Chapter 104

ALBERT'S POV

It was the weekend, and I had just finished a review session with people from all four houses. Most of the others stayed behind, while some went to the kitchens to get a few snacks. I was feeling tired and wanted to rest. It was one of those days. You know when, randomly, you just lose your motivation to do anything?

I was planning to go back to the dorm and try to find out if I had any candles or chocolate left. The combination of scented candles and chocolate reset me back to normal. They are very good pick-me-ups. I was taking a short cut through one of the secret passages, but it felt like someone was watching me.

I felt the shallow breath of someone behind me. It was getting creepy, so I decided to pick up the pace. From the corner of my eye, I saw a shadow at the next intersection. I kept my heads down and continued walking dorewards, but the shadow stepped out. It was walking towards me. I looked back to see if it was targeting someone else. No one was behind. It got closer until it stopped right in front of me.

"Are you Albert August Anderson? First-year Gryffindor student? A member of the transfiguration club?"

"What would you do if I was?"

I was officially freaking out. I could not deal with this now.

"I would do whatever I want to you and then use a memory charm to erase it."

"Then no. My name is… What's that?"

I turned to run away. I barely turned before I heard the shadow say, 'its him'. The next moment, everything goes black.

The world was a blur, with muffled sounds and distant echoes resonating in my ears. The coarse texture of the paper bag over my head scratched against my skin, and every muffled step felt like an uncertain journey into the unknown. Fear clenched my chest like a vice, the unknown assailants leading me with an unrelenting grip.

My groggy eyes slowly opened, and I saw brown. I think they put a brown paper bag on my face. If you couldn't guess, I was kidnapped by a shadow.

"You weren't kidnapped by a shadow." A voice reverberated around the room I was now in.

'Thats what a show would say.'

"What's wrong with you, mate? 'That's what a shadow would say.' What do muggles grow up with nowadays? I think we should knock him out again. We still have half an hour before it starts," the voice said again.

"Nah, keep him awake. I'll introduce the new guy. Take the bag off," another voice said.

Then, a sudden stillness enveloped me, and the sounds around me hushed. I felt hands on my shoulders, the bag lifted, and the world flooded in with blinding intensity. A sharp, searing pain shot through my eyes as they struggled to adjust to the sudden assault of light.

My surroundings slowly came into focus. The room was dimly lit, with shadows dancing across the walls. Shapes materialised—figures standing around me, their faces still obscured. My hands, bound and trembling, sought something to anchor myself. I became acutely aware of my breathing, which was erratic and echoing in the confined space.

"Welcome," a voice devoid of warmth echoed in the chamber. The words felt both menacing and rehearsed. The air tasted stale, and the scent of dampness lingered. It was a room devoid of comfort, an arena of uncertainty.

"Could you relax a little bit? You're scaring the child," the other voice said.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"Straight to the point. I like that kid," the voice said. "Could you untie him?"

I heard a grunt before I felt the restraints loosen. I looked around and saw a few familiar faces. They were all older students from all four houses.

"Follow me, kid," the girl said as she walked away. I followed her. I don't want to stay with the mind-reading guy.

"Legimancer," the guy said. "I'm a legimancer. I can't read the surface thoughts of most people. Its not mind reading."

"Sounds like mind reading," I replied.

"That's what I told him, but he insists everyone calls it legimancy," the girl said as her hair colour changed.

"Your Charlie's girlfriend," I said in surprise.

"I prefer Tonks and hurry up. I need to explain this to you before it starts," Tonks said as she continued to walk away. "Welocme to the 'Underground Duelling Areana'. The place where older students come to settle their disputes without breaking the pact."

"Why am I here?"

"Gabriel asked for you to come here and watch his duel. He says he owes you a favour," Tonks said. "Sorry about the kidnapping getup. It's a tradition we have when we invite a younger student."

"Isn't duelling prohibited? Do the professors know about this? Has anyone ever gotten hurt? Has anyone ever gotten caught? What were the punishments? Did they die, or worse, did they get expelled?"

"Hold your horses; question one at a time." Tonks said as she sat down on a seat. "Yes, duelling is prohibited. I'm guessing the professors know about this. I'm pretty sure they'd notice when most of the older students go missing at the same time. After every duel, Madam Promfrey usually asks for the dueler to go to her office. Yes, people do get hurt, but Madam Pomfrey sorts them out. No one has died yet, and no one has been expelled because of this."

"Why are you here?" I asked

"I want to be an auror, and this would give me good experience."

"Why am I here?" I asked.

"Gabriel asked you to be here."

"But why am I here?" I asked again, emphasising why.

"A few people vouched for you, so you're here. That's it. Help yourself to the bar over there, and the house is over there. The maximum limit on bets is one galleon."

After hearing that, I headed over to the bar to get some refreshments before heading to the house. I placed a few bets before returning back to the bar. I stayed there until a few minutes before it started. When I saw people moving towards the areana, I quickly went to find a seat. I sat by myself at the top row.

"Ladies and gentlemen, witches and wizards gather around as we prepare for a showdown between two novice duelists. My name is Mason Tipson, and this is Alaric Spinster. And today we'll be commenting on this match live from Hogwarts 'Underground Duelling Arena', where we are moments away from Ravenclaw's top prefect prospect going against a muggle born Hufflepuff. Alaric, do you want to tell our viewers why this duel is happening?"

"This confilct started off with a difference of opinions, then a disagreement before the young Hufflepuff broke the bro-code. Although I shouldn't take sides, I hope he suffers. Now let's introduce our two duelists. In the purple corner, we have Bernard Noch. Bernard is tipped to be the next Ravenclaw prefect and is one of the most academically gifted students in Ravenclaw. In the orange corner, we have Gabriel Truman. He is a year younger than his opponent. He already has two strikes against him from the ministry. Gabriel is known not to be the most book-smart but excels at most physical activities."

"We have two people from two different worlds. They both excel at different things. Who is going to trump the other—brains or brawn? Once we strike this bell, the duel will start. Everybody ready? 3… 2… 1… It's time to d-d-duel!"

"At the referee's gesture, Bernard strikes first, his wand moving in a graceful arc as he casts a silent Ventus jinx. A blast of wind caught Gabriel off guard, threatening to push him into the spiked pit wall. But Gabriel has braced himself, shielding his face from the gale.

With a swish of his wand, Gabriel volleyed back with a tickling jinx. Bernard narrowly dodged the neon jet of light, then returned fire with a leg-locker curse. Gabriel tried to block it, but it was too slow. His legs snapped together, and he toppled over."

"The crowd is roaring as Bernard presses his advantage. He levitated Gabriel up and slammed him brutally back down. The stone floor cracked under the impact. He fires off some basic magic attacks. Gabriel could only raise a weak shield charm as Bernard unleashed a barrage of basic attacks.

But Gabriel is not done yet. From the ground, he transfigured rubble into stone vipers that slithered towards Bernard, buying time as he unjellified his legs. Back on his feet, Gabriel cast a powerful Lumos Maxima, blinding Bernard and eliciting agonised shrieks from the conjured snakes. Talk about friendly fire."

"Now it is Bernard's turn to raise a hasty shield charm as Gabriel unleashes a volley of basic attacks. Even while shielding, Bernard managed to vanish the vipers in puffs of black smoke, much to the crowd's dismay.

After a couple of volleys of basic magic attacks, they stood panting, their wands aimed warily. Then, with simultaneous cries of "Expelliarmus!" their wands were ripped from their hands. They watched as both wands clattered to the arena floor. The referee is ready to call it a draw, but Gabriel runs towards his wand. Bernard is a disadvantage, as he has a longer distance to travel. Gbariel has his wand in his hand and fires a bombara. Baernard is flung back as we watch him smash into the walls of the arean."

"The referee ends the match in Gabriel's favour as the Ravenclaw prefect heads towards the injured Bernard. She feeds him a recovery potion. What I wouldn't do to be in his position She's beautiful… but I would never lose to a younger student in a duel I initiated."

"Sure. Well, that was entertaining. A rather unexpected end to a duel. The duel was somehow won by the underdog. This has been Alaric Spinster and Mason Tipson, and we'll see you next time."

'Wow. Just wow.' was the only thing I could think of to describe this. After the duel was over, I waved to Gabriel and gave him a thumbs up. Then I went to the house to collect my winnings. I had four galleons worth of profit. After collecting my money, I followed some of the older students from Gryffindor outside and went to the common room. I spent some time with the rest of the first year before going to bed.

The next day, we had lessons, but it was only chrams and herbology. After those, I met the usual study group in the library for our study session. We briefly went through everything we had learned until now in preparation for our winter exams. After that, I saw Gabriel in the library. He handed me the books, and I congratulated him.

"Congratulations on winning. I thought you were going to draw with him," I said.

"I would have if I didn't rush to grab my wand. If I hadn't, the referee would have definitely called it a draw. I would have lost a lot of money if I did."

"You betted on yourself?"

"Of course I did. I won two galleons. I'm rich. How much did you win?"

"Four galleons."

"Wow. Thanks for your recommendations. I probably wouldn't have won."

"Don't sell yourself short. You did well to learn those spells."

Gabriel soon left afterwards. I returned the books to Madam Pince and left the library. As I left the library, someone came up behind me.

"Good afternoon, Albert," she said.

"Good afternoon, Isabel. What are you doing?"

"I'm going back to the common room. I just borrowed a book that I could find in the Ravenclaw Library," she said as she put her hand out. "Do you want one?"

"Sure, I wouldn't mind. Thank you."

"They're my favourites. Every time I go to Honeydukes, I make sure to get a lot. Like 'a lot' a lot. Anyways, why did Gabriel give you some books?"

"He asked for a favour."

"Go on."

"He asked for me to borrow books that he could use."

"For the duel?"

"Yes, for the duel."

"No wonder he was preaching your name as his saviour. And this week's club session is cancelled. Professor McGonagall would have told you later today. I have a lot of work to do. We'll talk again next week."