No matter who dies, no matter how many die, the next day always arrives on schedule.
News of Quirrell's death spread through the school almost immediately, carried by the students whose first class that morning was Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Quirrell was dead.
Almost no one at Hogwarts liked Quirrell, but a life was still a life. Just yesterday, he had been the subject of casual conversation. Today, he had met a violent end. That contrast alone was enough to leave many students uneasy.
Before long, people from the Ministry of Magic arrived. Several Aurors collected Quirrell's faceless corpse and sent it to the Department of Mysteries for an autopsy. They needed to confirm whether the body truly belonged to Quirrell and determine exactly what kind of magic had erased his face.
Students everywhere speculated about how Quirrell had died. They knew nothing about the condition of the body itself, and therefore nothing about the true strangeness of his death. All they knew was that he had died in the Forbidden Forest.
As a result, the Forbidden Forest gained an even darker, more ominous reputation.
For most people, though, it wasn't a pressing concern. The Forbidden Forest was strictly off-limits anyway. Many students went through their entire seven years at Hogwarts without ever approaching it, aside from Care of Magical Creatures classes.
Still, for some, the atmosphere surrounding the forest weighed heavily on their minds.
Lunchtime, in the Great Hall at Hogwarts.
"Ugh," George sighed as he finally found Leonard and dropped into the seat beside him, lowering his voice. "We finally managed to learn the Spider Banishing Charm, and then something like this happens in the Forbidden Forest."
"Yeah," Fred said, sitting down on Leonard's other side with a matching sigh. "Quirrell wasn't exactly impressive, but I heard he died horribly. Right at the entrance to the Forbidden Forest, too. You don't think there's some kind of creepy monster lurking in there now, do you?"
The two of them had originally planned to find Leonard and tell him they'd mastered the spell meant for dealing with Acromantula. They'd even been hoping to go hunt one for profit.
Instead, this happened.
Why did a hard-earned side job have to be so full of setbacks?
"There's nothing you can do about it. Who would've guessed Quirrell would die there?" Leonard said calmly. His expression didn't change as he spread jam evenly across a slice of bread. "The Ministry and the school will both be increasing patrols in that area. I'd advise you not to go anywhere near it, or you'll get caught."
"We couldn't go even if we wanted to," Fred said, leaning back with his hands clasped behind his head, staring up at the ceiling. "George and I already took a look. It's crawling with Aurors. Quirrell's dead, so what's the point? Are they really trying to find the killer?"
"How would they even find one?" George shook his head. "The killer could be some creature from the Forbidden Forest. I mean, an Acromantula is a possibility. But are the Aurors really going to arrest every Acromantula and put them on trial?"
"Why worry about that?" Leonard glanced at the two of them and spoke seriously. "You can't go to the Forbidden Forest for now anyway. You'd be better off practicing your magic. Learning something and mastering it are two completely different things. Quantity and true proficiency are worlds apart. Real combat doesn't allow for mistakes. Don't get overconfident."
"Uh… but we don't really know what to do next," George said hesitantly. "We feel like we're already pretty good with the spells we've been practicing."
"Yeah," Fred added. "We can cast the Spider Banishing Charm in about two seconds now. Isn't that fast enough?"
"Mastery isn't about how quickly you can cast a spell while standing still and aiming at a fixed target," Leonard replied. "It's about how you react when you're facing real danger, when your mind and body are both under pressure. It's about choosing the right spell, against the right opponent, at the right moment."
He took a bite of his bread and continued around the mouthful, "Getting used to hitting stationary targets won't help you at all when you're dealing with fast-moving Acromantula."
"Then what do you think we should do next?" George asked, his interest clearly piqued.
Leonard's explanation felt like a revelation. Just imagining the kind of effortless spellcasting Leonard described made it seem incredibly impressive.
Coach, teach me that.
"Come with me," Leonard said. "I'll help you train."
With nothing better to do, Leonard turned toward the twins, a mischievous smile creeping onto his face.
He'd been running around nonstop lately with barely any time to relax. This was a good chance to have a bit of fun and train these two troublemakers at the same time.
The matter of the Philosopher's Stone wasn't urgent. Without a clear direction for experiments, Leonard planned to deal with it after handling that group of Death Eaters.
And with the Forbidden Forest in its current state, it wasn't suitable for entertaining a large group of Death Eaters anyway.
So finding some amusement of his own would have to do.
That afternoon, Leonard led the two of them to an open area outside the castle.
The Quidditch pitch wasn't far away, and from there they could see the Hufflepuff team training in the distance.
Looking around the empty field, George and Fred turned to Leonard with curiosity.
"So how exactly are you planning to train us?" George asked.
"You don't need to worry about that yet," Leonard said. "First, cast the Spider Banishing Charm as fast as you possibly can."
"As fast as possible?" George and Fred exchanged a glance and grinned.
"Then watch closely."
"Arania Exumai!"
Both of them drew their wands and cast the charm smoothly and in sync.
A pale purple light struck the ground ahead, blasting up a small cloud of dust.
Leonard silently counted.
Two point four five seconds. That really was quite fast.
George and Fred put away their wands and saw Leonard staring at the shallow crater left behind.
"This spell is specifically designed to deal with eight-eyed spiders," they explained. "It's extremely effective against them."
They assumed Leonard was dissatisfied with the spell's power.
"Oh, I know," Leonard said with a smile. "I was just thinking about how to train you."
He looked at George and Fred.
"You both know how an Acromantula attacks, right?"
"Doesn't it just leap at you and bite with its fangs?" Fred shrugged.
"That's a bit simplistic, but close enough," Leonard said, holding up two fingers. "So your training will be divided into two stages. First, being able to cast a spell in time against a frontal attack. Second, completing spellcasting while dodging attacks."
He lowered his hand.
"Once you can do both of those, you won't have any rivals among ordinary wizards."
No rivals among ordinary wizards?
George and Fred exchanged confused looks.
"What do you mean by 'ordinary wizards'?" George asked.
"Regular Aurors," Leonard replied with a shrug. "Enough talking. Let's begin."
Ordinary Aurors?
George and Fred instinctively felt Leonard was exaggerating. Aurors were already formidable. They were, after all, the wizarding world's law enforcement.
But then again…
Fred suddenly felt rather confident in himself.
Maybe it really was possible.