Since Quirrell is so terrible, let's just self-study (two-in-one)

After reaching a temporary reconciliation with Snape, Ezio obtained what he wanted.

Although using Harry to threaten Snape was somewhat despicable, the process was unimportant; the result was what mattered.

In this regard, Ezio was a quintessential Slytherin.

After a short break, the second class was about to begin. With the exception of Ezio, almost all the young wizards held high expectations for the upcoming Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson.

The classroom was located on the third floor of the castle. It was a spacious tiered lecture hall with a large open space left at the podium, designed to make it easy for professors to use teaching props to demonstrate to the students.

Regrettably, these arrangements, which might have been useful in the past, would not be used this year.

Slightly different from other professors, Quirrell had already arrived before most of the young wizards reached the classroom. He sat in his seat, offering the students an awkward and unnatural smile. His body was stiff, as if he didn't know where to put his hands.

Quirrell had once been an excellent student who graduated from Ravenclaw. His grades at school had been outstanding, and it was precisely because of this that he had the opportunity to obtain this position.

But sadly, the Quirrell who had returned to Hogwarts was a far cry from the student he had been back then. He had originally been a shy student who loved delving into magic and was keen on practice, but now...

The pungent, heavy smell of garlic tortured everyone's noses, but the things that happened after class started were even more torturous.

"H-h-hello..." After the class began, Quirrell rose from his chair and spoke with a stutter. He didn't take attendance, likely because Quirrell knew that taking attendance was too difficult for him; at his current speed of speaking, finishing the roll call would be roughly equivalent to the class ending.

Slytherin's Defense Against the Dark Arts class was held together with Ravenclaw. Beside Ezio and Harry, Hermione, wearing a school cloak with blue Ravenclaw accents, sat up straight. Having hit a wall on the train and had all her arrogance completely knocked out of her, Hermione had vowed to surpass Ezio. Focusing on her studies, Ravenclaw had become her first choice; after all, Ravenclaw had its own small library, which even contained books not found in the main library—left behind by students from previous years.

"O-o-open your books... to the f-f-first... chapter."

Quirrell swallowed hard. Under the gaze of dozens of eyes, his nervousness was visible to the naked eye, even more so than before the class started.

"We will l-l-learn... to recognize..." He suddenly paused, then turned around in a comical fashion, picked up the book from the podium, and opened it to the first page.

Many young wizards rolled their eyes. Their professor seemed to have forgotten what he was supposed to teach in the first lesson.

There were some light murmurs in the classroom, with young wizards whispering to each other, but Quirrell didn't pay any mind—or perhaps, he was powerless to do so?

Fortunately, compared to Gryffindor, the students of Slytherin and Ravenclaw had relatively less curiosity. They wouldn't ask questions in the common room like, "Why do you smell so strongly of garlic, Professor?" and then go snooping into his affairs.

After opening the book, Quirrell seemed to calm down a bit. He began to read from the book with a stutter, like a broken tape recorder, stumbling through the dry text that everyone could have read with their own eyes. As a first-year Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook, the content was unremarkable, speaking only of the dangers of Dark Magic and introducing various common household pests and small beasts, such as Doxies, Garden Gnomes, and the like.

After about five or six minutes, Quirrell finally finished reading the first section of the first chapter with great difficulty. He wiped the cold sweat from his face and offered another awkward smile.

Just as Quirrell raised his cup to take a sip of water to moisten his throat, Ezio, who had been politely listening to the terrible lesson for several minutes, stood up.

"Is... is... there... something... the matter?" Quirrell cast his gaze toward Ezio and asked with a stutter.

"I want to know one thing." Ezio spoke calmly. He hadn't held any hope from the start, so there was no room for disappointment. The side effects of being possessed by Voldemort were too great—so great that this man, who could have been their teacher, had been reduced to his current state of mental and physical disability.

"Are we here in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom just to listen to you stutter through reading the book?"

Ezio stared at Quirrell with a cold, sharp gaze. This seemed to frighten him; his hand loosened, and the cup fell to the floor with a clatter.

The sound drew everyone's attention.

"O-o-of course... n-n-not... perhaps... I..."

Quirrell, standing at the podium at a loss, swallowed hard. He waved his hands in a panic, wanting to say something, but he didn't know what he should say.

"Then that is a waste of my time, isn't it?"

Ezio shook his head and left his seat.

"Since you can't teach us anything and only know how to stumble through reading the book."

"Slytherins." Ezio turned his head to look at the seats nearby. "Let's go. There's no need to waste time here. Let's find a classroom with fresher air and self-study the content of the first chapter. Everyone, hand a reading summary to Professor Quirrell by next week."

"I think," Ezio tilted his head again to look at Quirrell, who was clutching his fingers and didn't know where to put his hands, "this will also lighten your burden while simultaneously improving learning efficiency. You shouldn't have any objections, right?"

The little snakes of Slytherin let out a series of snickers. Quirrell's face turned red in an instant, and he stood there stammering, unable to speak. At a glance, it looked as if Ezio was leading the students to bully a fool.

"Ezio, how could you do this!"

As a model student, Hermione spoke up with some dissatisfaction at this moment. This little girl had one impressive trait: she always dared to say what others didn't dare to.

"If you like his teaching style, I don't mind you being his only audience. You've already memorized the textbook, right, Hermione? Why don't you go up to the podium and read for Quirrell? That way, at least the progress will be much faster."

"Being with a fool will only make one stupid."

Ezio spoke without any tact. The little snakes rose one after another and followed behind him. Since someone was taking the lead, they were certainly not willing to continue staying here and being marinated in the smell of garlic.

"Y-you... y-you..." This public humiliation, which gave him absolutely no face, naturally stung Quirrell's already tortured heart. He pointed at Ezio, trembling.

"What's wrong? Have you finally made up your mind now to teach us some real course content?"

As he was about to reach the door, Ezio turned around and took a few steps forward. "If that's the case, then I don't mind offering you a sincere apology, but on the condition that you teach us something real, not just reading. I think there shouldn't be anyone in this classroom who can't even recognize the words in the book, right?"

Ezio turned his head to look at the little snakes. "Crabbe, Goyle!"

The two big oafs who were called out were stunned for a moment, then suddenly shouted, "Yes!"

After being taken down by Ezio that day and getting a good sleep, even if their brains weren't great, the two big oafs realized that Ezio was someone not to be trifled with. After all, even Marcus, who was several times bulkier than them, had been taken down in an instant and left writhing on the ground like a maggot; they didn't want to get beaten up.

"Can you read?"

"Should..." The two big oafs looked at each other, then nodded hesitantly. "Should be."

"So, Professor Quirrell, have you decided how you want to teach us our first lesson now?"

Ezio cast a piercing gaze, but this gaze made Quirrell feel uncomfortable all over, as if knives were tracing lines on his body, intending to cut off a piece of flesh.

Everything Quirrell did was intentional. Although he was possessed by Voldemort, the actual situation wasn't quite that dire, but he had to play the part of an idiot to minimize his presence as much as possible. When everyone thought he was a waste, not many people would suspect that certain things had anything to do with him.

Quirrell desperately wanted to prove himself, but the guy stuck to the back of his head wouldn't allow it. The more attention he drew, the more his actions were restricted. Conversely, what Ezio was doing at this moment aligned perfectly with the wishes of Voldemort, who was clinging to the back of his head.

"It seems you agree with my proposal, Professor."

After waiting a few seconds, Ezio spoke up: "Ravenclaws are welcome to join as well, if you don't want to stay here and keep company with the smell of garlic."

Ezio left the classroom, followed by the little snakes of Slytherin, as well as a few Ravenclaw eagles who didn't want to deal with fools and were looking for a place to read on their own.

"Since you have chosen to leave."

After walking some distance, Ezio slowed his pace and spoke to those behind him: "That means you are willing to listen to my arrangements. Defense Against the Dark Arts is a necessary subject to learn, but the first-year material is not complex. I think anyone who has opened the book and read it is clear on that, but that is not a reason for us not to study it. I want you to keep that in mind."

"I didn't bring you out of the classroom so you could skip class. I want you to remember this: if anyone plays around or makes trouble in the new classroom instead of completing the tasks I assign, I will let you experience what it feels like to regret it deeply."

He spoke coldly, and as his words drilled into their ears, they couldn't help but get goosebumps. Ezio always carried an intangible sense of oppression; it was a kind of detachment that radiated from him, as cold as if he were looking at a corpse. No one wanted to be stared at by those eyes.

"Before entering the new classroom, you still have one last chance to turn back. At the very least, in that garlic-scented classroom, Quirrell won't care if you're sleeping or daydreaming."

Stopping at the door of an empty classroom, Ezio turned to look at the people in front of him.

No one moved. Even Crabbe and Goyle, who definitely wouldn't understand the material, stayed put. They actually wanted to go back because Ezio had said Quirrell wouldn't care if they slept, but they were afraid of being dragged out by Ezio and beaten up. Falling into a peaceful sleep in the hallway was just too terrifying.

"Very well, then go in."

This empty classroom was cluttered with idle desks and chairs, and there was a thick layer of dust. Such vacant rooms were countless at Hogwarts; the place was simply too large. Magic had expanded the space, and even if Hogwarts were packed with ten times the current number of students, it wouldn't feel the least bit crowded.

Under the gaze of the young wizards, Ezio drew his wand and waved it a few times. The dust was swept away, and the damaged desks and chairs were repaired and arranged in an orderly fashion. In just a few breaths, the dirty classroom became clean. The curtains were pulled back, and sunlight spilled into the room. The warm afternoon light brought a pleasant comfort, and with a gentle breeze blowing, it was an ideal classroom for self-study.

After everyone found a seat, Ezio stood still at the podium.

"So now, I will briefly explain: from now on, Defense Against the Dark Arts will be a self-study class here. However, the self-study won't last forever. Defense Against the Dark Arts, as the name implies, is to teach us how to correctly deal with the dark wizards, dark magic, and dangerous creatures that exist in the magical world. The original intent of defense is to teach us to resist these unknown risks and protect ourselves well."

"This is the reason for this class's existence. However, due to certain reasons, Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts has been in a very unstable state of instruction for a long time. The professors are of varying quality, and I am not surprised that a guy like Quirrell managed to sneak in this year."

"You-Know-Who cursed this subject, didn't he?" a blond Ravenclaw boy asked, raising his hand.

"Yes. There is a rumor that Voldemort originally wanted to come to Hogwarts to teach, but Professor Dumbledore refused him. Professor Dumbledore believed that his purpose for coming to Hogwarts was not pure, and subsequent facts proved that if Voldemort had come to Hogwarts, it was more likely he would have come to cultivate his own henchmen than to teach."

After the name Voldemort was mentioned, a cold draft seemed to blow through the classroom, but Ezio didn't mind. He didn't care about the reactions of the young wizards.

"If you don't want to be killed in the street by Voldemort one day while out shopping, I hope you will take the study of Defense Against the Dark Arts seriously."

Terrified by Ezio, they became even more obedient.

"Since you have just begun your study of magic, we will focus on self-studying the textbook for the first month of the semester. You will submit a reading summary of your self-study every week. If your brain doesn't support you in completing the homework I assign, then before the next self-study class begins, some of you had better voluntarily crawl back. Otherwise, I will hang you up and make you eat the textbook page by page. If there is still writing on the parchment you excrete, I will make you absorb it all over again."

Some people shuddered. They swore that starting next class, they would crawl out of Ezio's line of sight and absolutely not provoke him.

"One month to finish self-studying the textbook—this is not difficult. In the second month, once we have all started learning spells, the self-study class for Defense Against the Dark Arts will incorporate spell practice. Perhaps some of you think that the spells taught in the first year have absolutely no ability to counter danger or protect yourselves, but I will tell you that this is wrong."

"Wingardium Leviosa." Ezio pointed his wand at the desk on the podium. "Drop!"

With a dull thud, the sturdy-looking old desk fell heavily from the air, turning into a pile of scattered, twisted wood. This made many people's eyes light up, and they became somewhat excited.

"These are all first-year spells, but if you learn how to use them correctly, they can protect your safety at certain times."

"No whispering. If anyone fails to meet my requirements after a month, those people can also get out."

The excited chatter that had just emerged came to an abrupt halt. Looking at Ezio, who stood on the podium more sternly than many professors, they chose to nod obediently. After all, while other professors might not dare to actually beat them, they believed with absolute certainty that Ezio truly would.