After Divination, Rhys had Defense Against the Dark Arts with Hufflepuff.
When he walked into the classroom, he saw that Helga Hufflepuff was already there, waiting for the students to arrive.
"Oh, Mr. Lint, Miss Greengrass!" Seeing that the first students to enter were familiar faces, Helga smiled warmly.
"Here, sit over here." When she saw Rhys heading toward a corner seat, Helga immediately spoke up and motioned for the two of them to sit directly in front of the podium.
"If you don't want to, I'll simply set up two seats on either side of the podium—you on the left, and you on the right. Perfect symmetry." Her eyes were full of kindness, but the words from her mouth sent a chill down Rhys's spine.
Rhys had a bad feeling—Helga was definitely up to something. Otherwise, why insist on him sitting in the very front?
He quietly straightened up and mentally prepared himself, staying on alert.
The students began arriving one after another to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Thanks to Helga's dazzling display at the start-of-term feast, everyone was extremely curious about their new professor, so they showed up with enthusiasm—no one was late.
With five minutes still to go before class, the room was already full.
Interestingly, those who showed up weren't limited to just the students listed on the class roster—some younger witches and wizards without this class also came.
They couldn't wait to hear Professor White's Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. Helga's effort to summon Rhys to the front row now seemed a bit unnecessary, since the eager students had already filled every seat in the classroom.
After all, who could resist a lesson from a professor who came from centuries ago? Especially one who could conjure drinks for the entire class.
Helga glanced at the sea of heads below the podium and gave up on the idea of taking attendance. Once the bell rang, she went straight into teaching.
"Let me introduce myself," Helga said, writing her alias on the blackboard behind her: Smith White — the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. "You probably already know me."
The students all nodded. After all, they'd all had drinks conjured by Professor White.
"I'm someone from several centuries ago. At first, I thought Professor Dumbledore was going to offer me a job as head chef in the kitchens. Turns out, I became the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor instead—looks like Headmaster Dumbledore was getting a little desperate."
Laughter broke out among the students.
"I mean it. I really don't quite understand what Defense Against the Dark Arts is supposed to be. Can anyone tell me its definition?"
The students quickly offered up their answers. After all, this was the most basic knowledge—something they could pull straight from the textbook.
Defense Against the Dark Arts is a subject that teaches students how to defend themselves against various forms of dark magic—including dark magical creatures, dark curses, and dueling techniques.
"I see," Helga Hufflepuff responded with an exaggerated expression of sudden realization.
"Then who can explain to me what exactly is dark magic?" She shifted her gaze directly to Rhys, who was seated right in front of her.
"You, Mr. Lint—help me explain what dark magic is."
Rhys: "…"
Helga Hufflepuff, you're doing this on purpose!
Making him define dark magic—she was clearly stirring up trouble just to watch the fun.
But honestly, this suited him just fine.
Rhys carefully assessed the risk. After considering that Hogwarts probably wouldn't expel him over a single statement, he stood up decisively.
Helga Hufflepuff: Hehehe.
Rhys: I'm really going to say it now, okay?
Helga Hufflepuff: Go right ahead.
After a brief exchange of glances with Helga, Rhys began to speak.
Before he opened his mouth, most of the students thought this was a freebie question—after all, there was a textbook definition for dark magic. But of course, Rhys wasn't going to give that answer.
"Dark magic is a branch of magic."
That seemingly pointless statement made nearly half the class look up at him—there was something more behind his words.
"If we have to define it, then it's magic that causes great or irreversible harm to a person's body or mind."
With that, the rest of the students raised their heads as well. Rhys's definition of dark magic didn't quite align with the mainstream view…
Helga Hufflepuff wore a "just as I expected from you" expression and smoothly played along like a seasoned partner in a comedy act. "Then do you think we should study dark magic?"
In the current wizarding world, this question really only had one politically correct answer: no, we shouldn't. But Rhys was not someone bound by political correctness.
He stood up straight and answered loudly, "Of course we should."
Students from the other Houses: "…"
Slytherin students: ?
Almost everyone was stunned by Rhys.
Students from other Houses thought he must have lost his mind—was he seriously advocating for the study of Dark Magic in public?
Meanwhile, the Slytherins were thinking: Mate, couldn't we talk about this back in the common room with the door shut? Some truths just aren't meant to be said out loud!
What shocked them even more was that Professor White, who had heard Rhys's entire statement, didn't offer a single word of rebuttal.
On the contrary, she seemed to accept his words—as if she agreed with him?!
"Tell us why," Helga Hufflepuff said, her smile not diminishing in the slightest—in fact, it only grew wider.
"Because in order to counter Dark Magic, we have to understand it. More importantly, many Dark spells are extremely powerful. If we restrict ourselves just because of the label 'dark,' how are we supposed to fight against dark wizards who've mastered it? Over a decade ago, during the wizarding war, the Ministry of Magic authorized Aurors to use Unforgivable Curses—that alone is undeniable proof that we should study Dark Magic. If we want to stand against dark wizards, we have to know it better than they do."
Rhys didn't care at all about Dark Magic's terrible reputation. In his eyes, it was simply one branch of magic.
Aside from a few spells that warped the caster's personality, whether a Dark spell was evil or not depended entirely on the one using it.
Aurors used Dark Magic to kill dark wizards—did that make them evil for using it?
Dark Magic was a weapon.
You couldn't reject it just because it was powerful or cruel; to do so would be like refusing to eat for fear of choking.
The classroom instantly fell silent.
The students were all quietly processing Rhys's words. Their upbringing and education had conditioned them to reject everything he had just said—but the more they thought about it, the more it actually seemed… reasonable?
Helga Hufflepuff gave a satisfied little round of applause for Rhys.
She had intended for these words to come from his mouth. After thoroughly studying the current state of the magical world, she felt that modern wizards had overcorrected in their attitudes.
Not conducting in-depth research on Dark Magic didn't mean it should be locked away and forgotten!
Dark Magic still had to be studied—otherwise, how would you even know how to defend against it?
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