Hogwarts returned to its usual atmosphere.
After the magical knowledge competition ended, the contestants who relied on their brains finally no longer needed to keep probing one another.
The dueling competition became the topic on every student's lips.
Whether Muggles or wizards, they all shared humanity's primal urge for violence.
The brainstorming and explosions in the Potions competition were certainly spectacular, but real exchanges of spells and thrilling magical duels were far more popular with young people.
The contestants would compete in an elimination tournament.
Their respective headmasters would draw lots to determine the order of the matches.
Beauxbatons no longer had the advantage it had enjoyed in the first competition. Instead, revealing its dueling contestant early had given more people time to study her.
"That's him, Hogwarts' chosen dueling contestant." John spotted a Gryffindor boy with reddish-brown hair in the Library.
The boy was named Yarn Dorian, a half-blood Gryffindor wizard and a Chaser on the Hogwarts Quidditch team.
That gave him an advantage in dueling. Years of practicing agility and reflexes in Quidditch allowed him to sense approaching danger faster than other wizards.
Dorian, a seventh-year, had excellent grades in Defense Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration. In his sixth year, he had already decided to pursue further studies in Defense Against the Dark Arts and become an outstanding Auror.
He always wore a confident smile, as though nothing could stump him. Even when his team fell behind, he stubbornly fought to close the gap, and he also had an intense curiosity.
John was about to exploit that trait.
"You train your troops for years for the moment you need them. I choose you, Little Dragon!"
Before Dorian reached the Seventh Floor, John lifted Little Dragon out of his little house.
Dorian was heading toward the tower with