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Chapter 1293: Conditioned Reflex
🕑 Added 2024-11-17 20:51:23 +0000 UTCHarry's behavior was like throwing a drop of cold water into boiling oil.
The students instantly became excited, and the classroom was filled with chatter that became louder and louder.
Everyone was speculating, did Harry do this premeditatedly?
Or did he cast the Shield Charm to protect himself without thinking because he guessed Snape was going to jinx him?
To use a Muggle professional term to describe it, was he doing this as a conditioned reflex?
If it was the latter, it would be understandable, as this often happened when using magic.
But if it was the former, then Harry was really brave, and Snape's face was now terribly gloomy.
“Do you remember me telling you we are practicing nonverbal spells, Potter?"
"Yes," said Harry stiffly.
"Yes, sir," Snape reminded.
“There’s no need to call me ‘sir,’ Professor."
Silence!
Absolute silence!
Stunned silence!!!
If his earlier actions were like a drop of cold water in hot oil, now it was as if he had poured an entire bucket in.
The hot oil burst into a ball with a crackling sound and cooled down instantly.
As soon as Harry finished speaking, the classroom fell into an unimaginable silence.
No one spoke, and no one speculated or whispered. The nature of the matter seemed clear.
Several people gasped, including Hermione.
Harry was challenging Snape's authority, which was very brave, but no matter how you looked at it, he was courting death...
Evan sighed. He thought Harry was being too reckless.
He knew that last term, the two of them had a very unpleasant argument over the issue of teaching Occlumency.
Harry had secretly looked at Snape's memory and felt a little upset at first, thinking that his father had wronged Snape.
On Evan’s suggestion, Harry had even apologized. If it were anyone else, they might have accepted Harry’s belated apology on behalf of his father, reminisced a bit about the past, and then taken Harry under their wing — a happy ending for all.
But Snape would never do that. Forgiveness wasn’t in his nature; he had thrown Harry out without a second thought.
Later, Sirius returned to school and made things worse. He told Harry about the past. The specific content was unknown, but the final result was that Harry no longer felt guilty towards Snape, but became hostile again.
Now, both of them were holding onto grudges, their mutual dislike reaching new heights.
It was clear from what happened in this class that Snape was targeting Harry.
Harry did not choose to endure it, but instead resisted head-on. Not only did he block Snape with the Shield Charm, he also spoke to Snape like this.
No one in the school dared to imagine such a thing, because the consequences would be disastrous.
Snape was different from other professors, he would definitely take revenge.
“Detention, Saturday night, my office,” said Snape. “I do not take cheek from anyone, Potter ... not even ‘the Chosen One.’"
The only consolation was that class ended shortly after Snape announced the punishment.
Harry didn't say anything. He grabbed his schoolbag and rushed out of the classroom without looking back.
Evan and Hermione exchanged glances and hurriedly followed. “Are you alright, Harry?” Evan asked.
“I’m fine!" Harry said simply, walking quickly and silently ahead.
But from the look of him, he didn’t seem fine at all.
“Actually, you really shouldn’t have said it,” Hermione paused, then continued, “What made you?"
"Nothing wrong with me. He tried to jinx me, in case you didn’t notice!"
"It was the Hair-Thickening Charm. If it had hit, all the hair on your body would instantly grow long and thick," said Evan, using a metaphor. "You’d look like... er, like Hagrid’s beard."
"That's hilarious!" fumed Harry. “I had enough of that during those Occlumency lessons! Why doesn’t he use another guinea pig for a change? What’s Dumbledore playing at, anyway, letting him teach Defense? Did you hear him talking about the Dark Arts? He loves them! All that unfixed, indestructible stuff —"
“Well,” said Hermione, “I thought he sounded a bit like you."
"Like me?" Harry stopped abruptly and looked at her in surprise.
“Yes, last term, when you were telling us, in D.A., what it’s like to face Voldemort," said Hermione. "Remember?"
The D.A.’s enemy was Voldemort, and only Evan and Harry among everyone had faced him.
Harry, in particular, was deeply touched.
Once, during a meeting, Harry had shared with everyone what it felt like to face Voldemort.
Evan remembered that Harry had spoken well, though he hadn’t memorized his words as clearly as Hermione had.
"You said that facing Voldemort wasn’t just memorizing a bunch of spells, you said it was just you and your brains and your guts —" said Hermione, "well, wasn’t that what Snape was saying? That it really comes down to being brave and quick-thinking?"
Harry stared at Hermione, then turned to look at Evan.
His anger gradually faded. He had not expected that Hermione would think his words as well worth memorizing as The Standard Book of Spells.
"I'm sorry, I was too impulsive just now. I should have restrained myself," he said. "But when I saw..."
"Harry! Hey, Harry!" Jack Sloper ran over excitedly. He was the same age as Evan, but the two of them were not in the same dormitory. He was a guy fascinated by Quidditch. "I heard about it. What you did just now was amazing!"
The news spread unbelievably quickly — less than five minutes had passed since the end of class.
But that was Hogwarts; news and rumors like this always spread rapidly.
And students never failed to exercise their creativity; as it spread, the story twisted and turned until it was hardly recognizable.
Just wait; by dinnertime, people would be saying Harry and Snape had a full-on duel in class...
“It’s about time someone stood up to Snape, just like we stood up to Umbridge last term. As long as we stick together, we can beat him,” said Jack excitedly, looking at Evan and Harry. “If you two start something, count me in."
He seemed to be getting a little carried away. Snape was not the same as Umbridge.
Besides, why would Evan and Harry want to rally students against Snape?
"Anything else?"
“Oh, yeah! Professor Dumbledore asked me to give this to you two.” Jack handed over a roll of parchment, watching curiously as Evan unrolled it, and continued, “I ran into the Headmaster in Professor McGonagall’s office — it gave me a fright. I was actually there to sign up for the Quidditch team. When’re you holding trials?"
"This Saturday, if there are any changes, I’ll let you know," said Harry, looking at the contents of the parchment...
