Duel Agreement

"Why didn't Malfoy dare to come himself? He'd probably be insanely jealous if he saw this." In the end, Ron grabbed the Nimbus 2000's streamlined, smooth broom handle and waved it around, "He brags about his Comet 260 all day, but it's an antique compared to this, right? Haha..."

By the time he finished speaking, Pansy was practically turning into a Weasley; she was so annoyed that even her short black hair seemed to be turning red.

This action startled Ron. He couldn't guarantee that Pansy wouldn't fly into a rage and cast some nasty curses.

Although school instruction hadn't yet covered offensive spells, Pansy came from an old wizarding family that prided itself on pure-blood status, and these wizards usually taught their children some spells early on.

The Gryffindors nearby also tensed up, gradually moving closer, subtly forming a circle around the three Slytherins.

"Parkinson, put down your wand. What do you want to do?" Harry said. The moment Pansy pulled out her wand, his heart pounded, but now feeling the Gryffindor students around him, he breathed a sigh of relief.

As he relaxed, he realized his back was covered in cold sweat. The petite girl before him had, for a moment, seemed to transform into a dragon, bringing him immense pressure.

The Slytherins at their table also seemed to have noticed the situation, and a dozen of them stood up and moved closer.

Under the gaze and vigilance of the crowd, Pansy sneered, slowly lowered her wand, and turned to Harry: "Potter. I want to duel you, a wizard's duel—no need for Draco to step in, I'll let everyone know that the so-called 'Savior' is just a joke, he's just an incompetent mediocrity."

A duel? Duel with a girl? ... Before Harry could answer, Ron blurted out, "Okay! I'll be Harry's second, who's yours? Malfoy?"

"That's for the best." Pansy glared at Ron, turned to size up Crabbe and Goyle, and finally, with a look of disgust and helplessness, said, "You'll do, Crabbe."

Then she glanced at the surrounding Gryffindor crowd, lowered her voice, and said almost in a whisper to Harry Potter, "The duel is set for tomorrow, Wednesday at midnight, in the Trophy Room—I think you must be very familiar with this place, hehe."

After saying this, Parkinson, without waiting for Harry to agree, haughtily raised her head, pushed through the crowd, and hurried away with Crabbe and Goyle.

Harry and Ron looked at each other, and after this incident, they lost their appetite for breakfast and simply left.

They struggled to break free from the gazes of those around them in the hall, only to find Li Mu waiting at the entrance.

"You shouldn't have agreed to her," Li Mu frowned, leaning against the door. "How did you provoke her?"

He felt something was amiss. In "history," the protagonist of this scene should have been Malfoy, and the so-called duel was just a small conspiracy stirred up by Malfoy.

But now the protagonist had become Pansy... and seeing Crabbe and Goyle behind Pansy, Li Mu realized that recently Malfoy had rarely appeared with those two hulking followers. Now, these two guys with questionable intelligence seemed to have become Pansy's followers.

"We didn't provoke her! She came looking for us, Malfoy must have ordered her to!" Ron replied.

The entrance of the hall wasn't a place to linger, so they walked forward as they spoke, soon turning into a corridor.

"But you shouldn't have agreed to that duel... me, with a girl..." Harry sighed, and seeing that there seemed to be no one around, he finally couldn't help but ask, "Also, what's the deal with dueling?"

"Yeah, I want to know too." The sudden voice startled the three of them.

"Hermione! What are you doing here?" Li Mu reacted the fastest, already turning his head to look.

At some point, Hermione had followed behind the three of them, holding two books, pretending to be nonchalant. She must have deliberately concealed herself, quietly following, and even Li Mu hadn't noticed. But after hearing the three's conversation, she couldn't help but speak out.

"Good heavens! Are you omnipresent?" Ron groaned, "Can't you give people a break?"

"Harry, I heard you and Pansy in the hall." Hermione completely ignored Ron, she continued speaking to Harry, her tone somewhat hurried for some reason, "You absolutely can't go to the duel! Wandering around the school in the middle of the night is against the rules! Think about what would happen if you were caught... think about how many points that would cost Gryffindor! Haven't you lost enough points for Gryffindor lately?"

"You lost a point too," Ron muttered, but was immediately glared back by Hermione.

"I earned ten points in Professor McGonagall's class! I also got points in Charms, History of Magic, and Astronomy!" Hermione's thin lips moved up and down, firing off a barrage of words, "And you... Ron Weasley, can't even use the simplest Cleaning Charm properly, wasting all the points I worked so hard to earn!"

"Alright, Hermione," Harry dissuaded, looking somewhat annoyed himself, "This really isn't your business."

"Fine! Fine!" Hermione said several "fine"s in a fit of pique, she turned her head and looked at Li Mu again, "Li Mu, what about you? What do you think?"

Harry and Ron's four eyes were also fixed on Li Mu, waiting for his answer.

"Uh... violating school rules is indeed a bad behavior." Li Mu was a little embarrassed. Under the strong pressure of three pairs of eyes, he felt uncomfortable all over. Facing these children in a state of irritability, he felt deeply helpless even with two lifetimes of experience. In the end, he decided to remind Harry.

"I suspect this is a trap. Pansy deliberately came to annoy you and challenge you," he said. "If you don't agree, it's like you're afraid of even a girl. If you agree..."

"Then we have to go even more. So many people... I mean, almost half the students witnessed that scene just now." Ron interrupted Li Mu, his face flushed, he felt a sense of betrayal. "If we don't go, we will definitely be looked down upon by others, and even be laughed at by Fred and George, and Lee Jordan!"

Hermione took a breath.

"Good! Good! Good!" After saying many good words in a row, Hermione finally exploded. Her brown, bushy hair seemed to stand on end, like a little lioness. She roared at the three of them, "You will definitely be caught tonight and punished! I sincerely hope you don't cry your eyes out then! Goodbye!"

(End of this chapter)