"Achoo!"
Albert suddenly sneezed and rubbed his nose.
"An opening!"
Katrina, who was sparring with Albert, immediately seized the opportunity and launched an attack at him from what she considered a tricky angle.
Facing the incoming spell, Albert lightly flicked his wand, easily blocking Katrina's attack and sending the spell ricocheting toward a target on the right.
After stopping Katrina's attack, Albert corrected her, "What you should be doing now is practising how to cast spells silently in a duel."
"I know."
Katrina did not think Silent Spells were all that useful. Casting silently greatly weakened a spell's power and made it much harder to cast. Some more difficult spells could not be used at all. Even if ordinary wizards mastered Silent Spells, it was hard for them to make use of their advantages in actual combat. Casting aloud remained the norm in the wizarding world.
"You need to remember that fighting is not merely fighting."
As though he had seen through Katrina's thoughts, Albert seriously reminded her, "If all you can do is stand stiffly in one spot and trade spells with your enemy, that's far too low-level. Combat is nowhere near as simple as you imagine. Most Aurors are really only third-rate at best. Once you've systematically learned the basic combat techniques from me, you won't need to worry about the vast majority of Dark wizards. They won't be your match anymore."
"If even Aurors are third-rate, then what does that make everyone else?"
Katrina's lips trembled almost imperceptibly. She also knew Albert was qualified to make such judgments. Whether as a Duelling Champion or as one of the tiny handful standing at the very peak, he had earned that right.
"Children playing in mud. For ease of management, the Ministry of Magic never intended to teach anyone