Harry returns from Hogwarts Legacy

Chapter 335 Professor Potter Beats the Toad

After the Divination class, Harry began his first teaching career.

It's impossible not to be nervous. After all, giving guidance in the Duel Room is a completely different experience from teaching classmates for an entire school year in the classroom.

To his surprise, Umbridge also carried a small stool and her board to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

“It seems you’re not the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor for fifth year,” Harry politely reminded Umbridge that she was in the wrong classroom.

“No.” Professor Umbridge maintained that utterly disgusting fake smile. “Although I no longer teach you fifth-year Defense Against the Dark Arts, I am still a senior investigator at Hogwarts, and I need to investigate whether you, Mr. Potter, are truly suitable to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.”

Harry was quite impressed with her; this stupid toad really had a thick skin.

"If you had sufficiently qualified standards of judgment, you might not be standing here now, but on the podium," Harry said sarcastically.

However, Professor Umbridge was not angry at all. Instead, he said fluently, "Whether you admit it or not, Mr. Potter—I teach here using methods approved by the Ministry of Magic, which do not include encouraging students to express their opinions on things they do not quite understand."

"Your previous teachers who taught this subject may have given you more freedom, but none of them passed the Ministry of Magic's investigation—except perhaps Professor Quirrell, who at least seemed to only teach content suitable for your age—"

“Yes, Quirrell is a wonderful teacher,” Harry retorted. “The only minor flaw is that he has Voldemort stuck to the back of his head.”

“I need to reiterate to you that you have only had a few nightmares, Mr. Potter,” Professor Umbridge said, standing there with a composed tone. “You believed your dreams, but in fact, Voldemort has not returned—how can the dead be resurrected? Or do you have another purpose in fabricating this lie? Who instructed you to do so?”

At this point, Professor Umbridge showed no stage fright whatsoever; on the contrary, his presence became even more commanding.

"Is it Dumbledore? Or some foreign force?"

"What foreign power is this?" Harry laughed. "The moon?"

Professor Umbridge gave a strange smile and sat back down on her little stool.

I don't know what she pressed, but a backrest rose up on the small stool.

Harry glanced at her, said nothing, and walked straight to the podium.

The students gradually entered the classroom, and upon seeing the pink toad, they all showed surprised expressions, then looked at Harry.

Although he didn't ask, Harry felt that their questions were written all over their faces.

Did this toad win the revival round?

“Alright, let’s begin the lesson.” Harry cleared his throat and said to the students, “In my class, you don’t need to be silly and say in unison, ‘Hello, Professor,’ or you don’t need to be silly and say, ‘I know, Professor.’ The purpose of this class is to train you to survive under the Dark Arts, not to produce a bunch of stupid, idiotic echo chambers who only know how to read from the book.”

Umbridge remained unfazed, even staring intently at Harry with her signature fake smile on her face.

“Okay, Professor,” everyone said with laughter.

"Now, all you need to do is throw away that damned book." Harry tapped the blackboard with his wand. "I don't want you to be giants in theory but dwarfs in practice—I want you to be able to integrate theoretical knowledge with practical application... Now, I need you to answer a question: if I wanted to disarm my opponent's wand, what spell would I use?"

Hermione raised her hand high, as if afraid Harry wouldn't see it.

Following closely behind were some of the students in the classroom, including Ron and Draco.

“Mr. Weasley,” Harry addressed him formally, “tell me, what is this spell?”

“Disarming spell, Professor Potter,” Ron stood up and answered seriously, “the spell is Expelliarmus.”

“Very good, very good.” Harry clapped his hands, gesturing for Ron to sit down. “Two points for Gryffindor—so, what do I need to do if I want to ward off this curse?—Mr. Malfoy, you answer that question.”

"Get out of the way," Draco replied.

“Very good.” Harry nodded and said again, “So, besides dodging, if I asked you to use a spell to deal with it, what spell would you choose?”

“Protego Charm, Professor Potter,” Draco replied quickly. “The spell is Protego.”

“Very good.” Harry clapped his hands and nodded to Draco. “Good answer, Slytherin, two points.”

The Slytherin students applauded, for Draco and for Harry's justice.

"Then, could someone explain the details of the Ironclad Charm?" Harry asked again.

Now, Hermione was the only one in the class with her hand raised.

“Miss Granger,” Harry gestured for Hermione to stand up and answer.

“We can no longer know the inventor or the time of the Ironclad Charm,” Hermione answered accurately. “The Ironclad Charm is a spell that can resist many kinds of spells. It can create a magical barrier to deflect spells and physical entities, thereby protecting specific people or specific areas. Spells of summoning can sometimes be deflected directly back to the caster, or they can dissipate or be deflected when they hit the magical barrier.”

"Excellent!" Harry clapped. "Miss Granger's answer was perfect. Gryffindor will receive five points for your outstanding response!"

Gryffindor, not to be outdone, also erupted in applause.

Harry reached out and pressed down, continuing, "What I need to explain is that this is actually a very useful spell, but I don't understand why so many wizards, even adult wizards, can't cast it successfully? I've found that most adult wizards, even those working at the Ministry of Magic, can't even recite a decent Armor Charm."

“This is a very serious problem,” Harry said gravely. “I don’t know how long peace in the wizarding world can last, but what if Voldemort returns—”

Professor Umbridge suddenly let out a sneer.

“If you don’t want to listen, then get out,” Harry said, pointing to the door with a grim expression.

“I need to correct your behavior, Mr. Potter,” Professor Umbridge said with a forced smile and a affected voice. “You have repeatedly told your classmates…”

Before she finished speaking, she floated up into the air.

Before she could even scream, she and her chair were sent flying out of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

“You’re not welcome in this class, you toad,” Harry said with a villainous air. “If you have any objections, you can always ask Professor Dumbledore, though… I don’t think he’ll take your suggestion into consideration, do I?”

Professor Umbridge rose awkwardly, her lips twitching slightly, but she ultimately dared not utter a single harsh word. She turned and left, without a trace.

"Well done, Harry!" Ron said, clapping.

“In class, you should address the professor as Mr. Weasley.” Harry glanced at Ron.

“Okay, Professor Potter,” Ron said with a grin.

“Let’s continue this lesson.” Harry looked up and continued, “I won’t go into too much detail about the Ironclad Charm—it’s a very useful charm that can help you ward off most spells—but be aware that many powerful curses cannot be blocked with the Ironclad Charm.”

He saw that Hannah had raised her hand.

“Abbot,” Harry said, “do you have a problem?”

"Then, what kind of spell cannot be blocked by the Ironclad Spell?" Hannah asked, puzzled.

“Excellent question, and very important. Hufflepuff, two points.” Harry nodded approvingly. “Do you remember the three Unforgivable Curses that the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor introduced to us last year? Who remembers what we learned last year?”

Most students raised their hands.

“Hmm…” Harry thought for a moment, then called on a Ravenclaw classmate: “Mr. Goldstein, you answer this question.”

Anthony Goldstein stood up and answered fluently: "The three unforgivable curses are the Imperius Curse, which can control a person; the Cruciatus Curse, which can torture a person; and the Killing Curse, which directly takes the life of its target."

“Very good, very good.” Harry clapped. “Ravenclaw, two points—admittedly, the Ironclad Charm cannot stop these three spells, but it is still very reliable. If you can use this spell when you encounter a dark wizard, it will greatly increase your chances of victory.”

"Of course, some of you will ask me—Professor, then why do we have to fight dark wizards?"

At this point, Harry smiled and said, "The dark wizard has only one goal, which is to kill you. Think about it, if you want to escape, you will inevitably face his pursuit... So, the best way to hide is to defeat him, or even kill him."

A burst of laughter erupted in the classroom.

“Some might ask, why kill them?” Harry continued. “Then I need to tell you a harsh reality… If you don’t want to die, then you absolutely must not have any sympathy for dark wizards, not a single one! I’ve seen more than once stories of young wizards who were killed because they felt compassion for dark wizards… In 1891, Ravenclaw’s Selena Crouch felt compassion for her opponents when facing the Ashbringer, and was subsequently ambushed by a dark wizard, losing her young life.”

Harry sighed.

"She was only fifteen, the same age as us. She should have had a wonderful life, graduated from Hogwarts, found a job she loved, and married the person she loved—but because of her unnecessary pity, all of that ultimately vanished."

Upon hearing Harry's words, everyone exchanged glances and fell silent.

“How did you know that?” asked Terry Boot of Ravenclaw.

“Remember the Slytherin ghost? The ghost named Sebastian Saru?” Harry said with a smile. “He told me—this was his classmate.”

"Oh my god." A murmur rippled through the classroom.

“So what I’m trying to tell you is that dark wizards are dark wizards because they are extremely evil beings. If you want to lose your poor little lives, if you want to break your parents’ hearts,” Harry shook his head and said, “then show mercy to the dark wizards.”

“I understand, Professor,” Terry said, sitting down.

“Of course,” Harry said again. “I think learning the Iron Man Charm is absolutely necessary. Even without Voldemort, there would be other dark wizards. I hope you will take your studies seriously and not be careless or think that it doesn’t matter whether you learn it or not. That would be irresponsible to your own lives.”

"We understand, Professor," the students said in unison.

Wow, it's good that Umbridge is training you.

“Alright, enough chit-chat,” Harry nodded. “From now on, we’ll be learning how to properly cast the Armor Charm—look at my wand, just a flick, a shake…Protego!”

Immediately, a transparent shield appeared in front of Harry.

The shield looked thick and large, almost as tall and wide as the entire classroom.

The students even felt that the shield would be even larger if the classroom hadn't been in the way.

“Watch my gestures carefully.” Harry tapped on the blackboard, drawing a hissing line of fire in the air with the Locus Charm. “Swing your wands in this order, and imagine a shield in front of you to block the spell—”

Seamus took his wand and waved it twice.

"Protego!"

The effect was quite good; a small shield appeared in front of him.

“They’re cute even when they’re small,” Lavender Brown said with a grin.

Simo rolled his eyes and continued practicing.

In contrast, Hermione, who was not far away, had successfully cast a sizable shield, almost the size of an entire book.

“Well done, Miss Granger,” Harry praised. “Ten points for Gryffindor!”

Upon hearing this, Ron waved his wand even more vigorously.

"Protego!"

However, there was no reaction, only the whooshing sound of his wand cutting through the air.

"Stop, stop right now!" Hermione grabbed Ron's arm, rolling her eyes. "You really haven't changed, have you? You're still the same after all these years. Do you want to poke my eyes out? Focus your mind, don't be so impatient, don't rush things, take it slow... like me... Protego!"

Ron followed suit, took a deep breath, and successfully erected a shield as well.

Those students who received special tutoring in the Duel Hut learned the Ironclad Charm at an astonishing speed.

Of course, the other students were different. Most of them were staring at the trajectory of the fire in the sky and couldn't imitate it properly.

(End of this chapter)