The Cursed Chronicles: Year 6

Chapter 52

A few things happened at once, and Albus had to sort out his priorities quickly. The fallen champions began flinging spells and curses at the crowd, and the current champions sprang into action. Emiliya locked her sights on Thomas, and Albus had a feeling she had something to prove- most likely to herself more than anything. Nicole just barely deflected a jinx from Sandy and reluctantly set her efforts against her best friend. That left Albus to handle Katrina, who had made it clear from the start that she was going to be the biggest problem. Albus deflected a particularly nasty looking hex, and made the mistake of meeting Katrina's eyes. They were glazed over and kind of dead-looking, but there was an extra twinkle in them that made Albus shudder. She smirked at his evident discomfort. With ease, she strode forward, continuing to exchange and deflect attacks with Albus. Albus found himself backing up uneasily.
"Have some dignity, Potter. Never been intimidated by a strong woman?" Albus choked a little. That was Katrina's voice. Completely hers. No trace of Delphi. But the words....that wasn't Katrina at all.
Not that she wasn't right. This whole situation was putting Albus in a bit of a knot. His ability to fight was a bit....compromised. His companions seemed to have come to the same conclusion.
"Potter!" Emiliya snapped in between bouts with Thomas, which appeared not to be a huge challenge for her. "Pull yourself together! That is not Kat, she will kill you! Get your head out of the clouds!"
Katrina rolled her eyes, but the smile stayed on her face.
"No need to be nasty. After all, we seem to have a bit of chemistry, don't you think?" The jinx she fired his way directly after that made him feel like disagreeing.
"Come on, isn't this what you want?" She said, getting closer. Albus could not back any further without risking catching other students in the crossfire, so he resorted to flinging as many spells as he could think of in an attempt to preserve the distance between them.
"Resistance is futile. You know that as well as I do. Isn't it you that once admitted that I far surpass you in dueling prowess?" Albus didn't respond. He was beginning to channel all of his focus into the fight at hand. Because she was right. Unfortunately, Katrina was a far more talented witch than he. He needed every bit of his strength to match her skill.
"And most of all, I can assure you that however this ends, it won't be pretty. Would you really have the strength to finish me? After all we have been through together? After everything? Could you kill me, Potter?"
"STOP IT!" He screamed, pushing her back with a few extra powerful jinxes that mange's to knock her off her balance a little. "You may have Katrina's voice but you are not Katrina, and I am not going to play your little games. So put away your mind tricks and fight me, unless you're afraid you can't do one without the other." Katrina glowered, but the sickening smile never left, and that knotted Albus' insides even more.
"Very well. Don't say I didn't warn you." Her wand rose and Albus knew he wasn't going to like what happened next. "Avada Kedavra!" Albus rolled out of the way of the killing curse which impacted with the ground behind where he had been, setting the grass into a fervent green blaze.
From that point on, she did not hold back. She cast only curses, deadly ones, specifically the killing curse itself, and it made Albus' blood boil to watch Katrina being manipulated like a deadly puppet. But he had to commend Delphi's plan: it was working. With the staff and students completely distracted by the chaos at the school, who better to defeat the champions, than the champions themselves? Albus just couldn't wrap his head around her end goal. Revenge? That seemed most likely. She liked to tease. Emotional manipulation. She was good at it. He couldn't help but wonder if the catastrophe in him and Katrina's friendship the past few months had been a step her twisted master plan as well. If it was, it was probably the strongest move she had made. If Albus had learned anything the past few months, it was that he and Katrina were far stronger together, weaker apart, and destructive when pitted against each other.
"Focus, honey," Katrina sneered. "Got a lot on your mind?"
"I told you I wasn't down for the mind games," he reminded her through his teeth as he concentrated on his defense.
"It's not too late, you know. A long time ago you turned me down for her." She gestured to herself, and Albus' head started to spin. So Delphi was admitting it was her spinning the words? "I can make the same offer now. You'll have me, her, power beyond your wildest dreams."
"I didn't leave you for her, I didn't join you because you're a scheming psychopath who can't let go of her bitterness at a world that let her down. The world let me down too, but I chose to make it better so that others wouldn't have to live in fear. I won't join you because you are wrong, and you will always be wrong. I don't want power and I don't need your help. I just want my friend back! Expelliarmus!" The spell was charged with his emotion and caught Katrina off-guard. She fumbled with her wand for a few precious moment and Albus used the opportunity to push her farther back.
Out of the corner of his eye, he had time to notice that Nicole seemed to be struggling badly with Sandy. Like Katrina, Sandy was equipped with Delphi's silver tongue, and Nicole was becoming emotionally distraught, which wasn't helping her in a fight where she was already fairly outmatched.
Albus wasn't sure what he could do about it, as he was barely holding his own against his opponent. Suddenly, like a miracle, they were handed just what they needed. Scorpius and Rose appeared at Emiliya's side.
"Go help Nicole," Scorpius urged her, taking over her defense against Thomas' fairly efficient offense work. Emiliya nodded and rushed to Nicole's aid. Now that the fights were far more evenly matched, their side began to make progress. Albus was still way in over his head with Katrina, but he knew that it wasn't just Katrina, it was Delphi, and he could work with Delphi's weaknesses far easier than he could Katrina's.
The battle waged on for a long time, and Albus was surprised by his stamina. Though Katrina was able to anticipate his moves, Albus was able to keep up. He had to.
"Hah!" Someone cheered triumphantly, and Albus spared a glance to his left to witness Rose disarming Thomas. He scrambled to retrieve it, but he never got the chance.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Scorpius cried, and Thomas' limbs snapped to his side and he lay there, stiff as cardboard.
As if the dominoes of fate were slowly toppling, this event was directly followed by an Sandy's outraged shriek. Out of the corner of his eye, Albus watched her wand fling from her hands.
"Incarcerous!" Nicole cast confidently, and thick ropes wound their way around Sandy, binding her tightly. Two down, one to go.
"Everyone focus your efforts on Katrina!" Emiliya instructed.
"I think not," Katrina said. With a flick of her wrist, magic Albus did not know was possible, let alone for a sixth year student, all of his friends were flung several feet backwards. She swept her wand around herself and a magical barrier began to weave around their battle ground, forming a large translucent dome overhead.
"Got to keep an even playing field."