Archaeologists at Hogwarts

Chapter 172 Duel Club

The news of the Dueling Club spread quickly in the school, and the students were very excited about it. This was at least good news, and it might come in handy one day.

Ginny had been subconsciously avoiding such crowded occasions, and she secretly decided not to attend.

But the three of Harry on the other side set off.

"Who could it be?" On the way, Ron said with interest: "I heard that Professor Flitwick was a dueling champion, but it's a pity that Highmore taught him. Well, it will definitely be more lively if he is still in school Some, you should know what I mean."

Of course Harry and Hermione understood that this was a serious duel, and perhaps Professor Highmore would fight Snape again.

They came to the Great Hall to find that the long dining table had vanished and a gilded stage had appeared along one wall, illuminated by hundreds of candles floating overhead.The ceiling was once again as black as velvet, and almost all the students from the school came, crowded together, each holding his own wand, and his face was full of excitement.

The three squeezed sideways into the chattering crowd, looking expectantly at the stage - a fuchsia gown came into view, radiant - and it was Lockhart.

Beside him stood Snape, still in his usual black clothes.

Ron accidentally revealed his heart: "Oh, bad."

He doesn't like either of these two people, and even wants to quit now.

But it was a bit late at this time, Lockhart waved for everyone to be quiet, and then shouted: "Come around, come around! Can everyone see me? Can everyone hear me? Great!"

"That's right, even though I haven't contacted Principal Dumbledore, Chief McGonagall allowed me to start this small dueling club and fully train everyone in case you need to defend yourself one day, using the method I have used countless times ways to protect yourself - see my published work for details on this."

Harry and Ron exchanged glances silently, and they finally understood why Professor McGonagall looked so angry in class-it was all thanks to Lockhart, if it wasn't for the absence of Headmaster Dumbledore, Lockhart would have No trouble for Professor McGonagall.

"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape," said Lockhart, with a wide grin, "he told me that he knew a thing or two about dueling himself, and that he was generous Promise, help me with a small demonstration before class. I said, I don't want to worry about you little guys - when I'm done demonstrating with him, I'll return your potions teacher to you intact ,do not be afraid!"

Snape's upper lip curled up.Harry didn't understand why Lockhart was still smiling; if Snape had looked at him that way, he would have spread his legs and was running as fast as he could in the opposite direction.

Lockhart and Snape turned to face each other and bowed.At least Lockhart bowed, flailing his hands a lot, and Snape just shook his head impatiently.They then held their respective wands like arrows to their chests.

"As you can see, we hold our wands in the normal dueling position," Lockhart told the quiet crowd. "On the count of three, we cast the first spell. Of course, none of us will take The opponent's life."

"one two Three--"

They both jerked their wands over their shoulders at the same time.Snape yelled, "Expelliarmus!" Suddenly there was a blinding red light, and Lockhart was knocked off his feet.He flew backwards off the stage, hit the wall, and slid down, curled up on the floor.

Malfoy and a few other Slytherins applauded.Hermione jumped up and down on tiptoe. "You think he's okay?" she asked screaming, putting her fingers over her mouth.

Ron stared at Hermione strangely, as if asking why she cared about Lockhart, thinking he had real talents.

Lockhart staggered to his feet, his hat off, his wavy curls standing on end.

"Well, you see!" said he, staggering back onto the stage, "it's a disarming spell—as you can see, I lost my wand—oh, thank you, Brown Miss. Yes, Professor Snape, it's a very good idea to show them this trick, but don't mind me saying that, your intention to do this was too obvious just now. If I want to stop you , it's a no-brainer. I think it's a good idea to let them see it, in order to increase their knowledge."

Snape looked murderous.Lockhart presumably noticed as well, so he said, "That's the end of the demonstration! Now I'll come among you and divide you into teams of two. Professor Snape, if you'll help me."

They walk through the crowd and make pairs for everyone.Lockhart paired Neville and Justin Finch, but Snape went up to Harry and Ron first.

"I think the dream team should break up," he sneered. "Weasley, you can pair up with Finnigan. Potter—"

Harry subconsciously moved closer to Hermione.

"I don't think so," said Snape, with a cold smile on his face. "Malfoy, come here. Let's see what you can make of the famous Potter. As for you, Miss Granger - you can be paired with Miss Burst."

Malfoy walked over arrogantly, with a smug smile on his face.Behind him was a Slytherin girl who reminded Harry of a painting he'd seen in Holidays with Hags.She was tall and strong, stocky, with a thick chin protruding aggressively forward.Hermione gave her a forced smile, but she ignored it.

"Face your partner!" Lockhart yelled back on stage, "Bow!"

Harry and Malfoy barely nodded, they stared at each other intently.

"It's too late to beg for mercy," Malfoy said sarcastically.

Harry immediately retorted: "Oh? Are you referring to last semester? I hope I can spare your life again?"

Harry knew that this matter had always been on Malfoy's mind, and he also saw the angry expression on Malfoy's face as he wished.

But what to do in a moment?

Harry thought silently, and he couldn't help thinking about the characteristic of Slytherin house - shrewdness.
Harry didn't think Malfoy was shrewd, just that he was a mean person.

"Raise your wand and get ready!" Lockhart exclaimed. "When I count to three, I'll cast a spell to disarm—just disarm—we don't want an accident. One—two— three--"

Subconsciously, Harry did so when Lockhart counted to one, and instead of casting any spells and avoiding the time wasted raising his wand, he sprinted at Malfoy—he He was very glad that he made such a decision, because he not only saw the panic on Malfoy's face, but also found that Malfoy was obviously planning to make a move in advance, and he didn't even think about following the rules.

The distance between the two was so close that Malfoy's mind went blank—this was not the Harry he knew.

When he came back to his senses, he had already been hit hard on the cheek by a fist, followed by another left uppercut, which completely blinded Malfoy, and he forgot to fight back.

Harry took all his grudge against Snape out on Malfoy - Snape was going to take it out on him, so he'd have to teach his proud student a lesson - just like Professor Highmore had done.

"I said, just disarm!" Lockhart yelled at the heads of the fighting crowd in horror from above, no one could hear what he was saying, the auditorium became noisy, and everyone started fighting , the duel completely turned into a messy brawl.

Harry got into a fight with Malfoy who had regained his senses. It stands to reason that it would be immoral to make an early move, but after learning to be shrewd, Harry thought in his heart that Malfoy would make the same decision, so it would be better to make the first move .

Malfoy could only barely hold back Harry who didn't give him any chance to resist, his body wobbled back, his cheeks were swollen high.

Snape took over the power: "The curse stops!"

A puff of green smoke filled the entire venue.Neville and Justin were both lying on the floor, panting; Millicent clamped Hermione's head, and Hermione whimpered in pain.Both of their wands had been left on the floor.

After noticing the strangeness around him, Harry stopped his hands suddenly. He pretended to be nonchalant and took a few steps back, rubbing the back of his hand gently.

Malfoy covered his cheek and stared at him in disbelief.

"My God, my God," said Lockhart, jumping up and down in the crowd, watching the aftermath of the duel, "you stand up, McMillan watch out, Miss Fawcett squeeze hard, the blood will stop in a second , bout."

Harry was still breathing slowly, he lowered his head silently, not wanting to give Snape any chance to blame himself.

But Harry's wishful thinking was wrong.

It was obvious that Snape had been eyeing him for a long time and was walking towards the two of them. After carefully checking the wound on Malfoy's face, he turned his head and stared at Harry with cold eyes.

"It seems that you need to learn what a duel is." Snape said coldly, "I think you don't mind showing your actions just now in front of more people, so that they can get a good look at the famous Harry Potter." What a shameful person."

Harry had already raised his head, and he met Snape's eyes angrily, as if asking him how he had the nerve to describe himself like that?
Snape didn't give him a chance to refuse, and said directly: "Make the space available, you need a qualified demonstration."

On the word "qualified", he deliberately emphasized the pronunciation, and then whispered something to Malfoy.

Lockhart came too.

"Demonstration? Good idea, Harry, when Draco points his wand at you, you do it."

He raised his wand, waved it from side to side, trying to conjure complex tricks, and accidentally dropped it on the ground.Snape sneered, and Lockhart quickly picked up his wand and said, "Ouch—my wand is a little overexcited."

Harry's heart cooled down little by little, and he knew that he would definitely not be able to use the previous method in front of everyone.

"Professor, can you show me that way of stopping the spell again?" he could only ask Lockhart.

"Scared?" Malfoy said in a low voice, with a malevolent gleam in his eye that Lockhart couldn't hear.

"You're dreaming." Harry said these words from the corner of his mouth.

Lockhart patted Harry on the shoulder happily: "Just do as I did, Harry!"

"What, drop your wand?"

But Lockhart wasn't listening to him at all.

"Three-two-one-go!" he cried.

Malfoy quickly raised his wand and roared, "Oolong out!"

The tip of his wand exploded.Harry watched in horror as a long black snake burst out of it, landed heavily on the floor between the two of them, and raised its head, ready to strike.The crowd screamed and dodged back quickly to make way for the clearing.

is a snake.

Harry suddenly became terrified. He saw Ron and Hermione staring at him with wide-eyed eyes, and he could see what they wanted to express in their eyes-don't expose your Parseltongue at this time .

"Don't move, Potter," said Snape lazily, obviously enjoying seeing Harry standing there motionless, staring at the angry snake, "I'll take him get away."

"Let me do it!" Lockhart yelled.He raised his wand and waved it menacingly at the snake.Suddenly, there was a loud bang, and a red spell hit the black snake, recreating the previous scene of Lockhart being knocked into the air—the black snake flew upside down, turned into black mist again, and just dissipated.

Ron was already stunned, and Hermione jumped up happily: "Look, I knew Professor Lockhart was capable."

Harry turned around in a daze and looked over, Lockhart was waving to the students with complicated tricks, enjoying their cheers, then turned his head and smiled at Harry, his teeth gleaming: "That's it Do it, Harry."

Snape was extremely dissatisfied with this.

"The duel isn't over yet," he reminded Malfoy deliberately, determined to make Harry suffer even more.

Malfoy finally woke up from his trance, and Harry also showed instinctive vigilance, but at this moment Lockhart spoke again: "Well, let's end this group, Professor Snape, it's time to switch to another group." student."

"No." Snape retorted in a cold tone, "Not yet."

"Oh, no no no. If I ask you, that's enough, it's time for another group of students."

The auditorium fell silent almost instantly, and an inexplicable atmosphere surrounded the students. The students looked nervously at the two professors standing in the center. Lockhart was showing what he thought was a charming smile. Pu narrowed his eyes and stared at him indifferently.

Harry also had a look of disbelief—is Lockhart speaking for him?
Why did he do this?
At the moment when the explosive barrel was about to explode, there was a commotion among the crowd standing behind, they all gave way to a path, and a figure wearing a white lady's witch robe walked out from it—it was Professor Angela, she was the only one in the school That's how people dress up.

"Hey, Professor Angela!"

Lockhart broke the silence suddenly, he said cheerfully, "Are you also here to join the Dueling Club?"

"Do not."

Another familiar beginning.

Angela's expression was even colder than Snape's. She had been in this state recently, and the students knew that it was related to the attacked Professor Highmore.

"I've come to find a student—Cedric Diggory, come out."

Cedric walked out of the crowd with a dazed face, his hair was messed up, and he obviously made a lot of mistakes in the duel.

Angela looked him up and down for a while, and Cedric was inexplicably guilty—he didn't fear Professor Highmore, but respected him.But it was different when facing this substitute professor, and he didn't know Angela well.

"You are Cedric Diggory?"

"I am...Professor."

"Come with me to the ancient magic office, I have a question for you."

After they left, the students discussed the reasons in low voices, Cedric was not like a student who would make mistakes.
Lockhart took advantage of the opportunity to silence the students and replaced both Harry and Malfoy. This time Snape did not continue to object, but silently stared in the direction of the door with deep eyes.

After returning to the ancient magic office, Cedric sat awkwardly on Professor Angela, and asked nervously, "What is it, Professor?"

Angela stared at him with a gaze that seemed to be able to see through people's hearts.

"I remember your former Al's assistant?"

"Before? Uh... I don't seem to be fired now, am I?"

"I want to know if you have sneaked into this office."

"No, absolutely not, Professor."

"Then do you remember who has been a visitor to this office?"

"There are many, Professor, among them are many students who have been locked up before. I heard that the Quidditch players from Gryffindor and Slytherin have come."

"anything else?"

".Lovegood, by the way, and Luna Lovegood, she interviewed me here before, the report in the college magazine."

"Okay, you can leave now."

Cedric stood up in a daze, and he finally couldn't help asking the question he had been worrying about all along: "Please ask the professor, Professor Haimer will—no, I mean, when will he come back? Woolen cloth?"

Angela didn't look at him, but walked to an empty place in the office.

There was originally a wizard potted plant placed here, but it disappeared.

"As he sees fit."

Angela said meaningfully.

Cedric took it as the answer that Professor Haimer was still alive. He had also heard a lot of rumors in the school, and he had been worried about it for a long time.

At the same time, riding the night, a Thestral carriage slowly landed outside the gate of Hogwarts Castle.

Toby jumped out of the carriage, and Al was still standing in his old position, on his shoulders.

He looked at the tall castle, the lights twinkling like stars in the night sky.

"It seems that the headmaster hasn't come back yet, otherwise he should have come to greet me."

Then he opened the gate, and told the armor who had changed his position and sat in front of the car: "Remember to return the carriage secretly, and thestrals too. Then you hide in the Forbidden Forest first, take the coffin with you, and try not to let other found."

The armor nodded silently, and he drove the carriage along the edge of the wall, carefully not to be noticed by anyone.

Al looked at Toby, asking him what his next plan was.

"It's hard to say at the moment, Al." Tony murmured, "Maybe I should reverse the previous plan. After all, the opportunity is rare."

"The headmaster isn't at Hogwarts."

(End of this chapter)