They arrived in the cafeteria, a bit worried about if they were noticed. They grabbed their food and sat down. Lily looked a bit shaken up, “Did we do something wrong? Those guys seemed to be heading to where we were practising.” Jenny patted her head, “Don’t worry about it, no one saw us, and besides there is no way we would be punished for being safe and practising our magic in an area where we don’t hurt anyone. Chris nodded his head in agreement, while having a bite of sandwich stuffed in his mouth.

“Hey brat, shouldn’t you be studying or something? Why are you hanging out with the kid who kicked your ass?” Edwin’s older sister walked up to the table. Edwin sighed, “Hey Kathryn, glad to see you’re doing well too.” They glared at each other. Chris swallowed his food, “Ohh your name is Kathryn, nice to see you again.” Chris diverted her attention away from Edwin. She snarled, “Hey runt, I see you are being just as annoying as usual.” Chris smiled, “I could say the same thing to you.” Kathryn grabbed Chris by the collar, and tried to pick him up, but couldn’t.

His smile didn’t break, “This is a public space. Maybe don’t try to attack me for a third time just because you’re jealous of me, alright? Alright.” She let go, “Ohh yea, you wanna go one on one? I’ll beat you down!” She growled. Chris ignored her, “I see where you got it from, if I had to deal with that I’d be an asshole all the time too,” he looked at Edwin. The whole table laughed, and she began to speak a spell out of frustration.

Chris got in her face, “Once again, don’t be a public nuisance. Resorting to violence is childish, but if that’s what you want I will accept. You will have your one-on-one.” She jeered, “So you do think you can take me all by yourself just because you beat my younger brother.” Chris finally stopped smiling, “No, It’ll be a fight between you and your younger brother. If you win, I’ll do whatever you want, but if he wins you leave him and us alone. Your white haired boyfriend got the memo, I don’t get what your problem is.” She looked as if she had smelled manure, “Me versus my brother, you have to be joking. He is a disgrace to the family name.” Chris laughed, “If that’s the case then this is a win win for you, isn’t it? Meet us at the Magic Battle fields in an hour. You’ll have your face off then. Now please go away madam.” She growled in frustration and walked away, but Chris continued eating his sandwich.

Edwin piped up, “Sorry about that, but are you sure I’m good to take on my sister? She’s been here for three more years than me, and she was a prodigy for her age.” Chris swallowed abruptly, coughing a little, “This school does not teach any of what I taught you. To give you an example of how strong you are, your basic firebolt is now as strong as a firelance. Let alone your other abilities in your arsenal. I want you to at least pretend to chant though. For your cool moves you made up, just make up some cool sounding chant to go with it.”

Edwin tried to speak up again, but Chris went back to eating his sandwich, “Don’t worry about it,” Chris spluttered food onto his tray. There was little prep necessary, as Edwin had just practiced his strongest move, and his sister was dead set that she would easily win. They arrived just a few minutes before her.

When she entered the arena, she shouted, “Since we don’t have shields then we go until one of us gives. I think that should work, what do you say, pipsqueak?” Chris smiled again and waved, “Sounds good, if anyone gets too hurt I’ll take them to the infirmary!”

Edwin and Kathryn stood across from each other, the stress of the encounter made Edwin sweat nervously. He didn’t know what his sister had learned since she left home, and even if Chris didn’t think much of it, Edwin thought very highly of his sister’s strength. Chris’ shout echoed through the area, “Begin!” Edwin began to charge at his sister, fake chanting his extra strong firebolt spell, and sprinting to close the distance. He realized his sister had her eyes closed, chanting the firelance spell. She thought so little that she didn’t even look at her opponent.

Most magic battles were also held at a distance, as moving while spell casting was difficult. The difference was, Chris had been training all of them with hand to hand magical combat. ‘What is she doing, does she not understand that it’s dangerous to stay still on the battlefield?’ His confusion was wrought through Chris’ intense weekend sessions.

When Kathryn’s eyes opened, she saw her brother just a few feet away with his spell just launching. She didn’t have time to react, and fell down to avoid it. She released her firelance from her downed position, and slammed it straight towards him. He had prepared a windwall spell, and the firelance was shoved over his head.

“You just got lucky, I’m not gonna give in. Your best move is just some weak firebolt. Even if I take ten head on I won’t give in. She slowly got back to her feet, and began chanting, this time with her eyes open. She knew it would be dangerous if he closed the distance again, and she was at least aware enough.

Edwin also began chanting, “Ohh sun, ball of flame from the skies above, vanquish my enemies with the power of the world!” It was short and sweet, and at the end of it he held his large ultimate attack. Kathryn’s incantation was broken, seeing this magic spell play out in front of her. Edwin smiled with tears running down his face, “Sis, I have been working hard too.” He launched the attack into the air, letting it explode over the school instead of within the arena. The shockwave sent a wind burst, almost knocking Kathryn off of her feet.

Dust clouds were kicked up, and the sound of the buildings throughout campus began straining. Kathryn fell to the ground, exhausted and shocked.

Kathryn looked down, “I’ll admit my defeat. I had no idea you were working so hard, getting so strong, but don’t think that means you’re better than me! I’ve worked my whole life for the head position of the house,” she began to cry, “I was the prodigy, the guarantee for the family. Please don’t take that from me. It’s all I have. I’m sorry!” She was sobbing now. Edwin walked to his sister and hugged her, “I don’t want that position, I just wanted you to be proud of me. Why do you think I even came here?”

Chris looked to his other friends, “Welp, mission accomplished guys.” Haven shook his head, “You knew something like this would happen didn’t you?” Chris smiled, “I had two guesses, either they would make up, or they would try to kill each other. Nothing in between. I was standing at the ready to take that blast if necessary, no worries.”

Jenny smiled and hugged him, “You did all of that for Edwin? You’re such a sweetheart.” Chris looked at her, “Well mostly for him, but I did want her to stop bothering me. I wasn’t lying that it was the third time she tried to attack or intimidate me.” Jenny, Haven, and Lily laughed, while Edwin and his sister cried their eyes out in the middle of a dirt covered battle arena.