Bab 26: Chapter 26
Gideon Krafft was annoyed. And has been so on and off for over two hours now. The day was almost like a rollercoaster for him.
When the mission first started, he'd been quite looking forward to it. Even he didn't know why, but the task to hunt Harry Potter had slowly begun looking like an exciting prospect. Especially when he realized how highly the boy was regarded here.
That excitement was drowned quickly however, when his two…juniors. joined him in the middle. Suddenly the fact that he wasn't alone in this hunt had splashed all over his face like cold water, and the first bout of annoyance had begun brewing.
That annoyance was, once again, quickly drowned when his eyes had fell upon Stella's busty tits. His mind had begun planning for some personal fun then, realizing that the forest was the perfect place to apply his own brand of….forceful ministrations.
Personally, Gideon didn't enjoy suppressing the screams of his victims with magic. But considering how loud women screamed, especially muggle women, he was usually forced to do so anyway.
So the prospects of taking a witch from behind in a forest, and enjoying her screams of anguish, had lifted his mood anew.
It would've all been so perfectly simple as well. Kill Mathew with a quick killing curse, then enjoy his night's entertainment for a good few minutes, before going after the boy.
His dreams were ripped apart into pieces however, when his eyes took in the small 'Lvl 5 Dueler' badge on her shoulder, the exact same one he'd been given.
And while all that remained of his own badge were ashes, currently rotting in the trash can, this stupid witch seemed to wear it proudly.
This slip of a girl, wearing that wretched badge, acting like she were his equal….
Gideon had not liked that. Not one bit.
Yet, there had been nothing he could do but mald in anger by himself. The chances of her actually being a competent dueler were high, and should she survive his attempt at force, Gideon may as well sign his own death warrant.
To rape a random muggle was one thing, but to rape a member of Alliance was a crime.
Even if he convinced Abernathy to turn a blind eye for one time, Lord Grindelwald will be waiting for him, ready to skin him alive.
Afterall, should the news of new recruits being treated like such spread, the others would be more hesitant to join.
So here he was now, two hours later and filled with annoyance at the whole situation.
'Why can't she have been a little weaker?' Gideon grouched, still following after the leaf. Or twig…
Oh, twig or leaf, he cared not.
He just wanted the boy captured and this day to end. There was a small muggle family in this area, with a plump wife that he would love to bury himself in. And now that their truth was out in the open, no would could even stop him...
Thus were the plans brewing in his head when his robe suddenly bungled up with some vines, and he fell down on the ground face first…..for the 6th consecutive time since he started chasing after the leaf.
"Aargh!" A roar of frustration left him as he pushed himself back on feet.
Was there any need for the leaf to suddenly change directions!? Better yet, what the fuck was that boy even doing down here, all alone in the forest!?
"I'll find it myself." Krafft growled, resuming his chase.
Unfortunately for him, his path through the forest seemed like a personal hell, made just for him. Mosquitoes bit him in the legs and back, rocks hit him in the shins and toes, branches and leaves smacked him in the face...
Worse, he can't even use magic to clear a path for him without risking the loss of that tiny leaf.
Thankfully he quickly caught up with his prey. He knew the boy had been running from him, having caught sight of his small but intense fire at one point, standing out in the midst of complete darkness. But the boy had easily left him in dust then. Quite literally.
Gideon Krafft had never believed in karma before, but as his eyes finally fell upon his awaiting prey, standing all alone in the middle of a large clearing…..
He still chose not to believe in it.
Instead, he observed his prey with a growing smile of accomplishment.
The boy stood inside a ring of fire. Not the literal kind, but in the form of small candles littering the ground that lit up the entire clearing with their orange glow.
Gideon Krafft walked towards him slowly, enjoying the moment for all its worth….and not at all because he was panting and groaning like he usually did after a bout of debauchery.
For him, sex has indeed become a very tiresome job, even when he was done under a minute or two. Sometimes, he just forgot his age.
Still, he paid his breathlessness no mind, entering the sphere of candles to meet his awaiting enemy, who was watching him with the eyes of a hawk, albeit of a much greener and vibrant shade.
He did check for disillusionment charms or traps, but considering the boy had perhaps a minute or two before his arrival, he didn't pay it any mind.
'Finally, my job is finished'
"There you are…" Krafft practically purred, his heart pumping with the familiar excitement of hunting a weaker prey. "Harry Potter, the youngest European champion…did you arrange this little place for me? How considerate. You've made this a whole lot easier for me."
"Now be a good boy….and kneel."
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"…Now be a good boy…and kneel."
Harry snorted, elder wand ready in his grasp as he called upon his magic.
"It's ridiculously funny you think there's any chance of you coming out on top here." Krafft sneered, cutting quite a pathetic sight as he shakily rose his own wand.
His robe was dirty and torn, scratch marks littered all over his face, and dried blood patches marred with dirt rested on his forehead.
"You look like you're half dead, Mr. Krafft." For the first time since his arrival, Harry replied to the man. It was also meant to be the last. "Let me help you die properly."
'Kill.'
There was no more to it. The moment Harry's mind settled on a course, he proceeded to apply it.
Taking a quick dueling stance, he stood sideways with his wand held like a one-handed sword. Something that was matched by his opponent.
Then, he rained down spells upon the Death Eater.
His plan was simple; Kill this one, capture the other two, get any relevant information, then rejoin his family.
Three quick waves of his wand, and 3 rapid one-shotters leapt out; Expelliarmus, Stupefy, and Flippendo. All meant to put the man in defensive.
With a snort of contempt, the arrogant Death Eater brought his wand forward and a large blue shield materialised in front of him, blocking away his spells.
The man's smile slipped however, when the shield wobbled like elastic under the weight of his power.
'Arrogant mistake.'
Harry hadn't counted on getting an advantage so early, but he adapted instantly. He kept up the pressure, drowning the man under the same chain of spells.
Just the start of their duel, and the Death Eater has willingly given away the initiative in Harry's hands.
Making full use of his advantage, he slowly moved forward, pushing the man back. His chains of one-shotters hit the Death Eater rapidly, like muggle bullets, soon managing to form cracks along the surface.
Krafft was stuck. He cannot retaliate or disapparate without freeing his wand. He cannot try dodging out either, considering Harry was launching a couple of spells every second. And Krafft knew this.
The death Eater realised his fuck-up instantly in fact, and tried to correct his mistake by capitalising on Harry's motionless figure. With his wand hand tied defending himself, his other hand slashed at Harry, and a wandless force suddenly made a nearby pebble fly at him.
Harry just took a step forward and kept going, letting the stone fly past him.
"Ah, fuck!" Krafft exclaimed, now clutching the wand with both hands as his momentary lapse of attention was paid by his shield.
The thing with one-shotter spells like Stupefy and Expelliarmus was that they were incredibly quick to cast. So shielding against them was generally considered a rookie move, as it could force a dueler to turtle behind their shield, powerless against the peppering tide.
A skilled or dexterous enough dueler may try to dodge, distract, or retailed in any way, in order to get out of the trap.
But not against an opponent who completely surpassed them in power, speed, and dexterity.
The entire area around them was now lit up by the colour of their magic. The blue shield clashing with red spells created a hue of supernatural power that mixed in with the fire's glow to create a scene of surrealism.
Just a minute into their duel, and Krafft was already on his knees and screaming with all his might, desperately trying to hold onto his shield, which was now riddled with cracks.
'A final push.'
Harry halted his assault for just a minuscule second, preparing the most explosive chain in his repertoire.
With a cry of relief his opponent wobbled to his feet, no doubt looking to disapparate away. Had he been at his peak form, he may have succeeded.
As it was, he stumbled down on one knee from exhaustion, and that was all Harry needed.
'Bombarda, Confringo, Bombarda Maxima.'
All three casted silently, tore through the air to reach the kneeling Krafft.
With a yell of desperation, the Death Eater reformed his shield. But the combined might of the three spells cracked it open, creating a massive explosion that sent Krafft flying with an agonized scream.
The cracking boom of explosion that ensued no doubt spread throughout the forest as the land where Krafft had stood was torn asunder, leaving deep trenches and tree stumps in place.
In the aftermath of the attack, one side of the fire's encirclement was completely extinguished, plunging it in darkness.
The scene that created was such that Harry alone stood in the light, while his opponent was lost in darkness. It was as if magic itself was announcing the result of their duel.
Incredibly, his opponent turned out not to be dead when his voice, enhanced by sonorus, rang out in a pathetic cry of agony and pain. "Heeeelp!"
With a snarl Harry moved in to finish his opponent, but the two cracks of disapparition thwarted his attempt.
Two figures, the same man and woman he'd observed before, materialised in front of him from thin air. While the woman landed safely, the man instantly went down with a howl of pain, clutching his leg.
"Splinched my ankle!" He bellowed. "Told you disapparating in a random location is–"
Harry capitalized instantly, giving them no chance to talk.
'Sectemsempra!' He intoned silently, putting his complete focus behind the spell.
At the peak of its mastery, the spell was meant to hit as fast as a one-shotter while moving completely invisibly.
And indeed, his wand glowed blue but the spell left no trails.
Unfortunately, the female member of their group turned out to be far more competent than her peers, predicting its path correctly as a thick slab of wood flashed barely a feet away from her male partner. The wood was torn neatly in two but the man got away with a minor cut on his cheeks.
"Morgana's leakin' asshole!" The man screamed still. "I just died!"
With a tsk, Harry turned to the woman, his wand now facing the only injury-less member of this pathetic trio.
"You just got saved!" She scowled, though her attention was on him as she came to stand in front of her teammates. "And no thanks to you dipshit."
Harry stared at his opponent, taking in her ruffled clothing and the Lvl 5 dueler badge.
An Auror level dueler.
Harry cared not. "Let's make this quick."
And then they started their dance.
Harry's wand flickered through the air faster than humanly possible, and the wreckage of splintered woods, that littered the ground due to earlier explosion, launched themselves through the air at his opponent.
A small pebble rose to meet them, looking pathetically insufficient to stop the enormous tide, only to enlarge into a massive boulder the next second that easily tanked the pieces of wood.
Half of the splinters crashed uselessly, but the other half slowed in the air to coalesce together, transforming into two wooden chains that Harry guided to swerve around the boulder from both sides, continuing the attack.
For a second he couldn't see the result of his attack, his vision blocked by the gigantic boulder as it dropped to the ground with a thump, his opponent focusing on the new threat.
But then thick ropes of fire came from behind the stone, heading straight for him. The conjured chains of fire were still carrying some of the wood splinters from his attack, though now in the blackened coal-form as the fire burnt through them.
Not willing to let go of the battle's initiative, Harry disapparated away with a crack, materialising to the left-most edge of the clearing and intending to continue his attack. The place he just vacated was drenched down in an explosion of fire and splinters, enveloping the entire immediate area in powerful flames that shook the very ground underneath their feet.
Soft though it was, his crack of apparition still gave away his position and the last bit of fire changed their direction mid-air as they came hurling back towards him in the form of three thick lassos, trying to trap him within their circlet.
With a growl he took a step back, his wand swishing through the air.
"Aqua Erecto!" He bellowed out the first verbal spell of their duel.
A massive fountain of water met the three lassos of fire, but instead of letting it evaporate, Harry mixed the heat of the fire to rise his water to boiling temperature.
With his wand still gushing out copious amounts of water, he soon had an entire wave of boiling water at his command.
"Fuck." Came from somewhere to his left front, before the massive wave fell upon the area like a furious flood.
"Hold on!" A desperate female screamed as the entire area around them was drenched under water.
So powerful was the stream that it uprooted entire trees from the ground as it spread aggressively through the forest.
It splashed all around them, smoking and hungry as any fire could hope to be. Harry stood still, pushing the raging wave away from him. The ground underneath his feet was the only place completely dry from water in the aftermath.
When the wave settled, his opponents were nowhere to be seen and a new clearing had formed around them, extending dozens of meters. The ground was left smocking, drenched under hot water as it was. All this Harry could barely make out as the last bit of fire in the area flickered weakly.
The only thing that stood relatively unharmed was the lone boulder. Smoking and hissing, but completely intact.
For a few precious seconds, silence reigned supreme around them and Harry took the time to send a bright lumos maxima in the air.
It quickly became the only source of light in the forest as the last piece of flames winked out, lighting up not just the area around him, but also the newly formed clearing.
The silence was then broken by a noise akin to grumbling thunder as the giant boulder formed a crack straight through the middle, circling all the way around. The entire thing was neatly cut into two parts that fell open like a capsule, and he could see their ends cut through like hollowed tunnels.
Huddling like a bunch of wet rats in the middle were the trio of very-much-alive wizards that were truly starting to become a nuisance now.
"Now, Mathew!" Screamed the witch, and all of a sudden the two cracked parts of the boulder rose to the air before blasting towards him at a devastating pace.
Not wanting to waste his time, Harry quickly disapparated away…or atleast, tried to.
Suddenly the magic around them was locked down completely, an impenetrable ward snapping in place that held him right there in mid-air.
'Anti-Disapparition ward!' Was the only thought Harry could get out before he was thrown down to the ground, barely managing to land on his feet.
He turned to the front urgently, now forced to face the mega pieces of stones as they came flying towards him.
With no time to think of any creative solutions, he fell to his most practiced answer.
'Bombarda! Reducto! Confringo! Bombarda Maxima!' With a yell of fury he let loose chains upon chains of devastating spells rapidly, each one tearing apart the boulder, chipping out large chunks and pieces of stones out from it and sending deep cracks throughout its body. When the boulders finally reached him, it was in the form of small blocks that were only going on through sheer momentum.
Harry hid beneath a large blue shield as he was peppered by the rain of stones.
That however, proved to be a mistake as while most stones simply slid off of the shield, some forced him down on his knees as they crowded atop his shield's surface.
There was nothing he could do then but weather the storm, his shield the only thing that stopped him from becoming a human pancake.
Eventually the stones blocked his vision completely, slowly but surely burying him underneath them as they formed a pyramid upon him.
A lone shield was all that stood between him and dozens of stones wanting to crush him.
He stayed still for a second once the storm was over, gathering his magic and strength. Then, with a yell of exertion, he pushed through the stone castle, bursting out with all his super human strength and sending the rocks flying away.
"Fuck." Uttered his opponents once more, this time the female one.
Harry stood upright, his Occlumency barely controlling his fury as he stared down his enemies.
Two of them, the witch and Mathew, had pushed themselves back on their feet as they stared at him in caution and barely hidden fear.
"Your ankle's alright?" The witch asked her partner in a quiet voice, not taking her eyes off of Harry.
"Yeah?" The response she got was uncertain.
"Well it better be." The witch sighed, wary but looking ready for anything. "Cause we're about to have the fight of our life."
A sudden bark of laughter interrupted their staring as Krafft too climbed back on his feet, a single hand clutching Mathew for support.
Only then did Harry realize that the man was missing his left hand up his wrist.
The other two hadn't gotten away unscathed, though were relatively well compared to their leader. Their robes had burnt away in places with small cuts and scratches littering their bodies, but looked perfectly capable of continuing the fight.
Krafft, on the other hand….
"Do you feel that, boy?" The man giggled with crazed eyes, waving his stump to the sky. "Do you feel the ward? The Anti-disapparition ward? It envelopes the entire land! The stadium, the seven levels, everything!"
He fell down on his knees in a fit of sudden coughing, his grip loosening from Mathew. The other two didn't move an inch to help him.
And it was. Harry almost couldn't believe it but the ward that he'd thought his enemies had erected actually originated from the center of the stadium.
He was simply unlucky to get caught in it.
"He is here." Krafft spat out suddenly, that familiar fire of superiority and arrogance back on his face. "His power dwarves us all! Your friends, your family…everyone trapped! They won't be leaving alive today, boy! Neither will you! Fuck those Death Eaters and fuck this mission. A monster like you can't be allowed to roam free. He will understand."
Apprehension grew within him as he realized something truly massive was happening right now. Something that he had never even imagined the possibility of.
The image of Lily and Bella's lifeless bodies grew clearer in his head by the second. Dead and forgotten, buried within a pile of stones just like him but unable to break free.
Dread, unlike any other, grew within his chest. Dread and fear.
''Never should've left them.' His inner self hissed. 'You should've been at your Lily's side now. For your own plans, for your own selfishness…you've put them at risk. The two who matters most to you in this world…once again at risk for your overconfidence.'
His mind conjured the images of his past lovers, Hermione and Ginny, dead due to his own incompetence. And their faces were now replaced with Lily and Bella, a similar fate awaiting them.
And he wasn't even there to help them this time.
An anger, dark and raging, lit up within his soul. An anger, threatening to break through his Occlumency.
Krafft once again pushed himself to his feet, waving his wand wildly in the air. "Feel his power, Harry Potter! And despair! For you will never be his equal!"
The silence stretched between them, broken only by the occasional coughing and laughter of the madman.
"You know," Harry finally spoke, and his two enemies gave a start, their wands rising back up. "All this fighting, all my attempts to defeat you…they were never personal."
"Double fuck?" Mathew muttered, a similar dread filling his eyes as they flickered around Harry's surroundings wildly.
Harry's wand was still facing down but the littering stones around him slowly started to levitate in the air as he let lose the biting fury inside him, letting his occlumency guide it in his magic.
"But now?" The stones melted away to form meter long spikes, sharp and strong. "Now, this is very much personal."
Dozens of giant spikes spread through the air now, all pointing towards the trio of wizards as they readied themselves.
"I, am going to kill you all." The spikes lit up on fire, connecting to each other to form a net of fire between them.
"Triple fuck."
"And I, am going to enjoy it."
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AN: And done! This was an important chapter, I hope it lived up to its hype.
So, Fleur and Harry finally meet. Was it satisfying? Let me know. Also, there were two different types of duels in this. Tell me which one you enjoyed the most. The straight forward spell vs spell kind, with some theory in the mix, or the more wild and destructive kind.
The next chapter will show what's happening with the others, with even more action present.
Also, sorry for not mentioning this the last time, but yes Tonks is in the pairing. My patrons had a similar reaction to a lot of you and we held a poll for Tonks, she won. So yeah, she is in the pairing, and has been for quite a bit, but I forgot to mention it the last time cause I was just too tired.
Well, that's all today! Let me know if you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you in the next update.
My discord: discord .gg/9wpfysDGsz to discuss fics and chill.
My Pat reon: www. Pat reon com/ Robs511 (No spaces and a dot before com) for anyone who wants to read upto the next three chaps of all my fics.
Peace!
P.S: The next chap's on 27 for MS, and the next SOW chap will be on 2 April.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone