The morning sun slowly rose along the outer walls of Hogwarts Castle.
Sherlock woke promptly at six o'clock, ready to do one last check of the teaching plan he had simulated countless times before today's classes began.
From the moment he met Professor McGonagall, through his encounter with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, to his official meeting with Dumbledore at Hogwarts, Sherlock had not revealed any flaws or eccentricities from beginning to end.
But these were merely appetizers before the real test.
After entering Hogwarts, his Defence Against the Dark Arts class was the most attention-grabbing event. At last night's Start-of-Term Feast, Dumbledore had very directly stated that although he had recruited Sherlock into Hogwarts, he still was not entirely confident in his teaching abilities.
This so-called probation period meant that Sherlock would undoubtedly receive double the attention in the coming days.
Sherlock did not care if he performed poorly in class and was expelled from Hogwarts by an angry Dumbledore. That would actually be exactly what he wanted.
However, poor classroom performance did not mean that Sherlock should display obvious ignorance of magic—particularly of the Defence magic he had studied for so long.
Someone who had studied at Hogwarts for seven years, graduated with excellent grades, then served as an Auror for over a year, diligently researched Defence magic for two years, and written books on the subject—if such a person returned to school and performed terribly in their most proficient field…
Unless he had developed Alzheimer's, Dumbledore could not possibly fail to suspect something.
So, during these two months at home, in addition to familiarizing himself with basic Charms, Sherlock spent most of his remaining time repeatedly reading the two books on Defence magic written by the Original Owner and formulating relevant teaching plans based on the research directions in those books.
And today was the time to test his results.
After preparing all the materials needed for the first-year class, Sherlock went to the Great Hall for breakfast, then entered the classroom with books and a tied cloth bag.
Several students had already arrived, including Ginny, who had just started this year and had been sorted into Gryffindor.
Yesterday, she had been reminded by her only seemingly reliable brother, Percy, to arrive early to prevent the stairs in the castle from playing tricks on new students and causing them to be late for their first lesson.
Seeing Sherlock enter, the little girl was visibly excited.
With flushed cheeks, she hurried to the front of the podium and bowed respectfully.
"Thank you for the new textbook, Professor Cavendish. Last time, I didn't get a chance to thank you before you left, and Mum said I must thank you when I see you at school."
Sherlock raised an eyebrow slightly.
The Weasleys' upbringing was actually quite good, though for some reason, George and Fred had turned out to be troublemakers.
But even the twins were not bad at heart.
"Given my relationship with your parents, there's no need to thank me for this," Sherlock said indifferently.
After the incident in Diagon Alley, Ginny had also come to understand Sherlock's outwardly cold personality. She earnestly promised to study hard from now on, then scurried back to her seat.
More and more students filled the classroom until the bell rang.
Sherlock gently tapped the podium with the tip of his wand, signaling the chattering first-years to quiet down, then picked up the roll book and began calling names.
This was the first class for the first-year Ravenclaw and Gryffindor students.
Most of the students were still unaware of the magical nature of Hogwarts Castle, and even though they tried to arrive early, three students were still late.
"Having a proper sense of time has nothing to do with whether you can become a successful wizard in the future, but it has everything to do with whether you will be a reliable person."
"Before class begins, I want to emphasize that I dislike students who are not punctual. Since this is your first lesson at Hogwarts, I won't punish those who are late—but I don't want there to be a next time."
Following Sherlock's warning, the three Gryffindor first-years, who had been late due to fooling around in the castle, dared not breathe a word. They cautiously found empty seats under the gaze of students from both houses.
Once everyone had arrived, the class officially began.
Sherlock did not tell them to open their textbooks. Instead, he met the gazes of the young wizards before him and delivered his opening remarks.
"Defence Against the Dark Arts, as the name suggests, primarily teaches you how to defend yourselves against the Dark Arts."
"The so-called Defence Against the Dark Arts, or Defence magic, is actually a very broad concept. Any effective protection against dark magic or evil magical creatures can be considered Defence magic."
"Therefore, Defence magic is not a general term for a specific type of spell. Even the famous household cleaning charm Scourgify, when used at the appropriate moment, can be considered a form of Defence magic."
This broad definition was not proposed by the newly arrived Sherlock. It was explicitly supported in the Original Owner's book on Defence magic.
The proponent of this view was a wizard who had passed away over three hundred years ago, and it has since become the mainstream interpretation of Defence magic in the wizarding world.
"The Defence Against the Dark Arts class will mostly be useless in your future lives, but when it is needed, it will be when it can save your lives."
"For this reason, it has become one of Hogwarts' core subjects, as well as the course involving the greatest amount of theory, charms, and practical combat."
"Perhaps professors of other subjects hold different opinions, but I believe Defence Against the Dark Arts will be both the most difficult and the most interesting course you will study at Hogwarts."
"In this class, in addition to learning offensive and defensive charms beyond those taught in Charms class, you will also need to memorize complex knowledge about dark creatures and learn to skillfully apply every spell you know."
"Since you are only just beginning your magical studies today, we cannot yet attempt practical combat. We will first begin with theoretical knowledge about dark creatures."
At this, Sherlock opened the bag he had brought and took out a model-sized object, placing it on the podium.
"Red Caps are the creatures we will be studying in our first class."