Lockhart placed his hand dramatically atop the cage.
"As young Mr. Adler said, it's time to begin our lesson."
His expression grew grave, as if he were about to unveil a cursed relic rather than teach a class. To Kai, he looked less like a respected professor and more like a quack doctor selling miracle cures at a country fair.
"Now, I must warn you," Lockhart intoned mysteriously, "what I'm about to reveal may be the most malevolent creatures you've ever encountered."
He tapped the cage with his wand. It shook, rattling ominously as if something inside were desperate to escape.
"What I'm about to show you," he whispered, "may chill your blood."
Neville, sitting in the front row, immediately shrank in his seat, trembling.
All around, young students leaned forward with a mix of dread and curiosity, holding their breath.
"But fear not!" Lockhart declared. "As long as I am here, you're perfectly safe."
He tugged at the corner of the black cloth like a magician on stage.
"Remain calm. Do not panic. Do not scream. Otherwise—"
He abruptly yanked off the cloth.
"—you might provoke them!"
A few timid students clapped their hands over their mouths. But when the contents of the cage became visible, that fear quickly turned to confusion—and then amusement.
Inside were dozens of tiny, electric-blue creatures no more than ten centimeters tall. They had sharp features and nimble limbs, and they shrieked and cackled as they shook the bars and pulled faces at the nearest students.
Several students laughed outright.
"Cornish Pixies?" someone whispered.
Lockhart beamed. "Ah, yes! Freshly caught Cornish Pixies—native to Devonshire, highly unpredictable, highly mischievous."
Kai raised an eyebrow but didn't speak. He'd seen the cage earlier and knew precisely what Lockhart was planning. Cornish Pixies were a safe choice: annoying, but not dangerous. Most adult wizards could wrangle them easily.
This was all about showmanship.
Lockhart straightened. "These creatures may seem harmless, but I assure you, they are not to be trifled with. Today's lesson is how to subdue them."
Then, with a theatrical flourish, he announced, "Let's see how you handle them!"
Without waiting for a reply, he flung open the cage.
For a moment, there was silence.
Then—chaos.
The pixies exploded from the cage like fireworks, streaking around the room in a frenzy. They knocked over ink bottles, shredded parchment, tore down curtains, and began pelting students with anything not nailed down. Two of them seized Neville by the ears and lifted him off the ground.
Shrieks erupted. Books flew. Desks tipped over. A chair crashed through a window.
"Subdue them!" Lockhart shouted over the din. "They're just pixies!"
Kai stood calmly near the front, hands behind his back, while the classroom devolved into bedlam.
"Professor," he said politely, "would now be a good time to demonstrate?"
The pixies seemed to avoid Kai entirely, giving him a wide berth as they rampaged through the room.
Put on the spot, Lockhart hesitated, then brandished his wand with forced bravado.
"Uh… Pesky…pixie…pester…no! Pespeski…"
The garbled incantation had no effect. Several pixies yanked the wand from his hand and hurled it across the room.
Kai sighed internally. He had expected Lockhart to be incompetent, but not this incompetent.
Lockhart squeaked and dove under a desk.
"Kai! Do something!" Hermione cried, swatting a pixie that had wrapped itself around her braid.
She had just managed to blast one off her shoulder, but she was clearly out of her depth.
Kai drew his wand—white sycamore, gleaming faintly in the light—and raised it with a smooth, practiced motion.
"Accio, omnes."
With a sudden whoosh, all the pixies hurtling around the room were yanked backward mid-flight, spiraling toward the cage like meteors being reeled in. One by one, they were pulled inside. As soon as the last one zipped in, the cage snapped shut with a sharp click.
A moment of stunned silence followed. The classroom looked as if a hurricane had passed through it—but the chaos had ended in the blink of an eye.
The pixies, now trapped, pouted and made faces at Kai.
"Was… was that a Summoning Charm?" someone asked.
"But the Summoning Charm is for fourth-years!"
"That wasn't just the Summoning Charm," another student whispered. "That was… advanced. He summoned everything at once."
"He's the reason they let someone skip a year," someone muttered.
Dozens of eyes turned toward Kai with awe.
He strode over to the cage, checked the latch, then walked to the front of the class and bent down to peer under the table.
"Professor, all clear," he said cheerfully.
Lockhart crawled out, straightening his robes with a poor imitation of dignity.
"Splendid spell, Mr… uh…Kai?"
Kai's smile didn't reach his eyes.
"My surname is Adler, Professor. In Germany, we place the family name second ."
Lockhart flushed. "Of course, of course."
Turning to the class, he plastered on a grin. "Well! You've all now seen the danger these creatures present. I had, of course, planned to deal with them myself—just wanted to let you all experience it a bit longer. If it hadn't been for Mr. Adler's… impulsive intervention, I—"
The class didn't look convinced. Neither did Hermione.
Kai could tell. The glow of admiration in her eyes had faded, replaced with something sharper: doubt.
Still, doubt alone wasn't enough.
He stepped forward again. "Of course, Professor Lockhart wasn't finished. He prepared another magical creature—something more… formidable. A demonstration of advanced control magic, if I recall?"
Lockhart blinked. "I—I did?"
Before he could backpedal, Kai raised his hand.
A purple blur burst from his sleeve, twisting and expanding mid-air until it filled the ceiling space.
Gasps and cries rang out as a massive creature coiled above them—iridescent teal scales gleaming like polished stone, feathered wings tucked tightly to its sides, a long beak tipping its serpentine face.
A majestic Occamy.
"Luna," Hermione whispered in awe.
The Occamy turned her head, blinking slowly with eyes like polished crystals, and peered down at Lockhart.
"Don't worry," Kai said lightly, stroking Luna's beak. "She's quite gentle… unless provoked. But we have nothing to fear—after all, Professor Lockhart is here."
Luna, obligingly, slithered closer to Lockhart and loomed over him, her curious eyes mere inches from his face.
Lockhart did not move. Then his eyes rolled back and he crumpled like a puppet with cut strings.
A heavy thud.
Luna flinched back, startled.
She looked at Kai, blinking innocently.
Luna: I didn't do anything!
The class was utterly silent. Even the pixies had stopped making noise.
Hermione groaned and slapped her forehead, staring at the grinning face on the cover of Magical Me. She looked as though she wanted to throw the book into the fire.
Kai shrugged, stroking Luna's head.
"Seems the Professor won't be demonstrating any advanced spells after all."