Night fell, and one by one the lights inside the castle went out. The entire Hogwarts castle sank into silence.
The trio each carried a small bag as they quietly slipped out of the common room under the cover of darkness.
The Fat Lady at the entrance was snoring loudly, the layers of fat in her double chin rising and falling in a steady rhythm.
Ron mischievously pulled a face at the portrait before hurrying after the group toward the eighth floor of Hogwarts.
Along the way, more and more people joined them.
It wasn't just Gryffindor, Harry even spotted quite a few Slytherins in the crowd.
Despite their different house affiliations, at this moment the light in everyone's eyes was equally blazing.
The group silently climbed the ever-moving spiral staircase and eventually arrived at the Room of Requirement.
Link, Emily, Cedric, and the others were already standing inside the brightly lit Room of Requirement.
In Harry's memory, no matter how early they arrived, Link and his group always seemed to be waiting there ahead of time, as if they had never left.
Quite a few people had already gathered around Link and the others, chatting excitedly.
It was obvious they were having a great time.
Even so, Harry noticed that Link spotted him right away and smiled as he waved to him.
That moved Harry deeply.
He forced back the sting in his nose and waved back with a smile.
Beside him, Hermione could no longer contain herself and rushed forward.
"Link! What's the theme of tonight's meeting? Is it the same as usual, free study in groups?"
As soon as she said this, the surrounding crowd gradually quieted down, all eyes turning to Link with anticipation.
In just half an afternoon, Firenze's remarks about Mars and the Morning Star had already spread throughout Hogwarts.
Anyone standing here now naturally believed firmly that Link was the Morning Star.
And as ordinary stars revolving around the Morning Star, they naturally hoped to learn more useful knowledge and spells, eager to shine with a brighter light of their own.
Feeling the intense anticipation radiating from the crowd, Link smiled slightly and said, "In theory, that's correct. But if you want to learn something new, I can also..."
"We'll take care of this!"
Hermione raised both hands and cut him off eagerly. "Harry said he wants to teach everyone the Patronus Charm!"
Link turned to Harry in surprise, and the others around him all gasped and looked over as well.
Under everyone's gaze, Harry forced himself to lift his flushed face and said softly, "I-I'll handle it, Link! With Hermione and Ron's help, I've already prepared the lesson plans!"
As he finished speaking, a trace of unease rose on Harry's face.
He understood this himself.
Teaching the D.A. members the Patronus Charm was certainly important, but in terms of priority, it still wasn't as critical as him mastering Occlumency.
He wasn't sure whether Link would agree to this, Dumbledore definitely wouldn't.
This uneasiness was naturally sensed by Link.
Link smiled gently and said, "This is actually fine. Practicing Occlumency too frequently doesn't help you that much anyway."
"Maybe switching tasks to change your mood is also a good choice."
"In that case, I'll leave it to you, Harry."
"That's great! Link! Thank you!"
Harry was overjoyed and excitedly held up the thick stack of lesson plans.
Ron beside him also clapped enthusiastically.
He didn't really know why Harry was so happy.
But that didn't matter.
If his good friend was happy, then he was happy too.
Those even more excited than them were the surrounding D.A. members.
The Patronus Charm holds a very high status in the wizarding world.
As an extremely difficult and highly representative white defensive spell, witches and wizards who can successfully cast a corporeal Patronus are often crowned with beautiful titles like "genius" and "kind-hearted."
At one point, the Wizengamot even made the ability to cast a corporeal Patronus one of the criteria for selecting its members.
Of course, that requirement is no longer in use today.
But that didn't diminish how highly people valued the Patronus Charm.
Now that there was actually a chance to learn it, how could anyone give it up?
Almost in an instant, the crowd that had been gathered around Link surged toward the trio, enthusiastically asking questions about the Patronus Charm.
This was clearly something neither Harry nor Hermione had anticipated.
Harry was completely stunned.
Especially because he noticed that the crowd included not only students from their year or below, but also older students.
Most astonishing of all, Newland and Sigefin, the two assistants who had long since abandoned their original duties and were said to spend every day in the Room of Requirement deepening their studies, were also there.
This threw Harry into even greater panic.
He began to doubt whether his third-rate level of skill with the Patronus Charm was really enough to teach these people.
But he also had to admit that this feeling of being sought after, especially by geniuses like Newland and Sigefin, felt incredibly good.
The situation was starting to spiral out of control.
Fortunately, Hermione was originally responsible for assisting with teaching, and her experience as a prefect had given her plenty of management skills.
Under her arrangements, the noisy crowd gradually quieted down.
Harry, filled with both extreme nervousness and excitement, picked up the lesson plans and began reading in a pale voice, "Casting the Patronus Charm is actually… actually not that difficult."
"It's a spell condensed from positive emotions… emotions of positive energy."
"The incantation is, Expecto Patronum!"
"And to successfully cast the Patronus Charm, you need to recite the incantation while simultaneously drawing out the positive emotions within your heart."
"The specific… specific method is that you must constantly recall the most beautiful memories deep in your heart, using them as an anchor to trigger various happy and joyful emotions."
"This is especially important when casting the Patronus Charm."
"And besides that…"
As Harry spoke, many people picked up their notebooks and began taking notes attentively.
Unfortunately, most of them stopped after only a short while.
The reason was simple, Harry's teaching skills were far too rough.
Even with Hermione's help, his lesson plans were extremely basic.
His tone was dry and lacked emotion.
This teaching style could fully explain the theory behind the Patronus Charm, but it made it very difficult for people to truly understand it.
The looks people gave Harry began to grow increasingly disappointed.
Noticing this, Harry grew even more nervous.
Especially when Newland and Sigefin frowned, Harry felt as though his heart skipped a beat.
And this tension only made his delivery worse and worse.
It formed a vicious cycle.
In the end, Harry even closed his eyes.
Hermione watched him anxiously. Based on her understanding of Harry, he was on the verge of breaking down.
This scene also caused the onlookers who had stopped practicing to finally lose their patience.
One by one, they either started whispering among themselves or left the group to go back to what they had been doing.
At that very moment, Harry suddenly opened his eyes and raised his wand high.
"Expecto Patronum!"
A stag shining with silvery-white light burst out from the tip of his wand.
It joyfully ran back and forth through the air, scattering sparkling motes of light that fell onto the people below, making them feel an uncontrollable warmth spreading from the inside out.
Harry was clearly one of the beneficiaries of this light.
Looking at the crowd gasping in amazement before him, the panic on his face gradually faded, replaced by a confident smile.
With a casual motion, he dispelled his Patronus and continued, "All right, this is the effect of the Patronus Charm. As you can see, it's not just a defensive spell, it also has the magical ability to inspire people, giving them courage and strength. And all of this is based on positive emotions. We…"
Not far away, Link, Emily, and the others were watching everything unfold.
Seeing Harry's lesson gradually hit its stride, sometimes even setting aside the lesson plans and improvising freely, while the audience grew more and more focused, Emily spoke slowly, "It's not bad. The methods are a bit clumsy, but at least it's listenable now."
Link nodded and turned to Cedric and John.
"Why didn't you go listen?"
John merely snorted in response.
Cedric shrugged and said, "Because there's no need. The Patronus Charm is powerful, but it's far too easily replaced, and that doesn't match its difficulty."
Link raised an eyebrow, realizing he couldn't really refute Cedric's point.
As his own strength had grown, he had indeed come to the same conclusion.
The two most famous uses of the Patronus Charm are dealing with Dementors and Lethifolds.
For the former, one Killing Curse is enough to make a Dementor run faster than if it had encountered a Patronus.
Because if it gets hit by the Killing Curse, it dies.
As for Lethifolds, they have astonishing defense, but almost no offensive power, surviving only by ambushing sleeping people.
Learning the Patronus Charm just to defend against something like that was frankly unnecessary.
So when a wizard's strength reaches the later stages, the Patronus Charm's role is often reduced to what Harry had just demonstrated, inspiring people.
What's worse, unless you train it to the point where you can cast a corporeal Patronus, the spell is practically useless.
But reaching that level is extremely difficult.
Harry, and even Hermione and Ron in the original story, were basically running on cheat codes.
In a normal world, kids their age wouldn't even dream of casting a corporeal Patronus. Their emotions simply aren't that intense yet.
"Tsk, tsk."
Smacking his lips twice, Link shook his head.
He actually really wanted to see what his own corporeal Patronus would look like.
Just like becoming an Animagus, it's an obsession for every enthusiast.
Unfortunately, because he had used too much curse-based power and left traces within his body, Link couldn't use the Patronus Charm at all.
As for becoming an Animagus, the risks were simply too high.
Link didn't want to turn into some half-human, half-beast monster.
Just as Link was filled with regret, Yoyo flew out and landed on his shoulder, chirping excitedly.
Not only that, Akam, who hadn't fully recovered from his hibernation buff, slowly crawled out from around Link's neck, circled it twice, and finally pressed his head against Link's cheek.
Link reached out to rub the heads of the two little creatures and said with a smile, "Yeah. Aren't you my Patronuses?"
He then looked at Emily, Cedric, and the others. "And you too."
Hearing this, smiles appeared on their faces.
Link's words were undoubtedly recognition and affirmation of their past efforts, and that pleased them greatly.
After chatting happily for a while, John finally spoke to Link with some nervousness, "Link, it's tonight, right? Umbridge's lackeys, are they really coming tonight?"
"That should be right. Our intelligence sources are very reliable. There's basically no chance of a mistake."
Link smiled and nodded. "In any case, we just need to be prepared. If things go smoothly, everything will be settled tonight. If not, then we'll wait until tomorrow night. Umbridge won't be able to hold back forever."
Hearing this, Cedric, John, and the others all nodded and turned their attention back to the group practicing the Patronus Charm nearby.
Their expressions were confident and excited.
What they were about to do now was something that, in the past, they wouldn't have dared imagine even in their wildest dreams.
———
The long lesson finally came to an end.
Harry smacked his lips, feeling his mouth painfully dry.
The lengthy teaching had already drained the last bit of moisture from his mouth.
It also made him realize that standing at the front and lecturing, the way professors did for them, was actually extremely exhausting work.
Fortunately, they had entered the free practice phase, and he could finally rest for a while.
"Here you go, Harry!"
Hermione said as she handed him a cup of ice water.
Harry thanked her and drank it all in one go, finally feeling his throat ease up.
Hermione was just as happy. Looking at the crowd constantly waving their wands, she smiled and asked,
"How do you think they're doing?"
Hearing this, Harry's expression turned a bit strange. After a long silence, he finally said, "Pretty good! Especially the upper-year students. It's their first attempt tonight, and they've already managed to cast mist-form Patronuses."
"They're still a long way from corporeal ones, but this kind of progress is way better than we were back then. Of course, not every year is like that…"
As he spoke, Harry shifted his gaze toward Newland and Sigefin in the corner.
These two well-known geniuses from Slytherin and Gryffindor had always been Harry's focus.
Based on the rumors about them, Harry had even suspected they might produce corporeal Patronuses on their first try.
Yet the reality was that the two of them couldn't produce even the slightest glimmer of Patronus light.
It was as if they were simply born unsuited to the Patronus Charm.
That was a bit beyond Harry's expectations.
Afraid of being caught staring, Harry quickly looked away and turned his attention back to the door of the Room of Requirement.
He didn't know if it was just his imagination.
But he couldn't shake the feeling that something dangerous was lurking on the other side of that door.
As if a monster outside might break in at any moment and devour all of them.
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