26 Chapter 26: Practical Lessons
Barely acknowledging their meals, Harry and Ron sat despondently in the Great Hall, chewing their lunch without any hint of enjoyment. Hermione watched them with a self-satisfied smile, unable to hide the smugness in her voice as she declared,
"You still got off really light. All you got is a Howler. For a moment I actually thought Professor McGonagall would expel both of you, and then a heartbroken Mrs. Weasley would have to come to collect you."
Ron took an absent-minded sip of his pumpkin juice.
"Professor McGonagall hasn't decided on our punishment yet, but honestly that Howler from Mum this morning was humiliating enough as it is.", he clarified.
Among his multiple emotions, Harry was incredibly embarrassed, but more than that, he felt an acute sense of guilt. Mrs. Weasley's howler had highlighted that their impulsive stunt with the car could have placed Mr. Weasley's job in the Ministry of Magic in jeopardy.
The Weasley's had been nothing short of wonderful, inviting him into their home as if he was their own during the summer. In return, he had shown no consideration for their well-being.
"What class do we have next?" Harry asked, his palpable discomfort leading him to abandon his half eaten sausage. Instead, he pulled out the second-year timetable from his pocket.
"Defense Against the Dark Arts, I think?" Hermione glanced at the clock and put down her utensils hastily.
"Speaking of which, I overheard some first-year students, who've had their Defense Against the Dark Arts class this morning, say Professor Forester detests tardiness. We'd better hurry up, we wouldn't want to leave a bad impression in the very first class, would we now?"
Exchanging glances, Harry and Ron sighed simultaneously.
"It's too late for us, I think Ron and I might've already made a bad impression last night..." muttered Harry, a tinge of gloominess in his voice.
"And my wand's broken. I don't think I'm going to perform well in class at all, you know with a wand barely being held together by spellotape." grumbled Ron, holding up his damaged wand, noticeably annoyed at the situation.
Getting to her feet, Hermione impatiently urged them, "Well, enough complaining about the consequences of your own actions. Right now we really ought to get going, so hurry up! Class starts in ten minutes."
Rushing to make it to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom on time, the trio soon found all their fellow second-year students from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff had already arrived.
Just before the bell was due to ring, Sherlock Forester strode into the classroom. Earlier, he had stepped into the teacher's lounge for a short rest following lunch, only to end up in an impromptu conference with Professor Flitwick about improvements to the Summoning Charm for the better part of the afternoon.
The unplanned discussion had left Forester feeling slightly drained. But as he surveyed the attentive students waiting for class to commence, he managed to rally his energy and began to call out the roll.
With second year students usually punctual, the Defense Against the Dark Arts class kicked off without a hitch.
"I've been informed by Professor McGonagall that your learning progress in last year's Defense Against the Dark Arts class was quite mediocre," Forester began, abandoning the platform to pace the room, thereby keeping his focus evenly divided amongst students.
"In the absence of any knowledge about Professor Quirrell, who I understand was in charge of your Defense class last year, I won't comment on his teaching methods. That said, I have no qualms asserting that the learning goals for your first year haven't been achieved."
"In your final exam last year, you could adequately perform only five of the seven spells required by the commonly referred textbook, 'The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection'."
"Among these five, spells like the illuminating charm and the extinguishing charm, and the red and green sparks are basically pairs, once you master one, learning the other one should come easily. Essentially, you managed to learn just the illuminating charm, the spark charm, and the curse of the bogies from the expansive collection of defensive spells."
"It is disappointing to note that spells with the most practical potential for self defense, like the smoke screen spell and the knockback jinx have been largely ignored. This lack of knowledge is indicative of your overly simplistic curriculum from last semester."
"In regards to your theoretical understanding of Dark Magic creatures, to say it is pitiful would be an understatement."
When faced with such direct harsh criticism, every student in the classroom could only lower their heads, weighed down by shame. They had been quite aware of their poor grades. Even though their lackadaisical attitude towards the subject was mostly to blame, they couldn't deny some of the responsibility fell on Quirrell.
"I understand it's not entirely in your control, but let's acknowledge the fact that we need to make up for lost time. You will have to take Defense Against the Dark Arts a lot more seriously this year."
Returning to the front, Forester looked down at his students with an air of indifference, his gaze tinged with strictness.
"We will work on the overlooked spells in due course. But for this semester's first Defense Against the Dark Arts class, the focus is to learn to apply what you have already learned previously in various practical emergency situations."
"A year into your magical education at Hogwarts, you have become junior wizards with quite a few spells under your belt along with knowledge about Transfiguration and other magical aspects."
"Yet, I have to wonder, are you even capable of using the right spell at the right moment? The objective of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class isn't simply to teach you a specific kind of spell against a specific enemy, but to amalgamate what you have learnt and implement it in real combat scenarios, where effective application of your skills and knowledge is the crux."
Emphasizing his point with a cold and steely voice, Professor Forester had all the students in the classroom focusing intently on his every word, afraid to miss a single instruction.
"Those sitting in the first five rows – push your desks to the back, just leave one in place."
Harry, who had been silently absorbing Forester's lecture till then, perked up at the instructions.
"Are we gonna have a duel right now, do you think?" he whispered to Ron.
Ron, sharing the same anticipation, glanced around, probably trying to size up his potential opponent.
"Pity we don't share the class with that git Malfoy; we could've paid him back in kind!"
On the other hand, Hermione looked genuinely worried.
"Isn't it too soon? We're only in our second year and as the professor said, we lack a lot of skills and experience."
Many students echoed Harry and Ron's sentiment of eagerness. Compared to the previous year's classes with Quirrell, his routine of endless rote seemed truly monotonous, this first class already proved to be far more exciting.
They had been subjected to the dreadfully boring task of listening to Quirrell recite the textbook all of last year, without glimpsing the thrill of real combat even once, which Forester had now outlined as the core of this year's Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
As per Forester's instructions, the desks in the front five rows were duly cleared with only one left standing. But contrary to Harry and the others' expectation of being paired up for a duel, Professor Forester lightly pointed his wand at the remaining desk.
Under his steady gaze, the desk began to transform, much to everyone's surprise. Even amidst the gasps, Forester's imposing voice echoed through the classroom.
"Dueling each other, in my opinion, wouldn't provide you with enough of a challenge. So, I have a much more formidable opponent reserved for you."
Pausing dramatically as the desk completed its transformation into a creature, he stood back, a hint of a smile on his face. The creature opened its mouth wide, and out came a rather loud and certainly unexpected sound.
"Meow~!"
