Chapter 83

Everything after the match went on smoothly as they were officially declared as Ravenclaw's quidditch team while their seniors were deemed retired. The afterparty was nowhere as insane as he expected it to be as he only knew about the Gryffindor celebrations.

To make things more exciting and to solely reward himself in the process, he brought a lot of food from the kitchens which baffled a lot of people but Alex left most of the food in the common room with Roger before heading to his dormitory to enjoy his food in peace.

Aman and the others entered their dormitory late at night, only to see him fast asleep so they didn't do anything to disturb him and quietly got into bed.

Meanwhile, in some other part of the dark castle, a red-haired girl sat on her bed and stared at the wall in front of her as if trying to drill a hole with just her gaze. A few seconds passed by and she made a few basic movements repeatedly before going back to sleep silently.

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It was two in the afternoon when Neville's ring began to pulsate alternatively from hot to cold every five minutes. As if expecting it, he looked at Hermione who simply gave him a nod before heading out of the common room. Neville followed after two minutes and locked himself in a cubicle in the boy's lavatory before doing the thing Alex instructed him to do and tapped his ring with this wand twice before whispering, "Knowledge is Power."

As he was told, the environment changed and he stood in a large circular room along with Hermione and Alex who seemed to be sitting on a small stool.

"Right on time… I'm here today only because this is the first day but from next week, you should use this place whenever you are free and I'll join you on Fridays. I don't care about the other days but I want you both to train and learn here on Thursdays compulsorily."

The two of them nodded and Alex continued, "Good. Now with that out of the way, let's start learning something useful. What do you know about dueling?"

Hermione, as he had expected, raised her hand high up in the air. He sighed as he smiled, "Hermione, this is not a class so it's better to keep it informal, we're all friends, yeah?"

She nodded before answering his original question, "Okay, but to answer your question, the stuff we have learned at Hogwarts does not contain too much about dueling humans. Even in defense against the dark arts, the syllabus up until the seventh year contains nothing on human duels and only about different magical creatures. Unless the professors do it on their own will, we will probably learn nothing from the original syllabus."

Alex nodded before looking at Neville expectantly for a direct answer, to which he stammered before answering normally.

"Umm… t- the dueling is b- between two wizards or witches or both and the winner is one who beats the other. The best example will be the game board since that's what it has been teaching us from the start."

Alex nodded, "Good. As Hermione said, the syllabus here at Hogwarts doesn't mention dueling and that's the reason Headmaster Dumbledore wanted the game boards installed. Our syllabus only teaches us how to defend ourselves against magical creatures but that's all it does and that's the reason why the aurors are so incompetent.

It took us so much effort to fight Voldemort but the only reason we are safe from him right now is because he harmed himself miraculously by attacking a baby. If there is another dark lord who emerges in the future, we will have no one to fight him.

This system is actually planned this way because it is easier to control the magical beings. In school, you learn non-combatant stuff and only when you apply for being an auror, will you be able to learn how to fight other witches and wizards.

If every person who graduated from any magical school knows how to duel well, it becomes hard for the Aurors to fight against them. There is no real threat so their power has gone stale."

Neville flinched when he heard the name but listened attentively along with Hermione as Alex conjured a wooden doll while continuing to speak.

"We will be learning about the most effective spells for duels and it'll be surprising as we get deep into this subject as you will find out that the seemingly destructive spells aren't so great for proper duels. Let's start off with bombarda, so which one of you can do it?"

Neville turned to look at Hermione expectantly but he was surprised to see her looking back at him. Alex nodded as he had expected the outcome and took a few steps away from the wooden doll.

"It's all right. You must have known that I've taught Aman Bombarda and confringo right?"

Seeing the two of them nod in response, he continued, "Then, can you tell me why he still lost a few duels even when he is equipped with such destructive spells?"

"The protection charm?" Hermione said while Neville simply waited for the answer when he saw Alex shake his head sideways.

"That charm blocks almost all the spells of that level and most people are unable to cast the spell, so it is pointless talking about it. Come on, think. What makes the unforgivable spells so dangerous and why aren't the other destructive spells so taboo when they can do almost the same damage, if not more?"

Silence enveloped the room as Hermione thought hard as she stared at the floor and Neville also tried his best to recall information from the books he read, hoping that there was an answer to that question.

Hermione had stumbled upon the three unforgivable curses when she was making up a plan for Neville and based on what she read, she came to a conclusion in her mind and looked up to say it out loud, only to find Alex staring down at her expectantly.

"Is it because they affect the body, mind, and soul?"