Chapter 4
It is said that back then, Voldemort desperately coveted the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, but was firmly rejected by Dumbledore.
Because of this, he placed some curse on the post and every wizard who would ever take up the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts will be affected by it.
Since that time, no Defense Against the Dark Arts professor has ever managed to safely complete a full year of teaching.
Every year, Hogwarts must search for a new wizard to fill this position. Faced with Dumbledore's proposal, Lucian thought quickly.
The curse of Voldemort was certainly terrifying, but as long as one was careful enough, it shouldn't actually endanger one's life. After all, later on, the werewolf Lupin also took this position and still managed to leave Hogwarts safely in the end.
If that frail werewolf could do it, there was no reason he couldn't.
Moreover, he had camille — someone burdened by a powerful curse — accompanying him. The other party was innately extremely sensitive to curses. The two of them might even be able to discover something about Voldemort's curse.
The short-term danger could be managed. But what about the longer term? It was now… 1992. It seemed the main plot of the saviour was about to begin?
After living in the magical world for more than thirty years, he had already forgotten many of the finer details from the original books.
It was foreseeable that if he became a professor at Hogwarts, he would inevitably become entangled in the main storyline.
Although the number of deaths in the books wasn't large, even someone as powerful as Professor McGonagall suffered serious injuries during the war, and Snape was ultimately killed by that nagini.
Even though the number of people who died in the war was not high, from a theoretical standpoint, there still existed considerable risk.
But did he really have any other choice?
For Dumbledore to even allow him to continue studying dark magic was already an unimaginable concession.
As for what would come after… he could only take things one step at a time. At present, teaching at Hogwarts was his only option. Therefore, the most important thing right now was to show the proper sincerity.
"Sorry, Professor, I was too surprised just now — this choice is truly overwhelming." When he spoke, Lucian had already made his final decision.
Dumbledore merely looked at him calmly, without even a trace of a smile on his face.
"It will be my honor to be able to teach at Hogwarts. I am very happy to accept your invitation. However—" Lucian drained the cup of black tea in one go. A touch of solemnity appeared in his calm gaze.
Dumbledore sensed his seriousness and slightly furrowed his brows — it seemed this matter would not be so easily resolved.
Would Lucian's requests have something to do with dark magic? He hoped the young man wouldn't make any excessive demands…
"I can be considered, barely, an educator. I have my own philosophy and pursuit when it comes to how to teach students."
Simply taking the position out of necessity and then slacking off like Quirrell did, wasting an entire year for seven grades of students — that was not Lucian's style.
He would not take responsibility for other people's lives, but neither would he deliberately waste them.
"Of course, I can sense that your students are all extremely outstanding."
And it was precisely because of this that, if the negotiation failed today, Dumbledore would not allow Lucian to continue operating freely.
With Voldemort's shadow rising once again, he had to reduce every other potential threat to the absolute minimum.
"If I am to become the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, I hope to be allowed to teach in my own way. The school must respect and cooperate with my educational standards ."
"Your standards? You're not going to teach the students dark magic in class, are you?"
"No, Professor, your jokes are too much." Lucian snapped his fingers. Barton silently brought over two slices of Basque cheesecake and replaced their drinks.
"With the current standards of Hogwarts students, they are still far from qualified to learn dark magic from me."
Dumbledore gave Lucian a long, deep look and did not rush to reply.
But similarly, this time he was not in the mood to thank Barton — one of his beloved and proud students had just been insulted. As headmaster, he could not simply ignore Lucian's earlier remark.
"I would like to know — after you become a professor, what will your teaching plan be?"
"First, I hope to change the class format of Defense Against the Dark Arts. I want to cancel the small-class system of two houses at a time, and instead gather students from all four houses together, while adding two extra lessons per week."
Dumbledore thought for a moment, then shook his head.
"Lucian, if we put students from all four houses together, the class size would be over forty. I don't believe such a teaching method would benefit the students' development — you cannot possibly give individual attention to every single one of them."
"Of course I can. Through in-class quizzes and monthly exams, I can easily keep track of each student's progress."
"In-class quizzes? Monthly exams?"
Although Dumbledore was hearing these concepts for the first time, he still roughly understood what Lucian meant.
"Very good. This system has been implemented in the Muggle education system for a long time and has produced astonishing results. Through massive amounts of practice questions, they continuously produce top-performing elite students."
"Muggle education? You have knowledge in this area as well? Ah yes, of course — you've received an Outstanding in your Muggle Studies N.E.W.T."
Dumbledore, hearing about Muggle education concepts for the first time, immediately became interested.
He considered himself an educator as well, and being headmaster of Hogwarts had always been a source of great pride for him.
Faced with Lucian's entirely new educational philosophy, he quickly forgot his earlier displeasure and began to engage deeply in discussion with the young man.
The more they talked, the more amazed Dumbledore became at how fresh — no, how 'professional' — Lucian's ideas were!
Every single concept Lucian put forward was backed by real teaching experience.
Only through deep conversation did Dumbledore learn that ever since Lucian took Jeffery under his wing after graduation, he had been consciously seeking out talented students to teach.
He put forward the principle of "teaching students according to their aptitude," guiding different students to understand magic in various ways, and had even obtained the past O.W.L. exam contents from the Ministry of Magic.
After internal assessment, every student who had reached the required years of study had achieved excellent results.
"You're saying that every student who reached the required year received at least six O's?"
"Lucian, if this is true, then this is a truly remarkable educational achievement."
"Hm… teaching according to aptitude? It's a novel and excellent philosophy. But precisely because of that, I must refuse your earlier request to merge classes — I do not believe you can simultaneously apply 'teaching according to aptitude' to forty students."
"Will such a heavy workload suppress the students' nature? They are at the age when they are most likely to cause mischief. Things will not necessarily go according to your plan."
"I only provide proper teaching. Whether they choose to learn or not is their own business."
"Doesn't that seem a little irresponsible?"
"As far as I know, the Defense Against the Dark Arts course at Hogwarts has always been a major problem. At the very least, I believe I am providing help to those students who actually want to improve."
"…"
The two of them discussed teaching methods extensively, talking all the way until nightfall — the students who had slipped away earlier, worried about what was happening, risked being caught and returned. Only then did Dumbledore realize they had been talking for a full six hours.
And the fact that those two had come back made Dumbledore see the warmth hidden within Lucian's education — the respect these two had for Lucian was absolutely genuine and could not be faked.
Dumbledore reluctantly brought the conversation to an end, stood up, and extended his hand toward Lucian.
"I'm already looking forward to what kind of results you will bring."
"I believe that even if you can only teach for one year, you will still leave a profound influence on the children of Hogwarts."
"Thank you for your trust, Professor. I promise to give it my all."
For this completely expected outcome, Lucian's face still showed no trace of excitement. He simply extended his hand calmly.
The two hands clasped firmly together, while High above Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a dark cloud quietly drifted in.