Nothing Bell Says Can Be Taken at Face Value

Before Penelope could expose Bell's pretense, Bell asked again, "By the way, senior, you've been here for a while, so why were you hiding at the other end of the table? Don't you like Hermione?"

"!?"

"Who, who said I've been hiding? I haven't been hiding at all!"

Having said that, Penelope disregarded what she had wanted to say earlier and stomped her feet as she walked away from Bell.

Bell watched Penelope's retreating figure with a puzzled expression.

He had clearly sensed that the other person had been hiding in the distance for some reason. So he was just curious and asked why the other person had reacted so strongly.

Hermione and Penelope's behavior was truly incomprehensible to Bell.

So it's still better to have your own younger sister. She tells you everything in detail, so you don't have to rack your brains to guess.

Whatever, whatever. It doesn't really concern me anyway. Of all the things in the world, eating is the most important.

Bell banished all the doubts from her mind and focused wholeheartedly on enjoying her first breakfast in second grade.

Hmm... homemade Lim's cooking is still the best.

This academic year, Bell continued last year's strategy: he listened attentively to the professors' lectures to Identify and Fill Gaps in his knowledge and solidify his foundation. However, once it came to practical application, Bell began to slack off and do his own thing.

Unlike his previous cautious approach, this year Bell has been intensifying his training with the Banishing Charm in order to make his paddling flawless.

The morning passed quickly, and it was time for the first class of the afternoon, Hermione's long-awaited Defense Against the Dark Arts.

At lunchtime, Hermione was so excited she couldn't contain herself. The Little Witch even forgot to eat, constantly asking Bell about Lockhart, which prevented Bell from enjoying his meal.

I ate at least 1 kilogram less food than usual.

This is truly a sad story.

But that's not the main problem. The real problem is: 'How could Bell possibly know about Lockhart?'

Therefore, Hermione would complain for a long time every time he couldn't answer a question.

Bell, who failed to answer a single question from beginning to end, was constantly being blamed by Hermione.

So, Bell is really unhappy right now, extremely unhappy! He even wants to kill Lockhart!

"You're such a show-off!"

Hermione's complaints continued until they entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, where Lockhart was already waiting.

This was the first time Bell had felt happy to see Lockhart. Regardless of Lockhart's academic level, at least his attitude towards the class was excellent. It was rare for a professor to arrive in the classroom this early to prepare.

Seeing how dedicated the other person was, Bell decided not to kill him.

Lockhart had no idea that arriving at the classroom early, just to show off, would indirectly save his life. If he did know, he'd probably be overjoyed and become even more smug, wouldn't he?

After everyone was seated in the classroom, Lockhart cleared his throat and began his first lesson.

He first gave a brief introduction to his achievements.

What about the "Order of Merlin, Third Class, the " Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League " award, and the "Most Charming Smile Award " from The Witch Weekly?

Bell genuinely didn't know what was so great about these things.

After a brief self-introduction (which was really brief, about 5 minutes), Lockhart began distributing test papers to everyone as a short quiz before the course officially began.

After handing the test paper to Hermione, Lockhart continued walking towards the back without pausing.

Hermione carefully examined the test paper in her hand, and after confirming that there was indeed only one, she turned around to call Lockhart back.

"Professor, um..."

Realizing what Hermione was about to do, Bell quickly covered Hermione's mouth and then breathed a long sigh of relief.

"Phew~ Thank goodness I reacted quickly, otherwise it would have been a disaster. How could I have forgotten to tell Hermione beforehand? Her nagging must have made my brain shut down."

Shh~ Hermione, don't make a sound.

Bell leaned close to Hermione's ear and whispered something.

Hermione forcefully pried Bell's hands off and moved away from Bell. The Little Witch took a few deep breaths to calm her flushed face.

"What are you doing, Bell! Professor Lockhart made a mistake; he only gave me one paper. I was just about to ask you for another one!"

Bell scratched his head in confusion, not understanding why Hermione was suddenly so angry.

Judging from the flush on Hermione's face, her anger was comparable to when she was angry that morning about Harry and Ron driving Flying Car to school. But now is not the time to dwell on those things.

"That's right, it's just one test paper. Lockhart can't see me right now, which is why he only gave you one test paper."

"It's Professor Lockhart!"

Hermione glared at Bell with a huff. The Little Witch held professors in high esteem, except for Snape, and perhaps even that long-dead Quirrell? So she couldn't tolerate Bell addressing the esteemed Professor Lockhart by his first name.

"Alright, Professor Lockhart."

Bell wouldn't bother with something so trivial.

"What did you do? Why can't Professor Lockhart see you?"

"A little magic. Do you remember the Repelling Jinx Barrier I used in last year's Quidditch Match? It's a variation of that spell, only the range of the banishing spell has been reduced from an area to just one person."

Hermione didn't think at all that the magic Bell had cast should be described as "minor." At least to her knowledge, she had never heard of anyone else using similar magic.

It's worth noting that Hermione happened to run into Professor McGonagall in the hallway after last year's Quidditch Match.

Hermione subtly inquired about the "Repelling Jinx Barrier," and Professor McGonagall's response was:

"Banishing Charm typically target Muggle. They are very difficult to use on Banishing Charm with magical abilities. Even if the target is Little Wizard who hasn't reached adulthood, it requires a very high level of magical skill."

Hermione was extremely surprised by Professor McGonagall's answer.

Even Professor McGonagall thought it was a very difficult spell; heaven knows how Bell managed to do it.

What did she hear now? A variant of the Repelling Jinx Barrier? Can Curses be changed at will like that? How come she didn't know that?

Moreover, Bell actually managed to deceive Professor Lockhart.

That's Professor Lockhart!

Professor Lockhart, who once defeated extremely dangerous Dark Magic Creatures such as female ghosts, Werewolf, Yeti, and yetis!

Sure enough, not a word Bell said should be taken seriously!