Having escaped famine, I was accepted into Hogwarts

And so, with a slightly uneasy feeling, Kane followed the others to the Defense Against the Dark Arts office. He really wanted to know what kind of amazing thing Lockhart would do to him.

Chapter 104 Professor, did you bring any gold?

In the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, thanks to his experience from the previous semester and the recent holiday, he quietly sat at the very back.

While it's unlikely Lockhart will exude any arrogance this time, it's quite possible he'll ask himself to perform in a stage play, just like he did at Flourish and Blotts.

Soon Professor Lockhart pushed open the door and stood on the podium, silently looking at the young wizards below. They say silence has power, and he probably saw himself as some kind of evil villain who liked to draw but whose exam scores were terrible.

Kane slowly took out a Lockhart novel, which seemed suitable for all ages and was perfect for passing the time.

Suddenly, Lockhart spoke from the podium.

"Today is our first lesson together, so I think it's necessary for me to get to know each other a bit. So, little wizards, please fill out this test paper. Ah, that's all for today's first lesson. Finish early and get out of class is over, isn't that great?"

As he spoke, Lockhart took out a stack of exam papers from the podium. Without using magic, he personally handed out the papers to the young wizards one by one.

Kane quickly took the test paper, glanced at it, and asked what color Gilderoy Lockhart liked... Oh, sorry, that was crossed out. The first question was replaced by what his favorite Dark Magic Defense Spell was.

The second question was about what Defense Against the Dark Arts you learned in first grade.

Question 3: Is there anything about your Defense Against the Dark Arts that you haven't improved enough?

Question 4: What Defense Against the Dark Arts do you want to learn in the new semester?

Twenty questions in total, and it shouldn't take more than ten minutes to write them all out. This combination of reducing the workload and ensuring responsibility successfully moved the young wizards to tears. They were truly touched.

After all, compared to the previous Professor Quirrell, they at least saw that this professor had a serious attitude towards teaching.

Kane, on the other hand, read through the entire exam paper. Well, Lockhart was quite clever, or rather, the person behind Lockhart who gave him this idea was very clever.

This seemingly very serious exam is actually just a regular placement test given by other professors at the beginning of the semester, which anyone who isn't a first-year student would take.

Lockhart cleverly used this test paper to replace the first lesson, not only eliminating the crisis of the first lesson and forcibly giving himself a full week of preparation time, but also giving the young wizards their own choice.

For example, he would randomly pick a few of the most basic spells from a huge number of test papers, practice them diligently, and then hand them over to the young wizards.

If a young wizard were to say, "Professor, your X-ray teaching is indeed very strong, but why is it so basic?"

Lockhart had something to say, after all, he had taken the spells from the exam papers. The little wizard would have no choice but to suffer in silence and wouldn't be able to study comfortably, since Lockhart really did teach a little bit of stuff in every class.

"Ah, too new." Kane finished writing the exam paper and then sat leisurely in his chair, crossing his legs and swinging them back and forth.

As for why I didn't run away and leave get out of class early like the other students...

Unfortunately, I was kept after class. There was a line of small writing neatly written in the corner of my test paper, telling me not to leave after class.

This is the message Lockhart left for himself; if it were someone else...

The others were used to this scene. Some thought Kane was incredibly studious, otherwise how could he have become the Hogwarts' top student and the second-year school bully?

A small number of people who knew Lockhart's true nature, when they connected it to Kane and Dumbledore's close relationship... well, they only just remembered that Kane not only had a cross-dressing fetish, but also a fetish for studying other things.

That's not surprising at all; it's perfectly normal.

Soon, the second-to-last Ravenclaw student filled his exam paper with a bunch of legendary spells that weren't even in the textbooks, whether he genuinely wanted to learn them or was trying to sabotage the exam.

In short, only Kane and Lockhart are left in the classroom now.

Lockhart let out a sigh of relief after closing the classroom door, picked up the test papers, and sat down next to Kane: "Great, the whole class is finally over. Come here and help me check Kane's notes. What magic should I find for you to teach?"

"Well, preferably a simple and easy-to-learn spell. You know, I don't have much talent for spellcasting." Lockhart's words made Kane raise an eyebrow. He was right; Lockhart really did have that idea in mind.

“Alright, alright, I’ll show you. But speaking of Lockhart, did you come up with this idea yourself or did someone else come up with it for you?” Kane asked as he flipped through the spells in the exam paper.

"Although my magic skills are indeed mediocre, I'm not bad at all. Otherwise, how would I have been assigned to Ravenclaw?" Lockhart said with a proud look.

"Well, well, I wonder how Ravenclaw's students ended up like this." Kane glanced at Lockhart with a wistful look.

“Oh, right, Kane, I have another small problem that needs to be solved. Do you know how to increase a professor’s prestige? After all, it’s probably not going to be very effective for me to increase my prestige through teaching... My main goal is to make the young wizards afraid of me enough so that they won’t keep hanging around me for no reason, which would reduce the chances of me being exposed,” Lockhart asked.

"As long as you're inhuman enough, for example, like Snape and Felch, you'll deduct points when you can and don't have to, and confiscate things when you can and don't have to. In short, you'll come to Hogwarts just to make the young wizards uncomfortable... Although it's a bit presumptuous of me, as a student, to give you this advice, Hogwarts already has two outstanding talents, and it doesn't need another one like you."

Kane casually offered Lockhart suggestions.

“For example, what behaviors can result in points being deducted?” Lockhart asked.

Kane pointed to a test paper in front of him. A young Gryffindor wizard, whether he was genuinely trying to reserve a spot in Azkaban or just looking to cause trouble for Lockhart, had filled out the test paper in a very abstract way. The magic he wanted to learn was simply the three starter spells of Azkaban: Death, Soul Reaper, and Cruciatus.

“For example, this kind of behavior definitely warrants a deduction of points, otherwise anyone would dare to play such an abstract, head-losing joke with you. Are you kidding me?” Kane raised his eyebrows and began to teach Lockhart how to be a professor that everyone hates.

"I'll give it a try first. Of course, I don't really intend to lose Gryffindor points, I'm just giving it a try..."

"Ahem! Gryffindor, deduct ten points, the kind you mean?" Kane nodded after Lockhart finished speaking. To be fair, Lockhart's tone when deducting points was quite good.

Aside from the two of them, no one realized that the young wizards had simply left get out of class early, so in terms of time, it was still class time.

Therefore, Lockhart's deductions were actually effective.

Hermione, who usually works tirelessly in class answering questions and only earns twenty points, clearly saw Gryffindor's 10 points deducted and then gently shatter in the common room.

Meanwhile, the two in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom were still secretly plotting.

To put it more bluntly, if Kane takes a fancy to something, Lockhart will start looking for trouble to remove the spell, and then through dirty backroom deals, the item will end up in Kane's pocket.

Dio's automatic quill pen from third grade? Confiscated!

Second-grade Cade's endless notebook? Confiscated!

Colin Crevy's camera from first grade? That's pretty expensive, don't confiscate it.

And so, a deal that was not exactly dirty in the history of Hogwarts, but was certainly sordid and inhumane, was made in this small classroom.

It is foreseeable that for the next semester, all the young wizards at Hogwarts will live under the shadow of Lord Lockhart.

Soon after Kane left the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Lockhart continued preparing for the next year's exams. He tried to finish all the exams for all years by Thursday, so that they would have three full days of intensive tutoring on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Of course, before that, Kane had to go to Dumbledore for a refresher course.

The second year was really packed with activities, which was overwhelming. Could it be that Hogwarts is not a happy education, but rather a way to slowly boil young wizards and make them unknowingly lose their way in the terrible fate of the King of Scrolls?

Well, that's probably not the case, because Kane brought it all on himself.

After leaving the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Kane headed straight for the greenhouse, partly to take care of the plants, and partly to use the excuse of caring for the plants to strengthen his Weather Charm. How wonderful!

Kane went numb as soon as he returned to the greenhouse.

"Fruit fly! Fruit fly, what's wrong with you, fruit fly?" Kane immediately spotted the fruit fly twitching in the dirt, looking like it was about to die.

Professor Sprout, who had just returned from the Forbidden Forest, also saw Kane shaking the fruit fly in his arms and quickly quickened his pace.

What's wrong with it?

Kane glanced at the still-fluttering fruit fly's wings and felt a little calmer: "It's probably just too tired...emmm, after all, this plantation is really too big, and it's very responsible; it's probably taking care of all the plants in the greenhouse."

After he finished speaking, he took a stone brick from the little pumpkin's mouth and used the Shadow Blade to cut it twice, creating a bed.

Then Professor Sprout produced two cute little blankets from somewhere, one as a mattress and the other as a quilt, and placed the little fruit fly on the bed so it could rest well.

"So we have to start coaxing these plants again." Professor Sprout sighed helplessly, and was about to get down on the ground to begin demonstrating his language skills.

Kane stopped Professor Sprout, saying, "I have another plan!"

Professor Sprout glanced at Kane: "Oh? What's your plan now?"

"Hmm... Professor, do you have any gold with you?"

Chapter 105 Did they realize their mistake and turn back?

Soon, Professor Sprout found a huge pile of gold from somewhere, and then she watched as Kane began to rub the gold with his hands, turning it into two things that looked like motors.

Then he pulled a gear out of the little pumpkin's belly, and together with the motor and the remaining gold, he continued to demonstrate his divine power, and a phonograph was thus painstakingly pieced together.

"Professor McGonagall would go crazy if she saw this." Professor Sprout held the phonograph, still unable to believe that Kane had transformed into this huge thing without even using a wand... no, wait.

Is this really a transformation?

"Just place this in the center of the greenhouse and play music for the plants. That should make them happy, and the fruit flies can take a break. You only need to take care of a few small plants that are hard of hearing and can't hear the music."

Kane placed the phonograph on a stone platform in the center of the greenhouse, pressed the button on it, and turned the music up to the maximum volume.

Professor Sprout looked behind him and saw that a mandrake had suddenly sprung up and become quite large.

Although it has reached the size of a mature mandrake, strangely enough, its color and leaves still resemble those of a young mandrake.

"Hiss... Something's not right, something's definitely not right. Could it be that the relationship between the music and the fruit flies has made this mandrake plant happy, and made it want to grow bigger?"

Professor Sprout conjured two small signs and gently hung them nearby, reminding herself and everyone else that something was wrong with these mandrakes and that they should not be touched.

Professor Sprout soon left the greenhouse; class was about to start, and she needed to go back to her office to get her lesson plan. Meanwhile, Kane continued to work in the greenhouse, making the soil, which had become somewhat dry over the past day and night, moist again.

Professor Sprout soon returned to the greenhouse with his lesson plan: "By the way, Kane, do you have a class today?"

"No." Kane had a strange feeling that something was wrong.

"How about you stay and be my assistant? Today is the first herb class for the first-year wizards, and I'm worried that some of them might be as naughty as you, so I need you to help me keep an eye on them."

Kane awkwardly agreed after hearing Professor Sprout's words.

So you made a deep impression on Professor Sprout back then?

To be honest, he felt it was alright.

Soon, as the first-year wizards began their classes, the greenhouse immediately became lively. This class was a joint session between Ravenclaw and Slytherin students.

Because of some strange hierarchies of contempt and the old tradition of mutual attacks between colleges, different professors and courses will have different staffing.

For example, professors with a more radical teaching style might really like to put Gryffindor wizards and Slytherin wizards in the same class.

For example, Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick believe that this competitive learning environment will greatly accelerate the learning efficiency of young wizards.

Professor Snape did the same thing, but he didn't seem to care much about learning efficiency.

What he cared about was the ability to gain points for Slytherin while simultaneously losing points for Gryffindor. This double happiness was exactly what he sought and the only form of entertainment in his bleak life.

As for other pastimes... brewing potions, researching dark magic, studying Harry Potter, attempting to mentally attack Harry Potter, trying to develop a completely original shampoo without a single trace of Potter's patents...

Well, actually he has quite a few ways to pass the time.

Professor Sprout's teaching style was not so radical, and she didn't really want to see young wizards arguing in class, so unless there was a real inability to separate them, she wouldn't put Gryffindor and Slytherin together.

Most people group Gryffindor and Hufflepuff together, since Hufflepuffs are incredibly oblivious and know how to get to the kitchen. Clearly, the young wizards of Gryffindor all need a Hufflepuff friend.

Slytherin will most likely stick with Ravenclaw, because only the Ravenclaw's Book Kings can make them slightly lower their guard against any other house besides their own.