"Do you really have that much confidence?" Higgs felt as if he were losing his mind; he actually found himself wanting to believe the young man standing before him.
"Of course. I may not be particularly good at other things, but combat..." Alan revealed a sharp, fleeting smile. "I don't even take those guys seriously."
"In that case," Higgs said, looking Alan straight in the eye, "prove it to me. Otherwise, I'll have to stop you. Your recklessness is more than likely to put both yourself and Vivian in danger."
Higgs searched the face of the junior before him, looking for a trace of fear or hesitation, but he found nothing of the sort.
"As you wish. Tomorrow afternoon, come to Hagrid's hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. You know the place?"
"I know it. The gamekeeper's residence," Higgs nodded.
"Vivian, you come too," Alan said, glancing at her.
"I'll be there." Vivian knew the hut well; Alan had stayed there for some time, and she had visited him more than once.
"Let's leave it at that for now. We can discuss the details tomorrow."
With that, Alan parted ways with them and returned to the dormitory.
The next day, after a full schedule of classes, Higgs followed Vivian down the sloping grounds toward the forest. When they arrived, they found that someone was already waiting: Charles. By now, the Gryffindor had formed a habit of running all the way to the hut after his final class, using the journey as a warm-up.
Charles was stretching, preparing for his daily regimen. He looked slightly surprised to see Vivian arriving with a Slytherin senior, but he correctly guessed they were looking for Alan.
"Alan! Someone's here for you!"
After greeting Vivian, Charles shouted toward the hut. Alan had arrived even earlier than he had. If Charles had jogged over, Alan had essentially sprinted. It was becoming a pattern; the moment Alan arrived, he would vanish into his room to tinker with his projects.
The cabin door creaked open. Seeing that Higgs had arrived on time, Alan gave a short nod.
"Come on, Alan," Higgs said, getting straight to the point. "Like we discussed yesterday—if you want me to trust your judgment, you have to show me you have the power to actually defeat them. I won't stand aside and watch you seek your own demise."
"Fine. We'll settle it with a duel. We stop when someone is incapacitated," Alan said. He found himself developing a begrudging respect for Higgs's bluntness.
"As you wish." Higgs nodded, moving to an open space nearby. He drew his wand and stood ready.
"In that case, let's have Charles give it a try." Alan looked at Charles, who was watching from the sidelines, and gestured toward Higgs.
"Me?" "Him?"
Both Charles and Higgs stared at Alan in shock. Charles, having no idea what was happening, scratched his head in confusion.
"Alan, are you joking? I've maintained top marks through my fifth year. You expect a Gryffindor junior to face me?" Higgs felt his skepticism returning; he had briefly considered trusting this boy, but this seemed absurd.
"Charles has been training under me for a year. It's a good time to test his progress." Alan turned to Charles. "You up for it?"
"Can I really do this?" Charles had spent the last year being consistently crushed by Alan in their sessions; he harbored deep doubts about his own ability.
"If I tell you to go, you go. Stop being difficult. And remember: use nothing but Expelliarmus," Alan instructed.
"What? Only the Disarming Charm? You've got to be kidding!" Charles complained. "How am I supposed to defend myself? I should at least be allowed a Protego!"
"No. Your Protego is too slow to cast, and your Shield Charm is still rusty. It wouldn't hold up. As for defense, what happened to the footwork I taught you? Or parrying spells with your wand? Haven't we practiced that every day?" Alan scolded, his brow furrowed.
"But!" Charles had undergone the training, but his opponent had always been Alan. His success rate in dodging and parrying against Alan's relentless assault was abysmal. The memory of those failures made him look distressed.
"No buts. Get out there," Alan urged.
"Go on, Charles! I believe in you!" Vivian cheered from the side.
Higgs, waiting impatiently, grew tired of the bickering. "Have you decided yet? If not, both of you can come at me. Stop wasting my time."
Bracing himself, Charles stepped forward until he was ten meters from the senior. He took a deep breath. "I'm ready."
Higgs nodded and offered a short, perfunctory bow before snapping into a dueling stance.
Charles, however, did not adopt a traditional wizard's posture. He looked more like a Muggle fencer, standing with one foot forward and the other back, making slight, rhythmic hops to keep his weight fluid. His wand was held horizontally in front of him, and his gaze was laser-focused on Higgs.
"Stupefy! Expelliarmus!"
Higgs struck first. He was a talented student, firing two spells in such rapid succession there was almost no interval. The red and white bolts screamed toward Charles.
Charles reacted instantly. As soon as the spells began to form at the tip of Higgs's wand, his training kicked in. He read the trajectory before the magic had even crossed the halfway point. With a nimble sidestep, he dodged the first two bolts and fired off several Disarming Charms of his own.
Surprised by the boy's speed, Higgs's disdain vanished. He snapped up a Protego to block the counterattack, and the two descended into an intense exchange of fire.
Higgs quickly realized something was very wrong. The boy in front of him was incredibly agile; he dodged almost every spell with fluid footwork, and those he couldn't evade, he flicked away with his wand with a casual, precise snap. Charles's return fire was fast and unrelenting, making it difficult for Higgs to find an opening.
Worse, Charles was closing the gap. He was already within seven meters, hopping forward between casts. Without realizing it, the fifth-year had been forced onto the defensive.
In Charles's mind, however, the battle looked different. He had been terrified, but after the first two rounds, he found Higgs's attacks to be incredibly rigid. When he practiced with Alan, the spells came at impossible angles, sometimes curving in mid-air with terrifying speed and power. Compared to Alan's onslaught, Higgs's spells felt slow and predictable.
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