Grindylow

Professor Tywin stood at the front of the classroom, looking at all the young witches and wizards.

"The Wizarding World is undoubtedly dangerous. For example, there were the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters, who ran rampant for a time more than ten years ago."

Everyone held their breath.

In an inscrutable tone, Professor Tywin said, "Of course, the Dark Lord has already been destroyed by Harry Potter."

"Besides them, there are all kinds of dark creatures and magical creatures, and we need to learn how to deal with them.

"Take my predecessor, Professor Robert. He died because of Devil's Snare and a Tebo in the Forbidden Forest."

Everyone was captivated by Professor Tywin's words. Even the squeaking of chairs had vanished completely.

Professor Tywin nodded in satisfaction. The noise level in a classroom was always the best way to tell whether students were paying attention.

"Today, I'm going to teach you some very effective spells for dealing with dark creatures.

"Please put your books back in your bags and follow me. You'll only need your wands."

Everyone looked curiously at one another, then put their books away.

They had never had a practical Defence Against Dark Magic lesson before. It sounded both nerve-racking and exciting.

Professor Tywin led them down a quiet corridor and around a corner. The first thing they saw was Peeves.

Peeves was Hogwarts' most mischievous troublemaker, even more troublesome than the twins.

He was floating in midair with balloon-like objects made of some special rubber, filled with a large amount of liquid.

The rubber balloons were remarkably sturdy. Although they each held five or six liters of liquid, they showed no sign of bursting.

Only when Professor Tywin came within two meters did Peeves look up. Then he swung his crooked feet and sang at the top of his voice.

"Bad man, bad man, Tywin," Peeves sang, "he sneaks around the corridors every night-"

Peeves was habitually rude and hard to control, but he usually showed teachers some respect.

Everyone quickly turned to Professor Tywin to see how he would handle it-or rather, what he was capable of.

Tywin smiled. "If I were you, Peeves, I'd throw those balloons of slop mixed with Dungbombs out of Hogwarts."

What a vicious biochemical weapon...

Everyone backed away five meters to avoid getting caught in the Dungbomb slop!

Tywin went on cheerfully, "Mr. Filch can't use magic. He has no way to clean up that much filth."

He can't use magic? Doesn't that make him a Squib?

A buzz rose from the crowd again, especially among the Slytherins. They had never expected the fierce-looking caretaker to be a Squib.

William even heard a faint, contemptuous laugh.

Professor Tywin took out his ebony wand and turned to the class. "This is a very useful spell, and a lesson I'm teaching you."

"Watch carefully." He raised his wand to chest height and demonstrated the key movements a few times. Once everyone had seen them clearly, he quickly said, "Ah~ Porcupine!"

The four balloons exploded instantly, but the thick liquid did not splatter. Instead, it followed the direction of Tywin's wand in a graceful arc, shooting straight onto Peeves.

Peeves immediately floated frantically toward the ceiling, never ceasing to curse Professor Tywin's immediate family. But soon liquid began pouring into his mouth.

"That was amazing, Professor!" Odes Lasent said in surprise.

"Thank you, Mr. Lasent," Professor Tywin said.

He frowned at the drops of liquid on the floor and waved his wand again. "Whirlwind Sweep!"

The liquid vanished, and the stench in the air dispersed.

William keenly noticed that Professor Tywin seemed to be something of a clean freak. Of course, it might also have had something to do with the attack by Wood's smelly shoes.

After Peeves left, they continued on their way. There was a little more admiration in the way the class looked at their professor.

Professor Tywin led them into the third corridor and stopped outside an empty classroom.

"Go in," Professor Tywin said. "From now on, this will be our training classroom."

It was very spacious, with only an enormous water tank inside. They could not see into it clearly because of the murky mud and long strands of waterweed.

Professor Tywin walked over to the tank and stopped beside it. Suddenly, banging came from within, as though the creature inside meant to smash the glass.

"Don't worry," Professor Tywin said calmly, as several students jumped back in fright. "There's only a Grindylow inside."

Most people felt there was indeed reason to worry.

Marietta Edgecombe nervously clutched William's arm, taking advantage of him again.

Marcus Belby glanced at Professor Tywin, his eyes full of terror. Several Slytherin students also cast fearful glances at the tank, which was shaking incessantly.

"A Grindylow is a dark creature that lives in water," Professor Tywin said. "Rivers, ditches, lakes-when I was little, I went skinny-dipping in a river, and one of these creatures grabbed me by a certain part and pulled me to the bottom.

"I imagine many of you have had similar experiences.

"This Grindylow was caught in the Black Lake just yesterday. I asked the headmaster whether I could use it for teaching."

"What? There are things like that in the Black Lake?" The Slytherin girl who wanted to win Tywin over was horrified, her freckles bunched together like a dragon fruit.

Professor Tywin blinked and smiled. "Of course. I'm afraid I have to tell you, Miss Crouch, that there are plenty of magical creatures in the Black Lake, and Grindylows are definitely among the most ordinary."

Many faces changed color. They had crossed the Black Lake in little boats on their first day.

Judy Crouch said shrilly, "I'm going to write to my uncle. The school can't let such dangerous creatures live near me."

Her uncle, Barty Crouch, was the Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation. It sounded impressive, but it was actually no damn use; he had long since been politically marginalized.

Even if Crouch still held great power, Tywin doubted that a cold-blooded wizard who could throw his own son into Azkaban would listen to a little girl's nonsense.

Of course that was impossible!

So Judy was mostly showing off, fooling only the ignorant little snakes around her.

Even so, a smile appeared on Tywin's face, and he gave her an encouraging look, as though it were a deliberately maintained habit.

"All right, a lot of time has already passed. We must make haste."

"First, the first question we must ask ourselves is: what is a Grindylow?"

"Mr. Stark, you answer."

William stood where he was and explained, "A Grindylow is a dark creature that hides in the waterweed at the bottom of a lake.

"It has a green body, green teeth, horns on its head, and very long fingers. Those are also one of its weaknesses."

"I couldn't have answered better myself. Five points to Ravenclaw!" Professor Tywin said with a smile.

In that short time, Ravenclaw had already gained ten points.

Before now, only Professor Snape had been shameless enough to favor his own house like that.

Could Ravenclaw's spring be coming?

----I am the Grindylow divider----

(A Grindylow for every bookmark and recommendation. Crunchy, tastes like chicken.)