Also Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers at Hogwarts, Quirrell and Lockhart had spent nearly a full year without managing to handle the students, yet Lupin accomplished it with just a few sentences. Truly, comparing people will drive you mad, and comparing goods will make you throw them away.
Lupin didn't arrange anything particularly difficult for this lesson either. After being misled by two scoundrels in succession, the fifth-years' Defence Against the Dark Arts level was genuinely worrying.
The topic Lupin prepared was the Boggart—no, a magical creature called the Glumbumble—wait—sorry—a Hinky Punk?
No, it was a big-headed hairy creature, a kind of magical beast whose diet consisted of humans.
The big-headed hairy creature generally lived in Eastern Europe. Its body was covered in fur, and although it stood only one foot tall, it had a smooth, gray, oversized head. When it lay flat on the ground, it looked just like a bright, round stone.
This creature liked to follow people, hiding within their shadows. Once the owner of the shadow turned around, it would immediately lie flat on the ground—more fitting of the name "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" than Voldemort himself.
Just imagine it: a furry, oversized head following behind you for hours. Wouldn't that pressure and fear drive you to collapse?
Even if you endured that pressure and fear, the special ability of the big-headed hairy creature would cause an intense sense of boredom, eventually turning into a drowsy despair.
When you finally sank to your knees, powerless, you would become its meal. It would leap onto you and feast to its heart's content.
So it was a sneaky, underhanded creature, relying on psychological suggestion and mental control. It sounded almost like a demon—but in reality, the big-headed hairy creature was unexpectedly easy to deal with.
Usually, big-headed hairy creatures only attack lone, solitary travelers, or children. They don't dare choose groups as their targets.
Even if you accidentally find yourself alone in Eastern Europe and have the bad luck to run into a big-headed hairy creature, please don't panic or be afraid, because this kind of demon isn't nearly as terrifying as it sounds.
All you need to do is take out your wand and give it a hard hit, and you'll find that the big-headed hairy creature is easily driven away.
If you're not proficient in magic, or if nervousness prevents you from casting a spell, then just kick it hard—use as much strength as you can. That's also an effective way to deal with a big-headed hairy creature.
It's really that simple, yet there are still many people who can't manage even such a straightforward method. Aside from Muggles, quite a few wizards have ended up as snacks for big-headed hairy creatures as well.
When Professor Lupin had just brought out the big-headed hairy creature, the students in the classroom collectively shrank backward in perfect unison. There was no helping it—the psychological shadow was simply too large.
They hadn't seen living teaching materials in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom for a very long time. The last time they'd seen a living creature dated back to Glover's era; the poor fifth-years hadn't even seen Cornish pixies.
Very quickly, everyone realized that the big-headed hairy creature couldn't cause a teaching accident. With so many people in the classroom, the little demon couldn't pick a target, and Professor Lupin also had ways to keep it under control, which greatly reassured the students.
The big-headed hairy creature curled up into what looked like a stone, only revealing its true form when Professor Lupin waved his wand.
By the end of the lesson, everyone had been completely won over by Professor Lupin. Being able to meet a professor like Lupin in their fifth year made them all feel very lucky, and even their O.W.L.s no longer seemed quite so bleak.
After class, everyone was still discussing Professor Lupin's wonderful lesson out in the corridors.
Even the twins—who loved everything except studying—liked Lupin very much. Along with Lee Jordan, they chattered away, guessing what kind of surprise Lupin would bring them in the next lesson.
All of this liveliness had nothing to do with Eda. Not only had her curiosity failed to subside, it had actually grown stronger.
From the Patronus Charm alone, Eda could tell that Remus Lupin was a highly skilled wizard—and a wizard with secrets. Why would such a skilled wizard be so destitute, looking as though he couldn't get enough to eat or wear?
With magic in the world, there was a limit to how poor a wizard could be. The Weasley family might be the emblem of poverty in the wizarding world, but they at least had a big house, ate decently at every meal, and could support a large number of children and send them to school.
But Lupin was on his own—feed himself and that was it. So why was he still so desperately poor? In other words, was the secret Lupin was hiding the reason for his poverty?
Eda's curiosity was intense. Snape had said more than once that she would eventually get herself killed by her curiosity. Still, this time it wasn't really Eda's fault for being curious, nor for being overly suspicious, because she and the Defence Against the Dark Arts teaching position were simply incompatible—fated to clash.
In the first year, she had run into a Death Eater trainee, Benedict Fowley—Imperius Curses, Cruciatus Curses, and she had nearly been hit with a triple combo of Unforgivable Curses.
In the second year, she encountered that time's recently released convict, Glover Cecil; first she was tricked and led astray, and in the end she was forced to sit through a blood-soaked lesson.
By the third year, the stuttering Quirinus Quirrell showed up. There was nothing particularly special about him on his own, but he had Voldemort stuck to the back of his head! Compared to that, it turned out that Gilderoy Lockhart was actually the purest of the lot—after all, he was just a clumsy fraud.
Tell me, running into all four of these in a row—who wouldn't be confused? Switch Dumbledore and Eda's positions, and even Dumbledore would be numb!
If she had any choice, Eda wouldn't want to earn the title of "Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher killer," but who could blame her when each of these people was more troublesome than the last?
Eda was conflicted now. On one hand, she wanted to figure out Lupin's true identity; on the other hand, she hoped she was just overthinking it. Eda suddenly felt that maybe she really should go see a therapist—she seemed to have developed genuine persecution paranoia.
By Thursday, Draco Malfoy finally left the hospital wing and appeared before everyone. His right arm was wrapped in bandages and held up by a sling.
Those who knew the truth were aware he'd been scratched by a hippogriff; those who didn't might have thought he'd just come back from the front lines.
The way Draco Malfoy looked, along with the bravery he put on as an act, was truly nauseating. Even more infuriating was that some Slytherin students actually fawned over him, genuinely treating Malfoy like a hero.
Aside from Crabbe and Goyle, the two lackeys who only grew muscles but not brains, there was also a girl named Pansy Parkinson, who praised Malfoy to the skies, leaving no room for anything else—so sickening it made one's skin crawl.
Eda even began to suspect whether the Sorting Hat's decisions really did involve some kind of shady backroom dealings.
Weren't Slytherins supposed to be all about ambition? Weren't Slytherins supposed to be cunning and sly? All Eda saw was a group of vain simpletons—she didn't see a trace of Slytherin cleverness at all.
Just as Eda was using the greatest malice to speculate about Dumbledore's "ulterior motives," the demolition prodigy Seamus Finnigan came charging into the Great Hall in a rush.
He said excitedly, "There's news about Sirius Black—there's been a sighting!"
The students in the Great Hall were all drawn to the news. The sooner the escaped convict Black was caught, the sooner the detestable Dementors would leave Hogwarts.
"It was a Muggle who saw him. Of course, that Muggle didn't really understand what was going on. Muggles all think he's just an ordinary criminal, don't they? So the Muggle called the hotline. By the time the Ministry people got there, he was already gone."
Seamus Finnigan spoke very loudly, and everyone in the Great Hall heard him.
"Dufftown!" Hermione put down The Daily Prophet and said in surprise. "That's not far from the school."
At that moment, Malfoy and his cronies crowded over. He leaned close to Harry's ear and whispered, "You want to catch Black on your own, don't you, Potter?"
"Yes, that's right," Harry said without hesitation.
"Of course, if it were me," Malfoy's thin lips twisted into a sneer, "I'd have done something already. I wouldn't stay in school being a good little boy. I'd definitely go out and look for him."
Seeing that Harry didn't seem to understand what he was getting at, Malfoy lowered his voice and continued, "Don't you know, Potter? Ah, I get it—you're not willing to risk your precious little life, are you?"
"What kind of nonsense are you talking about?" Harry was a little confused. He didn't understand what Malfoy was trying to say, or what Black had to do with him.
The prospective brother-in-law had been wronged, so the big brothers naturally wouldn't stand for it—the twins also crowded over.
Fred said, "Why don't you go, Malfoy? Oh, sorry, I forgot—one Dementor was enough to scare you so badly you nearly wet yourself. Let alone Black, who kills without blinking!"
George deliberately lowered and compressed his voice, making it sound like it was being squeezed out of his throat as he said, "I'm going to kill you, you brainless little brat!"
"Shut up!" Malfoy's pale face flushed red in an instant.
That day on the train, Malfoy had been scared out of his wits by a Dementor and, in his panic, had run straight into the twins while they were driving the Dementor away. For the sake of his own safety, he had then shamelessly hidden in the twins' compartment and refused to leave.
"The one who should shut up is you, Malfoy." Eda tossed her fork onto the table with a sharp clatter.
This time it really couldn't be tolerated. Malfoy had gone a bit too far—did he even know who had Gryffindor's back?
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