Chapter 204
The young wizards looked at each other, but none of them volunteered to go up the stage.
At the foot of the stage is a cacophony of whispers.
It is an opportunity to have a fair and square fight with a professor, the question is, who to choose?
Felix smiled, “Would anyone like to try? It’s a rare opportunity.”
Harry’s heart itched, and his lips went dry. He had received special training from Professor Hap back in the summer, so naturally, he knew that there is a huge gap between them.
But exactly how much of a gap, he never managed to see.
Moreover, just now, he suddenly had an idea, could he get the information he wanted through one-on-one guidance?
While he is hesitating, the first person emerged, it’s Percy Weasley.
He bowed solemnly, “As the prefect of the boys’ student body, I would be happy to set an example for the others.”
“Very well, Weasley, which professor do you choose?” Felix looked at him encouragingly.
“Professor Flitwick,” Percy said without thinking.
He thought before he went up, of the three professors, Snape is recognized as unfriendly to Gryffindor, against him although there is no danger to life, making a fool of himself is inevitable, so ruled out.
And Professor Hap rarely makes a move, but his disarming charm last year is too impressive, Percy worried that Professor Hap will use that level of the spell to confront him, so it’s also ruled out.
When you think about it in this way, Professor Flitwick is the most appropriate option available. He is cheerful and gentle, not too strict with the young wizards, and he rarely deducts points.
The few times he taught in dueling classes last school year, he also seemed to be comfortable enough to teach without leaving his students in the dust.
“I’ll take Professor Flitwick,” Percy repeated.
Soon, Flitwick and Percy stood facing each other, and Flitwick reminded him, “Don’t forget what I’ve taught before.” as he had spent over an hour going over his fighting style in detail.
Percy nodded, and the two raised their wands and saluted, then officially began the duel.
Percy struck first, and a disarming charm broke through the air, but Flitwick just side-stepped it, keeping his eyes fixed on his opponent’s hand.
Nearly at the same time, a bright spell hit Percy, but he had rehearsed before going on stage, and after casting the disarming charm, he jumped aside without thinking, and at the same time chanted the incantation of the Shield Charm.
“Protego!”
As soon as the Shield Charm formed, it met Flitwick’s spell head-on.
“Good response, Percy.” Flitwick praised him as he consciously controlled the rhythm of his attack, and it took almost three minutes before he crisply defeated Percy with the Incarcerous Spell.
Flitwick commented, “Your spells are fairly adept and have their own set of logic, but I can see that you don’t have much experience in actual combat, and you’re a bit hasty in your reactions at the spot.”
Percy broke free from the ropes on his body, straightened the folds on his robe, and said rather formally, “Thank you, Professor Flitwick, I will take care of that in the future.”
He gave a salute and stepped out of the gilded ring as the young Gryffindor wizards cheered excitedly.
“We’re the first!”
“Percy, how did it feel to face the Professor, was it stressful?” Someone asked him.
Percy explained, “It was a bit stressful, but you simply couldn’t think about it, you had to put your full attention on it.”
With the first hands-on experience, the young wizards became enthusiastic, their timidity all gone, and soon a second student took the gilded stage.
Still a Gryffindor, it is Oliver Wood, a tall man who is the captain of the Gryffindor House Quidditch team.
He scratched his head with some embarrassment, “I, I’ll choose Professor Hap.”
Felix saluted as he faced him, and Wood whispered, “Professor, have mercy, I’m most afraid of you.”
“So you’re still going to choose me?”
“Hey, hey, anyway, it’s time to graduate, it’s very impressive to talk outside.” Wood said nervously.
There is respect, very good …
As soon as the duel began, Wood chanted, “Expelliar–”
A red light grazed his hair and swept through, snuffing out the words that followed after, the power of the spell making his hair stand up to its roots.
He looked at Professor Hap in horror, if this hit him, he wouldn’t break in two from the middle of his body, would he? He looked at the professor, who is smiling all over, as he gestures for him to continue.
“I …”
Soon, an utter suppression is witnessed by the students, and in the first few minutes, Wood is interrupted by various silent spell casting without even being able to cast a complete spell.
It was only when Wood chanted a disarming spell with his eyes closed, without a care in the world, that the duel began to become normal.
Professor Hap then no longer stopped Wood from reciting the spell, and they continued to duel back and forth, shooting spells of various colours at each other.
The dueling strategy Professor Hap adopted was the type of defensive evasion-counterattack that he had introduced in his previous dueling class, and every move could be theoretically justified.
Combined with Flitwick’s words earlier, they had more clarity, and even the freshmen could visualize something.
After seven or eight minutes, Wood conceded defeat in a sweat, and Felix commented as usual: “Wood, you are not proficient in non-verbal spell, and your intent is too obvious when dueling; moreover, you do not have an established style.
In the performance just now, you cast twelve kinds of spells, whether it’s disarming charm, shield charm which is a good type of dueling spell, or a Trip Jinx or Tickling Charm which is a minor mischief spell. Of which the disarming charm three times, the shield charm twice, the Trip Jinx twice, and the tickling charm once …
It’s not that you can’t use minor mischief spells, but you have to choose your spells carefully. Like the trip jinx, it can’t subdue your opponent straight away, which means you waste excellent chances to strike and hit.
In addition, your spell power is not particularly outstanding, which means you have no main spell …”
Wood humbly accepted the lesson and wiped the sweat stain from his face.
The next Gryffindor student wanted to take the stage, when the other three houses stopped it, and a Slytherin student stepped right up to the spot, a seventh-year Head of Grade, Geoffrey.
“Professor Snape, please guide your students further.” He said respectfully.
Snape lowered his hand which was crossed over his chest and drew his wand from his black robes, his coat flipped as he walked to the center.
Facing the Slytherin students, Snape obviously slackened, otherwise according to his temper, he would send a direct curse to knock his opponent over. But this time, he seldom attacked but put up a defensive stance.
Geoffrey’s first spell hit the ground three feet from Snape, Snape said coldly: “Are you worried about hurting me by mistake, Geoffrey? Attack with every spell you can think of, dueling is a serious matter!”
Next, Geoffrey began to attack from different angles, shooting spells of various colours across the room, and the young wizards witnessed a stunning defensive demonstration.
Snape rarely used protective spells such as shield charm, his eyesight is extremely sharp, always easily picking off the flying spells one by one. Faced with a black mist of suspected dark magic, his wand tapped on it, turning them into a large white mist of water.
Snape emerged from the watery mist, his hazy face became clear, and he stepped closer to Geoffrey, casually flicking the oncoming spell with his wand and flicking it to the side.
Soon, Geoffrey is forced to the edge of the stage and has to bow his head and admit defeat.
“That was brilliant! Did you see that?” The Slytherin students applauded enthusiastically.
Harry couldn’t hold back his eagerness and rushed to the ring.
Snape looked at Harry with a mocking expression, lowering his voice so that his words could only be heard by the other party: “Can’t help it, at last? As much as your father loves the limelight, perhaps this will make you feel special, you know, the feeling of being a saviour …”
“I don’t feel like I’m special, it’s just every trouble finding their way to me!” Harry said, “Like the one that escaped from Azkaban, Sirius Black, who I knew nothing about previously.”
“Don’t mention that disgusting name,” Snape said coldly.
Harry said in an affirmative tone, “I saw the records of your student days, you don’t see eye to eye with each other, but there must be a deeper reason …”
Snape’s expression elevated, his lips pursed rigidly, as if he held back from uttering a mean comment.