"The demonstration is over," announced Professor Lockhart as he organized the students into pairs for duelling practice.
Snape approached Harry and Ron with a menacing look. "I think it's time for the dream team to break up," he sneered.
"Weasley, you can team up with Finnegan. Potter, Draco will be a suitable match for you. Let's see what the famous Harry Potter is made of. And as for you, Miss Granger, you can partner with Pansy."
Harry and Ron nervously took their places on the stage, remembering Ron's misfortune in Hagrid's hut.
"Raise your wands and prepare yourselves!" called Lockhart.
"On the count of three, You will only cast a spell to disarm your opponent's weapon-just disarm the weapon, we don't want any accidents. One, two, three..."
The two raised their wands above their shoulders. When the count reached three, they turned to face each other.
It was unclear whether it was due to tension, but Harry struck first. He raised his wand and pointed it at Malfoy, saying, "Disarm your weapon!"
A faint red light emitted from Harry's wand, much dimmer and slower than Snape's spell.
But Malfoy's armor easily deflected the spell. "Crucio!"
Malfoy lifted his wand and quickly cast the spell, but nothing came out of the wand's tip.
"I said, just disarm!" Lockhart scolded Malfoy, but Malfoy simply smiled and said, "This spell is safer than the disarming spell."
"That's not possible!" exclaimed Ron angrily from under the stage.
"Points should be deducted if you break the rules."
"Did Snape say something about a snake in the spell?" asked Hermione, alarmed.
All the students were on edge due to the rumored snake monster that had been terrorizing the school.
The audience also whispered amongst themselves, having heard the mention of a snake in the spell.
Harry was focused on the duel, but he noticed that Malfoy's wand wasn't responding after he cast the spell.
However, he refused to underestimate his opponent and didn't believe that Malfoy would make such a basic mistake.
Suddenly, Harry heard an exclamation from the audience and looked down to see a python wrapped around his waist, hissing and staring at him with its green eyes. In addition to the initial fear, Harry felt an strange desire to communicate with the snake.
He thought he could understand it.
"Can you let me go?" asked Harry, staring at the snake. But it had no effect.
"Hermione, what's wrong with Harry?" asked Ron, confused.
"Is Harry talking to the rope?"
"I don't know," replied Hermione, shaking her head.
She was just as puzzled and couldn't understand what Harry was saying.
The students on the field only saw Harry's robe start to break apart into lines and reassemble into a rope, tightly wrapping around Harry's body as if to restrict his movements. Harry was also speaking in syllables that they couldn't understand.
"Is he talking to that rope?" asked a Ravenclaw student. "Or is it another curse spell?"
Desperately searching for the vocabulary he knew, Harry tried to command the snake he saw.
He didn't know how to pronounce the strange syllables, but he intuitively felt that the snake could understand him.
However, reality was unkind as he was brutally struck, the snake's head wrapping around his neck and opening its blood-red mouth with sharp fangs, poised to attack his neck.
The students watched as the rope wrapped around Harry's neck.
"Draco, it's over. The outcome is a tie," interrupted Snape.
"Of course, Professor," replied Malfoy, who had been standing in a state of deep contemplation with his eyes closed, as if he were confident in his spells.
"The curse ends!" He suddenly pointed his wand at Harry.
Harry watched as the snake slowly retreated from him before disappearing in an instant, as if it had never existed.
The students under the stage found the duel to be boring, far worse than the duel between the teachers.
It was Lockhart who said, "That was a wonderful spell. It reminds me of an ancient motto from the East: 'Why fight...and what?'
" 'To a soldier, the only thing sweeter than battle is victory,' " added a dark-haired girl under the stage.
"Yes, that's it. As you all know, my ideal is world peace. This spell really aligns with my values. Well done, Slytherin!" Lockhart raised his wand and said happily.
Harry stared at his opponent in a daze, still not recovered from the duel.
He was confused until he heard the words of Hermione and Ron, which brought him back to reality.
He numbly walked off the stage, with the image of the snake still in his mind.
"Oh, Harry, what were you doing? You could have just pulled the rope off with your hands," complained Ron, thinking that Harry lost too strangely.
"Rope?" asked Harry in surprise.
"Did you see anything else?" asked Hermione, sensing that the magic was not as simple as it seemed.
"I only saw a snake," said Harry slowly.
"It was obviously a rope. Everyone saw it," said Ron, looking at Harry incredulously.
But he believed that Harry wouldn't lie, so it was even more confusing.
"It should be that he combined several spells to make people hallucinate, while also disassembling and reassembling their robes," reasoned Hermione.
"Well, there's no way to know for sure," sighed Ron.
He felt that if he saw a spider during a duel, he wouldn't do any better than Harry.
Most people are afraid of snakes.