Harry Potter : Cael Vale’s journey to Hogwarts

The duel pressed on—merciless, spell after spell, fire and frost, smoke and silence.

Cael's lungs burned. His left arm throbbed from a glancing blow. His magic was still strong, but he could feel the weight of the battle — the toll of every deflection, every evasion, every calculated counter-curse.

Across from him, Tom Marvolo Riddle stood without a scratch, but not without cost. Sweat ran along his jawline. His eyes, though composed, flickered with frustration beneath the arrogance.

"You should be proud," Riddle murmured, circling. "You've lasted longer than I expected."

Cael's wand rose. "You've wasted more magic than you expected."

That provoked him. "Crucio!"

Cael dived behind a fallen archway—stone cracking and groaning beneath the torture curse. The scream of the spell echoed unnaturally.

"Reducto!" Cael shot back from cover, obliterating a section of floor near Riddle's feet. Dust and shattered marble sprayed across the room.

"Confundo!" Cael cast again, forcing Riddle to counter—"Finite Incantatem!"—but in that moment of distraction, Cael sprinted forward and bellowed—

"Piertotum Locomotor!"

Three broken suits of ancient armor jolted to life, pulling themselves from the chamber's walls, swords raised. They rushed Riddle with thunderous steps.

"Bombarda Maxima!"

The suits exploded into shards, but their charge bought Cael time. From behind the rubble, he chanted—"Avis! Oppugno!"

A flock of conjured birds burst into the air and immediately dive-bombed Riddle's face, clawing at his eyes. He hissed in fury, swatting wildly—

"Confringo!"

"Expulso!"

Fire and force shattered the air. One bird exploded in a burst of feathers. Another broke against a column. But Cael was already weaving another set of charms.

"Fumos!" Thick smoke billowed around the battlefield.

"Disillusionment!" He vanished.

Riddle stood in a growing fog, breathing hard, eyes twitching. His patience was unraveling.

He waited…listened…

Then whispered, "Homenum Revelio."

A shimmer to the right. He turned instantly. "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

But Cael wasn't there.

Not yet.

Behind him, Cael dropped his invisibility, eyes steady. His voice rang out—

"Duro!"

The floor beneath Riddle's feet transfigured instantly to stone—glue-like and hardening rapidly, locking his boots.

Riddle growled, blasting the ground apart. "Relashio!"

Stone shattered, and he leapt out of the trap. He spun in one motion, wand slashing—

"Serpensortia!"

A massive black snake coiled into being, fangs bared, slithering toward Cael with deadly grace.

Cael muttered, "Vipera Evanesca!" The conjured serpent vanished in smoke.

Another flash.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

"Vera Verto!"

This time, Cael transfigured an entire section of wall into a dragon's skull—massive, ancient bone. The green bolt hit it and disintegrated it in an instant—but again, the blow never touched Cael.

"You can't run forever!" Riddle shouted.

"I don't need forever," Cael said. "I only need to outlast a Bastard without a Mother and Father ."

And then he attacked.

"Impedimenta!"

"Expelliarmus!"

"Rictusempra!"

"Petrificus Totalus!"

The cascade of hexes forced Riddle on the defensive, his wand a blur—"Protego! Finite! Protego Maxima!" He took a grazing blow to the arm and grunted as the blood welled up. But it only seemed to make him more furious.

He roared—"CRUCIO!"

The spell hit Cael's shoulder—not fully, but enough to send a jolt of sheer, searing agony through his nerves. He dropped to one knee, gasping.

Riddle stalked forward. "There it is. The crack. You feel it now, don't you? Pain. Helplessness. Just like I did."

Cael's teeth clenched. "You chose to become this."

He raised his wand, even through the pain. "Incendio!"

Flames erupted between them, forcing Riddle to halt.

Cael followed with—"Silencio!"

The spell hit—but Riddle blocked it at the last second. "Nice try."

"Lacarnum Inflamarae!" Cael followed, launching a searing fireball.

"Protego Maxima!" Riddle shielded and returned fire—"Bombarda!"

The force threw Cael backward into the base of a massive column. He groaned, ribs screaming, vision blurry.

He tasted blood.

He stood anyway.

Wand raised. Hands trembling.

This couldn't go on.

Not like this.

Cael narrowed his eyes. He focused. He remembered Myrddin's lessons. The stillness beneath the storm.

Riddle smiled cruelly. "Still standing? Why fight me? Join me. You could help shape the next world."

"You can't shape anything," Cael said. "You destroy everything you touch. And you know what scares you?"

Riddle's smile faltered.

Cael stepped forward.

"You're terrified of dying. That's why you hide in books and bodies. You don't want to conquer death—you want to run from it."

"ENOUGH!" Riddle screamed, and raised his wand high.

"AVADA—"

"Vera Verto!" Cael cried one last time, and the stone rubble to his right surged upward into a towering iron lion.

The green bolt struck the lion in the heart—and it exploded into molten metal. Cael threw himself behind a broken arch, heart hammering.

Then, from the smoke and silence, Riddle stepped forward.

His chest was rising, finally. The duel had drained them both.

No more insults.

No more tricks.

Just cold resolve.

And then… something changed in his eyes.

He turned.

He looked toward the far wall.

Toward the towering, ancient statue of Salazar Slytherin, its mouth open in a stony grimace.

Riddle's voice shifted—into a sibilant hiss of Parseltongue.

The language of serpents.

The magic in the chamber stirred.

Stone groaned.

The air itself trembled.

"Fuck this one is cheating man…" Cael whispered.

Riddle looked back at him, calm and terrible.

"I grow tired of this dance, Cael," he said. "Let me show you what real fear is."

And then, slowly, deliberately, he turned back to the statue and whispered:

"Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four."