During class, all his attention was focused on preparing his play, and Quirrell, needless to say, spent the entire time reading from the textbook.
It could be said that Harry's year was the most miserable. In the past, although the Defense Against the Dark Arts class also had its share of curses, the professors could at least teach something.
But for this year, the first two years were a complete waste, and the following years would likely be wasted as well.
With three minutes left before class, Professor Lupin finally walked into the classroom.
He had a faint smile on his face and placed the tattered old trunk on the podium.
His clothes were still full of patches, but his complexion was much better than when he had just arrived at Hogwarts, probably because he had eaten a few square meals!
Looking at Lupin's appearance, most people didn't think he could escape the curse of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, and they looked down on him even more.
"Good afternoon, please put your textbooks back in your bags. Today's lesson is a practical one, and you only need to use your wands!"
Standing on the podium, Lupin looked at the young wizards below with a smile.
Lupin could naturally see what the students below were thinking. He had been through this stage himself, but he would change their impression.
Even if he couldn't escape the curse of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, he had to actually teach them something to prove that he wasn't a useless person.
The young wizards put away their textbooks and exchanged glances, all seeing the surprise in each other's eyes.
This seemingly inconspicuous Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was actually going to give them a practical lesson?
You should know that from the beginning of school until now, they had only had two practical lessons.
The first time was when Snape was substituting, and the second time was a disaster when Lockhart released the Cornish pixies and ended up sending himself to the school infirmary.
Now, this unreliable Defense Against the Dark Arts professor wouldn't be causing another accident, would he!
"Alright!" Lupin said immediately when he saw that everyone was ready: "Everyone, follow me!"
Then he took the lead and walked out of the classroom.
The students were both puzzled and intrigued, and they stood up and followed behind him.
Anyway, if something went wrong, the professor would be there to take the blame. If he really had some skills, that would be even better.
"Ethan, he's not going to be another Lockhart, is he!"
Terry said softly from the side.
Although Lockhart's battle with Snape had washed away some of the shame, Terry still firmly believed that he was a fraud.
"Lupin still has some skills, don't worry!"
It could be said that Lupin was the most reliable Defense Against the Dark Arts professor in these seven years at Hogwarts.
"Really?"
Terry was still a little disbelieving. Lupin was really too shabby. If he had any real skills, he wouldn't be in such a miserable state!
Under Lupin's leadership, the young wizards walked through the empty corridor and around a corner. What came into view was Peeves, the poltergeist who loved to play pranks, hanging upside down in mid-air, stuffing chewing gum into the keyhole closest to him. No one knew where he got the chewing gum from.
But this Peeves, who was concentrating on playing pranks, only belatedly raised his head when Lupin was only two steps away from him.
Then he wiggled his toe-curled feet and suddenly began to sing.
"Lupin's a loony, Lupin's a loon, Lupin's a loony, Lupin's a loon—"
Although Peeves was always rude and liked to play pranks, this was all towards the students. When facing professors, he was still relatively respectful.
Everyone looked at Professor Lupin, wondering how he would solve the problem.
But Lupin didn't show anything at the moment, still with that smiling look.
"If I were you, Peeves, I would take the chewing gum out of the keyhole!"
"Otherwise, Mr. Filch won't be able to get in and get the broom."
"Pah!"
A mouthful of saliva was spat by Peeves in front of Lupin, completely ignoring Lupin. He had often teased Lupin in the past, so why would he be afraid of his threat?
He was just a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, wasn't he?
And Filch had often found fault with Peeves, so how could he possibly take the chewing gum out himself? Lupin was dreaming again.
Lupin looked at Peeves and sighed, then turned to the students and said:
"This is a very useful little spell, please watch carefully."
Lupin raised his wand to shoulder height, pointed the tip at Peeves, and shouted loudly, "Waddiwasi!"
With a "whoosh," the piece of chewing gum that had been stuffed into the keyhole popped out like a bullet and accurately drilled into Peeves' left nostril.
"You can try it too!"
Hearing Lupin say this, everyone became interested and raised their wands, shouting loudly at Peeves, "Waddiwasi!"
For a time, a large number of small objects shot towards Peeves, such as the snacks that the young wizards carried with them and the small stones on the ground.
Faced with the rain of attacks, Peeves screamed and somersaulted into the air, flying away while constantly cursing.
He, a ghost, would definitely be at a disadvantage facing so many young wizards.
Looking at the fleeing Peeves, Lupin smiled and said slowly to the group of young wizards:
"Well done, all the students who succeeded just now, raise your hands."
Hearing this, more than twenty people raised their hands together, all of whom had successfully cast the spell just now.
"For your performance just now, five points will be added to each person!"
Lupin immediately won the favor of most of the young wizards, and the way everyone looked at him also changed, no longer with disgust but with respect.
This was a teacher who really had skills and a good personality, just a little poor.
It must be said that Lupin still had some skills. If he wasn't a werewolf and didn't teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, he would definitely be a good professor.
In this regard, he directly left Hagrid, who was also a new professor, behind by more than eight streets.
Now, it can only be said that it was a pity.
"Let's continue to move forward..."
Soon, Lupin led the young wizards to the corridor on the second floor and stopped outside the staff lounge.
The things he had prepared were currently in this classroom.
"Now you can go in, the teaching content of this class is inside."
Saying that, Professor Lupin directly opened the door of the lounge and took a step back, signaling the young wizards to go in first.
The staff lounge was a long room with wood panels inlaid on all four walls, and the room was filled with mismatched old chairs.
But now, there was someone who shouldn't have been there. Professor Snape was sitting in a low armchair.
The young wizards naturally noticed Snape the moment they entered. Although they were a little hesitant, they still walked in. Perhaps he was there to listen to the class!
Once all the little wizards had entered the room, Snape finally turned around, his eyes gleaming, a mocking sneer on his lips. He scanned the little wizards and then fixed his gaze on Lupin's face.
Lupin didn't want to pay attention to Snape and prepared to close the door on his own.
"Don't close the door, Lupin. I'd rather not witness this."
As he spoke, Snape stood up and strode past the little wizards, his black robes billowing behind him, all the way to the doorway.
Only then did Snape turn his head:
"Perhaps no one has reminded you, Lupin, that there's a Neville Longbottom in this class. I suggest you don't entrust him with anything complicated."
"Oh, and one more thing, I just taught them how to brew Wolfsbane Potion this morning, but introducing werewolves isn't something I should be teaching. I hope you can teach them well in that regard."
Neville's face turned red upon hearing this. He really hadn't expected Snape to say such things about him in front of the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and all the students in his year.
Lupin frowned as well. How could he not understand the meaning of Snape's last sentence? He wanted him to introduce the relevant knowledge about werewolves and point all the clues regarding werewolf to himself.
He wanted the students to discover his werewolf identity, and perhaps even hand him the Wolfsbane Potion in front of all the little wizards later.
Even though he was already starting to worry, Lupin couldn't show it at the moment and could only reply with a normal expression:
"I was originally hoping that Neville Longbottom could help me complete the first step of teaching. I believe he will perform very well."
Hearing this, Neville's face turned even redder and he became somewhat afraid, afraid that he wouldn't do well and would let down this new professor's trust.
"As for the second matter you mentioned, I will explain it. Following my steps, this is originally the content for the third year. There's no need for you, the Potions professor, to worry about it here."
Snape looked at Lupin, his lips twitching slightly, but in the end, he didn't say anything. With a bang, he closed the door, turned around, and left.
The thought of adding some little tricks to Lupin's Wolfsbane Potion became even stronger.
"Alright, now that the irrelevant person has left, we can begin this Defense Against the Dark Arts class."
Lupin, who had put a smile back on his face, went to the cabinet at the front.
[Thank you to big shot 17323 for the monthly ticket, thank you big shot!]
Chapter 163: Lupin, the Vindictive
Bang!
Bang!
The cabinet, which suddenly began to shake and crash against the wall, attracted everyone's attention. Clearly, there was something inside.
Several little wizards who were close by were startled and jumped backward.
"There's just a Boggart inside. It's also what I need to explain in this class."
Professor Lupin immediately reassured them. The Boggart was basically harmless and was quite suitable as the content for the first class.
But the little wizards didn't think so. Most of them still looked at the cabinet with terrified expressions, especially Neville, who was the most terrified. He had just heard that Professor Lupin wanted him to cooperate with the first step of teaching.
"Boggarts like dark and enclosed spaces—cupboards, the gaps under beds, the cabinets under sinks—I once even encountered a Boggart living in a grandfather clock."
Professor Lupin could only patiently explain to the little wizards, and then continued:
"This Boggart was just moved in yesterday afternoon. I asked the headmaster to have the professors leave it here for us to use during class!"
Then Lupin glanced at everyone and asked:
"Now, we want to ask, do you know what a Boggart is?"
Ethan immediately raised his hand!
There was no way around it. He didn't want to do this either, but if he wanted to get the House Cup, House points were essential. This year, there was no Lockhart to give 22 points, and there were no major competitions, so House points could only be accumulated little by little.
"Adrian, you answer!"
Several people raised their hands, but Lupin ultimately chose Ethan.
He had heard of Ethan's great name before even entering Hogwarts. When Dumbledore introduced himself and Hagrid as the two new professors, it was Ethan who changed the entire situation, allowing Hagrid to receive a lot of applause.
"Okay, Professor, a Boggart is a magical creature that can transform. It can see into a person's heart and turn into what you fear the most. Of course, it doesn't have the ability to harm people, it can only scare them."
"The way to deal with it is the Boggart Banishing Charm. The incantation is Riddikulus. This incantation can turn the Boggart into the most ridiculous appearance you can imagine. If there are many people, the Boggart won't know what shape to take, and that's when it's easiest to deal with. And what can kill a Boggart is laughter. It will explode into wisps of green smoke amidst great laughter."
"Very well answered, very detailed, ten points to Ravenclaw!"
Lupin clapped his hands, very satisfied with Ethan's answer.
It's just that Ethan had said everything he needed to say later, what was he going to say later?
However, Lupin still intended to follow his own steps, he couldn't let Ethan disrupt him.
"Now, the Boggart in the box doesn't have a specific shape yet. It doesn't know what the people outside the cabinet door are afraid of. No one knows what a Boggart looks like when it's alone, but as soon as I let it out, it will immediately turn into what each of us fears the most."
"The spell to repel a Boggart, Adrian has already said it, is Riddikulus, which is very simple, but it requires a strong willpower to succeed."
"But you also need to know that what truly makes a Boggart disappear completely is laughter, so what you need is to force it to turn into an image that you find very funny."
"We can practice now, without wands first!"
Then there was a large chorus of "Riddikulus" sounds below. Ethan didn't join in, did he still need to learn this magic?
Besides, even if he didn't know the Boggart Banishing Charm, there were plenty of ways to kill this thing.
"Everyone is doing very well, but relying solely on the spell is not enough."
"As I said, Neville Longbottom, you will assist me in completing the first step, now it's up to you!"
As Lupin's voice fell, the cabinet began to shake again, but Neville was shaking even more violently than the cabinet.
Neville stepped forward tremulously, as if walking to the gallows, and came to the front of the cabinet. At this moment, he hoped so much that Professor Lupin could change someone else to come forward.
