Zhang Xiao shook out his house robes and, without declining, walked briskly over to Lupin.
The young wizards craned their necks and stared wide-eyed, afraid of missing even the smallest detail.
Lupin smiled and shook his head.
"You aren't expecting me to duel Zhang or something, are you?"
Quite a few students grinned sheepishly at having their little hopes exposed.
"Although I've spent these past few years traveling, I still read the papers. From my conversations with the other professors, Zhang's progress is already far beyond the third-year level.
"So his abilities wouldn't make a useful benchmark. They don't represent your actual level."
The students sighed. Professor Lupin was absolutely right, but if he understood that so well, why had he asked Zhang to come up?
"All right, time is precious, so let's begin-" Professor Lupin paused, then asked his first question. "Zhang, what does Defence Against the Dark Arts mean to you?"
Huh? Zhang Xiao froze for a moment. He hadn't expected Professor Lupin to ask that.
He wasn't alone. The other students began murmuring among themselves. They had taken this subject for over two years, yet apparently none of them had ever considered what Defence Against the Dark Arts actually was.
They simply opened their textbooks as instructed and took notes on things such as the characteristics of common dark magic and their counter-curses. That was all.
After thinking for a while, Zhang Xiao said slowly,
"Professor, I think that, besides dealing with dark creatures, Defence Against the Dark Arts should give us a sufficient understanding of dark magic.
"And the ability to use certain counter-curses."
As he spoke, Zhang Xiao suddenly fell silent. He realized that he seemed to have neglected this subject, never truly giving it the attention it deserved. Defence Against the Dark Arts had