Hogwarts: This professor is too Muggle.

Chapter 145 What is the name of your elf?
The magic dome simulates a pitch-black night with dark clouds blocking the moon.

Candlelight flickered, torches lit the walls, and the light no longer covered only the stage.

The students who participated in the duel practice were divided into two groups and scattered throughout the auditorium. There was a fiery look in the eyes of every little wizard. Ever since watching the duel between Professor Lewynter and Professor Snape, everyone was eager to try and couldn't wait to start their own duel.

Ignoring Lockhart's noisy instructions, the young wizards imitated the gestures of the two serious professors, bowing to each other and waving their wands.

The scene suddenly became lively.

For students in middle and high grades, they can imitate the spells quite well. The spells in the textbooks are just enough. Both sides exchange spells with each other and the fight is very intense.

The students in the lower grades suffered a lot. They had not learned many spells, and they just kept repeating the same basic standard spells over and over again. They didn't even have to wait for the opponent to finish reciting the spell. They could tell what kind of magic it was just by looking at the wand waving action, and then cast similar magic to resist.

It's really boring, both sides feel that it's not interesting.

But Lockhart still divides the students into groups according to different colleges, with four colleges arranged in combinations.

The combination of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw is fine, there is no grudge between the two sides. The duel is boring, but it is just practice anyway, so just treat it as a club activity.

The atmosphere in Gryffindor and Slytherin was completely different. They had a group fight last year, and coupled with the grudges accumulated from the Quidditch games, they were usually bound by school rules and had no chance to vent their anger. Now that they met in duel practice, they were like old enemies meeting, and they were extremely jealous of each other.

Lockhart's perfectly arranged grouping pitted Hermione against Millicent, a massive second-year witch, tall, strong, and stocky, with a thick double chin that trembled as she looked up with disdain.

Hermione didn't dare let such an opponent get close to her. Adhering to the tactics she learned in the tutorial class, she maintained a safe casting distance throughout the whole process, not giving Millicent the opportunity to launch a melee attack.

One was thin but agile, the other was strong and clumsy. With the dueling experience accumulated from the two papers, Hermione quickly controlled the rhythm of the battle and led Millicent in circles around the venue.

It attracted the attention of the students around.

Perhaps having noticed this during the Quidditch match, Lockhart put Harry and Draco in the same group, allowing the two Seekers to continue their previous dispute on the dueling field.

Draco was a pure-blood who grew up in a magical family. He played dueling games with his friends before going to school. He also learned a few magic spells outside of textbooks when killing time in his study. He felt that there was no reason why he could not beat Harry, who grew up in a Muggle family.

When Lockhart counted to two, Draco waved his wand in advance, and at the moment the countdown ended, a spell was whistled out.

It was an ordinary little curse, without even a formal name, and he couldn't remember where he had learned it. Its effect was to make the opponent's head feel like being hit by a stew pot, painful but not harmful. It wasn't very powerful and could be cast very quickly.

Harry hadn't expected that this man would not observe dueling etiquette and would attack before the countdown was over. In his haste, he was unable to dodge and was hit. He only felt a dull pain in his forehead, which was annoying.

Harry came to his senses and cast a tickling spell. Silver light penetrated into his body and Draco burst into laughter. He laughed so hard that he couldn't breathe and his stomach twitched all over. He fell to the ground holding his stomach and twitching. It took him a while to recover and secretly pointed his wand at Harry.

Harry had undergone systematic training in the cram school and never let his guard down, always paying attention to the other side's actions.

For both of them, the real duel has only begun now.

Tarantella Dance

[Retreat the enemy three feet]

[fainted to the ground]

【Expelliarmus】

Draco was holding back a lot of anger, always wanting to pay back for all the losses he had suffered at Harry's hands and win back the points he had lost in Quidditch. Every time he cast a spell, he did it viciously, hoping to win with one strike.

But the battle was more difficult than he expected.

Harry had a different mindset. He had theoretically analyzed many classic duel cases, put together a paper more than ten inches long, and practiced with the top student Hermione. He knew how to control the timing when casting spells, and often didn't care whether he hit the target or not. Whether Draco resisted or dodged, he just pulled him into the rhythm he adapted to.

The difference in mentality was quickly reflected in the battle situation. In just a few rounds, Harry gradually gained the upper hand in the duel.

Draco could feel himself becoming increasingly exhausted, the scales of victory gradually tilting towards the other side. He made up his mind, gritted his teeth and shouted:

【Oolong out of the cave】

The tip of the wand exploded with a bang, and a slender black snake jumped out. Its scales were black and glowed with an ominous glow. It raised its head and bared its mouth, revealing its sharp fangs. It was obvious that it was extremely poisonous.

The students around had already noticed the fierce battle here. When they saw the poisonous snake, they immediately screamed and retreated in fear, leaving a clear space.

The moment Draco cast this magic, he felt a little regretful. Unlike the previous small evil curse, this was already a black magic of the poison level. If it was strictly investigated, he would have violated the school rules and would be deducted points and put in confinement.

Harry looked particularly strange facing the poisonous snake. His eyes were slightly dazed. There was no fear on his face. Instead, he took two steps forward, as if he didn't care about the poison at all.

Ron and Hermione, who had finished fighting in the outer circle, looked at each other and reacted at the same time, showing worried expressions.

"hiss--"

Just as Harry's lips were moving and he was about to speak, a hand suddenly pressed on his shoulder, waking him from that strange state. He raised his head and happened to meet Professor Lewinter's dark and calm eyes.

[The snake disappears and turns into black smoke]

Professor Snape passed by and a white light shot out from the tip of his wand, turning the venomous snake into a wisp of black smoke and dispersing it.

Three minutes later.

"Today's duel practice ends here. Although there were some unpleasant incidents along the way, it did not affect the successful conclusion of our duel club's first event. Since Draco is a first-time offender, as the club's instructor, I will not pursue the matter further..."

Lockhart grinned as he stood on the stage. "We'll be holding activities every Friday night. Any interested students are welcome to participate."

The event ended here.

Harry frowned slightly and said in a low voice, "I was almost speaking Parseltongue just now."

He was still a little worried: "Parseltongue is a very bad thing. It is usually only used by evil dark wizards. If I show Parseltongue in public, I will be regarded as a monster."

"we know."

Hermione walked beside him. "We tried to wink at you, but you didn't see us. Ron leaned over and whispered to you, but you didn't hear us either. Luckily, Professor Lewynter and Professor Snape arrived in time."

Harry had a complicated expression: "I never thought that one day I would thank Snape... Professor."

Just as he was about to express his feelings a few more times, his opponent Draco appeared out of nowhere and stood in front of him. "What are you talking about, you two being so secretive?"

"none of your business!"

Ron blurted out.

"You...you..." Draco was stunned for a moment by the scolding, but remembering the curse he had just cast, he didn't say the curse words on the tip of his tongue. He just gritted his teeth and said, "You are a disgrace to your pure-blood identity!"

Ron sneered, "Yes, you are the one who disgraced the purebloods by releasing a despicable curse in front of the entire school."

Draco clenched his fists upon hearing this, not wanting to get entangled with this vulgar pureblood disgrace. He turned to look at Harry and said, "You win today's match, but don't be too proud. It was just my mistake in choosing the wrong spell. Next week's Dueling Club event will still be between the two of us. Do you dare agree?"

"No." "Why?"

Harry shrugged. "Next week is Christmas break, so the Dueling Club activities won't be going on."

"..."

Draco was speechless for a moment and felt extremely frustrated.

Ron immediately added: "We are planning to stay at school. If you stay, we can also duel. Do you want to stay? Oh, Draco wants to go home to see his mother, and you want to eat the apple pie that his mother made..."

Draco's neck turned red with anger, and he roared back: "Only you Weasleys need the master to go to the kitchen himself. We have house elves at home!"

"House-elves..."

An ugly face flashed through Harry's mind, and he quickly asked, "What's the name of your elf?"

Draco raised his chin and looked at him, saying triumphantly, "Dobby, what's the matter? You want to buy one too? Don't dream on. House-elves are only found in pure-blood families with a well-established inheritance. If you want one..."

"!!!"

Harry's eyes suddenly widened.

He could no longer hear the rubbish that was being said. He grabbed Ron and Hermione's arms and shook them twice: "Dobby! Did you hear that? Dobby!"

Draco was stunned by his reaction.

Isn't it just a house elf?
Why are you so excited?
Harry was seen saying something incomprehensible to the two of them, while the Shame of Pureblood and Miss Know-It-All exchanged glances, and it was unknown what agreement they had reached. Then they hurriedly ran upstairs, and their figures quickly disappeared around the corner.

"You didn't even respond to the duel invitation. How rude!"

……

It usually takes me more than ten minutes to climb the stairs, but today it only took me five minutes.

The three of them returned to the common room. It was still early before lights-out and there were not many people in the room. They huddled in the corner where they usually copied homework and started a discussion in voices that only the three of them could hear.

After being discharged from the hospital that night, Harry shared Dobby's story with the two of them. They discussed the information Dobby provided in detail, but they still couldn't determine which professor had made a deal with the dark wizard outside the school. Until tonight, they learned that Dobby was the house elf of the Malfoy family.

Harry huddled in the corner against the wall, the scene he saw in Knockturn Alley flashing through his mind. Now he had connected all the clues!
"I know, I know it all!"

Harry felt smarter than ever. "Dobby is the Malfoy house elf, so it's Lucius Malfoy who has evil plans for the school. He made a deal with Professor Levant at Borgin and Burke's!"

Ron, sitting next to him, looked at him puzzledly and asked, "But how could Professor Lewynter harm us? If he had any ill intentions towards you, he wouldn't have brought you out in Knockturn Alley. If he wanted to murder us, he could have done it in the Spider's Lair."

He muttered softly, "Speaking of spiders, it feels like I haven't seen a spider in the castle in ages."

Harry frowned, his clever mind stuck again.

Hermione speculated uncertainly, "Do you think Professor Lewynter was forced? He didn't want to make a deal with Malfoy, but for some reason, he had to agree. However, he didn't carry out that evil plan..."

She had always felt that the professor was hiding something from them, but she had never been able to find out. Following this line of thought, all her doubts were cleared up.

"That must be it!" The little witch's eyes sparkled, and she spoke more and more fluently. "The professor couldn't directly reveal the details of the plan, so he kept hinting and guiding us to find out the truth. He's on our side!"

Ron scratched his head. "But what does Malfoy's plan have to do with Hagrid's affairs?"

"Don't you understand yet?"

Harry felt that this roommate was a little unintelligent: "The Acromantula wasn't the real murderer of Myrtle. There's a real Monster of the Chamber of Secrets hiding in the castle, and Malfoy's plan is related to this monster!"

"Hagrid is innocent, Malfoy is the murderer!" Ron suddenly realized, then showed a puzzled expression, "But they are not from the same class, Hagrid is almost seventy years old, and Malfoy is about the same age as my father. How could he be the murderer?"

"..."

Harry glanced at Ron. How could this man, so clever at wizard chess, be such a fool when it came to reasoning? He changed his statement to something more straightforward: "Malfoy is not the murderer. He intends to release the monster again, kill students, and disrupt Hogwarts."

Ron finally understood.

It's indeed the style of the Malfoy family. Instead of showing up themselves, they find ways to threaten the kind Professor Lewinter. Just like the wizard saying goes, you will never find the shadow of Malfoy at the crime scene, but the criminal wand is covered with their fingerprints!

He asked solemnly: "Then what should we do?"

"The most important thing now is to find out what the monster is and where it is hiding?" Hermione said with a frown.

Harry nodded in agreement, also frowning in thought.

"..." Ron was silent for two seconds, "Can't we just ask Professor Lewinter directly?"

"We can't ask directly. He was forced to make a deal with the dark wizard, and he might have signed some kind of magical contract. If he told us the answer directly, would he have to try to hint and guide us?"

"It's so complicated."

The three of them sat in the corner in a daze, thinking for a long time but without any results. Although they analyzed the cause of the matter, the investigation still stopped at the starting point.

"Left by Slytherin."

"What the Acromantula fears."

"The eyes are bright yellow."

The three of them muttered to each other, going over all the monsters they knew in their minds, but they couldn't be sure what they were. It was not until the lights in the castle went out and the prefect Percy urged them to do so that they got up and quietly returned to their respective dormitories.

Harry kept thinking about this matter and didn't know how he changed his clothes and washed up. When he lay down on the bed and came to his senses, his head was still filled with those clues.

As he was drowsy and losing consciousness and about to fall into a deep sleep, he heard some strange words in his half-awake state.

There seemed to be a cold voice complaining:
“The food… was delicious…”

"Put them in the pipes... one by one..."

"Roasted spider..."

The voice gradually drifted away, and the following words turned into a meaningless hiss. Amidst the low hiss, Harry had a dream. He dreamed of the duel between him and Draco, and he dreamed of the poisonous snake with a pair of bright yellow eyes.

"!!"

Harry woke with a start as morning light streamed in through the window.

(End of this chapter)