Bab 14: Dueling a Veela

After they had gotten the introductions out of the way, the large group returned to the manor and got situated in the living room.

Alaric, for the most part, sat to the side immersed in his own world envisioning different combinations of spells, what spells would work best when used in conjunction with another, for example, if he wanted to snuff out an enemy in an efficient manner, then he would cast the levioso charm, followed by the glacius charm, and then to finish the combo, he would cast the descendo charm to shatter the victim, effectively killing them instantly completely.

A spell combo that Alaric had read from one of his father's journals, showcased the use of the combination of the petrificus totalus spell followed up by a reducto spell. Osric had even told Alaric the tale of how his father had taken out multiple death eaters with this very spell combo during the incursion on the estate.

While Alaric had been immersed in the depths of his own mind, sitting across from him next to her mother was a curious veela who hadn't taken her eyes off of the boy ever since they met. Although Alaric had felt her intense gaze since before they entered the manor, he decided to give her no mind as he was too busy being fascinated by the versatility of these more modern spells.

Despite having lived so many lives, Alaric had never truly dove into the specifics of wand magic, sure he knew the basics from when he read the books in his first life, but when he was reincarnated here and later started learning magic, he more so was a practitioner of elemental magic and more crude forms of magic that were more apt to destruction and creation, rather than the million different things wand magic could do.

Although he had to admit wand magic was versatile, he still was unhappy about how complacent the wizards of Europe and North America had gotten when it came to wielding wands and not trying other kinds of foci.

Hell, Alaric's magic ring foci were leagues better than a wand due to its versatility, since he didn't waste a hand holding a wand, he was able to freely use bother hands and still cast magic that enjoyed the boost that a focus gave it.

Now that's not to say wands are trash, in fact, he could appreciate a good wand, his reasoning, the precision and accuracy that a wand awards its user is almost second to none among the wizarding world's many different foci.

Although his ring can output more raw magic power, it's also harder for the average wizard to use the same variety of spells a wand user would have access to.

Alaric himself doesn't have this problem, but not everyone was anywhere near as adept at magic as he was, a prime example being the different magical tribes of Africa, they utilize a magic focus similar to the Reinhardt's rings, they wear gauntlets, bracelets, and even necklaces that act as their foci, but as a result, they are more attuned to elemental and more crude forms of magic.

A wand at its base level makes casting charms, jinxes and curses much easier when compared to other foci. A bracelet user would have to chant the name of the spell and then channel the magic in either finger if they were proficient enough, but most often they charge the spell in their hand and release it like they were goku.

However, don't mistake this shortcoming for weakness, other cultures with different foci make up the difference in spell versatility with their sheer power and proficiency.

Bringing this small magical lecture to a close, Alaric had finally looked up toward the veela who was still staring at him.

'How? how is this petit garçon able to so effortlessly block and negate my allure, not even the seventh-year students at Beauxbatons can block out my allure with such efficiency, how particulière.' Fleur mused in an effort to understand how he did it

as Alaric and Fleur locked eyes, both of them felt some sort of tingle run down their spines, however, choosing to ignore that feeling, she still kept staring at him in wonder and confusion.

Seeing no end in sight to the "harassment" she was giving him, Alaric decided to say something to break her focus. "Go ahead, take a picture it lasts longer, I know I'm handsome but please don't stare at me like I'm some sort of circus animal, Ma jolie harceleuse," Alaric said with a smug smile on his face

As Alaric was speaking to her, she kept staring at him, once she registered what he had just called her, a bright patch of red appeared on her face as she looked away in slight embarrassment.

Apolline who was right next to Fleur and had seen her stare at the body for so long could only giggle at her daughter's adorable reaction to what he said.

"You know, ma fille, he does have a point, you were staring at him for quite a long time," Apolline said while adding more fuel to the flames of embarrassment Fleur felt

Sitting off to the side of Alaric, Sofia had seen what just happened and couldn't help but giggle and add her own two cents to the situation. "Oh my sweet little brother, it would seem you are already taking young maiden's hearts, oh they grow up so fast," Sofia said with feigned sadness

While Alaric was slightly laughing at the expression Fleur was making which, he honestly thought was a little adorable, a tomato-red Fleur was currently hiding her face behind her hands, she seemed to be calming down, but that was before Gabrielle decided to join the conversation.

"oooh, does aîné soeur have a crush?" Gabrielle said while stifling a giggle

Hearing her younger sister also taunt her was the last straw, Fleur who was now as red as a brick wall, decided that this "offense" wouldn't be taken lightly. "I challenge you to a wizards duel!" she cried out in a mix of anger and embarrassment

Fleur's pride was wounded, so she had to try her best to salvage what honor she had left. (oh the mind of a teenage girl, such a mysterious realm)

Hearing Fleur's declaration, Pierre Delacour tried to get his fuming daughter to calm down and rescind the challenge. It wasn't because he thought his daughter was too weak, no, he knew she was very challenging for her age, it was more so because of that brief showing Alaric did when he counterattacked his sister out I the front lawn.

Although it was brushed aside pretty quickly, he still was quite shocked that an eleven-year-old boy had taken down his older more experienced sister in a matter of seconds, and to add insult to injury, the boy used advanced-level spells to do it!

Poor Pierre had no idea, however, that the little eleven-year-old boy he was referring to, was actually more experienced than any wizard alive.

Fleur, who wasn't giving her father's argument the time of day, requested her mother to create a dueling platform for the two of them.

Apolline who happily did as she was requested, conjured a long table and transfigured it to extend its length and width to create a proper dueling stage, semi proper that is.

As the last preparations were being completed and Fleur was walking over to her side, Theodoric stopped Alaric and said a few words to him.

"Alaric wait, do this old man a favor and please do not use any elemental magic, you can beat the girl in a diel easily without them, while she may be a little disheartened, she will rebound stronger than before. If you use your elemental magic, I fear you might completely break her spirits."

Although she was a good distance away, Fleur still caught part of the conversation and was insulted that he had just told his eleven-year-old grandchild who hadn't even had his first year of school to hold back. "Monsieur Reinhardt, if I may, the petit garçon should use all he can if he wants a chance at winning."

Without saying another word, Alaric just lazily looked at his grandfather who let out a defeated sigh knowing what was about to happen.

As if he couldn't be any more nonchalant about the situation, Alaric slowly waltzed up to his spot on the dueling stage, and once he was in the right spot, he signaled Apolline that he was ready.

Seeing the boy was ready, Apolline couldn't help but start to worry, after all, Alaric and his family all looked far too confident in his victory, sure she saw what he did to his sister, but she assumed that Sofia had gone easy on the boy out of love.

"merde..." was all Apolline said before she shot off the starting signal with her wand

--Fleur's POV--

'Tch.'

'Look at this haughty little brat, he doesn't even have the decency to assume a proper stance.'

'let's end this quickly so I don't bruise his ego too much

--Alaric POV--

'Yawn~'

'When will she start already, I don't have all day.'

--General POV--

Seeing Alaric yawn was all it took for Fleur to snap and the second she took one step forward, she fired off multiple spells.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

"Accio!"

"Confundus!"

"Depulso!"

'Wow, color me impressed, she only just finished her third year and she can quad-cast, bravo Ms. Delacour, too bad you were just too slow.' Alaric thought as he immediately zapped behind Fleur using his lightning magic.

*Zap*

As Fleur just barely finished her last cast, she felt something warm touch her neck.

"Surrender, I have you dead to rights," Alaric said in a calm yet cold tone into Fleur's ear

Hearing the words he said, Fleur had momentarily stood there in shock, her only movement being a slight tremble when Alaric's breath brushed her ear.

All of the spectators could only stand there absolutely dumbfounded, one second they saw Fleur fire off four spells in quick succession toward a lazily standing Alaric, and within the time it took to blink, he had disappeared and reappeared behind Fleur with a small blade of blue fire pointed at her throat.

"I-I... I concede." Fleur sighed in fear and frustration

'I didn't even know he could do that with his lightning.' Theodoric said with a pensive look on his face

Stepping back away from Fleur and deactivating the blade of fire he had pointed at her, Alaric bowed toward her as a show of dueling etiquette and then posed a question. "Well, Ms. Delacour, I must say, seeing you fire off those spells so quickly has me quite interested in your ability, might I suggest another duel? This time however I shall use my sister's wand, although it doesn't quite suit me, it should get the job done."

"I will also not use a signal elemental spell, only wand magic."

Although she wanted to think that if he wielded only a wand she might have a fighting chance, there was a small bit of doubt creeping up in her mind.

"I accept your offer." All Fleur could muster in response was four words

The two combatants reset their positions on the duel stage and awaited the starting signal from a still-shocked Apolline, after being nudged awake by Pierre, she fired off her wand commencing the rematch.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

"Expelliarmus!"

"Depulso!"

wanting to gain the upper hand immediately, Fleur gave Alaric no time for breathing and fired off a trio of spells

As the spells came flying toward Alaric, he just stood there and sent out a single protego to defend against all three spells.

In response, he also cast a trio of his own spells.

"immobulus."

"Levioso."

"Depulso."

Although he could end the duel in a single spell, Alaric decided to draw this out and test the skills of the young veela.

Although she was able to block the first two spells out of sheer luck, the third had hit its mark, pushing her back a few meters almost over the edge of the dueling platform

In reprisal, Fleur unleashed a skillful combo of spells right back at Alaric

"Galcius!" Fleur shouted as she aimed the ice spell toward Alaric's hand hoping to freeze it and stop him from casting a spell to protect himself

She then promptly followed that spell with an Accio aimed at his clothes and then descendo to hopefully disorient him.

She had hoped that all of her spells would hit to where she could end the duel with a single depulso and launch him to the side and off the platform. It would seem fate had other ideas.

"Protego," Alaric said blocking the spells coming toward him

"immobulus."

"Accio."

Within a lone second, Alaric had cast two separate spells and they zoomed toward a startled Fleur, the Immobulus hitting her in the chest, and the Accio latching on to her clothes and dragging her to him.

As she came flying toward Alaric, he held a single arm and caught the poor girl in his grasp.

Fleur made contact with his arm and dropped her wand, thus losing the duel.

Although she had lost the duel, Fleur was too distracted to even notice her now missing wand, she was too enamored by Alaric who was holding her by her waist and she was leaning onto his shoulder.

As the two gazed into each other eyes, bright gold meeting sky blue, time seemed to stop, that is until Apolline whistled in approval, snapping out of her stupor, Fleur quickly released herself from his arms, not realizing that he was the only thing keeping her from falling off the ledge.

And with a quiet thump, the duel was officially concluded, however, the two competitors were both entangled in a story that seemed to only be beginning.