Sherlock Holmes at Hogwarts.

Chapter 186 Neville: Miss Hannah, please be gentle.

Due to certain special circumstances, Neville Longbottom grew up with his grandmother.

However, as a member of the Twenty-Eight Holy Pureblood Families, for a long time, his family considered him a Squib—that is, someone born into a wizarding family but without magical talent.

Of course, this was later proven to be a false proposition.

Neville was, after all, a wizard.

However, after receiving his Hogwarts acceptance letter and entering the school, his performance was less than satisfactory.

Slow to react, poor memory, introverted and shy.

For a long time, he wondered if the Sorting Hat had made a mistake and shouldn't have put him in Gryffindor.

As for his performance at school, he was far inferior to top students like Harry and Ron.

He's not even as good as average wizards like Seamus and Dean.

The grades generally hovered around the passing mark.

The only course we can be proud of is herbalism.

It's partly about interest, and partly about talent.

So he never imagined that someone like himself would one day become a hot commodity in the eyes of a professor.

Even more unbelievable is that the other party is actually a professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

As soon as the school bell rang, Professor Lockhart began his three-part mantra.

He first boasted about his adventurous experiences.

Then, a spot check was conducted on the students' recitation of the text.

Then comes the recreation of classic scenes.

The content of this lesson is mainly selected from the textbook "Walking with Trolls".

Professor Lockhart did not hesitate to choose Neville as his assistant, to play the troll he defeated, according to the plot of the book.

Nawei was already very familiar with this.

Performing naturally, it was a piece of cake.

Once the performance is over, as the lead actor, he will be able to earn a large number of Gryffindor house points.

This made him revere Professor Lockhart as a god, becoming one of the few male students who were as fanatical worshippers as the group of little witches.

After finding Neville, Professor Lockhart selected several Hufflepuff students to play minor, supporting roles.

What followed was a stage play of about half an hour, perfectly recreating the plot he described in the book.

"Oh no! The trolls are about to attack the village!"

"What? Quickly, go and fetch Mr. Lockhart!"

"Don't worry, village chief. With me, Lockhart, a third-class medalist of the Order of Merlin, an honorary member of the Anti-Dark Magic League, and a five-time winner of the Most Charming Smile Award from Wizarding Weekly, these mere trolls are nothing to worry about!"

“That’s wonderful, Mr. Lockhart, it’s so good to have you in the village!”

"Mr. Lockhart is so handsome!"

"Mr. Lockhart, I want to have your child!"

"..."

Apart from the young wizards playing roles on stage and Professor Lockhart's admirers, everyone else was either drowsy or speechless.

Professor Lockhart, however, seemed not to notice and nodded with satisfaction.

"You all did a great job, very well! Each student who cooperated with me gets 10 points, and Longbottom gets 30 points!"

Sparse applause broke out, its perfunctory nature all too clear.

"Next, I'm going to show you how I defeated the troll!"

Upon hearing Professor Lockhart's words, the students who had been dozing off immediately became wide awake.

The entire class focused their attention on the podium.

Everyone knows that this is the most essential part of Professor Lockhart's Defense Against the Dark Arts course.

This is also the fundamental reason why the young wizard was willing to cooperate with Professor Lockhart's fun and persevere to the end.

Although the professor spent most of each class acting out scenes from the novels, he would always teach the young wizards some real skills at the very end.

"Attention everyone! Although our Longbottom looks strong, he's still quite a distance from a real troll!"
Therefore, Mr. Longbottom, please cast a Shield Charm on yourself first!
I already demonstrated this spell to you in the 'Wandering with Werewolves' lesson.

Upon hearing Professor Lockhart's words, Neville drew his wand, chanted a spell, and cast an armor charm on himself.

Unfortunately, due to insufficient mastery of the Ironclad Spell, he failed several times in a row.

"Tsk tsk, Mr. Longbottom, this won't do..."

If you were fighting a giant, you'd probably be dead countless times by now.

Professor Lockhart shook his head and said in a regretful tone:
"I clearly taught you this in the last lesson, so it seems you didn't review it carefully after class, did you?"

“I’m so sorry… Professor,” Neville said with a tearful face, “I… I really did study, but… but…”

"Okay, okay, stop looking so innocent."

Miss Abbott, standing over there pretending to be a passerby, could you please cast the Ironclad Charm on Mr. Longbottom?

"Huh? Ah! Okay, okay!"

Hannah Abbott was surprised that she, an extra, had a role. She paused for a moment before stepping forward, drawing her wand and pointing it at Neville.

Neville became even more nervous upon seeing this.

"Miss Hannah, please be gentle."

“Don’t worry, Mr. Longbottom.”

Seeing Neville's anxious expression, Hannah comforted him, "I'll take responsibility."

After saying that, she immediately recited the incantation.

"Protego!"

The next moment, blue light emanated from the tip of Hannah's wand, shooting straight at Neville. A single, decisive blow!
"Excellent! Hufflepuff gets ten points!"

Professor Lockhart was very satisfied with Hannah Abbott's performance.

"Now, let me show you how we dealt with werewolves back then!"

His gaze swept around, and as he spoke, he slowly drew his wand and pointed it at Neville.

At this moment, the entire class's attention was focused on Professor Lockhart and Neville.

The students sitting in the back even stood up, wanting to see clearly what Professor Lockhart would do next.

As for Neville, the shaking was even more intense.

Professor Lockhart was very pleased with his performance, then pulled out his wand and gave him a wand:
"Stupefy!"

Neville did not fall to the ground as expected.

Just as it was about to touch Neville's body, Professor Lockhart's Stunning Charm suddenly deflected and bounced to the side.

This was to be expected, and it was also the reason why Professor Lockhart had Hannah Abbott cast the Armor Charm on Neville.

Judging from the current situation, Hannah is indeed very responsible, and the Ironclad Curse is confirmed to be effective.

However, no one, including Professor Lockhart, expected that the spell would deflect to the side and strike Hannah squarely.

With a flash of light, a cry of "Ouch!" was heard, and Hannah fell to the ground with a thud before she could even react, falling into a coma.

Silence fell.

Even Professor Lockhart was taken aback.

This is just too dramatic.

This was completely outside his expectations.

However, having weathered many storms, he quickly realized what was happening and began to explain:
"Did everyone see that clearly? I have already consciously reduced the strength of the spell."

In this way, Miss Abbott's Ironclad Spell could successfully defend against the curse.

Even so, my unfathomable magic is still far too great for you, which is why Miss Abbott has fallen into a deep sleep.

The students were already used to Professor Lockhart's tendency to boast whenever he had the chance.

But for the little witches, Professor Lockhart's performance was just too cool.

So when they heard this, they couldn't help but cheer loudly.

Even amidst the cheers, Hannah Abbott remained lying on the podium, completely unaware of what was happening.

Professor Lockhart was very pleased with everyone's reaction. He coughed and continued:

"In fact, when you faced trolls, the situation was actually quite similar to what you are facing now."

My own magic power is not strong enough, and the opponent has a certain degree of magic resistance.

It's unrealistic to expect to defeat your opponent with a Stunning Spell; in such cases, you'll need to use a more powerful spell.

I encountered a similar situation when I cast a stun spell on the troll.

Incidentally, the invisible shield created by the Ironclad Charm does not emit light itself; the light just now was a reflection from the Stunning Charm.

Of course, that's not the main point. The main point is that I'm going to show you next how I dealt with the troll when faced with this kind of adversity.

After Professor Lockhart finished speaking, he first pointed his wand at Hannah, who was lying on the ground:
"Recover quickly (Rennervate)!"

With a flash of red light, Hannah Abbott immediately opened her eyes, jolting awake from her unconsciousness.

Amidst the gasps of her classmates, she stood up, dusted off her robe, and quickly stepped aside.

Too dangerous!

She didn't even know when she fell asleep.

Seeing that Hannah was in position, Professor Lockhart waved his wand again: "Accio!"

Neville's desk seemed to be lifted up by an invisible hand, and "whoosh" it flew to his front. The wooden legs touched the floor with a dull thud.

"Dear students, I would like you to keep quiet now."

Next... is the moment to witness a classic!

Lockhart drew out the sound and slowly raised his wand.

His fingertips trembled slightly, as if gathering magic.

Almost all the young wizards held their breath at that moment.

In an instant, he swung his staff down with the speed of an eagle's strike, the incantation bursting forth with exaggerated force:
"Reduco!"

Professor Lockhart always casts spells with exaggerated movements and intense emotions, something the young wizards are already familiar with.

But when they saw him use the Shattering Charm, the young wizards couldn't help but gasp in unison, and the classroom instantly became so quiet that you could hear their breathing.

This spell is far more offensive than the Stunning Curse. As its name suggests, once successfully cast, it can instantly destroy even the most sturdy obstacles.

Sherlock's eyes flickered upon seeing this.

Lockhart in the book did indeed use this spell to fight the troll.

However, teaching this in class seems a bit beyond the curriculum...

Neville's face turned deathly pale, and his lips trembled slightly.

He first stared wide-eyed in terror, then simply closed them tightly, his long eyelashes trembling uneasily.

Perhaps on a whim, as he closed his eyes, he raised his wand with trembling arms and stammered out a sentence:
"Armor protection!"

A faint blue light flashed from the tip of his wand, forming an invisible magical barrier in front of him.

It was an extraordinary performance; they successfully cast the Ironclad Spell.

Professor Lockhart's eyes flashed with surprise upon seeing this.

However, he didn't stop moving, and the Shattering Charm, imbued with magic, rushed towards Neville.

(End of this chapter)