51 First Defence Class of the Year

According to those who replied, Harry should show his speciality in light spells.

From a few descriptions in the comments, I feel that I did not clear it enough causing a misunderstanding.

Light spells will be pure magic that will be opposite of the corrupt dark magic that is utilized to harm another person. This magic will be an ancient branch that will be useful in not only treating the wounds, but if and when mastered, can correct the damage done to not only one's body but also mind and soul.

Considering the above explanation feel free to comment on whether you still wished to see this as the speciality.

Also comment on whether you wish to see a stretched-out version of the second year considering that most major factors (like dobby, the car, knowledge about the Slytherin monster, giant spiders etc.) will not be this Harry's problem.

If you would like this year to be detailed then the story will progress focusing on the intricate details that were otherwise not explained in the original story.

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After the announcement regarding the privileges that we will be receiving, professor began the class like usual. The students however were more curious than before. As soon as the lecture finished, instead of rushing out as quickly as possible, they all gathered around Seamus, Hermione and me in order to understand what could be done to earn the privileges.

Seeing that Seamus was to be given special privileges for his knack of blowing stuff up, most of the boys had instant thoughts about trying to do weird stuff all year round, for a chance to have the same.

Two girls and a few boys asked me and Hermione regarding healing as a subject. After all the efforts Hermione had made in being more social, the girls had no problem in reaching out to her for advice. Myself on the other hand was the exact opposite. The boys had to rather ask for Ron's help to ask me for advice.

Both of us already knew that the boys and girls were approaching us in the hopes of this being a simple subject that they could take for a few benefits while doing the minimal amount of work. If this was last year, we would have told them that they should to at least try it themselves first, before deciding the difficulty. But this year was already going to be hectic for us with madam Pomphrey rushing to complete most of our syllabus and we did not want our focus to divert because some children wished to play doctor.

This led to us directly curbing their enthusiasm by relaying them the truth of we studied the subject in our first year. Honestly speaking if it was not for my fear of what was to come and Hermione's over the top learning enthusiasm, we would have probably already left the course half way last year.

When the boys understood that for them to officially become students under madam Pomphrey, they will have to attend to the infirmary every day in addition to attending all the classes, they were demotivated to continue the conversation regarding taking up healing as a subject. The girls however were still not scared to leave the topic.

Hermione explained that they will not be getting much guidance from madam Pomphrey herself until they show a basic mastery of some minor spells that will be given to them for self-learning. This was the final nail in the coffin. Difficulty of a subject was one thing but to not even receive basic guidance for the subject was another.

The last of us who received the special privilege had a talent for singing and it was not something that others could replicate on their whim. This was the reason that no one approached her for advice.

The advice that we gave was actually not a hundred percent true. It was true that most of the basic spells related to healing were mastered by us without the help of madam Pomphrey but it was not because she did not wish to teach but because of our own special circumstances. For me it was easy to master some basic spells considering the number of advanced spells I already knew due to my past experience of being a Hogwarts student for six years. For Hermione it was because she was a genius.

The part where they will have to study healing after regular classes everyday was also not entirely true. It was after all the first time in almost a decade that a student who has not passed his OWLs was interested in the subject. There was just no set precedent that she or we could follow regarding our studies. I was sure that if enough students requested to be taught healing as a subject from early years, it will be added to the time-table.

Once the morning classes were over and students met for lunch in the great hall, the discussion began once again. The students that were separated due to houses met and discussed regarding the privileges that were announced. Like us every house had a few remarkable talents that were granted privileges regarding their own fields of excellence.

After this Hogwarts returned to its usual peace and quiet as much as possible.

The next class after lunch was the defence against the dark arts with the great Gilderoy Lockhart. We were paired with the Slytherins to attend our classes of defence against the dark arts, Herbology and potions. Coincidently, this was also the first class that Lockhart was scheduled to teach at Hogwarts.

Considering the fact that Lockhart was still the handsome, dashing and brave warrior in the eyes of most young witches of Britain, the anticipation regarding his class was at an all-time high among the female students of not just our batch but other senior and junior batches. Seeing as the girls of our batch had the honour to attend his lecture first, they were surrounded by many girls to discuss the way their prince charming will conduct his first class.

By the time everyone was seated in their seats, it was already ten minutes past the beginning time of the class. Seeing that Lockhart was still not present the Slytherin boys started to play pranks on the girls.

Lockhart appeared on the stairs and with a simple wand movement incinerated the paper that was charmed by the Slytherin boys. This caused a round of awe in the girls, further cementing his position as the prince charming in their eyes. He began in the exact same way I remembered. He first praised himself and then listed out his own achievements regarding the merlin 3rd class, and the most dazzling smile award for three years running.

As I heard the exact same speech again, I wondered how the girls were so foolish to not look past his facade of self-love.

The next thing he showed the class were the pixies. Seeing that I already knew the disaster that was to follow I informed Hermione to leave with me when I give the signal. Though she did not understand what I was talking about she nodded in understanding.

The reason I wanted to leave with Hermione was not because I was afraid of the pixies, because I knew and understood that given the amount of work, we both had done in the previous couple of years it was fairly easy to deal with them even if we were alone. Hell, Hermione herself immobilized the flying pixies without the extra practice form this time around, in the previous life.

The reason was because I knew that Lockhart would flee as soon as his charm to handle the pixies fails. He will then leave the work to the students who were still in the classroom and this time around I had no desire to do someone else's work for no benefit whatsoever.

After boasting about his fictional achievements against mythical creatures, he opened the cage of the pixies. It was at this moment that I signalled Hermione to follow me outside. Lockhart tried to contain the Pixies and when he failed, he ran towards his office. I was quick to rush out of the classroom with Hermione in tow.

It was only later that night that we learned that the work that was originally placed on the shoulders of me, Hermione, Ron and Neville were this time around transferred to Draco and his entourage. Ron and his group seemed to have made a lot of fun on their expense when they exited the classroom with torn clothes and beaten expressions.