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Chapter 493: Obsession and Capriciousness (Deep and Boundless Alliance Leader, Additional Chapter 35
Chapter 493: Obsession and Capriciousness (Deep and Boundless Alliance Leader, Additional Chapter 35)
For a while, the most popular topic at school remained Sirius Black.
The news about him occupied an entire page in the Prophet every day, and waiting for the owl to deliver the newspaper in the morning had become the most anticipated part of the day for some people.
In addition, Harry had been very excited lately. Almost every morning, he received packages from owls containing candies, clothes, and other novel little gadgets.
But these had nothing to do with their fifth year at Hogwarts.
The professors seemed to be competing to see who could exhaust their students first, assigning more and more homework with increasingly higher demands, and even Kyle couldn't escape this fate.
After all, not all professors would exempt him from homework, such as in Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts classes.
After teaching the Iron Armor Charm for two weeks, Professor Moody decided to test them.
The test was supposed to have taken place the previous week, but that class had been a disaster.
There were students everywhere who were chanting the wrong spells, standing still in a daze, or forgetting the hand gestures, which frustrated Professor Moody so much that he had no choice but to postpone the test for another week.
"I don't mind telling you in advance," Professor Moody said, standing at the lectern, "this time I will be using the Leg-Locker Curse, and if you can't successfully defend against it, I'm sorry, but you'll have to hop around for the rest of the day."
Some people became tense, but most of them looked indifferent.
"I know what you're thinking," Moody continued, "'It's just the Leg-Locker Curse, it's easy to undo, and it doesn't matter if I don't block it'... Am I right?"
Professor Moody laughed, his scarred face contorting in a grimace, "But it would be best to get rid of that idea now. Against an Auror's Leg-Locker Curse, a general dispelling charm won't work."
He then asked everyone to stand on either side and called them forward one by one according to the class roster to cast the Leg-Locker Curse on them.
Kyle noticed that the results this time were much better than the previous week's. At least when Professor Moody deliberately slowed down, the first two students successfully cast the Iron Armor Charm, using an invisible wall to bounce the curse back.
But things changed when it was the third student's turn. Perhaps due to nervousness, the student forgot the spell.
As expected, his legs were tightly stuck together, and he had to hop back to his seat, even tripping and almost breaking his nose along the way.
When it was Kyle's turn, he stepped forward into the empty space in the middle of the classroom.
Professor Moody raised his wand, and a streak of white light shot towards Kyle.
Some of the more perceptive students noticed that Professor Moody hadn't chanted the spell aloud this time; the curse had appeared without warning.
"Armor!" Kyle shouted.
The white light rebounded and flew straight at Moody, but he dodged it.
"Very good! Now that's more like it!" Professor Moody exclaimed, "Bouncing the curse back at your opponent is the true purpose of the Iron Armor Charm. If it goes flying off in random directions, it only shows that you haven't mastered it well enough... Well done, Gryffindor, ten points!"
Professor Moody awarded Kyle ten points but didn't give him what he wanted most—a homework exemption.
The rest of the class took their turns one by one, but the success rate was not high, only about half.
After class, those who had failed had no choice but to hop away like rabbits from the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.
“Yeah, he sounds like a paranoid nutcase...”
Ryan hobbled alongside him, glancing back to ensure Professor Moody was out of earshot before continuing in a hushed tone, “I heard the folks at the Ministry don't like him either. They think he's too neurotic... He suspects everyone who walks by, even if they're just passing normally.”
“Professor Moody might be a bit harsh, but it's always good to learn more,” Autumn, their classmate, chimed in. “And the Iron Armor Charm is important.”
“I know,” Ryan sighed. “But we have too much on our plates already. When will we even have time to master the Iron Armor Charm? I think it would be more appropriate to leave it for our sixth year if it's not going to be on the O.W.L.s. At least then, we won't have endless homework to deal with.”
Ryan yawned, then stumbled, almost falling to the ground. Fortunately, Kyle was quick to steady him.
“This is too inconvenient. Do you want me to undo it for you?” Kyle offered.
Professor Moody wasn't exaggerating; a standard dispelling charm indeed didn't work, as some students had discovered after class. However, a restoration spell should do the trick, and if all else failed, there was always the All-Ending Spell.
“Thanks... Never mind,” Ryan hesitated before shaking his head. “Moody has a magical eye; who knows if he's watching us from somewhere. It's the weekend tomorrow anyway. I'll just stay in the dorm if I have to.”
Ryan was taking it in stride, figuring that since he'd be spending the whole day tomorrow writing essays in the common room anyway, this might even help him get them done faster.
But first, he had one more class to endure—Potions in the dungeon classroom.
Perhaps it was just an impression, but Snape seemed even more capricious and temperamental than before, making Potions classes increasingly arduous.
The dungeon classroom was as chilly as a winter day, and the door creaked ominously as it opened.
“Silence!” Snape said coldly.
His words were unnecessary, as the class had already fallen silent at his entrance, all furtive movements ceasing immediately.
Snape was typically the best sedative at Hogwarts; he merely needed to stand there, and the entire school would quiet down, even more effectively than Dumbledore.
“Today, we will be brewing a Soothing Solution, which alleviates and calms anxious emotions. It is also a potion that frequently appears in exams,” he said in a measured tone. “But before we begin, I must remind you that potion-making is a precise art. Even the most expensive cauldron cannot compensate for a deficient intellect.”
He surveyed the room, his eyes scanning the students' desks as if searching for something. Apparently satisfied, he nodded and strode to the front of the class, waving his wand at the blackboard. “The brewing method is written here... You would do well to commit it to memory. If you brew it haphazardly, the drinker may fall into a deep, sometimes unavoidable slumber.”
He waved his wand again, opening the storage cabinet by the door. “Take what you need. You have an hour and a half. Begin.”
(End of Chapter)
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