"Ah... it seems that some of you still lack a bit of understanding about me, but that's okay, we will have a long time to get to know each other," Lockhart said, winking at the students, which made quite a few young wizards feel a wave of nausea.
Lin Yue looked at him without any reaction, waiting for him to officially start the class.
Unfortunately, Lockhart clearly had no intention of doing so; he continued to flip through the papers and when he saw Lin Yue and Hermione's papers, his eyes suddenly lit up.
"Wow!"
"Miss Lin Yue, Miss Granger, where are you?"
Lin Yue heard the professor call her name and immediately raised her hand, staring blankly at Lockhart. Next to her, Hermione, seeing this, reluctantly raised her hand as well.
When Lockhart saw Lin Yue's face, he paused for a moment; he recognized this girl. She was the one who had taught a lesson to the Malfoy father and son in Diagon Alley and had almost been successfully used by him to boost his own fame.
If it hadn't been for that clueless reporter not to agree, didn't he know how much this incident could have benefited him? He could have possibly gotten a promotion because of it! Lockhart sighed at the missed opportunity from back then, and then immediately put on a big smile and spoke.
"I'm very glad that you all took my books so seriously. Without a doubt, you must admire me greatly."
Lin Yue's face remained unchanged, while Hermione's expression grew even more disheartened. Admiring a fool? Merlin's scarecrow, she would rather face the challenges of the previous school year's end again!
As he spoke, his gaze locked onto Lin Yue's face. "Without a doubt, I will teach you how to wield powerful magic effectively, just as I have done before, using it to help others."
Lin Yue met Lockhart's gaze without flinching, her eyes still as lifeless as inanimate objects.
Lockhart felt a chill run down his back and quickly averted his gaze. Merlin, this girl is a bit too strange, isn't she? It would be best to keep my distance from her, especially if she can't help me boost my fame in this regard.
"Alright, ladies and gentlemen," Lockhart said as he walked slowly to the podium, spreading his arms wide. "This school year, you will witness many of the most dangerous and malicious dark magic and magical creatures in my class. I will teach you how to deal with them, just as I have done countless times before."
Listening to his words, the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors couldn't help but scoff at him. The most dangerous? The most malicious? That could only scare you to death!
"It seems you all don't quite believe it?" Lockhart raised an eyebrow, reaching for a cage covered with a black cloth on the podium. "Now, let me show you a wicked creature, an extremely wicked creature. Please don't scream, as that would anger them."
Lockhart's facial expressions changed dramatically, and his "peak performance" truly managed to impress some of the young wizards. Although Lockhart had no real skills, what if he really had brought some dangerous magical creature?
Hermione took a deep breath, drew her wand, and moved slightly forward, subtly shielding Lin Yue. Lin Yue glanced at Hermione in front of her with an indifferent expression, showing no reaction.
Based on the size of the cage next to Lockhart and the degree of its shaking, she could analyze that there were no dangerous creatures in the magical world that were so small they couldn't even break out of a cage. Moreover, from the faint sounds coming from the cage and observing it, she had already determined that the creature inside was most likely a Cornish Pixie.
This was a creature that wasn't particularly dangerous but was extremely annoying; once released, they wreaked havoc until everything around them was in chaos. Hermione could handle such a creature, so Lin Yue had no reaction to Hermione standing in front of her. If it were a more dangerous creature, she would have pulled Hermione behind her long ago. After all, in the inequality of their lives, hers was greater than her own.
Seeing that he had achieved his goal, a significant portion of the young wizards in the audience displayed nervous expressions.
Lockhart smiled proudly as he lifted the black cloth covering the cage. "Let me reveal to you the newly captured Cornish Pixies!"
As the cloth was pulled away, a cage full of Cornish Pixies appeared before the young Ravenclaws and Gryffindors present.
A burst of laughter suddenly erupted in the classroom, with all the young wizards slapping their thighs and laughing uncontrollably.
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"They're not dangerous at all."
"Cornish Pixies, hahahaha..."
Hearing the laughter and chatter of the young wizards in the classroom, Lockhart raised an eyebrow. "Don't underestimate them; they can be quite troublesome."
"Now let me see how you will deal with them."
With that, he yanked open the cage containing the Cornish Pixies, and a dozen of them flew out.
"What a madman!"
Hermione exclaimed, clearly aware of the mischief that the Cornish pixies could cause, and quickly packed her and Lin Yue's belongings into their respective bags.
Lin Yue did not react at all; in her view, Lockhart, as a professor, must have released the Cornish pixies to train them in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Next, he would likely teach them the spell for this lesson and have them use it to deal with the Cornish pixies.
Sure enough, when Lockhart saw the little wizards starting to panic and gather their things, he pulled out his wand.
"Alright, alright, everyone stays calm. These little pixies are easy to handle; you just need to follow my lead."
He then waved his wand and recited a spell that no one had ever heard.
Unsurprisingly, it had no effect; his wand was immediately grabbed by a Cornish pixie and thrown away.
The smile on his face stiffened for a moment, then he forced a grin.
"Next, I have a challenge for you: catch these Cornish pixies and bring them back."
After saying this, he hurriedly "tumbled and rolled" back to his office, leaving the little wizards speechless as they watched his retreating figure.
As expected, what a useless person.
The Cornish pixies rampaged around the classroom, tearing up textbooks and knocking over ink bottles. They even tried to lift Neville and hang him from the chandelier.
Lin Yue saw this scene and waved her wand, reciting the spell that Lockhart had just cast. However, just like Lockhart's result earlier, nothing happened.
Hermione, standing beside her, cast a petrification spell on another Cornish pixie and then turned to Lin Yue. "Don't try that madman's spell anymore, it's completely useless!" She even doubted whether it was really a spell at all.
Lin Yue fell silent for a moment; the teacher wouldn't make a mistake, so it must be that she hadn't learned it well enough. She really felt so foolish...
Lin Yue scolded herself in her mind, her eyes, as still as dead water, scanned the classroom where the Cornish pixies had made the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors look utterly disheveled. Slowly, she raised her wand.
"Wingardium Leviosa."
The incantation came out devoid of any emotion, and at the same moment, all the Cornish pixies in front of everyone froze. The two Cornish pixies holding Neville were also suddenly pulled apart by a force, and he was gently placed back on the ground.
Lin Yue waved her wand in circles with her right hand in the air, and the little Cornish pixies were instantly swept up, spinning around the classroom ceiling. At that moment, they were completely unable to control themselves, only able to let themselves spin faster and faster in the air. Finally, after several circles,
Lin Yue pointed her wand sharply at the cage on the podium. The dizzy little Cornish pixies were all pointed back into the cage by Lin Yue. Even the cage door was closed with a floating spell by Lin Yue. With the Cornish pixies locked up again, the little wizards in the classroom let out a huge sigh of relief.
Now, whether they were Ravenclaws or Gryffindors, their eyes were filled with gratitude and admiration as they looked at Lin Yue.
Just then, the class bell rang, and Hermione picked up both of their backpacks with one hand and took Lin Yue's hand with the other.
"Let's go." She really didn't want to stay in this classroom for another second! After leaving the classroom, Lin Yue silently took her backpack back from
Hermione's hand without any change in her expression and quietly said thank you. "No need to be so polite," Hermione said with a smile, putting her arm around Lin Yue's shoulder. "We're friends, and Lin Yue, you were really amazing just now, catching all the Cornish pixies at once!"
"It wasn't anything special," Lin Yue shook her head with a flat tone.
Listening to Hermione's admiration, she felt nothing inside. She had just done what the professor asked; it was expected. Moreover, Lin Yue's eyes moved slightly; she hadn't even cast the professor's "teaching" spell, and as her parents said, she was still too slow-witted. After entering the hall, Hermione separated from Lin Yue, and because Lin Yue showed no signs of anything, Hermione had no idea that Lin Yue had been internally criticizing and berating herself all the way.
It wasn't until she sat at the Ravenclaw long table that Lin Yue's internal scolding finally subsided. Eating her lunch at a leisurely pace, Lin Yue reflected on what she would learn in the afternoon's Transfiguration class. Before long, Cho Chang and Marietta walked into the hall, naturally sitting on either side of Lin Yue and digging into their lunch. Next to them, several second-year Ravenclaws were passionately discussing the recent Defense Against the Dark Arts class with their upperclassmen.
Penelope listened to the second-year students, the little eagles, criticizing the recent Defense Against the Dark Arts class and Gilderoy Lockhart. After swallowing a bite of steak, she frowned, "He just ran off like that? Leaving you all with a room full of Cornish pixies?"
"Yes," a second-year girl nodded with a look of disdain on her face.
"Can you believe he's still a professor?" a second-year boy next to her chimed in, nodding in agreement.
"In the end, Lin Yue is the reliable one," the girl continued, looking at Lin Yue with admiration and affection in her eyes. "She managed to catch all the Cornish pixies by herself."
Penelope smiled, reached Cho Chang, and ruffled Lin Yue's hair, "That's amazing."
Lin Yue was taken aback for a moment, then looked up at Penelope, who was touching her head, and the girl who had just called her name. After confirming that nothing was wrong, she lowered her head again, continued to eat her lunch, and mentally "reviewed" the transfiguration knowledge she would study in the afternoon.
"Senior Penelope," Cho Chang glanced at Lin Yue and leaned closer to Penelope's ear.
"Uh? What's up?" Penelope turned to look at Cho Chang, somewhat puzzled about what she wanted to say.
"With Lockhart... we really can't learn anything," Cho Chang said gently, though her brows were tightly furrowed.
"That's true," Penelope nodded in agreement, firmly believing that Lockhart couldn't teach them anything.
Seeing that Penelope agreed with her, Cho Chang became a bit excited and continued, "Then how about we self-study?"
"Self-study?" Penelope was taken aback for a moment, then lowered her gaze to think about the feasibility before raising a key question.
"Then... who will teach?"
Cho Chang blinked and turned her head slightly.
"Lin Yue?" Penelope widened her eyes slightly, looking at Cho Chang with hesitation.
"Lin Yue is indeed very capable, but after all, she is only in her second year..."
She was somewhat worried about whether the magic Lin Yue knew could be taught to those sixth and seventh-year students.
"Her level should be sufficient," Cho Chang said with a smile, shaking her head.
Aside from Miss Granger from Gryffindor, she dared to say that no one understood Lin Yue's learning progress better than she and Marietta.
They had noticed the books Lin Yue read in the dormitory, and it could only be said that, based on the difficulty of those books, Lin Yue could directly join the sixth or seventh grade without any problem.
She might even be able to take first place in her grade.
Marietta, who had been listening to the two of them, leaned in and nodded in agreement with Cho Chang's words.
"No problem, Senior Penelope. Plus, we can ask a few sixth and seventh-year seniors for help."
"Lin Yue will be the main instructor, and the others can help each other. It's definitely better than not learning anything from Lockhart."
Penelope pressed her lips together and made up her mind, "Okay! As long as Lin Yue agrees, I will negotiate the time and place with Professor Flitwick."
"And then I will also ask who else wants to participate."
"Alright." ×2
Cho Chang and Marietta nodded simultaneously, and the thoughts of the three girls were highly consistent with Hermione's thoughts from last night.
Lin Yue, who had been sitting among them, naturally heard their conversation, which mentioned her full name more than once.
So she naturally came out of her "review" state and waited until they finished talking.
Only then did she politely speak up, her voice as calm as a still well, "I have no problem. Thank you for your trust. I will teach everyone seriously."