Janson

"If Slytherin can be insulted by nothing more than a piece of clothing, then I think your understanding of Slytherin is far too narrow."

At that moment, Sean, who had spoken those words, suddenly appeared refined and courteous in everyone's eyes. Every movement he made seemed flawless to the others, carrying the same air of dignity and elegance as the descendants of old Pure-blood families they encountered at Pure-blood gatherings.

This was a skill in aristocratic etiquette that Sean had picked up from a child of privilege at his former school. Displaying it now immediately gave everyone an entirely different impression of him.

Janson looked at Sean before him, the smile on his face stiffening slightly. Even he had to admit that Sean looked more like a descendant of the Bulstrode family, more like a true Pure-blood. But things had already reached this point, and he could not back down now.

"I don't want to hear your sophistry. By Slytherin's rules, I challenge you to a Pureblood Duel!"

A Pureblood Duel was an internal Slytherin tradition, a form of duel restricted to Pure-blood wizards. So long as no lives were endangered and no Unforgivable Curses were used, even Dark Magic was permitted.

A Pureblood Duel was not merely a duel. Once it ended, the loser had to avoid the winner whenever they met within Hogwarts from then on, admitting that they were inferior. To a Pure-blood wizard, that was practically the same as throwing their pride and dignity to the ground for the other party to trample.

If the loser did not wish to keep avoiding the winner, that was possible too—but they had to publicly admit that they had submitted to the winner, obey the winner's orders, and become their follower until graduation from Hogwarts. Only then could they avoid the penalty of having to give the winner a wide berth. It was said that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had once used Pureblood Duels to subdue quite a few people during his school days, though no one had ever verified it.

Of course, a Pureblood Duel could not be held on a whim. There had to be sufficient reason, and the gap in strength between the two sides could not be too great. Otherwise, it would be extremely unfair to the weaker party if the stronger one could casually initiate Pureblood Duels.

"So your reason for challenging me to a Pureblood Duel is the clothes I'm wearing?"

"Of course not. I have a legitimate reason for challenging you to a Pureblood Duel. As a member of Slytherin, you actually joined two Gryffindors in beating up a Slytherin student at the start of term, and caused Slytherin to lose fifty points. That indirectly resulted in Slytherin losing one hundred and ten points in total. This has never happened before. For that, I challenge you to a Pureblood Duel!"

Sean had known that this would be the reason for the challenge.

Truthfully, if Sean asked himself whether the other party's reason was sufficient, his answer would have been yes. From Slytherin's perspective, his earlier actions had indeed been a serious problem. Although he had not yet gone through the Sorting ceremony at the time, the trouble he had brought Slytherin was real enough.

If he had gone to any of the other three Houses, it naturally would not have been much of an issue. As long as he earned the points back, he might even have gained a bit of fame from it. But that damned Sorting Hat, which deserved to be cremated, had sorted him into Slytherin. What would have been a good thing for the other three Houses had become a bad thing here. He was bound to face criticism, and before the points were recovered, any Slytherin had a reason to give him trouble.

Although the seventh-year Head Girl had vouched for him and restrained the older students from coming after him, Janson being able to stand here today, pick a fight with him, and challenge Sean to a Pureblood Duel was more or less due to the tacit approval and encouragement of certain upper-year students. After all, quite a few people disliked Sean because of this matter.

Of course, Sean did not feel angry or anything of the sort about it. After all, as far as he was concerned, the more Pureblood Duels, the better.

"All right. Even I think that reason is pretty solid, so let's duel. But we can't exactly do it here, can we? If we break anything, I don't have the money to pay for it."

Seeing Sean agree so readily, even seeming vaguely eager, Janson and the others were utterly baffled.

What was going on?

He agreed that easily?

Wasn't the plan for him to make every excuse possible, then for Janson and his friends to pressure him and guilt-trip him? How had he agreed so readily?

They did not even know what to do anymore...

"Ahem. Since you agreed so readily, there's no need to waste any more time. As for the dueling location, this place will do. If anything gets damaged, we can have Hogwarts' House-elves handle it. Besides, this will be a short duel. There's no need to change locations. We'll do it here."

By the time he reached the end, Janson had finally recovered some of the momentum that had been interrupted. His tone turned sharp once more, while the people around them tacitly stepped back, clearing a space for Sean and Janson to duel.

"Sean, be careful! You have to win!"

Sean nodded at Blaise, then drew his wand. As though it sensed Sean's eagerness for battle, the Ebony Phoenix Wand gave off a faint scorching warmth, making the magic within Sean's body flow more smoothly.

The two stood facing each other and bowed together. It was an indispensable part of dueling etiquette.

And after the formalities came...

Battle!

"Expelliarmus!"

Janson made the first move, pointing his wand at Sean as a red beam from the Disarming Charm shot forth.

Sean lowered his body and rolled across the floor, ducking behind a table and avoiding Janson's Disarming Charm.

Seeing this, Janson fiercely swung his wand. The table Sean had hidden behind suddenly exploded, but at the instant it shattered, Sean—who should have been behind it—raised his wand and pointed it at Janson.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

Janson's expression changed slightly. He swiftly retreated while raising his wand and casting Protego.

The Petrifying Charm was deflected. Sean was not surprised. Slytherin's atmosphere meant that its Young Wizards were all fairly capable, and since Janson dared to take the lead in coming after him, he was certainly no pushover. Sean had never expected to settle the matter with a single Petrifying Charm.

So while Janson was casting Protego, Sean had already begun preparing another spell!

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

With a flick of his wrist, he cast the Levitation Charm repeatedly. The furniture on the floor rose into the air one after another, spinning as it flew toward Janson and smashed down upon him!

Something happened tonight that really affected my mood, so I took some time to compose myself and ended up posting later than usual. Sorry about that. Also, please give this a bookmark and some votes. Finally, I hope everyone will keep reading. Thank you!