The Return to Hogwarts

"why?"

Ron, who was telling Seamus with absolute certainty that Lockhart must have been poisoned, looked at Percy in surprise. "If I remember correctly, the second period this afternoon should be History of Magic!"

"Professor McGonagall means, Ron, if you have any questions, you can ask her yourself—"

After giving a brief reply, Percy hurriedly bypassed Harry and the others to deliver the startling news to Ginny and the others who were closer to the foyer.

In the afternoon, when Harry and the others arrived at the Great Hall exhausted after their Transfiguration class, they found that it had been changed. In the center of the Great Hall was a circular platform, and around the platform were nearly 160 or 170 desks.

First- and second-year students from the other three colleges had basically gathered here, all excitedly chattering about this unique teaching method and what Professor Blaine would teach them next.

“This brings back bad memories—” Harry muttered. “I just hope this isn’t going to be a big stage play!”

As time passed, the slightly crowded desks gradually filled with students from all four houses. When the last empty desk was occupied by a young wizard, Amostra Blaine finally made his grand entrance amidst much anticipation.

He descended the marble staircase, leaped over the crowd, and nimbly jumped onto the platform. Finally, he stood in the center of the platform, smiling as he looked at the throng of people around him. His first words caused the once quiet auditorium to erupt into a fierce roar!

“Now, everyone, put Professor Lockhart’s books back in your bags. You won’t need them in my class.”

"Oh hoo!"

McMillan of Hufflepuff was the first to shout with joy, and his shout was like the signal of an avalanche. In an instant, cheers and howls rang out from all directions, and even the chandeliers above the Great Hall were shaken by the young wizards' shouts!

"Can you believe it? I've been waiting for this for over half a year!"

Dean threw his copy of "Breaking Up with the Ghost" into his bag and laughed heartily. Ron seemed to want to say something similar, but Harry, grinning, stopped him and secretly pointed to Hermione sitting in front of them with a bewildered expression. The two quickly exchanged a glance and then suppressed their excitement as they put their books away.

The cheers continued for several minutes, only gradually subsiding after Amosta let out a heavy cough.

"Now, I may need to give an explanation to all of you!"

Amosta smiled and nodded to the audience, "I think you're all probably wondering why I chose this method to teach you!"

Amosta cleared his throat and continued.

"For various reasons, the faculty of the Defense Against the Dark Arts course has been rather unstable, and due to the frequent changes in professors, the teaching quality of this course at Hogwarts has always been criticized—for example, I myself probably won't be teaching you Defense Against the Dark Arts for very long either. Therefore, in order to effectively improve your ability to defend against danger within the limited time available, I have to make some changes—"

"Professor Blaine!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Seamus raised his right hand, looking at Amosta on the platform with great interest, and said loudly, "Introduce yourself, Professor. Of course, we all know that you are the investigator sent by the Board of Trustees to investigate the locked room, but what did you do before that?"

“That’s an interesting question, Mr. Peñigan—”

Amosta scratched his head, looked down at the dozens of pairs of curious eyes, pondered for a moment, then raised an eyebrow and said,

"Well, I can tell you. Before coming to Hogwarts, I was a freelancer, making a living by running errands, finding potion ingredients, and delivering goods. Heh, I was just a nobody, nothing compared to Professor Lockhart!"

"I don't really believe that!"

Ron muttered to Harry with a smirk, and Harry nodded in complete agreement.

Amostella's perfunctory self-introduction certainly didn't satisfy the young wizards, and the atmosphere cooled slightly as everyone waited for Professor Blaine to say what he would say next.

"I bet you're all wondering what I'm going to teach you?"

Amostella began to speak again, and under his confident and steady voice, the young wizards gradually stopped their whispering and stared at him expectantly.

“However, I hope to return this question to you,” Amosta said with a smile, looking at the audience. “What do you hope to learn from me?”

"A powerful spell!"

Blaise Sabine, a second-year Slytherin student, immediately raised his hand and exclaimed, "I wish to learn powerful spells, Professor Blaise, because I believe that only strong spells can ward off the dangerous and wondrous Dark Magic!"

Sabine's words were unanimously approved by the young wizards, and even the Gryffindor students who scorned Slytherin mostly nodded in agreement with hesitation.

"While your understanding of resisting dark magic isn't particularly profound, it's still a decent answer, Mr. Sabine—"

Amostah nodded approvingly, then looked at the group of young wizards surrounding him and slowed his tone.

"Since you're all so interested in powerful spells, let's start with that. So, who can answer me, what kind of spell can be considered truly powerful?"

Professor Blaine's question was very strange. The young wizards looked at each other, unsure how to answer. Many turned their gazes to Hermione, and as expected, she didn't disappoint everyone; under their watchful eyes, she raised her hand and stood up.

If I understand you correctly--

Hermione, gradually getting into the zone, took a deep breath and answered.

"If it is, then it must be ancient magic, most of which has been lost to time!"

“Could you tell me why, Miss Granger?” Amostella asked, staring at Hermione with interest.

"Ancient magic—known for its great power—in a narrow sense refers to the spells invented and created by shamans of the past eight hundred years, from the tribal era until now."

Because the natural environment on which people depended at that time was extremely harsh, many dangerous magical animals that are now extinct were still very active in that era. In order to resist the threat from the cruel natural environment, the ancient wizards, who were very wise, developed a series of spells that were mainly focused on pursuing power.

However, as Muggle and wizarding civilizations developed and expanded, humans tamed nature, and the role of magic gradually evolved from defending against danger to serving daily life.

At the same time, the rapid development of wand magic and its high degree of integration with modern magic, which simplified spellcasting, accelerated the abandonment of ancient magic—which was powerful but complex, obscure, and required extremely high magical energy—by mainstream wizarding society, until it was lost to time.

"Excellent, Miss Granger!"

Amosta clapped enthusiastically. "I think no one will object to me giving Gryffindor ten points!"

Hermione sat down, her face beaming, while Ron stared at Professor Blaine with hopeful eyes.

"Professor Blaine, do you mean you're going to teach us those mysterious ancient magic spells?"

Chapter 47 Professor Blaine's First Lesson (Part 2)

Faced with Ron Weasley's eager gaze, Amosta smiled, not answering his question directly, but instead steer the conversation back to the course.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts, which I personally prefer to call Defense Against Danger, is a comprehensive and practical course. The spells, transfiguration, herbs, potions, and even magical creature protection that you learn in this school can all be applied to this discipline. To be able to deal with any danger that comes your way, you must have three qualities: skills, methods, and courage!"

Being able to attend a proper Defense Against the Dark Arts class is a rare treat at Hogwarts. Even the young wizards who don't usually enjoy studying are now listening intently to Professor Blaine's lecture from the platform.

However, only Hermione wrote down every word Professor Blaine said in her notebook.

At this moment, Amosta looked at Ron and smiled.

“I will not teach you any powerful ancient magic, Mr. Weasley—”

With a look of disappointment in Ron's eyes, Amosta addressed everyone.

"As for the reason, firstly, I am not the Charms teacher; teaching Charms is Professor Flitwick's job, not mine."

Secondly, there was a time when I was indeed very fascinated by the power of ancient magic. However, as my research deepened, I discovered that the vast majority of ancient magic had been completely lost to the river of time. Even if I devoted my entire life to finding ancient magic with a complete offensive and defensive system, I probably couldn't succeed. Therefore, I myself am not proficient in 'authentic' ancient magic.

Amosta walked to the other side of the platform and looked at Bres Sabini, who was about to learn a powerful spell. "My personal specialty is to optimize and modify the spell model based on modern spells, so that the power of the spell approaches the level of ancient magic, while taking into account the difficulty of casting the spell."

Perhaps the topic was too profound, as most of the young wizards looked completely bewildered, as if they hadn't understood it at all.

Seeing this, Amosta pondered for a moment, then prepared to give a demonstration. He took out his wand, and the young wizards immediately perked up, as this was their favorite part.

“Well then,” Amosta’s gaze swept around, “let me give you a demonstration. Who can name one of your most proficient spells?”

buzz-

The hall erupted in chaos, the young wizards' loud discussions sounding like thousands of bees fluttering their wings.

"Leg-locking spell, Professor Blaine, I'm good at that!"

Lavender Brown of Gryffindor raised his hand with great interest.

“Bat Spirit Curse!” Ginny, pale-faced, weakly raised her hand, but her voice was completely drowned out by the noisy crowd, and Amosta didn’t hear her at all.

“Professor Blaine, I’ll say one,” Malfoy grinned at Harry, stood up and shouted, “Tarantella!”

Crabbe and Goyle immediately burst into laughter, while Harry stood up and glared at Malfoy, saying that his mastery of the Grin Huff spell was also quite good!

The young wizards eagerly spoke up, reciting many spells such as the "tooth-to-stick" spell, the "hair loss" spell, and the "tongue-freezing" spell. Amost listened intently for a while, his expression growing increasingly strange, as these spells invariably touched upon areas where his knowledge was lacking.

"and many more!"

Amosta, his face darkening, loudly interrupted the young wizards' commotion, "Ahem, can't anyone say a normal spell?!"

The young wizards looked at each other and fell silent. Finally, Ron raised his hand shakily. "Hmm, Levitation Charm, Professor Blaine, I'm pretty good at that!"

“Very good, Mr. Weasley!”

Amosta breathed a sigh of relief upon finally hearing a familiar incantation. He strode up to Ron and looked at him encouragingly, "Show everyone your Levitation Charm, Mr. Weasley!"

Ron immediately blushed and mumbled something he didn't understand. Harry and Hermione both realized what Ron was worried about, so they all started to explain for him.

"Your wand is broken?" Amostella raised an eyebrow. "May I take a look?"

When Ron pulled out his wand, which was held together by magical tape to prevent it from breaking in two, Malfoy immediately burst into loud laughter.

"Let's find someone else, Professor Blaine. Weasley's wand could kill everyone here!"

The young wizards in Slytherin burst into laughter, which undoubtedly put a lot of pressure on Ron. His face and even his ears turned bright red, as if they had been scalded by boiling water.

“I don’t see what’s so funny, Mr. Malfoy. Mocking others doesn’t demonstrate your sense of humor.”

Amostella turned to look at them. Although his tone was calm, the Slytherins, bathed in his unwavering gaze, felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over their heads in the dead of winter. They all fell silent, and even Draco obediently shut his mouth, not daring to utter a single word.

"Can you fix it, Professor Blaine?"

Harry, Ron, and the others looked gratefully at Amosta, who was examining the broken wand, and asked expectantly.

Amostella didn't reply. He knelt down and placed Ron's wand on the ground, a glint of light flickering in his eyes.

"Recover as before!"

The broken wand on the ground immediately shook rapidly, and after a burst of bright red sparks erupted from the broken end, it firmly stuck together!