bacchusnovels Chapter 144 Hermione: I'm about to get started!
Chapter 144 Hermione: I'm about to get started!
Chapter 144 Hermione: I'm about to take action! (Seeking monthly votes)
The next day.
evening.
Duel Club.
When Hermione entered the Duel Club classroom as usual, she was surprised to find that there were five professors in the classroom.
Professors Sean, Tonks, Snape, McGonagall, and Lockhart
The most noteworthy among them is not Professor Lockhart and Professor Sean, but Professor Tonks.
Her once vibrant pink hair had somehow turned completely black.
This change made her look more mature and composed, and her unruly and wild temperament was replaced by a restrained and profound beauty.
"Quiet down." Professor Sean's voice was gentle but carried an undeniable authority.
He glanced at the clock on the wall; the time was just right. He looked around the classroom, his deep gaze sweeping across each student's face to make sure most of them were present.
Then, with a smile, he revealed the special arrangements for the evening: "Tonight, we are honored to have Professor Lockhart with us to guide us. He will spend this evening with us, sharing his rich dueling experience and tactics."
As soon as he finished speaking, an indescribable atmosphere of anticipation filled the classroom.
The students whispered among themselves, their faces showing a mixture of surprise and delight.
Just then, Professor Lockhart stepped forward.
He smiled broadly, his expression confident and composed. "That's right, you're really lucky today." He paused, his gaze sweeping over the students' surprised faces, and then continued, "You will have the opportunity to witness a duel between two top dueling masters."
Upon hearing this, the classroom was immediately filled with a chorus of frogs.
The students stared wide-eyed at each other, their faces filled with disbelief.
Many of them grew up reading the novels of Professors Sean and Lockhart, who were god-like figures in their hearts. They had often discussed in their spare time which professor was more capable—but since Lockhart came to teach at Hogwarts, his performance has been questionable, so his reputation has clearly declined.
Now, these two legendary figures are about to have a real showdown in front of them—it's a dream come true!
"Professor Sean and I have decided to give you a little demonstration of a duel before class begins today." As soon as Professor Lockhart finished speaking, the classroom erupted in thunderous cheers and enthusiastic applause.
The students stood up excitedly, waving their arms, some even jumping up and down in excitement.
Hermione was among them, and she felt her heart race, an indescribable excitement welling up inside her.
I'm a little excited.
However, she still hadn't forgotten what she needed to do today...
Lockhart and Sean then turned to face each other and gave each other a standard bow.
After watching Lockhart perform different hand gestures, Sean pondered for a moment and then thought of a traditional sport called "hand-waving."
Although he didn't know why the other party was doing this, he figured it was always safe to follow suit, just to be on the safe side.
The reason Sean was so cautious—he didn't know why—was that in the afternoon, Lockhart suddenly approached him with great interest, saying he wanted to participate in an event hosted by his dueling club that evening. He even proposed a wizard duel with him.
Could it be that the opponent has some secret weapon that allows him to use it or defeat him?
It's no wonder Sean thought that way; in other words, any normal person would take precautions against this.
Generally speaking, if a struggling student in a class suddenly bets with a high-achieving student, saying, "I will definitely surpass you in the next exam," the high-achieving student will only suspect that the struggling student stole the exam paper.
If he loses to Lockhart, Sean believes he can start over.
Especially after Lockhart's fraud is exposed, he, as a "defeated opponent," will surely suffer disgrace along with Lockhart.
Therefore, Sean was extremely cautious today, as if facing a formidable enemy. He was even a little too cautious.
The students below the stage only saw the two top dueling masters rapidly flipping their hands in the air before the duel.
They traced various intricate patterns, as if performing some kind of mysterious ritual.
They whispered among themselves, speculating whether it was some new dueling technique or a spell to enhance magic.
"I understand!" a young Slytherin wizard suddenly exclaimed, covering his mouth with his hand.
He then lowered his voice and whispered to the person next to him, "That's ninjutsu, you know, Sugoiichi!"
"Ninjutsu? What's that?"
"Also, what does 'Siguoyi' mean?"
Almost simultaneously, the people around them raised a question.
The young Slytherin wizard glanced at them and explained with a hint of pride, "My father once took me to an Asian country called Japan, where I saw this trick with my own eyes."
"Their 'wizards' are called 'ninjas.' They don't use wands; they can use magic with just their fingers, like the two professors, and then conjure up things like clones, earth dragon bullets, and fireballs... 'Sukuniichi' is Japanese for 'powerful.'"
The two dueling masters continued their "ninjutsu prelude" for quite a while until Lockhart felt that the time was about right, then stopped what he was doing, smiled slightly at Sean, and raised his wand.
Seeing this, Sean immediately entered duel mode, knowing that what followed would be a tough battle.
He took a deep breath, gripped his wand tightly, and prepared for anything that might happen.
No matter how powerful the magic Lockhart uses.
He broke through it with his own strength!
"-311," Tonks, acting as the referee for this match, counted the numbers clearly and forcefully.
When her voice landed on "three," the atmosphere in the entire arena instantly became tense.
In that instant, Sean and Lockhart moved almost simultaneously. They gripped their wands tightly.
With an almost combative stance, he swiftly raised the wand over his shoulder.
A resolute glint flashed in Sean's eyes. He took a deep breath and shouted, "Disarm you!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a dazzling red light suddenly burst forth from the tip of his wand, streaking across the night sky like a shooting star, heading straight for Lockhart.
Lockhart was clearly unprepared for this sudden and fierce attack. He tried to defend himself, but it was too late.
The red light struck his wand with lightning speed, and the immense impact caused Lockhart to lose his balance instantly.
His body was as if it had been pushed by an invisible force, and he was suddenly thrown backward off the stage.
The young wizards below the stage gasped as Lockhart arced through the air before crashing heavily into the wall behind him.
The sound of the impact echoed through the quiet stadium, sending chills down one's spine.
Lockhart slid off the wall and collapsed onto the floor, curling up into a ball.
The young wizards were completely silent; the atmosphere was tense for a moment. (Apart from Snape, Hermione noticed that Snape almost burst out laughing.)
The outcome of the duel is decided, but everyone is still worried about Lockhart's safety.
It looks like...it hurts a lot.
However, pain is to be expected.
Sean didn't hold back.
As the saying goes, even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit. To avoid damaging his reputation, he even used the same intensity he had shown when fighting Snape a few days earlier against Lockhart. Who would have thought...?
It breaks at the slightest touch?!
Sean was completely baffled as to why Lockhart, at his level, would dare to challenge him.
Could it be that he thinks he's a bestselling author who made his name with the "Forgetfulness Charm" just like him?
Or...:: Does he want to talk about himself?
Sean looked at Lockhart lying on the ground with suspicion and uncertainty.
But to be fair, Lockhart was incredibly resilient. If he were an ordinary wizard, he would probably be at St. Goman's Hospital by now. However, he stood up from his knees, his hat had fallen off, and his wavy hair stood on end.
"Well, everyone saw that!" He staggered back onto the stage and said, "It's a disarming charm—as you can see, I've lost my wand—oh, thank you, Miss Brown."
"Yes, Professor Sean, demonstrating this move to them is a brilliant idea. However, please don't take offense, but your intention to pull that off was too obvious. If I wanted to stop you, it would be effortless. I think, to broaden their horizons, we should let them see—"
Sean looked at Lockhart, who was currently giving a long speech on stage, and fell silent again.
Perhaps... he's overthinking it.
Lockhart might just be an idiot.
"I can't let Lockhart delay his teaching progress any longer," Sean thought, and then directed the students to begin the next teaching activity.
"Next, all young wizards from each house, stand behind your respective professors and form a line," Sean announced loudly. "Gryffindors, find Professor McGonagall; Hufflepuffs, come over here; Slytherins, find Professor Snape; and Ravenclaws, stand next to Professor Lockhart."
In less than two minutes, all the young wizards in the hall had lined up in an orderly fashion.
Students from each college stood next to their respective college professors.
"Yes...that's it!"
Sean nodded in satisfaction. Look, this is the result of his usual training of the young wizards.
He paused, then, to pique everyone's interest, turned up his voice and continued, "After in-depth discussions with several professors, we've decided to organize a wizard duel competition. This will be a fierce one-on-one battle, and each student can choose their own opponent. Advancing through each round will earn you 2 house points for your house."
At this point, Sean paused deliberately, his gaze slowly sweeping across the students' faces. Seeing that their interest had been fully piqued, he continued with satisfaction, "And the final champion will receive an additional 10 college points!"
"Now, we can begin!"
No sooner had he finished speaking than Malfoy looked at Harry with ill intent and shouted, "Come on, Pott, let me see what you're made of."
To Sean's surprise, Hermione chose a Slytherin witch for a duel, I think her name was...Borsde.
Ignoring the duel between Harry and Malfoy, Sean turned his attention to the duel between Hermione and Burst.
He wanted to see if his little witch had made any progress in dueling these days.
Tonks, standing next to Sean, followed his gaze and saw the two little witches assuming dueling poses, her brow furrowing slightly.
Then, she went up and interrupted the match under Hermione's watchful gaze.
"Miss Burstdle," Tonks said, "that's not the right way to hold the weapon."
As he spoke, Tonks moved closer to Burst and began to teach her, "Pay attention to the details. Hold your fingers here, with the web of your thumb pressed firmly against the ground. This will make your grip more stable and increase the accuracy of your spells."
"While your wand-holding posture wasn't wrong, a more standard way would greatly increase our chances of winning in a duel. For example, like this." Tonks pressed down on Burst's arm, controlling her to put the wand back at her waist, and then suddenly pulled it out. "This way, you can pull the wand out much faster."
After repeating this action several times, Tonks finally released Burst's arm and said to Hermione, "You two continue."
Hermione nodded without saying anything.
After bowing to each other, the two counted numbers together.
Just as the word "three" was about to be uttered, a commotion broke out in the distance where Harry and Malfoy were.
Sean and Tonks walked over together.
It turns out that during their duel, Malfoy made his move after shouting "two".
Harry then used the "Tickling Charm," and Malfoy used the "Dancing Charm" on Harry. One of them lay on the ground, laughing and rolling around, while the other began to dance aimlessly.
The scene became extremely chaotic.
"Stop the spell!" he shouted. Harry's feet stopped dancing, Malfoy stopped laughing, and they both finally looked up.
When Sean turned around and looked around, he was surprised to find Neville and Justin lying on the floor, panting heavily; Ron grabbed Seamus, who looked ashen-faced, and apologized profusely for the mess his broken wand had caused.
the most important is.
Burst and Hermione somehow lost their wands and started wrestling...
When Hermione noticed that Sean was looking at the two of them, she quickly dodged Burstdle's next attack and hurriedly got behind Sean.
"Miss Burst, 2 points deducted for not using a wand in the duel," Sean said.
What Sean didn't notice was that the little witch behind him was laughing happily, and in her tightly clenched hand was a strand of hair she had just taken from the Burst robe.
The duel between Harry and Malfoy continues to unfold in the distance.
They once again attracted everyone's attention.
Accompanied by "3112"
At the command, Malfoy impatiently brandished his wand and shouted, "Summon the dragon!"
With a cracking sound from the tip of the wand, a massive black snake appeared out of nowhere, suddenly descending between Harry and him, causing the floor to tremble violently.
The black snake raised its cold head, its eyes flashing with a fierce, aggressive light.
The young wizards nearby were somewhat flustered by this sudden turn of events.
"Don't move, Potter," Snape said lazily, clearly pleased to see Harry standing there motionless, glaring at the angry snake. "I'll get him out of here—"
"Let me do it!" Lockhart suddenly shouted, and he hurriedly raised his wand and waved it at the black snake, trying to banish it with magic.
However, a deafening roar was heard, and the snake, instead of being driven away, became even more agitated, leaping high into the air and crashing heavily to the floor, creating a terrifying tremor.
The enraged black snake, its scarlet tongue flicking, charged straight at Justin Finley, its fangs bared, its aura menacing.
Harry's heart pounded in his chest. He didn't know why he was doing this. It was as if some force was driving his legs to move involuntarily, as if he were stepping on invisible pulleys.
He yelled at the snake, dumbfounded, "Let him go!" To the eagle's disbelief, a miracle occurred—the black snake instantly went limp and lay docile on the ground, as docile as a black water pipe, its eyes fixed on Harry, as if stunned by his courage.
Harry's fear gradually subsided, and he knew that the snake would no longer be aggressive, although he couldn't explain how he knew.
However, Xiao Ni, who was standing to the side, knew all about it.
He was one of only two eagles present who could speak Parsley.
The little snake on the embankment felt that it had appeared there for no reason. It was initially nervous and somewhat stressed, but then a snake much larger than itself told it to stay on the embankment and not move—so it did as it was told.
But the eagles around them didn't understand this.
Harry looked up at Justin and grinned.
He expected to see a relaxed, confused, or grateful expression on Justin's face—definitely not anger or fear.
"What kind of trick do you think you're playing?" he shouted, and before Harry could speak, Justin turned and rushed out of the Great Hall.
Snape stepped forward, waved his wand, and the snake vanished in a wisp of black smoke.
Snape looked at him with a look that surprised him: a look that was both cunning and shrewd, which Harry disliked.
He also vaguely sensed that the eagles around him were whispering ominously.
Just then, he felt an eagle tug at the back of his robe.
"Let's go," Ron whispered in his ear, "Let's go—let's go—"
When Xiao returned to the office after handling today's duel club matters.
His handsome owl was already waiting for him on his desk in his room—he hadn't closed the window when he left today.
The embankment remained motionless, looking exactly like a cat head figurine.
Moreover, it's quite expensive, selling for a thousand pounds on Regent Street.
A small note was tied to the owl's leg.
Xiao Ni casually stroked the cat's fur, then carefully removed the note from its leg. It bore a delicate handwriting:
See you tonight at the Three Broomsticks pub in Hogsmeade!