Chapter 197: Duelling Club, Harry and Malfoy's Level
Eight o'clock that evening.
The Great Hall.
The long House tables had been cleared away, replaced by a gleaming golden platform that caught the candlelight like polished coin.
Hundreds of floating candles glittered overhead, flames steady, bathing the whole Hall in warm, wavering light.
"Leonardo, we just duel normally later, right?" Harry asked, as if he needed to confirm it again. "And after the duel we'll promote your… your…" He trailed off, having completely forgotten what Leonardo had called that alchemical thing.
Leonardo nodded and prompted him, "Just do what we've practised. Perform at your normal level. It's called VR goggles. Virtual reality."
As he spoke, Leonardo produced a silvery-white rectangular piece of equipment, shaped like a compact helmet. It looked as though it would cover a wearer's eyes and part of their face. Two lenses sat on the front, etched with blue and silver patterns.
It looked almost technological, but it was pure magic. Its purpose was to show the wearer structured duelling lessons and provide simulated combat drills. It certainly could not replace a real instructor, but it was a great deal better than listening to someone read from a book or rehearse a stage play.
Leonardo had only made a first-generation version of the duelling-training VR goggles. There was plenty of room to improve them. After tonight's demonstration, he planned to put them up for sale through the Seventh Workshop.
Given how thoroughly everyone had been suffering under the Defence Against the Dark Arts post, he doubted he would struggle to sell them.
"Leonardo, about the professor running the Duelling Club…" Harry began.
Leonardo tipped his chin towards the doors. "Well. Aren't they already here?"
Gilderoy Lockhart swept in wearing purple-magenta robes, preening and flamboyant, his signature smile plastered on his face, his teeth shining under the candlelight.
In sharp contrast came Severus Snape in black. His expression was as impassive as ever, but there was something tangled in his eyes, a mix of dislike and faint, unmistakable anticipation.
Snape loathed having to share space with someone like Lockhart, all bluster and no substance. But the thought that he was about to have a perfectly legitimate excuse to "attack" Lockhart, to teach that job-stealing fraud a lesson in front of an audience, clearly gave him a sliver of satisfaction.
Seeing them approach together made Harry's face fall. He muttered, "Lockhart's really not reliable, is he? And Snape… Snape teaches Potions. Why's he getting involved in this?"
Leonardo took one look at Snape's sour face and could practically read the thought behind it. The man wanted his chance to play at teaching Defence, and if it came with a sanctioned opportunity to knock Lockhart about a bit, all the better.
If Lockhart got "retired" early and Dumbledore could not find a replacement quickly enough… would Snape finally get his wish?
"Gather round, gather round!" Lockhart called, waving as though he were hosting a fan meet-and-greet.
A crowd had turned up, which clearly pleased him. He wanted an audience for a few flashy spells, a warm-up act for his future "heroic" performance.
Honestly, with Tom's advice from that diary, Lockhart had begun to feel as though he was improving by leaps and bounds. He was not the same man he had been at the start of term, not at all.
"Excellent. Can everyone see me? Can everyone hear me?"
A chorus of shrieks and cheers from his admirers answered him. Lockhart nodded, satisfied.
"Thank you to Headmaster Dumbledore for allowing me to establish this Duelling Club. I'm honoured to have the opportunity to teach you the combat skills I excel in!"
"Believe me, they may very well save you one day. And if you wish to study more deeply, you can always read my published works!"
Down below, Leonardo's mouth twitched. He was struck by the sudden realisation that Lockhart might actually be worth learning from in at least one area: his unmatched confidence and the sheer thickness of his skin.
A ridiculous thought drifted through Leonardo's mind anyway.
If Lockhart ever used a Memory Charm on himself, erased the part where he'd stolen other people's lives, and truly believed those adventures were his… if he genuinely believed he could cast the magic he bragged about so effortlessly, would he actually be able to do it?
It was absurd. And yet this was the wizarding world. Sometimes belief really did seem to matter.
Maybe, once he got his hands on that Memory Charm, he could test it. Somehow.
"Allow me to introduce my assistant, Professor Snape!" Lockhart announced grandly.
"Believe me, your Potions Master does know a thing or two about duelling. He has very generously agreed to help me demonstrate."
Lockhart laughed. "No need to look so worried. Don't fret, when we're done, I'll return your Potions Master to you in one piece!"
Leonardo spotted it at once: Snape's eyes went colder still, and his hands curled into fists.
Snape. To tolerate this much, just for the sake of teaching Defence… if stubbornness were a spell, you'd be unstoppable.
He only needed to draw his wand and fire off a clean stream of Sectumsempra for the scene to match the mood.
On the golden platform, Lockhart and Snape took their places at opposite ends and bowed.
Snape straightened at once, crisp and efficient. Lockhart, meanwhile, flourished into a dramatic, backward-handed pose that looked impressive and achieved absolutely nothing.
They raised their wands upright before their chests.
"We hold our wands in the proper duelling stance," Lockhart explained cheerfully. "When I count to three, we shall cast our first spell."
Then he began, "One. Two. Three."
The instant he said "three", both men moved.
"Expelliarmus!" Snape snapped.
"Iris Perforo!" Lockhart cried.
A bright red bolt shot from Snape's wand.
From Lockhart's wand came a blazing white arrow wrapped in swirling, rainbow-coloured smoke, twisting and spiralling around it like a theatrical ribbon.
Leonardo lifted his brows. Oh. Lockhart actually managed to cast something, rather than being blasted off his feet immediately.
Tom had taught him a little, then. The question was whether any of it was useful.
It wasn't.
With a sharp crack, the scarlet Disarming Charm smashed straight through the swirling smoke and shattered the white arrow, then struck Lockhart squarely in the chest.
Lockhart flew backwards and hit the wall with a loud smack. Snape had put quite a bit of force into it. Lockhart stuck there for a few seconds before sliding down to the floor in a heap, curling in on himself.
Snape gave his wand a casual flick.
Leonardo could have sworn there was something almost appreciative in Snape's gaze, as though he was savouring the moment and considering whether he could do it again.
Slytherin students clapped and whooped at their Head of House's performance.
"Leonardo," Ron whispered, leaning in, eyes bright with barely contained excitement, "Lockhart hasn't got up yet. Did Snape kill him? Is Snape going to Azkaban?"
Leonardo glanced at Ron and saw the disappointment already forming on his face before the outcome was even clear.
Because, unfortunately for Ron's dreams of a perfect evening, Lockhart was already hauling himself upright. He attempted to smooth his curled hair back into place, wincing.
He picked up his fallen hat and chirped, "Oh, thank you, Miss Brown."
Taking his wand back from a young witch, Lockhart forced his famous smile through what was clearly throbbing pain in his chest and back.
"Ha! What you've just seen is the consequence of being hit by a Disarming Charm."
"And really, Professor Snape's movement was quite easy to read. If I'd wanted to dodge or counter, it would have been effortless…"
He stopped mid-boast.
Snape's face, which had eased by a fraction, sank back into a darker, sharper expression. His eyes were colder than they had been even moments ago.
Watching Snape's expression shift like that, Leonardo had no trouble believing that if there hadn't been a crowd, Lockhart might already have been a corpse.
Lockhart cleared his throat.
"Demonstration finished. Professor Snape and I will be pairing you off in twos…"
Leonardo was paired with Parvati Patil from Gryffindor. He recognised her, partly because her twin sister Padma was in Ravenclaw.
Parvati chatted with him briefly, then they bowed.
Once it began, it was less a duel and more Leonardo coaching her.
He corrected her wand angle and the rhythm of her incantations while also dealing with the stray fire around them.
The Great Hall was only so large, and Hogwarts students' duelling standards really were not impressive lately, especially in Defence Against the Dark Arts. Most of them seemed to be flinging spells by instinct and hope.
So every so often, a spell would fly wide and streak towards Leonardo and Parvati.
"Petrificus Totalus has a slower start, and it's harder to aim. It's better within three metres. Relax your wrist, you don't need to tense up for that one…"
Parvati nodded rapidly, looking enlightened. "Leonardo, you really are a Ravenclaw. No wonder my sister always mentions you."
"And you're acting like you didn't ask me about him," came a dry voice behind her.
Padma had somehow appeared at her sister's back like a quiet ghost. The twins looked identical; at a glance, only their different uniforms gave them away.
Parvati's smile went awkward. She opened her mouth to explain, but Lockhart's urgent shout rang through the Hall.
"Stop! Stop at once!"
"Today, we practise only the Disarming Charm!"
It was hard to blame him for panicking. Some students were being struck and forced into ridiculous dancing, or collapsing flat on the floor, snoring. But even worse were the spells that missed entirely and ricocheted around the room in search of a lucky victim.
Lockhart had even seen students abandon their flimsy wandwork entirely and start throwing proper punches and kicks.
Then there was an explosion.
Lockhart went slightly numb. Who in Merlin's name was casting a Blasting Curse in a school duelling practice?
For one wild moment, he wanted to scream that this looked like a swarm of trolls rather than a classroom.
"Finite Incantatem!" Snape snapped.
His wand cut through the air, releasing a spread of greenish smoke that rolled rapidly across the Hall. Spells fizzled out. The chaos dulled, though not entirely.
Lockhart tried to separate two students who were still trying to punch each other, wiping sweat from his face.
"This is far too chaotic. Duelling is not meant to look like this. We'll have a pair demonstrate properly. Would anyone like to come up?"
Two voices answered at once.
"I will!"
Snape, still on the platform, frowned when he saw who had raised their hands.
Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy.
Harry and Malfoy climbed onto the platform, and both flashed an OK sign down towards Leonardo.
Lockhart looked between them and stressed, very seriously, "Wait until I finish counting one, two, three before you begin. Understood?"
They both nodded.
Lockhart began, "One."
Harry and Malfoy moved.
In near-perfect unison, both cast a basic shielding charm over themselves, the kind you put up before a full Protego.
The next second, Harry raised his wand high.
"Expelliarmus!"
A red flash shot towards Malfoy. Malfoy slipped aside neatly, not even attempting to take it head-on.
After all the extra practice Leonardo had drilled into them, Malfoy knew Potter's best spell was the Disarming Charm. It was fast and it hit hard. Anyone who tried to meet it directly was an idiot.
"Depulso!" Malfoy fired back.
Harry deflected it upwards, ducked low, and rolled, avoiding the follow-up as he tugged several small potion bottles from his pocket.
"Vasidisi!"
The bottles shot forward at speed. Malfoy could not dodge every one of them, but the one or two that struck him were stopped by his basic shield. Glass shattered, potion splattering across the platform.
Standing behind Malfoy, Snape's face went dark. With a flick of his wand, he halted a bottle that had been flying towards him.
He knew Potter probably hadn't aimed for him, but it still made Snape itch to dock Gryffindor points.
What held his attention more, however, was the level Harry and Malfoy were showing. The fluency of their casting, their timing, the way they read each other's actions they were far beyond most students their age.
Snape's eyes slid towards Leonardo in the crowd. He had not expected Leonardo to have taught those two that much, in Defence and in duelling technique.
On the platform, Harry and Malfoy fought in earnest now. Compared to the earlier mess, they were sharp, controlled, professional.
"Serpensortia!"
At Malfoy's spell, three black snakes burst from his wand and slithered towards Harry, their bodies glossy and cold. Students on either side screamed and stumbled back.
Lockhart swallowed, then announced, "Allow me to remove them…"
Harry cut in, calm and quick.
"Lumos!"
A blinding globe of light flared in front of the snakes. The glare halted them, and Harry followed with three rapid, simple hovering charms, lifting the snakes into the air where they could not strike anyone.
The flash not only dazzled the snakes. Malfoy, caught off guard, blinked hard, his vision momentarily washed out.
"Expelliarmus!"
Harry's signature spell sent Malfoy's wand flying.
For a beat, the Great Hall went very quiet.
Then applause and excited chatter erupted.
"Merlin, that was brilliant!"
"Nicely done! Gryffindor beat Slytherin again!"
"Shut it, that was just Malfoy slipping up. Want to try me, then?"
Two students looked ready to start a brawl again, so Lockhart hurried forward.
"What an excellent demonstration! Of course, this is thanks to my guidance last week on wrist movement…"
Ignoring Lockhart's bragging entirely, Harry had already pulled the silvery rectangular goggles from an Extension Charm bag.
"Curious how I did it?" Harry called to the crowd.
Lockhart's smile stiffened.
That opening line sounded painfully familiar.