Chapter 73.3- Doom Days

I snuffed out the fiendfyre with an exhale before taking a step backwards. The bees followed, and I managed to almost nail one with a blasting curse. I hissed in frustration when the curse missed— just barely and then there was nothing I could do. My fingers froze around my wand, my legs did the same. I couldn’t move anymore.

“That’s enough poison in you to put down a nundu” Nicholas’ voice rang out before I fell to the ground face first.

“That ritual you got is something for sure.” I heard him say.

“Would have sworn that I would have to fight rogue fiendfyre while trying to save you at the same time. That would have been annoying” I heard Nicholas’ voice from above me before I suddenly began to feel much better. My body began to loosen, the feeling of skin being replaced by stone disappeared replaced by the loose, light feeling that I had taken for granted for so long.

“What the hell?” I found myself asking as I pushed myself to turn around, gazing right up at Nicholas’ waiting form. There was some sort of rune glowing in the air around his fingers.

“Don’t mind me. Just transmuting the poison in your blood into something far more harmless” He said.

“How the hell—“

“No cursing Harry” he said, and I felt a brief flash of pain. The runes around his fingers flashed and changed for a second. And then he changed it again and I began to feel much better.

“How are you doing that?”

“Alchemy, of course. Hopefully at the end of our time together you will be capable of something similar. Well, not quite this seamlessly. Getting to my level does take more than just training and practice. Some things just have to take time” He said, and then his hand was reaching out for why own. Frail as he looked, when we clasped hands, he pulled me up without any difficulty— with a strength that belied all appearances.

“So are you ready for the next round?” He asked.

“How did you do that?” O asked instead of answering his question.

“You ought to be more specific, Harry”

“The snakes. How did you conjure the snakes with the bees inside of them and then the poison inside the bees?” I asked.

“Well, that’s for me to know and you to find out” He said.

“Pretty sure that’s not how being a teacher works.” I replied.

“Is it not? Shame” He said, painting dar from apologetic.

I just stared, trying to silently pressure him into giving in.”

“Okay, I’ll tell you what. If you manage to force me to move even once today, then I’ll make that our first magical lesson”

“Deal” I pounced almost instantly. Just getting him to move? Nothing about beating him. That would be easy.

It was not, in fact, easy. We dueled over two dozen times in the twelve hours we had. Some of the duels were short, some were long, but in none of them did I manage to force him to take a single step out of his chosen position.