Chapter 119: Defense Against the Dark Arts

Another beautiful morning, Damocles Belby had his breakfast and headed to his first class in a happy mood.

He followed Felix's advice and visited twelve wizards who had taken the Defense Against the Dark Arts class after negotiating with Dumbledore, which gave him first-hand information about the rumoured curse.

According to those seniors, the effects of the curse were so subtle that they could not even be sensed, but after six months, something hidden began to exert its influence, and they often came across some seemingly coincidental accidents.

As time dragged on, such accidents would become more and more frequent.

Their advice to Belby was, "When one day you're brewing a potion, and you encounter a failure that you shouldn't have, proceed to leave."

Belby took this advice to heart.

With a few days remaining, he began to carefully plan his lectures.

...

'Today will be a second-year class, they should already be capable of dealing with the Red Cap at this time, however, I better play it safe.' It would be his first class, and Belby felt mixed feelings of excitement and nervousness.

When he appeared at the door of the classroom, the eyes of the young wizards, who had been chatting, fell upon him keenly.

The professor had a normal appearance, tall and thin, and looked a bit weak, but he's dragging two large cages covered with shrouds with his magic, which gave them a hint of expectation.

It couldn't be helped that they are already expecting very little.

This professor stood at the entrance and greeted them, "Follow me, little wizards, today is a practical session, I need to know your practical level." He gestured towards the cage floating in midair as it faded away at the door, "By the way, don't forget your wands."

The young wizards scrambled to gather their things, but they exchanged surprised looks with each other.

It had been a long time since any of them had had a practical session on the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, unless you included the memorable one this year when Gilderoy Lockhart had brought in a Cage full of Cornish Pixies and messed up the classroom order.

"You know, it reminds me of something?" Ron said suggestively.

"Those tin-faced little guys wouldn't be so quiet," Harry replied with great empathy.

It was them who cleaned up the mess in the practical session, recapturing the Cornish pixies back into their cages, with Hermione's Freezing Charm being a big help.

They crossed the hallway to a quiet, empty classroom.

Belby put the metal cage in the corner, from inside came a low sound of " Kiki ", Neville who walked in front shrank back, he dreaded whatever inside would grab his ears and fly to the ceiling.

"What do you think it is?" Harry asked.

"It sounds a bit like beavers." Ron guessed.

"But beavers should be in the Care of Magical Creatures class, and they're not dangerous," Hermione said.

"I just hope it's not an eight-eyed giant spider," Ron said hopefully, the thought of Hagrid releasing a pack of Acromantula in the Forbidden Forest made him want to crack open his thick skull and see what he thinks.

This piece of information is a secret that Hagrid revealed when they tracked down the Chamber of Secrets monster, and it haunted them when they saw the photographic information Hermione found out later about the Acromantula.

"He even gave it a name - Aragog !"

Belby looked at the classroom with emotion as he recalled his school days - though not too fondly, as he didn't really fit in at the time.

He reintroduced himself, "Many of you may not know me well, my name is Damocles Belby, and I have some expertise in potions, although perfectly qualified for teaching you Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"In a way, I also have a certain edge about it. I read your second-year textbook, and you guys need to learn some counter-curse, as well as learn how to properly deal with some low-danger magical creatures, which I happen to know a lot about when I'm brewing potions ..." He made a snide remark and judging by the effect, the young wizards were indeed frozen.

Ron whispered to Harry, "I guess, Hagrid won't like him." But an idea suddenly occurred to him, and he is eager to introduce Aragog to the new professor.

Harry agreed, if anyone dares to treat his "cuties" as a material for the potion, he will be crazy.

After introducing himself, Belby called the names of the young wizards one by one according to the list.

"Millicent Bulstrode."

"Neville Longbottom."

...

"Ronald Weasley."

After the roll call, the young wizards raised their hands curiously to ask questions, they already acquired various true and false information in advance -

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"Professor, you received the Order of Merlin?"

"Yes, just this month."

"Are you a master of potions?"

"That's what others think of me."

"What is wolfsbane potion?"

"A potion that soothes the symptoms of a werewolf's full moon."

"Who is better, you or Professor Snape?" It is a question from a Gryffindor, and the other Half of Slytherin glares at him.

"Well ... our research direction is different, there is no point in comparing."

After a few minutes, Belby realized that he could not let this group of young wizards with scattered thoughts ask questions about the east and west, they seemed to want to let him fight for the title of Hogwarts' first Master of Potions by singling out Snape.

Belby cleared his throat and said, "Today, let's review everything you've learned about Red Cap, I'll ask you some questions, and if you get them right you can get extra points--"

"Professor!"

A young wizard interrupted, "What's Red Cap?"

Belby froze a little, "Uh ... red cap is a magical creature similar to a dwarf, they are found in the Nordic region, and so on!" He looked down at their bewildered expressions, "Didn't you guys learned about Red Cap?"

The response he received from the group is a neat mixture of bobbing heads and sighs.

Belby paused, sensing something amiss, he called up a student, "What did you all learn?"

Seamus Finnigan stood up and spoke uncertainly, "Professor, we learned to play as vampires." He unbuttoned the outer layer of his wizard robes to use it as a cloak, bared his teeth, and made a noble expression of superiority.

Many of the young wizards laughed.

"Well, that's funny, but it's not the answer I was looking for."

Finally, Hermione raised her hand to brief the overwhelmed new professor on what they had learned this year.

"So, other than the pixies in the first class, you guys didn't have any practical sessions?" Belby looked completely flabbergasted.

He did inquire about the class and mentally prepared for it, but no one had told him that there was no practical part in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class?

After almost half a minute, he came back to his senses, "Well, then we, uh ... then we'll learn about Red Cap today."

He waved his wand and lifted the curtain over the cage.

The creature in the cage startled them; it is a short, bony creature, except for the top of its head, which is covered with a layer of red velvet fur, the rest of its exposed skin gives a dirty dark brown colour.

"You can get a closer look," Belby said.

The young wizards braved themselves to get closer and surveyed the fierce-looking creatures -

As they curled up in the cage, grimacing at the young wizards, one of the red caps suddenly slammed its claws on the enchanted metal cage, but it's futile.

"Bang!"

But the little wizards were still startled.

Harry could clearly see that its claws were very exaggerated, completely out of proportion to its body, and its nails were at least an inch and a half long.

Belby's voice came in to explain, "Notice their claws? I think someone already happened to notice that their forelimbs are very flexible, which allows them to use simple tools like branches, sticks and stones and such."

"Red Caps are attracted to blood and will sneak up behind you if they come across a lone muggle or young wizard in the wild. We will learn how to deal with them today-"

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