Return of Salazar Slytherin

143- Acting Professor – Lupin

Lupin sat down by the makeshift fireplace and took out several bags from his suitcase—food he had scavenged.

It wasn't uncommon for wizards to fall on hard times, but it was rare for one to starve to death. Even the least talented wizard could easily find something to eat.

Lupin was no exception. He had collected a package of relief food from a Muggle church in the nearby town and also grabbed some near-expired items from a supermarket's storage room.

The Muggle stock clerks would pile these items into a shopping cart and leave them in the back, and Lupin would take a portion without anyone noticing...

He first heated a can of pea soup over the fire, then warmed up some bread and ham he'd received with the soup and devoured everything hungrily.

Still feeling unsatisfied after finishing his meal, Lupin boiled a few eggs using the empty soup can as a makeshift container.

As he carefully blew on the hot egg and peeled off the shell, a tapping sound came from the window—bird beaks knocking on the window frame.

Hmm?

Lupin opened the window, and an owl swooped in with a gust of cold air, delivering a letter into his hand. After its mission was complete, the owl flew out again, returning shortly after with a large rat in its beak. It settled by the fireplace to enjoy its rodent feast.

Recognizing the familiar handwriting on the envelope, Lupin sighed, resisting the urge to toss the letter into the fire, and instead opened it to read.

As he read through the contents, Lupin couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in surprise. The staunchly pure-blood supremacist Salazar Slytherin had left behind something this useful?

He would have expected a spell to "identify werewolves among the crowd" given Slytherin's reputation!

However, with such a spell and potion, Dumbledore's proposal became worth serious consideration.

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As a core member of the Order of the Phoenix who had made great contributions during the wizarding war, Lupin's downfall wasn't due to any lack of support from Dumbledore or his old comrades.

It was Lupin himself who couldn't untangle the knots in his heart.

He was terrified of accidentally infecting innocent people when he transformed into a werewolf, and he couldn't face the memories of the past.

Every familiar scene brought back recollections of his friends, which felt like a knife to his heart.

Now, with the Restoration Spell, he no longer had to worry about harming innocent students on the night of the full moon.

But what truly moved him was a line in the letter: James' child is also attending school now. He looks just like James but has his mother's eyes.

Lupin extinguished the fire in the hearth and stepped out into the night.

The next morning, before the sun had risen, Lupin was already standing outside the gates of Hogwarts.

At breakfast, the students were surprised to see that the spot on the staff table, usually occupied by Professor Lockhart, was now taken by a disheveled and shabby-looking man.

Seated next to him, Professor Snape's face was as dark as coal—No! Even darker than the coal.

Suddenly, the students had lost all interest in eating, as they whispered to each other, speculating about this unexpected guest and trying to gather information from their friends.

"Students." Seeing that most of the people had arrived in the Great Hall, Dumbledore stood up and tapped his spoon against the rim of his goblet.

The Great Hall immediately fell silent.

"Due to Professor Lockhart's ill health, Defense Against the Dark Arts for the next two weeks will be taught by Professor Remus John Lupin," Dumbledore announced.

As soon as these words were spoken, the hall erupted in a clamor. Some of Lockhart's die-hard fans looked at Dumbledore in disbelief, shocked by the decision.

What had happened to Professor Lockhart?

How could he be absent for such a long time?

The commotion lasted only a moment before subsiding on its own, as eyewitnesses from the hospital wing informed the fans that Lockhart had accidentally used magic to make all the bones in his body disappear...

This left his fans speechless.

Compared to such a dramatic reason, the fact that the school had hired a substitute professor didn't seem worth discussing.

By this strange twist of fate, the students didn't pay much attention to Professor Lupin's shabby appearance.

When Lockhart, lying in the hospital wing, was informed by his fans that the school had appointed a substitute for him, he tried to rise from his bed and march to the headmaster's office to protest.

He wanted to convince Dumbledore that he was only suffering from a 'minor illness' and that there was no need for a replacement.

However, he had severely underestimated the seriousness of his condition—he had removed a third of the bones in his body with his own spell. This was not something that could be cured in just a day or two, especially since Madam Pomfrey had chosen a more conservative treatment plan, relying primarily on herbal remedies.

As a result, Lockhart promptly fell out of bed, shattering the bones that had only just begun to heal.

Lockhart's hospital stay was extended to a full month.

When Rhys heard the news, he was in quite a good mood—he figured that Lockhart had hit rock bottom, and there couldn't possibly be a professor worse than him.

'Surely this Lupin wouldn't be as bad… right?'

Professor Lupin appeared in the Great Hall one morning, and by the next day, he had already begun teaching classes.

Strangely enough, before class, several of Lockhart's female fans had vowed to give Lupin a hard time. But by the end of the lesson, their tone had completely changed.

"Only a professor like this deserves to be Lockhart's substitute!"

"I think Professor Lockhart should focus on recovering, and leave the teaching to Professor Lupin."

Even Rhys became curious—what exactly had Professor Lupin done in his lessons?

Soon it was time for Rhys' DADA class.

When Professor Lupin released a Boggart from a wardrobe and easily dealt with it, Rhys smiled in relief: finally, after two years, the third Defense Against the Dark Arts professor was a normal person!

Unfortunately, this professor was only a temporary substitute for a month…

Rhys's gaze darkened as he pondered.

In less than a week, Professor Lupin had completely turned around his initially unfavorable reputation and won over the students.

Compared to last year's Professor Quirrell, Lupin was infinitely more reliable. And for the students who were "fortunate" enough to have taken Lockhart's classes, Lupin seemed leagues ahead.

Meanwhile, a storm was brewing outside the school.

After Mr. Jamison Henry announced the formula for the Human Restoration Spell and the modified Wolfsbane potion, the wizarding world was abuzz with heated discussions.

Due to the unique standing of the Greengrass family, almost everyone believed that the Slytherin manuscript was authentic. The main debate was whether these spells and potions were truly as effective as advertised.

Of course, a few of Damocles' friends had heard of his original Wolfsbane potion, but given the power and influence of the Greengrass family—and with Damocles already dead—no one dared to come forward and expose the truth.

Then, one day, people began to realize that the plot of this Human Restoration Spell seemed oddly similar to something Lockhart had written in one of his books.

Could it be…?

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12 Advance Chapters—