She was devastated.
Hearing Harry say Professor McGonagall had called him away just to make him Gryffindor’s new Seeker only made Ariana feel worse.
Some people could dive fifty feet on their very first broom ride, catch a falling ball, and pull off a sudden brake.
Other people threw up until their eyes turned dark within three minutes of sitting on a broom.
She had never suffered such a disastrous defeat in any class before!
Ariana felt dealt a blow heavier than any she had ever known.
She felt she would never be happy again.
From this day forth, she was Cold, Ruthless, Unsmiling Ariana.
Oh, and Harry was the youngest Seeker in a century, brought onto the team as a special exception.
—That was basically skipping a grade!
Shattered by the feeling of being completely outdone, Ariana mournfully scarfed down two steaks in a row.
Having changed his clothes, Malfoy slouched over while clutching his waist, leaning heavily on his two cronies as he limped closer.
“My, my, enjoying your final meal, Potter?
Want me to pack up a couple of steak and kidney pies for you?
After all, you won’t get to eat them again soon.
I doubt your Muggle relatives have anything like this, do they?” “And you, Richie!” He gritted his teeth, glaring at Ariana as she chewed through her grief.
“You don’t even need to bother packing!
It’s not like the food stays down in your stomach anyway!” Ariana, currently immersed in the agony of *How can I be this useless?*, didn’t bother giving him the time of day.
Naturally, he took her silence as a green light to push his luck.
“Ha!
Looks like I hit the nail on the head, didn’t I?” A malicious smirk lit up his face.
Harry looked at him coldly.
“Now that you’re back on solid ground with your two useless bodyguards, your courage is suddenly back, is that it?” “Ha!
You think I wouldn’t dare take you on one-on-one, Potter?” He spun around sharply.
“And you, Richie!” Ariana, still drowning in her deep shock, chewed silently and ignored him.
“Tonight at midnight.
The Trophy Room.
A proper wizard’s duel.” He cast a glare at Ariana.
“No physical contact!” “Well?
You brave enough?
I bet neither of you has even heard of a wizard’s duel before.” “Of course they have.
Ariana can be Harry’s second,” Ron piped up.
“Who’s yours?” Before Malfoy could pick the beefier of his two cronies, Ariana—drowning in pain though she was—caught a word she didn’t like.
“Who’s a second?
I’m main DPS!” she snapped unhappily.
Malfoy sneered.
“Suit yourself.
My second is Crabbe.
See you at midnight.” He turned and strode away without looking back, holding his chin high like a strutting goose with its tail feathers sticking up—except he moved a little too hastily and winced, looking very much like a strutting goose that had thrown out its lower back.
Harry and Ron exchanged bewildered looks.
“What’s a wizard’s duel?
And what’s a second?” Harry asked.
“How come you guys act like you know all about it?” Ariana took a sip of pumpkin juice and said casually, “I don’t know either.” “What?!” Harry and Ron’s voices shot up at the same time.
“Merlin, the way you sounded back there, I thought you’d been in a dozen duels already!
You acted like you knew way more than I did,” Ron said in shock.
“You really don’t know?” “What’s there to make a fuss about?” Ariana shrugged.
“You can guess from the literal meaning.
It’s just a fight.
The two main fighters handle the heavy lifting, while the two seconds act as henchmen to provide crowd control and distraction—isn’t that how it goes?” Ron looked a bit conflicted.
“Well…
you could say that, I guess.
But usually, the second only steps in after the main fighter dies.” “What?!” Harry looked utterly appalled.
“I don’t even know more than a couple of spells yet!” Ariana tilted her head.
“When the time comes, you can sneak behind Malfoy, give him a good kick, and set up a combo for me.” “—Didn’t he just say ‘no physical contact’?” Ariana looked at Harry like he was a naive little angel.
“Who cares about rules once the fists start flying?
If the two of us beat him to death, nobody will ever know we broke the duel rules.” She added coldly, “History is always written by the victors.” Harry and Ron both stared at her, dumbfounded.
After a long pause, Ron muttered softly, “Hey, mate…
I don’t think you need to worry at all.
She sounds way more dangerous than Malfoy.” “I was just thinking the same thing,” Harry said, staring straight ahead.
Ariana offered them a nuclear-option wholesome smile.
She knew it—Malfoy was born into a wizarding family, so he bound to have some secret trump cards.
During Potions class earlier, he had swallowed his pride for no apparent reason and let her drag him into being seatmates.
She had been on her guard the whole time, and look at that—he was finally showing his true colors!
Fine.
It was about time she witnessed the actual battle power of these pure-blood young wizards.
Fired up with fighting spirit, Ariana shoved her plate aside and began drafting a midnight battle plan on a piece of parchment.
She didn’t know many spells right now, and she could only cast three in a row at most before running out of steam.
In terms of raw magic power, she might be at a disadvantage against Malfoy, which meant she had to plan, coordinate, and execute her moves flawlessly.
*1.
Levitation Charm: Lift Malfoy ten feet into the air and drop him.
The blunt-force impact might inflict heavy damage while knocking his wand out of his hand.
Note: Malfoy might know this trick too, so be prepared to dodge.* Ron couldn’t help reading it out loud.
*2.
Blasting Curse: Current output can only shatter one cubic meter of rock, but it works as a basic attack.
However, it can ricochet easily, so stay alert and dodge.* Harry kept reading…
until he couldn’t go on.
“Wait, excuse me.” Hermione reached out from the side, blocking the parchment.
“If I heard correctly, are you planning to duel Malfoy at midnight?” “Mm-hmm?” Ariana grunted in response and wrote down her third point: *3.
Wand-Lighting Charm: When overcharged with magic, the wand will emit a blinding glare, temporarily blinding the opponent and creating an opening to strike.* She thought about it and added a footnote: *May cause friendly fire.
Can be used after teammates die.* (Harry, reading over her shoulder, shot her a look of pure terror.) “That’s way too dangerous!” Hermione exclaimed.
Ron smacked his lips.
“I don’t think *we’re* the ones in danger.” Hermione looked deadly serious.
“And it’ll cost Gryffindor points—if you get caught!” “Then we just shouldn’t get caught,” Ariana said with total calm.
“And if we really do get caught…
well, bad luck for Gryffindor.
Who told them to accept a nuisance like me?
They only have their own poor judgment to blame.” Hermione looked furious, thoroughly outraged by this shameless rascal.
“You’re being completely selfish—” Ariana shrugged.
“Thanks for the compliment.” With a swift swoosh, she swept the parchment off the table into her arm and strolled away.
Hermione turned angrily to Harry and Ron.
“Listen to me, you two absolutely cannot be like her—” The two boys exchanged a glance.
“See ya!” They bolted.