Hermione's words immediately bolstered Harry's confidence.
He quickly glanced across the field.
"They're coming this way!"
Realizing that the two were hiding behind the rocks, Draco stopped wasting magic at once and signaled Goyle and Crabbe to circle around.
"Potter, when did you turn into a little mouse?"
The three of them advanced carefully but quickly from the side.
"Uh… where's the mouse?" Goyle asked, staring at the empty ground in confusion.
"That's not right. The stones here aren't that thick!" Draco realized instantly.
To prevent both sides from hiding endlessly, the professor had designed these "rocks" to be more like stone slabs, only about a fist thick.
Draco didn't even have time to warn his teammates before he leapt backward.
He had already seen the stone peel away, shedding a layer of pale gray "skin."
"Stupefy!"
"Expelliarmus!"
"Protego!"
Draco's belated Shield Charm only managed to block Hermione's Stunning Spell. It couldn't stop Crabbe from being disarmed. Draco could only watch as Crabbe's wand flew into Harry's hand, leaving him completely out of the fight.
Of course, if the professor hadn't forbidden brawling, Crabbe's physical combat ability would still have been quite impressive…
Goyle, meanwhile, reacted a beat too late—and cast a Shield Charm.
Draco shot him an annoyed look and stepped past him, firing a Disarming Charm toward where Harry and Hermione were hiding.
The two of them moved swiftly, circling around and easily dodging the spell.
Just like that, both teams were back on equal footing.
The difference was that the fight had shifted from long range to close quarters. Less than ten feet separated them.
So close that if there hadn't been a stone slab between them, they wouldn't even have had time to cast Shield Charms.
Realizing that Goyle's slow reactions were putting him at a growing disadvantage, Draco fought while retreating, dragging Goyle backward to open up some distance.
But Hermione wasn't about to let that opportunity slip away.
She darted forward, perfectly using Crabbe, who was still standing there in a daze, to block Draco's line of sight.
"You idiot! Don't you know how to dodge—"
Draco shouted in frustration, but before he could finish, the ground beneath his feet suddenly softened. Caught off guard while retreating, he lost his footing and stumbled backward.
"Damn it!"
Only then did he realize his attention had been drawn entirely to Hermione. He hadn't noticed that Harry had transfigured the ground beneath his feet.
Aren't you supposed to be the attacker?!
Watching two Stunning Spells fly straight at him, Draco could only grumble that complaint in his head.
But in the next instant, a broad figure suddenly stepped in front of him, blocking both spells without hesitation.
"Why… I was dodging…"
Crabbe collapsed with a look of utter disbelief, hitting the ground with a heavy thud.
Draco rolled his eyes in irritation, forcibly swallowing the brief flicker of emotion that had nearly surfaced.
Hermione didn't even have time to feel relieved before she realized she was now fully exposed to Goyle and Draco's line of sight.
She hurriedly cast a Shield Charm, but by now, even Goyle was smart enough to switch to offensive magic.
A red spell struck Hermione squarely. As she fell, she became Goyle's first successful knockout of the entire dueling tournament.
But Goyle barely had time to celebrate before Harry's urgent Disarming Charm hit him head-on, sending him staggering to the ground.
As for the wand, Harry kicked it aside with obvious disdain.
If not for the golden barrier, both Harry and Draco would have noticed that the spectators were already fired up, their enthusiasm ignited by the dazzling variety of tactics on display.
"Hermione's way too smart! Without her, Harry would've lost ages ago!"
Seamus shouted from the stands, as if yelling like that could wash away the humiliation of being eliminated in the first round.
"Even though Malfoy's improved a lot, Harry is still the strongest fighter on the field. His Disarming Charm is faster and more precise than any other spell he uses."
After several years of guidance, Neville's raw strength was one thing, but what had truly grown was his perspective.
As if encouraged by Neville's words, Harry stepped forward confidently, facing Draco in a final one-on-one duel.
"What, don't feel like playing mouse anymore?" Draco said, just as confident, trading spells with Harry blow for blow.
"No. I just want to see whether a coward like you will run away again, just like you did three years ago."
Harry had been waiting for this duel for a long time.
Ever since first year, when Malfoy had asked him to a midnight duel and then stood him up, Harry had been looking forward to this moment.
Annoyance flashed across Draco's face, but a sharp glint flickered in his eyes.
He increased the power of his casting, switching to the more forceful Petrification Curse.
Harry's lips curved upward. Instead of stubbornly blocking everything with Shield Charm, he relied on agile footwork.
Draco was moving as well, but his magical energy was clearly draining faster. Before long, sweat beaded on his forehead, his fringe plastered tightly against his skin.
Harry wasn't having an easy time either, but his exhaustion was mostly physical. His spellcasting rhythm remained steady, without a single opening.
Malfoy, however, was another matter.
At the moment when both of them were close to their limits, Harry sharply sensed a brief hesitation in Malfoy's casting.
His wrist flicked rapidly, releasing—
No, two.
Two red beams flew toward Malfoy in quick succession. The first concealed the second, masking the real spell completely.
As the magic shot forward, Harry recalled what Hermione had whispered to him before the match.
"Malfoy is very confident. Every time he uses Shield Charm, it's perfectly timed. He never maintains it for even a second longer than necessary to save magic."
"That's impressive, but it also means you can trick him."
"We can't cast two spells at once like Professor Fawley, but you can make the first one just give off red light and save your magic for the real spell."
Thank you, light-orb games, Harry thought smugly.
But to his surprise, even though Malfoy really had been fooled, he still had enough strength left to cast two Shield Charms in rapid succession.
He even managed to fire back a quick Disarming Charm.
"Didn't see that coming, did you, Potter?"
But before he could savor his triumph, his wand suddenly felt as though something pressed down on it, jerking his aim downward.
That tiny shift caused his carefully prepared spell to slam into the ground instead, blasting up a few chunks of stone.
In disbelief, Draco saw Ron standing there. He was clutching his head, but his wand was pointed straight at him, casting a Pressure Charm with perfect accuracy.
"Expelliarmus!"
Soaked in cold sweat, Harry immediately followed up, knocking Malfoy flat.
Only after seeing Malfoy go down did Harry reach out to steady Ron.
"I've got to say, Hermione really needs more practice with counter-curses. I'm only just recovering now."
It turned out that when Hermione had hidden behind Crabbe earlier, she hadn't just drawn Malfoy's attention. She had also used a counter-curse on Ron.
"We should all be thanking her. Otherwise, we wouldn't have won this championship," Harry said with a wide grin.
"No, no, no. Clearly my Pressure Charm was the real star."
"Give it a rest. In your current state, you can barely manage even that simple spell."
Compared to Harry and the others laughing and joking, Draco lay on the ground in far worse spirits.
He was panting heavily, his head throbbing from magical exhaustion, but the strongest feeling inside him was disappointment.
He didn't dare stand up, afraid of seeing the professor's disappointed expression.
He had worked so hard. Every day, after grading papers and returning to the dormitory, he practiced magic for hours.
So why… why did he still lose?
He pressed his lips together, eyes glistening under the harsh sunlight.
Soon, the light above him was blocked by a smiling face.
"Professor…" he whimpered softly.
"Get up. You did very well this time. No, you did better than anyone expected."
Tver smiled and held out a hand.
"Yes!"
Draco choked as he took the professor's hand. He couldn't hold back his tears anymore, and they streamed down his face as he stood up.