Chapter 28.

  With the chaos of the duel reag this level, both Snape and Lockhart k could not tinue, so Lockhart proposed that Neville Longbottom and Justin Finch-Fletchley step up to demonstrate the duel.

  "That's not a good idea, Professor Lockhart." Snape said as he glided across the stage like a malignant bat. "Even using the simplest spells, Longbottom could cause some destru. We'll be sending Finch-Fletchley's remains in a matchbox to the hospital." Shen sneered, "How about Malfoy and Potter?"

  "Perfect!" Lockhart signaled for Harry and Draove to the ter of the hall, with people stepping back to give them space.

  Snape shook his head, saying, "Draco, I'm not talking about you; Soren, e up here!"

  Soren was surprised to be called up. After a moment of astonishment, he shrugged and walked slowly onto the stage. A hint of anticipation bubbled up inside him, "Alright, let me see hoable this savior Harry is at this moment. Snape probably saw me easily defeat Ron and wants to use me to put down Harry."

  Harry's expression was not too happy either. Although Soren had kept a low profile st semester, his excellent academic performance, especially in Transfiguration and Charms, had received much attention from Professors Flitwid Magall, indig that Soren was definitely strohan his loudmouth brother.

  A familiar saying from the Muggle world casually drifted through Harry's mind — "The dog that barks doesn't bite," and he instantly felt a heavy pressure.

  Soren and Harry stood on opposite sides of the stage, Lockhart whispered to Harry, seemingly imparting some bat tips, while Snape remained silent, allowing Soren to freely express himself. This provoked murmurs of dissatisfaong the Slytherins in the audience, whispering pints about unfairness.

  Soren fshed Harry a polite smile and executed a very solemn duel salute, in stark trast to Lockhart's earlier fshy moves. The gestures were fluid and full of a sacred and solemn essence, and few remembered that this was an a duel salute mentioned only ierature of a families.

  Harry grew up in a Muggle family, so he naturally knew nothing about the a dueliiquette. At that moment, he appeared flustered and unsure of how to respond. Soren smiled and said, "Don't be nervous, Harry. This is just a regur duel for learning purposes; it doesn't involve any personal grudges. Let's agree to stop once we reach a certain point, and we shouldn't io harm each other. How does that sound?"

  Harry nodded, but Soren didn't know what he was really thinking, nor did he care to guess.

  Harry was the first to cast a Full Body-Bind Curse. To Soren, Harry's spell-casting teique seemed rough and inexperiehe trajectory of the spell was toht and obvious, and the speed of his magic ainfully slow. With Soren's physical abilities, he only had to lealy to the left to easily dodge Harry's attack. At the same time, Soren waved his wand upward and mumbled, "Quattuor Point Trap!"

  Suddenly, four transparent magical barriers rose from the ground around Harry—it's a Barrier Charm, tightly enclosing Harry in the ter, like a box. Soren had learhis spell from his family's colle of books, and it wasn't taught at Hogwarts, so Harry had no idea how to break it.

  Seeing that there was no escape, Harry decisively aimed at one of the barriers and shot out a Fire-produg Spell. Soren nodded in approval of Harry's quick thinking, but unfortunately, with Harry's pitifully low magical power, the weak fmes he produced only resulted in scattered sparks upon hitting the barrier, having no effe it whatsoever.

  Soren thought to himself, "It's over," and quickly drew a cross with his wand. Without uttering any intation, a dim and obscure white light shot from the tip of his wand, flying toward Harry's fa an intricate curve. There were several sharp female screams from the audience, with Hermione and Ginny's screams being the loudest.

  Even Snape had an unusual expression, just about to interveh his wand drawn, when Soren, fident in his trol of the situation, slightly curled his lips in a smirk. With a gentle flick of his wrist, the white light disappeared abruptly just a few inches in front of Harry's forehead.

  Although Soren probably wouldn't use ahal magi front of su audience, being threatened by this mysterious and unknown magic made Harry unavoidably zo in fear.

  "I cede!" Soren didn't shoride in his victory; his expression was as calm as if winning was a matter of course. He executed the a and solemn dueling salute again toward Harry, then politely bowed to the two professors oform, and walked off the stage gracefully without looking back, floating away.

  The audience was in shock!

  Although Soren had gained some fame for his outstanding academic performan the first year, his oppo was the renowned Harry Potter, who had defeated Voldemort as a baby! Moreover, just the previous year, Harry and his friends had navigated the Forbidden Corridor on the fourth floor, overing numerous challenges set by professors, and ultimately defeated Quirrell, who had infiltrated Hogwarts after falling toward the dark sides! These stories was well-doted—Dumbledore adding 170 points to Gryffindor was the best proof.

  Before this, apart from Draco, Daphne, and Meredith, few of the young wizards had ever thought that the famous Harry could lose to a fellow student, let alone in such a crushi!

  The audience was rendered speechless by Soren's overwhelming aura.

  It wasn't until a while after Sorehe Great Hall that someone dared to inquire about his identity, and among them were some starry-eyed girls exg over Soren's looks and strength.

  Soren was born into the noble Malfoy family, and his appearand demeanor naturally exuded noble grad ess, which, trasted with his overwhelming strength, made him seem extraordinarily heroic. His execution of the a dueling salute further enhanced his elegant demeanor, making him appear distinguished and courteous, which expined why he easily garhe favor of many girls present.

  Draco proudly educated everyone about Soren's identity, not fetting to mention that it was him who trained with Soren at home, as if Soren's abilities were a credit to Draco.

  Hermione covered her mouth in disbelief, exg, "Wow! nonverbal Casting! That's at the level, and it's one of the more difficult aspects. It's said that not every senior student master it. How did he do that in his sed year?"

  Ron stood to the side, looking distent, but his best friend Harry had just beeed fairly in front of everyone; no matter how dissatisfied he was, he couldn't argue against the facts.

  Harry's expression was bitter, and for the first time, he felt his ordinariness. All along, he had a sense of being different from others; even when misuood as the heir of Slytherin, although he was angry, deep down, there was a hint of secret delight. After the duel, Harry realized he wasn't particurly special; the attention he received was merely due to the scar on his forehead.

  On stage, Lockhart tio boast about how he could break Soren's spell, but now the audience below sisted of only a few young girls. After watg the battle between Harry and Soren, more people had developed a greater desire for strength, having reized the gap between themselves and the top level. They were quietly immersed in recalling various details from the earlier duel, pletely ued in Lockhart's incessant chatter.

  Sill wore a poker face, standing quietly, making it impossible to guess what he was thinking.

  Some outstanding uppercssmen, such as Cedric Diggory from Hufflepuff and Penelope Clearwater from Ravencw, who had a dising eye, gained insights from the duel, marveling at the quick casting teiques and curved shooting skills dispyed by Soren. They were now carefully sidering how to apply those insights to their own practical skills.

  Three days ter, the first semester ended.

  The third attack did not occur as described in the inal story.

  After some thought, Soren realized that it was the butterfly effect he had caused. By repg Dra the duel with Harry, he had avoided the i where Dramoned a so attack, followed by Harry using Parseltoo stop the snake from attag Justin. As a result, Justin did not develop a fear of Harry and did not hide alone on the fifth floor, where he was attacked by the basilisk.

  Given the current situation at Hogwarts, most young wizards chose to go home for Christmas, and the castle was as heavy and silent as the snow on the ground.

  Before the holiday, Daphne and Meredith, after some persuasion, obtained a copy of Soren's spellcasting notebook from him, whicluded Voldemort's spellcasting teiques, as well as some of Soren's own insights into quick casting and curved shooting. The two girls had to go home for family matters during the Christmas holiday, and they po study Soren's spellcastihods thhly during their break to ehey didn't fall behind too much.

  On Christmas m, Soren woke up and was surprised to see a pile of gifts at the foot of his bed.

  After a m of uning gifts, he realized that his popurity was far better than he had imagined. Draco gave him a notebook, while Daphne and Meredith both gifted him a family heirloom magical book. Dobby gifted him a new set of socks, and even Kreacher remembered to give him a bag of homemade pickled snacks.

  What surprised him the most was a set of bck robes that shimmered with silver light, sent by his mother, Narcissa. The robe had a rather romantiame, "Night Star," and was made fron skin dyed bd tailored as a shoulder cloak.

  The silver dots on the cloak were actually due to a famous a alchemist grinding magical crystals into powder and incorporating that powder into the dragon skin, giving it high physical defense and magical resistahis crafting teique had long been lost in modern times, making the cloak even more precious.

  "Did Mother send this to protect me from being caught up in the Chamber of Secrets i?" Soren suddenly uood his mother's iion. Touched, he couldn't help but think that she probably never sidered that he might be the safest student at Hogwarts right now.

  ["Night Star" cloak obtained!]

  Of course, Soren did not fet to reciprocate the gifts to his friends. He gave Draco a set of broom care tools; he gifted Daphne a beautifully designed sleeve with a hidden pocket for her wand, allowio draw it out more quickly; and gave Meredith a suitcase made from transformed lizard skin, expanded with the Uable Extension Charm...

  Aside from the gifts mentioned above, there were still over forty mifts, all from female cssmates he didn't know. The majority were from younger Slytherin students, but a small number were from girls in other houses, taining various chocotes, gloves, scarves, and more.

  It was then that Soren realized how popur he was among the girls at Hogwarts. It seemed that his impressive performan the dueling club had left a deep impression on his peers. Even with his calm demeanor from past lives, he couldn't help but feel a bit proud of himself.

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