Rhys Lint being called up to the podium didn't come as a surprise to most of the students. Who told him to talk back to Professor White?
As for whether that essay was actually written by Rhys himself, the students of Slytherin House had been around him long enough to know better. They had eyes, after all.
This development even made people like Malfoy quite pleased: if he couldn't deal with Rhys himself, surely Professor White could. Go, Professor White!
As for that set of golden goblets his family bought...
Malfoy had received a reply from his father and was currently in the middle of a dispute with Mr. Borgin. The two sides were locked in argument. Mr. Borgin told Lucius that he had indeed acquired the goblets from Madam White, and that her identity as a centuries-old witch actually made the set even more credible.
Lucius, however, questioned their authenticity and suspected that Madam White had forged them. He wanted to return the goblets.
By rights, once Lucius had bought the antiques, he shouldn't have kept pursuing the matter, but he was a Malfoy. If Borgin wanted to stay in business, he'd have to compromise.
So most likely, the final outcome would be that Borgin refunded part of the money, and Lucius kept the goblets—if they were authentic, it'd be a huge win; if not, the loss wouldn't be too great.
Rhys stood calmly at the podium, facing Helga.
"I'm ready, Professor ..White."
Seeing that Salazar still had the cheek to crack jokes, Helga said nothing more and directly cast the Infinite Expansion Curse on him.
Rhys just stood there, completely still. Although his body didn't move on the outside, his internal organs, blood, and muscles were constantly in motion—so gradually, his body began to swell like a balloon.
Helga watched coldly from the side. She knew perfectly well that Salazar definitely knew the counter-curse. Calling him up was merely to provide a demonstration for the students—and to help little Daphne vent her frustration a bit.
But to her surprise, Rhys didn't do anything. He simply stood there and allowed his body to bloat larger and larger.
Helga Hufflepuff: ???
Why aren't you lifting the curse?!
Now she was the one in an awkward position on the platform.
She couldn't very well let Salazar keep inflating, could she?
Never mind the old snake's wellbeing—the main concern was not scaring the children. The sight of a "balloon" bursting would be horrifying.
Finally, when the skin on Rhys's body had turned pale and even the blood vessels beneath were clearly visible, Helga was forced to step in.
She ended the swelling with a Petrification Charm, then fed him a bit of Shrinking Potion to speed up his return to normal.
"Class, this is the correct way to handle the Infinite Expansion Curse…" Helga decided to carry on with the lesson plan, regardless of what the old snake was plotting.
Outside the classroom window, Rhys had conjured a small platform with magic and was now comfortably stretching on it.
Knowing full well that Helga intended to experiment with all sorts of curses on him, showing up in person had been a bit foolish!
Yeah.. The Rhys being tossed around in the classroom by Hufflepuff was actually just a decoy!
Perched outside the window, Rhys narrowed his eyes. He decided he'd teach Helga a lesson shortly.
After finishing her explanation of the Infinite Expansion Curse—its principles and how to counter it—Helga tested several more Dark curses on "Rhys."
Once those spells had all been demonstrated, and she was about to let "Rhys" return to his seat, the real Rhys, outside the window, suddenly made the classroom's decoy "Rhys" speak.
"Professor White, how about we demonstrate the Unforgivable Curses next?"
Helga: ???
What was that old snake up to? Why was he volunteering for more punishment?
The moment the term "Unforgivable Curses" was uttered, the young witches and wizards in the room all perked up.
Most of them had heard of the three infamous curses, but few had ever witnessed them cast in person.
So, upon hearing Rhys's suggestion, everyone straightened up, not wanting to miss a single detail.
Seeing the students so eager, Helga didn't want to dampen their enthusiasm. She simply went along with Rhys's suggestion.
But before Helga could even raise her wand, Rhys spoke again: "Professor, for better teaching results, may I cast the Killing Curse on you?"
All the students: ?!
Starting off with something that extreme? This was way too exciting!
Rhys continued, "After all, when cast by a little wizard like me, the Killing Curse would at most give a powerful witch like you a nosebleed, wouldn't it? A perfect chance for everyone to broaden their horizons."
Helga laughed—so that's what this old snake was waiting for!
He wasn't wrong. When cast by average young wizards, the Killing Curse usually lacked fatal effect. But Salazar was clearly no "average young wizard."
If he cast the Killing Curse, its power would be formidable—enough to give her real trouble.
But did he truly think a single, ordinary Killing Curse could deal with her?
"Of course, no problem. Go ahead, I'm ready," Helga readily agreed to his request—backing down now would be a disgrace. A teacher who subjects her students to spell experiments can't flinch when it's her turn to take a hit.
The two stood face-to-face on the platform, Rhys raised his wand, and the young witches and wizards below held their breath in suspense—
"Avada Kedavra!"
The entire classroom was bathed in a ghastly green light.
Professor White's body was flung high into the air and hurled across to the other side of the classroom, landing heavily with a dull thud.
At the same moment, Helga's head emerged from the castle's outer wall—right across from where Rhys sat on his platform. The two locked eyes in silence.
Clearly, she had made the same choice as Rhys: using a substitute body to take the brunt of an old friend's curse.
"Pfft.. A wise decision, Professor White."
"You as well, Mr. Lint. Heh~"
"You should get back—otherwise the students inside are going to have a meltdown."
Helga: "…Yeah.."
The corners of her mouth twitched slightly before she silently withdrew her body back into the castle wall.
Inside the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, chaos was already starting to brew. The students had all stood up, craning their necks toward where Professor White had fallen, desperate to know her current condition.
That sound just now… it definitely didn't sound like someone who'd only gotten a nosebleed!
At that moment, the "Professor White" on the ground suddenly turned into a heap of yellow clay, and another Professor White emerged from beneath the podium.
"Don't worry, your Professor White is completely unharmed." With just that one sentence, she managed to calm the young witches and wizards in the classroom.
"A cautious wizard will never expose their true body to danger—everyone, write that down in your notebooks…" Helga began making up for her earlier misstep.
Meanwhile, outside the window, Rhys's attention was drawn by the silhouette of an unexpected visitor.
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