"When facing Red Caps that mainly appear in the Norwegian region..."
Professor Vitam lectured eloquently at the podium while a Red Cap clawed ferociously in a nearby cage.
"Are you sure she won't notice?"
Terry tilted his head toward Sterling and whispered. Sterling held up his textbook to hide his mouth.
"Of course. I learnt distraction techniques from Ron for two Chocolate Frogs. He guaranteed they were foolproof."
A Transfiguration notebook was currently tucked inside his raised textbook.
"...I honestly don't think Ron's techniques are trustworthy."
"No choice. I have Professor McGonagall's assessment this afternoon. I must study more Transfiguration!"
"If even your Transfiguration can't... Hey! Put it away quickly; Professor Vitam seems to be walking this way!"
Terry elbowed Sterling eight times in one second, nearly knocking the notebook from his hands.
Professor Flitwick, Captain Robert, do you know? There's hope for the Quidditch championship right here!
According to Harry, when Beaters face off, they often engage in "friendly physical exchanges". Gryffindor's previous Quidditch captain excelled at this...
And Terry, with his eight-elbow-per-second technique, Sterling dared assert that once he joined the Quidditch team, Ravenclaw's days of trembling at matches would be gone forever.
Sterling rubbed his elbowed arm and transfigured the notebook into an exquisite leaf bookmark, pretending to take Defence Against the Dark Arts notes.
"Sometimes we use potions to lure Red Caps to capture them as magical experimental materials. Of course, what suits them best is actually magic-rich..."
Vitam stopped lecturing, looking at Sterling with some annoyance. Was this Ravenclaw's distraction technique?
Such obvious magical reactions... Perhaps ordinary adult wizards couldn't detect anything, but for a professor, especially the alchemy-skilled Vitam, it stood out like a light bulb in darkness.
Moreover, magic aside, from her perspective, she could see the thickness of Sterling's raised book suddenly decrease significantly.
Under Vitam's gaze, Sterling smiled awkwardly, mentally preparing to add some practical exercises when teaching Ron Charms.
Unexpectedly, Vitam, whose strictness rivalled even McGonagall's, glanced away and continued explaining Red Cap capture methods.
"Did she notice?"
Sterling quietly asked Terry.
"If you want to deceive yourself, then she didn't."
"Alright..." Sterling could only obediently listen to class.
Actually, the current Defence Against the Dark Arts class generally received positive reviews.
Vitam's abilities were fully demonstrated when facing undead trolls. Despite the troll that slipped through, after studying undead troll strength, Hogwarts students acknowledged Vitam's magical level.
Mainly, previous Defence professors had been too mediocre. When a decent one suddenly appeared, even with poor teaching, they accepted it for her magical expertise.
Besides that initial unique lesson, her subsequent classes were quite conventional, honestly teaching from textbooks without much expansion.
Yet even so, upperclassmen gave overwhelmingly positive reviews.
Sterling could hardly imagine what strange people the previous Defence teachers had been.
Though quality-wise, their year was definitely optimal, meaning Quirrell carried the Dark Lord himself. One could say he was indirectly the Dark Lord's disciple?
Sterling's mind wandered freely when suddenly his gaze swept to Harry.
Besides the "Saviour" title, Harry actually had a more widely known nickname: "The Boy Who Lived", commemorating his survival from the Killing Curse. Or rather, survival from the Dark Lord's hands.
By the second interpretation, all Hogwarts students could count as "Boys/Girls Who Lived".
Time always passed quickly while daydreaming.
Just as Sterling fantasised about the Dark Lord secretly recruiting dark creatures in the Forbidden Forest to prepare full-scale attacks on Hogwarts, the class bell rang.
"Let's eat first. You wouldn't want to fail Professor McGonagall's assessment from lack of strength due to hunger, right?"
Terry nudged Sterling, who pitifully shook his head, indicating the desktop.
"Come to my office."
Silver thread formed these words on his desk, obviously Professor Vitam's handiwork.
"She won't delay point deductions, will she?"
"Impossible. Hogwarts professors usually deduct points immediately... But even if she did, just remember to add them back."
Hermione and Padma's attention was drawn to the silver thread.
"Is this the alchemy application?"
Since Vitam used alchemical tools to blow up two undead troll heads, her alchemist identity couldn't be hidden, briefly sparking an alchemy learning trend.
But she firmly refused every request for alchemy instruction. With Hogwarts' alchemy books not in the library, the trend lasted only two or three days.
Hermione remained curious about such things. After all, alchemy was famous even in the Muggle world.
"Perhaps... Though I think this is just a remote-control spell, at most using silver thread as a good magical conductor."
Sterling found no alchemy traces on it but couldn't be certain. He was still a beginner.
"Well, you should see the professor first. You know the location, right? Not far from the classroom."
Terry patted Sterling's shoulder. "I'm starving now, so I won't wait. No problem?"
"Truly heartbreaking..." Sterling stuffed his packed bag into Terry's arms and jogged toward Professor Vitam's office.
Vitam's office looked unremarkable from outside except for a bright red button on the door handle.
Sterling tentatively pressed it.
"Bang!"
A large burst of red powder erupted but didn't stain Sterling. It gathered in midair, forming a plane, from which Professor Vitam's face emerged.
She looked at Sterling, nodded, and the office door opened. The red plane reverted to powder flowing back into the handle button.
"Wow, interesting!"
This was clearly an alchemy application. In Sterling's plans, achieving this level would let him repair Terry's Shield Charm necklace.
"Please enter, Sterling Page."
Vitam's lazy voice came from inside. Sterling entered, finding the office unexpectedly simple.
No luxurious or personal-style decorations.
No numerous alchemical tools Sterling expected.
Just an office desk and chairs, two rows of small sofas with a low table for receiving students, and three bookshelves.
Vitam was removing her scarf to hang on a hook beside the bookshelf. Seeing Sterling, she gestured for him to sit on the sofa.
"Good afternoon, Professor Vitam."
"Good afternoon. This is our first meeting outside class, right? I must first thank you for stopping that troll. Otherwise student casualties would have been very troublesome."
Professor Vitam sat across from Sterling with a lollipop, her right eye showing a red dot as she examined Sterling with interest.
"...Actually, that troll was Harry..."
"I was specially invited by Professor Dumbledore. We maintain close contact, so no need to deceive me. Harry instinctively used magic? Only Gryffindors would believe that."
Sterling felt uncomfortable under her right eye's gaze. As he tried adjusting his posture, he saw Vitam pull out a bottle of blue-pink mist.
"You shouldn't be unfamiliar with this, right?"
She shook the bottle, mist swirling within the glass.
"Mist from Avalon's boundary."
For the second time, Sterling heard this name from someone in the present world.
But... Sterling recalled Professor Vitam's performance on Halloween...
It seemed inconsistent with Professor Dumbledore's description of "surpassing wizardly limits"?