You Might As Well Make Yourself Clearer!

Both Harry and Katie were delighted to see old friends.

"Hi, Katie," Harry greeted her. "It's nice to meet you."

"I knew you'd get it, great job!" Katie exclaimed, pointing to the Captain's badge on Harry's chest. "Let me know when the trials are held!"

"Don't talk nonsense," Harry said with a shrug. "You don't need to go through the selection process. I've been watching you play for five years."

"Don't do that from the start," Katie warned. "You all know some people are much better than me. There have been some really good teams that were ruined because the captain always let familiar faces play and let his friends join the team."

Ron:?

You might as well put it more clearly!

"Don't worry, Katie," Harry said nonchalantly. "How could I be that kind of person? Besides, our new team members have already been tested in the games—look, Ron and Ginny are both qualified."

"I wasn't talking about those two," Katie quickly added, realizing the slip-up in her previous statement. "I was just talking about the others—the Weasley actually played quite well, and we all saw that."

As she spoke, she turned to Ron and said, "Sorry, Weasley— I didn't mean it that way."

"I know," Ron said with a friendly smile.

Katie and her classmates went to class, leaving Harry and Ron in the Common Room.

There was no one else in the Common Room except the two of them, so they decided to play Wizard Chess for a while.

However, Ron showed no mercy to Harry, and even particularly enjoyed brutally beating Harry, often leaving only Harry king and queen alive, killing them in a truly miserable manner.

"I'm not playing anymore." Harry put down the chess pieces listlessly. "Chess is really boring."

"I find this really fun!" Ron said with a grin.

An hour later, they reluctantly left the sun-drenched Common Room and went downstairs for their Defense Against the Dark Arts Class.

Hermione was already lined up outside the classroom, carrying a huge pile of heavy books in her arms, looking like she had been mistreated.

"There's a mountain of Rune course homework," she said anxiously, as Harry and Ron joined her in line. "A fifteen-inch essay, two translations, and so many books to read by Wednesday!"

"What bad luck," Ron said with a yawn. "Serves you right. Who told you to choose so many courses? Wouldn't it have been much better if you had chosen fewer? At least you wouldn't be so anxious now."

Hermione was speechless. She stretched out her foot and kicked Ron hard in the shin.

Seeing this, Harry shook his head helplessly.

Why·..·

Never try to reason with a woman, my brother!

"I think the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor— " Harry mentioned Professor Slughorn, "Is a reasonable professor, don't you think?"

"I hope so," Ron said, then repeated, "He better be!"

Soon after, Slughorn arrived in the classroom.

"Those who are able to come to my classroom are all students who have achieved a 'good' or higher in 0. WLs." Professor Slughorn smiled, his chubby face resembling that of a cute panda. "But I've heard that you've had five different teachers for this course so far."

"Six, professors," Ron corrected, raising his hand. "Besides those professors, there's also Harry, Harry also served as a guest Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor for a while."

"Oh, I think I've heard that." Professor Slughorn looked interested. "After Umbridge's atrocities last year, Harry served as Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor for a while—and I heard you all liked him?"

"Yes, Professor," everyone said in unison.

"Then I'll have to perform even better, lest you all have him on your minds," Slughorn said with a chuckle.

Almost at that moment, everyone took a liking to the chubby old professor.

Thankfully, Professor Snape wasn't chosen to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, otherwise the course would have been ruined.

But they didn't consider whether this would free them from Potions Class.

As the saying goes, "What is lost on one front is gained on another," which illustrates this principle.

"Alright," Professor Slughorn said again, "Professor Lupin and I have checked on your progress, so—I think we should really start teaching you some Dark Arts —so, who would like to introduce Dark Arts?"

Hermione immediately raised her hand, along with several other classmates.

"Miss Parkinson," Professor Slughorn gestured for Pansy to stand up and answer.

As the former headmaster of Slytherin, this point should indeed be given to Slytherin, who haven't won the championship for several years.

This could be considered a small private message from the old dean, just an unseen hand.

"Dark Arts is a general term for various evil magics," Pansy replied methodically. "Dark Arts comes in all shapes and sizes, is incredibly diverse and ever-changing, and is endless—making it quite troublesome for wizards who want to deal with Dark Arts."

"Excellent, excellent." Professor Slughorn clapped his hands. "Before Slytherin came to this class, a Potions professor who wished to remain anonymous shared with me his preparations for the course—of course, until yesterday, he considered himself a shoo-in for Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor."

You're not even willing to reveal your name yet? Why don't you just call him Snape directly?

The Gryffindor students all laughed, especially Ron, whose face turned as red as his hair.

"As Miss Parkinson just said, Dark Arts is multifaceted."

Professor Slughorn waved his wand, and several scrolls suddenly fell down from the front wall of the classroom.

The painting depicts people suffering, grotesque wounds, and bizarrely twisted body parts, making it look quite sinister and terrifying.

It fits the stereotype of Snape.

"Therefore, your defenses," Professor Slughorn raised his voice, "Must also be as flexible and innovative as the Dark Arts you need to deal with."

"These pictures," he said, pointing to several as he walked, "vividly depict the circumstances of the victims, for example, being cursed by the Cruciatus Curse," he gestured to a witch who was clearly screaming in pain, "feeling the kiss of Dementor," a wizard huddled in a corner, his eyes glazed over, "or being harmed by Inferi," he pointed to a pool of blood on the ground.

Parvati Pettigrew asked in a high-pitched voice, "Professor, is someone really using Inferi?"

"The Dark Lord used Inferi," Professor Slughorn said. "Besides him, many other Dark Wizard have used vaginas to serve them—and I remember you learned how to deal with vaginas in your second year, it was Ms. Rosier who taught you, right?"

When Ms. Rosier was mentioned, Professor Slughorn seemed to start talking non-stop.

Before the students could respond, he began to ramble on, "Speaking of Ms. Rosier, I know her. We've dined together before. She was very young then. You can tell from her current appearance how beautiful she was when she was young."

The case is solved; he must have had feelings for her back then.

Professor Slughorn clearly realized he had gone off-topic, and he chuckled as he continued, "Alright, who's going to tell us how you learned to deal with vaginas?"

This time, he chose Hannah Abe of Hufflepuff.

By not choosing Hermione, Professor Slughorn seemed unwilling to let Gryffindor, who were far ahead in scores, continue to gain an advantage.

But choosing Slytherin to answer the question would have been a bit obvious, so he chose Hufflepuff was the least likely to pose a threat.

"Use fire-type Charms, Professor," Hannah said crisply. "Inferi fear fire; this is the best way to deal with them."

"Perfect answer," Professor Slughorn clapped his hands and said, "Hufflepuff plus five points."

"Yes," he continued, "The best Charms to deal with the Inferi is fire—believe me, Inferi absolutely do not want to be baptized by flames, as you should have witnessed, so I won't go into details."

Then Slughorn asked again, "I imagine you're not very familiar with the use of the Silencing Charm, so—who can tell me, what are the benefits of the Silencing Charm?"

This time, he called Hermione's name.

"Miss Granger," he said, "You answer that question."

"The advantage of doing this is that your opponent doesn't know what spell you're planning to cast," Hermione said. "This gives you a momentary advantage."

"Five points for Gryffindor." Professor Slughorn applauded Hermione, gestured for her to sit down, and then said,

Yes, as Miss Granger said, not chanting the spell aloud can achieve a surprising effect—but this requires a strong will from the caster.

"But I believe everyone here is capable of passing the 0. WLs exam and entering my class," Professor Slughorn said with a smile, looking around. "You are all determined individuals, and at least have a deep understanding of Defense Against the Dark Arts —now, divide into pairs. One of you will try to cast a curse on the other, but without uttering it aloud. The other will try to repel the curse, also without making a sound. Let's begin."

Ron immediately turned around, but Harry grabbed him.

Harry gave Ron a very friendly smile, thinking of the grudge he had inflicted on Ron earlier when his chess pieces had been slaughtered in the Common Room.

"Don't go, Ron," Harry said with a friendly smile. "My good brother—you should be in my group to practice silent Charms, don't you think?"

Ron swallowed hard.

"Thank you, no problem," he said, waving his hand.

"That's not up to you." Harry's smile gradually turned bloodthirsty. He drew his wand and said with a sinister laugh, "Are you planning to just give up like this and be defeated by me repeatedly, or stand here and watch yourself die?"

Ron swallowed again.

He quickly drew his wand, and a red Charms flew out along it.

However, Harry was faster; a transparent barrier appeared in front of him, deflecting the Charms.

"Bring it on!" Ron roared, taking the opportunity to unleash another Charms at Harry.

Harry didn't retaliate; he simply used his wand to deflect the Charms one by one.

"Excellent!" Professor Slughorn clapped, having witnessed Harry's duel. "This is truly the most exciting duel I've ever seen between students—keep it up!"

"He really loves to stir up trouble," Ron thought to himself.

But he didn't let his guard down at all, and was completely on the offensive, trying to prevent Harry from having a chance to make a move.

But here's the problem: Harry isn't incapable of taking action; he just wants to spend more time playing with Ron.

The battle ended so quickly, it was so boring.

After knocking Ron's Charms dozens of times, Ron, panting, raised his wand, ready to fire another Charms.

Harry felt it was time, so he quickly disarmed Ron's wand, which spun into his hand.

"I give up!" Ron immediately raised his hands.

Harry: ——.

You surrendered way too quickly!

He originally intended to end the fight by knocking Ron Stunning Spell, but he didn't expect Ron to surrender even faster than France did more than fifty years ago.

Professor Slughorn also added ten points to Gryffindor —five points each for Harry and Ron —as a reward.

After all, this Charms battle was indeed spectacular. To be able to use such a brilliant and skillful Silencing Charm at the sixth grade level is already a rare feat among wizards.

At the end of class, Professor Slughorn gave Harry, Seamus, and Hermione each an invitation.

He knew that these people were key figures in Harry's inner circle.

Professor Slughorn likes good students and students with potential.

Of course, you can't call him opportunistic; you could just say he's a bit eccentric. What he really wants are good students who can increase his influence.

Soon, it was time for get out of class to end.

Everyone was still a little unsatisfied, especially the match between Hermione and Anne. The two were evenly matched, and the battle was so fierce that it was impossible to determine a winner.

But Harry knew that Anne had definitely let loose, and she had let loose seawater.

As a wizard from a hundred years ago, even if Anne was Dark Magic Curse, she still came from a group of Dark Wizard.

In third grade, she had already joined the hunt for poachers. With her rich practical experience, she was not like Hermione, Greenhouse flower.

Actually, if you think about it, it's easy to understand. It's like playing billiards. If two people can play for dozens of rounds without a clear winner, it's possible that their skills are evenly matched. But the most likely scenario is that one of them is too strong and can play with you.