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After finishing his daily morning training, Draco wandered aimlessly around the castle with his two followers, Crabbe and Goyle.
Hermione and Dudley were reading in the library. Neville, Ron, and Harry were practicing spells in the Room of Requirement.
Today, Draco did not want to go to either place. He did not want to study, nor did he want to practice spells. He had planned to rest for an entire day and relax properly.
To members of the disciplinary group, merely attending class counted as relaxation.
In a daze, he kept feeling as if something were following him from behind, as if someone were watching him.
But every time he turned back, he found nothing.
This puzzled him greatly.
However, he trusted his instincts. There was probably something following him.
So he did not stay around. He immediately ran to the library to ask Dudley for help.
Strangely, the moment he stepped into the library, the feeling of being watched disappeared.
"Draco, did you not want to rest today?"
Dudley looked at Draco and asked.
Draco thought for a moment, then told Dudley about the feeling he had just had. Dudley told him to be careful recently. He might have been targeted by someone or something, and if the feeling returned, he should come find Dudley immediately.
Who had set eyes on Draco?
Naturally, it was Professor "Moody." That fellow wanted to build his persona, and Draco, the son of "traitor" Lucius, was the best choice.
He could vent his anger and make his image as "Moody" seem more vivid at the same time.
Self-study time soon ended. The fourth-year young wizards began arriving in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom one after another. This was already their fourth year at Hogwarts. Here, they had seen the stuttering garlic professor, Quirrell; the stage-peacock professor, Lockhart; and the perfect professor who could transform, Lupin.
This would be their fourth Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
They placed The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection on their desks early and quietly waited for the famous Mad-Eye to arrive.
Many young wizards had already heard about Moody from their upper-year schoolmates.
His teaching level was first-rate. There was almost no Dark Magic he did not know, and his achievements in fighting Dark Magic were impressive beyond measure.
In one sentence, Professor Moody's lessons were simply cool.
After one class, he had immediately gained the admiration of a large group of young wizards.
Accompanied by Moody's extremely distinctive thump-thump footsteps, the strange and frightening-looking old wizard appeared at the classroom door.
"Put those things away."
The first thing Moody did after entering the classroom was point at the textbooks on the young wizards' desks and speak in a rough voice. Leaning on his staff, he walked to the lectern with apparent difficulty and sat down.
"You will not need textbooks."
One sentence immediately made the young wizards below the lectern excited.
They had heard similar words from the previous Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Although Professor Lupin had taught them according to the order of Dark creatures in the textbook, he had never relied on the textbook itself.
The professors who had used textbooks were the two before him, Quirrell and Lockhart.
Whether a professor used the textbook in class was almost becoming their standard for judging whether a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was qualified.
"Before coming here, I received a letter from your Professor Lupin explaining your progress in this course. You have already learned many methods for dealing with Dark creatures."
The young wizards murmured in agreement.
Professor Moody nodded, then changed the subject.
"Not enough. Far from enough. In three whole years, you have only learned how to deal with Boggarts, Red Caps, Hinkypunks, Grindylows, Kappas, werewolves, and other Dark creatures."
"You are already fourth-years. Yet your understanding of Defense Against the Dark Arts is limited to shallow knowledge like this. When I was your age, I had already begun learning how to deal with Dark wizards."
According to the timeline, Moody, Hagrid, and Tom could almost be counted as part of the same generation.
That era belonged to Grindelwald. In a certain sense, saying that he had learned how to deal with Dark wizards back then was not wrong.
"I truly want to know what you learned during your first two years."
The young wizards looked at one another.
The Defense Against the Dark Arts professors in first and second year had been Quirrell and Lockhart. They also wanted to know what they had actually learned during those two years.
If not for Professor Lupin and Mr. Dursley's teaching in third year, their understanding of Defense Against the Dark Arts might still be limited to dealing with prank-like minor jinxes such as the Grinning Snickerhex.
The young wizards below began discussing among themselves. Moody tapped the floor with his staff, and only then did the classroom quiet down.
"Defense Against the Dark Arts is not only about dealing with Dark creatures. You must also learn how to deal with Dark spells."
"I intend to let you experience spellcasting between wizards. I have one year to teach you how to deal with Dark Magic."
"Can anyone tell me the best and most effective way to deal with Dark Magic?"
Moody looked at the young wizards below and asked.
Ron heard the question and immediately knew the answer. He raised his hand at once.
"Counter-curses, sir."
"Correct."
Moody nodded with satisfaction.
"Red hair. You are a Weasley child, yes? Your father Arthur helped me a great deal."
Ron, somewhat embarrassed by Moody's praise, said, "We already learned quite a few counter-curses for Dark Magic in third year."
Then he suddenly paused.
'Points. Where were the promised points?'
This was one of the rare times he had answered a question in class. Where were the disciplinary group's points?
"I see."
Moody nodded, looking somewhat surprised. Lupin's letter had not mentioned this. The letter had said that fifth-years, last year's fourth-years, had not yet learned counter-curses. How had the current fourth-years, last year's third-years, learned them instead?
Had Lupin written the wrong year?
"We also learned the Patronus Charm."
Ron, who had not received any points, refused to give up and added another sentence.
Moody's face began to look unnatural.
Third-years, now fourth-years, had learned the Patronus Charm? Was he certain he was not joking?
That thing might not even be taught in sixth year.
Even among Aurors, not many could cast the Patronus Charm.
"Then you..."
Moody asked tentatively.
"Basically all of us learned it."
The young wizards answered in unison. Even those who could not summon a corporeal Patronus could produce wispy white light strong enough to deal with a single Dementor.
Moody's thoughts went briefly blank.
No. Was this truly fourth year?
Originally, he had wanted to say that the content they had learned was not deep enough. Now, it was not a matter of lacking depth.
The content was beyond the syllabus.
Whose third-years learned the Patronus Charm?
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