This slight surprise was like a pebble thrown into a lake, creating only a shallow ripple before returning to calm.
In her eyes, Isolde was merely someone who barely possessed a bit of capital worth noticing, far from enough to make her look at her in a new light.
But Rodolphus was thoroughly enraged out of embarrassment.
As the eldest son of the Lestrange Family, losing to a former Ravenclaw girl made him feel he had completely lost face.
From then on, he frequently brought a few followers to block Isolde in the corridors and courtyards, provoking her at every turn and demanding another duel.
Isolde originally didn’t want to entangle herself too much, but the other party pushed step by step, leaving her no choice but to accept the challenge again and again.
Their duels became a regular occurrence at Hogwarts, and each time was evenly matched.
Relying on her increasingly exquisite magic control and flexible moves, Isolde narrowly won every time.
Every time she won, her strength improved by a fraction.
Her fame among the students grew larger and larger, but coming along with it were inexplicable rumors.
It started spreading from whose mouth nobody knew, saying that the reason Isolde Winnier dueled Rodolphus over and over again…
…was because she had a crush on him, yet didn’t know how to express it, so she could only use this clumsy way to attract his attention.
Isolde: “To be honest, upon hearing this news, my defense was truly broken!”
The rumors intensified, and some students even snickered and discussed her in the corridors, which made Isolde feel extremely annoyed.
Her original intention was to prove her strength and respond to Bellatrix’s recognition, but now it was misinterpreted into this state, this…
This is simply alarmist talk!
The rumors fermented faster than a spell getting out of control.
In just a few days’ time, the whole of Hogwarts was secretly discussing it!
Ravenclaw’s Isolde Winnier was acting crazy, searching for Rodolphus Lestrange to duel, not to prove herself at all, but clearly harboring a crush on him, wanting to use this extreme method to farm that so-called…
…sense of presence.
When passing through the corridors, fragments of laughter always drifted into her ears.
Many Slytherin students who had a good relationship with Rodolphus looked her up and down without any concealment, their eyes carrying mockery and disdain.
Isolde was so angry that she almost snapped her wand in half.
In order to get closer to her target, Bellatrix, she desperately polished herself, soaking day and night in the Library and the Dueling Arena.
Her arms were too sore to lift, and her magic power was overdrawn to the point of dizziness, yet she hadn’t complained a single word, only to end up being slapped with such an absurd label in the end.
Having a crush on Rodolphus?
She would rather waltz with a Troll than be the least bit moved by that arrogant and conceited Pure-blood idiot.
The more she thought about it, the more aggrieved she felt, so she simply growled at the empty air in her dormitory:
“Have a crush on him? Am I crazy! The one I want to pursue is clearly—”
She couldn’t possibly say that she was working herself to death entirely for Bellatrix Black, who spoke coldly to her and had eyes sharper than ice.
At this moment, the little roommates on the adjacent beds: “Who do you have a crush on? Go on, say it…”
Lucy: “Is this frontline drama watching?”
The system continued to play dead, not making a single sound.
Isolde took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.
Her roommate said that details determine how people get along, but she could barely qualify to get close right now.
Rather than continuing to be bothered by rumors, she might as well simply change her path.
She was already tired of fighting Rodolphus, and it couldn’t prove anything more.
Then she would challenge the people around Bellatrix, or classmates with real strength, fighting until the other party truly faced her squarely.
Bellatrix was somewhat treated like the stars surrounding the moon in Slytherin, and Alecto Carrow seemed to have spoken with her a few times.
Carrow came from a Pure-blood family with a sharp and flamboyant personality.
Her foundation in spells was not weak, and she usually always followed by Bella’s side, bossing others around and previously joining in on mocking Isolde.
On the afternoon she selected her target, Isolde blocked Alecto Carrow in the courtyard as she was chatting and laughing with her companions.
When Alecto saw her, she was stunned for a moment, then rolled her eyes, her tone acrid:
“Winnier, instead of pestering Rodolphus, what are you coming to find me for? I have no interest in meddling in that… ridiculous mindset of yours.”
A burst of jeering immediately sounded around them.
Isolde remained expressionless, her hand holding her wand steady as a rock, her voice clear enough to spread across the entire courtyard:
“I am not here to look for Rodolphus, Miss Carrow. I want to issue a duel challenge to you.”
As soon as these words came out, the laughter came to an abrupt halt.
The contempt on Alecto’s face froze, as if she had heard some colossal joke:
“You… you want to fight me? Winnier, do you really think you’re something special just because you won against Rodolphus a few times?”
“Do you dare or not, just give me a word.” Isolde didn’t yield an inch.
What she wanted was never just to defeat a Carrow, but to let Bellatrix, who was leaning against a stone pillar not far away and watching coldly, see it clearly.
She, Isolde Winnier, was not a sycophant who only knew how to crowd around and ingratiate herself.
She had enough strong power to stand in a position equal to hers.
Bellatrix was indeed watching.
Her gray eyes were half-squinted, her fingertips unconsciously stroking her wand.
She didn’t speak, but she didn’t leave either.
Alecto was provoked into a fiery temper and accepted the duel on the spot.
The news spread even faster than last time, and the Dueling Arena was soon crowded with onlookers, with even a few professors arriving to stand aside and observe. The source of this chapter is novelping(.)com.
The duel was on the verge of breaking out.
Alecto struck viciously, starting right off with a barrage of attacking curses.
Her magic was violent and tyrannical, obviously wanting to make a quick resolution and ruthlessly humiliate Isolde.
She was one grade higher than Isolde.
Isolde was unhurried, dodging with nimble footwork, casting her defensive curses impenetrably.
She wasn’t in a rush to counterattack, but patiently searched for the opponent’s flaws.
Although Carrow’s offensive was fierce, it lacked systematic methodology, and her magic consumption was extremely fast.
After dozens of rounds, her breathing gradually became disordered, and her moves revealed openings.
Isolde seized the opportunity, using a precise spell to interrupt her rhythm, followed closely by Levicorpus and a series of floating spells, cleanly subduing her.
Alecto hung stiffly in mid-air, her face blushing bright red, both ashamed and furious, yet unable to move.
The whole audience broke into an uproar.
A Ravenclaw successively defeating two rather capable Pure-blood students was something that had never happened at Hogwarts in recent years.
Isolde panted slightly, her gaze subconsciously passing through the crowd, landing precisely on that familiar figure.
Bellatrix was still standing in place, her arrogant chin slightly raised, her gray eyes no longer holding total indifference.
There was a bit more scrutiny, a bit more interest, and even hiding a trace of imperceptible approval.
The corners of her mouth twitched upwards ever so slightly, so fast that people would think it was an illusion.
This single glance instantly made Isolde’s grievances and fatigue from the past few days vanish into thin air.
It was worth it after all.
But she didn’t expect that an even greater surprise was yet to come.
The crowd of onlookers gradually dispersed, and Isolde was preparing to pack up her things and leave the Dueling Arena.
A cold and aloof voice with a hint of arrogance sounded from behind her.
“Winnier.”
Isolde’s entire body stiffened as she slowly turned back.
Bellatrix Black was standing just a few paces behind her.
Her gaze was arrogant and forceful, landing squarely on her.
The surroundings instantly became so quiet that a pin drop could be heard.
Students who hadn’t walked far stopped in their tracks one after another, unable to believe their ears and eyes.
Black actually took the initiative to call out to that Ravenclaw?