The Unknown: A Harry Potter Story

Chapter 27: The Moment you Trained For

"A dueling arena?" Hermione asked, pointing at the wooden figure, "you mean we have to fight that thing?"

"Not we," Jason replied, "me ... I have to fight that thing."

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Of course he's sure," Harry spoke up. "Look at him, he's got this ... also he's the only one of us who has any dueling experience. It has to be him."

"Well it seems pretty dangerous," Hermione replied.

"What part of this hasn't been dangerous!" Jason exclaimed. "Giant plants that strangle us? keys that attack us? chess pieces that pummel us? The professors are trying to keep the Stone safe, so of course, the tasks to get there are dangerous."

Hermione opened her mouth to say something but closed it without a word.

Signaling for Harry and Hermione to take a place in the gap between the platform and the wall, Jason walked up the steps onto the platform. He continued to walk down the length of the platform until he stood face to face with the wooden figure.

"This is creepy," Jason said as he examined the figure, "it's made of wood, but it looks so life-like, and its eyes and hair actually look real!"

"This is Flitwick we're talking about," Harry said from off the side of the platform, "I'd be disappointed if it wasn't creative."

Jason nodded and took a deep breath. He took his wand in his right hand, standing tall opposite the wooden figure and looking it in the eye, he moved his arm so that his wand was vertically in front of his face. The wooden figure did the same with its wand. Continuing in the protocol for starting a duel that Professor Flitwick had taught him, Jason bowed to the figure and waited as it did the same. Simultaneously, they both stood back up straight and turned to face away from each other. Jason and the figure both then started walking towards the far ends of the wooden platform.

It didn't take long to reach his position, only ten paces, but to Jason, it felt like an eternity. For the first two paces, Jason's mind was racing. Harry and Hermione may have both thoughts that Jason looked calm and confident, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Jason's head was a whirlwind of thoughts, and fears mixed with panic. Yes, he had won two duels, but Silas and Malfoy hardly counted as tough opponents, and the duel with Malfoy wasn't so much a duel as an exchange of threats. The closest Jason had ever come to an actual duel was his practice matches against Flitwick, and he spectacularly lost all of them.

For his third and fourth paces, Jason didn't even know how he was able to walk straight. Flitwick had been holding back in their duels and Jason couldn't beat him, how was he supposed to defeat a guardian that Flitwick made to defend the Stone?

For the fifth and sixth paces, Jason tried to calm himself by going over all the dueling spells he knew. My best spell is the disarming charm, Jason thought to himself, if I can just catch it off guard with Expelliarmus the duel should be over quickly, I can also use Flipendo to knock it off the platform and end the duel, but that would be pretty hard to hit. The reductor curse? That's a pretty powerful spell, but I've never gotten it to work.

For the seventh and eight paces, Jason decided on his plan. I'm gonna hit it fast with Expelliarmus right off the back, if that doesn't work ... then I'll switch to a more defensive stance. I'll use Protego to stop its spells and just look for an opening to hit it with Flipendo.

For the ninth and tenth paces, Jason tried to calm himself and summon the void ... it didn't work.

Finally, Jason turned around to face the wooden figure.