At Leonard's "friendly" invitation, George and Fred were "voluntarily" hauled beneath the Hogwarts bell tower, the spot reserved for student duels. A group of students were in the middle of a clumsy exchange. Before one bout had even finished, Leonard grabbed George and Fred and drove everyone else off.
The surrounding students stared in confusion as Leonard planted himself at the center of the field, one hand gripping each of the purple-faced Gryffindors, sweeping the crowd with a look of open contempt. Who the hell was this?
The duel enthusiasts watched Leonard blankly, completely unable to read the intentions of this Hufflepuff student. Hufflepuffs rarely came here to duel. Today was downright strange. Not only had one shown up, he had dragged two Gryffindors with him.
Looking closer, wasn't this Hufflepuff Leonard William? The hardcase who had beaten up a bunch of Slytherins at the start of term?
And those two Gryffindors didn't look right either. Weren't they the Weasley twins, famous pranksters who had been rolling around on the grass lately? What were they trying to do?
At that moment, a Slytherin student who frequently organized duels walked over, looking uncertain.
"William… um… hello. I'm the organizer for this round. You can call me Peter Orlando."
"Oh, hello, Orlando," Leonard said with a smile. "I brought some people to participate in the duel."
Orlando's mouth twitched at the sight of that smile. After hesitating for a moment, he said tactfully,
"This is a magical duel. Not unrestricted combat."
In other words: we know your fists are terrifying, but this place is for elegant magic, not brute force. Naturally, Orlando didn't dare say "elegant" or "brutal" out loud. He was afraid Leonard might introduce him to a very brutal iron fist.
"Oh, of course. I know," Leonard replied with a nod and a smile, then looked around.
As the crowd exchanged puzzled looks, Leonard laughed lightly and said,
"I've got two champions here who want to challenge everyone present. They think none of you are their match."
The moment Leonard dropped that line, the students froze, then erupted in anger. Who here didn't love magical dueling, didn't devote themselves to honing their spellwork?
They might not all dream of becoming legendary duelists, but every one of them had pride. And now someone who had never even competed before was standing here running his mouth?
They wouldn't accept it. And neither would the upperclassmen who had organized duels in years past.
Dueling beneath the bell tower had a long history. Even Dumbledore and Professor Flitwick had once stood on this very field. Every participant believed, like their predecessors, that their future was boundless.
And now three people who had never competed suddenly showed up to provoke them? That was going too far.
The students surged forward, wands raised.
Seeing the situation spiral out of control, George's face turned purple.
"Hey, don't misunderstand! That's not what I meant!"
"What he meant is that everyone here is trash!" Leonard shouted, grinning as the crowd closed in on George and Fred.
"You got me dragged out of the library, so now I'll drag you down with me. We're even."
With that, Leonard released their collars, cast a Disillusionment Charm, and slipped away before the encirclement closed.
George and Fred barely had time to breathe before they tried to imitate Leonard's escape. Too late. The circle had already sealed shut. That bastard Leonard had planned this perfectly. He never intended to let the two of them get away.
"He's way too petty," Fred muttered through clenched teeth. "It was just one little setup."
"What do we do now? I feel like they're about to mob us," George said.
The two stood back-to-back, staring at the ring of students, feeling like the whole world had turned against them. If everyone attacked at once, they'd be spending Easter break in the Hospital Wing.
Damn it, Leonard.
And seriously, wasn't it Easter break? Why weren't these people home celebrating, instead of gathering here to duel? Didn't they care about their families at all? Their parents would cry if they saw this.
"Then we strike first," Fred said through gritted teeth, then shouted,
"Fine! Let's have a fair two-on-two duel!"
If he didn't speak now, it would be too late. With a so-called righteous group beating about to happen, Fred felt he had to stop things from boiling over. Calm them down first. Then find a chance to run.
The students surrounding them froze.
"Huh? Why are there only two now? Weren't there three just a second ago?"
"Where did that Hufflepuff William go?"
"Yeah, he just vanished."
Listening to the murmurs, Leonard rolled his eyes from within the crowd. Took you long enough. The real culprit had already slipped away.
Just as the discussion started drifting off, someone suddenly shouted,
"Don't fall for it! They're trying to escape! Those two just called us trash! Everyone together. Teach them a lesson with magic!"
Fred and George nearly twisted their noses in rage. That was Leonard's voice. That bastard was hiding in the crowd, stirring things up.
The anger flared again. No one bothered arguing anymore. Wands were drawn, all aimed at George and Fred.
"It wasn't us! We didn't say that!" George shouted, trying desperately to explain, when someone suddenly raised their wand and fired a Disarming Charm.
Who did that? Attacking out of nowhere when everyone was already on edge? Wasn't that just asking for chaos?
George spotted the spell flying straight at him. Without time to think, years of dodging magic kicked in and he twisted aside.
But the spell wasn't locked onto a single target. After missing George, it slammed into one of the students in the ring, blasting him backward. The fallen student's wand flew through the air and, by sheer coincidence, landed right in George's hand.
George stared at the wand, his expression complicated. Using a Disarming Charm to precisely control where an opponent's wand ended up—among everyone he knew, only Leonard could do that.
That had been an advanced application of the Disarming Charm. So that spell just now had been Leonard's doing.
That lunatic was hiding in the crowd, fanning the flames, dead set on getting this mob to beat them senseless.
What kind of grudge did he even have?