This past month had been the most comfortable month Lynn had spent since transmigrating into this world.
For a soul from the twenty-first century, London at the end of the twentieth century was far from perfect, but compared to the forests of Albania, it was better by more than just a little.
In fact, during his first few years here, he had tried to leave. But every time he reached the boundary, some strange force would affect him, and he would somehow end up walking back into the forest. Now that he thought about it, those were probably some of the protective spells Voldemort had set up.
And because there had always been that conveniently farmable "little mob," after a few years Lynn had gradually forgotten all about leaving. All he had cared about was spell research and raising his level.
He had always been the kind of person who could endure loneliness. Otherwise, before transmigrating, he never would have liked a game like D&D, which demanded such an absurd amount of time.
Still, even though life had become much more comfortable, Lynn had not spent the past month doing nothing.
First, he had completely remodeled the old Highgate Cemetery house he had bought. The few wraiths and vampires living inside had been killed by him, while the Negative Energy overflowing from the ley node beneath the property had been converted through a transmutation array into a power source for his workshop.
Second, he had gone to Diagon Alley again and bought every magic book currently available on the market, then sorted through them one by one for comparison. At the same time, he had started comparing this world’s "charms" to his own "spells."
He had originally assumed that his spell system would be a dimensionality reduction strike against the magic of this world.
But that did not actually seem to be the case.
Compared to theirs, his magic was more materialist in nature. Most spells involved transformations of energy and matter, and also followed objective principles such as geometry and mathematics. The magical disciplines of this world, on the other hand, were much more idealist. Many of their spells were closer to rule-based or concept-based abilities.
The simplest example was lethal magic.
His own spell system did not really contain pure death damage. Even a spell as powerful as 9th-level Power Word Kill only worked once the target’s life force had been reduced below a certain threshold, while spells such as 6th-level Disintegrate and 7th-level Finger of Death could still be countered or defended against with the proper magic.
But the Killing Curse in this world was direct to the point of absurdity. It could not be blocked by conventional defenses, had no real counter-curse, and meant instant death the moment it struck, regardless of hit points.
In other words, even if Lynn layered twenty different defensive spells on himself, if he were hit by an Avada Kedavra, he would still die on the spot.
There were quite a few spells in this world that seemed capable of directly tampering with causality itself. That completely shattered Lynn’s earlier complacency, when he had thought that being Level 11 already made him very strong in this world. In its place came a renewed urgency to become stronger.
Today was the day he was due to take up his post at Hogwarts.
There was still one week left before term officially began. Staff members generally arrived early to arrange their courses and get their quarters ready, after all, professors lived on campus.
Before leaving, Lynn opened his panel once more to check his current status:
[Name: Lynn Gray]
[Race: Human]
[Class: Wizard, School of Abjuration]
[Level: 11 (1%)]
[Attributes:]
[Strength: 8 (muscular strength and bodily power)]
[Dexterity: 13 (hand-eye coordination, agility, reflexes, and balance)]
[Constitution: 17 (+1 Level, +1 Feat) (health and endurance)]
[Intelligence: 20 (+3 Level) (capacity for learning and reasoning)]
[Wisdom: 10 (willpower, common sense, perception, and intuition)]
[Charisma: 12 (force of personality, persuasiveness, personal appeal, leadership, and natural physical charm)]
[Feats:]
[War Caster] (harder to interrupt while casting)
[Resilient] (Constitution +1)
[Arcane Ward] (can create a magical barrier to protect oneself)
[Projected Ward] (can apply Arcane Ward to others)
[Abjuration Mastery] (abjuration spells are enhanced)
[Weave Unbound] (spells up to two levels below your highest spell level are treated as cantrips)]
[Spell Slots:]
[1st-4th Level (Unlimited)] [5th Level (2/2)] [6th Level (1/1)]
After checking his status, Lynn nodded in satisfaction.
When he had first transmigrated, the original owner of the body had already been a Wizard. He was probably some poor unlucky wizard, much like Professor Quirrell, who had wandered into the Albanian forest and been killed by the poisonous mist or by magical creatures.
As for the feat Weave Unbound, which had never existed in standard D&D, Lynn now suspected it was a mutated feat that had appeared precisely because he had come to the world of Harry Potter.
Aside from that blackwood wand, which was not particularly useful to him, Lynn did not bring much luggage. He had already drawn a Teleportation Circle in his house, so as long as he established another one at Hogwarts, he would be able to travel freely between the two locations.
He stepped into the fireplace, grabbed a handful of Floo Powder he had bought a few days earlier, scattered it at his feet, and called out, "Hogwarts."
Green flames swept over his body, and Lynn vanished into the hearth.
...
Professor McGonagall was deeply puzzled by Dumbledore’s choice for the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
The original candidate had been Gilderoy Lockhart. While McGonagall had little interest in his best-selling books, he was at least a celebrity, and a Ravenclaw graduate as well.
But this incoming professor... Lynn Gray, she had never even heard his name before.
Alma mater, biography, published achievements, academic records, everything was blank.
The only information on file was: more than ten years of wilderness expedition experience, and the use of a unique and different form of magic.
Still, while she was puzzled, McGonagall did not feel any particular resistance toward this Professor Gray. Given Dumbledore’s long history of unconventional ideas, she had already made all the necessary preparations for his arrival.
With a soft whoosh, a cluster of green flames burst up in the office fireplace, and a figure stepped out from within it.
He wore a well-tailored black wizard’s robe. His short black hair was neat and clean, and his complexion was somewhat pale. His features were refined.
A pair of silver-rimmed glasses sat on his face, the lenses apparently plain glass without any prescription, and behind them his deep brown eyes carried a steadiness that did not quite match his youthful appearance.
He hardly looked like a professor at all. With a school uniform instead, he could probably have been mistaken for a seventh-year Hogwarts student.
"Prestidigitation."
McGonagall saw him draw his wand. He did not even bother to wave it, he merely held it up and spoke an incantation unfamiliar to her. In an instant, the soot and Floo powder on his clothes vanished, and his robe returned to perfect neatness.
Only then did he look at her, smile gracefully, and incline his head slightly.
"Good afternoon. You must be Professor McGonagall, I presume?"
"Professor Gray?" McGonagall rose to her feet, her gaze carrying a trace of scrutiny, her tone touched with surprise. "To be honest, I did not expect you to be so young."
"Youth can be an advantage at times, Professor." Lynn did not seem bothered by the scrutiny and simply smiled in reply.
"Perhaps." McGonagall pressed her lips together, clearly reserving judgment. "Albus told me that you lived alone in the Albanian wilderness for ten years, and that you possess extensive experience dealing with Dark creatures. Looking at your face... I feel obliged to assume that you began your adventures before you were even old enough to attend Hogwarts?"
"I’ve always believed that practice is the best teacher. Wouldn’t you agree?"
"Theory is equally important." McGonagall gave him a long look, but did not pursue the point any further.
"I am Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts. Professor Dumbledore is unable to come in person due to a Board of Governors meeting, so he asked me to receive you instead."
"He may already have told you this, but I would like to repeat it."
McGonagall paused, and her tone turned more severe.
"Hogwarts professors have a duty to ensure that all students receive a proper magical education in a safe and healthy environment. For Defense Against the Dark Arts, that responsibility is especially important."
"Of course."
McGonagall said no more. With her usual brisk efficiency, she turned and flicked her wand, opening the door.
"Come with me. I’ll show you your office. You’ll need to familiarize yourself with the surroundings first, and afterward we can confirm the timetable arrangements, which are always a headache."
...
Hogwarts Castle was actually rather different from how Lynn remembered it from the films before his transmigration.
Perhaps because term had not yet begun, and there were no students coming and going, the entire castle felt older and gloomier than it had on screen.
Following McGonagall through several moving staircases in succession, the two of them eventually arrived on the second floor.
So what exactly is the purpose of these constantly shifting staircases... making people get lost and late for class?
Resisting the urge to voice that complaint in front of the perpetually stern Professor McGonagall, Lynn followed her through a heavy oak door.
"This is your office. Of course, we have already conducted a thorough inspection. There is no trace whatsoever of the previous professor, or of Dark magic."
Lynn stepped into the room.
To his surprise, the environment was far better than he had expected.
It was a spacious fan-shaped room with excellent lighting. The enormous floor-to-ceiling windows looked out over the wide lawns beyond the castle. Past the edge of the Forbidden Forest, he could even see the towering goalposts of the Quidditch pitch in the distance.
"The door at the back of the office leads to your private bedroom. You are free to make any modifications or arrangements you wish to the office and bedroom, though the school will not cover the expense."
While Lynn was already considering where to inscribe his own Teleportation Circle, McGonagall flicked her wand, and a thick roll of parchment tied with a red ribbon flew out from her sleeve and drifted over to him before slowly unfolding.
"This is next term’s class schedule."
The parchment had been blank, but the moment Lynn reached out to take it, lines upon lines of black ink appeared across its surface automatically:
Monday: Two classes in the morning (First Year Gryffindor/Slytherin), two classes in the afternoon (Third Year Hufflepuff/Ravenclaw). Tuesday: Fully booked all day. Wednesday: ...
The densely packed timetable covered nearly every hour of his weekdays.
"Professor McGonagall." Lynn stared at the schedule, which looked more brutal than his final year of high school, and the corner of his mouth twitched. "If I’m reading this correctly... this is my timetable alone?"
"Of course." McGonagall looked at him as though this were self-evident. "Hogwarts has only one Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."
"You mean to say..." Lynn took a slow breath, and with an Intelligence score of 20, instantly calculated the total workload, "that I alone am expected to teach every student in all four Houses, from First Year to Seventh Year? Roughly forty class periods a week?"
"Is there some problem?" McGonagall raised a brow. "All professors work this way. Professor Flitwick teaches Charms to all seven years by himself, and Professor Sprout alone handles all Herbology classes. It is certainly demanding, but that is Hogwarts tradition."
Looking at the timetable in his hand, Lynn suddenly had the distinct feeling that Dumbledore had tricked him.
<><><><><><><><><><><>
Good Reviews/Ratings are greatly appreciated
Drop some POWERSTONES to push the story forward!