The next morning, the bones in Harry's arm had grown. Madam Pomfrey came to check him out and found that he looked good, so she told Harry directly that he could leave.
Harry was naturally impatient.
He dressed as quickly as he could and hurried to Gryffindor Tower, eager to tell Ron and Hermione about Colin and Dobby, but they weren't there.
Harry went out to search again, wondering, where could they go? He felt a little aggrieved that they didn't care at all whether his bones had grown or not.
But when he searched and came to Myrtle's bathroom, he found that Hermione was the only one making medicine here.
"Harry!" she said, "you gave me a fright. Come on in—how's your arm?"
"Very good," Harry said, squeezing into the small single room.
There was a cauldron on the toilet, and when Harry heard a crackling sound coming from under the toilet, he knew they had lit a fire underneath. Conjuring portable, waterproof fire was Hermione's specialty.
"Where's Ron? Isn't he here?" Harry asked curiously.
"Yeah," Hermione said, "Well, I mean, I haven't seen him since early this morning."
While they were talking, they saw Ron pushing the door open and coming in. His face looked very ugly.
"What's the matter, Ron? Where have you been?" Harry asked in surprise.
Ron was silent for a while and then said: "I'm going to find Maka."
"Going to find Maka?" Hermione stood up suddenly.
"Well, I couldn't find it..."
Ron said something in a low voice and left again, leaving Harry and Hermione looking at each other.
"Should we go ask what's going on?" Harry glanced at Hermione.
"I think it's best not." Hermione shook her head, not knowing how to answer, so she just declined.
For a moment, Harry fell into confusion, but forgot what he originally wanted to say. But none of them expected that at the most unexpected moment, Maka would suddenly appear in front of them.
…
On Monday morning the news that Colin Creevey had been attacked and now lay like a dead man in his hospital room spread throughout the school.
In an instant, rumors were flying in the school and everyone was suspicious.
The first-year students now always move together in small groups, as if they are afraid that they will be attacked if they act alone.
Ginny sat with Colin Creevey in Charms class and was terribly distraught.
Fred and George tried to cheer her up by taking turns dressing up in feathers or becoming covered in scabies, jumping out from behind the stone statues to amuse her, which Harry felt was clearly doing a disservice.
Later, they stopped messing around when Percy became so angry that he babbled incoherently and told them that he was going to write to their mother, Mrs. Weasley, to tell her that Ginny was having nightmares at night.
Sometime after that, Harry was walking through the hall.
Suddenly they saw a small group of people gathered around the bulletin board, reading the words on a piece of parchment that had just been nailed up.
Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas looked very excited and waved them over.
"They're starting a dueling club!" Seamus said. "Tonight's our first gathering. I'm not opposed to learning some dueling lessons. It might come in handy one day..."
And at eight o'clock that night, the scene in the Hogwarts hall changed.
The long dining table disappeared, and a long gilded stage appeared along one wall, lit by hundreds of candles floating above. The ceiling became velvet black again.
Almost all the students in the school are here. Fortunately, the hall is wide enough. Although it still seems crowded, at least there is still some room to move around.
Each of them held their own wands and had excited expressions on their faces.
But not long after, Gilderoy Lockhart appeared on the stage amid everyone's disappointed expressions of expectations.
He was wearing a purple-red robe, his hair was neatly combed, and he looked good. At first glance, he looked really dazzling—as long as he didn't move around.
But it was obviously impossible for the cool new professor to remain motionless and silent.
Lockhart waved everyone for silence, then shouted: "Come around, come around! Can everyone see me? Can everyone hear me... Great!"
"That's right, Professor Dumbledore allowed me to open this small dueling club to fully train everyone in case you need to defend yourself one day. Protect yourself in the same way that I have used countless times. For more details in this regard, please Look at my published work.”
He said, and waved his hand again, making a "please" gesture.
"Let me introduce my assistant, Professor Snape!" He said to Snape at the bottom of the stage. "He told me that he himself knew a thing or two about dueling, and he graciously agreed, Help me with a small demonstration before class."
"I said, I don't want you little guys to worry - after I finish demonstrating with him, I will return your Potions Master intact to you, don't be afraid -"
"Let me tell you," Snape suddenly interrupted, "I do know a thing or two about dueling, but I'm not the one who wants to give you a demonstration today—"
He took a step to the side, revealing the person behind him, and said with a sneer.
"… It's him."
This time everyone was surprised, because the person standing behind Snape was none other than Maka-Maka McClane!
"Oh - haha," Lockhart was stunned for a moment, then smiled, "I think you must be joking. As a teacher, how can I duel with students? How dangerous it is -"
"No, I think this is just right." Snape said with a faint smile, "In this case, everyone can see clearly the dangers of the curse..."
He paused, and then openly teased Lockhart: "I think, given the huge disparity, controlling danger is nothing to a 'dueling expert' like you, right?"
Sure enough, Lockhart immediately jumped into the pit.
"Oh, of course! I think you have a good idea... yes." Lockhart showed a smile that was so friendly that it was annoying, "Then come up, Maka."
Maka originally didn't want to get involved in this matter, but for some reason, Snape just left it to him. He thought about it and finally agreed.
"Don't worry, kid - don't be afraid, you won't get hurt from this. I'm very experienced in guiding duels." Lockhart maintained a charming smile. "Perhaps I can also write a book on dueling, that will definitely be the case. very funny."
"Maybe..." Maka said casually as she took out her wand.
In the audience, many students looked at Maka curiously.
Although many people had heard about some things at the end of last semester, the specific situation was blurred by Dumbledore. In fact, most students were looking forward to this unexpected duel.
At this moment, the eyes of Harry, Ron and Hermione were all focused on Maka, but their thoughts were obviously completely different. Among them, the one with the least psychological burden is probably Harry.
"Come on, Maka!" Harry shouted cheerfully.
What he meant was, of course, that he hoped to see Maka teach Lockhart a lesson so that he would stop being so annoying.
Lockhart and Maka faced each other at a distance on the stage and bowed to each other.
Compared to Macca's mediocre movements, Lockhart is obviously much more fancy. He made many tricks with his hands, skillfully acting like a gentleman, and even took the time to make an elegant gesture towards Maka.
Then they held their wands to their chests like arrows.
"As you can see, we are holding our wands in a normal dueling position. Maka did a good job in this regard. He obviously has the knowledge of dueling in advance," Lockhart said to the silent crowd, "On the count. Three, let’s cast the first spell. Of course, I won’t let Maka get hurt.”
Suddenly, the attention of all the students in the audience was focused.
"one two three!"
Maka raised her hand and shook it slightly. The tip of the staff quickly outlined the trajectory of the spell as it shook, and the speed was so fast that people were stunned.
"Expelliarmus!"
A slender red light suddenly appeared from the front of the wand and headed straight for Lockhart on the opposite side. Although the lightning-fast red light did not appear to be very dazzling, the solidity of the light beam made Snape flash a look of surprise on his face.
Lockhart didn't even have time to react before he was hit by the red light and flew backwards off the stage, slamming into the wall before sliding down and curling up on the floor.
"If Snape were to do it, it would be almost like this..."
Although I don't know why Snape would leave this matter to him, once Snape proposed it, Maka really couldn't shirk it.
To put it bluntly, Maka still needs Snape's help from time to time in her research on potions. On the rare occasion when the other party makes a request, it is obviously not in your interest to refuse lightly. In desperation, Maka could only do this.
Even he knew in his heart that this minimally ridiculous imitation was probably just self-deception.
"Anyway, I need time... more time." Maka secretly thought, "Now I can't make a reasonable judgment at all. This will be very bad."
Not to mention the expressionless Maka and Lockhart who was getting up in embarrassment. Looking at the students watching in the hall, almost all of them were so surprised that they were speechless.
After a period of silence, there was an uproar.
Maka looked at the situation under the stage and had already anticipated this. But in any case, this does not meet his current needs, even if it is definitely beneficial to his popularity at Hogwarts.
"Professor Lockhart, I'm sorry." Maka said softly, and jumped off the stage without waiting for Lockhart to say anything.
In the audience, Snape looked at Lockhart's slightly embarrassed expression with a sneer on his face.