When Dudley arrived at the classroom, the students had already entered and were waiting inside.
Standing at the door, he could clearly hear their conversations, with Malfoy's voice being the most prominent.
"These books are absolutely tedious and boring. I can't even get through a single page," Malfoy said in his characteristic long drawl.
"I haven't read them either," came the agreeing voices of Crabbe and Goyle.
"Don't know what these books are even supposed to be about."
"Draco, keep your voice down. Professor Lockhart might hear you," a girl warned him nervously.
"What's there to be afraid of? That Professor Lockhart seems to be injured and is lying in the hospital wing right now. When I passed by earlier, I heard him making pitiful sounds in there," Malfoy said with casual indifference.
"Professor Lockhart is injured? What happened?" someone immediately asked with curiosity.
Obviously, Lockhart's incident hadn't spread widely. Not many people knew about the embarrassing details.
But that was perfectly normal. Having finally built up his image as a powerful wizard, how could Lockhart let people know he'd been punched into the hospital by one of his own students?
He had specifically asked everyone not to discuss it and even had Professor McGonagall warn the students who had witnessed that class.
"I'm not very clear about the specifics either," Malfoy's voice came again with obvious disinterest.
"Who cares anyway? But I know that during this time, our Defence Against the Dark Arts classes will probably be taught by Professor Snape. That's what the upper-year students told me," Malfoy said with obvious satisfaction.
Compared to that Lockhart, who had appeared from nowhere, Malfoy, as Snape's favoured student, naturally preferred Professor Snape to teach them.
Because in Snape's classes, he could always earn points easily, which made him feel very good about himself.
"Unfortunately, you miscalculated this time," Dudley said with amusement, pushing the door open and entering.
The sound of the door opening made quite a few students turn to look behind them.
When everyone saw it was Dudley who had entered, they all showed puzzled expressions.
Today's class wasn't shared with Gryffindor students, so why would Dudley appear here?
"Dursley, have you lost your mind? Today isn't Gryffindor's class," Malfoy said with a frown upon seeing Dudley.
"I didn't come to the wrong place. I'm here for Defence Against the Dark Arts class," Dudley replied while walking toward the platform at the front.
"Dudley, did you get the time wrong? There's no Gryffindor class scheduled today," a Hufflepuff student kindly reminded him.
"I didn't get it wrong. I'm substituting..." Before Dudley could finish his explanation, Malfoy jumped down from the desk he was sitting on and positioned himself before Dudley.
"Dursley, get out of here right now. This isn't your place. If Professor Snape sees you, just wait to have points deducted," Malfoy said with cold authority.
Facing Dudley, Malfoy rarely showed no signs of fear.
Because he knew Dudley couldn't do anything to him here, and Professor Snape could appear at any moment, making him even more brazen than usual.
"Malfoy, return to your seat," Dudley looked at Malfoy with complete indifference.
"Professor Snape won't be coming here."
"Hahaha, how absolutely ridiculous," Malfoy displayed an exaggerated smile of disbelief.
"Professor Snape, someone is disrupting your classroom order here!" Malfoy shouted loudly.
Calculating the class time, it was already the scheduled start.
Professor Snape was probably just outside the door, waiting to make his entrance.
However, after Malfoy's voice echoed, no response came from anywhere.
"Unfortunately, as I said, Professor Snape won't be coming here," Dudley said with calm certainty.
"Because I am your Defence Against the Dark Arts professor for today."
"Malfoy, please address me as Professor Dursley!"
Dudley looked directly at Malfoy and spoke with complete seriousness.
The moment his words concluded, the entire classroom fell into stunned silence.
Everyone looked at Dudley with complete disbelief, with quite a few showing utterly confused expressions.
"Dudley, this isn't the time for jokes," someone reminded him uncertainly.
"Hahaha!" Malfoy suddenly burst into loud, mocking laughter.
"Dursley, you're asking for serious trouble! How dare you impersonate a professor here?"
"You're completely finished."
"Come on, let's go see Professor McGonagall. I'm going to tell her you're impersonating a professor."
Malfoy grabbed Dudley's arm, attempting to drag him out of the classroom.
But soon he discovered he couldn't budge Dudley at all.
"Malfoy, for defying a professor, five points from Slytherin!" Dudley shook off Malfoy's grip and, under everyone's shocked gaze, walked up to the platform.
"What the hell are you doing!?" Malfoy looked at Dudley with an increasingly ugly expression.
"I've already explained this clearly. For the next period of time, I'm temporarily replacing Professor Lockhart to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts."
"This is Professor McGonagall's official appointment."
Dudley emphasised once more with authority.
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Malfoy simply refused to believe Dudley's claims.
"Now, everyone return to your seats," Dudley commanded the class.
Everyone hesitated for a moment, then the Hufflepuff students moved first.
No matter what the truth was, Dudley really did seem like he was here to substitute teach, and it had already been several minutes past class time with no other professor appearing in the classroom, which indirectly suggested that Dudley's words were very likely accurate.
Moreover, the Hufflepuff students were familiar with Dudley and knew he had excellent academic performance. Last semester he had even ridden a dragon to fight a dark wizard, which had been confirmed by Professor Dumbledore himself.
Having such a person teach them Defence Against the Dark Arts didn't seem entirely impossible.
After more than ten seconds, the Slytherin students still hadn't moved significantly.
They still refused to believe Dudley could be their professor, especially Malfoy and his loyal followers.
"For ignoring classroom order, ten points from Slytherin," Dudley announced coldly.
"Don't make me repeat myself."
Dudley's expression turned stern, his tone carrying a trace of genuine authoritative presence.
This time, quite a few Slytherin students moved, hesitantly returning to their seats.
But Malfoy and his group still remained defiantly standing.
"I don't believe it!" Malfoy declared.
"You can't possibly be a professor!"
"Much less have the authority to deduct points."
Malfoy's face was ashen with stubborn disbelief.
"Go check!" Malfoy said directly to Goyle beside him.
Without a word, Goyle ran straight out of the classroom.
He understood exactly what Malfoy wanted him to verify.
Slytherin's point total.
Just by observing whether the gems in Slytherin's hourglass had decreased, they could determine if Dudley was lying to them.
"Goyle left the classroom without permission; ten points from Slytherin," Dudley watched Goyle's departing figure and said with complete composure.
The classroom fell into absolute silence, with everyone waiting anxiously for the answer to arrive.
Before long, Goyle returned to the classroom.
His face was completely pale with shock.
"He really is a professor! Slytherin has actually had points deducted!" Goyle announced loudly as soon as he entered the classroom.