Hogwarts Card System Chapter 122

Chapter 122: A Wand With a Mind of Its Own

The danger of magic lies in its ever-changing nature; each time is different.

Even a persistent emotion in one’s heart can cause unpredictable changes in a spell’s effect.

Professor Flitwick constantly emphasized how to avoid fluctuations in will and lapses in concentration.

At the same time, he also stressed some training techniques for magic control.

This kind of thing is a latent talent. Those with strong innate magic control, like Hermione, are naturally adept at learning and casting spells.

Of course, this can also be trained later. It’s a bit like practice makes perfect.

Seamus caused a big commotion, and the other students were not to be outdone.

The clanging and banging in the classroom never ceased.

Professor Flitwick specially prepared a large bag of balloons as casting targets, which were consumed at an astonishing rate.

Even Hermione failed to succeed in her first few attempts. The first explosion startled her, leaving her hair frizzy. Ted almost couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

However, Hermione’s talent began to show. After a few failures, she quickly learned from her mistakes and got closer and closer to success. After more than a dozen attempts, she successfully cast the spell for the first time, and the balloon inflated. After that, failures were rare.

The other students didn’t progress as quickly.

Harry always made the balloons fly around at high speed.

Neville and Jerry simply couldn’t get the balloons to inflate.

And Ron?

Ron was the most ruthless. With a “Engorgio!” spell, his wand shot out with green smoke, hitting Flitwick squarely on the forehead.

Then, a green lump, the size of a fist, visibly swelled on Professor Flitwick’s forehead!

He looked exactly like a green-faced Star God of Longevity!

Professor Flitwick was stunned: Was I attacked? I was… greened!

Clearly, Ron’s “alchemically modified” wand now had a mind of its own—attacking the professor on the first day of class.

But that wasn’t all. It was said that the Transfiguration class in the afternoon was about turning beetles into buttons.

Harry’s beetle ran so fast she couldn’t even point at it, chasing it all over the place.

Neville’s beetle played dead and didn’t move.

Jerry’s beetle fell to the ground and disappeared, never to be found again.

Ron’s wand acted up again, directly emitting a puff of smoke that roasted the beetle!

It was quite rebellious now! A nine-and-a-half-inch wand with nine inches of defiance! Extremely dangerous~

Ted and his classmates had Herbology in the afternoon, learning how to repot Mandrakes. Those things had incredibly grating voices, audible even with magical earmuffs.

And they were incredibly ugly and fierce!

When you pulled them out, they didn’t want to come. But when you tried to put them into a new pot, they didn’t want to go back in.

Was Ted someone who spoiled children? When Professor Sprout wasn’t looking, he went up and punched the Mandrake, then shoved it into the pot and patted it with a small shovel.

May you grow strong, future flower~

…

Because Harry and her two friends drove to school and crashed into the school’s valuable property, the three of them were given detention.

Neville was called by Lockhart, and his detention involved replying to fan mail for him.

Lockhart was good-looking, presentable, and knew how to market himself, earning him the title of “Ladies’ Man of the British Wizarding World.” Even Aunt Molly was a big fan of his.

He had more fans writing to him than people voting for him with monthly passes.

Neville had two large stacks of letters to reply to every night. According to him, they were “extremely sappy and chillingly nauseating”!

Neville wrote letters for two hours and almost threw up.

Lockhart kept chattering on, talking about how to manage their image and gain honor together.

Neville looked utterly resigned: “Honestly, I’d rather go to Snape’s dungeon to kill frogs and dig out slug guts than go to Lockhart’s office again.”

And that job, which Neville envied so much, was now Harry’s.

Harry’s detention involved organizing potions for Snape. To put it mildly, it was very leisurely, even lighter than Ted’s work at Gigg’s Pharmacy.

Ron, however, was unlucky. He fell into Filch’s hands and was assigned to clean. Seven or eight toilets, an entire display case of trophies and medals, all had to be scrubbed by him.

Although Ted gave him a temporary spell for a quick-cleaning rag, the workload was still substantial.

…

The next morning, Ted got up early for his run, but Neville said he had promised Professor Sprout to help treat the Whomping Willow.

That old tree was almost split in half by the three of them.

Ted was curious, so he followed along to watch the fun.

Unexpectedly, besides Neville, another student had arrived even earlier.

It was Guff Oasis, the Hufflepuff boy with horns.

This guy was already nearly six feet tall, with broad shoulders and a large build.

Neville and Ted were already the tallest among their peers, but 13-year-old Guff, only a year older than them, was already like an iron tower!

Ted had just been introduced to this fierce-looking but shy friend by Neville when he saw Professor Sprout walking out of the castle gate in the distance.

Her face was not looking good, because behind her was Lockhart, dressed in silver-threaded robes, his hair slicked back, chattering incessantly.

Lockhart, like a show-off, came prancing over, excitedly suggesting over a dozen “methods for treating the Whomping Willow,” claiming no one understood how to treat it better than him.

Professor Sprout quickened her pace with a hint of resentment, but Lockhart trotted along after her.

Finally, even the usually good-natured Professor Sprout lost her temper: “Professor Lockhart, I believe I am the Herbology professor. I know how to treat the Whomping Willow, not kill it with a dozen methods! Please go back!”

“Oh~ fine! If that’s the case~” Lockhart shrugged. “If you need me, just ask anytime, I’m easy~ you know. It’s simple, I just need to~ ahem~”

Ted looked disgusted: “Bad luck, first thing in the morning~”

The incredibly aggressive Whomping Willow was quite docile in front of Professor Sprout. The three of them helped Professor Sprout use magical bandages to secure the Whomping Willow’s wounds, then applied buckets of potions and herbs to the cracked trunk, or buried dragon dung fertilizer at the roots.

After dealing with the Whomping Willow, Ted and Neville took a quick look at Hagrid, who wasn’t far away. His hunter’s cabin was very close to here.

When they reached the door, Hagrid happened to open it, holding a bearskin rug and shaking off dust.

“Oh, hello, Ted and Neville. Happy holidays~”

“Hello, Hagrid!”

“Good morning, Hagrid~”

Hagrid shook his large head: “No! Not good at all! That fellow, I mean that pompous Lockhart, came this morning to teach me how to subdue a Kelpie. I really wanted to throw that blithering idiot into the Black Lake and let him talk to the Kelpie himself. And he said no one knows better how to get rid of carnivorous slugs. If I believed him, I might as well turn into a carnivorous slug myself!”

Ted and Neville exchanged glances, understanding perfectly.

This new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was truly something; in just two days, he had managed to “unite” his colleagues so thoroughly.

Hagrid even told them many embarrassing stories about Lockhart from his school days, such as sending himself dozens of Valentine’s Day cards, which were later exposed.

He also wrote his name on the house point hourglass and was given detention.

In short, he tried every possible way to show off, constantly pulling off various outrageous stunts.

Soon, the first Defense Against the Dark Arts class began.

Ted’s year already knew about the unfortunate curse on this position, and before class, they started betting on whether Lockhart could last a year.

Lockhart was, after all, a famous bestselling author in the British wizarding world, and even quite well-known in several neighboring countries.

He had even pulled strings to get himself a Third Class Order of Merlin and five “Most Charming Smile” awards from Witch Weekly!

He had certainly gained a lot of fame.

So, many young wizards still had some confidence in him.

However, in the first class, Lockhart walked into the classroom holding a large stack of quizzes.

The hopeful young wizards immediately deflated.

But the worst was yet to come!

When the quizzes were handed out, all the questions were like “Lockhart’s favorite color,” “The gift Lockhart most wants to receive,” “Lockhart’s ideals,” and so on.

Many students’ expressions changed instantly: “What the f*ck? What is this nonsense?”

Who am I? Where am I? Am I here for Lockhart’s fan meet-and-greet?

As it turned out, when the quizzes were collected, only Ted had gotten a perfect score!

“Ted Epiphany? Which one is Ted?” Lockhart called out with a surprised smile.

Ted stood up: “Professor, I am Ted Epiphany.”

(End of Chapter)