Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 205 Rice: If they can't even beat Daphne, Hogwarts is doomed.

"Marcus, calm down. He's just a second-year kid. What's there to be afraid of?" Marcus kept reassuring himself as he stood on the stage.

Yes, she's just a little brat who can fly, knows a few strange spells, and was able to thwart a dark wizard's plot in her first year.

Marcus: ...

He had already considered going down the path, but if he backed down now, not only would all the benefits Malfoy had promised be lost, but he would also become the laughingstock of the entire school—how could he hold his head high in front of Wood?

So he had no way out. From the moment he stepped onto the dueling stage, blinded by greed, his only way out was to defeat the girl in front of him and win.

"Duelists bow!" Professor Flitwick's voice rang in my ears, yet seemed extremely distant.

Marcus bowed mechanically, and then an idea popped into his head: after all, Daphne was just a second-year girl. Although she knew a lot of tricky spells, his body was much stronger than hers.

A daring plan took shape in his mind. Marcus decided to withstand Daphne's attacks head-on, as if taking a couple of punches. If he could just endure the pain and get to her, victory would be his!

As for whether a wizard winning by punching counts as a victory, Marcus felt that since the rules didn't specify, it was valid.

So the moment the countdown ended, he roared and charged toward Daphne like an arrow released from a bow.

For a "sports student" like him, a distance of just a few meters is practically non-existent.

The young wizards watching from below the stage stared wide-eyed: Is this even possible?! Is this really a wizard duel?!

Seeing Marcus charging towards her like a giant monster, Daphne's pupils contracted, and she aimed the tip of her wand at his chest, unleashing a simple and unadorned attack spell.

Marcus's charge came to an abrupt halt, and he was sent flying backward as if he had been hit by a shotgun at close range.

Although he didn't get a big hole blown in his chest, Marcus's chest cavity caved in, and several of his ribs were broken.

Fortunately, Daphne regained her composure at the moment the spell was cast and proactively reduced its power; otherwise, Marcus would definitely not have been able to participate in next week's Quidditch match.

"Daphne wins, Slytherin gets five points!" Flitwick hurriedly announced Daphne's victory, afraid that this amazing little girl would deliver another blow like she did in the last match.

Snape once again played the role of first aider, setting Marcus's broken bones and feeding him some restorative potions.

Seeing the listless Marcus on stage and the dumbfounded Malfoy below, Snape decided to find someone to take them to the infirmary for a good night's rest.

After Daphne used a spell to send Marcus to the infirmary, not many people were willing to go on stage again. If more than 50% of people wanted to go up just now, now at most only 30% remain.

Even if Marcus was inferior, he was still a fifth-grade student, yet he was instantly defeated.

How could this not be alarming?

Rice was delighted when Daphne beat up Malfoy. Although he didn't take a child's offense to heart, Malfoy's repeated provocations were still quite annoying, somewhat like a mosquito that keeps you from falling asleep in the middle of the night.

Now that Daphne had taken care of that "mosquito" for him, he was naturally happy to see it. But when Daphne instantly defeated Marcus, the smile on Rice's face vanished.

Fifth graders were completely outclassed by second graders? Is something wrong?!

According to Rice's understanding, Daphne could win a battle that spanned three grades, but it should have taken at least five or six rounds to determine a winner, right?

He could only blame the problem on Marcus's poor tactical application.

Many of the young wizards in the audience shared the same idea as Rice: they believed that they could win by simply exchanging magical blows with Daphne, relying on their experience and accumulated knowledge.

Therefore, the wizards who came on next were all senior wizards who were quite confident in their own strength. However, they either couldn't break through Daphne's defense and were eventually killed by her when she found an opportunity, or they chose to defend at the beginning and then broke through her defense under Daphne's wave after wave of attacks.

Before anyone knew it, Daphne had already won six consecutive battles, even defeating a seventh-year Hufflepuff prefect after a long and arduous fight.

"Daphne Greengrass wins! Slytherin's score is ten. Here, this is a little gift for you." Professor Flitwick's expression was extremely complicated as he stuffed a bag of Honeydukes candies into Daphne's arms.

Daphne's performance far exceeded his expectations, and he was quite certain that the little girl in front of him had not yet given it her all.

The man from Rice in the audience was completely stunned. He never expected that even a graduate wouldn't be a match for Daphne—a seventh-year prefect, a Hufflepuff prefect was still a prefect! How many could fight better than her?

The students at Hogwarts can't even beat Daphne, they're doomed!

His expectation was that Daphne's strength was roughly equivalent to a fifth-year student, could fight a sixth-year student to a draw, and would narrowly lose to a seventh-year student without using the necklace. Using the necklace would be considered cheating, and even the three professors presiding over the assembly might not be able to withstand a sudden attack.

The results of it?

The better Daphne played, the heavier his mood became, because it showed that the overall quality of Hogwarts students was extremely poor.

If things continue like this, what future will the wizarding world have once Dumbledore, McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, and other senior wizards pass away?

One or two geniuses aren't enough...

Aren't the examples of Barrow the Blood Man and Helena a good example to be seen?

Rice's worries were somewhat unfounded, because he didn't realize that the difficulty for modern wizards to advance to the next grade was vastly different from that of wizard apprentices a thousand years ago.

Back in the days when he and his old friends taught, students who didn't meet the standards couldn't advance to the next year. You either had to study hard, improve your magic skills, and then advance to the next year for further study, or you had to "graduate." There was no second option. If your family was very powerful and offered a spell that would even make Ravenclaw swoon, you might be able to advance as an exception, but if you couldn't keep up in the higher years, don't blame the founders.

The situation is different now. As long as you're not terribly bad, or don't care about getting a bunch of "passing" grades in the OWL, you can advance to the next level. This means that grade level and ability are not strictly linearly related.

However, Daphne's victory across five levels is still extremely alarming.

"Rice, I want to go up and fight my sister." Astoria was tempted by Daphne's triumphant appearance on the stage after winning six consecutive victories.

"You can't beat her." Rice shook his head. Astoria hadn't studied with him for long enough to make up for the gap in strength between her and Daphne.

"Does anyone else want to come up?" Professor Flitwick asked.

The young wizards below the stage remained silent; after just six matches, not one of them was willing to go up on stage again.

"I'll do it," Gemma Farley's voice rang out from the crowd.

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.

Here's the second update, goodnight everyone~

The next update will be at the same time as usual, thank you.

(End of this chapter)