Looking around at the bewildered classmates, Harry spoke again.
"You might say, ah, with Potter here, with Dumbledore here, Voldemort won't harm us, so why do we need to practice Defense Against the Dark Arts so diligently?"
At the mention of Voldemort, the classmates shuddered again.
"But what I need to tell you is that the Dark Wizards in this world are not limited to just Voldemort," Harry said solemnly. "Aside from Voldemort, there are many terrifying Dark Wizards lurking in the shadows, who could threaten our lives at any moment."
"And you, the ultimate goal of learning Defense Against the Dark Arts is to resist these potential threats... So that when encountering a Dark Wizard, you won't be at a loss, unable to do anything, only waiting helplessly for them to take your life."
Harry glanced again at the classmates who seemed deeply affected, and said, "I know, you might think I'm being alarmist, but the fact remains, if the Magic World were as peaceful as the Ministry of Magic paints it to be, then why does Azkaban exist?"
Harry's words made a lot of sense, and the classmates all fell into thought.
Indeed, if the Magic World were truly peaceful, there wouldn't be a need to learn Defense Against the Dark Arts, then why are so many Dark Wizards imprisoned in Azkaban year-round, and even increasing every year?
This is a false claim in itself.
"Thus," Harry spoke again, "If you want to learn some real Defense Against the Dark Arts, I can help you."
"So, is that true?" the girl with a long braid behind her asked Harry, it was Susan Burns.
"What?" Harry asked.
"Well—I heard that you use some spells absolutely banned by the Ministry of Magic?" Susan asked.
"Oh, I'm a good kid," Harry said with a grin. "For the spells absolutely banned by the Ministry of Magic, I firmly hold a rejecting attitude—but I do occasionally use some Inoffensive Minor Curse."
Upon hearing Harry's words, everyone present laughed, but Hermione did not.
She kept moaning in her mind—Oh my, what Inoffensive Minor Curse? Those things are so evil they'd turn you green!
"That's great, Harry!" Lee Jordan said, looking quite admiring, "I never knew you could actually use some Inoffensive Minor Curse! Like those Minor Evil Curse like the Tarantella?"
"You wouldn't want to know," Hermione quickly interrupted him. "We should focus on today's main topic, which is learning skills to protect ourselves, to resist Voldemort's Death Eaters—of course, if you refuse to believe that Voldemort has returned, you can think of it as protecting yourselves from Dark Wizards."
"Well said!" Ernie Macmillan shouted, "I personally think this is indeed very important, perhaps more important than anything else we're supposed to do this year, even including the upcoming O.W.Ls exams!"
He looked around imperiously, as if waiting for someone to declare "That can't be done!" Seeing no one speak up, he continued: "I'm personally quite perplexed as to why at such a crucial time, the Ministry of Magic has stuffed us with such a useless teacher. Clearly, they refuse to believe You-Know-Who is back, yet the Ministry actually sent us a teacher who tries every means to prevent us from using Defense Spells. I simply cannot understand what the Ministry is thinking, or whether their top officials have brains filled with water!"
"I've heard something about it," Susan Burns said, "My aunt—Lady Amelia Burns in the Ministry of Magic, mentioned in a letter to me that it's because Umbridge, that pink toad, has some ridiculous ideas, thinking that Dumbledore would use the school's students as a secret army—she told Fudge, Dumbledore would encourage us to fight against the Ministry."
Upon hearing this news, nearly everyone was shocked speechless, except for Luna Lovegood.
She interjected, "Yes, that makes sense. Actually, Cornelius Fudge has his own secret army."
"What?" everyone present asked in unison, completely stunned by this unexpected situation.
Does Fudge actually have an army of his own?
How do we put it?
People don't imagine things they didn't do, right?
"Yes, he has an army made of Heliope," Luna said earnestly.
"Impossible," Hermione said bluntly.
"Absolutely true," Luna said.
"What's Heliope?" Neville asked, looking confused.
"They're Fire Elves," Luna said, her protruding eyes wide open, making her appear even more eccentric than usual, "Huge creatures bursting with flames, racing across the land, capable of burning everything in their path to ash—"
"They don't exist, Neville," Hermione said sharply, "You know, she..."
At this point, Hermione suddenly stopped.
If she weren't a Class Prefect, she'd definitely mock Luna as a madwoman—but now, she was Gryffindor's Class Prefect, her words and actions represented Gryffindor, and she couldn't speak carelessly.
"Oh, they do exist!" Luna retorted angrily.
"I'm sorry, but is there any proof?" Hermione asked fiercely.