Luna retorted, "There are plenty of eyewitness reports, just because you're so ignorant, you need everything shoved right under your nose to—"
"Ahem... ahem." Ginny mimicked Professor Umbridge perfectly.
Everyone looked around in surprise, then burst into laughter.
"Merlin's butter lunch..." Fred wiped his eyes, saying, "I just thought Umbridge was here, but it turned out to be you, Ginny, making the noise. I nearly fled in terror."
"What's there to be afraid of?" Ron said, hands on hips. "If she dares to come here, Harry would give her an Inverted Golden Bell!"
"There might be other heroes." Fred said with a mischievous grin, "For instance, a unknown hero might give her a Stupefy to show her his might?"
Hearing Fred's words, Ron nervously lowered his head.
"Yeah, who is this hero?" George chimed in cheerfully.
"Alright." Harry interjected in time, stopping the twins' conversation, "Now, what we need to do is check your learning results—Fifth years, everyone out of the pub, pair up, now, immediately."
Upon hearing this, the fifth years hurriedly marched out of the pub and lined up.
Harry followed them out, standing at the front of the line, watching them.
"What I want to assess next is the Iron Armor Spell," Harry said solemnly.
"Iron Armor Spell?"
Upon hearing Harry's words, students from other grades started whispering to each other.
Of course, they had heard of the Iron Armor Spell, but it wasn't meant to be part of the fifth-year curriculum.
"I should say," Fred added, "many Aurors can't completely execute the Iron Armor Spell, seems like the fifth-year curriculum is no ordinary load."
"Yeah." George agreed from the side, grinning broadly.
The students had already paired up by now. Draco really wanted to group with Ron, but Ron ignored him and stood with Hermione instead. Defeated, Draco returned to the Slytherin group and paired up with Pansy Parkinson to practice the Iron Armor Spell.
"What we need to do next is not to assess your ability to fully cast the Iron Armor Spell," Harry spoke seriously, "but to let you use it in real combat to resist spells—I trust you all understand, theoretically, no matter how well you practice the Iron Armor Spell, if you can't cast a complete version in actual duels, it's worthless."
"Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger!" Harry called out their names: "You two go ahead and demonstrate for everyone."
Ron walked out of the line solemnly and stood opposite Hermione on the two sides.
"I bet Hermione will win," Fred whispered.
"One Sickle," George said, "I bet Ron will win."
Over there, Harry stood between Ron and Hermione.
"Next." He said as he walked aside, "Fifth-year Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger will demonstrate your learning results—I believe you all can successfully employ the Iron Armor Spell in combat, now, I announce, the duel begins—three, two, one!"
"Expelliarmus (Disarming Spell)!"
The two simultaneously raised their magic wands, aiming at each other and began casting the standard Disarming Spell.
"I said! It's about assessing the Iron Armor Spell results!" Harry reiterated, "Not the Disarming Spell results—Sorry, I forgot to remind you, next, Hermione attacks first, Ron defends!"
Ron sighed, raising his magic wand.
The incoming attack was Hermione's spell.
"Depulso (Expel)!"
Ron managed to conjure up a less-than-perfect Iron Armor, feeling as if his organs were about to be shattered. He stumbled backward, tripping over a pit in the ground, nearly falling into nearby bushes.
Across, the tip of Hermione's wand was emitting dazzling light.
"All Petrification!" Her clear voice rang out, but to Ron's ears, it wasn't as delightful.
Instinctively sensing trouble, Ron didn't choose to withstand it using the Iron Armor Spell this time. Who knows what effects this spell would have, would he be humiliated by being stepped on by Hermione?—He quickly dodged aside like a hungry dog, narrowly avoiding the spell.
But he ended up falling into the bushes, with leaves sticking to his face as he lifted his head.
"It's also a strategy." Harry explained at the right time, "When you estimate that your Iron Armor Spell can't handle incoming spells, you should choose to dodge instead of facing it directly—there's no shame in evading for survival."
Over there, even before Ron could catch his breath, Hermione's next wave of attacks had already arrived.
Her wrist deftly flicked, drawing a beautiful arc in the air with her magic wand: "Stone Flying!"
Several stones stacked not far away suddenly soared into the air, as if hurled by an invisible hand, with a heavy wind sound, they came crashing down at Ron.
"Enough! Hermione! Stop!" Ron hurriedly dodged to the side, "Enough!"
"There's no 'enough' in the battlefield!" Hermione's voice was decisive, unwaveringly firm. She raised her wand again, "Stupefy!"
Realizing evasion wasn't effective, Ron quickly raised his wand.
"Protego (Armor Protection)!"
A blue light rose from all around Ron, forming a magic armor, blocking Hermione's spell.
Hermione threw out two more spells, each blocked by the enlightened Ron's magic.
"Alright." Harry spoke up, "Pause—next... you'll get a minute to catch your breath, then Ron attacks, Hermione defends."
Ron lowered his wand, giving Hermione a mischievous smile.
Hermione stood firm, exuding an imposing aura.
"Three, two, one..."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Ron's spell was already firing.
Hermione was caught off guard, she barely had time to conjure a shield, narrowly avoiding Ron's spell.
"Wow, Hermione!" Ron sneered, "Now it's my turn to attack—"
"Stop the nonsense!" Hermione said angrily.
"There's no 'stop the nonsense' on the battlefield," Ron replied using Hermione's words.
Hermione looked at Ron incredulously, conveying clearly with her eyes—How dare you use my words against me?
Next, Ron swung his wand, releasing a crimson spell.
"Stupefy!"
"Protego!" Hermione used the Iron Armor Spell to block the spell.
"Expelliarmus!"
The blue light flashed again, blocking the Disarming spell.
"Enough!" Harry promptly halted the duel, can't let them fight with true anger, "It seems Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger's spell practices are fairly good, now... let's give them applause to encourage them!"
The students offered applause, cheering, celebrating the duo's success.
Students from other grades gazed at them with awe, not understanding why, despite being from Hogwarts, were they so impressive?
This level of Iron Armor Spell, not even most Aurors could achieve it, right?
But the Weasley Twins were somewhat regretful, exchanging a glance, they whispered: "Seems neither of us won—they ended in a draw."
"Next pair of participants." Harry said again, "Seamus Finnigan, versus Neville Longbottom!"