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What is the Sweet 16? It’s the regional semifinal round of the Unofficial Harry Potter Bracket. Winners of Sweet 16 match-ups move onto the Elite 8.

To see the 32 seeded wizards and witches, and more info about the tournament, click here.

To learn how the previous duels went down, click here.

Note: All of these Harry Potter columns might contain spoilers from the series.

Half of the Sweet 16 duels have happened and I am going to share with you the results here. If you would like to vote for the remaining duels, feel free to follow along on Twitter @himmelberger_c and Instagram @curt_himmelberger.

Also, the amazing and wonderful Emily Gibson (FB: emily.gibson.12) has created the dueling stories you’ll see below.

Without further ado, here are the results:

MATCH 1: Who would win in a duel between Ron Weasley (3) and Dolores Umbridge (2)?

Ron Weasley received 83% of the votes vs. 17% for Dolores Umbridge, so Weasley moves on to the Elite 8.

How did the duel go down? Emily explains:

Official: “Up next, Ron Weasley and Dolores Umbridge."

Umbridge stands up straight, placing her cat plate carefully into her chair. "It is about time. I am tired of waiting for this nonsense. I have come up with new rules for this duel." She walks to the stage.

Official: "That is not necessary, we already have rules."

Umbridge says, “I know it wasn't necessary, but it is much needed. I will wait while you fix the minor adjustments I have made. It's just 1,390 pages. Mr. Weasley, what is taking you so long?"

Ron is standing across from her on stage dumbfounded by the idea of 1390 pages of rule updates.

Officials, “We will not be updating our rules. The combatants face each other, bow, and then attempt to disarm, injure, or kill each other in order to force submission, and thus a winner is decided. On the count of three... One. Two. Three."

Umbridge: “I have brought a dementor from the Ministry of Magic. Mr Weasley…”

The crowd all stands up and gets their wands out to perform a Patronus if it gets too close.

The chair that Umbridge’s plate was on gets bumped, and the plate falls and cracks. She screams and rushes off the stage to the plate.

The dementor follows her and starts to suck the life out of her; she yells at it to get away and go after the boy instead. Ron has his Patronus guarding him on stage.

Official: “Ron wins!”

Match Analysis:

Out of the voters who commented, the main and overwhelming reason behind voting for Ron is that Umbridge is not known for dueling and would not be as skilled as Ron at dueling (especially “Book 7 Ron” which several voters decided to make clear). The main and overwhelming reason behind voting for Umbridge is that she is more skilled than Ron, who would most likely pee his pants or only win by dumb luck. Multiple voters even pointed out that it was still unfair that Ron somehow beat Professor Flitwick last round, which was the closest match so far in the tournament.

Ron Weasley upsets Umbridge to move on to the Elite 8, where he will duel Minerva McGonagall or Lucius Malfoy (keep reading this article to find out that winner).

My conclusion: I am perplexed. I thought I was able to easily predict what would happen in this tournament, but I think that was just because the Round of 32 matches were easier duels. Ron, one of the most famous Harry Potter characters in the world (even my mom knows who he is and she’s never read the books), was basically tied with a more unknown Filius Flitwick last round and barely won. So I assumed this match would have been a lot closer, but Ron overwhelmingly blew Umbridge out of the water. So one of these three conclusions might be right. 1. Ron won because the majority of people really don’t think Umbridge is good at dueling. 2. More likely, people secretly voted against Umbridge because of their immense hatred of her. I’ll follow up this thought in the Bellatrix Lestrange paragraph below. Or 3. Ron is the fan favorite, the Cinderella-story of this bracket, and that he is going to go far in this tournament.

MATCH 2: Who would win in a duel between Minerva McGonagall (1) vs. Lucius Malfoy (5)?

Minerva McGonagall received 88% of the votes vs. 12% for Lucius Malfoy, so McGonagall moves on to the Elite 8.

How did the duel go down? Emily explains:

Official: “Up next Minerva McGonagall and Lucius Malfoy.”

McGonagall walks to her side of the stage with her head held high. Malfoy sulks to his side with his hand lightly on his cane; hitting a house elf in the crowd along the way. He snarls, “Watch where you're going! Why would they even let you in here? Get to work you useless creature!?!”

Official: “The combatants face each other, bow, and then attempt to disarm, injure, or kill each other in order to force submission, and thus a winner is decided. On the count of three... One. Two-.”

Malfoy’s wand flies out of his hand.

McGonagall starts her spell. “Stupefy.”

Malfoy’s wand flies to the house elf’s hand as MALFOY falls to the ground!

Official: “McGonagall wins!”

House elf: “Next time show some respect to the Freed House Elf Society!”

Match analysis:

Out of the voters who commented, the number one reason to vote for McGonagall was her skill and experience (practices magic more as a magic teacher, in the Order, head of Gryffindor, Dumbledore’s unstated #2 man, never have seen her full potential... and the list goes on). The second reason is of course the reverse, that Lucius is not as skilled as her and a coward. Those voting for Malfoy mentioned the skill he does have, and most of those voters also commented that they are voting for Malfoy based on logic, not for whom their heart wants them to vote for.

Minverva McGonagall moves on to the Elite 8 where she will duel Ron Weasley.

My conclusion: 1. McGonagall can do no wrong in my book; I bet she wins the whole thing. 2. Unless Ron has some fan favorite bias going for him. 3. I hope I used “whom” correctly in the above paragraph.

MATCH 3: Who would win in a duel between Severus Snape (2) vs. Ginny Weasley (3)?

Severus Snape received 88% of the votes vs. 12% for Ginny Weasley, so Snape moves on to the Elite 8.

How did the duel go down? Emily explains:

Official: “Up next is Ginny Weasley and Severus Snape.”

Snape slithers to the stage from the back of the room. Weasley zips to her side of the stage. Snape speaks to the official. “That is Professor Snape to you.”

Official: “The combatants face each other, bow, and then attempt to disarm, injure, or kill each other in order to force submission, and thus a winner is decided. On the count of three-”

Snape, without saying anything, conjures a snake that looks to be eyeing Weasley. Snape smirks.

Weasley says, “Reverte”( the snake disappears).

Snowballs come from nowhere and hit Snape.

Snape: “Meteolojinx recanto, stupefy.”

Weasley drops down.

Official: “Snape wins.”

Snape: ”That is Professor Snape.” He points the wand to Weasley. “Rennervate. Get up now, Weasley!”

Match analysis:

Out of the voters who commented, the unanimous reason for voting for Snape is that he is a more powerful wizard (legendary skills, cunning and ruthless, knows his stuff, years of experience, can fool the dark Lord, occlumency skill, knows a broader range of skills) or that Ginny Weasley was the less powerful wizard. Don’t get me wrong, almost all those voters gave Ginny Weasley a compliment somewhere in their explanation as well.

Severus Snape moves on to the Elite 8 where he will either duel Hermione Granger or Remus Lupin.

My conclusion: Wowzers. People think Snape is powerful. The first match comments just focused on Cho Chang not being capable; but with a stronger match in Ginny, the pro-Snape comments quickly came out. This is the first time I think he may have a chance of beating Granger (or Lupin) in the next round. Perhaps he should have been a #1 seed instead of a #2 seed in this tournament.

MATCH 4: Who would win in a duel between Kingsley Shacklebolt (4) vs. Bellatrix Lestrange (1)?

Kingsley Shacklebolt received 58% of the votes vs 42% for Bellatrix Lestrange, so Shacklebolt moves on to the Elite 8.

How did the duel go down? Emily explains:

Official: “Up next is Bellatrix Lestrange and Kingsley Shacklebolt.”

Lestrange dances to the stage singing, “I killed Sirius Black, I killed Tonks, and I will kill you. I killed Sirius Black, I killed Tonks, and I will kill you. Come now, let the cat play with her food before she kills it!' (With a menacing smile, of course.)

Shacklebolt proceeds to his side, unfazed.

Official: “The combatants face each other, bow, and then attempt to disarm, injure, or kill each other in order to force submission, and thus a winner is decided. For this match, due to someone cheating last time (looks over at Lestrange), we will also have an anti-cheating charm over this duel. On the count of three…”

Lestrange’s wand is pointed and flicks at Shacklebolt from the time the official starts speaking.

Shacklebolt, and Lestrange circle each other without saying a word, but colors are flying from both wands: one curse followed by a block, followed by a curse. It is a tiresome dance with curses and spells and counterspells and more curses flying everywhere. At last, Lestrange smiles and says, “Checkmate,” as she stands at the edge of the stage. As sparks fly from her wand, Shacklebolt counters with a spell from his wand and Lestrange trips off the side of the stage.

Official: “Shacklebolt wins.”

Shacklebolt later said, “She had me five different times but didn't go for the kill because she was having too much fun! Maybe you shouldn't play with your opponents!”

Match analysis:

Out of the voters who commented, the most popular comment was that Bellatrix should win because she is that crazy (she plays dirty, psycho, would do anything to win, has savagery and cunning, unpredictability, quick impulses, batshit crazy, not afraid to use unforgivable curses...and the descriptions go on). However, the second most popular response (all the reasons Shacklebolt has more skill and is underrated in general) plus the third most popular response (she is too crazy/unhinged to win in a duel) were enough votes to make Shacklebolt the winner.

Our first #1 seed is out of the tournament. After a very close duel, Shacklebolt moves on to the Elite 8 where he will duel either Mad-Eye Moody or Luna Lovegood.

My conclusion: I am at a loss for words. I was sure Bellatrix was powerful enough, and unhinged enough, to make it to the finals of this tournament. Shacklebolt won because he is a very powerful wizard, but I wonder if voters also tend to vote for good guys over bad guys (Dolores Umbridge hardly getting any votes as another example). But crazy things happen in March Madness, so stay tuned for the results of the second-half of the Sweet 16.