Advanced Spells

"Reasonable?" Wood furrowed his brow in confusion. "You mean it's normal for those Exploding Snakes to go out of control? Was it deliberate? Did the other side have a weapon that could interfere with Alchemical Tools?"

Wood held a deep grudge over these incidents. Not only had they directly caused his team to lose the second-stage mission, but they had also made him afraid to use the Exploding Snakes in the battles that followed. He was desperate to know what had happened.

Faced with Wood's barrage of questions, Anduin couldn't explain things too clearly. He couldn't exactly say that someone had used Parseltongue to control the Exploding Snakes.

Besides being rare, this unusual talent was seen by many as a sign of evil. After all, history had shown that only powerful Dark Wizards possessed Parseltongue.

So Anduin could only lean close to Wood's ear and quietly advise him, "Don't ask any more questions, and don't spread this around. I can't explain everything to you just yet, but something like this won't happen again in future instances."

Wood wasn't unreasonable. Seeing how serious Anduin was, he couldn't help wondering if this involved some kind of secret.

"Understood, Professor." Wood nodded obediently and stopped making a fuss. Since the professor had given him such a promise, something similar clearly wouldn't happen again.

After dealing with Wood, Anduin walked over to the group sprawled across the ground. "Harry, Neville, Ron, Ginny, come here for a moment."

The four who'd been called had no idea what Anduin wanted, but they couldn't refuse the professor's summons. They could only trudge over with long faces.

They had only just finished the Instance Challenge, and they were so exhausted they could barely stand. Anduin had no intention of accommodating them, though, and sternly urged them on. "Hurry