Hogwarts: This professor is too Muggle.

Chapter 198 Testing and Inquiring
Tuesday, Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

Seamus and Dean huddled together, pasting thin parchment onto the book and using quill pens to copy the illustration of the big-headed monster. Although there were more convenient ways to make copies, such as duplicating them, they felt a greater sense of accomplishment in drawing this dark creature by hand.

Dangerous and eerie dark creatures and stuff, that sounds so cool.

Several young wizards were gathered around them. Harry and Ron were nearby, watching them copy the drawings while discussing the combat strength of these dangerous creatures, who would be stronger in a one-on-one duel, who would have the advantage in the wild, and who would survive to the end if a fight broke out.

Ron was shouting, bringing up the most powerful animal he could remember: "Have you ever seen a dragon? My brother is a dragon keeper. Whatever big-headed monster or short-legged pig, one breath of dragon flame and they're all burned to ashes!"

Justin, standing nearby, frowned and pondered for a moment before bringing up an even more powerful creature in his mind: "Can a fire dragon be more powerful than a basilisk? If a basilisk looks at you, it won't even be able to open its mouth, and the basilisk has venomous fangs!"

He immediately won the approval of the surrounding students: "That's right! That's right!"

Ron looked regretful.

He himself was the warrior who defeated the basilisk, so why did Justin bring up the basilisk first?

Hearing his classmates praising Justin, Ron felt extremely uncomfortable; these honors should have been his.

It's all Professor Levent's fault for weakening and restricting the Basilisk, allowing them to face it head-on and successfully defeat it, which led him to subconsciously think that such a defeated opponent was not a formidable foe, and he forgot to mention it.

Ron quickly racked his brains, trying to think of any other impressive animals.

Just then, Neville, who had been silent all along, brought up the sac-poison leopard again, which immediately sparked another heated discussion. This was knowledge seen in the mirror, and everyone could chime in with their opinions.

Unlike Ron, who was eager to show off, Harry didn't participate in the discussion. He listened attentively, finding the discussion pointless but entertaining.

For the next few minutes, the discussion reached a stalemate. More level 5X magical creatures joined the battle, and the young wizards were just talking on paper. No one could convince anyone else, and the simple stubbornness and repetition sounded rather boring.

Harry shook his head and turned to Hermione in the front row, hoping that the top student and all-knowing young lady could offer some insightful advice.

However, Hermione did not participate in the boys' boring debate about combat strength. Instead, she sat obediently in the front row, head down, with a magazine open in front of her, flipping through it with great interest.

It's not a big book?
Harry was somewhat surprised. He peeked at the title bar and read aloud the rather strange article title: "Discipline, Punishment, and Feeding: The Birth of Azkaban..."

He scratched his head. He was familiar with the name. Last time Hagrid was raising a dragon, he refused to send Norbert away. Professor Levent had mentioned this word when he was threatening him.

It is said to be an isolated island in the North Sea, which was transformed into a wizarding prison by the Ministry of Magic. Dangerous creatures called Dementors live on the island.

Harry lowered his gaze to read the article; after the abstract came long passages of text, interspersed with obscure and difficult academic language.

"...clearly define and unify the legal code, establish judicial procedures, universally adopt the jury system, and determine the nature of punishment as primarily reform and education. The punishments of wizards and Muggles show a similar trend, namely, reducing direct physical punishment, carefully inflicting physical pain, and no longer displaying those subtle and mild tortures."

"Um……"

Harry gasped, his head feeling cool. He felt as if he had gained knowledge, but this knowledge was like spring rain, flowing through his head and then flowing out, leaving nothing behind.

"Is this a proper academic paper? Who wrote it with this kind of grammar? No one in their right mind could understand it..."

The complaint reached Hermione's ears. She turned her head, gave Harry a deep look, then spread the magazine in front of him, her fair fingers tapping on the author's name. There was a familiar name there.

Harry's eyes widened: "This was written by Professor Levent?!"

"It was just published in the magazine this week. I met Dobby, who was mailing a letter, at the Owl Hut last weekend. I learned from him that the professor had submitted a paper and asked him to order it for me."

Hermione looked rather pleased, her gaze fixed on the article, her expression full of admiration and praise. "This article discusses the development path of the rule of law from the perspective of the history of prison development, and compares the similarities and differences between Muggles and wizards. The angle and viewpoint of this article are very novel. Ms. Marchban commented that this is the most outstanding paper in the field of Muggle studies in three hundred years."

Then she looked at Harry: "You really should take a good look."

Harry shook his head: "I'm not interested in prisons or laws, whether they're Muggle or wizarding."

“Okay…” Hermione hummed twice, looking quite disgusted. “The second half of the paper is about Dementors and introduces four tips for practicing the Patronus Charm. You should be interested in that.”

"Dementors? Patronus Charm?"

"The professor mentioned before that Dementors are Level 5X dark creatures with no facial features. They have a hole where they should be opening their mouths. They can identify people by smell and emotion and can absorb people's happiness through their sense of smell. The academic community is still unsure whether they should be classified as magical creatures."

Hermione, with a serious expression and the air of a professor lecturing, said, "Currently, no wizard has found a way to eliminate Dementors; they can only be banished through the Patronus Charm."

Just as Harry was about to ask something else, the school bell rang, and the students who were blocking the aisle scattered.

As the bell rang, Professor Levent walked into the classroom right on time, wearing a light green spring robe that looked like the spring buds of a willow tree. His hair was slightly loose but not messy, and he had a faint smile on his face.

The young wizards didn't know how to describe it; it felt less like being in a classroom and more like being on the shore of a black lake, with a gentle breeze blowing.

Melvin pulled up a chair, sat down, placed the golden cup on the lectern, and began dripping developing agent into it as he said, "Just like last week, Professor Gaunt will be teaching you Defense Against the Dark Arts class today."

Under Harry's gaze, the ethereal silver mist dissipated, outlining the figure of another young wizard. Within seconds, the teaching assistant's voice rang out from within the silver mist, echoing throughout the entire classroom.

Good morning, children.

Professor Gaunt floated in mid-air, a kind smile on his pale face: "Today we'll continue talking about the common Level 3X dangerous creatures in the jungle. I believe you've all noticed that these creatures are actually quite easy to deal with, as long as you're careful enough and remain cautious..."

The content is very basic and can be considered a review. Students with a solid foundation might find it a bit boring.

As Harry listened to the teaching assistant's explanation, his mind went slightly blank, and his thoughts drifted out the window.

Professor Gaunt has been teaching for some time now, and overall he's been excellent, almost the best professor they've ever met, far surpassing Quirrell and Lockhart, and even better than Professor Levent.

Even with these very basic second-year topics, he could use his extensive knowledge to explain them with unique understanding and detail, thus extending to more profound areas, involving the underlying principles of magic. Even if the students couldn't fully understand, they would definitely gain something.

However, Professor Gaunt can be quite eccentric at times.

Half an hour into the lesson, the teaching assistant's semi-transparent silhouette floated in the air, waving his hand to direct the drifting silver mist, using it to condense the bodies of magical creatures, such as a 12-inch-long, nimble shrimp that displayed running, jumping, and sudden attacks.

Presenting vivid and concrete images in a direct and intuitive way can deepen students' impressions.

Riddle's lips curled into a pleased smile as he cleared his throat: "This lesson was about soft-clawed land shrimp. I believe everyone has learned very well. Now it's time to test our results. Can anyone tell me what spell we should use to deal with soft-clawed land shrimp?"

Here we go again… Harry looked at Hermione, who was raising her right hand, and sighed silently, already prepared for what was to come.

“Mr. Potter, you answer this.”

"..."

He knew it.

Harry, unsurprised, replied blankly, "I think we can use the Disarming Charm."

"Disarming spell, disarming spell..."

Riddle repeated it twice in a low voice, a smile of appreciation on his face. "What a novel angle. The Disarming Charm can directly dismantle its pincers and fangs, and also push it back to a safe distance... For your ingenuity, Gryffindor gets five points."

Harry forced a smile, which looked terrible.

Normally, one should choose a knockback spell or a stun spell. Compared to a disarming spell, these basic spells are faster to cast, more accurate, and more versatile. If Professor Levent were lecturing, he'd probably say that all he has on his mind is the disarming spell.

That's what's strange about Professor Gaunt.

After learning that he was the boy who had miraculously survived the ordeal years ago, the teaching assistant became exceptionally friendly, even to the point of flattery. Every class, the assistant would call on him and ask him questions, and no matter how outrageous his answer was, the teaching assistant would use his extensive knowledge to provide a reasonable explanation and find a way to praise him.

This favoritism has not yet been reported, because the abnormal increase in House Points has caught Professor Snape's attention. House Points gained in Defense Against the Dark Arts will be deducted from Potions class in the afternoon.

However, Professor Gaunt's questioning has become more and more frequent lately, and his point deductions have become increasingly unrestrained, so Professor Snape is almost overwhelmed with them.

But this is not something to be happy about; being sandwiched between the two professors makes me feel uneasy.

Ron sat down next to him and leaned in to whisper, "Professor Gaunt is your fan. He gives you extra points for correct answers and extra points for incorrect ones. Even if you say you're using a Cleansing Charm to give a monster a bath, he'll praise you for your novel idea..."

"..."

Harry thought Ron was right.

"We discussed it after class, Harry."

"Ok, I know."

"Your fans are coming over soon to answer your questions."

"I know……"

Harry sighed, just as he met Professor Gaunt's gaze. He quickly straightened his back, feeling a chill run down his spine.

How could there be such an adult wizard, especially one from a pure-blood family, behaving just like that young Colin Creevey? Luckily, Professor Gaunt was just an illusion; otherwise, with another professor in his fan club, he really wouldn't know how to face Malfoy and Snape's taunts.

Harry felt a lot of pressure and was planning to tell Professor Levent about the situation when the teaching assistant's phantom figure floated over.

"My dear children, what are you discussing? Do you have any questions about this lesson?"

"No, Professor."

Harry answered quickly.

Riddle remained unperturbed, his gentle smile still on his face: "Don't worry about other people's criticisms and strange looks. Defense Against the Dark Arts is a practical course, and many questions don't have standard answers. Harry, don't be anxious about it. Other students may only be able to use the Repel Charm and the Stun Charm, but you have successfully mastered the Disarming Charm. Compared to you, they are just mediocre people without talent."

Ron looked rather grim, and Hermione hesitated to speak.

Harry opened his mouth: "I...I'm not..."

"You are a champion of Gryffindor, you should be braver and not hesitate to talk about your past heroic deeds," the phantom said with a smile, like a close friend. "Can you tell me the legendary story of that night? How did you escape death? How did you defeat Voldemort?"

"Stop, Mr. Gaunt!"

Harry took a deep breath, his voice trembling slightly. "For me, there was no legend that night. All I know is that my parents died at Voldemort's wand. I lost my loved ones, I lost everything. These false honors can't bring me any comfort. I'm not a hero. The real heroes were my parents."

Riddle's illusory figure was somewhat distorted, but he still forced an ugly smile: "I'm very sorry, Harry, what happened that night was indeed a tragedy, I just... I just admire you and your parents too much."

Harry sat in his seat, remaining silent.

……

Late at night.

Yulm crawled out of the Emerald Serpent's nest and wriggled around on the office desk.

Melvin sat in his chair, holding the Hufflepuff Gold Cup in one hand. He picked it up and examined it closely, finding it to be a highly purified white liquid, milky white, with a watery texture, not viscous, and emitting a faint fragrance.

It clearly has a strong healing effect.

Melvin tilted the golden cup and slowly poured the liquid inside into the glass bottle, sensing the gentle magic contained within the liquid as he did so.

Once the glass bottle was filled, only a few drops of milky white liquid remained in the golden cup. After sealing the bottle, the remaining liquid quickly turned black and decayed, emanating an evil and ominous aura. The smell changed from a pleasant fragrance to a foul stench, and it grew stronger and stronger.

Melvin was not surprised. He calmly took out another bottle of silvery-white medicine and poured a few drops into the gold cup.

Riddle's phantom quickly materialized, hovering back and forth in the office, emitting furious roars:

"Why? Why won't he tell us what happened that night? What magic allowed him to survive? What magic could defeat the great Dark Lord?"

Yulm glanced up at him, wagged its tail, and slowly burrowed back into the Emerald.

Melvin shook his head slightly. He was clearly deep and good at disguising himself when he poisoned Mrs. Smith, but after being made into a Horcrux, he became like this. His hysterical cursing was no different from the dark wizard in Knockturn Alley. You could not see the cunning he used to have.

It seems that tearing apart one's soul really affects one's brain.

(End of this chapter)