HP: Azkaban's Outstanding Graduate

Dobby timidly raised his large, tennis ball-sized eyes, looking in terror toward his new master, but his peripheral vision involuntarily glanced at his former master, Lucius—the cold warning in his eyes was crystal clear: "Dare to refuse and I'll make you wish you were dead!"

Dobby's small, thin body trembled violently.

It lowered its head deeply, its voice barely audible, filled with resigned despair: "Do...Dobi is willing..."

Sagras nodded, and then his figure appeared as abruptly as when he did, along with Dobby, who had just gained his freedom... or perhaps had just changed masters, and vanished instantly into the stagnant air.

Malfoy Manor returned to its deathly silence, leaving only a pure-blood couple utterly terrified.

……

……

After Sagres took Dobby back to the safe house deep in the Forbidden Forest, he ignored him completely.

When his gaze swept over the trembling little elf, he was actually thinking about how to delve deeper into the magical origins of house-elves.

This was not his first attempt—his previous exploration, while improving his silent, staffless spellcasting skills, had not touched upon the deeper mysteries.

However, Sagres' silence and scrutiny were seen by Dobby as a harbinger of judgment. The little elf's heart leaped into his throat, and his small body trembled uncontrollably.

Its mind was filled with the "sins" it had committed: how many things it had done on its own initiative to prevent Harry Potter from returning to Hogwarts! Blocking the platform, intercepting letters... every single one of these actions seriously violated the "duty" of a house-elf.

The new master—the legendary, ruthless Mr. Greengrass, who has even killed many pure-blood wizards—would have specifically taken it from Lucius's master to settle scores with these "usurpers."

Dobby grew increasingly frightened, his tennis ball-sized eyes brimming with tears of terror, as he could almost foresee his own severe punishment or even... complete annihilation.

But Sagres simply left it in this Forbidden Forest cabin, as if he had forgotten its existence.

Dobby was dumbfounded. Mustering all its courage, it asked in a soft voice, "Sir, what...what does Dobby need to do?"

“Do nothing for now,” Sagrais said calmly, without even turning around. “Stay here.”

This order left Dobby completely bewildered.

The safe house wasn't very big and seemed rather rudimentary, with only a table and a few chairs; it was eerily empty.

There's no kitchen to keep busy here, no fireplace to clean, no garden to trim... It's like an old object that's been carelessly left aside, having lost its meaning.

Anxiety that leaves one feeling lost and helpless is gnawing at it.

Ultimately, it could only pour all its misplaced "loyalty" and "diligence" into the only things it had in front of it.

It wiped the wooden table and chairs again and again, with all its might, until the surface of the wood could almost reflect its anxious image, as if this could fight against the suffocating emptiness and the unknown fear.

Chapter 116 Castle Snowman Escape

The two-week Christmas holiday is over, and the young wizards are about to begin the second half of the school year.

When Sagles returned to Hogwarts Castle, it was already dusk. That evening, the Great Hall was brightly lit for the new school term dinner.

Sagles received a special notice from Vice Principal Professor McGonagall, instructing him to attend—as a new colleague was joining the company.

He knew perfectly well that the "new colleague" referred to the kestrel.

Although she has only graduated a few years ago and lacks practical experience, she is more than capable of teaching a group of students.

Especially in the course of Defense Against the Dark Arts, although she herself is not keen on combat, she excels in defensive magic and escape. In addition, with her wand now fully "mature," the protective spells she casts are quite powerful.

However, Sagles estimates that given the restless nature of the falcon, it will probably leave next semester.

Inside the Great Hall, the four heads' tables were filled with students, and the professors on the benches also looked solemn. Headmaster Dumbledore stood up, clapped his hands lightly, and the buzzing murmurs instantly subsided.

His silver beard twitched slightly, and his smile was kind: "Time flies, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas..."

The old principal smiled and said, "The school year is already halfway over. I hope the holidays haven't 'cleared' out the knowledge you've learned, so that there's room for new knowledge."

The students let out a knowing chuckle.

"As you can see, some things happened last semester that resulted in injuries to our former Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Professor Gilderoy Lockhart, who had to stay at St. Mungo's Hospital for treatment."

"In order not to delay everyone's learning progress, I have specially hired a new professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts—"

As he spoke, he gestured towards the kestrels.

Red Falcon, also known as Irisa Lumina, was sitting next to Sagles, holding down the raven Lochtis who was trying to escape with one hand, forcibly prying open its mouth and pouring it a drink, while asking it all sorts of questions with great interest.

Upon hearing Dumbledore's introduction, she immediately released the slightly disheveled raven, stood up abruptly, and confidently began her self-introduction: "Hello everyone, I am Elisa Lumina, a graduate of Cordostadtwitch School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is a great honor to serve as your Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, and I hope to get along well with you all in the coming semester."

After saying this, she gracefully bowed and sat down again, and polite and enthusiastic applause immediately rang out in the auditorium.

"Looks like he's not much older than us?" Percy Weasley said to his companion, frowning. "Hopefully, he won't be another Lockhart..."

"What's Cordos Dorez?" Harry turned to Ron and Hermione and asked, "Is it also a magic school?"

“That’s right!” Hermione immediately confirmed. “It’s a magic school in Russia. Hmm… I heard they play Quidditch while riding in trees…”

"Riding a tree?!" Ron and Harry stared wide-eyed at the slender new professor on the professor's bench in disbelief. "She herself doesn't even look as thick as a tree stump!"

"Shh! She's looking this way!" Hermione warned discreetly, lowering her voice. "You'd better be serious. I don't think she's as easy to fool as Lockhart."

"How did you figure that out?" Ron muttered skeptically. "She only looks a few years older than us..."

“Have you ever seen anyone hold Mr. Lochteis down and prevent him from flying away?” Hermione said incisively. “And she seemed very confident. You know, being the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at our school isn’t a good job…”

Dumbledore said a few more words and then announced the start of the dinner. The long table was instantly covered with a sumptuous feast, and the young wizards immediately began to eat heartily.

Sagres subtly created an invisible field of silence around the two of them, isolating them from the outside noise, then turned his head and asked, "Have you decided what you want to teach?"

"Of course!" Red Falcon forked a piece of pudding and stuffed it into his mouth, saying vaguely but confidently, "Just wait and see, I guarantee you'll be amazed!"

Sagles narrowed his eyes—his greatest fear was that the other party would "surprise" him.

"How exactly should I teach it?" he couldn't help but ask.

“I can’t tell you that,” the falcon winked slyly, feigning mystery. “We’re colleagues now, so this is—a business… oh no, a professional secret!”

Looking at the other person's bright eyes and sly smile, Sagrais felt a vague sense of unease.

……

The very next day at noon, Sagles heard about the Falcon's ingenious teaching method: she had taken the fourth-year students of Gryffindor and Slytherin directly to the snow-covered castle.

Amidst a world blanketed in silver, she organized a unique "Castle Snowman Battle Royale."

Initially, she asked students from both colleges to build the tallest snowman possible. The students thought it was fun, so they all pitched in and completed the task in no time.

As soon as the snowman took shape, the kestrel waved its wand at the two adorable giants.

"Snowman, attack!"

The two enormous creatures instantly "came to life" and immediately launched an attack on their creator without hesitation!

Under the control of the kestrels, they frantically hurled snowballs at the students, even waving their round snowball limbs or conjuring up incredibly powerful giant snowballs.

Even more deadly is that these magical snowballs can actually bend slightly to track their target!

In an instant, the students from both colleges were beaten and fled in terror.

The two snowmen, nearly three meters tall, had become mobile fortresses, rolling rapidly across the snow and chasing the young wizards in a chaotic frenzy. They didn't even spare those who had fled into the castle—they started rolling snowballs on the spot, which grew bigger and bigger with the help of magic, eventually engulfing the students who couldn't avoid them.

Screams rose and fell as the snowman, like two tireless catapults, unleashed a barrage of snowballs.

Red Falcon, perched high on a chair, shouted excitedly, "What's the most crucial element of Defense Against Dark Magic? It's defense!"

She yelled at the students who were fleeing in disarray, “Stop running! Defend! Use Obstacle Course, Armor, and swing your wands! You’re fourth graders, where’s your Ironclad Charm?”

The snowballs slammed down, and the kestrels had a great time playing with them.

Meanwhile, the students gradually regained their footing amidst the hail of bullets and began to try using Obstacle Charms and Armor Charms to defend against the attacks.

The kestrels' cries and the waving of the magic wands continued unabated. The snowman, with its round belly, rolled rapidly across the snow, occasionally knocking students over while greedily replenishing its "ammunition."

"Don't hide back in the castle! Use spells to defend yourselves. If you can't even use the full array of obstacles properly..." She deliberately dragged out her words, tapping her wand lightly, "then the big snowman will have to give you a good kick in the butt!"

Before the words were even finished, the two magical snowmen charged aggressively at the crowd once again.

Some of the bolder students have already started to fight back, using snowballs to attack the snowman, but the damage they cause is negligible.

Then someone used "Blazing Flames" on the snowman in an attempt to melt it.

But Red Falcon was no pushover. With a flick of her wand, the snowman's massive body leaped high into the air under her control, then crashed down, extinguishing the raging flames with a single thud.

Even worse, some turned their anger towards the Red Falcon himself. Several snowballs whistled towards their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, but the Red Falcon was not annoyed at all; instead, a smile of approval appeared on its lips.

"Very good, you know how to get straight to the heart of the problem!" she praised loudly. "But don't underestimate me!"

Before the words were even finished, the wand was waved, and an invisible barrier instantly deflected all the incoming snowballs. Then, the snowman's attack suddenly intensified!

Chapter 117 Chaos

"Defense! Defense! Defense! I'm not telling you to run away in panic!"

Red Falcon stood on the chair, his voice piercing through the wind and snow, "Listen! Whoever can hit me with a snowball, I'll hand over command of this giant snowman to him! Let him control the snowman and give the students from the opposite academy a good 'welcome'!"

The Gryffindor and Slytherin students went wild upon hearing this, raining snowballs down on the kestrels, a testament to the "respect" they had been holding back for the entire lesson.

With a light tap of her hawk wand, the Obstruction Charm precisely deflected every attack. Occasionally, an attack would slip through her fingers, only to brush against her clothes, eliciting louder laughter and a more cunning snowball counterattack.

Finally, she swiftly waved her wand, and a massive armored spell appeared in front of her, instantly blocking all attacks.

"Yes, that's it!" She dodged three snowballs in quick succession with a graceful spin. "Precision, timing, and... hey... don't shoot your own people!"

Before the words were even finished, a Slytherin student who was trying to launch a sneak attack was hit in the face by a huge snowball "accidentally" thrown by his Gryffindor companion. He stumbled and fell into the snowdrift, with only his two legs struggling in vain showing.

A brief, suppressed burst of laughter erupted from the crowd, only to be drowned out by a more intense barrage of "fire."

Finally, amidst the chaos, a Slytherin student had a flash of inspiration. Instead of blindly smashing things, he crouched behind a stone sculpture that had been knocked askew by the snowman, holding his breath and focusing intently.

The moment the kestrel jumped off the chair with its back to him to avoid a string of snowballs—

"Now!" someone shouted.

The little wizard suddenly leaned forward and, with all his might, threw a snowball that was squeezed very tightly and secretly wrapped with a piece of ice!

The snowball traced a near-perfect arc in the air before striking the kestrel precisely on the back of the head.

"boom!"

The snowball exploded on the falcon's deep red hair, and the cold snowflakes slid down her collar, freezing her in place.