Hey, I Ruin Stories Chapter 13

Chapter 13: A New Way of Resolving Issues

Ugh, my nose hurts a lot.


All this time I had been blocking my nose with wind magic to prevent the blood from leaking out, but for the last half an hour, I had barely been able to stop the leakage.


Even my handkerchief had been stained fully red.


And the reason? Helping Draco. 


I could have used flesh reconstruction as it is also a form of dark magic, but it was grotesque and I did not want to traumatize the boy.


Not yet at the very least.


So, till the boy had gotten his wound fixed from Pomfrey, I had to deal with this. What I did was transfer his injury to me, or well, the blood spillage.


But forget it.


I had to meet someone else now.


Since Snape wouldn't do anything, at least not directly —he would still try to do something or find a loophole, I know— but since I have dealt with one layer of protection that the main character had, I had to test it too.


And for that, I needed a certain man.


…

…


[Training Grounds]


{Filius Flitwick}


“Incendio Maxima!”


Tch. 


Could not even erase the dummy, the ashes still remained. 


Growing old, I have realized that I could never reach the height I had once touched. It felt tragic, but it was my reality.


I was only human and growing old was a part of it.


But oh what I wouldn't give to feel young again, or even if I can witness the flames of youth the children demonstrated when dueling.


Sadly, this also has been a thing of the past now. Duels were still prominent, but not as common as before.


People used to duel when they wanted to solve an issue, now it is all complaints and family politics.


Alas, the past remains the past.


Nothing can be done about it.


“Confringo Maxima!” 


This time, the result was a bit better.


Explosive spells were still something I was good at.


“May I join you, professor?”


Who?


“Oh, Professor. Safar.” 


The young man walked forward as I took his name, his hand behind his back.


“And that was an impressive display.” He praised, staring at the test dummy that was blown to smithereens.


“Barely.” I did prefer Confringo over Incendio, but it was still not what I could do in the past. “These old bones can only do this much.”


“And I dare say that most of the young bones would break if they faced you.” He was sharp, quick with his remarks.


“Hah, you praise me too much.” He was quite active for someone who just joined. Most at this time would be still deep into their course research, but here he is, enjoying the wind with me.


He does have positive feedback from the students, so I guess he is just a natural at teaching.


“If you want to join me, feel free. Although I am not sure if my old bones can keep up with your young blood.” 


This made him chortle. 


“Oh the professor of charms and barely keeping up does not go together, sir.” He said in his usual respectful voice. This was something that I found commendable about him.


He was a very respectable and resourceful fellow, always ready to help and always ready to give company. And despite working so much, he was always on time for everything.


“How comfortable are you with charms?” I had to ask. Most professors were good with charms but some excelled in different forms of magic that they used for the offensive.


“Truth be told.” He said. “I am still learning about most of the spells and charms that you all teach. The charms that I grew up with are vastly different.”


“Oh?” That's something amusing. “Can you explain a bit more?”


“The effects of the spells might be the same, although the intensity and shape might vary, but the ways it is casted or the incarnation for most of them, are completely different.”


This truly had me curious. “Might I ask how?”


“It is difficult to explain,” He rubbed his chin. “Like some other schools like that of Japan, we also learn silent casting, or spells without incantations.”


“Does that not affect the intensity and the control?” The major reason for not implementing chantless magic has always been the lack of control.


“Control, quite. But intensity? Not so much.”


This had me more curious than ever. The last I saw or well, faced someone who used chantless magic was years ago.


“Can you give a bit more detailed explanation?” I was engrossed in it, totally curious about the magic of the other region.


“May I show it to you?” He asked, “It is pretty difficult to put into words, so may I show it to you?”


“Yes please!” I said with more interest than I would have usually shown. 


“Control is indeed difficult for ones that are starting magic. I would say they pick up their first spell way later than wizards of here.” He took out his wand from his robe and pointed it towards the haystack targets. “But once they get comfortable with it, and their control increases, their speed is far better than what I have seen in here so far.”


The top of his wand glowed bluish. “Like this.”


And in the quarter of a second, the hay in front of us turned to ice, perfectly white and perfectly still.


“It's beautiful…” I ended up muttering. Ice was one of the more difficult elements to control and use and so ice spells were far more rare.


“Of course, there are many spells that can both burn and explode, but I went with something a little fancier.” He said, putting his wand back. “I hope you can pardon me for being a little extra.”


Humble, too humble.


“I would have been upset if you did not do your best, Professor Safar.” I could not help but show a smile to the young man. “This was a beautiful display, and I also learnt something from you, about the magic of the Middle East.”


“Your praise is wasted on me.” He said, putting his wand inside his robe. “I hope you can teach me a little about the charms that you grew up with.”


“Without a doubt. And I hope that you can also teach me a little about the magic that you have brought with you.” His magic was interesting and maybe it was at this old age that I could look a little deeper into chantless magic. “I dare say that I would have challenged you if I was just a decade younger than now.”


He chuckled, “And I wouldn't have dared accept, sir. I have heard too much about what you have achieved when you were younger.”


Alas, it was all in the past.


“And now we rarely get to see decent duels. It is all people fighting among each other with words and wealth.”


That made him look at me. 


“Why not duel it out? That's how we wizards solve issues back at my place.” He showed an interesting look, “Using our magic.”


“Sadly we stopped doing that here.” It was sad, but reality. “That is also why professors are called every few seconds when a fight breaks out, because it is all verbal curses and not a single man to man clash.”


“Have you tried changing that?” He had a curious look, “Like talk to the headmaster about it?”


“I tried, but none supported.” Sadly it was only I who voiced it with one other.


“Then… How many people or well, professors have to support you?” 


How many, hmm…


“There is you, me, Professor McGonagall, Professor Sinistra, Professor Snape, Madam Pomfrey, Professor Hooch, Professor Sprout and Hagrid, well the poor one cannot speak for anyone at the moment.”


Professor Rolanda Hooch sided with me, but that is it.


“So, we need around five people including us.” I could only shrug. “And madam Pomfrey would never agree.”


“The headmaster?” He asked, staring curious.


“His vote is the most powerful, so he does not vote at all unless it involves something political.” And I doubt he would agree.


“You said you have someone supporting you, right?”


“Yes, why?” Somehow, I felt like I knew what he was thinking of.


“I can manage two more votes, other than us if you can manage that one vote.”


Oh? 


“And how do you plan to achieve that?”


At this question, he merely gave a smile. 


“Oh, I can promise you that I will do it.” He spoke with confidence, “And maybe, one of your wishes will be fulfilled.”


I ended up smiling at his positivity, “I sure hope so.”


Sometimes, positivity was rewarded.


Surprisingly, this was one of them.



…

…


[Early Wednesday Morning — Cafeteria, Hogwarts]


{Draco Malfoy}


Hmm? What is this?


“It says dueling is to be used as a means of solving conflicts now!” some idiot yelled, probably some muggle to not bother with.


“B-But wouldn't that be harmful? Won’t a lot of people get hurt?” Another asked, and they had a fair point.


“Idiots.”


Hmm?


“Nott?” I looked at the boy sitting opposite to me. “What are your thoughts on this?”


“Fair, I would say.”


Oh, that was surprising.


“Why so?”


The boy focused on finishing the bread first, which was annoying. But after swallowing that massive piece, he decided to speak again.


“Guess how many of us purebloods, forget the mudbloods, but how many of us purebloods fight every week?” He asked, pointing his fork at me.


“Twice, thrice maybe?” I could only raise an eyebrow. 


“At Least once every day.” He said, genuinely surprising me. “Maybe not the same person every day, but everyday there is at least one pureblood that fights with another pureblood and a teacher has to be called each time.”


“I doubt there won’t be a teacher around if we decide to have duels as the norm.”


Surely not, right?


“That isn't the issue now, is it?” He said, going back to drink the glass of milk this time. 


Again, pausing for a solid few seconds and annoying me again.


“Tell me.” He asked, “How many of those times do the parents need to get involved?” 


That genuinely made me wonder. It had to be at least for a quarter of the cases, right?


“For the purebloods,” He spoke leaning back on his chair. “And especially for us heirs, more than half the time.”


That high?


“Really?” I asked and he nodded immediately.


“By Merlin I have seen the parents arguing more than the children.” He laughed, “And guess how much that costs them? Quite a lot.”


Of course, parents, who are the lords and the ladies of the houses fighting among themselves, means loss for both sides.


“This breaks relations and also causes rifts between many partnerships. So, now imagine the parents not having to involve themselves.” He paused and shook his head, “Of course, they will say a word or two against it at first but once they see how it is helping them maintain a business and political relationship, they will shut up and let the kids do their thing.”


Surprisingly, Theodore Nott, the guy in front of me was quite good when it came to these things. Sadly, there was nothing else he was good at. 


He was pretty much average or below when it came to everything else.


“And it's not like this is something new, they grew up with duels. It is just us and maybe a few years back that duels became so less.”


He was pretty convincing, wasn‘t he?


“I guess you are right.” I ended up shrugging, not that it involved me. I was not interested in duels, but something else.


“Theo.”


“What?”


“What do you think of the Dark Arts?” As I asked, the boy raised an eyebrow.


“Better to stay away from it.” He said, “Don't you remember what that Granger girl read from the book? It makes you go insane.”


But he isn't insane. If anything, he is better than the other professors.


“I see.” I gave the boy a nod. “Let's finish early, we have Professor Snape’s class today.”


“Yeah, no possible way I am getting late for his class.” Nott shuddered, recalling the nasty points that were deducted from him just last week.


Thankfully I haven't been on the receiving end yet.


“So, yeah. Let's hurry.” He agreed, chugging the carrot soup as fast as he could.


As for me, the words of Professor Safar rang in my ear.


‘No magic is inherently evil, it is the wizard who turns magic evil.’


Maybe… he is right about Dark Magic?