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Chapter 125: The Students
Chapter 125: The Students (First Subscription Request!)
The weather at Hogwarts became milder, with the snow melting into the ground and new buds poking their heads out. Recently, the young wizards had particularly enjoyed lounging on the grass by the Black Lake, basking lazily in the sun.
On Saturday, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Luna gathered by the lake, watching Harry and Neville exchange spells in their practice duel.
Two more Dueling Classes had passed, and Harry and his classmates had learned two new spells. One was a defensive spell—the Shield Charm—and the other was a minor curse invented by Snape himself to accommodate the younger wizards—the Tongue-Lock Curse.
His decision sparked some controversy, but Snape ignored the criticism.
"Even Dark Wizards typically shout their spells during duels, using words to channel their emotions and emotions to amplify the power of their spells", Snape said with a mocking tone. "Therefore, silencing your opponent's speech is essential."
Felix had privately suggested Snape use a Silencing Charm instead, but he refused.
"The Tongue-Lock Curse adheres the tongue to the palate. It's not as gentle as a Silencing Charm, and that's precisely what I want", Snape explained. He developed this spell independently during his school days and was highly satisfied with its practical effectiveness.
Professor Hup's explanation of the Shield Charm, on the other hand, was much more advanced. Many of the younger wizards found it difficult to master.
Even Harry and Hermione had yet to succeed in casting it.
However, it was a spell capable of defending against various other spells, and more importantly—
"Shield Charm can protect against both magical and physical attacks", Professor Hup said. "This might be the most practical defensive spell you'll learn while at Hogwarts."
The new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Damocles Belby, also introduced a useful spell in class—the Enhanced Perception Spell. This spell heightened the students' senses, as Flitwick had mentioned during Dueling Class.
"You can use it to detect danger early, especially when you're in a hazardous environment."
He created a patch of black fog with his wand. "Let's assume it's the middle of the night—this is when Redcaps and other magical creatures are most likely to attack. If you were in the wild, what would you do?"
The young wizards began to discuss enthusiastically.
Belby nodded. "Warding Charm... Protection Charm... Thief Detection Charm... and perhaps a Muggle-Repelling Charm. You can't perform these spells yet, but it's important to remember them."
He then had the young wizards walk into the black fog one by one, trying to avoid the Redcap's attacks.
"I've scattered some leaves and twigs on the ground. Stay focused, and you'll sense the danger early."
However, only a few managed to detect the Redcap and counterattack. Most of the young wizards were chased out of the fog by a cork bat.
Fortunately, aside from looking a bit disheveled, no one was injured.
Harry had always been curious about why the two Redcaps were so cooperative. Later, Professor Belby explained that he fed them many nutrient potions. "They love the taste of blood, especially the blood of magical creatures, and I have plenty of it", he said. "Now, these two Redcaps can be considered my assistants."
Unconsciously, Dueling Class and the new Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons had become an integral part of the young wizards' lives, subtly changing the entire school. The most obvious sign was that many young wizards enjoyed playing dueling games in the corridors after classes.
However, these students didn't fare well, as Filch caught a large number of them.
For a few days, the Gryffindor House Cup's jewels clattered down, and Professor Mcgonagall's expression nearly frightened the Gryffindors to death.
It wasn't just Gryffindor; the other three houses also had a fair number of young wizards caught.
During this period, the number of students penalized with community service was quite substantial. Snape directly requested a batch to process potion ingredients, Professor Sprout needed a group to tend to the plants, and Hagrid applied to Professor Mcgonagall to find a few lower-year young witches to care for the pregnant Unicorn.
Even Professor Mcgonagall couldn't resist the trend; she had the remaining students assist with the improved version of the 'Answer Parchment' testing.
With the painful lesson learned, Hogwarts' young wizards finally realized that casting spells in the corridors was extremely foolish. They chose abandoned classrooms, the edge of the Black Lake, the courtyard, and hidden corners...
Just like now, Harry was guiding Neville in practicing the Disarming Charm.
Neville's face turned red with effort as he struggled to release the spell. Finally, after countless attempts, a thin red light shot out of his wand.
"Great job, you did it, Neville!" Harry exclaimed.
Hermione and the others, sitting on the grass, clapped, and a few Gryffindors in the distance whistled.
Neville's face turned even redder, and he wanted to say something but ended up just scratching his head and grinning widely.
The two returned to the open space, and the group began to chat.
Ron mentioned the news he had received from the twins, "The new version of the 'Answer Parchment' is almost complete, and it has many of the features that were mentioned."
Out of the six people present, four had participated in the first test—excluding Harry and Neville. They were all very interested in the topic because the new teaching tool was said to be applied across all seven years.
"What new features does it have?" Harry asked, intrigued.
"The most important one is definitely the leaderboard", Ron said without hesitation. "I hope to see Gryffindor above Slytherin, ideally in first place, though it's not very realistic. The Ravenclaw bookworms will probably have the upper hand..."
"Ron!" Ginny glared at him, turning to look at Luna, who was a Ravenclaw.
"Uh..." Ron muttered a quiet "sorry."
Luna, expressionless, pulled out a very ornate wand from her pocket and pointed it at Ron—
"Oh, Luna", Harry interjected, thinking Luna was about to curse Ron.
But the next second, her wand emitted a shrill scream and transformed into a giant rubber rat.
Ron's expression became comically distorted, one eyebrow tightly furrowed while the other seemed to be flying off his forehead.
Luna pointed at his face and laughed exaggeratedly, and Ginny giggled, the two girls collapsing onto the grass.
Neville tried to suppress his laughter but couldn't hold back, emitting a series of "huffing" sounds.
"Alright, that's funny", Ron grumbled, watching Luna punch the ground repeatedly.
Hermione held the rubber rat by its tail, looking at it in amazement as it turned back into a wand. "What is this?"
Ginny got up from the ground, wiping away tears of laughter from her eyes, "It's one of Fred and George Weasley's pranks. They call it a fake wand. But they must have developed it recently... how did you get it?" she asked her friend.
"I... hah! Bought it from them... for ten sickles", Luna panted.
"How do you use it?" Harry asked, intrigued.
"Input... Magic into it."
Harry took the fake wand and tried to infuse it with magic. With a shrill scream, it once again transformed into a rubber rat.
Ron poked it with his finger, somewhat disdainfully, "It's much worse than Scabbers."
Harry looked at the giant black squid faintly visible in the Black Lake, feeling a gentle breeze ruffle his hair. His mood was incredibly relaxed.
The Chamber of Secrets and the Basilisk seemed like a distant memory.
(End of Chapter)
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