The most popular topic at school lately has been about Sirius Black.
News related to him could occupy an entire page of the Daily Prophet every day, and waiting for the owls to deliver the newspapers in the morning has become something many look forward to.
Besides, Harry has been very excited recently. Almost every morning, he receives a package brought by an owl, containing various candies, clothes, or other novel trinkets.
But none of this is related to fifth grade.
The professors seem to be holding a competition to see who can tire out the students first; their assignments are increasing and becoming more demanding, and even Kael isn't exempt.
After all, not all professors exempt him from assignments, such as Potion Class and Defence Against the Dark Arts Class.
After learning the Iron Armor Spell for two weeks, Professor Moody decided to test them with a small examination.
The test was originally scheduled for last week, but that class was a complete disaster.
There were students who mispronounced spells, stood dazed without moving, or forgot the gestures everywhere, making Professor Moody almost explode with anger, forcing him to postpone the test for a week.
"I don't mind telling you in advance," Professor Moody said standing on the podium, "this time I'll be using the Leg-Locker Curse. If you can't successfully block it, then sorry, you'll have to hop around for the entire day."
Some people instantly became nervous, but more of them showed a nonchalant expression.
"I know you're probably thinking, it's just the Leg-Locker Curse, it's easy to break, and even if you can't block it, it's no big deal... isn't that right?"
Professor Moody smirked, his facial scars scrunching together making him more menacing, "But you'd better drop that idea now; for an Auror-special Leg-Locker Curse, ordinary counter spells are of no use."
Then, he instructed everyone to stand to the sides and called them forward in roster order to cast the Leg-Locker Curse on them.
Kael noticed this time the effect was much better than last week; at least, with Professor Moody deliberately slowing down, the first two succeeded in casting the Iron Armor Spell, using an invisible wall to bounce back the Leg-Locker Curse.
But things changed with the third person; a student, probably too nervous, forgot the spell.
Of course, the result was predictable; his legs were tightly stuck together, and he could only hop back, even tripping and almost breaking his nose.
When it was Kael's turn, he stepped forward to the open space in the middle of the classroom.
Professor Moody raised his wand, and a white light flew quickly towards Kael.
Some keenly noticed that Professor Moody didn't loudly recite the spell this time; the charm appeared directly without any warning.
"Protego Totalum!"
The white light was bounced back, flying straight at Moody, but he dodged it.
"Very good, that's more like it!" Professor Moody said loudly, "Bouncing the spell back to the opponent is the true purpose of the Iron Armor Spell, if it flies around randomly, it just shows you haven't mastered it well... well, ten points to Hufflepuff!"
Professor Moody awarded Kael ten points, but it wasn't the homework exemption he wanted most.
Afterward, others took the test one by one, but the success rate wasn't high, only about half succeeded.
After class, those who didn't succeed could only hop like rabbits as they left the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom.
"By the way he spoke, I thought we'd be under attack at any time."
Mikel limped on the stairs.
He had failed at first and only passed the retest before class ended after tripping countless times.
"Yeah, that's right, he sounds like a paranoid..."
Next to him, Ryan was trying hard to jump forward, he turned his head to check and saw that Professor Moody had already left before he said softly, "I heard people in the Ministry of Magic don't like him, think he's too paranoid... even when someone walks past him ordinarily, he thinks they're out to harm him."
"Professor Moody may be a bit strict, but it's always good to learn more," said Cho, who was in class with them, "and the Iron Armor Spell is also very important."
"I know." Ryan sighed, "But we have so many things to do, how is there time to study the Iron Armor Spell... I think it would be more appropriate to leave it for the sixth year if it's not going to appear in the O.W.L. exams, at least then we wouldn't have endless assignments."
Ryan yawned, almost tripping to the ground, but luckily Kael caught him in time.
"This is too inconvenient, do you want me to undo it for you?" Kael asked.
Professor Moody was right; normal counter spells didn't work, as students tried after class, but the Repairing Charm might work, and if not, Finite Incantatem could be used.
"Thank you... never mind." Ryan hesitated for a moment, then shook his head.
"Moody has a magic eye, who knows if he's watching us somewhere... luckily tomorrow is the weekend, I can just stay in the dorm and not come out."
Ryan took it lightly; anyway, tomorrow he was going to spend the whole day in the common room doing homework, maybe this way he could write faster.
However, before that, he still had to go to the underground classroom for this week's last Potion Class.
For some reason, Snape seemed even more temperamental this time, making Potion Class more unbearable.
The underground classroom was as cold as winter, even the door creaked eerily when opened.
"Quiet!" Snape said coldly.
That sentence was hardly necessary, as everyone turned silent as they saw him enter, stopping all their small movements.
Generally speaking, Snape was Hogwarts' best soother; just standing there, he could silence the whole school more effectively than Dumbledore.
"Today, we will be brewing a Soother, which can calm and relieve anxiety and is often a topic in exams."
He said in a calm tone, "But before we start, I must remind you that Potion is a rigorous discipline; no matter how expensive your cauldron is, it can't make up for a barren mind."
He looked around all the desks, seemingly looking for something.
After looking once around, Snape nodded in satisfaction and went to the blackboard to wave his wand, "The brewing method is here... you better remember it well, if you brew carelessly, it will cause the drinker to fall into a deep, sometimes even unavoidable sleep."
Then he waved his wand again, opening the cupboard at the door.
"You can get what you need yourself, you have an hour and a half, start now..."