Hogwarts: I Became the Third Dark Lord.

Dumbledore: If I could use Legilimency, I would have done it long ago! That Wentworth kid, he's learned Occlumency!

Snape: ...He's only 11 years old. Although I've been trying to improve my understanding of him, I still underestimated him.

Dumbledore: Let's see how it goes.

Meanwhile, on the other side, seeing that his headmaster, Professor Snape, hadn't even glanced at him, Wellin quickly turned around to look behind him at a tall, thin male wizard. He was the Slytherin third-year wizard representative chosen by Snape.

"Hey, Hufflepuff might have gotten the lineup wrong. That means you third-year students could be the key to our victory or defeat. Do you have confidence?"

The wizard, glancing in Hufflepuff's direction with a smug smile, confidently stated:

"Don't worry, Prefect. Apart from two Ravenclaw classmates, I'm confident that no one in the third year can beat me. Hufflepuff? They're even less of a match for me!"

Hearing his teammate's response, Wellin finally relaxed, turned to Wentworth, and grinned maliciously:

"Wentworth, you're unlucky to have met me. Don't worry, I won't use any evil curses on you. But if you get blasted away and injured by the magic of the curse, don't blame me!"

Wentworth, however, said nonchalantly:

"Senior Weilin, if you can do it, then go ahead and try, provided you can hit me!"

Seeing that both sides had no further objections to the duel lineup, Professor Ilona stood in the center of the arena and spoke:

"Now that both sides are ready, the duel shall now officially begin! Both sides bow!"

As Professor Ilona finished speaking, Wentworth and Weilling bowed to each other, then raised their wands to their faces, held them vertically in the center of their faces, and then suddenly put them down.

After setting down their wands, Wentworth and Wehrmacht turned around and walked behind them, awaiting Ilona's final instructions.

The atmosphere gradually became tense. Even the most boisterous Gryffindor Weasley twins held their breath and looked at each other nervously.

Dumbledore, Snape, and even Professor McGonagall all stared intently at Wentworth, trying to see his every move.

Seeing that Wellin and Wentworth were about to reach the very top of the dueling arena, Professor Ilona shouted:

"start!"

As Professor Ilona gave the command to begin, Wehrmacht whirled around, raised his wand, pointed it toward Wentworth, and shouted:

"Except for your martial arts..."

However, unlike Welling's reaction, Wentworth didn't turn around, calmly raised his hand, and said:

I surrender!

The scene erupted in uproar, with boos immediately rising from the Gryffindor and Slytherin students.

Dumbledore and Snape exchanged a glance, their expressions turning serious.

The two were thinking the same thing: they never expected that even under such circumstances, Wentworth would still be unwilling to reveal his strength. This showed how many secrets Wentworth was hiding!

Welling, who faced Wentworth, barely managed to choke on his own saliva. Although he won the duel, he felt incredibly bored!

Seeing Wentworth about to step off the dueling arena, Wellin gritted his teeth and continued casting the spell he had only half-released!

"Except your weapons!"

All of this happened in the blink of an eye. Seeing Wentworth surrender, Wellin continued to attack, causing another gasp from the crowd. After all, Wentworth was facing away from Wellin at this moment.

"Stop the curse immediately!"

But at that moment, another spell struck first, colliding with Wehrmacht's disarming spell in mid-air and obliterating it. The one who made the move was Professor Ilona, ​​one of the referees of this duel.

Hearing the sound behind him, Wentworth calmly turned halfway around as if unsurprised, glanced back at Welling, and revealed a mocking smile.

"I've already told you, Senior Weilin, you have to be able to hit me!"

After saying that, Wentworth turned and walked back to Hufflepuff's camp before Welling could react.

Unlike the boos that erupted from Gryffindor and Slytherin, Wentworth walked back to Hufflepuff, where the Hufflepuff students erupted in enthusiastic cheers.

Chapter Forty-Two: A Sudden Realization

Kirk excitedly hugged Wentworth, Cedric high-fived Wentworth, and the other Hufflepuff students also applauded Wentworth.

"Wentworth, it's good that you're not hurt."

"Well done, Wentworth! Your surrender was swift and decisive!"

Anyone unaware of the situation would think that Wentworth was the victor of this duel.

Unlike the enthusiastic cheers Wentworth received upon returning to Hufflepuff, Warlin, the victor, was somewhat embarrassed.

At that moment, Professor Ilona, ​​one of the referees of the duel, was holding her wand and glaring angrily at Wellin.

"Even when facing a strange wizard, if he announces his surrender during a duel, you should stop your spells!"

"And you, facing your own classmate, even after he announced his surrender, still cast the spell with your back to me! Are you ignoring me?"

Seeing this, Wellin quickly put down his wand and explained:

"Professor Ilona, ​​you've misunderstood. I didn't mean to. I just couldn't stop!"

In response to Welin's explanation, Ilona sneered and said with considerable disdain:

"Slytherin, deduct ten points! Because you're treating our professor like an idiot!"

When Ilona deducted ten points from Slytherin without saying a word, Wellin froze. At the same time, a mocking laugh came from the direction of the laughter. Wellin looked in the direction of the laughter and saw Wentworth surrounded by Cedric, Green and others.

Wentworth looked at Welling with the kind of compassion one would show to someone with intellectual disabilities, a smile playing on his lips.

In fact, the reason Wentworth dared to turn his back on Welling and shout his surrender without even making a move to dodge was because of his trust in the Hogwarts professor.

Look at the referee lineup tonight: Professor McGonagall, the Vice-Headmaster of Hogwarts; Professor Flitwick, the Charms professor and dueling tournament champion; and Professor Ilona, ​​whose strength is hard to gauge. With such a lineup of referees, if I could get hurt in front of them, Hogwarts probably wouldn't have the reputation it has now.

Wellin, who dared to pull such a dirty trick right in front of them, Wentworth could only sigh to himself, "There's so much fun in brainless kids."

Meanwhile, Wehrmacht, who was directly enduring Professor Ilona's wrath, felt like a small boat facing a raging storm at sea. Even the magic within Wehrmacht was involuntarily surging.

Fortunately, at this moment, Professor Snape stood up and said:

"Professor Ilona, ​​it was indeed Welin's fault in this matter. I will punish him after the duel!"

Hearing his dean speak, Wellin finally breathed a sigh of relief. Under normal circumstances, when Snape said this, the other professors would give Snape face.

But this time, Professor Ilona didn't let Wellin off the hook; instead, she spoke directly:

"Since Professor Snape has said so, then let's do as Professor Snape says! As for the punishment, we won't trouble Professor Snape with that; I'll handle it myself! For the next month, Mr. Welling will come to my office every evening to help me prepare the teaching materials for the next day's class. That will serve as punishment!"

Then, before Snape could speak again, Professor Ilona continued:

"Furthermore, I want to emphasize this point again! If anyone tries to be clever again in this dueling club, and continues to attack even when the opponent has clearly given up, then whatever spell you use, I will use the same spell to stop you!"

"If your spell can neutralize mine, then so be it. But if it can't, the spell will bounce back, and the damage you suffer will be your punishment! Do you all understand?!"

Upon hearing Professor Ilona's words, Snape, who was about to say something more, silently swallowed his words. Seeing that Dumbledore did not object to what Professor Ilona said, the students from the four houses present all indicated that they understood.

Seeing that no one objected further, Professor Ilona slowly nodded and then spoke:

"In that case, I hereby declare that the winner of the first duel between Hufflepuff and Slytherin is—Slytherin!"

Upon hearing Professor Ilona announce Slytherin's victory, the Slytherin students, who had been worried that she would use this opportunity to declare Wehrne's victory invalid, immediately relaxed and erupted in enthusiastic cheers.

On the other hand, the students of Hufflepuff House seemed completely unconcerned, and some even gave a perfunctory clapping.

After the cheers subsided a little, Professor Ilona continued:

"

"For the second duel, Slytherin's representative is Mike, a fourth-year student!"

"And Hufflepuff's representative is their prefect, Green, a fifth-year student!"

Upon hearing Professor Ilona announce the lineups for the second match, an even louder uproar erupted in the room, with everyone buzzing with discussion!

Amidst the murmurs, several crisp claps were heard. Looking in the direction from which the applause came, one could see many Ravenclaw students clapping in amazement.

Meanwhile, the Hogwarts professors seemed to have figured out Hufflepuff's plan. Professor Snape, the head of Slytherin, suddenly sat up from his seat, his eyes wide with anger, and looked in Hufflepuff's direction.

Unfortunately, no one was looking at Hufflepuff; everyone was cheering Green on.

Then Snape turned his gaze to Dumbledore, only to see Dumbledore looking at Wentworth with admiration, not at him either.

After surveying the scene, Snape, seeing that no one was paying attention to him, glanced one last time in Wentworth's direction before slowly sitting down, his face grim.

Meanwhile, with the explanations from the Ravenclaw students who led the applause, the other students gradually understood Hufflepuff's plan, and the news quickly reached Slytherin.

Only then did Wellin and the others realize that Hufflepuff hadn't gotten the meaning wrong at all; they had arranged it this way on purpose!

Using Hufflepuff's first-year student Wentworth against Slytherin's fifth-year student Weylin, Wentworth immediately surrendered, although this would cause Hufflepuff to lose their first duel.

But in the four games that followed, Hufflepuff was able to use older students to beat younger students in every single one of them!

Although Hufflepuff's overall strength is weaker than Slytherin's, that's a comparison between students of the same grade. You have to understand that students at Hogwarts are currently in a critical period of magical development, and the difference in magical power between them can be enormous if they are only a year apart.

Thinking of this, Wei Lin and the others almost lost their tempers!

Chapter 43 Not Lost Yet

Welin approached Professor Ilona with a look of anxiety and said:

"Professor, I protest!"

Ilona glanced at Welin and asked in a calm tone:

"Protest? Protest what?"

Welling pointed in the direction of Hufflepuff House, and said with a resentful look:

"Professor, Hufflepuff is cheating!"

Faced with Wellin's accusation, Professor Ilona rolled her eyes and, without even looking at Wellin, said:

"Hufflepuff cheated? Explain in detail how they cheated?"

"They...they..."

Wellin was speechless, unsure of what to say. After all, Hufflepuff had only tampered with the order of appearance and hadn't done anything to violate the agreement or the duel rules.

Seeing Wellin fall silent, Cassandra, who had been quiet for a long time in Slytherin, finally couldn't hold back any longer. Cassandra had sensed something was wrong as early as when Wentworth was the first to step into the dueling arena to face Wellin.