Chapter 47 - 47 Farce

8:00 p.m., school Great Hall

The long dining table disappeared, and in the center of the Great Hall stood a temporary square gilded stage, edged by three wooden steps.

Hundreds of candles floating in mid-air, the center of the Great Hall, decorated beautifully.

Harry, Ron hurried back to the Great Hall, the whole school is almost here, crowded, they are feverishly discussing. The two squeezed along the gap in the crowd towards the front, Harry inadvertently knocked off a first-year witch's glasses, he hastily apologized "sorry".

The witch took the glasses and put them back on her forehead, humming something softly that Harry didn't hear.

The two of them went to the Gryffindor wizarding area, where Seamus, Dean and Neville were all present, "Hey! Harry, this way." They sighed with relief, "There's lots of people coming."

Neville Longbottom's round face turned in a flash, "Almost all of them are here, it seems everyone is curious about the Duel club."

At that moment, Hermione came over from the other direction to rendezvous, and she was holding a newspaper in her hand.

"You're a little late, where have you been?" Harry asked, while stretching his neck to look out of the corridor.

"I went to see Professor Hap first, then I ran into Professor McGonagall on the way back."

"Something wrong?" Ron asked casually and didn't wait for her answer when he suddenly let out a heavy sigh, and a number of other young wizards moved in the same way as he did, as they saw Professor Giedro Lockhart in his magnificent purple robes striding into the auditorium.

Next to him was a stern-faced Severus Snape, and the two were a wonderful contrast - the former warm and welcoming, the latter downcast and solemn; the former brightly dressed, the latter covered in black.

Harry let out a groan, his two most hated professors will be teaching him dueling courses.

The peacock-like Professor Lockhart gave a graceful speech, starting with a ten-minute account of how he had "worked hard to convince Dumbledore to give everyone the chance to learn how to protect themselves," interspersed with the familiar self-congratulatory and book-buying advice. -They have become immune to this rhetoric.

In the last thirty seconds, Lockhart made a rare introduction of his "assistant" Professor Snape.

"Professor Snape, who himself knows a little about dueling, has graciously agreed to assist me with a little demonstration before class - but don't worry, I'll get your Potion professor back to you in one piece." He grinned widely.

Snape curled his upper lip and pulled out a courtesy smile that sent chills down Harry's spine; if Snape had smiled at him like that, he would have long since scampered away.

In the meantime, the school nurse, Madam Pomfrey, stood impatiently at the edge of the field, carrying a white medicine box with her, and Professor Felix Hap also appeared quietly in the corner of the auditorium.

He was quite interested in this so-called "dueling course", and deep down he had some ideas, so he decided to come and take a look.

If Professor Lockhart messed up, maybe he could take over ...

And from what he knew about this professor, the odds were good that he would flop.

It was a test of his subconscious dissatisfaction with the mediocrity and chaos of the wizarding world and Hogwarts, but being prudent, he decided to wait and see first.

...

The dueling session began in less than three minutes, and Felix's eyes twitched as he looked at Professor Lockhart, who had been knocked off his feet by the "Expelliarmus", and stood up in confusion, his magnificent purple robe ripped open in a long gash.

You are still a rookie, can't you have some self-awareness?

Professor Lockhart is assisted to his feet by several young wizards as he stumbles back to center stage, "Okay, everyone, see!" His wavy curly hair stood up at the roots under the magic spell, looking rather comical, but it was his next words that were almost comical.

"This is the way to apply Expelliarmus, I hope I just impressed you with my demonstration--" he glanced at Snape, "But don't mind me saying this, your intention just now was obvious, if I were to stop you, it's not going to take a lot of effort ..."

"But the young wizards need to grow in insight, might as well show them ..." Lockhart couldn't go on, Snape was looking at him with a murderous look on his face.

Lockhart wisely changed the subject and moved the lesson to the next stage. Without any specific teaching, he pulled out a dozen pairs of young wizards and had them stand in a small grid across the stage.

"This is the end of demonstration this time! Let's see what you've learned, Professor Snape, if you'll help me ..."

What followed was a lousy battle, and Lockhart, wishing to avoid a head-to-head with Snape or specific magical instruction, shifted his task to critique and instruct, but he overestimated the level of spellcasting and discipline of the young Hogwarts wizards.

In particular, Snape intentionally or unintentionally arranged for his own house and the little lions to pair up, which was strange if they didn't fight.

Although Lockhart repeatedly stressed that only the Expelliarmus can be used, the young wizards have never learned - if you do not count Lockhart's "demonstration" just now. So after a few ineffective incantations by both parties, a variety of small vicious spells popular among the student community emerged.

From Felix's point of view, Harry and Malfoy's group was barely interesting, but the two basically had no concept of dueling, using a turn-based system, you have a " grinning mouth hula ", I have a " Tarantella dance ", while the rest were just watching So, it's a turn-based system.

The remaining wizards, Neville and Justin, were both on the ground, panting, and if he was right, they hadn't released a single spell from the beginning to the end.

Ron scratched the dead-faced Simo and apologized repeatedly, his wand is still spewing green smoke.

And his own assistant side ... their wands have long since lost, wrestling with each other, the Slytherin girl with a huge size advantage to gain the upper hand, her arm clamped to Hermione's head, but Hermione also has one hand deadlocked on the opposite side' hair ... ...

"Oh my god, oh my god!" Lockhart screamed, but he had no effect on the field, and Felix had to cross the crowd, waving his wand around with a spell to separate the young wizards a dozen times.

"Professor Hap ..." Lockhart was a little flustered and still hesitant, but soon his mind was drawn to the tragic situation of the little wizards. "Miss Fawcett ... press hard and pinch, the bleeding will stop immediately, and your nose is broken, and..."

Madam Pomfrey stepped on stage and pulled Lockhart away as the distinguished school nurse madam quickly cast a spell and poured various coloured potions into the mouths of the young wizards. "Dumbledore should not have approved ... it's ridiculous, it's just ridiculous ... totally incompetent ..."

Simo took a sip of the green gooey stuff, his face turned even greener, and finally he burped and spewed out a cloud of green gas.

"Shame on the professor for letting little wizards engage in dangerous activities ..." Pomfrey kept muttering under her breath, but she quickly solved the trouble and in less than five minutes back and forth, the little wizards were back on their feet.

Lockhart looked a little overwhelmed, "Well, ah ..." he froze for a few seconds, "Let us thank Madam Pomfrey for her efforts, she is a strong support staff for our dueling classes... ...and of course, Professor Hap."

He stole a glance at Felix, who was standing on the stage with absolutely no intention of going down.