In the blink of an eye, Hogwarts, now missing several teachers, became even more chaotic.
In particular, those teachers had all taught core subjects.
Compared with fringe subjects such as Muggle Studies and Care of Magical Creatures, the subjects that were now without teachers were far more important.
Whether for everyday life or a potential battle, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Transfiguration were all of paramount importance.
Of course, the position cursed by Voldemort now had to be taught by a sixth-year student.
The students were the most surprised. Most of them were simply curious and shocked, without any other strong emotions.
Humans were forgetful creatures. After Malfoy returned to school, apart from some initial unease, everything quickly returned to normal. He had done nothing out of line.
"Why are they letting that traitor's student teach us?"
Ron, tacitly assuming that Malfoy and Snape were in cahoots, angrily waved his knife and fork as he questioned them.
It was lunchtime.
"You're also Snape's student. Does that make you a traitor?"
Hermione suddenly spoke from her seat not far away.
"You're taking his side?"
Ron's face immediately showed a look of surprise.
"I'm just refuting your logic. Besides, we must follow Professor McGonagall's instructions for now and avoid unnecessary suspicion and infighting."
Ironically, she wasn't actually doing that herself.
In fact, she was the one who harboured the most doubts about Malfoy, and she was carrying out her mission with remarkable persistence, even learning to become an Animagus in the process.
"This is ridiculous!" Ron roared angrily.
He slammed his hand against the table.
"Don't frighten your junior."
Hermione reached out and gently patted the head of a small Gryffindor student sitting beside her. The first-year seemed startled by his House prefect and leaned back in his chair.
Ron's level of disgust was perfectly understandable. It stemmed from both old and new grudges.
To a large extent, he was simply unhappy that this classmate's status had suddenly risen. No matter how high a prefect's status was, it could never surpass that of a teacher.
What made things even more frustrating was that, in order not to disrupt their classes, Malfoy had taken up the position immediately—just one day after the announcement.
It was far too abrupt for both teachers and students.
It was difficult for people to accept.
"We'll see."
Ron threw out the harsh remark, then abruptly stood up and left the Great Hall, leaving everyone in a bad mood.
However, whether they were willing or not, after lunch they still had to accept the reality of being taught by their former classmate.
In the classroom, Malfoy wore a brand-new, pure-black robe with silver threads embroidered along the edges, giving him a simple yet mature appearance.
He stood calmly on the podium, looking down at the students before him with an air of composure.
Apart from the elaborately made robe, however, he was no different from before.
"I'm no stranger to any of you, so I won't waste time introducing myself. Not long ago, we were all receiving guidance from our teachers together. Now that our roles have changed, I've almost adapted, and I hope you can adapt as quickly as possible."
"Those who have a problem with me…"
The students thought he was about to say something polite.
"Just put up with it. I have no patience."
Malfoy suddenly changed his tone.
His voice was low and solemn as he scanned his former classmates.
There was absolutely no enthusiasm or passion for teaching.
In fact, he had no experience as a teacher.
Nor did he have any desire to become one.
However, Snape's actions had completely disrupted the normal teaching arrangements.
At Professor McGonagall's request—or rather, for the sake of further consolidating his position with Voldemort—he had agreed for various reasons.
Although he did not need to teach every subject, he still had to teach students from several year groups.
Taking students from first year all the way to seventh year was also a huge undertaking.
Coincidentally, his first lesson was with his own classmates.
His abilities had already been refined from rough jade into a precious gem capable of shining brightly.
Nothing could stop his strength from increasing. Whether it was combat ability or his reserves of knowledge, he was more than qualified to teach.
For Malfoy, perhaps his greatest opponent now was time.
He had too little of it.
Both Dumbledore and Voldemort possessed far deeper reserves of knowledge and experience. They had had ample time to accumulate magical power, resulting in a far greater magical force.
Wizards, on the other hand, generally had to rely on the passage of time for their magical power to grow slowly, unless they found other methods or shortcuts to increase it.
Clearly, Malfoy had already taken most of those shortcuts.
Whether it was Salazar's gift or some other fortuitous encounter, almost everything that could be accelerated had already reached its limit.
Another possible name for shortcuts was wrong paths.
Using external methods could always bring consequences.
At this point, he could only let nature take its course.
Of course, handling this group of ordinary students was more than enough for him.
"The practice of non-verbal spells can end here."
He clapped his hands lightly, drawing everyone's attention back to him.
"Now we'll learn a more specialized form of magic—wandless spellcasting."
"Am I listening to your joke? How can you cast spells without a wand…?"
Cough, cough.
Ron quickly received his first punishment.
Ron hadn't deliberately provoked him. He had simply loudly challenged the statement because he couldn't find anything wrong with his own reasoning.
Then his breath suddenly caught.
His face flushed red before turning deathly pale.
The rapid change in his complexion was so sudden that it was difficult to follow.
"I may not have told you this, but the rules remain the same. Respect the teacher, and raise your hand if you don't understand something or have an opinion."
"Mr. Weasley might want to go back to school and learn some manners. There should be some basic etiquette courses before entering Hogwarts."
"I just used a non-verbal spell and a wandless spell, so he shouldn't have been able to react."
"All right. Time is precious, Miss Granger."
Malfoy called on Hermione.
"Come on, Miss Granger. Shall we tell them?"
Hermione's lips twitched slightly.
She wasn't particularly enthusiastic about answering questions in front of Malfoy, especially when she was already thinking about the possibility of having to conduct surveillance in the future. Her feelings were conflicted.
Perhaps there had simply been a misunderstanding about her posture.
She had merely rested her right elbow on the table, placed her palm against her cheek, and stared blankly out the window. If one wasn't paying attention, they might genuinely think she had raised her hand.
In fact, her palm did not even extend above the top of her head.
Even so, she offered little explanation.
She stood up and answered in her usual declarative tone.
"Long ago, wizards did not use wands."
"Wands are an invention unique to European wizards."
"A good wand can guide our magic, making spells more precise and powerful."
"However, even now, there are still a considerable number of wizards in certain regions who do not use wands."
"If we had the opportunity to meet Native American or African shamans, we would discover that they might not use wands at all."
"They have their own beliefs and communicate with heaven and earth through ancient sacrificial rituals to obtain magical power, while using mysterious herbs to heal injuries."
"They believe that using natural herbs to prepare potions produces better results."
"Very good."
Malfoy glanced briefly at Hermione.
"Please sit down."
"However, knowledge limited to textbooks cannot salvage the House Cup."
"The House Cup is practically meaningless now."
Hermione thought this to herself before averting her gaze from Malfoy.
She simply accepted the questions and answered them as usual.
Her thoughts, however, were focused on her opponent's weaknesses and how she could use her Animagus form without arousing suspicion.
She was also considering how to conduct her intelligence-gathering operations.
Her intuition was actually far more obsessive than Ron's.
She firmly believed that the substitute teacher standing before her must have some connection to Snape or the Dark Lord.
Hermione didn't notice that Pansy was staring at her with a somewhat annoyed expression.
Pansy was willing to answer, but she lacked the ability to do so.
She had no interest in Native American or African shamans.
The real protagonist deserving her attention was right in front of her.
When Malfoy stood on the podium, she realized that his seemingly thin figure had actually been an illusion. He was tall and slender.
Wearing a teacher's robes, he possessed a restrained, scholarly air that made him seem even more mature.
If one ignored his still somewhat immature face, everything seemed perfectly natural, and no one questioned his qualifications.
His new position as a professor seemed to have added an indescribable air of mystery to Malfoy.
"The purpose of this lesson is not for everyone to master wandless spellcasting. Sacrificing the quality of a spell for the sake of concealment is not necessarily a good thing, especially when your skill level is insufficient."
"However, in any future battle, you must be careful to guard against those who do not carry wands."
"They may look like ordinary Muggles, but they may actually be capable of using magic just like any of you."
During the previous holiday, Voldemort had granted him considerable authority.
At least within the manor, those demi-humans, werewolves, and vampires no longer dared to act recklessly in his presence.
Malfoy had also taken the opportunity to get to know wizards from various regions and gain a reasonable understanding of their characteristics and weaknesses.
He had originally planned to reveal this information to the students of Hogwarts through other means, but now he could only do it this way.
"Wandless spellcasting is a skill that can give you an additional advantage. It is not a necessity."
"This lesson is simply meant to emphasize that you must always remain vigilant in battle."
"I'm not asking you to force your way in…"
Malfoy spoke calmly.
At that very moment, the deep, resonant tolling of bells rang out from afar, perfectly timed.
"That concludes today's lesson. If you're interested, feel free to ask me anything after class."
He added one final remark.
"All right. See you all tomorrow."
Professor Malfoy's first lesson had come to an end.