Hogwarts: Don't call me the Staff Maker

Chapter 94 The Popular Defense Against the Dark Arts Class?

Chapter 95 The Popular Defense Against the Dark Arts Class?

Professor McGonagall kept her word. After Sheren finished lunch in the Great Hall and returned to the common room, Ginny came over with a piece of parchment.

"Professor McGonagall asked me to give this to you," Ginny said.

"Thank you." Xilun took the parchment and opened it.

More than fifty book titles were crammed together, almost filling the parchment, like a thesis, which made Xilun's hair stand on end.

He had expected to read a lot of books, but he didn't expect so many. He even suspected that Professor McGonagall was doing it on purpose, trying to make him give up on learning Animagus.

Then Celeste shook her head. Snape might be that kind of person, but Professor McGonagall, being a meticulous person, certainly wouldn't; she wouldn't joke about Transfiguration.

But that's too much.

Xilun scratched his head. There were so many books. Even if he borrowed them from the library, it would take a long time. He should go to class first.

The afternoon class was Defense Against the Dark Arts, which was the most anticipated class for most people.

At the very beginning of the class, Lockhart gave everyone a rude awakening... well, a questionnaire.

"What is Gilderoy Lockhart's favorite color?"

"Gidero Lockhart's Secret Ambition"

……

Almost half of the students were bewildered, and Ron examined the parchment repeatedly, insisting that it must be the exam paper from the end of the school year.

Although Siren knew this would happen, he couldn't possibly finish reading so many books beforehand. So, during class, he deliberately sat next to Hermione and cheated to get a decent grade, which barely allowed him to retain his status as a "Lockhart admirer".

"It's a real shame that if Mr. Siren Ollivander had read 'Sailing with Vampires' more carefully, he would have remembered my secret ambition: to sell my own line of hair care products."

Xilun feigned annoyance.

Anyone who has ever copied homework knows that simply copying everything is not an option. You always have to deliberately omit or copy one or two things incorrectly, as a way of showing respect to the person who provided the help.

Just like now, because Sherwin copied one less answer, Hermione was the only student to get a perfect score, which earned her high praise from Lockhart and added ten points to Gryffindor's score.

Hermione was so excited that she immediately forgot about Sheron's cheating.

Xilen sighed inwardly. What a lovely little witch. It was a pity that after this lesson, her beautiful fantasies about Lockhart would begin to shatter.

I hope she's not too upset.

then……

"Wow, that's amazing! I've never had such an interesting Defense Against the Dark Arts class before." Hermione's face was still slightly flushed when the group returned to the Gryffindor common room after class.

"Ah, I admit, he's a little better than Quirrell." Ron, unusually, didn't refute this, "but only a little, since he was just watching from the sidelines."

Xilun followed the three of them blankly.

Things seemed to be going a little differently than he had expected; Lockhart's Defense Against the Dark Arts class was unusually popular.

It wasn't because Lockhart displayed extraordinary strength; in fact, he didn't even touch his wand during the entire class, only saying a few words.

Siren subconsciously recalled the scene from half an hour earlier when Lockhart released a cage of Cornish elves.

"Keep going, herd them together, they're just a bunch of little elves."

"Be careful not to provoke them."

"Well done, Miss Granger, that's it, but if it were me, I would choose a more efficient magic."

"Potter, hurry and get Mr. Longbottom down. I believe you can handle this little thing, right?"

"It's alright, it's alright. You can use magic freely in this class. I'll take care of everything."

Lockhart stood there, talking as if he were at a school opening banquet, but he didn't run away; he just stood there giving verbal instructions.

Whether his words had an effect or not, the students below gradually calmed down after their initial panic and discovered the true nature of the Cornish elves.

They are just a kind of magical creature that likes to play pranks, but they don't cause any real harm to them. Their teeth can't even bite through a school uniform robe.

Soon it was discovered that, according to the Ministry of Magic's official danger rating system, Cornish elves are classified as XX, meaning harmless/tamable, and are on the same level as Nifflers and Bowtruckles.

That's right, it's Hermione. She's the only one who memorized the entire book, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

This emboldened everyone, especially after Lockhart allowed them to use magic freely, things spiraled out of control. Spells flew everywhere in the classroom, and excited shouts echoed throughout almost the entire floor.

It's hard to imagine that this kind of commotion could occur in a classroom. At the same time, Gilderoy Lockhart's first class was a great success. The students praised him for his confidence, composure, and composure, as if he was confident that he could handle any mess and consequences.

In fact, he didn't move at all. Even when Neville was dragged to the chandelier by the Cornish elf and nearly broke his leg, Lockhart only asked Harry to help rescue him.

After class, the students used magic to restore the broken desks and chairs in the classroom, as well as the chandelier that almost fell down. Lockhart was left with only two rows of shiny white teeth and a golden back of his head.

Did this make him an instant favorite professor?

Hmm...it seems like it might actually work.

Even Siren had to admit that a professor who didn't impose any restrictions and allowed students to use magic freely in class was really tempting.

Silen suddenly realized that his impression of Lockhart seemed to be a bit too one-sided.

Indeed, Lockhart is a fraud; the adventures in his books are all other people's stories, which he shamelessly stole and attributed to himself.

But this doesn't mean he's an empty-headed bum. On the contrary, Lockhart is very smart, as evidenced by the fact that he was assigned to Ravenclaw when he was in school, something he himself never got assigned to.

And Lockhart's experience

Xiren wondered if he were Lockhart, could he trick others into giving him these adventures?

Go and track down those people, ask them how they did those things, find out the whole story, and then use a forgetting spell to erase the evidence.

The answer is difficult.

Because wizards who can drive away werewolves and tame giants are unlikely to be fools, they are very vigilant and would find it difficult to easily trust a strange wizard.

Lockhart succeeded seven times, and some of those people were even friends of Dumbledore.

He could fool these established wizards; surely he wouldn't let a few students see through his incompetence so easily.

The only thing he didn't understand was why the Cornish elves didn't bother Lockhart. Did they think that standing still would attract their attention?

Maybe.

However… Xiren suddenly regretted it a little. If he had known Lockhart's teaching level was like this, he shouldn't have been in such a hurry to sell that book, "Me Who Can Use Magic".

Being able to use magic freely in class is obviously more to Slytherin's liking, since there are more wealthy witches there, and it's not impossible for it to sell for a hundred Galleons.

With this feeling, Xiren parted ways with the others on the stairs.

"I have to go to the library," Siren said. "You guys go back first."

He was prepared to borrow the book on the parchment.

"The library?" Ron looked up abruptly and blurted out, "You're not really going to turn into Hermione, are you... Oh, sorry Hermione, that's not what I meant."

Seeing Hermione's unfriendly look, Ron quickly explained, "What I mean is, why has Cyron suddenly taken to reading? He used to only like fiddling with wood."

"That's a good thing." Hermione deliberately drew out her words, sounding just like Professor McGonagall lecturing. "If you all could enjoy reading, you wouldn't need to borrow my homework every day!"

"We don't borrow every day!" Ron retorted.

"Yes, except Saturdays," Hermione scoffed. "Because you don't do your homework that day!"

Seeing the three people suddenly start arguing, Xilun shrugged and turned to walk downstairs.

He didn't dare interrupt, because he might also need to borrow Hermione's homework.

If possible, Xiren hopes to learn Animagus transformations before the third grade.

Of course, this also means that he needs to devote more time and energy to Transfiguration. At this time, Hermione's standard answers are very important, as they can help him squeeze out more time.

On the other hand, Ron quickly backed down when faced with Hermione holding her homework and began to change the subject.

"This year's Defense Against the Dark Arts class was really interesting! Did you see that? I caught five Cornish elves!"

"I caught three," Harry said with a laugh. "Looks like we all misunderstood Lockhart before; his classes are really interesting."

"I told you long ago he was a remarkable wizard, but you never believed me." Hermione's mood immediately improved.

"But I still think you shouldn't keep using the Levitation Charm." Hermione thought of Ron's behavior in class and said, "You used a book to push a house-elf to the ceiling, and its wings were broken. And Harry, you almost stomped a house-elf to death."

"Those elves stole my glasses, I didn't see them," Harry explained.

He was looking for his glasses and didn't even notice a little elf falling right at his feet.

"Yes, and the scene was so chaotic, we didn't mean to," Ron said. "Don't worry, Professor Lockhart is here, he'll take good care of those elves."

"Remember that book my mom used to read? Gilderoy Lockhart teaches you how to get rid of pests in your home. He must know all about those little things."

Whether it was for homework or some other reason, Ron had changed his address for him from Lockhart in the morning to Professor Lockhart.

Hermione was naturally the happiest about this change, and the three of them reconciled once again.

(End of this chapter)