Albert didn't know whether Hermione would catch Rita Skeeter like in the original book and let her stay in the glass jar to calm down for a while.
However, no matter which way things develop, Albert doesn't care. After all, it is none of his business, so he just stays out of it.
He still lived his college life as planned, occasionally taking out his notes to improve his previous plans. As for teaching Hermione the shielding spell, he didn't spend much time and energy on it.
Hermione herself practiced very hard and mastered the shielding spell in just one day, making it impossible for the owl to find her location.
However, what surprised Albert the most was Hermione's progress. She locked onto Rita Skeeter's Animagus form in just a few days.
"I suspected that Rita Skeeter's Animagus was a beetle. After the second project was over, Viktor caught a beetle from my hair." Hermione told Albert about the strange behavior of Malfoy talking to the air that she occasionally saw.
"It's not easy to catch a flying beetle." Albert reminded with a smile: "It requires patience and luck. Besides, after this semester, you may not have a chance."
"I'm sure that woman will sneak into Hogwarts again to eavesdrop on the news. I will catch her." Hermione was very confident in herself. She seemed to have thought of something and asked, "By the way, are you really not going to meet Sirius with us tomorrow?"
"No, I have an Apparition class tomorrow, and I have an appointment with Professor Flitwick in the afternoon." Albert shook his head and refused. "If you are lucky enough, you should be able to catch that annoying woman. However, you only have one chance. Catch Rita Skeeter before she realizes that she has been exposed. If you fail, Rita Skeeter will not give you a second chance."
"I'll pay attention. Thank you Albert, and good night Tom." After thanking Albert, Hermione bent down and touched Tom's head, then turned around and returned to the dormitory.
"Let's go, let's go back to sleep." Albert said to the yawning fat cat, "Go down and walk by yourself. You are so heavy, don't expect me to carry you."
Meow!
Tom shouted, and when he saw Albert walking away, he quickly jumped off the table and followed him back to the dormitory.
Since the Apparition class began, the students of Hogwarts have already taken several Apparition classes, and more and more students are able to Apparite. Although the distance they can Apparite is still very short, as long as they can Apparite successfully, it is a good start.
The success that came after a long time made them particularly excited. People shared their success experiences with smiles on their faces, or it would be more appropriate to describe it as showing off.
For someone who had mastered Apparition a few weeks ago, there was naturally no interest in joining in their conversation.
"We really can't go with you?"
Fred, George and Lee Jordan were all quite regretful. They heard that Albert was going to have practical training with Professor Flitwick, and they all wanted to go over and be spectators.
Albert's practical experience may not be as rich as Professor Flitwick's, but he is definitely not weak.
"You can go to the Forbidden Forest with the Potters. Sirius will teach them magic there." Albert waved at the three and disappeared deep into the secret passage.
"Are you going to watch Harry train?" Lee Jordan looked at Fred and George, seeking the opinions of his two good roommates.
"Forget it!" Fred shook his head and said, "What's so interesting about Harry's training? We have trained with Albert before. Otherwise, we can follow him secretly and then go into the Room of Requirement. Albert won't be embarrassed to chase us away."
"Do you know which room they went into?" George asked.
"You'll know if you try it." Fred thought this was not difficult to guess. They had used the Room of Requirement for training before.
Albert didn't know that Fred, George and Lee Jordan were planning to come over to watch. He was listening to Professor Flitwick's talk about wizard duels.
Although these things are not useful in dueling with dark wizards, it never hurts to learn more, especially in some formal duels.
"Okay, let's get started!"
Professor Flitwick drew out his wand and said to Albert with a smile.
The two men bowed to each other and counted to three. Albert took the initiative and sent a disarming spell at Professor Flitwick.
This was just a test, and Albert knew that the professors were all very good.
"You are very fast at casting silent spells, which is a great advantage, but you'd better try your best from the beginning and let me see your actual level." Professor Flitwick used his wand to deflect Albert's disarming spell lightly.
"Then I'll be welcome."
Albert began to speed up his spellcasting, but was easily blocked by Professor Flitwick.
This feeling of being suppressed was quite bad. He had experienced it before with Smith. He thought that his strength should have become stronger, but unfortunately he didn't seem to have become much stronger, which made Albert frown.
"A quick attack may catch some people off guard and make them breathless, but sometimes it is not the best choice when facing a wizard who is more powerful than you. You should try to get into a stalemate with your opponent and defeat him through the advantage of powerful magic. Of course, I know this advantage of yours, so I will never compete with you in the strength of magic power." Professor Flitwick responded to Albert's spell calmly and said slowly: "You shouldn't compete with me in offensive rhythm. You don't have the experience advantage in this regard, so it's difficult for you to beat me. You should play to your strengths, and don't worry about using those more powerful magics. I'm not as fragile as you think."
Professor Flitwick could naturally see Albert's concerns, which could be seen from the magic he used.
"Although many spells can be used in a duel, they should never be used openly like you did. It is difficult to achieve real effect. It should be done like this." Professor Flitwick didn't know what he did, but Albert felt that his clothes seemed to be trying to hinder him. Although he quickly broke it with the universal spell, the moment of distraction immediately put him at a disadvantage.
Although all of Professor Flitwick's spells were blocked by Albert, he found it increasingly difficult to block the other party's spells, as if something was pressing on him, again and again, making him almost unable to breathe.
Finally, Albert created a protective barrier and covered himself in it, thus avoiding being defeated by Professor Flitwick.
"Your spellcasting speed is indeed very fast, but it lacks strength. It feels light and fluttery to me. Ordinary wizards may not be able to handle it, but it is not difficult for experienced wizards to handle it. You should make your magic more powerful and your attack more rhythmic, so as to suppress your opponent through repeated attacks."
Of course, the duel between wizards is not as Lockhart said before. The reason for attacking each other is more due to the strength level of each wizard.
If you keep on defending, you will easily be defeated when dealing with wizards of the same level, so you usually try to break each other's magic. Just like after Albert used the Shield Charm to block Professor Flitwick's spell, he should think of a way to fight back instead of trying to block the opponent's spell like he did just now.
"Professor, how can I make my magic more meaningful?" Albert asked.
"Don't you know how to do it? Your magical power is very strong. Just choose the spell carefully and make it more and more difficult to block. When your opponent is on edge, you suddenly relax him and make him make a mistake, then defeat him in one breath." Professor Flitwick looked at Albert's defensive barrier and gained a new understanding of this student's magical power.
"Of course, these are all my personal experiences. You can learn from them. Maybe one day, you will have your own way of fighting. I believe that day will not be too far away. Okay, let's continue. Next, I will slowly pass on everything I know to you. This summer, you can try to participate in the European Wizard Duel Tournament. You are not good enough at your current level, but after you have absorbed my experience, go find Bad Brod and learn from his experience. You will definitely win the Duel Championship."
Albert didn't expect that Professor Flitwick would be so optimistic about him.
"Okay, let's continue! You still have a lot to learn. I think with your talent, it shouldn't be difficult to master these."
The corner of Albert's mouth twitched slightly. He had no confidence in his talent. He was only confident in his skill panel. However, long-term skill additions made Albert not a genius in some aspects, but his learning ability was not weak.
He quickly suppressed the opponent using the method Professor Flitwick told him. It should be said that he was able to do this on the second try, all thanks to Albert's powerful magical powers and skillful spell-casting techniques.
After all, he was the recipient of the Barnabus Finkley Award for Excellence in Spellcasting, so his abilities in this area were quite remarkable.
Professor Flitwick was very skilled and managed to block Albert's attack. He was very satisfied with Albert's performance.
"You learn quickly. Generally speaking, when a duel is at a stalemate, wizards will use other methods to break through the opponent's defenses and win. For example, I just used wandless magic to quietly control your clothes, distracting you and giving myself a chance to win. Don't underestimate these little tricks. Even a powerful wizard may fall into their trap. After all, any hesitation of a wizard in a duel may lead to his defeat."
"Of course, your wandless magic is quite powerful and it was easily dispelled, but it still puts you at a disadvantage."
"It's a bit insidious indeed." Albert muttered in his heart, but he did not deny that this trick was very practical.
"The second method is to attack the enemy from multiple directions, forcing him to deal with attacks from other directions, causing him to be distracted and giving yourself a huge advantage."
“It feels a bit similar to the first one.”
Albert wanted to complain, but he understood what Professor Flitwick meant by separating the two methods.
"The wizards in the dueling tournament are not friendly. They may even use dark magic other than the three unforgivable curses, so we must be careful."
"This is the third method. It makes you defenseless. Some wizards' dark magic is very difficult to defend against. I remember someone once blew up a strong wind and swept his opponent away."
"There is another type that can recite very complicated spells, but such guys usually put on a layer of protective barrier for themselves, and then hide inside and recite a long and complicated spell, and then defeat you in one breath. This method is usually very effective against wizards whose magic power is not strong enough, but I don't think anyone will use it outside of duels. After all, nowadays dark wizards like to recite the Avada Kedavra curse at every turn."
"Most dark wizards usually prefer to use the third method to break the stalemate between the two sides. When you have to choose between dark magic and Avada Kedavra, you will hesitate and usually use Apparition to avoid danger at a short distance. But this method is not very practical, because a skilled wizard can lock your position through Apparition, or even directly create an area where you cannot Apparite, making it impossible for you to escape through Apparition.
"Professor, what would you do if it were you?" Albert easily conjured up a hound and trapped Professor Flitwick from both sides.
"This won't cause me any trouble. A simple freezing spell will solve the problem. If you can't succeed in a sneak attack in one go, I suggest you not do it. Besides, creatures transformed by Transfiguration usually have a fatal weakness." Professor Flitwick waved his hand, freezing the hound while waving his wand to block Albert's attack. At the same time, he controlled the hound and made it pounce on Albert.
Albert shook his finger, and the hound disappeared instantly, turning into a stone. This was the problem that Professor Flitwick was talking about. Because things created by Transfiguration can be easily eliminated by using "Restore Original Form".
"One thing you must remember is that when you are dueling with a dark wizard, don't use any fancy tricks. Everything should be practical. It is best to use the things around you skillfully. We can talk about this in the next class." Professor Flitwick put away his wand and said, "Now, let's talk about the problem of magic countermeasures. Many wizards will use it to deal with those wizards with low levels, because they can recite spells, which makes the spell casting slower, and others can know what spell he wants to use. Of course, this is usually only done by experienced wizards."
"Powerful wizards usually use silent spells to speed up their speed. Just like you and I didn't chant any spells, there is no chance for the other party to counterattack. However, it is not easy to cast spells silently. Chanting spells loudly is still the mainstream, so this is a big advantage for you." Professor Flitwick continued: "To counter the opponent's magic, it is usually necessary to cooperate with Legilimency. It is not difficult for a skilled Legilimency master to do this. They can often judge what spell you want to use by your chanting."
Stopping the opponent from using magic, or blocking other people's magic is not the core of countermeasure. It can only be used against some inexperienced wizards and make you look powerful, but when you really face those extraordinary wizards, these can allow you to roughly judge what magic the opponent will use, and whether to block or avoid it. This is a very profound knowledge. I suggest that we better stop, eat something and then talk about this slowly.
“That’s a good idea.”
As he spoke, Professor Flitwick took out a piece of chocolate and handed it to Albert.
"I prepared afternoon tea."
Albert took the chocolate with a smile and put it in his pocket. He waved his wand and conjured up tables, chairs and teacups, and then a table of desserts.
Of course, the food on the table did not appear out of thin air, but was summoned by magic.
"It seems that you have made sufficient preparations." Professor Flitwick said softly, "Although I don't know what made you feel a sense of crisis, don't risk your life. Giving up when necessary is also a good choice. Your own life is the most important."