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The wait was dull, tedious, and, more than anything else, irritating.
On the surface, Lynn appeared calm, even looking a bit bored, but internally he was racking his brain over a thorny problem:
How should he fight so that Cedric wouldn't lose too embarrassingly?
This question truly stumped him.
In the past, his targets for "practice" or "actual combat" were either magical constructs or vicious Death Eaters like the Carrows. He had almost never engaged in a formal magical duel with a "normal," "friendly," and "similar-aged" classmate.
He had zero experience in this!
Against enemies, he could use the Crucio, Undying Curse chains, Thunder Summoning, and various insidious combination techniques without any psychological burden.
The goal was clear: efficiently neutralize or eliminate the enemy.
But against Cedric?
Lynn now particularly wished Cedric were a disguised, vicious Dark Wizard; then he could go all out, using whatever Spells he wanted without considering the consequences or the other person's dignity.
Unfortunately, Cedric was just an excellent student with good character and grades.
"Ding-dong—!"
A crisp bell rang through the waiting area, and a copper indicator light on the wall lit up, signaling that another pair of contestants could enter the main arena for their formal duel.
Cedric immediately stood up, straightened his robes, and looked at Lynn with determined eyes. "It's our turn, Lynn."
Saying nothing more, he turned and took the lead out the waiting room door.
Looking at his back, Lynn shrugged helplessly, slowly stood up, and followed.
As soon as the two of them moved, the waiting room instantly erupted into a frenzy.
Edgar, William, and Ollie looked at each other. Finally, Edgar couldn't hold it in any longer. "Should we go watch? Front row! We must get the front row!"
Ollie was concise: "Mhm."
William pushed up his glasses, having already closed the book in his hand.
"Let's go, let's go, let's go!"
The movement of the three of them was like flipping a switch. The other students, who had long been itching with curiosity, could no longer sit still.
"Fourth year against sixth year!" "Diggory against Lynn!" "A Hufflepuff civil war!"
Immediately, everyone in the waiting room stood up with a rustle and surged toward the entrance to the viewing area. Even a few students who had originally planned to practice with others temporarily abandoned their plans, intending to watch this match first...
By the side of the dueling area, Professor Flitwick had just finished instructing the previous pair of younger students and was preparing to announce the next group.
Suddenly seeing a large crowd pouring out from the waiting room tunnel—and clearly not just the two about to duel, but a whole wave of spectators—he couldn't help but be stunned for a moment.
"Quiet! Maintain order!"
Professor Flitwick shouted. With a wave of his wand, he raised a transparent barrier in front of the viewing area to prevent crowding.
Only then did he look at Lynn and Cedric, who had walked up to him. "Are you two the ones dueling? Diggory, and... Lynn?"
"Yes, Professor."
Professor Flitwick looked at Cedric, then at Lynn, who seemed a bit distracted standing nearby, and a trace of worry appeared on his face.
He cleared his throat and used magic to amplify his voice, ensuring the entire venue could hear: "Now, before we begin, I must once again solemnly repeat the rules of the Dueling Club!"
His gaze lingered on Lynn for a moment longer, as if hinting at something. "First, it is absolutely forbidden to use any Spells defined as 'Dark Arts,' including but not limited to the Unforgivable Curses and their derivatives, or any jinxes that cause persistent pain or injury!"
"Second, the use of any non-wand alchemy tools or magical items to assist in combat is forbidden."
"Third, causing serious or permanent physical injury is absolutely forbidden. The standard for victory is disarming the opponent or rendering them temporarily unable to fight."
"Fourth, you must not attack an opponent who has already fallen or is clearly incapable of resisting!"
"Fifth..."
Professor Flitwick spoke extremely fast, listing a full seven or eight detailed rules in one breath, more comprehensive than ever before. This left both Lynn and Cedric stunned, looking at each other in bewilderment.
Were there... this many rules before?
This was the shared thought in their minds at that moment.
Especially Lynn; he clearly felt that several of them seemed to have been added on the fly...
Finally, after Professor Flitwick finished speaking, he wiped his sweat and waved his wand, selecting a Dueling Platform with the thickest protective magic for the two of them.
"Go on up, children. Remember, friendship first, competition second..."
The two stepped onto the Dueling Platform. Following etiquette, they bowed to each other, then walked forward to the starting positions, turned to face each other, and raised their wands.
Professor Flitwick's voice rang out: "Ready—three... two... one... begin!"
Almost the instant the final note of "begin" fell, Cedric was the first to act.
His wand flicked swiftly—
A non-verbal Stupefy sliced through the air, heading straight for Lynn's face.
However, facing this rapid strike, Lynn's reaction seemed... overly casual.
He didn't even make a standard parrying or dodging posture; he simply held his wand and gave it a casual wave forward, the tip tracing a tiny arc.
The next moment, an astonishing scene occurred: when that powerful Stunning Spell made contact with the air an inch in front of Lynn's wand tip, its light suddenly contracted inward and then instantly vanished without a trace.
"Oh—!" A wave of exclamations rose from the audience.
"A beautiful non-verbal Spell!" Professor Flitwick shouted excitedly in a high-pitched voice.
This nonchalant neutralization left Cedric feeling chilled. He hadn't expected Lynn to handle it so effortlessly.
Not daring to be careless, Cedric immediately increased the intensity of his attack.
His wand moved rapidly through the air, and a flock of birds constructed of magic appeared out of thin air, flapping their wings and attacking Lynn from multiple angles like living creatures to distract his vision and movement.
Immediately following that, his wand tapped one of the birds again.
The bird transformed rapidly in mid-air, instantly becoming a snarling, vicious hound. Along with the flock of birds, it lunged at Lynn from both the air and the ground simultaneously!
Facing this pincer attack from above and below—a rather clever combination offensive—Lynn still neither dodged nor avoided it.
He didn't even move his feet; he simply raised his wand again.
In an instant, that large flock of magical birds seemed to have had a pause button pressed on them; they all froze rigidly in mid-air, even the motion of their wings solidifying. Then, Lynn's wrist flicked—
All the frozen birds simultaneously turned into plumes of grey smoke and dissipated into the air.
At the same time, the hound lunging at him jerked to a halt, then turned around and charged at its creator—Cedric—at an even faster speed!
Cedric was horrified; he had never seen anyone able to so easily seize control of his Transfiguration creations.
Seeing the "traitorous" hound lunging close, he instinctively raised his wand, intending to deal with it using a Fire-Making Spell.
However, just as his hand was halfway up, it suddenly stopped obeying him and began swaying left and right as if his wrist were no longer his own.
Cedric snapped his head around to look at Lynn—only to see Lynn steadily pointing his wand at the hand Cedric had raised, his own wrist occasionally twitching twice.
As Lynn's wrist moved, Cedric's arm involuntarily swayed along with it!
"You lose."
A strong sense of unwillingness welled up in Cedric's heart. His arm was out of control, but he could still chant; there was still a chance.
"Finite Incantat—"
Unfortunately, the Spell never made it out—
A Disarming Charm from Lynn struck his wrist with precision!
"Clap!"
Cedric felt his wrist go numb, and his tightly held wand flew out of his hand, spinning through the air and tracing a parabola before being steadily caught by Lynn with his other hand.
On the Dueling Platform, the dust settled.
Cedric stood there in a daze, looking at his empty hand, then at Lynn across from him, who held Cedric's wand in one hand and his own in the other.
Total silence fell over the platform and the audience.
After several seconds, Cedric slowly let out a breath, a complex smile appearing on his face. He shook his head. "I... lost. You are very impressive."
He stepped forward and extended his hand to Lynn, both to retrieve his wand and as a gesture of friendly acknowledgement.
Lynn handed the wand back to him and also offered a smile. "Good game, Cedric. Let's have another round when there's a chance."
"It's a deal."