Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is not meant to infringe upon copyrights.
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Although Kanna successfully conjured a button, her button still had beetle legs attached, making it look like a stunted turtle from a distance.
"Pfft..."
Kyle couldn't help but laugh.
Kanna quickly covered her half-conjured beetle, embarrassed and angry, "What are you laughing at? You might not even be as good as me!"
Kyle didn't say anything, but simply waved his wand lightly.
The beetle on his desk instantly transformed into a delicate button with a turtle pattern.
The surrounding young wizards gasped in surprise; they hadn't expected someone to complete the task so quickly.
Professor McGonagall seemed somewhat surprised as well, but she quickly nodded in satisfaction, picked up the button, showed it to the class, and gave Kyle a rare smile.
"Hufflepuff plus ten points!"
Kyle turned and shrugged at Kanna.
"..."
Kanna blushed with annoyance and turned her head away, refusing to look at him again.
Finally, at the end of class, Kanna successfully transformed her beetle into a button.
As a reward, Professor McGonagall exempted them from their assignments, while the others had to submit a paper at least two feet long before the next class.
Leaving the classroom, Mikel was deathly pale, repeatedly muttering Professor McGonagall's words.
The usual assignments of ten inches or so were already torturous enough; two feet… this was practically torture!
Mikel turned to Kyle, his eyes filled with hope: "Help me… you have to let me copy this assignment…"
"Sorry," Kyle said, a pang of guilt in his voice, but still patted Mikel's shoulder. "Did you forget? I don't have to write it."
The light in Mikel's eyes vanished instantly.
After the Transfiguration class, it was time for the much-anticipated Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson.
Although Oren was a dark wizard, his practical lessons were undeniably captivating; he had successfully sparked a strong interest in Defense Against the Dark Arts among the young wizards within a single school year.
Professor Quirrell's chosen classroom was on the third floor, a cramped room far less spacious than the previous year.
Moreover, the room had only one window, making it extremely dark even in broad daylight.
Upon entering the classroom, everyone felt a jolt of unease, a sense of foreboding washing over them.
This feeling intensified when Professor Quirrell entered.
What kind of respectable professor reeked of garlic?!
And the smell was incredibly strong, as if the garlic itself had come to life.
Several students immediately covered their noses, wanting to open the window, but Professor Quirrell stopped them.
"No…you can't open the window,"
Professor Quirrell stammered. "I…when I dealt with…a vampire during the summer vacation, I was cursed…that I can't be exposed to the wind."
He then pointed to his large scarf.
"This is... a gift from the African prince I rescued... It can protect me very well."
A vampire?
The young wizards were immediately intrigued.
Katie Bell of Gryffindor asked curiously, "Professor Quirrell, what does a vampire look like?"
"It has... fangs several inches long... its body is like... steel, and it's... immune to spells... It's terrifying!"
"Wow!"
Everyone gasped in surprise, their eyes changing as they looked at Professor Quirrell.
A body like steel, immune to spells... Even an Auror would have a hard time dealing with such a creature.
They hadn't expected this clown-like professor to be such a formidable fighter.
The young wizards looked at Professor Quirrell with admiration, even the strong garlic smell emanating from him seemed less unpleasant.
"He must be trying to ward off the vampire he encountered on his journey, afraid it might come back for him," someone said confidently. "Those creatures are most afraid of garlic, that must be it."
Professor Quirrell glanced at him with some surprise, then nodded silently.
That was a good reason, much better than he'd thought.
"Professor Quirrell," Katie asked again, "The vampire was so powerful, how exactly did you defeat it? Can you tell us?"
"This… I, I…"
Professor Quirrell's face flushed red, and he stammered, "Well, just like that, and then like this… It involves very profound… magic, if I explained… you wouldn't understand."
Seeing Professor Quirrell's stammering speech, unable to utter a single word for a long time, the crowd's expressions changed again.
This expression almost clearly told everyone that he was lying.
Katie, undeterred, asked again, "It's alright, Professor, just tell us. We can look up any spells we don't understand in the library."
The others chimed in,"Yes, Professor."
"Please tell us, Professor."
"Even just a few words would be fine."
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Professor Quirrell's face flushed even more. After hesitating for a long time, he ignored everyone's words and turned to look out the window.
"I don't like... the weather in England, too much rain... Romania is much better."
This confirmed their suspicions.
Without a doubt, Professor Quirrell had lied; he certainly hadn't encountered any resurrected zombies.
Everyone was extremely disappointed. Although they had considered that this year's Defense Against the Dark Arts professor might not be very reliable, they hadn't expected a complete fraud.
And a fraud who liked garlic at that. Even worse than Oren.
Everyone immediately lost interest in the lecture and began fidgeting among themselves.
Some were writing letters, some were doing homework, and some were playing with frogs…
Professor Quirrell saw all of this, but he said nothing. He simply picked up his book, *The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection *, and began reading from it verbatim.
Anyone who didn't know better would think Professor Binns had possessed him.
As Kyle listened, he started to feel sleepy, and for a fleeting moment, he even missed Oren.
They were both dark wizards, yet the difference was so vast.
Kyle forced himself to stay awake, and finally, class ended.
"This is terrible." During lunch, Kanna couldn't help but complain. "I don't understand why the headmaster would appoint him as our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."
"Probably because they couldn't find anyone else," Cedric thought for a moment and said. "You know, professors for this course have always been in short supply."
"But they can't just read from the textbook," Kanna still didn't understand. "If that's the case, why not just find a ghost like Professor Binns? Then you wouldn't have to worry about the curse."
"This…" Cedric opened his mouth, momentarily at a loss for words.
He suddenly realized that those words made perfect sense.
[End of the chapter]