Hermione's Growth
Thursday arrived, Defence Against the Dark Arts class.
After calling out names, Moody put away the roster and said gruffly, "Today, I'm going to teach you the art of hex-deflection. Alright, does anyone know any methods for hex-deflecting Transference Jinx spells?"
Transference Jinx, as the name suggests, is using magic to change the direction of a curse that is attacking you, redirecting it to another direction.
Hermione raised her hand high.
"Miss Granger, you said..."
"Salvio Hexia (Salvio Hexia)."
"That's right, Salvio Hexia is indeed the most standard answer," Moody nodded, then said, "Almost all evil curses will be repelled when they encounter Salvio Hexia. So, does anyone know any other answers?"
Seeing that no more hands were raised by the young wizards, Moody shook his head slightly, intending to begin instructing them on the "Salvio Hexia" spell. Hermione's answer was actually correct, but it was merely a written answer from the syllabus, not exceeding his expectations. He didn't care about the other classes' learning; he wasn't really there to teach, so he didn't care. But in this class was Harry Potter himself, the one he needed to nurture.
If Harry can only demonstrate this level of defensive skills, how can he compete with the other three overpowered Champion? If Harry's strength is too weak, how can he become the first Champion to touch the Goblet of Goblet of Fire?
Well, he hadn't expected anyone else besides the Malfoy brothers to give him the answer anyway, but the Malfoy brothers clearly wouldn't easily share their family's secret techniques. It seemed he would have to think of another way.
At this moment, Hermione raised her hand again. Although the process was relatively slow, and unlike her usual high hand, this time she didn't raise it as high as possible, and her hand trembled nervously in the air, making it easy for everyone to see her hesitation and uncertainty.
"Hmm?" A hint of surprise flashed in Moody's eyes. "Miss Granger, you said..."
"Um, I'm not really sure either..." Hermione regretted raising her hand. She was worried that giving the wrong answer would reveal her ignorance, but the image of the figure she had always wanted to chase kept flashing through her mind. She gritted her teeth, and finally, as if making up her mind, said, "Um... the Shield Charm?"
A glint flashed in Skylar's eyes; it seemed Hermione was indeed different from the one in the original story.
Although in fanfiction from my previous life, the Shield Charm was a common spell, with many authors portraying it as something every first-year wizard could do, in reality, this spell is extremely profound.
According to the Hogwarts curriculum, only students who have entered the NEWT Advanced Class in Defense Against the Dark Arts are qualified to study it.
In the original story, the main characters were able to learn this spell because Harry, with Hermione's guidance, had studied it beforehand during the Triwizard Tournament, and then taught it to the members of the Dumbledore's Army when he was in his fifth year. At that time, Cho Chang and Marietta Edgecombe, who came from privileged backgrounds and were a year ahead of Harry (they were in their sixth year), hadn't even been exposed to this spell yet!
In the Britain wizarding world, most young wizards' magical learning only reaches the OWL level, which is equivalent to the fifth year. Only a small percentage of wizarding students with special expertise or interests in specific areas choose to enter the NEWT (Newton) level for more in-depth study and practice. In the original books, even Hermione's Defence Against the Dark Arts grade was only "Good," leading readers in the previous generation to unanimously deduce that Harry was likely the only student in his year to achieve an "Excellent" in this subject.
Even more seriously, after the Weasley Twins' defensive items sold like hotcakes in the original story, the Ministry of Magic even placed a large order for 500 items with them. This shows that in the Ministry of Magic, which has only six or seven hundred employees, the vast majority of employees are not proficient in casting the Shield Charm. This demonstrates that unless a wizard aspires to join combat units such as the Scouts, Hit Wizard, or Auror, most wizards do not pay much attention to Defense Against the Dark Arts after completing their OWL level studies.
This has resulted in many wizards having only a superficial understanding of the Shield Charm.
The principle behind the Shield Charm is to create an invisible magical barrier in front of the user, capable of neutralizing incoming spells. This is the most common Shield Charm in the minds of wizards, but—
If one's control over the Shield Charm is refined to a certain degree, it's possible to deflect incoming attacks in other directions, or even bounce them back along their original path. Some wizards, like Harry, have a natural intuition for manipulating magic, so they can do it without training. However, for most other wizards, unless they are willing to put in a lot of hard work to study and practice, being able to cast the Shield Charm completely is already their limit.
Of course, as for why Skylar could master the Shield Charm in his second year and refine his own defensive magic in his fourth year, it wasn't because of the protagonist's halo. Rather, it was the result of Skylar's diligent accumulation of Magical Theory knowledge since the age of four, leading to his sudden burst of talent. Of course, mastering the secrets of the four Pure-blood families also put him at a different level from other wizards in his year. Even other Pure-blood disciples didn't have half of his inherited knowledge, let alone Half-blood or Muggle-born wizard. This is what is meant by winning at the starting line.
It's not surprising that Hermione, with her love of learning, would know about the Shield Charm. However, she cleverly used the Shield Charm, originally intended to defend against attacks, to redirect the spell – a more advanced application of magic.
Is this still the same Hermione who only knows how to study by rote? Is this still the Hermione from the original books who, despite witnessing the effects of the Half-Blood Prince's Notebook, still insisted on rigidly following the textbook?
Skylar's mind went blank for a moment as he recalled the exquisitely crafted quill pen Hermione had given him as a Christmas present a few months earlier.
Well, Skylar has to admit, he did have feelings for Hermione.
What truly held him back was never Hermione's Muggle-born. When it came to the theory of bloodlines, Skylar was arguably the most averse to such outdated ideas among Pure-blood families. With the wizarding world's tiny population, if intermarriage with wizards of other classes were discouraged in order to maintain the status of Pure-blood, the Pure-blood class itself would probably be wiped out sooner or later.
The real reason he insisted on keeping his distance from Hermione was actually Hermione's personality. Hermione was not the generous Daphne, nor the gentle Morrie, nor the naive Astoria. Hermione was a person with principles, aspirations, and ideals, while the path Skylar was to walk was full of blood and darkness.
Skylar's girlfriends were able to tolerate everything about him, and he knew he was already very lucky and shouldn't ask for more. Hermione was a person of principle, to some extent stubborn, inflexible, and rigid. Her heart couldn't tolerate Skylar's filth, and Skylar keeping his distance from her was actually a good thing for both of them.
But...
But what if Hermione's personality changes from what's depicted in the books?
"Well said! Gryffindor gets 10 points!" This was exactly the answer Moody wanted to hear. He knew that once the name "Iron Shield Charm" spread, Hermione, the most intelligent member of the trio, would most likely have Harry learn the spell, which would inevitably increase Harry's strength, benefiting his plans. "Now, let's begin today's lesson on 'Salvio Hexia'..."
But then Hermione asked again, "Excuse me for interrupting you, Professor... I really want to ask, why do we need to learn this 'Salvio Hexia' when we already have the more effective 'Shield Charm'? In real battles, it's never about who knows more spells, but about who uses the better and more powerful spells—"
"In a real battle, the opportunity to cast a spell might only come once. Shouldn't we prioritize learning the most useful and effective spells?" Hermione said confidently, her eyes shining. "If learning the Shield Charm means Salvio Hexia will be eliminated, why waste time on the former instead of learning the Shield Charm directly?"
Skylar secretly applauded Hermione. Knowing when to prioritize and choosing to learn more practical magic instead of greedily trying to learn all the magic in the world was already a remarkable wisdom in life.
On the podium, Moody lowered his head slightly and fell silent.