Preparations for the Duel

Seeing Vane agree, Green let out a long sigh of relief, then smiled faintly and said:

"If that's settled, then I'll see you tonight!"

As Green turned to leave, Vane replied with equal confidence:

"Green, I'll be waiting for you in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom tonight. Don't you dare chicken out!"

Seeing that the two sides had reached an agreement, Dumbledore waved his hand and said:

"All right, students, you may all go. I'll be there tonight as well. And there's one thing I should mention in advance: I'll award an extra hundred points to whichever house wins tonight!"

At Dumbledore's words, the Slytherins erupted in cheers once more, while the Hufflepuffs were fired up for the challenge. Even the distant Gryffindors and Ravenclaws seemed to look at each other with a more challenging glint in their eyes. Fortunately, Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick stopped them. Otherwise, the two houses might have arranged to duel right there on the spot.

When Wentworth, Cedric, and the others returned to the Hufflepuff common room, Green hurried over and asked again:

"Wentworth, are you sure your plan will work?"

Wentworth confidently patted Green on the shoulder and said:

"Don't worry, Prefect! You'll represent us in fifth year, Cedric in second year, and I'll take first year—I came up with the plan, after all. Once you've picked the students from third and fourth year, we can start getting ready!"

Seeing how confident Wentworth was, Green seemed to catch some of that confidence himself and nodded firmly.

Meanwhile, when Vane returned to the Slytherin Common Room, Snape followed him in. Without a word, Snape named four students, including Vane: one from each year between second and fifth, the four with the firmest grasp of their spells.

But when it came to first year, Snape hesitated. The new students had only just arrived, and although he was Slytherin's Head of House, he didn't know the first-year Slytherins very well.

Just then, Cassandra, who had already noticed Snape's hesitation, stepped forward and said:

"Professor Snape, I'm willing to represent Slytherin first year!"

Snape looked at Cassandra and, in a rare moment, spoke in a relatively normal tone:

"Cassandra, Hufflepuff's first-year representative will almost certainly be Wentworth. That boy won't be easy to handle. I don't want you getting hurt."

Snape meant what he said. In his and Dumbledore's eyes, Wentworth had already undergone Acolyte training, so the first-year students at Hogwarts were no match for him. There might not even be many upper-year students who could take him on.

The reason Snape had devised this plan, with Dumbledore's approval, was that the two of them wanted to find out exactly how strong Wentworth was.

They didn't expect the Slytherin first-year to defeat him. But if they could just force Wentworth to cast a few more spells, Snape was confident that he and Dumbledore would be able to discern something about his abilities.

The one concern was that the Slytherin first-year who faced Wentworth might get hurt. After all, the Acolytes excelled above all at Dark Magic. That was why Snape had hesitated.

Though she had heard Snape's warning, Cassandra remained resolute.

"Don't worry, Head of House. I'm confident I can beat Wentworth. After all, I already beat him once in Defense Against the Dark Arts today!"

Hearing Cassandra say she had already beaten Wentworth, Snape immediately perked up and asked:

"Oh? What happened? Tell me exactly what went on."

But after hearing Cassandra recount the incident, Snape's interest faded. To him, Wentworth's behavior that day had only confirmed one thing: he was deliberately hiding his true strength.

An eleven-year-old boy who can endure other people's criticism and resist the urge to show off in front of his classmates—what a calculating little fellow!

Snape couldn't help thinking.

Seeing that Snape still wouldn't agree to let her represent Slytherin first year, Cassandra grew anxious. At last, she drew her wand and declared:

"I, Cassandra, will represent Slytherin first year! I'm the strongest first-year in Slytherin. If anyone disagrees, step up and prove it!"

At Cassandra's words, several first-year Slytherins began to stir. This was Slytherin, after all, and its students were never short on pride or ambition. None of them wanted to pass up the chance to distinguish themselves in front of the whole school!

Usually, Cassandra could hold her head high around the house partly because of her family background, but even more because being beautiful came with certain privileges! No one wanted to be called a poor gentleman.

Cassandra noticed the eagerness in many of their eyes and gave a cold laugh.

"Protego!"

A splendid Protective Charm sprang from her wand, swift and clean, leaving even Snape standing nearby rather surprised.

The first-year Slytherins who had been itching to step forward quickly backed down. Most first-years couldn't cast the spell at all, and even those who had learned it from an older relative couldn't cast it as beautifully as Cassandra!

Seeing this, Snape no longer hesitated. He said at once:

"Fine. Cassandra will join you. The five of you will represent Slytherin tonight! Come with me. I'll explain the rules of the duel and give you some special training. If any of you embarrass me tonight, just you wait!"

"As for the rest of you, get on with whatever you're supposed to be doing! You don't even qualify to represent Slytherin, and you still think it's worth wasting your time standing around here?!"

As soon as Snape finished speaking, the other Slytherins scattered. Many of them even felt that perhaps not being selected wasn't such a bad thing after all.

While Snape was giving Cassandra, Vane, and the others special training, Professor Sprout entered the Hufflepuff common room with Professor Flitwick.

As Hufflepuff's Head of House and Hogwarts' Herbology professor, Professor Sprout knew very well that there was a gap between the two houses.

Since she wasn't good at dueling, Professor Sprout had gone straight to Professor Flitwick, a former dueling champion, to coach Hufflepuff.

And Professor Flitwick, faced with his old friend's request, didn't refuse. He agreed readily.

Both sides were making their final preparations for the duel that night!