"Yikes! Just now...... What was that sound just now? ”

In the dark hallway, three or five students were close together. At this moment, one of the small boys suddenly screamed, which immediately frightened the others.

"Neville, aren't you from Gryffindor? Seniors, seniors, big brothers...... Fast...... Let's help and see what's there......"

The little guy was a Hufflepuff and was in his second year of life. He has been afraid of the dark since he was a child, and he is even more timid than girls in this kind of place where he can barely see his fingers.

However, he had asked the wrong person this time, because Neville, who was tall, didn't seem to be much better than him.

It's just that it was so dark that he couldn't see Neville's look of surprise and uncertainty!

"Oh...... This, I ......"

Neville's mouth trembled, and before he could speak, the voice passed through everyone's ears again.

"Click-"

Yes, that's what it just sounded like! Who, exactly, is there?

The moment they heard the movement, almost everyone couldn't help but take a step back, but Neville didn't move. It's not because he's suddenly bolder, it's because there's someone around him right now!

“…… Stand, stand behind me, Hannah. ”

Even though he couldn't even speak, a chill rose in his heart, and Neville stepped out in front of the girl.

Even if he has no bottom in his heart, no matter how unangry his tongue is, his hands and feet don't seem to tremble.

But before he could finish speaking, a figure in the distance suddenly appeared under the torch over there. From here, you can barely see that it is a wizard wearing a black felt coat, and the other party seems to be holding a magic wand in his hand.

"Except-you-weapon."

Before the students here could react, a red light suddenly swept across the corridor and headed straight for them.

Neville was the fastest—he flicked his wand faster than someone who wanted to run away in the first place.

One of the hardest trained members of it, despite his flustered nature, he is actually quite skilled at dealing with spells.

At this moment, Neville drew a circle in front of him as if reflexively.

"Armor protection!"

After familiarizing himself with Maca's spell analysis and repeating the practice, his body is now even faster than his brain.

"Bang!"

With a brilliant red streamer falling scattered, the opponent's disarming spell was blocked by him quite in time.

"When the opponent's spell has already been cast, but there is enough distance in between, you can use the Iron Armor Charm. If the Iron Curse doesn't break after a single blow, you've got the most valuable advantage in the duel—"

As he had said, Neville couldn't help but mumble to himself when he had successfully defended himself. And what he said was actually a little trick in the notes of Maca's materials.

It's a pity that although he can practice many coping methods, he has no talent for "how to take advantage of opportunities" and other things that focus on creativity and ideas.

"Uh-first...... No, forget it......"

Neville knew that he didn't have time to think about it at this point, and he also knew that he didn't have the ability to judge on the spot, so he gave up on fooling around in an instant.

So, just as the man's wand under the torch began to glow again, he struggled to cast the next spell.

"There are many obstacles!"

In the passage about the "obstacle curse" in Maca's materials, a short sentence gave Neville a great inspiration - he was very aware of his weaknesses, and actually took that sentence as his own practical truth.

And that sentence goes something like this:

"Indecisive Obstacle Charm!"

In Maka's opinion, the Barrier Charm is simply one of the best spells of all modern magic. Whether it is the speed of chanting the spell, the effective time, or the trajectory of the swing of the staff, it is extremely concise and efficient, so he often uses it himself.

Sure enough, the speed at which the other party swung his wand immediately slowed down, so that he couldn't even release the spell at hand accurately, but hit the wall with a "poof".

That way, Neville had more time to think.

But, of course, the consequence of a fast cast is usually that it lasts too little and is quite limited. With Neville's head, he still couldn't figure out anything with just a little more leeway.

Apparently, he himself knows this.

"There are many obstacles!"

If it doesn't last long enough, then renew it!

Another obstacle spell landed on the black coat, making the opponent's movements even slower. Neville was watching, probably because he still hadn't been able to use his brain, so he subconsciously took the time to glance behind him.

Well, Hannah was looking at herself in surprise - it was not in vain that she had come here for now. But what's going on with the Hufflepuffs in the back? Why didn't you just look at this side and bring it over to help?

"Hmm...... So what...... It's all petrified! ”

It seemed that the little boy who was timid than him looked stiff and suddenly inspired Neville. He turned his head again, and a full-body binding spell landed on the Black Overcoat, who was about to break free from the second obstacle spell.

In the next second, the other party, who had just barely raised his wand, fell to the floor on his back with a click, and stopped moving.

"Oh! It's a Gryffindor senior, but it's amazing! ”

"Okay? Can I open my eyes? ”

"Do heroes save beauty? Hannah seems to be standing behind him? ”

A jumble of praise rang out from the mouths of the onlookers, all of them giving a thumbs up, like a flock of ducklings quacking around their mothers.

But soon, one of them said coldly:

"We ...... Isn't it time to go back? ”

However, Neville glanced down the hallway behind him with his eyes straight - unfortunately, the torches were extinguished as they walked, so whoever wanted to go back in the dark could do so!

In this hallway, where the light is sucked away by the walls, there is no lighting except for torches.

Shaking his head, Neville pointed his wand forward and said in a deep voice:

"Let's move on!"

His voice seemed to have mixed with a smell of death.

……

While Neville was cautiously walking through the "Dark Arts Corridor" set up by Maca to test his courage with Hannah Abbot, Harry and Ron had already made their way through the three interesting greenhouses and returned to the open space outside.

"I can't believe that Professor Sprout would put so many jumping bulbs in the fourth greenhouse...... If it weren't for today, I'm sure I'd have found the bouncing bulb very barbaric for the rest of my life! Remember, when I was in fourth grade, I was kicked by that little thing......"

Harry was talking to Ron in high spirits, looking very pleasant from the bouncing bulbs drunk with mead and coated with various natural dyes to the unknown stalk of grass next to the final exit.

And Ron's mood at this moment seems to have improved because of the lively plants in the greenhouse before. Although he only casually echoed Harry's words, at least his expression was obviously much more relaxed than it had been in the past few days.

Suddenly, Harry, who was still muttering about the Umbrella Mushroom, jerked up his hand and pointed to the edge of the Christmas forest in front of him.

"And voila! Ron...... Looks like a lot of people are heading over there," he looked at it, and then his eyes lit up, "that should be the direction of Hagrid's hut?" Let's go, let's go over and have a look......"

With that, Harry hurriedly grabbed Ron and happily walked around the splendid Christmas Grove from one side, and then saw Hagrid's hunting lodge, which had always seemed a little lonely.

It's just that today this small cabin is obviously very different from usual.

But I saw that the outside of Hagrid's house was actually wrapped in a kind of cyan vine, which completely concealed its rustic atmosphere. The vines had crawled all over the house and spread along the ground, leaving only a winding stone path leading to the wooden door of the hut.

It is worth mentioning that just above the hut, a wooden board sign larger than the house itself is inserted diagonally on the roof, and two lines of large characters that will change colors on the top of it:

"In this wonderful Christmas—"

"Let's party with magical creatures!"

Before Ron could come to his senses, Harry grabbed his clothes again and hurriedly went to the door to line up. Because he was curious now - where were the "magical creatures" written on the big wooden board? Don't...... The hut is stuffed with all kinds of fluffy fluff?

Look at his expectant face, just like a Muggle boy visiting an amusement park, and most of the faces around here are filled with smiles that are not much different from his.

It can be seen that whether it is the wizarding world or the Muggle world, it is actually the same.

Right now, there was still heavy snow in the air, and it fell on everyone's hats and shoulders one after another, but it couldn't extinguish the joy in the hearts of the little wizards.

Thinking about it, it was morning, and most of the students hadn't even made it to the auditorium for breakfast. In the afternoon or evening, when all the Hogwarts Christmas events have begun, how lively it will be!

Miriam, who had just been brought here by Maca a few days ago, was standing in front of a window hole in the castle tower, quietly looking at everything in the school courtyard outside.

She only felt as if a large area of vitality and vitality continued to rush, slapping heavily on her face. This kind of vivid impact was something she had never felt in the organization before.

Ahaz...... Do you think that such a school is more suitable for children like us who have no family than Grandpa Laven's approach? ”

Beside her, Ahaz, the shadow man who had followed her a few days ago...... He chose silence.