Since the last time he talked to Anderson, Harry actually had the idea of stopping the DA activities. Oh, now it is renamed "Dark Arts Defense Study Group". Harry has already talked about this with Hermione and Ron, and also told Fred, George and Cedric about his concerns. However, as Cedric said, there are too many students joining the club now, and everyone is looking forward to learning some useful Dark Arts Defense knowledge here. Stopping the DA activities now may disappoint many students.
Fred and George even told Harry not to worry and to just blame them if any problems arose.
Umbridge's unrevealed plot was even more worrying.
Although the DA gatherings were still going on, Harry subconsciously reduced the frequency of them. Although he knew that if Umbridge really targeted the DA gatherings, reducing the frequency of them would be of no use, Harry still did it, and changed the content of the recent teaching to the Patronus Charm, trying his best to leave Umbridge with no excuses to target himself and Dumbledore.
Harry was now very curious about when Umbridge would show her fangs, and he was also waiting for that day to come. However, that day never came, and perhaps Umbridge was trying to compete with him to see who was more patient.
“It still doesn’t work!”
Hermione was frowning in concentration, a stream of silver gas emanating from the tip of her wand, but it was taking a while to condense into a physical Patronus.
This situation is not only happening to Hermione. No DA member has successfully summoned a physical Patronus so far, except for Fred, George and Lee Jordan who mastered the Patronus Charm long ago.
"Don't be anxious. The more anxious you are, the harder it will be to succeed. It also took me a long time to cast the Patronus Charm." Harry walked through the two rows of teams and shared his experience in practicing the Patronus Charm with everyone. "You must think about happy things. The happier the memory, the easier it will be to succeed when casting the spell."
"It's so difficult. I don't know how you did it?" Angelina muttered softly. Fred, George and Lee Jordan were the only three students besides Harry who could summon a physical patronus. Even Cedric still couldn't summon a physical patronus.
"We have been practicing for several years, while you have only practiced for a few months, or even less." Fred comforted him, "The Patronus Charm is more difficult to master than you expected. One of the tricks to mastering it is to have confidence. Confidence helps to increase the success rate of casting spells. Albert always said that if you don't believe that your spell will succeed, how can it succeed?"
"That guy always likes to say some profound things, but you have to admit that he makes a lot of sense." Shanna said with a smile.
"Maybe he can publish a collection of Anderson's quotes in the future," Alia complained.
"The Patronus Charm is widely considered to be a profound magic. Whether it's me, Fred, George or Lee Jordan, we have all spent a lot of time on this spell. So even if you can't summon a physical Patronus for the time being, it's not a shameful thing, because many wizards can't actually summon a physical Patronus."
"Are there some people who can never master the Patronus Charm in their entire lives?" A Hufflepuff girl couldn't help but raise her hand and asked.
"Of course not. Most people can't summon a physical Patronus. It's actually related to themselves. Many people are unwilling to spend time and energy practicing, and they don't have much talent. So how can they summon a physical Patronus?" Harry knew that everyone was in a bad mood, but there was no better way, so he could only comfort them, "As long as you are willing to spend time practicing, don't worry about not being able to master the physical Patronus, unless you have no happiness in your heart."
"I'm going to repeat the important points to note when learning the Patronus Charm." Harry raised a finger and said, "First, the Patronus Charm requires a very strong magical power as a foundation, which makes this spell less friendly to younger wizards. But don't give up because of this. As long as you are willing to spend more time practicing, you will be able to master it smoothly when you are older. I asked Fred, George and Lee Jordan, and they all had this problem. So don't be discouraged because others succeeded but you didn't. There has only been one genius like Anderson who mastered the Patronus Charm in the second grade. Don't compare yourself with him. That's just asking for trouble."
"Secondly, the Patronus Charm is a positive spell that advocates happiness and hope, so before casting the spell you need to concentrate and try to recall the happiest things in your life." Harry looked around and warned, "Don't use the Patronus Charm with malice, otherwise the spell is likely to backfire, and then something terrible will happen. The vast majority of dark wizards don't know the Patronus Charm, not because they can't learn it, but because they don't need it. On the other hand, it's also because they don't want to risk backfire to try, it's not worth it."
"So, many people think that only people with pure hearts can summon a patronus, which is actually a wrong statement," Harry corrected: "It is said that the patronus of our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is a cat. Do you think her heart is pure?"
"Really?"
The news that Umbridge had mastered the physical Patronus immediately caused a commotion in the room. No one was willing to believe that the toad could actually summon a Patronus.
How can a toad summon its own patron saint
"I've only heard similar rumors, but I don't know the details." Harry raised his hand to stop everyone from whispering. "I told you this just to tell you that people with pure hearts are more likely to summon a patronus, but others can still succeed through hard work, so don't give up."
"Third, confidence, concentration, will, correct spell casting gestures and correct spells, concentrate on recalling the happiest memory you can think of. Everything I just said is very important." Harry continued to guide: "Now close your eyes, recall your happiest memory, and then raise your wand and recite Patronus."
"Expect God to Guard!"
Under Harry's guidance, all the students present waved their wands and chanted the Patronus Charm.
Silver smoke gushed out from the tip of the wand, and the whole room became smoky in an instant. What attracted everyone's attention most was the change on Cedric's wand. The silver smoke swirled and entangled in the air, forming a fleshy patronus.
He succeeded!
It was a silver swan-shaped guardian angel that flew around the Room of Requirement.
"It's so beautiful!"
Qiu Zhang looked at the swan with joy, and then looked at Cedric gently, feeling proud of the other's success.
"Look, Cedric did it!"
Everyone's attention was drawn to Cedric's swan-shaped patronus. His success undoubtedly gave everyone a lot of confidence.
“Is it really a swan?”
Cedric murmured softly as he looked at his patronus.
Once he asked Albert what his patronus was, and Albert said it might be a swan.
At the time, Albert joked that this was related to his love for autumn, and that the patron saint of autumn might also be the swan, because swans always fly in pairs. He had thought it was just a joke from Albert, but he didn't expect it to be true.
Harry looked at Cho and Cedric, took a deep breath, and began to lead the applause.
After the applause completely died down, Harry cleared his throat and reminded, "Although it may be a bit of a downer to say this now, I still have to remind you that it is one thing to summon a patronus in a brightly lit classroom, and another thing to face a Dementor. Only a patronus that has passed the test of a Dementor can be considered a true patronus, because many wizards still cannot successfully summon a patronus in front of a Dementor."
When the others looked over, Harry continued, "This is what Albert reminded me of, and now I'm relaying it to you. The actual situation is indeed like this. When facing Dementors, it is difficult for you to recall happy memories. This is also my personal experience."
"Okay, be quiet. Cedric, do you mind sharing the secret of your success with everyone?" Harry nodded at Cedric. He knew that everyone needed a successful case to boost their confidence.
Just as Cedric was about to step forward, the door to the Room of Requirement was suddenly opened.
Everyone who heard the noise turned their heads and looked towards the entrance, only to see a person standing in front of the open door.
A person who is beyond everyone's expectations.
Dolores Umbridge stood at the door with a smirk on her face, but no one knew how she opened the door to the Room of Requirement.
Some were confused, some were panicking, but most people realized that something was wrong, because Harry had warned them more than once that Umbridge was not trustworthy and that she was probably just pretending and would cause trouble for them again.
Harry was obviously right. Anyone with a bit of common sense could sense that Umbridge was up to no good.
The atmosphere at the scene suddenly became tense, and many students couldn't help but raise their wands to point at this uninvited guest.
"Something happened!"
Harry took out the bottle from his pocket, poured out a tranquilizer and put it in his mouth, then took a deep breath and stood up to face the toad who broke into the Room of Requirement.
This guy's "harmlessness" was indeed a disguise, and now he is finally showing his fangs.
For some reason, Harry not only didn't feel nervous, but instead felt relieved.
"Mr. Potter, someone has reported to me that you are holding an illegal party here." Umbridge looked around, her smile a little stiff because everyone was staring at her unkindly.
"Our gathering has your approval," Cedric reminded, frowning.
"Yeah, I'm curious too, but someone has reported to the Ministry of Magic that you're gathering to train in the dark arts. You know, this is not allowed." Umbridge still had that hypocritical smile on her face as always, making people want to punch her toad face flat.
"Dark magic? Are you sure the Patronus Charm is dark magic?" Fred raised his wand threateningly, "Or is the so-called dark magic defined by you, the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts?"
"Be careful, Weiss, you..."
Many people raised their wands and stared at Umbridge unkindly. They thought that the toad would be quiet, but now it seems that is not the case at all.
Less than a month later, Umbridge came to cause trouble for everyone.
Many people regretted not listening to Harry.
Whether it was Harry, Fred or George, they all reminded everyone to be careful of Umbridge and not to let their guard down.
At that time, few people really took it seriously, and the result was...
"What do you want?" Harry raised his hand to signal everyone to keep quiet. After taking the sedative, he also calmed down. It was not a good idea to confront Umbridge. He just saw someone else outside, probably an employee of the Ministry of Magic.
"Since there are so many people in your club, both the school and the Ministry of Magic have to remain vigilant, so I suggest you go to the headmaster's office and explain things clearly in front of the Minister of Magic and Dumbledore to avoid any misunderstandings on both sides." Umbridge's hypocritical smile was disgusting, and her sudden change made many students think they were being treated as fools.
"Harry, don't listen to her, that guy is a liar." George interrupted directly: "When Umbridge appeared here, she was not worthy of trust. Otherwise, she would not have tricked you out herself, but brought Dumbledore and Fudge here to explain the matter in front of everyone."
"Mr. Weisley, I may suppose that..." Umbridge was interrupted midway through her sentence.
"You can go and invite the headmaster and the Minister of Magic over. I think everyone would like to see them. After all, the headmaster's office can't accommodate so many people." George turned his head and looked at the students behind him and asked, "Who among you wants to go with us?"
"Let's go together." someone in the crowd shouted.
"We would like to hear what the minister has to say."
"I think he should explain to us the previous jailbreak."
"A lot of people knew about the Death Eaters' attempt to escape the prison, so why didn't anyone at the Ministry of Magic stop them?"
"He is a disgrace to all Ministers of Magic. He should step down and go away."
The two Aurors outside looked at each other and then looked at the students in the room worriedly. They knew that if this matter was not handled properly, a large-scale conflict might really break out.
"With Dumbledore here, I don't believe she can do anything." Harry raised his hand to stop the students' excitement. "Besides, I'm curious about who reported us?"
Harry followed Umbridge away, but that didn't mean the others would remain indifferent. They all raised their wands and walked out of the Room of Requirement with murderous intent.
"Let's go. I think Headmaster Dumbledore is probably still waiting for us. Let's not keep them waiting too long." Harry glanced at Umbridge and walked towards the headmaster's office.
Looking at the students blocking the door of the headmaster's office, Umbridge was not worried, because the Ministry of Magic would soon mobilize more Aurors to prevent the situation at Hogwarts from getting completely out of control.
"Go find Albert and tell him what's going on here." George deliberately slowed down his pace and blended into the crowd, whispering to Lee Jordan, "I think he knows what to do."