The Duels(Part 2)
Both Sebastian and Natsai simultaneously rolled in opposite directions as curses from their three opponents came blasting in their toward them. Both of them sprung back up, turning their wands at Nellie Oggspire.
Natsai cried out, “Levioso!” and in the next moment Nellie was picked up off her feet, floating in the air. Natsai was quick to duck out of the way as Astoria Crockett blasted another curse in her direction.
The moment that Nellie was lifted into the air, Sebastian yelled as his wand remained pointed at the levitating Gryffindor, “Diffindo!” and the blade of the severing charm was sent gliding toward Nellie, sending her tumbling to the ground.
Nerida Roberts rolled toward Sebastian, crying, “Incendio!” and a belch of flames came blasting from her wand, narrowly missing Sebastian’s shoulder as he ducked to the left.
Natsai twisted, seeing Nerida’s attack on Sebastian and retaliating, striking Nerida in the back of the head with two basic casts. Nerida stumbled toward Sebastian, and he retaliated with the Banishing Charm to her chest, sending her across the room.
Astoria Crockett was quick to notice Natsai’s back was turned, and raised her wand, yelling, “Confringo!”
Natsai was struck in the back by the explosive blast, and fell to the ground, to which she just barely caught herself with her hands. Sebastian twisted to strike back against Astoria, hitting her square in the chest with a single basic cast, and there the Ravenclaw stumbled back, yet still remained on her feet. Just as Sebastian turned to curse Astoria once more, his wand was blasted from his hand by Nellie with the use of the Disarming Charm.
Sebastian swore, ducking out of the way of a curse from Astoria as he dived for his wand. A mixture of cheers and gasps filled the room as Sebastian was disarmed, with much anticipation as Natsai threw up a shield in defense from a curse directed to her by Nerida Roberts.
The moment Natsai’s shield fell she cried, “Bombarda!” at Nerida, striking the Slytherin with the powerful curse and knocking her back into the wall that she had previously fallen into in use of Sebastian’s Banishing Charm. From this wall did Nerida slump down, no longer returning to her feet.
Sebastian had dived for his wand, scooping it up and twisting, still on the floor, to curse Nellie with the Blasting Curse. Nellie was knocked off her feet from where Sebastian struck her directly in the stomach, landing on her back and stirring no more. Once more, cheers filled the room as Natsai and Sebastian directed their wands to Astoria, the only remaining opponent.
Astoria had little time to send a curse, or even throw up a shield as the Severing Charm from Sebastian and the Banishing Charm from Natsai came barreling toward her. The blade of the Severing Charm struck Astoria first, causing her to clutch her stomach and stumble just as the Banishing Charm sent her back into the wall behind her, where she crumpled, unconscious.
Unlike with Hans’s duel, the room broke out into an instant roar of cheers. People clapped and laughed as the gates were brought up, and many moved forward to congratulate Natsai and Sebastian. As Poppy and Ominis moved over to congratulate their two victorious friends, Hans diverged to help the defeated.
While Hans pulled Nellie back to her feet, Poppy exclaimed with excitement, “Good job you two!”
Poppy and Natsai exchanged a hug whilst Natsai said happily, “Thank you, my friend.” Sebastian only grinned and looked over at Hans, who was now approaching.
“You two did well,” Hans smiled, nodding to both Sebastian.
The Slytherin and Gryffindor thanked Hans, and turned their attention to Ominis, who was hesitating just behind Hans. “Well done, I couldn’t see much but it sounded good.” The group all laughed, and even Ominis cracked a grin.
Before any of them could manage to squeeze out of the clock tower, many other students came up to congratulate Hans, Sebastian, and Natsai for their dueling victories. It took several minutes, but eventually they led themselves out of the clock tower to the courtyard just outside.
“Where are we meeting Garreth and Samantha?” Poppy asked curiously.
Natsai shrugged, “Garreth told me to meet him at the edge of the school grounds.”
Poppy and Hans exchanged grins, something that Natsai or any of the others did not see. “What about Samantha, Ominis?” Hans inquired of the blind Slytherin.
Ominis didn’t answer for a moment, as if considering his answer, “Samantha wanted to meet m- us at the doors into the castle.”
“That’s closer, let’s go find Samantha first, then meet up with Garreth,” Poppy mused.
The rest of the group agreed, and soon we’re whisking toward that part of the grounds. Hans and Poppy trailed behind the others, talking about Highwing.
“I think she might be lonely,” Poppy said, frowning up at Hans.
“The Lord of the Shore and her get along well enough, she has a friend,” Hans answered, believing her to be referring to that.
“No, not like that. She’s old, I think she needs, you know, a friend for more, er, intimate things,” Poppy said, trying to get her point across without being too explicit.
It finally dawned on Hans, “Oh! Hm, well, I know where a Hippogriff den is, we could bring her there some time and see if anybody is, uh, interested.”
Poppy grinned, “Together?”
“Of course, darling,” Hans swooped down and gave Poppy a kiss on the cheek, prompting Poppy to giggle.
Natsai looked back at Poppy and Hans, hearing Poppy laugh. Sebastian followed Natsai’s gaze, grinning and meeting Natsai’s gaze, “They are perfect for one another.”
Natsai nodded in agreement, before turning her gaze to the doors into the castle, where Samantha was swaying back and forth in wait for them. Ominis approached first, his wand held out with the same white light as he greeted Samantha with a smile, “Hello.”
Samantha grinned, “Hey, Ominis,” she looked from Ominis to the others, “hi, everybody.”
Samantha was greeted with hellos and smiles as the others began to depart toward the main gate out of the castle grounds. Now it was Ominis and Samantha trailing behind the others, talking in quiet voices as they followed. Sebastian seemed quite miffed by this fact, giving confused looks back to his Slytherin friend, but of course Ominis did not see this.
Soon they reached the gate to exit the grounds, where they found Garreth waiting. Natsai was the first to greet Garreth, and just like with Ominis and Samantha they began to walk together. With the group walking in pairs(except for Sebastian) they departed for Hogsmeade.
Upon arriving in Hogsmeade, Garreth and Natsai parted ways from the others, going toward Pippin’s Potions to get supplies as Garreth had mentioned earlier that morning. The others moved toward the Three Broomsticks, now with Sebastian butting into Ominis’s and Samantha’s conversation.
The group entered the Three Broomsticks, settling down at the table next to the front door. Once seated Sirona came their way, saying once in ear shot of them, “Hey, all, what can I get for you?”
Each of them set their orders, with Hans and Poppy getting chilled Butterbeers, Ominis and Sebastian getting frozen Butterbeers, and Samantha getting a mug of warm Butterbeer.
“Really? Warm? In this time of year,” Sebastian teased Samantha as Sirona walked off with their orders.
Samantha shrugged, “It just sounds good right now.”
Sebastian opened his mouth to continue teasing, but Ominis cut across him, “Sebastian, cut it out, have some manners.”
Sebastian’s brow furrowed, closing his mouth as he gave Ominis a confused look. Hans and Poppy exchanged grins, noticing Ominis’s defense of Samantha. Eventually, Sebastian came up with a rebuttal, and the two Slytherin’s began to bicker. Samantha joined in their conversation, and their conversation grew louder as it escalated in both a humorous and irritated way.
Poppy and Hans, meanwhile, were talking about Poppy’s Gran. “I think she’s onto you and me,” Poppy said, before taking a sip of her Butterbeer.
“How come?” Hans asked, looking at her with a curious amusement.
“Well,” Poppy tapped her nose thoughtfully, “she sent me a letter yesterday. She was wondering why I hadn’t asked if you could stay with us over the summer.”
Hans laughed, “because we haven’t even talked about the summer,” he shook his head, “what did you tell her?”
“Pretty much the same thing. I told her I haven’t talked about the summer with any of my friends,” Poppy answered, taking another sip of her Butterbeer, “speaking of which, what are you doing during the summer?”
Hans hesitated, “I- I suppose I would just keep traveling, like I’ve been doing this school year. But since I won’t have to come back to the school, I can go further, see more places, learn more magic, that kind of thing.”
Poppy looked at Hans curiously, “Traveling? Don’t you have family in America to go back to?”
Poppy regretted her question instantly as his eyes filled with the same sadness, “No. Not- not anymore.”
“Oh… I’m sorry,” Poppy looked down, putting her hands together and fiddling with her thumb.
“Hey,” Hans seemed to snap out of his low moment, he put his hand on her chin and tilted her head up so her gaze would meet his. “It’s okay, I’m okay. Don’t feel bad, you didn’t know.”
“I- okay,” Poppy still put her eyes downcast, to which Hans responded by leaning down and pressing his lips against hers. The small Hufflepuff closed her eyes, reassuring herself in the feeling of and taste of his lips. It wasn’t that she was sorry for bringing something like that up, not that she wasn’t sorry, she more felt sorry for the fact that he had to deal with these kinds of things. More than that, he wouldn’t tell her, so he had to go through them alone.
“Hey, lovebirds!“ Sebastian exclaimed, changes his focus from the wider conversation to mock Hans and Poppy.
The two pulled apart, and Poppy blushed furiously while the others laughed. Hans gave Sebastian an irritated glare, “Your face is a little to pretty for how ugly your humor is, Sebastian. I think I’ll have to hex you to make your outsides look like your insides.”
Hans looked down and grinned at Poppy while the others laughed. This laughter turned into a busy conversation that continued until they finished their Butterbeers. Garreth and Natsai returned, and they too joined the laughter and fun of this friend group’s conversation.
Nearing the end of their time at the Three Broomsticks, Hans shook back the sleeve of his shirt to glance at his watch, of which Poppy had noticed. “What time is it?” the small Hufflepuff asked.
“‘Bout 5:45,” Hans answered her, glancing down at her and smiling. He adored her, in all manners. To him she was the most beautiful and precious thing on the planet, both inside and out.
“Hm, I still have to finish my essay on Polyjuice Potion for Professor Sharp,” Poppy frowned.
“What if we went back to the Room of Requirement so you could finish it there?” Hans asked, tapping Poppy’s nose with his index finger.
Poppy giggled, briefly touching her nose before saying, “That would be nice. Care to leave now?” She motioned to both of their empty bottles, and also nodding to how the others will still engaged in a vivid conversation.
“Yes, I think so,” Hans nodded, pushing his chair out from under him and standing.
The Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff bid the others well as Hans helped Poppy up. The others smiled and waved them off, before returning to their conversation as Poppy took Hans’s hand. And just like that, they were off toward the castle.