As soon as Professor Quirrell stood still, a strong smell of garlic wafted through the classroom on the wind.
Several students in the front row immediately covered their noses and sneezed several times.
Draco frowned, quickly pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers, and raised his other hand to cover his nose.
Logically speaking, garlic doesn't smell particularly pleasant, nor is it pungent.
But Professor Quirrell, in order to cover his tracks, used whichever garlic had the strongest smell.
Even Hermione turned her head to the side, covering her nose, the tip of her nose wrinkling into a small knot, and she coughed lightly twice, her face full of undisguised discomfort.
Draco quickly accessed his consciousness summoning system, eagerly searching for information about scent-blocking spells.
The moment the spell appeared, Draco redeemed it without hesitation, flicked his wand in his own and Hermione's direction, and whispered the incantation.
As the incantation ended, a pale blue light swirled around the two of them before disappearing, and the pungent smell of garlic vanished instantly.
Draco let out a long sigh of relief, his shoulders relaxed, and he was finally able to breathe deeply.
Hermione had just been wrinkling her nose and covering her mouth when she suddenly felt the pungent smell on the tip of her nose dissipate.
After a moment of surprise, Hermione realized that Draco had done it. She quietly moved closer to him, and with the help of that invisible barrier, she was finally able to look at the podium in peace.
Ron's heart sank. He muttered to Harry, "This smells even stronger than Fred's fart!"
But Harry was already too choked to speak.
"Good morning, everyone... I'm Quirrell, your Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts for this semester."
Professor Quirrell raised his hand and tugged at his scarf, his lips twitching slightly. He then hurriedly pointed to several strings of garlic hanging beside the podium, his voice trembling even more.
"This garlic... it's for warding off vampires. I met one in Romania, and it keeps following me... please forgive me."
Hearing Professor Quirrell's stammering voice, Ron's heart sank completely; he knew he had lost.
Professor Quirrell's voice trembled uncontrollably as he stammered the explanations of the spells in his textbook.
He would pause two or three times before speaking a single sentence, and his speech was incoherent. Even though it was a basic defensive spell, he made it sound obscure and difficult to understand.
The whispers in the classroom gradually grew louder. Some people were secretly fiddling with their wands, while others were looking down at their textbooks to find key points. No one was really paying attention to his lecture.
After all, even the professor himself seemed unsure and flustered, so who could expect to learn anything truly valuable?
Hermione, who had been sitting up straight, slowly relaxed, her fingers unconsciously tracing the spells on the textbook, her eyes somewhat unfocused.
She thought that at the very least, she could learn some practical defensive techniques.
But listening to Quirrell's illogical explanation, she lost all her usual focus.
Ron remained listlessly slumped on the table the whole time, his face buried in his arms, too lazy to even listen to Quirrell's voice, filled only with regret.
I shouldn't have argued with Malfoy.
Hermione glanced back and saw Neville frowning and Olivia covering her nose with a handkerchief. She gave her a "good luck" look and then turned back to sit up straight.
Olivia was holding her wand, intending to secretly cast a Aguamenti to wash away the smell, when she caught Hermione's gaze and was taken aback.
He then noticed that she and Draco were completely unaffected by the garlic smell, and even their breathing was perfectly smooth, which immediately filled him with confusion.
She nudged Hermione's chair back lightly with her elbow and asked in a low voice:
" Hermione, how come you and Draco don't seem to feel the heat at all? What kind of spell did you cast?"
"I don't know either. Draco did it. It must be some kind of scent-blocking spell." Hermione glanced at Draco helplessly.
Hearing Hermione's words, Olivia pleaded dramatically with Draco, "Help, Draco! I can't take it anymore! This garlic smell is making me faint!"
Neville's face was also full of anticipation.
Draco leaned back in his chair, a helpless look on his face. "The spell's range is only so big; I can't protect everyone, I can only protect my Hermione."
"Oh my god!" Olivia exclaimed, " Hermione, why don't you give me your man? I want to get rid of this garlic smell too!"
Hearing this, Hermione's cheek flushed red, and she turned to glare at Olivia, her eyes filled with embarrassment and annoyance. "Don't talk nonsense!"
As she spoke, she subconsciously moved closer to Draco, her shoulder lightly touching his arm, as if asserting her dominance.
"If you want to find it yourself, go find it."
Draco's lips curled into a smile, and he quietly reached out and took her hand. "I belong to Miss Granger."
Hermione pinched Draco's hand, but didn't pull it away.
Hearing their conversation, Lavender, who was behind them, quickly stuck his head out for help:
" Hermione, don't you know this spell? If you do, please help us! We really can't stand this smell!"
Hermione shook her head and told her the truth, "I don't know either. There's no such precise Scent-Blocking Charm in the Standard Book of Spells."
"Huh? No way!"
Parvati immediately let out a wail, slumped onto the table, and pounded his fist on the surface.
"Why are we so unlucky? Not only do we have to deal with a professor like this, but we also have to suffer this garlic smell!"
Olivia then turned to Draco, her eyes filled with hope. " Draco, did you learn this spell at home? It's so useful!"
"There are relevant records in the library's Restricted Section; you can look them up later if you're interested," Draco replied.
"But we still have two classes this morning!" Neville was extremely anxious. "We can't just hold our noses and endure it until the end of class, can we?"
"Exactly!" Olivia quickly chimed in, even exaggeratingly sniffing as she spoke.
" Draco, you should give me a live demonstration! I can't hold it in any longer, I'm going to faint from the smell!"
Draco glanced at the group of people around him, who were covering their noses and looking expectant, and agreed, "Sure, it's not a difficult task."
As he spoke, Draco sat up straight and lowered his voice to explain the pronunciation of the spell, the trajectory of the wand, and the techniques for circulating magic.
Not only that, he deliberately slowed down his speech and repeated it twice so that the others could remember it.
This can be considered to have done everything possible.
The group listened intently, quickly scribbling and drawing in their notebooks.
Unexpectedly, their commotion attracted several Gryffindor lion cubs in the back row and Hufflepuff students in the seats next to them.
They all crowded around, whispering their questions:
" Draco, could you teach us too? We're almost at our limit!"
"Yeah, yeah, please, just teach us this once!"
Draco gestured with his chin toward Olivia and the others, saying, "I've already taught Olivia, explaining all the details clearly. You can just ask them."
Olivia patted Draco's chest, as if to say, "I've got your back."
She gestured with her chin towards the students who had gathered around her. "Come on, all of you, come closer. I'll say it again, so listen carefully!"
He then recited the spell's pronunciation and the wand's trajectory one by one, deliberately slowing down his speech and occasionally raising his hand to demonstrate, making it even more detailed than Draco's explanation.
Neville added, reading aloud the key points he had written in his notebook, while Lavender and Parvati helped correct everyone's pronunciation.
The group seemed to have formed a small, impromptu teaching team.
Hermione glanced at the lively scene behind her, a hint of amusement flashing in her eyes, and squeezed Draco's hand.
"You're quite the smooth operator, aren't you?"