Billywig

"The charm for dealing with a Billywig is quite simple, but it requires your full concentration. You must be completely focused when chanting, clear about your target, and you cannot afford the slightest bit of negligence.

"You must know that the Billywig flies very fast; it will not give you a second chance to cast the spell."

After Professor Oren finished stating the necessary precautions with a serious expression, he continued: "Let us practice the incantation without our wands first. Please repeat after me—Slack-Force Charm!"

"Slack-Force Charm!" the young wizards chanted in unison.

"Very good," Professor Oren said with satisfaction. "Next, it is time to test the effects of your spells."

He had the entire class line up, one after another, to step forward and cast the spell at the Billywig in the cage.

The first in line was Kanna.

She had originally been in the middle of the queue, but she was quickly ushered to the front by a crowd of Gryffindor fans.

Ever since Professor Oren finished calling the roll, these little lions had been eager to see what exactly this little witch possessed that could actually conquer Snape.

"Brave girl," Professor Oren smiled. "I remember your name is Kanna, correct?"

"Yes, Professor."

Practice makes perfect; having had the experience twice before, Kanna's state of mind was much better than it had been previously.

Although she was still nervous, she was at least able to communicate normally now, and her first instinct was to answer the professor's question rather than turning and running away.

"Don't be afraid, this is just a simple spell," Professor Oren said patiently. "Remember what I just told you: focus your attention. You can do it; believe in yourself."

Kanna took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and thrust her wand forward with force.

"Slack, Slack-Force Charm!"

Whoosh! A sound of air being sliced through echoed in the room.

Professor Oren, standing to the side, instinctively took a small step back.

In all honesty, at that proximity, the force of her thrust alone would have been enough to kill the Billywig without even needing a spell.

Fortunately, the result was still positive.

As the incantation ended, the Billywig in the cage collapsed to the ground.

"Not bad, one point to Hufflepuff," Professor Oren announced loudly, while simultaneously bringing out a second cage.

Because he lacked experience yesterday, he had only brought three Billywigs when teaching the Ravenclaw and Slytherin classes.

He had thought it would be enough, but it turned out to be completely insufficient; sometimes the third one would be down before the first had even recovered.

And every time that happened, the young wizards from those two houses would stare at him blankly—the scene was awkward, to say the least.

To prevent a similar situation from occurring again, he had brought ten of them today, which was definitely enough.

"Next, Santos, it is your turn."

Called by name, Santos hurried forward and began to chant the spell.

"Slack-Force Charm..."

Nothing happened; the Billywig in the cage continued to spin around happily.

"Relax, don't be so nervous," Professor Oren walked to his side and said softly. "You must enunciate the spell clearly; the last syllable was too faint. Let's try again."

Santos nodded and extended his wand once more.

"Slack-Force Charm!"

This time, it was a success.

"Very good, next..." Professor Oren swapped in another cage.

Two consecutive successes boosted the confidence of the others, and they couldn't wait to give it a try themselves.

However, because they were overly confident, some completely forgot what Professor Oren had said earlier. When it was their turn, they didn't even look, simply shouting the incantation at the cage.

The result of this was that the Billywig remained perfectly fine, while the cage itself fell apart.

Consequently, Professor Oren had to stay on high alert for the rest of the session, ensuring he could restore those cages to their original state at a moment's notice.

But soon, he realized he had underestimated the situation.

A Gryffindor freshman near the back of the line, seeing that there were still too many people ahead of him, began to mutter the incantation under his breath.

Originally, he only wanted to practice in advance so that he could stun everyone when it was finally his turn... but he forgot that he was holding his wand.

Beside the podium, Professor Oren, who was in the middle of casting a mending spell, suddenly felt his legs go weak and collapsed to the floor in an instant.

If it had just been a fall, it wouldn't have been much; Professor Oren was, after all, a robust adult wizard, and at most, he would have only suffered a few scrapes that a piece of Dittany bandage could fix.

But the problem was that his mending spell had been interrupted.

A Billywig broke free and charged angrily toward the young wizards in front of it.

It had wanted to do this for a long time; it had been rendered limp and powerless since yesterday, and now it was determined to take its revenge!

Faced with this situation, some of the young wizards began to scramble around the classroom in a panic, while others raised their wands.

"Slack-Force Charm!"

"Slack-Force Charm!"

Dozens of spells crisscrossed the air; although they failed to hit the Billywig, they successfully halted its advance.

The young wizards seemed to have discovered a new world, growing even more excited as they raised their wands once again, ready to take another shot at the moving target.

"Everyone, stop!" Just then, Professor Oren, who had been lying on the floor, suddenly barked out a sharp command.

He drew his wand and, as the Billywig flew over his head, shouted, "Petrificus Totalus!"

Professor Oren reached out to catch the falling Billywig, placed it back into its cage, and then shakily stood up.

He rubbed his lower back with a pained expression.

No wonder everyone said the Defense Against the Dark Arts position at Hogwarts was a thankless job; that sentiment really held some damn truth to it.

Enduring the pain, Professor Oren looked at the young wizards with concern and asked, "Are you all alright? Did anyone get stung?"

"No, Professor," the group shook their heads.

"That's good." He breathed a sigh of relief, repaired the lectern, and said, "Let's continue with the lesson. Right... everyone except the person at the front, put your wands away."

Everyone obeyed obediently.

Although they were still eager for more, having witnessed Professor Oren's anger just moments ago, they dared not act recklessly again.

After all, no one wanted to be on the receiving end of a Full Body-Bind Curse.

With this mindset, almost everyone succeeded on their first try, and the pace of the lesson was much faster than before.

However, Professor Oren did not look the least bit relaxed; on the contrary, he seemed even more tense.

By the time class ended, he didn't even assign any homework before turning and leaving the classroom without a backward glance.

This lesson had truly exhausted him, and he didn't want to stay for even a minute longer.

Back in his office, Oren drew the curtains and took a satisfied sip of black tea.

Regardless of everything, it was finally over. Although there had been a few accidents, thankfully everything had been kept under control, and all ten Billywigs were... hm?

Wait, why were there only nine left!

Oren hurriedly dropped his teacup and counted carefully two more times.

That was right, one was definitely missing.

One cage was empty, and there was a fist-sized hole in it.

"Merlin's beard..." Oren rushed back to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, but he found nothing there.

"It must have been the spells from those first-years that hit the cage!"

Oren stared at the open window in the classroom and groaned in frustration, "Fifty Galleons, just like that, gone!"