A World That Judges by Looks

On the corridor leading to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, Albert encountered a group of girls whispering about Lockhart's exploits.

"I really don't understand why girls idolize Lockhart so much." Fred thought to himself, looking at Angelina talking about Lockhart with her friend Aylia, a strange sense of irritation rising within him.

"Because Lockhart is handsome, and this is a world that judges by appearance." Albert stated the cruel reality with a strange look on his face. "If you were as handsome as Lockhart, I believe you would also have a lot of girls who like you."

"People don't like someone just because he's handsome!" Shanna coughed lightly and interjected, "Most people admire Lockhart for his heroic deeds."

The three of them curled their lip in disdain, expressing skepticism about Lockhart's achievements. The Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor had yet to demonstrate abilities commensurate with his reputation.

"Why don't you idolize Harry Potter?" Albert asked, raising an eyebrow. "Potter is the savior who defeated that name that can't be mentioned and saved Britain wizards from their misery."

"Of course it's because... Harry isn't handsome enough."

"Believe me, if Harry were as handsome as you, he'd probably be even more popular with girls than Lockhart."

"I think Albert is handsome enough, and his fame and achievements are in no way inferior to Lockhart's, so why doesn't he have a lot of girls who are crazy about him?" Lee Jordan asked Fred and George the same question.

"Because I have a girlfriend!" Albert said matter-of-factly.

As everyone knows, Albert already has a girlfriend, and she's the smartest and most beautiful girl, leaving no chance for the girls who like his looks and fame. Being completely crushed by Isobel is no pleasant experience.

"If Albert didn't have a girlfriend, I might consider pursuing him."

"Too bad, he has a girlfriend, and she's Isobel!" It's unclear which bold girl was teasing Albert behind his back.

The group turned around in surprise and saw several Ravenclaw girls greeting Albert; they were Katrina's female companions.

"If you break up with Isobel that day, you might consider me as your girlfriend." A pretty girl giggled, shook hands with Albert, and introduced herself, "My name is Laurena Kama."

"Well, I think Isobel is quite nice." Albert awkwardly released his handshake with the other person.

"Laurena!"

Katrina glared at her female companion with displeasure, while Laurena's thoughts made her want to laugh.

"I remember you also like Anderson, why don't you pursue him?" Laurena didn't seem to care. "Isobel will graduate before us, you have two more years to win Albert over."

"Yes, most couples' relationships fade after graduation!" Another girl next to Katrina chimed in, seemingly eager to see Katrina steal her sister's boyfriend.

"I'll pass. If you want to try, then go ahead!" Katrina said expressionlessly, but inwardly she was sneering.

"Are all girls this bold these days?" George tried hard not to laugh out loud, finding Albert's embarrassed yet helpless smile incredibly amusing.

"This is blatant poaching!"

"Any ideas?" George asked with a smile, nudging Albert's waist with his elbow.

"Doesn't that just prove how popular I am?" Albert said matter-of-factly.

"Kama, don't count on Albert. How about considering me?" Lee Jordan said with a grin, pointing to himself.

"Sorry, I only like handsome guys," Kama said bluntly.

Fred and George finally couldn't hold back any longer and burst into laughter, clutching their stomachs. The girls in front of them also turned their heads and cast curious glances in their direction.

"Don't be sad, you just lack a bit of confidence and charm," Albert said, patting Lee Jordan on the shoulder. "Looks are secondary."

"Didn't you just say this is a world that judges by appearance?" Lee Jordan felt like he had been hit by a billion points of Critical Hit again.

Albert's words hit the nail on the head! This really is a world that judges by appearances.

"Hmph, you two have the nerve to laugh at me?" Lee Jordan was about to drag his two frenemy friends into the mess. "Don't think I don't know..."

Fortunately, Lockhart's Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom finally arrived.

Albert quietly walked to the back row and sat down. He took out a Lockhart book from his bag. The other students chatted as they walked into the classroom, and a few girls secretly cast glances in their direction.

"We should really thank Isobel," Albert muttered, noting that his girlfriend had indeed helped him avoid a lot of trouble.

At least, no girl would suddenly appear and confess her feelings to him.

After all the students were seated, Lockhart, instead of calling out names, cleared his throat and began to introduce himself to the class, as if worried that someone might not know about his great achievements.

"Me," Lockhart said, pointing to the cover photo of "Travelling with Trolls," "Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Anti-Dark Arts League, five-time winner of the Wizarding Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award ... Of course, you don't need to worry about me always bringing these up; I don't exorcise the Bandon Banshee with a smile!"

After Lockhart finished speaking, a brief, silly chuckle filled the classroom.

"Before class, let's have a short quiz to see how well you read and how much you've understood... You have thirty minutes." Lockhart handed out the tests and returned to the podium, saying, "Now—begin!"

"What's the point of this little test?" Fred asked in a low voice. "It's self-promotion, letting other classmates know about the many 'great deeds' he's done." Albert quickly filled in the test paper.

Albert ultimately achieved a perfect score on this test.

"Mr. Anderson got a perfect score, excellent!" Lockhart said with a smile. "Gryffindor gets ten points."

In the next class, Lockhart began to read aloud the contents of the book to everyone, a teaching method that left everyone speechless.

Everyone had hoped that Professor Lockhart could find some passages from these books to conduct immersive and contextualized teaching, but the Defense Against the Dark Arts turned into a reading class.

After class, Fred couldn't help but complain to Angelina, "I'd rather have Anderson give the lecture; he'd be a million times better than him."

"Albert is also an admirer of Mr. Lockhart!" Angelina pointedly reminded him.

"No, you're overthinking it," George said dejectedly. "I hope Albert will have some free time this year to teach us Defence Against the Dark Arts."

During that last intensive training, the three of them far surpassed their peers in terms of Defence Against the Dark Arts.

"What do you want with Professor Lockhart?" Shanna couldn't help but ask when she saw Albert return.

"I need an autographed copy from the Restricted Section." Albert waved the handwritten note with Lockhart's signature, which was indeed quite good, showing that the other party had put in a lot of effort.

"I told him I wanted to learn more about how vampires overcame their thirst for blood and only ate carrots," Albert said. "I needed to borrow books from the Restricted Section, and he agreed, believing that outstanding students should be given special treatment."