"What is important is not to fight, but to fight the right enemy"
― Bangambiki Habyarimana
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"Stupefy!" I knock Greta on her arse, grinning as I sprinted over to grab her hand and help her up.
"OW! Val!" Greta groans, lips pursing in pain.
"Sorry, love." I wince, looking her over for injuries. "You look fine, though." I offer, making her pout.
"The injury is on my ego!" She demands, making me grin.
"You're getting better. You lasted a full five minutes this time." I smile at her. She glares at me. "I'm serious!" I laugh at her expression.
"Not. Helping." She grits out in her anger.
"Wasn't trying to." I snicker. "Just stating facts. I don't want some crazy Grindelwald follower killing you because you could only last five minutes instead of six."
She groans. "I'm going to get killed." She whines, and I shake my head.
"Nah. You need practice."
"Did you practice?" She asks, curious.
"I trained for years to get to my skill level," I admit, making determination gleam in her eyes.
"So, I can do it too." She states, not asking. I smile at her, nodding.
"You can do it, too," I affirm.
"Why aren't you two training?" Waiola demands, curious. We turn to meet her pale pink eyes.
"She beat me again." Greta sighs, pointing to me. "You're insanely good, Val. Maybe you could be a trainer in the duelling club at Hogwarts?" She asks me, making me purse my lips in thought.
"I don't know," I say slowly.
"Dumbledore. Follow me." Waiola sighs, gesturing me over. Greta and I stare at each other in question before we both shrug at the same time.
"I'll go check up on Gideon and Myrtle." Greta muses. I raise a brow at her, silently asking her the question she knew I was asking. She rolls her eyes.
"Don't ask." She mutters almost bitter and walks away. Blinking slightly, I follow after Waiola, who had her arms crossed.
"Yes...." I look at her weird, and she raises a brow.
"I've been meaning to ask you about an incident that occurred with one of our Aurors."
Instantly my guard is up.
"Concerning?" I ask, mentally projecting my thoughts at Tom.
"Auror Diggory was reported missing on July the third. He was found in a bar...drunk off his horses a couple of hours later."
I raise a brow at her, unimpressed. "Okay, and what does this have to do with me?" I ask her deadpanned.
She grits her jaw, and I stare at her unblinking. She couldn't say anything unless she wanted to admit to the fact that the Ministry was having me and Tom followed.
"Don't act suspicious." Tom's voice snaps in my mind.
"I'm not."
"Don't act cocky, either." He scowls.
"You live in Hogsmeade, don't you? Did you see or hear anything?" She asks, and I shake my head.
"Nope. Tom and I spent our days working in the Inn." I answer her cooly.
"Right. Well, be careful. He woke up with his memories wiped. An extravagant job, actually." She gives me a look, and I internally scoff.
She should've been complementing Tom.
"Yes, she should." He grumbles in my mind, annoyed that his talents were being overlooked.
"Stop it!" I hiss at him.
"Thank you. I'll be sure to be careful and warn Tom and Aberforth." I muse.
She stares at me silently. She knew I knew.
Raising a brow, I smile a tad, mocking slowly.
"Yes, be sure to do that. Speaking of Tom... Sabra and I were thinking of our last duel, and we want a rematch."
"They will lose this time." Tom scoffs. "We have our wands, and we aren't trapped under investigation."
"Are you certain?" I smirk, fiddling with my wand like it was a pencil.
"Positive." She states, cool, calm and collected.
"Fine." I laugh out, making her one good eye narrow on me.
"Right now." She demands and starts to walk into the middle of the field. I eye her in silent surprise.
"Excuse me?" I ask. "NOW!?" I demand.
"Yes. Is that a problem? Scared?" She muses, through a smirk. My lips curl up into a sneer.
"Scared? Of you?" I chuckle humorlessly. "You wish." I snarl, stepping up in front of her and unsheathing my wand.
Tom strolls over and sidles up, brushing up against my shoulder. I look over to the side, and our eyes clash.
"You ready for this?" I ask him.
"The better question is... are you?" He muses, making me snort.
"Of course, I am Riddle."
Waiola looks at our wordless interaction in awe and intrigue, as she called over her wife verbally.
"A rematch?" Sabra grins in glee. "I've been waiting for this moment for months." She chortles, as we stand two against two.
"Mums, are you seriously going to duel Tom and Val?" Claude demands, watching a distance away. "I know they are easily the most powerful of us, but come on... you two are Aurors." He whines.
"They need to be tested and pushed beyond their limits. Duelling the lot of you isn't a challenge for them." Waiola explains, eyes not leaving our form. All our friends circle us, watching in interest.
"Claude, call it," Sabra demands.
"Mum!"
"Do it, munchkins." Waiola smiles at her son.
He grumbles under breath, hazel eyes rolling in exasperation. "Wands at the ready." He demands. At the same time, all four of us had drawn our wands, flicking them to the side.
"This is going to be wicked." I hear Avery mutter to his girlfriend.
"She dominated during our fight in Eygpt." Abby agrees.
"You think they can win?" Gideon asks Nott and Lestrange.
"Never bet against Riddle, man. Never." Lestrange replies, eying us in interest.
"How do you want to do this, Dumple?"
"Just like last time. Waiola is mine."
A slight smirk perches on his lips, and he nods slowly.
"Take your stand!" Claude shouts, and we all bow at the same time.....extravagant, daring bows.
"Three.." He counts back, and we take our starting positions.
"Protego Maxima?" I ask Tom.
"Protego Maxima." He confirms.
"Two..."
"One!" Claude shouts and like a propellor, our arms shoot up. The Protego Maxima spell is sent out from my hands and wand, while Tom sends out a massive gust of magic blasting all our friends off their feet and sending Waiola and Sabra skidding back.
In seconds we are engaged in lethal battle; spells were whipping back and forth at a dizzying rate. A spell skids past my cheek and I can feel the blood it left, dripping down to my collarbone.
I advance forward and whip my arms out. "Vincula Evomo!" I snarl, shoving my arms out. The spiked chains erupt from my palms like whips, slamming into Waiola hard.
Claude's mum is shoved back, spitting out the blood that had gathered in her mouth. She eyes me and my passive stance warily before I was lifting my arm out to block a spell coming at me from Sabra.
Tom intercepts, arm whipping out in front of my body protectively. His spell adds to mine and Sabra's attack is reflected back. Tom's eyes meet mine for a brief second, his eyes assessing my body before I'm sending another spell. I sensed the dark magic Waiola threw at us, the second it exited her wand.
"Protego horribilis." I snarl, causing a gust of wind to blast out of my wand. A weird rushing sound is heard as though the ground had sucked in a breath of air.
Tom eyes me with an impassive gleam in his eye, and then we're separating again, advancing forward, wands and arms moving in a parry of dance moves.
It was a fencing game with magic.
"Sequitur Impetu!" I hear Waiola shout, and my eyes widen in shock.
"SHIT!" I scream and throw myself to the side, the explosion blowing up a portion of their yard as I rolled away.
The spell races after me and I curse. "Dumbledore, RUN!" Tom bellows and starts to duel both of the Aurors.
The only way to disable her spell was to lead it away and destroy it by surprise.
I run.
Explosions blow up behind me, and I slide in behind a tree, barely missing another death blow. The debris smacks into me, making me shriek in surprise.
"She's CRAZY!!" I scream and run again
"You better start running." I hiss at Tom. His eyes peer up, and he sees me racing towards him, having already circled around.
Our friends had already taken cover quite a distance away. They were gaping at the fight in horror.
Tom realizes what I was doing and curses before he sends out a protective shield and starts to run in the same direction I was. I pass between a confused Sabra and Waiola, who apprehended what I was doing the second they saw me whizz past them.
I turn around and blast the counter curse at the spell.
"Sequitur Praemium!" I shout.
Everything exploded.
"Praesidio!" Tom shouts and grabs my forearm, shoving me under his protective enchantment.
"She's MAD!" I snarl, trying to catch my breath, as I dry heaved.
"Good idea with the countercurse." He states, staring into the gust of dirt and sand, trying to spot Sabra and Waiola.
They appear a second later. Waiola was limping against Sabra, who was laughing her arse off.
"WHAT'S SO FUNNY!" I snap, striding over to them, eyes blazing.
"You sent the Sequitur curse at me! Are you insane!?? Everyone here could've died!"
Sabra snorts. "That's her best move. If she used that on you, you were a formidable opponent."
"I AM a formidable opponent!" I snarl, feeling Tom step up to my side.
"No need to be arrogant, Dumbledore." He muses.
"Says you." I give him a hard look.
"Apologizes Valentine. It was the spur of the moment decision." Waiola forces a breathless smile at me.
"One that almost killed you, obviously." I sneer, crossing my arms.
"I am fine." She glares at me, and I snort.
"Yeah, a broken ankle is perfectly fine." I mock her.
Loud, slow clapping is suddenly heard, and I turn around to give whoever thought it was funny to clap a piece of my mind, but I stop surprised.
Theseus Scamander stood, looking the exact same from my visions, staring at Tom and me in awe.
"That was the most impeccable duel I've ever seen." He breathes. Tom realizes who he was the second I did.
Staring up at us was the Head of the Auror department.
"Well, this is awkward," I mumble, crossing my arms.
"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."
― Albert Einstein
I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I had a blast writing it. I love the Scamander family!!
Please make sure to stay indoors while all this chaos is occurring!! #itsnotforyou .... it's for the elderly and the ones with compromised immune systems.
Keep them safe
Also stay safe yourselves!! With all my love!!
- Sara <3