Ron noticed Hermione struggling hard, his face extremely anxious, fearing that Hermione would be overpowered by Pansy opposite her.
Come on, Hermione!
Harry frowned, in his opinion, Pansy's strength was obviously very abnormal.
In theory, second-year students are unlikely to have such magic abilities.
Of course, it could also be the heritage of Pansy's family, but last year when Pansy clashed with Hermione, she clearly didn't have these skills.
Could it be... taught by that damn Voldemort who pretended last year?
But it doesn't quite make sense.
Even if it were Voldemort, it's unlikely he could turn such a waste into something amazing.
Harry's intuition told him that there was definitely some untold secret here.
For a moment, a flash of insight directly appeared in his mind.
Perhaps... is it Voldemort lurking in Hogwarts?
Harry was pondering with his head down, his thoughts gradually leaning toward this possibility.
However, he suddenly heard cheers coming from beside him.
"Well done, Hermione!" Ron cheered, applauding.
Harry looked up and saw that Hermione had already grabbed Pansy's magic wand with her other hand.
"How did she win?" Harry nudged Ron with his elbow.
Ron smiled and said, "Hermione raised her wand and disarmed Pansy, it's that simple..."
Harry raised his head in confusion; he looked at Hermione, then at the dissatisfied Pansy.
What's going on?
He turned his head to look at Snape, only to find that Snape, who had been tense, had relaxed again.
Could it be that last semester, Tom only taught Pansy this one move?
Harry temporarily set aside his doubts, planning to have a word with Dumbledore about this matter.
As of now, even if he was certain that Pansy was controlled by Tom, he had no justification to act.
After all, he couldn't prove Tom's existence, so finding Dumbledore, the headmaster, was the safest choice.
Moreover, with Hermione defeating Pansy in one move, nobody would believe she was mind-controlled by Tom.
"Quite frightening." Hermione walked off the dueling platform, displaying a proud expression, "I thought she was really impressive, but she only had that one move after all."
"Don't let your guard down, Hermione." Ron said, still scared, "I thought you were almost pinned down and unable to get up by Pansy."
"Oh, thank you, Ronald." Hermione rolled her eyes, "I wish you could hope for something good for me next time, instead of always thinking about me being defeated."
"But as long as the end result is good, right?" Seamus said with a cheerful laugh on the side, "It's just a pity Professor Lockhart definitely won't allow me on stage, otherwise I'd certainly blow them sky-high."
"It's best he doesn't let you on stage, or Madam Pomfrey would have a lot of work to do." Neville grumbled on the side.
Seamus, unwilling to let it go, patted Neville on the shoulder and said, "Neville, I've never complained about you constantly burning cauldrons in Magic Potion Class."
Neville opened his mouth, realizing he couldn't refute.
Indeed, in Professor Snape's Magic Potion Class, Seamus often shared the most venom with him, but never complained.
But then, Seamus always caused small explosions in Spell Class, and Neville never complained about him either.
Perhaps this is the bond between good buddies.
It wasn't until after ten o'clock that the Dueling Club ended to the students' reluctance.
Watching others duel was truly interesting, like watching gladiators in ancient Rome, making it mesmerizing.
As the first-year students hadn't yet learned any dueling spells, they were there just as spectators or cheerleaders.
The main duelists were students from the fifth year and above.
It wasn't until getting back to the dormitory that everyone eagerly discussed the recent duel, analyzing who was each grade's top fighting strength.
As for the second year, it was undoubtedly Harry—but Harry wasn't pleased about it, as beating up kindergarteners wasn't something to be proud of.
After the Dueling Club ended, Harry quietly made his way to the Map Secret Room.
"Glad to see you still remember me, Harry."
Vivi stood in the portrait, frowning slightly, appearing a bit resentful.
Harry chose to get straight to the point, avoiding Vivi's questioning.
"The fairies told me Gareth stored some money in the vault—I saw Gareth's account book," he said.
Yet Vivi didn't avoid the issue as Harry had anticipated, crossing her arms and saying, "So you see, I'm willing to do so much for you, but you can't even come to the Map Secret Room to see me—not even once a week."
"I've been tracking down the Snake Monster's whereabouts." Harry shrugged, "Been looking for traces of the Snake Monster recently, but haven't found anything."
"But it wasn't all for nothing," Harry added, "it's comforting that I discovered someone suspicious in today's Dueling Club."
"Someone suspicious?"
"Yes, a suspicious person."
Harry recounted Pansy's performance in the Dueling Club and said to Vivi, "As far as I know, last year Pansy Parkinson was a little witch who couldn't cast many evil curses, and now in less than a year, her progress is really surprising."
"That doesn't mean she's been controlled by Voldemort." Professor Lachham said from the side, "You know, after all, the Parkinson family is a pure-blood family, there's always some kind of family heritage."