If this confrontation had happened before their battle with the giant spiders in the Forbidden Forest, Harry and the others might've had to think about how to defeat Malfoy and his group.
But now? They hardly needed to consider these problems at all.
In terms of actual combat ability, they were definitely much stronger than Malfoy. Especially since they now all mastered silent wandless spellcasting, which was a significant boost to a wizard's combat power.
"Malfoy, don't cry when you lose later," Harry said with a light laugh.
"No, he won't cry," Ron grinned from the side. "He'll cry for his daddy."
"Hahaha!" The Gryffindors burst into laughter.
The confrontation hadn't even begun yet, but the atmosphere was already thick with tension.
Malfoy's face flushed red, like his little schemes had been exposed. Embarrassed and angry.
Seeing this, Snape walked over and whispered something to Malfoy while glancing at Harry and the others. Malfoy nodded slightly, and his expression improved considerably.
"Dudley, can we use those techniques?" Hermione asked quietly.
Silent wandless spellcasting was taught to them by Dudley. Without his permission, they didn't want to expose it in front of everyone.
"Yes," Dudley nodded.
After all, he'd just demonstrated it himself, so there was no point in continuing to hide it.
Hearing Dudley's agreement, Ron immediately showed Goyle a malicious smile.
"Everyone, are you ready?" Lockhart asked loudly.
Several people nodded simultaneously.
The noise below gradually diminished as everyone stared at the six people who'd stepped onto the stage.
Malfoy versus Harry, Goyle versus Ron, and Hermione versus Parkinson.
"I bet Harry can win," Fred said.
Before the duel even started, the twin brothers had already opened a betting pool.
"There's nothing to bet on there. Harry'll definitely win," George said. "Let's bet on something more suspenseful, like whether our brother can win."
"Ron... hard to say. Forget it, I bet he wins," Fred said after thinking for a moment.
"Then I bet he loses, one silver Sickle," George countered.
"Deal!"
"Can't you both support Ron?" Ginny said helplessly from the side.
"No!" The twin brothers said in unison.
Dudley watched the two brothers and shook his head helplessly. They really could make fun out of anything. Truly the life of the party.
On stage, "Who goes first?" Lockhart asked, looking at several people.
"Ladies first?" Harry looked toward Hermione.
"Fine." Hermione didn't decline and stepped forward directly.
On the other side, seeing Hermione step out, Pansy Parkinson also stepped forward without hesitation.
"I'll count to three, then you begin," Lockhart announced.
Hermione and Parkinson bowed to each other, then raised their wands and looked at each other with obvious disdain.
"Granger, do you know? Your curly hair and big front teeth make you look like an incompletely evolved curly-haired baboon," Parkinson said in a low voice that only Hermione could hear.
"Parkinson, don't you know everyone calls you a pug?" Hermione shot back directly.
Parkinson's face immediately became very ugly.
Because she really did know that people privately called her a pug. An ugly pug.
This wasn't just because of her appearance, but also because her sharp and mean image was already deeply ingrained in people's minds.
"You wait and see, mudblood!" Parkinson said with a dark expression.
"Oh!" Her words were heard by some people below, who immediately showed incredulous expressions.
"Bitch, let's see how I deal with you!" Hermione immediately retorted.
"My god!" Quite a few people below heard Hermione's voice and thought they'd misheard.
"She finally learnt how to curse," Ron said to Harry.
"I feel like we really corrupted her," Harry replied. "But I have to say, she was really cool just now."
The crowd below discussed among themselves, while Lockhart had already begun the countdown.
"Three, two, on..."
"Stupefy!" Parkinson immediately cast a Stunning Spell.
On the other side, Hermione seemed to have anticipated this and lightly waved her wand.
"Protego!" A Shield Charm was instantly cast, neutralising Parkinson's Stunning Spell.
Parkinson obviously hadn't expected Hermione to cast a defensive spell. After her spell was blocked, she hesitated for a moment.
But Hermione gave Parkinson no time to react.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Hermione was lightning fast. As her wand moved, the spell had already been released.
Parkinson had just prepared to cast a defensive spell, but it was too late.
The spell hit her directly.
Snap!
Parkinson's whole body went rigid, her legs and feet pressed together, and she fell to the ground like a plank.
"Ventus!" Hermione had no intention of stopping. She raised her hand and released another spell, sending the petrified Parkinson flying toward the far end of the stage.
"Finite Incantatem!" Snape's expression was dark as he raised his hand to cancel Parkinson's spell, preventing her from crashing heavily to the ground.
"Hmph! Bitch!" Hermione slightly raised her chin, looking down at Parkinson not far away with the posture of a victor.
If it were the old her, being called a mudblood might've caused a mental breakdown and made her cry. But the current her would never fall into collapse and helplessness because of others' insults. Instead, she'd fight back directly.
This was the posture a strong person should have.
"Ahhhh..." Parkinson's face was flushed red as she seemed to go crazy, wanting to rush back. She'd already lost her wand and stretched out her hands toward Hermione, about to stage a hair-pulling fight.
"Enough!" Snape said coldly.
"Professor, I..." Parkinson was very unconvinced.
"Miss Granger, this is a demonstration. You can't use attack spells. You've crossed the line. Twenty points from Gryffindor..." Snape said slowly with a dark expression.
"Professor Snape, wasn't it Parkinson who used an attack spell first? If you're going to deduct points, please first deduct twenty points from Slytherin," Dudley said loudly.
Snape glared fiercely at Dudley and said coldly, "The Stunning Spell doesn't count as an attack spell."
"Then I think the Body-Bind Curse doesn't count as an attack spell either," Dudley said in direct confrontation.
Probably only Dudley among all students would dare speak to a professor like this.
Snape looked at Dudley with a dark expression. If so many students weren't watching, he might not have been able to restrain himself from acting.
"I think both of these spells don't count as attack spells, so there's no need to deduct points," Lockhart stepped out and said.
If this continued, he was really afraid these two would start fighting.
Snape silently turned to look elsewhere, and Dudley also didn't speak further.
Seeing this, Lockhart finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Meanwhile, everyone below held their breath and didn't dare make a sound.