The Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom fell into an eerie silence.
Harry looked at Professor Delfino standing behind the podium, his blinking green eyes flickering with hesitation.
Er... how should he put it...
Professor Delfino emphasized the importance of self-study ability for mastering Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Harry thought this was a correct conclusion—if the teachers for this subject changed as frequently as Professor Delfino said, and their skill levels varied so much.
But—
"What is it, Miss Abbott?"
Harry saw a blonde girl with two thick pigtails timidly raise her hand.
"Are you saying you intend to let us study the content of the book entirely on our own, Professor Delfino?"
"Oh, I'm sitting right here, Miss Abbott. If you have any questions, you can come up and ask," Delfino said pleasantly.
Harry could see that the vast majority of his classmates were uneasy about this "unconventional" teaching method. Neville was the epitome of them all, his round face filled with panic.
Of course, there were a very few "misfits."
For example, that girl named Hermione Granger—Harry saw she wore a confident expression.
"Any other questions?"
Professor Delfino seemed unaware of how much distress he was causing the new students, his tone still gentle.
"Mr. Neville Longbottom?"
"Will—will we, perhaps, also practice—practice some spells in class, Professor Delfino?"
Bearing the weight of many gazes, Neville stood up trembling and stammered.
"Will you guide us?"
"Ah, I'm sorry, Longbottom, I'm afraid not—"
Facing many surprised looks, Professor Delfino put on a very troubled expression.
"It's not that I don't want to, everyone—it's just... sigh, let me tell you the truth. I started casting spells without a wand years ago... So, you see, following the book strictly, I wouldn't know how to do it either..."
"The truth is out, Harry—"
Ron pursed his lips, looking like he could barely suppress his laughter. He lowered his head and whispered to Harry.
"Professor Delfino is exactly the kind of... incompetent professor we might encounter more than once in the next seven years—er, I mean in terms of teaching ability."
Harry twitched the corner of his mouth, finding it hard to disagree with Ron.
"No more questions?"
Professor Delfino asked again. When no one spoke, he spread open a brown-covered notebook on the desk, glanced at it twice, and then let the chalk dance automatically across the blackboard.
"For the next 40 minutes, I want you to carefully read pages 20-27 of The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection. The content on the blackboard supplements the textbook; you can copy it into your notebooks."
Professor Delfino smiled.
"I hope you memorize the content from the book and the blackboard within these forty minutes, and try to master the spells mentioned, because in the last half hour, I will be testing you."
An exam in the first class on the first day of school?!
Whoosh! Cold sweat broke out on Harry's back.
This was exactly what he had been worrying about all August—having no magical foundation, failing to keep up with the lessons, and being left far behind by his classmates who grew up in the wizarding world!
What if Hogwarts had a tradition of expelling students who failed their studies?
In the classroom, all the first-years tensed up, including Harry, of course.
He didn't have time to let his gaze wander anymore. Instead, he flipped the magic book on his desk to the corresponding pages.
Nogtail!
This was the creature they needed to learn to deal with in their first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson.
Harry had at least skimmed through the books during the summer holidays. Seeing the animal illustration on the page, he immediately recalled it.
The textbook said this was a demon widely distributed in rural areas across Europe, Russia, and America.
Its appearance was highly recognizable: basically looking like a wild boar known to Muggles, the difference being that the Nogtail had long legs incongruous with its name, a short tail, and beady black eyes.
"Nogtail... Nogtail... the book says—"
Harry discovered a small habit of Ron's. When he was nervous, he would unconsciously read the text out loud in a whisper.
"These beasts will sneak into a pigsty and suckle on an ordinary sow alongside her own piglets... They move quickly and are very hard to catch (Just great— Ron said sarcastically)."
"If left uncaught for a long time, the Nogtail will grow very large and become extremely destructive... The Nogtail fears only pure white dogs... Once chased away by a white dog, it will never return... Oh, Ron—"
Harry quickly finished reading what Ron hadn't covered. He sucked in a breath, sweating nervously.
"Professor Delfino is unlikely to give each of us a white dog... Would an owl work? I mean, would Hedwig work?"
"Or a rat?"
Ron looked down at Scabbers, who was sound asleep in his pocket, and said sorrowfully.
"I could try the spell Fred taught me again, see if I can change Scabbers' color."
Hmph—
The two boys heard a haughty snort and looked over simultaneously.
"If you had a moment to look at the blackboard, you would realize that dealing with a Nogtail doesn't necessarily require a white long-haired dog."
Hermione Granger glanced sideways at Harry and Ron, speaking in a prim and arrogant tone.
"Oh, what a busybody. We didn't ask for your advice."
Ron rolled his eyes too, but Harry didn't. He just wanted to figure out how to deal with a wild boar that sounded fierce just by its name as soon as possible!
So—
There was indeed a spell recorded on the large blackboard behind the podium, with both the incantation and the wand movement.
Professor Delfino described the effect of that spell with a few words—Trip Jinx.
In the upper right corner of the blackboard, there was also a chalk drawing of an arm holding a wand, repeatedly demonstrating a movement for them.
This is exactly what I need!
Harry felt heartened. He quickly pulled out his wand and practiced following the hand on the blackboard.
Time passed incredibly fast—when you knew you were about to face an exam.
In almost the blink of an eye, the forty minutes were coming to an end.
Harry and Ron were both sweating with anxiety—they had practiced for ages but hadn't felt a spark of inspiration.
The vast majority of first-years from all four houses were in the same state. Neville's shirt was soaked with sweat, and he looked like he was about to faint.
In this situation, some people inevitably started getting clever ideas.
Harry saw Malfoy call out to Professor Delfino, who had been patrolling the classroom with an interested smile after napping for half an hour.
"Sir—I mean, Professor Delfino—"
Draco Malfoy tried hard to force a polite smile onto his nervous face.
"I am Draco Malfoy, Professor—you must remember my father. To thank you for stopping that damn school bus, he sent you—"
"Oh, naturally. Your father is Lucius Malfoy, right?"
Professor Delfino nodded beamingly.
"Of course I remember—vividly, in fact. When the Board of Governors proposed to kick me out of school back then, he was a firm seconder."
Seeing the ingratiating smile on Draco Malfoy's face stiffen, many young wizards from the other three houses snickered.
Harry laughed with pleasure too.
But he was more surprised that few young wizards were shocked by Professor Delfino's admission of being kicked out of Hogwarts. It seemed they had all obtained some information from their own sources.
On the contrary, the slightly "stuck-up" Hermione Granger opened her mouth slightly, revealing two prominent front teeth, looking bewildered.
"Alright, time's up."
Professor Delfino clapped his hands, and the buzzing of incantations in the classroom, sounding like hundreds of carrion flies, stopped immediately.
"Everyone, bring your wands—oh, leave your schoolbags here... The test will take place in another classroom, in the form of a game."
"A game?"
Dean asked with interest.
"Yes, Mr. Thomas—"
Professor Delfino smiled pleasantly.
"A massive offline real-life competitive game. Come on, rookies, I believe you'll like it. It's much more exciting than Quidditch!"