"It's a Berserker!" yelled Wanderer, twirling his golden spear. "Don't let your guard down!"
The brown bear roared ferociously and rose onto its hind legs. Oleandra hurriedly rolled away, just as the bear slammed its front paws down where she had been lying a fraction of a second before. It then swiped at her, its claws raking across her back— but thanks to Suit the Lethifold's tough hide covering her back, Oleandra escaped mostly unscathed.
Oleandra dived and snatched up her wand where it had fallen, ignoring the burning ache along her left side where the aurochs Animagus had struck her with his horns earlier. She unleashed a flurry of Stunners, but the red beams scattered harmlessly across the bear's hide, their magical energy rippling and dissipating over its fur.
"Magic's no good, use your sword!" cried Wanderer, darting forwards and driving his spear into the bear's side. "Berserkers feel no pain and don't grow weary, so you have to aim for the vitals!"
In Wanderer's homeland, Witches would brew special potions for the Muggle warriors of their clans, plunging them into a trance that allowed them to take the form of gigantic bears— beasts that would rage unstoppably until every enemy lay dead or they themselves succumbed to their wounds.
The bear Animagus roared and spun around far quicker than his enormous size might suggest, wrenching Wanderer's spear from his grasp and sending it clattering to the ground. As the Animagus turned, Oleandra caught a flash of gold on his brown fur— his bear form was etched with glowing Ogham runes.
"That's no Berserker!" Oleandra shot back, curling her fingers and taking aim at the bear. "That's an Animagus! Thursaz!"
Oleandra would have been hard-pressed to miss such a huge target. Her aim was true, but upon striking her foe, her spell erupted into flames rather than producing its intended effect, setting the bear Animagus's hide ablaze.
Ogham runes were native to the British Isles, embodying the magic of the land itself, as opposed to the celestial magic of the stars in the sky above wielded by Oleandra, Wanderer, the Vikings, and the Anglo-Saxon invaders from overseas. When equally matched practitioners of these two magical disciplines clashed, the effects would be utterly unpredictable, but if one side was stronger than the other, the weaker side's magic would be suppressed.
"Finite Incantatem!" chanted Oleandra, pointing her wand at the bear.
Nothing happened.
The bear was relentless, the flames licking at his back only stoking his fury further. Wanderer had dropped his weapon, and without Gungnir, he could not wield his runic magic. Forced to duck and weave between the wooden stakes planted all around him, he was powerless to fight back until he retrieved it.
"VIVIANE, DO SOMETHING!" screamed Wanderer. He stuck out his arm. "Gungnir, to me!"
Whether deliberate or not, the bear Animagus stood firmly on the haft of Wanderer's golden spear, preventing it from flying back into its master's hand. And judging by the fierce sparks Gungnir emitted, the close proximity of the runes of the earth was inhibiting its magic.
Oleandra desperately searched her mind for the Animagus reversal spell's incantation. Since she hadn't taken Defence Against the Dark Arts this year, she hadn't actually learned it, but she had overheard her roommates Pansy and Millicent talking about it when they were doing their homework.
"Petrificus Totalus! Stupefy! Impedimenta!"
One after the other, Oleandra cast all the offensive spells she knew, but the protective runes painted on the bear Animagus's hide had transformed him into a living tank. If only she could remember the reversal spell— it was called the Homorphus Charm, and she vaguely remembered Professor Lockhart bragging about it, but at the time, he had neglected to speak the incantation out loud…
Just use the Killing Curse, a small voice in the back of Oleandra's head said. Get it over with.
"HELP!" screamed Wanderer in terror.
With a fierce swipe of its right paw, the bear shattered the wooden stake behind which Wanderer had taken refuge, sending him sprawling flat on his arse. The bear opened its maw wide, poised to eviscerate him… but just as it lunged, a ray of purple light shot straight into its eye, causing it to reel backwards in agony.
Oleandra advanced towards Wanderer and the bear, wand raised.
The Conjunctivitis Curse had been designed especially to combat magically resilient creatures like Dragons, but that did not mean it possessed the power to penetrate magical wards like the Killing Curse did. Her aim needed to be true.
"Oculus Aculeus!"
Oleandra attacked again, but having learned his lesson, the bear Animagus raised his front paw, blocking the purple beam before it reached his eyes, rendering it completely ineffective. This was not some dumb animal nor a raging berserker, but an intelligent human, after all.
Realising that Oleandra was the most pressing threat, the bear charged at her.
"Ingwaz!" shouted Oleandra, adopting the rune's full-body stance.
But instead of getting pinned to the ground, the bear Animagus was suddenly lifted into the air, and Oleandra was forced to dive to the side as the bear crashed down exactly where she had just been standing. The conflicting magic of the two rune types had completely twisted her intent, turning her spell against its purpose and nearly getting her flattened.
And now, it was Oleandra's turn to be at the bear's mercy, instead of Wanderer…
"Suffocate him, Suit!" screeched Oleandra.
The dark cloth shrouding Oleandra's body suddenly separated from her and wrapped around the bear's muzzle, stopping it from opening its jaws. Suit was still too young to cover the bear's entire body, but it was still big enough to cover its eyes, nose and mouth!
Realising he couldn't breathe, the bear Animagus struggled desperately for a few seconds before abruptly deciding to revert to human form. The Druid Merwydd's head shrank swiftly along with the rest of his body, but before Suit could tighten its grip on his face, he seized it and hurled it to the ground, driving his heel into its dark folds to keep it from escaping.
Suit wiggled and undulated and tried to slither away, but the powerful Druid was stronger than he looked. Oleandra raised her wand and Wanderer hefted his spear, but Merwydd raised his clenched fist, summoning roots that burst out of the ground and wrapped tightly around their wrists and ankles.
"Foreign scum from the north. Wretched Fairy, who sees men as nought but playthings," he hissed, hatred blazing in his eyes. "You'll kill no more of my clan, nor wreak any further havoc upon our lands. Today is the day you die!"