Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 145 Acting Professor - Lupin

Lupin sat down in front of the simple fireplace and took out several bags from his suitcase, which contained the food he had collected.

It's common for wizards to live in poverty, but it's rare for them to starve to death, because even the most inept wizard can easily find something to eat.

That's how Lupin did it. He got a bag of relief food from the Muggle church in the town outside, and then he got some near-expiry food from the supermarket warehouse. The Muggle stockers would pile them up in the shopping cart and put them in the corner of the warehouse, so he could take some without anyone noticing.

He first heated a can of pea soup with the lit stove fire, then heated up the bread and ham he had been given, and wolfed it down along with the pea soup.

After finishing off all the food, he still felt a little unsatisfied, so he used the empty can as a container to boil a few eggs and eat them.

Just as Lupin was blowing on the eggs to warm them and carefully peeling the shells, he heard the sound of a bird's beak tapping on the windowpane.

Lupin opened the window, and an owl, bringing a chill, rushed into the cabin and handed him a letter. After fulfilling its mission, the owl swooped out and returned less than a minute later with a large rat in its beak, where it leaned against the fireplace and began to enjoy its rat feast.

Looking at the familiar handwriting on the envelope, Lupin sighed, resisting the urge to throw the letter into the fire, and opened the envelope to read it.

Looking at the contents of the letter, Lupin couldn't help but raise his eyebrows: Slytherin, who adhered to pure-blood supremacy, actually left behind such a good thing?

He assumed that, given Slytherin's character, the curse left behind would surely be something like "identifying werewolves from among the crowd"!

However, given the existence of such a spell and potion, Dumbledore's suggestion was definitely worth considering.

As a key member of the Order of the Phoenix and a contributor to the Wizarding Wars, Lupin's current predicament is not due to the heartlessness of Dumbledore and his old comrades, but rather to Lupin's own unresolved inner conflicts.

He feared that if he turned into a werewolf, he might accidentally infect innocent strangers, and he also couldn't face the sights of the past—every time he saw those familiar scenes, memories of his good friends would flood his mind, causing him immense heartache.

Now that he has the Restore to Human Form spell, he no longer needs to worry about accidentally harming innocent students on the night of the full moon.

Of course, what truly touched him was a sentence in the letter: James's child had also come to school. He looked exactly like James, but had the same eyes as his mother.

Lupin extinguished the fire in the fireplace and pushed open the door to step into the night.

The next morning, before the sun had even risen, Lupin stood outside the gates of Hogwarts.

At breakfast time, the students were surprised to find a down-and-out man sitting in Professor Lockhart's seat in the faculty section, while Professor Snape, sitting next to the man, had a face as black as coal.

Now, the students lost their appetite and started gossiping, trying to find out more about the uninvited guest from each other and their friends.

"Classmates." Seeing that most of the people in the hall had arrived, Dumbledore stood up and tapped the side of his goblet with his spoon.

The entire auditorium fell silent.

"Due to Professor Lockhart's illness, Professor Remus John Lupin will be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts for the next two weeks!"

These words caused an uproar in the Great Hall, with some Lockhart fans looking at Dumbledore in disbelief, shocked by his decision.

What happened to Professor Lockhart? Why has he been absent for so long?

But the commotion was short-lived, because an eyewitness in the hospital room that day told fans that Professor Lockhart had magically made the bones in his body disappear...

This left his fans speechless, unsure of what to say. Compared to this shocking reason, the school hiring a substitute professor seemed almost trivial.

By a twist of fate, the students didn't pay much attention to Professor Lu Ping's shabby clothes.

When Lockhart, lying in his hospital room, was told by his fans that the school had found him a substitute professor, he tried to get up from his bed and go to the headmaster's office to explain the situation to Dumbledore, making him understand that he only had a minor illness and did not need a substitute teacher at all.

However, he underestimated the severity of his condition—he had used a curse to remove a third of his bones, something that couldn't be cured in a day or two. Moreover, Madame Pomfrey had adopted a more conservative treatment plan that mainly involved herbal remedies.

So he fell off the hospital bed, shattering the bones that had just grown inside him.

Now, his hospital stay has been extended to a month.

Rice was quite pleased to hear the news—in his opinion, Lockhart was already at rock bottom, how could there be a professor worse than him? This Lupin, could he be even worse than Lockhart...?

Professor Lu Ping appeared in the auditorium in the morning and began teaching students the next day.

Surprisingly, several of Lockhart's female fans were determined to give Professor Lupin a hard time before class, but by the end of class, they had all changed their tune.

"Only a professor like this is worthy of being Mr. Lockhart's replacement!"

"I think Professor Lockhart should focus on recovering from his illness, and Professor Lupin can take over the classes."

Even Rice was starting to wonder what Professor Lupin had actually taught in class.

When Professor Lupin freed a Boggart from the wardrobe and easily disposed of it, Rice smiled with relief: Finally, after two years, the third Defense Against the Dark Arts professor has finally become a normal person!

Unfortunately, this professor can only teach for one month...

Rice's gaze turned dark and deep.

In less than a week, Professor Lupin reversed his negative public image and won the hearts of the young wizards.

Compared to Professor Quirrell last year, Lupin is far more reliable. Some young wizards who were "lucky" enough to take Lockhart's courses even felt that he was much better than Lockhart.

Meanwhile, a storm was brewing in the outside world.

Mr. Henry's announcement of the Restore to Human Form Charm and the Wolfsbane Slow-Release Potion sparked a heated debate in the wizarding world. Due to the Greengrass family's unique status, almost everyone believed the Slytherin manuscript was authentic; the point of contention was whether they were as effective as advertised.

Of course, a very few of Damocles' friends had heard of his wolfsbane potion, but due to the power of the Greengrass family and the fact that Damocles was dead, no one stepped forward to expose it.

Then, one day, people suddenly realized that this Restoration Charm was so similar to the plot Lockhart wrote in the book. Could it be...?

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The second update is here, and the next update will be at the same time!

Regarding expired food in supermarkets:

I actually interned at Carrefour. One of the important jobs of supermarket stockers is to remove near-expiry/expired/damaged food from the shelves, collect it, and throw it in a corner of the warehouse (usually by piling it up in a shopping cart).

Some charities that partner with supermarkets will take them away and distribute them to the poor for free.

Sometimes, supermarkets will also discount food that is not yet close to its expiration date (for example, one or two weeks before it expires).

This is the situation in France.

(End of this chapter)