Kyle was having the time of his life in the Room of Requirement, feeling like a child with a magical new toy.
With a gentle wave of his finger, he transformed the rain into snowflakes as large as goose feathers, then with another wave, turned them into hail the size of chicken eggs.
The ability to reshape his surroundings with just a wave of his hand filled him with wonder.
When he finally had his fill of fun, he remembered his important task and reluctantly restored the room to its sunny state.
There would be plenty of time for more experimentation later.
Kyle crouched down and gently retrieved two broad bean-sized seeds from his pocket, handling them with extreme care. These seeds were precious — and technically not his. He had... found them during Herbology class.
Well, "found" was putting it mildly...
During the previous Herbology class, an overeager Gryffindor student, excited after correctly answering Professor Sprout's question, had accidentally flung their trowel at a nearby Chomping Cabbage.
The Cabbage promptly reduced the trowel to scrap metal, costing the student a house point.
The incident would have ended there, but Kyle noticed something curious: after spitting out the mangled trowel, the Chomping Cabbage unexpectedly ejected two seeds. Professor Sprout, busy searching for a replacement trowel, hadn't noticed.
Being an exemplary Hufflepuff who wanted to help his Head of House, Kyle had picked up the seeds. However, a distracting Dittany plant had made him forget about them.
Now, Kyle carefully dug two holes, nestled the seeds inside, and covered them with a thin layer of soil. He nodded with satisfaction at his work.
"Perfect — I'll keep these safe and return them to Professor Sprout during our next class."
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After leaving the Room of Requirement, Kyle returned to the common room before heading to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom with his fellow Hufflepuff first-years that afternoon.
On their way, excitement buzzed through the group — whether for the class itself or the legendary one-year professor, no one could quite tell.
Perhaps it was both.
The Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom on the second floor held a surprise: all the usually neat desks had been pushed against the walls, creating a vast open space.
Professor Oren stood behind the podium, busy with a covered cage.
Kyle was taken aback — he hadn't expected their Defense professor would be a hands-on instructor like Lupin.
"Good afternoon, everyone." Professor Oren greeted them warmly once all had arrived. "Put away your books — we won't need them, not just today but for all future classes as well."
With those words alone, he won over many of the young wizards. After all, what could be better than not bringing books to class? Perhaps only not bringing them to any class.
And Professor Oren had promised exactly that.
"This professor must really know his stuff." One young wizard exclaimed, "He's sure to succeed in staying on for another year!"
"Thank you for the kind words, Mr. Boggs, though I'm afraid I can't award Gryffindor points for that."
Professor Oren smiled and continued, "Theoretical knowledge is the simplest part of this course — something you can easily study on your own. In class, I prefer to teach you how to protect yourselves when facing danger. Whether from unknown Dark Arts or dangerous Magical Creatures, these threats could cost you your lives."
As the atmosphere grew noticeably tenser, he pressed on.
"However, you're too young to deal with Dark Magic, and the headmaster wouldn't permit it anyway. So we'll start with something simpler: Magical Creatures."
Professor Oren gave the cage a gentle push. A muffled buzzing emerged as the cover shook precariously.
Several students near the front stepped back nervously.
"Don't worry." He said seriously, "Although this little fellow is dangerous, you won't come to any harm while I'm here. Just stay calm and remember everything I'm about to tell you."
With that, Oren lifted the cover to reveal what lay inside.
A blue insect, barely an inch long, buzzed with beating wings.
Unlike typical insects, its wings sat atop its head. As it flew, it resembled a bamboo dragonfly, its body spinning continuously.
It looked quite cute, actually.
Katie Bell couldn't help but scoff, "Professor, it doesn't seem... as dangerous as you said."
She clearly thought the Professor had exaggerated — this tiny creature was so small she wouldn't even need a wand to kill it, just one quick slap. How dangerous could it possibly be?
"Is that so... I hope you'll remain just as confident later, Miss Bell." Professor Oren's slight smile accompanied his question, "Now then, does anyone know what this is? The first person to answer correctly will earn five points for their house."
In the crowd, Michael suddenly heard a faint whisper — seemingly a name.
Tempted by the chance to earn points, he blurted out without thinking, "Billywig!"
"Excellent, Mr. Michael! Five points to Hufflepuff!" Professor Oren said warmly, "That's right, the Billywig, a XXX-class Magical Creature. Notice the long, thin stinger at the bottom of its body. Anyone stung by a Billywig experiences dizziness and begins to float weightlessly. Multiple stings can cause a person to float uncontrollably in mid-air for days."
He turned his gaze to Katie.
"Now then, do you still think it's not dangerous?"
Katie turned her head away silently, though her expression suggested she remained unconvinced.
"Professor..." A young wizard asked eagerly, "Are we going to deal with this Billywig in class?"
"Not exactly." Professor Oren shook his head, "First, you'll need to learn the counter-spells. We'll only move on to practical application once I'm certain you've mastered them."
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