58 Blood Shield

Draco quietly looked at his opponent who stood just twenty steps away from him and was calmly observing the blond boy. Herbert's light brown eyes, which seemed reddish when the light hit them at a certain angle, weren't even blinking as he waited for the duel to begin.

"Ready?" the referee asked the standard question. "Bow to the opponent!... Duel!"

Draco immediately swung his wand in a cutting hex before swirling around to dodge the opponent's attack and send another curse his way.

Herbert didn't seem to be planning on sticking to his usual tactic of observing before attacking. Instead, he didn't waste a second and immediately settled on offense.

Only, his spell-work seemed to be slightly lacking…

"Herbert Bludd, after being warned at his previous duel for using unnecessarily dangerous spells, seems to be in a pinch when facing Draco Malfoy!" the commentator also seemed to have noticed this.

"The Romanian boy keeps on alternating between the simplest cutting jinxes and disarming spells, which Mr. Malfoy avoids rather easily. Speaking of the young Englishman, he is certainly the dark-horse of this year's championship – who would have expected that an eleven-year-old, who barely has a half year worth of magical education under his belt, would be able to break through to the Semi-Finals on his first try? Ah, look at that!..."

The stands burst with disapproving noise as Herbert ran out of patience and finally cast his signature spell which targeted the opponent's blood by making it boil. It was the same curse which took down his previous opponent and seemed to be one of the boy's favorites.

Draco didn't panic and created a red shield which successfully absorbed the spell, and even seemed to become stronger as a result – its color became slightly more vivid.

"Unbelievable! Does Hogwarts teach these spells? Draco Malfoy cast a Blood Shield – as long as his opponent casts any red or black colored magic his way, the shield will strengthen and be able to block some of the other kinds of spells as well! Ah, but it seems to be slightly unstable – looks like Mr. Malfoy hasn't perfected it yet," the commentator's slightly lamenting tone sounded throughout the stadium.

Indeed, Draco hadn't even known about this shield until Abraxas made him learn it the other day. The Blood Shield was very obscure magic. At times it even seemed useless – as long as someone cast a few differently colored spells at it, be it 'Avada Kedavra' or a simple shoelace-tying hex - it would break down in seconds. As such, it wasn't popular, but it was very easy to cast due to its specific usage.

For an opponent such as Herbert Bludd, this shield was a huge obstacle mainly because of his preferred way to attack – most of the simplest cutting curses or spells targeted at the inner body were colored red or black.

Even 'Expelliarmus' was the same!

It wasn't that all dangerous spells were in these colors, after all, the killing curse was bright green.

There was another reason for this.

The wand spells were usually designed with Arithmancy, which used numbers to create certain 'rules'. Making use of these rules allowed the magic to become more stable as well as more easily controlled.

For example, a wand's motion downwards formed 'Isa' rune, which usually helped to stabilize the spell - this motion also frequently appeared when casting shields.

However, different shields placed the motion in different places – it could appear at the beginning or end of an incantation, depending on the intended effect and various calculations.

But, no matter where it was placed, the motion was still there and its existence also affected the color of the spell.

More advanced spells usually had more wand motions and their colors were inevitably more varied - some wizards even deliberately calculated the degree of each gesture for the desired color to come out.

Easy spells, on the other hand, were more standard and their wand motions were simple and fixed. Also, because these spells were very specific, they were usually based around one or two runes.

Cutting spells, for example, typically had 'Thurisaz' rune in them, which looked like something between letters 'P' and 'D'. This rune symbolized thorn, which ensured that a spell would be sharp.

While 'Mannaz', which represented humans and self, was usually included into spells which directly affected the body of the opponent.

Coincidentally, both of these runes were red-colored at their base. If there were no other motions in a spell, the color wouldn't transform into something else.

But how could first and second-year spells contain a lot of wand motions?

Herbert Bludd was only slightly older than Draco – other than him, the Romanian boy was actually the youngest competitor in the Championship.

Also, his magic was entirely focused on attack and the defense was basically non-existent – Draco's opponent relied entirely on his body's quick reflexes to avoid the incoming attacks.

And, even the attacking magic wasn't varied – of which Abraxas cunningly informed his grandson the other day.

As such, Draco took full advantage of the fact that all of his opponent's spells were of one color, which strikingly resembled a specific type of liquid.

Internally, the young Slytherin felt slightly exasperated at the cliché opponent – a vampire obsessed with the color of blood… who would have thought?

Herbert seemed to be at a loss after seeing that Draco's shield was becoming more and more vivid in color with every spell he directed at it.

At first, he didn't seem to know why his magic wasn't working, however, the commentator explained the obscure spell with a lot of excitement to the listening crowd, so eventually, the Romanian became aware of the reason.

Draco had an urge to face-palm when the commentator managed to unintentionally clue-in his opponent, making the blond boy lose his advantage.

However, in all actuality, spell explanations were very common when commenting in official duels. After all, if the opponent managed to hold off the unknown magic and listen to the commentator's explanations at the same time, it clearly showed that he had a lot of ability (but, maybe, slightly lower intelligence and knowledge).

As such, hearing an answer as to what he is facing (though never a solution as to how to deal with it) was actually quite fair and made the duels more exciting for the crowd.

As a competitor, Draco was naturally aware of this hidden rule which existed in the duels.

Anyway, he would be a fool if he just defended and never attacked - even if his shield held some advantage and was strengthened with every spell his opponent sent at it.

But, since Draco didn't consider himself to be foolish, he also didn't wait for Herbert to find a way to counter the magic which was currently protecting the blond boy.

Instead, he waved his wand and the red shield suddenly surged forward, and away from Draco.

Herbert's eyes unconsciously widened as the huge red object, which was twice as tall and five times as wide as himself, suddenly came at him.

He wanted to defend, however, he didn't know any powerful defensive spells which could withstand the collision with the coming red shield. It was already tangible from all the magic that was sent at it previously!

Since the boy couldn't defend, he had no choice but try and dodge. However, the platform wasn't very big and the opponent was only twenty to thirty steps away, while the shield coming at him covered quite a big piece of the arena.

Even if he tried to avoid the incoming object, the shield would still collide into his body.

All of these thoughts flew through Herbert's mind in less than a few seconds. With no other choice, he could only try to dodge to the side while covering his head with his arms.

Draco took advantage of his opponent's moment of panic and inattention.

With a casual wave of his hand, which didn't hold a wand, he cast a practiced 'Expelliarmus', and Herbert's wand flew out of his clutch - only to land into the blond boy's waiting palm.

Before the shield collided into his opponent, Draco directed it to stop just inches before the other boy's body.

"What a beautiful defeat!" shouted out the commentator suddenly as blue sparks flew out of the referee's wand, indicating the end of the duel. "Draco Malfoy used the shield to attack his opponent and, taking advantage of Herbert Bludd's panic, secured a win and the entry into the Finals! Congratulations! What a duel!"

The stands burst into cheers and applause.

Draco dispelled the shield and bowed to the crowd in thanks. He also wanted to greet his opponent, as was customary after the fight ends.

However, before he could do just that, the Romanian boy suddenly let out a huff, which was barely discernible among all the noise. And, with a glare in Draco's direction, he turned around and left – the robes that fluttered after him, made no less of an impression than Severus' own best theatrical moments.

Draco didn't know whether to be impressed at his godfather's perfect imitation or offended at the implied snub.

'Anyway, vampire or not – he is still a child,' Draco idly thought to himself as he ignored Herbert and once again turned to the crowd - he wanted to bask more in their unceasing cheers.

After all, life was good for those who knew how to enjoy it.