With the Duelling Club's organizer passed out cold, what now?
Half the young witches and wizards turned to Snape and Flitwick, while the other half looked to Dudley and the Disciplinary Committee.
At some point, the Committee had earned a place in the students' minds equal to the professors themselves.
Snape and Flitwick exchanged a glance, then Snape gave Dudley a slight nod.
Clearly, they were handing the reins to him.
Every Hogwarts professor had high hopes for Dudley.
"Alright then," Dudley said without missing a beat, taking charge. "Pair up and start practicing."
"Neville, you're with Harry."
"Ron, you're with Draco."
"Hermione, you're with Pansy."
"What you just saw doesn't count. You haven't learned anything beyond basic duelling etiquette. Now, these pairs will give you a demonstration."
The named students stepped forward, standing face-to-face. Despite older students being present, Dudley deliberately chose all second-years.
'He called my name, he called my name!' Pansy thought, practically glowing with excitement, her eyes darting to Dudley.
People usually used last names unless they were close—or showing respect, in which case they'd tack on a "Mr." or "Miss."
"Ahem," Hermione coughed pointedly, her brows furrowing in disapproval.
Pansy caught the hint and quickly said, "Honored to duel you, Miss Granger."
"Show me what you've got."
They bowed, raised their wands, and pointed them forward.
"Rictusempra!" Pansy fired a beam of light from her wand.
A simple jinx to make someone laugh uncontrollably.
She was from a pure-blood family, sure, but she was still just a second-year.
"Protego!" Hermione flicked her wand casually.
An invisible shield materialized in front of her, effortlessly blocking Pansy's jinx.
After seeing Alex use this spell, Hermione had made a point to study it.
No surprise—she mastered it quickly.
Now, she could cast it with ease.
"Keep going," Hermione said to Pansy.
"Tarantallegra!"
Another minor jinx, this one forcing the target to dance wildly.
But it, too, failed to pierce Hermione's Protego shield.
"Again."
"Petrificus Totalus!"
Pansy unleashed a flurry of spells, but every single one sank into Hermione's shield like stones into a pond—completely ineffective.
A single Protego was enough for Hermione to dominate her peers.
Unbreakable.
Not everyone had Hermione's knack for overpowering a shield charm. At least, not among their year.
"You've all seen the power of Protego," Dudley said. "It can block most jinxes and curses."
"And it's not just for defense—it can reflect spells, too."
Hermione hadn't activated that feature, or Pansy would've been laughing and dancing at the same time.
Over on the other side—
"Expelliarmus!" Draco fired a Disarming Charm at Ron without hesitation.
Ron pulled a piece of stale, hardened fish from his pocket, tossed it into the air, and pointed his wand at it.
The fish transformed into a shield, blocking Draco's spell.
Transfiguration. Ron's skill wasn't on Hermione's level, but it was still impressive.
The shield looked rough, but it served as decent cover, easily stopping Draco's Disarming Charm.
That kind of transfiguration was at least third-year level.
"Diffindo!"
With the shield in place, Ron fired a Severing Charm, a red beam streaking toward Draco.
"Protego!"
Hermione had taught the others this spell the moment she'd learned it, making it standard for the Disciplinary Committee.
Draco cast the shield charm without hesitation, reflecting the Severing Charm.
Unlike Hermione's gentle approach, these two weren't holding back.
"Protego!"
Ron cast his own shield, the reflected spell hitting it and causing ripples before vanishing.
Ron wasn't unable to reflect—it's just that spells could usually only be bounced back once.
Otherwise, it'd be like a game of ping-pong, bouncing spells back and forth endlessly.
The two of them often practiced like this: if it didn't kill, they went all out.
Even though it was just a few quick exchanges, the younger students were wide-eyed, and even the older ones nodded in approval.
They weren't sure they could take these two on.
"The Disarming Charm is one of the most common spells in a wizard's duel, but it's not unstoppable," Dudley's voice carried to every student as he commented on Ron and Draco's fight. "Protego or a well-placed Transfiguration can block it. If you're confident enough, you could try 'Finite Incantatem,' but that's trickier, so I don't recommend it here."
Finite Incantatem was a catch-all counter-spell, great for dispelling minor charms. But against stronger spells, it required precise technique—one wrong move, and you'd botch it.
"Of course, if you're quick on your feet, you can just dodge."
The simplest method.
No matter how powerful a spell, if it didn't hit, it was useless. Unless the spell had tracking—like some did—most could be dodged with enough agility.
In theory, with slick enough moves, even a Muggle could take down a wizard.
"Forget about looking graceful in a fight," Dudley told the crowd, emphasizing his point. "The only thing that matters is how you defeat your opponent."
Finally, the third pair.
Red spells flashed back and forth.
"Harry, something on your mind?" Neville asked, pulling a handful of seeds from his pocket, hesitating to scatter them.
Harry's attacks weren't any weaker than Ron's or Draco's, but Neville, facing him, could tell he was distracted.
With Harry's skill, he could easily cast far stronger spells.
Harry's specialty was Defense Against the Dark Arts, taught by Snape himself.
Sure, the class was about defending against dark magic, but every Defense professor worth their salt was scarily adept at dark magic, too.
You had to master dark magic to teach others how to counter it.
How could you defend against something you didn't understand?
Disarming Charms were child's play for Harry. He usually started with jinxes—his Sectumsempra was leagues ahead of anything Hermione could pull off.
Dudley caught this, confirming his suspicion: Harry was definitely preoccupied.
'Looks like we need to have a talk.'