#145 - Black Lake Sparring
Hermione also noticed Harry's somewhat abnormal complexion.
She nudged Ron, who was talking enthusiastically, with her elbow.
“Oh, Harry, don't worry, seventy or eighty percent of the glass orbs in the Hall of Prophecy don't come true.”
Ron wasn't lying; the Hall of Prophecy held the most prophecy orbs in the entire wizarding world.
But the vast majority of them were wildly wrong.
“Yeah, I think relying on yourself is better than going to someone for divination.”
Moon also expressed his opinion, knowing that the prophecy had put a lot of pressure on Harry.
“Oh, I'm fine, it's just that this scar hurt a little.”
Hearing Harry's response, everyone consciously stopped discussing the story about prophecies and turned the topic to other halls of the Department of Mysteries.
Moon listened most attentively to Fred's story about a "Brain Room."
In this red-haired older student's description, the Brain Room contained a huge glass tank filled with dark green liquid, with many white brains floating around.
These brains all came from the smartest and most talented wizards of the past.
The Ministry of Magic locked them up in order to explore the secrets of these wizards.
“No, I think they want to use these brains to think about the most complex magic, after all, these brains come from smart people like me.”
George and Fred were still arguing about the uses of those brains soaking in liquid.
Moon, at this moment, was thinking about his own situation.
He had already had two strange magical experiences, and Moon suspected that these were related to his brain, but he didn't know how to explore it now.
Now that these little lions were talking about the brains soaking in the Department of Mysteries, Moon couldn't help but make some associations.
“Is what they're saying a bit scary?”
Neville moved closer to Moon's direction unconsciously when he heard the red-haired Weasleys constantly arguing.
“Scary? How could it be! Shouldn't wizards study these things?
2
The twins saw that a little lion was actually scared, so they had the idea of teasing Neville again.
However, just as they were about to say something more terrifying, Percy came out to stop them.
“It's very late, you should go to bed.”
“Oh, dear prefect has spoken~”
“That's right, hopefully there won't be any terrifying vampires tonight, meow~, to disturb the prefect's sweet dreams.”
Percy frowned as he watched his two younger brothers mischievously walk up the stairs, and then kept urging the first-year little wizards.
“Alright, Hogwarts won't have any terrifying vampires, you guys go back quickly!”
Percy usually showed a very obvious sense of superiority, but he was very dutiful about his prefect duties.
Moon knew that Percy was very good at studying and was also a frequent visitor to the library.
So he deliberately walked at the end of the line and asked the prefect about the brain problem.
“Magic about brains, it should be in the same category as the Brain Room, belonging to the highest level of secrecy,
Anyway, there are very few related magics in the school library, even in the restricted section.”
Hearing Percy's statement, Moon suddenly became a little worried.
He originally wanted to go to the library to find some relevant information, but now it seemed it would be difficult.
The discussion about terrifying topics continued very late in the little wizards' dormitory.
It wasn't until Neville made a request not to continue talking that Ron ended with a frightened tremor.
Wednesday morning had a Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
Moon felt a little恍惚 when he saw Professor Quirrell.
Ron and Seamus had been discussing for a long time last night about what the vampire tracking Quirrell looked like.
Moon didn't know if this professor had eavesdropped on the little wizards' conversation last night, but Quirrell's complexion was very bad today.
But this was not the point, Moon found that Quirrell's attention to him had decreased a lot.
Especially after class, he didn't keep him in detention alone anymore, which made Moon feel a lot more relaxed.
After Herbology class in the afternoon, Moon went to the Charms practice classroom with Cedric as agreed.
This third-year little wizard was coming to the Charms practice classroom for the first time.
However, Filch rarely got angry this time.
Moon guessed that this castle administrator probably thought that the Hufflepuff students wouldn't cause trouble, so he didn't say anything.
On the other hand, Scabbers showed a very friendly goodwill when he saw Cedric.
This Niffler took the initiative to climb onto the stranger's shoulder for the first time.
After carefully observing Cedric, Scabbers turned to look at Moon.
“Squeak!” (He's as handsome as you!)
“Is that so?”
Moon knew for the first time that Scabbers also had his own favorite wizard appearance.
“Squeak~” (But you're still better looking~)
After saying a word, Scabbers jumped directly from Cedric's shoulder into Moon's palm.
After hearing the compliment, Moon also generously cast a [Fur Smoothing] spell on Scabbers.
“Your pet is already very famous, all the Quidditch training students know.”
Cedric's eyes also showed a curious look after seeing Scabbers.
“Is that so, I didn't know that.”
Moon rarely went to the Quidditch pitch, so he didn't know what was happening there.
“This matter came from the Gryffindor team, Wood said he was considering letting Scabbers be the team's mascot, after all, he is a six-time champion.”
Hearing Cedric's explanation, Moon instantly understood.
The Gryffindor team had not won the championship for four consecutive years, which put a lot of pressure on Wood recently.
When Moon got up early to study recently, he often saw this team captain designing new game arrangements in the common room.
Now hearing that the other party intends to let Scabbers be the team's mascot, Moon knew that this captain probably really wanted to win once.
Moon came to Cedric naturally to practice the [Shield Charm].
This spell creates a defensive barrier to resist various magical attacks and damage.
So the best way to practice is naturally to have both attack and defense.
And among Moon's current good friends, Cedric is the only one who can cast the [Shield Charm] and constantly launch magical attacks.
After the two checked each other's [Shield Charm] in the classroom and confirmed that they could cast it successfully, they began a very uninteresting wizard duel.
Because neither of them was sure how much spell attack their [Shield Charm] could defend against.
So they started to test each other from the least powerful [Leg-Locking Curse].
After finding that the [Shield Charm] was fine, they slowly upgraded to the [Petrification Curse].
Of course, the duel has been slowly upgrading.
This was also the first time the two young wizards felt the charm of a magical duel, and they naturally wouldn't honestly attack and defend in order.
As the two probed each other's magic strength, all kinds of strange tricks were used.
“You're going to cheat, I just withdrew the protection.”
“The enemy won't wait for you in battle.”
After three or five rounds, Moon felt that the opponent he had chosen was very suitable.
Although Cedric was two grades higher than Moon, the strength of the two's spells was not much different.
Especially Cedric's spell attack strength was faintly higher than Moon's by a bit.
This gave Moon some pressure, but it also faintly ignited his determination to fight.
As for Cedric, he could defend against almost every one of Moon's spells, but Moon never cast just one spell at a time.
This made it very difficult for Cedric to defend against all of them.
An hour later, Moon and Cedric collapsed on the classroom floor, exhausted.
"Whew~, I really didn't expect to be hit by your [Petrification Curse] five times."
Cedric now felt a bit scared when he recalled Moon's attack methods just now.
He clearly cast the [Shield Charm], but his speed just wasn't as fast as Moon's.
This forced him to try to dodge through body movements.
But Moon's spellcasting speed was far faster than Cedric's dodging speed,
which led to Cedric being hit by spells before his defense could even be established.
"Your [Incendio] and [Accio] are also very powerful; my protective magic couldn't block them."
Moon also saw these two new spells for the first time today, and he defended clumsily because he wasn't familiar with them.
"Hehe, really? I only learned these two spells this year."
During the duel just now, Cedric realized that it was difficult to break through and defend against Moon head-on.
So, he used more powerful attack spells that third-year students could learn.
"Speaking of which, can you teach me these two spells?"
In the battle just now, Moon had already felt the power of these two spells.
[Incendio] could not only destroy Moon's Shield Charm with one hit, but the flames generated could also disrupt Moon's vision, making him completely unable to detect Cedric's figure.
And [Accio] could summon all sorts of strange things to Cedric's hand.
This often left Moon, who was standing in the middle, unable to defend in time.
"Of course, it would probably be difficult for other first-year students to learn these two spells, but it's not a problem for you at all."
In the last hour of the spell practice classroom, Moon officially learned these two spells for third-year wizards.
Moon noticed that while Cedric was teaching him the spells, Filch had rarely begun to actively clean the classroom.
Then his figure gradually approached the two, and his eyes kept watching the wand waving movements between the two little wizards' hands.
"The next period will be the House Cup competition, so I may not be able to come every day; I hope you can understand."
When leaving the spell practice classroom, Cedric looked at Moon apologetically.
"Okay."
Moon knew that Cedric was the Seeker for the Hufflepuff team, a position that ordinary people couldn't hold.
Seeing Cedric leave, Filch walked over awkwardly.
"Scarlett, Mr., please... please, could you help... help me write down the hand movements for your spells?"
Seeing the somewhat unnatural expression in Filch's eyes, Moon responded without any hesitation.
"Oh, sure, there's no need to be so troublesome."
As Moon spoke, he took out his usual spell practice record from his pocket and cast a [Duplication Charm].
"Oh, thank you very much."
Filch took the copied record with both hands and thanked him repeatedly with a smile.
After returning to the dormitory from the spell practice classroom, Bouncing pestered Moon to take out the Flame Snail meat that it had left over last time.
"Chirp, chirp!" (Not enough, take it all!)
"Why do you want so much? You can't finish it all at once."
"Chirp~" (Find someone to practice spells with~)
"Find someone to practice spells with? With me?"
"Chirp!" (Yes!)
Hearing Bouncing's affirmative answer, Moon couldn't help but feel a little puzzled.
However, looking at the little guy's anxious appearance, Moon didn't think much about it and took out the last remaining conch and walked out of the lounge.
Bouncing kept pointing the way on Moon's shoulder until he walked out of the castle gate and headed towards the Black Lake, Moon's expression suddenly became serious.
He knew that Bouncing had many friends in the Black Lake.
And the only one who likes to eat sea snails and needs such a large portion seems to be that~ big guy.
After approaching the Black Lake, Bouncing quickly jumped off Moon's shoulder and ran to the water's edge, constantly splashing some water with its little paws.
Its long mouth also kept making chirping sounds.
"Chirp~~"
As Bouncing's three calls rang out, Moon could see a huge shadow rapidly approaching under the Black Lake in the distance.
"It really is it!"
Moon had just exclaimed when a round, dark gray head appeared on the surface of the water.
As the shadow continued to rise, the head became larger and larger, and slowly two extraordinarily large eyes were revealed.
Then came the huge body and eight huge arms covered with suction cups.
Moon looked up at the giant squid's constantly swaying body, and he couldn't help but swallow.
This big guy could definitely entangle the entire castle.
After comparing it with the castle not far away, Moon truly felt his own insignificance.
The giant squid obviously became very happy when it saw Bouncing.
Its arms swung even faster and more rhythmically, and the color of its body also changed to pink.
After living at sea in another world for a while, Moon already knew that these octopus-like creatures use changes in body color to transmit information.
But seeing such a large animal constantly changing color in front of him still surprised him a bit.
After Bouncing saw the giant squid appear, it took the conch from Moon's hand and placed it by the water.
"Chirp!" (Eat quickly!)
Flame snails were already quite large; Moon needed two hands to hold them.
But after the conch was grabbed by the giant squid with its suction cups, it was like a small protrusion on its body and was not conspicuous at all.
Seeing the giant squid preparing to put the conch in its mouth, Moon quickly reminded it.
"It's very hard..."
Crunch~
Crunch~
The Flame Snail, which could withstand Moon's three [Softening Charms], was like a very brittle biscuit in the giant squid's mouth.
"Bouncing, do you really think it can help me practice spells?"
Moon was now a little suspicious that Bouncing had found the wrong person; this giant squid was obviously a magical creature that was even more difficult to deal with than a fire dragon.
Letting it accompany him to practice the [Shield Charm], which he was not yet proficient in!
Wasn't that the same as letting Moon challenge Dumbledore?
"Chirp!" (Of course!)
Bouncing didn't understand Moon's worries; after the giant squid swallowed the Flame Snail, it told the other party the purpose of its trip.
The giant squid also transmitted information to Bouncing through complex color changes on its body.
This was already beyond Moon's comprehension, and he could only watch blankly from the side.
One huge animal and one extremely small animal were talking and changing rapidly....
"Chirp, chirp~" (It says it knows you)
"Chirp!" (It says it's looked for you several times!)
"Chirp!" (It agreed!)
