Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts.

Chapter 51 A Brutal Wizard Duel

"So what did you do to Malfoy?" After Neville left with his notebook filled with notes, Daphne couldn't help but ask Rice about Malfoy's situation.

Judging from Malfoy's appearance just now, even a fool could tell that he had something on his mind about Rice.

"He's become a dud."

Daphne: !

She stared in shock, her eyes wide.

"How is this possible?" She could hardly believe her ears.

"Why not? Do you want to give it a try?" A small glimmer of light appeared at the tip of Rice's staff.

Daphne considered it for a moment and agreed to Rice's suggestion, feeling that this might be the only opportunity in her life to experience being a dud.

As the faint light entered her body, Daphne felt an indescribable strangeness. She tried to cast a cleansing spell, only to find that she couldn't even use this super simple spell.

She tried twice more, and then discovered that the magic in her body always turned back at her wrist, as if something was blocking it.

"So that's how it is! You used your magic to block the path of my magic, preventing me from casting spells!" Daphne understood immediately.

"That's right, I interfered with the flow of magic within you. However, this magic can't last long. A wizard like you who understands the flow of magic can use it up after a few tries. Malfoy is the same, but he doesn't understand the flow of magic, so I input more magic, which will take longer—I estimate it will take about one to two weeks." Rice couldn't help but admire Daphne's talent once again.

"He's in for a rough time," Daphne said, covering her mouth and laughing.

People's joys and sorrows are not shared, and Malfoy was on the verge of despair and collapse.

As the future heir to the Malfoy family, he couldn't accept the fact that he had become a Squib. Madam Pomfrey's potion had no effect, and judging from her expression, she wouldn't believe a single word he said. What should he do?

Malfoy's first thought was of his father, but he immediately dismissed the idea; he dared not let his father know that he had become a Squib. Then, the name Snape popped into his mind, and Malfoy grasped at it like a drowning man grasping at a straw.

But he had only taken two steps toward Snape's office when he realized a problem: he simply couldn't bring himself to say the name of the culprit, Rice.

If you can't put it into words, why don't you try writing it down?

Malfoy immediately put his plan into action, but he soon discovered that he couldn't even write it down. The moment he had a thought, the quill in his hand would go out of control, drawing a bunch of gibberish on the paper.

If he couldn't explain why, would Professor Snape believe him? Malfoy thought about it seriously for a while, and finally gave up on asking him for help.

He was actually afraid of Snape, and tried to minimize his interactions with him, because he could sense that Professor Snape didn't favor him as much as his father claimed. Interpersonal relationships aren't inherited like wealth, or rather, passing them on to the next generation incurs a higher "tax" than inheritance tax.

It seems there's only one solution left.

Although Malfoy had never heard of the proverb "the one who tied the knot must untie it," he understood that if he wanted to return to normal, he should do as Rice said.

So after lunch, Harry and Ron received another duel invitation from Malfoy.

"Right now?"

"Right now!" Malfoy didn't want to waste a minute and bluntly stated that they would duel now, and the location was up to them.

Harry and Ron exchanged bewildered glances, neither of them expecting that Rice had actually succeeded in persuading them.

How did he do that? Both of them were completely baffled. But since things had come to this point, they could only bury their questions and decide on the duel location first.

"The History of Magic classroom is empty at noon."

"Alright." Malfoy readily agreed, and also invited Rice, his dueling assistant whom he both feared and hated.

"See, wouldn't it have been much less trouble if we had done this earlier?" Rhys's expression was a half-smile, which made Malfoy's heart tremble.

"Many unwritten rules among wizards are best left unbroken." Rhys's next words made Malfoy fall into deep thought: Was his method wrong? But wasn't this precisely the spirit of Slytherin?

Draco Malfoy didn't have much time to contemplate life, and the group soon arrived at the History of Magic classroom.

After clearing a space in the classroom, the long-awaited duel finally began.

Harry and Malfoy stood in the center of the classroom, bowed to each other, and then assumed the common dueling stance.

"Three, two, one, begin!" After Rice and Ron counted down three times in unison, the duel began.

Harry was a little nervous at first, worried that Malfoy, who came from a pure-blood family, had mastered some strange spells. But to his surprise, as soon as the duel started, Malfoy threw his wand aside and charged at him with an unstoppable momentum.

Malfoy had the same concerns as Harry, but unlike Harry, Malfoy was genuinely unable to use magic, so he chose to use physical attacks.

Harry's years of experience fighting Dudley made him instinctively dodge to the side, avoiding Malfoy's attack. Seeing Malfoy attack directly, Harry also decisively threw away his wand and wrestled with Malfoy.

What followed was a brutal, hand-to-hand combat session. The experienced Harry quickly gained the upper hand, dominating Malfoy from above, while Malfoy completely abandoned his wizarding pride, retaliating with each punch. As he threw his punches, he also released the negative emotions deep within him, such as fear and anxiety stemming from his Squib transformation.

A few minutes later, the two men were exhausted and lay on the floor, panting heavily. Both of their noses were broken and blood was flowing from them.

Harry was happy because he had really given Malfoy a good beating, landing each punch squarely. However, he also felt a little regretful; he should have dodged more when Malfoy pounced on him to wear him down, which would have made the victory much easier.

Malfoy, on the other hand, was filled with pure regret: what had he been trying to achieve by dueling with Potter? Not only had he failed to trick them, but he'd also gotten a beating. However, he hadn't suffered too much loss, and he'd taught Potter a lesson in return. What he didn't know was that while the two were fighting, the ball of magic that had been interfering with the flow of magic within him had quietly dissipated.

"I'd give all my allowance to buy Harry's duel spot from him, really," Ron whispered to Rice, who was watching from the sidelines.

Before the duel began, he was worried about Harry, but after seeing the scene of the two dueling, he really hoped that Harry would just admit defeat and then he could go up on stage and beat up Malfoy.

Rice almost burst out laughing.

He went to Harry and Malfoy's side, stopped their nosebleeds, and restored the dueling arena to its original state. After doing this, he left the classroom with Harry and Ron.

Malfoy silently picked up his wand, and with some trepidation, swung it once, a string of sparks shooting from the tip.

Looking at the sparks on the tip of his staff, Malfoy breathed a sigh of relief, as if he had escaped a disaster: he could finally be a wizard again!

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The second update is here. The next update will be at midnight tomorrow night.

(End of this chapter)