Little Sirius walked to a shelf in the corner of the classroom, where a thing covered with a cloth in the shape of a birdcage was placed. Many students noticed that the thing was being hit repeatedly as they entered the classroom, but they did not hear any screams.
Little Sirius lifted the cloth off the top of the cage and turned around, smiling at all his classmates,
"Can anyone tell me the name of this creature? Of course, it's not a necessity, but strictly speaking, this species is not listed in the curriculum of Defense Against the Dark Arts—"
The cage contained a large bird with vividly colored feathers and an oddly shaped beak. The bird seemed to have received a great scare and was staring at Little Sirius in the corner of its cage with fear. It was calling loudly, but amazingly, no one could hear its cries.
"Oh, the hellbird—"
Hermione craned her neck, showing an interested expression.
"Very good, Gryffindor gets five points!"
Little Sirius nodded his approval at Hermione, crossing his arms over his chest,
"Tell me everything you know, Hermione, if you want to win another five points for Gryffindor!"
Hermione's face turned beet red immediately. She took a deep breath and stood up, saying,
"The creature mainly lives in Africa, where its colorful feathers are loved by wizards. Moreover, the feathers of the hellbird have always been used as materials for making expensive quill pens. When young Mandrakes emit a sound that causes dizziness, the cries of the hellbird also have a similar effect and can make people lose their senses,"
"The eccentric Yurick tried to prove that the cries of the hellbird were actually beneficial to human health, so he listened to them for three consecutive months without a break. He reported his discovery to the Wizengamot, but unfortunately, no one believed him. When he arrived at the meeting, he didn't have anything on his head and only wore a small wig. However, when people got closer to take a closer look, they found that the wig was actually a dead badger—”
Neville gazed admiringly at Hermione's back, and Ron was muttering something.
"Since it's not in the curriculum, where did she get all this odd and peculiar knowledge?"
The students of Gryffindor were obviously shocked by Hermione's scholarship again, while the students of Slytherin mostly wore mocking expressions. Pansy Parkinson imitated Hermione's odd intonation while speaking, and Draco Malfoy, who had reconciled with Hermione, couldn't stop laughing.
"You find this amusing, do you?!"
Hermione tightly pursed her lips, blushing so fiercely that her face was on fire. Little Sirius strode over, looking like he was about to lift Malfoy and Parkinson up and throw them out of the classroom.
"Show off your ignorance and superficiality to hide your envy, Malfoy, Parkinson?"
"Did he steal the spotlight from you both?"
Dean gazed in admiration at Sirius, teasing Harry and Ron who had drawn their wands.
Now, Malfoy finally knew that Sirius was probably not the weak and helpless personality of Remus Lupin. If he didn't stop being reckless, he might have to endure a month in detention, but this only made him more ashamed. A 'criminal' who had spent twelve years in Azkaban, who had abandoned the honor of the pureblood family and had lowered himself to attend Gryffindor College, was acting like this because of a professor's status!
"Ten points off everyone!"
Little Sirius said without mercy,
"If you can't keep quiet in my class, I'll keep deducting points from Slytherin until snot. Snape will never be able to find a point from Slytherin's quill again if you're sent to detention!"
That's awesome!
Each little Gryffindor wizard had the same thought in their hearts, watching the Slytherins across the classroom, their faces as pale as iron, feeling a great sense of relief and almost soaring with happiness.
"That's the feeling!" Ron clenched his fist and gave it a hard swing, "I've been waiting for this day since I entered Hogwarts!"
"I'm actually looking forward to seeing Malfoy show some backbone for once!"
Harry also gloated.
Hermione gave him two fierce glances, for her, a qualified professor should maintain a certain impartiality and not favor students of one house in broad daylight. Most professors could do this well, especially McGonagall who set the standard, but Hermione pursed her lips slightly.
It has to be said, the feeling of being favored is pretty nice.
In previous Potions classes, whenever Harry was singled out by Snape as the example, Malfoy would mock Harry's weakness and ineffectiveness, but when it was his turn, Malfoy discovered that facing a professor with a strong character was not as easy as he thought.
Little Sirius sneered coldly and then turned back to Hermione.
"Back in style, Hermione—"
Little Sirius smiled and said,
"So, can you tell us where you got these from?"
"In the second edition of 'Where the Wild Things Are' by Mr. Newt Scamander, there's a story about his trip to Africa. It mentions the creature known as the hellbird--"
Hermione immediately spoke up,
"Professor Bins talked to us about medieval magic history and also mentioned some stories about the eccentric Yurick and the malevolent Muretic!"
"Wow, that's amazing!"
Little Sirius clapped his hands in admiration and exclaimed,
"I never expected Bins' magic history, I can bet that you're probably one of the few small wizards in this classroom who can stay awake during Bins' lessons!"
"In fact—" Ron muttered again, "the only one!"
Little Sirius looked at Ron with a funny expression and said loudly,
"Gryffindor gets a well-deserved ten points, oh, Hermione, I really think you should teach this class! Well, I'm sure you know how to deal with these cute little creatures."
Sirius Black's Defense Against the Dark Arts class was a paradise for the Gryffindor wizards, even Neville Longbottom, who was often brought out by professors as an example of failure in classes, dared to answer several questions.
In the end, Malfoy was carried out of Little Sirius' class by the other students. He tried to secretly cast a spell to remove Harry's earmuff when Harry was dealing with the hellbird, but was punished with a Stun Charm by Little Sirius for most of the class.
"Just carry him out!"
As the bell rang, Little Sirius glared fiercely at Crabbe and Goyle, who were hunched over trying to wake Draco up, and barked orders.
"Put him on display for Snape. I want to see what Snape will say if he dare to cause trouble in my class!"
Then, he raised his eyebrows at Harry and the others and walked out of the classroom.
"Sirius is too impulsive; it's only the first week of him taking this class. Snape is bound to have something to say in his classroom."
Hermione furrowed her brow, uneasily saying,
"Harry, we need to find a way to curse him so he'll have a conflict with Snape."
"Are you mad, Hermione?"
Ron said in amazement,
"Isn't it true that Harry wishes to see Snape get his ass handed to him by Sirius?"
"Compared to the way Snape treats the Gryffindor wizards in Potions class, Sirius is already quite lenient!"
Harry nodded in agreement, speaking directly without any hesitation.
"That's not the point, Harry!"
Gryffindor had a Transfiguration class with Hufflepuff in the morning, and they dared not miss Professor McGonagall's Transfiguration class just to watch Malfoy's fun.
Hermione ran along, worriedly saying,
"Don't you all remember how much trouble that winged hawk-headed horse brought to Hagrid, and Malfoy's dad will definitely not take this lightly if he knows how Sirius is treating Malfoy."
"But Lucius Malfoy can't get a hold of Sirius Black's whereabouts--"
Ron immediately refutes,
"Magical Ministry has announced to the entire magical world that Sirius Black is innocent, and those high officials won't let themselves become a laughingstock for a little galleon!"
Hermione's concern certainly gave Harry a bit of worry, especially when, at lunchtime, he didn't see Malfoy at the Slytherin table, nor was Little Sirius at the staff dining table, and Professor Brenner was not in his usual seat either.
Just then, a loud noise came from the entrance hall, and the little wizards attracted by the quietness rushed over to find out that it was Filch rolling down the stairs directly. Many of the little wizards didn't realize the seriousness of the situation and were even laughing at Filch's comical antics, but Harry suddenly had a premonition that something had happened.
Filch's face turned white as the night of over a year ago when he found Mrs. Lupin petrified by the basilisk, terrifyingly hideous.
"They fought!"
Filch staggered to his feet, paying no attention to his appearance, and shouted towards the front of the hall where Dumbledore was paying attention, "They fought!"
"Professor Black and Professor Snape!"
(Chapter ended)
