A week later, a piece of exciting news was posted on the bulletin boards in the common rooms of the four academies — the schools were going to start a dueling club. It seemed that the recent rumors had made Dumbledore feel that it was time to train the students in actual combat. Malfoy had been waiting for this opportunity for a long time. He had his own plans for this event.
At eight o'clock in the evening, almost all the students were in the auditorium. They were crowded together, each holding their own wands and looking excited.
The long dining table disappeared, and a gilded stage appeared along the wall, illuminated by hundreds of candles floating in the air. The ceiling was as black as velvet once again.
They were discussing excitedly, and Hermione wondered if Professor Flitwick would be teaching them. He was said to be a dueling champion in the past. But when Harry and Ron saw Lockhart in his magenta robe, and walked onto the stage, they sighed.
Snape followed closely beside him.
"Those were just small mistakes. Today we will be able to see his true strength." Hermione said confidently.
"Come on, he made Harry lose all his bones. I hope his mistakes can be used on Snape, and make him lose a few bones too." Ron said sarcastically.
"Stop arguing, let's watch carefully." The victim spoke up, and Hermione and Ron stopped arguing.
Lockhart waved for everyone to be quiet, and then shouted, "Gather around, gather around! Can everyone see me? Can you all hear me? That's great! "Well, Professor Dumbledore has allowed me to start this little dueling club to train everyone, in case you need to defend yourself one day, and use the method I have used countless times to protect yourself — for more details, please read my published works.
"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape," said Lockhart, with a broad grin. "He told me that he knew a thing or two about duels himself, and he graciously agreed to assist me with a little demonstration before the class began. I say, I don't want to make you little fellows worry — after I demonstrate with him, I will return your potion teacher to you in one piece, so don't be afraid! "
Then they bowed to each other, and their hands made many gestures, while Snape just shook his head impatiently. Then, they held their wands in front of their chests like arrows.
"As you can see, we will hold our wands in the usual dueling position," Lockhart said to the silent crowd. "On the count of three, we will cast the first spell. Of course, neither of us will take the other's life. "" I wouldn't bet on it, "whispered Harry, looking at Snape with his teeth bared. "One — two — three —" Both of them raised their wands above their shoulders at the same time. Snape shouted, "Remove your weapon!" Suddenly, a blinding red light flashed.
Malfoy felt that his awkwardness was about to erupt. He turned his head away and could not bear to continue watching. Soon, Lockhart would be sent flying off the stage, bouncing off the wall and sliding down. Then, he would force himself to stand up and say a bunch of innocuous words to save his face. Then, he would continue to bear the doubtful gazes of the students. Once or twice was fine, but when the number of times increased, Malfoy was amazed at how thick-skinned Lockhart was.
"Armor!"
"What?" Instead of what he had expected, Malfoy turned his head back and saw the beam of red light bouncing off toward the ceiling.
"Remove your weapon!" After Lockhart successfully defended, he began to counterattack. He spun his wand a few times before slowly chanting a spell. This seemed to show that he was at ease.
"Armor!" Snape waved his wand and did the same. However, it seemed that the power of Lockhart's spell was much stronger than he had imagined. The spell was bounced off, but Snape himself staggered a few steps back and finally sat on the ground.
"What the hell is this?" Malfoy felt that he could not hold it in any longer. He even started to maliciously speculate whether Lockhart had bribed Snape to give him a few photos of Lily so that Snape would purposely go easy on him. This was simply too ridiculous. An idiot defeated a mixed blood prince in a duel? The mixed blood prince who invented the Shadowless Divine Blade and the Fuchsia Bell? Who would believe it?
There was a deathly silence.
Then, apart from Slythrin, all the other academies burst into thunderous cheers. This was the first time they had seen Snape completely defeated and unable to take revenge. Who could he blame for not being as skilled as his opponent?
"Alright, did everyone see that?" Lockhart waved his wand to attract everyone's attention. Then, he slowly walked forward and stretched out his hand. It seemed that he wanted to show off his elegant demeanor.
However, Snape did not accept his gesture. He brushed the dust off his robe and stood up himself.
Lockhart didn't feel awkward after being rejected, and no one felt awkward about it. The only ones who felt awkward were the students of Slythrin. Their dean had been defeated, and it seemed that the person who had defeated him didn't have a good performance in school.
"Oh my god." Ron opened his mouth wide and did not close it for a long time.
"I believe that he made a mistake previously." Harry also widened his eyes. He now felt that Lockhart was simply the best teacher. He had helped him vent his anger. Even if Bonehead had been transformed into nothingness by him, it was nothing. Who didn't make mistakes at times?
Hermione, on the other hand, smiled proudly, as if to say, "See, I was right."
After defeating Snape this time, all the voices that doubted Lockhart had disappeared, and he even gained a huge reputation. Now, not only were the girls starry-eyed, many boys were also looking at him with admiration.
"Just now, Professor Snape and I attacked each other with the Disarm Curse." Lockhart cleared his throat and began to talk about his duel experience. "But as you can see, even if it's the same curse, different people will have different effects." He glanced at Snape and added, "Professor Snape, don't mind. This is all for the students."
Snape's face turned even paler. It was frighteningly pale.
The Gryffindor students were discussing excitedly. They only hated that they did not bring their cameras to take a precious photo of this memorable moment.
"Harry, to be honest, it's a pity that Neville did not come today." Ron seemed to have thought of something and said.
"It's really a pity." Harry shook his head regretfully. "If he came today, maybe he would not be afraid of Snape anymore."