Magical Studies at Hogwarts...

Chapter 74 How a Battle Should Be (Part 2)

Lockhart had wanted to express himself since his student days.

Perhaps it was the fact that he was the only one in his family with magical talent that gave him the illusion that Lockhart's vanity swelled to an unprecedented level when he first entered Hogwarts.

Unfortunately, although he was indeed smart and had excellent grades in school, he was unwilling to try. Instead, he used the intelligence that God had given him to brag and show off.

For example, Lockhart once told his classmates that he would create the Philosopher's Stone before graduation, lead the England Quidditch team to victory in the World Cup, and become the youngest Minister for Magic in British history. To this end, he pleaded with the then headmaster to allow him to start a school newspaper, have his name engraved in twenty-foot letters on the Quidditch pitch, and even project his portrait into the sky.

Just like the Black Magic Mark.

In that era, Lockhart's actions were universally disliked, but almost all the professors felt that if he had used his intelligence on his studies, he might have been able to achieve great things.

Indeed, when Lockhart focused all his energy on writing, he became one of the top bestselling authors in the wizarding world.

However, due to not using magic for a long time, Lockhart's magical level had dropped to an unimaginable level and was almost impossible to recover.

Only the Forgetfulness Spell, due to its frequent use, still maintains a remarkably high level of effectiveness.

In fact, Lockhart was well aware of his situation, but years of praise had made him increasingly arrogant.

"I'm so smart, I'm sure I can recapture the feeling of casting spells from back then!"

"I just need a little bit of pressure, just a tiny bit!"

Ike felt that Lockhart must have thought the same thing, which was why he went to great lengths to organize the dueling club and brought in Snape as his assistant.

"Because of some things that happened last semester, I feel that our young wizards need some training to deal with potential crises."

Lockhart lifted his robe, put his hands on his hips, and gave a charming smile: "After some discussions, Dumbledore allowed me to open this little club."

"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape!" Lockhart pointed to Snape, who nodded slightly, but the gesture was so subtle that one would not have noticed it if his hair hadn't moved slightly.

Lockhart, completely unconcerned, continued loudly, "He told me that he himself knew a little about dueling and generously agreed to help me with a small demonstration before class!"

"I'm telling you, I don't want you little brats to worry..." Lockhart grinned, revealing his gleaming teeth. "Don't worry, I'll return your Potions teacher to you safe and sound!"

"Now, let's begin!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Lockhart and Snape stood facing each other, bowed to each other, and then held their wands to their chests.

"As you can see, we grip our wands in the usual dueling stance. When we count to three, we'll simultaneously unleash our first spell!"

"one!"

"two!"

"three!"

Almost simultaneously, the two raised their wands over their shoulders and unleashed a spell.

"Disarm you!"

Snape's wand emitted a dazzling red light and struck Lockhart hard. Lockhart's wand flew out of his hand, spun around, and landed in Snape's hand. Snape was also sent flying and crashed into the wall with a "bang".

Just like in the cartoon, it slowly slid down the wall and then curled up on the floor.

Upon seeing this, almost all the young wizards cheered, except for a few die-hard Lockhart fans. It was unclear whether it was because of Lockhart's miserable state or because of the clean and decisive duel.

"You all saw that!" Lockhart staggered back onto the stage, tidying his disheveled hair and clothes, and said, "That's a disarming charm, the most commonly used spell in wizard duels!"

"If you are hit by the Disarming Charm, you will lose your wand like I did."

"Professor Snape's use of this spell was brilliant! Of course, I had already noticed it, and it would have been effortless to stop him."

Perhaps noticing Snape's increasingly cold expression, Lockhart turned his gaze to the young wizards below the stage. He clapped his hands and announced loudly, "Alright, that's the whole demonstration! Now, I'll have you pair up and fight each other, just like before!"

With that, Lockhart stepped off the stage and moved through the crowd, dividing the still excited young wizards into groups. He was very efficient and quickly had them mostly grouped.

Snape came down too, and the first thing he did was call Harry and Malfoy out, forcibly pairing them up. He then pushed Harry towards the stage, saying, "Malfoy, come here! You're paired with the famous Savior!"

"Let's see what you're capable of, Potter!"

Malfoy strutted onto the stage with a smug, ruthless smile, took out his wand, and held it up to his chest.

Lockhart, who was still grouping the young wizards, saw this and quickly ran back, shouting, "Potter, Malfoy, face your partners!"

"Remember the demonstration just now? First, bow!"

Harry and Malfoy remained motionless, staring intently at each other.

"Raise your wands, get ready! When I count to three, I'll unleash the magic!"

"one!"

"two!"

Just as he counted to two, Malfoy suddenly swung his wand, sending Harry staggering. Harry, not to be outdone, seized the opportunity to retaliate, and Malfoy was struck by a flash of silver light, immediately bending over and gasping for breath.

Harry was still hesitating whether to continue casting the spell when Malfoy seized the opportunity and hit Harry with a Dancing Charm, causing Harry's legs to involuntarily start tap-dancing.

"Stop! Stop!" Lockhart screamed, trying to stop the duel on stage. But at the same time, the young wizards below the stage were also fighting, with all sorts of prank spells and poison spells flying around in the air, some hitting their opponents and others flying off into the distance.

The young wizards didn't really have a clear concept of the power of spells, which made the scene far more chaotic than the stage. Some were injured and bleeding, some were covered in scabies, and some even abandoned their wands and started fighting.

It's a complete mess, nothing more.

Lockhart shouted, but no one paid him any attention; he couldn't even stop Malfoy and Harry, who were still awkwardly casting spells at each other on stage. Snape, perhaps sensing the chaotic situation was getting out of hand, used a spell to immediately halt the farce. Then, pointing his wand at his throat, he cast a Loudspell and coldly uttered a single word.

"Quiet!"

Snape's intimidating presence was still there; the young wizards unconsciously stopped what they were doing. His emotionless eyes swept over them, and the young wizards below shrank back like quails.

"You are the dumbest students I've ever seen!" Snape exclaimed. "Now, look at the stage!"

"Malfoy, Potter! Round two!"

Lockhart was about to say something when Snape immediately started counting down.

"one!"

"two!"

"three!"

This time, Malfoy cast the spell first, raising his wand and shouting, "Oolong, come out of your hole!"

Harry watched as the tip of Malfoy's wand exploded, and a long black snake emerged from it, landing on the stage. The snake's head was raised high, emitting eerie hissing sounds.

The young wizards, who had never seen such magic before, screamed and backed away.

Perhaps pleased to see Harry motionless and seemingly frightened, Snape said lazily, "Don't move, Potter, let me get it away..."

Just as he was about to make a move, Lockhart shouted, "Let me do it," and cast an unknown spell at the black snake.

The black snake was struck by the magic, leaped high into the air, and then fell heavily back onto the stage.

Lockhart's magic clearly angered it; the black snake bared its fangs and began to writhe on the stage, its head facing the young wizards below, constantly flicking its tongue.

Upon seeing this, Harry seemed bewitched, unconsciously taking a step toward the black snake, his throat bobbing as if he was about to speak.

Just then, a beam of red light flew from below the stage and landed directly on the black snake. The black snake immediately collapsed limply on the stage, a wisp of fire suddenly appeared on its body, and it instantly turned into black ash.

Snape suddenly stepped forward and shoved Harry aside, who was still standing there. Harry almost fell over. Fortunately, Ron and Hermione caught him in time, preventing him from tumbling off the stage.

"Strider..." Snape drew out the last syllable, his eyes fixed on the direction where Ike was standing.

Under the watchful eyes of almost everyone, Ek walked gracefully to the side of the stage, gave a slight bow, and said "Professor".

"I think I forgot, you didn't seem to have been assigned a duel partner?"

"Yes, Professor."

"Then, come up here!" Snape turned and made room for him. "You'll be my partner! Let me see what you're capable of!"

"Okay, Professor."

Ike nodded, and his body floated directly onto the stage, standing opposite Snape.

Neither of them moved, they just looked at each other, but both Lockhart on the stage and the young wizards below felt a strange tension.

Lockhart unconsciously took a step back, and just as he was about to say something, Snape spoke up: "Strider, when you are ready, you can begin."

"Yes, Professor," Ike replied, raising his wand to his chest, and Snape did the same.

After a moment of eye contact, Ike suddenly swung his wand and shouted, "Expelliarmus!"

A flash of red light appeared, and Snape simultaneously waved his wand, just in time to stop Ike's disarming spell. With a flick of his wrist, another red light flew back.

Ike used the same method to break Snape's disarming spell.

The first round of their fight was like a mirror image, almost identical.

"Don't hide your abilities, Ike," Snape said. "In a real battle, there's no room for hiding!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a dazzling light suddenly appeared in front of Ike. Ike remained calm, and with a slight movement of his left hand, a silver-white shield appeared in front of him, just enough to block Snape's magic.

Without pausing, his right hand flicked out a similar shattering spell, while his left hand moved simultaneously, the black ash formed from the black snake transforming into an arrow that shot towards Snape.

"Armor for protection!"

Snape shouted, and the Ironclad Charm was already on his body when Ike's Shattering Charm was cast. He stretched out his left hand and made a grasping motion, and the arrow that the black snake had turned into split open in mid-air, turning back into black ash and scattering onto the stage.

"Flames are raging!"

"Obstacles are numerous!"

"Crushed to pieces!"

"Thunderous explosion!"

Ike unleashed a barrage of spells, each a different color of light flashing and raining down on Snape like a storm. Snape didn't move an inch; the pale silver shield in front of him blocked all the attacks. Even if Ike changed the direction of his spells, the shield would immediately deflect them.

Behind him, on his calves, and at the back of his head, Snape displayed powerful magical abilities with apparent ease, even exclaiming, "So rigid! So rigid!"

"Use your brain! Fighting isn't a straightforward affair!"

Ike remained silent, wanting to see where his current limits lay, and Snape was undoubtedly a very good opponent.

On the Waste Notebook system, Ike never had a chance to unleash the full power of that series of Lv6 spells. In most cases, he used the silent, unwieldy version, which was definitely less powerful than the version with the incantation.

In fact, even in this battle, Ike couldn't unleash his full power. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the dark magic he possessed and the ancient magic he learned from the Ravenclaw manuscripts and the Philosopher's Stone were completely unusable.

Even so, that's enough; it's like seeing the whole leopard through a tube.

Snape's defenses were impenetrable, and he always managed to seize the gaps in Ike's attacks to counterattack. Every time, he shattered Ike's armor charms, while his own armor charms seemed to have no limits and remained as strong as ever.

The battle between the two stunned almost all the young wizards in the audience. They had never seen such an intense magical duel before, especially Hermione and her two useless men, as well as Stuart and the others. Even though they already knew that Ike was very strong, they never imagined that he could fight Snape to a standstill.

Ike didn't have time to look at the astonished faces below the stage; he was getting anxious as he couldn't break through their defenses.

I originally thought that with those Lv6 spells, even the professor could easily suppress them, but when we actually fought, I realized that the difference between the young wizard and the adult wizard was not only magic power, but also their understanding of spells and combat experience.

As a wizard who had experienced the Wizarding Wars, Snape's combat experience was undoubtedly rich. His use of spells and his grasp of the timing and rhythm of casting spells even made Ike feel a little desperate. No matter how he attacked, what kind of magic he used, or from what direction, Snape could easily neutralize them all, and his casual counterattacks would always disrupt Ike's rhythm at just the right time.

"He's not going all out yet!"

Ike knew this very well.

Thinking of this, Ike gritted his teeth. He suddenly waved his wand, and the floor in the center of the stage was lifted up, transforming into a giant dragon that attacked Snape in mid-air.

The dragon enveloped Snape, while two Shattering Curses swept across the ground.

Snape remained calm and composed. He pressed down with his left hand, splitting his silver shield in two to block the spell. With a flick of his wand in his right hand, as if an invisible force had swept across, the dragon was split in two.

Ike didn't think the dragon created by Transfiguration would cause Snape any trouble; he just wanted to block Snape's view.

Even if it's just a blink of an eye, that's enough!

Through the gaping hole in the dragon's body, Snape saw a dazzling golden light. It was a magic circle floating in the air, covered with many ancient runes that also shimmered with golden light.

Ike suddenly felt time slow down. He saw the cut-up dragon float slowly like paper, and he also saw Snape's armor spell slowly appear. Even the trajectory of the silver-white light flowing on it slowed down.

The wand gently touched the magic circle, and a dazzling golden light emanated from it, engulfing Snape in the next second.

The golden light bombarded the stage behind Snape for several seconds, shattering it into pieces.

Ike was panting heavily, his wand still tapping on the magic circle, maintaining the output of magic.

He didn't know if this magic could defeat Snape.

Unlike Voldemort, Snape was at the peak of his wizarding career, far surpassing the remnant soul trapped in a Horcrux for decades.

Even Voldemort was able to escape from this magic at the last moment, let alone Snape?

Suddenly, a beam of red light surged upwards from the golden light, striking the magic circle directly. To Ike's astonishment, a crack appeared on a rune within the magic circle.

"Click!"

Ike seemed to hear the sound of shattering glass, and the magic circle suddenly broke. At the same time, another beam of red light struck Ike, causing his wand to involuntarily slip from his hand.

Looking up, I saw Snape catch the wand. His expression was normal, and his black robes remained, but the stage beside and behind him had become ruins.

Ignoring Ike, who was leaning on his knees and panting heavily, Snape swept his cold eyes across the audience, waved his wand, and the shattered stage slowly returned to normal.

"Professor Lockhart, I'm leaving this to you."

Snape coldly said something to Lockhart, who was hiding far away, and then went straight to Ike and asked him a question.

"Can you still walk?"

"Okay," Ike replied, standing up.

Seeing the beads of sweat on Ike's forehead, Snape nodded, stepped off the stage, and walked out of the Great Hall.

"Keep up! My office."

Stuart and the others who rushed over waved, and Ike grinned and turned to follow them.

Here's 4900! Please recommend and vote with monthly tickets!

(End of this chapter)