“What?!” Ailio Yarrow instinctively reached for his wand, but then he felt the hand resting on his shoulder.
There was not much force behind it, yet the sheer sense of pressure was enough to make every muscle in his body tense on instinct.
“Huh?” David blinked, then turned toward Dumbledore.
“Headmaster, perhaps you should—” “Leo.” Dumbledore rubbed his forehead.
“Calm down.” “They’re taking forever.
I’m just trying to save everyone some time.” Leo released Yarrow’s shoulder.
“Instead of making me explain every little detail, why not let the two Aurors experience it for themselves?” “Are you quite certain that is necessary?” Dumbledore opened his mouth, hesitated for a moment, then looked at Yarrow.
“Ailio?” “Fine by me.” Yarrow drew a deep breath and fixed Leo with a hard stare.
“I’d like to see for myself just how capable this first-year who took down a group of dark wizards really is.” Leo grinned.
“We fighting right here?” “Perhaps we should go downstairs.” Dumbledore sounded resigned.
“I would rather not have my office demolished.” “Works for me.” ..
By the shore of the Black Lake, Leo and Yarrow stood facing one another while Dumbledore, Snape, and David watched from nearby.
Even the Giant Squid had surfaced, one enormous eye peering curiously at the scene.
“You’re not going to use your wand?” Yarrow asked when he noticed Leo’s empty hands.
“Don’t need it.” Leo folded his arms.
“I’m ready whenever you are.” Neither of them bothered with the formal bow usually exchanged before a wizarding duel.
Dumbledore coughed lightly and took it upon himself to count them down.
“Three…
two…
one.
Begin!” “Impedimenta!” Yarrow flicked his wand toward the ground.
Several low walls of earth surged upward around him, forming barriers between himself and Leo.
Leo’s earlier burst of speed had clearly made an impression.
From the very start, Yarrow was taking precautions against allowing him to close the distance.
“Petrificus Totalus!” Leo slipped aside from the Full Body-Bind Curse and drove one foot hard against the nearest earthen wall.
The ground cracked beneath him.
His body shot upward like a cannonball.
“You’ve got to be joking!” Yarrow exclaimed.
His wand never stopped moving.
With a sharp flick, he cast a nonverbal Shield Charm over himself, then aimed at Leo.
“Avis!” A flock of conjured black birds burst into existence around him.
“Oppugno!” The birds immediately shot toward Leo in a dense swarm.
“I underestimated you!” Leo laughed wildly instead of dodging.
His fists met the incoming birds head-on.
Each punch moved like a blur, fast enough to crack through the air, and every blow struck one of the conjured birds with brutal accuracy.
One after another, they burst apart under his fists before they could reach him.
“Petrificus Totalus!” Yarrow fired again.
But just as the curse left his wand, Leo planted one foot on the back of a bird still flying toward him.
Using it as a foothold for a fraction of a second, he forcibly changed direction in midair.
The maneuver brought him even closer.
“Confrin—” Yarrow never finished the Blasting Curse.
Leo was already in front of him.
One straightforward punch came crashing forward without any tricks or flourish.
It shattered the Shield Charm around Yarrow and landed squarely on his face.
“Argh!” Yarrow stumbled back with both hands clamped over his nose as blood poured between his fingers.
“That’s enough.
The duel is over.” Dumbledore stopped them immediately.
He raised his wand toward Yarrow’s injured nose.
“Episkey!” The injury healed almost at once.
“I was holding back, you know.” Leo smiled.
“Still, I have to admit, you’re a lot stronger than those dark wizards.” Yarrow said nothing.
As a veteran Auror who had killed more than a few Death Eaters over the past decade, losing to a first-year student had left him with very little desire to show his face anywhere.
“That was incredible…” David said admiringly.
“With close-combat ability like that, you wouldn’t happen to have Druid blood, would you?” In ancient Britain, some of the earliest magical practitioners had been known as Druids.
Among the Celtic peoples, they had served as priests, scholars, teachers, judges, and keepers of spiritual knowledge.
Certain old records also credited Druids with extraordinary skill in close combat.
Leo stared at him.
“…We’re related.
If the William family had Druid ancestry, shouldn’t you know about it?” His ancestors had still been Norman nobility in France a thousand years ago.
They were Normans, not Celts.
Where exactly were Druids supposed to have entered the family tree?
David paused.
“Fair point.” “All right.” Dumbledore turned toward the two Aurors.
“I assume you now have a clearer understanding of Mr.
William’s abilities?” “Absolutely.
No question about it.” David nodded quickly.
“We’ll report everything to Minister Fudge.
Mr.
William deserves formal recognition from the Ministry for what he did.” “Excellent, excellent.” Dumbledore smiled pleasantly.
“Would either of you care to join me for a cup of tea?” “Minister Fudge is still waiting for our report,” David said politely, waving the offer away.
“Perhaps another time, Headmaster.” “Very well.
Give Cornelius my regards.” Dumbledore smiled warmly and waved goodbye.
David returned the gesture before leaving with the still-silent Yarrow.
Leo watched them go, replaying the duel in his head.
“That Auror was pretty interesting.
His Shield Charm was a bit disappointing, though.
Not nearly tough enough.” “Ailio Yarrow is a veteran Auror,” Dumbledore said, patting Leo on the shoulder.
“Defeating him is quite an achievement.
You truly are remarkably strong.” “Come on.” Leo remembered his own fight with Dumbledore and shook his head.
“He’s nowhere near your level.” “Er…” Dumbledore’s expression froze, his hand still resting on Leo’s shoulder.
“Relax.
I’ve already seen what you can do.” Leo spoke quite matter-of-factly.
“I’m completely outmatched.
Challenging you again right now would only make me look ridiculous.” Then he tilted his head.
“Why are you making that face, Headmaster?” Dumbledore quietly relaxed.
Good.
At least he no longer needed to worry about Leo challenging him without warning every few days.
He was far too old to deal with that kind of nonsense.
His smile returned.
“Leo, would you care to come upstairs and have some tea with me?” “Sure.” Leo nodded.
“I’m almost out of the sweets they sent me from home anyway.” ..
The Headmaster’s office.
“Personally, I recommend the Cockroach Clusters.
Their appearance is admittedly rather unfortunate, but they taste much better than you might expect.” Dumbledore proudly presented a bowl of his own Cockroach Clusters.
Leo stared at the cockroach-shaped sweets crawling around inside it and immediately waved both hands.
“No.
Absolutely not.
Aren’t you worried a real cockroach might get mixed in there?” “Hmm…” Dumbledore considered the possibility.
“Isn’t that little element of risk precisely what makes them more exciting?” He cheerfully tossed a Cockroach Cluster into his mouth.
“As Gryffindors, surely we ought to possess a certain spirit of adventure.” “I save all my adventurous spirit for fighting.” Leo shrugged.
“I see.” Dumbledore sounded faintly disappointed.
He opened a drawer instead and took out several Chocolate Frogs for Leo.
Leo liked those much better.
They tasted good, and every Chocolate Frog came with a collectible Famous Witches and Wizards Card.
There was something strangely satisfying about opening a snack and discovering which trading card you had pulled this time.