Harry was stunned. He had seen Malfoy staring at Ivan. Why would he suddenly call out to him?
Ivan was equally surprised. He had been prepared to go on stage.
"Potter! Get on!" Lockhart shouted, grabbing Harry by the hand and pulling him onto the stage.
"Good, now face your opponents! Bow…" Lockhart glanced at the two of them.
Harry looked more or less nervous, his wand gripped tightly in his right hand, while Malfoy was relatively relaxed, trying to think of a way to embarrass him.
However, the two of them were extremely stubborn and had no intention of bowing…
"Bow is like that, come, I'll teach you!" Lockhart patiently corrected Harry and Malfoy's irregular movements, forcing them to bow face to face, causing Harry and Malfoy to squirm.
Lockhart then interfered with the duelling charm, using Malfoy to cast the Disarming Charm and Harry the Shield Charm to defend himself.
Given that they were only in their second year, Lockhart personally showed them how to cast the spell.
"Expelliarmus!" Lockhart pointed his wand forward, and a red beam of light shot from the tip of his wand into the distance.
Lockhart turned to Malfoy. "You do this, Malfoy, see?"
Malfoy was confused and was about to say something when Lockhart turned to Harry and instructed him on how to cast the Shield Charm.
"Armour!" Lockhart pointed his wand at himself, and an illusory barrier of magic appeared around him. "Harry? Know how to release it?"
"Armour ~" Harry foolishly followed suit, pointing his wand at himself, but to no avail.
"Professor…" Harry looked anxiously at Lockhart, wanting him to teach him a few more times.
"Now, go!" Lockhart ignored him, urging Malfoy to attack with the Disarming Charm.
"Expelliarmus!" Malfoy shouted.
Harry hastily repeated the incantation for the Shield Charm…
They pose, face to face, and nothing happens…
The scene was very awkward…
Yvonne was beside herself with laughter as she watched from below. Disarming Charms and Ironclad Charms were spells that were only taught to seniors.
It usually takes a lot of practice to master, but knowing that the spell can't be cast alone requires the right hand gestures…
Lockhart was a dabbler himself, and was able to perform both spells by cheating with magical tools, so his teaching methods were incorrect, and it would be a miracle if Harry or Malfoy were able to perform any magic at all.
"I think there must be something wrong with Professor Lockhart. He must have used something else to do the spell," Hermione, who had learned the Shield Charm in her youth, said suddenly, looking suspiciously at Lockhart, who was giving instructions blindly.
Hermione turned back to Ivan, who was trying not to laugh.
"Ivan, you must know something, don't you?"
"No, I don't know anything…" Ivan shook his head quickly. He had been paid to keep his secret from Lockhart.
However, Lockhart's antics left Ivan with no other choice.
At this rate, Lockhart would soon be exposed again…
On the stage, Harry and Malfoy foolishly waved their wands for a while before realising that Professor Lockhart's stuff was useless.
The two parties looked at each other and reached a tacit understanding. They ignored Lockhart, who was yelling and shouting, and reacted almost simultaneously.
"BREAKLAP!"
"Tarantella Dance!"
…
The lights of the red and green charms collided in mid-air, then veered off to one side, creating an arc of light around Malfoy, who ducked to avoid the spell that was aimed at him, and shouted again.
"A blunder!"
A flash of light exploded from the tip of Malfoy's wand, and a long black snake slithered out of the black mist and landed heavily on the floor of the Duelling Ground, its head held high and its forked tongue hissing…
"I thought I told you to use the Disarming Charm, Malfoy!" Lockhart snapped, raising his wand to cast a counter-curse that caused the snake to vanish.
However, his charm went off again, and the snake, struck by it, rapidly expanded into a python…
The young wizards on both sides immediately screamed and backed away, afraid that the black snake would sneak off the stage, causing chaos.
Lockhart loudly told everyone not to panic, he was here to keep them safe…
"Petrify!" Lockhart shouted, remembering he had another spell.
Hit by the spell, the black python shuddered and struggled to shake off the debris on its body, looking extremely miserable…
At that moment, a hissing sound came from Harry's mouth, and the black serpent turned its head to stare at him in pain. It made the same noise, as if the serpent and the human were communicating.
The exchange did not last long before the python gave up and collapsed on the floor, transforming into a serpentine statue…
Ivan, who was watching from the audience, felt as if a piece of information had just exploded in his head the moment Harry spoke the language…
For some reason, the words Luna had said to him earlier and the system's prompts connected the dots.
A passage… praising someone… the key… the snake language… the runes…
Ivan had a vague idea, but he needed to find someone to confirm it.
Yvonne turned her attention to Harry, who was still oblivious to the fact that he was speaking the language of the snake. After a moment's thought, she shook her head and decided to go back to Tom to find out.
After all, he might have to learn the language, and it would be difficult to keep it a secret from Harry.
Due to the chaos caused by Harry's duel with Malfoy, the Duelling Club drama soon came to an end.
"Jesus, Harry, you're a Parselmouth, and you've been hiding it from us all this time!" Ron exclaimed as they made their way back to the dormitory.
"Snake talk? What do you mean? You mean talk to snakes?" Harry asked blankly. He didn't understand why Ron was so excited, but he told him about his conversation with a snake from Brazil before he went to school.
"I'm sure a lot of people at school can do that, right?" Harry said hopefully.
"No, it's not a common skill…" Ron shook his head and told Harry that Parseltongue was almost synonymous with Dark Wizardry.
"It's not as bad as it sounds. It's said that the founders of Hogwarts were able to speak the language of snakes…" said Ivan soothingly.