Defense Against the Dark Arts Against Desire

What an extraordinary professor! Breeze had to agree with Malfoy. It wasn't fair to Dumbledore, but Breeze couldn't help complaining, either.

If Quirrell had simply been an unpleasant person, that would have been one thing. But he stammered through his lessons, couldn't get a sentence out clearly, and kept reciting the textbook. Listening to him made Breeze feel as if ants were crawling over his elbows. It was maddening.

Breeze rubbed the wand bracelet on his right hand, then drew it out and straightened it. While Quirrell stammered, he murmured, "Muffliato..."

The world instantly fell quiet. Without hesitation, Breeze pulled the notes he'd gotten from East Tower out of his shoulder bag. He carefully studied the Full Body-Bind Curse described in the textbook Quirrell was droning on about, then jotted down his own thoughts in his diary.

Parkinson, who was sitting beside Malfoy because Breeze had taken the seat next to him, pursed her lips, snorted, and muttered sarcastically, "What a good student. Why aren't you paying attention in class?"

Apparently remembering that Breeze couldn't hear anything around him, she let a malicious smile flicker across her face. She casually lifted her leg and accidentally kicked Daphne Greengrass's chair beside her.

"Creak..."

Quirrell seemed startled by the noise. He stammered, "W-what's wrong, M-Miss Greengrass?"

"Huh?" Daphne seemed not to have realized what was going on. She'd been sneaking a look at a beauty magazine.

Pansy Parkinson glared at her, then answered before she could. "Professor Quirrell, you must have heard wrong. Breeze Order has a question for you."

Daphne Greengrass glanced at Pansy Parkinson but didn't argue. As long as she wasn't in trouble, that was fine.

Malfoy, meanwhile, discreetly nudged Breeze's arm.

"Mm, wha—"

Breeze hurriedly waved his wand, cut off the magic, and brought the surrounding sounds back. He stood up in confusion. "What is it, Professor?"

"Pfft." Malfoy chuckled, then looked over at Quirrell.

"N-no... Oh, I mean, Mr. Order, please demonstrate the Full Body-Bind Curse for the class."

"Ahem. T-the incantation is P-Petrificus Totalus."

Breeze stared for a moment, then looked at Malfoy. Malfoy leaned back haughtily in his chair, acting as if nothing had happened.

"Oh, all right, Professor. But I'm not very familiar with the spell, and I'll need a target. I wonder if Mr. Malfoy would be willing?"

"What? You Muggle-born—"

"Ahem. S-sorry. You c-can use it on me."

Breeze didn't want to listen to Quirrell speak any longer, so he got up and walked to the front of the room. He raised his wand and bowed to Quirrell. "Then I'm sorry, Professor Quirrell."

That garlic smell was overwhelming!

"Petrificus Totalus!" Breeze flicked his wand, sending a spell toward Quirrell. He was careful not to use much magic, and Quirrell noticed that Breeze was holding back.

Quirrell broke free of the spell almost immediately. "You can use your full strength. I-I mean, you used it very well, but I can resist it. If there's any danger, I-I'll protect you."

Breeze nodded shyly, though he was calculating how much magic to use. After a moment, he decided on half. He just had to make it look difficult.

From what Faner had told him earlier, Breeze knew that his magic was powerful. Once he learned to control it, he'd be able to use it well. His future looked promising, and using half his magic for the spell now would let him control it fairly well.

Breeze took a breath, then said with a serious expression, "Petrificus Totalus!"

Magic shot from the tip of his wand at incredible speed. The young witches and wizards below felt only a breeze pass by, then saw Professor Quirrell freeze in place, his face rigid as a statue. He remained that way until Quirrell broke the spell with a burst of magic ten seconds later.

"V-very good. Keep practicing, and I might not be able to break it," Quirrell stammered, looking so feeble that the young witches and wizards below sneered. They didn't think Breeze's spell was especially impressive; he'd simply learned the incantation quickly.

"Can I go back to my seat now, Professor?" Breeze thought Quirrell was a little strange, but didn't dwell on it. He was glad to have a target to practice on. Most spells were meant to be used on people, or were dangerous enough to cause serious harm, so he couldn't casually try them out.

"C-certainly..."

But Breeze didn't return to his seat. He gazed at Quirrell with wide, watery eyes, and Quirrell seemed to remember something. "Slytherin gets f-five points."

Before long, Defense Against the Dark Arts was over. Breeze wrote "Defense Against the Dark Arts +5 points" in his diary, then left the classroom in high spirits.

He'd thought he'd spend the entire lesson reading his notes by himself, but he'd ended up with an unexpected reward. Remembering what the Weasley Twins had promised him, Breeze quietly went to the Great Hall to eat, then headed to the library.

The Slytherin common room was destined for an eventful day. Even a few dormitories had gotten an auspicious start.

"Ah! Peeves!"

Screams echoed through the basement floor of Hogwarts Castle. The Little Snakes of Slytherin had lost their usual composure and manners. They were too busy dealing with the mess to care about anything else, and Snape and the others who came running stopped in their tracks without hesitation.

"Where's the Bloody Baron?" Snape looked at the clouds of dung stench around him. His expression changed several times before he turned and went back to his office.

Professor McGonagall and Filch had already started searching for Peeves, who'd escaped after causing trouble. Who knew whether Peeves still had any more of those weapons? He'd filled the entire Slytherin common room with a powerful stench of dung.

The Slytherin students had fled, but plenty of the smell had clung to them. The bathing facilities were in their dormitories, and they couldn't bear to go back inside.

"Ugh!"

"I'm going to kill you, Peeves!" The worst-hit were the Little Snakes who didn't have class that afternoon, like Zabini. He'd just been coming out of his dormitory, and as he closed the door, a Dungbomb had flown straight at him.

The Dungbomb burst on contact, enveloping him in a damp, yellow cloud that spread to the nearby walls.

"Ugh!"

Some of the girls couldn't take it and started retching. The boys covered their noses and mouths. Malfoy was on the verge of passing out, his face utterly wrecked. He kept murmuring dazedly, "I'm going to get my dad to kill it..."

But none of them dared to run around for fear that students from other houses would see them. Even Pansy Parkinson had fainted off to one side. Daphne Greengrass was looking after her, and Theodore Nott looked utterly wilted. As for Zabini, he stood to one side with a cold expression, and nobody else dared approach him.

The prefects were discussing what to do, whether to hush the matter up or deal with Peeves.

The two big fellows beside Malfoy were still holding up, though. They'd even become a sturdy, dependable backrest, keeping him upright and preserving what little dignity he had left.

By the time Breeze heard the news, Cedric had already dragged him back to the library to keep studying.

"You'd better not go back to the Slytherin common room just yet..." Cedric fought to keep a straight face. With remarkable composure, he said, "There's word that Peeves sneaked into Slytherin while the Bloody Baron was away, and... Pfft, sorry. I mean, Peeves played a prank on the Slytherin students with Dungbombs. Now the common room reeks, and House-elves are bent over cleaning it up."

Cedric rubbed his eyes. "The whole basement floor stinks, and so does the Great Hall. Nobody dares go eat there right now."

"Dungbombs?" Breeze rubbed the tip of his nose. He seemed to understand why the Weasley brothers had asked him for Stinkweed—and Cedric probably knew, too.

Breeze met Cedric's gaze guiltily, then silently looked away. All right, the look in Cedric's eyes said he was trustworthy. There was no need for Breeze to risk using an Obliviate he'd never tried before.

"Then let's sit here a while longer. Studying is a good thing, after all." Breeze led Cedric to a corner, then whispered, "I had no idea the Weasleys were that bold. That was terrifying." Those two brothers were worth keeping around after all. Still, I hope my dormitory is all right. Otherwise, I'll shove a Dungbomb into both their mouths.

Cedric nodded seriously, then said solemnly, "You should talk to them less from now on, especially over the next few days. Don't let the Slytherins get suspicious. Of course, Peeves did all this, but nobody knows if he can keep his mouth shut."

Breeze nodded. He wasn't stupid. But weren't the Weasley brothers afraid of getting expelled? Or of Slytherin running them out of Hogwarts?

"Thanks, Cedric. Hopefully the House-elves will take care of everything before curfew. Otherwise, I'll have to find somewhere else to sleep tonight. Professor Quirrell's garlic smell had me choking all morning. I don't want to spend all night surrounded by the smell of dung, too."

Of course, Breeze knew a deodorizing charm that could get rid of the smell, but the thought of it still made him queasy.

"Don't mention it. You're not like the other Little Snakes. You eat a lot, too. The Hufflepuff Badgers all like you—or maybe they're jealous of your appetite."

Cedric teased him, then took out his homework and began working on it in earnest.

Really? Breeze gave a fake smile. "That's nice. Hufflepuff friendship."

After that, Breeze went back to reading as well, and took the opportunity to study the Quieting Charm. It could lower the volume of sounds within a certain area, or even silence them completely. That was different from the Nonverbal Spell Muffliato he'd used earlier.

The difference was that using Muffliato was basically like covering your ears and pretending the bell wasn't ringing. Other people would still hear whatever they were supposed to hear.

As time passed, Breeze's stomach began to rumble. At last, a prefect from another house came to tell them that Peeves's "great prank" was over, the smell crisis had been resolved, and they could eat as usual.

Breeze and Cedric headed to the Great Hall on the first floor. But there were hardly any lucky Little Snakes at the dinner table that evening. Even Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe, the two big fellows whose appetites were only a little smaller than Breeze's, hadn't come.

It seemed the situation was really that bad!