Chapter 166 Prelude

The next day, the duel competition arena.

Lockhart was in the suspended attic above the arena, warming up before the game. Perhaps it was because life in Hogwarts was too boring, or perhaps it was because today's games were too topical, the empty audience seats during the 12-to-8 game were now full.

It must be said that Lockhart was foresighted. The arena was built according to the standards of a 10,000-person stadium when it was first built, otherwise it would not be able to accommodate so many spectators now.

In addition, since Carol's last game almost resulted in a fatal accident, Lockhart also made some changes to the arena, such as now there are powerful professors around the competition venue. These professors are not just academic professors, but powerful ones like McGonagall and Snape.

In addition to preventing deaths during the game, these professors will also raise a huge protective shield to cover the entire competition venue after the game starts to prevent the audience in the stands from being injured by "stray bullets".

In addition, four huge magic projections are arranged around the suspended attic. These projections will broadcast the movements of the players in the game in real time to prevent the audience sitting farther away from seeing the situation on the field clearly.

And now, the images played on the four projections are exactly Lockhart in the suspended attic.

Lockhart changed into a fiery red dress today, with flame-like patterns all over his body, making him look like he was on fire.

He waved his arms excitedly, pointed to one side of the stands and shouted: "Today! In addition to having a famous wizard like me explaining the game, we have also invited a distinguished guest! That is...

the winner of the Order of Merlin, First Class, the President of the International Confederation of Wizards, the Chief Wizard of the Wizengamot, the most powerful white wizard in the world, Albus Dumbledore!"

As soon as the voice fell, the audience looked in the direction Lockhart pointed, and saw Dumbledore in a white robe waving to the people around him. His snow-white goatee fluttered gently in the wind, which was indescribably elegant.

The four large screens also switched to the picture of Dumbledore waving his hands in greeting. Today, Dumbledore was sitting in the ordinary audience seats like other students, and the students sitting next to Dumbledore were so excited that they kept shaking. Seeing that their principal had come to watch the game, everyone in the stands stood up and cheered in the direction of Dumbledore.

The cheers continued, and no matter how Lockhart shouted, the audience could not stop. Compared with Lockhart, their old headmaster was obviously more popular. Lockhart's forehead could not help but show a lot of sweat. If this continued, the game would not start.

Perhaps seeing Lockhart's embarrassment, Dumbledore in the stands put his wand against his throat and released the sound-boosting spell.

When everyone saw that Dumbledore was about to speak, they all subconsciously stopped cheering. No one wanted to cover Dumbledore's speech with their voices.

In fact, they worried too much.

"Oh, it seems that an old guy like me is quite popular?" The sound-boosting spell used by Dumbledore was obviously a modified version. Dumbledore's voice seemed to have a kind of magic. Although the volume was not very loud, it was clearly heard by everyone present.

Everyone laughed.

"Well, dear students, today's protagonist is not an old man like me, so let's save some energy for the exciting game to come." Dumbledore said with a smile, "I know you don't like nonsense, so I will now announce that the first Hogwarts Dueling Tournament, the semi-finals competition has officially begun, let's welcome those warriors with the warmest cheers!"

Looking at the unprecedented warm cheers from the stands, Lockhart, holding a thick stack of speech manuscripts in his hand, said with a lonely face: "Oh my God, I still have a lot of things to say!"

And Lockhart was not the only one who heard the overwhelming cheers outside.

At this moment, Mike and Cedric and others were waiting for the start of the game in the men's player lounge. Mike clenched his fists unconsciously when he heard the cheers outside.

"Don't be nervous, although the opponent is Carol, you are not bad either." Cedric comforted Mike, "It doesn't matter who wins or loses between the two of you, friendship first and competition second."

Although Cedric looked very relaxed at this time, his slightly trembling legs still exposed his true feelings at the moment.

Mike also noticed this and said with disdain: "Are you cursing me to lose? Sorry, there is no word like 'lose' in my dictionary. Besides, you are the one who is nervous. Look at your legs. They are shaking as much as those weavers."

Everyone in the lounge laughed when they heard this, and Cedric's face turned red. He deliberately suppressed his legs to stop the embarrassing shaking. However, for some reason, the more Cedric suppressed his legs, the more they shook. In the end, Cedric could only hold down his disobedient legs with both hands.

This move caused even more enthusiastic laughter from everyone in the lounge, and the tension caused by the cheers also dissipated. Just as everyone

in the lounge was playing, the door of the lounge suddenly opened. The

person who came was a senior student wearing a duel club uniform and glasses. He held a small notebook with the schedule in his hand and shouted to everyone in the lounge: "Mike, Mike Townley, it's your turn to play."

The laughter stopped abruptly, and everyone looked at Mike in the corner.

Under everyone's gaze, Mike slowly stood up and walked towards the door. Just as he was about to leave the lounge, Cedric's voice sounded from behind him.

"Mike!"

Mike stopped when he heard the voice.

"I still hope to fight you again, so I must win!"

Mike's mouth pulled up a smile, and he didn't look back. He continued to walk forward, and stretched out his hand to make a V-sign representing victory (Note 1) and said: "You are the only seedling of Hufflepuff, don't fall here."

Looking at Mike's back that was getting farther and farther away, listening to the usual arrogant tone, Cedric couldn't help but smile.

"This guy really should go to Gryffindor, his personality is simply terrible." Cedric laughed and scolded, "Besides, does anyone know what the gesture he just made means?"

The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. I'm such a jerk.

Note 1: The V-sign is also called the scissor hand. Although this gesture has been used to a cliché in China, it actually contains the meaning of victory. The most famous event about this gesture is the photo of Churchill showing his scissor hand. After this event, this gesture quickly became popular throughout the UK, then Europe, and finally the world. If you are interested, you can go and learn more about it.