Newt face didn't change but you could see the corner of his mouth twitch. Justin laughed loudly and gave Art a thumbs up before taking a couple steps back. The other four students looked at Art incredulously, thinking he was a fool.
Joel's face was particularly ugly, "I know you are a talented wizard but I am a 7th year." he said through gritted teeth.
In fact, it wouldn't be surprising if Art defeated him in a duel. Justin was the strongest duelist in the school and was still defeated by Art but the fact that he said he could defeat him in a minute furiated him to no end.
"7th year or not, take out your wand." Art said.
Joel let out a forced laughed and took out his wand but the second he touched his wand Art buried his fist in Joel's stomach. Joel laid on the ground, gasping for air and holding his stomach.
"You think the Hidebehinds will wait for you to take out your wand? You think if someone was keen on killing you that they would give you the time to prepare yourself?" Art said harshly, standing over him.
Joel's eyes went bloodshot and sent a nonverbal spell at the unsuspecting Art.
Art's eyes went cold and waved his hand, blocking the spell.
"Not bad. But you shouldn't have made it so obvious." Art said praising him.
"What are you? A muggle!? That is just barbaric!" Rachel yelled, she ran over and helped Joel stand up.
"Don't look down on muggles." Art said with a smile, "Muggle brawling just incapacitated you."
"You are a bastard." Rachel said angrily, whipping out her wand.
Before she could speak, her wand flew out of her hand and landed on the ground.
"Slow." Art laughed, shaking his head.
"That is enough." Fontaine said stepping in. "Anybody else want to try?"
Nobody said anything but looked at Art with hatred.
"Let's go." Newt said, walking out of the room.
The five students followed him while Joel stayed back for a second.
"Do we truly have to listen to him Headmaster?" he asked, still not accepting it.
"Listen to me Joel. Artland has only showed a fraction of his true strength to you. His strength isn't something that you can understand. If you and your friends value your life you will listen to him." Fontaine deeply said, lowering his gaze to Joel.
Joel's face was conflicted but soon nodded and followed the rest.
---
The seven of them appeared in front of a large fireplace. A jar of Floo Powder sat on a ledge near the fireplace.
Newt went first and grabbed a pinch of Floo Powder and stood in the fireplace before clearly saying, "Mulroney living room."
In a flash of green fire he disappeared. Art quickly grabbed some Floo Powder and repeated Newt's actions, appearing in a small quaint living room. An older couple were already talking to Newt.
"Mr. and Mrs. Mulroney, this is Artland Cason. A student from Hogwarts that is learning under me." Newt introduced, waving Art over.
"Pleasure to meet you, young man." Mr. Mulroney said offering his hand.
Art was about to take it when Justin appeared in the fireplace.
"Let's save the introductions until the others arrive." Newt said with a smile.
The others soon arrived through the fireplace and stood in the now crowded living room.
"Everyone, meet Mr. and Mrs. Mulroney. They will be sharing with us their experiences with the Hidebehinds lately and hosting us until the Aurors arrive." Newt announced.
Mr. and Mrs. Mulroney guided each of them to the rooms they would be staying at for the night. Joel, Justin, Boomer and Artland were sharing a room with two of them sleeping on cots. The beds were small and uncomfy but nobody complained.
"Artland, how did you become so powerful?" Justin asked suddenly, breaking the silence as the four of them tried to fall asleep.
"I practice… a lot." Art said slowly.
"Don't be an ass." Justin said.
Art let out a deep sigh before answering, "It is true. My sole goal in life is to become stronger, to do that I must spend all of my free time practicing or reading."
Silence enveloped the room as the men didn't say anything.
"Is it true what Shelby said?" Boomer asked quietly.
Art let out a laugh, "What did she say?"
Boomer seemed to squirm in his bed, not wanting to ask.
Justin cleared his throat, "That a Dark Wizard killed your parents in front of you. That is why you train so hard."
"Oh, that." Art said, "It is true. I believe that he is still alive and when he comes back I will strong enough for revenge."
Art laughed, breaking the tension that was building in the room, "Hopefully I still have many years before I have to face him because he is the strongest wizard this world has seen in a very long time."
"What about Albus Dumbledore? Isn't he considered the strongest?" Joel asked.
"Dumbledore could never defeat him. They were always at a stalemate. Of course because of Dumbledore's age some say that he was stronger in his prime but we will never know." Art simply said.
"You European's create lots of Dark Wizards." Joel scoffed.
"Yes we do… but where there is darkness, there is light. We also create powerful White Wizards." Art said with a smile, rolling over to his side.
The boys all went quiet as they slowly drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, they sat around a table eating breakfast. Soon there was a knock on the door and Newt and Mr. Mulroney answered it.
Five well dressed Aurors entered the room and looked the students over.
A tall black Auror with a deep voice spoke first, "I am Fredrick Anderson and I will be leading this operation. I am under the impression that you are all under Mr. Scamander's orders." he gave Newt a glance and continued, "Though I can't argue with Headmaster Fontaine, I will still be the leader."
A short dumpy pale man came up beside him, "You will listen to everything we say and not question us." he said in a high pitchy voice.
Art rolled his eyes, and shook his head slightly.
"You have something to say?" the pale man asked.
"I do not work for MACUSA nor am I under their command. We are here as students of Ilvermorny and from my understanding, Ilvermorny isn't a government affiliated institution." Art said, meeting the pale man's eyeline.
"Ilvermorny's funding is from MACUSA." Anderson said.
"Still holds no control of it." Justin interjected. "The school was founded before MACUSA existed."
"Enough." Newt said, "We are on the same side here and will work together."