The Wandmaker's Granddaughter

The Wandmaker's Granddaughter Plays her Part

Lights burst and collided in the dimming evening light.  The crowds cheered deafeningly as the final duel of the junior competition reached a pinnacle.  To no ones surprise, Nero had made his way into the final two.  But across the stage from him stood, to the surprise and delight of the crowd, James Potter who had beaten Lucy in order to make the final spot. 

Amelia screamed and cheered from her wheel chair next to Lucy, Athena, and of course Mrs. Longbottom.  James struck a blow to Nero's leg just below his Protego shield.  As Nero's leg began to swell he struck back pushing James up against the edge of the platform.  As James fought to keep his balance Nero attacked quick.

The Gryffindor's shouts grew louder trying to encourage James on. 

Luckily, all his practice with Amelia had paid off and he was able to quickly jump out of the way back on solid footing while avoiding the spell, that instead hit the wall behind him and took a large chunk of brick out. 

Now it was James' turn to attack.  He cast three spells in quick succession, perhaps not as quickly as Amelia would have, but that was beside the point.  The first spell hit Nero's shield.  The second hit Nero's shoulder.  The third pushed him back towards the back of the platform.

But you should never underestimate Nero to be unfazed in any situation.  Without a second thought he was striking back and James and landed a solid blow, knocking the wind out of James. 

This was the death blow.  Before James could regain his senses he was knocked off the end of the stage and it was over.  Nero had won.

The Slytherin's burst out cheering while the Gryffindors sighed in defeat.  It wasn't an unusual occurrence to loose to the Slytherins but it was disappointing either way, especially since they had such hope going into this dueling season.

Nero, always the one to show no emotion, limped across the platform to James who still lay on the floor catching his breath.  A bit awkwardly, given his leg was now about the size of two, Nero climbed down from the platform and reached a hand out to James.  James looked up at him before taking his hand and standing up. 

"Good job Potter," Nero said.

"Don't get too comfortable, I'll beat you next year," James said as a half smile crept across his face.

"I'll be ready," Nero said with a glint in his eye.

"Well you'll both have to beat me first then," Amelia said rolling up in her wheel chair.

"With pleasure," Nero said before walking off to join the Slytherin celebrations.

"You did a good job James," Amelia said.  James shrugged in response.

"So how does it feel to be the third best junior dueler in school?" Amelia asked teasingly.

"Third?" James asked.

"Ya, you, Nero, me."

"How do you know I couldn't beat you?"

"Experience."

All though they lost, the rest of the night was not a loss.  In fact, the Gryffindor party was probably even more spectacular than the one the Slytherin's had.  At least, it resulted in a lot more points deducted from the house cup.