My Hogwarts has a serious problem.

Chapter 213, Question 210: Diagnostic Test

"Wizard chess," Harry said quietly.

"You can't drink the water; you have to eat it raw," Hermione said quietly.

Ron could only hunch his neck and pretend to be dead.

Who knew Lockhart would be so low-key today, unlike how flamboyant he was when they met him in Diagon Alley.

This not only puzzled Ron, but also made Hermione realize that her impression of Lockhart had changed.

The book features a witty, brave, and intelligent adventurer; a hypocritical, arrogant, and conceited writer in Diagon Alley; and a serious, earnest, and reliable professor at Hogwarts.

So, which of all this nonsense is the real Lockhart?

Lynn casually picked up a textbook from the table of a young wizard next to him; it was Lockhart's autobiography, "Sailing with Vampires."

Lockhart, that fraudster, made a fortune by taking advantage of his position as professor. He required each student to have at least seven textbooks for Defense Against the Dark Arts this year, all of which were his autobiographies, and each one was quite expensive. Families like the Weasleys, who had to support so many children's education each year, would have to sell everything they owned to afford them.

"First, before class begins, let's talk about the textbooks you're holding." He held up Lockhart's autobiography. "Because of a misunderstanding with Professor Dumbledore, I had you buy these things as this year's textbooks. That was my mistake, because we don't need these books at all in class."

A few noises arose in the classroom. After all, these books were really expensive, and Lockhart was now saying that buying them was a waste. This inevitably made some of the young wizards, who were already dissatisfied with this, even more unhappy.

"Because this responsibility lies with me, you won't have to pay for the money you spent on these books. After class, you can go to your college's class leader and ask them to help you count how many students in your college bought how many books, and then report it to me. I will refund everyone's money for the books."

After Lynn finished speaking, the classroom fell into a brief silence, followed by a burst of cheers.

Most of the young wizards at Hogwarts are born into mixed-blood or Muggle families. Only a very small number of them come from wealthy pure-blood families. Moreover, if the money is returned, it will definitely end up in the students' hands. Whether they give it to their parents or secretly keep it for themselves is up to them.

Ron, who had been burying his head in the sand, suddenly became excited. His wand had broken when the car hit the Whomping Willow, and he was too ashamed to tell his family. If Lynn returned the money he had spent on the book, he could get a new wand.

Just as the young wizards were celebrating, someone else raised their hand. This time it was a girl, but she was a Gryffindor student.

"Is there a problem?"

The girl asked, "Do you want to take back the books we're holding now?"

Lynn shrugged: "Consider it a gift for us when we meet. Of course, if you don't like it, you can use it as toilet paper, I won't mind."

A burst of laughter filled the classroom, letting the young wizards know that their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor wasn't some serious old-fashioned shrew.

In less than five minutes of class, Lynn had already established a preliminary reputation among these young wizards. This was partly due to the money Lynn had spent, but it wasn't his own money.

Although it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Lynn is now incredibly wealthy, he certainly wouldn't be willing to be a sucker to bail out Lockhart, this conman.

After Lockhart became mentally impaired, Lynn, with Dumbledore's tacit approval, went to his house and confiscated all the things Lockhart had left behind.

Even though wizards usually keep their money in Gringotts vault, they also keep some funds at home for emergencies. Lynn confiscated the Galleons Lockhart had left at home. The amount wasn't large, but it wasn't small either. It was more than enough to compensate the young wizards at Hogwarts for buying books.

Aside from that, his biggest find at Lockhart's house was the conman's own notes on the Oblivion Spell.

Putting everything else aside, the Oblivion Charm is definitely Lockhart's signature move. He used this skill to attack many adventurers and wizards who had actually experienced the events in his books, ultimately achieving his current success.

Lynn walked back to the podium and tapped the table to signal everyone to be quiet.

"Alright, let's begin the lesson now. Since the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts changes every year, I don't know what level Professor Quirrell led you to last year. In addition, Defense Against the Dark Arts is a comprehensive subject, so I need to understand what magical knowledge you have mastered before this lesson."

He took out a stack of test papers and handed them out. Upon seeing that there was going to be a test, the young wizards below immediately looked worried.

"Getting to know each other is the first step. Don't whisper to each other while writing, and don't cheat by flipping through books. You don't even need to write your names on this test paper. I just want to know what knowledge you have now. Of course, you can't just write random things on it. Let me tell you in advance, if I want, I can find out who the owner of this test paper is."

After Lynn finished speaking, the exam began.

Instead of sitting idly on the podium, he walked down and looked around.

The purpose of the exam, as he said, was simply to test how much knowledge these young wizards had acquired. He certainly couldn't use his own second-year standards to measure them; that would be too unfair.

Lynn has always had a clear self-assessment. If the system hadn't added up his magical talent points, he might have become a hardworking genius, but right now, he's just a hardworking cheat.

He walked around the classroom twice and roughly figured out the situation of these young wizards.

Lynn can't use himself as a standard now, but he can use Harry as a standard.

The reason it's Harry is because he himself has considerable magical talent, even in defense against the dark arts. It's just that he doesn't work hard enough and spends most of his time doing nothing, either messing around with Ron or playing Quidditch. He rarely studies seriously.

Lynn had initially planned to use Hermione as the benchmark, but after looking around, he realized that if that were the case, no one in the entire classroom would be able to pass.

Even judging by Harry's grades, the results of these young wizards were not satisfactory, with very few exceeding the passing grade—you could count them on one hand, and that was even with Ravenclaw students among them.

In other words, the rest of the people who are not even as good as Harry have neither his magical talent nor his usual crazy playfulness.

This is enough to show how lax the students at Hogwarts are in their studies.

(End of this chapter)