[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-hogwarts-learning-panel":3,"chapter-hogwarts-learning-panel-hogwarts-learning-panel-chapter-18":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Hogwarts Learning Panel",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2250256,4210,"Chapter 18: Dark Arts Defense","hogwarts-learning-panel-chapter-18",18,"\u003Cp>Michael’s resentment still lingered until the Dark Arts Defense class began.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On Tuesday, Ravenclaw had Dark Arts Defense class together with Slytherin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hogwarts classes were usually held with two houses combined,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>except on rare occasions,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>such as when special astronomical phenomena occurred, and all four houses might attend Astronomy together.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was what Wizard Sean heard from Michael’s constant muttering on the way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>According to him,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dark Arts Defense was the most popular course at Hogwarts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This raised Anthony and Terry’s anticipation for the class to its peak.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wizard Sean, walking behind, shook his head—Dark Arts Defense was indeed appealing, but the teaching quality was worrying.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The crucial Dark Arts Defense class,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>in the first year, had a stuttering professor,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>in the second year, a fraud,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>in the third and fourth years, professors who were at least normal,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>but by the fifth year, it became a pink magical toad.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the sixth year, Snape finally got the position,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>and in the seventh year, it was a Death Eater who only persecuted students and never taught.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at it this way, only three of the seven years of Dark Arts Defense offered real learning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Therefore, Wizard Sean decided to study on his own.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In his hand he clutched *Theory of Magical Defense*, a fifth-year textbook he had borrowed early,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>because he felt he would need it,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>not because he could read it for free without paying.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once Dark Arts Defense began, the faint hope Wizard Sean had held vanished,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>though Wizard Sean knew Quirrell had once been a brilliant Ravenclaw,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>after becoming a double agent, he had clearly lost the knowledge he once prided himself on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or rather, he had no energy left to display it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Michael in the front row finally understood Wizard Sean’s strange behavior.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wizard Sean had sat early in the back row, burying himself in study even before class started,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>when Michael, still puzzled, suddenly smelled a strong stench of garlic,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>compounded by Quirrell’s stammering, mumbled recitation from the textbook,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Michael felt as if he had entered hell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Terry, sitting closest to Quirrell, sat motionless—as if he had been poisoned by the smell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Ghouls are divided into several types:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mountain-dwelling ghouls, river-dwelling ghouls, and sea-dwelling ghouls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mountain-dwelling ghouls are the largest, with pale gray bodies, bald heads, skin rougher than a rhinoceros’s, and strength greater than ten men combined.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet their brains are no larger than a pea, so they are easily confused…]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wizard Sean read carefully from *Dark Forces: A Making Guide to Self-Protection*, a book written by Quentin Trimble,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>whose cover bore no text or patterns—only deep, impenetrable black,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>just like its content: concise and efficient.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Banshees, zombies, hags, ghouls, vampires, werewolves, Tibetan snowmen, boggarts, red caps, kappas, hinkypunks, grindylows—all were crammed into this slim volume,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>yet despite being packed with detailed knowledge of every creature and spirit,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>it still had room to explain counter-charms and dispelling spells.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These were truly practical tools, so Wizard Sean memorized them repeatedly,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>the only disappointment being that, given Quirrell’s condition, Wizard Sean doubted he would learn any real defensive spells from him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That meant Wizard Sean would have to teach himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But whether it was the Disarming Charm or the Shield Charm,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>both were advanced spells.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At least, Wizard Sean had not seen them in *Standard Book of Spells: Grade One*.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So how would Wizard Sean learn them?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Wizard Sean frowned, the Dark Arts Defense class ended,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>the young wizards fled the classroom as if escaping,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>while Michael and Terry remained seated, motionless—as if they had meditated into oblivion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wizard Sean walked over, slightly concerned,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>only for Michael to suddenly lunge at him and bellow:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s torture!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wizard Sean jumped in surprise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Compared to Dark Arts Defense, the next class—Charms—was undoubtedly what Wizard Sean looked forward to.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Professor Flitwick was no double agent—he was a true wizard with real teaching ability,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>and he would teach young wizards proper wand movements and correct incantation pronunciation, exactly what Wizard Sean needed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wizard Sean knew that a wizard’s power came from belief,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>something many in his past life had called “I-think-it-so power.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But merely thinking it wasn’t enough—he had experienced firsthand what happened after he thought about it for a full week.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His explanation was this: yes, a wizard’s power came from belief,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>but how you thought, and how you directed that thought, was equally vital.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As stated in *Magical Theory* by Adelbert Wolfram, the “Father of Magical Theory”:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Most wizards cannot control magic on their own, so they require spells and wands to Making Guide it,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>enabling magic to be consciously manipulated to achieve a purpose.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Charms classroom was on the fourth floor, and the constantly shifting spiral stairs caused great trouble for the young wizards.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All the Ravenclaw students were jammed on one staircase, while the staircase leading to the Charms classroom refused to turn into place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Behind the crowd, Terry scribbled in a notebook:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m about to figure out the pattern.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beside him, Michael rubbed his forehead:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Terry, I believe you can succeed, but by the time you figure it out, we’ll already be late.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Facing the slipping time and the unmoving stairs, the students panicked like ants on a hot pan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Today was the Head of Ravenclaw’s first lesson—and all his Ravenclaws were late—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Oh my God!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wizard Sean sighed and went back to reading.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He couldn’t change the stairs; he could only review his textbook ahead of time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Alright, alright, come closer, Terry, this time we’re counting on you.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wizard Sean, move—just don’t be the last one into the classroom.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Michael said, pulling Wizard Sean forward, with Anthony and Terry right behind,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>the four of them forcing a path through the crowd.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ready, Terry?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Almost… there…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s your fourth time saying the same thing! Merlin’s stinking underpants!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Michael seemed mentally broken from the garlic and the stairs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, Wizard Sean saw an unusually tall ghost pass through the wall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her appearance suddenly sparked an idea in him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Lady Gray.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wizard Sean whispered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lady Gray drifted over, and the surrounding Ravenclaw students immediately felt the temperature drop.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A ghost! Oh my!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“She’s coming!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most young wizards still feared ghosts more than they were curious about them,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>and everyone instantly pressed together—even bold Michael trembled as he asked:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Wizard Sean, what are you doing?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The prefect said Lady Gray might be connected to the Eagle Ancestor, remember?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wizard Sean whispered in explanation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Miss Grey, could you help us get through the turning staircase? We're going to be late for Potions.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wizard Sean asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Miss Grey said nothing; she gave Wizard Sean a serious look.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That one glance nearly gave Michael and Terry a heart attack.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Too close... too close...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Wizard Sean, this doesn't seem like a good idea...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amid their trembling voices, the staircase ahead rumbled and rotated, swiftly connecting to the one they stood on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Michael and Terry widened their eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>",1152,"2026-06-19T10:00:40.768Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","7e6598ebc39bdfc9416d4d075497b83dfe1296b1bbf361b094ab276a552ea914","hogwarts-learning-panel-chapter-19","hogwarts-learning-panel-chapter-17",526,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fhogwarts-learning-panel-cover.jpg"]