"This, what the hell is this thing?"
John stared dumbfoundedly at those 'Monster Books' in the cage and said.
"Fantastic Beasts' Book of Beasts", this is our third-year "Care of Magical Creatures" new textbook.
Link explained faintly, and currently his expression was also somewhat twisted.
Even though he had mentally prepared in advance, when he actually saw these books he was still startled.
They were truly too ferocious.
"Hey! Link, you're not joking, right? We're supposed to bring this kind of book to class?" John said incredulously, "Why does Professor Kettleburn want to torture us like this?"
"Professor Kettleburn already retired, so this is the new professor's idea."
Emily, who had a good impression of Professor Kettleburn from her previous travels, couldn't help but explain.
"Then who is the new professor?"
The one asking wasn't John or Cedric, but the bookstore clerk, "If I knew who he was, I swear I'd break his legs! Merlin above! I've already been bitten five times this morning!"
After saying that, the clerk even showed Link and the others his extremely swollen hand, face full of grief and anger.
Link awkwardly laughed and said, "Uh, as for the new professor's identity, I do know, but I suggest you don't do that."
"Why?"
"Because that guy's name is Rubeus Hagrid."
"Oh! That really is…"
The clerk mumbled and stopped talking. Hagrid was a famously reckless man in the entire British wizarding world, plus his more than four-meter-tall huge build, he truly wasn't someone a mere clerk could deal with.
And beside them, Cedric and the others also revealed looks of sudden realization.
Indeed, as someone who had long followed behind Professor Kettleburn's rear as a follower, Dumbledore choosing Hagrid as the new professor was indeed quite reasonable.
Only this textbook…
For a moment, everyone fell into silence. They had a premonition that the upcoming "Care of Magical Creatures" class might become very hard to endure.
Three minutes later, Cedric finally raised his head and asked, "Then do you guys know who this year's Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is?"
As soon as this was said, everyone's interest was piqued.
The Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching position had been cursed ever since Voldemort returned to the school hoping to take the job but was rejected by Dumbledore, that is, every professor who taught Defense Against the Dark Arts never had a good end or couldn't last a full year.
Therefore, the identity of the yearly Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was a topic students and even many gossip-loving wizards were very interested in. After all, everyone wanted to know what kind of guy could be so unafraid of death.
And although Cedric's question wasn't directed at anyone specifically, upon hearing it, everyone looked toward Link.
Everyone knew clearly, if anyone knew some inside info, it would be Link.
Seeing this, Link lightly chuckled and said, "This matter I can't reveal to you in advance, but I can guarantee, his teaching level is far better than Quirrell and Lockhart. If nothing unexpected happens, we should actually be able to learn something next semester."
As soon as Link said this, aside from Emily, who basically had unconditional trust in Link, the others all showed expressions of not quite willing to believe it.
To this, Link didn't explain too much either. After all, the past two years Dumbledore's picks for Defense Against the Dark Arts had indeed been very unreliable, so it was normal that everyone didn't believe.
And while the few of them chatted, that poor clerk, at the cost of being bitten two more times, also finally helped everyone retrieve the "Fantastic Beasts' Book of Beasts" and bundled it with the other books and handed them over.
Paid and took the books, the group continued walking toward the depths of Diagon Alley, but they had only gone a little further when they stopped again.
This time what drew their attention was the display window of the Quidditch Supplies shop.
Inside at this moment was a sleek, incomparably exquisite flying broomstick on display.
"Firebolt…"
John murmured as if in a dream, nearly pressing himself against the glass window.
Though Cedric wasn't as embarrassing as John, in his eyes also flickered a kind of emotion called desire.
As for Link and Emily, the two of them stood a little further back and smiled while watching this scene.
They had little interest in Quidditch.
"Link, do you think this year someone at Hogwarts will ride a Firebolt in a match?" After observing for a while, Cedric asked curiously.
Due to Professor McGonagall starting this bad trend, now every house team at Hogwarts was engaging in an arms race.
But before Link could answer, John, who had been plastered to the window, suddenly jumped up excitedly.
"That's impossible!"
John pointed at the description below the Firebolt and said, "The Firebolt is so far the most perfect racing broomstick, representing the current peak in craftsmanship! Every national Quidditch team around the world loves to use it!"
"This kind of broom has no mass production model at all, only available via custom order, and the cost is astronomical! I absolutely don't believe anyone can use this kind of broom to play House Cup Quidditch! Even a rich guy like Draco Malfoy can't do that!"
After speaking, as if to prove his words true, John even looked at Emily beside him.
And Emily really did thoughtfully consider whether Lucius would buy Draco a Firebolt, then finally nodded in agreement with John's statement.
This made John proudly raise his head.
Link, beside them, only smiled without speaking.
John wasn't wrong, the Firebolt was indeed a top-tier luxury item far exceeding average craftsmanship, and it simply shouldn't appear at Hogwarts.
But Harry, the world-favored child of destiny, wouldn't care about that kind of thing.
A Firebolt or whatever, someone would naturally deliver it to him.
Link was just thinking this, when suddenly Harry's familiar voice rang in his ear.
Everyone turned toward the sound and saw Harry waving to them from across the street corner, with Ron and Percy standing beside him.
Harry and Ron obviously wanted to come over, but as soon as they took a few steps, Percy behind them grabbed their collars and, with an ugly expression, dragged them away.
Seeing this, John sneered twice.
He'd disliked Percy for a long time now. In his view, Percy didn't want to come over mostly because Cedric was far better than him, and in front of Cedric, Percy simply couldn't show off.
Unlike John, Cedric sighed lightly upon seeing this and said with some emotion, "At a time like this and still daring to wander outside, their courage is really something."
"Don't worry, he has Aurors protecting him, he won't be in any danger."
Link also said seriously, "It's us that should be careful, this year at Hogwarts won't be peaceful."
Hearing this, Cedric and Emily both nodded seriously, clearly having received some news.
Only John looked totally confused.
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