Chapter 36: Professor’s Leaderboard

The young wizards were animatedly discussing. As first-year students, they rarely had the opportunity to use magic. Even in the previous class, just emitting light wasn't fulfilling for them. But this class was different. Although they were still just emitting light, hitting the light ball gave them a sense of combat excitement. In a way, this was the closest they, as first-years, had come to a battle.

In the corridor, Ron lamented to Harry, "Did you hear that, Harry? Professor Fawley said I could get a higher score."

"Your performance was great; it's just that your wand held you back." As the first to take the stage, Harry had observed almost all the students' performances. In his opinion, even without the bias of friendship, Ron's performance was better than most students'.

"Forget it. My family can't afford to buy me another wand." Ron awkwardly waved his wand, nearly poking Hermione passing by.

"Don't wave your wand in the corridor," Hermione scowled, casting a glance at both of them. "Do you want to lose house points?"

Ron glared back indignantly. "Come on, Harry single-handedly earned ten points for the house. Aren't you jealous?"

"Jealous?" Hermione laughed incredulously, puffing her cheeks and folding her arms, glaring at him. "Harry's score isn't even half of the professor's!"

Ron looked even more pleased, his face beaming with a smile. "Harry, a first-year, scored almost half as much as the professor. Doesn't that prove how amazing he is?"

"Hmph, I bet none of you paid attention to the professor's spells. The professor wasn't just emitting ordinary light; those were all different spells!"

"That's impossible!"

Even Harry widened his eyes, filled with disbelief, his suddenly raised voice echoing distinctly in the corridor.

"What do you mean 'impossible'? Although I didn't recognize what spells they were, the professor was casting magic from start to finish, and none of them were repeated!"

"Which means—" Ron was almost stunned.

"Which means, the professor used 120 different spells!" Hermione declared proudly, tilting her head back.

As they walked back to the Great Hall, they continued to discuss how many spells Professor Fawley might have used. Hearing the discussion about Professor Fawley, the mischievous twins George and Fred eagerly joined in. With their participation, coupled with the students' discussions from the class just now, through word of mouth, the entire Great Hall learned about the new aspect of Defense Against the Dark Arts and the new mystery of Hogwarts—how many spells Professor Fawley used.

Tver had barely stepped into the Great Hall when he was stopped by a student.

"Professor, they say you know 120 spells, is that true?" a blond, broad-shouldered boy asked.

He pondered for a moment, realizing that his performance in class had spread.

"Mr. Malfoy, I haven't counted how many spells I know. In fact, if we include some less conventional spells, it's probably far more than 120."

This statement caused a stir in the crowd. Everyone was amazed, with some students even saying he knew more spells than Dumbledore.

Tver had to raise his voice to drown out their lively discussions.

"Let me emphasize again, knowing many spells doesn't necessarily mean being powerful. In fact, in battle, we often use no more than ten spells. Mastering these ten spells is more useful than learning a hundred. As for Professor Dumbledore, I can assure you he knows more than I do."

In terms of magical accumulation, only the long-lived Nicolas Flamel could be compared to Dumbledore in the global wizarding world.

With Tver's explanation, the young wizards reluctantly returned to their seats, but their discussion about the professor didn't stop. Instead, it expanded!

They created a power ranking for the professors, excluding Dumbledore, but this ranking was filled with subjective opinions.

"I bet Professor Fawley is definitely number one!" Ron confidently asserted.

Neville nodded in agreement, but Percy Weasley, the Gryffindor prefect, disagreed.

"I admit Professor Fawley is strong, but hasn't his performance always been in combat? If we're talking about overall strength, Professor McGonagall is definitely stronger than Professor Fawley."

Penelope, sitting next to him, wasn't pleased. "Of course, strength should be compared, not teaching abilities!" She gestured to Professor Flitwick at the staff table. "And our Head of House, Professor Flitwick, was a dueling champion in his youth. If we're really comparing, he might be stronger than both Fawley and McGonagall!"

"Of course, I think Professor Fawley is a bit stronger than Professor McGonagall," she added as a small caveat.

Of course, such discussions were futile. There were no standards of measurement, and no examples to prove anything. In the end, no one could convince anyone else. Unless there was a real showdown in front of them.

As night fell, a surprising yet eagerly anticipated rumor began to spread among the students— Professor Flitwick was going to duel Professor Fawley!

With Penelope's cautious confirmation, Professor Flitwick joyfully confirmed the news. Right after dinner, he planned to have a friendly match with Tver.

Tver smiled and nodded beside him. The discussion about the duel began only after he sat down, starting with a discussion with Professor Flitwick about the classroom—

"You must understand them, Tver," Professor Flitwick comforted, "Students always have skewed perceptions of magic. In fact, I've emphasized in class many times that proficiency is more important than the magic itself, yet they still prefer powerful and flashy spells."

He shook his head in frustration.

"I can relate. When I was a student, I was always pursuing various types of magic, the more mysterious, the more intriguing," Tver consoled Professor Flitwick in return.

The professor became intrigued, "I see you handle conventional magic very well, unlike such students. How did you correct yourself?"

"It wasn't until I watched the upperclassmen's battles."

Professor Flitwick instantly understood, but Professor McGonagall was perplexed.

"Do your upperclassmen engage in battles?" she asked.

Before Tver could respond, Professor Flitwick explained on his behalf.

"Durmstrang has a tradition of dueling. Each year, there's a grade-level dueling competition, and at the end of the year, there's an inter-grade final to determine the ultimate champion." He glanced at Tver. "With your abilities, you could at least win two or three championships, right?"

"In reality, it's seven grade-level championships and four overall championships."

Now, even Professor McGonagall and the other professors who were originally unaware understood the caliber of Tver, Durmstrang's most outstanding graduate.

From the beginning of his enrollment, he was invincible among his peers, and from the fourth grade onward, he was unbeatable throughout the entire school. It was like a seismic shift, overwhelming in every aspect!