Inside the cage, the lively little creatures were Cornish Pixies. These pixies were iron-blue in color, about eight inches tall, with sharp faces and extremely shrill, piercing voices. As soon as the cloth was lifted from the cage, they began chattering noisily, bouncing around, shaking the bars, and making all sorts of strange faces at anyone nearby—much like a cage full of quarreling chickens and ducks.
"These little devils are some of the most troublesome creatures you'll ever meet! Come on!"Lockhart called out spiritedly, full of enthusiasm. "Let's see how you handle them!"
With that, he opened the cage door—and chaos immediately erupted.The pixies shot out like rockets, flying everywhere. Two of them grabbed Neville's ears and lifted him off the ground, while several others crashed straight through a window at the back of the classroom, shattering glass everywhere.The rest remained inside, wreaking havoc with a ferocity that would put a rampaging rhinoceros to shame.They grabbed inkwells and flung ink around the room, shredded books and papers into confetti, overturned the rubbish bins, hurled backpacks and textbooks out of the broken window, and even tore down the portrait of Gilderoy Lockhart hanging on the wall.
Within minutes, half the class had scrambled under their desks for cover, while Neville dangled from a chandelier.
"Come on, round them up, quick! They're just a few pixies—"Lockhart shouted, rolling up his sleeves and dramatically waving his wand."Pesky-pixie-pester-no-me!"
It had no effect whatsoever.One of the pixies snatched Lockhart's wand, used it to break the chain suspending a wyvern skeleton model from the ceiling, sending bones clattering across the floor.Lockhart gasped sharply and immediately fled toward his office at the back of the classroom.
"I'm giving you all a chance—to get these pixies back into the cage,"he said hastily before slamming his office door shut and locking it tight.
Had Hermione still been in Gryffindor, a simple "Petrificus Totalus" spell would have solved the entire pixie problem.Unfortunately, none of the students remaining in the classroom seemed to think of that spell.
At that moment, the bell rang, signaling the end of class, and the students bolted from the room in a frenzied swarm.
"Neville! Hold on—we'll get another professor to help!"Harry Potter was dragged away by Ron; the situation had gotten far beyond what they could handle.
With the classroom now empty of students, Gilderoy Lockhart cowered inside his office, and Neville hung helplessly from the chandelier.
It was Regulus Black who came to clean up the mess.After all, Cornish Pixies were an important prop in the movie, and there was no way someone from the Squirrel Party wouldn't collect them—especially considering that these pixies were also valuable ingredients in both potion-making and alchemy.
The classroom door stood wide open.The Cornish Pixies, having chased away the students, were in the midst of a noisy celebration.However, they soon noticed the open doorway—and the figure standing there.
Regulus Black took out a lantern—one that Harry Potter had lost last year in the library's restricted section.
The lantern was still damaged, as Regulus had not repaired it immediately upon retrieving it.But now was the perfect time.
Tapping it once with his wand, the battered lantern floated in midair before him.
"Genie Lamp!"
This was another spell developed by Regulus Black—a new magic created after thoroughly studying the skills Dim Sight and Fear Illusion, producing a counter-effect spell.By combining it with alchemical techniques, he had crafted a spell capable of creating a Genie Lamp.
The Cornish Pixies, previously darting around the room wildly, suddenly all turned their gaze toward the lantern.As if drawn to their favorite place, they rushed toward it en masse.The battered lantern, as if absorbing water from the sea, sucked in every last pixie, simultaneously repairing its own damage in the process.
Through the glass walls of the lantern, the trapped pixies could still be seen, now shrunken and crammed together into the center.
Then, a piercing screech filled the room as the pixies exploded into puffs of pale bluish-violet slime, which merged together into a glowing, aqua-blue sphere.This sphere became both the light source and the spirit of the lamp.
As the luminous sphere pulsed and grew stronger, Regulus Black placed a specially prepared card into the lantern.
The sphere devoured the card—only for the card to immediately reverse the process, swallowing the sphere instead.
As the blue sphere liquefied and was completely absorbed by the card, the image on the card grew brighter and more vivid.
The card now depicted a long-legged, large-chested, white-haired girl with twin ghostly horns, wearing a dramatically flowing aqua kimono, floating midair and holding a lamp similar to the one before him.
The final step of the crafting process was now complete.Regulus Black placed the lantern back into his system space.
At that moment, the sound of footsteps approached.Dumbledore, accompanied by several professors, arrived at the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.
"Regulus! How's the situation?"
Dumbledore spotted Regulus Black standing outside the door—it was obvious he had arrived first.
"Just as you see, Headmaster," Regulus Black replied calmly. "Aside from Neville still hanging from the chandelier, the other students have already left. As for the Cornish Pixies, I've already dispersed them."
What Regulus said wasn't wrong—though it wasn't entirely the truth either.
After spending a full semester with him, Dumbledore had gained a deep understanding of his assistant's habit of taking little advantages where he could.
Clearly, the group of mischievous Cornish Pixies had already been captured—and would never cause trouble again.
Thinking of this gave Dumbledore another headache. Hagrid's three-headed dog, Fluffy, Professor Sprout's Devil's Snare—those two still occasionally mentioned them!
However, Regulus Black had firmly insisted that when they entered the barriers, he hadn't seen any of those things—they must have been taken away by Voldemort when he fled, just like the unicorn Voldemort had also stolen.
Now Dumbledore felt not only a headache but also a pain deep in his chest.
"Perhaps we should remind Gilderoy Lockhart that class has ended,"Snape said coldly, having no doubt that only someone as incompetent as Gilderoy Lockhart could create such chaos.
"Somebody help me!"Hearing voices behind him, Neville kicked his legs desperately, hoping for rescue—it was horribly uncomfortable hanging up there.
Professor Flitwick immediately used a Levitation Charm to lower Neville from the chandelier. After a few comforting words, he sent him off to prepare for the next class.
"Sonorus! Avis!"Regulus Black waved his wand, casting two spells in quick succession.A small flock of magical birds, formed of pure energy, flew straight at Lockhart's office door like kamikaze pilots.The deafening sound of the birds colliding made it seem as if giants were knocking; the entire wall trembled from the impact.
"Oh! Everyone's here, ahaha! Today's lesson was lively and interesting, the students were very happy—perhaps a little too happy—and things got a bit out of hand. Just look at the mess!"Gilderoy Lockhart said, trying to maintain his composure as he explained away the chaos.
It was only the beginning of the school year, yet Lockhart had already managed to stir up such mayhem.The general student consensus was that Lockhart's classes were certainly "entertaining"—though only a handful of his devoted female fans insisted that today had simply been an accident.
Regulus Black bent down, picked up a wand from the floor, and handed it back to Lockhart.
"Professor, you dropped your wand."
All the professors left the classroom suppressing their laughter, leaving Gilderoy Lockhart standing there in an even more awkward situation.
"Gilderoy, thank you very much for bringing such a lively atmosphere to the school,"Dumbledore said with a serene smile. "I've always felt that Hogwarts was a bit too serious. Children should be lively, after all.However, before making lessons more interesting, it would be wise to think a bit more about safety. If students keep getting injured, it won't be good news for the school."
With the perfect calm of a veteran educator, Dumbledore began discussing educational philosophy with Gilderoy Lockhart.Since Lockhart had no class scheduled for the next period, Dumbledore took the opportunity to give him a lesson of his own.
As for Regulus Black, none of that concerned him.He returned to the Room of Requirement, took out the lantern, and a wisp of blue smoke emerged from it, forming into a humanoid shape—just like the character from the card he had inserted earlier.As she reached out and touched the lantern, the battered old object transformed into the blue lantern that matched the image on the card.
The Genie Lamp of the Cornish Pixies... was complete!
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