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Tom, staying calm, pulled out his wand and tossed his bag aside.
"I started this. No need to involve anyone else—if you're here for payback, then take it out on me."
"Did you all see that? Looks like he wants to take on the eight of us by himself," Abraxas said mockingly, drawing laughter from the group behind him.
"Hahaha! Maybe he hasn't woken up yet."
"Hey, little firstie, you probably can't even cast a Lumos, right?"
"Lumos? I bet he hasn't even opened his textbook yet."
Facing their mockery, Tom's expression remained cold and unreadable. He gripped his wand even tighter.
"Abraxas, he's just a first-year. Why don't you take him on yourself?" one of the older students suggested.
"Sure," Abraxas replied without hesitation.
He might've been wary around Wade, but when it came to Tom, he wasn't afraid in the slightest.
Even though many pure-blood families had declined, there were still several that remained powerful to this day.
And the Malfoy family was definitely one of them.
As the youngest male heir of the Malfoy family, Abraxas carried high expectations from home.
Because of that, he had already self-studied a good number of spells before ever setting foot in Hogwarts.
In this regard, pure-blood children had a clear advantage over those from Muggle backgrounds.
Abraxas was wary of Wade because Wade had mastered an illusion-based magic he couldn't counter.
But when it came to Tom, that sense of superiority as a pure-blood heir resurfaced in full.
And with several older students backing him up, even if Tom did know some kind of confusing magic, there would be people to help him break free from it, right?
Abraxas stood in front of Tom, holding a black wand in his hand.
"Abraxas, remember that nasty curse I taught you yesterday? Let's see if you've got it down," one of the older students said.
"Hehehe! Alright."
Tom stared at Abraxas, a trace of nervousness rising in his heart.
After all, since discovering magic, the only person he had fought was Wade. Yesterday on the train, he had hoped to test this group's abilities, but Wade's interference had made that impossible.
With no real knowledge of his opponent's capabilities, Tom stayed on high alert. He had heard time and again that pure-blood families possessed deep reserves of magical knowledge—rare and powerful spells were easily accessible to them as a matter of legacy.
Considering all this, Tom focused his full attention on Abraxas.
In Tom's mind, the true strength of these pure-blood heirs might be comparable to Wade's.
As for how Wade had come out unscathed yesterday, maybe it was just because he had used that confusing magic to ambush them…
When Abraxas noticed the slight tension in Tom's expression, he couldn't help but feel relieved.
If Tom looked this nervous, it likely meant he hadn't learned Wade's illusion magic—so there was nothing to fear!
Abraxas struck first.
"Incendio!"
Whoosh!
A hex shot straight toward Tom's face!
Though a little nervous, Tom had been prepared.
As soon as he saw the spell flying toward him, he swiftly raised his wand and murmured a counter-spell.
This was a little trick Wade had taught him.
When you haven't fully mastered silent casting, try muttering the incantation as quietly as possible—so long as others can't hear you, the spell retains the surprise effect of a silent cast.
As long as you stay focused while casting, the power of the spell won't be diminished in the slightest.
"Protego!"
Tom hadn't yet fully mastered the Shield Charm. Unlike Wade and Aberforth Dumbledore, he couldn't create a full 360-degree protective barrier around himself—only a small, temporary shield.
But for the current situation, that was enough.
Tom's incomplete version of the Shield Charm successfully blocked Abraxas's scorching hex.
That left both Abraxas and the students behind him visibly stunned.
Even though they hadn't caught what spell the first-year had used, it had clearly blocked Abraxas's hex head-on!
Seeing this, Abraxas realized the kid in front of him wasn't some clueless rookie. He immediately dropped his underestimation and began casting in earnest, his wand slashing through the air.
A barrage of nasty curses shot toward Tom one after another.
Tom remained calm, using his imperfect Shield Charm to block each one steadily.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The sound of hexes striking against the Shield Charm rang out continuously, but Tom was growing more and more confused inside.
Something was wrong—very wrong. Unbelievably wrong.
This pure-blood wizard from a prominent family… how could he be… this weak?
On the surface, it looked like Tom was barely holding on, with no room to fight back. But in reality…
The dozen or so curses coming at him couldn't even break through his shield. And it wasn't even taking much effort for Tom to block them.
What was going on? Was the other side holding back?
But judging by the twisted expression on Abraxas's face, it didn't look like he was going easy on him at all…
Besides, they'd come here specifically to teach him a lesson—why would they pull their punches?
No, something was definitely off.
If this had been Wade, Tom would've felt his arm start to go numb after blocking just the first spell.
Wade's attacks always packed real weight.
Compared to that, Abraxas's attacks felt like nothing more than a light tickle…
"I can do this."
With that realization, Tom decided to take a risk. This time, instead of using the Shield Charm to block Abraxas's curse, he used the simplest counter-spell.
Bang!
Abraxas's curse was once again easily deflected by a flick of Tom's wand.
Feeling the force behind the spell, Tom finally understood—Abraxas wasn't holding back… he was just weak.
Once that clicked, Tom no longer held back himself.
After casually deflecting a few more of Abraxas's curses with the same basic counter-spell, he waited for a brief pause in Abraxas's casting—
"Expelliarmus!"
Whoosh!
Abraxas's wand flew out of his hand!
Tom's own wand sliced through the air in a graceful arc.
"Levicorpus!"
The curse—shamelessly stolen ahead of time from future-Snape by Wade—hit Abraxas squarely before he could even recover from the shock of being disarmed.
Bang!
"Ah—!"
Before Abraxas could react, he was already hanging upside down in midair!
Tom calmly caught Abraxas's disarmed wand and tossed it aside without a second thought.
His gaze toward the group in front of him shifted from initial tension to full confidence.
If the rest of these guys were on the same level as Abraxas, Tom felt like he could take on all ten of them!
It was only now that Tom truly realized how strong he had become.
Looking at Abraxas struggling helplessly while suspended in the air, Tom couldn't help but feel a deep sense of satisfaction.
After all, he'd always been the one getting hoisted up like this—seeing it happen to someone else for a change was immensely satisfying.
But what thrilled him most wasn't the victory itself—it was the realization that maybe he wasn't as weak as he'd believed.
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(Ahhhhhh.. this doesn't stop! Here is another chapter! Just 2 more reviews and I'll have to upload another chapter😭
Acc. to my calculations, I just have to play 11 more games to reach Gold 4 in LoL. Wish me luck!!)
You can support me and read 12 chapters ahead at P^treon: Captain69
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