"Any questions?"
Facing Grindelwald's question this time, none of the 'warriors' dared to raise their hands.
"Since there are no further questions," Grindelwald pulled out his pre-prepared teaching materials. "Then kindly keep your talkative little mouths shut, and let's begin the lesson."
"..."
The Gryffindor students who hadn't joined the Death Eaters looked as though they were preparing for a siege at the prospect of learning Dark Arts.
It wasn't that they were particularly resistant, but they had to at least appear resistant; they were Gryffindors, after all.
"Take a look at these first; they're all very basic."
Grindelwald casually waved his hand, and a pile of parchment fluttered down, distributing itself among the young wizards.
Then Tom lifted a cage at his feet. Prepared by Grindelwald, it opened automatically, and dozens of toads hopped onto the desks in front of the students and obediently settled down.
Harry picked up the parchment that had landed near him. "Bat-Bogey Hex, Inverted Spell, Skull Expansion Charm..."
The parchment was covered with Dark Arts spells, wand movements, and applications—some common, some not.
Without exception, they were all basic, relatively weak Dark Arts spells, commonly known as jinxes.
"You may begin learning. A few of them are ones I created myself, so you likely haven't learned them all yet."
Grindelwald found a chair and sat down next to Tom. "I'll check on your progress in half an hour."
After saying that, he and Tom began to chat over tea. As for why there were tea sets in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom... perhaps Dumbledore had put them there?
After all, it wasn't surprising that the headmaster would think students might want tea during class.
That was Tom's explanation to the other professors.
It was also worth mentioning that other classrooms also had tea sets and even other things.
"..."
Looking at the two professors who seemed completely uninterested in explaining spells, a young wizard asked timidly, "Professor, aren't you... going to teach them?"
"Teach what?" Grindelwald paused, then realized, "Oh, these? They're all very basic; no need to teach them. You'll learn them in no time."
In his view, the spells' difficulty wasn't much different from saying one plus one equals two.
So, did they even need to be taught?
"You've obviously never been a professor before."
Tom chimed in. "You need to break it down for them, explaining every single step in detail. That's how you teach them those spells."
"No, Tom."
Grindelwald shook his head. "You underestimate them. If it takes that much effort to teach them, there's no point in learning Dark Arts; they might as well drop their wands and go farm with the Muggles."
"..."
The young wizards pursed their lips in frustration. Then a few, heads buzzing with enthusiasm, immediately raised their hands, shouting that they could learn it themselves.
They were met with dozens of murderous gazes.
But there was nothing to be done; things had come to this point, so they could only try to learn.
Seeing this, Grindelwald and Tom exchanged a smile.
Grindelwald had never actually taught; he hadn't even graduated. At sixteen, he was expelled from school for causing near-fatal injuries to his classmates during his Dark Arts experiments.
It's worth noting that Grindelwald's Dark Arts aptitude was also ten (maximum level), just like Tom Riddle.
While he had never taught, he wasn't completely ignorant. The Dark Arts on those parchments were indeed simple, but that was only true for him and Tom.
He was expelled from his school at sixteen for researching Dark Arts, and his school promoted them.
Tom, during his school years, had cursed the Defense Against the Dark Arts professorship, a curse even the then-young Dumbledore couldn't break.
And this was the original Riddle; the current Tom, in Grindelwald's estimation, would probably be at a level worthy of being called a 'Dark Lord' by around fifteen.
Therefore, the simplicity of those basic Dark Arts was only for them; for most wizards, they required study to master.
However, he wasn't making these students learn on their own because he couldn't teach—he was doing it intentionally.
...
Hogwarts, fifth-year Defense Against the Dark Arts class, during the study of basic Dark Magic.
"Hey? Ron, you seem pretty familiar with this."
Seeing Ron reciting the spell naturally and waving his wand, Seamus scratched his head in confusion. "Do you deal with Dark Arts often?"
"..."
"Uh... why are you looking at me like that?"
"No, uh... yes! I just see Professor Tom using it so much that I'm familiar with it."
"But Professor Tom doesn't seem to have used such basic Dark Arts before, has he?"
"..."
Ron's face darkened. "Anyway, don't get the wrong idea! I'm a Weasley! Could I be a Dark Wizard?!"
"That's true."
Seamus nodded in agreement. He knew the Weasley family's reputation in the wizarding world; Mr. Weasley's famous line, "I am mortal with evil," had shocked him for a long time.
"Then it must be a matter of your talent."
Bang!
Seamus calmly retrieved the exploding wand, took out a handkerchief to wipe the charred tabletop clean, and said, "I didn't expect your dark magic talent to be so high."
"..."
Ron's lips twitched. "Don't talk about me; look at yours... I don't even know if it's high or not."
The concept of dark magic is broad, but most of it is for the purpose of causing harm.
And Seamus's was clearly one of them, like the 'Thunder Explosion.'
That's right, Thunder Explosion is also a type of dark magic.
But in Ron's eyes, Seamus's dark magic talent was a bit strange.
If you said he was talented, every time he used dark magic, it exploded.
If you said he wasn't talented, everything he used exploded, as if everything he used was dark magic.
Ron, with a strange expression, shook his head. It's good enough if he doesn't get discovered to be a dark wizard. Why bother with all that?
...
On the other side, Harry and the others.
"Finally learned it! Luckily, I had learned it before, just not very proficiently."
Malfoy, having cast the 'Bat-Bogey Hex' on a toad, watched in amazement as the snot from the toad's nose transformed into bats that flew out.
"Let's see what I learn next."
He continued reading; the spells on the parchment became increasingly difficult as they progressed. "This is... a Love Charm?"
This spell's effect was similar to a love potion, but its power and duration were slightly weaker.
However, upon seeing the spell, Malfoy's mind flashed to a head of flowing red hair.
"No, no!"
Malfoy shook his head violently; he wouldn't allow himself to do such a thing.
Harry, standing nearby, instinctively shivered, then turned to see the strange scene. "Malfoy, what's wrong?"
"Nothing... Oh, right! Where's Cassandra Volle?"
Malfoy awkwardly changed the subject.
"Her? She already knows all that."
Harry pointed to the seat closest to Tom in the classroom. "She's probably learning something else now, though I have a feeling she might have already learned even the seventh-year curriculum."
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