"Then please ascend the throne, our Majesty the Lion King."
Seeing the twins act so comically, everyone burst into laughter.
They continued forward, arriving at the entrance of the Gryffindor Tower located above, hidden behind a large portrait of a lady in a pink silk dress.
"Password?" the Lady Pang asked as they approached.
"Jabberwocky," George said, "A class prefect downstairs told me."
With a click, Lady Pang stepped aside to reveal the path to the common room.
However, no one felt much like talking, having sat on the train all day and gotten soaked by the rain outside, so amid exchanges of 'good night,' they returned to their respective dormitories.
...
Early the next morning, the fourth-year students attended the first Herbology class of the new year.
The task in Herbology was to collect the pus from Baboo Bulb, their learning focus being primarily on how to extract it.
Harry was quite astonished to discover that the pus had a strong gasoline scent, making it seem like something flammable and explosive if he didn't know better.
Apparently, the boys quite enjoyed this smell—while the girls found it rather repulsive.
Especially when squeezing the Baboo Bulbs, the process was extremely disgusting.
However, Professor Sprout's next words quickly made the girls set aside their disdain for the Baboo Bulb, even sparking some fondness.
"The pus from Baboo Bulb is the best cure for stubborn acne, stopping students from using extreme methods to remove their pimples."
Following Herbology was the first Magical Creatures Protection class of the new term.
Newt had just returned to school that morning, and with him came Pabi.
Upon seeing Harry, Pabi smothered him for a full two minutes.
"You're trying to suffocate me," Harry gasped.
But Pabi was clearly very excited and dragged Harry off to a secluded grove, clinging to him.
"I really missed you, Harry," she said sweetly.
"Alright, I know," Harry breathed heavily again, albeit excitedly this time, "Can we talk about it later? I have to attend a class now—you know, even though Newt is your nephew, I shouldn't push it too far, right?"
"Okay." Pabi seemed a bit disappointed but quickly perked up and told Harry, "Hagrid got some new things; Newt thinks they're quite interesting, and this Magical Creatures Protection Class involves them..."
New things?
"What new things?" Harry asked with interest, "Did he capture some new magical creatures?"
"Oh no, not exactly," Pabi said, "you could say it's something he bred—not caught—but it might not look great, yet Newt thinks it's valuable—if I remember right, they're called Exploding Snails."
As they talked, they returned to the Magical Creatures Protection class area.
Newt was with the students gathered around the fence, seemingly observing something.
Hagrid stood proudly at the back of the group, looking at the central area of the fence.
"Ugh, how disgusting!" Hermione instinctively exclaimed.
Harry walked over, peering inside.
To be honest, "disgusting" perfectly summed up Harry's impression of these Exploding Snails.
They looked like deformed, shell-less lobsters, pale grey and slimy, truly horrifying, with many legs jutting out haphazardly, and no visible heads.
Each box contained about a hundred, each roughly six inches long, crawling over each other, dizzily bumping into the box walls.
They emitted a powerful rotten fish and shrimp smell, occasionally sparking from the tail with a soft pop, propelling them forward a few inches.
"Just hatched," Hagrid said proudly, "you all can raise them yourselves! We can start a big project!"
"I suspect they might produce some kind of methane gas," Hermione said to Harry, "much like certain creatures in nature, like bombardier beetles that shoot hot stinky bombs from their rears."
Bombardier beetles, scientifically known as Brachinus. When threatened, they emit a loud pop from their rear, ejecting hot stinky bombs, creating yellow toxic gas and smoke to confuse, irritate, and scare predators.
"Perhaps we could use these to collect fuel," Harry mused, gazing at the Exploding Snails, "but if that's all they're good for, isn't it kind of useless? You know the Magic World isn't short on fuel..."
"I can't imagine what use they could be," Hermione sighed, "certainly, they couldn't be eaten, I can't even imagine how you'd eat them... wouldn't they just poison you?"
But Newt clearly didn't agree; he was completely immersed in his world of research on the new things, forgetting even to teach the students.
The students were delighted by this, sitting there with no desire to remind Professor Scamander about the lesson.
Forgetting this was the best scenario.
Before long, it was Thursday.
Everyone eagerly anticipated what unique and different experiences the Auror professor would bring to the Defense Against the Dark Arts Class, given that Lady Rozier and Professor Lupin had left such deep impressions in the second and third years.
Now, this Professor Moody, once an Auror, surely had profound expertise in Defense Against the Dark Arts.
With this thought, they eagerly entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, sitting in their seats waiting for the professor to arrive.
They took out their copies of 'Dark Power: Self-defense Guide,' preparing to begin. However, when Professor Moody entered the room, the first thing he said was to put those books away.
Moody took out the attendance list, shaking his head to fling his grizzled long hair from his scarred, twisted face, and began taking attendance. His normal eye scanned down the list, while the magical eye spun continuously, fixing on each student who answered.
"Alright," he said after the last student responded, "I received a letter from Professor Lupin introducing the course. It appears you've gained quite a bit of fundamental knowledge on how to deal with dark magical creatures—you've learned how to deal with Boggarts, Red Caps, Hinkypunks, Grindylows, Kaba, and Werewolves, correct?"
The students nodded eagerly.
"But when it comes to dealing with spells, you're lacking—very much lacking," Moody said, "therefore, I'm going to give you a taste of the spells wizards cast in duels. I have a year to teach you how to handle Dark Magic—"
How to handle Dark Magic?
Except for those in the Dueling House like Ron, Seamus, Neville, and Hermione, everyone was very excited.
The reason being no one had been trained on how to handle Dark Magic.
"Alright—getting to the point. Spells, they come in many forms, each with its own magical power. Now, according to the Ministry of Magic regulations, I should only teach you various decurses, and that's all. Technically, until you're in the sixth year, I shouldn't tell you what illegal Dark Magic spells look like, as you're still too young and unable to handle them."
Moody raised his head, surveying the classroom sternly.
"But Professor Dumbledore praised your courage greatly, believing you can handle it, and in my view, the sooner you understand what you need to face, the better prepared you'll be. If you've never encountered something, how can you protect yourself against it? Some wizard isn't going to announce his intention before casting an illegal spell on you. He won't cast it considerately, fairly, or politely. You must be ready, vigilant—while I'm speaking, you'd best not move inattentively—Mr. Finigan!"
He somehow produced a piece of chalk, hitting Seamus Finnigan, who was sticking bubblegum under the desk.
Seamus rubbed the sore spot where the chalk hit, quietly marveling at the new professor's precision.
"Well then... does anyone know which spells earn the harshest penalties in wizard law?"
At this point, Professor Moody looked expectantly at them all.
He was determined to show the students, who didn't yet grasp their limits, the horrors of Dark Magic.
Yet, to his surprise, a few courageous young creatures raised their hands.
Among those raising their hands was the nervously shy Neville.
Moody surely recognized Neville, and seeing his manner, Moody displayed a deeply meaningful smile.