Nine o'clock in the evening.

Bathed in pure starlight, Hogwarts Castle had fallen silent, perhaps because Professor Bryan had taken most of the castle's armor for himself, and the castle was much quieter than ever, except for the portraits on the walls, whispering to the young wizard who had returned late.

The young wizards of the four houses were in the foyer, Slytherin and Hufflepuff heading towards the basement, while Ravenclaw and Gryffindor headed to their respective towers.

"Oh, that's--"

Eager to share with Ron what he had experienced tonight, Harry hurried up the spiral staircase, and his eyes undoubtedly caught a glimpse of a limping figure patrolling the edge, the figure just out of the light of Hagrid's room, and into the invisible darkness.

"It's Professor Moody—"

Harry said with a little surprise,

"Could it be that he patrols the campus every night, and Professor Dumbledore ordered him to do this?"

"Oh, not necessarily!"

Fred said with gusto,

"You all know he's from the Aurors' seat, and Dad says he's very vigilant, and I'm guessing he thinks Hogwarts is Azkaban, and he doesn't think it's safe here!"

"But there's no way someone can break into Hogwarts quietly, right?"

Hermione said disapprovingly.

"Not necessarily,"

Harry grinned,

"Sirius did it, and Peter Pettigrew, who lurked in the school for more than two years before he was discovered."

The children of the Weasley family shuddered a few times at the mention of Peter Pettigrew, a despicable fellow who had been lurking at Hogwarts for more than two years, but had been in their house in the form of Animagus for twelve years, and every time the family talked about it, Mr. Weasley's face turned blue, and their mother, Mrs. Weasley, looked like she was having trouble breathing.

"But why didn't he get himself a lamp?" Ginny grunted.

"Even the darkness can't fool his eyes—" Fred said with a little respect, "Aside from Professor Brian, Moody is the most promising Defence Against the Dark Arts professor in years!" ”

"It's just cool!" George added.

Harry didn't like this very much, he was more emotionally inclined to Remus and Sirius than Professor Moody, but Hermione asked with interest,

"What's going on?"

"Absolutely wonderful--"

Fred and George exchanged meaningful glances, and Fred jumped onto a corner platform, turned around and raised an eyebrow at Hermione.

"Definitely beyond your imagination, he is a true master of fighting black magic!"

"We've got his class tomorrow--" Harry suddenly remembered the incident, and he asked with gusto, "Professor Moody's class is more interesting than Professor Bryne's physical education class?" ”

Before tonight, Harry wouldn't have used the word funny to describe Professor Brian's PE class, but would have used 'useful'.

"It's two different things, Harry!" George said disapprovingly.

"Professor Blaine has said that he wants to see if Professor Moody's teaching is up to the mark, and if not, he will kick Professor Moody out of Hogwarts, and he has been preparing for this PE class for the past two days, and maybe, tomorrow he will be in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom--"

Ginny said coldly.

"When did this happen?" Fred and George looked at their little sister in astonishment, "Why do you know?" ”

"It was the first day of school, after their duel in the foyer—" Ginny said, glancing at Harry, "I was hiding behind a pillar outside the door, Professor McGonagall didn't see me, I overheard their conversation. ”

No one wanted to see that happen, Professor Moody had been invited by Professor Dumbledore after all, and he was a good friend of Mr. Weasley.

Harry felt even more guilty, after all, Professor Moody had taught Malfoy a lesson that day in order to punish Malfoy for his sneak attack, and if he was kicked out of Hogwarts by Professor Bryan because of this, Harry felt that he also had a responsibility, although the culprit was Malfoy.

With this in mind, Harry returned to his Gryffindor common room.

Perhaps it was the revelry of the previous days that had drained most of the people's energy, and it was still early for the Gryffindor little wizards, but there was no one in the common room with its comfortable armchairs and sofas, and in the dimly lit common room, only the smoldering flames in the fireplace burst out from time to time.

After tonight's lesson, the diligent Hermione didn't have the energy to study, she picked up Crook Hill from under the couch, waved to Harry, and walked to the girls' dormitory with Hatcher.

After saying goodbye to Fred and George, Harry and Neville returned to their dorm.

Unsurprisingly, Ron and the others weren't asleep, he was sitting on a cushion on the floor with Seamus and Dean playing chess.

"General!"

Ron shouted with a fluttering eyebrow, and at the same time, the knight on the chessboard jumped in front of the king on the opposite side, picked up his spear and flew the king away, causing Dean to sigh.

"Oh, you're back?"

Ron raised his head and was about to greet Seamus on the field, when he suddenly saw Harry and Neville walking in, and catching a glimpse of their looks, Ron raised his eyebrows and said with a grin,

"What's the matter, the smell of big eggs finally broke you two?"

"Didn't Professor Bryan tell Hermione about the new changes in this class?"

Dean, who had lost another game, stood up and twisted his ass, and asked curiously,

"Professor Bryan ramped up the dosage of the big poop eggs?"

"Oh, you're missing out!"

Harry was thinking about what to say to make it less irritating to Ron, but in the face of the inquiry, Neville spoke first, and he said to the remaining three people in the dorm room with great interest,

"Professor Bryan has officially started teaching us magic, dueling magic!"

"What?!"

Seamus and Dean screamed in unison, and Seamus couldn't care about packing up the pieces that had been defeated all night, and jumped up and grabbed Neville's arm with Dean,

"What's going on, Neville, tell us about it!"

So, Neville told him all the details of tonight's lesson, from Professor Bryan's analysis of the three subdivisions of dueling magic, to the way magic was taught in an unbelievable way.

Even Harry was surprised that Neville, who had always liked to lose his mind, could remember what Professor Bryan had said in class so clearly.

"So, Harry—"

Ron, who had been standing like thunder for a long time, finally reacted, his cheeks bulged in surprise, and he looked at Harry and asked softly,

"It's true, isn't it, Professor Bryan really taught you duels I mean dueling magic?"

Harry nodded, and said in as light a tone as he could,

"It's just some basic, duel-ready spells that Ron, Charms class can learn as well, but Professor Brian has advanced our progress—"

"Learn magic in Professor Bryne's mental world!"

Seamus wrinkled in annoyance, and he went back to his bed sulking,

"Damn, we're missing something!"

"You say—" Dean pulled his hair in regret, "is it possible for Professor Bryan to accept our apology and get us back to this course?" ”

Ron froze, then looked at Harry with the same look of hope.

Harry and Neville looked at each other, and both fell silent.

Chessboards and flags were scattered on the blankets, and no one wanted to clean them up. Several people in this dorm room have gone to bed, but the same topics that used to start up after going to bed didn't come up tonight. No one spoke, and the dorm room, which had become dark after the lights were turned off, was enveloped in a dreary atmosphere, which could not be diluted by the bright moonlight that penetrated through the window.

Harry quietly looked up at Ron's bed, and found Ron facing the wall, covering himself tightly with the quilt as if he had fallen asleep.

But Harry knew Ron, and he knew that Ron must be pretending to be asleep.

Who could have predicted that things would turn out like this?

Harry, who was also full of sorrow, dropped his head back on the pillow and looked at the ceiling splashed with dappled light and shadows, and gradually, his consciousness fell into chaos. (End of chapter)