The next day, the atmosphere in the castle felt a little strange.
What had happened at the Dueling Club the night before had already fermented overnight into countless different versions of the story.
The most popular rumor of all was that Harry was the true Heir of Slytherin, and that he was the one behind the two earlier petrification attacks.
When Harry walked into the Great Hall for breakfast, the noisy long tables fell silent at once.
Several Hufflepuff students ran out of the hall without even touching their food when they saw him. Even within Gryffindor itself, quite a few students were pointing at him and whispering.
"Don’t pay attention to them, Harry," Ron said around half a sausage, his words muffled. "Fred and George both thought it was brilliant."
Harry forced a smile and poked at the fried egg on his plate, completely without appetite.
With that heavy mood hanging over them, the three of them headed to Defense Against the Dark Arts.
The moment they stepped into the classroom, they were surprised to find that it had been rearranged.
The desks, which were normally lined up neatly, had all been pushed to the sides, leaving a large open space in the middle.
In one corner that was usually empty now stood a huge weapons rack. It was filled with cold weapons: shields, longswords, maces, shortbows, and even a few daggers.
The sizes had clearly been adjusted for second-year students.
And beside the platform sat a huge wooden chest bound with iron chains. Every so often, a harsh clack-clack sound of chitin scraping came from inside, making everyone’s scalp prickle.
"Good morning, everyone." Lynn knocked lightly on the desk. "Today, we won’t be doing dry theory. We’re doing something practical instead. The theme of this lesson is teamwork."
On the blackboard, he wrote three words:
Defense, Damage, Support
"When facing an enemy, for example a powerful magical creature, fighting alone is often stupid," Lynn explained, pointing at the three roles. "In almost any situation, working with your teammates is the safest and most effective way to fight."
"And the simplest, most classic combat strategy is this: one person stands at the front and defends against the enemy’s attacks, one person stays at the back and deals damage, and one person heals injured teammates, or uses their abilities to support the party."
By now, the students had more or less gotten used to Lynn constantly introducing ideas that overturned their usual understanding of things. And today’s basic concept of "teamwork" actually sounded very reasonable to them.
Lynn waved a hand. "Now, form groups of three. Freely."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione naturally gathered together.
"Good." Lynn looked over the groups and smiled. "Next, let me introduce today’s sparring partner."
He walked to the huge wooden chest and flicked his wand at the lock. The clasp sprang open on its own.
Bang!
The lid flew open, and a black creature the size of a millstone crawled out. It had eight hairy legs, enormous pincers, and eight pitch-black eyes gleaming with malice.
"Aah!"
The classroom instantly exploded into screams. A few of the more timid girls nearly fainted.
"This is a juvenile Acromantula," Lynn added calmly, as if it were some harmless kitten. "I borrowed it from Hagrid. Its venom glands never developed properly, so it can’t secrete deadly poison. Its own ’siblings’ chased it out, so now it works for me."
Once they heard it was not venomous, the students looked a little less terrified.
Ron, however, still went pale and started trembling all over.
"Sp-spiders..."
"Weasley, if you don’t want to get bitten, go take a shield from the rack over there," Lynn said, pointing at the weapons rack. "And the rest of you who chose classes like Paladin or Rogue, you can pick a weapon too. Remember, sometimes physical attacks are more effective than magic."
"First group, Potter, Weasley, Granger."
Lynn looked toward the three of them at the front and gestured for them to step forward.
Ron shakily picked up a wooden shield painted with a cross, gritted his teeth, and raised it in front of himself.
"D-don’t come any closer!" Ron shouted, his legs trembling, but he still positioned himself in front of Harry and Hermione, carrying out his "defense" role.
The juvenile Acromantula might not have any venom, but its savage nature had not changed. It let out a harsh hiss and lunged straight at Ron!
"Grease!"
With Ron standing in front to buy time, Hermione had plenty of space to cast. She quickly swung her wand and used the same 1st-level spell Lynn had used on Snape the day before.
A puddle of yellowish grease instantly spread beneath the spider’s feet, sending all eight of its legs skidding and throwing it off its original line.
But it did not stop. Instead, it veered toward Harry, who was standing behind Ron to the left.
"Don’t you dare!"
At that moment, Ron took a step to the right and shoved forward with his shield, blocking the spider’s advance.
Clang!
The Acromantula’s huge pincers smashed into the shield with a dull crash. Most of the impact was absorbed by the shield, and by the time the force traveled into Ron’s right arm, it left only a slight numbness.
"I... I blocked it?" Ron opened his eyes wide and stared at the huge spider face only inches from him. Then a surge of courage rose inside him. "Get back, you disgusting thing!"
He shoved hard with the shield and actually forced the spider back two steps.
"Now, Harry!" Hermione shouted.
At that moment, Harry had the perfect line of attack, straight ahead with the spider squarely in front of him.
Harry raised his wand over his shoulder. He was about to use Magic Missile, but then he remembered the dark green magic that had burst out during the Quidditch match and immediately abandoned the idea.
"Harry!" Seeing that no attack was coming, Ron turned back and shouted anxiously.
The spider had already recovered and was circling around the shield, preparing to lunge again.
"Ex-Expelliarmus!" Harry blurted out in a panic, using the spell he knew best.
A red beam struck one of the spider’s legs. But a Disarming Charm obviously did not do much against a heavily armored Acromantula. It only made it pause for a brief moment before it lunged again, both giant pincers about to slam into Harry.
"Stop."
An invisible barrier appeared between the spider and the trio. Lynn waved a hand and drove the spider back toward the chest.
"The teamwork barely passes," Lynn judged. "Ron did very well. You’re a qualified frontliner. Hermione’s timing on her spell was excellent too. As for Harry..."
Lynn glanced at him.
"You need to stay more focused. Casting a Disarming Charm on a spider was obviously not a very good idea. Next group, Malfoy."
Harry lowered his head in shame. He knew very well that his response just now had been a failure.
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