The days at Hogwarts

Feeling the gazes from all around, Harry felt his face getting hot. He lowered his head, wishing he could dig a tunnel and leave here immediately.

"Even though Potter and I are very familiar with each other, I can't let you play yet."

Lockhart turned his head and looked towards the position of the little Slytherin wizard. Snape was standing there in a black suit, looking at Lockhart with dead fish eyes.

"Professor Snape knows a thing or two about dueling himself, and he has graciously agreed to assist me with a small demonstration before class - but don't worry, I will return your Potions Master to you in good condition." Lockhart grinned.

Snape was Lockhart's carefully selected sparring partner. He stayed in the basement for a long time, concentrating on studying potions. He was pale and weak, and at first glance he looked like a weakling who didn't know how to duel.

Lockhart gave a thumbs up to his plan as it could perfectly set off his heroic appearance.

Chapter 198 Dumbledore: Fawkes, I need to pluck your hair

Snape's upper lip curled up and his eyes were cold and expressionless.

Harry, who was standing at the side of the stage, accidentally met Snape's eyes. At a certain moment, he felt as if he was being stared at by a poisonous snake. He whispered to his friend: "I really don't know how Lockhart can laugh. If it were me, I would have run as far as I could."

Neville nodded in agreement. "He chose the wrong opponent. If he can't beat Snape, he'll be beaten on the stage. If he beats Snape, he'd better escape from the castle as soon as possible. I think Snape has a hundred ways to make Lockhart drink the poison unknowingly."

The young wizards reached a consensus that Lockhart was in big trouble.

Sure enough, just after Lockhart finished counting down, Snape cast a Disarming Spell and flew him against the wall. He curled up for a while before slowly trying to get up, revealing his weak nature.

Snape stood on one side of the stage and suddenly felt that the whole auditorium was bright and he was in a very happy mood.

I don't know if it's an illusion, but the little wizards of Slytherin actually saw some kind of comfortable emotion in the calm dead fish eyes of their headmaster, as if this spell had been planned for a long time.

"Should we notify Madam Pomfrey? If he gets hit again he might not be able to get up." Hermione said calmly. She was not at all surprised by the result.

Ron made a calculation based on Lockhart's past behavior and said, "I don't think we need to worry. He won't embarrass himself a second time."

"I think this is good news for him. At least he doesn't have to worry about being poisoned." Harry spread his hands.

"Agreed!" Seamus and Dean nodded at the same time.

After about a minute, Lockhart staggered to his feet. His wavy curly hair was blown up by the aftermath of the spell, and a big tear was made in his bright purple robe.

Harry's eyes lit up. He was a semi-expert in Disarming Spells. This was the first time he saw someone else's Disarming Spell that could send someone flying, but Snape's was different from his.

There was a strange sharpness in Snape's disarming spell, and although the other young wizards did not notice it, he could see clearly that Lockhart's robes were cut by the spell.

After Lockhart staggered back onto the stage, he became enthusiastic again, as if it was not him who was knocked away in front of the whole school: "Well, everyone saw it! This is a disarming spell... Professor Snape, please don't mind me saying this, your intention to do this just now was too obvious. If I wanted to stop you, it would be effortless. I want to let the young wizards gain knowledge--"

Snape listened with indifference and wanted to hit him again. Lockhart saw him raise his wand again and hurriedly told the students to change the subject: "The demonstration ends here. I want you to split into groups of two..."

Ten minutes later, a green smoke filled the sky over the entire venue.

Harry's legs twitched constantly as he danced happily with a very devilish rhythm. Opposite him, Draco Malfoy fell to the ground laughing, holding his stomach and laughing until tears came out.

Neville and Justin from Hufflepuff both lay on the floor, gasping for breath.

Ron's opponent was Seamus. He relied on prediction to dodge the knockback spells from Seamus. He was hit twice from time to time and took two steps back. Ron obviously enjoyed this process very much, just like he enjoyed playing chess. Ron was able to dodge eight out of ten knockback spells, which was so impressive that Seamus on the opposite side had no way to deal with it. Although he was hit twice, the power was not enough and it was useless. It was very frustrating.

Seamus's ordinary spells were not powerful enough, and he couldn't use dangerous spells on his roommate during duel practice. Frustrated, Seamus was ready to throw away his wand and engage in hand-to-hand combat.

Ernie Macmillan of Hufflepuff was standing right behind Ron. All the spells that Ron dodged hit him. He also had to guard against his dueling practice partner. He was attacked from both sides and was in a dilemma.

"Oh! Watch out... Be careful! It's coming again... Get out of the way..." Lockhart, who was standing beside him, reminded him. In his panic, McMillan was hit by more spells.

In the end, McMillan stopped hiding and lay on the ground with a look of despair on his face.

McMillan: Tired, destroyed.

The most eye-catching ones were the two girls. The skinny and petite Hermione held Millicent Bulstrode, who was bigger than many boys, in one hand. She even stretched out one hand to reach for Millicent's head, as if she wanted to pull her hair.

The big Slytherin girl's face flushed red, her expression was ferocious, and every muscle in her body was struggling hard. But it was useless, Hermione's arms were like iron shackles, holding her tightly, motionless.

Justin and Neville, who were lying on the ground during the intermission, tilted their heads and watched the scene.

Justin was shocked: "Is this the Gryffindor girl?"

Neville also had a dull expression: "It's... not... this..."

Hermione's two roommates, Lavender and Parvati, fell silent as they watched this scene.

Lavender's face turned pale. "Tell me, should we apologize to Hermione for the rude behavior of the first years?"

Parvati opened her mouth and murmured, "No need, she probably didn't bother with us, otherwise we wouldn't have the chance to stand here."

"That makes sense..."

Loren, who rushed to the auditorium from the Room of Requirement, was so overwhelmed by the show that he kept calling it wonderful.

Suddenly, Lockhart's panicked voice rang out: "Oh! Miss Fawcett, squeeze it hard, the bleeding will stop immediately!"

Miss Fawcett from Ravenclaw accidentally stepped on her own foot while dodging a spell that came from nowhere, and she tripped and fell to the ground, breaking her nose and bleeding profusely.

The blood poured cold water on the excitement of the young wizards, and even those who were really angry stopped fighting. Only Harry was still dancing and Malfoy was still laughing.

The person involved, Miss Fawcett, was in a daze and actually believed Lockhart's advice and foolishly pinched her nose.

Seeing that this man had no responsibility as a professor, Snape could not bear it anymore. He bypassed Lockhart and came to Fawcett, looked at her with disgust, and used a healing spell to roughly stop the bleeding.

"You guys, take her to see Madam Pomfrey." Snape quickly arranged for several young wizards from Ravenclaw to take Fawcett to the school infirmary.

Then he came to Harry and Malfoy, used the Stop Spell to remove the Creaking Curse and Dancing Curse from them, and pushed them back to their respective college areas. Harry's gratitude was dispelled by Snape's rough push.

Seeing Harry walking down with stiff legs, Ron gently kicked his calf: "What's the matter? According to your dueling level, you shouldn't be able to block the dancing spell?"

"Hiss~" Harry took a breath, "Don't move, I have a cramp."

Seeing that Ron was about to hit him a few more times, he quickly pulled him back: "Scar, my scar just hurt a little."

"Oh no, don't tell me Voldemort is here again."

"It shouldn't be. It doesn't hurt that much and it will pass quickly..."

The hall was unusually quiet. The young wizards stared at Lockhart in silence, and Snape said nothing.

Hermione put her hands in her pockets, a thin layer of sweat couldn't hide the excitement on her face, and she skipped to Loren's side.

Loren reached out to help her straighten her messed up robe and collar, and asked in a low voice: "How did it become like this?"

He only knew that the idiot Lockhart had opened a dueling club and that Harry would reveal his Parseltongue, but he didn't expect that the others would fight like this, with the entire hall in chaos.

Hermione obediently let him fiddle with her clothes, not showing the way she had just beaten Millicent: "Lockhart asked us to work in pairs, and this is what happened. But I messed up Millicent's hair, hehe..."

Polyjuice Potion requires something from the target person, and she had this idea when she was assigned to a group with Millicent. Otherwise, with Hermione's dueling level, she could just use spells to fight her from a distance without any physical combat.

Loren vaguely remembered that Hermione seemed to have mistaken hair for cat hair, which made her unable to see anyone during the Christmas holiday. He patted the back of Hermione's robe and asked, "Are you sure you pulled the hair from her head? You didn't make a mistake, did you?"

Hermione shook her head. "I wanted to pull it from her head at first, but I was worried that she would find out. But this one was taken from her collar, so it must be correct."

Loren nodded and said, "If you say it's not wrong, then it's not wrong."

Who doesn't want to see the cat-eared girl Hermione?

After Snape took control of the situation, Lockhart hurried to the center of the stage, fearing that the Duelling Club would change professors: "Ahem, Professor Snape did exactly the right thing, and that's exactly what I wanted him to do. I think it's best for me to teach you how to stop unfriendly magic next."

He glanced at Snape, was stung by the cold gaze, and immediately turned his head away to give up his plan.

He wanted to let Snape stand there to dissolve his spell, but after thinking about it, he decided not to. Lockhart looked down at the stage and said, "Oh, I need a pair of role models. Anyone willing to go on stage? Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about you?"

Neville and Justin shook their heads so fast that they left afterimages.

"This is not a good idea. They are both too stupid to serve as a role model at all. Or--" Snape was interrupted before he could finish his words.

"How about me and Morgan from Gryffindor?" Crabbe stood up and looked at Loren with a grin.

He didn't understand why the great Dark Lord paid attention to this Mudblood. Although he arranged for the house-elf to monitor him, he didn't mean anything hostile. He was even reprimanded for wanting to harm Loren.

A mudblood, why...

The young wizards chattered among themselves, totally unaware of how Vincent Crabbe from Slytherin came to be pitted against Loren Morgan from Gryffindor.

Snape didn't understand either, but he smelled a familiar smell from Crabbe, a stench that belonged exclusively to Death Eaters.

Harry and Ron had seen Loren's strength and thought that no one in the same grade could beat him, so they shouted excitedly in his ear.

Harry hooked his ankle to relieve the pain in his calf, "Come on, Loren, use the Dancing and Crunching spells together to make his stomach and feet cramp up!"

Ron nodded continuously: "Beat him until he cries, and let Slytherin see how powerful we are."

Loren narrowed his eyes and lowered his eyelids slightly, hiding the faint crystal blue light in his eyes, and looked at Crabbe.

The magic fluctuations on Crabbe's body are heavier than those of his peers, but there is still a gap between them and the multiple magic bursts.

There is no snake-shaped magic outline light on his body, Voldemort should not be on him. It should be noted that there is a black light on his chest, which is somewhat similar to the black light on Snape's arm.

Hermione frowned, wondering why Crabbe had challenged Loren to a fight, and subconsciously felt that something was not right. Although she didn't know what the other party was planning, she didn't want Loren to get hurt, so the little witch pulled his sleeve and shook her head, signaling him not to accept the challenge.

"It's okay, Professor Snape is here, nothing will happen." Loren comforted her, patted Hermione's hand gently, stood on the stage, and made a duel gesture towards Crabbe.

Snape walked over quickly with a cold face, lowered his head and whispered to him: "He is not right, be smart, if the situation is not right, run to me."

Loren chuckled twice: "Professor, shouldn't you warn the little wizards in your academy?"

Snape remained silent, rolled up his sleeves lightly, and gave him a head shot before walking away.

When other young wizards who had the same question saw Loren being beaten, they immediately felt that it was right. This was the normal Professor Snape. He must have been warning Loren just now.

If he could hear their conversation, Lockhart would definitely agree with Loren. Yes, you are the head of Slytherin, and you don’t help your own little wizard, but help a Gryffindor?

Although he was confused, Lockhart still acted like a professor, walked to Crabbe, and patted his shoulder happily: "Don't worry, this is what you do when Loren points his wand at you."

He raised his wand and waved it left and right, trying to make some complicated and handsome tricks, but accidentally dropped it on the ground.

"Ouch, my wand got a little overexcited," Lockhart added hastily.

"Go away." Crabbe said coldly.

Abusing the professor?

Lockhart wanted to reprimand him, but when he looked up at his violent gaze, he could not say anything and could only retreat. He stood at the edge of the stage and looked at Crabbe with a strange and complicated look.

Loren and Crabbe walked to the center of the stage. As they nodded and bowed, Crabbe cursed under his breath, "Mudblood!"

Chuckling and walking away, Loren said nothing, and in a moment, I'll open your ribs.

No one shouted to start, Crabbe quickly raised his wand: "Petrify All" a bluish-white light flashed, and the spell flew straight towards Loren's face.

Loren slowly turned sideways and narrowly avoided the attack in the eyes of the young wizards below the stage.

The young wizards of Gryffindor were excited: "Sneak attack, despicable Slytherin! Admit defeat and get out!"

The young Hufflepuff wizards had a good relationship with Loren and they all lent their support.

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. If it was just this serious, Crabbe wouldn't be able to touch the corner of Loren's clothes until dawn.

Amid the commotion, Crabbe cast two spells in quick succession:

"[Quickly Imprison]"

"[Fainted]"

Two spells attacked the left and right sides of his shoulders, blocking all of Loren's escape routes, but there was a gap in the middle, and Loren leaned back slightly to avoid it again. He wanted to test Crabbe's strength, especially to find out what the black light on his chest was, so he was not in a hurry to end the battle.

The cheers hurt Crabbe's heart, and he said ruthlessly: "[Shattered to pieces]"

Three shattering curses sealed Loren's three directions, and unless he could fly, he would no longer be able to escape.Crabbe grinned grimly, waiting to see his flesh burst.

Snape had his wand raised, ready to save Loren.

Loren finally raised his wand, dodged two spells sideways, and formed a transparent shield at the tip of the wand: "[Armor Protection]"

Snape lowered his raised wand.

The Shattering Curse resonated on the transparent shield, and due to the subtle angle interference, it flew towards Crabbe's chest at a faster speed, and penetrated directly into the black light on his chest. Even Snape was unable to react.

Everyone's eyes were focused on Crabbe. He turned pale, exhaled, and then stared at Loren with an even more resentful look, and said viciously: "Come again!"

Snape breathed a sigh of relief. The little wizard was just a little wizard, and the Shattering Curse was not very powerful.

There was silence at first, and then a wave of cheers broke out. "Oh! Cool!" The boys' enthusiastic cheers almost ripped the ceiling off the auditorium.

The little witches' eyes sparkled.

Loren looked in amazement at the black light on his chest which was not affected at all. The feeling he got from the Iron Armor Shield was not false. The Shattering Spell was genuine and enough to shatter solid stone.

He pursed his lips and smiled barely noticeably. "The defense is strong, so I want to open the door."

He recalled his knowledge of anatomy. The heart was not in that position. As long as the death was not instant, Madam Pomfrey should be able to save the person.

Crabbe stared at Loren. "You like hiding, don't you? Let's see how you can dodge this spell: "[Oolong out of the hole]"

There was a bang in front of the wand, and the air exploded rapidly. A long black snake sprang out from it, landed heavily on the carpet of the stage, and swam towards Loren with its head raised.