The Black Bloodline of Hogwarts

Lockhart chuckled to himself for a while, and seeing that it hadn't had the desired effect, he pulled up a cage covered in black velvet from under the podium.

The cage was vibrating noticeably, and a high-frequency, teeth-grinding shriek came from inside—like a hundred angry bats being stuffed into a can.

This really scared some of the young wizards, after all, the unknown is always a bit scary.

"What is that?" Simo, who had just volunteered to try it out, shrank back a little because he was sitting in the first row.

Lockhart gracefully walked to the cage, gently tapped the iron bars with his wand, and immediately a sharp, rapid thud echoed from inside, causing several girls to gasp in surprise.

"Haha, the thing inside is a little guy I captured during my most dangerous adventure."

Lockhart deliberately lowered his voice, almost whispering, "They are dark, insidious, fast, bad-tempered, and—they especially like to grab the hair of those self-important wizards."

With a "whoosh," Lockhart swiftly pulled off the velvet cloth covering the iron cage, and the little creatures that had been lurking in the darkness were finally exposed to the sunlight.

They are about eight inches tall, with skin that has a metallic sheen and an eerie blue color that is somewhere between rust and a lizard's belly.

What's ugly are their faces: their features are perhaps modeled after a little angel—if that little angel has been smoked in a chimney during a thunderstorm for twenty years.

On his wrinkled, old-man-like face were two long, narrow, and malicious eyes that darted around rapidly, each blink flashing with a cunning glint of triumph.

Their wings are like the illegitimate offspring of bats and dragonflies; though thin, they vibrate at a frequency so fast that you wonder whether the buzzing sounds are coming from their wings or some kind of malicious buzzing from within their bodies.

But the appearance of these creatures actually relieved the students from wizarding families, as most of them recognized these little creatures.

"Cornish elves," Malfoy said with a scornful laugh to his two henchmen, "I can take on three of them by myself."

Julien noticed that even Neville seemed relieved.

“Yes, Cornish elves!” Lockhart spread his arms wide, as if introducing a group of adorable pets, “but don’t be fooled by appearances, these little troublemakers can be quite troublesome! Since you all think they’re easy to deal with, then…”

He waved his wand at the cage door, and the latch clicked open.

"Let's see how you handle this!"

In an instant, the Cornish elves, outnumbering the students in the classroom, fluttered out.

Young wizards may have seen one or two of these little elves before, but dealing with a whole swarm of them is a first for them, let alone those Muggle-born young wizards.

The iron-blue figures scattered like exploding fireworks, plunging the classroom into chaos.

Julien ducked down the moment the cage door opened. His silver linden wand sprang from his sleeve into his palm, while his left hand ripped off the velvet tablecloth.

"Scatter! Lie down!" But his shouts were drowned out by the screams of the sprites.

A little elf lunged at Hermione's face, only to be swatted away by her "Break Up with the Ghost" technique; Ron ran away with his head in his hands, as a little elf tried to tear off his ear;

Harry was surrounded by three house-elves. His wand's "Obstacles" only hit one of them, while the other two had already bitten the hem of his robe.

Neville suffered the worst; several elves grabbed him by the ears, flew him into the air, and hung him from the chandelier.

"Impedimenta Terra!" Lyria once again used the tribe's unique natural magic.

However, since this magical thorn entanglement only works on the ground, it is not very effective against these creatures that jump around or even fly in the air.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Just as Hermione was about to cast the Petrification Spell, Rozier cast it first.

One of the elves immediately stiffened and fell to the ground, but quickly recovered and continued its mischief.

"Professor Lockhart, what should we do?" Finally, one of the young wizards remembered that they still had a professor standing on the podium, so he called out.

Lockhart seemed somewhat surprised by the chaos, and said with a forced smile, "Don't panic! I'll demonstrate for you."

He waved his wand and chanted, "Peskipiksi Pesternomi!"

The gist of it is "You annoying little sprite, leave me alone." Julien even suspected that it wasn't a spell at all, but something Lockhart made up on the spot.

A silver beam shot from the tip of the staff, exploding in mid-air into a harmless firework. The sprites froze for half a second, then let out even angrier screams.

The spell not only failed to have any effect on the sprites, but also made the situation even more chaotic.

Two of them turned around and pounced on Lockhart himself.

"Obviously, a little adjustment is needed!" Lockhart awkwardly hid behind the podium, a few strands of his blond hair disheveled. "Class, go for it! Let me see your—ow!"

Before Julien could even laugh, his gaze swept quickly across the classroom, his brain racing—the pages of "An Analysis of the Behavioral Patterns of Cornish Elf" were automatically turning in his mind.

These little sprites, though fierce, exhibit clear characteristics of group behavior: they attack the most conspicuous moving targets, lose interest in suddenly still objects, and are sensitive to high-frequency sounds...

"Everyone! Stop moving! Lie face down and cover your heads!"

His voice cut through the chaos, carrying an undeniable calmness.

Harry was the first to react, pulling Ron under the table; Edgar paused for a second, then grabbed Hannah beside him and hid behind the overturned chair.

"Julien, what do we do?" Hermione shouted from under the table.

Seeing that most of the young wizards had already hidden under the table, Julien shouted to Hermione, "Area of ​​Effect spell, Freezing Charm!"

Suddenly, Hermione felt a clearer understanding, and holding her grapevine wand, she shouted, "Immobulus!"

Actually, three voices rang out at the same time. Rozier and Liria may or may not have heard Julien's prompt, but they also used the same magic.

Three beams of icy blue magical light spread out like ripples. They weren't aimed at a single sprite, but rather covered the entire sky above the classroom.

The fairies' wings froze. One by one, they hovered in the air like frozen raindrops, their iron-blue figures solidified into an eerie still life in the magical light.

Haha, doing the work yourself is never as comfortable as having someone else do it. Julien then pulled out a handful of peanuts and popped them into his mouth. By the way, what's that peacock doing?

Julien peeked out and looked at the podium, only to meet Lockhart's gaze.

Lockhart was also looking around, his blue-gray eyes showing no sign of panic, but rather a kind of scrutiny or assessment that was completely different from his vain persona.

"Brilliant, brilliant." Seeing that the dust had settled, Lockhart stood up and elegantly straightened his robes, as if the previous embarrassment had never happened.

"Miss Granger, Miss Rozier, Miss Lyria, your performance was superb. I would like to give Gryffindor, Slytherin, and Hufflepuff an extra 5 points each."

The young wizards in the classroom had already rearranged the desks and chairs and applauded the three of them.

"This lesson perfectly embodies what I meant by 'stimulation' at the opening banquet—how to respond appropriately to unexpected situations."

He then changed the subject, "But what I'm more curious about is, Mr. Blake, what were you doing just now?"

"I am panicking, sir," Julien replied matter-of-factly.

"Is that so? But I remember you were the one who first uttered the Freeze Spell."

"Oh, yes. But I don't know how to use it. This is third-grade material."

……

Late at night. The Magic Resonance Library.

"Hey, Murphy, where's that book about the Oblivion Curse?" Julien asked eagerly.

"It's in that corner." Murphy stretched. "But I don't think you'll understand it yet."

"Is it that difficult? Then isn't Lockhart a tough opponent?" Julien asked in his mind.

"But Lockhart isn't that difficult," Murphy yawned. "His biggest problem is that he's not like a human being."

"Doesn't look like a person? What does it look like?"

"A perfect, empty container pieced together from the memories of countless others."

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