Chapter 8: Proposition of a Duel

Oblivious to all of this, Toby was in the library carefully completing his Transfiguration homework with his newly introduced friends Fred and George. Both of them were sporting identical back spots on their eyes after being hit by a bruising curse on their eyes. Although it looked unpleasant, the twins jokingly laughed it off.

As they walked away from the library past the corridors Fred said," Blimey Toby, I still can't believe that you are a first year student."

George chimed in," Yeah me neither. What was that jinx you used to make Warner hang in the air by his legs."

Toby said," It's a simple spell. Just point your wand at someone and think Levicorpus. You just need to have a strong intent to make him fly up in the air."

Fred and George looked at him with surprise," Do you mean that you cast a silent spell."

Toby smiled," levicorpus is a relatively simple spell. Its not too difficult to say it silently."

As they walked, they found Warner leading a huge amount of Slytherin students towards the Hufflepuff dormitory. Curiously, Toby, Fred and George followed them along with a couple of other curious students to see what plot Warner was hatching this time.

Once they reached the Hufflepuff Dorm, they found Warner banging the door loudly," Come outside Wilson!"

The door opened to reveal the Hufflepuff prefect who looked outside warily. Seeing that Warner had brought his entire house with him, he cautiously took his wand out and asked," Warner! What do you want?"

Wilson half expected to back down, but Warner came with full fire power,"I'm declaring war on behalf of Slytherin against you Hufflepuffs!""

Gasps could be heard by everyone. All the Hufflepuffs came outside to see the commotion. When Alyssa learnt what Warner said, she said shamelessly, "Declaration of war? No problem, all Hufflepuff students listen to me, raise their wands, and prepare for the first round of bombardment. 6th and 7th years, cast a protego charm. Everyone else, fire stings, hexes charmes, whatever you know. We have more students than them. Fire!!"

Seeing all the Hufflepuff students point a wand at him, Warner grew timid and said," Wait, I didn't say a group fight. I asked for a duel." Saying so, Warner held a piece of parchment in his right hand.

Wilson took the document and scanned through it. Most of it was nonsense but the important points were:

At six o'clock tonight, come to the classroom of Defense Against the Dark Arts, and the duel shall be done.

From the fifth grade to the first grade, each academy will send a representative from each grade to participate. First graders can invite anyone to help in the duel. The helper can not cast any offensive charms but can only provide cover while the first year students duel.

"Does anyone from Hufflepuff dare to accept the challenge?"

At this moment, Professor McGonagall and Headmaster Dumbledore came to the scene. Seeing that the students of Slytherin and Hufflepuff seemed to have a large-scale conflict, Professor McGonagall couldn't help shouting, "Everyone stop! What do you want? Hufflepuffs, put away your wands!"

And Warner said with a smile on the side, "Professor McGonagall, look at Hufflepuff! They raised their wands at us!"

But Professor McGonagall just gave Warner a cold look and said angrily, "Then, tell me, why are there so many Slytherins outside Hufflepuff? Did you come to give a gift?"

At this time, other professors, including the dean of Hufflepuff, Professor Pomona Sprout, also rushed over. Wilson handed the parchment that Warner gave him to his dean. Professor Sprout glanced at it, then took the parchment and walked towards Dumbledore and McGonagall.

Toby made his way over to Cedric and said," Can you win?"

Cedric thought for a while and said," We can win the victory for the 2nd and 3rd year students, but Prefect Wilson is no match for Prefect Warner. I'm also sure that we can't win against 4th year students as well. Ultimately, it will come down to the 1st year students. Cassandra is probably going to represent Slytherin and Alyssa will represent Hufflepuff. Alyssa's disarming curse is pretty good, but since Cassandra is the daughter of Thomas, the head of Aurors, he probably taught her something to defend against an Expelliarmus spell.

Toby said," You didn't consider the helper that they can use in a duel. As long as the helper is good enough, Alyssa can get close enough to knock her out."

Just as Toby was whispering beside Cedric, Dumbledore, McGonagall and the others were holding the parchment handed over by Professor Sprout and looked carefully.

After reading the content on the parchment, Professor McGonagall took the lead and said angrily, "It's nonsense! Who allowed them to do this! I'll let them go back!"

But Dumbledore stopped Professor McGonagall who was about to turn around. After a moment of silence, Dumbledore asked, "What about Professor Snape?"

At this moment, Snape walked out from behind the others unhurriedly, "Professor Snape, is this what you instructed the Slytherin students to do?"

Seeing Snape's appearance, Professor McGonagall said angrily., but Snape, on the other hand, stared at Dumbledore's eyes, and said meaningfully, "Dumbledore, this is a great opportunity, isn't it?"

After listening to Snape's words, Dumbledore did not open his mouth to object, but fell into deep thought again. Only Dumbledore and Snape understood that this was a great opportunity to find out how strong Alyssa was currently.

Finally, Dumbledore said, "Let's ask the students for their opinions first!"

Then, Dumbledore took the parchment, walked slowly between Slytherin and Hufflepuff, and asked," Hufflepuff students, what is your response."

Wilson looked at Alyssa. At the end, Alyssa nodded.

Wison looked at everyone confidently, "Headmaster Dumbledore, we Hufflepuffs are willing to accept."

After Dumbledore heard this, he laughed, as if caught in some kind of memory, and said to Professor Flitwick, the Ravenclaw Dean not far away, "Fillius, guess what this parchment reminds me of?"

Not far away, Professor Flitwick said with a smile, "Headmaster Dumbledore, if I'm not mistaken, it's the Dueling Club!"

Dumbledore nodded and continued, "That's right, it's the Duel Club! The Duel Club at Hogwarts has been suspended for a long time. It might be a good idea to open it once in a while! However, it must be under the supervision of the teacher. Since Slytherin made a duel request and Hufflepuff agreed, I announce that the duel invitation is officially established! Tonight, Hogwarts will restart the dueling club!"

With Dumbledore's voice, there was a burst of cheers from the little wizards, not only the cheers of Slytherin and Hufflepuff, but also Gryffindor and Ravenclaw not far away.

The Dueling Club, as soon as you hear the name, you know that this is an activity that Gryffindor students love immensely. Dumbledore looked at the cheering students in front of him, and said kindly, However, we also have to make rules. As for the referee, for the sake of fairness, I propose that the head of Gryffindor, Professor McGonagall, and the head of Ravenclaw, Flitwick. Professor, and our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Professor Ilona, ​​together!"

When the three professors faced Dumbledore's request, they naturally agreed.

"Okay, what else do you want to say?"

Originally, this was just a symbolic question from Dumbledore, but Green stood up and said,"Of course, since it was Slytherin's request for a duel, then we Hufflepuffs, we have to make some suggestions!"

Dumbledore glanced at Alyssa behind Green and said, "Of course, this is your right!"

So Green said without hesitation, "First, we at Hufflepuff hope that professors will be able to check the duelists on both sides before the duel begins, whether anyone is taking a Felix Felicis potion or a Polyjuice potion!"

As soon as Green said these words, Snape's face instantly turned ugly, while Warner said with a blushing face, "Wilson! Are you questioning the fairness of our Slytherins?"

However, Greene said, "I'm just upholding fairness!"

Dumbledore nodded and said, "I think Mr. Green's proposal is acceptable!"

Immediately, Dumbledore looked at Warner, and Warner said angrily:

"No problem, we Slytherins agree!"

"Second, Warner, it is both an honor and a responsibility for the two of us to be the fifth-year prefects of Slytherin and Hufflepuff. I propose that whichever academy loses the duel, the perfect will have to resign?"

Hearing Wilson's proposal, Warner was stunned for a moment. After careful calculation, he realized that he couldn't find a reason why Slytherin would lose, so he smiled coldly:

"Green, it looks like you don't plan to be a Perfect anymore. Since you want to resign from the prefect position so badly, let me help you! "

Dumbledore saw that the two sides had reached an agreement, waved his hand and said, "Okay students, everyone can leave. I'll be there in the evening. In addition, there is one thing I want to explain in advance. Since a larger audience will be present, we will now hold the duel club tomorrow, October 1st, in the Quidditch ground so that everyone can see this spectacle. In addition, the winning house will get fifty points."

Hearing Dumbledore's words, Slytherin cheered again, and Hufflepuff was also high-spirited. Even Gryffindor and Ravenclaw in the distance looked at each other's eyes. The provocative look was fortunately stopped by Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick, otherwise, the two colleges would propose a duel.

Before Alyssa left, Toby pulled her aside. Alyssa looked at him questioningly.

Toby asked her," What spells do you know."

Alyssa thought for a while and said," I was only able to learn for two months before I could come to Hogwarts, so I can only use the three unforgivable curses, and all the spells taught to us for First year students."

Shocked, Toby stood in a daze. Hearing this, he further reaffirmed his opinion that Alyssa was the heiress of a secret dark association. What kind of organization teaches unforgivable spells to someone who had just entered Hogwarts. Oh right, she was originally the heiress of a dark organization from the start.

Toby whispered in her ear," Alyssa, this book contains some decent magic spells. It was written by one of the professors in Hogwarts. Some of these spells should help you. Don't use any unforgivable curses."

Alyssa rolled her eyes," I'm not an idiot."

Alyssa didn't think that these spells could help her, but she took the book anyway. All of this went unnoticed by everyone except Cassandra, who was staring enviously at how close Toby and Alyssa were.

…..

In the Slytherin common Dorms, Professor Snape stood in front of all the Slytherin students. Looking around, he confidently selected Prefect Warner, second year, fourth year, and third year students, but when it came to first year students, he hesitated. Snape definitely knew that Alyssa would represent First Year students for Hufflepuff. As the heir of The Alliance, there was no way that a first year student could defeat her easily.

Seeing Snape's hesitant look, Cassandra stepped forward," Professor Snape, let me represent the First Year Students.

"Cassandra, I'm sure that the first year Hufflepuff will be represented by Alyssa. I'm afraid she's not so easy to deal with! I don't want you to get hurt!"

Snape's words were sincere, but Cassandra scoffed," Alyssa? I admit that she is good at building connections with everyone, but in the end, it all comes down to the level of spell casting."

Snape sighed inwardly when he saw that. When Cassandra saw that Snape never agreed to let her represent first year students., she couldn't help but feel a little anxious. In desperation, she had to take out her wand and said, "I, Cassandra, want to represent the first year of Slytherin. I am the strongest in the first year of Slytherin. If anyone is dissatisfied, they can come out and try!"

Hearing Cassandra's words, several Slytherin first graders couldn't help but want to fight her. You must know that this is Slytherin, and the students here have never lacked pride and ambition. Especially after Toby had called Slytherin a house who has ambition but no power.

Cassandra also saw the eagerness in the eyes of many people and smiled coldly.

"Protego!"

A beautiful armor spell was released immediately. The armor spell was surprisingly solid.The first-year Slytherin freshmen who were eager to fight her became quiet. After all, the vast majority of first-year freshmen do not know this spell at all.

Seeing this scene, Snape no longer hesitated and said directly,"Okay, plus Cassandra, the five of you, representing Slytherin tonight! Come with me now, the five of you, I'll tell you the rules of the duel, and then give you some special training. Cassandra, who would you like to help you during your duel tomorrow."

Cassandra said," Professor Snape, I would like to choose Toby Maguire of Ravenclaw."

Gasps could be heard all across the room as several Slytherin students looked at Cassandra in bewilderment. Prefect Warner yelled," Why do you need to select that filthy Ravenclaw when you have so many noble Slytherin's? What can a first year student do?"

Cassandra scoffed at Warner," The so-called 'filthy ravenclaw' had you hanging from the ceiling as you tried to charge at Alyssa."

Warner looked at her with frustration as he was unable to say anything to refute what she said.

"That may be so, but as far as I know, Toby and Alyssa have been very good friends from childhood. Why would he agree to help you?" interjected Snape.

"It's because they are good friends that I chose him. Since they are good friends, Alyssa will be distracted while fighting against me and from there it will be a piece of cake." said Cassandra with a confident expression.

Snape thought for a while. Professor Dumbeldore had also told him that Toby may be a spy for The Alliance. This could be a good chance to confirm whether it is true.

"Okay then. The five of you come with me. You will be training all day. Cassandra, would you like to invite Toby now?"

"No sir. If Alyssa is prepared, it will ruin the element of surprise."

Similar discussions were happening with Hufflepuff as well. Professor Sprout selected Wilson, Cedric, Alyssa, and two other students. She also brought Professor Flitwick over to help her teach because she knew that Dueling was not her cup of tea.

At night, Alyssa looked through the book that Toby gave to her. Scanning through all the pages, she found many spells, jinxes, and even some Dark Magic spells. She smiled inwardly and said to herself," Even now, I still underestimate the value you bring to me Toby. Since you gave it to me, I can't disappoint my friends that easily."