Sirius was quite popular at Hogwarts. When he walked into the Auditorium, everyone's eyes turned to him. The previously noisy hall suddenly fell silent, but soon erupted into even more heated discussion.
Harry looked absolutely thrilled. He usually didn't come to the Auditorium until after eight thirty, but today, for the first time, he was here half an hour early—he showed up at eight o'clock.
When he saw Sirius, he waved his hand excitedly.
Of course, while some people liked the new Professor Sirius, there were also those who didn't.
A few Slytherins snorted and walked past.
"Happy, Potter?"
Seeing him like that, Malfoy couldn't help but mock, "You'd better start praying he lasts until next year... you know the fate of previous Defence Against the Dark Arts professors wasn't exactly great."
"Don't worry, Malfoy, he definitely will," said Harry. "If even your dad could get off the hook, why can't Sirius break the Defence Against the Dark Arts curse?"
"Oh, by the way, I heard your family even had to sell their shop in Diagon Alley. Must've cost a pretty penny, huh?"
Malfoy's pale face flushed a little, and he instinctively reached for his wand.
"How dare you talk about my father, Potter!"
"You started it, talking about Sirius," Harry retorted, pulling out his own wand in response.
"What's going on here?" Sirius, hearing the commotion, immediately walked over.
"Pr—Professor!" Harry said quickly. "It's Malfoy. He was talking about you behind your back."
"Oh?"
Sirius looked at Malfoy. "Didn't Professor Snape ever teach you not to gossip about professors behind their backs?"
"I wasn't," Malfoy said stiffly. "Potter was slandering my father..."
"Talking back to a professor, Slytherin loses five points..." Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Now, unless you want to be put in detention, you'd better go where you belong."
Malfoy was fuming with rage, breathing heavily. "I'll tell Professor Snape about this, and tell him you..."
"You'd better go now," Sirius sneered. "Quickly, run! Don't make me wait too long."
Malfoy stormed off angrily.
The next moment, there was a cheer right beside the Gryffindor table. A few students stood up on their benches, waving their arms and legs in celebration.
Before today, whenever there was a conflict between Gryffindor and Slytherin, it was always Gryffindor who got punished.
But now, things were different.
What Sirius just did was exactly like what Snape used to do—only this time, the one punished was a Slytherin.
Even after Sirius had left, people around were still buzzing about what had just happened.
"Don't talk to me," Ron whispered to Harry and Hermione. "I want to remember this moment forever. This is amazing—Hogwarts finally has a professor on our side."
"Yeah," Harry agreed, still grinning. He was the one Snape punished most often. Every time he had an argument with a Slytherin, no matter who was right or wrong, Snape would always give him trouble.
But not anymore... Harry looked at Sirius's departing back, feeling a rush of excitement inside.
Hermione was about the only person nearby who wasn't cheering or celebrating. Even when Harry and Ron spoke to her, she didn't respond. She just sat there, staring absent-mindedly at a plate of cornflakes, lost in thought.
After this incident, a lot of people started looking forward to Sirius's first class.
"We don't have Defence Against the Dark Arts until Wednesday," Ron said, looking at his timetable with a disappointed expression. "Why couldn't he have come a week earlier..."
There were plenty of other complaints like this.
But all of this had nothing to do with the fifth years.
Professor Moody walked into the classroom as usual, stomping in on his wooden leg, as if the arrival of Sirius Black hadn't affected him at all.
"Disarming Spell," he said. "Does anyone know this charm?"
Cho raised her hand. "It makes your opponent lose their wand."
"Absolutely right," said Professor Moody. "If you ask me, this spell's effect is no worse than the Killing Curse. Once a wizard loses his wand, he loses the ability to resist—of course, I mean when the two sides are evenly matched."
"To put it bluntly, even without a wand, I could deal with all of you easily... well, most of you, anyway."
His Magic Eye seemed to linger on Kael for a moment, before he continued: "The Disarming Spell, Stunning Spell, and Full Body-Bind Curse are the three charms Aurors and Beaters use most frequently."
"And I can tell you ahead of time: on the upcoming O.W.L.s, the Disarming Spell is guaranteed to be on the exam."
At the mention of exams, everyone immediately sat up straight... Lately, exams had been driving them mad; their dreams were filled with scores on every subject.
Even Professor Trelawney's daily predictions had turned into symbols for failing grades... much more effective than before. Anyone whose name she called would be on edge for several days.
This gave Professor Trelawney an immense sense of satisfaction—and made her predictions even more frequent.
So, when faced with an easy guaranteed-points question for the exam, of course everyone paid close attention.
"Speaking of the Disarming Spell..." Professor Moody's Magic Eye swiveled a bit. "I recall that you learned this spell back in third year. Come on, let me see what you've mastered."
He drew his wand and signaled for the students in the front row to use the Disarming Spell on him.
"Ha, I just remembered the incantation," a Ravenclaw boy stood up, confidently jabbing his wand forward. "Expelliarmus!"
"Bang..." Sparks spat from the tip of his wand, fizzled a bit, then went out. Professor Moody's wand remained firmly in his hand.
"This is a wand, Mr. Thomas, not a one-handed sword," Professor Moody said calmly. "You weren't trying to poke my hand, were you?"
Laughter rippled through the room, and the boy hung his head in embarrassment, saying nothing.
"Sit down," said Professor Moody. "Next..."
The next to stand was another Ravenclaw student. He did a bit better than the first, but aimed wrong, blowing a hole in the window behind him.
Laughter echoed again.
But their laughter didn't last long, because Professor Moody stopped checking by seating order and started calling students by name.
Those who'd laughed the loudest were picked without exception—and then became the new butt of the jokes.
"Seems I've overestimated you lot," said Professor Moody, having called only a third of the names before giving up on the idea.
"How did you manage to learn so little—you've already forgotten it all."
Uh...
Everyone glanced at each other. No way could they admit that when they were meant to learn the Disarming Spell, they'd all been too busy watching Lockhart make a fool of himself.
And the Dueling Club had only been held once anyway. Since then, neither Lockhart nor any other professor had mentioned the Disarming Spell again.
No wonder they hadn't learned it.
"Alright, I understand."
Professor Moody seemed to read most people's minds and continued, "Now, everyone put down your wands, turn to page 165 of your textbooks, and copy out all the content about the Disarming Spell... Let me remind you again, this spell is important—guaranteed to show up in your O.W.L.s."
The only sound left in the classroom was the scratching of pens as notes were copied. Professor Moody stood at the front, watching everyone with his Magic Eye, muttering under his breath:
"Lockhart, that fraud—his only contribution to Hogwarts was introducing you to the Disarming Spell early."