Not Who You Think

Twenty-Three

Hadrian entered the duelling room, his parents all already there, and shrugged off his robes, hanging them on one of the hooks along the wall. He could have changed into his duelling robes, but had decided against it. He would wear them next time he duelled with his mother, father, or papa, depending on how he went this time. He joined his father standing along the wall next to the door, watching his papa and mother duelling. He could see what his papa meant when he said that he wasn't at the same level of duelling as his mother was. He was holding his own but was having to utilise shields and conjurations to avoid some of the spells and was stuck on the defensive.

It wasn't much longer that his papa's defence finally crumbled, and he fell to a bone breaker hitting his left leg while a cutting curse sliced through his right arm. As his leg collapsed under him and he let out a cry of pain, Bellatrix summoned his wand, leaving him defenceless. They stayed like that for only a moment before Marvolo and Bella both converged on Rodolphus, Marvolo healing his cuts while Bella called an elf for a Skele-grow. Once his injuries were healed, Marvolo and Bellatrix helped him over to a chair that Marvolo had conjured, binding his leg as they let the Skele-grow do its work.

"Are you ready Hadrian?" his father asked once they had finished helping Rodolphus.

"I am," Hadrian replied, stepping forward and onto the duelling platform, his father stepping up as well. They bowed to each other before turning and taking three steps away from each other. They turned to face each other again, falling into their duelling stances and waiting for Bella to call the duel.

"Go."

As soon as the words had left her mouth, the two of them exploded into action. Hadrian had already expected that his father would attack straight away and had immediately moved so that none of the curses sent his way hit him, already well away from where they had been sent. He danced around the platform, sending a variety of Light and Grey spells at his father while avoiding the spells sent his way, an occasional shield flicking up to catch a spell he couldn't dodge. He sent a few Dark spells at his father, making sure to keep them lighter Dark spells; he wanted to make his father underestimate him so he would be taught even more, and so that he could manage to keep all their activities under the radar; after all, if they underestimated him, they wouldn't expect some of the things his group got up to.

Marvolo continued to send spells towards his son, frowning slightly as Hadrian dodge around all of them, his movements agile and quick, sending his own spells back, which Marvolo deflected. As they continued duelling, Marvolo's spells began to be wider cast, preventing Hadrian from avoiding them as easily, making Hadrian use shields more to avoid being hit. Hadrian didn't let that stop him though, as his spells started to come flying quicker, many of his spells beginning to be sent non-verbally.

Hadrian was itching to pull out a dagger in his left hand, since he could deflect spells with his dagger – they were goblin made, like all of their weapons were – or to grab a dagger to throw, to distract his father, but he was adamant on not revealing everything that he could do. That was the same reason he didn't call up his Patronus and pump it with power, which was a moved he had used a few times, since the Patronus, when overpowered, became extremely bright, almost blindingly bright; plus, most people don't expect someone to be able to cast a corporeal Patronus, let alone for someone to use it in a duel.

One of his shields eventually faltered, allowing part of a cutting curse to get through, cutting along his chest. The shield had taken most of the power from the curse, so the cut that was left caused only small beads of blood to pool on his skin from the cut; he wasn't too worried about it though, since he could already feel his phoenix starting to stir to heal the cut. He stepped up his attack, shifting to a few more harmful spells, while pouring more power into the few shields that were still standing while casting another, stronger shield behind them. He finally managed to get a hit on his father, a blasting curse slamming into his non-dominant hand, even as one of Marvolo's bone shatterers missed the shields and hit his right hand, a blasting curse accompanying it and hitting his chest; it had shattered one of his shields, so it wasn't at full power when it hit him, but he still felt the impact on his ribs.