Although Professor Lupin had returned to the classroom, his mental state was far from good, he looked as though he had just recovered from a serious illness.
This inevitably worried the students who cared about him, and they all began asking after his health with concern.
Professor Lupin smiled and said he had only been slightly ill, but was much better now.
Compared to the other students, Sherlock clearly saw much more.
From the moment he entered the classroom, his gaze had been fixed intently on Professor Lupin.
[The worn robes hung loose on his thin frame, clearly ill-fitting, with the cloth forming collapsed folds at the shoulders. Below his eyelids was an ink-stain-like bluish-black color, with deep traces of exhaustion that differed in color density from ordinary dark circles caused by illness.]
At this moment, the hypothesis in Sherlock's mind was completely confirmed.
This Professor Snape was quite calculating indeed!
However, besides himself, there probably weren't many others who could understand his true intentions.
Sherlock only needed to deduce from the clues, while other students had much more to consider.
When Professor Lupin announced the start of class, they immediately began complaining in a noisy voice about Snape's terrible behavior during his substitute teaching period.
"We didn't even learn about werewolves!"
"He assigned us homework: two whole rolls of parchment!"
"A Slytherin substitute teacher, what right does he have to throw his weight around here!"
Remus, who had been maintaining a smile, frowned slightly upon hearing these words. "Did you tell Professor Snape that we hadn't covered that material yet?"
"We did, but he wouldn't listen at all!"
"He even said your teaching was completely disorganized!"
"He wants homework? In his dreams, we're not doing it!"
Hearing this, Remus's smile returned to his face.
He looked at the indignant faces and said in a slightly hoarse voice, "Don't worry, I'll talk to Professor Snape. You don't need to write that essay."
"Hooray!"
"Wonderful!"
"Professor Lupin is the best!"
The classroom instantly erupted in cheers.
As for Hermione's somewhat disappointed voice: "Oh no, I've already finished it!" It was completely drowned out.
Harry and Ron both stared at her in shock. 'Seriously, mate, that's a bit much, isn't it!'
With Professor Lupin's triumphant return, Defense Against the Dark Arts class became enjoyable once more.
Naturally, he didn't continue with Snape's lesson plan from last class to teach everyone about werewolves. Instead, he brought out the Hinkypunk he had already prepared.
This magical creature had only one leg and would lurk in remote areas at night, emitting misleading light to lure travelers astray.
Once a traveler mistook the Hinkypunk's misleading light for their destination or another traveler, they would be drawn toward it and trapped in swamp mud.
As for what would happen next, that was self-evident.
Happy times always pass especially quickly.
When the bell rang for the end of class, the little lions looked at the Hinkypunk squeaking against the glass wall, still with expressions of lingering interest.
However, most people had other classes coming up, so they could only reluctantly leave.
"Sherlock, Harry, could you please come with me? I have something to discuss with you."
Under the surprised gazes of nearby students, Sherlock and Harry followed Professor Lupin.
Professor Lupin covered the Hinkypunk's box with cloth, picked up the box, and led the two of them all the way to his office on the third floor.
Harry had already been here last year.
At that time, the occupant of the office was Gilderoy Lockhart. The entire office had been covered with photographs of Lockhart, and the room itself was filled with fan letters and gifts for Lockhart.
Now that the office had a new owner, these things had naturally all disappeared.
The current Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's office layout was very simple, one could even say rather spartan.
Sherlock merely glanced around once and immediately gained a deeper understanding of Remus Lupin as a person.
[Capable and efficient, kind and intelligent, financially struggling. Had a mischievous and naughty personality in his youth, now steady in character. Has unresolved issues regarding his identity, with a deeply hidden inferiority complex.]
Remus didn't yet know that Sherlock had seen through him. After settling the box containing the Hinkypunk, he tapped the teapot with his wand, and steam suddenly spurted from the spout.
"Please sit down."
As he spoke, he opened a dusty canister and winked at Harry. "I only have tea bags here, but I imagine you've had quite enough of tea leaves, haven't you?"
Harry looked at Professor Lupin in surprise. "Sir, how—how did you know about that?"
"Professor McGonagall told me."
After saying this, Remus looked at Sherlock.
"Sherlock, I imagine you can guess why I've asked you both to stay, can't you?"
"It's deduction, not guessing."
Sherlock first corrected Professor Lupin's phrasing, then continued.
"I believe it's because Headmaster Dumbledore has chosen to have you teach us how to defend against Dementors."
"That's impressive!"
Remus smiled and gave Sherlock a thumbs up. "Can you tell me how you gue…er, deduced that? I'm quite interested."
Sherlock: "It's quite simple. Defending against Dementors is originally part of Defense Against the Dark Arts curriculum, so it's natural that the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor would teach us.
Of course, I also considered the possibility that Professor Snape might be responsible for the instruction.
But it appears now that Headmaster Dumbledore obviously still has some concerns about that."
Both Harry and Lupin looked at Sherlock in surprise, neither had expected him to consider Snape.
"Well, to be perfectly honest, Professor Snape is indeed more suitable than I am."
Lupin said frankly, "I wouldn't dare claim to be an expert at defending against Dementors."
"But you made the Dementor on the train retreat," Harry suddenly said.
Lupin shook his head and pushed two teacups toward Sherlock and Harry respectively.
"There was only one Dementor on the train, Harry, you need to understand that the more of them there are, the harder they are to deal with.
Of course, since Headmaster Dumbledore has entrusted me with this task, I will certainly do my utmost to help you achieve your goal."
Hearing Lupin say this, Harry was very pleased.
Compared to Snape, he obviously would much rather have Professor Lupin guide him.
Harry picked up his tea and took a sip, finding it tasted much better than the tea in Divination class, he wasn't sure if it was the tea leaves themselves or the person brewing it.
As he was pondering this, he heard Sherlock suddenly say. "Professor, you seem to have other concerns?"
Harry quickly looked toward Lupin and indeed saw a flash of worry cross Lupin's face.
"Sherlock, you're truly very perceptive."
Lupin looked at Sherlock with some surprise, clearly not expecting him to notice even this small detail.
However, what surprised him was yet to come. Sherlock chuckled softly and directly stated the specific content of his concern.
"You're worried about the lack of an effective training environment, aren't you?
Headmaster Dumbledore said it's a very advanced form of magic, far beyond the ordinary wizard level.
Even if one can cast that spell during daily practice, it doesn't mean they can successfully do so when actually facing Dementors."
Lupin stared at Sherlock in a daze, unable to speak for a moment.
Although Harry's mind had been in turmoil these past few days, seeing this scene still made him want to laugh.
Thinking back to when he first met Sherlock, he often wore that same expression.
Now seeing someone else, especially a professor looking just like he had back then was actually quite amusing.
"Sherlock, you're absolutely right."
After a while, Lupin recovered from his surprise.
He let out a long sigh and looked at Sherlock with a complex expression. "If I didn't know it was impossible, I would even suspect you had used Legilimency on me."
"Since coming to the magical world, more than one person has said the same thing to me."
Sherlock looked at Professor Lupin's somewhat pale face with a meaningful gaze.
"Professor Flitwick once told me that everyone at Hogwarts has secrets, and as long as their secrets don't harm others, I have no need to delve into them."
Hearing Sherlock's meaningful words, Lupin's heart skipped a beat.
Thinking of Snape's teaching content from the previous class, he looked at Sherlock again.
He saw those gray eyes staring intently at him, as if they could see right through him.
"Er, you've indeed hit upon it, Sherlock."
Lupin coughed and rather stiffly changed the subject.
"To achieve the best results and truly repel Dementors, it would be best to face one directly during daily practice.
But that's obviously not realistic, you see, Dementors won't cooperate with us obediently..."
"Professor, you're missing the obvious."
"What? The obvious?"
"Why not practice with a Boggart?"
"A Boggart?"
Lupin was stunned at first, then realized. "You mean, what you fear most is... Dementors?"
"Harry, not me."
Lupin looked at Harry in surprise.
Though Harry felt somewhat embarrassed, he still nodded. "Yes, Professor."
"Ha-ha!"
To Harry's surprise, Professor Lupin actually laughed.
"It seems I was mistaken."
"Sorry, Professor, what did you say?"
"In that lesson, I took it for granted that if the Boggart faced you, it would transform into the image of Voldemort."
Harry was stunned. He hadn't expected Professor Lupin would say such a thing.
However, Sherlock noticed another detail that Lupin had directly spoken Voldemort's name.
This was extremely rare in the wizarding world.
Apart from Muggle-borns like themselves who knew nothing about Voldemort, almost no one dared speak that name directly.
Even someone as brave as Professor Minerva McGonagall could only do so after Dumbledore's reminder.
This Professor Remus Lupin was even more interesting than he had imagined. It seemed he would need to increase his contact with this professor going forward.
"Obviously, I was wrong."
Lupin smiled and shook his head. "I made an empiricist error. At the time, I instinctively thought that if Voldemort appeared in the staff room, it would certainly frighten everyone. I didn't expect that what you fear most is actually Dementors."
At this point, Professor Lupin's smile faded and his gaze became deep.
"You fear Dementors, which means what you fear most is fear itself—Harry, you're wiser than I imagined."
"So, you didn't think I was incapable of handling the Boggart..."
Harry murmured.
He suddenly realized and looked toward Sherlock, only to see him looking back with a half-smile.
Harry's face immediately flushed red.
If Professor Lupin thought that way, then Sherlock, who had stopped him along with Professor Lupin at the time, must have thought so too.
Damn it! He had been overthinking things.
From now on, no matter what happened, he must tell Sherlock about it.
Subjective assumptions were unacceptable!
"Haha, so that's what you've been thinking all along?"
Professor Lupin patted Harry's shoulder. "In that case, things are much easier. Finding a Boggart is much simpler than facing Dementors directly."
Having finished discussing Dementors, Lupin didn't end the conversation there but brought up the weekend match.
"I'm very sorry about your broomstick. Is there any way it could be repaired?"
"No chance. That tree smashed it to pieces, just like Malfoy's broomstick."
Hearing this, Lupin couldn't help but sigh deeply. "That Whomping Willow was planted the year I came to Hogwarts. People used to play a game of trying to touch the trunk.
Until later, a boy named Davey Gudgeon nearly lost an eye, and the school stopped letting us go near it.
No broomstick could withstand..."
As he said this, he suddenly sensed something and turned his head to find Sherlock smiling at him.
Professor Lupin frowned slightly, vaguely feeling that things were not so simple.
He had the distinct feeling that this seemingly casual bit of conversation had revealed something else to Sherlock.
It seemed he would need to further reduce his contact with this student in the future.
"I may need to apologize to you both, the lessons on defending against Dementors will have to wait until next term."
When saying this, Lupin appeared somewhat ashamed. "Before the holidays, I still have many things to take care of."
Harry quickly said. "That's perfectly fine. Gryffindor's next match isn't until the second half of next term either. We have plenty of time."
Sherlock spoke up. "Maintaining your health in good condition is more important for you, sir."
Lupin looked deeply at Sherlock. "You're right, Sherlock. My illness really came at a bad time."
Sherlock smiled slightly. "It's alright. It gets easier once you're used to it."
Lupin: '(°ー°〃)
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