Chapter 477: Dark Arts Defense
Chapter 477: Dark Arts Defense
The next morning, the relentless storm that had lasted the entire day finally came to an end.
Kael and Cona arrived at the Great Hall, eating breakfast while examining their new class schedules for the year.
"Look, we don't have Potions class for the next few days!" Mikael exclaimed with the enthusiasm of a discoverer, "Not a single class!"
"Neither do we," Cedric said, spreading out his schedule, "Let me see... Oh, our first Potions class is next Wednesday."
"We're the same!" Hannah added from the side, "Our first Potions class is on Friday."
"What about you all?" Cedric stood up in confusion and walked to the end of the long table. To his surprise, he found that regardless of the year, there were no Potions classes scheduled for the entire week.
And he was among the first to have Potions class.
But today was only Tuesday, and including the weekend, that's eight days with not a single Potions class? It might be normal for one grade, but for all seven grades, it seemed a bit abnormal.
"Cona, do you know anything?" Cedric asked in a low voice, "Is Professor Snape not coming to school?"
"He has other matters to attend to and might be a few days late."
Cona explained, "Not long after the holiday started, Professor Dumbledore visited him once. After that, he rarely left his house and didn't let me in... So I don't know exactly what happened."
After saying this, Cona instinctively glanced at Kael, who was drinking pumpkin juice.
She felt that Kael was likely to know why Dumbledore had visited Snape that day. After all, during the Quidditch World Cup, he had clearly known the house-elf, and they seemed quite familiar.
However, seeing Kael eating silently, she didn't bring up the matter.
As for the others, they were equally uninterested. The only thing they cared about was not having Potions class for a week.
That was good news enough.
Mikael happily took a big sip of pumpkin juice, as if it were a celebratory champagne.
At that moment, the sound of flapping wings came from above, and a hundred owls flew into the hall through the open windows, delivering the morning mail.
A brown owl dropped a copy of the Daily Prophet onto the table.
Kael poured some cornflakes for it and then opened the newspaper to read.
The front page still covered the events at the Quidditch World Cup... Former Ministry of Magic employee, Axolotl, was sent to Azkaban after being found to have used Unforgivable Curses.
The article also included the entire trial process. In the photos, Axolotl appeared agitated, constantly roaring, and his once neatly styled hair was now as disheveled as an old broom in the school's broom closet.
But it was to no avail, as the second photo showed him being dragged away by the Aurors.
"Haha, I knew they wouldn't get away," Cedric said from the side, "I heard from Bill before that someone cast two Cruciatus Curses on Mr. Weasley, it must be him."
"Definitely," Kael folded the newspaper and glanced at the direction of the Slytherin long table.
Malfoy was also reading the Daily Prophet, and it was clear that his mood wasn't great. His face was paler than usual, and Crabbe and Goyle seemed to be in a similar state.
They had never taken their eyes off their food while eating, but today they stared at the newspaper, not touching the food in front of them.
After breakfast, the group walked out of the Great Hall together, ready for their first class.
"Dark Arts Defense..." Cona said, "I wonder how Professor Moody is."
"He should be good," Cedric replied, "Professor Moody is a legendary Auror. It's said that half the people in Azkaban were captured by him. A person like that must have real skills."
"Hopefully..." Mikel said.
After Lockhart, he no longer had much hope for fame. The real test was whether the teacher could actually teach well.
On the third floor, Cedric parted ways with them, his first class being Transfiguration.
Kyle and the others headed in the opposite direction.
Although class had not yet started, the classroom was already filled with many students, all of whom seemed very interested in Professor Moody's class.
Kyle found a row of empty seats at the back of the classroom and sat down, taking out their copies of Guide to Dark Arts Defense to wait.
Soon, they heard the distinctive thudding footsteps of Professor Moody approaching from the corridor.
The originally noisy classroom fell silent instantly, the atmosphere becoming exceptionally solemn.
Before the class bell rang, Professor Moody entered the classroom. His magical blue eye was spinning rapidly, looking just as strange and terrifying as it did at the banquet the previous night.
"Put away your books," he gruffly said. "I looked through them last night, and there's not a single useful thing in there. It might be okay for third year and below, but it's not for you."
Everyone quickly put away their books, their eyes gleaming with excitement.
Past experience had taught them that any professor who asked them to put away their books on the first day was bound to give an excellent class.
Like Ollivander in first year and Lupin last year...
Moody walked to the front of the room, took out the class list, and began calling out names. His normal eye moved down the list, while his magical eye spun around, staring at each student who responded.
"Alright," he said after the last student had responded. "Before I came here, I received a letter from Professor Lupin, explaining the situation of this class.
Let me make it clear, I have no intention of belittling him, but I don't understand why Lupin would waste a whole year teaching you how to deal with dark magical creatures... to me, that should be a second-year course.
After all, dark wizards aren't stupid enough to carry animals around; they have wands!"
Kyle's mouth twitched; he felt somewhat offended.
What's so stupid about bringing magical creatures? It's not like they're eating your cow's leg... You should say that to Newt's face.
Kyle grumbled to himself.
Professor Moody, on the podium, was unaware of his thoughts and continued, "But since I'm here, it's my responsibility to show you how wizards deal with each other... how to counter spells."
Everyone immediately sat up straight, looking eager. To be honest, they were a bit tired of the constant lessons on dark magical creatures.
"Let's get started," he said with a hoarse laugh. "Spells come in many forms, each with different levels of power, including legal spells and illegal dark curses, which we commonly refer to as dark magic... so, who can tell me what dark magic they know?"
A Gryffindor student raised his hand, "I know one, the Cruciatus Curse."
"Right, an Unforgivable Curse, one of the most evil dark curses. If someone is found to have used this curse on another wizard, they'll spend the rest of their life in Azkaban."
Moody bared his teeth in a grim smile. "I bet you read about this curse in today's newspaper, didn't you?"
The student nodded.
"That's the best example," Moody sneered. "That foolish man, claiming he was under the Imperius Curse. Such a clumsy lie, I didn't even need to be there to know it was false.
Oh, by the way, the Imperius Curse is also an Unforgivable Curse... Miss Marianne, I'm sure you are very familiar with this part of the knowledge. Could you tell me the name of the last Unforgivable Curse?"
(End of Chapter)
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