That evening, two houses erupted in lively celebration.
Gryffindor and Hufflepuff—not, as one might expect, Slytherin.
Gryffindor was jubilant over Neville's victory with the sword against Slytherin's giant serpent. He might not have claimed the final win, but this was Neville Longbottom—and he'd used the very sword that symbolized Gryffindor to defeat a Slytherin beast. Just the thought sent a thrill through the common room.
For the first time ever, Neville found himself the center of attention in the Gryffindor common room. Surrounded by a crowd of excited students, he demonstrated again and again how he'd bested the Slytherin serpent. The older students even conjured a snake with Transfiguration so he could show off his moves to his heart's content.
In a cozy corner, the trio of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, plus Ginny, listened as Harry recounted the battle from his own perspective.
Ron shot Hermione a look of pure regret. "If you hadn't dragged me off to the library, I'd have seen the whole thing! I bet Malfoy's face was priceless."
Hermione sighed. "It's a shame that git still won in the end."
Harry shook his head. "Neville did brilliantly. Wood broke it down for us afterward—if Malfoy had actually fought alongside the serpent from the start, Neville probably would've lost much sooner."
Ron grumbled under his breath, "I don't get why the Professor gave the magical artifact to a Slytherin. If it had been Neville, the outcome would've been totally different."
Hermione glanced around, puzzled. "Where are Percy and the other upper-years who went to try the trial today?"
Ginny, nibbling on a sweet, replied, "They came back ages ago, but looked really down. I guess either the trial was too tough and they failed, or the Professors gave them an earful. As soon as they got in, they locked themselves in their dorm and mumbled about writing some report.
I asked Percy about the trial, but he said the challenges keep changing. What they faced is probably different from what we'll get in lower years."
Harry frowned. "If even Percy thinks it's hard, how are we supposed to pass? They say those trials are going to be the new graduation standard."
Hermione sighed again. "I'm not worried about the difficulty of the original trials. I just hope the upper-years don't mess them up like they did with the Practical Classroom."
Ron didn't seem too interested—he was the only one of the four not eligible. After all, their year had Hermione for theory and Harry for practical magic.
But why was it Hufflepuff, not Slytherin, who was in high spirits that night?
It turned out that after seeing the giant serpent earlier, a group of little Hufflepuffs had gotten… peckish. They'd heard from upper-years that a batch of, well, ingredients—namely, snakes—had appeared near the Forbidden Forest last term.
They only meant to find a few for a snack, but with so many hibernating snakes easy to find this time of year, the Hufflepuff common room ended up hosting a full-blown snake feast.
The mood in Slytherin was far less cheerful. Even though Draco had technically won, there was nothing to be proud of. Worse, since his summoned serpent had been defeated, some of the older students quietly whisked him away for some "training"—he'd brought shame to their house.
Word of the duel eventually reached the Professors.
Though they hadn't been caught in the act, Professor McGonagall still decided that their unauthorized duel had set a poor example for the school. Neville Longbottom and Draco Malfoy each lost thirty House points.
Their punishment: two weeks of after-class labor with Hagrid, cleaning up magical creature droppings at the Hogwarts paddocks. Then, off to the greenhouses to help Professor Sprout turn the muck into fertilizer.
Neville was actually delighted—making fertilizer from magical creature dung was crucial for growing magical plants, since each species needed its own special blend.
Draco, on the other hand, was utterly miserable—and not just because of the manure duty.
When Douglas Holmes heard about the duel, he assigned both boys a two-foot essay, analyzing why they'd failed.
Draco felt especially aggrieved: Why did everyone act like he'd lost, when he'd technically won?
Professor Snape brought up the incident more than once in Potions:
"Spells are your own skill. Potions can enhance your abilities.
Magical artifacts? Those are just toys—magical toys that even a Muggle with a kitchen knife could defeat…
Mr. Malfoy, you can't learn Potions by tossing out a magical gadget…
Mr. Longbottom, do you need special permission to use that ridiculous sword of yours to chop ginger root?"
Despite all this, Neville gained new confidence in his swordsmanship, and soon other Gryffindors wanted to follow his lead.
Of course, not everyone could learn directly from Douglas Holmes. So, with his mentor's blessing, Neville founded his own club at Hogwarts—the Gale Sword Society.
As president, Neville continued to study under Douglas, but also taught swordsmanship to any classmates who showed an interest.
Hermione even designed their club badge: a little figure chopping off a snake's head, enchanted to repeat the motion over and over.
"Gale Sword Society—Raise your sword to the sky, conquer every challenge!"
"Let your blade dance in the wind—Gale Sword Society, show your true self!"
"Devoted to the way of the sword—Gale Sword Society, forging body and mind!"
"Set sail on the gale—Gale Sword Society, let your swordsmanship be unstoppable!"
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