When he learnt that this afternoon's class was Defence Against the Dark Arts, Harry felt a strong sense of unease.
His intuition had always been accurate. He'd had this same feeling before his first class with Quirrell.
And when Lockhart placed those test papers on their desks, this unease became even more intense.
With confusion about the future, Harry's gaze swept over the test paper, and his hanging heart finally died completely.
He was certain that the content on that test paper had nothing to do with Defence Against the Dark Arts. Even what Quirrell had taught in class last year was more useful than the content on this test paper.
Although Quirrell never had them practise and his class content was as boring as History of Magic, at least what he taught was related to dark magic, not like now where they were studying the professor's preferences and ideals.
In the buzzing classroom, Harry struggled to pick up his pen and began making things up on that paper.
After finishing, watching Lockhart collect all the papers back and comment on them briefly, then pull out a cage from behind him, Harry was slightly stunned, then his eyes showed some anticipation.
But next, Harry saw Lockhart remove the cloth from the cage, revealing the pixies inside.
The expressions on all the young wizards' faces in the classroom became somewhat strange.
"Do those even count as dark creatures? I remember Professor Kahn said that dark creatures are defined as beings with man-eating characteristics or those with strong connections to dark magic," Ron muttered quietly.
"Maybe... Professor Lockhart misspoke?" Hermione defended in a small voice. "Or perhaps the professor thinks our abilities aren't good enough, so he doesn't dare find too strong practice subjects for us?"
"Come off it," Ron said, curling his lip. He stole a glance at Hermione, half-expecting her to defend Lockhart again. "He just said the cage contained the most terrifying things, and it turns out to be just pixies? If going into the Forbidden Forest wasn't against school rules, I could catch you a dozen of these things myself, just from the edge!"
Opening her mouth, Hermione ultimately didn't defend anything more and just turned her head away huffily.
Actually, after experiencing the opening feast and the test just now, she was somewhat disappointed in Professor Lockhart.
Although she was a fan of this professor's books, what she admired was the person in the books who could handle any danger and was brave and upright, not the current recipient of the Order of Merlin, Third Class, who only knew how to boast but did nothing practical.
She hoped the upcoming practical lesson would change this impression.
But after Lockhart opened the cage and released the pixies inside, Hermione's heart finally died too.
She still remembered that when Professor Kahn explained some unfriendly magical creatures in practical lessons, he would definitely have them prepare and would temporarily use Protego Totalum to cover an area, preventing students from immediately coming into contact with these creatures.
Only after all students understood those creatures' habits would he let the young wizards enter the Protego Totalum area one by one to face those creatures directly.
And in previous Defence Against the Dark Arts classes, Professor Goldstein had done the same. They would restrain those creatures in advance and wouldn't let young wizards face them unprepared.
But now the iron-blue pixies were flying around everywhere, attacking every young wizard indiscriminately, making them run around holding their heads, trying their best to dodge but still unable to escape.
After all, this classroom was only so big. They had nowhere to hide.
"Round them up! They're only pixies... Peskipiksi Pesternomi!"
Lockhart gripped his wand and recited a string of incantations, but the spell had no effect at all. Instead, a pixie grabbed his wand and threw it out the window.
A pixie hung from Ron's ear, three pixies on Harry's head were pulling his hair, and although Hermione had covered herself with a Shield Charm, her magical power could only sustain it for about half a minute before she had to drop it.
Other classmates were in even worse situations. The worst off was Neville, who had already been hung from the chandelier.
"This won't work; we need to think of something!" Ron tried to pull down the pixie on his ear, but as soon as he touched its body, a sharp pain shot through his earlobe, forcing him to give up.
However, after he gave up trying to pull the pixie down, the force with which the pixie bit his earlobe lessened considerably.
"Everyone, the group combat procedure! The one Professor Goldstein taught!" No longer bothering with the pixie on his earlobe, Ron called out.
After his words, other classmates also reacted. They gathered toward Ron, raising their wands, and released the only active magic they'd learnt in first year.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
Dozens of Levitation Charm lights danced above the classroom, pinning those pixies in mid-air.
Then Ron grabbed a nearby chair, pointed his wand at it, and kept muttering, "Please, please, you must succeed..."
With his chanting, the chair began to show some distortion.
Levitation Charms continued to fly from every wand, but the pixies only squealed and tumbled, wriggling around the magic as if they'd discovered a playground. Dodging and spinning, they began swerving to avoid Hermione's Freezing Charms, turning even Ron's best attempts at defence into a new game.
They seemed to enjoy this feeling very much.
But the Levitation Charm still slowed their flight speed, turning them from troublesome flies into balloons floating in the air.
Hermione used Freezing Charms to freeze several pixies and placed them on desks, but gradually, more and more pixies adapted to the feeling of the Levitation Charm and began consciously dodging her Freezing Charms.
This wasn't going to work. She thought this way, her eyes showing some anxiety.
Now she was certain that Professor Lockhart couldn't solve this incident. Because as second-year students, their ability to pin these pixies in mid-air was already performing above their level. By rights, the professor should have stopped this test by now.
"Get out of the way!"
A somewhat panicked voice rang out nearby. Hermione turned her head and saw Ron charging over with a large wooden net, covering more than ten pixies in mid-air under the net.
"Transfiguration?" Hermione's eyes lit up. She immediately pointed her wand at a nearby chair, and another large net appeared in her hands, which she gripped and brought down on the pixies in mid-air.
Half a minute later, the young wizards sat on the ground panting. Large nets created through Transfiguration covered the floor, with pixies inside struggling to bite through the nets. But before they could act, they were frozen by Hermione's Freezing Charm and placed in the cage that Harry had retrieved.
Only then did Professor Lockhart finally emerge from under the podium, his face still wearing that confident smile.
"Splendid, splendid! I always say nothing brings out talent like a little practical test! You must be inspired by my books, surely? I could see you channelling the very techniques I described in Magical Me! Look forward to the next class—next time, we'll discuss an even more terrifying creature!"
Having said this, he swept out, looking satisfied. The pixies' nets still trembled on the floor, Ron still nursing his ear. Harry watched Lockhart disappear, barely resisting the urge to groan.
"Heh, I never want to attend this class again," Ron said, trying to remove the last pixie from his earlobe. But as soon as he touched it, another sharp pain shot through his earlobe.
"Never mind, let it hang there. It'll get tired eventually, won't it?"