The Battle of Perfecto

The parking lot was a mess of corpses and debris. Fallen trees and bits of the Fountain, broken wings and shattered wands littered the ground. Still, the battle carried on. Witches and wizards cast at each other desperately. One wrong move cost them a limb or their life. The Ravena swooped down, carrying away unsuspecting victims and dropping them from a high altitude. Witches and wizards on brooms zoomed around, throwing curses. The two giants still fought, although one of them had lost an arm and had trouble keeping his balance. And amidst all this, the storm raged on.

Don appeared in a bolt of lightning. Without wasting a second, he waved his arms.

The ground shook and opened. Tentacles of fire slithered out of the cracks and wrapped themselves around Hidalgo’s army. They screamed as they were burned and dragged into the pits of hell.

The water from the fountain rose up and washed over the enemies, drowning them.

The rain turned into icy bullets, and pelted at the dark wizards relentlessly.

Lighting crashed from the skies, striking down the Ravena in mid-air. The smell of burning feathers and bird meat filled the air in a sickening, rather than an appetizing way.

In minutes Hidalgo’s army was reduced to corpses, burned or drowned or riddled with holes.

*

Jinn appeared on the battleground, wand aloft. She had managed to escape her makeshift prison when one of the giants’ arm swiped off the wall of the classroom.

“All right, Don,” she called out, “You’ve done it. Now take off the amulet!”

Don looked at her.

“No,” he said simply. A wild grin was on his face. He seemed to be enjoying himself.

“Stupefy! ” she yelled. The spell bounced off Don’s face.

“You dare!” Don screamed. He inhaled deeply and when he exhaled, a gigantic fiery snake slithered out of his mouth. With his hands, he manipulated the flaming serpent to attack Jinn.

She raised her wand, summoning a wall made of water before her. The fiery snake crashed into it, causing steam to billow out in the collision. Jinn conjured a shield to protect her from being scalded. In her momentary inaction, Don threw her aside with a wave of his hand.

Kristoff caught her just in time.

He gestured furiously into the air, assembling a complex spell. When he was finished, he slashed his wand.

The concrete split and folded around Don, like a flower blooming in reverse, encasing him in cement. Roots followed it and wrapped themselves around the concrete cocoon. Water from puddles rose up formed a frozen third layer. Golden ropes snaked out of Kristoff’s wand-tip and coiled around the cocoon.

In the time of his casting, witches and wizards have assembled themselves around the encasement that held Don. Pryce was there, dismounting from her broomstick. Dave was bandaging a bleeding arm. Aly appeared in a whirlwind. There were others more, sporting a variety of wounds but were nevertheless capable of fighting. They raised their wands, ready to attack.

“Use the Patronus Charm!” Aly informed them. “It’s the only thing that works. The rest is pure tactic!”

And so, in the tense minutes that they waited for Don to escape the cocoon, they brought to mind memories of pure joy in order to conjure a powerful Patronus.

Five minutes passed, and they were beginning to feel complacent. Had Kristoff’s Encasement Spell worked? Was Don permanently imprisoned?
*

“Surely you can’t think parlor tricks like that will work against me?”

The voice came from behind them. Out of reflex, they bellowed together, “EXPECTO PATRONUM! ” and a dozen Patronuses stampeded from the surviving witches and wizards and attacked Don. He threw them aside, but there were too many. He Disapparated.

“Enough!” he yelled, reappeared a few feet away. “Let me cure your delusion that you have a chance against me!” he raised his hand, gathering power to cast a spell. But before he could, something happened.

Kristoff watched in amazement as Don collapsed, the unfinished spell imploding over his head. He seemed to be struggling against something that was on his neck. He was retching and sputtering, sounding as though he was being strangled.

And he was. For some odd reason, the leather string that held the second amulet had tightened itself around Don’s neck and was now throttling him.

“What’s going on?” Aly said wand aloft, her silver-blue swallow perched on her shoulder.

“The amulet is strangling him,” Kristoff replied dumbly. He had a sudden flash of memory where Junix had flicked his wand but nothing happened. Surely not…

*

Don finally managed to get his fingers in between his neck and the tightening string. With one forceful tug, he broke the leather strand and inhaled desperately. As relief flooded him, he felt his powers leave him. He held onto the amulet tightly, but it was no use. He had to wear it to benefit from its full power. But he did not want to risk being strangled again…

*

“He’s taken the amulet off…” Aly said. “Maybe now he’ll listen.” She approached Don, who was still lying on the ground.

“Don, it’s over,” she said. But a bolt of lightning to the chest silenced her. She staggered backwards, startled. The spell was weak, but the threat it posed was strong. The corruption had still not left Don, even if the extraordinary powers have.

He stood up.

“Don’t be stupid,” Kristoff said. “You don’t have a wand.” He pocketed his wand and opened his arms in a show of peace.

“I know I promised I would kill you,” he said. “But I sincerely wish it wouldn’t come to that, so please, stop. It’s over. Hidalgo’s dead, his army’s gone as well. You’ve done your job.”

Don walked forward slowly, and collapsed into Kristoff’s arms, sobbing. Kristoff untied the shield-amulet from Don’s neck and relaxed. He looked at the others and nodded at them, It was over.

But then Don broke away quickly, coughing slightly.

“Don?” Kristoff said, alarmed. Don was holding a wand. He must have gotten it off Kristoff’s pocket when they had embraced.

The broken wizard did not speak. He took several steps back, his wand pointed at Kristoff. The insanity was still in his eyes.

“Dude,” Kristoff raised his arms defensively. “Think about what you’re doing. I’m your friend.”

Don laughed hysterically, and pointed the wand to his own temple. Before anyone could do anything, a flash of green light obscured his face and he fell to the ground dead.

Now, it was over.