Chapter 213: DA Files: First-Day Duels Continue (1/2)
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The link is also in the synopsis.
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Every DA member watched in stunned silence at the duel happening in front of them. Except for three people in the Room of Requirements, none were expecting the duel to be like the one happening in front of them. In fact, their expectations were the exact opposite.
”LACARNUM INFLAMARI” — the wild smile on one Eddie Carmichael's face while casting spells was one every villain would approve.
Harry, who saw the fireball wildly spiraling towards him, frowned and gritted his teeth — ”PROTEGO DUO” — the fireball met the invisible shield and violently rippled in response; it held its defensive integrity, but Harry could feel the heat from flames despite being behind the magical barrier.
”Come on, Potter,” called Eddie laughing, ”don't tell me this all you got!” — ”DEFODIO” — the stone floor near Eddie's feet gouged out and bundled up into a sizable ball which he then flung towards like a heavy shotput.
Seeing the chunk of stone hurling towards him, Harry raised his wands with a frown — ”DEPRIMO” — the leaf green spell flew into the stone ball, and green lightning arcs covered the stone before it exploded into pieces.
Harry exhaled heavily and stared at the dust cloud in front of him. This wasn't how he was expecting things to go, not in the slightest. All the upper hand he had in the start was gone, and now he was struggling against every spell from Eddie.
'How in the hell is this happening?' he thought.
On the sidelines, Ivy watched her brother struggling against Eddie Carmichael; she also thought this should've gone the opposite direction, but that didn't seem to be the case.
”Are you surprised?”
She turned towards the speaker, and Marcus Bebly was the one who had spoken. She nodded — why wouldn't she? It wasn't like Eddie Carmichael was famous for being a great caster.
”Well, to me, this is actually to be expected,” said Marcus, chuckling, ”Your brother is good, there's no doubt in that, but when you compete in magic with someone with an overwhelming difference in skill and power, one tends to adjust and improve accordingly.”
”What do you mean?” asked Ivy.
”Eddie is ultra-competitive.. . it can be his best and worst quality; it depends on the situation,” said Marcus. ”Imagine what would happen if you for five years, on a regular basis, you challenged someone so much better at the magic that it isn't even funny.. . and despite never winning a single time in five years over thousands of challenges, you never give up and continue to challenge the much better opponent,” — Marcus pointed his chin at Eddie —, ”that's what Eddie has been doing with Quinn.. . he challenges Quinn at least three times a week on anything magic and always losses, but he has never given up.. . not once.”
”Eddie wants to win, he loves to win, he craves victory.. . but Quinn hasn't given him a single glance of triumph.. . but because of Eddie's particular disposition, he works hard after every single defeat so that he could win the next one.. . in doing that, he eventually improved so much that the progress was something to behold.”
”.. . Even so, Carmichael's spells are hitting too heavily.. . they are almost unnaturally powerful,” said Ivy in inquiry.
”One of the side-effects if a good portion of the challenges are duels against Quinn West,” Marcus deeply sighed, thinking back to destruction and hazard caused in empty, unused classrooms as the aftermath of duels. ”If you want to even have a chance to penetrate Quinn's defensive spells, you offensive spells better pack that extra punch and then go over that and have most power beyond that.. . because Quinn is just too good at magic — there have been times when he had let Eddie exhaust himself without against a simple Protego without moving an inch in retaliation.. . Eddie's magic or Eddie himself adapted to his 'daily' situation, and his spells got heavier and more impactful through the years — what you're seeing now is pure hard work on improving offensive spells.”
”Come on, Potter. Put your back into your shields! It's like I'm throwing my spells at sheets of paper — TOTAL OVERKILL!” they heard Eddie shoutout while laughing semi-maniacally.
Ivy turned to Eddie, who cleared his throat in second-hand embarrassment, ”That's one of his worse qualities.”
Harry glared at Eddie, and magic flowed through holly wand — ”ARGENTUM GLADIO” — a single silver rapier rippled into existence, exerting a threatening vibe and turned in the air above Harry's head to point at Eddie.
”That!” uttered Ivy in shock at Harry's spell. That wasn't a spell to be used against a fellow student. That was a spell taught to Harry by their father and was to be only used in emergencies.
”Now, that's more like it,” grinned Eddie; his magic thrummed in excitement and thrill.
Harry slashed his wand vertically down, and the sword streaked with a silver trail, flying towards Eddie to cut him. Eddie's grin widened to this limit — ”BOMBARDA.. . MAXIMA!”
A glowing white with streaks of magenta emitted from Eddie's blackthorn wand, carrying with it Eddie's heavy-hitting magical deposition.
”No, stop! Don't!” yelled Ivy, stepping forward, but her exclamations were of no use as the spells were already dispatched.
”.. . Didn't I explicitly state that lethality wasn't allowed,” was followed by a heavy sigh.
A yellow layer appeared right in the middle of Harry and Eddie, in the path of the silver sword and Explosion charm, and simultaneously took the brunt of both spells. The silver sword tried to pierce its way to Eddie but only ended up cracking after trying to breach the shield. The Explosion charm exploded against the shield but couldn't even put a fissure on the barrier.
When the chaos settled, Eddie and Harry glanced at the still-present yellow barrier layer and then at the caster.
”You know, I didn't expect someone to break the lethality rule so early in this group's existence, on the very first day, but it seemed I was wrong,” said Quinn sighing, and swiped his fake wand to disable his casted magic. ”But I should've expected this from both of you — one with a mouth that loves to rile people up and the other who get easily riled up.”
He turned to Eddie, ”Bombarda Maxima, really? That would have taken a chunk off him if it hit. How do you think that would have panned out if I had to take him to Madam Pomfrey with parts missing from his body,” Eddie looked a bit embarrassed and turned his face away. — ”And you,” he turned to Harry, ”that silver sword had some form of curse attached to it. I don't know if you are trained in the counter-course for that spell. Even if you do know, were you really going to launch that against him?”
”Both of you're IDIOTS!” said Quinn bluntly before turning to the entire group. ”Listen up! Everyone! We don't have the leeway to get seriously injured in here and go to the hospital wing to get fixed — I, personally, can fix pretty much every fix you guys right here.. .. But! If things take a serious turn, and even if I can heal you back to health, it'll take time, and we can't hide in here for a chill two or three days without the Professors looking for us.. . So I will repeat this! Do not aim lethal spells at anyone in here — you just need to say the word, and practice dummies can be provided.. . be responsible and think carefully before you decide to cast.”
Luna raised her hand in salute and spoke loudly, ”Yes, sir!”
”At ease, soldier,” said Quinn in reply and took the chance to break the tension and return the atmosphere to normal. ”Alright, Eddie and Harry, take care that this doesn't happen,” he said. ”Now, who's the next one —”
”I will go,” said Ivy, stepping forward.
Quinn smiled with a smooth nod and gestured her to step into the red circle as the part that Eddie gouged out fixed itself in real-time.
”And, who wants to take on the Potter Princess,” asked Quinn.
It was once again Ivy who spoke up.
”I want to duel her,” she said and pointed her red ebony wand with a core made from braided unicorn tail hairs.
Everyone looked in the direction she pointed and saw Daphne Greengrass standing at the end. The Ice Queen, as people had started to call her, stared back at Ivy for a moment before raising her chin slightly as she stepped forward. Daphne wordlessly stepped into the circle, placing herself opposite Ivy.
”We haven't competed in this, have we?” said Ivy to Daphne.
”No, we haven't,” said Daphne as she took out her willow wand with a braided unicorn's tail hair as cores.
”Another thing we can cross today,” said Ivy. She briefly glanced at Quinn before speaking back to Daphne, ”I'm going to win this one.”
Daphne noticed Ivy's quick glance towards Quinn, and her brows furrowed slightly. Daphne herself looked at Quinn; she couldn't lose in front of Quinn, so.. .
”I wonder where that baseless confidence of yours comes from,” said Daphne. ”Have you ever won against me ever?”
”Are you still stuck in the time when we were children because that's just sad. We are no longer children, Daphne.. . If—”
”Ladies,” said Quinn interjecting, ”if you want to compete, I'm all for it, but this is a magic club and not a debate, so less chit-chat and more magic, please. Let's get the duel moving.”
The girls stared at each other for a moment before both took their positions at ready.
”Good,” spoke Quinn and retreated out of the red circle.
One second passed, then two, and the red turned green on the third, signaling both participants that the duel had begun.
”PETRUM INDICIBUS” — Ivy's wand shone in an earthen glow, and out of the glowing wand came a volley of fist-sized rocks, rolling in the air towards Daphne.
Daphne swiped her wand in a circle — ”IGNIS OFFII” — multitudes of crackling fire orbs lit up brightly and whistled towards the rock pellets blasting them on impacts, nullifying Ivy's attack.
”EXPELLIARMUS,” chanted Daphne, and the scarlet jet passed right above Ivy, who ducked to dodge it.