Hogwarts: This professor is too Muggle.

Chapter 196 Professor Riddle's Class
The windows of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom were open, and a gentle breeze brought in the fresh air of the Forbidden Forest and the Black Lake.

Harry and Ron were sitting in the middle, towards the back, facing the window. A gentle breeze carried the damp morning mist and coolness into their collars and cuffs, making them feel chilly and raising goosebumps on their arms.

The students cheered wildly when they heard Professor Levent proposed a new teaching method. The young professor's classes were always something to look forward to. Harry shrank back, wishing it were free of those infuriating quizzes.

Hermione sat ramrod straight in the front row, her notebook spread out on the table, filled with notes, leaving no detail overlooked, even if it wasn't relevant to the exam.

She stared suspiciously at the unusual cup, certain that it was the same one she had seen in the office, which looked very much like Hufflepuff's golden cup.

"Quiet, keep quiet."

Melvin raised his hand to silence the noise in the classroom, placed the golden cup on the lectern, took out the developing agent, and dripped a few drops into it: "Let me introduce to you all the teaching assistant, the brilliant magic master, Mr. Gaunt."

Accompanied by a wisp of ethereal silver mist, the phantom of a black-haired male sorcerer appeared in mid-air.

The young wizards curiously examined the phantom, while Harry was dazed for a few seconds, his forehead slightly hot, but he thought it was because he had been exposed to the cold wind for too long and didn't pay much attention to it. He planned to ask Madam Pomfrey for a bottle of Bafite to clear his head at the school infirmary after dinner.

The young sorcerer's figure gradually solidified, his handsome face showing a sickly pallor, his light-colored eyes mixed with red blood vessels, making him appear somewhat eerie, and his whole being was shrouded in an indescribable gloom.

Having adjusted to the classroom environment, Riddle looked up and around, slightly dazed, but quickly regained his senses; feigning innocence was almost instinctive for him.
"Good morning, children. You can call me... Professor Gaunt."

“Professor Gaunt, are you dead?” a student asked.

It's no wonder Dean thought that way. This ghostly, illusory figure immediately reminded him of Professor Binns, and he was summoned from a magical vessel by Professor Levent, so he was clearly not a living wizard.

Riddle's face was dark, but he was just a phantom, so nothing seemed amiss: "Perhaps it's hard for you to understand now, but my existence is very unique. I have memories and can think, but I am not a ghost."

"So are you dead or not?" Simon muttered.

"Ahem..." Melvin cleared his throat, worried that if the young wizards continued to ask questions, it might provoke Voldemort. "Don't waste time on things unrelated to the lesson. Let's begin the class."

Logically speaking, at twenty years old, Riddle should have been at his best at deceiving, fooling the Hogwarts professors, dealing with Borgin Burke's customers, and even tricking Hepzba Smith into spending his life savings. But this was just a fragment of his soul.

The creation of Horcruxes can make wizards extreme, and the long period of isolation, coupled with the sudden awakening and the overwhelming amount of bad news, plus Voldemort's particular concern about life and death, means that if the teaching assistant were to ask any more questions, he might lose his temper.

The little wizard's mutterings slowly faded away.

Harry and Hermione were still talking about the Gaunt surname. They were quite sensitive to this surname. After the Chamber of Secrets incident, the Daily Prophet did a lot of special reports, making many people remember this unique surname, the direct descendants of Slytherin, and the inheritors of Parseltongue.

Upon hearing the surname again, both of them had a strange feeling, but they couldn't quite put their finger on it.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts..."

Riddle opened his mouth, looked around the classroom, and asked with a complicated expression, "You're... second graders, right? Where were we in the last lesson?"

Parvati raised her hand and answered, "Professor, we talked about pygmy pigs in the last class." Pygmy pigs are magical creatures that pose little danger. They are level 3X and have no special magical powers. They just grow very quickly and become very large when they mature. They are agile and can easily cause significant damage to wizarding gardens and farms. Conventional magic is ineffective against them. Only pure white dogs can completely drive them away.

Riddle fell silent. He had skipped over things like dwarf pigs when he was learning on his own in his first year of high school. After that, he had only been exposed to dark magic and the content of the forbidden book section.

It's like a university professor returning to kindergarten and being suddenly asked to teach these things without any prior preparation; he has absolutely no idea where to begin.

Was Dumbledore right? Was he really unsuitable to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?

Seeing that the teaching assistant was somewhat lost in thought, Parvati reminded him at the right moment, "This lesson is about the big-headed monster."

"Big-headed monster, oh, big-headed monster..."

Riddle's spirits lifted. This was also a Level 3X magical creature. However, compared to the useless Porcine, the Sulley had a more infamous reputation, and its magic was similar to dark magic. He had relevant information in his memory.

"The Big-Headed Hairy Monster is a kind of black magic creature from Russia. It is one foot tall and has hair only on its belly and limbs. When it lies down, it looks like a gray stone..."

The big-headed monster is very interested in people and likes to follow behind lone travelers, staying in their shadows. If a lone traveler senses something is wrong and turns around, he will only see an inconspicuous stone. However, if the big-headed monster stays in a person's shadow for a long time, that person will become weary, disgusted with everything in the world, and think that everything is meaningless. In the end, he will kneel down and let the monster devour him.

When talking about these bizarre dark magic creatures, Riddle returned to his area of ​​expertise, explaining things in simple terms and drawing on a wide range of sources... The young wizards listened with a mixture of fear and curiosity, not wanting to miss a single word, even as they trembled all over.

Melvin was very impressed; even he couldn't have come up with so many examples, all of them being dark magic creatures that murdered people.

"Professor, is there any way to deal with the big-headed monster?" Hannah of Hufflepuff trembled as she listened.

"Any simple spell will do, a knockback spell, a stun spell, or even kicking it away will scare it away. The important thing is to detect its presence."

Riddle glanced at her, his pupils contracting slightly, and changed the subject, "Going to school is not about completing a task, but about growth. Children, you can certainly pass exams by following textbooks and teaching materials, but you can only truly gain knowledge by stepping outside of them."

"The focus of this chapter is not on how to deal with the big-headed monster, but on the inspiration that this attack method brings."

"Did you know? There's a dark magic that can also make people lose their will to live, willingly exposing their necks to the butcher's knife..."

"Ahem..." Melvin cleared his throat. "That's about it for this lesson. I'll give you ten minutes for free discussion. Feel free to ask any questions you may have."

"..."

Riddle frowned at him and immediately found it very boring.

This guy is such a spoilsport. Defense Against the Dark Arts class, what else would he teach if not dark magic?
Before he could complain, Melvin said calmly, "The boy in the fourth row from the middle with a scar on his forehead is the savior who survived the ordeal back then."

Reid immediately turned around and stared intently at Harry.

(End of this chapter)