My Hogwarts has a serious problem.

Chapter 6.006. The Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor's Great Crisis

Lynn suppressed the urge to smash the beer in his hand on the old man's head, and instead pulled up a small stool to sit opposite him.

Professor Fox, seemingly oblivious to Lynn's resentment, eagerly snatched the beer from his hand.

"German dark beer, huh?" He smacked his lips.

"Tsk tsk tsk, I don't really like the taste, but it's barely acceptable."

He tore open the beer bag and casually tossed a can to Lynn.

Lynn took the beer and rolled her eyes.

"I'm still a minor, I can't drink alcohol."

Even so, he still pulled the tab; what happened today was a bit of a mess.

Professor Fox laughed at Lynn's insincere actions.

His smile is very similar to Lynn's; both of them unconsciously squint their eyes.

"At such an old age, she still squints all the time. No wonder she has so many wrinkles around her eyes. Humph."

Lynn also grabbed a pair of chopsticks, dipped them in the broth in the crucible, and tasted it; the flavor was very familiar.

Professor Fox took a swig of beer and said smugly.

"You're in for a treat today. This is a delicacy I brought back from Chengdu during my trip to China. Just dip the ingredients lightly into the boiling broth and you'll enjoy its unparalleled flavor."

As for those five-star hotels, they're just fooling foreigners. The real delicacies of the East are hidden in the streets and alleys; they can't fool me.

You provide German wine, I provide Chinese food, you're making a killing.

It's just hot pot, right? Don't act like nobody's missed out.

Although he was compensated with hot pot, Lynn was still angry. He stared at Professor Fox's unusually pale face and pouted.

"If you're not in good health and still eat spicy food and drink beer, you might suddenly die."

Fox waved his hand dismissively.

"Don't worry about it, I'm just a little afraid of heights. Besides, didn't I ask you to buy me some medicine?" He smiled and raised his beer. "This is the cure-all."

Lynn looked at him suspiciously, wondering if this unscrupulous professor was trying to fool her again.

"Can wizards also have a fear of heights?"

"Of course there will be." Fox couldn't wait to pick up a piece of hot mutton and put it in his mouth. He used chopsticks very skillfully, which showed that he had eaten a lot of mutton while traveling in China.

"Wizards are human too, and of course, humans can get sick."

"Don't hold such a grudge, Belloc."

Do you know how much I suffered to come here?

Since I've never been here before, I can't Apparate, so I have to run to the Leaky Cauldron first. I don't have a single Muggle coin on me, and it would be too much of a loss to exchange money with those goblins at Gringotts. I also can't take any Muggle transportation, so I have to fly over here on my flying broomstick.

But my fear of heights is severe, and I simply couldn't control that damn broom. After flying for about ten minutes, I couldn't hold on any longer and fell from the sky. But thankfully, I finally reached my destination.

Fox took a couple of sips of his drink and then began to pour out his grievances to Lynn.

Hearing him say that, Lynn really had no temper left. This person had come all the way here just to help an eleven-year-old child like him get familiar with the magical world, so what was a little drink to him?

After thinking it through, Lynn was happy to eat hot pot, drink beer, and chat with Fox.

"I heard you teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor?"

“That’s right.” Fox shook the beer can in his hand. “I originally applied for the position of Professor of Spellcasting. If I didn’t owe Dumbledore a huge favor, I wouldn’t have taken this extremely risky and arduous job. Now I can only pray that this year will end well.”

"Why? Is there any danger in being a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?" Lynn asked knowingly.

"Dangerous?" Fox chuckled, downing half a can of beer before looking at Lynn. "Do you know how many Defense Against the Dark Arts professors Hogwarts has had since 1956?"

Lynn shook his head blankly.

"There were 21, and the professorship hadn't been established for 12 years. Guess how many of those 21 people died unexpectedly during their tenure."

"Ten?" Lynn tentatively suggested a compromise number.

"Guess again."

"...13?"

"There were 14, with a mortality rate of over 60%. Of the survivors, one will be bedridden for life, and the other two will have lifelong disabilities."

Lynn gasped. He knew that being a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts was dangerous, but he never imagined the mortality rate would be so high.

"Then... other wizards aren't stupid. Given such a high level of danger, who would be willing to apply?" Lynn asked, voicing his doubts.

"Do you think Hogwarts would release this data? Even I only found the relevant files in the Hogwarts library and compiled them after I was confirmed as a professor this year."

"Luckily, I still have a conscience." Fox used his chopsticks to scoop slices of meat from the pot. "If it were anyone else, they would have been scared away by these numbers."

"What is the source of the danger?" Lynn asked cautiously.

Fox raised his glass and clinked it with Lynn's, then downed the beer in his can in one gulp.

"Who knows?" His eyes were deep, and it was hard to tell what he was thinking. "There are rumors that this position was cursed by a man called the Dark Lord, some say it was all Dumbledore's doing, and others say it was just a coincidence. But who can really say for sure what the truth is?"

Lynn assumed Fox was worried about his safety over the next year, so he offered words of comfort.

"Professor, you're a lucky person, nothing will go wrong."

Fox opened another can of beer.

"Let's not talk about that nonsense anymore. Let's talk about you. Minerva wrote to me saying you're a shrewd little devil. Now it seems that your mannerisms and speech are not quite what you should be like at your age."

Lynn shrugged, feigning nonchalance: "Gaining more means giving more, and I don't think that's a good thing."

Fox didn't doubt it too much, nodding in agreement: "Being mature beyond one's years isn't exactly something to be praised for. I heard you even paid for your own adoptive father?"

"It wasn't really spending money. I just signed a non-legally binding agreement with him, promising to give him one-third of my parents' estate as a reward after I inherit it."

"He actually agreed?"

"Of course he wouldn't agree," Lynn said, taking a sip of beer and shaking his head. "Who would make a fair deal with a child?"

He tried to trick me into not signing the agreement, to actually adopt me, and to become my guardian, so that all the money my parents left me might end up being his in the future.

I'm not stupid. It happened during a time of magical upheaval, and since he thought he had me figured out and didn't take me seriously, I used some tricks to find evidence that he had embezzled public funds, and semi-coerced him into signing a conditional adoption agreement.

Fox stared at him in astonishment: "How old were you back then?"

"Around ten years old, I guess." Lynn thought for a moment. "It seems like she just turned ten not long ago."

Fox was stunned for a long time before he finally burst out laughing.

"It seems Minerva was right, you really are a clever little devil."

He put down his chopsticks and beer, and suddenly looked at Lynn with a smile.

"I think you're very much to my liking. Would you be interested in accepting an investment from me, Mr. Bellock?"

This mountain is mine, these trees are mine, if you want to pass through, give me your votes! (▼皿▼#)

(End of this chapter)