Chapter 470: Embracing the Thigh (Edited)

"Defense Against the Dark Arts" is an interesting subject. At first glance, it's a course that teaches students how to defend themselves against dark magic. But what is Professor Lupin's teaching content this year? Methods for dealing with boggarts, grindylows, hinkypunks, and red caps.

Are these creatures within the scope of dark magic?

It seems difficult to classify them under dark magic, much like labeling a wolf as a weapon of mass destruction. They are magical creatures.

The teaching content of Professor Lupin this year largely overlaps with the Care of Magical Creatures subject. Fortunately, there is a wide variety of magical creatures, so it didn't cause too much trouble for Newt.

Why does this happen? This brings us to the question of how one becomes a professor. In the non-magical world, you need to obtain teaching certification and then apply to a school. The teaching content is also planned, and you can't teach whatever you want. But in the magical world, it's different; you don't need teaching certification or prior training to teach at Hogwarts. You only need the approval of Headmaster Dumbledore. Additionally, for decades, there have been frequent changes in the professors of this subject, leading to different teaching styles.

Reading a book with Quirrell, Lockhart's reading comprehension, Lupin's magical zoology, Moody's Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Umbridge's politics...

In reality, the Defense Against the Dark Arts subject used to be a combat course. Young wizards would arrive at an empty field for class and engage in individual or paired duels. At that time, the House Prefect was usually the most skilled combatant student, and the Annual Prize went to the best fighter in the entire school.

In those days, students had to learn how to fight in this subject, how to undo all sorts of curses, how to deal with strange magical creatures, and even solve puzzles. In short, it was more like a comprehensive application course, somewhat similar to internships in the non-magical world.

However, times have changed, and the combat ability of young wizards has gradually declined, and the importance of practical training in Defense Against the Dark Arts has also decreased.

Professor Lupin, as the "Child King" of his time, has his unique understanding of the subject. Based on this understanding, he has created a very unique set of exam questions.

These exam questions turned out to be quite novel even for Tom. And when he learned that there were no qualification requirements at Hogwarts, a bold idea emerged in his mind.

...

Although Professor Lupin kept quiet about Tom's whereabouts, the young wizards had a rough idea. After all, it was already Thursday, and the third-year students were not the first to take the exam, so they had naturally heard some rumors.

Of course, the students had a strong sense of confidentiality and only mentioned a few loose words. With just those few loose words, it wasn't enough for the students to guess the content of the exam, but everyone could confirm that Tom Yodel was involved in some aspect of the test.

Professor Lupin divided the students into teams after allowing them to form groups freely.

Since it was about forming teams, there were many intrigues. Who wouldn't want to join the best to face the challenge together? The greater the difficulty of the challenge, the more comfortable it is if you have a great partner.

If we look at the entire third-year class of Ravenclaw, is there any better partner than Hermione Granger? There are only two great partners in the whole year: Yodel and Granger. After Yodel's disappearance, Granger became the best partner. Under normal circumstances, it's highly likely that they would both team up to take the exam, but Yodel disappeared, right?

Furthermore, there is a hidden benefit to joining Granger: given the relationship between Yodel and Granger, the exam is likely to go exceptionally smoothly.

Therefore, after Professor Lupin announced that they could form teams freely, Hermione was quickly surrounded by students.

The Ravenclaw students were the first to act, and then a small quarrel ensued among the young eagles: the girls collectively drove the boys outside.

The reason is simple: are you sure you can smoothly pass if Yodel sees you taking the exam with Granger? You are very likely to have some kind of accident that sends you to the school infirmary, which could affect your afternoon exam.

Under these direct threats, the Ravenclaw students quickly abandoned the idea of joining Hermione and sought out their good friends as partners.

Meanwhile, the girls grouped around Hermione, making noise and arguing to be her partner.

"Pick me, I won't bother you!"

"Hermione, let me be your partner, I can do everything..."

"I have secrets for skin whitening and hydration."

"I can..."

Hermione's head was spinning from the noise. Among her roommates, she had no special friends or arch-enemies, which made her choice very difficult.

"Stop!" Finally, she stopped her excited classmates.

"Let's draw lots! Whoever I draw will be on my team." This was the fairest way to do it, and no one had anything to say.

In the end, Padma Patil and Hermione formed a team together.

As for the order of appearance, it would be decided by Professor Lupin's draw. The first pair selected turned out to be Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson. Draco immediately refused to work with his two lackeys. He knew very well that aside from being able to act as human shields and cause physical harm, they wouldn't be of much help.

"Put this on," Professor Lupin gave both of them a bracelet.

"What is this?" Draco asked, surprised.

"If you faint, the bell in my hand will ring, and I'll come to get you off the field." Lupin waved a pair of bells in his hand.

Draco: ...

His facial expression instantly turned ugly.

"If something happens to me, I..."

"I'll explain it to Mr. Lucius," Lupin guessed what Draco wanted to say and interrupted him without emotion.

"Let's go!" Draco, who knew there was no turning back, took a deep breath and entered the classroom that Lupin had prepared along with Pansy Parkinson.

At the same time, Lupin glanced at the clock on the wall.

About three minutes later, the bells in Professor Lupin's hands rang simultaneously. The faces of the students around him immediately became serious. Did Draco and his partner only endure for three minutes?

Professor Lupin sighed and entered the examination room. In no time, he used a levitation charm to carry the two unconscious students out of the venue.

"They're just unconscious, not a big deal." After waking both of them up with a counter-spell, Lupin pulled out a notepad and jotted down a couple of things, recording their performance and completion time.

Once everything was settled, he declared that the exam for the two of them was over and escorted Draco and Pansy out of the examination room.

The exam continued.