Chapter 703: Snape's Defense Against the Dark Arts Lesson (Edited)

In the end, Fish couldn't get Professor McGonagall to cancel the extra Herbology class.

Even though Herbology was like sleeping in a flowerpot for Fish, and the extra class posed no problem for him, Fish was still very annoyed because Professor McGonagall had fooled him.

So instead of leaving immediately after picking up his schedule, he sat down and glared at Professor McGonagall.

However, Professor McGonagall didn't take Fish's sinister look seriously and was able to handle the schedules of the other students effortlessly. When everyone had finished their classes, she got up and smiled, patting Fish on the head.

"Don't think I don't know how you behave in class. What's one more class?"

"But there's homework!"

(`н´)

Fish pouted and protested, "You won't let Fish use the quill that Rita gave him!"

"Do you want to use a quill only for a few classes?" Professor McGonagall returned the gaze, causing Fish to frown.

Seeing that Fish was still muttering and seemed unconvinced, Professor McGonagall "kindly" reminded him, "And it's time for your Divination class." She couldn't help but grimace at the end.

Professor McGonagall had always despised Divination classes and didn't get along with Professor Trelawney, but Fish had no doubts about choosing them...

The fact that she had deliberately annoyed Fish before had more or less to do with Fish's choice of classes.

"What nya?!"

∑(ΦДΦ)

Fish looked at his schedule and saw that the first class of the day was Divination.

The first person he looked at was Hermione, who shrugged and said, "I'm going to Ancient Runes too."

And Hermione's two roommates, Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown, ran over to Fish with joy on their faces, grabbing his arms left and right and rushing out of the Great Hall. "Great, Fish, let's go to class!"

The N.E.W.T. class wasn't much different from the previous ones. Professor Sybill Trelawney still had her usual appearance, and Fish continued to sit at the small round table, sipping tea, and the class was over.

After the Divination class, Fish quickly met up with Hermione, who was carrying a heavy stack of books.

"There's a lot of homework for Ancient Runes," she said anxiously as she and Fish headed to Defense Against the Dark Arts. "A fifteen-page essay, two translations, and so many books to read by Wednesday!"

"Who told you to take so many classes nya...?"

(?ω?)

Fish said absentmindedly as he helped her put away the stack of books. Fish felt no sympathy for her because Hermione had brought it upon herself.

"It's good to learn how to decipher ancient runic texts; it will quickly familiarize you with the oldest spells," Hermione explained seriously.

"Fish doesn't need to learn that; learning spells is easy too, nya!"

(`´)

Fish raised his head triumphantly.

Hermione: "..."

"Wait," she said indignantly, "I'm sure Snape will also give us a bunch of homework."

"It doesn't matter," Fish continued, shaking his head smugly, "You'll have to write them anyway, nya."

As the two talked and laughed, the classroom door opened, and Snape entered from the corridor. He was the same as before, with greasy black hair slicked to the sides, framing his pale yellow face.

The students waiting in front of the door immediately fell silent, except for Fish, who greeted him, "Severus, good morning, nya~."

(ΦωΦ)

Snape grimaced, nodded his head in response to Fish, and then said, "Enter."

Everyone entered the classroom, which was much darker than it had ever been. The curtains were tightly closed, and the only light came from the candles... Snape had marked the room with his own personality.

Furthermore, the walls of the classroom were covered with paintings that hadn't been there before, many of them depicting people suffering, horrific injuries, and strangely contorted body parts.

When the students took their seats, no one said anything, but they all looked at the eerie paintings on the walls.

"I'm sure you've had five different teachers in this course so far," Snape stood at the podium, his eyes scanning the students below slowly but intensely.

"It goes without saying that all these teachers have had their own teaching styles and priorities. With all the chaos, I'm surprised that so many of you have barely passed the O.W.L. exams for this class. I would be even more surprised if all of you managed to keep up with the advanced course, which is much more advanced."

His rhetoric was as harsh as ever, and everyone was used to it.

After a very personal introduction, Snape stepped down from the lectern and walked around the classroom, lowering his voice.

"Dark magic, of all kinds, a wide variety, and never-ending, all the time. Fighting against it is like fighting a beast with many heads; you cut off one, and a new one appears, fiercer and more cunning than the first. You face something unpredictable and indestructible."

Everyone could perceive Snape's love and admiration for the Dark Arts, which was completely different from the attitude of previous Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers... even though among them were two Death Eaters, a werewolf, and two Azkaban prisoners.

After a long speech about dark magic, Snape finally moved on to the day's lesson, the Silencing Charm.

"... I'm sure the Silencing Charm is not unfamiliar to you, Fish earned many extra points in the O.W.L. exams a few months ago. So, what are the benefits of the Silencing Charm...?"

A large number of arms shot up in the air, all belonging to members of the Order of the Cat, whom Fish had taught the Silencing Charm a few times and had a lot to say about it.

Snape scanned the classroom, his face somewhat stern...

Since most of the other three houses had raised their hands, Malfoy was the only one from Slytherin who did.

"Draco," Snape decisively pronounced Malfoy's name, and the others lowered their arms resentfully.

"A Silencing Charm is a way to surprise your opponent, so they don't know exactly what spell you're casting," calmly replied Malfoy.

"Ten extra points for Slytherin," Snape nodded, gesturing for Malfoy to sit down, and then continued, "Of course, not all wizards can do it. It requires a lot of concentration and willpower, and some!" his eyes paused for a moment on Harry's face, and then turned to Neville, "are not."

Harry curled the corners of his mouth; he was pretty sure that if he hadn't mastered Occlumency, then Snape would definitely use him as an example.

"Now pair up," Snape continued, "and one of you will attempt to cast a spell on the other, but don't say it aloud. The other will try to repel the spell, again without making any noise... Well, Fish is free to move. Let's do it."

The Order of the Cat hadn't practiced the Silencing Charm either since Hermione and Harry, the students in charge of teaching it, believed that at this stage it was more important to gain more experience with the spell and combat.

So when the time came to practice, almost everyone opted to cheat. Many students whispered their spells, not making them any stronger.

Hermione, on the other hand, hurried to seek advice from Fish.

"Fish doesn't know either..."

(?ω?)

Fish scratched his head and said, confused, "Fish just thought of trying it, and it simply worked!"

Hermione suddenly didn't want to talk to him.