Chapter 249 Reopening Of The Dueling Club
Due to the unprecedented success of sales at the store and the delightful news that Sirius was going to teach at Hogwarts, the atmosphere during dinner was extremely pleasant.
With the assistance of Hermione and Ginny, Mrs. Weasley set up a grand table filled with dishes.
In the Burrow's courtyard, everyone sat happily around the table, enjoying delicious plates and watching the fireworks display by Fred and George.
Professor Lupin and Mr. Weasley also shared some jokes that amused everyone.
"I can't believe you're going to be a professor at the school," Harry smiled beside him.
He had been laughing all night.
Harry was still immersed in the great surprise that Sirius was going to teach at Hogwarts. It felt like he was dreaming: Ron had recovered from the Imperius Curse, his godfather was going to be a professor at Hogwarts, Evan's store had achieved unprecedented success, and he received the Firebolt as a Christmas gift...
The recent events made Harry feel a happiness he had never experienced before.
"I didn't think about this a few months ago, I just wanted to get revenge on Peter Pettigrew, even if it put my life in danger. But now it's okay this way. Evan was right. It's probably the best solution for me," Sirius said with a cheerful smile on his face, making him appear younger and resembling his old self from over a decade ago at Hogwarts.
"Speaking of which," Hermione asked curiously. "Sirius, I've been thinking, what are you going to do with the Defense Against the Dark Arts class next semester?"
"I've just spoken with Remus. I will continue with his methods, so they can face other dark creatures. Additionally, I will teach them some real dueling skills. I've seen some of you in combat, and your combat experience is scarce. Take Evan, for example. He has a lot of magic, masters many spells, is no worse than me, but he can't use them to their full potential. What you need now is more skill and experience, something that can only be learned in real battles."
"Combat experience and skill, you mean..." Evan suddenly had an idea, "You're not going to reopen the dueling club, are you?"
The club, which aimed to teach dueling skills to wizards and enhance their combat experience and strength, was formed last year at Lockhart's suggestion.
At that time, the response was so immense that almost all young wizards in the school were expected to join.
However, the club turned into a joke. Lockhart was no match for Snape at all; he couldn't even withstand a move.
In the end, everyone saw that Harry was a Parseltongue, and that was simply disastrous for the club's debut.
"I have that idea, but I need to get Dumbledore's consent," Sirius slowly twirled his wand in his hand and continued, "I've heard about last year, and if Snape is willing, I would like to invite him to be my opponent and show them a thing or two about a real duel."
He emphasized the word "duel," and it seemed like he could barely wait to engage with Snape. The new animosities and old grudges between the two men were not entirely clear.
They were fed up with each other, and their enmity surpassed that of Harry and Malfoy.
"God, I can't wait!" Ron lifted his head from his plate and swallowed the contents in his mouth. "Teach that old bat a lesson! He's always picking on Harry, giving us detentions, and deducting points from Gryffindor. We've had enough of him..."
"RON!" Mrs. Weasley grabbed Ron's ear and said sternly, "How dare you speak like that about your teacher?"
"Oh, mother, you have no idea..."
Everyone laughed at Ron's embarrassment.
This topic did not continue, but upon seeing their faces, everyone could not wait for the duel between Sirius and Snape, even Percy and Hermione, who had always behaved properly.
After a brief calm, there was another explosion of laughter at the table.
Fred and George tricked Percy, who ate a new variation of their Transfiguration cookies. Percy turned into a frog and then returned to his normal appearance.
Amidst everyone's laughter, Percy chased Fred and George around the yard, and Mrs. Weasley hurriedly stopped them.
Just then, a small gray figure flew out of the house and landed on Ron's plate.
It continued to chirp and struggle with Ron for food on the plate.
"Quiet, Pig," Ron quickly waved his hand and the owl in front of him backed off. "Don't touch anything on my plate."
"Why do you call that owl Pig?" Hermione asked curiously, she had been busy with Evan in the shop recently and hadn't had time to worry about the name Ron gave to the owl.
"Because it's behaving foolishly," Ginny, sitting beside him, smiled and said, "the name Ron had given it before was Pigwidgeon."
"Yes, that name is quite silly," said Ron sarcastically, "I thought long and hard with Harry and came up with the name Pigwidgeon, which goes well with Hedwig. But when we were about to call him, Ginny already had the name."
"Don't you think this name is very cute?" Ginny asked.
"I don't see anything lovely. I tried to change this name, but it was already too late; he won't respond to anything else. So, it's settled now, he's Pig," said Ron, wrinkling his nose.
Pigwidgeon happily flew alongside him, hooting sharply.
"Pig is quite a good name, it's truly endearing," said Hermione as she used breadcrumbs to attract the owl.
It flew straight to Hermione, making her laugh.
Dinner extended past ten o'clock, ending in laughter.
The next day, since Sirius was also heading to Hogwarts, he hurriedly returned on the Knight Bus instead of going back to school on the Hogwarts Express at Platform 9¾ in King's Cross station.
They hurried to have breakfast, donned their coats and scarves, and prepared for the journey.
The cold January morning had a gray sky.
At 7 in the morning, a three-story bus of a vivid purple color appeared out of nowhere in front of them at the Burrow's entrance. The Weasleys stood by the door, waving goodbye to them.
The first stop of the Knight Bus was Diagon Alley, and Sirius was already waiting for them at the top of the bus.
Evan boarded. He saw all sorts of mismatched chairs on the bus, randomly clustered around the windows.