Hogwarts: I'm Truly a Model Wizard

As Kyle stepped onto the stage, cheers erupted from the crowd. Fred and George were the loudest, waving a Quidditch-style banner they'd whipped up in record time. Cedric and Cho added to the chaos, appearing with a confetti gun and sending colorful bits of paper showering over the stage.

Kyle, feeling a mix of pride and embarrassment, wished he could pretend he didn't know them.

"Alright, Kyle, no need to panic!" said Lockhart with a forced air of confidence. "Here, I'll show you a little trick. When Flint points his wand at you, just do this…"

Lockhart attempted to demonstrate a complex maneuver with his wand, only to fumble and drop it to the floor. Laughter rippled through the crowd as he hastily retrieved it.

"Ah… just a bit overexcited!" he said, brushing it off with a nervous smile.

Meanwhile, Snape strode over to Marcus, leaned in, and whispered something. A nasty smirk spread across Marcus's face as he gave a low, mocking chuckle.

"Don't worry, Kyle!" Lockhart said cheerily, patting him on the shoulder. "Flint may be in sixth year, but if you follow my example, you've got nothing to worry about."

"What, by dropping my wand on the floor?" Kyle muttered.

Lockhart ignored the remark, straightening up and calling out, "Ready? Three… two… one… go!"

Marcus whipped his wand up, prepared to strike.

"Protego!" Kyle called, summoning a shield in front of him.

"Serpensortia!" Marcus shouted, sending a thick, black snake spiraling through the air. Clearly, he'd either taken Snape's advice to heart or learned from his earlier mistake, as he cast his own shield charm and summoned the snake instead of using a direct jinx.

Kyle quickly assessed the situation. Protego wouldn't stop a conjured snake, but he hadn't planned to rely solely on defense. As the snake raised its head to strike, he completed his next spell.

"Glisseo!" Kyle's wand flashed, and suddenly the solid floor beneath Marcus's feet turned into a mucky, sinking bog. The Sliding Charm, which Professor Flitwick had taught him, was perfect for trapping opponents in duels.

Caught by surprise, Marcus stumbled, his legs sinking into the ground as he struggled to free himself.

The Fire-Making Charm he'd been preparing fizzled out, and in that moment, Kyle sidestepped the snake's strike. With a quick flick of his wand, he cast Incarcerous on the creature.

The snake morphed into a rope, coiling back toward Marcus and binding his arms tightly. Marcus snarled, furious and struggling against the binds.

Kyle tilted his head and asked with a smirk, "Do you give up?"

Marcus didn't answer, only glared at Kyle with pure malice, trying to lift his wand in defiance.

Kyle sighed, deciding to end the duel with something more dramatic. Concentrating, he cast a complex Transfiguration Spell. Behind Marcus, the floor heaved as a massive stone statue emerged, towering over two meters tall. It wielded a heavy, double-edged axe.

A collective gasp spread through the onlookers as the statue raised its axe high, gathering force before swinging it down toward Marcus with terrifying speed.

A chorus of screams erupted as students recoiled, some covering their eyes in horror, unable to watch the outcome.

"I give up! I give up!" Marcus shrieked, his voice laced with panic.

"Enough!" Snape's voice rang out, and he pointed his wand at the statue. "Petrificus Totalus!"

The stone statue froze mid-swing, the massive axe blade also halting.

"Do you want to kill Flint?" Snape roared, his face twisted with anger. "Hufflepuff loses one hundred points!"

"Professor, I think you've misunderstood," Kyle interjected calmly. "If you look closely, you'll see that I didn't intend any harm."

Lockhart bustled over, examining the statue with exaggerated care. "Kyle's absolutely right, Professor Snape," he said cheerfully. "The axe missed by a whole foot, so even if it had fallen, it would've only hit the stage nearby. Flint would've been completely unharmed! When I was traveling, I used a similar tactic to scare off dangerous creatures. They soon saw the error of their ways and never bothered anyone again."

Snape ignored Lockhart entirely, focusing on Kyle with a cold glare. "Why the dramatics?" he said icily. "A simple Disarming Charm would have sufficed to end the duel."

"Apologies, Professor Snape," Kyle said, a hint of an innocent smile on his face. "I only learned the Disarming Charm today and am not very confident with it. This spell was simpler."

Snape's scowl deepened. Simpler? Kyle had just performed partial Transfiguration—a high-level technique reserved for advanced seventh-year students—yet he had the audacity to claim it was "simpler" than a Disarming Charm. Snape's chest rose and fell as he contained his irritation, unwilling to continue arguing with Kyle. Instead, he simply pointed to the doors of the Great Hall.

"Hufflepuff loses fifty points!" he snapped. "Now get out!"

Without further argument, Kyle put away his wand and strode out of the hall. He'd originally hoped to use the Duelling Club as an opportunity to observe any strange behavior, possibly tied to the Chamber of Secrets, but it was clear now he'd need another approach. So far, though, everyone he'd been keeping an eye on—Harry, Ron, and even Lockhart—seemed completely ordinary, without any signs of being controlled by a cursed diary.

As he walked out, Kyle sighed. "Should've known better than to come here… losing fifty points for nothing."

As he left, he was quickly joined by Kanna, Cedric, Fred, George, and a few others.

"Thanks to you, Kyle," Fred said, grinning. "I'd been wanting to leave for ages but couldn't find an excuse."

"Yeah, there's not much to learn from Lockhart and Snape," George said with a mock shudder. "Pretty sure any monster from the Chamber of Secrets would just laugh if I tried to bow and pose before fighting it."

He waved his wand with exaggerated flourishes, mimicking Lockhart's moves. "Oh… these gestures are so foolish."

Cedric clapped Kyle on the back. "That statue was incredible, Kyle! I can't believe you mastered partial Transfiguration so soon after Professor McGonagall's lesson last week."

"It was spot on," Kanna added, pointing to a statue at the entrance to the Great Hall. "It looked exactly like this one!"

The group laughed and chatted, and Kyle barely got a chance to respond.

"I—"

But Cedric cut him off with another slap on the shoulder. "Don't worry about losing points. It's just fifty! Besides, Hufflepuffs don't take that too seriously."

"Exactly!" Fred added, grinning. "Gryffindor always finishes last, so we're used to it."

"I'd gladly lose a hundred points to put Marcus Flint in his place," George muttered with satisfaction.

Kyle chuckled. "It doesn't bother me. Last year, Snape took fifty points from me in just two lessons."

"See?" George said, nudging Fred. "Told you we didn't need to comfort him."

"If I'd known he didn't care, I wouldn't have bothered with all that," Fred muttered. "Actually, we do care about our points…"

As it was getting late, the group split off at the staircase. Back in the empty Hufflepuff common room, Cedric was still discussing Kyle's Transfiguration spell, clearly impressed.

"It's a shame Professor McGonagall wasn't there to see it," Cedric said. "She wouldn't have let Snape take points off for such a brilliant display."

Kyle laughed, shrugging. "Honestly, I was just trying it out. Maybe the stage wasn't completely solid, which made it easier to work with."

"Still impressive," Cedric insisted, sinking into a sofa. "A statue that size… I'd struggle to get the shape right, let alone make it move."

"There's no need for it to move too much," Kyle replied. "The trick is to focus on key parts. I just used the weight of the axe to drive the arm's movement."

"You mean… maintaining the physical continuity of the object after transforming it?" Cedric asked, intrigued. "Usually, a statue's arm wouldn't be able to move. Doesn't that take extra magic?"

"Not with stone, but it works well with armor," Kyle explained.

"Armor…" Cedric's eyes lit up with realization. "I see! You adjusted the structure from the beginning! Professor McGonagall did mention that…"

Kanna, standing nearby, blinked in confusion, glancing between the two of them. What just happened? They'd gone from laughing about the duel to a technical Transfiguration discussion, and she couldn't understand a word of it.