The door opened with a soft creak, and we stepped inside eagerly.
The room looked exactly as Agnes had imagined it—she had clearly summoned it based on my description of a training classroom. It was a spacious, grand hall, at the end of which stood wooden mannequins with targets, their wooden arms twitching occasionally within a one-meter radius.
"Satisfied, Patrik?" Agnes asked me immediately, a wide grin on her face.
"Yes, Agnes, thank you! This is exactly what we needed for the privacy of our training and... more destructive magic," I replied enthusiastically. I walked up to one of the mannequins without delay.
"Os frangere!" I shouted, and a white-gray bolt slammed into the wood. A massive crack echoed through the room, and I watched as the mannequin's ribcage turned red upon impact.
"Os frangere!" I cast the spell again, this time aiming for the arm. There was a quieter snap, but the arm went limp instantly and also turned red.
"Perfect!" I blurted out. "Now, if only they could reset themselves..."
Before I could even finish the sentence, the mannequin was as good as new. The room, saturated with the castle's magic, listened to everything happening within its walls.
"God, if she were alive, I'd bring her flowers!" I thought to myself contentedly.
I began unbuttoning my robes; I planned to work up a sweat just in my T-shirt. Finally, I could practice real magic—I had been preparing for the Reducto curse for a very long time.
"What are you doing?!" Agnes snapped at me. "You can't be serious? We're going to celebrate! We'll train tomorrow."
"But Agn..."
"No buts! There's plenty of time for training. We'll play chess and that'll be that!" Agnes declared, immediately dragging me out of the Room of Requirement to the loud laughter of Tobias and Theodore.
I suppose I was the only "grind junkie" in our group, obsessed with constantly improving my magical power. She was right, though. I had made the same mistake in my previous world. When I was a kid, I used to be obese, but with puberty came the motivation to be attractive to girls. It hit me so hard that I spent two hours in the gym every day after school, tracking every single gram of macronutrients. I refused alcohol and had practically no social life outside of school, games, and the gym—well, except for the girls, whom I rotated like Pokémon on a GameBoy.
Then came the first serious relationship. That was followed by a break from other women because my girlfriend forbid them out of jealousy (naturally). After the gym, I pivoted to combat sports, but after the breakup, the carousel started spinning again—I was back to cycling through girls, going to parties, and catching up on missed drinking. Fortunately, that one loyal friend always stood by me, whether we were traveling the world or hitting the bars.
Then came another serious relationship, another break, and then more girls again. It was simply an unhealthy mindset; I only learned how to truly unwind after I turned twenty-five. I had a few acquaintances, but only with that one friend did I have a truly deep bond—until I found myself in this world. And so, I let Agnes pull me away without further protest.
***
We found ourselves in the Slytherin common room, which was almost full today. I certainly hadn't spent much time here all year, so it was interesting to see so many people gathered together. As soon as we entered, I felt curious eyes on me. Agnes, however, immediately ran off with a smile to fetch her luxury chess set, while I settled into a far corner with the boys.
It didn't take long before she was back. "Who's first?" she challenged immediately.
Tobias and I instantly looked elsewhere, lest she interpret our gaze as accepting the challenge. The only one still looking at her was Theodore... an obvious choice. They divided the pieces—Theodore took black, Agnes white.
Agnes made the first move without hesitation. Among us, she was the uncompromising champion, and I just enjoyed the relaxation. Over time, these people had truly grown on me. Tobias, sitting next to me, continued studying healing spells, though so far he hadn't had the chance to use even an Episkey on any of us.
The chess match got underway. Pieces clashed on the board, Theodore scowled over every move, and Agnes confidently rested her chin in her hand. Tobias quietly mumbled incantations from his book.
"I should write back to Black," I thought. "But then again... wouldn't it seem more serious if I didn't reply during the school year, but waited until sometime in the summer? He's useless to me for now anyway."
I also needed to thoroughly scout the Room of Requirement on my own. There could be seriously valuable things there, but mainly, I couldn't risk Agnes or the boys stumbling upon Voldemort's Horcrux, which was supposed to be hidden there.
Just then, Agnes made the deciding move. Her queen brutally crushed Theodore's knight.
"Checkmate, Theo," she declared triumphantly, leaning back in her chair.
"What I wouldn't give for a shisha and a can of beer right now," I must have muttered aloud, because Agnes looked at me with amusement, but with obvious curiosity in her eyes.
"What's a shisha, Patrik?" she asked, tilting her head.
Agnes wasn't the only one interested. Theo looked up from his lost game, and Tobias from his book.
"It's an interesting relaxation tool. You pull it into your lungs like tobacco," I explained.
Agnes made a face of disgust and blurted out, "Oh, like those cigars? My father smokes them and it stinks terribly. He's always blowing smoke dragons at me and laughing."
"Yes, something like that," I replied with an amused smile, though in my mind I was already wondering if there was a magical variant of a shisha. I had been to Muggle Turkey, but what about magical Turkey? That sounded interesting.
"My father and grandfather smoke cigars too, and drink Firewhisky with them. Every evening in the library," Theodore shared, but added immediately, "I think it stinks too, I don't understand how they can smoke it."
Tobias just nodded in agreement. "It's the same at our place."
I had to laugh. Kids.
"You'll figure it out in time. We'll look back on this conversation with pleasure one day, my friends," I remarked with a smile.
They gave me incredulous looks, as if they thought cigars and alcohol would bother them for life. But I knew better.
I noticed a scowling, tall, and slightly heavyset boy with an unremarkable, almost generic appearance walking toward us. He had no rings on his fingers or any jewelry to identify him, so he wasn't anyone I was supposed to know.
As he approached, I met his gaze. In his mind, envy, a sense of inferiority, and anger prevailed. I knew immediately that a conflict was coming—though I didn't know the reason, his emotions spoke clearly. But I kept smiling; this day was getting better by the minute.
I wasn't the only one who noticed him. Prefect Farley, as soon as she saw him heading our way, interrupted her conversation with a classmate and quickly moved to intercept him. The entire common room went dead silent, eyes fixed on him. Agnes shot me a worried look, to which I responded with only a reassuring smile.
The fact that he was three times my size meant absolutely nothing in the world of magic. Honestly, I wouldn't have been afraid to take him on physically either. When I was training jiu-jitsu, I was put in a submission many times by a guy half my weight—at least in my early days.
All these thoughts flashed through my head in a single second.
"You first-years should shut up and stop making noise," he started in an aggressive voice as soon as he reached us.
I knew he wanted a conflict, so I decided to give him one.
"Or what?" I asked with a mocking smile.
"You think you're someone, don't you, Rosier? Born with a silver spoon in your mouth and now you strut around arrogantly as if you own Hogwarts. I challenge you to a duel!" A satisfied glint appeared in his eyes. This was exactly what he wanted.
"Challenges are forbidden for first-years, you know the rules, Blanár!" Prefect Farley cut him off instantly.
"Did she always have such pretty eyes?" I thought. While the boy didn't interest me in the slightest, I was starting to notice her considerably more.
He took my silence for cowardice. He clenched his jaw aggressively and threw a final sentence at me as he turned to leave: "This is the only thing protecting you, coward. But next year, I'll deal with you."
That snapped me back to reality. I stopped ogling the prefect and focused on him. "Wait, wait, where are you going? I accept your challenge, of course," I said, standing up with a smile. "I didn't even know Slytherin challenges existed!"
"You don't have to accept this, Rosier. The rules are here for a reason and Professor Snape would certainly be against it," Farley stated dryly.
"No, no, I definitely accept. And Snape isn't here right now," I replied, heading toward the area designated for magic practice.
Blanár followed me with an enthusiastic grin. We stood opposite each other when a familiar voice suddenly rang out.
"Kick his ass, Patrik!"
Laughter rippled through the room at the encouragement. My opponent's smile froze on his lips, and he gripped his wand tightly out of nerves.
"Bless you, Agnes," I thought, summoning my wand into my hand. "Will you start us off, Farley?" I asked with a smile.
Again, I felt that familiar bloodlust. The excitement made the blood sing in my veins, and I had to focus hard to keep myself in check. I didn't expect Blanár to be a capable opponent. If he were, he would have challenged someone from his own year to earn real respect. As it was, his position was lost from the start: if he beat me, he only beat a first-year. If he lost, he would be disgraced before the entire house.
"Three, two, one... START!" Farley signaled.
"Conjunctivitis! Everte Statum! Os frangere!" He immediately unleashed a series of spells. He didn't wait for anything. I, however, gave him space; I wanted to see what kind of duelist he was, and honestly, I was feeling a bit cocky.
The purple beam of the blinding curse flew over my head. I barely pulled my shoulder back in time to avoid the orange jinx, and the bone-breaker missed me by a meter. "He's definitely taking this seriously," I thought contentedly. Aside from Everte Statum, the other spells were at the level of advanced Dark Arts.
He saw my smile and took it as a taunt, since I still hadn't returned fire.
"Everte Statum! Aculeus! Furnunculus!" I danced between the curses, enjoying myself more and more. I was loving it, happy and grinning. Blanár was red in the face with frustration and decided to escalate.
"Os frangere! Everte Statum!" There was a longer pause for concentration, and then: "Confringo!"
I dodged the first spells without a problem, but the massive fire-orange beam caught me off guard. I had no chance of dodging that, and what was worse—if the spell exploded near me, it could still seriously injure me. It was a deadly curse, though not as elegant or powerful as Reducto.
"Protego!" I immediately poured a large portion of my power into the shield. I didn't plan to underestimate this curse, and I was right.
The fire-orange beam didn't splash against the shield; it exploded against it with a loud bang. I felt the enormous pressure, but the shield held. I knew, however, that it wouldn't withstand another impact like that. I understood then why Dumbledore had to use Protego Horribilis against Grindelwald.
I burst into loud laughter out of pure joy, my voice filling the common room. To the others, I must have looked like a complete lunatic—an attempted murder right before everyone's eyes, and I was laughing happily in the middle of a fight for my life. Confringo could have killed me, but I didn't perceive it as a threat yet. I had magical power to spare, my physical condition was enough for dodging, and honestly... I had missed fighting incredibly. Constant training without risk was just boring.
Blanár was breathing heavily; Confringo had taken its toll, but I certainly didn't plan on ending things so soon.
"Is that all? Come on, come on, show me more," I taunted him with a smile.
He glared at me with pure hatred but continued. "Everte Statum! Expelliarmus!" While I had to leap away from the orange beam, the red jet of the Disarming Charm flew meters away from me. Fatigue was visibly ruining his aim.
"Oh, come on. You didn't have that silver spoon in your mouth, so show me your real power!"
Desperately, he pressed on: "Os frangere! Conjunctivitis!"
"Protego!" My shield only pulsed briefly with blue light as both the white-gray and purple curses simply shattered against it.
"I hope that's not all after all that talk," I continued teasing with feigned disappointment.
I could see how hard he was struggling to keep his hatred under control. In his eyes, a new, cold determination to win suddenly appeared.
"Yes, exactly. Fight," I thought with satisfaction.
"Flipendo! Everte Statum! Expelliarmus!" he fired off a focused combination of weaker spells in quick succession.
"Protego!" I deflected them and watched as they shattered against my shield.
Blanár, however, didn't lose his resolve; I saw him thinking hard, trying to come up with a strategy. I didn't know what he was trying to plan—Confringo at the start of the duel had visibly exhausted him. It wasn't a spell he could just toss around one after another.
"Well, Confringo wasn't exactly the best choice, was it? You don't have much energy left," I asked amusedly, and immediately sent my own spell: "Everte Statum!"
He didn't expect it. The orange beam struck him hard in the chest and threw him back several meters, flipping him over several times. I gave him time as he stood up with a wheeze. Had I knocked the wind out of him?
As soon as he was up, he began casting desperately: "Everte Statum! Flipendo! Petrificus Totalus! Aculeus!"
I dodged him with a smile, succeeding until the moment he shouted another one: "Diffindo!" Just as I was dodging a purple beam, the red jet of the Severing Charm hit my right shoulder. I felt a stinging pain, and a few drops of my blood hit the floor. But that was all—he was losing strength and couldn't put enough magic into his fifth spell in a rapid sequence.
I heard a frightened gasp from the direction where Agnes was sitting. While Blanár flashed a triumphant smile, I didn't lose mine. With total calm, I touched the wound on my shoulder. It wasn't deep—just a slight, long cut. Nothing serious, just a superficial injury.
"First blood is yours," I nodded with an appreciative smile. "I underestimated you."
He saw that things were going south when I raised my wand as if nothing had happened, even though the injured shoulder should have hindered my movement. I was right-handed, but the pain was too faint to stop me from continuing.
Blanár's smile froze completely. I decided to crush him once and for all, and he knew what was coming.
"Fulmino!" I yelled.
"Terra!" he reacted in panic.
A massive bolt of lightning erupted from my wand, while the ground rose before him into a thick wall. He didn't even try to attack; he was just trying to survive. With a loud crack and a thud, my lightning slammed into his wall. His element held, but I wasn't finished. I decided to try for the first time a spell I had seen in Dumbledore's memory against Grindelwald.
"Bombarda!"
The gray beam literally blew his earthen wall to pieces.
"Protego!" I shouted immediately, and other students in the common room joined in to protect themselves from the flying debris. Chunks of rock and dirt landed all around along with swirling dust.
Blanár wasn't so lucky—the exploding earth swept him off his feet, and his cry of pain rang through the room.
I walked toward him while he struggled to his feet with a groan. I heard him mumbling quietly: "Get up, get up. You're better than them. Don't give up. Your blood is just as good as theirs. Don't be weak. Fight."
He was already on one knee, his legs shaking from the strain. When I walked up to him, he was still kneeling—kneeling before me, defeated.
When he looked up, he knew he had lost. He stared at me with bitter eyes, expecting his punishment. I couldn't help but smile. That fight had made my day. I honestly liked his determination and the fact that he didn't give up. I didn't, however, like his fixation on heritage. Blood didn't matter; power did.
The entire common room waited in silence and tension to see what I would do. I didn't have to think long. I grabbed his hand and pulled him sharply to his feet. He stared down at me from his height with a surprised gasp, as if he couldn't believe what I had just done.
"You are certainly powerful, Blanár. Great duel, thank you," I thanked him loudly into the tomb-like silence of the common room. A feeling of happiness and power swirled within me. "I don't know who you are or what your story is," I continued amusedly. "But the last Dark Lord was a half-blood. So you still have hope of becoming a powerful wizard. Power isn't in the blood; power just is."
I felt the jaws of everyone else in the room literally drop. Not everyone knew the truth about Voldemort. Blanár stared at me in silence, as if seeing me for the first time. One last time, I patted him on the shoulder with a smile and headed toward my friends. The common room watched me, completely frozen.
As soon as I reached them, Tobias pulled out his wand with a smile, ready to treat my shoulder. But he didn't even get to cast a spell before Draco stepped toward us with an unusually serious expression on his face.
"We need to talk, cousin."
***
Author's note:
Agnes is a tough boss and she wants to unwind, which is something our MC should do as well.
A new character has appeared, and he will have his own little story. Hogwarts is a huge school and it was impossible for Slytherin to be composed only of pure-bloods. That's how stories like this one come to be... and our MC crushed him, showing his thirst for combat once again.
By the way, Blanár actually managed to surprise with his magic.
Did any of you expect him to lift his opponent back to his feet, or were you expecting a cruel curse? Tobias is glad he can finally try his hand at healing, and what the hell does Draco want?
***
Step into the Restricted Section
The shadows are shifting, and the story goes much deeper... If you can't wait for the next update, Advanced Chapters are already waiting for you.
Enter the Restricted Section here: you-know-what/PatrikWriter
Upcoming Chapters – Already Written:
38. The Black Legacy
39. HP: The Boy Invisible
40. Theory, Tears, and Hidden Things
41. A Potter's Ambition
42. Pain as a Teacher
43. Blood and Runes
44. Blood, Sweat, and Special Editions
45. Precision of Water, Chaos of Rage
Join the Inner Circle - tgdTNZYVKt (Discord)
(Vote on plot | Dark FF recs | Chat with the Author)
Support the craft and keep the darkness spreading. Your support directly allows for faster updates.