The second duel approaches

*Morpheus pov*

I returned to Hogwarts after my brief venture to Romania. Now I just wait for the vampires to take the bait, they will that much I'm sure of.

Smiling I walked through the halls of Hogwarts it was early morning the sun was barely starting to ascend but, I knew at least two professors were awake right now.

I walked up to the door and gently knocked, "Come in," I heard on the other side

Opening the door I was greeted with three professors Yowie, Abara, and Filius. They had several papers sprawled out on the table in front of them detailing Hogwarts's future dueling opponents.

"Morpheus, Come in come in!" Abara said with a wide jubilant smile

I nodded closing the door behind me softly, "Discussing strategy?" I asked taking a seat

Yowie sighed tiredly, "Yeah it's getting tiring having to figure out what we need to teach the students before each duel so we figured we'd make an overall plan that hits at least some of each target. Luckily Filius is here to guide us with his expertise," he replied taking a small sip of tea

Filius laughed, "No trouble at all really, just helping with some details of places I dueled at. I'm surprised the school dueling league is so broad some of these places are truly a sight to see," he said excitedly

Abara groaned, "Luckily most of these schools are just like ours in teaching magic but, by Merlin, some of these schools are confusing like our next opponent Mahoutokoro School of Magic in Japan, they don't even use wands how complicated!" he rubbed his head in utter frustration

I laughed, "What a coincidence I actually came here to talk about that, I took a quick trip to Japan recently and realized you might want to educate the students on dueling against wandless opponents after all rings are much different than wands," my reply earned me hopeful yet irritated looks

"How are we supposed to educate them when no one uses rings to cast here?" Yowie asked in clear frustration

He was not frustrated with me but at the situation.

I chuckled, "Well I have a solution, I can easily use a ring foci, and have the students duel against me while using one," I suggested with a sly grin

Abara seemed to teleport in front of me, "Morpheus my friend! Why didn't you say anything earlier?! Oh this is perfect," he hugged me and I had to fight the urge to push him off

"How do you know how to use one?" Filius asked curiously

I pried myself from Abara's ironlike grip, "Back in my school days a friend from Japan made a bet with me that I couldn't learn how to use a ring, and I bet he couldn't use a wand. Took a while but I did learn," I lied smoothly

"Brilliant! You are a talented wizard Morpheus I myself have tried to learn a different Foci and couldn't," Filius praised me

It was awkward being praised about this especially because it took me a long time to learn how to use a different foci. I originally started magic using just my two hands and then transitioned to a staff allowing me to channel more power. Eventually, times changed and wands were what was popular. Not wanting to explain myself every time I used wandless or staff magic I made the change and at that point, I just decided to learn everything.

I had the time.

After ironing out the details pertaining to my help with the dueling club I left and headed to breakfast the students should be waking up and heading there themselves.

I ate breakfast at a leisurely pace seeing as I had no urgent business to attend to, today was a relaxation day if I even have any of those.

As I took my last bite of waffles I heard the potions professor asking about the dueling club and any students that are standing out. I learned much about this professor during my time after realizing I didn't know much about him.

Slughorn is an opportunistic man to the very core, he seeks to buy in early and cash out with the most benefits possible.

He's smart about it though, Slughorn hasn't approached me because he knew I wouldn't buy into any of his advances and I don't need anything from him.

The man surprisingly resembles some of the traits of the Slytherin house down to the tee. Alas, he lacks the backbone and ruthlessness of a true serpent.

Although I've heard through the grapevine he is a rather brilliant potions master, he might be useful. I might have lived long enough to be proficient in many arts but I cannot claim to be a master of them all.

Finishing my meal I headed off to my classroom to finish up grading some things and preparing for my next class. The third years are coming along quite nicely if I do say so myself, it is impressive how some of them pick up the lessons I am teaching. Remus Lupin, in particular, is rather good with some of my lessons; werewolves are peculiar creatures, sometimes they are gifted with talents in dark arts, and other times they are gifted with wards and curse-breaking.

Remus in particular seems to be gifted in divination and research, he takes an analytical approach to his studies. I'm positive if he got rid of his fear of himself then Remus would be a brilliant wizard.

***

After my classes, I headed to the dealing club. Entering when the club hadn't even started yet was an odd feeling usually I show up around halfway through.

I watched the students go through their practices and warm-up routines before Yowie took the stage, "Class, today we have something special planned. As you know our next opponent is the Mahoutokoro School of Magic. If you didn't know wizards or as they prefer sorcerers from Japan don't use wands, so to get you some experience Professor Morpheus volunteered to show some of his skills," he said with a bright smile motioning me on the platform

I joined him atop the platform looking over the eager, excited, and curious students.

"Yes, Ms. Evans?" Yowie asked seeing his hand raised

"What do they use then instead of wands?" she asked

I held up my hand, "Rings," I replied as they looked at the black and silver ring adorning my finger

"Not to worry, rings aren't inherently better foci than wands. Just something you are not used to," I added with a small smile, "Rings use more of the wrist and finger movements to cast spells so when facing an opponent using a ring focus you must pay attention to wrist movements and finger placement. For this class, I will be saying the spells aloud and using the taught movements,"

"Who wants to try first?" Yowie asked the crowd

Every hand was raised causing us to chuckle, of course, this is the one time students want to participate.

Yowie called on a random student and soon Sirius Black stood before me with a grin splitting his face as if he was going to dish out payback.

"Well, shall we begin?"

—

A/N: you will be shown the situation in Romania periodically, want you to get the experience of seeing gradual shifts before the mayhem

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