The next morning, Jon saw a ton of news about Gilderoy Lockhart in the Daily Prophet.
"The famous wizard Gilderoy Lockhart is actually a fraudster who abuses the forgetfulness spell!" The Daily Prophet wrote on the front page.
"The International Anti-Dark Arts League publicly announced the cancellation of Lockhart's honorary membership, and the Order of Merlin Committee announced the withdrawal of the third-class medal awarded to Lockhart." This was the news on the second page.
"Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge said that law enforcement officers have been dispatched and will arrest Lockhart as soon as possible." Jon saw a portrait of the Minister of Magic on a small corner on the third page.
Just as Lockhart had expected, his deeds spread throughout the campus...
As Jon passed the Gryffindor table, he heard Ron Weasley's loud voice:
"I knew it all along that Gilderoy Lockhart was a liar!"
"Sure enough, not a single word he said is true!" Harry Potter agreed and nodded.
"But he escaped..." Hermione Granger screamed, her voice sounding surprised and angry, as if she was emotionally deceived: "The Ministry of Magic didn't catch him!"
...
...
"Humph, he can't get far!" Ron snorted coldly, "My dad told me that the law enforcement officers of the Ministry of Magic are very powerful!"
Not only Gryffindor students, but also Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and even Slytherin students were celebrating Gilderoy Lockhart's departure... For the first time in nearly a century, the four major houses were surprisingly unanimous on one thing.
Even Professor Snape, who always wore a black robe and was serious, put on a festive red coat today; he looked like a red batman.
Jon did not join in their celebration or criticism. After reading the newspaper and eating a few pieces of bread for breakfast, he left the dining hall.
…
There were no classes on Thursday morning, and now that the basilisk was dead, Jon no longer had to act as cautiously as before.
Arriving at the Room of Requirement on the eighth floor, Jon took out a few books he had picked up yesterday.
"Under the Shadow of the Moon", which describes the habits of werewolves, and "Summon the Joy in Your Heart", which describes Dementors and the Patronus Charm, both of which were borrowed from the restricted section; and the white booklet left to him by Professor Lockhart.
Jon first took a quick look at the white booklet. The forgetfulness spell was much more profound and complicated than he had imagined. It was even more difficult to cast it without leaving too many traces... The slightest carelessness could bring extremely serious consequences. In fact, because this spell was too dangerous, it was difficult to find a book describing it even in the restricted area of Hogwarts.
Jon only read it for a dozen minutes before he felt a little overwhelmed and had no choice but to close it again.
Then he skimmed through another book.
He already knew a lot about the habits of werewolves, so reading Under the Shadow of the Moon was not difficult for him... About an hour later, Jon picked up the last book, Summon the Happiness in Your Heart:
The content described in this book will also be a very difficult challenge for him...
The "Patronus Charm" is a very advanced defensive magic; when casting this spell, the magician needs to concentrate and think about the happiest thing in his heart.
The spell is "Expecto Patronum".
When it is fully effective, you can summon your own patronus, let the patronus take the attack on your behalf and launch a counterattack; the patronus can expel or even destroy Dementors and Voldemorts (also known as Zombies), and is the only natural enemy of these evil creatures.
The casting of many spells relies on emotions, and without a doubt, the Patronus Charm is the most heavily dependent on emotions...it requires truly happy memories.
It is true that you can find many happy memories in your mind; but it is not easy for you to truly feel the happy memories from the bottom of your heart.
After all, since I came to this world, I have become an adult mentally. It is impossible for me to have the same strong "joy, anger, sorrow and happiness" as a child forever; and many of the happy memories of my previous life have become vague with the passage of time.
Jon took a deep breath and decided to give it a try.
He pulled out his wand, narrowed his eyes slightly, and began to recall the memory of "happiness" in his mind, while he growled in a low voice:
"Expecto Patronum!"
At this moment, the memory that came back to his mind was how he felt when he received the admission letter from Eton College.
Unfortunately, there was almost no change at the tip of the wand, and he failed!
Thinking back carefully...when I received the acceptance letter from Eton College, I felt more relieved than just happy.
"Expecto Patronum!"
He released it again, and again there was no change on the tip of the wand... The memory he chose was last summer's vacation, when he successfully cast the "petrification spell" on mice; that was the first spell he successfully cast.
Thinking back... magic didn't seem too mysterious to him at the time, and the petrification spell was not a difficult spell; the feeling at the time was more of being expected than happy.
"Expecto Patronum!"
The third release... The memory I chose was when I was in Ollivander's shop and gained the recognition of the Wand!
Still failed!
Think back...my emotion at that time wasn't real happiness, but seemed to be a kind of relief?
…
After practicing for almost half the morning, there was still no silver thread appearing on the tip of Jon's wand.
He couldn't even get the slightest control over casting the Patronus Charm... It was more difficult than he had imagined.
Jon sat on the floor of the Room of Requirement, pursed his lips, and tried hard to search for memories that had something to do with "happiness"... He tried almost all such memories, but still did not get the "recognition" of the Patronus.
When the time on his watch showed 12 noon, Jon walked out of the Room of Requirement reluctantly.
I have to say that this morning was another memory of failure.
Arriving at the dining hall, Jon heard Hannah Abbott talking to Wayne Hopkins:
"This is amazing! This is the coolest Defense Against the Dark Arts class I've ever taken!" Hannah shouted, "I never expected..."
But she was interrupted by Zacharias Smith halfway through her words:
"Yes, Lockhart ran away, and we have no Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher...Hannah, who is it?" He approached Hannah and shouted anxiously.
Hannah chuckled: "I won't tell you, you will find out when the time comes. It's really, really great!"
Hannah Abbott's words successfully aroused Jon's interest.
After Lockhart leaves, who will be the temporary Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher to take over?
There are still nearly four months left in this semester, and we can't let all the students in the school miss a class!
You know, there are no assistant teachers in Hogwarts for the Defense Against the Dark Arts course... After all, it is not easy to find a regular teacher, let alone an assistant teacher.
Could it be that Dumbledore wanted to find Remus Lupin in advance?
There is this possibility, but according to Voldemort's curse on this position, something will go wrong at this time next year!
This drew Jon's attention away from the frustration of practicing the Patronus Charm.
He specifically asked a few Hufflepuff second-year students who had just had a Defense Against the Dark Arts class in the morning.
"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you, Jon!" Ernie MacMillan said, "The temporary Defense Against the Dark Arts professor didn't let us spread his name everywhere... I can only tell you that it's very, very good!"
...
...
Jon curled his lips and gave up.
During lunch, he heard most of the students in the school discussing who the temporary Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was.
"I think it might be Alastor Moody!"
Passing by the Gryffindor table again, Jon heard Ron Weasley shouting over there:
"That Auror, Mad-Eye Moody... My father once told me that Moody and Dumbledore were very good friends; and what a coincidence, he retired from the Auror Office of the Ministry of Magic two months ago!"
"It doesn't matter who is the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, as long as it's not Snape..." Harry Potter muttered over there: "You know... Snape has been eyeing this position for a long time!"
"I think the Ministry of Magic might send someone!" Hermione Granger said unhappily, "After all, they designated our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher as a wanted criminal a few days ago. Perhaps they will send a deputy minister to ease our crisis?"
Walking silently past their long table, Jon didn't speculate too much.
After all, he would know who it was after the Defense Against the Dark Arts class in the afternoon.
During lunch break, Jon did not return to the Hufflepuff common room, but went to the Room of Requirement again.
I spent more than an hour practicing the Patronus Charm several times in vain.
The result was not optimistic, he still hadn't found any truly happy memories; it looked like he would have to spend some time on the Patronus Charm!
It was almost two o'clock when he hurriedly left the eighth floor and headed for the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom on the fourth floor.
Fortunately, he walked fast enough and the stairs did not cause any trouble; he arrived at the classroom in time before the class started.
Just as he reached the door of the classroom, Jon suddenly heard a cheer coming from inside.
"What's going on?" He walked into the classroom with a confused look on his face.
Zacharias Smith stood on his bench, whistling.
In fact, there were almost no students in Hufflepuff and Slytherin houses sitting still... they all stood up and cheered.
On the podium, the white-haired old man smiled and waved to the students, motioning them to sit down.
Jon was surprised.
Temporary Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher... was .. Albus freakin Dumbledore!
…
It took several minutes for Dumbledore to quiet the class again.
"I guess... I don't need to introduce myself?" He blinked.
There was another burst of laughter from below the podium.
"Professor Lockhart left us for some special reasons. It is not easy to find a temporary teacher in the middle of the semester!" Dumbledore explained calmly, "So I thought I might be able to take on this responsibility temporarily."
"To be honest, the last time I taught was fifty years ago... The last time I taught students the Defense Against the Dark Arts course was in 1927..." Dumbledore smiled.
"At that time, I had some minor conflicts with the people in the Ministry of Magic. They banned me from being a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, so I was forced to teach Transfiguration!"
Looking at the whole class, almost all the students pricked up their ears to listen to his story. Dumbledore waved his hand:
"These are all old things. Let's not talk about them anymore... But I still remember the content of the last Defense Against the Dark Arts class I took sixty-six years ago; and today's content is the same as that class!"
"Then let's get started...Please put all your books back in your bags; in Defense Against the Dark Arts, we're more likely to be practical, so you only need your wand."
The whole class put their books back into their bags, and many of them exchanged surprised looks; after more than half a year at Hogwarts, they had never had a practical class in Defense Against the Dark Arts.
"Well, follow me..."
The students all stood up and followed Professor Dumbledore out of the classroom; he led them through the empty corridor, turned a corner, and finally came to an unfamiliar classroom.
The classroom was empty except for one side which was filled with old benches.
At Dumbledore's signal, the Hufflepuff and Slytherin students sat there one by one.
Jon instinctively sat in the back; it was easy, since everyone was scrambling to get to the front.
Professor Dumbledore had already produced his very special elderwood wand.
With a slight wave of his hand, a large wardrobe almost two people tall suddenly appeared in the classroom.
Professor Dumbledore walked to the side of the wardrobe and stood still. The wardrobe suddenly shook as if something was trying to crash out.
"Don't worry!" Seeing several students shrinking their heads in fear, Dumbledore said calmly, "It's just a Boggart inside!"
"Boggarts prefer dark, enclosed spaces. Under beds, in closets, and even in cupboards are often their hiding places... So, my first question to you is: What is a Boggart?"
A girl sitting in the front row raised her hand high.
"Very good, Miss Selwyn!"
"No one knows the true appearance of a Boggart. It will transform!" The Slytherin girl named Selwyn, who looked a little arrogant, stood up and said, "It will transform into anything we fear."
"I don't think I can explain it any better!" Professor Dumbledore nodded: "Add five points to Slytherin."
Selwyn sat down happily, and the students around her looked at her with envy.
"No one knows what a Boggart looks like when it is alone, but when I release it, it will immediately become the thing that each of us fears the most." Dumbledore continued: "Now, everyone take out your wands..."
"Let's try the counter spell:"
"Ridikullus!"