Then, Harry clenched a pebble in his hand. "The stone hits the ground, and we officially begin."
Upon confirmation, Harry tossed the stone high into the air.
The few of them also turned their backs and walked in an outward direction.
Bang—
"Accio Stone—" Harry's incantation suddenly rang out. Before he had even turned around, a stone half the size of a head suddenly flew towards him.
The next moment, he turned sideways, simultaneously quickly cutting off the magical output.
The stone flew behind him.
It was then that the few of them turned around together.
Crabbe, who was directly behind him, hadn't reacted yet. He had just raised his wand and was halfway through his incantation when he saw a large stone flying towards him, and he was instantly startled.
"Expelliarmus—"
"Protego—"
The Expelliarmus was repelled, and Draco's spell flew out of control. Fortunately, Goyle had bought him time.
"Serpensortia—Engorgement Charm—"
The giant python attacked Goyle.
"Damn it! Why didn't I think of this combo yesterday?!" Draco only realized then that if he had just cast an Engorgement Charm on the snake from Serpensortia yesterday, even if it couldn't hurt Ron, at least it could have tied him up, right?
However, the next moment, his internal monologue came to an abrupt halt.
His hand, which he had bent down to pick up his wand, was tightly entangled by two vines!
"Damn it! Is this Transfiguration?!"
"Avis—Bombarda—"
The time did not exceed one minute.
All three of them lay on the ground.
"My bones, are my bones broken?" Crabbe's tearful voice emerged.
Goyle, on his end, cried, "Harry… make it stop, I can't breathe, I can't breathe!!"
Only Draco was in the best condition, but he still had gruesome bloody holes poked into him by the birds' sharp beaks. He was grimacing, his eyes red and moist.
But thinking of Harry's words from last night, he forced himself to hold it in, repeatedly pounding his thigh with his fists, letting out terrifying roars of anger.
After a good while spent on rudimentary first aid for their injuries, the four of them quickly headed to the hospital wing.
"Damn it… how are you so fast at casting?!" Draco grumbled all the way.
"I had already planned from the beginning to use Accio to drive something to take Crabbe away first. Then, in terms of casting order, it was to defend against or dodge your spells. Finally, I would counter during your casting gaps."
"Then why don't you have casting gaps?!" Draco asked in confusion. "It can't be that only we have them and you don't."
"That's what a combo is," Harry's face tightened, feeling that Draco had asked an incredibly stupid question.
"Listen again, listen carefully!"
"Serpensortia—Engorgement Charm—"
Harry slowed his speech, and very directly, the three of them noticed the difference.
Between the two spells, although there was a certain pronunciation interval, in terms of rhythm, there was a very obvious cohesion, just like two consecutive lines of lyrics.
Separated, yet a single entity!
"Time is short. Tomorrow, we'll do one-on-one training. You can internally define the spells you want to cast today and imagine combat scenarios. Then we'll try it out in practice tomorrow."
"Okay." Draco could only nod.
Around noon, Harry went to find Professor Kelteburn.
He was the Professor of Care of Magical Creatures, a course only available to Hogwarts third-years. He was an old Wizard with wooden prosthetics on his left arm and both legs.
His appearance was quite terrifying, and he usually stayed in the Forbidden Forest or his own office. The few Little Wizards who occasionally saw him in the Castle mostly kept their distance.
"Come in," an aged, muffled voice, as if filled with phlegm, resounded.
Harry slowly pushed the door open.
"Professor, hello," Harry bowed slightly.
"Harry Potter?!" Professor Kelteburn's messy white hair was splayed behind his head, reminding Harry of an angry lion.
"This is a rare visitor. I'm currently maintaining my prosthetics; come on in."
"Professor, I apologize for the intrusion," Harry said politely, then walked in.
Professor Kelteburn grunted a muffled response, his cloudy eyes still fixed on his wooden prosthetic leg, which he was currently wiping with his only intact hand.
"What are you here for? Is it about Norbert?" he said without looking up.
"You know Norbert?" Harry was a little surprised.
"My legs, they were all dedicated to dragons. I guess I contributed a little to Norbert's recovery around Christmas," Professor Kelteburn chuckled. "If you want to ask, just ask. I do know a lot about dragons, of course, I mean from a research perspective, not like the Vikings who use magic to build bridges with them."
"Oh, I never knew that, Professor, thank you!"
"No, no need to thank me. Since coming to Hogwarts, I haven't dealt with dragons in many years. I'm very happy to have this opportunity."
Harry nodded, feeling a little amazed.
"Professor, actually, I came to ask about Dementors. I wonder if you know anything about them."
"Dementors?" Professor Kelteburn raised his eyes, his cloudy pupils scrutinizing Harry. "Why are you interested in those things?"
"Um… about an assignment, a Patronus Charm assignment."
"That doesn't seem like something you should be learning right now," Professor Kelteburn said, then waved his hand, tossing a handkerchief onto the table. "Never mind, I don't care. You'd best ask about things not in books. I don't have much patience for people."
"I want to ask how Dementors are born, and what their relationship with humans is," Harry said.
"Hmm… good question." Professor Kelteburn picked up his prosthetic limb and began to attach it.
"Dementors are transformed from humans who died in despair. In a way, they are a type of creature similar to ghosts. The difference, however, is that they have lost their sanity and become monsters that feed on human souls."
"Lost their sanity… feed on human souls?"
A thought suddenly exploded in Harry's mind.
"Professor… do Dementors only eat human souls?!"
"To be precise, all demi-human races are on their menu," Professor Kelteburn nodded. "As for other magical creatures or even ordinary animals, they don't have such powerful brains, so they naturally can't produce enough emotion.
It's like the difference between fine meats and roadside weeds. Can they eat it? Yes! But no one would want to eat it."
"Then… what if I turn into roadside weeds…" Harry hesitated.
"What do you mean by that?" Professor Kelteburn was a little confused.
"I mean… Animagus. Are there any related studies on this?"
"This…" Professor Kelteburn suddenly hesitated, then a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"I'm very sorry, child, no one has actually researched that. Congratulations, you've discovered a very good topic.
It's a pity, there are no Dementors here, and we aren't Animagus, otherwise, we really could research it."
-------------------------
If you enjoy this story, you can read 70+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
Webnovel will keep getting 1 new chapter every day but Patreon readers can stay far ahead.
Maybe it's not a big deal now… maybe it will be later.
[email protected]/Rexlent
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"