began seriously, "but I understand that it messed you up psychologically."
Both were about to object, but I held up a hand to stop them and continued:
"You, Augustus, clearly turned toward combat magic… powerful spells, some of which could have been lethal. You, Alexander, switched to combat transfiguration so you'd have a living shield."
I shook my head.
"Your behavior is understandable. But I'm offering you genuine cooperation. We'll help each other out. We'll have practice duels, and I'll help you get stronger. In return, you'll help me improve as well."
I paused for a moment.
"And who knows? Maybe in time, we'll even be genuine friends."
As I said those words, I was looking mainly at Augustus Rookwood. He was the one who only wanted to defeat me and had little interest in working together.
In the end, though, he gave a solemn nod.
Alexander then sank deeper into his armchair with a sigh of relief.
"So?" Rookwood spoke up after a moment. "What did we do wrong?"
I gave him a smirk and then quickly broke down our duel.
"Practically… nothing, really," I shook my head, "but only because I intentionally dragged the duel out."
Both of them scowled at me, but waited in silence for my next words.
"It's obvious with both of you that you lack combat experience. You learned the spells you cast, and at most you've had duels against each other… or once in a blue moon against someone else. I don't know."
I shrugged and continued:
"What I mean is, both of you were far too static. You just stood there casting spells at me without moving, and when I started returning fire, you both stood like logs. So we'll teach both of you to move better. And of course… more duels."
Both nodded in agreement.
"You, Alexander… very poor with that transfiguration. In a real fight, I would have blown that golem to bits right away. I wouldn't have given you enough time to feed magic into it."
I shook my head.
"You either need to learn dual transfiguration or speed up your magic feeding. Or… if you really want to take that path, create an army first and only then focus on a single powerful entity."
An idea flashed through my mind on how to help him.
"Once you get better at combat transfiguration, I can show you Dumbledore's memory where he uses combat transfiguration. Maybe it'll serve as inspiration for you."
A wide smile instantly broke across his face, so I turned to Augustus.
"I liked your new spells. German origin, I assume?" I asked curiously.
"Old Germanic," he answered calmly.
"Great."
I nodded with a smile.
"You'll also train with my friends to gain more experience… and regularly."
After a moment, though, I frowned at Augustus.
"Honestly, I'm glad you used that kind of magic on me. But around my friends, you'll need to control yourself. I doubt they'd survive those Germanic spells… and since I care about my friends, you wouldn't survive it afterwards either."
I informed him calmly, looking straight into his eyes.
"I understand, Rosier. I'm not an idiot," he replied seriously. Then an amused smirk appeared on his face. "Though I still don't understand why you laugh like a maniac while fighting."
I returned the smirk and merely shrugged. It wasn't my fault that fighting made me feel alive.
"If you guys are good now, I can show you the basic stance and footwork," I suggested after a moment.
"Just a minute, Patrik," Alexander spoke up, his eyes fixed on Augustus.
It was thoughtful of him to look out for his friend like that, so I just nodded.
I was in no rush.
Apart from a bit of fire magic, I hadn't used anything serious or particularly powerful in the fight. If I had used water or lightning, it would have been overkill, and I wouldn't have gotten anything out of the duel.
I couldn't wait for a real fight where I wouldn't have to hold back or restrain myself.
Once I show them the basics of movement, I'll get back to training water magic.
At that thought, a broad smile spread across my face.
***
Author's note:
Ancient Germanic spells sound seriously awesome—I kept repeating them out loud while writing, and honestly, they felt way too epic, hah .
Our MC might only be a second-year, but he really needs to get a grip... he's becoming a complete battle addict. Let's see if the tournament will finally give him the challenge he's been craving.
And about our MC's training philosophy... yes, he genuinely wants others to become stronger. No, it's not entirely selfless. Stronger friends mean stronger opponents, and that is probably the most Patrik thing possible.
***
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The shadows are shifting, and the story goes much deeper... If you can't wait for the next update, Advanced Chapters are already waiting for you.
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Upcoming Chapters – Already Written(15):
98. Calculated Risk
99. Flight and Fortune
100. Calculated Arrogance
101. GW: A Cunning Kind of Courage
102. GW2: My Best Friend
103. Pride Before the Haircut
104. Fire and Thunder
105. Better to Be Feared
106. A Serial Killer Under the Bed
107. The Legacy of Rookwood Castle
108. Worse Than Horcruxes
109. Cleansed by Fire
110. Running Dead
111. I'm Dying
112. AM: Everything We Had Left
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