Very good, full of energy. England—no, perhaps Earth itself was no longer suitable for living. Ron was already considering the possibility of immigrating to Mars.
Bing Huan had received letters as well: one was a letter of thanks from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, while the other was a report from Lucius. He had arranged for Lockhart to "happen to" see the diary a few days ago. Lured by its power, Lockhart had quickly taken the bait and stolen the diary, but he had lacked the nerve to open it until yesterday.
After all, Lockhart was an adult wizard. As long as he did not open the diary, its influence would be limited. It would probably be some time before the plan could begin. Everything was proceeding according to Bing Huan and Dumbledore's plan, but Bing Huan had always felt a vague sense of unease.
The first class today was Professor Sprout's. Everyone waited outside the greenhouse. The professor did not seem to be in a very good mood today, perhaps because of the two-bit idiot beside her who was grinning like oil was leaking out of his mouth.
Lockhart had somehow learned that Harry had driven a car to school. When he saw Harry again today, he felt as if he had met a kindred spirit. He unilaterally decided that Harry had driven to school in order to make the headlines.
He dragged Harry away without a care for anyone else and began imparting what he considered his valuable experience. Professor Sprout's expression grew worse and worse, until she finally stepped in herself and rescued Harry from the predicament.
With the nuisance out of the way, Herbology went smoothly. Hermione actively answered questions and earned points for Gryffindor, while the other students successfully repotted the Mandrake seedlings.
Once things quieted down, a Hufflepuff boy beside them excitedly shook Harry's hand. "My name is Justin Finch-Fletchley. It's nice to meet you, Harry Potter, the one who defeated the Dark Lord. Hermione Granger, always first in class. Ron Weasley, who solved Professor McGonagall's chessboard. And... and our friend from the East."
Bing Huan: (･_･?)
There was also a Transfiguration class with Professor McGonagall that morning. Unfortunately, ever since Professor McGonagall learned that Bing Huan's progress was different from the other students', she had demanded more difficult tasks of him in every class. Today, while everyone else had to turn a beetle into a button, Professor McGonagall told Bing Huan to turn his beetle into a Chinese knot.
Bing Huan: (ﾟヘﾟ)? Was the school being especially malicious this year?
At the dining table, Hermione pestered Bing Huan to teach her how to make a Chinese knot. Harry and Ron were talking to Colin, who had come over again. The boy really did like Harry.
The afternoon class was Dark Arts Defense. Harry discovered for the first time that there was a class even more unbearable than Potions. The four of them sat down in the last row of the classroom. Once everyone had arrived, Lockhart cleared his throat and loudly began introducing himself.
"I am Gilderoy Lockhart. Order of Merlin, Third Class, Dark Arts Defense... But I never go around bragging about those things. I certainly didn't drive away banshees with a smile.
"I see that you have all bought my complete works. Very good. Today, we'll begin with a little quiz. Don't be afraid. I merely want to see how well you have read them."
Once they received the papers, they found more than fifty questions on them, not one of which had anything to do with Dark Arts Defense. They were all surveys about Lockhart's personal information. Even after looking at those outrageous questions, a marvelous thought still popped into his head.
"With this paper, could his own mother get full marks?"
However, what Lockhart's mother could not do, Hermione did. Hermione endured her disgust and earned another ten points for Gryffindor.
"This is the hundred points I've regretted earning most in my life," the top student declared.
Having obtained the result he wanted, Lockhart decided to continue misleading the young wizards. He hauled out a large cage covered with a cloth from behind the desk. "Now, you are about to face the most terrifying creatures in the world. And I will teach you how to defend yourselves against them."
The three of them looked at Bing Huan. Bing Huan shook his head. "I can't sense any threat at all. They seem to be winged creatures about the size of a palm."
Seeing most of the students grow tense, Lockhart nervously lifted the cover. "Freshly caught Cornish Pixies."
The iron-blue pixies had extremely shrill, piercing voices. They leaped and scrambled around inside the cage, making faces at the people nearby. "As expected, he chose the safest way to bluff his way through this."
"What?" Hermione asked in confusion.
Bing Huan glanced at the girl and slowly said, "Didn't I tell you before that his résumé was strange? Unable to suppress my curiosity, I had someone investigate him. It turned out that nearly all of his documented exploits involved things even students our age could accomplish."
"It's as if he deliberately prevented himself from ever failing." Hermione looked at Lockhart on the platform. Ever since Bing Huan had shattered her rose-tinted view of him, the number of suspicious points about this man had kept growing. How had she never noticed them before?
Lockhart opened the cage, and the pixies instantly shot around the classroom like rockets. Several of them even tried to hang Neville from the chandelier, but Harry stopped them in time. Lockhart apparently decided that the time had come for a hero to make his entrance. He waved his wand and roared.
However, things did not develop as he had expected. The spell had no effect, and the pixies continued rampaging as before. Unable to watch any longer, Bing Huan gathered them all into one mass and bound them. Lockhart pretended to remain calm as he praised Bing Huan.
"Well done, student. The teacher deliberately made that mistake just now so that you could all learn to respond calmly, as he did."
Bing Huan looked at Lockhart and remembered the letter from that morning. He decided to put a little pressure on Lockhart—or rather, give him a little encouragement. "If I release them now, I imagine Professor will immediately bind them again. Right?"
"Of course." As expected, Lockhart would never pass up an opportunity to show off.
The pixies were released on cue, and the classroom descended into chaos once more. This time, however, after witnessing what had just happened, the students all hid behind Bing Huan. The pixies had no desire to provoke trouble, so they naturally went after Lockhart instead.
Watching Lockhart gradually lose his temper, Bing Huan bound the pixies again. "Professor, you're not very good at this."
"There were simply too many pixies just now, and they disrupted my rhythm for a moment. Besides, I'm delighted that you possess this ability, but you must understand that the other students may not have the same ability. I hope you will continue working hard."
Bing Huan raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? Min, show him what you can do." He released the pixies once more. Just as they tried to escape, Hermione hit them all with a Freezing Charm and a Levitation Charm, stuffing them back into the cage.
He turned to the other students. "As long as everyone works hard and practices properly, you can do it too, just as Hermione did. Don't look down on yourselves because of certain people."
Lockhart still wanted to say something, but the bell rang. Bing Huan said with an expression of regret, "Oh, class is over already. As expected, happy times are always so short."
Everyone fled the classroom as if escaping for their lives. Just as Lockhart was thinking about how to mislead them in the next class, Bing Huan poked his head through the doorway.
"I hope you'll be a little more useful next class, Professor. Otherwise, it'll be terribly boring~"
That airy little remark successfully made Lockhart break into a cold sweat. What he feared most was having his disguise ripped away. That frightened him more than death, and he had to do something.
On Saturday morning, Bing Huan wanted to sleep in for once, but he and Ron were forcibly dragged to the Quidditch Pitch by their good friend Harry, because that was exactly what Wood had done to Harry.
The loss of the Quidditch Cup last year seemed to have remained on Wood's mind. He wanted to increase their training and have Gryffindor crush the other three teams.
Halfway through training, several people dressed in green robes entered the pitch. Wood angrily strode over. "Flint, we booked the pitch."
"Don't be so tense, Wood." A sly look appeared on that Troll-like face. "I have a permit."
Ron and Hermione also ran down from the stands to support the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. After looking at the permit, Wood asked, "A new Seeker? Who?"
Draco sprang out from behind Harry. "Of course it's me~"
"Draco?!" Seeing that his friends did not understand, Draco spoke in a voice only the Gryffindor side could hear. "Ever since I started promoting the new aristocratic ideology, things have been more difficult than I imagined.
"At first, Marcus and the others had followed Pansy's orders and given me a hard time during the Quidditch tryouts. Later, my father stepped in and bought each of them a Nimbus 2001. That finally settled it."
Ron said, "Everyone gets a 2001?! That's way too expensive."
Draco replied, "That amount is nothing to the Malfoy family. The main problem is that this is seriously frustrating. I wanted to sleep in today, but they dragged me out of bed too."
Draco quietly slipped back into the group. The other Slytherin players were showing off their new brooms. Hermione fearlessly stepped forward and mocked them. "Even so, Gryffindor won't lose, because they rely on skill, not on new brooms obtained through intimidation."
It seemed she had hit a sore spot. Flint angrily snapped, "No one cares about your opinion, you filthy Mudblood."
Those three words immediately caused an uproar. The other Slytherins hurried to restrain the Twins and Wood as they charged forward. After cursing Flint, several female players quickly ran to Hermione's side to protect her. Draco secretly moved behind Flint, preparing to land a vicious kick, while Ron also tried to sneak in a spell amid the chaos.
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