The Defense Against the Dark Arts class where all four houses were combined happened only once. After that, they returned to the normal teaching routine.
On Thursday afternoon, Vid and Michael arrived at the classroom with their books, only to see most of the Slytherin students already sitting inside.
"I think it's more interesting when all four houses have class together." Anthony said, "The Gryffindor guys are really fun."
"I don't agree." Lisa muttered, "Granger always makes me nervous."
Seeing Padma glaring at her, she hurriedly explained, "I don't dislike her, it's just... you know, she always knows everything, which makes me seem stupid and not diligent enough."
Padma felt the same way, but she chose to defend her friend verbally:
"That's your issue, not Hermione's. Don't make it sound like Hermione is bullying you."
"But she does like to show off! I'm not wrong!"
Lisa got a bit annoyed as well and turned to sit beside Daphne and the others from Slytherin.
The lines between Slytherin and Ravenclaw students weren't very clear; they quickly gathered together to chat and laugh.
Padma, angrily speaking to Michael, said, "I think she's forgotten that Daphne and the others tried to corner Vid before!"
"Don't be upset." Michael comforted her, "Remember, Vid didn't lose out that time."
Not only did he not lose out, but Daphne was even scared to tears.
Thinking about it, Padma felt less angry and even a bit amused.
There were a few minutes left before class, but Professor Abigail was already in the classroom.
She looked around and shouted, "Blaise Zabini, Mandy Brocklehurst, Michael Corner, Daphne Greengrass, come out for a moment."
The students stood up with puzzled expressions, looked at each other, and then pushed their chairs and followed the professor out.
Soon, they returned, no longer with apprehensive looks but now wearing mysterious smiles.
"What did the professor want you for?" Padma asked softly.
Michael shook his head and said, "I can't tell you, but you'll find out soon."
It was soon time for class.
Today, the textbook covered several legendary creatures—Sphinx, Griffin, Chicken Dragon, and the Sphinx-headed creature Amut.
When facing these creatures, most wizards can't rely on magic to defeat them. Fortunately, powerful magical creatures often have high intelligence and exhibit certain logical behaviors.
As long as you follow the rules, there's a good chance of escaping unharmed from these creatures.
The textbook featured stories as examples to teach young wizards how to interact with these creatures if they encountered them. It was light-hearted content, and the students seemed to read the book like a novel.
Then it was time for the practical portion, with a few simple alert and detection spells.
For Vid, these spells were naturally easy. He casually cast them and turned to watch Michael's performance, only to see him holding a black object pointed at him secretly.
Vid felt his scalp tingle instantly, swiftly turned around, rotated his wrist, and released the Locomotor Mortis spell without a sound!
"Biu~"
A clump of red paint collided with the invisible armor and then fell to the ground.
Vid looked at Michael, and Michael looked back at Vid.
Then Michael awkwardly smiled and "shushed," signaling Vid not to speak.
He discreetly raised the black handgun.
"Biu~ Biu~ Biu~"
The sound from the toy gun was masked by the chanting of spells by the students and went almost unnoticed.
Vid stood by and watched as Michael stained the backs and legs of students nearby with red paint.
Goyle, Malfoy, and Noat from Slytherin were all hit, and then he wandered through the crowd, pretending to inspect everyone's practice results while secretly aiming the gun at Ravenclaw's Anthony, Terry, and Stephen among the boys.
Every boy who appeared in Michael's sight was not spared, but not a single girl was attacked.
However, on the other side of the classroom, the students who had been called out earlier were also holding toy guns, playing enthusiastically. Some unlucky students had even been hit with three or four blobs of paint.
Soon, everyone noticed the extra colors on each other.
"What's going on?" Malfoy angrily ripped his robe, "Who did this?"
He angrily looked around, only to find everyone around him had paint on them, and was suddenly confused.
Everyone started pulling at each other's clothes for inspection, and amidst this process, the "attackers" even took the opportunity to fire a few more shots.
At that moment, Professor Abigail clapped her hands, signaling all the students to quiet down.
"Let's assume these are Muggle guns, and you're being attacked on the street or in a store, with the paint on your body being your wounds. Who can survive?"
The students looked at each other, gradually understanding something.
The professor pointed at some students:
"You, you, you, and you, you're dead and must go over there!"
Seven or eight students, including the "six-shot tragic death" Malfoy, were reluctantly sent to the side.
Professor Abigail couldn't help but look at him twice and then turned to the other students—
"You, you, you, severely injured and beyond help, go wait for death as well!"
Another group of students stepped out from the crowd.
Then there were those disabled students.
The lightly injured students.
Finally, aside from the "gunmen," only three people were completely unharmed—
Vid, who blocked the "attack."
Su Lee, who just happened to be standing in a corner and wasn't an attack target for anyone.
And Pansy Parkinson, Daphne's good friend.
"This isn't fair!" Malfoy couldn't help but loudly protest, "If I knew there would be a test like this, I'd be careful and wouldn't have been shot!"
He glared angrily at the "gunmen."
"Yeah, yeah!" The "tragically killed" students echoed in protest.
"Life doesn't prepare for you that much." Professor Abigail simply said, "Accidents always happen when you least expect them, as does death."
Malfoy was left speechless.
Professor Abigail praised Vid and the others and added two points to their houses before telling all the students:
"This is just the first time."
"In future Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, there will be 'gunmen' launching attacks randomly!"
"Stay alert, you little fools!"
...
After class, Michael was still relishing the joy of being the "simulation killer," enthusiastically saying:
"Professor Abigail is always full of new stuff, isn't she? Defense Against the Dark Arts is getting more and more fun!"
"Don't assume you'll be the 'killer' next time." Vid said lazily, "Professor Abigail will likely choose different students each time."
"I really don't want to be the one defending—always staying alert, just the thought is exhausting..."
Michael muttered.
When they returned to the hall, they found a crowd of students gathered there, looking at the newest announcement.
"Hey, what does it say? Read it out loud for us!"
Michael shouted loudly from outside the door, blocked by the crowd.
The students inside didn't refuse; a tall Gryffindor boy said, "It's the notice for the May Challenge."
"...May Challenge?"