The years of welding at Hogwarts

The wizard dueling room on the second floor of Hogwarts Castle, next to the medical wing.

Ever since Noah proposed to Dumbledore to set up a place in the school where students can practice magic freely, so that these naughty kids who are in the most energetic period of their lives can have a wide space to squander their bottomless stamina bars.

This abandoned classroom next to the school infirmary, along with a row of classrooms on the same corridor, was cleared out by Dumbledore's elves and used as a wizard dueling arena for students.

The reason for setting up the duel arena in such a place is mainly because if these students who are not careful with their strength of attack get hurt during the duel, they can get the most timely treatment immediately.

It was precisely because of this action that Madam Pomfrey, the head of the school infirmary, often greeted Dumbledore's ancestors for eighteen generations when she was working overtime.

Ever since the duel arena was opened to students, her workload has increased more than tenfold.

Hogwarts is usually quiet and peaceful.

Thanks to the "Laboratory Safety Operation Standards Regulations" promoted by Noah in the Potions class, the number of students injured due to improper operation in the Potions class is now much lower than before.

The only busier time, apart from the influenza pandemic that occurs every winter, is when the Quidditch Cup begins and the two rival teams, Slytherin and Gryffindor, come into conflict, causing the school infirmary to become overcrowded.

But such situations are rare, so overall, Madam Pomfrey's job as the head of the school infirmary is relatively easy.

however……

Her good days came to an end when the duel arena opened.

If it was a magic offense and defense class, it would be fine, although the teaching content of this course is basically equivalent to the Defense Against the Dark Arts course, it has become a little more radical due to the opening of the duel arena.

However, even if the old bat was mad at the students, especially the Gryffindor students, he would be careful when beating the students.

This would add little to Madam Pomfrey's workload.

The students didn't even need Madam Pomfrey to help with the minor injuries they sustained in the Magic Attack and Defence course; Snape could just throw a bottle of potion at them and heal them with a rub.

What gave Madam Pomfrey the most headache was the time when the dueling arena was open to students when there were no magic attack and defense classes.

Gryffindor's reckless men like to seek death (crossed out) and are martial by nature. They are not strong enough to challenge

In the Forbidden Forest, the little lions who have nowhere to vent their energy can only focus on the duel arena.

And how could those little honor-loving snakes of Slytherin just watch their arch-rival house dominate the dueling arena rankings year after year?

and so……

It is unknown what kind of tragic situation would happen if students from these two colleges met in a duel arena where they could be ruthless to each other without violating school rules.

Even though the dueling arena restricts students from using any powerful spells that could potentially kill people, spells that could cause irreversible damage to the human body are also prohibited.

In addition, there are various knockdown rules similar to those in boxing matches, which prohibit students from launching any additional attacks on opponents who have already fallen to the ground...

Every wizard duel will also have a Hogwarts faculty member as the referee. After confirming that one of the parties involved in the duel has lost the ability to fight or meets certain other specific conditions, the other party can be declared the winner of the game and the game will be over.

But even with so many strict rules, during the daily opening hours of the duel arena, there would still be a steady stream of students with blood all over their faces being rushed to the school infirmary.

Since you can't attack again after you fall to the ground, I'm going to hit you a few more times before you fall.

As long as my casting speed is fast enough, I can fire seventeen spells in two seconds. In the process of the opponent being knocked away by my disarming spell until he falls to the ground, I can at least cast seven or eight more spells on him.

Can't use powerful spells?

Even some minor curses that do not have any harmful power, such as the curse of teeth like sticks and burning fire, as long as the number of curses increases, when multiple curses are combined to take effect, they can also have a very serious impact on the person who is cursed.

You have your rules and I have mine.

Never underestimate the creative ideas that emerge from students' wonderfully constructed minds when faced with all kinds of strict rules.

In particular, students from the two rival colleges, Gryffindor and Slytherin, tried desperately to overtake each other in the winning rankings in the dueling arena.

In the eyes of the competitive little lions and snakes, the ranking list of the dueling field is even more valuable than the Hogwarts House Cup.

After all, no matter how hard the Ministry of Magic tries to whitewash the situation, it cannot hide the fact that the magical world is still a barbaric world where the strong prey on the weak, and it is not as peaceful as people think.

The final result is that Slytherin and Gryffindor students not only compete fiercely in the Quidditch Cup, but also in the House Cup.

Those duel fanatics who dominate the duel match rankings basically rack their brains in all their free time to think about how to knock down their opponents more efficiently and find a way to inflict heavy damage on the opponent while being protected by numerous rules.

Although Professor McGonagall has carried out all-round, multi-level upgrades and fixes to the rules of the dueling arena in response to this undesirable phenomenon that has occurred in the dueling arena.

But this still couldn't prevent those battle fanatics who were keen on dueling. Within the very short period of time that the dueling arena was open to students, they were admitted to the intensive care unit of the school clinic three times in a row.

Even faced with such an unpredictable situation, Professor McGonagall had no intention of closing the dueling arena.

Although the existence of the duel arena has great disadvantages, this cannot conceal the positive impact it brings to students.

One of the most direct impacts is that the students’ practical level has improved by leaps and bounds.

The Weasley twins who dominate the fourth grade dueling list, without the help of the weird gadgets they invented,

With their current combat experience and abilities, they could even easily defeat four or five trainee Aurors from the Ministry of Magic.

Of course, this refers to those strawberry soldiers who have not yet undergone the devilish training of rehired retired Aurors.

This improvement in martial arts made the older cat girl, who appeared to be upright but was actually extremely sinister inside, secretly delighted.

Perhaps the disaster that occurred in London had a profound impact on the wizarding world, or perhaps the current depressed state of the wizarding world requires a grand event to inspire people.

Professor McGonagall had heard some rumors that the Ministry of Magic was now intending to restart the Triwizard Tournament, which had been suspended for centuries.

The Triwizard Tournament, to put it simply, is a brutal competition similar to the Hunger Games held between the three major European magical schools: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang.

Previously, due to its high mortality rate, it was eventually suspended indefinitely.

However, after centuries of discussion and preparation, the calls for the restoration of the Triwizard Tournament are growing louder in the wizarding world.

The Ministries of Magic of several countries also believe that the time is ripe to restart the Triwizard Tournament. They are fully capable of allowing students from the three schools to compete under the premise that their lives can be guaranteed.

It is for this reason that Professor McGonagall is happy to see the Hogwarts students improve in their martial arts skills.

It is not required that every student has a certain big devil whose name cannot be mentioned, such as Shafulin, who fights at that level.

force.

Even if they were only half as powerful as Hufflepuff's hammer master Neville Longbottom, that older cat girl would still be able to die with a smile on her face even if she was hit by seven Avadas from behind.

But if this happens, it will be difficult for Madam Pomfrey, the head of the school infirmary.

The originally kind-hearted angel aunt who saved the dying and the wounded was almost transformed into the Hogwarts Nun under the coercion of a certain black-hearted older cat girl.

Chapter 324 Shadow Step

"I am Gilderoy Lockhart, a member of the Order of Merlin, third class, an honorary member of the Anti-Dark Arts League, and a five-time winner of the Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award."

In the huge dueling arena, the expendable professor of Hogwarts this school year, sorry, is the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

At this time, our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor Gilderoy Lockhart was holding a copy of his masterpiece in his hand. He pointed to the blinking photo of himself on the cover and spoke to the students.

"But I never say that. I didn't drive away the female ghost of Wanlun with a smile!"

Lockhart had thought that this carefully designed opening speech would draw cheers from the students, or perhaps some other reaction such as applause.

But what he didn't expect was that most of the students had a lukewarm response.

Only a few students who were dazzled by his exaggerated exaggerations about himself in the novel showed the effect he originally envisioned.

It’s a pity that there were too few people, and it couldn’t support the large-scale fan meeting scene he had envisioned.

Fortunately, Lockhart had a very optimistic attitude. Even after making such a big fool of himself at the award ceremony of the Order of Merlin, he was able to get up quickly and talk freely in front of the camera of the Daily Prophet reporter.

Compared with the storms and waves he had encountered before, the sudden situation before him was nothing worth mentioning.

"I saw that you all bought my complete set..."

As Lockhart spoke, his eyes swept over the Slytherin and Ravenclaw students in front of him, but he never expected to see a scene that made him embarrassed.

The group of students standing in front of him basically came empty-handed. Even if there were a few who did come to class empty-handed, what they held in their hands were their wands instead of textbooks.

Blinking in confusion, Lockhart couldn't help but ask, "Where are your textbooks?"

"textbook?"

The two talented people of Slytherin House, Goyle and Crabbe, looked at each other.

They both saw a hint of confusion in each other's eyes.

Goyle couldn't help but ask back, "Professor, isn't Defense Against the Dark Arts a practical course? Why do we need to bring textbooks?"

"Besides..." Crabbe scratched his head, "There's no Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook on the list of textbooks the school gave us before the start of the semester?"

The corner of Lockhart's mouth twitched slightly. "The book I wrote is the textbook for this course!"

Goyle and Crabbe, the talented couple, seemed even more confused.

An unknown eagle from Ravenclaw House behind them provided a great assist to the two of them.

"I thought those books were just plays and novels for us to entertain ourselves when we were bored. They were not helpful for practical application, so we didn't buy them."

As soon as the young eagle, who did not want to reveal his name, opened his mouth, he immediately received a series of voices of agreement.

Even someone as thick-skinned as Lockhart, his face turned as black as the bottom of a pot for a moment.

Unlike the Reckless College and the Honest College, the intelligent young eagles had already sensed something unusual in Dumbledore's arrangement of the two courses, Defense Against the Dark Magic and Attack and Defense Against Magic, last year.

They could all guess that, due to the curse that Voldemort had placed on the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, the school's leadership had basically given up on this crappy course taught by a disposable professor.

Just because of the curse, this course cannot be completely shut down, and a scapegoat needs to be hired every year to replace the professor of the Magic Attack and Defense course to bear Voldemort's curse.

This is the only reason for the Defense Against the Dark Arts course to exist.

This means that no matter how they act in the Defense Against the Dark Arts course, as long as it is not too excessive, Headmaster McGonagall will basically turn a blind eye to their behavior.

Lockhart didn't know his fate yet. He naively thought that Professor McGonagall invited him to be the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts because she was impressed by his brilliant resume and his abilities.

And I really came to the school to teach.

He also wanted to use his experience teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts to add a layer of golden brilliance to his resume, and he even thought of the name of his next book.

For example--

My Years as a Welder at Hogwarts

Hogwarts

……

cough cough.

I always feel like something extraordinary has been sneaked in, but it doesn’t matter.

The important thing is that this damn guy Lockhart directly regarded the position of Hogwarts professor as an opportunity to make a lot of money!

He directly listed seven of his own books on the students' reading list for the new school year as teaching materials for the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, and he also sold his works for five gold Galleons per copy!

Five Galleons!

A full five gold Galleons!

It was the combined savings of five Weasley families. This amount of money was enough to buy a carriage...

Well, it seems like it can be easily put into one palm.

In short, none of this matters. Although most of the little snakes in Slytherin are very rich, none of them wants to be a sucker who spends dozens of gold Galleons on a useless course for no reason.

Not to mention the little eagles.

Looking at the group of second-year students in front of him who had become unruly under the long-term subtle influence of a spiritual leader of the same grade, Lockhart took a deep breath and secretly warned himself not to get angry and not to argue with these ignorant kids.

Wait, as long as they realize how great I am as a recipient of the Order of Merlin, they will worship me crazily.

"Well, you are right. Defense Against the Dark Arts is indeed a practical course that emphasizes actual combat. Otherwise, I would not have deliberately changed the teaching location from the classroom to this place."

His words immediately aroused the interest of many students.

After experiencing Quirrell's torture, Noah, the temporary substitute professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, showed all the good qualities that a qualified professor should possess.

All the students have a slight hope of meeting another Dark Magic Defense professor as outstanding as Noah.

Although Lockhart didn't give them a very good first impression, he was a member of Merlin's Order, although he only had a third-class medal, but...

It shouldn't be too bad, right?

However, Lockhart's words the next second directly shattered the unrealistic fantasy in their hearts.

"Before the class officially starts, I think we need to do a small test. Don't be nervous. This is just to test your defense against the dark arts."

Lockhart snapped his fingers, and the house-elves who had been prepared on the side immediately delivered a set of desks and chairs to the empty dueling classroom.

Sheets of parchment were distributed one by one.

"As you all know, before I took over this course, your professors changed one after another, so I think you definitely haven't received any systematic Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching, and the knowledge you have mastered may be very different from the original expected teaching objectives."

He spoke a lot of high principles, but when Draco received the parchment handed down by Lockhart, he just casually glanced at the contents and immediately had the expression of an old man on the subway looking at his cell phone.