The next day, after the classes, everyone gathered in a small hall. By everyone, it meant all the enthusiasts who wanted to join the Duelling Club. Professor Flitwick was also there, supervising everything and acting as the referee.
They had set up a long stage where the duels would take place. For now, it was just going to be Flitwick teaching everyone how duels are fought. The stage had charms on its corners that would stop magical spells from the inside to injure someone outside. It was not the best solution though, because with a strong enough attack the shield will break.
Magnus, being the only student with some fighting experience, was asked to come on stage. They were going to demonstrate how a duel is done.
Flitwick and Magnus took out their wands and stood at each end of the stage.
Flitwick started lecturing, "Everyone, focus here. Listen to me as this is how the official duels take place. As you can see, we are at the end of the stages. As soon as the match starts, you can move forward if you want.
"As said in the rule book, you must either push your opponent from the stage, disarm them or make them quit. Now, we will be using verbal charms, for now, to show you what can be used. Mr Pendragon, you can start whenever you want."
After getting the sign from Flitwick, Magnus readied his best-unused wand. He still had 5 more under his robes, plus he had taken a few potions from Ragnar to use them. In his defence, he was about to duel with a renowned Master Duelist.
On the other hand, Flitwick looked calm, but he was feeling so excited. His mind was telling him to feel excited, that he was about to duel with the descendant of Merlin, who was considered the best ever in charms and other enchantments. And knowing that Magnus had used his powers to completely defeat so many pure-blood wizards who had been spoonfed all the resources proves that Magnus was not to be taken lightly.
But this also reminded him not to take this 2nd-year student in front of him lightly.
But Magnus did not start. He looked at Ragnar, "Rag, blow up a balloon and then pop it. We will start the duel with the burst sound."
"A much better solution." Professor Flitwick agreed.
"BEAT HIS ASS, PROFESSOR!." James shouted from the side.
Flitwick glared at them, "I do not tolerate such demeaning language, Mr Potter. Do you want detention?"
"Sorry, sir. I just got too excited." James apologised immediately.
Ragnar did and asked. Soon, all the noise subsided as everyone looked at the stage and Ragnar in anticipation. Magnus and Flitwick became alert and crouched slightly to give the body better flexibility.
*BOOM*
"Aguamenti" Magnus cast his charm and aimed a jet of water towards Flitwick. But this was not the end of the series of attacks that he had planned.
On the other side of the stage, Flitwick immediately countered the water with Incendio charm. His wand created a similar stream of fire and soon the fire met water.
It created a lot of steam, but not all of it was turned into steam, some of the water did fall on Flitwick but it had no momentum.
As soon as the water stopped Flitwick sent a charm flying, "Stupify!"
To Flitwick and everyone else's shock, Magnus was seen running towards the coming charm. Midway he cast Protego, the shield charm, immediately neutralising the Stupify.
Next, Flitwick noticed Magnus putting his hand inside his pocket and taking out a small vial. He didn't throw it towards Flitwick, instead his own feet.
*BOOM*
A cloud of smoke covered Magnus. It covered the whole middle part of the stage. All the spectators made excited or cheering noises watching this.
This trick was only effecting in duels as in real life, the enemy would start bombarding attacks after attacks at the smoke. Flitwick stayed alert to tackle any coming charm. At the same time, he waved his wand to send a gust of wind.
BUT... Flitwick was confused by Magnus' next choice of charm.
"Engorgio!" Magnus' voice resounded. This was an enlargement charm.
~What is he enlarging?~ Flitwick wondered.
"Evanesco!(vanish objects)"
As soon as Flitwick heard this he knew this was serious. He let go removing the smoke and started throwing Descendo charms(Makes object fall down) one after another randomly in front of him.
"Descendo!" "Descendo!" "Descendo!" "Descendo!..."
*BAM*
Then, all of a sudden something collided with his legs, it was enough to push him to the edge of the stage. But he somehow stopped himself.
"Revelio!" He cast it on the invisible object. Instantly, a round spherical metallic ball appeared. But, that was not the end. The metallic ball instantly turned back into its normal fist-sized ball, but it left a lot of smoke there, and it was suffocating smoke.
"LUMOS!"
~WHAT? Who uses the light-producing charm in a duel?~ Everyone wondered there.
But then, to the shock and excitement of it all, they saw Magnus in mid-air as he had dived towards Flitwick, who was intensively coughing.
"BLOODY MERLIN!" Sirius loudly exclaimed seeing this awesome scene.
*KA-CHACK* a camera flash came and someone took a photograph of that moment.
The fight was coming to an end and this fast-paced duel was blood-pumping to all there, as every moment with Magnus was unpredictable.
By the time Flitwick looked at Magnus, the light-emitting wand was so close to his face that it blinded his eyes. Both of them were still surrounded by smoke, with only a hue of them visible to others.
*BAM* *BAM*
Loud noises of Magnus landing came and the next moment everything turned silent. No sound came, neither from the stage nor the crowd. Even all those who hated Magnus had stopped booing. The smoke dissipated slowly and the view became clear for all to see.
Magnus was standing behind Flitwick, with his wand's tip resting on the side of the professor's neck.
"I won, professor," Magnus said with a smile.
"YAAAAAAAA... HE WON," the crowd cheered after seeing him win.
"MY BROTHER WON!" Ragnar was about to run to Magnus in excitement. Who could have thought a duel would be so exciting?
"I wouldn't be so sure, Mr Pendragon. Priori Incantato!" Flitwick cast another charm. But this was troublesome to Magnus, this charm creates an "echo" of previously performed spells. So all he heard now was "Descendo!". But he knew that Flitwick was doing something else.
"Expelliarmus!" Magnus decided to end the match and used it at point-blank range on the professor's neck. It was a simple disarming charm, Flitwick will just lose his wand now.
"Hehe, you lack experience, Mr Pendragon. Relashio!" Flitwick's voice echoed, stopping everyone from cheering.
That was all Magnus heard. In a shocking turn of events, his hand automatically opened and his wand dropped to the floor, now Flitwick's wand was pointed at him. The situation was reversed in a split second.
There was confusion on Magnus' face as he had cast disarming charm at point-blank, how it could fail.
"Confused?" Flitwick asked him. Magnus nodded so he continued.
"You had me there, but my experiences helped me in the last moment. Remember this?" Flitwick showed a piece of metal he was holding in the other hand. It was the same metal ball Magnus had used to fight. But now it looked like a curved steel plate.
Magnus' eyes widened as he realised, "Ah, so you transfigured my own thrown metal ball and turned it into a small shield for your neck with Protego. That's why my disarming charm didn't work."
Flitwick put his wand back in the holster, "Haha... yes. You used a prop and I used the same thing on you. Your performance was flawless all the way to the end. For a moment I was certain that I would lose. But, in the end, you became careless and didn't notice the metal shield I had made as well as my wand arm secretly aimed at your stomach.
"But it was such an exciting duel, I got to experience a good fight after so long, Mr Pendragon. I can with utmost confidence say that with just a few months of training you can become a Duelling Master." Flitwick said in appreciation, and it was coming from the bottom of his heart.
~Certainlty, this is the blood of Merlin, only a second year and this strong. As long as he grows at this rate in magic, mind and body, he will surpass all. Maybe he will also become the Prince of Enchanters... no... maybe even higher than that. King of Enchanters.~ Flitwick silently marvelled.
Then his eyes fell on the still-shocked crowd. All of them were so confused, about how Magnus didn't win.
"Close your mouths, students. I will tell you how I won." He started teaching them about mental calmness and how he won.
"But Mr Pendragon is a master manipulator. He was purposefully creating conditions favouring him. In truth, if at the end Mr Pendragon had not used Lumos, and instead had used the regular stunning charm, I would have immediately countered it as it was harmful to me.
"However, because it was Lumos, and hence harmless, I didn't react and that gave Mr Pendragon a chance to jump behind me with his wand at my neck. Only if he had paid a little more attention to me he would have certainly won.
"So, this was how a real duel is fought. Not by beating your opponent bloody, but by defeating them with non-fatal magic. In international tournaments, non-life-threatening force is allowed, but here, we will not use that.
"Now, I want all of you to make a pair with each other and practice stupify and Protego on each other. Those who don't know these spells follow me to this side, I will teach them to you today."
[A/N: I suck at writing action scenes but tried my best on this.]
[You can see the duelling stage on my Discord - https://discord.gg/DgHkrAn OR see them on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mister_immortal_novel]
STONES ARE LIFE!
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You can read 20 advance chapters or my Naruto fic, and more at -patreon.com/misterimmortal.
Special thanks to *Douglas Flower* *Umar Latif* *Julian Rocamora* *Darrien Steely* *Franklin Walley*
Thank you for your support!
1 Stone = 1 Banana Ratatouille. [Effect: Immunity from all kinds of Plague for eternity. (Warning: You could spread a super virus, resulting in a zombie apocalypse.)]
Everyone was excited after seeing the Duel between Magnus and Flitwick. Those who were not so interested in this previously were now hoping to go pro, though it was just momentary motivation.
Another thing that happened was that the Gang of Slytherin developed slight fear towards him now, as he was so good at fighting and now they were fully sure they could not do anything to him in a face to face conflict.
Other than this, everyone else started admiring him more. He became the role model and goal of many students who were truly interested in duelling and were even good at it.
Magnus though was helping Emma, Ragnar and Severus. Soon, Sirius, James, Remus and Peter also joined as they recognised Magnus' amazing abilities.
"Ragnar, you only need to become fast, just like me, so you can overcome the lack of your wand skills. The rest of you, just focus on your spells. You will not find wizards like me who jump around so much. I use a sword, that's why I move a lot." Magnus told them.
"WHAA... but I want to look cool like you," Sirius complained. Emma nodded at him.
"Okay, can you cast all the charms me and professor used in our duel?" He asked them.
With embarrassed faces, they looked down. "See, you need to focus on normal charms first. Just practice the disarming, shield and stunning charm first.
"Ragnar, you follow me. I will show you how to toy with the mind of your opponent. I have a perfect trick for you."
Ragnar followed him to the corner of the hall, where Magnus started teaching him. "I have come up with a plan to make you the best fighter. You know potions best, so you must have a lot of potions with you that you can use on the opponent. Next, all you have to do is keep your wand out and fool your opponent by just speaking the names of spells.
"You can name any spell you want. And you can even make opportunities to strike the opponent by shouting a fake attack and anticipate their counter. But you will still need to know how to perform the defensive and disarming charm. Without them, your chances of survival and winning will be thin."
"But... those are my main problems. I must make those runes at all costs." Ragnar's will reignited.
"I will help you too. Now, let's practice." Magnus continued to help him.
...
The 1st duelling club ran till 7 PM. Much more than the planned 2 hours. But, all of the students were so motivated that they didn't want to stop.
In an hour, time for dinner would come so Flitwick had to force them to leave to their dorms and change clothes. However, Flitwick invited Magnus to his office to talk about something.
It seemed the charms professor was in a very good mood today, "Come, Mr Pendragon, here, have some hot chocolate."
Magnus obliged and took a seat. He had a very favourable opinion regarding Flitwick till now.
"Where did you learn to fight like that? Only once in my lifetime have I seen a wizard fight like you, but he was not so talented in charms and died on the stage." Flitwick asked him while he drank what seemed like Firewhiskey.
"I was taught by King Arthur's portrait and my father, as he's in the army. I have been practising to skillfully use my sword. So that I can someday be the best of both Arthur and Merlin." Magnus shared his thoughts.
Flitwick liked that Magnus considered him worthy to be knowing this, "Indeed, King Arthur fought beside Merlin in all fights, he's as great as Merlin, but sadly, Muggles forgot about him."
"It's not that they forgot, it's just that because the Statue of Secrecy came into place, slowly the entire muggle population started to believe all the magical things only happened in stories. Hence, the groundbreaking achievements of Arthur also became fairy tales." Magnus replied. This was his theory of why Arthur was not remembered.
"Indeed, I would have loved to meet him if he was alive. A person of royal blood, who treated people right. Who gave the goblins land to establish their bank on." Flitwick commented.
Magnus then asked, "Professor, do you feel closer to humans or Goblins? I don't mean to offend you. Please ignore if it's a stupid question."
Flitwick chuckled, "Haha, no-no. My case is rare, so it's normal for people to feel curious. Well, sadly, I don't feel close to any of the two. To me, Goblins look too obnoxious, short-sighted and greedy. While humans... well... I was prejudged and foredoomed from an early age because of my ancestral connection to a different breed of being that was both regarded and treated as second-class citizens by much of the wizarding community. So, I can't bring myself to feel close to humans either.
"I am stuck in my own world, in the middle. But don't feel pity for me, Mr Pendragon, as that would hurt me more. I was subjected to scrutiny from those around me from the minute I set foot inside this castle. I knew that nobody would stand up for me, I must help myself. All that I am today is because of my hard work and will to never quit."
Magnus wanted to salute this guy. Muggle-borns were so mistreated and harassed in the current world, he couldn't imagine the things Flitwick must have faced in all these years. Stuck with dual identities, unknown if he was by law even considered a first-class citizen.
Magnus had an idea, "Professor, your life has been so inspirational. Will you let me tell my personal writer to write a book on you? Your autobiography? I am sure it will help so many, I personally have a friend who is a werewolf due to an accident. Your story will motivate people like him to push forward no matter what."
"Are you talking about Mr Lupin? Haha... don't look at me like that. Most of the faculty know and we support Headmaster. As for the book, will Rita Skeeter be writing it?" He inquired.
"Of course, I pay her good money to use her brain. Come on, professor, the world will hear about you. You might just help some depressed wizard kid avoid suicide due to social pressure." Magnus tried to convince him.
*Sigh*
"Fine, Mr Pendragon, I will allow her to write a book about my life." He agreed.
Magnus was happy, "Thank you. And, please call me Magnus. Mr Pendragon seems too... official."
"Alright, Mr P... Magnus. Ah, look how long we talked, it's nearly dinner time. Well, I asked you to come with me because I wanted to ask you about your wand. When will you go out to find one?"
Magnus sighed, "I'm afraid there is none for me, Professor. I am supposed to hold Merlin's staff someday, but until that day I must use these replaceable wands. But, I have swords to fight too, and they can easily stop a killing curse."
Flitwick nodded, "That's good to hear. It's time, we should leave for Great Hall."
Magnus nodded and started leaving, but as he was about to reach the door, Flitwick called him back.
"Magnus, I read the book about you. The dream of yours, of an equal world, as idealistic as it may be, is quite wonderful. If it was someone else, I would not have believed it, but maybe... you can do it.
"If you ever need my help with something, do ask me," Flitwick said.
Magnus left after hearing this. ~Hmm... I wonder if all the people like Professor, who were wronged by the society band together, can they defeat all these pure-blood racists?~
...
At the great hall, the dinner felt much tastier for a few students. Because they exerted so much during the duelling class. Poor elves of Hogwarts were having to work extra today, but unknown to all, they were extra happy, thinking their food was being valued more.
Magnus also drowned himself in food. His favourite dish, pancakes were there too. But, they were not as tasty as those his mum makes so he also ate some chicken, lamb, beef, cake, apple pie and finally a large glass of banana shake.
*BAM*
Soon, the newspapers also arrived and Magnus opened the first page to see what was going on in the magical world.
But, his mood got spoiled immediately. The headline read, "YOU-KNOW-WHO warns the world to obey or be reduced to ashes. A family of wizards burned alive on a pyre, including 2 children."
Magnus was not dumb, he knew that the Ministry owned the paper, not the chief editor. But this was his warning to the ministry indirectly, for them to look into this matter. Because this headline spoke less about the tragedy and more about what the dark lord wanted to tell the world. This was an obvious sign of the Ministry being compromised.
He took out a blank paper and started writing a letter to the chief editor of the Daily Prophet.
"I am disheartened to see the current state of your newspaper. How it has become a mouthpiece for racists and murderers. Now you are even issuing announcements for Death Eaters? Do you love Azkaban so much?
"Perhaps, I should start my own newspaper. I'm sure it will just take me a day to destroy your sales records. But, you still have a chance to come clean, by selling the newspaper to me, or else, see your newspaper become worthless in this capitalistic business world. I can distribute my paper for free for years, I do not lack money. Can you do the same without going bankrupt?
Think about it.
Magnus Grant Emrys Pendragon."
...
Ministry of Magic,
The ministry had its own propaganda division. They did not have a designated department as they didn't have that many employees. Their job was just to subtly keep the image of the Ministry clean.
But, the whole operation was now compromised because the new head of this small division was a pureblood supremacist, as well as a staunch follower of the Dark Lord, although he was neither a Death Eater nor had met them in his life.
The moment he read the message from Magnus, he seethed in rage. After all this time, his un-questioned power was being questioned and threatened. He wanted to fight back, and for it, he was going to use the same newspaper Magnus wanted to buy.
"Cancel tomorrow morning's 1st-page special. I will write one personally," he announced.
[You can see the duelling hall on my Discord - https://discord.gg/DgHkrAn OR see them on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mister_immortal_novel]
______________________________
You can read 20 advance chapters or my Naruto fic, and more at -patreon.com/misterimmortal.
Special thanks to *Douglas Flower* *Umar Latif* *Julian Rocamora* *Darrien Steely* *Franklin Walley*
Thank you for your support!
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