Chapter 596: Interruption
Chapter 596: Interruption
It was only in the evening that Albert strolled back to Hogwarts Castle.
His gait was a little unsteady, as his feet were sore from the intense dance practice with Isabelle, who knew what had gotten into her that afternoon as she dragged him through the steps.
"Maybe because she doesn't have to worry about her feet being stepped on anymore?" Albert thought maliciously on their way back to the Gryffindor common room.
After he had spent some experience points to level up his dancing skill, Isabelle seemed to have found joy in dancing.
Of course, after a whole afternoon of practice, the two of them finally lost the stiff, mechanical look of their movements, although they were still far from graceful.
"What happened to him?"
In the common room, Albert immediately noticed the injured George, whose arm seemed to be broken and was wrapped in a thick layer of white bandages.
George gently hammered Fred's shoulder, who was snickering, and said irritably, "It's broken."
"Did you guys go and provoke the Whomping Willow?" Albert raised an eyebrow, "I did warn you guys..."
"We didn't provoke the tree!" George protested, "We had just come out from there and were suddenly attacked."
"Actually, you're quite lucky. There was this unlucky guy who lost an eye after provoking the Whomping Willow." Albert sat down next to Fred and asked, "What did Madam Pomfrey say?"
"Madam Pomfrey has set George's bone and said that he shouldn't exert too much force on it for the next couple of days." Lee Jordan shook his head, feeling a bit regretful that he hadn't listened to Albert earlier.
Earlier, the three of them had just emerged from the long secret passage, only to find that what Albert had said was true—the entrance to the passage was indeed right below the Whomping Willow at the edge of Hogwarts grounds, making it the seventh passage out of Hogwarts.
Perhaps it was because they had accidentally brushed against the Whomping Willow's trunk, but the three of them had been thoroughly thrashed as soon as they exited, leaving them in a sorry state.
"Why are you back so late?" Lee Jordan asked, changing the subject.
"I was learning to dance." Albert replied casually, "You know, I'll be attending a wedding in France during the Christmas holidays, and an old friend reminded me that I should learn some dancing, so I've been practicing all afternoon."
"That's awesome!"
"I want to learn too."
"You should have invited us. I can't dance either."
"Shut up, can't you see my feet are about to fall off?"
Albert glared at the three troublemakers and then pulled out his pocket watch to check the time. "I need to head to the hospital wing before the Duelling Club starts. I hope Madam Pomfrey can do something about the pain."
Being stepped on once or twice was bearable, but after an entire afternoon of it, Albert even suspected that his feet might have cracks in the bones.
When Albert returned from Madam Pomfrey's office, the pain in his feet had eased significantly.
Madam Pomfrey had given him an ointment that helped alleviate the pain.
Of course, Albert didn't miss the opportunity to discuss the making of such ointments with Madam Pomfrey while applying it to his feet.
When he returned to the Great Hall, he found it packed with people.
There was no helping it—the Duelling Club's reputation was simply too great, and almost the entire student body had shown up, making the entrance extremely crowded as students eagerly held their wands, ready to participate.
The long dining tables in the Great Hall had disappeared, replaced by a dueling stage, with hundreds of floating candles hovering above.
"You're late!"
Fred and George walked up to Albert, patted his shoulders, and said with a laugh, "We thought you weren't coming!"
"We didn't know who would be teaching us." Sana also came over and greeted the three of them with a smile, clearly interested in the wizarding duel.
"Everyone's saying it's Professor Flitwick." Angelina, holding Alicia's hand, waved at them and explained with a smile at Sana's confused look, "Professor Flitwick was a dueling champion in his youth, so I can't think of anyone more suitable."
"No, it's Lockhart!"
Albert gestured for them to look at the stage, where their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor had taken the stage to host the Duelling Club.
At that moment, Gilderoy Lockhart was wearing a purple-red robe, looking dazzling. However, what drew everyone's attention was not him, but his assistant standing by his side.
Snape was still dressed in his usual black robe, his face gloomy as ever, as he stood next to Lockhart on the stage.
"Look at Snape's expression. If he Avada Kedavras Lockhart right now, I wouldn't be surprised." George's gloomy mood from his injured arm had disappeared, and he watched the two people on stage with great interest.
In fact, everyone was curious about what would happen next.
Lockhart waved his hand to signal for everyone to quiet down and asked the students to gather around the stage to listen to his speech. At the end of his speech, he introduced his assistant, Professor Snape, to everyone.
Albert finally snapped out of his daze when Lockhart said, "...and I will return your Potions Master to you, safe and sound!"
Snape's lips curled up with malicious intent, clearly intending to teach Lockhart a lesson.
"Someone's in trouble!"
Lee Jordan looked excited, his wish coming true as the two people on stage demonstrated how wizards dueled.
They bowed to each other, then held their wands like arrows in front of their chests, counted to three, and then cast spells at each other.
It all happened too fast. A dazzling red light flashed, and Lockhart was hit by the spell, his body flying backward.
The Slytherin students cheered for their Head of House, while the others looked on in silence as Lockhart crashed into the wall, sliding down and curling up into a ball on the floor.
"The Disarming Charm is so powerful. Can you do that too?"
Fred, George, and Lee Jordan looked at Albert, who had also learned the Disarming Charm and was well aware of its power.
"Haven't tried it, but Snape definitely has some pent-up anger." Albert curved his lips in pleasure, commenting, "He put a bit too much force into that one!"
As they spoke, Lockhart finally climbed to his feet in a disheveled state and shamelessly tried to justify his loss, "Well, there you have it, a Disarming Spell—as you saw, I've lost my wand."
His tone was casual, as if he had let Snape defeat him on purpose.
"Of course, if I wanted to stop it, I could have done so without breaking a sweat. But to give you all a little spectacle..."
"Professor, how do we stop a Disarming Spell?" Lee Jordan, after receiving a glance from Albert, immediately raised his hand and asked, "Could you demonstrate it again for us?"
At that moment, the murderous aura on Snape's face suddenly faded, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, as if he were saying to Lockhart: Let's go again.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
