Hogwarts Raven's Claw

Chapter 146 Duel Contest Begins

Mike almost choked on his food when he heard this, and he coughed for a long time before he recovered.

The scarf that Penelope was talking about was the Christmas gift that Penelope gave to Mike. The scarf was made very roughly and it seemed that it was sewn by Penelope herself.

Although this scarf is prickly and uncomfortable to wear, Mike still likes it very much and wears it around his neck whenever he goes out.

"Let go! Don't pinch me." Mike shrank his neck and took out a khaki scarf and said, "Look, isn't it right here? I wear it every day."

Seeing that Mike was carrying the scarf he had knitted himself, Penelope loosened her grip.

Mike took the opportunity to finish all the food on the table, let out a long sigh, and then took Penelope's hand and went to the duel competition venue.

Unlike the first duel demonstration before Christmas, the official venue for the duel competition was set at an open space behind Hogwarts Castle.

This was originally the training ground for spell application and practical classes, or practical classes for short.

The practical class was originally an elective course at Hogwarts. It is said that this course was a popular course at Hogwarts and was very popular among young wizards.

However, because this course is too dangerous and there have even been several serious deaths, Hogwarts was forced to cancel this course more than 200 years ago due to protests from many parents.

Instead, the Defense Against the Dark Arts course was introduced. This course was originally an elective course, and it was a niche course. However, after absorbing some of the content of the practical course, it became a popular course, and after the Dark Lord Gellert Grindelwald wreaked havoc, it became a compulsory course.

After the practical classes were cancelled, the dedicated practice field for the practical classes naturally became abandoned. Although it had been abandoned for more than two hundred years, fortunately, there were originally a large number of protective devices on the field that could release magic shields. With a little modification, it became the best venue for this duel competition.

The competition had already begun when Mike and Penelope arrived. On the huge venue were circular arenas with a diameter of about ten meters. Pairs of students were fighting fiercely on the arenas. There were audiences in groups of three or four below the arenas, who would applaud or boo from time to time depending on the performance of the contestants on the arenas.

In the center of the venue, Lockhart and a group of logistics staff of the Dueling Club were recording the outcome of each duel. Next to Lockhart was a senior student holding a magic loudspeaker. Whenever an arena was vacant, he would start calling out the names according to the list that had been prepared long ago. The students whose names were called would need to rush to the designated arena to duel.

Since Penelope's match had not yet begun, the two of them kept moving between the various rings to watch the fun.

It would have been fine if I hadn't seen it, but as soon as I saw Mike I wanted to laugh.

The duels between first to third year wizards were like something out of a comedy movie, like Ron's match against a Hufflepuff wizard.

The two people on the stage held their wands tightly and stared at each other seriously. An invisible sense of tension spread out. Driven by this impending atmosphere, many audiences in the audience swallowed silently.

But the situation changed 360 degrees when the referee announced the official start of the duel.

I saw two people on the stage. You cast a "Teeth-Stuffing Stick" spell (a curse that can make people grow huge front teeth), and I cast a "Tarantella Dance" spell (a curse that can make people spin and jump non-stop).

Then the two people on the ring who had not yet learned how to protect themselves with armor were cursed one after another. One of them started dancing awkwardly and was unable to wave his wand, and the other grew huge front teeth and was unable to recite spells, which caused everyone below the ring to laugh wildly.

As both of them lost their ability to fight, the senior student who was acting as the referee was in a dilemma. Fortunately, Ron's wand was broken by the Whomping Willow when he and Harry drove the flying car to school at the beginning of the semester, so the duration of the spell was greatly reduced, and the dancing wand soon stopped, which made the referee relieved and announced that Ron had lost.

Ron almost cried after stepping down. His long front teeth were stuck between his upper and lower jaws, making it impossible for him to close his mouth.

It was difficult to swallow without being able to close the mouth. Poor Ron couldn't even swallow his saliva and could only watch a stream of crystal saliva slowly slide down from the corner of his mouth.

Harry looked at Ron's drooling mouth, and his mouth twitched constantly. He tried hard to hold back his laughter, patted Ron's shoulder as a comfort, then quickly turned around and covered his mouth.

Looking at Harry's shoulders shaking wildly, Ron really cried this time.

Many senior wizards were not much better in duels. Although the spells they used were no longer mischief spells, but instead were truly lethal offensive spells such as the Disarming Spell, the Fire Spell, the Explosive Spell, etc., most of the senior wizards simply lacked practical experience.

This caused the battle between them to become a turn-based system common in RPG games. You cast a disarming spell and I block it with my armor. Then I cast a fire spell and you block it with your armor...

There were the fewest spectators under these arenas, and even their referees yawned in boredom. Compared to their boring fights, the duels between the younger wizards were obviously more interesting.

Just as the two were strolling on the field, Penello's name was called in the center of the field, which indicated that Penello's game tonight was about to begin.

When Penelope heard her name, her body stiffened noticeably. Mike, sensing Penelope's abnormality, pinched her little hand, signaling her not to be nervous.

Penelope gave a forced smile to show that she was fine, and took Mike's hand to the designated ring.

Although she said it was okay, Mike could still clearly feel Penelope's nervousness. It was already early January, but the palms of their hands holding together were full of sweat, all from Penelope.

When the two arrived at the designated ring, Penelope's opponent had already arrived and was waiting there. The moment she saw her opponent, the expression on Penelope's face obviously relaxed.

Because her opponent was Hermione, a second-year wizard.

Hermione's expression on the ring was extremely ugly at the moment, forming a sharp contrast with the ease on Penelope's face.

But what was surprising was that when Hermione saw Penelope and Mike coming to the ring hand in hand, the expression on her face turned into gnashing of teeth, and anger burned in her eyes. She looked at Penelope and Mike as if she wanted to burn them to death with a fire.

The situation became even worse after Penelope accidentally or intentionally lifted her long hair to reveal the emerald earrings on her ears.

Penelope walked onto the ring calmly and couldn't help but laugh at the anxious look on Hermione's face.

The referee in the audience saw that the two contestants were in place, so in order to save time, he did not let them perform the wizard duel ceremony and directly announced the start of the competition.

(End of this chapter)