Magical Studies at Hogwarts...

Chapter 73 Training and Duel Club

As the clock struck eleven, Ike led the four of them out of the dormitory quietly.

As the spell Ike uses most often, the Illusion Charm, despite its slow leveling up, is still extremely effective at level 4.

After casting the Disillusionment Charm on all four, Ike led Stuart and the others directly to the other side of the eighth floor, eventually stopping opposite the mural of the troll beating Barnabas.

Looking around, Ike canceled the illusion spell on the four of them, closed his eyes, and walked back and forth in front of the wall three times. A magnificent door appeared before the four of them in shock.

Pushing open the door and gesturing for the four to enter, Ike casually closed the ornate door behind him, then pointed to the four mannequins in the center of the room and said, "Gentlemen! Welcome to the Room of Requirement! This will be our training ground from now on!"

"My God!" Stuart looked around in amazement. "Hogwarts has a place like this! Unbelievable!"

"Ike, how did you find this place?"

"By chance." Ike shrugged. "I was wandering around the castle one day, thinking about having a room where I could practice spells, and that's how I found this place."

"Why didn't you say so sooner!" Terry punched Ike in the shoulder. "If it weren't for this, would you have kept it a secret forever?"

"Of course not," Ike quickly denied. "I was planning to tell you at the right time, I swear!"

Seeing Ike's confident declaration, Stewart and the others exchanged glances, their faces almost simultaneously revealing a hint of helplessness.

After a year and a half of getting to know each other, they were all familiar with some of Ike's little habits. For example, he would rub his forehead when he was thinking, eat a pile of cockroaches when he was in a bad mood, and blink his eyes several times in a row unconsciously when he was lying.

Even though this person often hides his emotions, has many secrets, and causes a lot of trouble, aside from all that, Ike is still a very easy person to get along with.

Unbeknownst to Ike, the four of them had already considered him a good friend.

Friends will always forgive minor mistakes.

Michael reached out and pulled down Ike's raised right hand, pointing to the mannequin in the center of the arena. "Alright, Ike," he said, "we didn't come here to listen to you make these oaths. It's late now. When are we going to start?"

"Now, right now!"

With that excuse, Ike readily accepted. He cleared his throat slightly, took out his wand, and said, "I'm sorry I can't reveal too much to you. Believe me, knowing too much will put you in greater danger."

"But I swear, I will tell you everything when the time is right..."

"Ike, get started!" Stuart interrupted Ike as he was about to continue explaining.

"Alright, alright." Ike calmed down a bit, his tone becoming much more serious. "In the days to come, you will need to be proficient in using the Barrier Charm, Fire Charm, Armor Charm, Shatter Charm, and Eye Damage Charm, and you will also need to be able to use Transfiguration to conjure a rooster that can crow..."

"How do you define 'proficient' in Ike?" Anthony asked.

"When you are able to instinctively retaliate against my attack," Ike turned around, pointing his wand at the dummy, "I will now demonstrate these spells one by one, and then you will begin to practice."

"Don't worry, I'll correct you. Now, watch carefully!"

"Obstacles are numerous!"

"Flames are raging!"

"Crushed to pieces!"

"Armor for protection!"

Under the excited gazes of Stuart and the others, Ike cast all the spells, and by the time he finished, the dummies had long been smashed to pieces.

With a wave of his hand, four brand-new dummies reappeared.

"Gentlemen, it's your turn next!" Ike put away his wand and stood aside. "Don't worry, the Room of Requirement will meet the user's needs. You have countless dummies."

After Ike explained the things to pay attention to when casting spells, Stuart and the others stood in front of their dummy and began casting spells, imitating Ike.

These spells are not in the Standard Spellbook, Level 2. You won't encounter them until at least fifth grade, and they are quite difficult.

However, those assigned to Ravenclaw, Stewart, and others don't need to worry about their learning talent. Although they can't unleash their magic completely at first, they can usually manage to cast a Barrier Charm once in a while by the end.

This is a good sign; all that's left is repeated practice.

According to Snape and Ike's speculation, they still had plenty of time.

At 1:30 a.m., the group finished their practice. After being imbued with the Disillusionment Charm by Ike, the five of them quietly slipped back to their dorm. Fortunately, they didn't have classes the next morning, otherwise Ike wouldn't have started training after curfew.

In the days that followed, Ike would secretly bring the four of them to the Room of Requirement after dinner to practice magic. Their progress was obvious; within a week, they were able to successfully cast all spells except for the Ironclad Curse. Although it was a bit slow, it was enough.

On January 11th, after attending two consecutive Potions classes taught by Snape, Ike and his friends had just reached the entrance of the Great Hall when they found a large crowd gathered next to the bulletin board.

Upon closer inspection, it was a notice for a dueling club event.

The group glanced at it and then left. Sitting down at the Ravenclaw table, Anthony asked, "Lockhart wants to start a dueling club? It doesn't seem very likely."

"Of course!" Stuart, a staunch anti-Lockhart supporter, immediately chimed in. "He's a fraud! I don't think we'll learn anything from him!"

"We still need to go and take a look," Terry advised. "Tonight is the first assembly, and people from all years of every college are going back. We can't possibly sneak away."

"Troublesome..." Stuart muttered to himself, when Ike also advised, "Alright, just treat it as a break and joining in the fun. You guys have been... cough cough, quite busy these past few days."

"Okay, let's go take a look..."

At eight o'clock in the evening, the group returned to the auditorium. The interior had changed; the long tables were gone, and a gilded stage had appeared along one wall, with hundreds or even thousands of candles floating in the air, illuminating the space brightly.

As expected, everyone arrived, crowding together, wands in hand, looking very excited, especially the younger wizards.

As they were discussing, two people walked onto the stage. One was dressed in a magnificent crimson robe, while the other wore the ever-present black robe; they were Lockhart and Snape.

Ike glanced at Professor Snape's cold face and the occasional flash of disdain in his eyes, and couldn't help but chuckle. Stuart, standing beside him, also smiled knowingly, saying gleefully, "It's Snape! Lockhart's doomed! He's definitely going to be exposed!"

Pulling a tug at the excited Stuart, Ike shook his head and said softly, "I don't think it's very likely. Lockhart is good at turning bad things into good things."

"However, there will still be excitement!"

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(End of this chapter)