NOVEL NEXT Chapter 32: Transition
Chapter 32: Transition
As time gradually moved into October, Felix Harp found himself settling comfortably into the intense world of teaching, becoming more and more adept at it with each passing day.
Teaching third and fourth years, with the aim of sparking interest, Felix had organized a few practical activities in his classes. He had to admit, the young wizards' creativity knew no bounds. Even though they had only learned the first set of practical magical phrases, which allowed them to control magical puppets for basic movements, they had managed to turn it into a spectacle.
The "Enchanted Dance Troupe" among the girls and the "Fiery Duels" among the boys had become incredibly popular.
Felix also discovered a talent named Cedric, a fourth-year Hufflepuff student, who had developed a magical application during lessons – passing notes in class.
During a History of Magic class, probably due to the inherent dullness of the subject, Cedric controlled a puppet to roam around the classroom, passing notes to his friends. A few half-asleep young wizards were stunned as they witnessed the scene. The magical puppet bounced over to a young wizard who was deep in slumber, drooling away.
Cedric made a subtle motion with his wand, and the magical puppet leaped up, its little fist tapping the sleeping wizard's knee.
"Bang!"
The slumbering young wizard awoke with a start, instinctively kicking out. The magical puppet was sent flying, passing through Professor Binns' spectral form and crashing to the ground.
Professor Binns, who had been teaching for decades and was the sole player of the Hogwarts MMORPG (Magical Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game), displayed an unusual burst of anger. "Lambert, disrupting the classroom order, ten points from Ravenclaw!"
The honest Hufflepuff stood up, stating that his name wasn't Lambert and he wasn't in Ravenclaw. Nonetheless, he was given detention.
This bit of gossip spread rapidly throughout the school. By the next day, some couldn't wait to replicate this feat. However, they were swiftly suppressed by a coalition of campus miscreants led by Professors McGonagall, Snape, and Flitwick.
The Weasley twins suffered a stroke of misfortune as they controlled magical puppets and transfigured objects in their Transfiguration class—two lizards in a fight earned them a fifty-point deduction and three weeks of detention.
At the dining table, Professor McGonagall gently reminded Felix not to indulge the students. This prompted him to reiterate in his class that practicing magical puppets in other lessons, apart from his own, would result in the confiscation of the puppets.
In the sixth year, young wizards were still trying their hand at contending with their "disabled" magical puppets. Their tools were not as refined as those of the third and fourth years; they had to draw thirty percent of the magical phrases themselves.
This resulted in the sixth-year class having a rather peculiar style. One could frequently see magical puppets with disabled legs, crawling only with their hands. Many young witches had to sign a series of unequal treaties—like doing assignments—in order to borrow cherished dolls from younger students.
As for the fifth and seventh years, their magical puppets were the most comprehensive, but they were the "trial versions." Their experience time was determined by theoretical grades, and not everyone could get their hands on one.
However, their manipulation of the puppets was the most dazzling. Come the weekends, the top students would encounter each other at various school events, exchanging secretive glances before engaging their magical puppets in battle.
Elegant ice, raging flames, thunderous lightning, concealed slashes—all manner of moves and techniques were executed with incredible skill, clearly the result of dedicated private practice.
At times like these, a group of young wizards would quickly gather around them as spectators, nodding and pointing.
Some first and second-year students, even though they didn't have magical puppets, were fervently enthusiastic about this. A couple of young wizards from Muggle backgrounds were analyzing strengths and weaknesses with solemn expressions, attempting to predict the outcome of the duels.
"The strongest one has to be Fireboy, right? His phoenix transformation move is unbeatable!"
"Even Ice Girl's Frozen Moment is quite powerful, freezing the opponent into an ice sculpture!"
"Well, I must remind you all that lightning is at its strongest in its natural state."
"Hia, Hia, Hia..."
"But I do think that puppet spells with cutting effects are quite cunning," said a second-year wizard, earning unanimous agreement.
In early October, the temperature began to vary dramatically, with abrupt shifts between cold and hot. An unexpected flu swept through Hogwarts.
Young wizards formed queues to report to the infirmary, where Madam Pomfrey was kept busy. Her restorative potions were in high demand—though they made people's ears emit smoke, a rather comical sight.
Approaching Halloween, the professors' lessons naturally capitalized on the hype of the season.
Professor Flitwick spontaneously added a class session on "Halloween Special," teaching young wizards a spell to repel female ghosts;
Professor McGonagall's transfiguration subject for the day was a vampire mask, and students paraded around with it;
Professor Snape's lesson content remained unchanged: a standard antidote. However, in one class, he hinted that he might "accidentally" drop expired potion into a student's pumpkin juice at the Halloween feast.
Harry and Ron shivered.
Even the currently most popular Professor Harp couldn't escape this trend. In his class, he showcased a new creation—a magical puppet in the form of a ghost doll. It had a large head, a small body, a ghastly white face adorned with heavy dark circles under its eyes, and jagged teeth.
It looked adorably grotesque.
With a wave of Felix Harp's wand, the ghost doll opened its mouth and exhaled a plume of black smoke, darkening the faces of the young wizards in the front row.
"I mentioned at the beginning of the term that there would be an exam before Halloween. The top student in each grade will receive a mysterious prize. And now I can reveal it—it's going to be a magical puppet chosen from my personal collection."
"Limited edition, exclusive, power upgraded. So... what are you waiting for?"
"Half a month left. Work hard!"
A group of young wizards cheered as they reviewed ancient magical texts.
When Hermione heard this news, she felt a bit regretful. Being only in her second year, she couldn't participate in the exam.
However, she had personally witnessed Professor Harp creating this ghost doll. It was her first time seeing the entire process of transmutation from raw materials to finished product. To gain the privilege of observing, she had to bring her assistant duties to the common room.
Seeing Hermione grading a thick stack of papers, the young wizards marveled. Several Ancient Runes strugglers from Gryffindor, with Wood at the forefront, hesitantly requested Hermione's leniency in grading. She sternly declined.
In just over a month, this young witch had gained a certain "prestige" throughout the school, especially among the senior students who had chosen Ancient Runes. Her delicate handwriting often appeared in their corrected papers.
In contrast, Professor Harp's handwriting was relatively scarce.
Harry and Ron looked at the papers on her desk and felt a bit relieved. Though most of it was multiple-choice and short sentence translations, grading them wasn't an easy task.
However, Hermione was enjoying herself, "I'm learning a lot from this." She told the two, with her memory, after marking a paper dozens of times, it was practically imprinted in her mind.
Is this what it's like to be a top student? Gryffindor students exchanged glances.
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