Chapter 24. Defence Against the Dark Arts.
Cedric was no ordinary person.
He would later become a Hogwarts Champion. During the Triwizard Tournament, the Goblet of Fire chooses the champion from among many Hogwarts senior students, meaning he was the most talented and capable young wizard among the 6th and 7th years.
Lynn estimated that Cedric's main magical talents were around 5 points, with Transfiguration being his strongest, roughly equivalent to his Dark Arts talent at 6 points.
In the morning, Cedric demonstrated his current Transfiguration skills to Lynn.
He transformed a small stone by the Black Lake into a crab that was walking sideways.
Turning inanimate objects into living things—this Transfiguration far exceeded the normal level of a second-year wizard, truly deserving the title of genius.
Moreover, he was not only talented but also incredibly hardworking. If it weren't for the overpowered Harry Potter he encountered later, his future achievements would definitely be remarkable.
Wednesday morning.
Lynn's most anticipated Defense Against the Dark Arts class arrived as scheduled.
He arrived at the classroom early as usual, and as soon as he entered, he saw Professor Fawkes tidying up his lesson plans on the podium.
Seeing Lynn, he greeted him with a smile, "Good morning, Lynn."
"Good morning, Professor, you're quite early. There are still twenty minutes before class." Lynn was far less reserved with Professor Fawkes than with the other professors.
Fawkes didn't treat Lynn like a normal child either; he yawned and waved his hand.
"After all, it's my first class, and I didn't sleep very well last night." He then looked at Lynn with interest: "As for you, I heard from the other professors that you've been making quite a splash lately, earning Slytherin twenty points in just two days. Several professors have been praising you highly in their conversations."
Lynn raised an eyebrow, showing no humility in front of Professor Fawkes.
"Regardless, as an investee, one must demonstrate value commensurate with the investment, right?"
Hearing Lynn's words, Fawkes laughed heartily, "That's right, Lynn. To this day, I've never regretted my investment."
"Do you have time this afternoon, Professor?" Lynn asked calmly, meeting his gaze directly.
Fawkes's smile faded; he seemed to understand Lynn's meaning.
"I think you've heard something. You can come to my office anytime; I'm always here. I happen to have something similar to discuss with you."
Young wizards were gradually arriving in the classroom. After arranging a time with Professor Fawkes, Lynn quietly sat down, waiting for class to begin.
"I believe that after two days of study, especially in Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall's classes, you have a general understanding of magic."
Professor Fawkes's opening remarks didn't directly address the topic of his lesson.
"No matter how bizarre, rare, or strange a wizard's magic may be, it ultimately falls into two main categories: Charms and Transfiguration Charms. Therefore, these two courses can be considered the foundation of Hogwarts' curriculum. Other courses simply teach you how to recognize, control, and create non-wizarding magical items and creatures, such as Potions, Herbalism, Astronomy, and so on. So what about our current Defense Against the Dark Arts class?"
Professor Fawkes, unlike Professor McGonagall, didn't have a serious expression during class; he smiled and answered his own question.
"Defense Against the Dark Arts doesn't actually have its own categorization. What it teaches can be easily distributed across various subjects. Defense Against the Dark Arts, as the name suggests, includes anything that can defend against Dark Magic, including Charms and Transfiguration Charms, but not limited to these two categories—potions, herbs, magical creatures, etc.—all fall under the scope of our course."
"Therefore, Defense Against the Dark Arts requires a high level of ability from the professor. Even if he's not a polymath proficient in all kinds of magic, he must have a very high level of knowledge in spells and transfiguration."
The young wizards in the classroom laughed. Professor Fawkes's words sounded like self-praise.
Lynn, being a teacher himself, could tell that Professor Fawkes was doing this intentionally. Because many students had complaints about him, he needed to liven up the classroom atmosphere.
And obviously, he achieved the effect he wanted.
"The same applies to you. If you want to get a better grade on the final exam, you need to put in a lot of effort in this course."
He clapped his hands and straightened his back.
"Alright, now we're going to start the formal lesson. The first thing you need to do is... close your textbooks."
Professor Fawkes was clearly taking an unconventional approach. He stepped down from the podium and crossed his arms in front of him.
"Before we start the actual teaching, I want to ask you a question. If one day, any of you were out alone and suddenly encountered a dark wizard, or some kind of dangerous magical creature.
Lynn and his classmates were in this class with Gryffindors. In terms of the relationship between the two houses, Gryffindor is arguably the worst of the four. Many of the Gryffindors are secretly vying for Lynn's attention, trying to overshadow him in this class.
So, as soon as Professor Fawkes finished speaking, several Gryffindors raised their hands.
Professor Fawkes called on one Gryffindor, who stood up looking quite smug, glancing at Lynn intentionally or unintentionally a few times.
Lynn was speechless. It was bad enough that he wasn't liked by his roommates in his own house, but now even the Gryffindor freshmen had a problem with him.
'Let's duel him head-on!' the Gryffindor boy shouted, as if showing off his bravery. 'Defeat him with a spell!'
Fawkes smiled, not immediately commenting on his answer, but instead asking,
'So, what spell do you plan to use to defeat him?'"
The boy blushed. They had only been learning magic for two days and hadn't even mastered the simplest levitation spell, let alone any offensive magic.
Professor Fawkes, seeing him speechless for a while, waved for him to sit down. No one raised their
hand in the classroom, even Lynn chose to remain silent.
"You may learn many powerful spells in the future and have a bright future, but right now you are just little wizards who have only been learning magic for a few days. If you encounter danger, the first thing you must not think of is to fight the enemy head-on. Instead, you must issue a warning, ask the adult wizards around you for help, and then try to buy time and wait for rescue." "
Therefore, our first Defense Against the Dark Arts class is to learn how to use the warning spell, and the prerequisite for learning this spell is that you must first know how to use the Wand Illumination Charm."
Professor Fawkes returned to the podium and raised his wand.
"I will give you a demonstration first. Its spell is: Lumos."
"The Wand Illumination Charm is simple, but it also requires concentration." Be careful not to accidentally ignite your wand, as this could cause permanent damage…
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(End of this chapter)