"Very good! Very good, Miss Amanda."
Professor Moody said loudly in a booming voice, not forgetting to clap for Amanda's performance.
However, to Amanda's ears, although he tried to hide it—and did so very well—the gritting of his teeth within his words could still be heard and analyzed.
It wouldn't end that easily; Amanda was certain of this in her mind.
Sure enough, the next moment Professor Moody raised his wand toward Amanda again with a gruff voice.
"Let's try one more time, Miss Amanda, to give everyone a demonstration."
"Alright, Professor Moody."
Amanda stood in place, nodding with a completely indifferent expression, as if what was pointed at her wasn't a Death Eater's wand, but a powerless little wooden stick in a child's hand.
"Imperio!"
Fake Moody shouted harshly. This time, he used the maximum amount of magic he could muster, going all out in an attempt to control Amanda.
However, as his spell "hit" Amanda, she stood there as if she had no reaction at all.
Her eyes remained clear, her brain continued to operate rapidly and steadily, and her body didn't show even a trace of stiffness.
It was as if Professor Moody hadn't cast that Imperius Curse curse at her at all.
Seeing that Amanda seemed completely unaffected, Professor Moody frowned and flicked his wand gently.
"Squat down, crow like a rooster; squat down, crow like a rooster."
Amanda tilted her head, her eyes fixed on him, her voice smooth and stable. "Sorry, Professor Moody, I feel that this is also unnecessary."
"Merlin's canned beef, she's actually not affected at all?!"
"Looking at her, it's like she hasn't been hit by that Imperius Curse curse at all."
"Did I see it wrong just now? Did the spell actually miss her?"
The low-voiced discussions of the Young Wizards kept coming from the classroom. Amanda stood in place, staring at Professor Moody without blinking.
She could see Professor Moody's facial muscles twitching slightly, proving that he was trying to manage his expression.
His emotions of anger and dissatisfaction were about to become uncontrollable; Amanda's brain analyzed Professor Moody's current state with the fastest speed.
However, Barty Crouch Jr. was a professional Death Eater after all, a Death Eater die-hard loyal to Voldemort. After his facial muscles twitched for a few seconds,
he regained that stiff smile on his face, identical to the real Moody.
"You did very well, Miss Amanda, very well. You may step down now."
"Thank you for the praise, Professor Moody. Thank you for your guidance."
Amanda nodded politely in thanks, then turned and walked off the podium, sitting back down beside Hermione.
"Oh, Merlin, you can actually be completely unaffected by the Imperius Curse curse."
As soon as Amanda sat down, Hermione couldn't help but lean in and hug one of her arms.
"You are truly amazing!"
Her face reddened slightly, but Amanda's expression remained cold as she shook her head with a bit of shyness.
"It's nothing. Hermione can do it too."
"I know, keep thinking, but I'm not sure how to do that."
Hermione reached out to scratch her hair, constantly wondering how she should keep thinking.
Amanda couldn't give any answer or suggestion for this; after all, for her, thinking was an instinct, just like learning.
She didn't need to do it deliberately. So when Professor Moody used the Imperius Curse curse on her for the second time, Amanda, who had already experienced the feeling of the curse, no longer deliberately stopped thinking to relax herself. With her thinking and analysis going on at all times, what could the fake Moody's Imperius Curse curse do to her?
In the time that followed, the Little Eagles and Little Lions went up one by one to have the Imperius Curse curse cast on them by Professor Moody.
Unfortunately, except for Harry, who was able to resist the Imperius Curse curse after two attempts, no one else could truly counter the curse's control.
Hermione could force herself to stay in place without moving, but she could only control herself to stay still; she couldn't completely break free from the Imperius Curse curse.
When the class ended, Hermione, Harry, and Ron, like Cho Chang and Marietta Eckmore from two days ago, all showed various degrees of side effects while walking.
"To be honest, I don't like this spell, not one bit."
Ron uncontrollably took a step and clapped twice, following behind Amanda and the others toward the Great Hall.
"This is an Unforgivable Curse, Ron," Hermione, who was being supported by Amanda and kicked her leg with every step, spoke up quietly. "If you actually liked it, that would be a problem."
"Yeah, then you might have been a particularly loyal, particularly evil Death Eater."
Harry, who was limping because his right knee had been banged hard several times, mercilessly added a sharp-tongued comment to his friend.
"Harry, you really have a way with words..."
Ron also unceremoniously rolled his eyes, taking advantage of the gap in his clapping to give his friend a slap.
"Those two," Hermione shook her head with a laugh while leaning on Amanda's arm, "they just can't resist the urge to roast each other when nothing is wrong."
Amanda turned her head slightly to look at the two boys who were clearly struggling to walk but were still fooling around with each other.
"It's good, isn't it? This way, in any situation, the probability of them truly breaking down won't exceed fifteen percent."
"True," Hermione kicked her leg again, her eyebrows furrowed in slight distaste—of course, she was disgusted with her current state. "It's the luckiest thing that we could become friends in our first year."
"Me too," Amanda reached out her right hand to support Hermione's arm while steadily holding her waist. "Being able to come to this world, enter Hogwarts, and meet Hermione and everyone is the luckiest thing for me."
Hearing Amanda say such heart-hitting words in an emotionless tone, the corners of Hermione's mouth curled into a smile. She slowly leaned her head against Amanda's shoulder, "willfully" placing her weight on Amanda to let her carry her along.
"Am I heavy?" Hermione asked softly.
"Not heavy, Hermione is very light." Amanda's voice was still flat, but it was mixed with a few hints of unhesitating certainty.
As soon as she finished speaking, Amanda followed the thought in her mind and quickly bent down. With her right hand steadily supporting Hermione's back and her left hand gently hooking under Hermione's knees, she directly lifted Hermione into a princess carry.
"Whoa!"
Suddenly lifted into a princess carry by Amanda, Hermione let out a startled cry and subconsciously reached out to wrap her arms around Amanda's neck.
Realizing what had happened, Hermione wanted to let go with a red face, but she was interrupted by a sentence from Amanda.
"Hermione, you don't have to let go. Holding my neck has a higher safety factor, and also, I really like Hermione holding my neck."
Looking at Amanda, whose face was expressionless but whose earlobes were actually flushed red, the shyness in Hermione's heart quickly faded. She blinked her eyes mischievously, and her hands around Amanda's neck tightened a bit more.
Harry and Ron, following behind them, rubbed the spots on their cheeks corresponding to their gums in synchronized motion. Hiss... this strong sense of toothache.
The Little Eagles following further behind ignored their own side effects and discussed excitedly with each other.
"Is Hermione finally getting what she wanted?"
"I don't know, but probably not yet. I haven't seen her confess, and I haven't seen Amanda agree."
"Hehe, Amanda already gave Hermione a princess carry, and Hermione even hugged Amanda's neck. It's only a matter of time."
The Little Eagles, who had long since accepted Hermione, were now all starting to look forward to her and Amanda making their relationship official.
Amanda carried Hermione in a princess carry all the way into the Great Hall, only setting her down steadily when they reached their usual seats at the Ravenclaw Table.
This scene left the Young Wizards in the Great Hall stunned. Everyone whispered in discussion, though not many were truly shocked.
After all, given Amanda and Hermione's usual cooperation, Amanda's special protection of Hermione, and the sweet interactions between them, basically all the Young Wizards at Hogwarts had long since defaulted to them being a couple.
Of course, quite a few Professors thought so too.
"It seems Miss Granger quite enjoys the feeling of being carried like that by Miss Amanda."
Seeing the smile that hadn't left Hermione's face, Professor McGonagall said with a smile she couldn't hide.
"Miss Amanda enjoys it too, I'm sure." Professor Flitwick joined in cheerfully. His eyesight behind his glasses was quite good, and he had clearly seen Amanda's earlobes turning slightly red.
"To be young is wonderful, to still be able to feel the sting of love." Headmaster Dumbledore stroked his white beard, saying it as if it were a blessing, yet also a sigh.
Just as lunch reached the dessert stage and Amanda helped Hermione serve a small scoop of ice cream, Headmaster Dumbledore slowly stood up and walked to the front of the Staff Table.
"I expect you have all eaten your fill and are now ready to listen to an old man's words."
He said a sentence as if poking fun at himself, "You may continue to enjoy your desserts while you listen."
"The students from the other two competing schools in the Triwizard Tournament, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, will arrive at Hogwarts this Friday afternoon."
"I hope everyone can show our grace as the hosts of Hogwarts and politely welcome our guests from afar."
"The elderly will not nag any further," Headmaster Dumbledore finished his speech quickly with a smile, "continue to enjoy your desserts."
"Durmstrang and Beauxbatons are coming this Friday."
Cho Chang swallowed the jam biscuit in her mouth and said with some emotion. She hadn't seen students from other magic schools yet, and to be honest, she was a bit curious.
"I heard that students from Durmstrang actually learn the Dark Arts," Marietta Eckmore pursed her lips and glanced worriedly at the Gryffindor Table. "Harry is only in his fourth year. Will he really be okay?"
One must know that the champions of the three schools would also have to compete against each other.
If it really came to a fight, could Harry truly counter Durmstrang students who were older than him and knew Dark Arts?
"Students from Durmstrang do indeed learn the Dark Arts."
Penelope, sitting beside her two juniors, confirmed Marietta Eckmore's statement.
"But Harry isn't lacking either." Amanda, sandwiched between the four girls, put down her ice cream spoon and evaluated decisively.
"His talent for Defense Against the Dark Arts is very good, especially the Expelliarmus charm. It won't lose to the Dark Arts."
The power of the Dark Arts was indeed great, and most of them didn't require one to put in too much hard work, but because of that, they had various side effects or came with properties that were difficult to lift.
In comparison, other magic was different. As long as you were willing to put in the work to practice, those spells could exert power no weaker than the Dark Arts, and without the side effects.
If you also happened to have some talent, you could achieve twice the result with half the effort when practicing the corresponding Charms.
And Harry was in such a situation. Amanda had no doubt that as Harry used Expelliarmus more and more, his Expelliarmus would one day become powerful to a degree that would shock the world.
Just like her own Levitation Charm. Couldn't she rely on the Levitation Charm to do many things and make her attack methods ever-changing?
"As long as Harry practices hard, his strength will certainly not be weaker than the champion of Durmstrang or the champion of Beauxbatons."
"Alright," putting down her worry for her friend, Cho Chang looked toward the Staff Table with a bit of mischief. "Practicing hard is a given. Professor McGonagall said she would personally give Harry special training."
The other three girls obviously remembered this as well. They looked at each other and couldn't help but laugh.
The three bright and youthful girls laughed together lightheartedly, like trembling branches of flowers, touching the heart.
Amanda looked at Hermione, who was laughing happily with her hand over her mouth, and the corners of her mouth couldn't help but turn up. So beautiful... these two words suddenly popped into her brain.
Hermione, laughing brightly, was very beautiful.
As for the remaining two girls, naturally, someone was "secretly" staring at them too.
Cho Chang gazed at the smile on Marietta Eckmore's face, staring at her pink lips slightly parted from laughing.
When could she kiss them? She couldn't be later than her two juniors, Amanda and Hermione... At this moment, Cho Chang deeply felt that she should indeed think carefully about how to further advance the relationship between her and Marietta Eckmore.
She had to take the initiative more and pull Marietta Eckmore in; otherwise, if she had to wait for Marietta Eckmore to realize it herself, she didn't know how long she'd have to wait.
This was the conclusion she had reached after these two years of waiting.
As for the one looking at Penelope... lowering her head slightly, Luna also put down the spoon in her hand.
The Thestral among the Unicorn herd that had once helped her invisibly had already been taken away by the beautiful human lady.
But the gentle and kind Unicorn that had once helped her was still in place.
Then could she... quietly try to bring this gentle and kind Unicorn sister back to her own home?
With misty eyes gazing at Penelope, a feeling faintly arose in Luna's heart that she had never felt toward anyone else.
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