Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

Chapter 983: Earth Defense Force

“What are we going to do next?” Colin asked, knowing that Evan and Hermione had been preparing for a long time.

“Now that we have a leader and a name, shouldn’t the next step be to determine the purpose of the organization?”

“Of course, it’s to learn magic, resist Umbridge and the Ministry of Magic!”

“Not exactly!” said Evan. “As I said just now, we do not intend to fight or conspire against the Ministry of Magic. We’re not that kind of organization. Our main purpose is to learn magic and improve everyone’s own strength.”

“But we have to do something, right?” Fred said. “What’s the use of getting stronger if we don’t do anything?”

“Well, everyone knows that Dumbledore is the headmaster of Hogwarts, the greatest white wizard in the world. Since the name of our organization is Dumbledore’s Army, the only purpose is to fight against enemies and evils threatening Hogwarts, defeat them, protect Hogwarts and the people we want to protect. That’s our goal.”

“Evan and I drafted a charter; you can take a look and see if there are any objections,” said Hermione, handing out a parchment filled with writing. It was simple and mainly reflected Evan’s points.

Dumbledore’s Army was both an army and not an army.

Every student who joined the organization did so in order to gain enough strength to protect the people they cared about and to protect Hogwarts from harm.

To reduce its purpose to resisting Umbridge and the Ministry of Magic, or even fighting Voldemort, that would be far more limiting and less prestigious than protecting Hogwarts. In the minds of many, Hogwarts was not just a school. Its significance was extraordinary.

Evan hoped that this organization could exist for a long time, like the Quidditch teams or the prefects of various Houses, becoming the most important permanent organization in Hogwarts, and each member would take pride in it.

Therefore, he originally wanted to name it something like “Hogwarts Defense Force”, but it reminded him too much of “Earth Defense Force”, and it was indeed not as suitable as D.A. which stood for multiple fitting meanings.

The charter was finally passed back to Hermione, and after making sure everyone was okay with it, Hermione pinned it next to the list.

“Okay, our main tasks now are to recruit more members and improve our strength,” Evan said. “Because everyone’s basic levels are different, and many members are first-year students, it’s not possible to mix together for magical studies. So, I suggest splitting into two different study groups. One group will focus on combat training; I’ll teach you more powerful and dangerous magic. The other group will primarily learn basic dueling spells. I will assess your current levels.”

“How to do it?”

“Well, Hermione and I prepared a checklist, including more than forty basic dueling spells, such as Expelliarmus, Stupefy, Impedimenta, and more. You’ll be in a queue, and in the order on the list, use these spells on me one by one,” Evan explained. “If you can all use them proficiently, you can join the advanced group and learn more advanced magic.”

Although Evan didn’t have overly high expectations, the final test results still left him somewhat disappointed. Everyone’s performance was poor.

Except for Hermione, no one else could skillfully cast all the basic spells on the list. Not to mention those lower-level students, many upper-level students also performed poorly, and Neville couldn’t even use the Disarming Charm properly.

And he wasn’t the only one; other students who were able to cast the Disarming Charm were also slow or made mistakes many times.

In fact, Evan was really concerned about the state of Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching at Hogwarts.

From this, it could be inferred that the overall proficiency in the wizarding world was not as high as Evan had thought. No wonder many wizards panicked at the news of Voldemort’s return. If they couldn’t even master the Disarming Charm, how could they possibly fight against Voldemort and Death Eaters?!

“It seems necessary to start from the basics, doesn’t it?!” Evan said, admitting that he had overestimated everyone’s abilities, thinking they were all on par with Hermione. “Let’s not split into groups. This time, the main focus will be on practicing Expelliarmus.”

“Oh please, I’ve already learned this spell!” said Zacharias Smith, rolling his eyes and folding his arms. “I don’t want to learn it again with these low-grade students. Besides, I don’t think Expelliarmus is exactly going to help us against You-Know-Who, do you?”

“You really think so?” Evan asked, “Harry has used it against Voldemort.”

“Yes, it saved my life!” said Harry calmly. “I’ve faced Voldemort with Expelliarmus.”

Smith opened his mouth stupidly. The rest of the room was very quiet.

“And do you think you have completely mastered Expelliarmus?” Evan asked, taking out his wand, “Are you fast enough? We can have a test. If you can knock my wand away, you can skip practicing it, how about that?”

“I…” Zacharias opened his mouth, unsure of what to say. He was definitely not a match for Evan.

There was no need to compete at all, the outcome was already decided, and so many eyes were focused on him, which made him very uncomfortable.

“We’d better start practicing now and learn this basic spell as quickly as possible,” said Evan, giving instructions, “I’ll explain the principles and casting techniques of this spell in detail, as well as what needs to be paid attention to. Then, everyone pairs up for practice. First of all, as you all know, the incantation for the Disarming Charm is ‘Expelliarmus.’ When cast successfully during a duel and hits the opponent, the opponent’s wand will fly into your hand and submit to you. This is crucial because wands choose their owners, and if the owner is…”

Evan explained in great detail, covering aspects that even the professors hadn’t discussed in class. Not to mention a slightly disdainful Zacharias, even Hermione was attentively listening to Evan.

What Evan was explaining went beyond just the Disarming Charm itself; it covered various aspects, including many magical fields.

And according to Evan’s summary, the Disarming Charm had three different casting techniques, each yielding different effects. Depending on the opponent’s weapon, one could choose different casting techniques, but the most common was to counteract wands.

Evan’s requirement for everyone was to cast the Disarming Charm as quickly as possible, ideally within two seconds at the very least.

He could now cast it instantly, just by making specific wand movements, without the need to recite the incantation while holding the wand.

Doing so would be foolish, especially when using such a basic spell.

Not everyone could be like Harry, using the Disarming Charm against Voldemort…

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