Chapter 26 – Peeves Picks the Wrong Target
Clouds drifted lazily overhead while the autumn breeze rolled softly across the grass. For a brief moment, the Hogwarts grounds felt peaceful and calm.
Naturally, someone had to ruin it.
Leo sat beneath the large tree watching students wobble around on broomsticks when several Slytherin boys flew directly toward him.
"Well, well, look who it is," Carol drawled mockingly as he stopped his broom nearby. "Our heroic Slytherin savior."
The other boys beside him burst into laughter.
"The great hero who rescued a Gryffindor lion cub," one added sarcastically. "Honestly, it's disgraceful."
Before Leo could even respond, Draco arrived first. He steered his broom between Carol and Leo with a cold expression.
"What do you want, Carol?"
Rose appeared moments later.
"Oh, look," she said sweetly while hovering nearby. "A monkey learned how to fly."
Her voice immediately shifted into rapid-fire mockery.
"What? You think you're impressive because you can stay on a broom? After what happened earlier, I doubt you could even save yourself."
Then she crooked her finger provocatively.
"You want to fight? Come on, then. I'm right here."
Draco, who had originally intended to say something threatening himself, suddenly found there was no opening left for him.
Instead, he quietly landed beside Leo and whispered, "I think Rose is even scarier than I realized."
"Yeah," Leo agreed thoughtfully while opening a bag of crisps from his enchanted pouch. "I think so too."
He casually handed the crisps to Draco.
Draco accepted them automatically before suddenly realizing something.
"Wait, Leo, we're still in cla—"
Before he could finish, Leo abruptly stood.
His expression changed instantly.
Rose had drawn her wand.
That crossed a line.
Leo moved without hesitation.
Before Carol could react, Leo rushed forward, drew Judgment, and slammed the wand sharply against Carol's wrist.
Crack.
"Agh!"
Carol yelped as his wand flew from his hand and landed in the grass.
"Nicholas!" Carol shouted furiously. "What are you doing?!"
"What?"
Leo answered with a single calm word.
Then he grabbed Carol by the robes, yanked him off the broom, and immediately began smacking him across the face with his wand.
Smack.
"Agh!"
Smack.
"Stop!"
Smack.
Leo ignored him completely.
He had only one thought in mind.
Why would anyone pull out a wand over something this stupid?
Didn't these idiots understand how dangerous wands actually were?
Since Carol liked using his wand so much, Leo decided it was only fair that the wand got used on him instead.
"Oh, Merlin!" Carol screamed while covering one cheek, only for Leo to smack the other. "Help me! Pull this lunatic off me!"
Rose and Draco both stood frozen in shock for several seconds.
Neither had expected Leo to explode so violently.
Then the other two Slytherin boys rushed forward.
"Leo! Behind you!"
"To the right!"
Rose and Draco shouted warnings at the same time while moving to help.
"You two stay back," Leo ordered immediately.
Without even turning fully around, he kicked sideways with one leg and spun with the other.
Thud.
Thud.
Both boys collapsed onto the grass before they could even touch him.
After casually smacking Carol across the face two more times for good measure, Leo finally stepped back.
Carol lay sprawled on the ground with wand-shaped marks across both cheeks.
Leo pointed Judgment calmly at him.
"It's dangerous to point a wand at your classmates," he said seriously. "But I forgive you. Don't do it again."
Rose immediately walked over looking delighted.
She tried patting Leo's head, but he slapped her hand away before she could reach him.
"You're actually amazing at fighting," she declared excitedly while shoving his shoulder instead.
Draco nodded rapidly in agreement.
He had known Leo understood martial arts from the beginning, but he hadn't realized his reactions were this fast—or this brutal.
Meanwhile, Carol and his two companions scrambled to their feet and fled toward the hospital wing without saying another word.
They looked genuinely terrified Leo might continue hitting them.
"Do you think they'll tell a professor?" Draco asked cautiously while watching them run away.
Rose snorted dismissively.
"So what if they do? They started it."
Leo shrugged calmly.
"She's right. We didn't start the trouble."
Then he glanced toward the entrance of the courtyard.
"Anyway, Madam Hooch is coming back."
Sure enough, Madam Hooch soon returned to the field. Since there were only a few minutes left before the lesson ended, she spent most of the remaining time using Neville as an example of what not to do.
Then came the praise.
Harry and Neville, who were already in the hospital wing, naturally received recognition for surviving the incident. Leo was also praised briefly before the class was dismissed.
What Leo and the others failed to notice, however, was the strange way many students from both houses kept glancing toward them afterward.
More specifically, toward Leo.
After flying class ended, Rose went off to visit Harry and Neville in the hospital wing while also looking for Hermione. Draco disappeared elsewhere with Crabbe, Goyle, and several Slytherin students.
Leo, meanwhile, remembered Professor McGonagall's message.
Dumbledore wanted to see him.
So, after leaving the grounds, he headed toward the Headmaster's office while thinking about his worsening condition. The strange mental exhaustion had returned again after his earlier outburst.
Whoosh—
Splatter.
A black object suddenly flew toward him.
Leo barely had time to react before it exploded against him.
Ink splashed across his robes and shoes.
"Ugh! It's Peeves!"
Nearby students immediately scattered in all directions.
"Hahahaha!"
A shrill voice echoed through the corridor.
"You sneaky little wizard! Take another ink bomb!"
Leo looked upward.
A small poltergeist floated in the air holding another balloon full of ink while laughing hysterically.
"Come on, little students! Let Peeves give you an ink bath!"
The poltergeist threw another balloon.
Instinctively, Leo reacted.
Without even drawing his wand, he silently manipulated the ink-filled balloon in midair using magic and mental force.
The balloon instantly reversed direction.
Peeves stared blankly.
"Oh, foolish little wizard," the poltergeist cackled while rolling through the air. "I'm a ghost! How could you possibly hit me?"
Then the balloon smacked directly into him.
Splatter.
Peeves froze.
"What—"
The poltergeist stared at the ink dripping from his body in utter disbelief.
"Am I hallucinating?" Peeves muttered. "How could that possibly work?"
Leo slowly looked down at the ink stains covering his robes.
Then he looked back up at the grinning poltergeist.
His expression darkened slightly.
Without a word, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the yellow talisman paper he hadn't used during the Sorting Feast.
Then he threw it.
Peeves laughed loudly.
"Oh, foolish little wizard! You think a piece of paper can hurt the mighty Peeves?"
The yellow talisman touched him.
Instantly, Peeves stopped moving.
His laughter vanished.
His entire body froze midair before dropping heavily onto the floor with a terrified expression.
He couldn't move.
He couldn't speak.
He couldn't even blink properly.
"How about that?" Leo said while calmly cleaning the ink from himself with a Cleaning Charm. "Surprised?"
Peeves stared at him in horror.
"Throwing ink bombs is fun, isn't it?" Leo continued while drawing his wand slowly. "Very fun."
Peeves immediately relaxed slightly upon seeing the wand.
After all, ordinary spells couldn't really affect him. He was a poltergeist. A first-year student shouldn't have any magic capable of harming him.
That strange yellow paper had to be some rare magical tool.
Surely Leo couldn't have many of those.
"You naughty little ghost," Leo said pleasantly. "Try this."
He flicked his wand dramatically while secretly manipulating the spilled ink on the floor with pure mental force.
The ink suddenly surged upward like a water jet.
Peeves shot into the air, screaming internally.
At that moment, the poltergeist finally realized something horrifying.
The yellow talisman hadn't merely paralyzed him.
It had forcibly made his spiritual body partially physical.
"Look at that!"
"That annoying pest finally got caught!"
"Poor Peeves."
Two amused male voices echoed from farther down the corridor before their owners even appeared.
....
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