Harry returns from Hogwarts Legacy

Chapter 326 The Youngest Professor

I must say, hanging an upside-down toad is quite enjoyable.

Even disregarding the impending danger, Harry believed that Umbridge couldn't be allowed to continue causing trouble simply because of the upcoming OWLs.

“Alright, now I’ll make the announcement.” Harry walked up to the podium, gestured downwards with his hand to signal everyone to stop laughing.

The students really gave Harry face, after all, he had won the Triwizard Tournament last year with his hard-earned strength, and Harry's strength had always been very high in the students' eyes, so in terms of prestige...

They looked up, wanting to see what Harry was going to say.

“I can’t control what happens in other grades for now, but fifth grade,” Harry cleared his throat and continued, “with OWLs coming up soon, we need a skilled wizard to teach everyone Defense Against the Dark Arts.”

Draco, who was sitting below, suddenly had a flash of inspiration, and with a "whoosh," he raised his hand high.

The students were all surprised, since in each class, it was usually the top students like Hermione who actively participated in the discussion.

What kind of flying broom is Draco trying to do?
“Oh, Mr. Malfoy,” Harry said very formally, “do you have a question?”

Draco cleared his throat upon hearing Harry's question.

"You just mentioned 'a wizard with sufficient power,' so, sir, aren't you a wizard with sufficient power?"

Damn it?

The students were startled.

No wonder the Malfoy family is considered the epitome of a pure-blood family; look at their awareness...

Ron, standing next to him, was even more surprised. His mouth was agape, wide enough to fit a walrus.

“Me?” Harry was a little surprised. To be honest, he hadn’t really planned to be the professor himself. Instead, he planned to hire Cassandra back to Hogwarts to be at least the fifth-year professor.

“Yes, Harry!” Hermione said happily. “Your teaching at the Duelhouse has proven your ability. I believe you are absolutely capable and qualified to be our professor!”

"Yeah! Yeah!" "That's right, Harry!" "Harry, please teach us!" The students chimed in all at once.

“I’m telling you, you should find someone else. I’m not being modest,” Harry sighed. “I’m still a fifth-year student. How did you all end up recommending me as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts?”

“But you’re strong enough!” Draco shouted. “Anyone who doesn’t recommend Mr. Potter to be our professor is an enemy of the Malfoy family!”

Hey, you rascal...

Harry facepalms. You really have no idea what I'm planning to do, do you?
However, the other students didn't think so. The Slytherins, always eager for chaos, expressed their support, and even Theodore Nott, who was usually quiet, began to support Harry as their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

"What are you doing!" Professor Umbridge roared angrily as she was hung upside down. "What are you doing! I am the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor! I am the Ministry of Magic-appointed Defense Against the Dark Arts professor!"

“Oh, to hell with your Ministry of Magic!” Millison of Slytherin scoffed. “What Ministry of Magic? It’s a bunch of good-for-nothings! To have a toad like you teach us Defense Against the Dark Arts? I bet the Ministry of Magic is doomed!”

“I think,” Blaise, always sharp-tongued, said, “the Ministry of Magic is out of its depths. Merlin above, the Ministry of Magic is actually reaching into Hogwarts. Are they up to something shady? Or does Fudge want to turn Hogwarts into his own personal cradle of talent?”

That's a bit of a sarcastic remark. Even if Umbridge is a complete idiot, he knows he shouldn't respond to that.

Just then, Professor McGonagall suddenly appeared at the door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

"The impact is extremely negative!"

Her lips trembled, and she tried several times to break the spell, but she couldn't get Umbridge down.

"Who did this?!"

“Oh, Professor McGonagall,” Ron stepped forward. “Of course it’s me. I’ve had my eye on this pink toad for a long time. Not only does he just read from the book, but he also makes us talk theory without practice. I really don’t know why Hogwarts would agree to let such an incompetent person into the school as a professor. Isn’t this a betrayal of the founding principles of Hogwarts?”

"Gryffindor, deduct fifty points!" Professor McGonagall said angrily.

"We did it too!" Hannah Abbott of Hufflepuff, always eager for drama, stepped forward with Susan Burns to admit it.

The Ravenclaw students also stood up, and the Slytherins were not to be outdone.

"Oh, Minerva."

Dumbledore appeared at the doorway without anyone noticing. He reached out and circled around, and Umbridge was put down.

“I don’t think it’s a wise choice to deduct points from the students. After all… Hogwarts should respect the students’ opinions, especially since it’s a joint request from all four houses.”

As he spoke, Dumbledore winked at the students in the classroom.

"Of course, attacking a professor in class is not the right thing to do, so... all four colleges will have fifty points deducted. Do you have any objections?"

"Of course not, Professor," everyone said in unison.

Deducting points from a single college is indeed a punishment.

But if all colleges are penalized together, then it really isn't a punishment.

“Of course,” Dumbledore said again. “As I said, Hogwarts will not ignore the opinions of its students, so… well, let’s vote now. Democracy has always been our policy. Those who want to support Professor Umbridge to remain at the school, please raise your hands.”

The classroom was completely silent; no one wanted to support Umbridge at this moment—and of course, there was no one who would be that stupid.

“Dumbledore!” Umbridge roared. “You’re going to join their nonsense too, aren’t you?”

“Oh, this is no joke.” Dumbledore smiled knowingly.

“You’re just the principal! You have no right to remove me from my post without going through the board of directors!” Umbridge roared angrily.

"Aha."

A sweet voice came from behind Dumbledore; it was Pappy.

“Madam,” Pappy said with a smile, “as one of the school board members, I certainly have the right, together with Headmaster Dumbledore, to temporarily suspend your teaching authority over the fifth-year students—this is the certificate of authorization from the school board to me, would you like to take a look?”

As she spoke, she pulled a piece of paper from her bosom.

Umbridge took the paper with a sullen face. Of course she knew Papiyas Sweeting, Newt Scamander's aunt... it was no secret at all.

Offending someone like Dumbledore would be one thing, since that was her goal in the first place. But to offend Dumbledore and then, on top of that, also offend the Scamander family, who have always been well-liked in the wizarding world, would be a bit unwise.

After all, Newt's brother Theseus was a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Magic, and many people in the Ministry of Magic have been promoted by Theseus to some extent.

“Then,” Dumbledore said again, “who do you think should be your professors?”

“Harry Potter!” Draco shouted.

The students also realized what was happening and shouted Harry's name in unison.

Harry sighed.

Ugh.

“Since this is the students’ request, Harry,” Dumbledore winked at Harry, “you will temporarily teach Defense Against the Dark Arts in the fifth year.”

“Professor, I…” Harry tried to decline, he really didn’t know how to teach students.

“Don’t refuse, Harry,” Dumbledore said with a smile. “These are the requests of your classmates; do you want to disappoint their sincere wishes?”

Harry took a deep breath.

“If this is the only way to benefit the school…” Harry said, “then I’m willing to temporarily take over as the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor for the fifth year!”

"Yay!" Pappi shouted, raising her little fist.

The students started together, yay!

Just then, the bell rang to signal the end of get out of class.

"Alright," Dumbledore said with a smile, "now it's time for get out of class to end—for the next class, I hope you will prepare your lessons well and not disappoint your students' expectations, okay?"

“Of course.” Harry nodded seriously.

After the professors left, the students cheered excitedly.

"Finally rid of that pink toad!" Ron roared. "Merlin has no idea how much I hate it! Just seeing it makes me feel utterly disgusted!"

“Alright, Ron.” Hermione reached out and patted Ron on the shoulder. “You’re not alone, okay?”

It was not a pleasant experience for Harry, as news spread that evening at dinner in the Great Hall that he had become the first professor in Hogwarts' history to be a student.

Colin Crevey surrounded Harry with his camera, this socially adept young man grabbing Harry and insisting on taking a photo with him, refusing to give up.

If Ron hadn't used his prefectural authority to help Harry out, who knows how long he would have kept making a scene.

Of course, the main credit goes to the ghosts for spreading the word.

Sir Nicholas, in particular, gleefully proclaimed in various places that Harry had become the youngest Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, which undoubtedly fueled the spread of the news.

"Mibu Mibu." Harry returned to the door and exchanged the command with the fat lady who had already handed over the night shift.

The fat lady made way for Harry, who went inside and saw the twins handing out flyers.

Hey, Harry!

Upon seeing Harry, the two surrounded him.

“Our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor,” Fred said.

George added, “Fifth grade only—I’m curious why you’re not going to teach seventh grade, really, I mean—I’ve experienced firsthand how boring Professor Umbridge’s classes are, like being in prison—I dare say even Azkaban isn’t as torturous as her classes.”

“Don’t talk about me.” Harry sat in his chair with a very bossy posture. “What about you two? Aren’t you planning to take the NEWTs? I see you two are always thinking about your magical tricks.”

"Look at him! He's a natural-born professor!" Fred said, putting his hand to his chest and looking up. "He hasn't even taken office yet, and he's already acting like a professor, lecturing us!"

“Who says otherwise!” George chuckled beside him.

“Alright, alright,” Fred tugged at George and said to Harry, “I know you mean well, but we feel our future lies beyond academic achievements.”

"How so?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.

“We’ve had a serious discussion about whether we should come back for seventh grade,” George said, beaming. “Now that we already have—”

He saw Harry's warning look and quickly stopped talking.

Harry knew that George was about to talk about the money they had won in the Quidditch World Cup and the Triwizard Tournament.

These are things you can't say in the common room, especially with several first-year students around.

What if we lead the children astray?
"Now that we already have OWLs certificates," George quickly corrected himself, "I mean, do we really need NEWTs certificates? But we don't think Mom will let us leave school early, and now that Percy has become the biggest fool in the world, Mom is even less likely to agree."

“But we won’t waste our last year here,” Fred said, looking around the Great Hall with longing. “We’ll use this year to do some market research, figure out what the average Hogwarts student wants to buy from the joke shop, carefully evaluate our findings, and then produce products that meet their needs.”

“It seems you really have made money.” Hermione sat down next to them, holding a book. “Do you have any plans for your next goals? Like, where will you choose to open your store?”

“Right in Diagon Alley!” Fred and George said with a grin. “We’ve already checked, it’s in a great location, and the rent is reasonable. If everyone likes our product, the rent won’t be a problem.”

"Aren't you afraid of Mom?" Ron asked in astonishment.

“Everyone has their own way of living, Ronnie,” Fred said, shaking his head. “Mom can’t take care of us forever—besides, as long as we can earn money, Mom probably won’t be unhappy. After all, family members can’t always go out to work like adults. Opening a shop is a good option, and it’s not a disreputable job, is it?”

“I support you,” Harry said with a smile. “At least within Hogwarts, your products are still selling very well, and I think it will be the same even outside the school.”

"That's good." Fred said with a smile. "Alright, it's getting late, we need to go and promote our new product—hopefully we can sell a few retractable ears before going to bed..."

“You guys… um, wait a minute,” Harry suddenly said, “I actually have an idea, but I don’t know if it’s appropriate. Why don’t you listen to it?”

“Of course we’ll listen, Harry.” The twins, who had already stood up, sat back down. “We’d love to hear the new professor’s opinion.”

(End of this chapter)