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66. Guilt
🕑 Added 2025-06-09 20:22:24 +0000 UTCChristian went on the offensive and, with a wave of his wand, nonverbally cast the Disarming Charm. Quirrell waved his wand to block, and the charm bounced, forcing Christian to block.
Then, a violent light flew from Christian’s wand toward his opponent, who responded by firing a red beam. The two clashed together, trying to overwhelm each other. However, in less than a second of confrontation, the red light overpowered the purple light.
Christian flicked his wand to the side to divert the red light.
“Illusio Graphica.”
“Geminio.”
Dozens of Christians appeared in the forest, and with each passing second, more appeared. The Doubling Charm was an interesting spell as it could be a regular or dark charm based on the user’s pronunciation or intent.
The regular charm only doubles the object, while the curse keeps doing so without stopping until there are too many copies. Christian used the curse to replicate the holograms, messing up with his opponent.
“Flipendo.”
All the holograms raised their wands and said the exact words. However, only the real Christian attacked. His plan was clever, as it hid his true self behind these fakes. Sadly, he was fighting the Dark Lord, even if it was a weakened version.
Quirrell waved his hand to deflect the Knockback Jinx while nonverbally using Revelio. Then, a dark serpentine flame rushed toward Christian, burning away all the holograms. Christian’s face changed as he did not want to know whether his shield would hold up to this attack.
“Deprimo.”
He pointed his wand at the floor, creating a large hole that he jumped into before closing the top above him. He sensed the shock of the fire snake hitting his position, followed by the increased heat.
The hole he created was too small, almost suffocating Christian. So, he had no choice but to use the Ascension Charm to fly himself out of this predicament. Soon after he was above Earth, Quirrell attacked him, and Christian blocked him with a shield, but he saw cracks in his defense. Furthermore, the remnants of the dark magic flame where he was had also burned his legs.
One of the tree trunks suddenly elongated and captured Christian. “Evanasco.” He vanished the tree trunk to free himself before rolling on the ground to evade the upcoming attack.
“Sectumsempra.”
Quirrell finally moved from his position to evade this attack instead of directly blocking it. Christian thought this was his opportunity, but the Dark Lord controlling Quirrell had already attacked, releasing a strange dark fog. Christian conjured a shield, but the fog quickly broke through it. He moved his body at the last minute to evade, but his shoulder was still hit.
He felt a searing pain as if his flesh was being corroded after being exposed to acid. He immediately used a spell he learned from his opponent to isolate curses and temporarily prevent their spread.
“Ava Kedava!”
Christian did not hesitate to use the Killing Curse to achieve his objectives, force his opponent to evade, and buy himself enough time. As expected, the Dark Lord apparated away to evade. Christian then applied what he had recently learned in the Transfiguration Club.
He used handweaving with his left hand to conjure oxygen into his environment before using the Fire-Making Charm, Incendio. The oxygen further flamed the conjured flame, and Christian controlled this mini Firestorm to attack Quirrell.
The Dark Lord conjured a silver shield to block the immense flame before using the Vanishing Spell to disperse it. However, as long as the environment is oxygen-rich, Christian can continue to create mini Firestorms. So, Quirrell gave him one last glance before running away. This flame would attract too much attention.
Christian’s face was pale as he was in tremendous pain. His plan had succeeded, he thinks, but he also realized how stupid he was. He thought this fight would not be too dangerous by being extra prepared (he had Potkey created by a house elf as a means to run away). But he underestimated Voldemort's power, even if he was only a soul inhabiting a foreign body.
He nonverbally cast Hominem Revelio to see if the Dark Lord had left or if someone else had arrived.
“I need to hurry to save the little unicorn before someone rushes to this place,” he muttered before walking to the snow-white creature, ignoring his severe pain.
“No, no, no, it can be.” The creature was not moving or breathing. He hurriedly used an emergency treatment. He used a spell to stop the unicorn from bleeding before feeding it a Wiggenweld Potion, but to no effect. Christian then tried a Shock Spell to restart her brain and heart, followed by a stamina Spell to restore stamina and heal, but it was useless.
‘I was too late,’ he thought, ‘And it was all my fault.’ He might have saved it if he had not played smart and stopped Voldemort before he drank the creature’s blood or told someone of his identity.
‘Rest in peace,” thought Christian. He heard noises of trees shuffling and immediately cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself before running away and finding a secluded place to tend to his injuries. He could not see Madam Pomfrey as she would want to know the origin of his injuries.
He checked his legs and realized the burns were not a problem; the real issue was the curse. Christian used a counter-curse charm to deal with it while also using a little trick he learned from Quirrell: summoning positive emotions or energy (think of positive memories or thoughts, similar to the Patronus Charm) when using counter-curses, as this would increase their potency.
Christian drank a Wiggenweld Potion before bandaging it with the Bandaging Charm. He will need to brew another potion, but it should heal in a few days. His greatest concern was the injury to his shoulder. After analysis and treatment, he decided the best treatment was to reduce the area of the curse as much as possible before cutting off a piece of his shoulder and regrowing it, and that’s what he did.
Once the treatment ended, Christian headed to the castle following his map. However, he heard the sound of hooves in his path, so he decided to change directions, but the hooves seemed to be following him. He frowned before making a place. He revealed his face and changed his clothes.
Soon, a group of Centaurs appeared before him.
“It’s him,” yelled a centaur. “The Blasphemer.”
“Calm down, Bane,” said Firenze.
“How can I calm down?” grunted Bane. “The existence of this wizard has shifted the stars, enveloping the world in a fog of chaos and uncertainty. He must be dealt with.”
“He’s a child.”
“That only means he’s not yet a threat, and the problem can be dealt with easily.”
Bane strung his bow and attacked without waiting for anyone else to speak. Christian made an upward motion with his wand, generating a shield that pushed the arrow to the side. He then pointed at Bane, and a rope tied him up, dropping him to the ground.
‘Oh, it worked,’ thought Christian. He has been trying to master the Incarcerous Spell nonverbally after the Summoning Charm, and after the previous fight, as he watched the centaurs, he felt he would succeed. So, he used the mental image of the centaurs being tied up and succeeded.
“That’s not very polite, is it?” said Christian.
“I apologize for his actions,” said Firenze, walking forward. “But do you mind visiting our home with us?”
“No,” Christian replied directly, looking at Bane on the ground.
“That’s fair. However, you can find us in the forest if you ever want answers. I believe we can provide you with guidance.”
Christian frowned, “If that day comes, I will consider visiting. But you should watch how you treat people.”
“We will,” nodded Firenze. “Do you want me to lead you to the castle?”
“No, it’s fine. I’m not supposed to be here and don’t want to be caught.” Christian no longer hesitated to summon his broom from the bag of holding, becoming invisible before flying to the castle. He rushed to the Room of Requirement to concoct the potions he needed to accelerate the healing process.
Once he felt much better physically, Christian began to think about the entire situation. He was not feeling well mentally, as the guilt for failing to save the unicorn weighed on him. More importantly, he did not want to report Quirrell because he still wanted to reap the benefits despite what happened.
He would typically discuss these ethical dilemmas with his mother. However, he did not want to tell her the truth because she would immediately ask him to stop communicating with Quirrell.
“It’s only a little bit of guilt, right? I should be able to bear it; maybe one day, I'll avenge the unicorn.“ Christian tried to convince himself with these words. He sighed deeply before reviewing the battle and hopefully learning from it.
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