Chapter 526: Sirius Black's Defense Against the Dark Arts Class

Chapter 526: Sirius Black's Defense Against the Dark Arts Class

When Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom the next afternoon, Sirius Black was already there, looking entirely different from before. He was dressed in a well-fitted dark outfit with a matching deep-colored inner layer, the collar loosely open. His face wore a nonchalant expression, and with his curly black hair, he looked as if he had stepped out of an oil painting.

"Harry?" He walked over, his face filled with concern. "I heard you lost a lot of points? Was it Snape?"

Harry suddenly felt a sense of temporal dissonance. Sirius Black's appearance seemed to overlap with the image of him from over a decade ago, when he was the best man at his parents' wedding, only now he looked more mature.

"It's nothing really", Harry muttered, not wanting to cause a confrontation between Sirius and Snape.

"Alright, we'll talk about it later", Sirius hesitated for a moment. "Stay behind after class, there's something you should know, about Hagrid."

"He's back?" Harry asked, surprised.

"Shh", Sirius silenced the three of them. "He doesn't want others to notice. He's still tied up for now... We'll visit him with Felix tonight."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged glances and didn't press further. They took their seats, and in the back row, Lavender Brown was whispering to Parvati. "Don't you think the new professor is even more handsome than Lockhart...?" The two girls chattered excitedly.

Harry quickly moved to a seat further inside, not wanting to catch the silly vibe emanating from the two.

Hermione looked at Sirius, her eyes full of anticipation. "Do you think — will he be back to teach next week?"

"I don't know, but I hope so", Harry said. From the tone of Sirius's voice, it seemed Hagrid was back, but why hadn't he appeared?

The bell rang, and all the students silently watched Sirius, their eyes filled with curiosity. This was the usual treatment for any new professor, but this time it was especially different. The new professor's background was particularly terrifying — not because of his role as a Ministry of Magic advisor, but because he was once the top Death Eater under the Dark Lord, who had escaped from Azkaban and terrified them for half a year.

At the time, everyone was curious about how he had escaped and how he had gotten close to the school. Many students had spread rumors about the new professor.

"Alright, students, as a tradition, I need to introduce myself. But I doubt anyone here doesn't know my name, given that my wanted poster hung in Hogsmeade for months, the one in Honeydukes' window was enormous..." Sirius said cheerfully. "I may look different now, but my name remains the same."

"Sirius Black, you can call me Professor, Professor Black, or even just Sirius once we're more familiar."

The students exchanged glances; the new professor seemed quite approachable...

"Any questions? If not, let's start the class."

"But—" Hermione raised her hand. "Um, Professor Black?" Sirius smiled at her.

"We don't have textbooks", she said.

The students nodded in agreement, and Harry's heart sank, fearing his godfather might say, "I forgot." But Harry quickly thought it was unlikely.

"Textbooks? We won't need those. What I'm going to teach you can't be learned from a book", Sirius said.

"Now, take your wands and follow me." Before anyone could react, he had already disappeared from the classroom.

A few seconds later, he reappeared, looking puzzled. "What are you waiting for? Wasn't I clear?"

Everyone started moving, exchanging excited glances.

Hermione, however, was shocked. As the other students stood up and headed for the door, she remained frozen in her seat.

"A good start, isn't it?" Ron said, gripping his Unicorn wand. "I have a good feeling about him."

They formed a loose line and walked down the stairs, through the entrance hall, and out of the castle, stopping at an open area by the Black Lake.

Perhaps because it had rained the day before, the weather was especially clear and warm today. The sun was bright, and a gentle breeze rippled across the lake, making waves of gold. Many students thought it would be perfect if today were a weekend.

"Since when have there been two walls here? They're so ugly..." Draco Malfoy frowned, pointing to two stone walls on the grass nearby. Each wall was about twenty feet long and nearly as tall as a person, spaced about sixty to seventy feet apart.

Sirius pretended not to hear. After all, he had built them by feel in the dark, and it was understandable if they were a bit crooked, right?

"Quiet, students. Defense Against the Dark Arts has an eternal theme: how to protect yourself when you're in danger. My goal is to teach you how to protect yourselves during wartime... Anyone want to take a guess?"

As expected, Hermione was the first to raise her hand.

"Hermione—" Sirius suddenly coughed. "I mean, Miss Granger, please answer."

According to the Ministry of Magic's booklet, if danger arises, the only thing underage young wizards should do is protect themselves—get away from danger, quickly reunite with their families, and use apparition to escape. Therefore, everyone must learn and adapt to side-along apparition.

"Very good, very correct. Did you all remember that?" Sirius Black looked at the students.

Only a few nodded. Sirius Black frowned, "I said... there's nothing difficult about this. Do I need to repeat it?"

This time, almost everyone nodded.

"Excellent, then that part is done." Sirius Black said, satisfied.

The others were a bit stunned. What did he mean by 'done'? Sirius Black cleared his throat, "Wanting to protect yourself is that simple. Don't run around, don't cause trouble, and learning the technique of side-along apparition is enough. We won't discuss side-along apparition today; I forgot to ask the Headmaster for permission..."

Then, his tone became low and solemn, and just standing there, he captured everyone's attention.

"Escaping is, of course, the best option. There's no need to risk your life... but if you can't escape or have a reason to stay, you have only one choice—take up your wand and fight bravely, no matter who the enemy is." He said in a grave voice.

At this moment, the influence of different houses on students' traits became evident. While it wasn't obvious when looking at individuals, when you looked at the group, the differences were clear—most students, particularly those from Gryffindor and some from Slytherin, were moved by Sirius Black's words of resilience and began to think about when they would need to choose to fight. However, some still shook their heads, indicating disagreement.

There was no clear superiority between the two attitudes; being too calm could turn into indifference, and being too brave could become recklessness.

...

"Alright!" Sirius Black clapped his hands and said to the students, "Now, let's form groups. Slytherin House students, stand over here, and Gryffindor students, go to that side." He spread his arms as if holding two small flags.

The students moved to their designated positions. Draco Malfoy strode past Harry, turning back to give a challenging look.

"Looks like we'll be dueling soon. I learned a lot over the summer", he whispered.

"You can challenge me", Harry, who was used to such remarks, replied smoothly, "but my opponents are Death Eaters. If you know any, you can introduce me, you know?"

Draco's smug expression froze as he remembered Aunt Bella, who had briefly stayed at his house.

"Hurry up! You two!" Sirius Black urged from the side. The two of them stood in their respective groups. Coincidentally, Harry found himself in front of a stone wall, and the opposite group was in the same position.

Sirius Black stood between them, pulling a whistle from his pocket: "What you need to do is practical combat. Think of it as a free-for-all, with your house as a team to take down the other side. I want to see your real skills. Listen to my command—when the whistle blows, you can start. I'll give you a heads-up: only use the Stunning Spell and Shield Charm. No one here should be unfamiliar with these, right?"

The two groups were stunned for a few seconds. A free-for-all?— "That's not fair", Draco shouted, "we have fewer people on our side!"

"Then how about I switch you to the other group?" Sirius Black bared his teeth in a threatening tone, at least from Draco's perspective.

"No way", Draco shrank back, saying, "I'm not going to a group full of Gryffindors. I've only experienced that feeling in the Rune Club, but that's not a battle."

"Then listen up", Sirius Black said impatiently, turning to address everyone, "Do you think the test only happens once? Do you think everything on the battlefield will go your way? I hope you have the energy to complain later. I've got plenty of tricks up my sleeve!"

Harry gripped his wand tightly. He hadn't expected the practical lesson to be a free-for-all, and the Slytherin students were equally confused. But gradually, some students' expressions became more animated, and their hidden thoughts grew rapidly. They all started to smile dangerously at their opponents.

Harry felt a knot in his stomach and took a few steps closer to Ron, whispering to Hermione, "Stay close, let's stick together."

"What? Oh!" Hermione, still in shock, asked with evident confusion, "How can Sirius Black do this? He's going to get a lot of complaints! His methods are more extreme than Hagrid and Professor Moody's—"

"We'll talk about it later", Harry interrupted her.

On the other side, most students were still standing there, bewildered. Sirius Black began the countdown, "Three—two—one—beep!" The loud whistle echoed across the field, and red Stunning Spells crisscrossed. Hermione and Ron simultaneously cast Shield Charms to protect themselves, while Harry's wand darted out through the gaps, quickly casting a spell that immediately knocked down two opponents.

After the first round, about a third of the Gryffindors and Slytherins had fallen. Everyone stopped, unsure what to do next.

"Keep going! Until one side is completely down!" Sirius Black shouted from a distance.

Draco Malfoy was the first to react. He stood behind a crooked stone wall, shouting to the others, "Over here! We have fewer people, so use the environment—" A spell hit the wall near him, cast by Ron, who regretfully put away his wand, "Missed."

The spell acted like a whip, and students rushed to their respective stone walls. From Sirius Black's perspective, students from both houses were standing behind their stone walls, cautiously peering out.

The ground was already littered with over a dozen students.

Behind the stone wall, Harry licked his lips. He didn't feel any pressure; casting a silent Stunning Spell to knock down two people seemed effortless, especially with Ron and Hermione's Shield Charm protecting him. He felt that his previous approach had been too cautious.

"Leave the ones on the ground alone; they're already 'dead,'" Sirius Black called out from a distance.

Encouraged by his words, the two groups of students began casting spells at each other from behind the stone wall. After the initial fear and discomfort, everyone became immersed in this tense, thrilling, and unconventional dueling game. They gradually abandoned their defenses, only using Stunning Spells to shoot at each other. A few minutes later, half of the students on both sides had fallen, and only a handful remained on the Slytherin side, causing Sirius Black to shake his head.

The situation on the field had now turned into a chaotic mess.

The significant numerical disadvantage made the Slytherin students realize the gravity of the situation. They no longer dared to expose themselves, hiding behind the sturdy stone wall, only occasionally peeking from the edges or above. If a Gryffindor student stood still, they would be hit by a flurry of spells in the next second. No one dared to show themselves easily.

The situation reached a stalemate. Sirius Black raised his wand from a distance, removing the unfortunate victims of the Stunning Spells from the 'battlefield' and using a Recovery Charm to wake them up. Many of them looked shocked when they regained consciousness, with no memory of how they had been hit.

"Pay attention; you'll need to write an essay about this", Sirius Black told them.

...

"They're hiding and won't come out, what do we do, Harry?" Neville leaned against the wall and shouted. He had just poked his head out and almost got hit by a spell.

Harry glanced back at the remaining students. "There are 16 left", Hermione said. Harry clenched his teeth. "Are you willing to act together?"

"Of course."

"We'll follow your lead, Harry."

"This is a rare opportunity; we're about to defeat Slytherin", Seamus said excitedly.

"Alright", Harry said without hesitation. "I, Ron, Hermione", he hesitated for a moment, "and Neville will go in front, using Shield Charms for defense. Seamus and Dean will be ready to step in, and the rest of you will stand behind us and cast Stunning Spells!"

They spent half a minute adjusting, forming a makeshift formation, and walked out from behind the stone wall.

On the other side, Draco frowned, sensing something was off. There had been no movement for a while. What was happening? He estimated that there were at least a dozen people on the other side, while they had only six left.

It seemed like a losing battle.

Damn Sirius Black, his father was right; he is the biggest traitor to the Pureblood Families!

He glanced at his remaining minions—Goyle was already down, leaving only Crabbe. "Crabbe, go check it out", he said. Crabbe was reluctant; his muscles wouldn't protect him from multiple wands. He poked his head out from the wall, and his eyes suddenly widened.

"What's wrong?"

"What's happening?"

"Speak up!"

The remaining few asked in a panic.

"They—", Crabbe started, but was immediately hit by a Stunning Spell and fell to the grass with a thud. Draco's eyes twitched, not because Crabbe had been hit—just a Stunning Spell, nothing serious—but because he heard the sound of synchronized footsteps, extremely close.

"Hey, Malfoy."

A mocking voice said. Draco looked up to see Harry standing behind a transparent magical barrier, grinning. Two dark wands extended from behind Harry, and a red light flashed, hitting Draco with both the spell and the darkness.

The remaining dozen or so Gryffindor students erupted in deafening cheers. "We won!"

Sirius Black walked over and cast a Recovery Charm on the six students.

"The first round is over. No one used any other spells, which is good. In other years, some students used dark curses during the chaos, and I made them copy sentences—a method I learned from Muggle schools, usually very effective... So, Slytherin is wiped out, and Gryffindor wins."

The Gryffindor students were jubilant, shouting, "We won! We won! We beat Slytherin!"

"…One more thing, half of your teammates are 'dead,'" Sirius Black said expressionlessly, and Harry and the others immediately stopped laughing.

"The second round will begin now. This time, only the Leg-Locker Curse is allowed, and no Shield Charms. No defense... We'll use it to simulate the Avada Kedavra, which you should know is impossible to resist and causes immediate death."

Many Slytherin students glared at him, thinking they would suffer another humiliation. Even Harry was unnerved by these looks, but Sirius Black didn't care.

"Everyone, gather. I need to reorganize the groups." Soon, Sirius Black, like a sharp pair of scissors, divided the red and green fabric into two pieces, with students from both houses mixed together. They stood together but remained distinctly separate. Everyone's faces were blank.

Harry saw the recently stunned Malfoy's face, while Ron and Hermione were placed on the opposite side.

"Is the number of people about right? What do you think?" Sirius Black asked.

Then, he retreated to a distance again. "You have two minutes to think about your strategy. As soon as the time is up, the match will start. The rules are clear, right? This time, the losing side won't have any more excuses. Of course, you can use this time to daydream if you want."

Harry looked at the new groupings, and for a moment, no one spoke. The Gryffindor and Slytherin students, who had recently been glaring at each other and cheering when their opponents fell, were now forced to stand together. Clearly, everyone was caught off guard.

He couldn't help but wonder where Sirius Black had learned this approach.

"How much does this resemble the Rune Club?" Neville muttered.

Harry suddenly understood. He looked at Draco, feeling much the same way he had when they first met at Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. How could there be such an unpleasant person... Harry thought, but he still managed to say, despite his discomfort, "Shall we follow the club rules?"

Draco sized Harry up with a measuring gaze. They both found each other detestable. Just as Harry was getting impatient, Draco's pale face broke into a cold smile. "Fine."

"Hey, Potter, watch out for spells coming from the side", a girl beside him whispered.

"Shut up, Pansy", Draco snapped.

The two minutes passed quickly, and Sirius Black blew the whistle again.

"The battle has started! What are you waiting for!" he urged from a distance. Everyone instinctively waved their wands, casting the Leg-Locker Curse.

Harry suddenly realized that if the previous match had been chaotic, the current one was a complete mess. Spells flew everywhere, and many people, while casting spells, found themselves collapsing to the ground with their legs locked, hitting their own teammates in the process.

Since they couldn't use the Shield Charm or stone walls, they could only dodge. Many students jumped around, and only a few had the skill to deflect spells.

"Only the Leg-Locker Curse is allowed. Students who are hit should dispel the curse and leave the battlefield", Sirius Black called from the edge of the battle, casually deflecting a spell. He was so angry that his teeth ached. Who was the idiot who cast a spell at him? It was hard not to suspect it was intentional.

...

"Spread out! Everyone spread out—ouch!" Harry heard Ron shouting loudly.

When only a dozen or so people were left on the field, someone shouted, "Charge!" Then, a wave of students surged forward. Harry took advantage of the chaos to hit three people, but then the two groups mixed together, and everyone stared at each other, hesitant to make a move.

Hermione hesitated as she looked at Harry. They were definitely not on the same team, but—was it really a good idea for them to attack each other? They didn't have to ponder for long, as Sirius Black walked over with a scowl. "What's your name?" he asked a Slytherin student.

"Blaise Zabini", the student replied softly.

Sirius Black scrutinized him for a couple of seconds. "Effective tactics", Blaise began to smile, but Sirius Black added, "But also quite stupid. You'll be the first to die on the battlefield." He turned and announced loudly, "Second match over. Gather around."

The students gathered in small groups on the grass. Sirius Black sat among them, propping his chin with one hand and eyeing them askance.

"Tsk tsk, look at your performance. If this were a real battlefield, you could count the survivors on one hand."

A Slytherin student grumbled, "The first match wasn't our fault. The numbers were uneven..." He was still resentful about the first match.

Sirius Black let out a short laugh. "Who told you that war is fair? Do you think real battles are like this, where everyone agrees to act together? Following the rules of a competition, one-on-one, and fair play?"

"What you're describing has nothing to do with war."

He shook his head and propped his knee with the other hand. His face, weathered by years of hardship and imprisonment, still bore the marks of his past, but this experience had only added to his charisma. Even sitting on the ground, he seemed as if he had just escaped from a noble banquet.

Sirius Black said lazily, "Sometimes you are the outnumbered side. What do you do then? You can't just say, 'There are more of them, so I'll join them.' If your family is attacked by three or five Dark Wizards, will you tell them it's unfair and walk away?"

"Disparities in numbers, strength, condition, initiative, environment, weather, and teamwork... Each of these factors can influence an evenly matched battle and change the outcome. My goal this year is to let you experience these things as realistically as possible."

"Of course, some of the spells used in the tests are also within my teaching scope."

"Next, you will analyze the first two matches. Discuss the flaws and strengths. Let's have a casual chat... Anyone want to raise their hand? No? Then I'll assign homework: a three-foot-long analysis essay..."

"Please, Professor!"

"We'll talk! We'll talk!"

Amidst this 'friendly and harmonious' atmosphere, the first Defense Against the Dark Arts class for fifth-year students ended.

Sirius Black scratched his chin. "Alright, so about the homework... uh, no, I'll give you a preview of the next class: I'll randomly select two teams for a simulation battle. Each team will have between two and five members. Think about how you would handle five people with only one companion. At the very least, you need to hold out long enough for reinforcements to arrive... See you in the next class."

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end