For the next stretch of time, the most popular topic at school remained all about Sirius Black.
News about him took up an entire page of the Daily Prophet every day, and waiting for the owl post to deliver the newspaper each morning had become the highlight for some students.
Meanwhile, Harry was also very excited lately. Nearly every morning, he received packages from owls, which included, but weren't limited to, various candies, clothes, and other curious little gadgets.
But none of this had anything to do with the fifth years.
The professors seemed to be competing to see who could exhaust the students first, with assignments piling up and expectations rising, and even Kael wasn't spared.
After all, not every professor would exempt him from their homework, for example Potion Class, and Defense Against the Dark Arts.
After two weeks of practicing the Iron Armor Spell, Professor Moody decided it was time for a little test.
Originally, this test was supposed to happen last week, but that class had been a total disaster.
There were students mispronouncing charms, daydreaming while standing still, or forgetting gestures—everywhere you looked—and Professor Moody was nearly beside himself with anger, so he had no choice but to postpone the test for another week.
"I don't mind telling you in advance," Professor Moody said from the podium, "This time I'll be using the Leg-Locker Curse. If you don't successfully defend against it, well, I'm very sorry, but you'll have to hop around for the rest of the day."
Some people immediately grew tense, while even more acted as if it didn't matter at all.
"I know what you're probably thinking—'Leg-Locker Curse is easy to break, and if I fail to block it, no big deal'… Am I right?"
Professor Moody let out a laugh, his scars bunching up on his face, making him look even more intimidating. "But you'd best ditch that idea. The Auror-version Leg-Locker Curse isn't easily broken with ordinary Curse Breaking."
Next, he had everyone stand to the sides, called them forward according to the roster, and cast the Leg-Locker Curse on them one by one.
Kael noticed the results were much better than last week—at least, with Professor Moody deliberately slowing down, the first two managed to cast the Iron Armor Spell smoothly, rebounding the Leg-Locker Curse with an invisible wall.
But by the third student, things changed—a student, maybe just too nervous, forgot the charm entirely.
The result went without saying: his legs stuck together tight, and he had to hop back, even tripping mid-way and nearly breaking his nose.
When it was Kael's turn, he walked up to the open space in the middle of the classroom.
Professor Moody lifted his wand; a flash of white light shot swiftly toward Kael.
A few sharp-eyed students noticed that Professor Moody this time didn't announce the spell loudly as before—the charm just appeared, completely unannounced.
"Protego Totalum!"
The white light bounced back, flying straight at Moody, but he dodged it with ease.
"Excellent, that's more like it!" Professor Moody declared loudly. "Bouncing the charm back to your opponent—that's the true purpose of the Iron Armor Spell. If your spells are flying everywhere, it just shows you haven't really mastered it… Very good, Hufflepuff gets ten points!"
Professor Moody awarded Kael ten points, but didn't give him the homework exemption he really wanted.
After that, the rest went through the test as well, but the success rate wasn't high—only about half managed it.
When the class ended, those who failed ended up hopping out of the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom like rabbits.
"Listening to him talk, I really thought we could be attacked any second,"
Mikel limped up the stairs.
He'd failed initially, only passing during the retest before the end of class, and had lost count of how many times he'd fallen.
"Yeah, totally. He talks like a paranoid lunatic…"
Ryan tried to jump forward as best he could, turned his head to check that Professor Moody was gone, and then whispered, "I heard Ministry of Magic people don't like him, think he's too neurotic… Even when someone simply walks past him, he thinks they're out to get him."
"Professor Moody might be a bit strict, but learning more is always a good thing," said Cho, who attended the class with them. "And the Iron Armor Spell really matters."
"I know," Ryan sighed. "But we have so much to do, how can we find time to really study the Iron Armor Spell… If it's not on the O.W.L., I reckon it's better to leave it for sixth year, at least then we don't have homework piling up endlessly."
Ryan yawned, and almost tripped and fell, but Kael grabbed him just in time.
"This is so inconvenient—do you want me to break the curse for you?" Kael asked.
Professor Moody was right; normal Counter Spells don't work—some students had tried after class. But the Repairing Charm probably would, and if not, then Finite Incantatem for sure.
"Thanks… but forget it." Ryan hesitated a moment, then shook his head.
"Moody's got a Magic Eye—who knows if he's watching us even now… Anyway, tomorrow's the weekend, so I'll just stay in the dorm and not come out."
Ryan didn't seem too bothered, since he'd be spending all day in the common room doing homework tomorrow anyway—maybe this way, he'd even finish faster.
But before that, he still had to go down to the underground classroom for the last Potion Class of the week.
Ryan wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but Snape seemed even more temperamental than usual this time, making Potion Class increasingly unbearable.
The underground classroom was freezing, as if it were winter; even opening the door made it groan and creak ominously.
"Silence!" Snape said coldly.
Honestly, he didn't really need to say it—everyone would go dead silent as soon as he walked in, stopping any fidgeting right away.
Generally speaking, Snape was Hogwarts' best Soother; just standing there was enough to quiet the entire school, even more effective than Dumbledore.
"Today, we're brewing a Soother—it can calm and ease anxious emotions, and it's a frequent exam topic."
He spoke in a gentle tone: "But before we begin, I must remind you—Magic Potion is a precise discipline. No matter how expensive your Cauldron, it can't make up for an empty head."
He glanced over everyone's tables, as if searching for something.
After his round, Snape seemed satisfied, nodded, and strode over to the blackboard, waving his wand: "The instructions are here… Memorize them. If you're careless during brewing, the drinker will fall into a deep—sometimes unavoidable—sleep."
He waved his wand again and opened the storage cabinet by the door.
"Get whatever you need yourselves. You've got an hour and a half—begin…"