"Why didn't Malfoy dare come himself? He'd probably be green with envy if he saw this." At last, Ron grabbed the sleek handle of the Nimbus 2000 and waved it around. "He brags about that Comet 260 his family has every day. Compared to this, it's an antique, isn't it? Ha ha..."
By the time he finished speaking, Pansy was practically turning into a Weasley. She was so furious that even her short black hair seemed about to turn red.
That startled Ron. He certainly could not guarantee that Pansy would not lose her temper and start muttering Evil Curses.
Although the school curriculum had not yet covered offensive spells, Pansy came from an ancient wizarding family that took pride in its pure-blood heritage. Such wizards usually taught their children a few spells at an early age.
The Gryffindors nearby immediately tensed up as well. They gradually moved closer, vaguely forming a circle around Pansy and her two companions.
"Parkinson, put down your wand. What are you trying to do?" Harry said. The instant Pansy drew her wand, his heart had started pounding. Only now, with Gryffindor students all around him, did he breathe a sigh of relief.
As that tension drained away, he realized his back was already drenched in cold sweat. That petite girl before him had, in that instant, seemed to transform into a dragon, radiating an overwhelming pressure.
The people at the Slytherin table seemed to have noticed what was happening too. More than a dozen of them stood and moved closer.
Under everyone's watchful, guarded gazes, Pansy let out a sinister laugh and slowly lowered her wand. Turning to Harry, she said, "Potter. I challenge you to a duel—a wizard's duel. Draco will not need to step in. I'll let everyone know that the so-called 'Savior' is nothing but a joke, a useless mediocrity with no real ability."
A duel? With a girl? Before Harry could answer, Ron jumped in. "Fine! I'll be Harry's second. Who'll be yours? Malfoy?"
"That works best." Pansy shot Ron a vicious glare, then looked over Crabbe and Goyle. Finally, with a face full of disgust and resignation, she said, "You, Crabbe."
Then she glanced at the surrounding crowd of Gryffindors and lowered her voice, whispering almost directly into Harry Potter's ear. "The duel will be tomorrow, Wednesday, at midnight, in the Trophy Room. I'm sure you know that place very well. Heh heh."
After saying that, Parkinson did not care whether Harry agreed or not. She lifted her chin proudly, pushed through the crowd, and hurried away with Crabbe and Goyle.
Harry and Ron looked at each other. After that incident, neither had any appetite for breakfast, so they simply left.
It took them considerable effort to fight their way out of the stares surrounding them and out of the Great Hall, only to find Li Mu waiting by the entrance.
"You shouldn't have agreed to her challenge." Li Mu leaned against the doorway, frowning. "How did you provoke her?"
Something felt very unusual to him. In the "history," Malfoy should have been the central figure in this scene, and the so-called duel had been nothing more than one of Malfoy's little schemes.
But now Pansy had taken Malfoy's place... And only when Li Mu saw Crabbe and Goyle behind her did he realize that Malfoy had rarely appeared with those two hulking lackeys lately. Now, those two dim-witted fellows seemed to have become Pansy's followers instead.
"We didn't provoke her! She came looking for us. Malfoy definitely put her up to it!" Ron replied.
The entrance to the Great Hall was not a place to linger, so they talked as they walked, soon turning into a corridor.
"But you shouldn't have agreed to that duel... I mean, with a girl..." Harry sighed. Seeing that there seemed to be no one around, he finally could not help asking, "And what exactly is a duel?"
"Right, I want to know too." The sudden voice startled all three of them.
"Hermione! What are you doing here?" Li Mu reacted the fastest and had already turned around.
At some point, Hermione had appeared behind and to the side of the three of them. She held two books in her arms and pretended to be unconcerned. She must have deliberately concealed herself and followed them quietly, so quietly that even Li Mu had failed to notice her. But after hearing their conversation, she could not help speaking up.
"Merlin's beard! Are you everywhere?" Ron groaned. "Can't you give us a moment's peace?"
"Harry, I heard what you and Pansy said in the Great Hall." Hermione ignored Ron completely and continued speaking to Harry. For some reason, her voice was somewhat rushed. "You absolutely cannot go to that duel! Wandering around the school in the middle of the night is against the rules! Just think what will happen if you get caught... Think about it. How many points will Gryffindor lose because of this? Haven't you lost enough points for Gryffindor already?"
"You lost one point too," Ron muttered, only to be silenced immediately by Hermione's glare.
"I earned ten points in Professor McGonagall's class! I earned points in Charms, History of Magic, and Astronomy too!" Hermione's thin lips moved rapidly, her words firing out like a barrage. "And you... Ron Weasley, you can't even use the simplest Cleaning Charm properly, and you wasted all the points I worked so hard to earn!"
"All right, Hermione." Harry tried to stop her, clearly irritated as well. "This really has nothing to do with you."
"Fine! Fine!" Hermione was beside herself with anger, repeating the word several times. Then she turned to look at Li Mu. "Li Mu, what about you? What do you think?"
Harry and Ron both fixed their eyes on Li Mu, waiting for his answer.
"Uh... breaking school rules really is not a good thing." Li Mu felt rather awkward. Under the intense pressure of three pairs of eyes, he felt uncomfortable all over. Faced with these children in such a heated state, even with the experience of two lifetimes, he felt deeply helpless. In the end, he decided it would be best to give Harry a warning.
"I suspect it's a trap. Pansy deliberately provoked you and challenged you," he said. "If you refuse, people will say you're afraid of a girl. But if you agree..."
"Then we have to go even more! So many people... I mean, nearly half the students saw what happened just now." Ron interrupted Li Mu, his face flushing red. He felt betrayed. "If we don't go, everyone else will look down on us! Fred and George, and Lee Jordan, will laugh us to death!"
Hermione took a sharp breath.
"Fine! Fine! Fine!" After repeating the word many more times, Hermione finally exploded. Her fluffy brown hair seemed ready to stand on end, making her look exactly like a little lioness. She shouted at the three of them, "You'll definitely get caught tonight and be punished! I sincerely hope you won't cry when that happens! Goodbye!"
Before you continue