Zacharias's face alternated between pale and red, pale because he had been shown up, red with embarrassment and anger.
Harry had summoned his Patronus with easy, brisk movements. Among the students, he could already be considered one of the very best.
Naturally, everyone praised him.
"All right," Hermione spoke again. "Back to the point. For certain reasons, I have to keep the identity of the teacher who will be teaching us Defence Against Dark Magic secret for now. But if our teacher turns out to be a fraud..."
Hermione cast an almost imperceptible glance at Zacharias Smith.
"We'll ask Harry to teach us how to cast the Patronus Charm successfully. Does anyone object?"
No one voiced any objections, including Zacharias Smith, who had just been dissed.
"Very good." Hermione relaxed considerably. "Then the next item: how often should we have lessons? I think anything less than once a week probably won't have any effect-"
The debate over this issue was much fiercer than the previous one and took a considerable amount of time. The reason was that it would affect Quidditch practice, and quite a few members of the three houses' Quidditch teams were present.
There was only one Quidditch Pitch, after all. That meant each house's Quidditch practice times were different, making it difficult to agree on a reasonably suitable time that would not cut into any of the three teams' practices.
Amid the clamour, Angelina, seemingly possessed by the now-graduated Wood, had the shrillest voice.
Badgers were among the animals with sensitive hearing, and that shrill voice made Su Er frown repeatedly.
Fortunately, Cedric stepped forward just as everyone's arguing was about to end in an unhappy parting.
"Everyone." He swept his gaze over those arguing. "Personally, I think learning useful Defence Against Dark Magic that can actually