Epithalamium (Harry Potter for grown-ups)

Chapter Thirty-Three

On a chilly Saturday afternoon in early February, Filius and Minerva gave a duelling demonstration, and it was every bit as exciting as Professor Meadowes had told Albus he hoped it would be. The two new professors went at one another with good-natured gusto, casting and parrying for a full nine minutes before one of them—Filius—got something through.

Albus was concerned when Minerva flew across the platform to land in a heap at the end, and the collected students gasped in shock, but she was up, and her wand was back in her grasp in a matter of seconds. She ducked under the hex Filius fired at her—so close to hitting its mark that Albus could see the end of her plait lifted slightly by the energy as she dodged—then she hit Filius with a spell that flipped him upside-down before assailing him with a Rictusempra that had him gasping for air as he tried to focus his energy. Filius, managed to right himself despite the gales of laughter caused by the Tickling Charm, and the two continued to duel.

Filius cast, sending a frightening-looking, ropy vine after Minerva. It caught her by the ankles, pulling her off her feet, and began to wind its way rapidly up her legs, forcing her to choose between expending her attention and energy on finding a counter-spell or blocking the Expelliarmus that was sure to come next. She took the latter route, and got off her Protego before she could be disarmed, adding a Jelly-Legs Jinx for good measure to keep Filius occupied for a few precious moments. Although the vines had worked their way up to her waist, her wand arm was still free, and Albus caught a glimpse of the familiar expression she had always worn when focussing her energy and intent on a difficult spell. She touched her wand to the tip of the snaking vine and cast.

The vine seemed to open up and peel back upon itself, quickly unravelling its hold on her legs. It separated into four smaller strings, and when Minerva pointed her wand again, intoning quietly but intently, "Mutatio Ignis," these suddenly became small jets of flame, prompting Filius, who had been advancing on her, to back away and the audience to gasp in horror.

Albus lifted a commanding hand to quiet the crowd, indicating his confidence that the Transfiguration mistress had no intention of roasting the Charms master in front of their eyes.

They needn't have worried, as Albus could have told them; small though he was, Filius Flitwick was more than capable of defending himself.

Filius pointed his wand and shot four jets of water at the flame-vines simultaneously, extinguishing them with a hiss and creating a thin veil of steam that momentarily hid him from Minerva's view. She quickly cast a blind Protego, but it flew wide of the mark, and Filius got a bit closer and shot another jet of water, which he directed fluidly down her wand arm in a show of his prodigious mastery of charm work. When it reached her wand, Filius shouted, "Glassiado!" and Minerva's hand and wand were immediately encased in a block of ice.

She raised her arm, crying, "Finite Incantatem!" but the ice remained. Minerva looked at it in disbelief, and Albus could see her mind racing, trying to think of a counter-spell she could perform wandlessly, but the crucial seconds ticked by, and finally, Professor Meadowes called the bout in favour of Professor Flitwick, who held out his hand to Minerva to shake. When Minerva held up the frozen arm, the group gave a laugh. She looked annoyed for a fleeting second, then she laughed too, and everyone relaxed, including Albus, who realised he had been tense the entire time.

Minerva said, "Do you think one of you gentlemen could help me with this, then?" indicating the ice.

Filius lifted his wand, but Albus caught his arm, saying, "Allow me." He raised Minerva's frozen hand with his own, and instead of using his wand, he blew across it, casting a powerful Warming Charm with just his exhalation. Minerva's breath hitched, and when he heard the murmurs of the crowd, he knew he had made a misstep. The ice melted away immediately, however, and Minerva dried her wand on her robes and flexed her newly thawed hand several times, holding it up for the crowd to see that it was unharmed.