Harry demanded, "You must know something--"
Snape waved his wand to silence the surrounding noise, and he said, word by word, "You're too nosy, Potter!. Do you really think your saviour after being touted a few times? If it weren't for your mother's sacrifice, you'd be nothing!"
Harry's stomach churned, he felt glad and sad, glad that he had bet right, Snape really knew more about the inside story, but sad when he mentioned his mother, what happened as he didn't know about it.
And Snape mocked him profusely, describing him as a villain who got away from death and who stole a reputation that didn't belong to him, which made his lungs explode.
He couldn't help but clench his wand, itching to give Snape a Bat-Bogey Hex right away, he thought the name of the spell matched Snape too well - as he looked like a big dirty bat.
Snape noticed Harry's movement and his cold eyes narrowed as he said mischievously, "Want to have a go, Potter? I'm willing to give you that chance ..."
Harry took two deep breaths of air and said stiffly, "No, it's not you, the one I'm looking for." He took a few steps away, turned his head to look at Felix, who is not far away, and said aloud, "I choose Professor Hap."
Snape's face looked astonished, as he judged according to Potter's characteristics he would surely be enraged, then he can teach him a lesson in a fair and square manner.
To be honest, he was looking forward to that scene.
But the boy unexpectedly refused, how dare he!
Snape reluctantly retreated to the edge of the stage, as Felix and Harry came face to face and saluted with their wands up in front of their chests.
Harry whispered, "Professor, if I can hold out for two minutes, will you promise me one thing?"
Felix looked at him and smiled, "Just like in special training?"
"Exactly." Harry said quickly, he didn't have any expectation of getting information about his father and Sirius Black from Snape, it just happened, now it is his real ruse, " Just like when I invited you to look at the Firebolt prototype from the Quidditch Boutique with me after my first success."
"I let it slip that time, to boost your confidence," Felix said.
"I know, but I've made progress too," Harry said.
After a short conversation, the two men saluted each other, took seven steps in reverse, and turned to look at each other.
Felix had no intention of making the first move, and Harry understood that everything would be just like the basement of the leaky cauldron bar.
He waved his wand violently and shouted, "Incarcerous!" A rope as thin as a snake flew towards Felix, he did not look at the result, and then took two steps back, followed by a silent disarming charm.
Felix smiled and stood still, the rope just touched his body, it quickly softened, he then tilted his head, dodging the red arc of light. Smoothly waved out two spells, one crimson and one gold.
"Protego!" Harry had prepared the shield charm early, one of the spells grazed the magic barrier, the other spell hit straight on the shield charm with a muffled sound.
Harry's mind silently recited the count, this is his summarized pattern, in the special training, Professor Hap never knocked him down at once in order to train him, rather, there is a certain interval, which gave him a glimmer of hope.
Silently counting to eight, he dodged, and a powerful spell directly shattered the shield charm. He lamely got up from the ground and raised his hand to fling out three to four stupefying charms - "Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy!"
Felix's magical barrier appeared in front of him, blocking Harry's spells. Then he reached out and pushed out his hand in front of him, and the magical barrier turned into seven or eight blunt-headed arrows that flew at Harry.
"Whoosh!" The arrows let out a whimpering, harsh whistle.
Harry used a freezing spell to freeze the arrows in midair, and he immediately swooped to the side.
The arrow paused for a second or two and continued on its intended trajectory, smashing into the wooden floor with a questionable, muffled thud.
"Snort, snort, snort!"
It took less than thirty seconds before and after, but the two showed a powerful interaction of offence and defense that left many people scratching their heads in disbelief. Professor Hap is undoubtedly very relaxed, and the young wizards are not surprised by this, but Harry left the crowd incomprehensible.
The familiarity he showed in dueling surprised everyone.
Harry truly looked wretched, spending most of his time dodging, tumbling, and stumbling backward... but he always found time to counterattack, releasing spells far more often than the students before him.
And his expression also looked calm, completely lacking the panic of the previous few.
Harry kept running around the stage as he tried to pull away from Professor Hap.
Two minutes is a long time, and Harry had to play it smart, which is something he had never been able to consider before. Despite knowing that his spell would be useless, he kept firing back, trying to interfere with the frequency of the professor's attacks.
But to his despair, Professor Hap never slowed down in his attacks, almost once every seven or eight seconds, never changing because of his interference.
'I'm still too far off!'
'This way, I am still not Sirius Black's opponent at all!'
Harry's mind became agitated, and he desperately reminded himself that it is not the right time yet, but he just couldn't help thinking about the future.
As he ran, he got hit by an Incarcerous and tripped to the ground.
His glasses flew off and Harry looked up in confusion, vaguely seeing a blurry figure across the room raising his wand.
"No!"
He struggled to raise his wand and shouted, "Expelliarmus!"
A blazing red beam of light is fired, like a wrist-thick laser that faintly emits white light.
The spell spanned more than ten meters and collided head-on with the disarming charm Felix had sent over.
"Huh?"
Felix did not budge and raised the power of the magic spell, making the power of the two disarming charms equal.
In the young wizards' view, Harry surprisingly tied with Professor Hap for a moment, their spells clashing fiercely, sending out crackling bursts and magical arcs of light.
The great hall boiled up.
"This is Harry's disarming charm? How did he practice it!"
"Legend has it that he used this spell to destroy the Dementors that tried to attack him ..."
"He's only in his third year, no wonder he's the saviour who defeated the you-know-who."
"Do you think he can win?"
"... you think too much, but I think it is possible in the future!"
Standing in the corner, Snape looked at the scene in shock, he never knew that Harry could make this kind of intensity of magic. This is far beyond the level he usually shows.
Immediately after, he noticed the appearance of another person.
It is Lupin!
He looked very haggard, his gray hair seemed more conspicuous, and his clothes were patched. He had appeared in the great hall at some point and is looking at Harry with concern.
The two eyes met, and Lupin nodded amicably, then stared at Harry unblinkingly.
In the gilded ring, Harry desperately maintained the spell, he did not know how long had passed, each second felt like a century, but he wished he could hold on a little longer.
Maybe he already lasted two minutes? That way, Professor Hap wouldn't deny his request. Harry thought to himself.
Felix's spell remained terribly steady, never weakening a hair's breadth from start to finish. Harry watched as the magic that belonged to his side got suppressed in return.
He gritted his teeth and held on as his vision began to drift, and the sky spun, a feeling he is no stranger to.
'In the next second, he would fall on the carpeted floor, it would be uncomfortable, but not really painful ...'
"Dang!"
Harry smashed on the floor, "That hurts!" His eyes teared up.
He realized with a jolt: he is not in the basement of the leaky cauldron bar for special training, but in the gilded ring of the school great hall, with only bare hardwood planks beneath him.
"Harry~Harry~" he heard a gentle shout as someone crouched over, but he could no longer tell who it might be.
He passed out completely.
Felix looked at Professor Lupin, who had lost his composure, and lunged at Harry, as he stood afar from him.
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