Strange Defense Against the Dark Arts Class (Please Keep Reading! Please!)

Caught off guard by Taylor's sudden attack, Luke suddenly had no idea how to respond. But his first reaction was a practical one. He nervously looked at Taylor's hand, and only relaxed when he saw the little ball containing a Silence Barrier.

He admitted that in the magical world, prophecy was not something one could simply dismiss as real if believed in and nonexistent if not. Since it had developed into an actual field of study, there had to be sufficient theoretical foundations behind it...

Well, even if those theoretical foundations were somewhat absurd, there was plenty of evidence from actual cases. Whether Seers or prophets, they truly existed in this world.

Not to mention anything far away—right here in this castle was a prophet who had underestimated herself.

So, Taylor's baseless conviction was understandable by the Wizarding World's mainstream standards. After all, even Dumbledore had placed excessive trust in prophecies from time to time.

But Luke was different...

His personality had been shaped by the mutual influence of the incomplete memories of a young man from the foodie empire in his previous life, his current child's body, and the system's Noble education and Wizarding World common-sense education.

As a result, his attitude toward prophecy was genuinely one of believing in it—but only a little.

Taylor's blind obedience left him struggling to adjust for a moment.

"That's... very dangerous," Luke finally managed to squeeze out after a long silence.

Seeing the complicated expression on his face, Taylor gave him a faint smile.

"My grandmother taught me that when you do something, you have to be decisive. Whether you succeed or fail, don't regret it."

Luke ultimately could not stop the corner of his mouth from twitching.

"I don't think decisiveness and recklessness are the same thing." He shook his head. "You'd better not tell anyone else about this."

Taylor smiled and nodded, then tucked the little ball back into her pocket. Only then did Luke realize that he could sense the barrier only when he paid attention to the ball.

When the barrier had been deployed earlier, he had not noticed it at all. Clearly, this little ball was also a magical item of considerable quality.

Of course, although he had never seen one with a similar function, Luke had seen quite a few items of comparable quality. He did not feel particularly greedy over it.

"If you want to know more, I'll find a chance to tell you later."

Taylor gave Luke a sly smile, then let out a huge yawn and happily laid her head on the desk to rest.

Her messy golden hair once again covered her face. Like a thin veil, it made her features impossible to see clearly.

Luke let out a long breath, but he had little interest in this sort of magic that obviously required talent even without thinking about it.

Taylor's most distinctive trait was her identity as a Legilimens. And this so-called Talent Magic was obviously related to that.

Luke was not particularly interested in this special magic that most likely used singing as its medium.

But Slytherin's Talent Magic... perhaps I can look forward to that?

Luke thought to himself in secret.

School life continued as usual. After sitting through a dull A History of Magic class that was nevertheless filled with important information, Luke finally welcomed his second class—and one he had been quite looking forward to.

Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"It's very boring, Luke." While they were eating breakfast, Marcus shook his head as he spoke with Luke, his face full of disdain. "Professor Quirrell is probably one of the worst Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers in recent years."

"However..." Gemma shook her head and said to Luke, "Professor Quirrell's knowledge of Dark Magic should be quite extensive... If you listen carefully to what he teaches, you can still pick up quite a few key points, even some unique little tricks."

"Maybe because he isn't very good at teaching, though, the overall results are really, really average."

After listening to Gemma, Luke nodded seriously. "I understand. I'll listen carefully in class."

But in reality, he was more or less confused.

In his memories, Quirrell's problem had not been the quality of his lessons. He had been the typical sort who skipped teaching entirely and only told stories. The difference between him and Lockhart was more or less...

People believed Lockhart's lies, while nobody believed Quirrell's.

And now, Quirrell was actually teaching properly? That alone was ridiculous enough.

Luke suspected it was because of Voldemort, but what could have changed Voldemort's attitude?

No matter how Luke thought about it, he felt that he himself was the reason.

But... if he remembered correctly, Voldemort's attitude toward members of the Gaunt Family had not been good. His uncle had even had his memories altered and taken the blame for him.

Could Voldemort really harbor goodwill toward a member of the Gaunt Family like him?

Luke did not know. Before class, however, he carefully checked his wand and brought along all the small magical items with protective functions.

After all, Voldemort was currently half-dead. These defenses could more or less serve some small purpose.

More than anything, he hoped the system would give him an item that could increase his immediate combat power. Otherwise, he felt he would be somewhat lacking in confidence when facing a Voldemort who had recovered even a little.

But what was coming would always come.

Following the other Slytherin students into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Luke saw Quirrell sitting at his desk with his head lowered, apparently doing something.

The moment Luke saw him, he could tell that Quirrell's emotions were complicated to the point of exploding.

There was anticipation and despair; madness and cowardice; greed and guilt.

It was not strange for these emotions to appear in one person. Even some of them appearing together in the same person was not unusual, because people were complicated.

But emotions so sharply opposed to one another, and yet present in nearly equal measure, were rare even among rare things.

Yet this made Luke breathe a sigh of relief.

Because it meant Voldemort's condition was even worse than Luke had imagined. He could not even completely suppress the emotions of Quirrell, whose willpower had already begun to collapse.

Soon, the Slytherin and Ravenclaw students each found seats. Luke sat in a corner by the wall. Malfoy shook off Crabbe and Goyle, intending to sit beside Luke, but Taylor beat him to it.

Driving her away would make him seem far too eager to get close to Luke. His pride would not allow it. So he could only dejectedly return to Crabbe and Goyle.

Looking at his two lackeys, at their chubby and foolish faces, Malfoy could not help but sigh.

Before he could think any further, however, a voice filled with confidence and arrogance sounded beside his ear.

"Now, class begins!"