The joint Defense Against the Dark Arts class for all four houses happened only once. Afterward, they returned to the normal teaching schedule.
On Thursday afternoon, Wade, Michael, and the others arrived at the classroom with their books, only to find that most of the Slytherin students were already seated.
"If you ask me, classes with all four houses together are more fun," Anthony said. "The Gryffindor guys are pretty entertaining."
"Not for me," Lisa muttered. "Granger always makes me nervous."
Seeing Padma glaring at her, Lisa quickly explained, "I don't hate her or anything, it's just... you know, she always knows everything. It makes me feel stupid and lazy."
Hearing this, Padma couldn't help but sympathize, though she chose to defend her friend outwardly:
"That's your problem, not Hermione's. Don't make it sound like she's bullying you."
"But she does love showing off! I'm not wrong!"
Lisa, now a bit annoyed, turned away and sat with the Slytherin girls, Daphne and her group.
The boundary between Slytherin and Ravenclaw students wasn't very rigid, and soon enough, they were laughing and chatting together.
Padma, still fuming, turned to Michael and said, "She's forgotten that Daphne and her lot tried to corner Wade before!"
"Don't be mad," Michael said, trying to calm her. "Remember, Wade didn't come out of that situation badly."
"Didn't come out badly" was an understatement—Daphne had been so terrified she ended up crying.
Thinking about that, Padma's anger dissipated entirely, and she even felt like laughing.
Though there were still a few minutes before class officially started, Professor Abigail had already arrived in the classroom.
After scanning the room, she called out, "Blaise Zabini, Mandy Brocklehurst, Michael Corner, Daphne Greengrass—you four, come with me."
The named students exchanged confused glances before pushing back their chairs and following the professor out of the room.
Not long after, they returned. Any nervousness they'd shown before was gone, and was now replaced by mysterious smiles.
"What did the professor want?" Padma whispered.
Michael shook his head. "I can't say, but you'll find out soon enough."
Class began shortly after.
Today's lesson focused on several legendary creatures from their textbook: the Sphinx, the Griffin, the Cockatrice, and the crocodile-headed Ammit.
When encountering these creatures, ordinary wizards couldn't rely on magic alone to defeat them. Fortunately, powerful magical beings often possessed high intelligence and behaved with a certain logic.
As long as one followed the rules, there was a good chance of walking away unscathed.
The textbook used storytelling to provide examples of how young wizards should interact with these creatures if they ever encountered them. The content was light and engaging, and the students read through it as if they were immersed in a novel.
Then came the practical section, which involved learning a few simple warning and detection spells.
For Wade, these spells were naturally easy. He cast them effortlessly and turned to check how Michael was doing, only to find Michael secretly holding a black object and pointing it at him.
Wade's scalp tingled with alarm. He spun around quickly, twisting his wrist, and silently cast a Shield Charm.
"Biu~"
A blob of red paint splattered against the invisible shield before falling to the floor.
Wade stared at Michael, and Michael glanced back at Wade.
Michael then gave an awkward smile, raised a finger to his lips in a "shh" gesture, signaling Wade to stay quiet.
He discreetly lifted the black toy gun again.
"Biu~ Biu~ Biu~"
The sound of the toy gun was muffled by the students practicing their spells, almost going unnoticed.
Wade stood nearby and watched as Michael shot blobs of red paint onto the backs and legs of nearby students.
Slytherin's Goyle, Malfoy, and Nott all got hit.
Michael wandered through the crowd, pretending to observe their spellwork, while slyly aiming the toy gun at Ravenclaw's Anthony, Terry, Stephen, and others.
Every boy in Michael's line of sight was targeted, though he didn't shoot at a single girl.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the classroom, the students who had been called out earlier were also armed with toy guns, gleefully pelting others with paint. Some unlucky students ended up with three or four paint splatters on them.
Before long, everyone noticed the colorful marks appearing on their robes.
"What's going on?" Malfoy yelled, furiously tugging at his robes. "Who did this?"
He glared around angrily, only to see that nearly everyone around him was also splattered with paint, leaving him thoroughly confused.
Students began inspecting each other's robes. Amid this commotion, the "attackers" seized the opportunity to fire off a few more shots.
At that moment, Professor Abigail clapped her hands, signaling the students to quiet down.
"Let's imagine these are Muggle guns," she said. "And imagine you were attacked on the street or in a shop. The paint on your body represents your injuries. Now, tell me—who would survive?"
The students exchanged looks, and finally began to understand the point of the exercise.
The professor pointed at several students.
"You, you, you, and you—you're dead. Go stand over there."
Seven or eight students, who had their faces filled with frustration, were ushered to the side. Among them was Malfoy, who had met a "tragic death" after being hit six times.
Professor Abigail couldn't help but give him a second glance before turning her attention to the rest of the students.
"You, you, and you—severely injured, beyond saving. Join the others and wait to 'die.'"
A few more students stepped out from the crowd.
Next came the wave of students deemed "disabled."
Then the lightly injured.
Finally, the only ones left completely unscathed—apart from the "gunmen"—were three students:
Wade, who had successfully blocked the "attacks."
Sue Li, who had stood quietly in the corner, never becoming anyone's target.
And Daphne's close friend, Pansy Parkinson.
"This isn't fair!" Malfoy loudly protested. "If I'd known there would be a test like this, I'd have been careful and wouldn't have gotten hit!"
He shot a glare at the "gunmen."
"Yeah, exactly!" echoed the other "tragically fallen" students in protest.
"There are no warnings in real life," Professor Abigail responded simply. "Accidents happen when you least expect them—so does death."
Malfoy fell silent, unable to reply.
Professor Abigail praised Wade and the others, awarding two points to their respective houses. Then she addressed the entire class:
"This was just the first time."
"In future Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons, there will also be 'gunmen' launching random attacks!"
"Stay vigilant, you little fools!"
…
After class, Michael was still reveling in the joy of being a "simulated killer." He exclaimed excitedly:
"Professor Abigail always comes up with new tricks, doesn't she? Defense Against the Dark Arts is getting more and more fun!"
"Don't think you'll be the 'gunman' next time," Wade said lazily. "Professor Abigail will probably choose different students each time."
"I don't want to be the one defending, though—staying alert all the time sounds exhausting…" Michael muttered.
When they returned to the entrance hall, they found a large group of students crowded around, all craning their necks to read the latest notice.
"Hey, what does it say? Read it out for us!" Michael called loudly from outside the crowd.
One of the students inside, a tall Gryffindor boy, replied, "It's the announcement for the May Challenge."
"…The May Challenge?"
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