Wouldn't you prefer to just say Snape's name directly?
The Gryffindor students were stifling their laughter, especially Ron, whose face was as red as his hair.
"As Miss Parkinson just mentioned, Dark Magic is multifaceted."
Professor Slughorn waved his magic wand, causing several portrait scrolls to descend from the front wall of the classroom.
They depicted people in pain, grotesque wounds, and bizarrely twisted parts of the body, looking rather eerie and terrifying.
It matched the stereotype of Snape.
"Thus, your defense," Professor Slughorn raised his voice: "must be as adaptive and inventive as the Dark Magic you need to counter."
"These pictures," he pointed casually at several of them as he walked, "vividly depict the situations of those victims. For example, those struck by the Drilling Curse," he gestured at a witch obviously screaming in agony, "those experiencing the Dementor's kiss," a wizard curled up in a corner, eyes vacant, "or those harmed by the Yin Corpse," he pointed to a pool of blood on the ground.
Parvati Patil asked in a high-pitched voice: "Professor, is someone really using the Yin Corpse?"
"The Black Demon once used Yin Corpse," Professor Slughorn replied, "and besides them, there are many Dark Wizards who like to use Yin Corpse for service — I recall you learned how to deal with Yin Corpse in your second year... It was Lady Rozier who taught you, right?"
Mentioning Lady Rozier seemed to open up Professor Slughorn's chatterbox.
Without waiting for the students to respond, he rambled on: "Speaking of Lady Rozier, I also knew her... We once dined together when she was young. You should know, you can tell from her looks now that she was quite the beauty in her youth."
Case solved, he definitely fancied her back in the day.
It was apparent that Professor Slughorn also realized that he had veered off topic, and he cheerfully continued: "Alright, now who can tell us about the method you learned to deal with the Yin Corpse?"
This time, he chose Hanna Abbo from Hufflepuff.
He didn't choose Hermione, as Professor Slughorn seemed not to want Gryffindor, already ahead, to gain further advantage.
But choosing a Slytherin to answer the question would have been too obvious, so he picked Hufflepuff who posed no threat.
"Fire-type spells, Professor." Hanna's voice was crisp, "Yin Corpse fear fire, and that's the best way to deal with them."
"Perfect answer." Professor Slughorn clapped his hands, saying, "Five points to Hufflepuff."
"Indeed." He continued, "To deal with Yin Corpse, the best spell is to set fire — trust me, Yin Corpse definitely do not wish to be baptized by flames, as you should have witnessed, so I won't elaborate further."
Afterwards, Professor Slughorn posed another question: "I assume you are not yet familiar with the use of the Silent Spell, so... who can tell me the advantages of the Silent Spell?"
This time, he chose Hermione's name.
"Miss Granger," he said, "you answer this question."
"The advantage is your opponent doesn't know what spell you're about to cast," Hermione said, "thus giving you a momentary advantage."
"Five points to Gryffindor." Professor Slughorn applauded Hermione, signaling her to sit down, then he remarked: "Yes, as Miss Granger said, casting spells without loudly saying the incantation can achieve a surprising effect — but this requires the caster to have very strong willpower to accomplish."
"But I believe you are all capable enough to pass the O.W.L.s exams and have entered my classroom for study." Professor Slughorn glanced around, chuckling, "You all have firm determination, at least a deep understanding of Defense Against the Dark Arts… Now, pair up, one attempts to cast an evil curse at the other without vocalizing it, while the other tries to repel the curse, also silently… begin."
Ron immediately turned around, only to be grabbed by Harry.
Harry gave Ron a very friendly smile, recalling the moment of revenge for being massacred by Ron's chess pieces earlier in the common room.
"Don't leave, Ron." Harry grinned amiably, "My good brother — you should pair with me for the silent spell practice, right?"
Ron swallowed hard.
"Thanks, no way." He waved his hand.
"That's not up to you." Harry's smile grew bloodthirsty as he drew his magic wand, laughing sinisterly, "Are you planning to admit defeat and let me repeatedly beat you, or stand up and fight?"
Ron swallowed again.
He swiftly drew his magic wand, sending a red spell flying from it.
However, Harry was quicker, as a transparent shield appeared before him, deflecting the spell.
"Bring it on!" Ron shouted, taking advantage of the moment to fling another spell at Harry.
Harry didn't fight back, just used his magic wand to flick away each spell.
"Impressive!" Professor Slughorn clapped, watching the duel between Harry and Ron, "Truly, it's the most spectacular duel I've seen between students—keep it up!"
He really liked to watch the commotion, Ron thought to himself.
But he didn't let his guard down, fully attacking to make sure Harry had no chance to strike.
Yet the problem was, Harry wasn't unable to act; he simply wanted to play with Ron a bit longer.
Ending the fight so quickly was too boring.
After flicking away Ron's spells dozens of times, Ron was panting heavily as he raised his wand to cast another spell.
Harry thought it was about time and quickly disarmed Ron's wand, which twirled and flew into his hand.
"I surrender!" Ron immediately raised both hands.
Harry: …
You surrendered too fast!
Initially, he intended to end with a Stupefied spell but didn't expect Ron's surrender to be even faster than the speed of France fifty years ago.
Professor Slughorn also awarded Gryffindor ten points — giving Harry and Ron five points each as a reward.
After all, the spell duel was indeed spectacular, and at this sixth-year stage, to perform such skilled silent spells is rare among wizards.
As class ended, Professor Slughorn handed invitations to Harry, Seamus, and Hermione.
No other reason, he knew these three were the core members of Harry's circle.
Professor Slughorn liked good students, those with potential.
Of course, he couldn't be called opportunistic, just a bit quirky, expecting students who could enhance his influence.
Soon, it was time for class to end.
Everyone was somewhat reluctant to leave, especially Hermione and Annie's duels, which were a match between equals, evenly matched, unable to determine a victor.
But Harry knew Annie was definitely going easy, and quite generously.
As a wizard from a hundred years ago, even if Annie suffered from the Black Magic Curse, she was still someone who emerged from a heap of Dark Wizards.
In third year, she had already joined the ranks hunting those poachers, with her rich practical experience, she was unlike Hermione, who was more sheltered.
In fact, thinking of it like playing table tennis, if two people can play evenly for dozens of rounds without winning or losing, it's not impossible for them to have equal strength. But the most likely scenario is one side having much greater skill, able to play along with you.