Hogwarts: My name is the Unforgivable Curse...

Chapter 115 The Power of the Natal Spell

"Wonderful, clear water like a spring, Mr. Ken!"

Lockhart clapped his hands excitedly and praised loudly, "Look, this is the strength of the heroes who defeated Voldemort—they already possessed sixth-year level spells in their third year, and Mr. Shafik was almost on par... But I must say, your intentions were too obvious, making it very easy for someone to catch you off guard and turn the tables. If I were..."

"I don't think that last move was as clear as spring water, Professor Lockhart."

Snape, arms crossed, calmly debunked the claim, saying, "That was just normal pressure adjustment of the water. The water that sprayed out showed obvious signs of polymorphism—and it's turned back into stone now."

"Uh, I mean..."

Snape ignored Lockhart's stammering and waved his wand, instantly restoring the shattered arena to its original state: "Generally speaking, dueling arenas are specially reinforced to ensure that the two sides can only face each other openly and honestly. So strictly speaking, your fighting style does not qualify as a duel."

"Although it doesn't conform to normal rules, given your level..."

Those nearby were utterly astonished to see Snape actually raise the corners of his mouth: "Not bad."

"Am I hallucinating?"

Ron rubbed his eyes: "Snape is actually praising someone with a smile?!"

"He's been hit by the Confusion Charm?" Harry was also extremely incredulous—although he had had a feeling since the start of the school year that Snape didn't seem as fierce as he had been last year, his impression of Snape hadn't changed much.

"I'm more concerned about the skill level of those two guys..."

Hermione nudged Percy's arm: "How do I compare to you?"

"Very impressive."

Percy replied seriously, "Their strength is already putting considerable pressure on me, and I'm not very comfortable with that kind of underhanded fighting style... If I were to duel them, I can hardly guarantee that I would win."

"And don't forget, they're only in third grade. I wasn't at this level when I was in third grade!"

"sky."

Hermione covered her face in disbelief: "I remember we tried to fight him..."

Harry and Ron were stunned for a moment, then their faces immediately turned red—they remembered that after realizing Snape "wanted to steal the Philosopher's Stone" last semester, the three of them had tried to ambush Avada Kedavra...

Fortunately, I didn't take action at the time.

"alright."

Lockhart's voice came again: "The excellent demonstration is over. Now, let's begin learning our first spell of the day—the Disarming Charm that Professor Snape just used."

"As you can see, that spell cost me my wand. And a wizard without a wand has almost no chance against a wizard with a wand... unless the difference between the two is too great, like how I'm confident I can take down most of you without a wand."

"Now I'd like to invite two students to come up to the stage to assist Professor Snape and me with our lesson and give a demonstration—Mr. Longbottom and Mr. Finley, how are you?"

"That's not a good idea, Professor Lockhart," Snape said calmly, as he slid off the ring like a bat, his wide black robe billowing. "It'll probably take half a semester for Longbottom to learn this spell, and I doubt the students here can wait that long. And if he's allowed to cast spells at will, I can't be sure who'll be hospitalized first, him or Fenrir..."

Neville's pink, round face turned even redder.

"How about Malfoy and Potter? My favorite students and the savior who defeated Mystic twice... they'll definitely get along well," Snape said with a sneer.

"Excellent! Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy, please come forward so that Professor Snape and I can each teach you how to use the Disarming Charm..."

Harry jumped onto the platform in a few steps, then glanced at Malfoy—who seemed somewhat reluctant?

"What's going on? Doesn't he want to take this opportunity to shine? Or is he scared after hearing that I defeated Voldemort again? But I should have told everyone that Ken and Baron were the ones who really did the work!"

Harry pondered this with a puzzled look, and then Lockhart leaned closer to him: "Come on, Harry, I'll teach you."

"When I count to three, and it's time to begin the spell, do this..."

He swung his wand erratically, stomping his feet in a series of loud, uneven steps: "That's it, got it?"

"..."

Harry rolled his eyes and turned to watch Snape's lesson. Although he couldn't hear what Snape was saying, he could observe Snape's actions, and he also remembered the pronunciation of the spell…

He felt a strange sensation flowing from the wand to his arm—his wand seemed to be saying to him, "Why don't you try?"

After Snape finished his lesson, Malfoy finally turned around and looked at Harry with a cold gaze—which made Harry almost forget that the person in front of him was an old nemesis with whom he had a deep grudge.

"Then, bow!"

Harry didn't want to bow to Malfoy, but after being surprised to see Malfoy actually bend over, he paused for a moment and then bowed slightly as well.

"Remember, do nothing else but use disarming spells to remove the opponent's weapons..."

After giving his instructions, Lockhart patted Harry on the shoulder: "Just do as I demonstrated, Harry!"

"One—two—"

Harry kept a close eye on Malfoy's every move—he was certain that, given Malfoy's despicable nature, he would launch a sneak attack before the count to three even began…

"Three—Begin!"

"He's actually following the rules so well?"

Harry's surprise momentarily stunned him, and that gave Malfoy the upper hand. He raised his wand and shouted at Harry, "Expelliarmus!"

His wand made a muffled "pop" sound, then exploded with a few red sparks, like a short-circuited wire, which made Snape's face darken even more...

Awakened by Malfoy's incantation, Harry immediately raised his wand, desperately recalling Snape's movements and pronunciation, letting that intuition surge through his arm once more, guiding his arm and wand as he swung them—

"Except for your...weapon!"

A dazzling red light suddenly shot out from the tip of Harry's staff, striking Malfoy squarely in the chest and sending him flying backward!

At the same time, the hawthorn wand traced a beautiful arc in the air before landing steadily in Harry's hand.

"I...succeeded?"

He stared at the familiar wand, his heart filled with disbelief—this was the first time he had ever successfully cast a spell on his first try!

Moreover, he learned it by stealing knowledge; no one had ever taught him!

"Fantastic! Absolutely fantastic!!"

Meanwhile, Lockhart practically jumped for joy, completely oblivious to Snape's increasingly dark expression: "Perfect Disarming Charm, Harry! You are so talented... Of course, this is also thanks to my excellent teaching, which has allowed me to unleash your talent! Haha, you flatter me, Severus..."

Snape gave a slightly annoyed snort, then waved his wand—Harry suddenly felt a tremendous force appear, roughly pulling the wand that belonged to Malfoy from his hand and into Snape's hand, before finally handing it back to Malfoy, who had just gotten up from the ground.

He took the wand, glared at Harry hatefully, and then ran off the ring looking dejected, without leaving a single harsh word.

(End of this chapter)