A certain Hogwarts professor of runes

On the first day of the new year, Damocles Belby had breakfast and went to his first class in a good mood.

Following Felix's advice, after speaking with Dumbledore, he visited twelve wizards who had previously served as Defense Against the Dark Arts, which gave him firsthand information about the rumored curse.

According to these elders, the effects of the curse are very subtle, even imperceptible. However, after six months, something hidden begins to exert its influence, and they often encounter seemingly coincidental accidents.

As time goes on, these kinds of accidents will become more and more frequent.

Their advice to Belby was, "When you're brewing a potion and you fail in a way you shouldn't have, it's time to prepare to leave."

Belby kept those words firmly in mind.

In the remaining few days, he began to prepare his lessons diligently.

……

"Today is a second-year lesson, they should already be at the level to deal with the red hats, but I'd better play it safe." This was his first lesson, and Belby felt a mix of excitement and trepidation.

When he appeared at the classroom door, the young wizards who had been chatting all turned their attention to him.

The professor was of ordinary appearance, tall and thin, and looked somewhat frail, but he used magic to drag two large cages covered with cloth, which gave them a glimmer of hope.

There's nothing we can do; their demands are already very low.

The professor stood at the door and beckoned to them, "Come with me, young wizards. Today is a practical lesson; I need to assess your combat skills." He directed the cage floating in mid-air to disappear through the doorway. "Oh, and don't forget your wands."

The young wizards scrambled to pack their things, exchanging surprised glances.

They hadn't had a practical Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson in a long time, unless you include that memorable lesson this year, in which Gilderoy Lockhart brought in a cage of Cornish goblins and threw the class into chaos.

"Do you know what I was thinking about?" Ron said meaningfully.

"Those grimacing little guys aren't going to be this quiet," Harry replied with experience.

In that practical lesson, it was the three of them who cleaned up the mess and put the Cornish elves back into their cages, with Hermione's freezing spell being a great help.

They walked down the corridor and came to a quiet, empty classroom.

Belby placed the metal cage in the corner, from which came a low, chirping sound. Neville, who was walking in front, shrank back, afraid that the thing inside would grab his ear and fly to the ceiling.

"What do you think it will be?" Harry asked.

"The sound sounds a bit like a raccoon dog," Ron guessed.

"But raccoon cats should be in the Magical Creatures class; they're not dangerous," Hermione said.

"I just hope it's not an eight-eyed spider," Ron said hopefully. The thought of Hagrid raising a swarm of eight-eyed spiders in the Forbidden Forest made him want to crack open Hagrid's thick skull and see what he was thinking.

This information was a secret Hagrid revealed to them while they were investigating the Chamber of Secrets monster. He had been bothered by it ever since he saw the photos and information Hermione had found about the eight-eyed spider.

"He even gave it a name—Aragok!"

Belby looked at the classroom with a sense of nostalgia, recalling his own school days—though not exactly pleasant, as he wasn't very sociable back then.

He reintroduced himself: "Many people may not know me well. My name is Damocles Belby. I have some knowledge of potions, but I am also fully qualified to teach you defense against the dark magic."

"In some ways, I have an advantage. I've looked at the second-year textbooks; you need to learn some anti-evil spells and how to properly deal with some low-danger magical creatures, and I happen to know a lot about them from brewing potions..."

He told a lame joke, and judging from the effect, the young wizards were indeed frozen.

Ron whispered to Harry, "I guess Hagrid won't like him." But then an idea suddenly popped into his head: he wanted to introduce Aragog to the new professor.

Harry agreed, saying he would go mad if anyone dared to use Hagrid's "little cutie" as a potion ingredient.

After the self-introductions, Belby called out names from the list, memorizing each little wizard's name.

Milison Burst.

"Neville Longbottom."

……

"Ronald Weasley."

After roll call, the young wizards curiously raised their hands to ask questions; they had already received all sorts of true and false information beforehand—

"Professor, you received the Order of Merlin?"

"Yes, this month."

"Are you a potions master?"

"That's how others describe me."

"What is wolfsbane medicine?"

"A potion to relieve the symptoms of a werewolf's full moon."

"Who is stronger, you or Professor Snape?" This was a Gryffindor question, and the other half of the Slytherin glared at him.

"Well... our research areas are different, so there's no point in comparing them."

After a few minutes, Belby realized he couldn't let these young wizards, whose minds were wandering, ask so many questions. They seemed to want him to challenge Snape to a duel and compete for the title of Hogwarts' first Potions Master.

Belby cleared his throat and said, "Today, we'll review what we've learned. Red Hat, I'll ask a few questions, and you can get bonus points if you answer correctly—"

"professor!"

A young wizard interrupted him, "What is a red hat?"

Belby was a little stunned. "Uh... Red Hats are magical creatures similar to dwarfs, they're found in Northern Europe, wait!" He looked at the confused expressions below, "Haven't you guys learned about Red Hats?"

His response was a uniform shake of the head and sighs.

Belby stopped; he sensed something was wrong. He called out to one of the students, "What have you all been learning?"

Seamus Finnigan stood up and said something incomprehensible: "Professor, we learned to play vampires." He unbuttoned his outer wizard robe to wear as a cloak, bared his teeth, and made a haughty aristocratic expression.

Many of the young wizards laughed.

"That's interesting, but it's not the answer I'm looking for."

Finally, Hermione raised her hand to introduce their academic progress to the bewildered new professor.

"So, apart from the little elves in the first lesson, you don't have any practical lessons?" Belby was completely dumbfounded.

He had indeed inquired about the course and was mentally prepared, but no one told him that the Defense Against the Dark Arts course had no practical component.

After about half a minute, he came to his senses and said, "Okay, then we, uh... then we'll learn from Red Hat today."

He waved his wand and lifted the curtain over the cage.

The creature in the cage startled them; it was a short, emaciated creature with a layer of red down on its head and a dirty, dark brown skin on the rest of its exposed skin.

"You can get a closer look," Belby said.

The young wizards mustered their courage and approached, scrutinizing the ferocious-looking creature—

They huddled in their cages, baring their teeth at the young wizards, when one of the red-hatted ones suddenly slammed its claws into the enchanted metal cage.

"Bang!" The cage bars made a loud noise, but were intact.

The young wizards were still taken aback.

Harry could clearly see that its claws were extremely exaggerated, completely disproportionate to its body, with nails at least an inch and a half long.

Belby's voice came through, explaining: "Did you notice their claws? I think some people have. Their forelimbs are very flexible and they can use simple tools, such as branches, sticks, and stones."

"Red-hatted creatures are attracted to blood. Besides normal hunting, they will also ambush lone Muggles or wizards they encounter in the wild. Today we'll learn how to deal with them—"