I'm the King of Curry at Hogwarts

Chapter 147 Treat every game as if it were your last, and don't be afraid to lose.

Justin and Vesnina stepped onto the dueling platform, stood face to face, bowed, and then simultaneously raised their wands to their chests like swords. They then turned sharply and walked to opposite sides of the platform.

"Three—two—one—go!" As soon as Lockhart's countdown ended, Vesnina's hand flashed red, and a disarming spell shot towards Justin.

Justin reacted quickly; after all, he was a man trained in the Mirror World. He used his armor to protect himself and blocked the disarming spell.

Before he could even catch his breath, Vesnina's spell came one after another. In his haste, he used his armor to protect himself, but it couldn't completely block the spell. Justin was knocked off balance and looked up to see the third spell coming from Vesnina's wand. He rolled away to avoid the third deadly attack.

Over the past six months, he had honed his skills to perfection in casting spells while lazily rolling around, but what he subconsciously launched was something that would shatter into pieces.

However, Vesnina was no pushover either, and easily broke Justin's curse.

Even though Justin's posture was rather unseemly, it didn't count as being eliminated. He used his armor to protect himself and rolled around like a lazy donkey to dodge Vesnina's spells. Occasionally, he could throw out a spell or two to interfere with Vesnina while rolling around. But the difference in strength was obvious, and soon Justin was hit by Vesnina's disarming spell, and his wand floated into her hand.

"Very impressive skill, especially for a second-year student." Vesnina's eyes were full of approval as she walked over and returned the wand to Justin.

Justin didn't say anything, dejectedly took the wand, and returned to Louis's side.

"I'm sorry, Professor, I messed up..." His tone was full of self-blame.

"It's not your fault, Justin." Louis smiled gently and patted Justin on the shoulder. "You've done a great job holding on this long. Now, leave the rest to them."

"But..." Justin wanted to say something more, but Ron grabbed him.

Ron whispered something in his ear, and Justin's brow relaxed.

"Ah...that makes sense...no wonder." He scratched the back of his head, finally feeling a little better.

Louis's luck wasn't great the second time around. Draco was chosen by Chris, and although Draco lasted longer, he still couldn't escape being knocked away.

Lucius, sitting in the main seat, looked at his son, who had been sent flying backwards, with a look of disgust that he couldn't bear to watch.

It seems he's definitely his biological father.

After falling behind by two rounds, the classmates who had initially been optimistic about Louis began to waver, while Fudge in the main seat was even more smug, whispering to Dumbledore that cleverness alone could only win temporarily, not forever. Dumbledore just smiled deeply, and no one could understand what he was thinking.

Lockhart, on the other side of the dueling platform, was now radiant, his face glowing with the joy of victory.

Just one game, just one game, and he could completely defeat Louis and become the victor in this bet.

He began to imagine Louis weeping bitterly in front of him, lamenting how he had been blind to have opposed him in the past, and for a moment he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Can they even do it...?" The students below were also whispering among themselves.

Louis was about to say something to the remaining three contestants when the crowd parted and Catherine walked towards him from the middle.

"I'm going to lose, Casey," Louis said deliberately in a low voice.

"You're lying," Catherine said with a smile, reaching out to hug him and whispering in his ear, "I came to see how you'd play tricks on everyone. Knowing you as I do, you're definitely plotting something wicked."

"Yeah," Louis chuckled softly, speaking in a voice only the two of them could hear, "The true essence of the game is coming back from a 0-2 deficit to win 3-2."

He then coughed, and Aslo suddenly appeared in front of him.

"What are the odds?" he asked in a low voice.

"One to twenty, Gringotts' latest odds, young master," Aslo said respectfully.

"Go ahead, buy 100,000 Galleons." Louis handed Aslo a check, which Aslo took and disappeared like a gust of wind.

After he finished doing all that, he turned his gaze to the three remaining contestants.

"Alright, it's your turn. I don't have much to say. The score is 0-2, which means that if we lose any one game, we will lose this bet completely. So... it doesn't really matter, since we can't lose anything anyway." Louis shrugged and joked.

The three of them chuckled softly upon hearing this.

"Alright, what I want to say is, everyone should treat every game as if it were your last, and don't be afraid of losing." Louis patted Hannah on the shoulder and asked, "Hannah, did you bring your blacksmith's hammer?"

"I...I brought it." Hannah swallowed hard.

"You'll probably be the first to go up. Remember to bring your blacksmith's hammer. And remember... all you need to do is cast the Ironclad Protection Charm the whole time. You don't need to use any magic to retaliate. Just try to close the distance... Once you get close, if he's dignified, he can just jump off the dueling platform himself. If he doesn't want to be dignified, then you help him be dignified, understand?"

Hannah took a deep breath and nodded, replying, "Understood."

"Alright, I'm going to draw lots." Louis patted Hannah on the shoulder and walked onto the dueling platform.

As expected, I still didn't get the first move this time.

Bruce Topher from Hufflepuff chose Hannah as his opponent.

After saluting again, they distanced themselves. Everyone thought Louis's side was doomed to lose. Hannah, with her delicate and frail appearance, looked petite and pitiful, and didn't seem like a capable fighter at all...

But in full view of everyone, Hannah gracefully pulled a blacksmith's hammer from under her skirt.

Hmm... During the process of upgrading her equipment, she obtained Sento Isuzu's skirt, which is said to have a dimensional space effect, allowing her to hide anything under the skirt.

"I never imagined that our Professor Lewis would teach such blacksmithing tricks," Fudge said sarcastically.

Bruce was fully focused and steadily started with a disarming spell, but he didn't expect Hannah to not even use a counter-spell, instead single-mindedly casting an armor spell and charging towards him.

Hannah is indeed a weak woman, a typical weak woman with both strength and speed at the A level.

And so, with the sound of bones breaking, Bruce was sent flying by Hannah's blacksmith's hammer like a golf ball, landing right in front of Fudge.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry... I lost control of my strength a bit. Are you alright, Mr. Topher?" Hannah's soft, weak voice sounded, as if she was very concerned about Bruce.

But Bruce had no energy to answer; he had already been knocked unconscious by Hannah.

A professional team led by Mrs. Pomfrey, along with several elves, carried Bruce on a stretcher like a windmill to the medical wing for hospitalization.

The other four couldn't help but swallow hard; this girl was far too violent.

She looks so delicate and weak, how can she have such great strength? Lockhart couldn't figure it out.

However, the score is now two to one, so he is not worried, since he is the one with the advantage.

Hannah's victory greatly encouraged her classmates. The moment Hannah won, the entire venue erupted in enthusiastic applause, screams, and cheers.

No one expected that Hannah, the blacksmith, would have this trick up her sleeve; she really gave everyone a taste of her own medicine.

Lockhart picked first in Game 4 again, and Louis is now starting to doubt himself.

Is my luck really that bad?

Cain Arryn, the good-natured boy from Ravenclaw, chose Hermione, a little girl with fluffy hair who still looked very delicate.

After all, Harry's reputation as the savior is too great, while Hermione looks weak and easy to bully, so the answer is obvious. Only a fool wouldn't choose Hermione.

But he realized he was very wrong.

The battle escalated rapidly from the start. Unlike the others, Hermione could multitask, casting spells simultaneously. While using the Ironclad Charm, she could also use the Disarming Charm to retaliate, and the angles of her counterattacks were incredibly varied. Cain was now filled with self-doubt; even in his more than ten years as a striker, he had never seen such a bizarre wizard.

What he didn't know, of course, was that Louis had lent Hermione the crystal sword with the runeword "Spirit"...

You're allowed to drink compound herbal medicine, but we're not allowed to get any off-field equipment?

Ultimately, Hermione withstood Cain's disarming spell while simultaneously using the upside-down bell spell to hang Cain upside down.

The arena fell silent; everyone was stunned by Hermione's dazzling magical combination.

"Fourth match... Hermione Granger wins!" Professor McGonagall stood up and announced loudly when she saw Fudge standing there motionless like a toad with his mouth agape.

The Gryffindors erupted in thunderous cheers. It was Hermione! Hermione from Gryffindor! Everyone was incredibly proud, especially Ron, who waved his arms wildly in the crowd, proudly proclaiming, "See that? That's my Hermione! My Hermione!"

"Alright, alright, we know it's your Hermione now." The twins held down Ron, who was still bouncing around, exchanged a glance, and then shouted in unison, "Ronald Weasley says he likes Hermione Granger!"

The moment the words were spoken, the entire auditorium fell silent.

"Hermione Granger says she's the same!" Louise couldn't resist the urge to laugh and shouted back.

At this moment, the students finally realized what was happening, cheered together, clapped excitedly, and shouted the two names.

"Hermione! Ron! Hermione! Ron!" Everyone cheered, making Hermione and Ron blush bright red.

Hermione ran down from the podium and came straight to Louise. If the match hadn't been still going on, she would have been too embarrassed to leave and went back to her dorm.

"Uh, I didn't say that just now," Ron said awkwardly as he walked over.

"I know." Hermione suddenly got a little angry. She turned her head and huffed, "It was Louis who acted on his own just now. I didn't... I didn't..."

"Uh, oh." Ron suddenly felt particularly deflated.

"Just tell me if you like her or not, that's all, Ron," Louis interrupted, unable to stand it any longer.

"I... uh, okay, look at Hermione, you're a girl too," Ron said a little awkwardly.

"I'm so grateful that you realize that," Hermione said, still fuming.

"Actually, it's normal to develop feelings for girls, don't you think, Hermione?" Ron hesitated for a moment, not forgetting to take a jab at Draco: "After all, I'm not like Malfoy; I don't have that kind of special interest."

Hermione seemed to recall the embarrassing incident from last year and burst out laughing, while Harry's face darkened.

I treated you like a brother, but you made fun of me?

Hermione was about to say something when Lockhart interrupted her.

"Alright, the final match is about to begin." Lockhart had a bad feeling. Could it be that Louis is really going to come back from a 0-2 deficit to win 3-2?

While he was thinking this to himself, Harry and Leon, who looked like they were in jail, had already stepped onto the dueling platform.

After lining up on both sides, Lockhart announced, "Three—two—one—go!"

Leon quickly raised his wand, but Harley blocked three consecutive spells with his Ironclad Charm.

Harry's counterattack came quickly; he dodged the attack and yelled, "Serpentsortia!"

Leon's wand head exploded, creating a small black hole. Harry watched in horror as a two- or three-meter-long black snake—which looked about as thick as his thigh—snapped out of the hole and landed heavily on the floor between them with a thud.

Then the giant snake raised its head, preparing to attack Harry.

The crowd screamed and quickly retreated—this is human instinct; humans have an innate fear of snakes.

Seeing that Harry didn't do anything and was just staring straight at the snake, everyone thought he was scared out of his wits. Just as Lockhart was about to declare Harry the loser, they heard Harry speak.

It was a hissing, strange, and eerie sound, completely unlike anything a human could make.

"Sya-hassa-she……"

"Sya-hasi-heth!"

The giant black snake, which had been flicking its tongue at Harry and poised to strike, turned around almost instantly and, with lightning speed, bit into Leon's neck before vanishing into wisps of black smoke.

Louis's attention wasn't on the dueling platform, but rather on the guest of honor's platform—he could clearly see that Headmaster Dumbledore was dozing off, and that his head had slumped down the moment Leon was bitten, causing his gray beard to tremble.

The entire room erupted in uproar, everyone staring at Harry in horror.

Louis never expected that Harry, who wasn't supposed to be the scapegoat, would somehow end up taking the blame again.

Lady Pomfrey quickly led a few elves to take Leon away. Fortunately, the snake's venom shouldn't be too strong; at least his face is only a little purple now, and he can still be saved.

(End of this chapter)