As if his vocal cords were left at home.
Harry was so anxious that he directly drew his wand and gestured towards Howl. Only then did Hermione understand what Harry was trying to express.
"Now, opportunity!!"
She reacted quickly, raising her wand and waving it rapidly. "Stupefy—"
Oh, no…
Harry helplessly massaged his forehead, then looked at Chris. "Mr. Chris, let's keep our distance first."
"Oh, okay." Chris nodded, his hands constantly clenching, clearly very nervous as well.
At the same time, Howl turned around and lightly dodged to the side. The spell grazed his body and landed on a tree trunk behind him, causing a small crackling explosion.
Interesting…
Then, a golden slit pupil glanced at Harry. The brat, seeing this, quickly averted his gaze.
"Too slow. Your spells are so perfectly articulated, are you participating in a reading competition?"
"Incendio—" Another spell came flying.
Howl again took a large step to dodge, beginning to gradually close in.
"Useless spells. In a duel, are your thoughts revolving around the spell pronunciations and wand movements from the textbook?"
As he spoke, he raised his wand.
"Incendio—"
Violent flames ignited, rushing towards Hermione at an extremely fast speed.
She reacted quickly, trying to dodge, but her clothes caught fire, igniting a tongue of flame.
"Hermione!" Chris's foot unconsciously stepped forward, but Harry pulled him back.
"Mr. Granger, don't worry." Harry said. "This is Uncle Howl's way. I've suffered a lot of it myself.
Hermione hasn't gotten into the zone yet."
"Into the zone?" Chris was a little confused.
"Yes." Harry nodded. "A state unique to combat."
As he spoke, some horrific memories resurfaced in his mind: severed limbs, ruptured organs, body pierced through—all were commonplace.
At that time, Uncle Howl would only stand before him, looking down from above.
And it was these repeated near-death experiences, these repeated physical exertions.
Ultimately, they allowed him to, even when his bones were literally crushed to powder by Lord Voldemort during the Philosopher's Stone battle, cast aside fear, abandon cowardice, and find an opportunity for victory.
"Aguamenti—" Hermione quickly cast the spell, extinguishing the flames on her hand.
She cast it twice in a row; only on the second try did a gurgling stream of clear water finally emerge from the tip of her wand, putting out the flames.
"Calm down, Hermione, calm down—" She kept telling herself.
"You don't need to hold back. When facing an enemy, you have only one goal—victory!"
As he spoke, two more spells came flying in quick succession, moving very fast. Hermione could only barely graze past them to dodge.
And each time, it would cause her minor injuries. Splashing debris cut her cheek, and blood dripped, soaking into the corner of her mouth.
A metallic taste filled the girl's tongue.
However, a question simultaneously arose in her mind.
"Isn't this Defense Against the Dark Arts training?!"
At the same time, Howl unhurriedly dodged her spell, then kicked away a poisonous snake he had Transfigured beside him.
"'Defense' can be an action, or it can be the final outcome.
But in real combat, your thoughts, every swing of your wand, every incantation you utter, should be based on 'for victory.'
Only then can your spells undergo a qualitative change."
As he spoke, he slowed his steps. At this point, his figure was only three or four meters away from Hermione.
"As Wizards with not much defensive capability, our relationship with spells is no different from that of a person with a gun.
The result of one wrong move is death."
As he spoke, he lowered his wand, looking at the panting girl opposite him, who was already nearing her limit.
This twelve-year-old Little Wizard was already close to exhaustion.
He could actually tell that Hermione had put her best effort into every swing of her wand.
However, her fundamental approach was wrong.
She was too rigid about wand movements, spell incantations, forcibly guiding her casting emotions, and so on.
If the goal in a classroom was "successfully casting a spell," then all of her spells' performance just now far exceeded the average level for her year, earning her extra points from every Professor.
Unfortunately, this was a battlefield, not a classroom.
"If you constantly put yourself in the position of the 'responder,' then there's only one reason you can achieve victory.
That is, the people you're facing are all trash!"
"If you only hold ideas like 'self-defense,' then in a real fight, you will always be the losing side."
The next moment, Hermione suddenly raised her wand. This time, there were no complicated spell trajectories, no stiff, recitation-like incantations.
There was only a powerful spell, driven by a strong inner desire, cast from the heart.
A more concentrated spell light, a faster spell lightning.
At the same time, Howl also raised his wand.
"Diffindo—"
"Aguamenti—"
The next moment, a blue jet of water intersected with a dazzling green splitting Curse.
The water jet directly pierced Hermione's body, knocking her backward, and at the same time, the splitting Curse also landed on Howl.
Feeling the intense pain from her muscles, bones, and internal organs, the colors before Hermione's eyes gradually dimmed.
Then, a single splash of color appeared before her eyes.
A green light.
At the same time, a gentle voice echoed in her ear, like a spring breeze, quickly sweeping away the clutter in her mind.
However, it also made the intense pain in her body even clearer.
"Remember it!"
"What?"
"Remember this pain that makes you miserable, that you don't want to look back on, that you want to avoid.
Pain is not an enemy; it is one of only two friends when you are in danger."
Hearing such words, the Little Wizard inexplicably felt a stubbornness, as if unwilling to admit defeat, and deliberately spoke.
"Then… what's the other friend called… Friendship? Love?"
"It's called adrenaline!"
Dear readers, here's a book recommendation!
This one's really good, kill kill kill!
"Chinese Exchange Student at Hogwarts" is the only good one I've seen that combines Eastern and Western elements so far.
The author does a great job of blending Daoist magic and Western magic, neither disparaging one side nor failing to showcase the wonders of Eastern Daoist magic.
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