"I said, only disarming spells! Stop now!" Lockhart looked at the fierce battle between Harry and Malfoy on stage with horror. These two were truly the standout figures of their year. Their strength indeed surpassed their peers.
"When did Malfoy become so strong?" Ron frowned as he watched the intense duel on the field.
Harry's strength was already formidable, and he'd had Dudley's special training, so having such ability made sense. But Malfoy's strength somewhat exceeded their expectations.
Without Harry using silent wandless spellcasting, it currently looked like he could only fight Malfoy to a draw. Neither could overcome the other.
"Maybe Snape gave him special tutoring," Hermione speculated.
Not far away, Snape frowned as he watched Malfoy and Harry's battle, his expression unchanged. But if you looked carefully, you'd notice some slight fluctuations in his gaze toward Harry, as if he were remembering something. This prevented him from intervening to stop their fight. He just stood there watching, staring at Harry's eyes.
Just then, Malfoy's expression suddenly hardened, as if he'd made some determination, and he violently waved his wand.
"Serpensortia Maxima!"
Bang!
A mass of black light erupted from Malfoy's wand, then spread out as numerous black snakes burst from the light and landed on the stage.
These black snakes raised their heads, flicking scarlet tongues, and launched an attack toward Harry.
On the other side, Harry wasn't idle either. When Malfoy had just cast his spell, he skilfully cast the Disarming Charm.
"Expelliarmus!"
Bang!
Red light struck Malfoy's body, sending him flying, while his wand traced an arc and landed at Harry's feet.
Malfoy no longer had the ability to continue struggling. As long as Harry dealt with those black snakes on stage, this duel would be over.
The crowd below screamed and moved away from the stage, looking at those black snakes with fearful eyes.
Harry looked at those black snakes, thinking about what spell to use to deal with these summoned serpents, but when he locked eyes with them, he felt a strange sensation.
"Serpensortia Maxima?" Not far away, Dudley looked at the black snakes on stage and narrowed his eyes slightly.
He hadn't heard of this spell before, but judging from its effect, it was similar to the Serpensortia that Malfoy had cast before. Both summoned black snakes, except this version summoned many more, dozens of them.
This was probably the result of Malfoy not fully mastering the spell. If he could truly cast it completely, he might really be able to summon tens of thousands of snakes.
"Where'd he learn this spell?" Dudley wondered to himself.
Snape looked at Harry, who seemed frightened, then shifted his gaze away from Harry's eyes and slowly walked forward.
"Don't move, Potter. I'll handle this," Snape said, drawing his wand and pointing it at those black snakes.
"Stop!" Harry ignored Snape. He walked toward the snakes crawling toward him while speaking.
A miracle occurred. Those snakes that had been menacing just moments before actually stopped at Harry's command.
They stood bewildered in the centre of the stage, looking at Harry, as if waiting for his next command.
"Good. All of you, lie down," Harry spoke again.
The next moment, those black snakes uniformly lowered their raised heads and lay flat on the ground, withdrawing all aggression.
After doing this, Harry's lips curved into a smile.
Without exposing his silent wandless spellcasting, he'd subdued these black snakes Malfoy had summoned. Clearly, these snakes were Malfoy's trump card, only revealed at the last moment, yet he'd subdued them with just two sentences. He'd won thoroughly.
Harry proudly raised his head and looked around, expecting everyone to cheer and applaud as before, especially since he'd so easily subdued these black snakes.
However, what he saw was a silent Great Hall.
Everyone looked at him with terror and bewilderment, as if he'd just done something frightening.
No cheers, no applause.
Harry looked at Dudley and the others with confusion.
What shocked him was that Ron and Hermione also showed expressions of surprise. Only Dudley seemed to be deep in thought, his profound gaze revealing something strange.
Snape looked at Harry and narrowed his eyes, then raised his hand to cast a spell. Those black snakes instantly turned to dust and vanished from the stage.
"Let's go," Ron ran over and grabbed Harry.
Only then did Harry come to his senses, quickly walking off the stage and following Dudley and the others out of the Great Hall.
As they left, people around them moved aside, as if afraid of contamination.
Harry had no idea what was happening. Ron and Hermione didn't explain; they just pulled him away quickly.
Dudley also said nothing, showing a thoughtful expression.
In Gryffindor's common room, "Harry, you're a Parselmouth. Why didn't you tell us?" Ron asked as soon as they returned.
"I'm a what?" Harry was utterly confused.
"A Parselmouth!" Ron said. "Someone who can talk to snakes."
"What's the problem with that? Isn't this an ability some wizards have? I mean, isn't this my talent?" Harry frowned.
He didn't understand what was wrong with being a Parselmouth. Wasn't it just being able to talk to snakes?
"Very few people can talk to snakes," Dudley said. He'd read about this in books.
He also remembered that day when he'd just crossed over. His birthday. Their encounter at the zoo.
Harry had talked to a Brazilian boa constrictor then and had even set it free.
"Parseltongue is extremely rare," Dudley explained carefully. "Salazar Slytherin was the most famous Parselmouth in history, which is why Slytherin's symbol is a serpent.
As Dudley said this, something seemed to click in his mind, as if he'd caught some crucial clue.
"I... I just told those snakes to stop attacking and lie down," Harry said, dumbfounded.
"We don't know what you said because you spoke in the snake language," Hermione said helplessly.
"Probably now many people are speculating that you're Slytherin's heir, because only his descendants could possibly be Parselmouths. And not long ago, Crabbe was attacked, which doesn't fit Slytherin's rule of purging wizards, and we happen to be at odds with Crabbe and his group..." Ron explained with obvious concern.