Chapter 172

At eight in the evening, Harry and Hermione returned to the Great Hall.

The long dining tables had vanished. Along one wall, a gilded stage had been set up, lit by hundreds of floating candles above. The ceiling once again resembled a velvet-white sky. Nearly all the students in the school had come—at least six hundred of them—crammed together, wands in hand, all looking excited.

Hermione said, “Professor Flitwick was once an International Dueling Champion. I wonder if he’ll be the one teaching us.”