As the head of Ravenclaw House, known for its wisdom, Charms professor Filius Flitwick was quite witty and humorous.
Combined with his gentle nature and not-too-strict requirements for students, he had always been one of the teachers that young wizards liked more.
However, because of his unusually small stature—only about a meter tall—he needed to stand on a pile of thick books every time he taught to reach the podium.
At this moment, those books were slightly deformed under his weight, and the gilt lettering on the spines glimmered in the classroom's dim yellow light.
Though Professor Flitwick was small in stature, he had a strong presence.
"For the first lesson of the new year, I originally planned to teach you the General Counter-Spell."
At this point, Professor Flitwick paused. His eyes were sharp as they swept over all the students.
When they passed over Sherlock and Harry, his gaze instantly became much gentler, like a spring breeze brushing across a lake surface.
He raised his voice, speaking in a clear yet somewhat unquestionable tone.
"But now I've changed my mind!"
As soon as he said this, all the students immediately began whispering among themselves, speculating about what could have happened to make this professor suddenly modify his lesson content.
Harry instinctively looked toward Sherlock beside him. "Sherlock—" He had originally planned to ask Sherlock if he knew why Professor Flitwick had suddenly changed the lesson content.
But he had barely called out Sherlock's name when the latter said without even lifting his head.
"Professor Flitwick met with Professor Lockhart before entering the classroom."
Harry was puzzled and was about to ask more, but Hermione beside them got anxious first.
"What, you just saw Professor Lockhart? Where was he? How did I not notice!"
"My dear Hermione, I didn't see Professor Lockhart."
"Then how do you know about his meeting with Professor Flitwick?"
"It's incredibly simple," Sherlock finally looked up and said at an extremely rapid pace.
"When Professor Flitwick entered the classroom, he had a strong perfume scent on him.
Even you could tell that this fragrance, mixed with rose, lavender, and a small amount of lily of the valley, is exactly what Professor Lockhart often uses.
Professor Flitwick's expression seemed calm, but the area around his eyes was slightly red, and there was still a trace of lingering worry in his eyes.
This indicates that during his recent conversation with someone, his emotional fluctuations were significant.
Also, there are several unnatural wrinkles on the left cuff of his robes—traces of being pulled or tugged during an interaction with someone.
Combined with the content of our last Defense Against the Dark Arts class, the situation becomes quite clear.
Before class, Professor Flitwick and Professor Lockhart had a frank conversation and fully exchanged opinions, ultimately leading Professor Flitwick to change his original teaching plan."
Harry, Hermione, and Ron looked at each other.
No matter how many times similar situations occurred, whenever Sherlock explained his reasoning process, the three of them always had expressions just like they did now.
So that's how it was!
Enlightening!
A sudden realization!
"I've already heard about what happened in your Defense Against the Dark Arts class."
As soon as Professor Flitwick spoke, he captured the attention of all the students.
Charms class was already one of the more interesting subjects, and now that Professor Flitwick was mentioning the recently popular Defense Against the Dark Arts, the young wizards' attention became even more focused.
"For you, this is something to be glad about.
Hogwarts has finally welcomed a qualified Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."
At this point, Professor Flitwick's eyes showed a complex expression.
He had originally been somewhat puzzled by Professor Dumbledore's decision to bring Lockhart as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
He had even less regard for Lockhart himself.
After all, he knew all too well what Lockhart had done during his time at Ravenclaw.
He never expected that Lockhart would actually put on a true return of the king this time.
Starting from the second years' first Defense Against the Dark Arts class, his performance had been commendable.
Although there were still slight flaws, the final results were passable, far exceeding his expectations.
In the classes that followed, his performance became even better.
Of course, one had to overlook those speechless questionnaire surveys and his self-promotional segments.
But regardless, even Flitwick, this dueling master, had to admit that Dumbledore had indeed given those who hadn't been optimistic about Lockhart—including himself—a pleasant surprise this time.
Thinking of this, Professor Flitwick's expression became increasingly serious.
"However!
The fact that a group of Cornish Pixies had you running around with your heads in your hands is truly somewhat difficult to accept.
Just now, Professor Lockhart came to me and questioned my teaching methods."
At this point, Professor Flitwick's expression showed some displeasure.
If it had been anyone else questioning his teaching methods, even a student, he wouldn't have been so angry.
But it just had to be that Lockhart!
What made him even more helpless was that he had to admit Lockhart was right.
Thinking of this, he took a deep breath.
"In that case, I'll teach you the Freezing Charm today!"
When the young wizards heard that Professor Flitwick was going to teach the Freezing Charm, they immediately cheered.
Everything from the Defense Against the Dark Arts class was still vivid in their minds.
A group of young wizards trembling under Professor Lockhart's protection.
But Professor Lockhart had cast the Freezing Charm again and again, bringing down those snarling pixies from the air.
Almost every young wizard who witnessed this scene had the same thought. hoping that someday they could be as impressive as Professor Lockhart.
They hadn't expected Professor Lockhart to act so quickly—this was wonderful!
Of course, Professor Flitwick, who could accept Professor Lockhart's suggestion, was also quite good.
Professor Flitwick was very satisfied with the young wizards' enthusiasm. He cleared his throat and began teaching the theoretical knowledge.
"The Freezing Charm is an offensive spell.
As the name suggests, once successfully cast, it can make a person or object immediately stop moving, as if frozen.
As for the actual effect, I think you saw it very clearly in Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
First, let's learn the incantation for the Freezing Charm—Immobulus!"
Compared to the Levitation Charm's incantation "Wingardium Leviosa," the Freezing Charm's incantation "Immobulus" was much simpler.
But the former was a utility spell while the latter was an offensive spell, so it required higher mental power from the wizard.
Fortunately, after the practical experience in Defense Against the Dark Arts, the young wizards had all deeply realized the importance of such spells, so concentrating their mental power wasn't a problem.
After the theoretical knowledge ended, it was time for the long-awaited practice.
"Accio Neville's Trevor!"
As Professor Flitwick waved his wand and cast the Summoning Charm, before the bewildered Neville could react, his pet toad Trevor was once again successfully sacrificed.
Just like the class before Halloween last year when they were learning the Levitation Charm, everyone looked up to watch Trevor flying around in the air above the classroom.
Then "Immobulus!"
As Professor Flitwick waved his wand again, Trevor, who had been swimming freely in the air, suddenly froze like a frame from a movie and fell straight down from the air.
"Everyone watch my movements, and don't forget this subtle wrist flick!
Also, let me emphasize again that pronunciation must be clear.
After all, I don't want to see you lying on the ground after waving your wands."
Just like last year, once the practical portion began, Professor Flitwick divided the entire class into pairs for training.
Sherlock's partner was Seamus, while Hermione's partner was Neville.
Harry and Ron formed the Harry-Ron combination.
After experiencing a full school year of lessons, Professor Flitwick had gained rich experience.
For a student like Seamus Finnigan, it was best to pair him with Sherlock or Hermione.
They were among the few students who could handle the demolition expert's mishaps.
As for the other person, they could help guide those young wizards who weren't particularly gifted at magic and had lower success rates with spells.
For example, Neville, for example, Longbottom, for example, the round-faced one.
This way, he could save considerable effort and devote his time and energy to more people.
Professor Flitwick didn't know that after the last Defense Against the Dark Arts class, many young wizards had practiced the Freezing Charm for some time using their textbooks.
But even so, there were still very few wizards who could cast the Freezing Charm in this single class.
Even fewer could succeed on the first try.
Of course, Sherlock and Hermione were exceptions.
Both earned ten points for Gryffindor.
After several attempts, Harry also succeeded, though since it wasn't on the first try, Professor Flitwick didn't award him points.
Seamus, who was paired with Sherlock, held his wand and kept making the flick-and-shake motion, over and over again, but nothing happened from beginning to end.
In frustration, Seamus accidentally changed his pronunciation while casting, and predictably caused an explosion.
The expressionless Sherlock was prepared and directly used the Freezing Charm that Professor Flitwick had just taught to resolve the trouble he had caused.
This could be considered a live demonstration.
"Sorry, Holmes, I don't know what's wrong with me. Every time I'm not careful, I cause trouble."
Looking at Seamus's ashamed expression, Sherlock stared at him without speaking.
He was also thinking about this problem.
Could it really be genetic?
Even practicing the Freezing Charm could cause explosions?
Perhaps he should consider having him specialize in explosive spells in the future.
The situation with Hermione and Neville was similar.
Neville kept making failed attempts.
Hermione was like a teacher correcting his pronunciation and movements. She appeared very assertive, saying without politeness.
"The correct pronunciation of Immobulus is /ɪ'moʊbjələs/—that 'm' must be stressed!"
If it had been Ron, he would have definitely replied. "If you're so good, you do it!"
In contrast, Neville was submissive, nodding repeatedly to show he understood.
However, this didn't help much.
Neville's talent in Charms was far inferior to his talent in Herbology.
Although he had practiced very seriously, trying to master a completely new spell in one class period was still beyond his capabilities.
But relying on Hermione's careful guidance and his own persistent efforts, he finally made some progress before class ended.
He succeeded, but not completely.
His pet, the toad named Trevor, under the effect of his Freezing Charm, had its eyes and two front legs completely motionless, but its two back legs were desperately twitching.
The frequency of those leg spasms made Hermione's skin crawl.
She simply cast a spell to put it out of its misery.
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