A certain Hogwarts professor of runes

Chapter 267 Duel Tournament Registration

On the third day after the holiday, Felix finally received a reply from the Ministry of Magic. The reply came from Walsh Cedric in the Ministry of Magic's advisory office. He had no objection to changing the lecture time to Friday, but suggested that Felix arrive half an hour earlier, as there were some issues that needed to be discussed in advance.

"If you don't have time to eat, the department will prepare a hearty lunch," Walsh wrote in the letter.

……

The contents of the school bulletin board always sparked heated discussions among the students. At the end of Thursday afternoon's classes, the young wizards saw a new notice posted on the bulletin board: a small duel would be held during the first dueling class next month.

At the very bottom of the notice was the student council logo, along with the signatures of the two student council presidents, one male and one female.

A student read the rules aloud: "All students from grades one to seven can participate. They need to register with their grade leader. The list will be compiled and sent to the student council president every day."

"The dueling tournament will be held in order of grade, with participants from the same grade competing against each other until the top seven students from each grade are selected to receive prizes. The top student from each grade can challenge the next student, while the seventh graders can only passively wait for others to challenge them... Wow! I like this rule; it takes good care of those first and second graders."

Several second-grade students next to him glared at him angrily.

"Do you want to sign up, Draco?" Pansy Parkinson, wearing a dark green dress, asked softly.

"Why not participate when we can rightfully teach some people a lesson?" Draco's gaze fell on several Gryffindor students. "I just happened to learn an interesting spell during the holidays."

He and Pansy left leisurely, their drawn-out voices echoing behind them: "That Weasley actually humiliated me at the club, saying all I did was cry and beg for my daddy to cheat... That big oaf hurt me first, I had bandages on my hand for two weeks!"

News of the duel spread quickly, with rumors circulating that the winner would receive a prize of one hundred Galleons, or choose any item from a selection of prizes prepared by Professor Hyp—including advanced magical golems, uniquely functional spies, magical potions, and even unknown rune artifacts crafted by the professor himself.

That afternoon, the news was confirmed by Penelope Crivart, the president of the Ravenclaw girls' council, and the young wizards were overjoyed.

The Weasley twins added fuel to the fire by announcing that the top student in each of the seven grades would receive a pair of matching mirrors for free. This was the latest trendy item, and orders were already booked until April, so it was impossible to get one at the moment.

However, the twins didn't lose out either; they successfully pulled off a GG (game over) and took the opportunity to launch a second design for the couple's mirror.

The prefects of the four houses had never felt that their houses had too many people before, but now they were surrounded by people answering all sorts of questions anytime, anywhere. When it came time to actually enroll, the young wizards couldn't help but hesitate.

The main reason was that most people felt they had no chance, so they naturally switched from the perspective of contestants to that of spectators. That night, a series of lists were freshly released, including seeded players from each grade and potential wizards from different colleges.

The leaderboard on the parchment provided a valuable reference, especially for Defense Against the Dark Arts class, as it was most closely associated with duels and was considered a barometer of duel results.

Although the duel was still a long way off, they had already secretly arranged a betting scheme.

On Friday morning, the seventh-grade students had their second Ancient Runes class of the week. When Felix entered the classroom, he found that the students were already there.

Has their enthusiasm increased that much?

However, according to the plan, he will wait until the students finish their homework next week before starting the practical class of the Mind Hut magic, since it will lose its value if it is used too often.

"Today we will have the theory lesson—"

"Professor," Percy raised his hand and stood up to speak on behalf of the class, "we have completed the assignments from last class, including the paper and the knowledge graph." He stepped forward and handed over a stack of parchment.

"Hmm?" Felix took it with surprise. Percy said seriously, "Not one is missing. I checked carefully." He looked at the students below the stage, who nodded vigorously.

Felix glanced through it and confirmed it was true. He also saw Marcus's paper, which, although the spacing between words was a bit large and there were a lot of paragraphs, really filled two feet.

He put down his homework and smiled, "Okay, then I'll move next week's content forward."

The students found themselves pulled back into that magical classroom. The space stretched into the distance, flowers and plants sprouted from the soil, and magic wand trees rose from the ground... They watched all this in amazement, chattering and whispering among themselves. Several students couldn't wait to get out of their seats and wander around.

Wood was particularly eager to try and break off a branch from the wand tree, but it started growing rapidly and threw him far away—

"Ouch!" Amidst the surprised expressions of the others, he nimbly scrambled to his feet, grinning and saying, "It didn't hurt at all~"

Following his demonstration, many people couldn't resist giving it a try.

Felix played along with great interest, controlling the wand tree to toss the brave souls into the air, watching them scream as they plummeted from dozens of feet high, crashing to the ground with a "thud"...

After playing around for a while, everyone quickly turned their attention to the professor, their eyes filled with hope.

Before they could speak, an ancient-looking magic scroll materialized from the air and floated lightly into their hands.

"Today's lesson is very simple; it's about examining the knowledge we've learned in the past from a different perspective."

Felix waved his hand, and the students' recently submitted assignments appeared before them. "First, review your papers again and identify any problems. Later, I'll guide you through a review of this knowledge, and you'll find that its structure is quite clear, with extremely subtle internal connections..."

Felix deliberately ended the Mind Hut magic half an hour early, allowing them to use that time to organize their findings.

As one of the few underachievers in his class, Marcus Flint discovered for the first time that he could easily follow the professor's train of thought. Learning wasn't about racking his brains, but about exhilarating, rapid progress, and he finally experienced the joy of learning.

As a student repeating a year, his requirements are not high; he just wants to pass and graduate smoothly. But now, perhaps he can be more ambitious and try to get an E.

……

At noon, Felix arrived a little earlier than the appointed time at the Ministry of Magic's guest entrance—a red telephone booth.

"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and the purpose of your visit."

A female voice said it was exactly the same as the one Felix had heard when he attended Belby's award ceremony last time, even the cold tone hadn't changed.

"Felix Heap has been invited to give a speech to staff members of the Ministry of Magic."

After a short wait, a square silver badge slid out of the coin slot. Felix pinned it to his chest, and as the ground slowly sank, his expression became expectant.

(End of this chapter)