Chapter 118: Discussions

Chapter 118: Discussions

On the day before Valentine's Day, a restless youthful energy pervaded Hogwarts, bringing the entire school to life.

Among the young wizarding community, various techniques for confession were being passed around. From the preferred methods of confession, like beneath the mistletoe, to what attire to wear during confessions, a comprehensive set of advice was compiled.

There was even a sudden influx of low-quality love potions, prompting several professors to firmly shut down a few students and thus put an end to this trend.

As a result, the focus of the young wizards shifted to the star students of each house. They began discussing which wizard was the most dashing and which witch was the most beautiful...

Some particularly popular individuals even gained devoted admirers, like Cedric Diggory from Hufflepuff. He was already quite popular, and his talents displayed in several dueling classes quickly spread his fame to other years and houses.

Harry had been feeling a bit troubled recently. With the combined aura of a savior and the recognition of his special contributions to the school, his fame remained consistently high. Especially after displaying the corpse of the serpent during school, the fear of the serpent transformed into a deep respect for Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

However, this reverence was even more noticeable with Harry. He was the only one who exhibited such remarkable combat talent, his Disarming Charm even surpassing that of many older students.

This earned him a group of admirers.

"Harry, a few girls over there are looking at you again. Can't you do something about it?" Hermione said irritably.

Harry looked at a bunch of younger witch students in a corner of the library, feeling quite helpless. Their behavior was quite audacious as they stared at him directly. Whenever he glanced their way, they hid their faces behind books and giggled.

Ginny, not far away, was working on her homework, occasionally stealing glances at Harry while flipping through her book.

It didn't take long for Harry's problem to be resolved on its own. Madam Pince, the librarian, waved her wand and chased away these disruptive young witches.

He heaved a sigh of relief.

Ron, on the other hand, was somewhat envious. The ones who loved hearing his stories were all boys, and the enthusiasm for his tales was gradually waning.

As the three exited the library, they began discussing the new professor.

"I wonder what the new professor is like. Hopefully not someone like Lockhart or Quirrell..." Ron said with a shudder, clearly haunted by the memories those two left him.

"I've learned a lot from the dueling classes," Harry said nonchalantly. His favorite class this year was undoubtedly Defense Against the Dark Arts, though it was a pity that it only happened twice a month.

"Harry, Dueling class is different from Defense Against the Dark Arts. The latter teaches you to resist danger, while dueling is just one way of doing so," Hermione said. "Actually, Snape's theories align quite well with the requirements of Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Ron stared at her in shock, as if she had just uttered something astonishingly unconventional.

"Oh, come on, I'm just giving an objective assessment," Hermione said.

Ancient Runes classroom.

Felix Harp was sorting through his findings. Over the weekend, he had shared the serpent creature's materials with Snape.

The other professors were not particularly interested, except for Professor Burbage and Hagrid, who had come to see a few times.

Professor Burbage's reaction was the most genuine. She looked regretful and said, "If only we could have kept it alive... I mean, prepared better."

Given this professor's exaggerated history, Felix was quite skeptical.

Hagrid's attitude was more complex. His large hand touched the scales of the serpent creature, and he said with a hint of sadness, "I was expelled because of it, not long after my dad passed away. He loved me so much... those were dark days."

He wiped his tears with a dirty handkerchief, sharing his sorrow with Felix.

However, before Felix could find comforting words, Hagrid adjusted his tone on his own. He looked at the serpent creature's venomous fangs and its empty eyes and said, "Charming creatures, aren't they?"

...

Laid out before Felix were shimmering green serpent skin and the scales separated from it, along with a dozen venomous fangs.

These were the results of his processing. Originally, the scales on the serpent skin couldn't be peeled off, just like with most snakes. What was referred to as scales were actually the snake's superficial skin and accumulated keratin.

Yet, under the influence of magic, nothing was impossible. Felix easily separated the scales from the skin.

Serpent creatures had extremely high magical resistance, comparable to that of a Hungarian Horntail dragon. Even if a spell hit their thick scales, it might only leave a shallow dent.

He was considering using the serpent skin to craft a close-fitting armor. That way, ordinary spells wouldn't affect him at all.

As for the scales, Felix hadn't decided how to handle them yet – magical inertness posed a challenge.

He could only hope that Professor Snape would discover a use for serpent creature scales, preferably transforming them into rare potion ingredients.

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