Hogwarts: Harry Returns from Azeroth

Chapter 225, Section 224: Chaotic Teaching and New Magic

It was an invisible shield, not very big, and not even a large shield. It could only protect an area about the size of a person's chest at most. It would only show the corresponding color of the spell when it deflected the spell Snape was attacking.

"Watch out, Professor Snape is trying to attack the weak points of the Ironclad Charm," Lockhart said, still giving a combat lesson. "Look at your glowing eyes, haha, I know what you're all thinking—that the Ironclad Charm is invincible, isn't it?"

“But I regret to inform you that the Ironclad Charm is not invincible. It cannot appear automatically, nor can it defend automatically,” Lockhart said quickly. “It may seem that I can now accurately deflect every spell Professor Snape casts, but in reality, I need to concentrate on making the shield appear in front of the incoming spell, and I have to constantly control and change its position.”

"Professor Snape was well aware of the spell's weakness, so he'd been trying to ambush me from other directions since just now—for example, that Sandstone Charm, or Transfiguration—Aha! To launch a sneak attack from my feet while I was explaining? Professor Snape, a very good attempt—but it didn't work!"

Snapped! !

The students couldn't even recognize what magic Lockhart had used; all they saw was him simply wave his wand, and Snape, under the Ironclad Charm, was sent flying and was now struggling to get up from the ground.

"Another victory!" Lockhart raised an eyebrow, turned around, and raised his arms to welcome the students' cheers.

The cheers from Gryffindor were the loudest. No matter who it was, if they were to mess with Snape, the Gryffindors would have to lend a hand... Even the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students were celebrating, though their voices were a little quieter.

Only the Slytherin students looked extremely grim, after all, Snape was their headmaster and usually favored them (except when it came to Harry).

“Don’t worry, children,” Lockhart smiled at the Slytherin students. “Just as I promised you at the beginning, I have returned your Potions Professor to you intact. He just looks a little… disheveled.”

The students' laughter grew even louder.

“The Armor Charm is certainly interesting, isn’t it?” Lockhart continued, “as if there’s nothing it can’t stop. Well, if you all think that way, then you’re wrong—adult wizards, even those employees of the Ministry of Magic, can’t necessarily cast an effective Armor Charm.”

"Younger students may not understand the difficulty of this spell, but older students—you should have already learned this spell in class, so you should be able to know exactly where the difficulty lies."

"Reaction speed and accuracy," a Ravenclaw student shouted, "and the speed at which the shield condenses."

“Correct answer, Ravenclaw gets five points,” Lockhart nodded in satisfaction. “Besides that, there’s one more crucial point: the Armor Charm cannot block the Killing Charm. If someone uses the Killing Charm on you when you leave the school to travel in the future, don’t just stand there with the Armor Charm on you—I guarantee you’ll die a very easy death.”

Some people did laugh, but most people couldn't laugh when they heard the Killing Curse.

"Fortunately, what we're doing now is just a regular duel demonstration, which somewhat limits Professor Snape's abilities. I have no doubt about how much he knows about the dark side—"

"Professor Lockhart!" Professor McGonagall interrupted Lockhart, issuing a warning.

“Sorry, sorry,” Lockhart shrugged nonchalantly. “Anyway, come on up, Professor Potter—you must be eager to teach your students more, right?”

Ron wasn't the only one looking at Harry with concern; many students turned to look too… If Lockhart were still that clueless bum, no one would be worried about Harry, but Lockhart has now proven his strength; he even defeated Snape head-on!

It was as if they were playing around, turning the duel into a lesson. Snape was defeated with ease, and the dark bat was completely at their mercy. The students certainly didn't know as much magic as the professors, but they could vaguely sense that this was the kind of composure that only those with far superior strength could possess.

"Don't worry," Harry reassured his friends before walking onto the stage.

"Just like before?"

“Yes, just like I did just now.” Lockhart stared at Harry’s figure, forcibly suppressing his excitement. “First, let’s bow to each other.”

Harry and Lockhart nodded simultaneously, which was considered a bow; they failed to meet the first rule of wizard duels.

"Very good, I'll count to three and then start—one—two—three!"

As soon as they finished speaking, Harry and Lockhart simultaneously cast a spell at each other and moved from their original positions.

clang!
Harry's spell landed on Lockhart's armored charm, which was left in place, making a crisp sound. It was just an ordinary stun charm, and Lockhart raised an eyebrow—Harry's spell was weaker than he had thought, and perhaps he didn't even need to dodge it.

Unlike his relaxed demeanor when facing Snape, Lockhart was noticeably more nervous when facing Harry. The nonsense he had been spouting earlier was gone, and the two quickly engaged in a back-and-forth exchange.

In just a few seconds, they had already fired four spells at each other, all of which were spells that the students could understand, such as the Stunning Spell or the Barrier Spell.

Harry had even used Transfiguration to create a cover for himself on the stage, but Lockhart also knew Transfiguration, and before the cover could even withstand two spells, it sprouted menacing vines that tried to grab him.

The battle of transfiguration was more like a struggle for control of magic. The students watched as the wooden crate on the stage suddenly sprouted countless vines as long as human hands, then quickly transformed into a rigid stone, swaying from side to side as if it had a split personality. It was far more troublesome than Harry had anticipated. He was certain that Lockhart's level of transfiguration was no less than Professor McGonagall's; it wasn't just a contest for targets, but Lockhart was also demonstrating the ability to transmute multiple targets of different sizes simultaneously.

Large and small stones and pieces of wood bounced on the ground, and in no time they all transformed into tiny figures wielding sharp blades, charging towards Harry like an army—"Frostbreaker!!"

Harry slammed his wand into the ground and shouted.

In an instant, a blue mist of ice appeared on the ground centered on him, spreading out like a surging ice wave. It froze all the shapeshifting creations that rushed towards him into the ice, and then shattered into powder, leaving nothing behind.

Lockhart didn't pursue further; he simply raised an eyebrow.

“If I remember correctly, Professor Potter, we are giving the students a demonstration of a wizarding duel—and we can only use spells commonly available to wizards,” Lockhart said, toying with his wand. “But your spell… is it really a spell?”

“It’s not about summoning ice or changing the temperature to create ice, but about channeling the elements in the environment—the kind of elemental spells you claimed to be doing in your paper,” Lockhart said, shaking his head. “I understand your competitiveness, Professor Potter. After all, putting aside personal achievements, you’re just a twelve-year-old kid.”

Lockhart's condescending attitude was evident even to the students below.

“There’s nothing shameful about wanting to win, but your approach probably won’t teach the students anything. After all, they’re not shamans, and they can’t talk to those mystical elements—you’ve failed in your duty, Professor Potter.”

“Oh, I don’t think so, Professor Lockhart.”

As Harry's good teacher, good colleague, and good friend, Professor Flitwick couldn't help but speak out loudly, the little old man with white hair and beard filled with pride and excitement.

“This is a spell! A spell that Harry and I invented together!” Professor Flitwick announced excitedly. “Essentially a summoning spell, it allows wizards who are not shamans to selectively communicate with the elements and receive a response. It consumes the wizard's magic, uses the wizard's wand, and is uttered as a wizard's incantation—so this is wizarding magic!”

"The specific principles of the spell and its magical composition will be published in the magazine. Interested students can take a look then," Professor Flitwick said readily. "But I can testify that the spell Harry just used was a wizarding spell—look, Frostbreaker!"

Professor Flitwick gave a demonstration himself. He waved his wand quickly, but unlike Harry, he did not stick the wand into the ground. However, a chilling blue aura did spread along the path of his wand, and students who were close by could feel the chill.

The students all knew that Professor Flitwick had drunk many bottles of elemental spirit potions but still failed to become a shaman. However, according to Professor Lockhart, the magic Professor Flitwick was currently using was manipulating—no, it should be calling upon the elements?

And the element even responded?!
"Professor Potter! Can we do it too?!" A student in the audience asked impatiently, "Is it using this kind of spell to summon the elements?"

“Of course,” Harry nodded. “But Professor Flitwick and I haven’t discovered many spells that can make the elements respond yet, and the patterns haven’t been verified. Professor Flitwick will teach you the specifics in Charms class.”

Not long after Harry began to reveal his abilities upon entering school last year, he started conspiring with Professor Flitwick. The two wanted to recreate shamanic magic using wizarding spells, and only recently have they finally made some progress.

This Frostshatter spell corresponds to Frost Shock in elemental magic. To be honest, it's quite difficult to elicit an elemental response in this way. Harry and Professor Flitwick tried many spellcasting gestures and magical pathways, and only last week did they summarize their current results and submit them to the magazine "Mysteries of Magic".

For a moment, the dueling club seemed to become less important, and the students were more concerned about the new spells they would be learning.

"Professor Potter!" a student shouted, "Does that mean we're shamans too? Can we do divination, summon ancestral spirits, and stuff like that?"

“Shaman? That’s definitely not it,” Harry shook his head and said, “It’s just a reenactment of some shaman spells using magic. Maybe it can be used for divination or summoning souls in the future? But wizards already have spells that can summon souls or perform divination, right? There’s no need to go through all that trouble—stop thinking about it. Since this is a course in the Duel Club, let’s focus on learning some dueling skills first.”

Without offering any further explanation to the students, Harry gestured to Lockhart to continue the fight.

Lockhart's expression had clearly turned grim. In fact, no one cared about the duel anymore; the students were more concerned about the new magic—they had long envied the shaman apprentices for their ability to summon wind, rain, lightning, and thunder.

Therefore, in the end, Harry and Lockhart's duel felt somewhat restrained, with Lockhart clearly holding back his anger while instructing the students to duel with each other.

His initial warning came true. When many Gryffindor and Slytherin students were paired up, their duels initially involved harmless prank spells, such as the "Grinning Spell." However, when both students got really into the fight and realized that the spells weren't powerful enough, they actually tucked their wands into their belts and charged at each other with their fists—and you know what? A quick punch was far more damaging than those prank spells.

Fortunately, Lockhart had invited Professor McGonagall to be his assistant beforehand in order to show off how great he was. The professor's presence kept the order of the room well, preventing the angry students from starting a huge brawl in the auditorium.

When the class finally ended and Harry returned to the Great Totem, Ron, with a bruised and swollen face, was still boasting about how fiercely he had fought those Slytherin bastards and how glorious his victory was.

Including Hermione, several of Harry's friends took action tonight. Hermione finally got the chance to teach Slytherin's Pansy Parkinson a lesson, while Neville, encouraged by Harry, went to confront those bad boys who always subtly mocked him.

fighting! Cool!

(End of this chapter)