A Duel Between Wizards

"What's wrong, Ron? Why are you making that face?"

Harry looked at Ron in confusion. He could not understand why his good friend looked as though he had seen a ghost. Of course, when he looked around, he found that most people wore the same expression, which left him even more puzzled.

"Isn't it perfectly normal for wizards to command magic elements?"

Harry found it strange that so many students looked like that. In his understanding, wizards were magic users, so what was wrong with magic users commanding magic elements? Because Voldemort had come from Slytherin, Harry had a strong prejudice against that House. He had not listened to Malfoy at all, so he did not really understand what was going on.

"Normal? No, how could this possibly be normal?" Ron looked at Harry as if he were unbelievable, swallowing hard before he said, "I don't know how the Wizard World is described in the Muggle world, but I can tell you clearly: wizards are called wizards rather than mages because wizards simply do not possess magic elements."

"Or rather, before Professor Augustus arrived, none of us had magic elements at all. Professor Dumbledore didn't have them, and neither did You-Know-Who. But now Professor Snape has magic elements! Do you know what that means?"

Harry was a little confused, but there were only a few people as confused as him. Most of the Young Wizards knew exactly what this meant. Malfoy, for instance, stared at Josh and Snape with bright eyes. He might not have found it particularly surprising that Josh possessed magic elements, but Snape was different.

Snape was Draco Malfoy's godfather. They had known each other for many years, yet Draco had never heard Snape mention that he could command any magic elements! In his mind, if Professor Snape had possessed magic elements long ago, he would definitely have told Voldemort the method. That meant Professor Snape must have only recently learned to command them.

"Then the reason Professor Snape can possess magic elements must be because Professor Augustus taught him meditation. If I can get hold of the meditation method and give it to Lord Voldemort first, wouldn't Lord Voldemort's plan have a much better chance of succeeding?"

Draco thought excitedly, planning to discuss this matter carefully with his father. But soon, another thought occurred to him. Lord Voldemort still seemed half-dead, and since Josh could give meditation to Snape, Dumbledore surely had a method of meditation as well.

Voldemort had always feared Dumbledore the most. Now that Dumbledore had most likely mastered magic elements, once Lord Voldemort truly returned to life, would he still be Dumbledore's match? And that was not even mentioning Professor Augustus, who could easily slaughter him and was watching like a tiger eyeing its prey.

All of a sudden, Draco felt that Voldemort, the Dark Lord, truly had no future at all.

It had to be said that although Draco Malfoy could be childish and immature at times, he had grown up in an aristocratic family and absorbed many things through constant exposure. Otherwise, the future Draco could never have truly worked from within and without to throw Hogwarts into chaos.

"All right, you have seen magic elements. But simply seeing them is useless. You must comprehend them yourselves, and you also need time to raise your magic power before you can use them properly. Now, let us continue with our practical combat lesson."

Josh did not care what the students were thinking. His class had to continue. Seven lessons a week while teaching two kinds of knowledge at once put quite a bit of pressure on him. Still, he was rather good at slacking off. This week could be all practical combat, and next week could be all meditation. So they could not waste time.

"I know you are all first-years, and I'm afraid you have barely learned any spells yet. Although Professor Flitwick and I discussed speeding up your spell-learning progress, and he agreed, it seems your performance has not been very satisfactory."

Josh shrugged and mocked them without the slightest courtesy. Back when he had learned those zero-tier cantrips, he had basically mastered every one as soon as he encountered it, without any pressure at all.

"Tell me, what have you learned?"

This time, Hermione was once again the quickest to raise her hand, but Josh was not going to call on her again. Turning his gaze toward Slytherin, he saw Malfoy had also raised his hand and directly gestured for him to answer.

"So far, we have only learned one spell: Wingardium Leviosa."

Josh froze for a moment and turned to look at Snape.

"The Levitation Charm." Snape's face darkened slightly.

"Oh!" Josh suddenly understood. "What else?"

"Unfortunately, Professor, at present we have only learned this spell." Malfoy sounded helpless as he glanced mockingly at the Gryffindor formation. "Because certain people have slowed down our learning progress and have not mastered it properly, Professor Flitwick has not taught us any other spells."

Malfoy truly had a talent for provocation. He had originally been targeting Gryffindor, but his words made students from the other Houses feel displeased as well. They all glared at him angrily. Malfoy also realized that he might have said something wrong, but his childishness flared up. He simply raised his chin proudly and could not be bothered to care.

"All right, two points to Slytherin." Josh had expected this result to some extent. Otherwise, he would not have asked Snape to help. "All of you, stand farther back. Next, Professor Snape and I will demonstrate what a mage's battle is, and what actual combat is!"

The Young Wizards moved quickly, immediately retreating to the stands. It was not by choice. Naturally, they wanted to stand closer so they could see more clearly, but they had been warned that if they got too close, the splashing energy could kill them. For the sake of their lives, they obediently listened.

However, they had not expected to find Professor Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Professor Flitwick in the stands. The three of them had come to observe as well, while also voluntarily taking responsibility for supervising the students.

"Are you ready? Once you say you are ready, I may attack at any moment. The same goes for you. Understood?"

Josh and Snape stood far apart, though they were still within each other's attack range. However, the distance between them was much greater than the usual distance between dueling wizards. The main reason was that with the enhancement of magic elements, not only had their spells become much more powerful, but their range had increased as well.

"Oh, right. Didn't you want to know how to use magic elements? It's simple. If I explained it to you in writing, it might take you a long time to understand, but combat will be much faster. Experience it properly in battle!"

Josh said nothing more. This was the conclusion he had reached after Garen had beaten him senseless for two months. Other than talent, the quickest way to make magic power and magic elements harmonize and improve one's command of them was actual combat! That bastard Garen had never held back against him, so through constant battles, Josh's control over his magic power had steadily improved.

Snape nodded. His wand instantly appeared in his hand, and he cast Protego on himself. Because of the Light element, he looked like a god descending to earth, though his black wizard's robes looked incredibly out of place.

Josh did not stand on ceremony with him either. Once he entered actual combat, he would not hold back—although he had suppressed his strength. Unless he could confirm that the enemy had basically been defeated, he would not stop!

In an instant, three silver feathers of light shot rapidly toward Professor Snape. Snape was extremely experienced in battle. He immediately set up numerous obstacles before himself, slowing Josh's light feathers and weakening their power.

With a sweep of his wand, the silver feathers were deflected to the side, but they still exploded on the Quidditch pitch. Accompanied by a thunderous roar, huge holes were blasted into the turf in three directions. Only then did the Young Wizards understand why they had been driven into the stands.

Snape also knew that Josh was fighting him in a restrained state, using the duel to show the students the power of elemental mages. Of course, Josh could not go too easy on him during a practical combat lesson, and Snape understood that as well. Therefore, Snape intended to cause Josh as much trouble as possible with his limited magic power and time.

His wand danced, and a spell shining with golden light quickly formed at its tip before flying toward Josh at high speed. This was Sectumsempra, a spell Snape had created himself. Although the spell had begun to spread somewhat, Snape's use of it was still the most authentic and the most powerful.

Of course, that was only relative. Josh did not think this spell could pose any threat to him, but he still responded. In such an uneven fight, he would not use Void Shield, so he immediately cast Protego on himself as well.

Golden magic elements and silver magic elements collided across the Quidditch field, filling every Young Wizard with intense excitement. They even forgot to wonder why Professor Snape had managed to hold out against Josh for so long.

Of course, some people still had clear heads. Malfoy, for example, could see that although Professor Snape's attacks were fierce, he was beginning to look exhausted. Josh, on the other hand, remained calm and composed, casually casting all manner of spells. The gap between them immediately became apparent.

"So this is how mages fight?"

Malfoy muttered to himself, looking enviously at the two men casting spells at each other on the field. How powerful were magic elements when combined with magic power? One only had to look at the destruction caused to the Quidditch pitch by the blocked attacks and scattered energy!

"Merlin above, will we become mages like that in the future too? Ron, I mean mages, not wizards."

Harry was deeply shaken by the sight before him and whispered to his good friend Ron.

"I don't know. Maybe we can too. Maybe... maybe we can."

Ron was even stammering. He desperately wanted to shout, but he was afraid of disturbing the two professors dueling below. Right then, he deeply regretted not bringing binoculars.

The practical battle did not last very long. After about five minutes, Josh had already noticed that Snape was struggling to hold on.

He immediately found an opening in Professor Snape's defenses and cast Sectumsempra, breaking through Snape's protection. Then he followed it with Expelliarmus, formally ending the practical battle.