Dueling Class

After a long talk in Flamel's safe house, everyone present came to a clearer understanding of many things and resolved to embark on a journey to find the Deathly Hallows.

Dumbledore put aside his other thoughts about the Resurrection Stone and prepared to go back and search for the many documents he had left behind when he was looking for the Hallows, with the sole purpose of fighting against the invasion of Death.

Of course, in the worst-case scenario, if they really can't find the Deathly Hallows, they also have other contingency plans.

That is, by borrowing the power of the Dark Demon God through the Ghost Xiwen, they temporarily affected the operation of the Dark Barrier of the Grim Death, and through the Dimensional Gate, they gathered all the living forces they were familiar with, and worked together to defeat the Death!

To ensure the success of his plan, Flamel even created a more portable positioning tool than the Two-Way Mirror, making it easier for the Ghost Xiwen to open Dimensional Gate and find the corresponding wizards when necessary, instead of having to use Crystal Divination to find Dumbledore's location as is the case today.

"Let's get Newt, Theseus, Professor Hicks, Kama, and Bunty on board," Dumbledore said thoughtfully in the safe house. "I'll also find some Ministry of Magic agents and Hogwarts professors to join us. I think Minerva would be quite willing to help us."

"Is Dumbledore's Army about to make a comeback?" Xiwen asked jokingly.

"Tsk, I don't know who came up with the name 'Dumbledore's Army,' it just feels a bit off." Dumbledore clicked his tongue and shook his head. "I think we should think of a different name for this new organization."

As he spoke, he happened to see Fawkes preening its feathers on a clothes rack nearby, and couldn't help but smile.

"How about we call this newly formed organization the Order of the Phoenix?" Dumbledore suggested.

The long conversation in the Flamel Safehouse lasted all day, continuing until evening.

At this time, the Young Wizard Xiwen from Hogwarts Castle finished his busy day of classes and came to the Great Hall to attend a new course added this semester— Dueling Class.

At this moment, Professor Merrythought, with white hair and wearing a blue pointed hat, was standing on the newly erected platform in the Great Hall, introducing some dueling techniques that had not been taught before to the young wizards around him.

In fact, this course has been offered for some time now.

As a course designed to both enhance the abilities of young wizards and provide some compensation after the cancellation of all public entertainment activities, many young wizards are eagerly anticipating it.

They eagerly learned the elegant etiquette of dueling, the exhilarating art of dueling, and the methods of defeating their opponents by surprise. But the part the young wizards looked forward to most was undoubtedly the actual dueling practice that followed each Dueling Class after the professors finished their explanations!

The young wizards from each grade were divided into groups, and the wizards in the same group took turns engaging in duels.

Professor Kettleburn, always eager for a good show, would sneak into the Great Hall every day with a cheerful grin. Later, out of sheer boredom, he even set up a scoreboard next to the dueling platform and created a points-based leaderboard.

According to him, students earn one point for each duel they win on the dueling stage, which is used to determine their skill level.

Headmaster Dippet was initially somewhat displeased with his disruption, but upon seeing the students' even greater enthusiasm for the duels after the scoreboard was installed, he readily agreed to establish a new competition format that could better motivate them.

This means that a points ranking is conducted once a month, and the results are settled at the end of the month. The top three students in each grade receive corresponding rewards.

In addition, the top student in each grade can challenge the top three students in the next grade on the leaderboard. Each time they defeat an opponent from a higher grade, they will receive a higher level of reward.

Today is October 30, 1939. Because Halloween Feast was to be held in the Great Hall the next day, the last Dueling Class of October was scheduled for the 30th.

The young wizards in the audience were eager to try, because Headmaster Dippet had promised them that even though the top three had already been decided, everyone would still have a chance to win a prize.

Each person in each group has one chance to challenge the top three in their group. If they win, they can take the place of the junior wizard who originally belonged to the top three and receive the final reward. Of course, the winner also has the obligation to face challenges from junior wizards of lower grades.

However, the Young Wizard Xiwen seemed rather bored.

When the Dueling Class was introduced, Xiwen was initially quite pleased. He felt he had another opportunity to gain practical experience, so he wouldn't resort to forcing himself into real fights based on the owl's attack pattern...

The personal instruction from the heads of the five main departments also taught the young wizards a great deal about dueling. At least he wouldn't be like a complete novice who would say he wanted to duel but then launch a sneak attack without even basic dueling etiquette...

However, the actual duel turned into a major headache for Xiwen.

The third-grade wizards had only been in school for two years. They had learned some very basic spells, but very few knew how to apply them in practice.

Furthermore, since Xiwen fused the Maledictus Blood Curse into his bloodline, his magical power has grown much faster. Now, his combat experience, mental fortitude, and total magical power are far superior to those of other junior wizards of the same level.

So it ended up being a comical scene, with Xiwen ending each duel quickly with a Disarming Charm, which was incredibly boring for him, his opponents, and the audience...

"Alright, I see you're all getting impatient." Just as Xiwen was lost in thought, Professor Merrythought on the dueling platform smiled kindly at the young wizards below. "In that case, let's begin our monthly Dueling Class challenge!"

"Here, we must thank Professor Slughorn for his support. The potion he concocted that restores the mana of the top three players on the leaderboard will prevent them from being overwhelmed by the endless battles and depleting their mana, greatly improving the fairness of the competition!"

Professor Slughorn chuckled as he stood up from his seat, awkwardly bending his waist to bow to the young wizards present.

"Of course, physical fatigue is hard to completely eliminate; you can think of this as a unique challenge for those who are in the top three!" Professor Merrythought said with a smile, raising her wand.

A beam of light shot from the tip of his wand toward the ceiling of the Great Hall.

The match officially began the next moment!

The Great Hall has plenty of space, so each grade has its own dedicated dueling platform.

After the competition began, every dueling arena became a scene of intense activity, with a Legion extremely confident young wizards launching challenges against the top three, keeping them very busy.

Of the top three in all grade rankings, only Xiwen was left idle.

His record of ending every battle with a Disarming Charm was simply too outstanding. The third-year wizards might be confident, but they weren't that foolish to come to Xiwen and invite trouble...

Abraxas, who was third in the third-year rankings, had just defeated a confident Gryffindor wizard on the dueling stage, and then couldn't wait to get down and sit down next to Xiwen.

"Do you think I could wait until Moody's stamina is almost depleted before challenging him, and then get second place?" Abu thought to himself, looking at Alastor Moody, who was second on the third-year leaderboard, and dreaming happily.

"I think you should take care of yourself first. There are plenty of people around here who want to challenge you," Xiwen said with a sidelong glance, seemingly bored.

"That's true." Abu pinched his chin and began to think.

A moment later, he suddenly slapped his thigh and said to Xiwen, "Why don't you help me cripple Moody, and then I'll slack off!"

"Look at the way Moody's looking at you. He'll come looking for a challenge sooner or later!"

Xiwen's lips twitched, and he couldn't help but retort, "He's been your deskmate for a year, how did you come up with such a dark mind?"

"Even your deskmate can't outlast the centuries-old feud between Slytherin and Gryffindor!" Abu said indignantly. "Not to mention, you have no idea how ruthless he was when we teamed up in Defense Against the Dark Arts!"

"So it was just a way to settle a personal score..." Xiwen curled his lip and looked up at the duel on the stage.

Moody's opponent was a Hufflepuff wizard, whose name Xiwen remembered was Baruch Diggory.

As a third-year wizard, Diggory was actually quite strong, and he fought Moody back and forth for quite some time.

However, Moody's habitually neurotic Aurors training method ultimately gave him an edge in reaction speed and timing. He seized the opportunity, found a weakness in Diggory, and ended the match with a Full Body-Bind Curse.

The third-grade area erupted in enthusiastic applause.

Xiwen joined in the applause, but then he realized something was amiss— Moody had turned his gaze toward him after defeating Diggory.

Abu was right after all?