Harry and Lucius's fight was drawing to a close.
What Lucius could neither understand nor accept was that he seemed to be getting completely crushed.
He couldn't win. He really couldn't win.
Lucius had originally thought Harry had used some little trick, such as a magical device, to block Bellatrix's Dark Magic, but now he realized that wasn't the case.
He and Harry had exchanged three rounds of spells.
All three of his spells had been stopped by Harry simply reaching out and catching them. Harry's three spells, meanwhile, had all hit him. His wand had already been knocked away, and Harry's Stunning Spell had struck him as well.
Lucius remembered that night in the graveyard, when Harry had fled under fire from several Death Eaters and somehow actually managed to escape.
At the time, Lucius had only thought those Death Eaters had gone too long without fighting anyone, leaving their spells inaccurate and underpowered. But now it seemed those fellows' spells had probably all been blocked by Harry!
That was Lucius's last thought. Harry's Stunning Spell hit him in the face, and Lucius fell flat on his back, limbs splayed, losing consciousness.
"Whew." Harry let out a breath.
Although his fight with Lucius could be called one-sided, that was because he had the Left Hand of Chaos and Calamity and had used the Maxim Shield to block all of Lucius's spells.
Lucius was still fairly skilled at magic. Without that trick, Harry couldn't say he would necessarily have lost, but it certainly wouldn't have been this easy. All he could say was that although Lucius was a lousy person, he did have some skill.
Just as Harry was considering whether to give Lucius a Sword Beam Charm and cut his head off, a creaking sound came from nearby.
That