The Prophecy: Mainshock

The cat will meet the halfblood, a catalyst to great events and terrible.
Ginger hair will fly and blood will fall as brother meets brother, man meets beast,
and the young voice of justice calls evil from the shadows.
A grudge comes to term, family torn in two. The halfblood rises to seek his destiny.
The cat will meet the halfblood...

It had been a fun few days with his brother and cousin. They'd seen a movie, run around the school some, and he'd shown off his form for them in the animagus reserve. It was the last night though, and then they'd be going back to Hogwarts. He'd worried he'd spend himself into the poorhouse feeding and entertaining them, but his mother had sent some Galleons to make sure the boys weren't starved to death. Apparently she'd realized that he was not overflowing with money.

He'd grabbed butterbeer and pork rolls for everyone and now made his way back to the stands surrounding a professional-size dueling stage. It was a bit longer and wider than the ones at his old school in Florida, but then, much bigger magic tended to be displayed. There was always a Healer waiting at the school during a match.

"Sorry, they don't do nachos and hot dogs here," he said as he slid up next to his brother. "It's an English thing. At Quidditch games they have meat pies."

Mari grabbed his share with a thanks and peered down at the stage, eager to see what was in store for the night. He was sad that it was their last night, but there was just a hint of happiness, too. At least at Hogwarts he didn't catch glimpses of a brother he'd quickly lost faith in. Right now, though, he wasn't thinking about the end of the trip. "This is so cool," he said. "Too bad they don't have this kind of thing at Hogwarts, there's like nothing to do there."

"We go to Hogsmeade a lot," Castiel added, flicking a glance aside at Mari. They also went to Diagon Alley, and they'd crashed a fancy pureblood ball, but somehow they hadn't told Caspian any of that. He'd kept them busy during the day and they'd talked about all sorts of things at night. When his brother was in class, Castiel and Mari had entertained themselves just fine.

"I wish there was a dueling arena at Hogwarts. I heard there was a dueling club once, but they don't have any clubs now." Not that he was interested in conforming and joining school clubs or anything, but he'd make an exception for dueling.

"If there used to be one and you want one, make it happen," Cat said. "No use sitting around wishing when you could just do it." He looked down into the center of the arena as music came up and two wizards stepped up onto the platform. One wore Aurum gold and the other was sporting Viridis green. Cat recognized both.

"I bet you could talk to a professor about it," Mari said. "Like Blackwood-Hardt, or the headmaster, I heard he used to get into duels and stuff." His eyes were glued to the stage as things got started. "Do people usually get hurt at these things?" he asked as his gaze followed wands brought to the ready. Some spells were pretty nasty.

"They'll duel until either someone is disarmed or someone yields," Cat said. "There are a lot of injuries, but they can usually make it to the hospital wing themselves. Mostly they're in this for the fun of it, but sometimes you'll get a guy who's dead serious and he's the guy who gets dragged away with tentacles instead of a mouth." Usually. "I've never seen anyone beat down hard enough that they dragged the school Healer to the arena." But then, he didn't always come to dueling night.

Though he wouldn't admit it to anyone, Saren was excited to have Evangeline on his arm. She was beautiful and he was far from used to having a beautiful girl accompany him to duels, even when he actually participated. Tonight, he was only an alternate, unlikely to be called to the stage, so he could focus his attention on his date. Date, he kind of liked that. "These are always interesting," he was saying. "I like participating, but tonight others won out."

"I would have loved to see you duel," Evangeline said somewhat breathlessly. She felt so bad for having been so busy the past semester, but somehow he hadn't forgotten about her, and he was just as handsome and charming as she remembered. "I'm sure they're all just intimidated by you," she assured him. There was no other reason she could think of that someone wouldn't jump at a chance to watch Saren.

Saren chuckled and shook his head. "I'll make sure to be in the next round," he said. "You'll have to come cheer me on, it would be nice to have someone on the sidelines." It wasn't as though everyone hated him, and he got good comments after particularly impressive shows, but there was never anyone there specifically for him. He scanned the section of stands for seats, but things had already gotten started and there were few left.

"Of course I will," Evangeline promised. "I'll cheer louder than everyone else!" She'd never cheered for anything, but it couldn't be too hard. She'd just see how it was done this time. Her eyes scanned the crowd, finding a seat here or there, but not two together. "Oh! There are two," she said, pointing at a partial row left open partway up.

Saren's eyes darkened briefly when they caught on the seats. Dear Caspian and the brats were sitting in the same area. However, there were no other seats he could see. "Lead the way, my dear," he said, forcing a smile onto his face. Perhaps the trio could keep to themselves and manage not to cause any trouble this time.

Evangeline was too excited to see that moment of warning, and proceeded up the stairs with a smile on her lips, skirt swishing around her thighs. She'd felt so daring in the few items she'd purchased in Valfirid that she'd taken all her clothes to be altered and only really owned short skirts now.

"I've only ever seen my brothers duel," she told Saren. "It wasn't official or anything, but when they fight, they prefer to do so as gentlemen." In actuality they were just jerks and being bitter would suit them, but Niall and Dillon enjoyed the show, even just between themselves.

"Dueling is a fun hobby," Saren said, allowing himself to be distracted by their soon-to-be neighbors by the teasing fabric of Evangeline's skirt. "Besides, you learn a lot more by performing spells than by simply reading about them and practicing them on a pillow. Duels are unpredictable, exciting..." Duels were much better than strictly structured classroom practice.

"Sh~, here comes trouble," Cat said under his breath. He'd been just fine answering Castiel and Mari's questions about university dueling between watching the first guys step onto the platform. He'd known Scaren would be here, but had hoped not to see him at all, especially considering Mari's brittle happiness. It would take very little for things to go right down the toilet.

Castiel wouldn't have heard his brother if he wasn't sitting directly beside him, and then maybe he wouldn't have made the mistake of following Caspian's gaze. His eyes narrowed a moment before he pretended he hadn't spotted the guy ogling some pretty redhead in front of him. "These pork rolls are good," he said, attempting distraction. He made a show of taking a large bite.