Chapter 167. Extra Points of Historic Proportions
"When you fight other wizards, you must keenly observe the opponent's every move and not let a single detail slip by."
"Because any tiny motion on the other side may be a sign that he is about to cast a spell and attack you."
"If you can seize that moment, make preparations in advance, and find a chance to counterattack, it is more useful than mastering any number of defensive spells."
When Snape finished speaking, his gaze went to Duncan, who stood seven or eight paces directly in front of him.
"Are you ready?"
"Ready…"
Duncan dipped his chin.
He had barely let two syllables out when he saw a beam of light, not particularly noticeable, shoot towards him.
Merlin's beard, Snape—bullying someone younger is one thing, but why pull a sneak attack as well?
Duncan reacted at once.
He dodged before the spell could hit him and, amid a chorus of gasps in the classroom, several black spots appeared on the side wall.
"When you face an enemy, you must stay alert at all times, because they won't remind you before attacking.
They will only try every possible way to kill you."
Snape swept his eyes over the students below the platform, then added a word of praise.
"On this point, Scamander did well.
He just successfully avoided my spell."
Although Snape's words were praise, Duncan seemed to hear a faint trace of dissatisfaction in his tone.
Duncan's guard went up at once.
He tightened his grip on his wand and watched for the tiniest movement Snape might make.
Sure enough, as Snape explained the key points of the previous move to everyone, he suddenly raised his wand again and fired off a spell at speed.
Duncan was ready.
With a light tap of his wand to the left, a desk in the front row rose straight into the air and turned sideways before him as a shield.
Snape's spell was very weak.
It struck the surface of the desk without leaving any mark.
"Nicely handled!"
Snape called out in a loud voice.
He pointed his wand towards where Duncan stood and spun it quickly.
The desk shielding Duncan gave a slight shudder and then, as if something were trying to push out from inside, its surface bulged up into a large lump.
A few seconds later, the bulge split open.
Countless white feathers surged out from within and drifted down in graceful spirals to the floor.
Duncan frowned at the desk turning into feathers.
He raised his wand and, as though conducting the feathers, flicked rapidly among them.
Invisible threads seemed to spread through the feathers hanging in the air, stringing them all together and fixing them in place before Duncan.
The feathers took on a metallic sheen and gave off an air of indestructibility.
"Duncan, brilliant!" someone shouted in the classroom, and the other students finally reacted.
The room boiled over like a kettle at full boil, bursting into rounds of applause and cheers.
They had not expected Duncan, a first-year like them, to hold a head-on duel with Snape already.
Meanwhile, they were still practising the Levitation Charm with all their might.
The gap between one wizard and another was, frankly, a bit large…
Duncan, however, silently groaned at the others' cheering.
Wasn't this just adding fuel to the fire, pushing Snape to go harder at him?
Just as Duncan expected, Snape's face was impassive as his wand moved faster, and his offensive instantly grew much more fierce.
The feather shield before Duncan rang with clang—clang—clang, quivered slightly, and was forced to retreat bit by bit.
After withstanding six spells, the feather shield seemed about to complete its mission and retire with honour, as faint cracks crept over it.
Snape's eyes narrowed.
Seizing the chance, he lifted his wand and loosed a rush of flames.
The feather shield turned to ash on the spot.
Then he used a feint, fooled Duncan's eyes, and a beam of light shot at Duncan from an extremely tricky angle.
By the time Duncan noticed, there was no time left to dodge, but he wasn't thinking of dodging anyway.
At the very moment the spell struck him, Duncan pointed his wand at Snape.
A blazing fireball surged out and howled towards Snape.
Snape moved quickly, but the hem of his robe still got grazed.
A wisp of black smoke curled up as a patch of his clothing scorched.
In the end, this classroom demonstration concluded with Duncan sporting a livid black eye and Snape with a torn robe.
"If the power of that spell of mine had been just a little stronger, you would be dead now," Snape said coldly to Duncan.
"Then I would not have made that choice," Duncan said with a smile.
"Professor, I'm not that foolish."
Snape stared at Duncan in silence for a moment, then waved his hand.
"The demonstration is over.
Go back and sit down."
"Yes, Professor."
Duncan let out a breath and, to the applause and admiring looks of the other students, hurried back to his seat.
"Silence!" Snape said in a low voice, and the noisy classroom fell quiet in the shortest time.
Snape went on.
"Duncan Scamander's performance just now was decent.
He blocked several of my spells and, at the final moment, seized a chance to strike back at me.
Though it did no real harm, it still brushed my robes, so…"
Snape paused and uttered a sentence that Hufflepuff students could hardly believe.
"For that, I will award Hufflepuff two points."
The classroom went abruptly silent, even the sound of breathing vanishing, and then erupted into a deafening outcry that nearly blew the roof off.
"My God, Duncan, did you hear that?" Hannah turned around, eyes shining.
"Snape gave Hufflepuff points because of you!"
It was only two points, but it was a big step in the history of Hufflepuff gaining points and a step forward in the history of Hogwarts awarding them.
They had only ever heard of Snape taking points from students of other Houses, never of him awarding them to anyone outside Slytherin.
But today, that precedent was broken—and the one to make history was a Hufflepuff student—so how could they not be excited?
Duncan was a little dazed too, not because of the two points, but because he had sensed a trace of satisfaction in Snape's tone.
Snape seemed rather pleased that he had used a Lava Bomb to catch Snape's robes.
Duncan thought for a moment.
Looking at the students cheering like mad around him, he said calmly, "Don't get so worked up.
This is just my normal routine."
"Er…"
The students who had been about to praise Duncan swallowed their words at once and looked at him with disdain.
The rest of the lesson proceeded in a lively atmosphere.
When the bell rang, Snape shut his mouth decisively and briskly left the classroom.
The Hufflepuffs grew excited all over again.
Some crowded around Duncan, all talking at once without stopping.
Others sprinted out of the classroom.
They wanted to spread the news of Duncan's earning points from Snape to the entire school.
When everyone finally calmed down, Duncan managed to break out of the crowd and, together with Neville and a few others, made it with difficulty to the classroom door.
"Just as I expected, Duncan got a thrashing from Snape," came Fred's gloating voice.
"It's just—why does he look so relaxed?" George sounded a bit put out.
"Why is it only a black eye?"
"Did Snape go too easy on him?
Or did he use too much strength when he laid into us this morning, so now he's tired?"
"Not only did he go easy, he also gave me points," Duncan said, turning his head in smugness.
Besides the twins, Hermione and the others had all come up.
"Gave you points?
Snape?" Fred said, face full of disbelief.
"Duncan, did that blow to the head make you daft?"
"Duncan's telling the truth.
Snape really gave our House two points!" Hannah said with a happy laugh.
Except for Hermione, the eyes of Fred, George, Harry, and Ron went wide in unison and they all froze on the spot.
Only after a long time did they come back to themselves and shout in unison, "Merlin's beard, we can't still be asleep, can we?
What a terrifying piece of news!"
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