"What the hell!"
Ron, who had been watching Harry from below the stage, couldn't help but complain when he saw this scene. "Is his wand overexcited or something?"
"I think he must be teaching Harry some really powerful spell."
"It better be!"
Sherlock remained silent because he noticed Harry was looking at him, and his eyes were full of pleading.
Obviously, in Harry's view, Lockhart's technical guidance was far too difficult.
Two completely different spellcasting motions—no matter how you looked at it, this was absurd.
When a good friend asks for help, Sherlock naturally wouldn't stand by and watch. He immediately made a punching motion.
Harry's eyes lit up, and his expression suddenly showed understanding.
Lockhart hadn't noticed the exchange between his student and Sherlock. After completing that set of movements, he kindly asked, "Do you need me to demonstrate again?"
"No need, Professor."
Harry was afraid that if Lockhart demonstrated a third time, the movements would be different from the first two.
"You just need to remember one thing—defeat your opponent!"
Lockhart cheerfully patted Harry's shoulder and said, "Just do as I showed you, Harry!"
"I'll do my best."
Harry said reluctantly.
Seeing that both were ready, Lockhart began announcing the command as before.
"Very good, three—two—one—begin!"
Harry had been concentrating entirely on guarding against Malfoy striking first.
However, this time his opponent didn't act dishonorably.
But Malfoy's response this time greatly surprised everyone.
As soon as Lockhart gave the command, Malfoy quickly raised his wand and shouted, "Serpensortia!"
The tip of his wand exploded.
A long black snake suddenly burst out from it, landing heavily on the floor between them.
This was obviously something new that Snape had just taught Malfoy in their private coaching session.
This was a Transfiguration charm that allowed the caster to conjure a living snake from the tip of their wand.
Among all animal-conjuring spells, conjuring snakes and conjuring birds were the two simplest types, which was why Snape had taught Malfoy this skill.
The crowd screamed and quickly backed away, clearing a space.
The summoned black snake looked sinister and terrifying. It raised its head toward Harry, taking an attacking posture.
No one knew if it would leap from the ground in the next moment and rush toward its opponent—everyone knew snakes were very fast.
Harry wasn't particularly frightened when facing this snake. He tried hard to recall the series of complex movements Lockhart had taught him, then attempted to perform them.
He wasn't sure if he had done it correctly, but he still pointed his wand at the snake and shouted.
"Impedimenta!"
To Harry's surprise, the spell Lockhart had taught him actually worked.
A blue-green spark shot from the tip of his wand, flying quickly forward and hitting the black snake Malfoy had summoned.
The black snake had originally been flicking its tongue, looking ready to attack at any moment.
But after being hit by the spell, its movements suddenly became sluggish, as if a movie being played had been put in slow motion.
This way, the black snake's originally restless state was no longer dangerous, and its slow tongue-flicking motion even became somewhat comical.
Snape's face showed a look of surprise.
He hadn't expected Lockhart to actually teach Harry those flamboyant gestures.
And Harry had actually used them!
The Impediment Jinx could delay an opponent or stop a magical creature from advancing for a while—this spell was a crucial part of wizard dueling.
Although this spell was temporary, lasting only about ten seconds, being able to successfully cast it when Malfoy had already gained the upper hand was reasonably satisfactory.
Harry was also stunned.
Before the battle, Sherlock had hinted that if Professor Lockhart's methods didn't work, he could consider using his fists to resolve the fight.
He hadn't expected that the spell Professor Lockhart taught him would actually be effective.
In that case, there was no need to use his fists.
In the blink of an eye, Harry demonstrated combat skills superior to Malfoy's.
Taking advantage of the snake being temporarily unable to pose a threat to him, he decisively waved his wand again.
"Expelliarmus!"
A brilliant red light flashed, and Malfoy, still in a dazed state, was knocked off balance and fell to the ground with a thud.
His wand flew from his hand, heading straight toward Harry.
Harry instinctively prepared to reach out and catch it, but Snape was quick and once again intercepted it first.
Everyone was stunned.
A repeat performance!
Malfoy had been defeated by Harry using the same method twice!
Holding Malfoy's wand, Snape's eyes showed a complex expression.
He hadn't expected the duel between Malfoy and Harry to end this way.
He had already coached Malfoy personally.
'You had your chance, but you didn't make good use of it!'
After glaring fiercely at the defeated Malfoy, Snape turned his gaze to Harry.
This time he didn't say "You use the Disarming Charm very skillfully" because he didn't want to be mocked by Harry again.
Meanwhile, the black snake Malfoy had summoned lost the effect of the Impediment Jinx and began "hissing" again, flicking its tongue and returning to its attacking state.
Unexpectedly, perhaps because it had been briefly controlled by Harry earlier, the black snake was obviously enraged.
It hissed as it flicked its tongue, no longer facing Harry but instead slithering directly toward the person closest to it, raising its head, baring its fangs, and taking an attacking posture.
Unfortunately, this time it was facing Sherlock.
Harry immediately became anxious when he saw this.
He instinctively drew his wand, wanting to cast the Impediment Jinx that Lockhart had taught him.
But he quickly realized that although the spell was useful, there was clearly no time now.
After all, the dazzling complex preparatory movements for casting the spell took too long.
This snake could pounce on Sherlock at any moment!
At this moment, Harry didn't understand why he would do this.
He wasn't even conscious of deciding to do this.
He only knew one thing—he absolutely couldn't let this snake hurt Sherlock!
So, his legs moved forward as if on wheels, and he shouted loudly at the snake.
"Leave him alone!"
The next moment, a miracle happened.
The black snake, which had been full of aggressive intent, suddenly collapsed on the floor, as docile as a thick, black garden hose.
Excellent!
Harry was absolutely thrilled.
Compared to Lockhart's spell, his own words were much more effective!
He was certain this snake wouldn't attack anyone else.
As for how he knew this, he couldn't say.
Harry looked joyfully at Sherlock, but saw that the latter was looking at him with a somewhat strange expression.
He didn't mind.
This was normal—after all, someone as brilliant as Sherlock probably couldn't have anticipated that he would solve the problem this way.
Hahaha!
Finally, he could make Sherlock show a surprised expression too!
But what did Hermione and Ron, and the others, mean?
Why were they all looking at him with such shocked expressions?
And it wasn't just them.
Harry noticed that everyone was whispering ominously.
At this point, Lockhart stepped forward, waved his wand, and the black snake vanished in a puff of black smoke.
Snape didn't interfere with Lockhart, but stared at Harry with an even more complex look.
Surprised, sinister, cunning, scheming.
Harry really disliked this kind of look.
He looked at Lockhart and found that he too was looking at him with a strange expression.
What was going on?
Even if he had used his own method to stop the snake, they shouldn't be this surprised, right?
Everyone was present—didn't you hear me speaking?
"Come with me."
Just as Harry was completely puzzled, Sherlock suddenly spoke.
Harry immediately felt like he'd found his anchor and followed Sherlock toward the exit of the Great Hall.
Hermione and Ron hurried after them.
When they left, people stepped aside as if afraid of being contaminated by something.
Harry had no idea what was happening and couldn't help asking Sherlock, "Sherlock, what's going on?"
"This isn't the place to talk."
Sherlock said simply, his gaze sweeping over the other people present. "But this Christmas, and even after Christmas, you might not have a very pleasant time."
Harry was even more surprised upon hearing this.
What was happening?
Completely bewildered, he could only follow closely behind Sherlock, along with Hermione and Ron, as they came to the Gryffindor common room.
Since everyone had gone to attend the Dueling Club, the Gryffindor common room was now empty.
Ron was the last to enter.
He looked behind to make sure no one was there, then quickly closed the door.
Seeing Ron's confusing behavior, Harry was even more puzzled.
"Sherlock, what exactly are you all—"
Before Sherlock could answer, Ron had already pressed Harry into a seat while urgently asking.
"Bloody hell! Harry, you're a Parselmouth—why didn't you tell us?"
"I'm a what?"
Harry didn't understand and asked again.
"A Parselmouth!"
Ron raised his voice. "You can talk to snakes! You..."
He was about to continue, but Sherlock stopped him, saying to Harry in a gentle and calm voice.
"Parseltongue, also called snake language, refers to the language used by snakes and other serpentine creatures, as well as people who can communicate with snakes."
At this point, Sherlock paused and smiled at Harry.
"My dear friend, your reaction tells me that you didn't know you possessed this ability.
Or rather, you thought this ability wasn't rare, correct?"
"Rare?"
Harry showed a surprised expression and immediately stood up from his seat.
"You were all there just now!
Didn't you hear? I said that snake not to hurt Sherlock.
I bet everyone here could do the same thing—I was just faster."
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