Chapter 58: Dumbledore's Defense Against the Dark Arts Class
Early morning. The autumn breeze swept across the Hogwarts grounds, carrying a chill from the eaves all the way to the corridors.
"It's getting colder and colder," Harry muttered, wrapping his cloak tighter around himself.
"Maybe because our next class is Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Ron, looking pale, said beside him. "And I just got out of the hospital!"
Poor Ron... Harry looked at his friend with concern. Because he had been hit by that memory-Killing Curse in Professor Hamilton's class, Ron had spent several days with Madam Pomfrey...
He had only just been discharged last night, and now he had to face Defense Against the Dark Arts again.
"You have to be careful this time," Hermione instructed. "Don't... stand in strange places again."
Thinking about it, it was strange. How could someone get hit by a Killing Curse aimed at the ceiling?
Harry looked at Ron and shook his head.
"How was I supposed to know he'd cast... cast that..." Ron mumbled, seemingly traumatized.
But trauma or not, the three of them sat down in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom again.
As class time arrived, the office door opened on schedule.
"..."
The silent Professor Hamilton emerged once again. What does the face beneath that pale mask look like?
Harry wondered. He guessed she must look like an old lady.
After all, Professor Hamilton wasn't much taller than him. It was probably because of old age.
While Harry was thinking, Professor Hamilton raised her wand and tapped.
The circlets the young wizards had put in their bags all floated out one by one.
Here it comes again!
THUD!
Another pain on his head. Before Harry could even react to the grunts of pain from his classmates, everything was once again enveloped in mist.
The silver mist cleared, but the view was no longer the gloomy Durmstrang classroom... Instead, it was a place almost identical to the classroom he was just in.
Did the circlet fail?
Harry froze for a moment and looked around, but he didn't see Ron or Hermione... He was still in a memory.
Only it seemed to be... He looked up at the man standing at the door of the second-floor office.
"Professor Dumbledore?!" He stared in astonishment as the old man, who looked ninety percent like the current Dumbledore, slowly walked down the stairs. That gentle smile and those blue eyes... Harry would never forget them.
It was Professor Dumbledore!
How did... how did Professor Hamilton do this? If Hermione were here, maybe she could analyze it, but after thinking for a while, Harry could only conclude that this was amazing.
"Alright, first-year gentlemen and ladies, please settle down." Dumbledore spoke slowly. His gentle eyes swept over every student. Harry felt, perhaps mistakenly, that the gaze even lingered on him for a few seconds.
"Today is our first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson." Dumbledore said, flicking his wand to help everyone open their books.
"Today we are going to learn the first lesson of defense against the Dark Arts, and also the most important lesson." Dumbledore flicked his wand again, and a piece of chalk rose to write on the blackboard: LOVE.
"Yes, this is our first lesson." Dumbledore spoke slowly. Compared to the professor at Durmstrang, he seemed gentle and proper, his words wiser.
"The power of love is formidable."
"Even the most powerful Dark magic, even the Unforgivable Curses, cannot overcome the magic of love."
Dumbledore's words were as warm as a gentle breeze, making it feel like a spring morning rather than an autumn day. Harry felt his heart become strangely peaceful. Listening to Dumbledore's voice, he slowly sat down.
If only Professor Dumbledore were the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor now... Harry suddenly thought.
He instinctively let out a laugh. Of course, it didn't attract the attention of the people in the memory.
Dumbledore continued to speak about the magic of love, introducing the Dark Arts along the way. Unlike the Durmstrang professor, Miss Hamilton didn't seem to have blurred any part of the Dark magic in this lesson.
Maybe because she trusts Dumbledore?
"So when learning magic, you must be careful not to let darkness erode your heart, and you must know..." Dumbledore paused. "Do not become like..."
Like who?
Harry froze. Dumbledore had definitely said a name just then... But... was it blurred out like in the Durmstrang lesson?
Was that name Voldemort?
Harry instinctively thought so, but looking at the rather young Dumbledore... he remembered Voldemort's rise was only a dozen or so years ago.
Then who could it be?
"Now, does any gentleman or lady know what we should do when facing an Unforgivable Curse?" While Harry was puzzled, Dumbledore seemed to have moved the lesson to the next topic.
"Oh? Tom, do you know?" Dumbledore called on a student. He was a black-haired boy who looked calm, perhaps even a little gloomy.
He nodded politely, then stood up slowly and said, "There is nothing to be done."
"The most prominent feature of an Unforgivable Curse is that it has no counter-curse."
"There is only pure power."
"A very good answer, Tom." Dumbledore nodded with a smile, gesturing for the student to sit. "But I must correct one point."
"There is no power in an Unforgivable Curse, only cruelty... and hate."
"Only driven by the purest hatred can one cast an Unforgivable Curse. And precisely because of that, it has no counter-curse." Dumbledore's words seemed to carry a hint of warning.
All the students nodded, including the student named Tom, who nodded lightly as if in agreement.
Soon, the class ended.
It was much faster than Harry had imagined, but when the silver mist cleared, the clock showed exactly the end of the lesson time.
Was Professor Dumbledore's class just too engaging?
Thinking this, Harry looked at Ron. Ron's usually pale face was flushed with color; he seemed much more comfortable in Professor Dumbledore's memory.
Hermione put down her circlet and immediately exclaimed excitedly, "That was Professor Dumbledore's memory!"
"Did you recognize him just now?"
"That was Professor Dumbledore!"
"I recognized him, but that seemed to be from many years ago," Harry thought for a moment and said.
"Was that Professor Dumbledore?" Only Ron froze, confused. "I thought it was just some Hogwarts professor."
"You actually recognized it was Hogwarts..." Hermione shook her head helplessly. "That should be Professor Dumbledore from fifty years ago, right?"
"I didn't expect Professor Hamilton to be able to obtain Professor Dumbledore's memories..." Hermione's eyes filled with delight. "He is the greatest wizard!"
"If it's Professor Dumbledore from now on..."
"Greater than Lockhart?" Ron interjected at the right moment.
"They... they are great in different ways." Hermione rolled her eyes and looked at the silent Professor Hamilton on the balcony.