Chapter 042: Duel (Part I)

Catherine, who was too lazy to start another stove and wanted to stay with Hermione, directly moved a set of tools to Hermione's table, anyway, the table in the Potions classroom was too big for four people to work together.

Snape was completely oblivious to her actions, and it wasn't until Catherine suddenly let out an exclamation that he glanced over, and after making sure that there was no mistake in her actions, he continued to patrol the others.

"He's so partial to you!" Hermione lowered her voice and said indignantly.

"Don't change the subject, Hermione," Catherine said, her eyes fixed on her own cauldron, "why didn't you stop the two of them, stir yourself in, and drag Neville into the water!" ”

"I just forgot the password." Neville, who was caught in the middle, interjected weakly, but was directly ignored by the two girls.

"I don't want to!" Hermione slashed the grass in her hand hard, "I didn't expect the fat lady to be gone, so I had to follow them." ”

"It suddenly occurred to me," Catherine stared at her and Neville for a moment before continuing, "the Sorting Hat didn't make the mistake between the two of you. ”

"What do you mean?" Hermione stopped what she was doing.

"You all have an element of adventure hidden in you." Catherine turned around and sprinkled the cut grass roots evenly in the crucible.

"I just forgot the password!" Neville reiterated weakly again, only to be drowned out by Hermione's voice.

"It's impossible, I've always been very disciplined." Hermione glared at Catherine, "No one ever said I was a bad boy. ”

"Hermione, you know," Catherine stirred earnestly, "that there is no conflict between being disciplined and being adventurous. ”

"Why is there no conflict?" Hermione had a momentum on her body to break the casserole and ask the question.

"Do you really want to know now?" Catherine asked.

"Is there anything wrong?" Hermione was puzzled, and then heard Neville's weak voice again.

"Hermione, our potions ......"

Hermione looked at their cauldrons, only to find that their potions had burned dry and were a mess.

"Oh my God! What exactly did I do? Hermione clutched her head and screamed.

"If you make a lot of noise in class and don't take it seriously, Gryffindor deducts five points." Snape's words made Hermione even worse.

"No!" Hermione covered her face, unable to believe that she would be deducted points, even if it was Snape.

"Admit it, Hermione!" Catherine loaded the potion and whispered in her ear, "The Sorting Hat isn't wrong. ”

"What about you?" Hermione glared at the culprit who had deducted her points, "Are you really a Slytherin?" ”

"Slytherin will always remember what they should have done most." Catherine shook the crystal bottle in her hand and walked towards Snape, while Hermione rolled up her sleeves and began to redo it after glaring at her back.

"The shortest time, the most accurate operation." Snape examined it carefully and commented, "O!"

"Isn't there a 'Prefect'?" Catherine asked with some regret.

"You're just repeating from the textbook." Snape put away the crystal bottle and said indifferently.

"No wonder people always say you're harsh!" Catherine complained, but Snape pretended not to hear.

"If it's okay, you can leave." Snape had a look of longing for her to disappear.

"Well, see you in the afternoon, Professor!" Catherine smiled and turned towards the door of the classroom, winking at Hermione deliberately on the way, but her good mood didn't last long.

As soon as class ended, when he saw Catherine waiting for Hermione outside the classroom, Ron immediately ran over and made a big fuss, saying that she and Draco had colluded to tell Sù Filch about their whereabouts, and that she had deliberately talked to Hermione during class, causing Gryffindor to be deducted points, which made Catherine angry.

"I'm going to duel with you!" Catherine suddenly shouted, and the hallway outside the Potions classroom fell silent.

"Catherine, you're not kidding, are you?" Silence lingered for a few moments before Hermione spoke up.

"Of course not." Catherine raised her head and stared at Ron indifferently, "Better than what you're best at." ”

Ron and Hermione breathed a sigh of relief with these words, but Harry and Draco's faces turned white suddenly.

"Katherine, Ron did say the wrong thing, but you don't have to bully him like that, do you?" Harry stood in front of the red-haired boy, pleading with a pleading face.

"Catherine, although I think this guy is indeed very weak, but you don't have to kill it all like this!" Draco walked over to the red-haired girl and tugged at her sleeve.

"No!" Catherine glared at Ron, "He's got to the point where he needs to be a slap in the face." ”

Seeing Catherine's resoluteness, Draco and Harry glanced at each other and gave up on persuasion.

"What are you best at?" Catherine asked aloud.

"Witch-wizard-wizard chess!" Ron stammered.

"Well, it's better than this!" Catherine turned to look at the others, "Can anyone tell me how to play wizard chess?" ”

"Pounds!" The hallway fell to the ground in an instant, Ron suddenly turned red, Harry lifted his forehead and lamented, and Draco shook his head and sneered to explain the wizarding chess game to Catherine.

"You haven't played?" Snape's voice suddenly rang out above everyone, apparently startled by the strangeness of the hallway.

"If there is, he will definitely only be abused." Catherine sneered defiantly, making Ron clench his fists in anger.

"It's because there isn't, so it's even worse, okay!" Harry grumbled dissatisfiedly, pulling Ron and whispering, Catherine couldn't help but smile brightly.

"I'll be the referee!" Snape said suddenly, and took out his wand and pulled out a set of tables and chairs and a pair of wizarding chess pieces, and placed them in the open space between Catherine and Ron, "Two wins in three games!" Let's go! He announced directly.

Catherine calmly walked over and sat down, and Draco stood beside her, patted her on the shoulder and said, "Delay as much as you can!" ”

"Don't waste time, the sooner the first game ends, the better!" Harry pressed a puzzled Ron to his chair, "Remember, be quick!" ”

This kind of conversation made everyone else feel very confused, and Ron didn't understand what Harry meant, but he did it anyway, and basically as soon as the other party made his decision, he gave orders to his pawns, and Catherine took a step every half minute, as precise as a stopwatch.

But Catherine is indeed a new novice who can't be a new novice, and she doesn't let go of all the mistakes that a novice will have, and Ron naturally won't let go of such an obvious opportunity, and in less than ten minutes, he successfully checkmates the opponent's king.

"How, how many did you find?" As soon as the first inning was over, Draco asked.

"Less than seventy percent." Catherine said with some displeasure.

"It's fine! OK! Harry's face was full of joy when he heard this answer, and then he turned Ron's head and said solemnly to him, "Remember, how slow the second game is, even when you don't need to think, it will drag on for a minute." ”

"Why?" Not only Ron, but everyone else was confused and didn't know why.

"Because by doing so, you won't lose!"

"So if Ron doesn't do what you say," Hermione said, with a look of surprise on her face, "Catherine will win?" ”

"Is this possible?" Neville asked weakly.

"Not a possibility, but a certainty!" Harry turned to stare at Catherine, and the other smiled brightly again.

"The second round begins!" Snape announced with a new set of pieces.

“E2－to－E4!” Catherine immediately gave the order.

Seeing this, Ron was about to speak, but Harry pressed his shoulder and shook his head vigorously, so he had to start stalling.

However, after the contact battle began, Ron no longer had to be patient to delay time, because he found that Catherine's style of chess had changed, she had completely shaken off the immaturity of a novice and began to show her fangs, which made Ron have to be cautious, and he thought for more and more time.

Wizard chess and Muggle chess move exactly the same, but because the pieces are completely simulated, when the pieces meet, the player also needs to direct the battle, although it is a turn-based system of one attack and one defense, but because it needs to combine a series of factors such as the attack power, defense, strength, weakness and so on of the pieces, it is much more complex than chess.

Because the gameplay of wizard chess is very complicated, there are not many people who like to play wizard chess, and even fewer people who are proficient in it, but after all, they have all touched it, so they still have eyesight.

When Ron began to think seriously, the onlookers finally noticed that Catherine's attacks were becoming sharper and sharper, and the pace of the chess pieces was becoming more and more difficult to fathom, which made Ron's orders become heavier and heavier, and the sweat on his forehead became more and more numerous.

Obviously he was a newbie who was abused just now, how did he become so powerful in such a short period of time?

Onlookers couldn't figure out why, but the wizard's game was really grinded back and forth by the two of them until there were only four pieces left - two kings and a knight and a castle.

"A draw?" Harry asked cautiously.

The two players were silent for a few moments before nodding their heads at the same time.

"Good luck!" Draco grumbled.

"What do you mean by that?" Hermione asked, dissatisfied.

"He's right!" Ron spoke suddenly, his voice very muffled.

"You're self-aware." Draco snorted coldly, turned to Catherine and asked, "Got it all?" ”

"Of course." Catherine smiled brightly again.

Seeing this, Harry patted Ron on the shoulder and comforted, "Play to your heart's content, you're going to lose the last game anyway." ”

I don't know if Harry's comfort was useful, but the effect of the agitation did work.

“H2－to－H4!” As soon as the new pieces took their place on the board, Ron shouted with wide eyes.

The third game was very exciting, because both players played very fast, and the chess pieces were attacked and played, but no one could understand it, because they couldn't keep up with the two of them, and they didn't know who had the advantage, only that there were as many pieces that were crippled on both sides.

Eventually, the two finally stopped, and there were only four pieces left on the board, and both sides dropped their kings and chose to go straight to the Yellow Dragon, but Ron was clearly one move behind.

"Checkmate!" Catherine smiled triumphantly.

The others all had incredulous faces, and Ron's face was gray.