Simultaneously traversing: the pinnacle of all realms

Chapter 81 Lockhart's Terrible Performance

Snape's lips twitched, and the curve could be considered half a smile.

Xavier wasn't sure if it was a sneer or some kind of "I'll deal with you later" warning.

He silently lit an incense stick for Lockhart in his heart—oh, poor Lockhart, standing before you is a former Death Eater! Merlin's beard.

"Duel Club,"

As Lockhart walked toward Snape, he continued, "The first thing we need to pay attention to is the etiquette before a duel, after all, we are elegant and noble wizards."

Snape remained silent throughout, only glancing at the audience with a condescending look.

Xavier noticed his gaze linger on Harry for a moment before shifting away.

With Dumbledore absent, no one could restrain his behavior—and Lockhart clearly had no intention of doing so either. He probably wouldn't even notice who Snape was looking at.

"So,"

Lockhart looked at Snape, drew his wand with a flourish, and said, "Let's begin. Professor Snape, are you ready?"

Snape also drew his wand swiftly.

The two stood facing each other, raising their wands to their chests at the same time.

Lockhart's posture was perfect, clearly the result of careful rehearsal.

However, it seemed that they were not holding magic wands, but rather the rapiers used in noble duels.

The two professors put down their wands, bowed slightly to each other, and then turned and walked away.

One, two, three, four, five.

The two turned around at the same time, assuming standard dueling stances.

However, Snape merely turned to the side impatiently and casually raised his wand.

His wand was black, the tip pointed at Lockhart, and the patterns on the handle gleamed dimly in the candlelight.

Lockhart held his brown wand, a standard Lockhart smile on his face, and struck a textbook perfect dueling pose.

The atmosphere was so serious that the young wizards in the audience dared not make a sound.

Two—three!

Lockhart opened his mouth to count down, but before he could even utter a complete spell, Snape's wand had already drawn a short, precise arc.

"Disarm you!"

Snape thought he had gone easy on her; he even finished reciting the spell before waving his wand.

The flash hit Lockhart in the chest.

Everyone in the audience heard a short, loud "Oops~"

Then Lockhart was propelled by an invisible force, his feet leaving the ground and flying backward. He traced a less-than-elegant arc in the air before crashing heavily onto the edge of the dueling ring, bouncing once, and then lying on the ground.

The audience was silent for a full two seconds, then erupted into a cacophony of noise.

The students all craned their necks to look inside.

The Slytherin students wore expressions of pride, with Malfoy even clapping slightly as if he had won. Crabbe and Goyle joined in the clapping, their faces showing a hint of confusion—they probably didn't quite understand what was going on, but that didn't stop them from joining in the fun.

Several Gryffindor students were doubled over with laughter.

Even Percy couldn't help but smile, then quickly straightened his face, pressed his lips together, and gave a strange look. He was clearly unable to hold it in any longer; he probably went through all the sad things he could think of.

"Is he alright?"

Hermione stood on tiptoe, looking at Professor Lockhart with concern.

"Who cares!" Ron laughed gleefully, while Harry grinned beside him.

Justin frowned slightly: "Although—I know Professor Lockhart is... well, I know, is he really that bad?"

Lockhart got up from the ground, his carefully styled hair askew to one side.

He had a smile on his face, but it looked stiff no matter how you looked at it. However, Lockhart started to smile without showing his teeth at this moment.

"It would be good to show them, Professor Snape."

Lockhart strode quickly to the center of the court, speaking rapidly, "But if I may be so bold, your intentions are too obvious and easily seen through."

He walked up to Snape: "Stopping you is a piece of cake."

"Perhaps we should first teach students how to block unfriendly spells, Professor."

Snape emphasized the word "professor," and after saying it, he curled the corner of his mouth into a seemingly polite smile, as if he were in a very good mood.

Snape was not friendly towards the person who had "stolen" his temporary position as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

However, that expression didn't look like a smile at all.

Lockhart's smile froze for a moment.

"That's a brilliant suggestion, Professor Snape."

He shifted his gaze away from Snape and immediately turned to look around.

He then announced to the audience that the students would be divided into pairs to practice the disarming charm that Professor Snape had just demonstrated.

Snape stopped laughing; it seemed he hadn't had enough of beating this showy peacock who only knew how to display its tail feathers.

But this decision was a complete mistake.

The little wizards knew nothing about duels.

Chaos quickly descended into the auditorium.

In the chaotic dueling practice, Harry and Malfoy clearly had little interest in the Disarming Charm, and the spells in their hands carried a more explicit malice.

Ron's broken wand turned Seamus Finnigan pale. A genius of explosives and a random spell—the combination of these two unstable factors resulted in Seamus losing his eyebrows as well.

Hermione and Milison Burstir abandoned their wands and began wrestling, seemingly forgetting they were wizards.

A plume of green smoke filled the entire venue.

Neville and Justin lay panting on the floor;

Ron grabbed Seamus, whose face was ashen, and apologized repeatedly for the mess his broken wand had caused.

Meanwhile, Hermione and Milison were still at work—Milison clamped Hermione's head, and Hermione cried out softly in pain.

Both of their wands were left on the floor.

Many young wizards did not participate, and Xavier stood in the crowd to the side, watching the chaotic scene in the middle.

He had a feeling that he could take on several junior wizards by himself, even without using spells.

Snape looked grim and had to use "Stop the Curse" to interrupt the chaotic practice.

Lockhart then decided to show the students how to stop the unfriendly magic.

But he himself obviously didn't know what to do, so he decided to have a pair of students come up and demonstrate.

"Let's find a pair of volunteers."

Lockhart looked around, while Xavier quietly stepped back, subtly shielding Harry and the others in front of him.

"I need two volunteers—ah, Potter, how about Weasley?"

Harry hurried toward the stage, looking eager to go on stage, and Ron smiled and wanted to follow.

At this moment, Snape spoke up casually.

"Weasley's wand can cause massive destruction with even the simplest spells; it might just put Potter in a matchbox and send him to the school hospital."

Ron's smile vanished, replaced by a wronged expression.

Snape intended to separate Harry Potter from his friends—Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.

"Could I recommend a student from my college?"

Lockhart looked at Snape, who shrugged and spread his hands.

Harry was already standing on the stage at this point.

"Malfoy, how's it going?"

Before Lockhart could speak, Snape turned around and raised his hand, gesturing for Malfoy to come up.

Malfoy on the other side beamed with joy. He nodded in agreement and then nimbly flipped himself onto the stage.