"What's up?" Harry asked with a smile.
"It's about Herbology," Neville said in a somewhat low voice. "How should I apply magical plants in a duel? For example, if I want to use Biting Kale in a duel, how should I do it? When is the best time for it? Should I just throw it?"
"Simply throwing it is definitely not the best choice," Harry thought for a moment and said to Neville, "You first need to use a spell to distract your opponent. That way, you can unexpectedly cause damage with the Biting Kale."
With that, Harry picked up an empty cup, making a gesture as if to throw it.
"If you dare throw that cup on the ground, the bill will show up in Gryffindor's common room tomorrow," Abufosi's timely voice rang out.
"Relax, Abufosi," Harry reassured, "There's no way I'd throw the cup on the ground."
He smiled and said to Neville again, "Think about it. If we were both dueling, right at the start, if you whip out a Biting Kale and shout, 'Watch my Chinese Biting Kale!', do you think I wouldn't be on guard? All it takes is one Flaming Bear, and your kale would turn to ashes."
"That's true..." Neville said, deep in thought.
"But if you find yourself in a tense duel," Harry continued, "take advantage of a moment when your opponent is distracted by fending off your spell, then throw the Biting Kale. It will definitely catch them by surprise. That's the idea."
"So that's how it is!" Neville said, suddenly understanding.
"Also," Harry added, "you could use some camouflage spells. For instance, during combat, disguise the Biting Kale, just like how Muggles use landmines—"
"What's a landmine?" Seamus asked with interest, speaking on Neville's behalf.
"A landmine is a low-cost defensive weapon, buried in the ground or placed on the surface as an explosive device," Hermione emphasized the explosive aspect, "mainly used to form a minefield, creating obstacles, hindering enemy movements, damaging enemy forces or equipment, and causing psychological threat to the enemy."
"Whoa..." Seamus leaned back, in awe, "There's something like that? I need to study up and try to develop landmines for the magical world..."
"Wait a minute," Neville suddenly said, "Aren't you 'half-and-half'? Why don't you know about landmines from the Muggle world?"
"Because I go to school in the magic world, dimwit," Seamus gave Neville a look as if he was an idiot.
Neville chuckled, sipping his Butter Beer while remaining seated.
Seamus, on the other hand, continued to chatter with Hermione about the details of landmines, clearly fascinated by such explosive stuff.
After about half an hour, the students gathered at the bar under the Class Prefect's lead.
Seeing all the students looking at him, Harry stood up and cleared his throat.
"I understand, everyone," he said, "Some of you might not want to be at Pig Head Bar at this moment, having me assess your Defense Against the Dark Arts class results."
"Of course," he continued, "I..."
Before he could finish, the Pig Head Bar's door opened again.
This time, many students from other grades came in.
The Weasley Twins and Lee Jordan led the way in front, each carrying large paper bags filled with things bought from Zoko's Joke Shop.
Trailing behind them were some upper-class students, relative to the newcomers.
"What's going on?" Harry frowned and asked.
"Hey," Fred said, quickly moving to the bar and counting his companions, "Could you please get us... hmm, twenty-five Butter Beers?"
Abufosi glanced at Fred, said nothing, and turned around to prepare their Butter Beers.
Fred pulled over a chair and sat down, saying to Harry, "Harry, please forgive us for showing up suddenly, but—well, you know, everyone knows you are having a Defense Against the Dark Arts test class here today, so we all wanted to come check it out and also ask you—um, if this extracurricular activity welcomes students from other grades?"
Harry, who had been stern-faced, softened upon hearing Fred's words.
"Of course, you're welcome," Harry nodded and said, "Defense Against the Dark Arts is a delicate science and art, and I think we should all master it well."
"Exactly!" Lee Jordan said, clenching a fist, "Haha, Alicia Spinnit thought you wouldn't welcome so many people disrupting your class. Looks like she was wrong."
"Alright then," Harry said again, "I want you to stand by your respective houses, behind your house's Class Prefect. Do you understand me?"
"Of course," Fred was the first to stand at the back of the Gryffindor line, followed by the new arrivals positioning themselves at the end of their respective house lines.
"Here's the thing," Harry cleared his throat, "Now that so many new students have joined, I need to explain some things—you've attended Umbridge's classes and know what foolish things she teaches. She only reads from the textbook and never lets you practice combat exercises."
"This is a very serious issue," Harry raised a finger, "You should know that Defense Against the Dark Arts is a course that values practice over theory. You could be excellent at theory, but in real combat situations, not knowing which spell to use could be fatal."
His words weren't wrong; as a certain old Russian song goes, it's all open ground on paper, while mountain peaks are easy to forget. On the battlefield, nine out of ten would panic.
Most wizards are like this, flawless in theory, but a few spells in, they'd be taken out.
Everyone laughed heartily at Harry's words.
"But I imagine we'll all need to pass the Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.Ls exam too?" Michael Corner asked.
"Yes," Hermione said, her voice slightly higher than usual due to nervousness, "What I mean is, learning to effectively protect ourselves isn't just about theory; we need to practice real spells—"
She took a deep breath before finishing her sentence.
"Because Voldemort is back."
The response was immediate and not unexpected; Zhang Qiu screamed, spilling Butter Beer on herself; Terry Boot flinched involuntarily; Padma Patil shivered; Neville let out an odd noise and then quickly turned it into a cough.
Yet they all looked intently, even eagerly, at Harry.
Because everyone knew that in all of the British Magic World, Voldemort only feared one person, and that was Dumbledore—yet now Voldemort had another who was still undefeated by him, Harry, Harry Potter!
Not the one-year-old with the lucky infant victory, but the Harry Potter who had defeated Voldemort multiple times over three school years, crushing his plots.
"I know this is hard for you to accept, as the Ministry of Magic keeps declaring that Voldemort's return is false news," Harry said, glancing at the students and speaking again, "But you need to understand, I, Harry Potter, have no reason to deceive you. Now, time is exceptionally precious for us."