F&L: Chapter 59

My first meeting with Magnus Gamp for the year was grueling. He put his all into making sure my dueling was up to snuff. I spent the first two hours of my training session getting kicked around the Hogwarts Training Grounds over and over again. Nothing I managed even approached winning me a single bout. Even some of my newer or go-to spells and abilities couldn't help me. Magnus Gamp seemed to have a counter for everything I tried. Various tactics were countered with practiced strategies and the experience of a veteran of Voldemort's War. I was completely outgunned and outclassed here, and it was galling in the extreme to be so brutally outmatched.

I tried everything I could think of over those two hours, but nothing did more than stall the inevitable. I tried using the Incendiary Bolt, but I found it deflected off a shield. Tried using some of my shieldbreakers like the Battering Ram Spell? He used some sort of Parrying Spell. If I tried hitting him with Globus Flammeum? He extinguished the fireball with his Dueling Glove like snuffing a candle. If I tried using the Mind Arts to pick up what he was thinking as he did so? He filled his surface thoughts with Old Love Songs as a form of mental static, not even bothering with Occlumency Shields. Even the Dead Moment wouldn't avail me, as Magnus Gamp simply sped up his own reaction time somehow with a spell I couldn't figure out. Deep Slumber was countered with Wide-Eye Potion. Even my Grit Shield was punched through with a barrage of spells that ensured the second and third spell got through, even if the first was absorbed.

Eventually, after two hours of being beaten into the ground like a tent peg, force fed potions to get me back into fighting shape, then being beaten down again, Magnus Gamp seemed satisfied enough. I was huffing and puffing, my everything hurt, and I could barely stand, slumped against a tree as Magnus Gamp smirked at me with his arms folded in front of him like some sort of smirking cartoon Genie. I couldn't help it, I had to know what this was all about. I decided I would ask my Tutor what that was all about. Of course, because of how out of breath I was, my question came out somewhat less eloquent than I had imagined.

"Why?" I questioned, wheezing.

"You go into the Thin Place in the Malltraeth Marsh and you have the gall to wonder why?" Queried Magnus Gamp.

"I. . .won. . .didn't I?" I retorted between sucking in lungfuls of air.

"You did. That's no excuse for being in that position to begin with." Pointed out Magnus Gamp.

"I needed. . .the Greater. . .Toadstone." I huffed.

"Yes, I've seen your enchantment work, very impressive. Even so, you'd think a member of the House of Cunning could figure out a way to get enough for that enchantment that didn't involve fighting a Deadly Fae. Do you have any idea how badly you could have been hurt?" Demanded Magnus Gamp.

"There isn't. . .time to take things slow." I insisted, my breathing getting back under control.

"The Sight tells you that?" Asked Magnus Gamp.

"Yeah. Something big is going to happen this year. Keep an eye on Lockhart." I warned.

"That fraud? He's no deadly Dark Wizard." Scoffed Magnus Gamp.

"That's what he wants you to think. He's damn good with the Mind Arts." I cautioned.

"All right. If that's what The Sight tells you, I can keep an eye out." Agreed Magnus Gamp.

"Good. So, how was your summer?" I questioned.

"Annoying. The Rougarou hunt turned out to be more convoluted than anyone anticipated." Groused Magnus Gamp.

"Oh? Care to share?" I queried.

"Why not? If nothing else, it might be instructive." Concurred Magnus Gamp.

Then he launched into his story, and what a story it was, too. It turns out that not only had there been a Rougaru pack in the sewers under Magical New Orleans, but they weren't directionless. They were being controlled by a Dark Houngan calling himself The Rat King." Scowled Magnus Gamp.

It seemed that Organized Crime was a thing that was more entwined with the American Wizarding Population than it was here in Wizarding Britain. While the Wizarding British Population hadn't had enough cultural crossover with the Muggle Population to pick up on the Firms of the Muggle World, Magical America had a much larger number of Squibs, and the Native Americans had never fully adopted the Statute of Secrecy, as their magical and muggle populations tended to mix frequently in deniable ways in some of the remote corners of the reservations or during tribal ceremonies. Both those things made cross-cultural pollination inevitable. The Rat King was apparently one of the number of Wizards who decided that having a more organized approach to crime was something he could work to his benefit.

He had a secret fortress in the sewers under Magical New Orleans to act as the nerve center of his operations. And, as a Houngan, he had access to certain rituals that could force Rougarou Packs to do as he said. In this case, he had sent them around to murder various families who refused to sell businesses to him via his usual front organizations, though Magnus Gamp hadn't figured that out until after his first encounter with the Rougarou pack in the Sewers. Once he had, though, he found himself attacked not just by the Rougarou, but also by Zombies, both the living kind made thrall by Alchemical Powder and the kind powered by Necromancy. His brother Mortimer had almost been killed after being stabbed by a Zombie with a Dagger coated with Nundu Venom, and several members of the Magical Police of Nouvelle Orleans had been slain by Zombies or torn apart by Rougarou before they had finally dispatched the last of the Rat King's Minions.

"Unfortunately, when we finally managed to breach his fortress in the Sewers, he'd already left. We'd been delayed long enough by his minions and the wards on his fortress that he'd not only managed to run, but he'd cleaned out most of his fortress before he did. I'm pretty sure he'll return to plague Magical Acadiana before too long." Sighed Magnus Gamp.

"Wow. That sounds rough." I opined.

"You don't know the half of it. Do you have any idea how rare the ingredients for Nundu Venom Antidote are? Mortimer was lucky that I was able to track some down." Griped Magnus Gamp.

"What are the ingredients?" I asked.

"Shredded Mystic Rue, Toadstone Dust, and Nundu Bile." Answered Magnus Gamp.

I balked at that. Shredded Mystic Rue would be the easiest to get hold of, but even that was expensive. Toadstone Dust needed to be gotten from slaying a Water Leaper or similar creature, something not exactly common, while Nundu Bile would need to come from a Slain Nundu, and thus commanded commensurate prices. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if just the single dose of that antidote needed to cure his brother of the Nundu Venom had run Magnus Gamp over a hundred Galleons to purchase. There was a reason that hunting Nundu was listed as expensive, after all, and it wasn't just referring to the expense in blood. Still, it was honestly good that things had turned out all right in the end. Even if the Rat King would likely return, he'd have to rebuild his organization from scratch, it sounded like, since the Authorities would be hounding his known associates and all his thralls were dead.

The last few hours of Magnus Gamp's training today took the form of getting a head-start on Third Year Defense, though this would be the Curriculum from the fifties, which was more expansive than the current one. Accordingly, he taught me about Grindylows, their weaknesses, their strengths, and a spell to defeat them, the Sonic Lance Spell, with the Incantation Sonitus Lancea and the wand movement of a gesture from your ear to a point at the target. Apparently, it was a highly useful spell for fighting underwater and was just as useful above water as well, possibly even more so, as it was invisible above water, so most modern witches or wizards wouldn't even know it was coming since it wasn't accompanied by a light or anything. Supposedly, the approved ministry curriculum recommended teaching the Spund Lance as part of the Unit on Grindylows, still, but only if all students were sufficiently read up on Grindylows themselves first.

"It's a damn shame, but the fact is, because the Ministry put that amended note into the curriculum back in sixty-eight, most Teachers will err on the side of caution and skip the Sound Lance out of fear of losing their job." Sighed Magnus Gamp.

Aside from that, he taught me a bit about the theory of how to fight underwater. Supposedly, back during Grindelwald's War, Grindelwald's Forces had managed to catch the French Chasseurs de Magie off guard several times by forcing them into Underwater Duels, where Grindelwald had allies in the Grindylow Tribes off the coasts of Brittany and Normandy. The Aurors, American Wizarding Expeditionary Force, and Remaining Allies devoted a lot of time and effort into figuring out how to fight underwater, culminating in the creation of Task Force Nautilus, an Allied Commando Force dedicated to underwater combat. I learned some of their tactics, especially how to fight in three dimensions, in the remaining time we had. By the time Magnus Gamp dismissed me for the day, I was fairly sure I would be able to at least hold my own in an Underwater Duel against a peer opponent, if not win outright.

Of course, it was as I returned to the Slytherin Dorms to get ready for dinner that it happened. Draco Malfoy marched up to me, Pansy Parkinson trailing behind him as he did so. He looked over at me and sneered in that cocksure, smarmy way of his. Clearly, he was feeling his oats now that the restrictions placed on him from last year's duel were unraveling. He nodded at me as I entered the Common Room.

"Zabini. In just a few more days, I will be free of the terms of our prior wager. I am giving you a formal challenge now, to take place when the restrictions are fully lifted." Intoned Draco.

"I see. Stakes?" I questioned.

"If I win, you will disband your little club and swear allegiance to me as the leader of our year." Sneered Draco.

"Those are some fairly hefty stakes, Malfoy." I mused.

"Frightened, Zabini?" Queried Draco, mockingly.

"Not in the least, however, I'll need to ask for something to match if we're wagering such hefty terms." I shrugged.

"I can cover any such bet." Scoffed Draco.

"In that case, if I win, you will swear off interfering with or bothering me or my friends for a period of no less than three years, two months, and one week." I insisted.

"The same bet as last time, just elongated, is it?" Asked Draco.

"Of course." I nodded.

"Done. Goyle will second for me. Who will stand for you?" Questioned Draco.

"Daphne will stand for me. Time and place?" I queried.

"The Slytherin Dueling Pit. One week from Friday." Answered Draco.

"Done. I will see you in the pit." I nodded.

"I am looking forward to it. You had best not complain when I prove my superiority, however." Smirked Draco.

"We'll see." I retorted.

And with that, I brushed past Draco and Pansy and headed for my Dorm Room to shower and change. Daphne, of course, agreed over dinner to second me, even if she was put out that I volunteered her without asking her first. The rest of the day passed largely uneventfully. Dinner, a bit of private training in the Mind Arts, with a focus on Occlumency and furthering my Xenoglossy, and a bit more spell practice, this time with the Flagrante Curse, which rendered cursed objects scalding hot to the touch. With that done, I drank my Bluemoon Grass Elixir and got into bed, drifting off to sleep. My dreams were untroubled by visions, thankfully, and when I woke up on Tuesday, I knew I would be preparing to face Draco Malfoy once again in the Dueling Pit in ten days' time. I also knew he had been trained in some of the Combat Arts known to the Captains of the Freiburg Circle under Aloysius Kemmler by Von Todesicht.

That meant that I would have to truly pull out all the stops to defeat him this time around. I couldn't afford to be distracted thinking about the Chamber, or about what Lockhart was doing. Not if I wanted to beat Draco. As it would later turn out, this focusing on one objective at a time would come back to bite me down the road as I lost track of Lockhart for the period I needed to train. Unfortunately, I would only learn that later. For now, I had an opponent to utterly thrash in the Dueling Pit.

And that meant focusing on my training to an intense degree for the next ten or so days. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here's the next chapter. In it, we get a bit of training, learn what happened on Magnus Gamp's trip to Magical New Orleans, get the challenge and stakes for Blaise's rematch with Draco, and some setup for Lockhart being nefarious in the background in a way that will come back on Blaise later. True, he's warned Magnus Gamp to keep an eye on Lockhart, but he can't say too much without triggering his Meta-Lock Drawback. At the same time, Magnus Gamp doesn't live at Hogwarts like the Professors do, as he isn't there every day. This means Lockhart has a window to get up to shady shit in the background.

At any rate, the next chapter will be a bit of a time-skippy one as we get back into the swing of the standard Hogwarts Routine and will cover the ten-day period between the challenge and the rematch duel.

Stay tuned. . .