A Nascent Kaleidoscope.

Chapter 690: Interlude 49, Kunou’s Hogwarts Adventures 9

The students of Hogwarts, and the staff as well, stared silently at the twitching body of Professor Lockhart on the ground.

Dumbledore leaned over the table as if to get a better look.

Frankly, none of them could believe what they just saw.

A muggle taking down a prepared full-grown wizard? It was technically possible in some various situations. But this was a duel against a professor who had a reputation.

It made Dumbledore requisition some reports about a certain muggle teacher running up walls. He was now confused if he had been away from the muggle world for too long, or was this an outlier?

He also knew that the professor was an assassin earlier in life. Despite the misgivings considering his previous profession, Dumbledore sincerely found no fault with the man. For someone like Dumbledore who preached about second chances, there was no better example of it working than him.

But even that, was it really a valid explanation for what just happened?

Were muggles just capable of that too?

Professor Suzuki simply walked off stage and back to the table, sitting back next to his fiancée.

The only one who wasn’t completely bewildered was Medea, who seemed to be gushing and swooning all over him.

"Ahem." Dumbledore cleared his throat, trying to regain control over the situation. "What a wonderful display from both our teachers. It’s a good lesson to never underestimate your opponent."

He waved his hand, and several house elves appeared, picking up the twitching Professor Lockhart and teleporting him over to the infirmary.

"Since Professor Lockhart is now indisposed, Professor Flitwick, would you please take over?"

"With pleasure, Headmaster." The smaller professor smiled happily, stepping onto the stage. "Good evening, children."

Unbeknownst to the students, most of the teachers suddenly brightened.

Even Professor Snape perked up ever so slightly, like it was now worth his time and attention.

"I suppose we’ll pick up where Professor Lockhart left off. For our first ’meeting’ of Duel Club, we’ll do some practice matches. Just a few; we only have one dueling platform set up. It’s to let everyone get a grasp on what we’re going to teach and maybe get you all a bit excited to turn back up for the next one." He gave a playful wink.

"Me! Me! Me!" Kunou jumped up and down, hand in the air. "I want to have a turn."

It was very hard to ignore her. Professor Flitwick forced a smile. "Miss Schweinorg, while I appreciate the enthusiasm—"

"I’ll duel her, Professor." Draco Malfoy spoke up, putting on an innocent expression despite the anticipation in his eyes.

Flitwick paused. "Mr. Malfoy, you’re a second year; she’s a first year."

"Don’t worry, Professor; I’ll hold back. We’re just here to learn, right? I don’t mind helping out; I’ve practiced a few times. As a fellow Slytherin, I should help my juniors, right?" His tone was the picture of innocence.

Flitwick frowned, not oblivious to his intentions.

While not the Slytherin head of house, he was a bit familiar with their situation. The teachers do talk and have discussions regarding what’s happening between their houses.

Not to mention, she was well...Tails and Ears. And Malfoy comes from a family of hardened pureblood loyalists.

It didn’t need to be said that there would be tension between these two facts.

He took a glance at Dumbledore, who just shrugged at him, as if to say, "What’s the harm?"

"I can take him!" Kunou said excitedly.

Malfoy all but sneered, but it finally made the professor relent.

True, Professor Flitwick acknowledged. The danger aspect was...minimal, under his supervision. At worst, Malfoy was a second year; how many spells did he know? And if the boy dared to cast something dark, there were much bigger concerns to be had.

"Very well, Miss Schweinorg, Mr. Malfoy, please take to the platform." He conceded to the two students.

Flitwick just told himself that he would watch closely.

Malfoy grinned as he took his spot on the stage. He could barely contain his excitement. His whole ’scheme’ wasn’t particularly clever, even if he thought so.

He knew she was ’strong.’

To him, she was just a beast, so of course she could hit hard.

He rationalized that he was in a confined space, he was unprepared, and she attacked him without warning!

Of course, it wasn’t his fault.

Now, there was distance, he was prepared, and she couldn’t even try to hit him. It was the perfect time for him to get his ’revenge.’

Ever since he had gotten beaten up, the other Slytherins hadn’t taken him seriously. When he tried to throw his weight around, everyone’s responses were lackluster. Frankly, the entire Slytherin House was not-so-subtly scared of Kunou.

It wasn’t just Malfoy she had beat up.

She had sent several older boys to the nurse’s office too with broken bones and broken pride.

Ironically, she never got in trouble. What were they going to say? They got beaten up by a little girl. Even with their pride in tatters, they couldn’t find it in themselves to tell on her.

Thus, every time Malfoy tried to regain some semblance of authority, it was met with a lackluster attitude, if not outright disdain.

As long as Kunou was walking the halls of the Slytherin Dorm, who was going to listen to Malfoy’s orders? Who was going to treat him with anything more than ambivalence?

Sure, his father was powerful and scary on their side of things. But his father wasn’t going to protect them if the fox girl decided she wanted to throw hands again.

Malfoy was very proud of himself for devising this scheme so quickly.

After he beat her and humiliated her, he would take back his position in Slytherin.

"Alright, Children." Flitwick clapped his hands. "Take your positions. Wands up like Professor Lockhart showed you."

Kunou was oblivious to the thoughts of Malfoy and just looked happy to be there as she— a bit clumsily—copied the movements.

"Bow to each other."

The two of them did so, but Malfoy didn’t lower his head fully, keeping his eyes up.

"Now, take a step back, wands at the ready. Headmaster, give the signal."

The headmaster flourished his wand, sending out a gunshot-like sound to signal to begin.

"Expelliarmus, Stupify, Immobulus!" Malfoy roared in quick succession.

To his credit, the professors were impressed that he was able to release a slew of spells like that so quickly and in such a fluid and dynamic sequence.

Kunou just stood there happily as the spells came at her.

The Phoenix Feather Bracelet on her wrist glowed, and a faint Phoenix Song seeped out. The spells slammed into the melody, turning inert on contact, dissipating entirely.

Everyone just stared quietly, unsure of what just happened.

"She cheated!" Malfoy pointed at her in accusation.

"No, you’re just bad!"

"No, you cheated!"

"Nu huh!"

"Yes, you did!"

"Nope!"

"Stop cheating, brat." Medea had teleported to the platform, grabbing the little fox by the scruff of her neck. "Hand it over."

"No!" She crossed her arms.

Medea reached out and pinched her cheek until Kunou let out a yelp, then she quickly pulled the bracelet off her wrist before dropping her to the ground. "Sorry, Professor Flitwick. I forgot she had this on her. It’s a...protective magic item."

Flitwick smiled politely. "I see..." He didn’t, sort of. He had never seen a magic item like that before, and it seemingly looked to be made of phoenix feather.

In fact, he didn’t notice it at all until attention was focused on it, implying a very powerful notice-me-not charm on it.

He was intrigued and startled all the same.

"Ahem." Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Let’s try this again, shall we?"

Professor Flitwick nodded, and the two kids took their spots again.

"Nothing to cheat with this time." Malfoy scoffed, feeling insulted and humiliated.

"You’re the cheater! Your entire family is cheaters!"

"My family is the height of propriety; how dare you!"

"Then why do you look like a house elf!?" Kunou shot back.

It took him a moment to get it, as did many of the other kids around them. His face then flushed in embarrassment even more, and the stifled giggles didn’t help.

He sneered and gripped his wand tightly, threatening to break it in a fit of anger. "Can we start, Professor!?"

"Yes, yes." Dumbledore pretended not to hear or see their little spat. It wouldn’t do good for an adult to step in when children are arguing like this. "Then Begin!" He released another loud sound to signal the start of the fight.

This time, Malfoy didn’t immediately attack; he was going to embarrass her, so he was going to let her try and fail to send her own spells first, to show how poor a witch the animal really was.

"Go Blackie!"

Malfoy wanted to ask what ’blackie’ was, but then he saw the red eyes in her shadow. Then, something stepped out; it looked like a bear, but made of blackness, bones, and nightmares.

It wasn’t very large, maybe the size of a not-quite-mature brown bear, but it roared and charged down the platform.

Malfoy, understandably, panicked.

"Stupify!" He cried out.

The spell hit the Grimm, but it didn’t do anything.

Unfortunately for Malfoy, Stupefy only works on living beings. Technically, a Grimm is more of a construct that mimics life.

A facsimile at best.

He crashed right into him and knocked him off the table but didn’t stop. It jumped off and continued after him.

"Miss Schweinorg!" Professor Flitwick regained his wits, flicking his wand, causing the Grimm to stop in its tracks as it was about to enjoy a meal, Malfoy trembling underneath it.

There was a bigger commotion this time.

Professor Flitwick gestured with his wand; the Grimm Bear was forced to take to the air as he held it there.

"Miss Schweinorg, what is this?" He demanded.

"That’s Blackie."

"I mean, what is it?" Flitwick looked more stern than normal.

Maybe because it looked rather...nefarious, dark even.

"Professor Flitwick." Medea chimed in. "Actually, that’s my fault. I forgot she had that with her too. It’s just her pet."

"Blackie, do a barrel roll!"

Flitwick looked up, and the bear made of nightmares was doing tricks while he kept it floating in the air.

The professor opened his mouth once before closing. "I...do not think this is a Hogwarts-accepted familiar, Professor Medea. I’m afraid—"

"Oh, it’s not a living thing. Technically, it’s not breaking any rules. More of a construct, really."

Flitwick let out a long sigh. He wasn’t going to argue Hogwarts rules at the moment and just accepted it. He sent it floating over to Medea, who casually grabbed it from the air and plopped it on the ground next to her chair.

The Bear Grimm looked downcast, like it had been scolded.

"Miss Schweinorg." Professor Flitwick looked at her, adopting his stern tone. "This is the last time; I expect you to duel properly."

"Fine." Kunou huffed.

"Mr. Malfoy." He looked at Draco, who was still frightened, or getting over it, and he noticed a wet spot between his legs.

The Professor quickly and subtly flicked his wand, removing the stain from between his legs before anyone noticed.

It was the least he could do, he surmised.

"Mr. Mafloy...would you like to continue?" He hesitated as he asked.

It took Malfoy a moment to regain his calm, looking at the Grimm at the table. His earlier resentment and anger reignited.

He told himself, if that thing was gone now, then it was fine.

He would win; she wouldn’t be able to cheat a third time.

But his earlier bravado didn’t come out in words. He simply nodded his head dumbly, and his body carried him back up onto the table.

Maybe it was his pride; he felt like if he gave up now, it would be even more embarrassing.

"Alright." He looked at Kunou. "Third time is the charm, they say." Flitwick forced a smile. "Remember. No physically attacking each other. No using pets. No using outside help. No magic items other than your wands. He didn’t think he was forgetting anything here.

Kunou nodded, indicating she understood.

Flitwick let out a sigh but was hopeful it would go well this time.

At least, he was getting it out this early. There were disruptive elements every year; it was important to iron things out as soon as possible.

"Very well, Headmaster, when you’re ready."

The headmaster raised his wand again and sent out the signal to begin.

Malfoy immediately took a defensive stance, looking for anything strange that may happen. Seeing that nothing immediately jumped out at him, he pointed his wand at her. "Serpentsortia!"

A snake shot out of his wand tip; rather, he summoned a snake, and it shot over to Kunou’s side of the arena.

"Mr. Malfoy!" Flitwick raised his voice. "That’s –" He was about to dispel the snake, dismiss it back with a counter-summon, but to his surprise, he was beaten.

"A snake!" Kunou said excitedly and simply snatched it off the ground, holding it. "Hello Mr. Snake." She began to pet it right there on the platform.

Flitwick wasn’t sure how to respond to that.

It was neither against the rules nor particularly dishonorable.

It’s just that no one had bothered to simply grab the snake before in a duel.

He decided not to step in.

"Stupify!" Malfoy yelled, and Flitwick and the professors noticed how much strength he put into this spell.

If it hit, it would send Kunou flying off the arena with a big smack.

Kunou was barely paying attention, playing with the snake as the spell came at her. Rather than hitting her, though, it seemed to hit an invisible barrier, splashing harmlessly against her aura.

"Oh yeah!" Kunou smiled. "Is it my turn now!?" She pointed her wand at him. She only knew a few wand spells now, so she used what she knew best. "Wingardium Leviosa!"

Malfoy let out a startled yelp, then a short cry as he started to get pulled up in the air....but his underwear.

She was giving him a magical wedgie.

It startled him enough that he dropped his wand.

"Up, up, up!" Kunou chanted.

Malfoy cried for help, but everyone just sort of stared. Technically, the duel was still happening.

He just started floating higher, his underwear stretching further as he started fully crying.

Eventually the fabric snapped, and he fell to the ground, outside of the platform, indicating that he had lost.

It took a moment, but then the entire room erupted in laughter.

"Woo, Kunou!" Luna’s voice carried over the laughter as Kunou struck a victory pose.

Professor Flitwick let out a long sigh, knowing it was going to be a long year.

[Line Break]

A/N

Kunou victory with only knowing like 4 spells.

Also, expect a mass release this weekend, something like 7-8 Chapters. I havn’t counted them yet, but it should be around there.

Also if you havn’t already, check out my other threads/stories.

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