Hogwarts: Don't call me Wandmaker

Chapter 333 Moody's Defense Against the Dark Arts Class

The waiting process was tedious, but not exactly uneventful either. For example, in Potions class, Neville melted his cauldron again.

The semi-finished medicine extinguished the flames beneath the crucible, sending up a large plume of thick, bluish-purple smoke. Several students nearby were caught off guard and immediately engulfed by the smoke.

Their skin immediately turned the same bluish-purple color, and it was both painful and itchy.

Snape was furious. He immediately ordered the unfortunate students to be taken to the school hospital, then dispersed the smoke and glared at Neville.

"It's you again, Longbottom... Compared to you, even trolls seem clever and intelligent."

It's no wonder Snape said that; according to incomplete statistics, this is already the sixth crucible Neville has burned, it's just that the previous ones didn't have such a big impact.

Finally, Snape unceremoniously punished Neville by putting him in solitary confinement and having him gut a large barrel of horned toads.

Harry and Ron both showed expressions of sympathy... They had experienced similar punishments before, dealing with a large bucket of caterpillars (leeches).

It's hard to say which of these three is more unacceptable.

"Snape's temper is getting worse and worse."

As Ron left the underground classroom, he said, "He's not satisfied with just deducting points anymore. In just one class, he's put two people in solitary confinement. And Dean Thomas only made one mistake; that kind of mistake doesn't warrant solitary confinement at all."

“I can probably guess why he turned out this way,” Hermione said, walking over. “You’ve probably noticed it too.”

“Of course,” Siron said, “because of Moody.”

Harry nodded in agreement, clearly sharing the same answer.

Although it was only a few days, many people noticed Snape's unusual behavior.

Everyone knows that Snape really wanted to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, but Headmaster Dumbledore had been refusing to give him a different job.

This also made him hate every Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, whether it was Quirrell, Lockhart, or Lupin. He never gave them a kind look and would often cause them trouble.

This year, Moody was the only exception. Snape not only didn't cause him any trouble even once, but when they met in the Great Hall or the corridor, he would subconsciously avoid the other's gaze and give way to him.

This has never happened before.

"Perhaps that's why he took his anger out on the students," Harry said.

Ron muttered a few rude words under his breath, which startled Hermione, who immediately looked around nervously, fearing that Snape might suddenly pop out from some corner and deduct another hundred points from Gryffindor.

She didn't see Snape, but she did see an owl.

"Harry, is that your owl?"

Harry instinctively looked up. He saw Siren open the window, letting Hedwig fly in from outside, and then catch the envelope it threw to him.

"Thank you," Siron said. He wanted to feed Hedwig something, but when he reached into his pocket, he realized he had changed into a new robe that morning and there were no snacks in his pocket.

Fortunately, Hedwig didn't seem to care. She flew straight to Harry's arm and shook her feathers. She looked so relaxed, as if she hadn't been flying outside for two days, but had just accomplished a trivial task.

The group continued walking forward, with Xilun deliberately slowing down and coming to the very back.

He looked down at the envelope in his hand and at Ludo Bagman's name on it, smiled, and pulled out a piece of parchment.

The reply was short, but compared to the note Ludo Bagman had given him before, the handwriting was much messier and the marks were much heavier.

Clearly, he must have been very angry when he wrote this letter, so much so that he tore the parchment.

As for the content... it's pretty much what Xilun thought.

Aside from a few less-than-ideal words, the gist of the reply was that he was broke but didn't want Celen to report the matter to the Daily Prophet, so he was asking if he could wait a few more days. Celen looked at the last line of small print in the reply.

Don't worry, I'll personally go to Hogwarts later. You've probably already heard about the Triwizard Tournament; I'm one of the judges for this grand event.

It's clear that Ludo Bagman is trying to use his role as a referee in the Triwizard Tournament to increase the credibility of his promises.

Xilun smiled.

Let's not even talk about whether there's a salary for being a referee in the Triwizard Tournament; even if there is, it certainly wouldn't be more than 700 Galleons.

But that's okay, that's exactly what he wanted to hear from Ludo Bagman.

Siren wrote another reply, but this time he didn't borrow Hedwig again. Instead, he went to the owl shed on his way after dinner.

……

Another day passed, and finally, the fourth-year Gryffindor students eagerly awaited Thursday.

After lunch that day, before class even started, everyone had already arrived at the classroom door and lined up.

As soon as the bell rang, everyone rushed in to choose their seats.

Then, a distinctive thumping sound came from the corridor—the sound of Moody's prosthetic leg.

He walked into the classroom, looking as strange and frightening as ever. As soon as he entered, his blue demonic eye began to dart around rapidly.

“Remember, always stay alert!” he said, then quickly turned and waved his wand in front of Dean Thomas.

Several parchment sheets flew out from under his book, "Dark Powers: A Guide to Self-Defense," and landed in Moody's hands.

"You're doing Potions homework in my class?"

“Yes, I’m sorry, Professor,” Dean Thomas stammered. “Snape… Professor gave me too much writing, I couldn’t help it, it won’t happen again…”

“You can continue,” Moody said, “as long as I don’t find out.”

His demonic eye had rolled inside his head, making him look particularly frightening.

"As a wizard, the most important thing is to always be vigilant, whether you are facing a dark wizard or doing homework in class."

With a casual wave of his hand, several pieces of parchment swirled together in mid-air and instantly transformed into a honey badger.

The Hufflepuffs who were in class together were thrilled, because the honey badger was the symbol of their house.

But Dean Thomas couldn't laugh, because the honey badger disappeared after jumping twice, along with his parchment covered in writing.

Then Moody walked around the classroom again.

Unlike other Defense Against the Dark Arts professors, he didn't take attendance at the beginning of the class, but he could still call out each student's name accurately.

Not only that, he also knew perfectly well whether their grades were good or bad, as if he had been teaching at Hogwarts for many years.

“Remus Lupin wrote to me saying that you have already learned how to deal with dark creatures.” Moody stepped to the front and turned around. “But I think he’s got it a bit wrong. Dealing with spells is what you should be learning the most.”

“Then, for the first lesson,” Moody revealed a chilling smile, “I will teach you how to save your lives when facing a dark wizard!”

……

(End of this chapter)