Obsessive and Capricious

For the next while, the most popular topic of conversation at school remained Sirius Black.

News about him occupies an entire page of the Daily Prophet every day, and waiting for the owl to deliver the newspaper every morning has become the most anticipated thing for some people.

In addition, Harry has been very excited lately. Almost every morning, he receives a package delivered by an owl, containing, but not limited to, various candies, clothes, or other novel trinkets.

But none of this is relevant to fifth grade.

The professors were like they were having a competition to see who could wear down their students first; they were assigning more and more homework and demanding more and more, and even Kyle wasn't spared.

After all, not all professors would exempt him from homework, such as Potions Class and Defense Against the Dark Arts.

After two weeks of learning the Shield Charm, Professor Moody decided to give them a small test.

The test was supposed to take place last week, but that class was a complete disaster.

There were so many students mispronouncing the spells, standing still in a daze, and forgetting the hand gestures that Professor Moody was furious. He had no choice but to postpone the test for another week.

"I don't mind telling you in advance," Professor Moody said, standing on the podium. "This time I'm going to use the Leg-Locker Curse. If you can't withstand it, then unfortunately, you'll have to hop around for the rest of the day."

Some people immediately tensed up, but most showed an indifferent expression.

"I know you're probably thinking, 'It's just Leg-Locker Curse, it's easy to break, and even if it doesn't stop, it doesn't matter...' right?"

Professor Moody chuckled, his scars bulging together and making him look even more grotesque. "But you'd better abandon that idea now. Ordinary unblocking methods are useless against the Auror- specific Leg-Locker Curse."

Then he had everyone stand on both sides, and called them forward one by one according to the order of the roster, reciting the Leg-Locker Curse to them.

Kyle noticed that the results were much better than last week. At least with Professor Moody deliberately slowing down, the first two people successfully cast the Shield Charm, using an invisible wall to deflect the Leg-Locker Curse back.

But things changed when it came to the third person. One student, perhaps because he was too nervous, forgot the incantation.

Needless to say, his legs were pressed tightly together, and he could only hop back. He even tripped and fell halfway, almost breaking his nose.

When it was Kyle's turn, he went up to the open space in the middle of the classroom.

Professor Moody raised his wand, and a beam of white light shot swiftly toward Kyle.

Some astutely noticed that Professor Moody did not chant the incantation aloud this time as he had before; the spell appeared directly, without warning.

"Protego!"

The white light was deflected and flew straight towards Moody, but he dodged it.

"Excellent, that's more like it!" Professor Moody exclaimed. "Reflecting the spell back at your opponent is the true purpose of the Shield Charm. Those that fly around randomly only show that you haven't mastered it enough... Very good, Hufflepuff gets ten points!"

Professor Moody gave Kyle ten points, but not the homework exemption he wanted most.

Others subsequently conducted the test, but the success rate was not high, only about 50%.

After class, those who hadn't succeeded could only hop away from the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom like rabbits.

"Judging from the tone of his voice, I thought we were about to be attacked at any moment."

Mikel limped up the stairs.

He failed at first, but passed the make-up exam before get out of class ended, during which he fell countless times.

"Yes, that's right, he talks like a paranoid..."

Ryan, standing nearby, jumped forward with all his might. He turned his head to make sure Professor Moody was far away before whispering, "I heard that people in the Ministry of Magic don't like him. They think he's too neurotic... Even when someone walks past him normally, he feels like that person is trying to harm him."

"Professor Moody might be a bit strict, but it's always good to learn more," Qiu, who was in the same class as them, said. "Besides, the Shield Charm is also very important."

"I know," Ryan sighed, "But we have so much to do, where would we find the time to research the Shield Charm ... If it's not going to appear in OWL, I still think it would be more appropriate to put it in sixth grade, at least then we wouldn't have so much homework."

Ryan yawned, and nearly stumbled and fell, but Kyle caught him just in time.

"This is so inconvenient, do you want me to help you untie it?" Kyle asked.

Professor Moody is right, normal counter-curses are indeed useless. Some students already tried this when class ended. However, the restoration curse should work, and if that doesn't work, there's always the "Finite Incantatem.

"Thanks... but never mind." Ryan hesitated for a moment, then shook his head.

"Moody has the Magic Eye, who knows if he's watching us from somewhere... It just so happens that tomorrow is the weekend, I can just stay in my dorm and not come out."

Ryan seemed quite relaxed about it. He figured he'd be doing his homework all day in the common room anyway, so maybe this way he could finish it even faster.

But before that, he still had to go to the underground classroom to finish the last Potions Class of the week.

I don't know if it's just my imagination, but Snape seems even more unpredictable this time he's back, making Potions Class even more unbearable.

The underground classroom was as cold as winter; even the door creaked and groaned eerily when it was opened.

"Quiet!" Snape said coldly.

Actually, there was no need for that statement. As soon as everyone saw him come in, they immediately fell silent, and all their fidgeting stopped.

Generally speaking, Snape was the best Calming Draught at Hogwarts; his mere presence was enough to silence the entire school, even Dumbledore.

"Today, we're going to prepare Draught of Peace, which can soothe and relieve anxiety, and is also a topic that frequently appears in exams."

He said in a calm tone, "But before we begin, I must remind you that Potions is a rigorous discipline. No matter how expensive the cauldron, it cannot compensate for a barren mind."

He looked around at everyone's tables, seemingly searching for something.

After looking around, Snape nodded in satisfaction, walked to the blackboard, and waved his wand. "The recipe is here... You'd better memorize it well, because if you're careless when brewing it, it will cause the person taking the potion to fall into a deep, sometimes even unavoidable, drowsy state."

Then he waved his wand and opened the storage cabinet by the door.

"Take what you need yourself. You have an hour and a half, let's begin..."