Harry Potter: Arcane Instability

(A.N. First off, I want to start by saying Merry Christmas and Happy New Years and all the other holiday greetings that people say. It has been awhile, but I didn't do any writing whatsoever over the holidays. I'm trying to get back into it, but so far this year is already promising to be hectic, but I will try to release much sooner than before.)

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(January 10, 1994)

 (General POV)

 Looking over to the boy who looked to be about their age, Godric looked him up and down before he came to a conclusion. 'He's so weak.' He thought. Godric never liked underestimating anyone, but the boy in front of him was scrawny, and there didn't appear to be an ounce of muscle on him.

"Can I hewp you with something?" The boy asked once he noticed Godric's staring. "Hewp? Do you mean help?" Godric asked without thinking. "Awe you making fun of my speech impaiwment?" The boy asked, and it was only then Godric realized the kid couldn't speak properly, and that he was unable to pronounce his L's and R's, replacing them with the W sound.

*SMACK!*

"Don't be an ass, Godric! It's rude to point out differences in other people." Helga warned. "I didn't do it on purpose. How was I supposed to know he couldn't speak properly?" Godric said to her before he turned back to the kid. "What's you'we name?" Godric asked with a smile. He didn't even try to dodge the next smack Helga sent his way, knowing he deserved this one.

"Bawwy Kwipke. And I don't wike you vewy much." The boy said with a frown. "Is your name actually Bawwy Kwipke or is it Barry Kwipke?" Godric asked curiously, not quite sure if he got that right. "It could also be Bawwy Kripke or Bally Klipke. Maybe its Bally Kwipke." Salazar chimed in, trying to be helpful. "Stop it, you two! His name is Barry Kripke. It's written right there on his robes." Helga said while pointing to the nametag in question.

 "I'm sowwy-" Godric started when Helga swung at him again, but he ducked this time. "Alright, fine! I'm sorry, Barry. We were just having a bit of a laugh." Godric said seriously this time. "I'm used to it. Besides, if I had haiw wike youws, I'd make fun of othew peopwe too." Barry said, earning a smirk from Godric. He liked to see that the kid didn't just sit there and take it, though he probably could have used some better material, as Godric very much liked his hair, and even with his new haircut he still looked pretty good.

"So, Barry. Which year of the tournament are you in?" Hermione asked, hoping to change the subject and learn a few things from the boy. "Hewwo! I didn't see you befowe. I don't know how I could have missed you, especiawwy with those teeth!" Barry laughed while pointing out Hermione's large two front teeth.

"Please tell me you're in third year." Godric asked hopefully. "So what if I am?" Barry asked, confirming that he was in fact a third year. "Oh it's nothing. I'm just going to enjoy watching Harry stomp you in the tournament." Godric said happily while looking at Harry.

It was no secret Harry liked Hermione, and given how he was glaring daggers at Barry, Godric guessed he was more than looking forward to the tournament. "Good wuck with that! I'm second best in my year! I even howd thwee wecowds back at Iwvewmony." Barry said proudly.

"It was funny before, but now it's just a pain to try and figure out what he's saying." Salazar said to Godric, who could only nod his head in agreement. "You know I'm sitting wight here?!" Barry said to Salazar who just looked annoyed at him. "See? I don't know if he's saying he's "white" or "right". It's very confusing." Salazar said while ignoring the fact that Barry was looking at him.

 No one in their group talked to Barry after that, and despite him trying to make conversation with Rowena, Helga and the other girls, no one paid him any attention until finally the boy just shrugged his shoulders before he moved over to sit at a different table.

It was an unspoken rule in Hogwarts that Godric and Salazar were fair game for most people to try and pick on if they felt brave enough, but the girls were a different matter. Sure it was a bit hypocritical of them all considering Godric had technically been the one to mock Barry first for his speech impairment, but Godric did as Godric wanted. Sure, Barry could pick on whomever he wanted to, but then that didn't mean anyone else had to talk to him.

 "I am curious, if he's the second strongest, who's the first strongest?" Rowena said once Barry had left the table. "I don't know, but the fact that he's even on the list for being top ranked doesn't bode well for the rest of their school. He looks weak." Godric said, truly meaning it. "I guess we'll find out tomorrow." Salazar said dryly. Though he was looking forward to the tournament, he wasn't all that thrilled that he would be facing weak little third-years.

 -------

 The next morning, Hogwarts school was buzzing with excitement as everyone was looking forward to the tournament that was set to start just after breakfast. People had bets going, and a number of people even came over to the group and told the third-year team that they had better not lose because a lot of money was riding on them.

"I'm tempted to purposely lose just so they lose their money." Salazar said, which earned him a pout from Luna. "Don't do that. I bet all of my money on you." She whispered to him, momentarily bringing Salazar at a loss for words.

"You don't have to worry. I'll win. But maybe next time don't bet everything you have on one go." He told her, but her only response was to playfully stick her tongue out at him and hiss like a snake. "Don't tell me you speak Parseltongue too, Luna?" Godric said, to which Luna only shook her head in the negative.

"No, but I can pretend." She said before she leaned in to Salazar and whispered, "I know I didn't say it right, but I was trying to tell you "Good luck" with that." Smiling at her, Salazar hissed {You can count on me.}

 Once breakfast was over, everyone made their way out to the Coliseum, which filled up surprisingly fast. There were easily more than enough seats for every student at Hogwarts and then some, but aside from the other students from the rival schools and their families who were watching as well, some of the parents of the Hogwarts students were also present, as well as a number of Ministry personnel. Even Moody was present, however he was sitting in his own little section with the Headmasters of each school.

 Down in a room beneath the stands, Berrycloth was standing with two other teachers and all of the third-year students from each school. "Alright, Hogwarts students step forward." Berrycloth said to them, and at once Godric and the others moved towards him.

"I want each of you to go to both teachers from the other schools and pull a name from each of their bags. Each name you draw will be someone who you will be dueling against today." Berrycloth said, and at once they all moved to draw the names with Rowena going first.

"Howard Wolowitz from Ilvermorny and Celine Castillon from Beauxbatons." Rowena said as read from the papers.

Helga went next, and after drawing the two names she read, "Stuart Bloom from Ilvermorny and Elise Martin from Beauxbatons."

Hermione drew her names and spoke, "Rajesh Koothrappali from Ilvermorny and Samual Garnier from Beauxbatons."

Harry went next, and after silently reading the names he drew he couldn't stop himself from smiling as he spoke, "Barry Kripke from Ilvermorny and Alexander Dumas from Beauxbatons." It was obvious to anyone who was looking at him that he was happy with the names he had chosen.

"Leonard Hofstadter from Ilvermorny and Luigi Vampa from Beauxbatons." Neville said before stepping to the side.

"Sheldon Cooper from Ilvermorny and Edmund Dantes from Beauxbatons." Salazar said before he stepped to the side to join the others. As he did so, he couldn't help but think he had heard the boy's name before, the one from Beauxbatons. He could swear he had read it in a book once, but after not being able to remember it he let the matter drop.

 Finally it was Godric's turn to draw, though he really didn't get to choose, more like he got to take the ones that were remaining. "Penny Teller from Ilvermorny and Fernand Mondego from Beauxbatons." Godric said while looking at the two groups of students from the other schools to try and figure out which of the two would be his opponents.

The girl from Ilvermorny was easy to pick from the crowd as she was the only girl in her group, but he didn't figure out who the boy from Beauxbatons was until one of the other boys from Beauxbatons noticed Godric staring at them and subtly pointed a finger at a sandy-brown haired boy who was wearing the most expensive clothes Godric had seen.

Looking at him and at the sneer directed towards him from the boy, Godric came to one conclusion. 'Stuck up rich cunt with no substance. I bet he goes around saying "My father will hear about this!" Or whatever the French version of that is.' Godric thought, getting Malfoy vibes from the boy.

 "Excellent! Now, I want the Ilvermorny and Beauxbatons students to remember the names that were drawn with their names, as they also will be dueling the name that was drawn with theirs, that way each school gets a chance to duel each other. Because we have an odd number of students, some of you will have to wait for the second round for your match, but we will try to mix things up to make sure that everyone gets a chance to fully recover before their next match." Berrycloth said happily as he and the other two teachers moved over to a table and began to write the names down in slots.

 While the teachers were writing stuff down, Fernand, the boy from France who looked like he had a stick up his ass, stepped towards the blonde girl from Ilvermorny. "It is apparent from your attire and posture that you are a country bumpkin. Still, you are at least nice to look at. Ask me nicely, and I might just keep you that way." Fernand said to Penny, who could only scoff in annoyance at the boy.

"Oh my gawd! And I thought I was a bitch. You better keep your mouth shut, else not even daddy's money is going to be able to fix what I do to your face! Loser!" The blonde girl named Penny said, her words completely shocking not only Fernand, but Godric and everyone else as well.

Godric, who had been about to step in on the girl's behalf could only stare dumbly at her for a minute, then finally without thinking he blurted out, "I think I'm in love." At this, Helga stepped over to smack Godric upside the head, but he dodged to the side where without warning his face met a clenched fist.

"Oh my goodness, Godric! Why would you hit my hand with your face?!" Salazar shouted with such sincerity that it left Godric dumbfounded, however the rest of his group simply thought it was hilarious and began laughing.

"Seriously?! Enough is enough! The next time you, Helga or Rowena hit me for some dumb ass reason, I'm going to hit you back. And you're really not going to like it." Godric warned them. The first few times when they got after him he might have deserved it for things he had done in the past, but that was a thousand years ago now, and he was done taking their shit.

 Glaring at each of them, Godric moved over to where the blonde girl was from Ilvermorny. She wasn't talking with the rest of her schoolmates, which was fine with Godric. It gave him the opportunity to speak with her. "Hello, my name is Godric Gryffindor, but please just call me Godric. Your name is Penny, correct?" He introduced himself while extending his hand to her.

"Yeah, but you already know that. Don't kiss my hand." She said as she reached out to shake his hand. "Haha, of all the places I could kiss you, why would I want to kiss your hand?" Godric asked with a smile. "Isn't that what all you noble British types do? Try to act all charming to try and win over the girl?" Penny asked while returning Godric's smile.

"I might be British, but I'm the furthest thing from a noble you can be. I'm from a small farming town where my mom was a seamstress." Godric told her, being completely honest. "Wow, really? I'm from a small farming town too! Omaha, Nebraska!" Penny said proudly. She was clearly not ashamed of where she was from, and that only made her even better in Godric's eyes.

"So tell me, Penny. How does a girl like you end up at a dueling tournament in another country?" Godric asked her. "I always wanted to travel, but my parents aren't exactly rich. When we were told we could go to Scotland and France if we signed up, I thought 'hey, why not?'. I also lost a bet with my friend Samantha who made me sign up with her after I lost, and I made the cut and she didn't, so here I am while she's back at school." Penny told him with a laugh.

"Unfortunate for Samantha, but lucky for me." Godric said. "Oh yeah? How is it lucky for you?" Penny asked him with a raised eyebrow. "I got to meet you, didn't I? I'd say that's pretty lucky." Godric said with a playful smirk which Penny returned.

"You know, since you like betting, why don't we make a bet of our own, seeing as how we are going to be dueling each other." Godric said, causing Penny to narrow her eyes slightly at him. "What kind of bet?" She asked.

 -------

 When the teachers finally finished writing everything up, they returned and explained the order in which everyone would be dueling.

1st round: Rowena Ravenclaw vs Howard Wolowitz (Hogwarts vs Ilvermorny)

2nd round: Leonard Hofstadter vs Luigi Vampa (Ilvermorny vs Beauxbatons)

3rd round: Samual Garnier vs Hermione Granger (Beauxbatons vs Hogwarts)

4th round: Harry Potter vs Barry Kripke (Hogwarts vs Ilvermorny)

5th round: Stuart Bloom vs Elise Martin (Ilvermorny vs Beauxbatons)

6th round: Fernand Mondego vs Godric Gryffindor (Beauxbatons vs Hogwarts)

7th round: Salazar Slytherin vs Sheldon Cooper (Hogwarts vs Ilvermorny)

 ------Break------

8th round: Howard Wolowitz vs Celine Castillon (Ilvermorny vs Beauxbatons)

9th round: Luigi Vampa vs Neville Longbottom (Beauxbatons vs Hogwarts)

10th round: Hermione Granger vs Rajesh Koothrappali (Hogwarts vs Ilvermorny)

11th round: Barry Kripke vs Alexander Dumas (Ilvermorny vs Beauxbatons)

12th round: Elise Martin vs Helga Hufflepuff (Beauxbatons vs Hogwarts)

13th round : Godric Gryffindor vs Penny Teller (Hogwarts vs Ilvermorny) 

14th round: Sheldon Cooper vs Edmund Dantes (Ilvermorny vs Beauxbatons)

------Break------

15th round: Celine Castillon vs Rowena Ravenclaw (Beauxbatons vs Hogwarts)

16th round: Neville Longbottom vs Leonard Hofstadter (Hogwarts vs Ilvermorny)

17th round: Rajesh Koothrappali vs Samual Garnier (Ilvermorny vs Beauxbatons)

18th round: Alexander Dumas vs Harry Potter (Beauxbatons vs Hogwarts)

19th round: Helga Hufflepuff vs Stuart Bloom (Hogwarts vs Ilvermorny)

20th round: Penny Teller vs Fernand Mondego (Ilvermorny vs Beauxbatons)

21st round: Edmund Dantes vs Salazar Slytherin (Beauxbatons vs Hogwarts)

 (A.N. This list sucked to try and figure out, so there is no way in hell I'm going to do it for the other years.)

 "Seems simple enough." Godric said with a nod of his head. It was about as simple as it could be given the number of participants they had, but that was fine. The only problem with setting it up like this was that the person who got to sit out the first round got to study his opponents in advance, and come the next round he would be fully refreshed while his opponent who had already dueled could be slightly injured or tired.

It depended greatly on how good the healers did their jobs, but Godric and Salazar didn't think there was any concern in that department. Savrin had organized this whole thing so they were sure the students would be at the top of their game at the beginning of each match no matter how long it had been since they last fought.

 "When your name is called, step out into the arena together with your opponent, then separate when you reach the stage and walk to your sides. Wait for my signal, then begin the duel. Remember, non lethal spells only. We will be watching all of you." Berrycloth explained, then quickly ushered everyone to the tunnel that would lead out into the arena.

Rowena was at the front of the line with the big-nosed boy who had a bowl-cut hair style. The two of them stood there in silence for a time as they waited for their names to be called, but Howard's fidgeting was becoming an annoyance.

"Don't be so nervous. It's just a duel." Rowena said to him. "What? Me, nervous? Don't be ridiculous. If anything I'm- not nervous." Howard said with false confidence. "I can see that. Be sure to go easy on me." Rowena said sweetly as she batted her eyes at the boy who was clearly using false bravado to make himself seem more confident than he was.

 Behind them, Penny began making exaggerated gagging gestures towards Godric. "What?" He asked her, not seeing what the big deal was. Sure, Rowena was shamelessly flirting with the boy, but so what? It was a missed opportunity to hit her like she and Helga had been doing to him, but he could always do that later.

"Howard is a pig. He's asked out every girl back at Ilvermorny, and always makes lewd gestures and remarks at them." Penny whispered to Godric. "Eh, I still don't see what the big deal is." Godric said. "She's stroking his already massive ego. Anymore and he'll be hitting on the teachers next." Penny said, but Godric still didn't get it, but rather than dwell on the matter anymore he simply shrugged his shoulders. 'So he's confident, big deal.' Godric thought, not seeing what was wrong with the boy.

 "-ROWENA RAVENCLAW FROM HOGWARTS VERSUS HOWARD WOLOWITZ FROM ILVERMORNY!" Came Berrycloth's amplified voice which they had been drowning out thus far. Rowena and Howard walked out into the arena side-by-side until they got to the raised platform that would be the stage for their duel. Both walked to their own sides, then turned to face each other.

"BEGIN!" Berrycloth announced after getting a nod from each contestant to make sure they were ready.

 "Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy! Expelliarmus!" Howard chanted, sending four quick spells at Rowena who easily blocked the first three spells with minor difficulty, then side-stepped the fourth spell.

Howard seemed surprised when Rowena was left standing with her wand in hand, as no one he had dueled back at Ilvermorny had been prepared for his sudden barrage, at least not the first time. The second time he dueled people then they would try to counter his chain of spells, but he usually mixed things up on the second round.

"Stupefy." Rowena spoke lazily aloud, giving Howard ample amount of time to block the spell. "Stupefy! Petrificus Totalus! Expelliarmus! Stupefy!" Howard chanted another chain of spells, however Rowena once more blocked them all this time, only when the last spell was sent her way did she begin the advance, casting Silencio which Howard was not expecting, then she cast Expelliarmus which sent Howard's wand flying through the air and into her waiting grasp.

"WINNER, ROWENA RAVENCLAW!" Berrycloth announced, and everyone began to cheer. Walking over to the stunned boy, Rowena handed him back his wand before saying, "Thanks for going easy on me."

Howard was momentarily dumbstruck by her words, but he was quick to put on a confident smile as he spoke, "Saw through me, did you? It was nothing really. It's like you said, 'It's just a duel'." The two shook hands before they walked off stage to allow the next contestants to proceed.

 "UP NEXT WILL BE LEONARD HOFSTADTER FROM ILVERMORNY VERSUS LUIGI VAMPA FROM BEAUXBATONS!" Berrycloth announced once Rowena and Howard had returned to the tunnel where the others were waiting.

At once, Madam Pomfrey moved to both of them, checking them over for any injury, and only after finding them perfectly healthy did she give them each a pepper-up potion so they would be ready to go for their next matches. Meanwhile Leonard and Luigi walked out of the tunnel and into the arena before heading up onto the stage.

"That was quick! What's the mattew Howawd?! Pwetty giwl take away youw abiwity to cast a speww?" Barry Kripke said mockingly once Howard stepped into the room. "What can I say, I'm a sucker for pretty girls." Howard said magnanimously.

"Ze are both assholes." Elise Martin said to the other girl from Beauxbatons, speaking quietly enough so no one but her intended could hear her, though Hermione who was standing near to them still heard.

 The second match took almost twice the amount of time as the first match, resulting in another loss for Ilvermorny when Luigi Vampa hit Leonard with the Dancing Feet charm and the tickling charm one after the other, resulting in Leonard being unable to retaliate before he was stunned.

"You fought well, mia michi. You are very good at blocking spells, but maybe you should get into the habit of attacking more." Luigi Vampa said to Leonard as the two made their way back into the tunnel. "Thanks. I'll try to remember that." Leonard said sarcastically, but Luigi simply slapped him on the back and laughed happily.

 Hermione and Samuel Garnier went next, only it went a lot like the first round and was over in less than three minutes with Hermione dubbed as the winner. Like Rowena, Hermione thought to let the French boy cast a few spells to put on a better show before she decided to get serious and stunned him.

"You 'ave bested me, and earned my respect. Zee match ees yours." Samuel said, taking the loss very graciously. He himself was a good judge in character, and he could tell that Hermione had been holding back. Had she wanted to, she could have ended the match in a matter of seconds but she chose to let him show a little of what he could do.

"Thank you." Hermione said proudly as the two of them walked off stage. "You weren't bad yourself, but you should work on your spell chains. More spells aren't better than if you had used different spells. Make your opponent struggle to guess what you're going to do next." She told him, then gave a few examples from their own duel where he only used three different spells in the same order. Had he been able to mix things up a bit it might not have been so easy to beat him.

 "ROUND FOUR WE WILL HAVE HARRY POTTER FROM HOGWARTS VERSUS BARRY KRIPKIE FROM ILVERMORNY!" Berrycloth announced, prompting the two contestants to make their way out on stage.

The second the round began, Harry very quickly chained three spells together, the last one being Accio which he had directed to Barry's shoes. Barry was swept off his feet and shot across the stage towards Harry, who took the advantage to use Levioso to raise the boy upside down and into the air before he used the disarming charm to take his wand.

"You're free to mock Godric all you want, but I don't ever want to hear you make fun of my other friends again!" Harry growled quietly so only Barry could hear what he had to say. The crowd cheered in joy at his victory with Sirius being the loudest, and Harry couldn't help but lose his frown and smile up in the stands at Arcturus and Sirius who had come to see him duel.

"Well done, boy! You were magnificent!" Arcturus shouted down at him, causing Harry's smile to grow even wider.

 "Hey Kripke! Hopefully next time you'll be able to utter a spell before you get your butt kicked!" Howard taunted, getting payback from earlier. "Oh pwease, Wowowitz! He just caught me off guawd. Next time, you'ww see." Barry responded, showing no sign of defeat even after getting crushed.

 The next match between the short, thin boy from Ilvermorny and the girl from Beauxbatons wasn't too bad, lasting longer than any match previously with both contestants casting a wide array of spells until one of them actually managed to hit the other. Neither were good at aiming. Stuart Bloom from Ilvermorny was beaten, giving Beauxbatons another win under their belt, and leaving Ilvermorny with no wins.

 "ROUND SIX WE WILL HAVE FERNAND MONDEGO FROM BEAUXBATONS VERSUS GODRIC GRYFFINDOR FROM HOGWARTS!" Berrycloth announced, causing Godric to smirk evilly as he walked out onto the field with the pompous windbag.

"I'm going to enjoy this." Godric said with a chuckle. "Know your place, peasant." Fernand said with a smirk, then turned his nose up into the air before he walked to his end of the stage without giving Godric a chance to retort. 'I'll show you Your place, little lordling!' Godric growled internally as he moved to his end of the stage.

 The second the round began, Fernand began launching a torrent of spells at Godric, all of which he easily dodged by stepping to the side. He let this happen for a few seconds before he decided to try something and let one of the spells hit him, which with his refined physique from exercise and the ritual, Godric was able to simply shrug the spell off as if it were nothing.

"Was that it? I don't know why I ever bothered dodging, your spells are so weak." Godric taunted with a laugh. His words had the desired effect as he watched Fernand's face twist into rage as he fired another spell, and just like the one before, Godric simply shrugged it off.

"Weak!" He laughed, ridiculing the boy who couldn't help but look down at the wand in his hand, most likely trying to figure out why his spells weren't doing what they were supposed to do.

 Done with toying with the kid's mind, Godric cast a ball of light right in Fernand's face, catching the little lordling off-guard and blinding him. Fernand reeled back in surprise as his vision suddenly disappeared, then he felt his feet get pulled out from beneath him before he began sliding along the stage towards Godric.

Doing what Harry did, Godric made Fernand begin to rise into the air by casting Levioso, but instead of disarming him he let him fall back to the ground on his head. Fernand slowly rolled over onto his stomach before he pushed himself to his knees, which is when his body was suddenly petrified.

Crouching down, Godric quietly spoke, "It seems we've both found our places. Me, victorious with you kneeling at my feet." Before Godric could say anything else to ridicule the boy frozen at his feet, Berrycloth announced that he was the winner and ushered him off the stage while he worked to get Fernand unpetrified.

 "Wow. Were his spells really that weak?" Penny asked him once he returned to where they were all gathered. "No, Godric just has a really strong physique. He can usually shrug off a spell or two from most people." Rowena chimed in before Godric could spin some lies to the girl.

"That's actually really cool." Penny said, truly impressed. She didn't know people could train their bodies like that to resist spells, and by the looks on the faces of everyone else, neither did they. "Thanks. It really helps to exercise." Godric said as he made a builder's pose to show off his muscles.

Letting out a sigh, Salazar and the tall thin boy from Ilvermorny moved through the tunnel and into the arena, only to find himself walking back inside less than a minute later, having very quickly paralyzed and beaten Sheldon with a spell he had spoken in Parseltongue. It had actually been the surprise that he had spoken Parseltongue that had caught Sheldon so off-guard, which allowed him to beat the boy in seconds.

 With the end of Salazar's match, Berrycloth announced they would be taking a thirty minute break to let the students recover for their next matches. "What was that language you spoke out there?" Sheldon asked Salazar once he had been unparalyzed and returned to the tunnel. "Parseltongue." He answered truthfully.

"That's so cool! I've heard of Parseltongue before! It lets you talk to snakes!" Rajesh said excitedly. Being originally from India where Parseltongue originated, he knew all about it, and had even been given the chance to meet a few wizards who spoke the tongue. "Who taught you how to speak it?" Howard asked curiously, hoping maybe he might be able to learn it too, after all he was interested in learning all sorts of languages.

Already he could speak English, Mandarin, Russian, French, and a little bit of Japanese, but to add a language that would let him communicate with snakes, now that would be really cool. "You don't learn to speak it, you are born with it. It is a part of you from the moment you enter the world." Salazar said, shutting down Howard's dream the moment it began.

 "You all are very talented at dueling. Who trained you?" Elise Martin asked curiously while looking between the Hogwarts students. Though she hadn't seen some of them fight, the ones she had seen hadn't lost a single match and didn't even come close to losing, and she knew the others were going to be just as difficult.

"Our teachers here at Hogwarts taught us most of the spells, and together we've played around with them to try and find new ways to use them in combat." Godric said, being somewhat honest. He did learn from teachers, though few here at Hogwarts were able to teach him something that he didn't already know. He also didn't want to mention how it was he and Salazar who trained everyone because that would raise more questions than it would answer, questions he didn't want to answer.

"Zat is really special. Would you mind giving me some pointers?" Elise asked Godric, who only shrugged before replying, "Sure, if you want. We'll have time after the tournament today, and we could practice tomorrow after the fourth-years duel too."

"You're going to help them? We still have to face them all again in the team rounds on Thursday! Don't you think it's a bad idea to show them our tricks?" Hermione asked, not quite sure it made sense to teach the opposition things before you fought them.

"Relax, Hermione. I taught you my fighting style and you still can't beat me. I don't mind showing her a few tricks, and if it makes the duel more challenging then all the better. If she somehow beats me due to what I taught her then that's cool too. Just shows what an excellent teacher I am." Godric said with a laugh, trying to play the situation off as not a big deal. "You are strange. I like you." Elise told Godric with a smile.

 Time ticked by rather quickly, and soon enough it was time to begin the dueling once more. Round eight was between Howard Wolowitz and Celine Castillon, and after more time than it ever should have taken, Howard was able to disarm Celine, giving Ilvermorny their first win of the day.

The boy was all pumped up after the match, and couldn't help but brag a bit more than he should have considering it was just a duel. Next, Neville finally got to duel against Luigi Vampa, and though he did perform superbly and won without taking a hit, Neville had taken his time and had let Luigi show off a bit for the crowd of spectators before he beat him.

Apparently it was something that Rowena, Helga, Hermione, Harry, and Neville had all talked about beforehand, but had not included Godric and Salazar because they didn't think the two of them would agree to hold back to not let the other schools look bad. Harry also discarded their idea when he dueled Barry Kripke because he had wanted to teach him a lesson for insulting Hermione, but he didn't intend to do that with his opponent from Beauxbatons, so it wasn't that big of a deal that he hadn't held back in his first match.

Aside from giving Luigi the opportunity to give his best performance, Neville also demonstrated his skills to the crowd, showing them all that he too was an excellent wizard. By the end of it, his grandmother, Augusta Longbottom who had been watching the whole thing actually shed a tear with how proud she was of her grandson, and she knew he was shaping up to be the man she knew he could be.

 Hermione did the same thing with the little Indian Boy from Ilvermorny, Rajesh Koothrappali. It was interesting to see the new inventive ways in which they used simple spells to win their duels, but it was kind of boring because unlike their opponents who stood in one spot without moving an inch, the Hogwarts students moved all over their end of the stage, making them a much harder target to hit. Honestly, to Godric and Salazar, it was all quite boring to watch.

"The team duels are going to be much more fun because there will be more spells to look out for. Hopefully they've actually practiced team maneuvers." Salazar told Godric just as Barry Kripke and Alexandre Dumas went out on stage.

The duel ended with Kripke surprisingly beating Dumas and giving Ilvermorny their second win. It didn't help Barry's already inflamed ego, but there wasn't much Godric or Salazar could do. They doubted Savrin would let cursing or jinxing the boy stand, so they could do nothing but watch.

 Elise Martin and Helga were soon called out onto the stage, and like the others, Helga gave Elise the chance to showcase her skills, which proved to be a mistake on her part. Helga was exceptionally good, but even she could make mistakes, which happened when she thought Elise was casting Stupefy, but actually casted the Dancing Feet charm that had caught Helga completely off-guard before she was disarmed.

"You were toying with me, weren't you?" Elise asked after she had been announced the winner and the two of them were walking back to the tunnel. "I wouldn't say that. More like I- like I wanted to see you demonstrate your skills. Godric said we can learn many things from watching others, but you did catch me by surprise. I didn't know I could dance like that." Helga said with a laugh, not the least bit upset at having lost her match.

"You are too kind." Elise told Helga before she gave her a brief hug, then the two separated to go to their respective groups.

 "I hope you learned something." Godric told her as soon as she neared them. "Ugh! I don't need a lesson about not taking this seriously." She told him, not in the mood to hear about it. "I disagree. You are kind, Helga. We don't want that kindness to be the death of you." Salazar cut in, for once siding with Godric.

"It was just a duel." Helga said, hoping to put an end to this. "Yes, but what about when it's not? Don't treat your opponents as if they're weaker than you even if you know they are." Godric said, which was hilarious coming from the guy who literally let himself be hit with spells to make the other person look bad.

"Like you're one to talk." She quipped back at him while not-so-subtly shooting a look at Fernand. "That was entirely different. You were trying to be nice. I was trying to be an asshole. There was also no way in hell I was going to lose against him." Godric stated, not bothering that the little lordling was listening in to what they were saying.

 Before they could continue arguing with one another, Godric and Penny's names were called out into the arena. "We'll finish this later." He told her, causing her to act childish and stick her tongue out at him. To most people that would have looked normal, but to him it looked weird because he knew Helga was actually a lot older mentally than she appeared, and to see her stick her tongue out at him made him think that she wasn't in fact as old as he remembered.

'Come to think of it, none of us have really been acting our true age.' He thought to himself, and realized that he was entirely correct in that regard. And when he thought of how old he was, the first thing that came to mind was that he was thirteen years old, not one-thousand or however old he used to be.

'Huh… I don't remember how old I used to be.' He realized, finding that thought to be more curious than troubling.

 "BEGIN!" Berrycloth announced, bringing Godric back to reality as he quickly raised his wand to block a few spells Penny sent at him. "Don't tell me you're going to go easy on me after everything you just said." Penny said to him, earning a raised brow from Godric, which soon turned into a grin as raised his wand and silently chanted, 'Accio'.

Penny's whole body came rocketing towards him, and only when she was about to crash into him did he step to the side and pluck the wand from her grasp as she went sailing past where he had been before, only stopping when she began to roll on the ground.

"You should take better care of your wand. It just came flying right at me without any warning." Godric told Penny once she got back to her feet. "You're funny. You're really funny!" She snapped at him as she snatched her wand from him in annoyance.

As they walked back to the tunnel, Godric said, "Hey, you were the one who said I was going easy. And besides, I told you I was going to beat you when we made the bet." He paused momentarily as he realized that was probably why she was so upset and couldn't stop himself from smirking at her.

"Are you perhaps mad because you know what comes next?" He asked her, causing Penny to turn rigid in place. "What are you waiting for, then? You won. Do it already." Penny said while scrunching her eyes closed, giving him permission to claim his prize.

Stepping in close to her, Godric leaned in as if to kiss her lips, but turned at the last second and gave her a soft peck on her cheek. Penny's eyes shot open in surprise just as Godric was pulling away from her, and if Godric saw it right, she was a little disappointed he hadn't kissed her lips.

"Don't worry. There is still plenty of time for us to get better acquainted. Only next time, you have to ask me for a kiss." He said to her as he moved from the tunnel into the main room, leaving Penny to stand there alone as she reached up to touch where he had kissed her.

 Round fourteen was a decent match all things considered. Sheldon Cooper was actually good at throwing out an odd assortment of spells when he was given the chance, and Edmund Dantes was really good at blocking spells, so it made for quite the match. However it had to come to an end sooner than later, and with always being on the defense, Sheldon was able to earn another victory for Ilvermorny.

"Is it just me or does he sort of look like a praying mantis?" Salazar asked Godric, pointing to Sheldon as he stalked into the room after his win. "I didn't see it before, but now that you point it out, yeah. The way he holds his arms and his posture, he could definitely be a praying mantis." Godric agreed.

 "Way to go, Coopew! Wook at you, adding anothew point fow Iwvewmowny." Barry cheered his teammate, though he also took the opportunity to make fun of the ones who had lost so far. Being that he had already fought both of his rounds, he didn't need to duel anymore today, and was taking the opportunity to point that out to the ones who still had to duel. "Thank you, Barry." Sheldon said robotically, his face displaying no emotion whatsoever.

 It was about this time when Berrycloth announced that they would all be breaking for lunch so everyone would be able to have the next two hours to go eat and prepare themselves for their next rounds. Leaving the Coliseum, everyone began to split apart to go see their friends and families who had come to watch them and talk about everything that had happened thus far in today's tournament.

Not having family besides each other, Godric, Rowena, Helga, and Salazar made their way to the Great Hall to get something to eat. They were halfway there when Luna caught up to Salazar and began walking in step beside him, and immediately began to compliment them all on their performances thus far, even Helga who had lost the only match she had been in.

"But you were the best." She whispered to Salazar who was now sitting beside her at the table. Hearing Luna, Salazar couldn't stop himself from smiling. He seemed to smile a lot around her, which didn't go unnoticed by the others, especially Godric who decided now was the perfect time for some payback.

Leaning forward across the table as if to grab something, Godric punched Salazar in the face just as he had been punched earlier that morning. "Oh my goodness, Salazar, there was a mosquito right there on your face, but don't worry, I got it for you." Godric said dryly, not even trying to pretend that he was sorry or serious for what he had just done.

"A mosquito? In January? You couldn't come up with anything better?" Salazar asked in annoyance as he held his cheek. 'God damn it! He hits like a fucking troll!' Salazar cursed internally.

"I'm serious, Salazar. There was a mosquito." Godric said, then he looked over at Helga and Rowena before he continued, "You two better be careful. We wouldn't want a mosquito to get either of you. They're very, very annoying." Godric finished with a deadpan look at each of them, silently warning them what would happen should they try to get after him for living his new life.

"Point taken." Rowena said while moving slightly behind Helga to use the smaller blonde girl as a human shield.

 They all ate their meals in relative silence after that, at least until the students began to pour into the room, with many of them coming over to congratulate them on their duels. They ate quickly, then as they made their way out of the room they were joined by Penny and the two girls from Beauxbatons.

"Would you mind giving us some pointers?" Elise asked Godric, who nodded yes in agreement, then told them to follow him. Penny of course wasn't going to be left out and tagged along without asking, and seeing as how no one told her to go away, she felt she was welcome to join. When they got to the seventh floor corridor, they walked back and forth past the troll tapestry before the door suddenly appeared and they entered where the dueling stage was already set up.

"Wow. Zees is amazing." Celine Castillon said, truly impressed by the room. "I thought you were just going to go outside. This is way better." Penny said, agreeing with Celine's judgement of the room.

 "Okay, before we begin, I want to see a bit more movement out of you all when you're up on stage. You're not statues, and a moving target is a lot more difficult to hit than a still one. Another thing, don't immediately try to go for the winning blow, take your time. As you have seen, making your opponent dance to throw them off balance works fairly well, but so does blinding them with a simple spell like Lumos, and snatching their feet out from beneath them with the summoning charm when you target their shoes." Godric said, giving them all a look, though he smirked at the end at Penny, reminding her of how he had used the summoning charm on her, though he hadn't targeted her shoes, and only now was that probably sinking into her brain.

No, he had targeted something far more intimate, something that was wrapped around her lower body in such a way that when it tried to come to him, he was certain she would have felt it try to rip away from her. It took a few seconds of staring at his smirk before Penny finally clued in what he was so amused about, and when she realized he had summoned her by targeting her panties her eyes widened in surprised anger.

"You bastard!" She shouted as she drew her wand and began casting spells at him. He burst out laughing even as he dodged her spells, enjoying the look on her face, knowing she finally understood what he had done.

 "Is zis part of training?" Elise asked, but Godric was too busy laughing and dodging spells to respond right away. "Zee English are weird." Celine said to her friend who only nodded in agreement.

"Just leave them be. Come over here and I'll show you how to extend Lumos so you can blind your opponents." Rowena said to the two girls who were quick to take her up on her offer. "At least Godric has a new friend who knows how to handle him." Helga said, happy with how Godric was currently running for his life.

"We should see if she wants to transfer to Hogwarts. This is quite entertaining." Salazar said as he absentmindedly rubbed his face where Godric had punched him. "Come on, Salazar. You said you would teach me the Color Change charm." Luna said to Salazar, snapping him out of his dark musings and bringing him back to reality.

"The Color Change Charm? That's a fifth-year spell!" Rowena said in surprise, not sure Luna was ready for a spell like that. "Don't overreact, Rowena. Luna already learned Accio, Protego, and the Disillusionment charm. The Color Change Charm shouldn't be that difficult compared to those." Salazar said, brushing off the fact that a second-year was learning more advanced magic than any kid her age should be learning.

"I've been really careful. I don't even mess up when I say them non-verbally anymore either." Luna said, once more causing Rowena to guffaw at them. "Non-verbal casting isn't taught at Beauxbatons until our sixth-year." Elise said in hushed surprise.

"Same at Hogwarts. Godric, Salazar, Helga, and myself were the exceptions before this year. The headmaster is our guardian and he taught us early on, and we have since then began teaching the others on our team how it's done so they can start learning a bit sooner. They can cast a few spells non-verbally already, but I didn't know Salazar was teaching Luna." Rowena said, sounding a little unsure how she was supposed to react to this new information.

"You all must be good teachers." Celine said, genuinely impressed. "Thanks. I can give you a few pointers on how to start off practicing non-verbally if you want." Rowena told the two, getting immediate nods of agreement.

 It took awhile for Penny to finally grow tired of firing spells at Godric before she gave up trying to stun him, at which point Godric walked over to stand in front of her. "As you now know, it's much more difficult to hit a moving target than one that just stands in place. Would you like to learn some new techniques now?" He asked the blonde who was doubled over and panting.

"How are you not tired?! You just ran like a mile's worth of distance!" Penny said, clearly surprised at how calm Godric seemed. "I do a lot of physical training." Godric responded nonchalantly as he moved to stand beside her.

"I noticed when you cast spells you're not locking your wrist. You want to keep your hand straight when firing the spells. Helps keep things going where you want them." Godric instructed as he moved her hand so it was in the correct position.

He was just about to correct her stance when suddenly a ball of light appeared in front of his eyes and blinded him. Godric's wand was in his hand faster than Penny could blink and a Protego wrapped around him as he quickly blinked the vision back to his eyes.

"I did it!" Came the voice of a girl with a French accent, and Godric realized what was happening. When his vision finally returned, he looked over to see Elise smiling from ear to ear in excitement for having been able to launch the ball of light at him. "Uncool." He said in disapproval, but Elise didn't seem to care. "Teach me how to do that." Penny demanded, and Godric could only let out a sigh. He had done this to himself.

 ---------

 When it was finally time for the next round of the tournament to begin, both Celine and Penny had been able to extend Lumos to a fair degree, and Luna had also managed to add a streak of green into her hair on her right-side above her ear. Green hadn't been her favorite color, but she was coming to appreciate it far more than she ever thought she would.

 Round fifteen came and went with Rowena beating Celine, though Celine was able to impress a few people when she was able to create the ball of light in an attempt at blinding Rowena. Neville beat Leonard a bit quicker than he had intended, but Leonard had attempted to try and dodge like Neville and the other students from Hogwarts seemed to do, but he had miscalculated and stepped right into Neville's stunner.

Rajesh Koothrappali beat Samual Garnier, much to the joy of the crowd of Ilvermorny students up in the stands. With this win they were no longer tied with Beauxbatons, but in second place, which still wasn't all that good seeing as there were only three teams, but it was better than coming in last.

Unlike in his previous match against Barry Kripke, Harry let Alexandre Dumas show off a bit before he unceremoniously knocked him onto his back and stunned him, earning another win for Hogwarts. In her match against Stuart Bloom, Helga still took things lightly as she had intended, but she also was more wary of any spells that might have come her way, and this time she did eventually stun Stuart and won the match.

 The highlight of the games came when Penny dueled Fernand Mondego. Fernand had come out onto the stage, strutting as if an elegant peacock, and to Penny's and everyone else's amusement, a few of the Beauxbatons students in the stands Booed him.

The crown jewel moment of the match came when after blocking spells for a little more than a minute, Penny began jumping around the stage, and picking her moment, she was able to cast a ball of lumos right in front of Fernand's eyes and blinding the pompous twit long enough for her to disarm him, then quickly she used the knockback jinx to send Fernand flying to the far end of the stage and land right on his ass.

"Judging by your posture, and how you're sitting there with that stupid look on your face, it's safe to say you are a loser. So long, sucka!" Penny mocked him before she moved back to the tunnel where everyone was waiting to congratulate her on her win.

 The final match of the day predictably ended when Salazar paralyzed Edmund Dantes in less than a minute, putting an end to the first day of the tournament for the Third-years with score as follows.

1st Place: Hogwarts- 13 wins

2nd Place: Ilvermorny- 5 wins

3rd Place: Beauxbatons- 3 wins