A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

Duel Club!

The word spread throughout Hogwarts in just a few hours. In this special time, learning to protect oneself is a sore point for all young wizards.

Aside from first-year students who are still clueless, wizards of any other grade can shed a tearful farewell on this topic.

Hogwarts is unreliable!

The Defense Against the Dark Arts course, originally intended to teach young wizards how to defend themselves, has been largely superficial over the years, though it still imparts some knowledge. This year, however, it's widely recognized as a drama class.

Therefore, the young wizards have a fervent interest in dueling clubs that can enhance their abilities.

Seamus Finigan looked excited. "They've finally thought of starting a dueling club! It should have been done a long time ago."

"Which professor is teaching?" Ron squeezed through the crowd, his eyes scanning the parchment as if trying to circle the names of one or two professors.

A Ravenclaw girl next to me said, "It's not written on it, but I hope it's Professor Flitwick. He was a dueling champion when he was young."

“Professor Hyp is even better,” Ron quickly retorted. Ever since that night’s trip to the Forbidden Forest, he had an inexplicable confidence in Professor Hyp’s strength, believing that he could easily defeat Snape. As for Headmaster Dumbledore, it was hard to say, but he could at least go toe-to-toe with him.

Harry instinctively wanted to nod, but when he caught sight of the girl who was speaking, he involuntarily stopped.

Cho Chang noticed Harry's gaze, smiled at him kindly, and Harry felt his breath catch in his throat.

“What do you think, Harry?” Ron asked.

"what?"

Harry took Ron's elbow to the ribs, but it didn't hurt at all. He mumbled, "Oh, yeah, you're right..."

The young wizards discussed amongst themselves, asking each other for their opinions.

"First party tonight. Dude, are you coming?"

“I don’t object to learning some dueling lessons; they might come in handy someday.”

"I think we can use it right now."

"Do they think they're going to duel with a monster from Slytherin?" Ron muttered, but he also read the notice with interest. "Harry, what do you think?"

“That girl is really… what did you say?” Harry suddenly realized.

Ron looked at him with suspicion.

"A duel? Yes, of course I'm going." Harry focused intently on reading the words on the parchment this time.

By dinner time, most of the conversation was about the Duel Club. Someone confidently stated that at least three professors would be in charge of the club's operation, and that they would put on a high-profile, no-holds-barred duel.

It's said to be extremely wild.

The name Felix Heap has resurfaced in the conversations of many girls, and the story of his public challenge to a pure-blood family in fifth grade has become increasingly outrageous.

From the original "carefree and composed, neither humble nor arrogant" to the later "grief-stricken and helpless, fighting to the death," Professor Hyp's personal image also quickly transformed from a cold and powerful genius wizard into a tragic figure wielding a wand and rushing towards the spinning windmill.

Many young witches who had never met Felix before clutched their doll-like magical puppets, their eyes filled with tears of sympathy.

“They’re talking nonsense,” Ron said, stabbing a potato with his fork. It was completely ruining the strong image he had of Professor Hyp.

He turned his head, seeking approval, only to see that Hermione's eyes were also misty.

“He suffered so much in those days…” the little witch said emotionally.

"Who? Professor Hyp?" Ron's head was filled with questions. Are we talking about the same person?

Harry ate his dinner in silence, only occasionally glancing up at the table, without uttering a single word.

“Harry, something’s wrong,” Ron said.

"I'm fine."

“Something’s been off ever since you came back,” Ron leaned closer and whispered, “Did you hear that voice again?”

“No, I’m done eating. See you in the common room.” Harry quickly left.

Halfway there, Harry gently tapped his head. What was wrong with him?

But he heard her friend call her name, Qiu Zhang, it sounded so nice...

After a while, Ron returned alone.

Where is Hermione?

“I don’t know. She said she had to leave early and told us to wait for her in the auditorium.” Ron shrugged. “By the way, if Professor Hyp were to teach us, what would he teach?”

This topic caught Harry's attention. He quickly reviewed the scenes of Professor Hyp's spellcasting, and the one that left the deepest impression was indeed the one in the Forbidden Forest.

He expressed his opinion to Ron.

“Harry, that magic is too advanced,” Ron said to him mysteriously, glancing around. “I asked Fred about it—no, I didn’t tell anyone it was Professor Hyp,” he quickly added as Harry looked up to say something.

They were all instructed by Professor Hyp to keep it a secret and not to reveal what happened that night.

"Apparition is a rather dangerous spell, and we can only learn it when we are at least adults."

"Phantom—what?"

"Apparition allows you to disappear from one place and reappear in another."

Harry quickly memorized the name of the spell. Professor Hyp's performance in the Forbidden Forest that night had greatly impressed him, though he had initially thought it was the professor's unique magic.

"Moreover, I've learned from subtle inquiries that this magic is used for traveling, and very few people can use it repeatedly in a short period of time. If you're not careful, it can cause your body to split apart."

"Split up?"

“For example, your head flies away, but your body stays in the same place,” Ron explained, slightly exaggerating. “Not to mention, you have to cast spells while moving. To be honest, when I told Fred this, he thought I was joking.”

Harry ignored the danger Ron mentioned and looked on with longing.

……

Ancient magic script office.

"You mean the Duel Club?" Felix asked with interest.

"Yes, it's posted on the bulletin board, in the auditorium at eight o'clock tonight. Professor, didn't you know?"

Felix shook his head.

Hermione looked quite disappointed.

She then said goodbye, but after taking a few steps, she suddenly turned back, clenched her fist, and encouraged him with a flushed face, "Professor, we all think you are an excellent wizard. I read a sentence in a book: 'The hardships of youth are nothing; they will only become your motivation to move forward. Life is long, keep going!'"

Felix looked on with a puzzled expression as he watched her run off.

Chapter 47 Farce

Eight o'clock in the evening, in the school auditorium.

The long dining table disappeared, and in the center of the auditorium was a temporary, square, gilded stage, with three wooden steps at the edge.

Hundreds of candles floated in mid-air, adorning the center of the auditorium with a beautiful glow.

Harry and Ron hurried back to the Great Hall, where almost all the students had arrived, jostling and discussing animatedly. The two pushed their way forward through the crowd, and Harry accidentally knocked off a first-year witch's toad-eye glasses. He quickly apologized, "Sorry."

The witch took the glasses, put them back on her forehead, and hummed something softly, which Harry couldn't hear.

The two arrived at the Gryffindor Lesser Wizarding Quarter, where Seamus, Dean, and Neville were already there. "Hey! Harry, over here." They breathed a sigh of relief. "There are so many people here."

Neville Longbottom turned his round face around: "Almost everyone's here. Looks like everyone's very curious about the duel."

At that moment, Hermione came from another direction to join them, holding a newspaper in her hand.

“You’re a little late. Where have you been?” Harry asked, craning his neck to look down the corridor.

"I went to Professor Hyp first, and then I ran into Professor McGonagall on my way back."

"Something wrong?" Ron asked casually. Before she could answer, he suddenly let out a heavy sigh. Several other young wizards did the same. They saw Professor Gilderoy Lockhart, dressed in a magnificent crimson robe, stride into the Great Hall.

Beside him stood the serious-looking Severus Snape, the two a striking contrast—the former exuding enthusiasm, the latter somber and solemn; the former dressed in bright colors, the latter entirely in black.

Harry groaned as his two most hated professors were about to teach him a dueling course.

Professor Lockhart, with the air of a peacock spreading its tail feathers, delivered his speech with great pomp and circumstance. He first spent ten minutes recounting how he had "laboriously persuaded Dumbledore to give everyone the opportunity to learn how to protect themselves," inevitably interspersed with his familiar self-praise and book recommendations—a tactic they had become immune to.

In the final thirty seconds, Lockhart made a rare appearance to introduce his "assistant," Professor Snape.

“Professor Snape himself knows a thing or two about dueling, and he generously agreed to help me with a little demonstration before class—but don’t worry, I’ll return your Potions professor to you in perfect condition.” He grinned widely.

Snape curled his upper lip into a polite smile, which sent a chill down Harry's spine. If Snape had smiled at him like that, he would have run away long ago.

During this time, the school doctor, Mrs. Pomfrey, stood impatiently at the edge of the hall, carrying a white medicine box, while Professor Felix Heap also quietly appeared in a corner of the auditorium.

He was quite interested in this so-called "duel course" and had some ideas in mind, so he decided to come and see for himself.

If Professor Lockhart messes up, perhaps he could take over...

Based on his understanding of the professor, a mishap was highly probable.

This was a test of his subconscious dissatisfaction with the mediocrity and chaos of the wizarding world and Hogwarts, but out of caution, he decided to wait and see.

……

The dueling lesson officially began, and less than three minutes later, Felix watched with a twitching eye as Professor Lockhart was sent flying by the "Disarming Charm." He stood up in a disheveled state, a long tear appearing in his magnificent purple robe.

You're still bad at cooking, but can't you at least have some self-awareness?

Professor Lockhart was helped up by several young wizards, and he staggered back to the center of the stage. "Well, everyone saw that!" His wavy hair stood up straight under the spell, which looked quite comical, but what was comical was what he said next.

“This is how the Disarming Charm is applied. I hope my demonstration just now left a deep impression on you—” He glanced at Snape, “However, don’t take offense at what I’m saying. Your intentions were quite clear. If I wanted to stop you, it would be effortless…”

“But the young wizards need to broaden their horizons, so why not let them see…” Lockhart couldn’t finish his sentence, as Snape was glaring at him menacingly.

Lockhart cleverly shifted the topic, moving the lesson to the next stage. Without any specific instruction, he brought out a dozen pairs of young wizards and had them stand in small squares on the stage.

"Demonstration time is over! Let me see what you've learned, Professor Snape, if you'd like to help me..."

What followed was a messy battle. Lockhart wanted to get rid of a direct confrontation with Snape or specific magical instruction, so he shifted his focus to critiquing and instructing. However, he overestimated the spellcasting skills and discipline of the young Hogwarts wizards.

Especially since Snape intentionally or unintentionally arranged for his own house to team up with the lion cubs, it would be strange if they didn't fight.

Despite Lockhart's repeated insistence that only the Disarming Charm could be used, the young wizards hadn't learned it at all—unless Lockhart had just "demonstrated" it. So, after the two sides, their faces flushed, recited several ineffective spells, various minor curses popular among the students emerged.

From Felix's perspective, only Harry and Malfoy's pairing was somewhat interesting, but the two basically had no concept of dueling and adopted a turn-based system, with one of them doing a "Grinning and Strike" and the other doing a "Tarantella Dance," and the rest of the time they were just watching.

The remaining young wizards, Neville and Justin, both collapsed to the ground, panting heavily. If he wasn't mistaken, neither of them had cast a single spell from beginning to end.

Ron grabbed Seamus, whose face was ashen, and apologized repeatedly. His wand was still emitting green smoke.