"What's going on?" The young wizards in the class were restless, filling the room with a buzz.
The source of the problem was today's Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. It's entirely normal to get nervous when the math teacher shows up in art class.
What appeared in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom today was not the kind and humorous Professor Lupin but Snape.
"Professor Snape, where is Professor Lupin?" asked a brave student. In their minds, if Professor Lupin had also been dismissed early, it would once again confirm the existence of the "curse." Furthermore, it seemed that this year's curse was especially fierce since the new professor hadn't even lasted half a semester.
"Professor Lupin isn't feeling well, so he can't teach," Snape replied with an excuse that all substitute teachers loved to use, although in this case, Professor Lupin was genuinely ill.
"I'll substitute to teach you the Defense Against the Dark Arts class." Snape never expected that his long-awaited position as Defense Against the Dark Arts professor would come true through a substitution.
To Snape's surprise, all the young wizards felt relieved. He thought the students would be very disappointed. Snape was well aware of his reputation among the students, which was not exactly good. But why did the kids seem so relieved when they found out he would be their substitute?
This was due to the theory of low expectations. The young wizards at Hogwarts were pragmatic. If Snape said he was a substitute, these young wizards would definitely reject him. But if Snape skillfully told them he would change the Defense Against the Dark Arts class to a Potions class, the students would accept his substitution.
Snape, in his black robe, walked quickly to the front of the classroom. At the same time, he waved his wand, and all the curtains in the room closed. Then, a curtain fell behind him, as if it were an old-fashioned cinema projector.
"A projector?" Tom was surprised for a moment, after all, this thing Snape had taken out looked very much like the large screen projector he had seen before.
The large canvas that Snape had lowered had a real projection function. He walked to the back of the classroom and touched a device similar to an old movie machine with his wand, and an image appeared on the big screen: a creature with a wolf's head and a human body.
Tom raised his eyebrows, truly admiring this interesting magical artifact. Professor Snape was always up to date, applying the projector in the classroom not long after the Muggles did. Tom also believed that with some modifications, this device could become a movie projector.
Perhaps in the future, students could really watch movies at Hogwarts, as long as the pages of the "visual spells" were changed quickly enough, the images would move. Moreover, with better storage techniques, movies could reach the wizarding world.
Of course, wizards could also find other ways, prolonging the looping time of actions in the photos, they could also "play" movies made in the magical world.
"Take out your textbooks."
Snape's voice echoed in the classroom, clearly disregarding the little cinema contraption. He just wanted to teach the class. Under his many years of authority, the young wizards obediently closed their mouths and took out their Defense Against the Dark Arts books.
"Open your books to page 394. Since Professor Lupin left no records of his lessons, I have no idea where you left off. It would be a good idea to start from the last chapter in the book. I suppose Professor Lupin didn't get this far, did he?"
As he watched the students struggle to find the page in their books, Snape couldn't wait any longer. He pointed his wand at those having difficulty finding the page, and their books all flipped open simultaneously to the section he was going to teach today.
This time, Hermione Granger was the one to respond to Snape's question.
"No, Professor, we just finished with Boggarts, and in the last class, we were covering Red Caps and Hinkypunks, nocturnal creatures—"
"Silence," Snape interrupted Hermione.
"I have my own plan, and Miss Granger, I remind you that in my classes, you must raise your hand before answering." Perhaps due to Lupin's suffering, Snape was in a good mood and didn't deduct any points from Ravenclaw.
Looking at the scene on the screen, he asked another question.
"Can anyone tell me the difference between an Animagus and a werewolf?"
Tom understood Snape's intentions. He was trying to reveal Lupin's identity in this way. Dumbledore, didn't you tell me not to reveal his identity? Well, I won't say it outright, but I'll find a way for the students to discover it for themselves! That's Snape's little stratagem.
In response to the professor's question, Hermione raised her hand enthusiastically.
...
"Minister, a letter from Dumbledore." Umbridge, dressed in a light pink suit, placed a letter on Fudge's desk.
"You don't need to read it; I know it's a complaint from Dumbledore." Fudge showed impatience on his face. "Severe punishments, severe punishments. Dumbledore only knows how to punish the 'guilty,' but he has never considered my difficulties."
Fudge pounded the table and took a pipe from his drawer. He normally didn't smoke in front of other people, but there was no one else in the office now. He lit the pipe's tobacco, inhaled, and exhaled purple smoke.
"Yes, Minister, although no students were harmed, Mr. Dumbledore refuses to loosen his 'standards' a bit. He doesn't understand the Ministry of Magic's difficulties; we can't punish the Dementors, they are already quite hungry. Perhaps he's losing his mind..." Umbridge forced a smile that made her face look like a bun and said pleasing things according to what Fudge wanted to hear.
"Hah! Don't say that. For a hundred-year-old man, Dumbledore has done well enough," Fudge waved his hand, Umbridge's words pleased him, and he finally made a decision.
"We will conduct a thorough investigation! I believe the truth will come to light." Fudge looked at Umbridge and said slowly, "An impartial, complete investigation."
He emphasized some adjectives.
Anyone with basic knowledge of British Ministry of Magic politics knows that a "thorough investigation" usually translates to "making concessions." Investigating everything often means investigating nothing, as in movies, the more elements are promoted in a film, the more likely it is to be bad.
"Dolores Jane Umbridge, I appoint you as the Ministry of Magic's Commissioner of Investigation. You will be responsible for investigating incidents of unusual Dementor activity at Hogwarts. I grant you permission to mobilize the Aurors and the Punishment Squad."