The Gringotts Coliseum; Final Part
POV: Harry
Harry was in the kitchen, making himself a sandwich. Lia wanted to make it for him, but Harry insisted on doing it himself, since it was something simple and did not require much help.
"Do you want one, Lia?", Harry asked the house elf while arranging the bread on the counter.
"Oh, no, Master Harry. Lia can prepare her own sandwich; Lia cannot accept the master preparing it, no, no", Lia said quickly, with a serious and almost solemn expression. "And Lia is not hungry right now", she added at once, as if she wanted to close the matter completely.
Harry was already used to her. She truly took her role as a servant with absolute seriousness, almost exaggerated. Harry shrugged, accepting the situation without arguing.
He scratched his head for a moment and prepared one more sandwich, which he put in the refrigerator for when Percy came back. Before closing it, he stood there for a few seconds, looking inside, as if mentally confirming that everything was in order. Then he returned to his seat in the kitchen, which felt relatively quiet, even with Lia constantly moving around, cleaning and organizing every corner with impeccable efficiency.
…
POV: Percy
Percy dodged the halberd's downward slash once again, rolling across the ground quickly. This time, he tried to take advantage of his enemy's attack and, as soon as he got back on his feet, ran straight toward him.
The goblin recovered the halberd with surprising speed to respond. Gripping it close to the blade, he thrust directly at Percy.
Percy jumped with real power, narrowly avoiding the sharp edge of the weapon. He landed immediately, using the momentum to bring his sword down in a descending cut, aiming to break through the goblin's guard before he could fully react.
…
POV: Harry
After eating his sandwich, Harry was sprawled out on the living room rug, his magical tome open in front of him. He read the spells over and over, completely focused. To activate them, He did not just need to say their names; he also had to remember their full structure in his mind for them to activate correctly.
The words, the order, and the act of holding the magical tome formed a kind of ritual that aided the invocation. However, if he wanted to use the book's magic without holding it, he needed to have every word perfectly engraved in his mind in order to invoke it using only his wand.
He was truly concentrated when Lia suddenly appeared with a small pillow. Carefully, she placed it beneath Harry's head, shifting him slightly. Harry did not even seem to notice, so absorbed was he in the letters and symbols filling the pages of the book.
…
POV: Percy
Now Percy was fighting another goblin. This one wielded a massive mace, holding it with both hands and sometimes spinning it as if it were a heavy and brutal top.
Percy already had a few visible bruises on his arms, and his hand trembled slightly, making it clear that clashing directly against that mace was not something he could afford to do repeatedly.
Each impact left a buzzing sensation in his bones, as if his arm refused to fully respond afterward.
He saw the mace suddenly appear in front of his face and leaned his neck back on reflex. The weapon passed right by him, slicing through the air with a violent sound that made it clear that, had it hit, he would have been taken out instantly.
"Honestly, why are they obsessed with having huge weapons? Maybe it is to compensate for their height," Percy said while eyeing the massive mace. Still, his body was clearly exhausted, and every movement was starting to feel heavier than normal.
The goblin, who seemed to hear him, frowned even more and attacked again with full force, bringing the weapon down with renewed fury.
…
POV: Harry
Harry was watching television when Lia brought him a bowl of freshly made popcorn. Harry laughed at something funny that appeared on the screen.
"Percy looks like…", he was about to say, turning to his side out of habit. However, at that moment he noticed there was no one sitting next to him as usual. His hand slowly lowered.
"Oh," he said quietly, before turning back to the screen. He was no longer enjoying it as much as he had moments before.
Without Percy, everything sounded a little hollow.
He chewed the popcorn with a slightly bored expression, not really paying attention to what he was watching.
…
POV: Percy
"I hate this!", Percy shouted as he sprinted through the coliseum, arrows flying around him and barely grazing him.
A goblin wielded two small crossbows, which he reloaded rapidly with bolts before firing again without pause, forcing Percy to keep moving as he ran around the arena.
His breathing was completely ragged, his body soaked in sweat, and the exhaustion was already evident after fighting different opponents one after another. The coliseum seemed to shrink around him; every step a little heavier than the last, every second stealing more air from his lungs.
Even so, not once did he think about giving up. He remained focused on finishing the competition, even with several open cuts and numerous bruises scattered across his body.
…
POV: Harry
Harry was sitting on a sofa that faced the largest window in the house. He watched as the sky slowly began to darken.
Percy still had not returned.
He did not like how heavy the silence felt without Percy.
He kept his eyes on the horizon for a few seconds, wearing a truly lonely expression. A faint worry settled in his chest, but he shook his head almost immediately, convinced that he was exaggerating and dramatizing things for no reason.
…
POV: Percy
Percy stood directly in front of a goblin who carried only a sword, just like him. Both remained motionless, staring at each other, studying one another, neither willing to strike first.
Their defensive stances were very similar, the kind belonging to trained knights. Their gazes shifted carefully, searching for a weak point, a minimal opening. The atmosphere between them felt truly frozen, as if even the noise of the coliseum had fallen silent for an instant.
Although Percy was utterly exhausted, the light in his green eyes made it clear that he would not be defeated easily, even if he could not win. There was something firm in his posture, a silent refusal to fall.
The goblin in front of him did not look down on him. On the contrary, he watched Percy intently, as an equal warrior. Pride. Honor. The silent acceptance of a fair fight between combatants.
In the stands, the goblins were not saying much either. However, their looks were different now. They were looks of acceptance directed at Percy, and many of them nodded slightly. After everything they had seen during the competition, even if Percy had made them lose quite a bit of money on bets, since almost none of them had wagered on him, they could not help but acknowledge that Percy, there in the middle of the coliseum, possessed something many of them did not.
Determination. Endurance. A knight's spirit.
The fact that he refused to surrender, even while so exhausted and injured, only improved his image in their eyes. Some goblins even began to openly support him for this final fight.
Meanwhile, Einjard, Percy's master, smiled as he noticed the shift in the atmosphere. His eyes reflected complete acceptance, as if this moment were exactly one of the goals for which he had sent him into the coliseum.
Well, that and winning money by betting that his disciple would make it this far. It was better that Percy never found out about that last detail, or he would probably feel bad. Though, to be honest, Einjard would not care much about how he felt. From the beginning, he had told him that one of the reasons he trained him was because he would gain something in return.
Finally, there was movement between the last two competitors. Both, in unison, took a step forward, swords held in both hands and pointed ahead.
Then another step. And another.
In an instant, both moved their swords. Slow, measured cuts, executed with perfect precision. Percy attacked, and the goblin defended, deflecting Percy's blade with a clean motion.
Percy crouched slightly at the same moment the goblin's sword passed over his head. Using the motion, he rose with an upward slash.
The goblin shifted to the side, evading the attack, and responded with a direct thrust toward Percy's chest.
Percy managed to move in time, but the blade lightly grazed his shoulder, opening a shallow cut. Even so, he did not stop. With a quick motion, he struck the goblin's face with the flat of his sword.
The impact forced the goblin to step back to fully evade, giving Percy the distance he needed to bring down a descending strike.
The goblin blocked with his sword, stopping the blow as sparks flew from the clash of both blades.
They separated quickly once again and locked eyes. Percy was breathing heavily now. After all the previous battles, he felt that if he lowered his guard for even a second, his body would simply stop responding.
…
POV: Harry
As Harry watched the streetlights turn on one by one, his gaze settled on the fireplace, which suddenly ignited, bathing the entire living room in green flames.
Harry smiled instantly.
From the fireplace emerged Aunt Mor, carrying Percy as if he were a sack of potatoes. Percy was completely exhausted, but now he wore clean clothes and his body was fully healed. Even so, the smell of several potions lingered heavily around him, and Percy wore an expression of absolute disgust.
Mor dropped him onto the sofa without much ceremony and then sat down on a nearby one, beginning to count the gold coins inside her magical pouch.
Percy lifted his head with effort and looked at his brother, who was watching him with a genuinely happy expression.
"What is it, Piglet Potter?", Percy said, with a tired and sincere smile.
Those words made Harry's expression change immediately. His face went from happiness to complete lack of emotion.
"Oh, you are back. I had not even noticed you were gone", Harry replied in an annoyed tone, before leaving the living room.
"Come on, are you really going to leave your poor older brother here? I am exhausted. Can you carry me on your back?", Percy said, writhing on the sofa, clearly without the strength to even return to his room.
"Crawl", Harry replied from outside the room.
"Harry, little brother, please", Percy shouted, but Harry did not answer.
Mor watched them from the corner of her eye and let out a faint smile. Then, with a simple gesture, she placed two small wrapped gifts beneath the Christmas tree, the names Sally and Harry carefully written on them. From Percy.