The enormous spider rolled down to Harry's feet. He was about to step forward to confront it when Professor Lupin rushed ahead of him.
Under Harry's puzzled gaze, Professor Lupin shouted loudly.
"Hey, look here!"
The boggart was immediately drawn to Professor Lupin.
Sherlock was also drawn to Professor Lupin.
After three seconds of careful consideration, he deduced why Professor Lupin wouldn't let Harry face the boggart.
Soon, there was a crisp "crack" sound.
The giant legless spider disappeared.
Everyone began searching for where the boggart had gone.
Sherlock was, as always, the first to spot its trail.
A silvery-white orb floated in front of Lupin.
Having moved from the ground to mid-air, no wonder everyone couldn't find it at first.
"Riddikulus!"
Professor Lupin cast the same spell. However, his voice was languid, forming a stark contrast to the excited students.
The effect was instant, the silvery-white orb instantly deflated like a punctured balloon and flew away.
Seeing this, Harry frowned and was about to step forward to continue his previous action, but a strong, powerful hand pressed down on his shoulder.
"Sherlock?"
He turned back perplexedly to look at Sherlock, not understanding why both Professor Lupin and Sherlock were stopping him.
Did they both think he couldn't handle the boggart?
During this delay, Professor Lupin called Neville's name for the second time.
"Neville, the final blow is yours—finish it off!"
By now, Neville was filled with confidence and strode forward boldly.
The deflated balloon that the boggart had become fell to the ground and transformed into a half-dead praying mantis.
When Neville approached, the cold, harsh, gloomy Professor Snape returned once again. But the current Neville was no longer the same Neville as before. He raised his wand confidently and loudly recited the spell.
"Riddikulus!"
The next moment, cross-dressing Snape appeared before everyone again.
Without needing the other students' laughter, Neville himself burst into hearty, genuine laughter.
With his laughter, the boggart exploded, turning into countless wisps of smoke and vanishing.
"A bit of a pity."
Watching this scene, Sherlock shook his head.
Such excellent experimental material, and the reusable kind at that.
What a waste.
"Very good, excellent. Today's lesson was a great success."
Hearing Professor Lupin's words, the entire class applauded enthusiastically.
"Let me see—I'll award Gryffindor five points because all students who participated in the practical lesson successfully subdued the boggart.
Neville gets an additional ten points for completing it twice.
Sherlock gets five points because today's practical lesson began at his suggestion. Oh, and Hermione and Lavender each get five points as well."
The entire class suddenly showed expressions of realization, looking at Sherlock with gratitude.
Undoubtedly, this had been both a successful and interesting practical lesson.
"But I didn't do anything!" Hermione said, somewhat puzzled and annoyed.
Like Sherlock, she had never known what she truly feared.
She had originally hoped to use this opportunity to test herself, but Professor Lupin hadn't given her the chance.
"At the beginning of class, you and Lavender successfully answered my questions."
Hermione wasn't very satisfied with this answer, but Professor Lupin didn't give her a chance to respond, continuing.
"Everyone performed excellently in today's class. I must thank your first and second-year teachers for giving you such a solid foundation...
Your homework is to read the chapter on boggarts and write a brief summary. Due Monday. That's all—class dismissed!"
Undoubtedly, compared to the other courses in the first week of term, Professor Lupin's Defense Against the Dark Arts class had achieved tremendous success.
The young wizards left the staff room discussing excitedly as they walked, chatting enthusiastically.
"Did you see how I took down that banshee?"
"Very impressive, Seamus, but I still think the ghostly hand caught in the mousetrap was more interesting."
"A ghostly hand is nothing—if you ask me, Snape in women's clothing was the best!"
"Neville was today's MVP!"
"Yes, yes, I agree!"
"Me too!"
The Gryffindor quartet walking together was also discussing today's lesson.
"This was truly the best Defense Against the Dark Arts class we've ever had! So much better than Lockhart and Quirrell—no comparison."
"Professor Lupin is indeed an excellent teacher. Sherlock was absolutely right, though I do wish I could have had a chance to face that boggart myself..."
"Not everyone gets a chance in practical lessons, but what are you most afraid of anyway? Don't tell me it's a test paper with only one point deducted, haha... Harry, what's wrong?"
Ron had been joking around when he suddenly noticed his best friend seemed downcast and quickly asked with concern.
"Nothing, nothing," Harry replied hastily, realizing he'd drawn Ron's attention. "I was just wondering why Professor Lupin would fear a crystal ball."
"Who knows?" Ron shrugged. "Maybe he's also afraid of seeing omens of death? You know, crystal balls are used for divination."
Hermione snorted coldly, too lazy to argue with Ron about divination.
She turned to Sherlock and asked curiously, "What about you, Sherlock? What are you most afraid of?"
"Same as you, my friend."
"Same as me?"
Hermione was about to blush again when she heard Sherlock say.
"Like you, I also wish I could have had a chance to face that boggart, because I'm very curious to know what I fear."
Hermione: (￣▽￣;)ゞ
Why did she always overthink things?
Sherlock's attention wasn't on Hermione but on Harry.
From the moment they left the classroom, he'd noticed Harry's unusual behavior and had deduced why he was acting this way.
But since Harry didn't bring it up, he wouldn't mention it either.
He was rather curious to see how long Harry could hold out.
Friday's classes were the repeated elective courses again.
Harry and Hermione followed Sherlock to Ancient Runes while Ron went back to the dormitory to sleep after breakfast.
In Harry's opinion, this course was even more boring than History of Magic.
Because the full name of this course was Study of Ancient Runes.
As the name suggested, this was mainly a theoretical course where Professor Bathsheda Babbling led them in studying ancient runic magical manuscripts.
Although the textbook was called "Ancient Runes Made Easy," most students in the class found it anything but easy.
Without exaggeration, only Sherlock and Hermione could keep up with the pace.
Having already missed two lessons, Harry felt overwhelmed.
Just the Demiguise character representing the number "0" had taken him an entire class period to study.
"Too difficult!" Harry couldn't help complaining after class. "I feel like this is the hardest course this semester."
"My grandmother says Arithmancy is harder than this," said Neville, who had also chosen this course, with a mournful expression.
"She said I definitely wouldn't remember those complex charts and numbers, so I chose this instead, but I can't remember this either!"
"This course is indeed different from the others."
"What? Even you think so, Sherlock? Then we're doomed! I should have just chosen Divination and Care of Magical Creatures!"
"No, what I mean is that this is a language course—that's the fundamental difference from other courses. Although almost no one uses Ancient Runes for communication anymore, their importance cannot be ignored."
"Sherlock, are you referring to the Greek Translator case?"
"I'm glad you still remember it, Hermione. Our translator friend used the runes on that ornament to help me confirm John Smith's background and identity."
"Sherlock, what about our electives next week? Same as this week?"
"No, Harry, that would be too mechanical.
My suggestion is that next week we can attend different elective courses according to our preferences.
This way we can share our progress afterward. After about a month, I think everyone will know which courses they truly enjoy."
"If that's the case, I'll go with Ron to Divination and Care of Magical Creatures first, then attend other courses when I have free time. Is that okay?"
"Of course that's fine. What about you, Hermione? Which course do you plan to drop?"
Hearing that Sherlock and Harry were planning to attend classes separately; Hermione broke out in a cold sweat.
Now being specifically asked by Sherlock, Hermione hesitated slightly before saying. "I'll... I'll see when the time comes."
Sherlock looked at her with a meaningful expression. "Very well."
As time passed, Defense Against the Dark Arts quickly became the favorite course for most people.
Professor Lupin was truly an excellent teacher.
Or rather, because the previous Defense Against the Dark Arts professors had been so terrible, Professor Lupin appeared exceptionally outstanding by comparison.
During his tenure, Defense Against the Dark Arts finally returned to its rightful status.
It truly became a practical-oriented course rather than dry textbook reading or role-playing with the professor.
Besides the first lesson with the boggart, they also learned about other creatures like Red Caps and Kappa.
Red Caps were ugly, goblin-like creatures that lurked in places where blood had been spilled, waiting to attack lost travelers with their clubs.
As for Kappa, they had actually studied them in their second year.
These were the water demons that Professor Lockhart had once brought to class.
They were water-dwelling reptilian creatures that looked like scaly monkeys, and like Red Caps, they lurked waiting to strangle anyone who entered their ponds.
But compared to Professor Lockhart's less-than-ten-minute teaching sessions, Professor Lupin could give half the class a chance to experience fighting monsters firsthand.
Not to mention his classes got straight to the point without lengthy preliminaries.
Surprisingly, besides Defense Against the Dark Arts, the most popular course turned out to be Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures.
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