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HRHL# Chapter 46: Expelliarmus
🕑 Added 2024-12-24 04:39:10 +0000 UTCWhen Harry gave his answer, Dumbledore smiled, a look of relief spreading across his face.
"Legilimency. The incantation is Legilimens," he said, putting the cockroach cluster candy back into its jar.
"But you don’t need to worry. I don’t use this spell on young wizards," Dumbledore added with a wise smile befitting his age. "I’ve lived long enough, Harry. For a man over a hundred years old, whatever a child of eleven is thinking is written all over their face."
"That’s true," Harry replied with a smile, setting his cup back on the table, though he still kept his head lowered.
Noticing Harry’s lingering unease, Dumbledore spoke again. "Alright then, it’s getting late. I won’t keep you here chatting any longer—head back and get a good night’s sleep, Harry. Put today’s troubles behind you."
"Yes, Headmaster," Harry replied politely.
Dumbledore blinked, his half-moon glasses glinting with wisdom.
"I prefer being called ‘Professor’ over ‘Headmaster,’" he remarked.
"Alright, Professor," Harry agreed readily.
After Harry left, Dumbledore sat quietly in his chair for a long time, lost in thought.
The boy—Harry—had just now reminded him of an old acquaintance.
A former Hufflepuff student, none other than Newt Scamander, the famed Magizoologist.
Dumbledore did not suspect Harry of being the same person from a century ago. After all, time travel was known to happen occasionally, but crossing a hundred years? That was unheard of.
Besides, this Harry was not only an eleven-year-old first-year but also a child whose birth Dumbledore had personally witnessed and whom he had entrusted to the Dursleys.
The Harry Potter from a century ago, who had perished alongside Ranrock, had been a sixth-year student.
Unless Dumbledore had truly gone mad, such a far-fetched suspicion would never cross his mind.
"The magic of love is truly extraordinary, isn’t it?" Dumbledore mused, seemingly to himself, though perhaps he was speaking to Fawkes.
Fawkes tilted his head and chirped twice in response.
The next morning, right after breakfast, Harry dragged Ron and Hermione to the eighth floor of the castle.
It was Sunday, with no classes scheduled. Ron had planned to play Wizard’s Chess with someone but found himself here instead.
He pointed to the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy being bludgeoned by trolls and said, "Look at that—what a hilarious painting."
"‘Barnabas the Barmy’s Troll Experiment,’" Hermione explained, giving Ron a brief background on the painting.
"How do you know everything?" Ron asked, a little disheartened. "I feel like you should’ve been born into a wizarding family..."
"Read more books; it’ll do you good," Hermione replied, tapping her temple with a finger.
While the two bickered, Harry had already prepared the Room of Requirement.
A large door appeared out of nowhere on the wall opposite the painting, startling Ron and Hermione.
"This is where we’ll practice dueling," Harry said, introducing the room to his friends. "From now on, it’ll be our secret base—"
"Really, a secret base?" Ron’s interest piqued at those words. "Brilliant! I bet Fred and George have no clue about this place!"
"And why’s that?" Hermione asked, puzzled.
"Because if they knew, I’d know," Ron replied with a shrug.
The trio pushed the door open and stepped inside, greeted by a professional training area for spell practice.
The walls were mirrored, thick cushions were casually piled in the corners, and at the far end of the room stood a row of dummies holding wands.
"Cool!" Ron exclaimed, pulling out his wand. "It’s a shame this has to stay a secret. If Fred and George saw this, they’d die of envy!"
"So, which spell are we practicing?" Hermione asked.
"Spells Professor Quirrell won’t teach us," Harry said succinctly. "For example, the most basic dueling spell—the Disarming Charm."
He walked to the center of the room and summoned a dummy holding a wand.
"Watch closely—like this. Expelliarmus!"
A flash of red light shot from Harry’s wand, striking the dummy’s hand. The wand spun through the air, and Harry deftly caught it.
"This is the simple Disarming Charm," Harry explained, placing the wand back in the dummy’s hand.
"That’s the Disarming Charm?" Ron scratched his head. "Doesn’t seem very cool—definitely not as flashy as I imagined."
"The most powerful spells are often the simplest," Harry explained. "Spellcasting is infinitely versatile—just like the Levitation Charm you’ve used before."
Harry demonstrated, pointing his wand at a nearby chair. "Wingardium Leviosa!"
The chair floated into the air.
"Now watch this."
Harry set the chair down gently, then used the Disarming Charm to knock the dummy’s wand away again. This time, he followed up with the Levitation Charm to accelerate the wand’s flight, sending it hurtling into the dummy’s eye socket.
"That’s barbaric..." Hermione frowned.
"Barbaric?" Harry thought to himself. It was clear these children had grown up in peaceful times.
Back in his day, students feared their spells weren’t barbaric enough to effectively harm Dark wizards.
"Dark wizards won’t bother with civility, Hermione," Harry said. "You need to understand—they’re vicious and ruthless. Take the Death Eaters who tortured Neville’s parents, for example. Do you think they care about being civil or barbaric in a duel? No, at that moment, you’d only worry whether your spells were strong enough."
"Harry’s right," Ron added. "Dark wizards are the most cunning and merciless people you’ll ever meet..."
"Sorry, Harry," Hermione said, nodding in agreement.
"Here’s how it’s done," Harry said, patting Ron’s shoulder and demonstrating in slow motion. "Swing your wand like this—horizontal, then vertical... Expelliarmus!"
"Expelliarmus!" Ron mimicked Harry, pointing his wand at the dummy in the middle of the room.
Nothing happened.
The atmosphere grew awkward.
It wasn’t just Ron; Hermione also failed to produce any results.
Harry patiently corrected their movements. Half an hour later, Hermione successfully cast the Disarming Charm, followed shortly by a determined Ron.
While Ron and Hermione practiced, Harry found himself deep in thought.
There was no doubt that the Disarming Charm had been his specialty back in the day.
Veratia had even suggested he refine the spell further. Her idea was to mark a target with other magic, allowing the Disarming Charm to chain between multiple enemies.
In simple terms, it meant a single Disarming Charm could disarm multiple opponents at once.
In theory, when several enemies were close together, one Disarming Charm could disarm them simultaneously. But Veratia’s vision was to extend this capability to distant or even extreme distances, allowing one spell to disarm multiple foes at once.
