The Return to Hogwarts

“This course has never been taught before, and nobody should know how to conduct it. So, based on my personal experience, I designed some teaching methods. You are the first batch. If it is successful with you, then this course may be kept indefinitely.”

“But Professor—” Cedric raised his hand enthusiastically, “how do you define success? I mean, what level of skill do you consider necessary to prove this course is successful?”

“Hmm, good question, Mr. Diggory—”

Amostam stroked his chin thoughtfully and said, "I think a wizard should at least be able to defeat Professor Black's level in a duel to be considered qualified."

"We can't do it!"

Harry immediately exclaimed, and most of the young wizards couldn't help but smile.

To defeat Professor Black in a duel, oh. If they actually managed to do that, they could all join Professor Blaine in overthrowing the Ministry of Magic!

“You should always have dreams, Mr. Potter,” Professor Blaine said with a smile. “What if they come true?”

The young wizards laughed even harder, except for Hermione and Luna, who both realized that Professor Blaine wasn't joking in some way.

"alright--"

Amosta waved to suppress the cheerful discussion.

"Time is precious, everyone. Now, I will demonstrate the specific content of the second phase of training to you. By the way, when I was studying at Hogwarts, I also trained myself in this way. Please step back, you won't like the noise right away."

The young wizards surged to the back of the classroom, to the wall where the only armor wasn't displayed. They watched excitedly as Professor Blaine drew a striking red line on the floor with his wand, chattering incessantly.

Simply put—

Amostella turned to look at the students. "The goal of the second training exercise is to reach the other end of the classroom without using a wand, relying solely on your speed and reflexes, through the passage blocked by the armor."

With the armor blocking the way, the young wizards' eyes fell on the armor again, but how could they block the passage with the armor that Professor Blaine had brought?

The young wizards were all pondering this question, when Amosta, having tightened his belt, rolled up his sleeves and raised his voice, saying...

"Watch closely, I won't demonstrate this a second time."

As he spoke, Amosta suddenly swung his wand down, and a sharp, piercing rattling sound rang out in the classroom. The armored figures on the other three walls suddenly stepped forward with their left feet, twisted their waists, and immediately raised their right arms as if to throw!

"Look, those armored hands!"

Harry, the genius Seeker, immediately cried out, his voice filled with obvious fear. At his prompting, everyone turned to look, and in just one glance, they were all filled with inexplicable terror.

Fred, seemingly lost in thought, muttered, "So that's what it's used for—"

Chapter 382 Take care of yourself

2023-07-18

Ever since Professor Blaine ventured into the Chamber of Secrets in Slytherin and captured the basilisk, which had lived for thousands of years, unharmed, the young wizards knew that Professor Blaine was a powerful wizard. With the events that had occurred over the past year, and especially after Professor Blaine recently wiped out Greyback and his followers, his power had become widely known.

However, not many young wizards had actually witnessed Professor Blaine in action, and they lacked direct understanding. Now, what was happening before their eyes made them realize just how one-sided their understanding of the word 'powerful' really was.

Harry remembered a time when he was at the Dursleys' house. His Uncle Vernon was watching a Muggle sprint on TV in the living room, and Harry, who was washing dishes in the kitchen, also glanced at it. He was amazed by the speed at which the tall, strong athlete on TV exploded at the sound of the starting gun.

Compared to Professor Blaine in front of him, Harry felt that the white athlete was as slow as a wriggling Flobber caterpillar!

Almost in the blink of an eye, Professor Blaine, dressed in a tight-fitting outfit, appeared nearly forty feet away. His speed was incomprehensible, almost inhuman.

But then, like a torrential downpour of dung balls, half of the more than one hundred armored figures in the classroom hurled dung balls at Professor Blaine, who was running away!

These dung balls weren't thrown out slowly; they flew through the air in a straight line, so fast that even Harry, a genius Seeker, couldn't accurately pinpoint the location of the dung balls coming from all directions.

"Oh no!"

Hermione covered her mouth and instinctively screamed. In her eyes, a huge group of rapidly moving gray shadows had surrounded Professor Blaine. This was no joke. Without magical defense, even Professor Blaine might not be able to withstand such a number and momentum of dung balls. But—what happened next defied everyone's expectations.

A sharp glint flashed in his pale purple eyes, and time seemed to slow down as Amosta maximized his perception and dynamic vision.

Crouch, twist your waist, slide tackle, and dive!

Amosta was like a superb stuntman, dodging those dung balls that came like cursed beams of light time and time again with incredible moves.

Bang, bang, bang!

The smell of dozens of dung balls exploding in the classroom was almost deadly, but at that moment, the young wizard was so focused that he was completely unaware of the stench that could make someone faint.

Having dodged the first wave of dung balls, Professor Blaine suddenly changed his strategy. Instead of moving in a straight line, he ran along a C-shaped arc. This strategy was undoubtedly successful. Most of the armored soldiers who couldn't react in time missed their targets in the second wave of dung balls. And then, Professor Blaine's movements became even more erratic.

He used dodge maneuvers to lure the armored soldiers into throwing dung balls in the wrong direction, while simultaneously dodging the dung balls that could hit him with pinpoint accuracy. It was as if Amosta had eyes all over his body; no matter which direction the danger came from, he could always dodge at the last second.

Before the dung balls that exploded at his feet could even splatter his stench, he had already vanished from the blast radius like the wind.

It's over!

The moment Professor Blaine leaped into the air and his palm lightly touched the opposite wall, all the armored figures simultaneously retracted their left feet, instantly returning to an upright posture.

Simultaneously, several small hurricanes appeared in the classroom, blowing all the foul-smelling air out of the room through the windows, while the stinking liquid on the floor automatically seeped into the floor tiles, and in the blink of an eye, the classroom was clean and tidy again.

call--

Amosta wiped the sweat from his forehead, breathing slightly heavily.

Back then, he put in a lot of hard work to practice dodging spells in chaotic battles, but in recent years, the wizards he has fought have been dimensionally different from him, and he has become accustomed to clearing the field with area-of-effect attacks, so these excellent skills have become a bit rusty.

The group of young wizards remained petrified until Amosta walked back to the classroom.

"what's wrong?"

Seeing the dumbfounded little wizard, Amostella raised his eyebrows and smiled.

"Was my performance not good enough, or was I overwhelmed by the stench of those dung balls?"

"You really think so!"

Susan Burns, with a long braid trailing behind her head, trembled slightly.

"We believe we can do it"

"Like what you just did?!"

Parvati Petil added Susan Borns's words, saying that for these girls, dung balls are especially lethal.

"Yes, of course--"

Professor Blaine said confidently,

"Of course, you'll inevitably suffer a bit at the beginning. However, I don't expect you to be able to get through that level of training. At the start, I'll reduce the intensity of the attacks to about one-third. Once you've adapted, I'll gradually increase the speed—"

"We will never be able to adapt."

Parvati Petil's confident words drew nods of agreement from many young wizards. However, it was too late to give up now. Professor Blaine had made it clear to them at the beginning of the lesson that the path to giving up was closed, and there was no choice but to persevere.

Who wants to try first?

Professor Blaine crossed his arms and began to intimidate them with his oppressive gaze again, but even Hermione, who was usually very eager to perform in class, lowered her head this time, not daring to meet Professor Blaine's eyes.

This was an expected situation, and Amosta wasn't too surprised. After a moment's thought, he had an idea.

"Potter, Malfoy, Diggory, Cho Chang, the four of you come out and give everyone a demonstration."

As expected, the four young wizards who were named all looked miserable, as if they were about to face a terrible disaster. Cho Chang, in particular, was completely at a loss, while the other young wizards all breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that they had escaped a calamity.

The four wizards named were from Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw, and they were all Seekers for their respective house Quidditch teams.

The importance of a Seeker to the team is self-evident. This position requires a high level of talent from the player, specifically strong observation skills, reaction speed, adaptability, and courage. The current trial requires the young wizard to possess these four qualities.

The young wizards from the four houses had never shown such tacit understanding before. One by one, the young wizards who hadn't been called out shrank back to the wall, allowing the four who had been dawdling to be exposed.

"how?"

Seeing the hesitant and timid appearance of the four Seekers from each house, Professor Blaine frowned and said with displeasure,

"Do you need me to provide each of you with a flying broom?"

"If that's really the case, that would be wonderful," Harry thought to himself, grumbling. If Sirius Black had the Firebolt he'd received, Harry was certain he could have completed the test, and his score would have far surpassed Malfoy's.

In any case, the four of them had no way to defy Professor Blaine's will. No matter how unwilling they were, they had no choice but to bite the bullet and go for it.

Perhaps it was with this mindset that Harry wasn't too worried. Anyway, no one who showed up in this classroom tonight could escape; the only difference was whether they got hit with a few more or fewer dung balls.

"Would you like to have a match, Potter?"

The four stood a few steps apart in front of the red line that Professor Blaine had just drawn. Except for Cho Chang, who looked pitiful with tears in his eyes, the other young wizards were trying to adjust their mindset.

Harry slowed his breathing, preparing to run a few more steps before the first wave of dung balls hit. Even if he collapsed in the end, at least he'd be closer to the finish line than Malfoy. Just as he was thinking this, Malfoy's annoying voice rang out at the perfect moment. Harry immediately turned his head to look, and Malfoy was looking at him defiantly, his pointed chin raised.

Let's see who can go the furthest!

"Mind your own business, Draco—"

Professor Blaine's calm yet authoritative words silenced Harry, who was about to retort, but the two still glared at each other defiantly.

"Don't worry, Qiu--"

Cedric smiled slightly at Cho Chang, "Follow me later."

“I’ll give you that same advice, Cedric,” Amosta said sternly. “Mind your own business.”

Chapter 383 Horrible

2023-07-19

Professor Blaine waved his wand again, and the armored figures on the wall, their armor clanging and rattling, immediately prepared to hurl dung balls, filling the air with a heavy, leaden atmosphere.

"Harry!"