Chapter 92

“You’re saying that Lockhart is taking other people’s stories and then pinning them on his head?” Hermione asked with a shocked look on her face.

“Keep your voice down!” Ron said.

After dinner, the three of them hid in the corner of the common room and murmured about it.

Ron rummaged through his book bag and pulled out three pieces of parchment, “Take a look, Hermione.”

The little witch immediately took it and buried her head to read.

Half a minute later, she looked up and stammered, “How can this be, this kind of thing! I mean, how did Lockhart manage to get someone else to sell him his story?”

Harry suddenly said, “It wasn’t necessarily sold to him, it could have been robbed by him by force.”

Ron and Hermione stared at him in disbelief, there is so much hidden behind this speculation.

Time turned to Thursday.

The Great Hall is redecorated, the central square around the gilded stage, crowded with small wizards.

When Felix and Snape appeared in pairs and stood in the center of the stage, the young wizards were in mixed emotions, surprise, and regret.

“Professor Snape?” On the stage, Felix glanced at him.

Snape shook his head expressionlessly, so Felix took a step forward and nudged himself with his wand, “Silence, young wizards–”

“Our lesson will begin shortly.”

Felix spun in a circle in place, and the crowd became quiet wherever his eyes went.

“Before we begin, there are a few things that need to be clarified in advance.”

Felix’s gaze remained calm, and his voice rang in the ears of every little wizard, “First, Professor Lockhart, who was originally in charge of the dueling program, has graciously entrusted the program to me and put me in full charge because of his busy personal affairs;”

The young wizards whispered, “I don’t think so.” Dean Thomas turned to Neville, “If you ask me, Lockhart is even more confused in the new semester; he can even forget his words in his acting lecture.”

“I think it’s because he’s been under a lot of stress these past few days, that’s how I am sometimes, when I get nervous my mind goes blank,” Neville whispered.

“That said, I was surprised that there were no Aurors to burst in and take him away.”

After a short pause, Felix continued, “Second, Professor Snape will be a special guest professor to provide guidance and advice throughout our dueling sessions;”

The murmur from the stage got louder.

“- As for the third, it’s about the dueling lessons itself, after discussing with Professor Snape, we agreed that the time and format of the lessons should be fixed. So from now on, this course will be held every two weeks, and it will be scheduled for the second Thursday of every month at eight o’clock in the evening.”

When the young wizards finished digesting this information, Felix waved his wand and the ceiling of the great hall became dim, while at the same time, a milky white light like an upside-down bowl enveloped the stage and the figures of the young wizards.

Some noisy chatter seemed to blend into the open field, becoming low and inaudible.

“Now, we are officially going to start the lesson.”

Felix reached out and extended an invitation to Snape.

In solemn silence, Snape said in his characteristic flat tone, “The wizard’s duel is a time-honoured tradition that has evolved over time, and after removing some bloody and barbaric rules, we have tamed it in a cage and made the duel a means to showcase the wizard’s own charms.”

Many of the young wizards noticed that in this setting, Professor Snape’s voice had a strange charm added to it.

Ron whispered, “I’ve long been aware that Snape has a talent for telling ghost stories.”

“What did you say?” Hermione cocked her head. But then, somewhat unexpectedly, she found her voice becoming hazy and low.

“It’s magic,” Harry said, but the other two could only see him mouthing his words.

“-but the basis of dueling remained, and there are many people who spend their lives understanding dueling as nothing more than foolishly waving their wands around like trolls, competing for the strength of their magic and the sound of their voices,” said Snape, his eyes falling on the Gryffindor house young wizard with mockery.

“But dueling itself is a sophisticated craft, and if you are willing to spend even a little time, you will realize that the International Wizard Dueling Congress publishes instructional books on the subject every few years.”

Snape took the rare opportunity today to explain his views on dueling, and although his words left the young wizards in a daze, they could sense Professor Snape’s attitude of respect for dueling.

Halfway through, Snape couldn’t change his habit of secretly connoting a certain professor, saying, “Although Hogwarts doesn’t have the same tradition of focusing on dueling and battle magic as Durmstrang, much of it still has been included in a course.”

Snape gently lifted his wand in his hand, his eyes stiffening as he gazed ahead and squeezed a few words out of his teeth, “Yeah, Defense Against the Dark Arts.”

“But this course has never worked as it should have over the years, which has made, for some students, incapable of judging even the most basic dangers.”

In a solemn and depressing atmosphere, many young wizards felt as if they were back in the classroom of the potion class.

This professor always had the ability to bring the surrounding atmosphere under his control.

Next, Felix clapped his hands and let the young wizards’ attention be focused on him.

“Today’s lesson is Disarming Charm, we’ve already seen how it works in the first dueling lesson, a very useful spell.”

Felix counted some advantages of the Disarming Charm, “easy to learn, effective, low danger, no problem to use whether in daily practice or in some formal dueling situations.”

“Has anyone mastered this spell?”

Sparsely the arms were raised, most of them were senior young wizards, “It’s quite a lower percentage than I expected.” Felix shook his head.

He called up a seventh-year Gryffindor student.

“Professor Hap, my name is Abbott Blake.” This pimple-faced student said excitedly, “I am going to apply for Auror in the Ministry of Magic, and have been preparing for this for two years.”

Felix’s mind became clear.

Blake waved his wand at Felix’s gesture, and a red magic spell flashed, using a standard Disarming Charm.

Next, he introduced in detail how to learn the Disarming Charm, and Blake, as a “teaching tool”, let him repeatedly try to use the spell.

Under his demonstration, many young wizards had the most basic understanding of the spell.

“Next…”

Felix waved his wand, and hundreds of parchments flew out from the suitcase in the corner, and they flew precisely in front of each of the young wizards.

Harry nimbly picked up one, and his scalp exploded a little as he looked at the dense introduction and categorization on it.

He looked at the stage as Professor Hap said, on cloud nine, “I don’t think you can learn a single spell in these two short hours; in fact, it would be beyond my expectation if ten of you managed to perform it.”

“What is on the parchment is for you to practice after class this way, and later I will explain how to use it.”

“Now, let’s have a formal practice.”