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Chapter 45
"True skill comes from practice! That concludes the demonstration!" Lockhart announced grandly. "Now I'll come around and pair you off. Professor Snape, if you'd be so kind as to assist…"
Snape leaned in with a look that could curdle milk. The murderous gleam in his eyes made several students recoil on instinct. Just because Lockhart could apparently beat him didn't mean they stood a chance. They weren't fools.
Seamus was paired with Justin. Harry and Ron tried subtly edging toward Lockhart, but Snape reached them first.
"The little Dream Team—split up," he said with icy satisfaction. "Weasley, you'll partner with Finnegan. Potter—"
He paused deliberately, clearly eager to vent the humiliation of his earlier defeat.
"Draco, I believe our resident hero will make a suitable opponent for you. Let's see what you can turn the famous Potter into." Snape's gaze slid toward Hermione. "As for you, Miss Granger…"
He gestured lazily at a nearby Slytherin girl.
"You'll pair with Pansy."
Hermione let out a tiny sigh of relief. Perfect—this meant she could get close to Pansy just as she'd planned. She had even shuffled slightly in that direction hoping for this outcome, but she hadn't expected it to work.
"Face your partners!" Lockhart called from the stage. "Bow!"
Harry and Draco stepped up, each moving with slow, tense steps. Harry's stomach twisted; he still remembered Ron's disastrous state in Hagrid's hut.
"Raise your wands—ready!" Lockhart shouted. "On the count of three, cast your spell and disarm your opponent—just disarm them, mind you—we don't want any accidents. One—two—three!"
They lifted their wands over their shoulders. At "three," both turned.
Maybe from nerves—maybe something else—Harry cast first. He pointed his wand at Malfoy.
"Disarm you!"
A faint red jet burst out—far weaker and slower than Snape's earlier spell.
Malfoy batted it aside effortlessly with a basic Shield Charm.
"Serpent Bind!" Malfoy snapped, wand slicing through the air. The words were quick, precise—
—and nothing happened.
"I said only use a Disarming Charm!" Lockhart said sharply, displeased. But Malfoy only smiled.
"This one is safer, Professor."
"How could that be safer!" Ron shouted from below. "Break the rules and you should lose points!"
"The incantation—was that about snakes?" Hermione's heart lurched. Everyone had been on edge for weeks because of the mysterious monster that might—or might not—be the creature in the Chamber. A ripple of whispers spread through the crowd; they'd all heard the word serpent.
Harry stayed alert. Malfoy hadn't produced anything—but Harry refused to believe Malfoy would make such a simple mistake.
Moments later, gasps erupted from the audience.
Harry looked down—and froze.
A python was coiling around his waist, its scales glinting, tongue flicking. Its green eyes locked onto his as it spiraled upward. After the initial stab of fear, something else tugged at Harry—an urge to speak to it. He felt certain the snake could understand him.
"Let me go," Harry said softly to the snake.
Nothing happened.
"Hermione—what's Harry doing?" Ron hissed. "Is he talking to the rope?"
"I—I don't know." Hermione frowned, troubled. She couldn't make out what Harry was saying.
From the audience's perspective, Harry's robe had unraveled into lengths of fabric, twisting into a rope that wound around him tightly. And Harry was spitting out some strange syllables none of them recognized.
"Is he talking to the rope?" a Ravenclaw murmured. "Or is that a counter-curse?"
Harry frantically searched for the right words—those strange hissing syllables that rose unbidden. His instincts insisted the snake understood him. But the creature only tightened its grip. Its head slid up to his neck, jaws parting, fangs gleaming—
—and it struck.
The audience saw only the rope knotting sharply around Harry's throat.
"Draco, end it now," Snape said curtly. "The winner is obvious."
"Of course, Professor." Draco didn't even open his eyes. He stood completely still, looking almost serene. Then, raising his wand: "Release!"
The snake loosened. Harry felt it unwind… fading… dissolving into nothing as though it had never existed.
The crowd below looked distinctly unimpressed. Compared with the teachers' duel, this was painfully dull.
Lockhart, however, beamed. "Marvelous spellwork! It reminds me of an ancient Eastern proverb—what was it again? 'Winning without—something?'"
"'Subdue the enemy without fighting,'" offered a black-haired girl near the front.
"Yes! Exactly! And all of you know my dream is world peace. A spell like this is right up my alley. Ten points to Slytherin!" Lockhart said joyfully, flourishing his wand.
Harry still stared blankly ahead. Even though Malfoy had stepped off the platform, Harry couldn't shake the image of that snake. Only Hermione and Ron yelling his name snapped him back to reality. He stepped aside automatically to let the next pair take the stage.
He drifted off in a daze, the serpent's coils replaying in his mind.
"Harry, seriously—why were you spacing out?" Ron complained. "You could've torn that rope apart with your hands!"
"Rope?" Harry turned to him, startled.
"What else did you see?" Hermione asked sharply. She had already sensed something was off about that spell.
"I saw… a snake," Harry said quietly.
"It was obviously a rope," Ron insisted, incredulous. "Everyone saw the same thing!"
"Hmmm," Hermione murmured. "He must've layered a hallucination charm with some kind of transfiguration—the robe undoing and reforming at the same time."
"Well, whatever it was, nothing to do about it now." Ron sighed. "If a giant spider had come at me, I wouldn't have lasted any better. Most people are terrified of snakes anyway."
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