When Michael sat on the ground dazed, he saw Vid curl his lips in a wicked smile, and then a few more students were rolling around next to him.
Others like Goyle, Terry, and two girls.
After the initial few seconds of bewilderment, some students hesitated in choosing opponents, while others had no qualms about attacking the classmates beside them.
For instance, Pansy, who raised her Magic Wand and conjured ropes out of thin air to tie up Daphne.
Padma had Mandy next to her; she didn't want to cast a Spell on a friend, just as she was about to find a Slytherin opponent, a Stunning Spell grazed her hair.
As she turned around, she happened to dodge Mandy's sneak attack.
What else is there to say? Padma jumped up and reacted swiftly for a counterattack.
Her Magic Spell skills were noticeably higher than Mandy's, and after failing the initial sneak attack, Mandy knew she was beaten and skipped to the side after being hit with the Leg-Locker Curse without asking Padma to undo it.
Michael clicked his tongue, turned to pick up his Magic Wand that had flown away, and upon turning back, he found the brief duel had ended, with only seven people left standing in the middle of the classroom.
A poor bloke had actually won yet got hit by a stray Spell; and two others had struck each other simultaneously, regretfully both getting eliminated.
Vid, Malfoy, Crabbe, Padma, Anthony, Pansy, Zabini.
Sitting on the teacher's bench, Moody reached into his cloak, pulled out a curved flask, took a sip, and looked up at the group of students appearing to await his evaluation, asking quizzically: "What, no one around you anymore?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Malfoy raised his Magic Wand toward Vid not far away; Padma crouched down quickly before raising her Magic Wand; Blaise Zabini unhesitatingly hid behind Crabbe; Anthony stepped forward trying to speak to the professor; while Pansy pointed her Magic Wand at Padma, slightly dumbfounded for losing sight of her target.
But no one reacted faster than Vid.
"Immobulus! (Freeze all!)"
The old scene was replayed, and the chaotic crowd was all frozen in place, leaving only their eyeballs still moving.
Moody's flask paused at his lips, forgotten for a moment, his Magic Eye stopped rotating.
The next second, he suddenly dropped the flask, drew his Magic Wand at Vid's chest, and a scarlet ray was shot towards Vid, who promptly countered with a Petrification Spell.
The two Spells collided mid-air and rebounded, one beam shattered a window, while another Spell brushed past Goyle's thigh, exploding a table in the corner into pieces.
Goyle yelped and grasped his ripped pants fearfully.
"Decent reflexes," Moody remarked, eyeing Vid suspiciously with his raised Magic Wand, "You wouldn't happen to be that rascal Snape who drank Polyjuice Potion to trick me? Prove you're yourself!"
He shouted loudly with a face full of alertness.
Even Pansy, who was immobilized, couldn't resist murmuring inwardly, "This mad old man! Who else could Vid Gray be but himself? How could Professor Snape possibly transform into a student and sneak into your classroom?"
Clearly, only Moody seriously doubted Vid's identity, with his Magic Eye spinning wildly and the corners of his muscles twitching neurotically.
The tip of his Magic Wand flickered with a dangerous glimmer, appearing that if Vid couldn't instantly prove his identity, he might genuinely attack.
Vid thought for a moment, then softly said, "Ali."
This was one of the names of his family's Little Demonic Puppet, a secret only known by Vid himself, his parents, and neighbor Moody.
The light on the Magic Wand dimmed, the Magic Eye's spinning slowed, and Moody squinted saying, "Seems it's indeed you."
He didn't feel there was anything embarrassing about how nervous he was, with a flick of his Magic Wand, brought the flask back to his hand, casually wiping off the dust with his dirty cloak.
"Hmph...you passed, your Spell casting was decent," Moody remarked, taking another sip of alcohol, his gaze shifting to the others, tapping the floor with his cane impatiently and angrily saying: "As for the rest of you, look at your skills, even a Niffler could knock you down!"
"Patil, what's with those feeble Spells anyway?! You might as well hand your Magic Wand to the enemy!"
"Gringotts, if you keep casting Spells like that, you might as well help Hagrid look for Goblins in the garden!"
"Noat, is that object on your shoulder a decoration? If you can't use it, put it under your butt as a bench!"
"And you, Crabbe! If your opponent wasn't dumb enough, you should've been knocked out in the first round! Missing at such a close range! If you can't master the Magic Wand in your hand, it's worse than having none!"
Moody passionately criticized everyone except Vid, and finally reached Michael, stalling momentarily.
This kid was knocked out too fast to showcase his Spell casting skill. Given Vid's speed, his disarming Spell sent Michael's Magic Wand flying, and Moody felt it was...understandable.
But he had criticized everyone else who got eliminated, so couldn't skip this one.
Moody thought for a moment then continued yelling: "Stay vigilant at all times! Remember what I said!"
Michael: "..."
He ground his teeth secretly, looking at Vid, preparing to give Vid a "surprise" in the next duel.
Even if alone he couldn't beat Vid, weren't there others here too? Michael believed he wasn't the only one with this idea.
But soon after, Moody waved Vid aside, then swung his Magic Wand to release the Spell on everyone, regrouping the students.
This time, it wasn't entirely random allocation; it considered everyone's skill levels, such as Padma's opponent was Pansy, Anthony faced Malfoy, and Michael was assigned to Theodore Nott.
Looking at the tall and skinny opponent before him, Michael rolled his eyes helplessly, while Nott showed a lazy, cold sneer.
Once again the classroom filled with flashing Spells and student shouts, this time they were less obedient, not only aiming to defeat their immediate opponents but also seizing the chance to sneak attack other teams' victors.
After a session of chaos, not a single person was standing in the classroom.
Moody walked around critiquing again:
"Butt, don't turn your back on the enemy!"
"Goldstein, too slow to react!"
"Casting position is too obvious, Crabbe!"
By the time he'd criticized everyone individually again, class was already over by five minutes.
Finally, Moody returned to the front of the classroom, loudly announcing with a slightly hoarse voice: "Next week, I hope in your duels you show skills stronger than Goblins, and I'll also teach you how to identify and dismantle Dark Magic traps!"
"Consider yourselves warned, there's no easy time in my classes!"
"Gray, stay back; the rest of you, class dismissed!"