When Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom the next afternoon, Sirius has shown up early, and he looked completely different from before – wearing a fine, slim-fitting dark suit with a similarly dark vest and a loose collar, his face sported a carefree expression that matched his curly black hair as if he had stepped out of a painting.
“Harry?” He came over to them and asked with a worried look on his face, “I heard you guys got a lot of points deducted? Did Snape do that?”
Harry abruptly felt a sense of temporal dislocation. The image of Sirius seemed to overlap with the time when he had been the best man at his parents’ wedding more than ten years ago; at best, he looked more mature now.
“It’s nothing really.” Harry muttered, not wanting Sirius and Snape to clash.
“Okay then, let’s talk about it later.” Sirius hesitated, “You guys stay after class, there’s something I think you should know, it involves Hagrid.”
“He’s back?” Harry asked in surprise.
“Shh.” Sirius interrupted him, “He doesn’t want other people to notice this for a while, as he still can’t show up… We are going over to visit him tonight with Felix.”
Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other and didn’t press the issue any further. They took their seats, and in the back, Lavender Brown whispered in Parvati’s ear – “Don’t you think the new professor is more handsome than the previous Lockhart …” then they both chattered and debated.
Harry hurriedly moved to the inside seat, afraid of being infected by the stupidity emanating from the two.
Hermione looked at Sirius and asked with expectation, “Do you guys think Hag-he’ll be back to class next week?”
“I don’t know, I hope so.” Harry said, judging by Sirius’ tone, Hagrid should be back, but why he didn’t show up?
The bell rang and all the students gazed at Sirius in silence, their eyes carried a deep measuring look, a treatment every new professor got, only this time it is particularly distinct because the new professor’s resume is so daunting – not because he had worked as Minister of Magic’s adviser, but because this man had escaped from Azkaban with the title of ‘the first Death Eater under the You-Know-Who’, and this fearful reputation had scared them for six months before.
Everyone became very curious about how he escaped from prison and approached the school at that time, and many students here had spread rumours about the new professor.
“Well, students, as per the usual tradition, I need to introduce myself first. But I doubt that there is someone here who doesn’t know my name, after all, my wanted notice has been posted in Hogsmeade for most of the year, with a surprisingly large one in the window of the Honeydukes …” Sirius said gleefully: “Although I don’t look quite the same as I did then, my name hasn’t changed. .”
“Sirius Black, you can call me Professor or Professor Black, and of course, it’s okay to call me by my first name directly when we get acquainted.”
The students exchanged glances with each other, this new professor seemed to be very talkative …
“Any questions? If not, we’ll start the class.”
“But–” Hermione raised her hand, “Um, Professor Black?” Sirius smiled at her.
“We don’t have any textbooks yet.” She said.
The students nodded, and Harry’s heart raced in fear that his godfather would say, I forgot. But on second thought, Harry thought it is unlikely.
” You mean textbook, we won’t use that stuff, what I’m going to teach you is not something you can remember with your head,” Sirius said.
“Now take your wands and follow me.” Before the others could react, he had already disappeared from the classroom.
After a few seconds, he peeked inside with confusion, “What are you waiting for? Haven’t I made myself very clear?”
Everyone snapped back, exchanging excited glances with each other.
Hermione, however, was greatly shocked. She remained frozen in place as the other students got up from their seats and headed toward the door.
“A good start, isn’t it?” Ron said, while holding his unicorn wand in his hand, “I have a lot of confidence in him all of a sudden.”
They walked down the stairs in a sparse line, then walked through the entrance hall and out of the castle, stopping in a clearing on the edge of the Black Lake.
Perhaps because of the rain yesterday, the weather today is exceptionally sunny, warm, and comfortable. The sun is shining, the breeze is gentle, the lake is rippling with golden waves, and a thought pops up in many people’s minds – if only today is a weekend.
“When did two more walls appear here? It’s so ugly …” Draco Malfoy asked with a frown, not far from them on the grass, there are two stone walls erected, about twenty feet long, nearly one person high, spaced sixty or seventy feet apart from each other.
Sirius Pretend like he didn’t hear it, it was built by him in the dark night, so even if it is a little crooked, it is justifiable, no?
” Silence, students. Defense Against the Dark Arts class has one ever-present goal, and that is to teach you how to protect yourself when you are in danger. So, I have been asking myself one question for a while, and that is how to teach you to PROTECT yourselves in times of war … Can anyone answer this question?”
Without surprise, Hermione was the first to raise her hand.
“Hermione -” Sirius suddenly coughed repeatedly, “Well, I mean, Miss Granger, please answer.”
“According to the booklet distributed by the Ministry of Magic, in the event of danger, the only thing minor wizards should do to protect themselves from danger is – to quickly reunite with their families and use apparition to escape, so all must master and adapt to the side-along apparition.”
“Very good, perfectly correct, can everyone keep this in mind?” Sirius looked at the students.
Only a few of them nodded their heads. Sirius furrowed his brow, ” I mean … there is nothing difficult in this, do you need her to repeat it again?”
This time basically everyone shook their heads.
“Great, then this part is considered finished.” Sirius said with satisfaction.
Everyone looked a bit confused, what do you mean by ‘finished’? Sirius cleared his throat, ” Protecting yourself is very simple, don’t run around aimlessly, don’t create unnecessary troubles, then learn the skill side-along apparition, and that’s pretty much everything. I forgot to apply for permission with the headmaster to teach you Side-along Apparition today …”
In the end, his tone became low and solemn, then he just stood there quietly, to attract everyone’s attention.
“It is certainly best if you can escape, there is no need to risk your lives … but if you cannot escape, or have a reason why you must stay, then you are left with only one choice – and that is to pick up your wand and bravely fight, no matter who the enemy is.” He said in a deep voice.
This is the moment where one can see the subtle influence of the traits that are advocated by different houses on their students. Although it would not be obvious when singled out, the difference could still be seen when they’re grouped together – most of the Gryffindors and some Slytherin students, are moved by the tenacious fighting spirit in Sirius’ words and start to think about the circumstances in which they must choose to fight, but there are still many Slytherin students shook their heads faintly, expressing their disapproval.
There is actually no difference between the two, being calm and being indifferent; being brave and being reckless, as a line between the two is so thin it can be easily overstepped.
…
“All right!” Sirius clapped his hands and said to the students, ” Next is grouping, Slytherin House students stand over here, Gryffindor House students go over there.” He opened his hands wide as if he is holding two small flags that indicate the direction.
The students followed the instructions and walked to their designated positions. Draco Malfoy passed Harry in stride and turned back with a provocative look.
” It looks like there’s going to be a duel later, I will show you what I’ve learned over the summer.” He whispered.
“You can challenge me.” Harry had long been accustomed to hearing such words, so answered very smoothly: “But I want to fight against a Death Eater, so if you know one, you need to introduce them to me, okay?”
Draco’s smug expression froze as he remembered his Aunt Bella, who had lived briefly in his house.
” Hurry up! You two!” Sirius urged them from the side, and the two went to stand in their respective houses, not knowing if that is a coincidence or not, Harry found himself standing right in front of one of the stone walls, and so did the opposite group next to the wall by their side.
Sirius stood between them and pulled a whistle out of his pocket: “What you’re going to do is fight like you’re on a real battlefield, it is okay to interpret it as a chaotic battle, where you need to take down the opposite house with your house. I want to see your true level, so follow my instructions – when the whistle sounds, you can start, I will give a reminder in advance, remember: only stunning spell and shield charm are allowed, there should be no one here who doesn’t know how to cast them, right?”
The two groups froze for a few seconds, a scuffle? — “That’s not fair.” Draco shouted, “There are fewer people on our side!”
“Then how about I transfer you to the other group?” Sirius asked in a threatening tone as he bared his fangs. At least from Draco’s point of view.
“I’m not going.” Draco said with a scowl, asking a Slytherin to join a group full of Gryffindors? He had only ever experienced that feeling at the Magic Rune Club, and it wasn’t a fight.
“Then behave,” Sirius said impatiently, turning to everyone and saying in a loud voice, ” Do you think the battle will only take place when you want? Think everything will go according to your wishes on the battlefield? I hope you’ll still have the strength to complain later. I have prepared a lot of fun games!”
Harry clenched his wand tightly in his hand, he did not expect the practical lesson is a scuffle, and the Slytherin students opposite were also confused. But gradually, some students’ expressions become vibrant, their hearts quickly burst with crazy emotions, then they flashed a dangerous smile toward their opponents.
Harry’s heart tightened as he took small steps toward Ron’s direction while whispering to Hermione, “Come closer, let’s get together.”
“What, oh!” Hermione hadn’t recovered from her shock, with obvious confusion: “How could Sirius do this? He’s bound to get tons of complaints! He’s acting even more out of line than Hagrid and Professor Moody did before-”
“Let’s talk about that later.” Harry interrupted her.
On the opposite side, most of the students remained blankly where they stood, so Sirius had started to count down to increase their pressure, “Three – two – one – shoot! ” The loud whistle echoed in this field, and the red light of the stunning spell streaked across the field, Hermione and Ron released the shield charm at the same time, to protect themselves, while Harry’s wand poked out from the gap of the charm, and twitched quickly, as two people from the opposite side instantly collapsed.
After a round of exchanges, nearly one-third of Gryffindor and Slytherin respectively fell, and everyone stopped, not knowing what to do next.
“Continue! Until one side falls completely!” Sirius, who had retreated further away, shouted at them.
Draco Malfoy is the first to respond, standing behind a crooked stone wall and ordering the rest of the group, “Over here! There are few of us, so let’s use the environment–” A spell hit the wall near him, and it is from Ron, who regretfully retracted his wand, “Missed.”
That spell acted like a fuse, and after that, every students ran towards the back of the stone wall on their side. From Sirius’ point of view, one would see that the students of the two houses are standing behind a stone wall and cautiously looking ahead of it.
There are already a dozen students lying on the ground.
Behind the stone wall, Harry licked his lips, he didn’t feel the pressure, knocking down two people with a silent stunning spell seemed like a breeze, especially since he had the protection of Ron and Hermione’s shield charm, he felt he had been too cautious before.
“Never mind those people on the ground, they’re already ‘corpses’.” Sirius shouted from afar.
At his urging, the two groups of students chanted spells at each other from across the stone wall. After the initial awe and discomfort, everyone became immersed in this tense, exciting and unusual game of dueling, and they gradually gave up defending and just shot at each other with stunning spells, and after a few minutes, half of their companions collapsed on both sides respectively, and only single digits remained on the Slytherin side, which made Sirius shake his head for a while.
Now the situation on the field has become a total mess.
The huge disadvantage in numbers made the Slytherin students sober up, and they finally stopped appearing and hid behind the solid stone wall, only occasionally glancing from the edge of the defensive wall or from above, and if any students in the Gryffindor group stood still with a big grin, they would be hit by a chaotic spell in the next second.
The situation was at a standstill. Sirius raised his wand from afar and took the unlucky ones who had been hit by the stunning spell off the ‘battlefield’ and woke them up with a Reviving Spell, and most of them looked shocked when they came to their senses and had no recollection of how they had been hit.
“Look carefully, and write a paper about it when you get back.” Sirius said to them.
…
“They’re hiding there without coming out, what should we do, Harry?!” Neville shouted as he leaned against the wall. When he had just poked his head out he almost got hit by the spell.
Harry looked back at the rest of the group, “There are 16 left.” Hermione said. Harry gritted his teeth, “Would you all like to act in one group?”
“That’s for sure.”
“We will listen to you, Harry.”
“It’s too good to be true, we’re about to beat Slytherin.” Seamus said excitedly.
“Okay,” Harry decided to lead them, “Me, Ron, Hermione,” he hesitated, “and Neville, we’ll go ahead and defend with the shield charm, while Seamus and Dean stand behind us and cast the stunning spell!”
It took them half a minute to adjust and barely build a formation to step out of the stone wall.
On the opposite side, Draco frowned, feeling that something is not right, there is no movement outside for a while, what is going on? He estimated there would be at least a dozen more on the other side, while on their side – he grimaced – there are only six remains.
It is a losing battle no matter how you think about it.
Damn Sirius Black, Dad’s words are right, he’s the biggest traitor of the Pureblood faction!
He glanced at his followers beside him – Goyle had fallen, leaving only Crabbe with him, “Crabbe, you go outside and take a look.” Crabbe filled with reluctance, the muscles in his body could not stop so many wands, but he still poked his head out of the wall, and the next moment his eyes suddenly widened.
“What’s wrong?”
“What happened?”
” Tell us!”
The few remaining people asked in a chaotic frenzy.
“They–” As Crabbe spoke half-way through, he got hit by a stunning spell and fell to the grass with a thud, and Draco’s eyes popped out. It was not because Crabbe had been hit by the spell, but because he heard the sound of footsteps moving in unison – very close to here.
“Hey, Malfoy.”
A teasing voice said, and Draco looked up as Harry grinned broadly from behind a shield charm, and from behind him, two wands flashed red as the spell and darkness struck him simultaneously.
The dozen or so remaining Gryffindor students let out a deafening cheer, “We won!”
Sirius approached the six students and chanted the Reviving Spell on them.
“At the end of the first game, no one used other spells, which is good to know, because in other grades someone took advantage of the chaos to use the hexes, and I punished them with copying sentences that I learned from the muggle school … Anyway, Slytherin lost, Gryffindor wins.”
Gryffindor’s students are still joyful, shouting one after another, “We won! Victory! The Slytherin was defeated!”
“… Also, one more thing, half of your comrades ‘died’,” Sirius said expressionlessly, and they immediately stopped laughing.
“Next the second game, this time you are only allowed to use the Jelly-Legs Curse, not even the shield charm can be used, you can not defend … treat the curse as a killing curse, you should know its characteristics … difficult to defend it, you will die if you are hit. ”
Many Slytherin students cast hateful glances at him, they think they have to suffer another humiliation, even Harry’s heart jumped from all those looks, but Sirius did not seems to mind it
“All stand over here, I want to regroup.” Soon, Sirius divided the group of red and green students like a fabric cut in two by a pair of sharp scissors, and the two houses got mixed up. They stood together, yet with clear distance. Everyone’s face remained blank.
Harry saw the face of Malfoy, who had just been knocked unconscious, while Ron and Hermione separated to the opposite side.
“About the same number this time, what do you think?” Sirius asked.
He then retreated to a distance again, ” You have two minutes to think about tactics, after that the game will began immediately, the rules are clear to you, and whichever side loses this time can no longer make excuses. Of course, you can use this time to goof off.”
Harry looked at his new group, no one said anything for a while, half of the Gryffindors and half of the Slytherins looked at each other with strange eyes, they were not long before waving their wands at each other, cheering for the other side to fall, but now they are forced to stand together, apparently, everyone somewhat caught off guard.
They don’t know where Sirius learned this from. They couldn’t help but complain.
“Why is it so much like the Magic Rune Club?” Neville muttered.
Realization dawned on Harry, and he looked at Draco, with a similar emotion he had felt the first time he saw him in Madam Malkin’s Robes store, how could someone be so annoying … Harry thought to himself, but he fought back his discomfort and said, ” As per the club’s rule?”
Draco looked at Harry with a measuring gaze, and they looked at each other with disgust. Just as Harry was feeling impatient, Draco’s pale face sneered as he said, ” Sure.”
“Hey Potter, you have to watch out for the spell that will come from the side.” A girl next to him whispered.
“Shut up, Pansy.” Draco said coldly.
Two minutes passed quickly and Sirius blew his whistle again.
“The battle has begun! What are you waiting for!” He growled and shouted, and everyone subconsciously waved their wands and recited the Jelly-Legs Curse.
Harry suddenly realized what would happen in a chaotic battle, the grounds became a mess with dust and dirt, spells flying around, and many people were chanting the curse, only to fall on the ground the next second with a weak foot, and their unfinished curse hit their p
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