It Starts
The man paced back and forth before the young boy. The boy, who was perhaps thirteen to fourteen, was staring at the man with a mixture of anticipation and fear. As the man walked, his dress shoes clicked the surface of wood planks. The boy sat on a rickety wooden chair, his legs at a right angle to the floor, and his palms on his knees.
The man was wearing a white button up shirt with a black vest over it. The collar at the shirt’s wrists were browned by smudges of dirt, and several of the buttons on the vest her lose. The boy was wearing a similar white button-up to the man, a pair of dust covered slacks, and black shoes smudged too in dirt. On the boys hands were a rather nice pair of black leather gloves. His hair was short and black and covered by a brown herringbone hat. The boy’s eyes were a peculiar silver color.
After pacing and muttering for a moment, the man turned to the boy, growling angrily, “You are not going to that… that abdominal school.”
“But father, why? They showed us-“ the boy began, but he was quickly cut off by the man.
“Do not back talk me, boy! That is enough,” the man snarled, jabbing a finger in the boy’s face.
The boy recoiled, nodding his head and muttering, “I’m sorry, father.”
The man, this boy’s father, was breathing heavily, and he straightened up, smoothing out his vest with his hands. “That’s right… now… now… tell me, what have you done?”
“Your…” the father made a face of disgust, “your magic, how much have you used it?”
The boy stared up at his father, his brows furrowed, his lips parted and he licked them. Though just this moment of hesitation seemed to long for the father.
“Boy, did you here me?” The father turned back to face his son, reaching his hands forward and stopping them inches away from the boy’s neck, “how much have you used your magic?”
The boy gulped, hesitating longer, but this time, speaking, “I- I- not much, just a little here or there. It’s only been on accident, I don’t know-“
“Don’t you lie to me, boy!” One of the father’s hands whipped up, striking the boy across the cheek with a loud crack. “Your sister could do it, I saw it, had to beat it out of her.”
The boy was shaking, his eyes flickering to the man’s hands hovering dangerously over his neck, “I don’t- I haven’t used it!”
The boy cried out as the man pushed the boy by his neck, forcing the boy to topple back in his chair. The chair hit the wooden floor, and the boy fell on his back. The man descended upon him, striking the boy across the face, punctuating his words with each blow, “I. Told. You. To. Not. Lie. To. Me!”
As the man moved to hit the boy for the ninth time, who was trying to squirm away instead of defending himself, a tiny voice cried out from beyond the boy and man, coming from where the boy could not see, “Leave him alone!”
The man paused, pushing his hand off of the boy’s chest quite forcefully, looking up to where the voice had come from. It was a small girl, no older than eight, standing there with her fists balled up. She had long blonde hair and a lengthened skirt. There was a red mark across her neck and the back of her hands, as if she had been struck in those places.
The man began to approach the girl, who took a step back, “And you’re going to defend him?” The man sneered, “I thought I taught you a lesson.”
The girl took another step back, but she was still glaring defiantly at the man, “Get- get away!”
“Or what, are you going to use it on me?” The man moved ever closer, “Are you going to stop me?”
No.
Stop.
Don’t hurt her.
Don’t hurt him.
He didn’t want to see it any more.
He didn’t want to hear it anymore.
Make it stop.
He was fighting it.
He didn’t want to relive it again.
Hans woke up, blindly striking out against the darkness around him. His breathing was ragged and heavy, and a cold sweat had broken out across his entire body.
After a solid few moments of Hans struggling to throw his comforter off of him, thinking it was an attacker, he eventually came to.
It was okay.
It was over.
He wasn’t there anymore.
Hans laid back against his bed, taking in a deep breath and trying to calm the fear, despair, and anger inside of him. His hand was gripping the comforter tightly, almost as if to break some solid object within its folds. Hans realized his grip on the comforter was needlessly strong, and so he opened his palm, allowing his hand to relax.
Those damned dreams. Hans could only live like this for so long.
The boy swung his legs over the side of the bed, sitting up and pushing the hangings on his bed aside. The bedroom was still dark, and the snores of the others still echoed across the room. Hans reached to his nightstand, grabbing his watch and turning it over to look at its face.
5:30.
Curfew still wasn’t relinquished throughout the school, but Hans at the very least could get dressed and go relax in the common room. Hans stood up, moving toward his wardrobe like all other days before.
Immediately upon opening the wardrobe, without even hesitating, his hands latched upon his Crossed Wands champion garb. It was his go to for occasions like this: Crossed Wands duels. He figured the others in the group would recognize him better as the champion if he wore it. His hands hesitated over his robes, but soon they dropped to his side without him grabbing any, not even a coat. A robe would only make a difficult duel only harder.
Hans took his time getting dressed, taking a little more care in doing his hair and straightening the cloth beneath his belt before exiting the bedroom. Nobody was up yet, and it was 5:57 by the time Hans had finished getting rest. For the last few minutes Hans sat down on one of the armchairs, waiting patiently for 6:00, the time he could leave the common room.
Just before 6:00 came, Hans heard footsteps, forcing him to look up. Coming from the girls side of the Ravenclaw common room was Samantha Dale, who looked around and spotted Hans. She smiled and waved, and he returned the gesture.
“Hi, Hans!” Samantha exclaimed, walking toward him, “were you waiting for curfew to end?”
Hans nodded, pushing himself off of the armchair and standing. “Yeah, I couldn’t sleep. Why are you up so early?”
The two began to walk toward the stairs that descended below the main floor of the Ravenclaw common room. “I’m going to go see Professor Garlick and help her with the new Venomous Tentacula seedlings!” Samantha said brightly.
The door exiting the Ravenclaw common room opened, just as when Hans shook his head and muttered, “I don’t get your fascination with those things I mean sure they’re useful but to spend all your free time with them.”
“It’s like with you and Poppy, you want to spend all your time with the other,” Samantha remarked intuitively, but quickly came to regret it.
“So you’re telling me you’re attracted to-“ Hans began, but Samantha was quick to cut him off.
“No not like that!” Samantha exclaimed, throwing up her hands and giving a most annoyed look at Hans, who grinned, “you just love something so much that you want to spend all your time with it.”
“Uh huh,” Hans sounded unconvinced, “and I didn’t say anything about love.”
“No, but I can see it in both of your eyes. You two looooooove each other,” Samantha laughed as Hans feigned a punch at her gut.
The two continued to banter and bicker as they continued out of Ravenclaw tower. Samantha and Hans parted ways once she diverged for the Central Hall whilst Hans continued toward the Great Hall. He doubted that he would find Poppy there, but finding either Natsai, Sebastian, or Ominis there was not an uncommon encounter at this time of day.
Hans entered the Great Hall, pushing the right door open and passing through the gap. Very few students were present at the tables, and even several professors were missing. Only Professor Weasley and Professor Sharp were seated, leaning toward one another and murmuring.
Instantly did Hans’s eyes whip toward the Hufflepuff table, and as he predicted, Poppy was not present. He hesitated in place as he also noticed that Natsai, Sebastian, and Ominis were also missing from not only the Hufflepuff table, but all others. He considered going toward the Ravenclaw table, but in only a moment’s hesitation did Hans decide he would seat himself at the Hufflepuff table.
As Hans approached their usual spot on the table, putting one leg over the bench, a 2nd year further down the table with a upturned nose and brown eyes noticed him and frowned, “You’re not a Hufflepuff.”
“Nor am I a unicorn, so what?” Hans snapped back, sitting down at the table and looking down at the food laid out in front him.
The Hufflepuff didn’t say anything back, and Hans didn’t care enough to look at what the little 2nd year was muttering to his friend, but instead grabbed a plate and gathered some bacon and eggs onto his plate. Just as he began to bite into the bacon, glancing back to the Great Hall entrance doors, Natsai and Garreth entered, talking excitedly.
Natsai and Garreth spotted Hans, waving at him and moving in his direction. Hans returned the gesture, before turning back to his breakfast. The two Gryffindors sat at the table, with Natsai on his left and Garreth across from her. Hans was beginning to realize why Poppy had mentioned Garreth fancying Natsai.
“Morning, Hans,” Garreth waved, smiling, before turning his attention to Natsai.
“Hey, Garreth,” Hans nodded, before looking to Natsai, “Natsai. Good morning.”
“My friend, are you ready for the- er- the” Natsai glanced at Garreth, was watching them talk curiously, “meeting?” Natsai asked, looking at him with a nearly worried expression.
Hans blinked, not expecting for her to jump straight into worrying over the duel, “I- yeah? What can I do to prepare now?”
Natsai just shrugged, “I suppose you have a point, my friend.”
“Hey, what are you doing this afternoon?” Garreth interjected, attempting to bring Natsai’s attention back to him.
Natsai glanced at Hans for a moment, frowning, “I- er- I’m going to be going to a club, with Hans and the others.”
“What club?” Garreth asked, a little too eager in his question.
“I really can’t say… but I’ll be free after 4:00, why do you ask?” Natsai answered, dogging his question skillfully.
Garreth did not pursue the club any longer, saying, “I was just wondering if you wanted to come into Hogsmeade with me. We could all go,” Garreth looked at Hans expectingly, “and maybe go to the Three Broomsticks.” Perhaps Garreth was thinking he was being slick, but Hans and most likely Natsai knew he was trying to spend more time with Natsai.
Hans and Natsai exchanged glances, before looking back at Garreth, and hesitating as either of them did not know what to say. Hans figured that it would be good for him, Poppy, Sebastian, and Ominis to get out of the castle. Just like with Poppy, Ominis had been invited to watch the duel, being in their inner circle.
It was Hans who first answered, “I’m in. I’ll talk to Poppy and-“
“Talk to me about what?” Poppy interjected as she sat down at the table, to the right of Hans. Once seated, she put her arm around Hans’s waist and tilted her head up, planting a kiss on his cheek. The small Hufflepuff wasn’t wearing a robe either, like Hans, and now today she wore a dress that fell only to just above her ankles, and her boots and socks covered her ankles. The dress itself was yellow with a white zigzagging vertical pattern going around her entire body. Hans could not help but to notice her attire, finding it far more attractive than the typical school attire.
“Oh, hello, darling. Garreth was wondering if we might want to go to the Three Broomsticks after our meeting at two,” Hans answered, turning his head to the right and resting his chin on the top of her head. He closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath and inhaling her sweet plum-like scent.
Poppy’s arm dropped back to her side, frowning as she considered if she was free, “I- I think I can go. Sure.”
Hans pulled away from her, opening his eyes and meeting her gaze. “Perfect, then Poppy and I will go with you Garreth.”
“Great!” Garreth exclaimed, turning to look at his fellow Gryffindor, “Natsai?”
“Uh-“ Natsai hesitated, but Hans nudged her elbow, and she set her answer firmly, “yes.”
Garreth was quite excited by this, smiling at them all, “Perfect! It will be fun! Besides, I need a few more potion ingredients so I’ll need to stop by Pippin’s Potions to get them.”
“What will be fun?” It was Sebastian, sitting down on the left of Garreth. To Sebastian’s left was Ominis, opposite Poppy.
Hans greeted his Slytherin friend with an answer, “we are planning on to head to the Three Broomsticks with Garreth after our meeting, are you going to come?”
“Meeting?” Sebastian was quite puzzled by the use of this word.
Hans widened his eyes, staring into Sebastian’s soul to give the Slytherin a meaningful look. After a few moments of confusion, Sebastian went “oh” with understanding and nodded, “Sure, I’m in. Ominis?”
“Why not? Should we invite Samantha?” The blind Slytherin responded, turning his head so he was blankly looking between Natsai and Hans.
Hans shrugged, “I’m okay with that. Everybody else?” Nobody complained to this as the others began to help themselves to food. “Samantha is in the gardens, somebody should probably go ask cause I don’t know when she will be back, we might already be in our, er, club meeting.”
“I’ll go,” Ominis instantly volunteered, standing up and climbing over the bench. With a flourish of his wand, a white light appeared at its tip, and he began to walk out with it held in front of him.
“Do you reckon Ominis fancies Samantha?” Garreth instantly asked once Ominis was out of earshot.
Hans and Natsai shrugged, whilst Sebastian stared curiously at Ominis’s retreating back, pondering this question. Poppy, meanwhile, squealed, “Ooh, I sure hope so!”
Poppy’s lovd gave her a confused look, to which she giggled. Poppy began to explain her statement to Hans, “I just feel like, I don’t know, it would work.” Poppy just shrugged and looked at her plate, taking a fork full of eggs.
Hans shook his head, smiling as he looked at Sebastian, “What do you think, Sebastian?”
“I don’t know,” Sebastian murmured slowly, staring at the spot that Ominis had just disappeared off to. “I wouldn’t… I don’t know… it’s possible. Likely? No. Chances of them courting? Near zero.”
“Aww, why?” Poppy asked, looking at Sebastian with a frown. Sebastian knew Ominis the best, so she would count his word as valid in regard to their blind friend.
“Because Ominis is very… particular… I don’t know if he has ever fancied a girl in his life,” Sebastian said, “I expect it’s because he has never seen one, so he doesn’t know the idea of seeing a “pretty girl.” It has to be how they talk and sound and all of that, which is probably a lot less convincing him to fancy someone.”
Poppy nodded, looking back at to the Great Hall doors, where Sebastian was still staring. That made sense. In the beginning, Poppy had noticed Hans in several of their other classes due to his good looks. Though as time went on this noticing went on to become interest as his capability to succeed in his studies, even with being a Fifth year exceeded expectation.
The group continued to eat, enjoying breakfast and the laughter of one another’s company. Just as the last of them were finishing their breakfast and they began to pick themselves up, Ominis returned from the Gardens. Though he could not see it, the others were all ogling at him with confused stares, as he had been gone quite a long time.
Once Ominis was within earshot of the others, he said rather formally, “Samantha will be glad to join us to the Three Broomsticks this afternoon.”
Sebastian was quick to address the elephant in the room, “Why were you gone so long? You left at 6:40 and it’s now 7:30.”
Ominis hesitated, “It’s not- it wasn’t that long. It takes a while for me to get around the school.”
“Don’t even, Ominis. I have seen you get around the school, if it took you 20 minutes to get from the Gardens to here then you would be late to every class. You’re never late to class. And 20 minutes is with 10 minutes asking Samantha one question,” Sebastian brushed aside Ominis’s excuse, “what were you really doing?”
“I had a little conversation with Samantha, so what?” Ominis defended himself.
“Little?” Poppy chimed in.
A chuckle rung out amongst the group, and now Ominis was showing clear irritation. He did not appreciate this teasing. “If you must know, I went to ask Samantha about the Three Broomsticks and she said yes. As I was about to leave she asked me to help her restrain one of the larger Venomous Tentaculas. Apparently Professor Garlick doesn’t want to prune it just yet because she wants to discuss the dangers of the plant to the third years.”
Hans’s eyes instantly dropped to Ominis’s hands, seeing that there were in fact small scratches across their surface. So Ominis was telling the truth. The group left the Great Hall, stopping in the entrance Hall.
“Uh huh, likely story,” Sebastian was eyeing Ominis suspiciously, it occurred to Hans that Sebastian might not be poking fun at any crush of Ominis’s, but instead suspicious of other things more typical of any cunning Slytherin like Ominis.
The group began to part ways, with Natsai leaving to go talk to Professor Sharp about Potions, with Garreth trailing behind her, Ominis and Sebastian going back to the Slytherin common room, and Hans and Poppy walking arm and arm to the Room of Requirement.
The couple decided that they should see the animals, as it would be a good way to relax before Hans’s duel. Hans did not seem particularly worried about the duel, and because of that, nor was Poppy. Instead she carelessly played with Highwing and the Lord in the sand while Hans watched happily from a rock closer to the cliff face.
As the time for the two of them to go the Clocktower drew near, Hans called for Poppy to begin wrapping things up(as only he had means to check the time in the beach vivarium). Poppy said her goodbyes to the great beasts and reluctantly trudged back up to Hans, her dress covered in sand.
Hans looked her up and down, a nervous smile on his face, “You’ve got… sand, everywhere.”
Poppy glanced down, but without saying a word, she whipped out her wand and waved it. As if a strong gust of winds struck her, Poppy’s dress billowed for a moment, and in the next, the sand was gone. “How do I look?” She looked up at Poppy with her bright, brown eyes.
Hans reached up and pushed an escaped strand of her hair behind her ear and smiled, leaning forward and murmuring, “Absolutely stunning.”
Poppy straightened up, meeting her lips with his as she smiled, he truly was a sweet talker. They kissed for a moment, with but only love speaking through it. Poppy put a hand on Hans’s chest as she leaned into the kiss, her other hand around his back. Hans placed his hands on her waist, pulling her body against him as the kiss deepened, their kiss lasting many moments.
As the kiss broke, their gazes met, and Poppy grinned at him. “Thank you.”
“Of course, gorgeous,” Hans winked at her, and Poppy blushed, which was quite surprising to Hans. He expected her to be used to this kind of banter by now, but perhaps not.
Poppy grabbed onto his arm, leaning into him as they departed from the vivarium. Her hand slid down his forearm and interlocked with his, and they walked holding hands all the way down to the clock tower.
There were several circles of students gathered together in the base of the clock tower. A ripple of murmurs went through the tower once Hans entered, still holding Poppy’s hand. Poppy was tempted to let go as she noticed all of the daggers being glared at Hans, but when he gave her hand a comforting squeeze, she decided to hold on.
Sebastian was talking to Natsai and Ominis, his sleeves rolled up and his wand between his fingers. As Hans approached, the three turned to look at the approaching couple.
“You ready?” Sebastian asked Hans as he approached, who simply nodded and stopped before the three.
“What about you? You have a duel?” Hans asked his Slytherin friend.
“Yeah. Natsai and I are dueling Nellie, Nerida Roberts, and Astoria Crickett,” Sebastian said, to which Natsai nodded.
“Not terrible competition, in fact it’s quite easy for you. I wonder why Lucan arranged this one. You’ll easily wipe the floor with them,” Hans answered, grinning at his two friends.
“I know why. Lucan told me. It’s because of your duel,” Sebastian responded with a little shake of his head.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re dueling literally everybody else,” Sebastian shook his head again, this time with far more enunciation to it.
Hans blinked, opening and closing his mouth, “Everybody?”
It was Natsai who answered, “Yes, my friend. Charlotte Morrison, Lawrence Davies, Constance Dagworth, Hector Jenkins, Eric Northcott and then Leander.”
Poppy’s brow furrowed, it seemed Hans was surprised by this. Maybe this duel was something to worry about. She looked up at her love, who too had a slightly confused expression. “Is that okay? Are you worried?” She asked quietly, tugging on his sleeve.
“Worried?” Hans looked down at her and instantly smiled; her face was always something to smile over. It was to him the most precious thing, the way her brown eyes absorbed the light around them, and they burned brightly through that, or how her brows knitted together as she worried over him in such a caring and loving manner. “Of course not, I’m not worried.” Hans sounded it to, and his face did not flicker with any sort of shadow of worry. Even if he lost, it was only a title, he had enough of those.
Poppy stared into his eyes, her lips pursed as she surveyed him for a moment, judging if he was lying, before giving in. “Well okay.” She looked back at Sebastian, Natsai, and Ominis. “Why is he dueling so many if he already won?”
Sebastian shrugged, “Mostly because Lucan wants to test the extent of Hans’s abilities now, since it seems he is unbeatable. Even to Ranrok.”
Hans shrugged, waving off the compliment, “Ranrok nearly killed me, it was close.”
“Yeah but his goblins never got close,” Sebastian grinned, “it’s improper to not accept compliments.”
Hans gave Sebastian a glare as Poppy giggled, before saying in a most ungrateful tone, “Thank you.”
“That’s better-“ Sebastian began, before he was cut off by a loud whistle.
Lucan was in the corner of the room, standing on two boxes so everybody could see him. A whistle was between his lips, and once the chatter in the clock tower died down, he pulled it away from his mouth. “Okay! The first duel is between Hans Kaiser, our Crossed Wands champion!” A few cheers echoed through the clock tower, but it was mostly jealous mutterings.
“Against Lawrence Davies, Charlotte Morrison, Constance Dagworth, Leander Prewett, Hector Jenkins, and then Eric Northcott.” To this, much of the room cheered, as that was where most of the support came from. Hans realized that there were many faces here that he did not recognize to be a part of Crossed Wands, most likely invited by the duelers that were competition against him.
“Alright!” Lucan exclaimed, “those of you who are dueling, you’ve done this before, you know where to go. Everybody else, get behind the gates so you don’t get hit by any curses or hexes.”
There was a great shuffling and murmuring once Lucan demanded this, and soon Hans found himself facing the six duelists across the room from him, alone. Poppy gave him a quick kiss before bidding him good luck, and to that Hans felt like he could have dueled thousands. His other friends wished him well too, and then with the slamming sound of the gates, they were separated.
The six duelists opposite Hans were muttering amongst themselves, each with their wands out and robes pushed back. Their eyes were only for Hans, and they glared with evil ambition.
Hans wasn’t really paying attention to them, instead coaxing himself into the mindset that allowed him to destroy. The mindset to fight. The mindset to win. His eyes were closed, and his wand was still in his pocket.
Another blow of the whistle, and Lucan yelled, “Alright! Everybody ready?”
His question was met by cheers of the crowd, and Hans could swear he could pick out Poppy’s voice from said crowd. Such a thought of her eyes on him calmed him even more, invigorated him even more, and scared him even a little more. His eyes were still not open, and his wand still not drawn.
“Here we go! At the blow of my whistle, all curses are free!” Lucan called, “One!”
Hans still had not moved.
“Two!”
His wand was drawn, and held tightly in his left hand, its pale surface shining in the tower’s light.
“Three!”
Hans’s eyes were open, and now staring with a sharp gaze at the others across from him.
The whistle was blown, its squeal piercing into the ears of all nearby.
And the fight was on.