Just like last year, Tver was once again in charge of all seven grade levels. After grinding through classes nonstop, he reaffirmed a familiar belief.
He really needed another professor to share the workload.
Fortunately, with finals approaching, most classes were focused on review. And to make sure the students accepted that plan without complaint, Tver had spent the entire previous week giving them fun, easy lessons instead.
For the lower years—fourth grade and below—it was all about Spider Fly Fun. Aside from the first-years scrambling a bit, the other three grades thoroughly enjoyed themselves. At least no creatures were harmed… if you didn't count the Acromantula that got played half to death.
The fifth years and above, however, had a very different activity.
...
In the Colosseum, during the sixth-year advanced class—
"Professor, I heard the monster in the Chamber of Secrets was a Basilisk. Is that true?" Bulstrode called out before class even started.
The room went instantly quiet. All eyes turned to Tver, who was adjusting a statue.
They had already heard the story from Harry, Ron, and even Percy, but they still wanted to hear the official answer from the professor—and more importantly, they wanted to learn that flashy fire spell.
After hearing Harry swear up and down multiple times, they had finally begun to accept that the outrageous magic might actually exist. It wasn't that they didn't believe him; the spell just went far beyond anything they could imagine. They had never seen—nor even heard of—magic that terrifying.
"It was indeed a Basilisk," Tver said with a shrug. "But I can't show you the real creature anymore."
Just like with the troll, he had planned to drag the Basilisk out to use as a teaching tool. But during the Chamber incident, wanting to show off a little in front of Percy—and having just received Ravenclaw's abilities—the Protego Diabolica he cast had instantly vaporized the Basilisk.
The students' eyes lit up. That basically confirmed the fire spell was real.
"Professor, can you teach us that spell?" Bulstrode asked again.
Percy stood with his hands on his hips, watching the others with amusement. That was Fiendfyre. There was no way the professor would teach it to them. He'd be lucky to learn it in private himself.
Tver raised an eyebrow, suddenly getting an idea.
"Of course…"
"Woohoo!" the students cheered—
"Not."
Their cheers cut off immediately.
"Don't even think about it. That's not a spell you can learn, and the school absolutely won't allow me to teach it."
He pointed his wand at the pile of unused stone.
"But you will get the chance to face a Basilisk—and defeat it using your own methods."
The students instantly understood why the massive stones had always been sitting there in the arena.
The blocks began to melt together as if fusing, and their tops reshaped into a huge, vicious serpent head. The head moved with uncanny flexibility, whipping toward them as if it were alive.
Its yellow eyes swept across the group. Anyone who met its gaze felt their body stiffen.
Before their stunned eyes, the serpent head broke free.
It stretched farther and farther, its enormous body and trembling tail forming before them. Ten seconds later, the stones were gone entirely, replaced by a giant serpent taking up half the arena.
The real Basilisk had been vaporized—but he could always transform a new, fake one.
Tver stood proudly at the edge of the arena and announced this to them.
"As you can see, this is the Basilisk!"
"You already know its specific traits well enough—I won't repeat them. Try defeating it using your own methods!"
As if understanding his words, the Basilisk reared its upper body high, flicking its tongue in a threatening display.
"Just a reminder: this time, you'll all attack together. But remember, the Basilisk's eyes can still cause petrification~"
"Then, let the battle commence!"
Without giving them even a moment to prepare, the Basilisk whipped its head and swept it hard toward the students on the ground.
"Impedimenta!" *3
Combat-seasoned Percy was the first to react, leading his teammates in casting their spells. But this time, the Basilisk was made of stone.
Tver hadn't altered the petrified skin's properties, giving the Basilisk even stronger defenses.
So the head only slowed slightly, its sweeping force barely reduced.
Fortunately, the other students had spent a year training for combat, their awareness and reflexes greatly improved. So they all—
Ran for it…
Naturally. Avoiding attacks had become their most polished skill this entire year.
And don't underestimate it—their evasive maneuvers were surprisingly well-coordinated.
Those farther away had enough room to cast Impedimenta and Transfiguration spells, doing their best to slow the Basilisk.
Meanwhile, the students closest to it sprinted straight for safety, not worrying in the slightest about getting hit.
That kind of trust was something most teams could never achieve.
Seeing its attack fail and even give the students time to regroup into three-person squads, the Basilisk grew furious.
It slid forward aggressively and lunged again toward the center of the formation.
People often assume snakes move slowly because they glide.
In reality, a snake's forward strike is incredibly fast—so fast most people can't react at all.
In an instant, an entire three-person squad was swallowed whole.
If not for the glowing badges on their uniforms and the professor watching from the sidelines, everyone would have thought those students had actually died.
A wave of fear crashed over the group.
This Basilisk wasn't holding back.
While they'd been watching its head, more than ten classmates had already been petrified.
"Don't panic!" Percy shouted, eyes shut. "All attackers and distractors, close your eyes and follow your support player's instructions!"
Crystal quickly grabbed Percy and Charles by the shoulders, tracking the Basilisk's movements by watching its body instead of its eyes.
"All support players, do what I'm doing and guide your teammates!"
With that, she ignored the confused students nearby and hurriedly whispered to Percy and Charles.
"Percy, fire straight ahead. Charles, hit your eleven o'clock with the Softening Charm!"
Both followed the commands immediately.
A moment later, they heard the Basilisk recoil.
The attack had been repelled.
Seeing this, the surrounding students copied the tactic at once, forming odd two-front-one-rear formations.
Accuracy suffered with the front two attacking blind, but they had the numbers.
And with the Basilisk's massive size, every movement exposed it to nearly ten spells at once, causing its lunges to falter again and again.
It managed now and then to petrify a few careless support players and break apart their small squads, but it paid a much higher price.
Chunks of stone were blasted off its body, and even its prized serpent head was becoming badly damaged.
The students' morale surged higher and higher.