"Olive! I was hoping to catch you!" Lucan Brattleby called out to me from across the Transfiguration courtyard one random Tuesday morning.
"Oh, hi, Lucan. How was your summer?" I asked the little dark curly haired entrepreneur.
"It was lovely! Thank you for asking! Look, I've been meaning to catch up with you because I'm running Crossed Wands again and it just wouldn't be the same without my reigning champion competing again. What do you say? The tournament is on Friday night after dinner." Lucan proposed.
"Oh... Lucan, I don't know. It's not really my place, it's Sebastian's, and-"
"Ah-ah-ah!" Lucan interrupted me with a finger pressed to my lip. "It's my club and if Sebastian is causing my champion issues, I'll be more than happy to have a chat with him if I need to."
I couldn't help but laugh a little at Lucan's unwavering confidence.
"No, that won't be necessary. I'll be there, Lucan," I assured him.
"Excellent! I'll book you on the cards. I anticipate you'll be our new favourite to win the tournament this year after last year's efforts. You're definitely not the underdog now!"
I laughed again at Lucan, I always adored his passion for the duelling club and general positive attitude. He really did perk my mood up whenever I spoke to him.
I went through the rest of the week as normal, going for my now weekly sunrise walk with Garreth and listening to Imelda complain about my tossing and turning during the nights. But could she blame me? I had barely slept a moment in my life since I witnessed Professor Fig's death and still blamed myself for it. Of course I wouldn't be able to sleep, the dreams were too vivid. And why would I give Sebastian those potions when I could very well use them myself?
On the plus side, Sebastian had now left me alone and hadn't asked about the possibility of me brewing them for him again. Ominis hadn't given me any midnight wake up calls either, so I had to assume he'd come up with some other sort of solution that didn't include me.
Friday night rolled around and though I'd been so relaxed all week, it finally hit me I'd be duelling again. I hadn't been in a combative scenario in months. How could I be expected to even compete let alone be the favourite?
I headed down to the clock tower with an empty and rumbling stomach, unable to bring myself to eat anything at all with the nerves bubbling away inside of me. Lucan was at the door, greeting every entrant, sending spectators one way and competitors the other. I followed the red head of Leander just outside under the clock where we were waiting outside in the cool while Lucan had everyone take their places. I peered back inside to see students piled against the walls and up a level higher, leaning over the balustrades. It was packed. I was suddenly incredibly nervous. More than I was before. I could have sworn last year was more of a casual affair than this.
Leander, for some unknown reason, thought it would be wise to bail me up and give me tips... as if I needed them from him. I don't know if this was a power trip, or an attempt at a flirt but Leander could never read the room.
"You know, I've become quite partial to Levioso myself, it always takes them by surprise," He casually explained, using his hands to emphasise that he was deadly serious and as if we hadn't both been told this exact information last year.
I stifled a laugh and attempted to keep a straight face though I raised an eyebrow at him, but I completely failed to hold it in any longer when I heard the sound of Sebastian's laughter from my left.
"Are you serious, Prewett?" He said, pretending to wipe a tear from the corner of his eye.
"What, Sallow? What's your advice for Raywood then? Blow up her opponents with a Bombarda? I suppose she is a Slytherin too..." Leander smirked, though I could see he was hoping to get a few chuckles from his comments but it fell completely flat.
Sebastian scoffed and swallowed another laugh. "What makes you think Olive even needs advice at all, let alone yours?"
"I just like to offer a different perspective, that's all. Sometimes it can be useful." Leander said, taking a short step back and folding his arms across his chest in a huff.
"Well, according to the schedule, you're against her first anyway, so I'd probably stop talking. Wouldn't want her to steal any of your tricks, right, Prewett?"
Leander scoffed and walked off, Sebastian doing the same leaving me feeling a little confused by him jumping in the conversation. I suppose it did make sense, he always had a distaste for Leander and liked to make a fool of him whenever he could. Leander did also make that really easy to do.
Lucan called us together before I could spare another thought on the moment and told us how the rounds would be working. He'd paired each duelist with another by random draw and it was knock out until two duelists were left. Sebastian was right, I had indeed been paired with Leander and we were first. I felt my heart almost leap out of my throat when he called my name, but it was only Leander I suppose. I was certain a small child could take Leander on and win. How he made Crossed Wands in the first place absolutely baffled me.
I entered the makeshift arena and walked to my mark, standing opposite Leander. He took a deep stance, knees bent low. I furrowed my brows at how ridiculous he looked and opted for a simple stance myself with one foot in front of the other for support.
Lucan declared the duel had started and Leander took the first swing, projecting three basic casts in a row at me.
With a flick of my wand, I countered Leander with a well-timed Protego, creating a protective shield that deflected the spells away harmlessly. Too easy. I swiftly cast Expelliarmus towards Leander, aiming precisely at his wand hand. But to my surprise, he managed to dodge the spell, barely evading its effects.
Leander smirked, his confidence evident. "Not bad, Raywood. But let's see how you handle this!" He raised his wand and unleashed a flurry of rapid-fire spells, trying to overwhelm me with sheer speed and volume.
I focused on my reflexes and instincts, using my agility and perfectly timed Protego's to swiftly evade the spells. I weaved and dodged and avoided getting hit. The crowd watched in awe as the duel intensified, Leander's spells becoming increasingly desperate.
As his onslaught momentarily ceased, I seized the opportunity. I quickly cast Glacius at him. The spell hit its mark, and Leander was momentarily immobilised, frozen in place and falling onto the floor, his wand rolling away from him.
The crowd erupted in cheers as Lucan ended the duel, signaling my victory. I stood there, breathing heavily, realising that I had defeated Leander and advanced to the next round of the tournament. As I approached a rapidly defrosting Leander, I spotted Sebastian clapping along with the others with the corner of his mouth upturned to a slight smile. I diverted my eyes back to Leander and offered him a hand off the floor which he reluctantly accepted with a huff before heading back to the crowd.
I watched on as the other competitors had their turn, knocking each other out one by one until Sebastian's name was called up along with Nellie Oggspire, the Gryffindor.
I saw Nellie's face grow white as she realised who her opponent was. She took a similar laid back stance to me and stood opposite Sebastian, who'd lost his signature cocky smirk and was actually looking at Nellie with a look of sympathy.
Sebastian wasted no time once Lucan declared the duel had begun and unleashed a barrage of spells, each one precise and powerful. Nellie did her best to defend herself, casting Protego after Protego to shield against Sebastian's attacks, but it was clear that she was struggling to keep up with his skill. And despite her valiant efforts to keep the duel going for longer than anyone had actually expected the match to go for, Nellie was about to succumb to Sebastian's relentless assault. She looked exhausted from constantly having to defend herself, and Sebastian cast a final strike taking advantage of her exhaustion, flinging her wand across the room from her with a quick Expelliarmus.
Lucan ended the duel and Sebastian collected Nellie's wand that had rolled by his feet and handed it back to her, the two exchanging a hug which confused me greatly. I shook the image and any thoughts I had about it out my head and focused on the next round of duels, only two more to go until the final two faced off.
I was taking on Charlotte Morrison and Sebastian was up against Eric Northcott.
I went first, letting Sebastian have a break from his surprisingly lively duel with Nellie. And not shockingly, I managed to wipe the floor with Charlotte with ease despite her cockiness. Just like Sebastian did to Eric. Which meant is was the two of us left. Of course.
I watched Lucan rub his hands together with delight realising the final match was his top two duelists as he likely suspected.
"Alright. Sallow, Raywood. Bring it in." Lucan said.
Ugh, why?
I approached Lucan cautiously, letting Sebastian reach him first so I could stand back slightly to listen to what he had to say.
"I can't say this was an unexpected result. I won't lie, I was secretly hoping this would happen. You'll have the crowd going wild that's for sure. I'm giving you 5 minutes to prepare, it will get the spectators excited."
And Lucan left us alone. It was awkward. We were silent.
Sebastian cracked first, "Nice work against Leander. You made quick work of him, surprised you didn't use Levioso on him."
"Thanks?" I said with a hint of confusion in my voice, cocking an eyebrow and throwing him a look of confusion.
"Alright, duelists, you're up." Lucan told us, relieving me of the awkward interaction before I had to pretend to be interested anymore, thank Merlin.
Sebastian left first and took one side of the clock tower, leaving me to stand in the other. He took his wand in his hand and dipped his stance slightly, swinging his wand back and forth gently in a swishing motion. His eyes locked onto mine as I took my own, lighter stance. I refused to back down first and continued to stare back at him until Lucan declared the duel underway.
Sebastian let me strike first, throwing a barrage of basic casts at him, just to make sure he was paying attention. He easily blocked them all. He returned the favour, casting a string of basic casts back at me, which I deflected with as much ease as he had. We threw basic casts at each other for a while until we were both warmed up, getting a feel for each others battle style again - which was eerily similar to each other. This could go on for a while.
Sebastian broke out back and forth casting, finally throwing a more exotic spell at me. He attempted a Levioso which I spun out of the way of, letting it hit the wall behind me before throwing a Descendo right back in the middle of my dodge which he barely got away from.
He hit two basic casts followed by a quick Diffindo to throw me off, which was successful as he caught the cape of my robe as I turned, causing it to tear. I could hear the crowd getting excited as our spells became more dangerous and unhinged, narrowly missing giving each other with a serious injury.
"Bombarda!" I yelled, Sebastian not expecting the spell and having to do a full dive to get out of the way, landing directly on his front with an audible grunt. He stood up quickly, dusting his front off and shook his head with a smirk before using the back of his hand to wipe away the sweat beginning to glean across his forehead.
He flicked his wand back and yelled out Confringo, sending a fiery blast straight towards me. It caught the bottom of my torn robe, causing me to freeze and stomp out the flames. He took my distraction to his advantage and cast two basic casts at me, making me stumble back. He thought he had the upper hand.
As I extinguished the embers on the bottom of my robe, I caught his eye. The corners of his mouth were upturned into a grin that I so desperately wanted to wipe off. He lifted his wand to cast and I muttered "Accio", pointing it at his torso and beating him to his own incantation. He was ripped forward by his vest, completely unexpectedly, until he was mere inches from me. He held his wand at me, but he didn't move. His brown eyes stared at me, with his lips slightly parted. I watched for a moment as beads of sweat rolled down onto his brows, dropping down onto his shirt below, which I could see was becoming quite transparent from how warm we both were.
His eyes grew wider and he stood frozen in place by my unexpected move, unsure what to do as our chests both heaved up and down from exertion. I took one step back and muttered "Expelliarmus", his wand tossed from his hand and clattered onto the floor below. The room went silent as they realised what had happened. The strangest way to end a duel.
Lucan declared my victory again and I gave Sebastian a gentle pat on the chest.
"Well played, Sallow." I snickered, walking away without turning back.
I heard him scoff as the room erupted into cheers, some jeering Sebastian for losing to me twice now considering he'd spent years walking around as the self-proclaimed best duelist. I tried to leave quickly, being the centre of attention wasn't really my style, but I was quickly surrounded by hoards of students all wanting to congratulate me, patting me on the back and rustling my hair.
"You were brilliant!" I heard Leander's irritating voice beside me, "Another one against Sebastian! You can't be beat can you?"
I forced out a small laugh and excused myself from the crowd, taking myself back to the Slytherin common room quickly.
Annoyingly, Sebastian had already beat me there and was just by the entrance when I entered.
"Oh. Sorry. Didn't see you there." I muttered, pushing past him to quickly return to my dormitory.
"You're avoiding me." He called after me.
I stopped on the steps and paused for a moment, my mind battling with the decision of whether to turn and listen or just keep walking. But then I'd prove him right.
"I wouldn't say avoiding, rather 'staying out of your way'," I said, turning to face him.
"Is it the potions? I'm sorry. I was out of place to ask that of you."
I scoffed and widened my eyes, "Sebastian, if you need to ask those sorts of questions rather than seeing what the issue is yourself, then it's probably a good thing we aren't friends anymore."
"God, you're fucking insufferable, Olive! I just can't pick your fucking moods!" He ran his hand down his face in frustration.
"Moods? Are you serious? You are mostly the reason I'm in a fucking mood! Just leave me alone. Crossed Wands is over, we don't have to speak anymore." I felt myself growing angry.
"Fine. As the number one duelist wishes. By the way, you only knew about Accio in a duel because of me. I know you heard Ominis and I saying it pulls clothes in Charms. You're welcome for securing your victory." He rolled his hands out to the side in a deep bow.
That cocky mother fucker.
I groaned loudly and turned away quickly, continuing my descent down the stairs and taking myself straight to my bed and screaming into my pillow until his stupid dumb pretty face was out of my mind.