Chapter 638: The Kind Professor
Chapter 638: The Kind Professor
The group had an hour to spend at the Room of Requirement for their lesson, as they had to be back in their respective common rooms before Hogwarts' curfew at nine o'clock.
Fortunately, the Full-Body Bind Curse was not a particularly complex spell, and one could even say it was simple. In just half an hour, everyone was able to cast it proficiently.
Well, everyone except Neville.
However, to not hold everyone back, Hermione decided to teach him privately.
"I hope she doesn't get frustrated with him," Ron whispered.
Hearing this, Harry couldn't help but chuckle.
Neville was indeed a bit slow when it came to learning spells, and sometimes even Professor McGonagall would be left speechless by his less-than-stellar progress.
But Harry knew that Neville truly tried his best. It was just that his memory was poor, and sometimes he would forget spells mere hours after learning them—or perhaps even less time than that.
Of course, these were not concerns they needed to dwell on.
Once everyone had put down their wands, Hermione cleared her throat and said, "We still have some time before the curfew starts, and I think we should choose a leader."
She had wanted to make this suggestion earlier, but before she could, Anthony had interrupted her. Then, later on, everyone had been roused to enthusiasm by Garron, eager to start practicing the spell, so she hadn't brought it up again.
But it wasn't too late now.
A hum filled the room as everyone began discussing Hermione's proposal.
Someone immediately thought of the biggest sponsor of this activity—Kyle, who had contributed fifty galleons as a reward.
"I nominate Kyle... Wait, where's Kyle?"
At that moment, they realized that Kyle was not in the room.
Unconsciously, everyone looked around, but the room wasn't that big, and their search turned up no sign of Kyle.
"He already left..." Luna said from within the crowd, "I bet he must have seen a Paobat hiding in the darkness and went chasing after it."
"What's a Paobat?" Neville asked curiously, looking confused, and he wasn't the only one.
"It's a type of winged sprite," Luna said, her protruding eyes wide, "They guide people."
"Those things don't exist." Hermione frowned, "At least I'm certain that there is no record of them in any book I've read."
"If you had read 'Singing Dissonance', you wouldn't be so sure." Luna said, a bit annoyed.
Hermione remained silent this time. It was getting closer to nine o'clock, and she didn't want to waste time on meaningless arguments.
"What were we talking about?"
"Choosing a leader."
"Oh, yes." Hermione said, "I think the leader should be someone who can guarantee to come to every meeting, and Kyle isn't suitable in that regard."
"Then I nominate Cedric..." said a Hufflepuff student, "He's the boy's student council president."
"That's not a problem." Ron said, "I think Harry could do it as well."
"Since there's a disagreement." Hermione looked at them, "Let's vote..."
For a while, the atmosphere in the room was even more lively than when they had been practicing spells.
In addition to choosing a leader, they also discussed a name for their group and decided on a time for their next meeting...
When everything was finally settled, it was already 9:10 in the evening.
It was about ten minutes past their original ending time, but there was no helping it—with so many people, it was difficult to find a proposal that satisfied everyone.
Just as Cedric made his way back to the common room, being extra cautious, he spotted Kyle sitting at a table in the back, writing something.
"Why did you come back so suddenly?" Cedric asked as he approached.
"I suddenly remembered that I hadn't finished my Potions essay, and I didn't want to pull an all-nighter to make up for it, so I decided to come back early."
"You still dare to ask?" Cedric was already irritated. "Why did you suddenly offer fifty galleons as a reward...?"
"Is there a problem?" Kyle put down his quill, "I think only this can give them enough motivation to learn.
"What's the point of talking about Voldemort and Death Eaters when you haven't seen them with your own eyes? Only the shining galleons are the best source of motivation.
"You must have noticed it too, they suddenly became so enthusiastic."
"Of course, I noticed." Cedric said, "But that's fifty galleons. It's not fifty Sickles. Even as a reward, there's no need to offer so much, right?"
For most students, their annual allowance was less than ten galleons, so fifty galleons were undoubtedly a huge sum.
Moreover, this was just for a self-study class in Dark Magic Defense, and there was no need to offer such a large reward. Five galleons would have been enough.
Also, if Kyle had spent the fifty galleons on himself, Cedric wouldn't have reacted so strongly. He knew that there was no student in Hogwarts who could defeat Kyle, so naturally, those fifty galleons wouldn't be given away.
But Kyle had made him the one to be challenged, and that worried Cedric.
Indeed, doing so would quickly boost his prestige, and it did. He was elected as the leader of DA with an overwhelming number of votes.
Oh, DA was the name they had just come up with, short for "Defense Association," and also standing for "Dumbledore's Army."
The name was Autumn's idea. According to her, if Umbridge was afraid of Professor Dumbledore's secret forces, then they should form such a group, and everyone agreed.
But now, Cedric really couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't lose. If someone could indeed defeat him... Kyle's fifty galleons would be at stake.
At the very least, when leaving the Room of Requirement, Cedric noticed that some people were looking at him with fiery eyes, obviously seeing him as a walking treasure chest... the kind that bursts with gold coins.
"Rest assured, I believe in you." Kyle said sincerely.
"But I don't believe in myself." Cedric mumbled, "That Angelina is not much worse than me. There are also those two sixth-year students from Ravenclaw. I don't have a sure chance of winning against them either."
"You're underestimating yourself." Kyle waved his hand and said, "They're not your match, I assure you."
"What about Fred and George..." Cedric continued, "Although I'm confident I can beat either one of them, based on past experience, they won't exactly abide by the rules of a fair duel, will they?"
"Hmm..."
Kyle paused for a moment.
"Well, even if I lose, it doesn't matter." He continued, "It's just fifty galleons... at most, I'll just ask someone to reimburse me later."
"Ask someone to reimburse?" Cedric was stunned for a moment, "Who? Don't tell me it's Headmaster Dumbledore."
"Oh, no, Dumbledore isn't that generous." Kyle said, "It's another kind professor."
"Alright." Cedric gave Kyle a suspicious glance but didn't ask further. He just muttered softly to himself.
Regardless, he expected to be busy the next time he attended a DA gathering.
Leaving the others aside, he now just hoped that Fred and George wouldn't use underhanded methods when facing him.
...
(End of Chapter)
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