Chapter 15: 15 Progress
Hermione came back down to the great hall, where the others were waiting for her.
"How did it go?" questioned Holly, who could already guess by her facial expression.
"Very well! He cleared all my doubts and made sure I didn't feel bad, but" Hermione looked over to Harry "he might dislike you now."
"If it's only that I think I will manage, not like I need some Hufflepuff to like me." Harry commented.
"Damn right, Gryffindor rules!" Ron said before giving him a high five.
Holly sighed at the blatant disregard for Hermione's feelings by the boys "I am glad for you, Hermione. But there is one thing I find strange, your reaction was a little over the top, don't you think?"
"Oh no no no, you just don't know Lucas like I do, if you did you would have reacted the same way."
"If you say so" replied Holly doubtfully, not believing her.
——
Inside the Room of Requirement Lucas was standing in the middle surrounded by target dummies, which were circling around him. From time to time one randomly would charge at him.
His eyes were closed and his wand was floating above him.
He picked up the dummies' movement with his magic that was swirling around him, creating a light breeze.
When the dummy was about to hit him, his wand abruptly snapped towards it and shot a fast bullet of magic, obliterating it.
This kept happening until all targets were reduced to ashes.
Having warmed up and familiarised himself with having to send his magic away from his body and casting afterwards, he put away his wand and summoned some stationary targets.
Concentrating deeply, the space above him flickered for a short while and then a weak looking spell flew out. It hit a target, but didn't do a lot of damage.
'Finally.' Lucas had managed to cast a spell away from his body without his wand, something he had tried to do for a long while. It was something he had theorised a year ago and would give him more flexibility while fighting. Just imagine a spells flying at you from next to you, while you can't even see your opponent.
If you expand on this idea, then two or more spells at the same time should be possible making it even more terrifying.
But having done what Lucas wanted to do it was time to leave. The light breeze surrounding him disappeared and instead flooded the room. Every single detail from the smallest brick to the remains of the earlier dummies appeared in his mind.
Basking in the feeling of total control, the remaining targets were in his focus and with but a thought they exploded. There was no indication of a spell, neither an incantation nor a hand movement.
Now you might be asking yourself why he didn't do this from the start. A fair question with a simple answer: It doesn't work on magical beings. Or more precise wizards and other kinds seem to have a natural resistance to it, meaning the magical prowess necessary goes up exponentially. That's why a different way to fight against them seemed to him the best option.
Looking at the clock on the wall he noticed it was close to bed time.
——
The following morning at the breakfast table, Susan took a seat beside Lucas.
"Good morning," she greeted him, and he couldn't help but feel a bit surprised to see her up so early and without Hannah in sight. "Morning, Susan. What brings you here so early?" he inquired.
"Sometimes I like to wake up early." She replied, which Lucas couldn't help but doubt, because this was the first time he had seen her up so early and he was here every single day, after his morning exercise. "And what about Hannah?"
"Oh, she is still sleeping."
Intrigued by Susan's unusual behavior, Lucas observed her closely. However, every time he attempted to establish eye contact, she shily avoided his gaze.
'Interesting.' Lucas wasn't helpless without his legilimency, he had been in enough heads to be able to see the signs of a crush. Her slightly shaking hands, the slight blush on her cheeks and how she flinched when his hand came too close to hers, were telltale signs.
Amused, he watched her as they engaged in casual conversation about the day ahead.
Afterward, Susan returned to her dormitory while Lucas made his way to the library, contemplating the newfound knowledge about Susan's feelings. 'Let's just ignore her for now. The year is already packed with things I want to do, I can't entertain a 12 year old teenage crush on top of that.'
——
Later on the same day the Gryffindor and the Slytherin quidditch teams clashed.
"You have got a new seeker. Who?" asked Oliver Wood, Gryffindor's captain.
Draco stepped out from behind the other Slytherins, to which Harry said out his name bewilderedly.
"That's right and that's not all that's new this year." Draco replied as he showed off his new Nimbus 2001, which his daddy gifted the whole team.
"How did you get those?" questioned Ron, who came over with Hermione and Holly, when he had seen the two teams approaching each other.
"A gift from Draco's father." Marcus Flint, the Slytherin captain said.
"You see Weasley, unlike some, my father can afford the best." replied Draco smugly.
To which Hermione butted in "At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in, they got in on pure talent."
"No one asked of your opinion, you filthy mudblood."
*Gasps*
"Oh no you didn't, Draco." Holly was disgusted by his comment and before anyone else could say anything else Harry punched him straight in the face.
Draco fell down, holding his nose "Just you wait until my father knows of this." He threatened the only way he knew, with his family's influence.
But before the situation could get out of hand Snape conveniently walked around the corner. "Mr. Potter, I must say I am disappointed. 100 points from Gryffindor and detention. As for Mr. Malfoy off to the hospital wing."
"But professor he …" Hermione wanted to say something, but was stopped by Holly and Ron.
"Yes, Ms. Granger?" He looked at her and waited for any comment that might come out, but nothing came. "If you have nothing to say I will take my leave."
After he was gone Hermione walked over to Harry and thanked him.
"You don't have to thank me, I always wanted to punch that stupid face of his and now I got a chance to do so." Harry awkwardly scratched his head as he explained this to her.
——
"You heard, Harry hit Malfoy."
"I heard they had a big fight, with magic."
"No, I heard they brawled over the right to the quidditch stadium."
These were just a few of the conversations Lucas picked up as he was walking to the great hall for lunch.
Inside he could see the Gryffindor students angrily staring at the Slytherin ones and vice versa, their normal rivalry evolved into a tense atmosphere.
He made his way to the Hufflepuff table, which just so happened to be between the two problematic houses.
He sat down on his usual seat and turned to the person who most likely knew what transpired. "Hannah, do you know what happened?"
She looked at him like he had hurt her feelings "Who do you think I am, of course I know what happened. Let me tell you…" She told him what happened, as well as all the rumours that had spread over this short time. The amount of information she had at hand was, frankly, frightening.
After he heard everything he looked over to the Slytherin table, where Draco was surrounded by others and proudly told his version of the story, showing off his injury free face, which was not surprising thanks to magic potions.
"I see." was all he said before continuing eating.
"I thought you would have a bigger reaction, because Hermione is your friend, right." Hannah tried to find out more, she was after all a sucker for gossip.
"He already got hit once, and who said I wouldn't do anything." He told her with a mischievous grin. 'Fuck it, once shouldn't be too bad.'
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