Gideon Drake and the Fire Within (Harry Potter Sequel/Spinoff)

Chapter Thirty-One: Fighting Fire with Fire

Gideon's jaw dropped as he realised; he had been tricked. He was furious with himself for not having considered this outcome. Gideon thought back and realised that Annie hadn't mentioned which boy had given her the note. He had just assumed it had been Anthony who had passed it to her.

One of the Gryffindors must have seen Anthony the night he knocked them out. They had put two and two together and realised he was Gideon's brother.

'Isn't this getting a little old?' Gideon said bravely to buy time as he got to his feet and observed his surroundings. He was glad that there were so many chairs and other obstacles between him and Greg's posse, but there was only one exit. Alex Grimsby was noticeably absent but five against one were not good odds.

'Not for me,' Greg replied, 'and definitely not for Callum, here. One of your multiple victims!'

Callum stood to Greg's left. He was the one Gideon had seen in the Hospital Wing. The dressing over his cheek did nothing to conceal his scowl.

'I didn't do that,' Gideon responded, his objection sounding unconvincing even to himself.

'Don't lie, freak!' Jason piped up, 'I don't know what your deal is, but we're going to get you to come clean!'

'Why can't you just leave me alone?' Gideon asked.

'Because we know it was you!' said Sean McCann. 'Nobody else should get hurt because some loser can't control his magic!'

'Too right!' added Scott Parker. 'Admit what you did, and we'll back off.'

Gideon was surprised by the others speaking out. Greg and Jason usually did all the talking for their little gang, but their misguided righteous hatred for Gideon had united them.

'I'm not going to admit to something I didn't do,' Gideon replied stubbornly, deciding to put his trust in the headmistress's assertion that he was innocent.

'Then, we do this the hard way,' Greg said before raising his wand. 'Flipendo!'

Gideon dived to avoid the spell, reached into his pocket for his wand, and with a firm resolve to escape, he gritted his teeth and fired back, 'Flipendo!'

Much to his surprise, and the Gryffindor's rage, Gideon managed to hit Sean, knocking him over forcefully. Emboldened by this, the others started rapidly firing off spells. There were too many flying at him for Gideon to aim properly, so he could only fire back wildly over the top of the chair he was hiding behind. Unfortunately, the chair was being bombarded with jinxes and the Gryffindors were gradually advancing on his position.

He tried to think of a plan. With all the obstacles in the room, another smokescreen didn't seem like the best idea. Then, Gideon realised, the obstacles could also be weapons. 'Locomotor chair!' he uttered, pointing at an armchair by the window, then thrust his arm up and across until it pointed at Jason.

The spell drained Gideon more than he expected but it worked. The large, heavy armchair left the floor and hurled itself along the path Gideon had gestured. It landed on Jason and pinned him to the floor.

Gideon smiled at what he had achieved, but that moment cost him as Greg's well-aimed spells headed his way. Gideon deflected two of them but the third followed Callum's, and Gideon was hit square in the chest, causing him to topple backwards. Gideon struggled to his feet, determined to continue fighting, but he wasn't quick enough.

'Pulso!' Callum shouted angrily.

The electric shock that followed disabled Gideon long enough for Scott to take advantage. 'Expelliarmus!' he said decisively.