Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor Peter

Chapter 127 Desensitization Therapy
Snake crawled out of the box slowly, twisting its haunches and hissing uncomfortably, closing its haw to protect its yellow eyes from the bright lights in the room.

The students stared at it with wide eyes. Neville's schoolbag was scattered on the floor. Draco almost slipped off his chair. Justin Fenriely pointed at it and exclaimed excitedly, "Basilisk!"

"Professor Peddy, is this... the legendary Slytherin monster?" Parvati asked.

"Yes."

"But it's not as big as I thought..."

"The basilisk's threat is its fangs and eyes," Peter explained, "and, for safety's sake, I shrank it by three-quarters..."

With a wave of Peter's wand, Snake's body suddenly swelled up, instantly occupying the entire open space in the middle of the classroom. The sofas of Seamus and McLaggen were overturned, and a dozen students stood up in fright and fled back.

"This is the original size of the Snake, which was once Salazar Slytherin's pet, and Slytherin left it in the Chamber of Secrets after breaking with the other three founders... Speaking of which, it was 1000 years ago previous story."

Most of the people crowded into the corner of the classroom, stretching their necks in fear and curiosity, only Snape looked up at the basilisk's dagger-like fangs without any fear on his face.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione boldly stood where they were, just an arm's length away from Snake's slightly heaving body.

"Professor Peddie, can I pet it?" Hermione asked.

Ron's face turned pale, and he grabbed Hermione's shoulders and wrapped his arms around her waist, completely ignoring Parvati's piercing gaze.

"Hermione! Are you crazy?" Ron said these words through his teeth. "This is a Slytherin monster! Don't you know what that old madman in Slytherin is?"

"Hermione, it was trying to kill you..." Harry also persuaded.

"Don't worry, it won't hurt you." Peter said calmly.

Everyone, including Harry and Ron, stared at Peter dumbfounded. Letting Muggle-born Hermione touch Slytherin's monsters... It was too reckless.

Hermione stretched out her arm nervously, and before her fingertips touched the snake's huge scales and bulging belly, its muscles contracted, deftly avoiding Hermione's touch.

It hissed, "Muggle...disgusting..."

"No, you have to let her touch it," said Peter's Dictionary in Parseltongue.

Hermione was put off by Parseltongue, Peter gestured to encourage her to try again, and Hermione held out her hand again.

"No..." Snake's body was sunken in like a jelly, and Hermione was emptied again. She got stubborn, took two steps forward, and stretched out her hand to touch it. Snake flicked back quickly. , wrapping itself around the tip of its tail.

"Muggle... go away!" Its snake letter stretched in its mouth menacingly, and its neck was thick and flattened.

There was laughter from the students, even Harry and Ron were struggling to hold back laughter, and Hermione's brown eyes and snake's yellow eyes turned to Peter for help.

Peter saw that the snake snake tied itself in a knot, trying to reduce the area as much as possible to avoid being touched by Hermione. Peter worried that if she managed to touch the body of the basilisk, the latter might take drastic actions, such as shedding its skin .

"Forget it today, thank you for your courage, Hermione, but some things cannot be forced."

He waved his wand, and the snake shrunk back into a juvenile state. The students who were originally afraid of the basilisk relaxed after laughing, and returned to the sofa to sit down.

Peter lightly pressed the tip of the staff again, the chandelier and the fire in the room were immediately extinguished, and hundreds of clusters of fluorescent balls floated into the air, emitting a long light blue cold light, and the whole classroom seemed to be immersed in the waves.

The students looked at the dreamlike atmosphere around them in amazement, opened their mouths involuntarily, and praised one after another.Fred tried to grab the fluorescent ball with his hands, but it just passed through his palm without leaving a trace.

Satisfied with the new light in the room, Snake wriggled comfortably, the nictitating membranes on its yellow eyes opened, and the fluorescent balls reflected its bright green scales sparkling.

"Snakes love a dark environment. Turning out the fire will make them feel comfortable. Oh, yes, Professor Snape is the same..." Peter joked.

Under the light blue light, Snape's face looked even paler, "Ah, thank you, Professor Peddie." The corners of his mouth curled up, revealing an expression that was almost a smile.

The students were whispering, they all wanted to complain about how cold the Potions classroom was made by Snape.

"This background atmosphere is very suitable." Peter walked happily to several covered boxes, "After introducing the Inferi, Werewolves and Dementors, now let's enter a topic of aquatic black magic creatures—"

He removed the cloth covering the glass box, which contained several slimy, dark creatures, and moved the box to the center of the classroom so that the students could see clearly. Then, he returned to his seat, leisurely sat down.

"In keeping with this theme, the next lecture will be given by our Snake Professor - yes, Miss Granger, not Snake-Professor Nepe - who has lived around Slytherin for many years and knows a lot of ancient knowledge."

Most of the students looked at Peter without understanding, and a small part subconsciously looked at Snape. Snape curled his lips in dissatisfaction.

Snake climbed up to the first box, lowered its head and touched it, the ugly monkey-like animal in the box saw its yellow eyes, and shrank in the corner in fright, "Next... I... come to... tell a story Tell... Kabbah."

Its hissing sound was quickly translated into English by the dictionary on Peter's body. After the translation, the voice sounded very much like Peter himself. The students suddenly realized that they all stared at the basilisk in the middle of the classroom intently.

"Before I begin... I hope... the Muggles here... get out..." it said, "you are... magical... thieves..."

"Snake, don't say that!" Peter interrupted. "What did we say before? Give the lecture, okay?"

"Yes...Master..." It bared its snake teeth at Justin Fenry, intending to threaten him, and Justin took a step back.

Snape got up from his seat and stood next to Peter against the wall.

"Kaba is a kind of... a water monster from... Japan..." Snake said, "It's not...not tasty at all..."

Led by Fred, the students burst out laughing, and under cover of laughter Snape murmured, "That was funny when you made fun of my last name, Wormtail - Kabbahs are more common in Mongolia, by the way. See."

"Don't be so serious, Severus," Peter teased.

Snape raised an eyebrow: "That's great, starting to attack my name again."

"Smiling is good for your health," Peter said with a smile. "How's your injury?"

"Not much," he said perfunctorily, "—how did you get the basilisk to give a lecture?"

"This is 'desensitization therapy'. I hope that snakes and Muggle-born students can have more contact without hostility." Peter said.

(End of this chapter)