Lockhart had no idea that the dear Headmaster and Snape were discussing him behind his back, but even if he knew, he wouldn’t care much, as his mind was currently preoccupied with lesson preparation.
As for the first lesson about to begin, Lockhart certainly didn’t want to mess it up.
He checked his timetable and found his schedule was quite tight.
Hogwarts’ curriculum was no joke.
Students had classes morning and afternoon, and occasionally even evening classes like Astronomy, History of Magic, or Potions.
It was really something for someone like Hermione, who had taken all the electives.
Fortunately, the homework load wasn’t too heavy.
Sometimes assigned on Monday and due Thursday or Friday, sometimes not due until the next week.
If the schedule wasn’t too packed, the weekend was usually enough time to finish it all.
But for professors, this job was no walk in the park.
Even with two houses taking classes together, and even with sixth and seventh years having all four houses together, if a professor had two classes per year group per week, that still meant at least 24 classes a week, averaging about 5 classes a day, plus grading student homework in the evenings.
Honestly, the teaching load was too heavy.
Someone like Professor McGonagall, who required an “Exceeds Expectations (E)” on the O.W.L.
exam to take the sixth-year course, was already considered remarkably merciful, as Transfiguration was also a compulsory subject.
As for Snape, who required an “Outstanding (O)” to take his elective, frankly, Lockhart completely understood—because Potions classes were double periods.
So if Snape didn’t control the number of elective students, he’d have to teach even on weekends.
Lockhart had initially thought not many sixth and seventh years would choose Defense Against the Dark Arts, as he learned from Dumbledore that last year only 4 students had chosen it.
That meant this year’s seventh-year class would also only have 4 students.
Even if the sixth-year class was larger, it couldn’t be that much bigger.
So when Dumbledore asked Lockhart about the O.W.L.
grade requirement, he said an “Acceptable (A)” would suffice.
But he was wrong, and spectacularly so.
Because when he looked at the list last night, he found that this year, 25 sixth years had actually chosen Defense Against the Dark Arts.
That meant half of the sixth-year class had chosen his course.
He looked at the list and found that among these 25, 17 were witches.
Just counting the wizards, the number was already double that of last year.
While in a sense this was a good thing, making it easier to remember faces, it inevitably meant a tough period for him.
Like this Monday, for example.
Lockhart’s schedule was packed: four classes in the morning—one for sixth years, one for seventh years, two for fifth years—and two classes in the afternoon for second years.
Well, now I finally know why Hogwarts needs a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor every year—they’re all worked to death.
…
On Monday morning, for the first class, Lockhart was almost late.
No help for it.
Even though he “remembered” the way to the classroom, he had underestimated the students’ enthusiasm.
Wherever he went, people greeted him.
Some girls even greeted him three times—in the corridor, the Great Hall, and outside the classroom—just to exchange a few more words with him.
If it weren’t for the Howler from Ron’s mother capturing everyone’s attention in the Great Hall, Lockhart reckoned he wouldn’t even have been able to eat breakfast.
But no matter how annoyed he was inside, Lockhart could still manage to be polite and smiling.
However, if he had to return every single greeting, he’d never get any real work done.
Just saying hello would consume a massive amount of time all day long.
It seems learning the Disillusionment Charm needs to be prioritized soon, Lockhart thought.
“Good morning!
Ladies and gentlemen!” he said to the sixth years in the room.
“Good morning, Professor Lockhart!” the students replied enthusiastically.
Seeing their enthusiastic attitude, Lockhart had no doubt that as long as he didn’t mess up, by the end of the term he would certainly become the most popular teacher in Hogwarts history.
Since he was already very popular, why not do something to become even more popular?
For example—
“Put away your books and take out your wands.
We won’t need books for this lesson,” Lockhart said to the class.
Sure enough, the students were even more delighted.
“I’ll take roll call first—though I already know the vast majority of you.
For example, Percy Weasley of Gryffindor, Penelope Clearwater of Ravenclaw, Marcus Flint of Slytherin…”
After finishing the roll call, Lockhart got straight to the point and began his lecture.
“The concept of Defense Against the Dark Arts, I believe, should be no stranger to you sixth years.
It’s about learning how to use magic to protect yourself from dark creatures and Dark magic.
In many years past, this subject would have been considered fundamental for a wizard.
But with the advent of modern society, not just Muggles, but our wizarding lives have become more convenient, encountering fewer dangers.
We only need to master the spells commonly used in daily life to handle 99.9% of our time.
But the reason we study this subject is to deal with the dangers we might encounter in that 0.1% of the time.
Because danger either doesn’t happen at all, or when it does, it could cost us our lives.
This is even more true for certain dangerous professions.
We must learn the skills to combat Dark magic and dark creatures.
For those aspiring to work in the medical field, Defense Against the Dark Arts is more like a branch of Charms, as they rarely directly face evil forces.
But for those who must confront Dark magic directly, the essence of this subject is ‘combat.’
In my class, I will train you, train your combat abilities.
From first year to fourth year, and for you sixth years as well.”
Hearing Lockhart emphasize “combat,” the students’ smiles faded a little.
“Excuse me, what about fifth and seventh years?” a girl timidly raised her hand.
“Unfortunately, they have exams to deal with,” Lockhart spread his hands.
“So their main work is memorization, practicing past papers, and practicing spells on dummies.”
The wizards who had just taken their O.W.L.s a few months ago immediately wore gleeful smiles—sounded pretty boring.
“Don’t worry, you’ll have to take them next year too,” Lockhart reminded them.
So the smiles on their faces suddenly vanished again.
Students are the same everywhere.
Thinking about spending a whole year studying is hard not to find agonizing.
“Excuse me, what do you mean by ‘combat’?
Duels?” another boy raised his hand to ask.
“Duels are only part of it,” Lockhart admitted his thoughts without hesitation.
“Considering the vast majority of Dark magic is cast by people, training in dueling is a very effective method.”
Hearing about dueling, the young wizards present immediately perked up, while many of the girls looked at each other.
“Don’t be surprised.
In fact, dueling will occupy the vast majority of this course’s class time.” Lockhart suddenly saw a good opportunity to reduce his workload: “For example, if we face a villain who summons Fiendfyre, keeps a dragon, or scatters floating bombs everywhere, our best method is never to fight the Fiendfyre, the dragon, or the floating bombs, but to defeat the Dark wizard themselves.
So learning dueling techniques is very necessary.”
He deliberately emphasized the threats, hoping these girls might back down knowing the difficulty.
But unfortunately, not a single person in the class moved.
“If it’s Professor Lockhart…
I think…
it should be quite safe.” Penelope’s remark drew a round of nods from the group of girls.
“I cannot guarantee your safety,” Lockhart said.
“What I will teach in this course is very practical.
By the end of the term, I aim to develop the most suitable magical combat system for each student, be it him or her.
And before that, I must first see his or her full potential.”
“You mean, tailored guidance?”
“…I must be responsible for each student, mustn’t I?” Lockhart said helplessly.
“For lower years, I will focus mainly on exploring potential.
But you are already 16, 17, almost adults or already adults.
Your spell systems are mostly set.
I can only build based on your current abilities.
If you truly have no confidence in combat…”
“Then we must participate,” Penelope said firmly.
Lockhart truly hadn’t expected that his reputation would bring him so much extra work.
But there was no help for it.
Since he enjoyed the benefits brought by his fame, he had to bear the corresponding responsibilities.
At this point, he could only go all out: “Alright, since none of you are willing to yield, let’s now begin the first step…
First, tell me, what spells have you learned so far?
Especially Apparition.
Who has learned it?
Who hasn’t yet?”
Everyone looked at each other—Apparition was still quite difficult.
Never mind these children who had just turned 17 or weren’t even 17 yet; even adult wizards who had graduated many years ago, not many could learn Apparition.
“Is that important?” a Ravenclaw student asked cautiously.
“I’m not trying to scare you, but in a one-on-one dueling system, whether one can Apparate determines a wizard’s fighting style.
Those who can Apparate at will, those who can only use it when fully concentrated, and those who completely cannot use it—the fighting styles of these three types of wizards are completely different.
While those who can’t Apparate can’t be said to have no chance of winning, they will definitely be at a disadvantage against those who can.”
“You are very skilled at using Apparition in intense combat?” The students found it hard to believe.
“I heard from Mr.
Twycross (the Ministry official in charge of Apparition tests)…”
“You mean the ‘Three D’s’ of Apparition?
Destination, Determination, and Deliberation.” Lockhart grinned.
“Coincidentally, I’m very good at that kind of self-psychological suggestion.”
(End of Chapter)