Chapter 27: Masochist!

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Hermione rolls her eyes. "Come on, you aren't that bad!"

"Really? Let me guess, did I fall gracefully? Tell me honestly, did I at least look pretty while I got utterly destroyed?"

Ron clears his throat. "Actually you kinda kneed yourself in the face as you crumpled to the floor."

"To be fair, the blood coming out of your nose was dripping rather rhythmically to the floor, and you managed to artfully avoid getting any on your robes," Harry adds.

I laugh. "Well, there is that, at least."

"Can't you see I feel bad enough about this already?" Hermione pleads.

"I don't see why you would. I bet it was rather impressive, wasn't it, Harry?"

"It was."

"See? Alright, now about that rematch? This time I think I'll hold some magic at the ready so I can put up the shield right away. Let me know if it's obvious to you guys, okay?" I figure I can't just walk around with my hands glowing with magic all the time or something. Although that would be kind of awesome.

"Wait, you weren't doing that?" Hermione asks.

"Well, no, I thought it might be cheating a bit, being on the verge of using magic like that before we even started."

"We'll do it this time," she says firmly, "I don't think it'll be cheating if you don't actually use magic."

"That's why I asked them to watch, see if anything's off when I'm holding magic. Okay, Let's give it a shot. Harry, point your wand at me and be ready with those cushioning charms, if you don't mind. I'm not particularly looking for a broken nose right about now."

Hermione rolls her eyes, then goes back to her position and gets in the same stance. "Ready."

I concentrate for a moment, pulling out a stream of magic and gathering in my hand. "Please don't hurt me."

"Don't say that!" Hermione whines, dropping her stance momentarily.

"Sorry, I mean, ready!"

"Okay," Ron says. "Three, two, one, go!"

Immediately I threw up a shield charm. Nothing impacts it. "What are you doing, Hermione?"

"I wanted to make sure you got your shield up first!"

I drop my shield with a grunt of annoyance. "Hermione, that's not how it's supposed to—"

I open my eyes to find Hermione staring down at me. "Sorry," she says with a cringe.

I sigh. "Did I get blood on my robes this time?"

"Oh no, you just fell flat on your face," Harry says. "You must have been leaning forward this time."

"Wonderful."

"Don't worry, Harry got the cushioning charm up in time," Ron says cheerfully.

I give Harry a nod. "Thanks, dude."

"What's 'dude' mean?" Ron asks with a confused expression.

"Means 'bloke' in Yank-speak."

"Uh, why not just say bloke then?

"'Cuz that's not how I talk, guv'na."

"That was an atrocious English accent, William," Hermione says.

Damn, I thought it was pretty good at the end there. "Sorry, I'll work on it."

Hermione snorts but ignores me and walks back to her spot. Shortly after that we are both once again back in dueling positions.

"Okay, I'm really ready this time. No holding back, Hermione!"

She nods, face set in determination.

"Ready? Three, two, one, go!"

Once again my shield leaps into existence and this time a stunner splashes harmlessly against it.

Through the shimmering blue hemisphere, I hear Hermione cast another pair of them, which are also ineffective except for weakening the shield. It occurs to me that my shield is overkill, and so I pull a thread of magic out and try to connect it to the shield. As soon as the thread of magic touches it, it shifts, and I feel like I'm connected to it. 

Tentatively I try to pull some of that magic back into my body, and the shimmering shield dims. I can't tell if I'm getting anything out of it or not. 

I immediately stop, frowning, and I focus on making the shield smaller instead. It's faint, but I can feel it growing stronger as it shrinks. Then my vision fills with red.

I open my eyes to find Hermione's worried face hovering over mine. "Sorry!"

I snort out a laugh. "Hermione, I got distracted and you got me. Nothing to be sorry for."

Harry's throat clears behind me. "Er, well there was the blood we had to vanish again."

Hermione flushed with embarrassment. "Maybe we should take a break? You...well...you might want to take a Blood Replenisher before we continue." She gives a rather uncomfortable grimace at that.

I stare at her in shock, and then start chuckling. "Hermione, did you just make a joke about beating the crap out of me for the last half hour?"

Her face blushes furiously red now. "Uh, actually you broke your nose this time, and you're looking rather pale."

The chuckling dies in my throat. "Oh. Damn. Well I've been here less than a week and I already got the crap kicked out of me by a girl."

"And what's wrong with that?" Hermione asks, torn between being offended and sorry.

"Oh nothing, nothing at all! On the contrary, normally I'd brag about that, but in this case I didn't even try to kiss you first. I suppose my friends don't have to hear about that part."

Her face turns red. "You prat!"

I smirk mischievously. "So if I ended up lying in a pool of my own blood twice already, what would happen if I really did try to—"

I wake up with Harry's and Ron's face leaning over me. "Alright there, William?" Ron asks.

"You really are a masochist, I think," Harry observes.

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