days at Hogwarts

Chapter 488 Pikli’s Duel Practice
"start!"

Graves immediately retreated a long distance behind, his steps were agile, and his torso remained stable during the rapid movement. After all, he was a person who could face the fire dragon with his athletic ability, and his movements were very neat.

This time he planned to practice at a safe distance, and then use various magic spells and transformation techniques to let his friend, who was three years younger than him, see what a real duel was.

However, when Graves took his position, he looked up and saw that the person opposite him also took a few steps back, widening the distance between them. The distance between them was nearly 30 feet.

Graves narrowed his eyes slightly. This distance required higher accuracy for the spell. During the casting process, the wand was slightly offset, and landing 30 feet away was already a huge error.

It seems that the new friends don't know any common sense about dueling. The magic level of the two parties is too different, so they can only find flaws through close combat.

"Okay, let's first show the opponent the exquisite coordination of magic spells..."

Graves thought about teaching his new friend a lesson, and quickly raised his wand: "[Retreat the enemy three feet]"

Loren's eyelids trembled slightly, and a dim crystal blue light floated in his eyes. He saw that the magic power on Graves was already quietly flowing, and his spell casting speed was faster than most 17-year-old wizards he had seen. Not only It was just a repelling spell, but more spells had been connected behind the first one. Whether he avoided it or met it, it was followed by the second and third attacks.

He was in the direction pointed by the tip of the staff, and felt that the movements of the people around him and the magic power on his opponent slowed down. A quiet and wonderful perception spread out from his mind, spreading silently in all directions.

He could clearly see the emerald green light of the repelling curse accumulating little by little, and he could even see the landing point of the curse, just below his left rib.

A strange feeling arose in Graves's heart. This new friend's movements were too slow, and there was no movement to resist or dodge until he finished casting the spell.

You don't think about giving up if you can't win anyway, do you?
"call out!"

The air around the tip of the staff vibrated slightly, and the magic light shot forward.

But something unexpected happened to him. The magic spell that was supposed to hit the opponent and knock him back or even knock him over didn't even hit the target. Instead, he hit the tip of the wand on the opposite side and hit an invisible and smooth wall. On the transparent wall, not only is there no merit, it is even reflected back.

"[Armor Protection]"

"Iron Armor Curse!"

Graves' pupils shrank and he chose to use his strong body to resist.

As a warrior of Ilvermorny, his body can withstand the dragon's tail flick.

"Oh!"

There was a dull crash.

Graves was knocked back by his own curse. He originally wanted to give up defense and dodge, resist the curse and take advantage of the opportunity to counterattack, but when he wanted to open his mouth to recite the curse, a faint green light flashed in front of his eyes, and then It was countless slight crackling sounds in the air.

Before he could take a closer look, he saw densely packed and almost invisible repelling spells coming continuously.

There was no time to react.

Graves had just been knocked back and could not stand still. His center of gravity was unstable and he had nowhere to rely on. He could only protect his head with both hands and turn his body sideways to reduce the area affected by the blow.

"Pengpeng..."

There was a dull crashing sound.

In the blink of an eye, Graves completely lost the opportunity to defend and counterattack. These fine repelling spells were not very powerful, but the continuous offensive like spring rain made him keep retreating. Each time he was knocked back a few inches, the cow leather soles were There was a hissing sound on the floor.

The warrior's body is indeed strong. He only felt slight pain from such an attack and was not injured at all.

When he came to his senses, his back was already pressed against the stone wall at the back of the classroom, and he was unable to retreat.

Graves put down his hands, rubbed his sore arms, and glanced at Principal Fontana with a complicated expression.

Headmaster, there is a big difference in the teaching standards between Ilvermorny and Hogwarts.

Principal Fontana was a little silent, and glanced at Professor McGonagall calmly, with the same complicated expression.

The three little wizards standing nearby had tense faces, and the corners of their mouths twitched slightly, suggesting that they were trying hard to suppress laughter.

Professor McGonagall stepped forward and patted Graves's robe with a tenderness that Hogwarts students had never seen before. She cleared her throat: "Morgan's experience is very special, and her magic power is stronger than that of little wizards of the same age." You are powerful and very talented in spells, so you learned a lot of advanced spells in advance. Pikli, you were a little careless and were surprised..."

Graves was silent.

Thank you Professor, I was comforted.

"..."

Loren clicked his tongue silently. Professor McGonagall was so partial. His student was called Morgan, and someone else's student was called Pickley.

"It's not carelessness, it's arrogance and underestimation." Principal Fontana patted Loren on the shoulder as if he was commending him, as if Loren was a student of Ilvermorny. "I think Loren is younger than you, so I take it for granted. He was sure to win, thinking that his magic power was stronger than his, and his magic skills were better than his, but he was beaten so hard that he couldn't hold his head up.

"Isn't this a lesson learned, Pickley?"

"Yes……"

Graves was so ashamed that he couldn't even lift his head.

Principal Fontana looked at Professor McGonagall: "In the next scene, let the two warriors Harry and Pickley do the demonstration, okay, Professor McGonagall?"

"Of course." Professor McGonagall nodded and smiled.

Harry scratched his head, held the wand and stood in the center of the classroom, standing in front of the rested Graves, raised the wand, and prepared for the drill.

Principal Fontana instructed Graves: "Duel practice in a narrow venue, the competition is speed, casting speed, reaction speed, decision-making speed... eliminate the unexpected factors of sneak attack and group attack, Pikli, as long as you can By concentrating and knowing when to cast attacks and when to defend and dodge, you can basically control the rhythm of the battle, which also means victory is within reach.”

"In a stalemate with him, your age advantage is your magic advantage; by constantly exchanging offense and defense with him, you can use spells he hasn't learned yet... or even basic transformation spells, and you will have more application experience."

Graves nodded solemnly, indicating that he understood.

After Principal Fontana finished speaking, he looked at Professor McGonagall, hoping that he would also explain some dueling experience to Harry.

Professor McGonagall nodded happily and said in a deep voice: "Principal Fontana is right."

"..."

Did I ask you to say this?

The corners of Fontana's eyes twitched slightly.

"start!"

The onlookers at the back suddenly became excited. If the two professors were not nearby, they might have cheered.

Ron stood at the front, and he couldn't wait to see the warrior on the opposite side being knocked over by the disarming spell.

In the center of the classroom, Graves had quickly accumulated the first spell. His casting speed was very fast, and coupled with his high concentration, the spell was almost stuck and shouted out.

"[Retreat the enemy three feet]"

The battle must end neatly and beautifully!
Graves silently made up his mind that the shameful incident of being beaten so hard that he could not hold his head up because he underestimated his enemy would never happen again.

No sophisticated spell coordination, no show off of transformation skills, just a steady and steady approach, you come and I go.

In the blink of an eye, the emerald green repel spell had been launched.

No matter whether the opponent uses magic spells to counter, dodge, or resist forcefully, Graves has already prepared the follow-up response method.

None of the expected scenes happened, and a powerful disarming spell was triggered from the opposite side. "[Expelliarmus]"

"Oh!"

There was a muffled sound.

The emerald green light collided with the crimson beam, and the disarming spell trembled violently for a moment, but it still crushed the repelling spell and shot toward him.

Graves' scalp was numb. It was obvious that he had accumulated energy in advance and activated the spell first, but it was directly defeated by the disarming spell that the opponent hastily counterattacked. Is Ilvermorny's education really no problem...

Seeing the oncoming red light, Graves quickly gathered his thoughts and hurriedly stepped aside.

"Oh!"

The disarming spell hit the wall behind, making a dull sound.

Principal Fontana frowned slightly and warned again: "Pickley, don't underestimate the enemy."

Graves' expression was numb: "I really didn't."

"..."

After a short rest, Graves launched the attack again. As an outstanding student representative of Ilvermorny, he had mastered most of the spells in the textbook. He also had a strong and agile body, and could even eat one or two occasionally. A spell was used in exchange for an opportunity to attack, but these were useless in the face of the unreasonable disarming spell.

"[Fainted]"

"[Expelliarmus]"

"[Thousands of bullets fired]"

"[Expelliarmus]"

"..."

Ten minutes later, Graves's face gradually became serious. He originally thought that such a powerful spell would consume a lot of energy, and he tried to use tug-of-war to drag Harry down until he was mentally exhausted. However, the battle continued until now. Is Harry tired yet? He didn't know, but he felt like he couldn't hold on any longer.

Cast a disarming spell and kill him before he loses the ability to fight!

Graves made up his mind and no longer evaded the oncoming thick red beam. Instead, he waved his staff forward and shouted in a deep voice: "[Everyone is petrified]"

He narrowed his eyes slightly, as if he had seen his wand slipping away, while Harry across from him was petrified and unable to fight.

"Oh!"

The moment the curse came upon him, Graves felt a powerful impact, as if a bison had hit him, knocking him out. He hit the stone wall behind the classroom and fell to the ground, even bouncing on the ground. one time.

"Cough cough..."

Graves climbed up with difficulty while coughing, took the wand handed over from Harry with a dazed expression, and unconsciously murmured: "What kind of spell is this?"

Harry was stunned for a moment: "It's a disarming spell."

"Is this a disarming spell?!"

"Expelliarmus, yes, it's the disarming spell."

"..."

Graves looked at his headmaster in confusion. It could be seen from his dull expression that this warrior of Ilvermorny was a little doubtful about life now.

Principal Fontana was silent.

Professor McGonagall was also a little silent.

Ron was the only one grinning.

He even pretended to come forward and comforted Graves a few words, imparted a lot of experience in resisting disarming spells, and loudly praised his strong body, despite being hit by such a severe disarming spell, bumping into such a hard wall, and coughing twice. He can get up at the sound of a sound, but he would have to lie down for more than ten minutes.

It's okay if he didn't say it. As soon as he mentioned it, Graves held his stomach and turned pale.

In order to prevent Ron from aggravating the injury of the friendly school warrior, Loren quickly stopped him from talking.

Professor McGonagall took the opportunity to explain the two duels just now. He was very sure that Graves suffered a secret disadvantage because he did not understand his opponent. The main reason for the unfavorable start today was that Loren and Harry were different from ordinary little wizards. You'll get used to it after practicing a few times.

Loren didn't know how much Graves believed him, but his face looked much better by the time get out of class was over.

After leaving the abandoned classroom, it was already dark outside. A moon hung on the top of the tower in the north, its light was cold and the stars were sparse.

There was still some time before lights out, so Harry and Ron went back to the common room, while Loren and Hermione went to the North Tower to study astronomy.

……

The cool night breeze blew across the platform at the top of the tower. There was a boy with black hair and black eyes sitting on the edge of the wall. His feet were hanging out of the wall, swaying slightly in the wind.

A beautiful girl was lying next to him, her head resting on his lap, her clear eyes filled with the glimmer of stars.

"Actually, I think Graves is already very powerful, and Harry's disarming spell is also very powerful. Even if you practice with me all the time, I think my dueling ability is only a little better than theirs, and... it may be very soon. Just can’t compare to them.”

In the cool night breeze, the little witch's voice was a little melancholy: "Loren, I seem to be a nerd who only knows how to memorize things by rote..."

"Classmate Granger," the boy's voice was solemn and solemn, "Being able to read and recite the knowledge in books is an extremely powerful ability. It is not memorizing by rote, nor is it a nerd!"

"But my dueling ability is very average. I have practiced for so long and I am only a little better than them."

"I will always practice with you, and you will always be better than them."

Hermione looked at his lower face quietly, the stars in her eyes began to ripple, and she couldn't help but feel a hint of pleasure at the corner of her mouth.

"Professor Morgan is really reliable..."

Hermione turned slightly sideways and buried her face in his belly. She wrapped her hands around his waist from the side and tightened it tightly. When she breathed slowly, she could smell the smell of laundry detergent on his robe, and her forehead and cheeks could still smell it. Feel the warm body temperature.

Loren felt a little itchy in her belly, but she didn't move.

A soft voice sounded, blending into the not-dark night and drifting away with the wind:
"Do you think Graves won't be able to sleep tonight?"

"It's better not to sleep."

"Ok?"

"I'm worried that when he falls asleep, his dreams are filled with disarming spells."

"..."

Hermione couldn't help but chuckle, and then she felt it was a bit offensive to make fun of someone behind his back. She couldn't be such a bad person, so she pursed her lips and hugged him hard.

Speechless for a moment.

The gentle wind blew away the clouds and mist, making the starry sky outside the tower more brilliant and the moon full.

In the quiet night, it seems that two people are sitting here in silence, which is the happiest thing.

(End of this chapter)