"Stop, stop!" Lockhart yelled. "This is a magical duel, not a Muggle wrestling ring!"

But it was no use, Malfoy was holding Harry's neck with one hand, not daring to relax at all. And Harry also grabbed Malfoy's other arm and used the strength of his elbow to forcefully slam it back—this was a move Dudley Dursley used to do to him before, and there was no way to escape it easily.

Neither of them could stop.

Seeing this, Snape simply took out his wand and pointed at the two of them: "Responsible!"

Harry and Malfoy's bodies softened at the same time, and the strength to restrain the opponent also disappeared.

Out of breath.

Lockhart and Snape stepped forward and helped Harry and Malfoy respectively.

"The curse stops immediately! Clean it up! Heal as before!"

Lockhart first lifted Harry's tongue-locking spell, then helped him clean the bird poo, and finally healed his swollen eye socket and bruised neck, and Snape's side too. did almost the same thing.

Neither of them blamed these two little devils. In a sense, what happened just now was inevitable. When they decided on this duel strategy, things could only continue to develop in this direction, and neither of them made any wrong choices.

Seeing that they were all right, Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick, who had already stood up, sat down again.

The students in the audience kept applauding, whether it was Gryffindor or Slytherin, because they had just enjoyed a "fierce" duel, even if only two spells were chanted on both sides.

"For the first time, your performance is not bad." Lockhart praised Harry, "and you have a good brain, and it was the best choice to switch to hand-to-hand combat at that time."

Harry smiled embarrassedly: "It's a pity I didn't win."

"It doesn't matter, there are points for the draw, and considering Mr. Malfoy's initial violations, the points for this game should be counted for you... I'll talk to Percy about it later."

"Huh? The points have already started?" Harry was taken aback.

"Every game will be strictly recorded, including the spells used by both sides and the actions - Percy has ESP," Lockhart explained. "So you just scored 3 points..."

"I don't think so," Snape interjected beside him.

Obviously, he heard what Lockhart had just said.

"Of course there are no points for violations. Mr. Malfoy's result that he didn't get anything was brought about by him, and we have nothing to say about it. But the result of this duel was a draw, no matter what happened in the middle, it was a draw. , so Porter can only get at most - points.

"A draw? Mr. Malfoy has lost his wand, and according to the rules it should be a loss." Lockhart pointed to the rule board on the sidelines. .

Mr. Fdenpot couldn't cast spells anymore, and from the perspective of a wizard who couldn't cast spells silently, there was no difference between that and losing his wand. ' Snape retorted

Lockhart was right.

"Strictly speaking, your statement is not wrong, rules are rules... Percy, add a point to the standings for Mr. Potter, and no points for Mr. Malfoy!"

"I heard it, Professor!" Percy replied solemnly, "I have written down the second duel of the 1992-1993 school year, Mr Potter v. No points for Mr Malfoy's infractions, one for Mr Potter."

Lockhart gave Percy a thumbs up approvingly, then walked back to the center of the dueling ring and cleared his throat.

"Okay, after the demonstrations by us and Professor Snape, Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy, everyone should have a good idea of ​​what a duel is all about, and everyone can follow it - I mean except for the last one Apart from the melee fight, this is not a locker room, so wrestling is prohibited."

Although I didn't understand the last meme, there was a burst of laughter from the audience, which made Malfoy and Harry feel like they were on pins and needles.

Seeing the warm atmosphere, Lockhart wasted no time in announcing the opening of the Duel Club

...if you're sure you've figured it out, go to Percy Weasley

Apply for a duel there, sir! You can choose one-on-one duels, or two-on-two, find your assistants, challenge your opponents, and come when you are ready. I will announce that the duel club is officially open! "

The audience immediately burst into cheers.

The little lions of Gryffindor seemed to be impatient, and rushed towards Percy without saying a word, applying for a duel with the Slytherin people, and most of them named by name. Just when they watched others duel, they were already eager to try.

And the little snakes who had had a festival with them for a long time did not show weakness. They did not allow themselves to lose to Gryffindor in any matter of honor, especially when they believed that they had a family background and knew a lot of magic spells. when.

The people of Eagle Academy were also a little excited, but after seeing this situation, they decided to slow down. They are mainly curious, not to fight for something, and they do not want to use the duel as a means to resolve their personal grievances. They seem to be more than happy to call friends and have a showdown trying out new spells in their spare time.

The people of Hufflepuff regard it as a kind of team building, so they behave more Buddhist.

Why do you fight to death like that? We all meet up to play two games on weekends, drink some drinks after the fight, and then stay in place and wait for the meal to start. Anyway, our Guanyuan dormitory is from the dining hall—I mean the closest to the auditorium.

The Lion House and the Snake House rushed to Percy's side, asking them to arrange a duel for themselves, and both asked to arrange their own battles first.

Afterwards, Lockhart heard Percy say that "an appointment was made two weeks later in one night."

"But I guess most of them are just trying to be fresh and making trouble, and it's impossible to have perseverance in this matter." Percy disagreed.

If it weren't for the reputation of "hosting the game," he wouldn't do it, because he thinks it's pointless.

Chapter 57 Masters can use Transfiguration

Seeing the students eager to duel, Professor McGonagall was both pleased and a little disappointed—she didn't see one using Transfiguration.

On the way back, she couldn't help but talk to Professor Flitwick about tonight's duel.

"Tonight's duel is all good, but...do they really don't know that Transfiguration can also be used in combat?" she asked Flitwick.

Flitwick knew the trick: "You're asking too much of them, Minerva, not everyone can use Transfiguration in combat, that one requires too much concentration, and it doesn't take away from combat. In itself, the price/performance ratio is not worth it.”

"Value for money? I don't understand what you mean, Filius." Professor McGonagall was even more puzzled. "Transfiguration must be the most powerful when used in battle."

"I don't object to the point of \"the most powerful\', but when a person is dueling, he needs to consider not only how to use the appropriate magic according to the appropriate time, terrain, climate and the state of his opponent, but also the situation of the scene. Changes and teammates also involve them too much attention.

To be honest, it’s not bad for a person to pay attention to these two points at the same time, not to mention that Transfiguration also takes up a lot of their concentration, such as water dungeons, fire rings, and giving the dead objects agility, which you need to spend at any time. energy to maintain their existence.

"I don't think it's that difficult." Professor McGonagall tilted his head and said, "It's enough to use my heart in three ways. I can even use four of them - I can draw a square with my left hand, a circle with my right hand at the same time, and one with my left foot. Five-pointed star, just kick another Quaffle with your right foot."

Flitwick nodded in agreement: "It's not difficult for us, but if we have the ability to divide our minds into three, four, and even seven-fold splits like Mysterio and Dumbledore.

power, so why not use it for multicasting? Fire a dozen different spells at once with Silent Spell, and it works much faster than maintaining one or two Transfiguration spells. "

Professor McGonagall finally understood: "It turns out that this is the price/performance ratio you said...even if it is

- A master who is proficient in Transfiguration combat, in actual combat, he will also choose to use small spells to shoot small minions. "

"Yes, that's what I meant, only the duel between the magic master and the magic master is necessary to use polymorphism, because ordinary spells will no longer work on them. Polymorphism increases the upper limit of combat power, not width ." Duel champion Flitwick concluded.

"In other words, it is impossible for me to see Transfiguration in the students' duels." Professor McGonagall was even more disappointed.

"This is a high-probability event. I'm thankful that they can master silent spellcasting before graduation. Even Lockhart has been out of school for more than ten years and has gone through so many adventures. I think he has mastered one or two. Re-casting the spell, and it is very rigid, I guess it was done by trick." Professor Flitwick pretended to be helpless.

They walked farther and farther, until they said goodbye to each other where the two towers separated. They also have student work to review and can't waste too much time.

If Lockhart heard their conversation just now, I'm afraid he would be horrified on the spot.

Because Flitwick was right, his double casting technique was derived from the blank soul of the original owner, Lockhart. After he merged into the soul, he injected some mechanical instructions into it, so that he could use pseudo o Double casting skills.

- Some small spells that he estimated that he would use frequently in the future, such as illusion spells, confusion spells, oblivion spells, and a series of small spells such as blindfolding and mental retardation, he added them all, and a single thought was enough trigger.

This technique allows him to use Disillusionment and Phonograph while Snape casts the Chain Dance spell to cover up his whereabouts, but he doesn't have time to add another anti-electricity spell to himself.

: That's why it was so embarrassing to win.

He thought that there were thunder and lightning and the cloud spell to cover up at that time, no one could notice this, but unfortunately there was a Flitwick who was good at perception and had goblin blood.

Life is so helpless sometimes, geniuses are often pretentious, but at the end they will find that those so-called "talents" are within the knowledge and experience of the old guys - this is really scary .

For example, Snape, his talent in potions is already very strong, and his level is at the forefront of the magic world. But when he managed to improve the potion with his own talent, those improvements were all explained by the old walrus of Slughorn, and he explained the ingredients or steps of his improvement. The same goes for Hermione, Lily and Harry in Potions class.

The distance between a "master" and a "legend" is likely to be farther than that between a genius and a mortal, and Lockhart may have just left the novice zone at this time.

In any case, after this duel, one of Lockhart's original intentions for establishing the Duel Club was completed. Next, he only needs to keep an eye on the standings, and then draw all the dueling players of all grades into his circle.

Hogwarts in October is almost always in the rain. Except for Gryffindor's Quidditch team, which still insists on training every day, the other three houses have stopped outdoor activities, and even herbal medicine. Classes were suspended once.

Now that outdoor activities can no longer be carried out, Hogwarts students can only turn the battlefield from outdoor to indoor if they want to relieve boredom. Even those sixth- or seventh-graders who were just beginning to love each other and drilled the woods together every day had to take the risk of picking a date in an empty classroom.

Under these circumstances, the Dueling Club quickly took Hogwarts by storm. When people are bored after tea and dinner, the most common thing to do is to invite a few acquaintances - either friends, or dead enemies - to go to the auditorium to "talk"

Even people who don't want to fight will go to the auditorium to watch others duel when they are bored, and use the duel that night as the next day's talk.

After two weeks, just as Percy Weasley had expected, after a period of popularity among the students, dueling fever finally cooled down. Except for the dozen or so regulars of the dueling arena, most of them Students seem to use it as a pastime, like Quidditch.

However, this is completely within Lockhart's expectations, or he is very satisfied with it. As long as the duel is not the top priority of the students, they will not pay attention to this special one by the time that person returns. Not necessarily.

Among those "especially fond of duels", the Weasley twins are undoubtedly the most eye-catching.

Although it is said that dueling players like Cedric Diggory have emerged in the duel duel, it may be a little controversial to say "the strongest", because Diggory is not always victorious, and Many of the victors were his friends.

But in the 2v2 duel arena, the title of "best partner" has lost its suspense. Fred and George can be said to be domineering in it, and they have even begun to challenge the seventh graders of Slytherin.

Maybe the seventh graders could hold them down in heads-up, but it was the Weasley brothers who won the match, and their synchronicity gave them an innate understanding of what it means to pinch, cooperate, and draw fire: just The captain and main batsman of Laitlin Quidditch were sent to the school hospital twice by them.

Later, Hogwarts had to issue a temporary rule - "no duels with the Weasley brothers before Quidditch matches and during class", which was also dubbed "Weasley" by Gryffindors. "Lai terms", the two made a lot of limelight again

They had been worried that their mother would scold them, but Mrs Weasley surprisingly didn't say anything after hearing that it was Lockhart's club.

"Don't patronize the fight, learn a little more from the professor." Mrs. Weasley warned them in the letter.

Even to cope with their mother, the two of them decided to attend a "Dueling Skills Weekend Seminar" hosted by Lockhart.

Chapter 58 Fighting Dark Magic Is Essentially a Political Issue

Following what Professor Slughorn had done, Lockhart invited some of the best students of the day to his office.

"Strong and weak," Hermione read to the doorknob.

After hearing the password, the door handle of Lockhart's office creaked, and then the door lock bounced open, letting them in.

Although he has only been at Hogwarts for two months, Lockhart has used his authority and financial resources to make his office a good place to "just look at it and feel good (Ron .

On her last visit, Hermione remembered that Lockhart's office didn't have this "screen" yet, but this time she nearly bumped into it. And the crystal chandelier hanging on the ceiling is obviously Muggle style - the wizarding world still uses candles, or candles, or magic lamps in the shape of flames.

Plus, whether it's the ubiquitous booze, beverages, refreshments, or the imported sofas, cushions, and rugs from the Muggle side, it makes the room seem more like a socialite club than a teacher's. office.

Now this "Duelers Club" is full of top dueling students from Hogwarts, and their dueling points are basically in the top three positions in the rankings of each grade.

They chatted and ate snacks while waiting for Lockhart to come. The house-elf had already told them that all the drinks and snacks in the room were taken at will, and Lockhart had gone out to run errands, saying that he would be back in the afternoon, but I'm afraid it would take a while.

Compared with Ron and Harry, who were feasting on each other, Hermione was more curious about where Lockhart went, but unfortunately no one could answer.

About half an hour later, Lockhart hurriedly emerged from the fire in his office and greeted the long-awaited students.

Everyone's been waiting for a long time! I just went out with the Headmaster to run some errands, and things were trickier than I thought, but finally... oh thanks, Miss Granger, I like this the most. "

\"I know." Hermione answered eagerly.

She had just managed to save the last plate of English muffins from the gluttons, because she knew who liked it.

"Because I'm late today, we don't have much time left, so let's go straight to our topic today. You are all people who love duels. This club can be said to be for you to show off your skills, and this regular gathering is a On the one hand, it is for everyone to exchange dueling techniques, and on the other hand, it is also for everyone to understand-the current situation in the magic world in terms of black magic confrontation, so that everyone can understand the meaning of dueling practice..."

Yes, Lockhart is going to blatantly instill his own smugness in the students now.

Heart,

No matter how reluctant some people are to admit it, the root of a country or regime is still violence, or armed forces. Although administrative organs appear to be only responsible for administration or macro-control of the economy, it is still violence that provides coercive power to these organs.

In other words, although there is violence, there may not be a stable regime, but a stable regime must have violence. The phrase "magic is power" that Voldemort later put out at the Ministry of Magic is actually "violence is power".

Therefore, Fudge allowed Dumbledore to have a higher prestige than himself, allowed him to take charge of academics and education, and even repeatedly compromised with the political forces of the Lion faction who admired Dumbledore, but he could not tolerate Dumbledore to cultivate his own "army" - he clear dumb

If Lido really wanted to deal with him, he wouldn't be able to hold on for a few seconds.

And what Lockhart is doing now is cultivating an "army" that conforms to his own values. Even if he won't say so clearly to the outside world, he just says it's "dueling technical exchanges" or "eating, drinking and chatting."

If Lockhart was a little worried about doing this before today, then after going with Snape and Dumbledore today, he can do it with confidence and boldness.

Because he just helped Dumbledore a big favor, he means to be high on his merits. Even if he does too much now, Dumbledore won't say anything.

For example, the dueling club is currently discussing a very discordant issue - is Arvada chewing a big melon a spicy chicken spell.

It may be because of the fact that there are more girls on the scene, Roger Davis of Ravenclaw was eager to express himself, so he made a violent comment on the spot, saying that the front swing of the killing curse was too long and the movement was too obvious. "Only people with relatively slow reaction nerves, or when they are attacked, can be hit." "But in that case, you can use any spell to attack." Therefore, "it is of little significance in actual combat."

And he does have the arrogant capital - as the Quidditch captain of Ravenclaw, his reaction speed and physical tonality are very good, and he is very good at using summoning spells to block the opponent's spells, so the winning rate is not high. Low, the ranking also entered the top four of the grade.

However, Lockhart still squeezed a sweat for this guy - the killing curse was useless, he was a student, he dared to say anything.

But a qualified teacher should never rudely "correct" a student's prejudice, but should let them figure it out in practice, so that it's less embarrassing to find out that they're the wrong one

But Lockhart was pretty sure that the Killing Curse wasn't a useless spell, even if he knew how to avoid it.

Sure enough, Lockhart had no objection, the senior classmates had already

They began to rebut:

"How do you know that dark wizards won't predict your actions?"

"Don't forget to shapeshift, they can shapeshift behind you and cast spells."

"In any case, it is an instant death spell, which can permanently reduce the Aurors in an instant, thereby reducing obstacles for future battles. I personally think that this spells such as stun spells cannot be achieved, so The Dark Wizard certainly won't give it up."

Even Hermione disagreed: "Dark wizards can blast your summons with a time-delayed spell like Flying Sand and Rock, and then cast a spell on you, and they can even use the blast to force you out directly. , so they have plenty of time to cast their spells - their kills won't be as gentle as our club's."

Only then did Davis know that he wanted to go wrong.

Lockhart came in at the right time to smooth things out, and pulled the conversation aside: