He Gave Too Much

Today's first period is Defense Against the Dark Arts, Sirius's class.

This was the first time that Hogwarts students had seen the same Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts for two consecutive years... but only for students in their sixth year and below.

Last year their professor was Moody, so strictly speaking, Sirius is their sixth professor, still a one-year program.

But because of Sirius's legendary experience, the classroom was already full of people early on.

"I asked Justin Finch-Fletchley." Mikel, looking expectant, pulled his textbook from his bag. "He told me Sirius's classes are interesting, though sometimes some unpleasant things happen."

"Not very pleasant?" Kanna frowned. "Did he assign a lot of homework?"

Although Sirius taught Moody a few lessons last school year, the content he taught was all pre-determined by Moody, and it was also a review of what he had learned before.

Therefore, people are not familiar with his teaching style.

"No, quite the opposite." Mikel shook his head. "As far as I know, he almost never assigns homework. I was quite envious of him last year."

"Then why is it unpleasant?"

"Because you'll get hurt," Ryan added from the side.

Just as he was speaking, the classroom door was pushed open, and Sirius walked in from outside.

He seemed quite happy and didn't seem bothered at all by having to take three more grades of classes.

"Hello everyone." Sirius waved his wand and opened the curtains, letting the bright sunlight illuminate the classroom.

"I think I don't need to introduce myself," he said with a smile. "Put your books away; you won't need them for the first class."

Everyone immediately put away their books, with Mikel being the quickest. He firmly believed that any professor who asked students to put away their books on the first day of class was a good professor.

"I already know about your progress from Professor Moody."

Sirius continued, "I have to admit, he's a really good professor, and you can see that from your OWL results."

"Almost everyone got a pretty good score, even Professor Marchbanks, who was in charge of proctoring, was surprised... She probably didn't expect that the subject with the lowest scores in previous years would have so many high scores this year."

Everyone instinctively straightened their backs.

Although Professor Moody was strict and assigned a staggering amount of homework, their progress was undeniable.

Some people even jumped directly from an A (pass) to an O (excellent), successfully obtaining a certificate.

"However... I'm your professor this year." Sirius changed the subject. "And I've always believed that the essence of Defense Against the Dark Arts lies in practical application, not in grades."

"Dark Magic is diverse and ever-changing. When you truly face it, you'll find that the knowledge in textbooks is completely insufficient. Only by relying on instinct and outstanding reaction speed can you deal with it."

Everyone stared at Sirius, whose expression was very serious and whose tone was anything but joking.

"Therefore, before you actually encounter Dark Magic, you must be clear about where your shortcomings lie."

"The quickest way... is for you to experience it for yourselves." Sirius drew his wand. "Lockhart's Duelling Club was a great idea, but unfortunately it was canceled after only one session. If that club had lasted until now, it would definitely have greatly improved your skills."

"But it's not too late yet."

Sirius went around to the other side of the classroom and cleared all the clutter piled up in the corner outside the room.

"I believe that practical experience is far more useful than any preaching, so duels are essential in the upcoming classes, and you'd better prepare in advance."

"I will do my best to protect you from injury, but there will be times when I can't be there for you. If any of you don't want to participate, you can say so now, and I will agree."

All eyes were on him, but no one backed down; instead, they became even more excited.

Seeing that no one raised their hand to leave, Sirius nodded in satisfaction. "Very good, I knew you would make the right choice... Now, we need to make a small adjustment to the classroom."

He made all the students stand up, and then directed the desks, chairs, and other furniture to line up and fly out the window, leaving not even a podium.

Sirius had already chosen the biggest classroom, and now that it's been tidied up, it looks even bigger.

Then he used his wand to conjure a small platform at his feet.

"In the first lesson, we won't learn anything new, but rather check your practical skills."

"Each of you has five minutes. No matter what spell you use, as long as you can get my foot off this platform, you'll get a ten-point reward."

Hearing that there were points to be won, everyone's eyes lit up with excitement, and they all crowded to the front, afraid of falling behind and not having enough time.

"Professor, I'll go."

"Please choose me as your professor..."

"I'm destined to become a dueling master!"

The classroom was noisy. Sirius's gaze swept around the room before finally settling on Kyle.

"Kyle, how about you come?"

"No problem," Kyle stepped forward.

He glanced at the platform beneath Sirius's feet. "As long as it gets you off here, that's all that matters, right?"

"That's right... but you're not." Sirius shook his head and stepped down from the platform. "I think it's necessary for everyone to know that this isn't a game."

"I understand." Kyle nodded and took out his own wand as well.

Seeing this, everyone else also fell silent.

It's unclear who first ran to the corner, but thanks to him, a large area around the two of them was quickly cleared up.

Kyle and Sirius faced off, wand in hand. Without Lockhart's elaborate instructions on etiquette, the duel began abruptly.

A curse was unleashed by Sirius without warning.

But the next second, it bounced back even faster.

"Oh, beautiful..."

Sirius quickly ducked to avoid it. To be honest, he didn't even know when Kyle had used the Shield Charm on him.

But just as Sirius bent down, a row of sharp stone spikes suddenly shot out from the floor.

Fortunately, Sirius reacted quickly enough; with a slight movement of his wand, he blasted the stone spikes into powder.

But it wasn't over yet. Suddenly, the fragments of stone spikes on the ground began to wriggle and transform into hunting dogs of varying sizes, which ran towards Kyle and lunged at him, trying to bite his wand.

Kyle calmly took two steps back and pointed his wand at the hairpins and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans that had fallen off when he was moving the desk.

The next second, Sirius's hounds were blocked by a group of shrunken Norwegian Ridgeback and began tearing at each other.

Taking this opportunity, Sirius stood up again and couldn't help but praise, "Excellent Transfiguration... Hufflepuff, 20 points."

As he spoke, he didn't forget to unleash two more spells, and at the same time, when no one else could see, he frantically winked at Kyle.

Kyle's lips twitched twice. He had just finished warming up, and this guy was already trying to cheat?

Isn't this a bit too much?

However, looking at Sirius who was making crazy faces, Kyle sighed. Well, it was class time, and time was limited, so they couldn't drag it out for too long.

So Kyle deliberately removed his Shield Charm, and after being hit by a "Scourgify" spell, he stumbled back several steps.

"Excellent, truly excellent." Sirius put away his wand, clapped his hands, and said, "I must say you are the most outstanding young wizard I have ever seen. Hufflepuff, another thirty points!"

Amid applause, Kyle returned to the crowd.

"Can cleansing spells work in a duel?" Kanna asked in a low voice.

"You noticed?" Kyle asked in surprise, "Sirius didn't seem to be chanting a spell just now, did he?"

"I could tell," Kanna said, pointing to Kyle's robes. "At breakfast, an owl knocked over a bottle of Pumpkin Juice, and some of it splashed on you."

"However, the Pumpkin Juice has now disappeared."

"Okay." Kyle shrugged. "Cleansing spells are normally useless, but the situation was special just now. We can't exactly fight for a whole class period."

"So you deliberately admitted defeat?"

"There's nothing I can do, he gave me just too much... a whole fifty points."

"Well, that's quite a lot." Kanna couldn't help but laugh.