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Chapter 111: Dueling Club News

"Why... Why are you here?" he stammered.

"Why wouldn\'t I be here?" Dracula asked playfully, raising an eyebrow. "Is it only allowed for you, a Gryffindor, to come to the Ravenclaw Tower?"

"I... I didn\'t mean it that way, Professor," Harry said, his face flushed as he stared at his feet. "I just happened to think of a third-year student I know and thought I\'d come by to ask what you covered this morning..."

"Just happened to think of it?" Dracula\'s smile widened.

He seemed to have realized something and looked back and forth between Harry and Cho Chang, making them both feel uneasy.

After the morning\'s Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Dracula had returned to his office, bored, and was contemplating what mischief to find for the day. Just as he was about to draw the curtains to block out the sunlight, his keen eyesight spotted a figure sprinting across the central lawn of the teaching area.

The running student, likely just out of Herbology class, still had specks of dirt on their robes. The student had run from the northeast side of the teaching area to the southwest, barely pausing to catch their breath.

Intrigued, Dracula used his excellent vision to recognize the student—Harry Potter. He decided to use Disillusionment Charm to silently get to the Ravenclaw Tower\'s stairwell ahead of Harry.

What Dracula did not expect was that Harry was not just coming to see a female student but was using the excuse of asking about the morning\'s class content as a pretext for socializing.

Dracula was immediately displeased; he could not tolerate his class becoming a pretext for a student to flirt. So, he lifted the Disillusionment Charm and appeared before Harry and Cho Chang.

"Running all the way from the northeast greenhouse to the southwest Ravenclaw Tower... Is that what you consider \'on the way\'?" he asked with a smirk.

Harry\'s face turned even redder. He hung his head, his toes unconsciously digging into the ground, as if he wished he could burrow into the earth.

Cho Chang, noticing Harry\'s embarrassment, decided to take over the conversation.

"Professor Dracula, is there something you need at the Ravenclaw Tower?" she asked politely. "Perhaps I could help with something!"

Dracula glanced at her and then nodded slightly.

"Actually, yes, there is something you can help with," he said, thinking for a moment before pulling out a parchment with large letters and handing it to Cho Chang. "Please put this parchment on the bulletin board in the Ravenclaw common room."

Cho Chang took the parchment curiously and looked at the contents:

"Duelling Club Coming Soon! The first meeting of the Duelling Club will be held at 6:30 PM on September 7, 1992, in the Hogwarts Castle Great Hall. All interested Hogwarts students are welcome—no matter the house, year, or grades."

"Are you starting a Duelling Club?" Cho Chang asked in surprise.

Hearing her question, Harry leaned in curiously.

However, Harry did not get too close but maintained a hesitant distance, as if wanting to get closer but too shy to do so. Moreover, he glanced at the parchment in Cho Chang\'s hand only briefly before his attention was captured by her long, flowing black hair, completely losing interest in reading the parchment.

"Yes, the Duelling Club welcomes you both to join, top students in Defense Against the Dark Arts," Dracula said with a soft chuckle. He then pulled out another identical parchment from his pocket and handed it to Harry. "Since there\'s a Gryffindor here, I don\'t have to make another trip."

"Potter, as with the previous request, please put this parchment on the Gryffindor common room bulletin board," Dracula said. "Potter?"

"Oh, right!" Harry, finally snapping out of his daze after being called by name twice, took the parchment from Dracula.

"Good, don\'t forget your tasks. I won\'t keep you further."

Dracula gave the two of them a casual wave and turned to head back to his office.

"Goodbye, Professor!" Cho Chang said politely. She then looked at Harry, who was still standing there dumbfounded. "Mr. Potter, do you need me to go over what we covered in the morning\'s Defense Against the Dark Arts class?"

"Ah..." Harry had been intently studying Cho Chang\'s profile, and her sudden glance startled him.

He quickly turned his head away, avoiding eye contact with Cho Chang.

"...Thank you so much!" he said awkwardly.

Autumn Zhang glanced at Harry\'s awkward movements, her lips twitching as if she found it somewhat amusing. However, she managed to suppress her laughter and seriously recounted the morning\'s class content to Harry.

Harry nodded repeatedly, though he was actually distracted and didn\'t really absorb much of what she said.

Even after he hazily returned to the Gryffindor common room, Harry was still lost in thoughts about Autumn Zhang\'s voice and her expressions, looking somewhat silly with an occasional goofy smile.

"Hey, mate, are you daydreaming?" A hand waved in front of Harry\'s face.

Harry showed no reaction and continued to smile foolishly.

"Hey!" Ron smacked Harry\'s shoulder heavily, jolting him awake.

"Ah, who?" Harry blinked, staring at the freckled face in front of him, "Oh, Ron, you startled me!"

"I\'ve been calling you for ages, Harry!" Ron said with frustration, "If I hadn\'t scared you awake, who knows when you would have come back to your senses."

"Yeah, Harry, the food we brought for you is getting cold!" Hermione chimed in, looking worried, "What happened when you asked Professor Dracula about the class content? Why do you look like you\'ve been stunned?"

"Did the Dark Arts Defense class content get so intense that you were left dumbfounded?" Ron guessed with concern.

"No, it\'s not like that, Ron." Harry quickly shook his head, "I did get the content for Professor Dracula\'s third-year morning class, it mainly covered..."

Ron and Hermione looked at him expectantly.

"...Well, I\'ve forgotten." As soon as Harry thought about his recent experience, his mind was immediately filled with images of Autumn Zhang, and he couldn\'t recall any details of the Dark Arts Defense class.

"Forgotten?!" Ron looked at him incredulously, "So what exactly did you do after the class ended and rushed back to the castle?"

"Relax, Ron." Harry gave an awkward smile and said weakly, "Professor Dracula didn\'t give another intense practical training session. She seemed to be in good spirits, completely unlike someone who had just finished a practical training session."

"Her?" Hermione sharply caught the key word in Harry\'s statement and stared at him intently, "So the Ravenclaw student you know is not a senior but a senior girl?"

"Her?" Ron also realized and jumped up, "I knew it! No wonder you were so diligent today!"

Harry realized he had misspoken and quickly covered his mouth.

"Give us a proper introduction about your situation, Harry!" Hermione said excitedly, her eyes sparkling, "Even if you don\'t say it, there should only be a few third-year Ravenclaw girls, so it\'s easy to figure out who it is!"

She counted on her fingers, trying to recall which Ravenclaw girls she had seen in the library and who might have caught Harry\'s interest.

"I can\'t believe Harry is already thinking about finding someone at his age." Ron mumbled, "I wonder what Ginny will think when she finds out. She\'s the one who admires Harry the most."

Seeing their excited or gossipy expressions, Harry\'s face turned red.

As the topic was heading towards uncontrollable territory, in a moment of panic, he suddenly saw the parchment he had folded in his hand.

"Wait, I just remembered there\'s something important I haven\'t done!" Harry grabbed the parchment as if it were a lifeline and rushed to the Gryffindor common room\'s notice board, escaping from Hermione and Ron\'s gossip.

He carefully stuck the parchment on the notice board, moving slowly to delay his return to Ron and Hermione.

Harry\'s slow movements finally drew their attention, and they set aside their curiosity about his romantic interests to see what he was doing.

"Dueling Club?" Hermione read the parchment on the notice board with a skeptical look, "Harry, are you starting a Dueling Club?"

"As your friend, I feel I should advise you—Harry, you can\'t just think you can start a club because you got the top score in the Dark Arts Defense final!" she said seriously.

"It\'s not me, it\'s Professor Dracula." Harry corrected, "I happened to run into Professor Dracula in the Ravenclaw Tower, and she asked me to put this parchment up here."

"A Dueling Club? Wow, that sounds interesting!" Ron looked at the big letters on the parchment and immediately became excited, his eyes sparkling, "Let\'s join this club, Harry!"

Harry was about to agree when Hermione suddenly interrupted them with a serious expression.

"Wait!" She carefully examined the parchment on the notice board, her expression turning grave, "Look at the last line. Doesn\'t it seem familiar to you?"

Ron and Harry turned their heads in confusion to look at the last line of the parchment—

"Open to all houses, all years, and all grades?" Ron read aloud, "What\'s the matter, Hermione? Isn\'t that good for us? Otherwise, a practical club like this wouldn\'t let younger students participate."

Harry nodded in agreement, thinking Ron\'s point was perfectly reasonable.

"So you know it\'s a practical club, Ron?" Hermione said with a smirk.

She looked at Ron and Harry with frustration, seemingly puzzled by their lack of insight.

"Seeing these conditions, don\'t you find them familiar?" Hermione jabbed at the last line of the parchment, "Don\'t you remember how Professor Dracula set the conditions for accepting sixth-year advanced class students?"

"Professor Dracula was even willing to accept \'T (Troll)\' grade students, just to make sure everyone experienced his intense practical training classes!"

"Ugh—" Ron gasped, "So it actually makes sense! I was wondering why a club like this had no restrictions. It turns out Professor Dracula has moved his devilish training from the Dark Arts Defense class to an extracurricular club!"

"Is that what Professor Dracula is thinking?" Harry recalled Dracula\'s slightly mocking expression when she handed him the parchment and shivered, "Then... should we still attend the Dueling Club?"

Ron struggled with his decision, pacing in front of the notice board.

Finally, just as Ron was about to make Harry dizzy with his pacing, he gritted his teeth and looked at Harry resolutely—

"But it\'s a duel, Harry!" Ron grabbed Harry\'s shoulders, his voice dry, "A duel is the most sacred confrontation between wizards. If I miss this opportunity, I\'ll regret it for the rest of my life!"

"I\'ve decided, I have to go to the first club meeting. If I can\'t keep up, I can always drop out at the second meeting!"

Harry looked at Ron\'s determined yet somewhat apprehensive expression and turned to Hermione.

"Hermione, are you going to join too?" he asked.

Hermione glanced at Harry and Ron with a hint of disappointment.

"Of course I am!" She raised her head, saying with a sense of entitlement, "I still want to get the top score in all subjects!"

It turned out that Hermione had been trying to dissuade Harry from joining Professor Dracula\'s Dueling Club, hoping to improve her own Dark Arts Defense scores under the intense training and surpass Harry to become the top of the year.

"Alright, then let\'s go together!" Harry smiled.