On the stage, Lockhart and Snape turned to face each other and bowed.
At least Lockhart bowed. He made elaborate hand gestures, while Snape impatiently shook his head. Then, they raised their wands like arrows in front of their chests.
"As you can see, we're holding our wands in the standard dueling position," Lockhart addressed the silent crowd.
"On the count of three, we'll cast the first spell. Of course, we won't be taking each other's lives."
"One, two, three."
They both raised their wands abruptly.
Snape shouted, "Expelliarmus!"
A dazzling red light flashed, and Lockhart was hit, losing his balance. He flew backward off the stage, collided with the wall, then slid down and curled up on the floor.
Malfoy and several other Slytherin students applauded. Some students who disliked Lockhart also joined in, while Lockhart's small fans fretted and jumped around nervously.
Lockhart staggered to his feet, his hat gone, and his wavy hair standing on end.
"All right, everyone saw that!" he wobbled back onto the stage, saying, "This is a Disarming Charm — as you can see, I lost my wand.
Ah, thank you, Miss Brown. Yes, Professor Snape, show them this move.
It's brilliant, but, don't take offense when I say, your intention to use it just now was quite obvious.
If I wanted to stop you, it would have been a piece of cake. I believe, to broaden their knowledge, it might be good to show them..."
Snape's expression was deadly. Lockhart must have noticed because he added.
"Demo ends here! Now, I'll come among you and pair you up. Professor Snape, if you'd like to assist me..."
They maneuvered through the crowd, pairing everyone up.
Lockhart had Neville and Justin Finch-Fletchley paired together, while Snape maliciously separated Harry and Ron. Ron ended up facing Finnigan, and Harry faced Malfoy.
Perhaps out of Snape's malice, Hermione and Cho Chang were paired against two older Slytherin girls.
"Face your partner!" Lockhart returned to the stage, shouting, "Bow!"
"Raise your wands, get ready!" Lockhart announced loudly.
"When I count to three, cast a spell to disarm your opponent's weapon — just disarm, we don't want any accidents. One, two, three."
Harry used the Laughing Curse on Malfoy, making him laugh uncontrollably.
But Malfoy, suppressing his laughter, returned a Dancing Feet spell, forcing Harry to break into a quick dance.
Chaos ensued elsewhere.
Ron's broken wand caused an unexpected outcome, and the hit Finnigan fell down with an ashen face.
Neville and Justin were enveloped in a green smoke, immediately collapsing once they smelled it. There were even young wizards abandoning their wands, wrestling with each other.
Only Hermione and Cho Chang skillfully disarmed their opponents. The two Slytherin girls were knocked down before they could react.
Alaric clapped happily on the sidelines. They grasped the key points of the Disarming Charm well, fully exploiting its characteristic of being the fastest to cast.
"Stop! Stop!" Lockhart screamed, but Snape took over.
"Finite Incantatem!" he shouted.
Harry's feet stopped dancing, and Malfoy stopped laughing. They both finally looked up.
"Oh, my, oh, my," Lockhart said, jumping around the crowd, observing the aftermath of the duels.
"You stand up, Ernie... Be careful, Miss Fawcett... Just press it hard, the bleeding will stop soon, Booth..."
"I think I'd better teach you how to stop unfriendly magic," Lockhart said nervously, standing in the center of the hall.
He glanced at Snape and immediately looked away when he saw the cold gleam in Snape's black eyes.
"Would two volunteers please come up — Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about you?"
"This is not a good idea, Professor Lockhart," Snape said.
"Longbottom can cause damage even with the simplest spells. We'll collect Finch-Fletchley's remains in a matchbox and send it to the hospital wing."
Neville's pink face turned even redder.
His gloomy gaze swept through the crowd, as if searching for a sacrificial lamb among a herd of sheep.
Until he spotted Alaric in the crowd.A gleam flashed in his eyes.
In fact, he had already placed the blame for the recent theft in the potion storage room on Alaric.
Among all the second-year wizards, only Alaric loved researching peculiar potions the most.
Combined with the theft incident from the previous school year, he considered Alaric the prime suspect, though he had no evidence.
However, that didn't stop him from wanting to teach Alaric a lesson.
Normally, in class and with homework, he couldn't touch Alaric. Yet, he suddenly felt that now was a good opportunity.
"Oh, Alaric, what brings you here?" Snape approached, revealing a malicious smile.
"I thought you wouldn't be interested in these low-level duels."
"That's true and in fact, I'm just here to observe," Alaric stepped aside, "You can simply ignore me."
However, Professor Snape showed a sinister grin and said to him.
"Oh no, I can't just ignore you, can I? In fact, I have a brilliant suggestion. As the genius of Ravenclaw, why not come up on stage and give everyone a demonstration?"
Upon hearing this, Alaric shrugged. He knew Snape had ill intentions. However, he wasn't afraid of Snape's schemes.
After all, Snape's plan was to make Alaric look foolish in the duel, but besides Dumbledore, who in Hogwarts could defeat him? So, he nodded willingly.
Seizing the opportunity, Snape agilely slid onto the stage like a large bat. "Come up, Alaric, your opponent is me. Let everyone see your strength!"
Beside Alaric, Cho Chang nervously grabbed his cloak. "Alaric, don't go. Snape is up to no good, you might get hurt."
Hermione also looked angrily at Snape.
"Snape is truly annoying. He's a professor; he shouldn't behave like this."
She then turned to Alaric. "Quickly refuse him; it wouldn't mean too much as right now you're just a student."
"He wouldn't be able to defeat me. So, don't worry too much, just trust me."
Alaric reassured them in a low voice. He patted their hands and then adjusted his cloak before walking forward.
Immediately, the crowd parted to make way for him. In the midst of admiring gazes, he ascended the stage and calmly locked eyes with Snape!
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