Snape's Fury

As soon as Kyle stepped onto the stage, a cheer erupted from the crowd.

Fred and George were the loudest; they even spent a minute creating a Quidditch -style cheering banner, which they waved continuously below.

Cedric and Cho also ran over with a bunch of confetti and ribbons to join in the fun.

Honestly, for the first time, Kyle wished he had never met them.

"Alright, Kyle, don't be nervous," Lockhart said. "I'll teach you a trick now. When Flint points his wand at you, you do this."

He raised his wand and waved it left and right, trying to conjure up some intricate spells, but accidentally dropped it on the ground.

A burst of laughter erupted from the crowd.

Lockhart quickly picked it up, saying, "Haha... my wand got a little too excited."

Snape approached Marcus, whispered a few words in his ear, and Marcus immediately let out a cold laugh.

"No need to worry." Lockhart patted Kyle on the shoulder cheerfully. "Even though he's a sixth grader, there's nothing to be afraid of as long as you do what I just did."

"What? You dropped your wand?"

Lockhart acted as if he hadn't heard.

"Ready?" he shouted. "Three... two... one, go!"

Marcus quickly raised his wand...

"Protego!"

"Serpensortia!"

Whether it was something Snape said to him or he learned from his previous experience, this time he first put a shield around himself and didn't use any evil curses. Instead, he conjured a thick, long black snake.

This type of spell is unaffected by Protego.

Kyle knew this too, but he hadn't planned to continue using the Shield Charm anyway.

As the black serpent raised its head, preparing to attack, Kyle's spell was also completed.

"Sinking Spell!"

Marcus stumbled, and his legs suddenly sank into the stage.

The Swamp Charm, which Flitwick taught him at the Charms Club, can turn hard ground into a muddy swamp and is one of the commonly used trap charms in duels.

Marcus, caught off guard, staggered, and his prepared Fire-Making Spell was interrupted.

Kyle dodged the lunging black snake to the side and raised his wand in the process.

The black snake in mid-air twisted and transformed into a rope, flying back to Marcus and binding his wrists and arms.

"Give up?" Kyle laughed.

Marcus didn't speak, but stared at Kyle with hatred as he struggled to raise his wand.

"Okay, I understand."

Kyle took a deep breath and used the Transfiguration Spell again.

The stage behind Marcus began to rise, transforming into a giant stone statue two meters tall.

Amidst the horrified gazes of everyone, the stone statue raised its long-handled axe high, briefly gathered its strength, and then swung it down violently.

A scream erupted from the surrounding crowd, and the people nearby instinctively backed away, many even covering their eyes, unable to bear watching what was about to happen.

"I surrender!" Marcus shouted, his voice filled with anguish.

"Enough!"

At the same time, Snape extended his wand, "Petrificus Totalus!"

The stone statue stopped instantly, and the huge axe blade froze in mid-air.

"Do you want to kill Flint?"

Snape roared angrily, "Hufflepuff, deduct one hundred..."

"Professor, I think you've misunderstood."

Kyle interrupted him, "If you look closely, you'll see that's not what I meant."

"Kyle is right, Professor Snape." Lockhart walked over and examined the statue.

"The axe was off-center by a foot; even if it fell, it would only hit the stage next to it, Flint wouldn't be hurt at all."

He said cheerfully, "When I was traveling in Wagga Wagga, I often used this method to scare away those evil creatures. They all realized their mistakes and never dared to harm people again."

Snape didn't hear a word Lockhart said.

"Why did you do this..." He looked at Kyle and said coldly, "A simple Disarming Charm would have secured victory."

"I'm sorry, Professor Snape," Kyle said. "I only just learned about the Disarming Charm today, and I'm not very proficient yet. This is simpler."

Snape's expression turned somewhat grim.

Partial Transfiguration of an object—this is an advanced technique typically encountered in seventh-grade advanced classes... simpler than Disarming Charm?

How could he say such a thing? Does he really think everyone is an idiot like Lockhart?

Snape's chest heaved violently, and he didn't bother to waste any more words with Kyle. He pointed towards the direction of the Great Hall doors.

Hufflepuff -50 points deducted!

"Get out, now!"

Kyle didn't say anything, put away his wand, and strode out of the Great Hall.

He had originally planned to use the Duelling Club time to observe who was behaving abnormally, but now it seems that opportunity is gone.

So far, however, everyone he knows—including Ron, Harry, Lockhart, and the others—is acting no differently than usual; none of them seem to be controlled by the diary.

Continuing to look at it will probably be pointless.

"I should have known better than to come. I lost fifty points for nothing." Kyle sighed as he walked out of the Great Hall.

At this moment, Kanna, Cedric, and the others also came out.

"Thanks to you, Kyle," Fred said with a laugh. "I've wanted to leave for a long time, but I just haven't had the chance."

"Yes, you can't learn anything from Lockhart and Snape." George glanced at the doors of the Great Hall. "I don't think the monster in the Chamber of Secrets of Secrets would bow to me."

As he spoke, he mimicked Lockhart's hand gestures, "Oh... that's so stupid."

"That statue you just made was so cool," Cedric said. "I didn't expect that Professor McGonagall only mentioned partial Transfiguration last week, and you've already mastered it."

"Is this it?" Kanna pointed to a stone statue at the entrance of the Great Hall. "It's exactly the same as the one from before."

The group chatted amongst themselves, giving Kyle no chance to interject.

"I..."

Kyle had barely uttered a sound when Cedric patted him on the shoulder.

"You don't need to worry about losing points," he said with a smile. "It's only fifty points; we Hufflepuff don't care about that."

"Yeah," Fred added, "Gryffindor is always at the bottom, but we're pretty happy with it. You get used to it."

"I'd deduct a hundred points if I could teach that Marcus Flint a lesson."

Professor McGonagall probably won't be happy to hear that.

"I wasn't really bothered by the points," Kyle chuckled. "Don't forget last year, Snape could deduct fifty points from me in just two lessons."

"That's true..." George nodded. "See? I told you we didn't need to comfort him."

"If I'd known it would turn out like this, I wouldn't have said those things against my conscience," Fred muttered to himself. "Actually, we do care about the grades."

It was already quite late, and the group parted ways at the stairwell.

Back in the empty Hufflepuff Common Room, Cedric was still talking about Kyle's Transfiguration Spell.

"It's a pity Professor McGonagall wasn't there, otherwise she certainly wouldn't have let Snape lose points..."

"I just tried it out," Kyle said. "Maybe the stage is pieced together, not a real whole, so it's much easier to operate."

"That's still quite remarkable." Cedric sat down on a sofa. "Such a large stone statue... even with normal Transfiguration, I could only manage to recreate a rough outline, let alone make it move flexibly."

"No need for flexibility, that's too cumbersome. Just focus your energy on the most crucial parts," Kyle said. "Like just now, I used the statue's weapon to move its arm..."

"You mean... the continuity after an object Transfiguration? But normally, the statue's arms are fixed, aren't they supposed to distribute some of the magic power?"

"Stone statues won't do, but armor will..."

"The armor... I see, I understand now. You changed its structure from the very beginning," Cedric said excitedly. "I should have realized that. Professor McGonagall mentioned it before..."

Kanna stood to the side, blinking blankly.

What's going on...? These two were fine just now, how come they suddenly started discussing Transfiguration, and she can't understand a word they're saying.