Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor Peter

Chapter 30 Pre-match preparation
That afternoon, Harry's practice was still not going well.

Sometimes he managed to cast three stunning spells successfully, but three spells were not enough to knock down a dragon, and his success rate was low.

Harry was a little depressed, and he felt that his performance was not good enough for Peter and Sirius.

"You have practiced well," Sirius said with relief, "Most wizards will never be able to cast the simplest multiple stun spell in their lifetime."

"But I don't have a lifetime left," Harry whispered. "There are only three days until the first project, and it would be a shame for Gryffindor if I were burned to death by a dragon."

"Listen, Harry," said Sirius, patting him on the shoulder, "don't think about anything else, the glory of Gryffindor is nothing compared to your safety."

Harry nodded, and continued to practice the Multiple Stunning Spells diligently.

By dinner time, Harry was so tired that he was about to collapse, and Peter felt a little tired when he changed the target for him.

"I can't practice anymore today." Peter said firmly.

"Professor, but..." Harry began to protest.

"Harry, you have to learn to balance work and rest. Go to the auditorium for dinner now, and you must go to bed early tonight." Peter said, walking off the platform.

Harry saw that Professor Peddie had already issued an eviction order, so he had to obediently go to the auditorium for dinner.

Looking at his back, Sirius showed a trace of worry on his face.

"Peter, I don't think Harry will be able to practice well before the competition," Sirius said. "He's only 14 years old. It's hard to master the Stunning Spell. How can he learn multiple Stunning Spells within three days?"

Peter was silent for a while, as if he was thinking about something.

Before long, he said slowly, "It's okay, Harry can just do his best, and I can find my own way of doing the rest."

Sirius looked at him, unable to guess what his solution was.

The next morning, Harry came to Peter's Dragon Arena again.

Hermione had wanted to come with him, but Harry had turned him down - having two people with him all day and practicing alone was a luxury enough.

As yesterday, Peter was on the high platform in charge of changing targets and controlling the dragon, with Sirius at Harry's side to provide guidance.

The only difference is: this time, Peter enveloped the entire Dragon Fighting Arena in a magical space.

Neither Harry nor Sirius understood Peter's intentions, and they speculated that the increased concentration of magic was somehow helpful in releasing the spell.

However, it turns out that the influence of magic concentration is extremely limited.

Harry was only occasionally able to cast a satisfying multiple stun spell, and he was limited to four spells at most.

Four spells were not enough to stun the rough-skinned and thick-skinned Ukrainian Ironbelly. Harry could only hope that the relatively smaller dragons used in the competition could barely cope with the four spells.

In one day, Harry and Ukrainian Ironbelly fought four times in actual combat, but they failed to knock it down once.

"Professor Peddie," said Harry sitting on the ground after a fiasco, "otherwise you should teach me to fight with magical space engraved items. It is difficult to use magic spells alone..."

"Don't be discouraged, just continue to practice according to the existing strategies," Peter said calmly, "The learning cycle of engraved items is much longer than that of multiple stun spells."

Both Harry and Sirius seemed anxious as the minutes passed, but Peter took his time, which puzzled them.

Could it be that Peter had sneaked a glimpse of the tournament dragon and was sure it was just a baby dragon that could be knocked down with just two or three Stunning Spells?
It was a new week, which meant less practice time for Harry, as he still had to juggle those heavy fourth-year classes.

In Monday's divination class, Professor Trelawney hinted that before December, a classmate in the class would "encounter bad luck, turn into ashes, and disappear from the world".

Ron still refused to speak to Harry, and he felt even more now that Harry was stealing the limelight.

Hermione took all of Harry's homework to herself, so that Harry could devote all his time to practice when he was not in class.

With the help of Peter and Sirius, Harry has made great progress.

He now averages just two or three attempts to hit Longan with the Eye Sickness Curse, and even one hit if he plays well.

But he had practiced multiple stun spells hundreds of times, and only managed to use the five-fold spell once, and it wasn't in the actual battle with the fire dragon.

Sirius has been encouraging Harry, but he himself is not too confident to be honest.

Judging from the current situation, whether Harry can pass the test depends entirely on luck, and the chances are very slim.

The Ministry of Magic once said that this Triwizard Tournament will guarantee the safety of the warriors. It stands to reason that even if Harry fails to fight the dragon, there will be corresponding safety measures.

But now there is a killer lurking in the campus, and this killer is very likely to have a connection with the Ministry of Magic, how dare he trust the Ministry of Magic?
The morning before the match, Harry was wolfing down his breakfast, and Hermione was chattering in his ear endlessly repeating various theoretical essentials of spellcasting, helping him to use the spare time to learn.

At this moment, the door of the auditorium was opened, and there was a lot of discussion among the students.

Harry looked up to see that it was Snape walking in.

He was still dressed in black, and his terrifying face was expressionless, but still somewhat haggard.

He leaned heavily on his cane with his left hand, as he did when he first came to school, and slid slowly between the student tables, his cloak flapping behind him.

He walked to the teacher's bench, and Harry saw Dumbledore and McGonagall standing up to welcome him back from a distance. Peter and Sirius had gone to the Dragon Arena, not the auditorium.

Snape turned away, and the discussion in the hall came to an abrupt end when he began to speak in his usual low voice.

"Due to some unfortunate reasons, we missed the Potions class for a whole week. I will make up these classes one after another in the next few days. This is your temporary class schedule."

As he spoke, he drew out his wand with his right hand and waved upwards, and several stacks of parchment on the teacher's bench flew out.

There was a clatter throughout the auditorium, and soon, a piece of parchment flew towards Harry, and Harry grabbed the parchment, praying that his Potions class was after number 24.

However, it was written on the parchment that Harry's class had four additional Potions lessons on the 23rd.

"Professor Snape," said Harry, raising his hand, "I'm sorry, but I need to prepare for the Triwizard Tournament today. Can I join other classes after the 24th?"

There was an instant silence in the auditorium, and everyone's eyes were on Harry. Due to Snape's terrifying appearance and indifferent personality, no Gryffindor student dared to ask Snape in public like Harry.

Surprisingly, Snape looked Harry in the eyes and nodded slightly.

(End of this chapter)