Chapter 170: Betting

After half an hour, Arthur walked out of Professor McGonagall's office calmly.

He immediately spotted two little heads poking out from the corner. It was Hermione and Cho.

Arthur walked over, somewhat puzzled, and asked, "What are you two doing here?"

"Of course, we are here to see if Professor McGonagall has done something to you," replied Hermione loudly.

"You started two professors to duel this time. If I were Professor McGonagall, I would definitely give you a good lesson."

Arthur playfully tapped Hermione's head and said, "Can't you just hope for the best for me?"

Cho interjected, trying to calm both of them down.

"This isn't the right place to talk. Let's go to the Great Hall. It'll be troublesome if the professors see us here."

The three of them then made their way to the Great Hall.

It was dinner time, and when the young wizards saw Arthur, they crowded around him.

"Arthur, what happened? Is Professor Lupin still fighting Snape next Wednesday?"

George and Fred also came over from the long table in Gryffindor to join and look excited for gossip.

"Yeah, yeah."

"I think they won't fight anymore. Didn't you see how angry Professor McGonagall was just now?"

"I actually didn't see. I was in the library."

The other young wizards talked about it with a lot of excitement.

Arthur sat next to Luna, and she gave him a lamb chop and told him to eat first. Arthur smiled at her and accepted it.

Then he shouted loudly to the crowd, "Okay, don't just guess. The duel next Wednesday will proceed as planned, and it will be the opening performance of this semester's Dueling Club. So get out of here if you have nothing else to say. I am going to eat first."

Arthur's simple explanation sent the young wizards and witches next to him to leave.

Other people saw Arthur's confident news and left happily.

Cho, however, asked sincerely, "But I saw that Professor McGonagall was very angry just now. How did she agree to the duel in the end?"

Arthur sighed, realizing that Cho deserved a serious answer, "Actually, at first, McGonagall wanted the two professors to cancel the duel. But since they had already agreed in front of so many people, McGonagall couldn't let them back out. You know, the word 'duel' holds sacred in the wizarding world. Once one side issues a duel challenge to another, even if they don't fight, it's seen as cowardice. Once both parties agree to the duel, no one can stop it from happening. Otherwise, it would offend both sides and tarnish their honor."

"Honor is more important than life and death."

As for the duel between Malfoy and Harry, if Malfoy's father had known, Draco would have been confined to his bed for three days.

Challenging someone to a duel and then backing out—Malfoy's family would have been utterly humiliated.

To this day, Harry often mocks Malfoy for this incident, and every time it's mentioned, Malfoy gets angry.

By agreeing to the duel in front of so many students this time, the two professors left little room for negotiation, and even Deputy Headmistress McGonagall couldn't stop them.

Not even Dumbledore could do anything in such a situation.

After listening to Arthur's explanation, Cho suddenly realized something.

"Arthur, who do you think will win?"

Luna, with wide eyes, was curious about the strength of the two professors.

"It's definitely Snape,"

Arthur replied without hesitation.

Cho was surprised that Arthur had so much confidence in Snape.

"Is Professor Snape really that strong? After all, Lupin is the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, and he teaches the subject pretty well."

Everyone in the school knew that Snape had applied to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts to Dumbledore several times, but he was always rejected.

Arthur shook his head without saying anything.

Although Professor Lupin hadn't fully demonstrated his abilities, at best, he was just as skilled as an elite Auror.

How could he possibly compare to Professor Snape?

...

The news of the upcoming duel between the two professors ignited the entire school.

Theories and arguments about Snape and Lupin's strengths and weaknesses were constantly being discussed.

The Gryffindor lions naturally supported Lupin, and their argument was clear.

"Snape couldn't even defeat Lockhart last year, and this year Professor Lupin seems much more reliable."

The Slytherin snakes, on the other hand, refused to accept that.

After all, their head of the house was a famous master of potions in the wizarding world.

How could this broken wizard, who suddenly appeared be his match?

Although Lupin was a good teacher, his shabby appearance made many people look down on him.

The two sides continued to argue, and the tension in the school became high.

There was even a fight that broke out.

A few students ambushed two Slytherin students in the bathroom.

Luckily, the professors didn't catch them, or else they would have received detention cards.

The professors themselves were also dragged into the situation.

Professor Flitwick was popular with the young wizards as he was a former dueling champion and had a very nice personality.

In a Charms class, A brave Gryffindor asked Professor Flitwick which professor he wanted to win.

Unfortunately, Professor Flitwick didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings, so he gave a vague answer about how both professors were very skilled wizards.

This disappointed those who were expecting a clear answer.

The mischievous Weasley twins couldn't resist taking advantage of this opportunity.

They secretly set up a betting pool for the young wizards to place their bets.

It was like lighting a fuse, as almost every student with pocket money participated.

Even Hermione secretly came to ask Arthur who he thought would win.

When Arthur told her it was Snape, the young witch looked unhappy. However, she still followed Arthur's advice.

In just two days, Fred and George closed the betting pool.

There were simply too many bets placed, and they started getting scared.

They were a bit scared and worried that the situation might get too big and that the professors would find out.

The final odds were set at 1.8:1 for Lupin and 1.4:1 for Snape.

...

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