"B–Better be careful, you know… the curse on the Defense Against the Dark Arts position…" Quirinus Quirrell stammered nervously.
His words weren't entirely an excuse. After all, history had proven that the curse Voldemort placed on that position was real—otherwise, Hogwarts' Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers wouldn't have turned into such disposable resources over the years.
"Fair enough. We should be cautious."
By this time, even with Dumbledore's immense prestige, he could hardly find anyone truly qualified to teach the class. Bringing in Remus Lupin during the third year was already an act of desperation.
Still, when Charles thought of Quirrell's ultimate fate, he couldn't help but wonder—was that curse part of the reason for his downfall?Maybe Voldemort had simply shot himself in the foot.
Of course, Quirrell's defeat had been inevitable from the start. Dumbledore—the ever-calculating old fox—had arranged everything down to the smallest detail long before the term began.
"I heard you volunteered to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, didn't you?" Charles asked.
Quirrell nodded slowly.
"Yes, because… no one else would take the post. And, well, my theoretical knowledge isn't too bad. So I offered to teach for a year. But who could have known trouble would find me before classes even started…"
He sounded almost like he was confessing—pain and regret flashed across his face, though only briefly. It was far too late for remorse now.
Voldemort was like a cursed parasite he couldn't shake off. Quirrell admitted that in the beginning, his mind had been weak—seduced by the promises of power and prestige that Voldemort painted so vividly.
It wasn't until the Dark Lord possessed him that he realized just how terrifying it was to ally oneself with a dark wizard.
"Running into vampires in the Black Forest really was unlucky," Charles said casually, continuing the thread.
Quirrell nodded again but avoided lingering on the subject. He was terrified that Voldemort might sense his fatigue and disgust—if that happened, punishment would follow.
"I–I think we should talk about… about last time. You remember, right? I wanted you to help me… introduce some Pokémon in Defense Against the Dark Arts—so the young wizards would know how to handle them when they appear."
"Preferably some really dangerous ones… like, um, the ghostly kind."
'Looks like Quirrell figured out the details of my floor's challenge last night,' Charles thought. 'I really wonder what kind of job Snape's doing over there.'
Quirrell had practically read out the ID numbers of Charles's Gengar family stationed under the fourth-floor corridor. There was no mistaking his intent.But Snape had supposedly inspected the area himself and reported nothing unusual—only to get bitten by a dog in the process. What a mess.
"Yes, it's true that Ghost-type Pokémon can be dangerous. I'll make sure to cover that in my own classes. Usually, the best way to counter them is to use other Ghost-types or Dark-type moves," Charles replied.
"But—but we can't always have Pokémon at hand! I want to teach students how to use magic to deal with Pokémon," Quirrell said hastily.
Using Pokémon to fight Pokémon…A decent idea—if you had any Pokémon to begin with.
Quirrell certainly didn't believe he could steal one from Charles. Unless the "master" hidden on the back of his head acted personally, he had no chance.
But every time Voldemort took control of his body, it drained Quirrell's life force, leaving him in unbearable pain.
"You've got a point," Charles conceded. "All right, I'll prepare something. Come find me before your next class next week."
He didn't make things difficult for Quirrell. After all, those obstacle challenges were designed for Harry, not Quirrell.
In truth, Dumbledore only wanted to test whether Lily's protection still held power against Voldemort.But to Charles, that seemed unnecessarily complicated—he'd rather just have Harry touch Quirrell and see what happened.
He'd mentioned this idea to Dumbledore once, but the headmaster had explained that testing the magic's effectiveness was only part of it. His real goal was to see whether Harry could, and would, shoulder the burden of facing Voldemort himself.
Dumbledore was cultivating courage in the boy. If Harry turned out to be a coward—unwilling to confront the Dark Lord—then Dumbledore would have to change his plan and deal with Voldemort personally.
Anyway, now that Voldemort's greatest secret had already been exposed by Charles, eliminating him wasn't exactly difficult anymore.
The weekend arrived once again.
The Arceus Game Company was finally taking shape; most operations could now run without Charles's direct involvement. For once, he didn't have to rush off.
But another major event awaited him—the Pokémon Battle Club's first gathering!
"Since the students joined the club, they'll need Pokémon that truly belong to them," he muttered. "And the club's activities… I need to plan those too."
Then it hit him.
"Wait—something's off. I started with a simple P.E. class template… how did this turn into overtime?!"
Charles suddenly realized that his dream of being a lazy, carefree Hogwarts professor had gone up in smoke—he didn't even have weekends anymore!
No wonder Dumbledore had approved his club proposal so fast—the old man must have been waiting for this!
"I've been tricked!"
"Oh well," he sighed. "A bit of work now, but I'll just recruit some students to handle the club business later. Then I can slack off again."
After all, the club's main focus was battling—once there were referees, he wouldn't need to micromanage anything else.
"And for events… we could have paths like the Champion's Road, Stardust Trail, and Path of Legends."
He'd need more time to design the Stardust Trail, but the Path of Legends would be easy. He could just station his own Pokémon as guardians in different parts of the nature reserve.
As for the Champion's Road, Charles already had a rough idea.
Eight gyms might be too much—but weren't there four houses ready to use?The Pokémon he used in the first lesson could serve as the guardian mascots of each house. Once a student earned all four house badges, the Hogwarts Conference could begin!
Of course, a real tournament would be more exciting with a bigger crowd.
"I'll talk with the other Heads of House soon," Charles said, rubbing his chin. "Flitwick and the others are interested enough in Pokémon. The only problem is… Snape."
Still, it didn't have to be Snape. Charles hadn't forgotten—he was a Slytherin himself, after all.
(End of Chapter)