Twenty-Fourth Spell: Wards
"Welcome to Remedial Defense Against the Dark Arts," Ryosei said to Haru and the rest of the class. "I know most of you are tired of being reminded of stuff you already know, but I'll try to make this course as exciting as it always is! And for new students like Ryuji-Kun, I hope you'll learn a great deal from me."
Ryosei then used his wand to tap the Magic Circle backdrop, and the classroom underwent a dramatic change. The matted floors were replaced by wooden floorboards, the walls now had wooden bars, while the desks and cushioned seats were replaced by wooden platforms with Ryosei sitting cross-legged at the head of the classroom on an even higher wooden platform.
"It's like the torture room in Kodenmacho Prison," Haru remarked, causing all the kids to look at him like he was insane. "What? I saw a recreation of it when my adopted parents took me and my stepsister to Edo Wonderland in Nikko."
"You're right on the money, Ryuji-Kun," Ryosei complemented. "I've actually transported the class to the school castle's old torture room and onsite prison, where all the dangerous monsters covered in this class and Care for Magical Creatures are now kept."
Nayu looked outside the wooden bars nervously, and caught glimpses of strange creatures moving inside the cells. "Are you sure we're safe in here, Maki-Sensei?"
"I can assure you that we're perfectly safe," Ryosei said, taking a pebble out of his dark-blue robe.
He then threw the pebble at the wooden bars. But instead of hitting the bars, it bounced off an invisible barrier that glowed a light-blue color when the pebble made impact.
"Apart from the wooden bars, this room is protected by a Ward that I set up prior to the class," Ryosei explained. "Now who can tell me what a Ward is?"
When no one answered, Ryosei glanced at Seita whose eyes were closed. "Fumito-Kun! What is a Ward?"
Startled, Seita rubbed his eyes. "It's a spell that's used to protect people, places, or things."
"Right you are! Five points for Genbu!" Ryosei said and took out his wand. "But there are two kinds of Wards: one that keeps things from getting in, and one that keeps things from getting out. Can you guess which one I used on the bars?"
Once again, no one answered.
"Because the pebble bounced off the Ward I cast, that means it's meant to keep us in," said Ryosei. "Whereas if it was made to keep things out, the pebble would have flown through the bars. Does everyone understand?"
A few kids nodded, while some didn't.
"That lack of understanding is why you're here, but I am going to fix that!" Ryosei declared. "So for today's lesson, we're going to try and cast both kinds of Wards."
Ryosei then showed the wand movements and annunciation for each type of Ward. He was not as patient as Fuwa with her spell-cast teaching, but he was still quite informative. When he was done showing, he took out a cage that had a small purple-gray creature with a beak-like mouth and scissor-shaped hands.
"This is a Kamikiri," Ryosei said. "It's a type of yokai that cuts off people's hair by surprise. But some believe the reason it targets certain victims is an indication that person is going to marry a yokai in the near future. Now I hope you're writing this down, because there will be a quiz on Friday about the creatures I cover this week."
Immediately, everyone got out their notebooks, brushes, and inkwells before writing what he said down to the best of their memory.
"You can also look up information about the Kamikiri in Yokai and Other Dangerous Creatures by Furu Eru, since Newt Scamander's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them doesn't include nearly as many yokai as it should," added Ryosei. "So now I want you all to come up and demonstrate each kind of Ward on this Kamikiri."
"What if the Kamikiri tries to attack us?" Nayu asked.
"I'll make sure it doesn't cut of your pretty hair, Rakkashi-Chan," Ryosei assured.
From there, each kid went up and cast their Wards on the Kamikiri which had been let out of the cage. While Gyoku managed to cast both Wards successfully, Nayu failed and almost got her hair cut off by the Kamikiri when Ryosei waved his wand at it and said, "Soramo Lu!"
An invisible force made the Kamikiri fall to the ground at Nayu's feet, which made her faint.
"That was the Falling-Stone Jinx, which makes flying creatures or people fall," Ryosei said. "And this can work on lunging or leaping enemies, which makes it a very useful spell to know."
On instinct, Haru wrote down the annunciation for the jinx and its properties in his notebook.
"You're quite the studious one, eh, Ryuji?" Ryosei remarked. "Want to put that knowledge to the test by demonstrating your Wards?"
After Haru helped Nayu back to her platform, he took out his wand and looked down at the Kamikiri. Its red eyes glared at him angrily.
"Now I'm going to remove the Jinx, so be prepared to cast the Wards," Ryosei warned before raising his wand. "Karoi Xaōchú!"
The Kamikiri waved its scissor hands around, noticing the invisible force that made it fall was gone, and got up on its skinny legs.
"Hikarishō Lizài!" Haru said, waving his wand at the Kamikiri.
A small light-blue dome appeared over the Kamikiri before disappearing. Yet when the Kamikiri thrust its scissor hands at Haru, they were blocked by an invisible wall that glowed upon impact.
"Very good, Ryuji-Kun," Ryosei congratulated. "Now try the other type of Ward spell."
Haru started to feel a burning sensation from his chest, but he ignored it as he cast the other Ward spell. "Hikarishō Bìkāi!"
While the Kamikiri didn't move, Haru put his foot where the invisible dome would be. And sure enough, his foot touched something as a light-blue wave of energy rippled across the dome.
"Excellent! Five points for Byakko!" Ryosei stated.
Just then, the Kamikiri prodded the invisible dome and noticed its scissor hand went through. Startled, Haru backed away and tripped as the Kamikiri lunged toward his head.
To be continued…