Chapter 37: Dueling Club

Hermione had the potions book the next morning and Ivan received the herbs in the mail that afternoon.

That night, they met in the girls' bathroom on the third floor. There was no moaning, it was very quiet due to the fact that Myrtle the Weeper was no longer present in the bathroom. Ivan looked around and saw a small snake on the side of a copper faucet.

Hermione, noticing where Ivan was looking, said, "That tap is broken..."

Hermione then turned the thick potions book to the Multijuice potion page and checked the formula for the herbs she had just acquired.

Hermione pointed to the list of ingredients with her fingers and muttered, "It's the most complicated potion I've ever seen, to brew the potion successfully we need: Sixteen Descurainia sophia scruples collected at full moon, two pulverized leaves of Centinodia, twelve Chrysopos stewed for twenty-one days, four Leeches, some Pulverized Bicorn Horn, dried shredded Skin of an African tree snake and a piece of hair from the person you want to become."

Ron, listening to the list of ingredients for the potion, said in amazement, "God, Ivan, how much you spent on this stuff, it's not cheap!"

Ivan shrugged and said, "300 Galleons, this is all the money the paper has made recently. I was going to use the money to buy a Christmas present for everyone, but there are more important things."

"Are you saying that all these herbs are worth 300 Galleons?", Ron said as he was a little distressed by the price.

"Yes," Ivan was also a little distressed.

Hermione finished glancing at the list of ingredients and said, "Well, we have everything we need for the potion except some of the person we want to become."

Ron said pointedly, "I'm sorry, what do you mean something of the person? I won't drink it if it has Crabbe's toenails in it."

Hermione continued as if she hadn't heard him, "We don't have to worry about that part yet, that part was the last thing we should add to the potion."

Ron turned to Harry, speechless, and Harry's face was the same as hers.

"The question now is, how long will it take to brew the potion?" asked Ivan.

Hermione replied to Ivan, "Well, you have to boil the lacewings for 21 days."

"Twenty-one days?! By then, Malfoy will eliminate half of the Muggle-born students," said Ron.

Hermione closed the book tightly as she narrowed her eyes at Ron and said, "So you have a better idea?"

Ron replied confidently, "I think the idea of that house elf that's been causing Harry trouble is a good one. How about we beat Malfoy so he can be sent home for the vacations?"

Ron's voice was getting smaller and smaller as Hermione looked at Ron angrily.

Ivan shook his head as he said, "We're not sure it's Malfoy. Besides, the herbs have already been bought, so there's no turning back."

Ron, seeing Hermione about to argue with him, agreed hastily, "You're right, Ivan! It's bad to waste galleons, but please don't use your toenails, okay?"

The four of them discussed the plan once more, and after confirming that there were no flaws, they began to prepare the materials according to the recipe.

As time went on, the mood of the school remained a bit somber.

Ivan stopped by Lockhart's class during one of his lessons.

Lockhart had asked him to act as a creature he wrote in one of his books, it was a new teaching activity recently created by Lockhart.

Lockhart smiled brightly at Ivan and said, "Ivan, your performance was wonderful."

Ivan looked at Lockhart's smile and said, "Glad I could help, Professor."

Ivan looked uncertain as he said, "What more do you need? My next class is Professor McGonagall's transfiguration, I shouldn't be late."

Lockhart, while flashing his iconic smile, said "That's right, I'm hoping to form a dueling club after the current events at the school."

Ivan said in surprise, "A Dueling Club?!"

Lockhart nodded and said, "Yes, you know I have more experience dealing with magical creatures than the other teachers. I'm not bragging, but I don't mind passing on some of this experience to you to help you improve your combat power."

Ivan, hearing Lockhart's words, resisted the urge to roll his eyes and said, "Excellent idea, what do you need me to do?"

Lockhart said, "I'll put the message on the bulletin board, and you can advertise it in the paper, that's all."

Lockhart wanted to put it on the front page, but he didn't want his name published, he said it was to keep it mysterious and give everyone a big surprise. Thinking about it made Ivan have a wry smile.

"What can Lockhart teach us? how to get rid of the bones?" thought Ivan.

But he readily acquiesced to the other side's request, after thinking that there was nothing worth promoting. Perhaps it would be an opportunity to redeem the newspaper's dwindling sales with the influence of dueling clubs.

"School to set up dueling club," the article read.

In the last issue of the paper, Ivan put a big question mark, then a list of possible teachers for the Dueling Club, their strengths and past accomplishments. After much publicity, this issue of The Magic of Hogwarts newspaper sold as it did before the second attack.

Under the wording of Ivan's article, most people thought the teacher would be Dumbledore.

It was shocking because Professor Dumbledore had not used magic in public for many years since the fall of Voldemort.

Needless to say, it excited many young wizards, many adult wizards who ordered the paper wanted to come to the school for a chance to learn from the greatest wizard of the modern era. It was exciting just thinking about it.

The editor of The Daily Prophet wrote to him shortly after hearing the news of the dueling club.

He wanted to send some reporters to interview the dueling club.

However, she was turned down by the school, which made the students even more curious, most people thought it would be Dumbledore.

Due to Ivan's propaganda, the dueling club that was originally supposed to be in a small area of the dungeon had to be moved to the Great Dining Hall due to the large amount of students.

At eight o'clock on Wednesday evening, the students returned to the Great Dining Hall after resting in the common room after dinner. The long tables disappeared and were replaced by a magnificent stage lit by hundreds of candles floating above them.

Soon the ceiling was again as dark as a moonless night.

Ivan, who knew the truth, was dragged by Colin and Ginny from the library to the Great Dining Room.

In their words, they hoped that Ivan would lead them in defensive spells so that all the first-year students would know that Ivan's spells were the best among their peers.

They were all huddled together, each holding the wand as they were excited.

Ron asked excitedly, "When is the headmaster coming? what do you think he's going to teach us?"

Because of how loud the crowd was, Hermione had to raise her voice and shout, ""Don't be silly Ron! It can't be Professor Dumbledore , Professor Dumbledore hasn't taught in years. Besides, if it is him, there was no need to be mysterious, it's just a trick!"

Ro, confused by Hermione's words, asked, "If it's not Dumbledore, then who could it be?"

"Wasn't Flitwick a dueling champion when he was young? Maybe he's the one to teach us," Hermione said uncertainly.

Harry said at that point, "Ivan must know, he wrote the article."

Harry and Ron hurried over to Ivan, who was standing near Colin and Ginny, and Neville also joined in with a look of anticipation.

Ivan, noticing the expectant look on everyone's face, said, "Don't look at me like that, I thought when you saw the article you might figure out who it was!"

Harry's face paled as he said, "Wait a minute, aren't you talking about..."

Before Harry's words were finished, they turned into a groan as Lockhart came on stage dressed in a radiant purple robe.

Ivan said, "Yes, that's him! And it looks like he brought a special guest with him."

The lively atmosphere in the Great Dining Hall suddenly turned a bit somber when they saw who was standing next to Lockhart.

It was Snape, who was dressed in his usual black robes.