Chapter 24: "I Am a Baboon Who Cannot Use a Wand"

Chapter 24: "I Am a Baboon Who Cannot Use a Wand"

"Are you going to hand over the money quietly, or after we've knocked you around a bit? Eh, Mudblood?"

"Or maybe you fancy pulling out that wand for a 'fair duel'?"

"Are you mad, Carrow? He's a first-year. A Mudblood. What spells is he going to know? Wave it at you like a stick? Hahahaha!"

Leon watched the three bullies, his expression calm. While the three idiots were lost in their own laughter, Leon drew his weapon.

The Colt 1991. An improved model, firing .45 calibre ammunition. Single-action, 7-round magazine. The new design added a firing pin safety and textured grips, significantly improving safety and handling.

Small, portable, and exceptionally lethal at close range.

Leon had other plans. He'd never intended to use his wand. He had come prepared.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

As a mature semi-automatic, the Colt 1991 used its recoil to reload, allowing for rapid, continuous fire.

Leon's gaze was cold. He fired three precise, methodical shots, shattering the wand arm of each of his three assailants. He then strode forward, kicking their fallen wands skittering across the stone floor.

He always finished a job. Ignoring their agonized screams, he put a second bullet into each of their legs.

With the situation handled, Leon stood over them. "Gentlemen," he asked, his voice polite. "I'm afraid I didn't quite catch what you called me. Would one of you be so kind as to repeat it?"

When no one answered, Leon walked over to the one they called Carrow. "I have one bullet left in the magazine. It seems a shame to waste it."

He crouched down, grabbed Carrow's jaw, and pressed the hot barrel of the pistol flat against his cheek. The smell of cordite filled the boy's nose.

Carrow began to thrash, his eyes wide with terror, but Leon held him fast.

"You'd best stay very still," Leon's voice was a soft, cold murmur. "If I fire now, it'll just pass through from cheek to cheek. It won't kill you." His grip tightened. "But if you move... and the bullet goes somewhere else... no one can save you."

Carrow stopped thrashing, his eyes pleading as he whimpered. A dark stain spread across the front of his trousers.

Leon shook his head in disgust. He despised cowards. Though, considering he was just a teenager, it was perhaps understandable.

He ignored the boy's pathetic noises, adjusting the angle of the pistol.

"Look at me," Leon commanded, his voice now almost bored. He smiled, a polite, elegant smile. "And remember. This is a lesson. From Shelby."

The roar of the gun echoed in the stone corridor.

Carrow screamed, a blinding pain exploding through his face. Leon released him, dropping him to the floor like a piece of rubbish.

The Slytherins who had heard the gunshot and hurried back down the corridor arrived to see this final tableau.

Leon stood over the three groaning boys. There were a few specks of blood on his cheek. He looked up at his stunned housemates and offered a polite smile, his teeth showing white in the gloom. It was a terrifying sight.

"Would someone be so kind as to fetch a professor?" he asked. "I believe they might be dying."

"First day! You haven't even been here for your first night!"

"Three broken arms! Three shattered legs! And one ruined face!"

"I've just come from the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey says they will be in her care for two months at minimum!"

"Even a Death Eater isn't this... ruthlessly efficient!"

"I cannot imagine what provocation would lead to this! Mr. Shelby, you are... utterly ruthless."

In Dumbledore's office, Professor McGonagall was trembling with fury, her eyes blazing. "And I don't see a single shred of remorse on your face! If you were in my House, I would see you expelled this instant!"

"They called me a Mudblood," Leon stated, his voice perfectly level. "And they were attempting to extort me for protection money."

Professor McGonagall's tirade stopped dead. Her mouth hung open slightly, at a loss for words.

Leon glanced at Professor Snape, who was looming in the corner, his face a thundercloud. Leon decided to press his advantage. "They were also attempting to curse me. Levicorpus, I believe. To humiliate me. I was simply faster."

Just as he'd hoped, Snape's expression flickered, a dark memory flashing in his eyes. His gaze on Leon became fractionally less cold.

"Professor McGonagall, I believe I still retain the authority to discipline my own students."

"I shall handle this... Slytherin matter."

Snape turned his sneer on Leon. "Using a Muggle weapon for self-defence? What's in your pocket, Mr. Shelby? A club?"

Leon's expression darkened. Leave it to Snape, he thought. Even his defence sounds like an insult.

"That is enough," Dumbledore's voice cut through the tension.

"While Mr. Shelby's reaction was... extreme... the provocation was severe. Expulsion is not the correct course of action."

"Expelled on the first day? That would be a new record, would it not?"

"However, such an act cannot go without consequence."

Dumbledore made the final decision, his gaze resting on Leon.

"Fifty points from Slytherin." (Leon was unfazed. As long as Harry was at this school, Gryffindor was guaranteed the House Cup anyway.)

"And Mr. Shelby, your... 'little toy'... must be confiscated." (Leon was completely unbothered. It was just a pistol. He had plenty more.)

"You will serve detention for one month, to be supervised by Professor Snape." (Leon found this acceptable.)

"That is all, Mr. Shelby. I trust you have learned a lesson in... restraint."

Leon nodded with an expression of perfect sincerity, accepting his punishment. After asking for, and receiving, permission to leave, he turned for the door.

"And one more thing, Mr. Shelby," Snape's sarcastic drawl followed him. "You will add one hundred lines to your detention."

"You will write, 'I am not a wizard, I am a baboon who cannot use a wand.'"

Leon: "..."