Chapter 123: Wizard's Duel (I)... [edited]

[Inside Nott Manor]

A crowd was gathered inside a huge meeting room and even some amateur would be able to tell that everyone gathered here was pureblood supremacists to the core. If someone like Amelia Bones or Alastor Moody would take a look inside here then they would find that everyone present in this room has claimed the Imperious Defence. But the topic of the meeting was not a good one… it was completely clear with the atmosphere in the room.

"We need to do something about this and quick!" Amycus Carrow decided to say when he saw that the entire room was silent and was sulking even before they were speaking. A lot of Family Heads nodded their head in agreement with Amycus.

"Yes, we know, but we need to be careful with this too" Lord Smith said from the other side of the table. He wasn't a Death Eater but he was a pureblood supremacist to the core along with his family. After all, they still pride themselves to have a connection with Helga Hufflepuff. Of course, they weren't direct descendants so they weren't able to claim ownership of Hogwarts like the Ravenclaws.

Yes, if there was a direct descendant of the Hufflepuff line then the Ravenclaws would have to share Hogwarts with them Both Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff would have half control over it.

"But time is the one thing we don't have Lord Smith" Lord Parkinson said hearing Lord Smith's argument. Yes, he agreed that they needed to bide their time to gather more information but time was the one thing that they didn't have.

"I completely agree with Lord Parkinson here, time is the one thing we don't have. In the last three years, how much have we lost? And just think how much are we losing with each passing moment… if this keeps going on then within next year we would be nothing" Lord Nott spoke for the first time. His voice was solemn and filled with venom at the same time.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Walden Macnair asked.

At this moment this was the most important question and no one expected Macnair to ask such an important question. The problem was they can't attack the factories as they have found out that none of the factories could be found. Some of them even forgot the location of those factories which Ravenclaws took over during the debt collection. They only had the location of shops and store and no matter what they can't destroy them openly after all the glory days were gone when they would openly kill, ****, torture, and destroy. There wasn't a Dark Lord this time after all.

Even if they attacked the shops, they would gain nothing as each store was run by the max of five muggle-borns or half-blood wizards. Yes, if they attacked all the stores and destroyed them then it would have been a great blow to the Ravenclaws but the problem was that they can't do that as they didn't a huge force to attack in such coordination and a few months ago those damn Ravenclaws with their Merlin-damned alliance had passed a bill that would shopkeepers to retaliate with lethal force if someone attacks them, no matter who the attackers are.

This bill was a sour topic for everyone in the room, they had heard some previous report that no matter how nonchalant, perverted, or aloof Lady Ravenclaw looked she was a vicious politician and knew how to bend her words to get something done when needed. But they were wrong… as Lady Ravenclaw might have spoken those words but they were taught her by someone else.

When the bill was introduced all of them were completely livid all of them were thinking the same thing. 'How dare she take our right, right we get being a pureblood from us?'. But the argument Lady Ravenclaw gave shut them up as if any one of them had protested then they would openly be insulting themselves and there was no way in hell that their ego would let them do it.

Lady Ravenclaw's words were 'I know upstanding and respectful citizens like you would never do anything like this, I am doing this because of thieves and other degenerates. All of the respectable members would be visiting these shops from time to time, we can't lower our standards, right?' It didn't need someone with a three-digit IQ to figure out what she was pointing at. And with this bill passed Lady Ravenclaw donated a huge sum of money to Madame Bones for her Department. So, the bill was passed and here they were unable to attack the shops.

"We need to attack the Ravenclaws directly, filthy mud blood scums don't know their standing in this world. They are the center of that filthy alliance of blood-traitors" Alecto Carrow spat in blinding rage.

No one in the room disagreed with her, for them, it was true as Ravenclaws were the easiest target and if they were able to kill them then the alliance they had made would collapse on their own. Yes, the factor that muggle-borns were able to claim the Lordship of such a prestigious family was another blow to their pureblood ego.

"I have been making a plan for last 6 months regarding this matter and last week I have finally found a solution" Lord Nott said in a smug voice and leaned down on the table.

"So, what is it? Be out with it" Yaxley said impatiently. Everyone else in the room shared his emotions as they were also interested in hearing the plan.

"Let's say if we send a letter of challenge to Lady Ravenclaw saying that I or someone else in this room is wishing to challenge her to a Wizard's Duel…" Lord Nott was saying but he was cut off by Lord Parkinson impatiently.

"Yes, we all know that but we all know that she has the Lady ring which gives her magic" Lord Parkinson said.

"Are you scared of a girl now?" Jugson mocked Lord Parkinson and a shouting match began between Lord Parkinson and Jugson. Finally, unable to hold back Lord Nott silenced the room and began to tell his plan again.

"Yes, we would challenge her but we would be adding a small clause about being a man and accepting the challenge. If she accepts then instead of her the challenge will pass onto 2nd-year student Edgar Ravenclaw. I have heard that Vicky Ravenclaw loves her family lets see… what happens when she loses one" Lord Nott finished with a vicious smile on his face. Now, everyone in the room was smiling viciously.

"I don't want to ruin the fun… but they could reject the challenge" Lord Smith said, hearing him some of the group nodded their heads as they too agreed with him.

"That would be a welcome result too, as all of us know, wizarding duels are not issued lightly and if you reject a challenge then you lose your image and honor. If Vicky Ravenclaw rejects the challenge then she loses her honor and I can say with guarantee that it would throw their alliance down an internal power struggle" Lord Parkinson said in a happy voice as he was already seeing all this happen in his mind.

"That would make implode them on their own" Lord Nott finished while nodding their head.

"So, who is going to challenge Vicky Ravenclaw" Walden Macnair asked an important question again. After a few seconds of silence completely passed everyone turned their eyes towards Lord Nott who was already holding a letter in his hands.

"It would be me of course, after all, I was the one who made the plan" Lord Nott said with a toothy grin, nobody in the room rebutted him. Yes, anyone to defeat the Ravenclaw family in a wizarding duel would gain some respect but they decided to sit back and watch the show for the moment.

With the decision done Lord Nott send the owl with the letter of challenge and another letter to the Daily Prophet to let them know about the challenge, after all, they can't let this matter get buried.

[In an Unknown Island] [POV Reo(Edgar)]

I looked at both of my sides and a huge goofy grin appeared on my face. After all, won't have a goofy grin if you would be getting a tan with your lovers on a private beach where all of you could be completely naked so that no tan marks are there.

Currently, there were only five people on this island. Me, obviously, Momo, Rumi, Nemuri, and Dora who finished her training just a week ago and became a full-fledged Junior Auror. She came to the island via portkey the day before yesterday. After the day I came back from Hogwarts I decided to spend some gold and brought this small island near Costa Rica.

After buying the island Momo and I spent about five days to completely ward this island and made it completely unplottable. So, now owls would be able to find us here but that could be a problem so we decided to take mailbox from Gringotts who were happy to provide their services… with a discount this time because our business was flourishing which meant their own accounts were flourishing too.

Suddenly the mailbox vibrated and Momo pulled out the letter without care. We weren't worried about curses or something on them as the letter came through Gringotts and in Gringotts they took their jobs seriously, no matter what. Momo opened the letter and with an amused smile, she handed the letter to Nemuri. Nemuri read out the letter out loud and she found it really stupid that they thought that she wouldn't find out that if she accepted the challenge Reo would be the one fighting. Of course, we knew wizarding people were stupid what more do you expect from them.

"So, what do you say?" Nemuri asked me.

"Accept it what else, I should make an example of Lord Nott after all. It's a rare chance to kill a Lord legally and get away" I said with a gentle smile on my face…