"I'm afraid I'll hurt you." Looking at Hermione's stubborn eyes, Draco admitted his concerns.
He could be ruthless towards his enemies, but he couldn't imagine his spell actually landing on Hermione, even if it was just for practice.
"I'm not afraid." Hermione raised her wand again, saying resolutely, "What I'm afraid of is your disbelief that I can keep up. What I need is an opponent who can give me my all on the battlefield, not a gentle boyfriend."
Draco looked at her with a slight touch of emotion.
Hermione was never a hothouse flower.
"Okay." He nodded slowly, all his worries and hesitations completely forgotten in that moment.
Regaining his stance, Draco declared beforehand, "But if I really hurt you, you're not allowed to cry, and you're not allowed to hold a grudge. And you're absolutely not allowed to keep me from sleeping in your bed tonight."
Upon hearing his last sentence, Hermione's tense expression finally crumbled, her lips twitched, and she almost lost her composure.
"Who will cry is still uncertain, Mr. Malfoy!"
Draco said nothing more, only nodding.
The next moment, the real duel began! The roar of clashing spells and energy filled the entire arena!
The air hummed due to the intense fluctuations of magic.
The light was dazzling, and pebbles flew everywhere.
Hermione instantly felt unprecedented pressure, but also... the excitement of being truly regarded as an opponent!
In fact, Draco still retained...
How could I possibly hurt my own wife!
His spells were fast, accurate, and ruthless, with angles so tricky they were suffocating. Every strike aimed at the gaps in her defense, yet at the last second before the fatal blow, it precisely hit the mark—"it could hurt her, it could teach her, but it wouldn't truly harm her."
The spell tore through the air, sending a scorching shockwave across Hermione's robes, leaving a charred mark.
She felt her arm go numb from the aftershocks, her fingers trembled, beads of sweat trickled down her cheeks, and her breathing became erratic, yet the light in her eyes burned ever brighter.
She was no longer on the defensive; instead, she began to anticipate Draco's rhythm, analyze his habits, and disrupt his strategies.
The knowledge from books, the instincts from real combat, and the deep understanding of Draco all coalesced into one powerful force.
Was it a deliberate flaw he left, or an unconscious habit? Hermione didn't have time to think it through; she simply acted on her intuition and took a step forward as he raised his hand again.
" Expelliarmus!"
She seized upon a tiny opening in Draco, thrusting her wand forward with a sudden movement, the spell aimed directly at his wrist.
A red light flashed like an arrow; Draco's pupils contracted, and he hastily dodged, but his wand was still grazed by a streak of white light.
This move made his hand go numb, and he almost dropped the tip of the staff.
"You learn really fast," Draco laughed.
His counterattack followed immediately after he finished speaking!
He gave Hermione no chance to catch her breath or gloat, pointing his wand downwards at the stone slab beneath Hermione feet:
" Impedimenta!"
The ground beneath Hermione's feet suddenly bulged up without warning!
It wasn't just a simple protrusion of soil and rocks; rather, several sharp, jagged stone edges burst forth from the ground like spikes.
The crisscrossing stone edges blocked her movement in all directions, leaving only a narrow opening above!
This is designed to trap her and kill her in place!
Before she could even think, Hermione's body reacted instinctively, stomping her feet on the ground and tightening her core.
Like a nimble swift, he leaped diagonally upwards, attempting to slip through the gaps between the interlocking stone ridges!
However, in that instant when her body was suspended in mid-air—
Draco's wand was already pointed precisely at her like a long-awaited serpent; all emotions had subsided in his eyes, leaving only absolute calm and control over victory.
"Quickly banish—" The incantation was almost out of his mouth.
With just the last syllable, the magic ropes will bind her tightly, and the duel will be over.
But the word "imprisoned" was stuck in Draco's throat and he couldn't get it out.
His wand tip was inches from Hermione, who had begun to fall after hovering in the air, and he looked at her with a mocking expression.
Time seemed to stretch out.
Hermione landed, staggered a step due to the hang time and sudden stop, and barely managed to regain her balance.
Before she could catch her breath, Hermione abruptly looked up, her gaze meeting Draco's... mocking eyes.
The tip of the other person's wand was still pointing at her.
At this moment, only their slightly rapid breathing could be heard.
Looking at the mocking smile in Draco's eyes, and then at his wand that hadn't yet uttered the last syllable,
A surge of anger welled up inside him—the exhaustion from exerting all his strength and the humiliation of being mocked.
"You stopped again!" Hermione accused angrily, her voice slightly breathless. "We agreed to use all our strength! What is this?"
Looking at her cheeks flushed with excitement and exertion, and her eyes that shone even brighter with dissatisfaction,
Draco's smile deepened.
Instead of feeling ashamed of being criticized, he leisurely withdrew the wand that had been pointing at her.
He scratched his chin with the tip of his cane and said:
"I haven't stopped, Miss Granger. I'm just thinking about... a very serious tactical problem."
"A tactical issue?" Hermione was taken aback, not following his train of thought.
"Yes," Draco met her gaze, "I was thinking... if I used ' Incarcerous ' to bind you..."
After a deliberate pause, Draco's gaze slowly swept over her sweat-soaked collar, her heaving chest, and the taut lines of her body caused by the Binding Charm.
"... What am I supposed to do with you?"
Hermione's body jerked violently, her brain buzzing from those words and that meaningful gaze.
Hermione understood what "tactical issues" he was "thinking about"!
That bastard!
He's constantly thinking about... those indecent things! Even during a duel...
Her cheeks flushed bright red again at a visible speed, and her voice rose with shame and indignation. "You, you're dreaming! Who would let you tie them up! I won't—uh!"
She didn't finish her sentence.
Because she was distracted by shame and anger...
Draco made his move.
" Incarcerous."
A flash of red light appeared at the tip of the wand.
Hermione felt a sudden tightening in her wrists, ankles, and waist!
Several incredibly strong magical ropes appeared out of thin air, like living vines, tightly binding and restraining her!
Her arms were firmly pressed against her sides, her legs were bound, and her waist was tightly constricted.
"Ugh!" Hermione gasped briefly, losing her balance from the sudden restraint.
She collapsed to the ground, like a human puppet, or a carefully packaged gift waiting to be signed for.
Hermione struggled twice, but the magical ropes only tightened around her.
Hermione stopped her futile struggle, looked up at him, her eyes filled with anger and resentment at being ambushed.
Draco, arms crossed, admired Hermione's unique "look" of being bound. Hermione's cheeks were puffed up with anger, making her look like a hamster stuffed with nuts—quite adorable.