151 Defeat pt.2

Draco's spell got deflected and vanished away.

Draco along with all his friends were surprised as to what just happened. They all expected Lockhart to fall off, even Draco did. He wanted to use it to finish the match quickly but he never guessed Lockhart could use a Protego spell. Even though not common, Protego was a very difficult spell to master as even some workers in the ministry weren't able to conjure a proper Protego spell. Even Draco himself wasn't completely able to use the spell to the point Lockhart was using right now.

"Petrificus Totalus" Lockhart quickly launched a spell which Draco blocked without even blinking.

Draco today had to be very specific in his choices of spells as he couldn't openly use dark spells in front of the board members and the whole school but that didn't mean he was running out of powerful spells.

"Incarcerous"

"Relashio"

"Expulso."

"Stupefy"

No one knew how many spells were used till now but it continued on and on. It was a back and forth of shooting spells and protecting and reflecting it.

"What is going on?" Pansy muttered.

"Looks like something is wrong or we really did underestimate Lockhart..." Feeling the gazes of Daphne and Pansy, Theodore quickly stated, "I am sure something is wrong, though! He shouldn't be able to last this long, I wonder what is going on."

"The boy really does have a lot of potentials." The board members were discussing things with Lucius, "Lucius you son is really something. To be able to use so many of these spells so accurately, I believe he is destined for something big."

"It's an honor." Lucius said smiling but on the inside, he was really worrying, the back and forth spell war might seem simple to some but he knows how much power was being used in each spell and every time the next spell was being it was turning more and more dangerous and serious. Lucius was getting on the edge of the seat as Draco and both Lockhart had now started using curses on one another.

Everyone on the stands were the same, they could feel the intensity of the battle going strong. Even Dumbledore was ready with his wand to stop the fight immediately if it gets out of hand which didn't seem far off from happening.

"Enough!" Draco said frowning as he used the arrow spell conjuring a lot of arrows mid-air and dropping it all down on Lockhart.

Lockhart who was already sweating quickly covered himself with a Portego spell as the arrow kept coming one by one. While he was busy defending, Draco didn't show any mercy and quickly used another spell, "Confringo"

The spell wasn't aimed towards Lockhart but towards the ground near him. The shockwave created from the explosion spell pushed Lockhart away on towards the ground where the remaining arrows kept falling towards him. Lockhart covered his face in fear when suddenly he heard Draco.

"Reducto." Draco used another spell vanishing the arrows and quickly used another spell, "Accio."

Taking Lockhart's wand away from him.

There was silence in the crowd, even the old man serving as the referee was frozen in his spot. Draco turned towards him and said, "I win."

To which the old man nodded subconsciously and announced, "The winner of this duel is Draco Black."

The crowd cheered, his friends, Hermione everyone clapped the loudest cheering his name.

Dumbledore along with the rest of the board members whispered something to each other as he finally stood up again,

"I want to congratulate Mr. Black in his win." He said, "What an achievement indeed. I am sure not even some adult wizards his age would be able to comprehend magic to the limit he has."

"The duel is over and the winner is decided, but the result is something that must be discussed. So I ask all of you to leave the arena and go over to the hall where a banquet will be held in order to congratulate Mr. Black on his win."

Draco didn't quite understand what he meant as he looked at his father who nodded at him. Understanding that Lucius wanted to handle the situation he nodded back and waved towards the crowd at his friends and the members of his club who now had more respect for him. Draco looked back at Lockhart who was now unconscious on the ground due to the shock. No one knew what Draco was thinking but he didn't continue much further and started moving off the arena, throwing Lockhart's wand back to him and soon all the people followed him towards the hall.

Dumbledore and the board members went towards his office while professor Flitwick carried Lockhart towards the infirmary to treat him.

In the hall, everyone was cheering for Draco raising their cups in his honor. The feast which was prepared were similar to the ones they would get on the regular but was a little bit extravagant.

Draco thanked all the people and all of them were quick to dig into the feast.

"What's wrong Draco?" Blaise asked confused as to why Draco didn't look happy even after his victory.

"Something is really wrong." Draco said subconsciously.

"What is?"

"Nothing." Draco shook his head.

"Are you sure?" Theodore asked, "I am also quite confused about Lockhart sudden rise in power. Either he somehow got really strong so quick or... he was hiding his powers all along."

"I think..." Before Draco could continue, he felt hands on his shoulder. He looked back to find Snape looking at him.

Following Snape out of the hall, he asked, "What is it?"

"Dumbledore wants you in the office."

Draco nodded, "Godfather, is it just me or is the result really quite unexpected."

"You winning isn't enough?"

"It is and I was already certain of my victory, to begin with." Draco said the arrogant words casually, "But I am surprised Lockhart lasted so long."

"Don't be." Snape said, "I have seen Lockhart in Dumbledore's office quite a few times this whole month. He was probably training him."

"Dumbledore? Why?" Draco was confused, "Why would the greatest wizard of our generation teach someone like Lockhart personally?"

"That I am not aware of but you do know our situation right?" Snape said.

"The one about the empty teacher's seat for defense against the dark?"

"Yes." Snape said snorting, "Hogwarts is desperate for a defense against the dark teacher, to the point where Dumbledore took the responsibility for Lockhart himself."

"So Dumbledore wants to protect Lockhart to save himself?"

"That's a guess." Snape said as he ended their conversation. They had arrived in the principal's office as they knocked and got in. Dumbledore was alone in his office, the board members who had busy schedules were already gone along with his father.

"Congratulations again Mr. Blackon your win." Dumbledore said humbly. "Please take a seat."

Draco didn't say anything back and just nodded.

"You must be tired from the duel so let me get straight to the point." Dumbledore said, "We have decided that we can't honor your deal with Mr.Lockhart."

"Why?"

"As you may or may not know our school is really lacking a defense against the dark teacher." Dumbledore said, "And finding a quick replacement would be very difficult, so we want Mr. Lockhart to teach the subject for the rest of the year. And the next year, I assure you that there will be a new teacher filling in that position."

Draco knew that Lockhart was going to leave Hogwarts the next year either way so it didn't really matter. In fact, he was quite shocked that Dumbledore was being honest for a change.