#41 - Section 41

With Cassandra's talent, teaching her shouldn't take much effort, and Ethan has no reason to refuse.

Ethan wouldn't be stingy with his own people, unlike Snape, who could lose even a guaranteed win.

Afterward, Ethan flipped through the 'Ancient Fire of Goblins' spellbook, only to realize he had misunderstood.

He had only heard its name before, knowing it was the inextinguishable fire Dumbledore gave to the giants.

In terms of pure power, the Ancient Fire of Goblins wasn't very strong, not as powerful as Fiendfyre, about the same level as a Flame Charm.

It doesn't need combustibles or continuous magic input; once it's lit, it won't go out unless forcibly extinguished with magic, like the 'Curse-Breaking' spell. Other methods can't extinguish it.

Fiendfyre goes out when it runs out of combustibles and magic, but the Ancient Fire of Goblins is different. Even without combustibles or magic, it can maintain its burning state, at its maximum strength. It burns as fiercely as the available fuel allows, and then maintains that state, becoming truly inextinguishable.

"Ancient Fire of Goblins!"

With the incantation, a ball of fire appeared out of thin air in front of Ethan's wand, floating in mid-air.

The flame wasn't large, only about a meter in diameter. After Ethan cut off the magic and stopped controlling it, it began to fall to the ground, steady and neither gathering nor dispersing.

The color was similar to that of a burning candle, a bright yellow.

Ethan felt it; it wasn't like Fiendfyre, with its violent burning and scorching sensation. It was warm.

Immediately afterward, Ethan tried the Fire Shield Charm, which he learned even faster.

After reading it once, he drew a circle on the ground with his wand, and black flames ignited, possessing both the characteristic of burning everything and the effect of protection.

Next, Ethan needed to fully master these two spells and combine them with Fiendfyre.

If Fiendfyre had the characteristics of the Fire Shield Charm and the Ancient Fire of Goblins, it would be a qualitative improvement.

However, there was one more thing to do before that.

Under Cassandra and Penelope's surprised gazes, Ethan placed the dragon egg in the Ancient Fire of Goblins to roast.

This made them momentarily believe Ethan was going to eat roasted dragon egg.

Chapter 65: The Curse of the Defense Against the Dark Arts Class

After Christmas, the first Defense Against the Dark Arts class for the first years.

Except for the Slytherin students, everyone else looked dejected.

Potions class every week was already torture; they didn't expect two more Defense Against the Dark Arts classes.

Judging by Snape's current demeanor, he was probably going to go wild in Defense Against the Dark Arts class again.

Even if Quirrell taught basically nothing, just reading from the textbook, it was better than being tormented in Snape's class.

Bang!

A muffled sound came from the classroom door.

Only Snape at Hogwarts had this habit.

Snape strode into the classroom, waving his wand back and forth, closing the classroom windows one after another.

In an instant, the entire classroom became dim.

Then he pulled down a white cloth that looked like a projection screen; Ethan had never seen Professor Quirrell use it.

Snape was walking with a gust of wind today, so his mood was good, but Ethan didn't know if he would get a raise.

Coming to the podium, Snape's hawk-like eyes swept around the classroom before he slowly said:

"Turn to page 137!"

Although Snape knew Quirrell had taught basically nothing, Snape couldn't start from scratch; there wasn't enough time.

"Horklumps, do you know how to deal with them?"

"Potter!"

Unsurprisingly, Harry was called on again.

Even Harry himself was used to it. If Snape didn't call on him to answer a question in Potions class, Harry would feel something was wrong.

"Horklump Juice, sir!"

Harry happened to know this.

He had heard Hagrid complain that Horklumps had invaded his garden when he went to Hagrid's place with Ethan before Christmas, but unfortunately, he had run out of Horklump Juice.

Just as Harry was feeling fortunate, Snape's words dashed his hopes.

"This is Defense Against the Dark Arts, if it were Potions, perhaps I would award the Savior five points."

"But now, Gryffindor loses ten points, Potter, sit down!"

Harry sat down with a blank expression; the surrounding students were used to it.

Hermione didn't raise her hand to answer either; it had already been proven in Potions class that no matter how much she raised her hand, Snape wouldn't call on her.

Once, when she wasn't called on, Hermione took it upon herself to stand up and answer, not only not gaining points but also losing ten points for Gryffindor and earning the mocking nickname 'Miss Know-It-All'.

After that, Hermione gave up on the idea of earning points from Snape, as long as she could ensure she didn't lose points.

Also, Snape's previous statement about giving five points in Potions class was a lie!

Since the start of the school year, the first-year Gryffindors hadn't received any house points in Potions class, not a single point.

"Malfoy, you answer!"

"Professor, the Weakening Hex, it's effective against most weak magical creatures."

After Draco stood up and spoke, he gave Harry a smug look.

Horklumps, his manor had them, as well as goblins and other ghostly things. Before he knew magic, he had seen the gardeners drive them away, and even had the gardeners help him catch them and keep them in cages as pets.

When catching Horklumps, they used the Weakening Hex.

"A good answer, Slytherin gains ten points!"

"What are you waiting for, aren't you going to write it down?"

Subsequently, Snape projected detailed information about the Doxies onto the white cloth and began to explain.

Half a lesson passed!

"Now, it's time for you to practice!"

As he spoke, Snape directly lifted a cage covered with black cloth from behind the podium and placed it on the podium.

Under everyone's gaze, he abruptly unveiled the black cloth.

Perhaps startled, the thing inside the cage suddenly flew up, accompanied by a buzzing sound, causing the cage to shake from side to side.

Honestly, this was much better than Quirrell's lectures, although it would be better if he could change his personality.

The Defense Against the Dark Arts class mainly taught how to defend against dark magic and the dangers of magical creatures.

Quirrell simply read from the book without explaining or practicing, making the class essentially useless.

Doxies, XXX rating, human-like, small in size, with two extra arms and two legs, and densely covered in black hair, with beetle-like wings, but thick, curved into an arc, shimmering, and with sharp teeth containing venom.

In addition, these things have an extraordinary ability to reproduce, laying up to five hundred eggs at a time.

Ethan had seen them while patrolling the Forbidden Forest and immediately became suspicious of the word 'Doxy'. Before seeing the real thing, he had a glimmer of fantasy, but it was shattered after that.

Not asking for a beautiful woman with captivating eyes and a fiery figure, but at least a cute appearance would do, but instead, it's such an ugly thing.

"Paralyzing Jinx!"

Snape's wand suddenly flashed a string of sparks, accurately hitting the startled Doxy in the cage.

The Doxy fell down with a thud, as if all its strength had been drained, limp and motionless.

"The spell is simple, concentrate your attention, clarify your goal, pronounce the incantation clearly..."

Snape rattled off seven or eight points to pay attention to.

"Potter, come up and demonstrate for everyone!"

As he spoke, Snape cast a red light at the Doxy, and the moment it was hit, the Doxy immediately became lively again, but it dared not hit the cage anymore, instead shrinking into a corner of the cage.

As a magical creature, even though it was only rated XXX, with a small brain, it still possessed considerable intelligence.

"Yes, Professor!"

Harry stepped forward with a bitter face, here it comes again.

He knew that Snape would take the opportunity to play with him whenever he had the chance, but it was also his father's fault, alas!

"Paralyzing Jinx!"

Harry took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and swung his wand with all his might.

To be honest, with this force, hitting the Doxy would probably kill it.

So, Harry used a physical version of the Paralyzing Jinx?

"Incorrect pronunciation, ten points deducted from Gryffindor!"

Snape glanced at Harry with considerable disdain. How could Lily's son be like this? He really didn't inherit any of her talent.

Potions are no good, and now his spell level is also no good.

"Professor, I have a way to deal with it!"

Harry took a deep breath and looked at Snape seriously.

He kept reminding himself that he was repaying his father's debt.

"Since you have a way, then show it!"

Snape didn't directly send Harry down. Part of the reason he came to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts was that he really wanted to teach this subject.

Another reason was to improve Harry's level, after all, Harry would encounter a lot of trouble in the future, and it wouldn't do if he didn't know anything.

"Okay!"

A hint of excitement flashed across Harry's face as he pulled out two Beretta 92F pistols from his waist.

The group of young wizards below instantly became excited. They recognized what this thing was, only those pure-bloods were still confused, not knowing what Harry had taken out.

Ethan was directly dumbfounded. No, Harry, are you serious!

"Take it back, who allowed you to bring this thing to Hogwarts? Fifty points deducted from Gryffindor!"

The veins on Snape's forehead throbbed uncontrollably. His father was a Muggle, so he naturally knew about pistols.

But isn't the control of this thing very strict?

How did Harry get his hands on it and dare to bring it to Hogwarts!

If he could have gotten his hands on a pistol back then, he would have shot James and them dead long ago.

"Professor, just one shot, and I can definitely kill the Doxy!"

Harry still tried to argue, he felt this was much more useful than a wand.

"Get down!"

Snape stared at Harry with a straight face.

Of course, he knew that this could kill the Doxy with one shot, and even he himself could be killed with one shot if he wasn't careful.

Moreover, Snape had already decided that he would tell Professor McGonagall later to confiscate the pistol, otherwise Harry would cause trouble sooner or later.

The reason he didn't confiscate it now was that Snape was afraid that it would stimulate Harry and cause it to fire accidentally. Although he could block it with magic, the students below couldn't.

"Cassandra, come up and try!"

Cassandra, whose name was called, walked forward gracefully.

"Paralyzing Jinx!"

As the spell ended, the Doxy in the cage fell to the ground in response.

"Slytherin, ten points added!"

Snape announced loudly again, under his efforts.

It could be said that Snape completely relied on his own strength to pull Slytherin's house points from the bottom to second place. Only Ravenclaw was difficult for him to find opportunities to deduct points, while the remaining two houses were heavily affected.

Next, Snape selected several students from each house to try, but there were no more points added or deducted.