The Bloody Baron's disappearance that night caused a stir in all four houses' common rooms.
The next day, the topic exploded. Young wizards constantly discussed Damon's exploits, speculating on the stories and gauging his strength.
"Can you imagine? The Bloody Baron's roar was heard even in the Slytherins underground, but according to them, Damon's voice was even louder!"
"
He said, "This has nothing to do with you, or any of you."
This is between the Bloody Baron and Helena. Please, everyone, ghosts, stay away! It's said
that the professors were all there, only Professor Lockhart missed the scene.'"
"Ah ha! I think I heard someone mention my name?"
Two young wizards in the hallway were stopped by a pair of large hands.
"Professor Lockhart!"
They were stunned.
Since Lockhart's disruptive first class involving Smurfs, his lessons had become more conventional, consisting of student role-playing from his books.
While this was certainly a positive development, it inevitably affected his prestige—especially since Damon refused to cooperate.
Lockhart immediately invited Damon to co-teach, stating, "This special honor is bestowed upon a Transfiguration Master. Others shouldn't be envious."
it inevitably led to some wizards' disappointment.
The young wizards weren't as enthusiastic about Lockhart as they had been earlier—though they still respected him, believing he might simply have a hidden agenda—perhaps he didn't want to resort to violence against his students. After all
, he was such a gentle person. "It looked like you were talking about something unkind?"
"No, no, how could that be?"
The two young wizards tensed as they felt the grip on their shoulders tighten.
"Aha, never mind. I know what you're thinking!"
Lockhart suddenly released his grip, spun around proudly like a peacock, and announced loudly to the young wizards in the aisle:
"Well, Professor Dumbledore has allowed me to start this little dueling club to fully train you, just in case you need to defend yourself one day, using the methods I've used countless times—for details, please see my published works."
"Yes, that's right. Gather around! Gather around! Can everyone see me? Can everyone hear me? Excellent!" Lockhart, a large stack of parchment fluttering around him, announced the establishment of the dueling club with a hearty laugh, drawing all eyes and conversation to him.
That's how it should be!
Only he, Lockhart, was the center of everything.
That evening, Damon returned to the common room and stretched.
Auror training wasn't difficult, but convincing Mad-Eye Moody to accelerate his studies had been a struggle.
"The more talented you are, the more I want you to be patient and learn everything. This is for your own good! It's better to learn more now than to fail in the future when chasing criminals.
Have you seen my nose and eyes?! They were all lost in the fight against the Dark Arts. Do you want to become like me?"
Moody had said this, what else could he say? He would return empty-handed again.
"Damon, you're finally back!"
As soon as he returned to the common room, a group of Gryffindors came up to him, pushed him to the notice board, and pointed at the words on the parchment and talked in unison.
"Dueling Club! You must go! This is a stage born for you!"
"Professor Snape and Professor Lockhart together! Professor Snape will be his assistant. Well, although this is a bit annoying, it's a real wizard duel! We can duel!"
"We should have learned some dueling courses a long time ago, it will be useful in the future! "
Everyone was so excited. Harry and Ron stood next to Damon and shouted loudly, more excited than anyone else. After more than a month of practice, they thought their progress in spells had far surpassed their peers. In class, their performance had almost caught up with Hermione, and only Malfoy could compete with them. No one knew what had happened to that annoying guy, but he became a little different from before.
He no longer laughed at Hermione for being a mudblood, and he was less provocative and mocking towards Harry and Ron, but in the academic competition, he was obviously working harder than before.
"I know. I'll go and see next week. " Faced with the excited crowd and the witches who were quietly following him and almost sticking to him, Damon personally agreed.
Although with his current attainments in magic, the Dueling Club could not teach him anything, including the current second-year curriculum, if he wanted, he could use the class time to study on his own, which would be faster than spending time in class. However, with a second life, and the fact that human life is so long, he has plenty of time to carefully experience the feelings of all stages, so what is there to rush?
Nicolas Flamel lived for more than 600 years with the help of the Philosopher's Stone, and if he had not stopped his life on his own, he could have continued to live with the help of the Philosopher's Stone.
The other party can Damon thought he could do what he had done.
With a lifespan potentially lasting a thousand years, he was more concerned with finding a way to live more comfortably.
According to Dumbledore, for powerful wizards, "death is but another great adventure." Perhaps the afterlife held even greater joy.
Although Damon felt that, clinging to life, he would find a way to continue living, even if it meant becoming a ghost. This might be due to the innate Chinese obsession with immortality.
For now, he wasn't so carefree as to calmly embrace death.
In Snape's office,
Another mental battle concluded.
"You seem to be troubled by something lately? You've revealed a flaw."
Snape captured a glimpse of Damon's memories. He saw a corner of the Ministry of Magic and the snarling face of Mad-Eye Moody. Strange, when had this kid become involved with the Aurors?
Of course, his point was to tell Damon, "I've seen your memories. If you mind, we'll stop the training.
"Ah, as you can see, there's a stubborn old man who's a little hard to convince." Damon rubbed his brow, not caring about it, and went straight to another topic:
"But you, Professor, I never thought you would be willing to be an assistant to a half-baked person like Lockhart?"
Read 20+ chapters ahead at
[email protected]/Horizons685
(End of this chapter)