Riding on Coattails

The students immediately broke into smiles.

They did not like being strung up and beaten, either. Now that each side had a Professor Fawley, neither side would lose too badly.

Only a few perceptive students noticed the smile at the corner of Twer's mouth, and their hearts suddenly went cold.

Under Twer's command, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw each split in half and moved to opposite sides, forming two teams with equal numbers.

The two "Twers" on either side had no wands and could only use basic magic, so they were provisionally called Professor A and Professor B.

This was an advanced technique he had learned from Dumbledore—

How to give Transfigured objects a certain degree of will.

Combined with the human Transfiguration he had learned from his teacher, he had created these two dummies.

Both dummies had been instilled with Twer's combat memories, but they lacked intelligence like that of an artificial intelligence and could only react according to a set program.

Of course, he could control them more precisely if he wanted to, but he still had papers to grade.

First, the ground softened as usual. Then came the golden film around them, and finally, a beam of golden light exploded between the two groups.

Crack!

The long-awaited battle officially began!

The two professors both opened with Disarming Charms, only for them to be blocked by Shield Charms at the same time a second later.

Their movements were remarkably similar as well. Spells flew back and forth between them, and for a while, neither could do anything to the other.

But the students were unlucky.

They had been hoping to put on a good performance and earn a chance for the real Professor Fawley to take the field.

Yet just the spells that slipped through the two dummies' exchanges were already more than they could handle!

Still, the two professors were the main force, so the students were not completely crushed by the pressure and could barely cause the other side some trouble.

But because of that, Professor A and Professor B discovered the students' usefulness...

The professors took a step back and, under the students' baffled gazes, hid at the very rear.

Yet their spells did not stop. On the contrary, with a human wall in front of them, they no longer had to defend themselves and could freely unleash offensive magic.

Who could withstand that?!

Binding Charms and Disarming Charms came flying over one after another. The caught-off-guard students were struck immediately, either bound up or blasted away before being hoisted into the air.

This was protective magic Twer had specially prepared to keep students who had been knocked to the ground from being trampled.

"Professor, I only fell down by myself!" a suspended student shouted indignantly, kicking his legs wildly.

But his voice was drowned out by the noisy classroom, and only students suffering the same fate could hear him.

"Give it up. Someone just tried to argue that he rolled on the ground to dodge a spell, and they still didn't let him down."

Twer truly had not noticed the students' miserable state. Even if he had, he would not have cared.

Wasn't it perfectly normal for students to be hung up?

All his attention was on the papers.

To put it bluntly, they were a complete disaster.

Combat depended on spellcasting technique, but textbook knowledge only required memorization and had little to do with the professor. Even if Twer had taught them, there was not much he could have done.

He did not know whether it was because an entire summer had passed and the students' knowledge had left with their previous professor, or because they simply had not learned properly.

In any case, aside from a few top students who got perfect scores, hardly anyone answered eighty percent correctly. Only around ten students had even scored above passing—not even a third of them.

Do not assume that Twer would neglect the rigid theoretical knowledge in textbooks just because he excelled in combat.

In fact, his theoretical knowledge was also the best at Durmstrang.

Especially in Defence Against the Dark Arts. Hogwarts did not teach the Dark Arts, so the students' understanding of them could only come from textbooks.

If you did not even understand your opponent's abilities, how were you supposed to rank up?

And besides the Dark Arts, there were many strange magical creatures and plants. These were things students needed to recognize and remember how to counter.

As the students' shouts grew louder and louder, Twer let out a soft sigh and looked up at them.

There were only a few students left on the field. Judging by the names above them, they were precisely the three top students still holding on.

That was good news, at least. The top students' combat ability was still respectable.

He watched for a while longer until Professor A, who had the advantage in numbers, successfully disarmed Professor B and brought the fierce battle to an end.

The students on Team A immediately stopped complaining and cheered loudly in celebration, while Team B lowered their heads somewhat dejectedly.

As for the remaining three students, they were spared the punishment of being bound.

Their faces were flushed from the intense exertion, their hair plastered tightly against their foreheads, and sweat ran down their faces.

As the number of classmates around them dwindled, the pressure on them grew greater and greater. If the professors had not realized the importance of having assistants and helped them block quite a few spells, they would have been hanging up there with their classmates long ago.

Yet their mouths were stretched wide in grins, smiles that even exhaustion could not suppress.

"Very good. Better than I expected—just as good as your performance on the papers," Twer said, and the students immediately caught the sarcasm in his tone. "Four points to Ravenclaw, and two points to Gryffindor."

He showed no intention of lowering the students hanging from the ceiling, merely tidying up the spells cast around the room and the two dummies.

"Professor, may I know my exam score?" Cho Chang, one of the top students, asked softly.

"Oh, of course. All three of you got full marks," Tver said. He had always had a bit of fondness for top students. "The only three perfect scores, in fact. So tell me, what did you feel about that battle?"

"Positioning, casting speed, personal defense, and teamwork!" Eddie Carmichael was the first to answer loudly.

"You're right," Tver said, amused by the confidence on his face. "But zero points. Copying answers won't truly improve your abilities."

"What I asked for was what you experienced during that battle. Can anyone tell me? Including those still hanging from the ceiling."

Katie Bell, the only Gryffindor among the three top students, ventured, "You should be brave enough to attack even when facing someone stronger?"

...Was this what Gryffindors were like?

Tver choked for a moment, then nodded ambiguously.

"Yes, but not entirely."

"When facing a stronger opponent, you need to choose a smart way to attack, especially when your side also has someone evenly matched with them."

"Gather around that person, create favorable conditions for them as much as possible, and give them a comfortable environment to attack from. That is the best way to secure victory."

"So, your homework for this class is an essay: How to fight while supporting a stronger ally. No length requirement."

In short, a guide to clinging to someone's thigh.

Tver lowered all the students. As they happily discussed the battle they had just fought, he raised his voice and said:

"Also, given your weak grasp of the fundamentals, everyone except the three students with perfect scores will have a test before every class from now on!"

The smile vanished spell!

Tver's words stripped the joy from the students' faces like winter frost, leaving them stiff as ice...