Chapter 281: Defense Against Dark Magic

Several more days passed, and the topic related to the creatures in the Forbidden Forest still showed no signs of fading away. It was inevitable since even the professors were curious about the creatures within the forest.

Some imaginative students linked this matter to Hogwarts' motto, claiming that there was a fire-breathing dragon within the Forbidden Forest, secretly kept by the school.

In reality, it was just idleness that led to these wild rumors. If the students were really made to confront those creatures, they would likely be scared out of their wits.

During the Defense Against Dark Magic class in the afternoon, someone couldn't resist their curiosity and brought up the matter to Professor Smith. It was said that Professor Smith had been helping to drive away the creatures in the Forbidden Forest.

"Unfortunately, I haven't seen what that creature looks like," faced with the expectant gazes of everyone, Professor Smith answered with a somewhat helpless tone, "At the time, Professor Dumbledore and I separated to search for traces of that creature. But we didn't know if we were lucky or unlucky, as the Headmaster ran into it. It's said to be a dangerous big fellow."

Seeing the regretful expressions on everyone's faces, Professor Smith smiled reassuringly, "Although I haven't encountered the creature you're all talking about, I did encounter another dangerous creature in the Forbidden Forest."

"What creature is that?" Lee Jordan asked eagerly.

"Giant spiders," Professor Smith said with a smile, "You should have seen them once before, during Hagrid's lesson. The things the Weasley twins were afraid of were giant spiders."

Whispers immediately spread across the room.

"You might not know this, but there have been rumors that there are a lot of giant spiders in the Forbidden Forest. I think this might be true, and it's also one of the reasons why Professor Dumbledore forbids anyone from entering the forest." Professor Smith warned everyone.

Due to the recent incidents involving Rubeus Hagrid, there had been an increase in students venturing into the Forbidden Forest in groups. Hagrid was quite troubled by this, and he had placed several signs at the entrance of the forest, warning that anyone caught would be put in detention.

"Who knows the magical classification level of giant spiders?" Professor Smith clapped his hands to recapture everyone's attention.

"XXXXX," Fred answered.

"Very good," Professor Smith surveyed the class, then warned sternly, "Giant spiders are cruel creatures with eight eyes. They can understand human speech and even speak it, but they also enjoy eating human flesh. So, don't doubt their intelligence."

"With your current level of magic, if you encounter giant spiders, you probably won't even be able to escape."

"What should we do then?"

"The best thing to do is to stay far away from them," Professor Smith said, "Don't assume that just because you've learned some magic, you're invincible. And don't foolishly venture into the Forbidden Forest. That's being irresponsible to your own lives. If you die, Hagrid will have to clean up your remains from the forest. Even I, if I were accidentally ambushed by a giant spider, would lose my life."

"Do giant spiders really speak human language?" Professor Smith's words undoubtedly stunned most of the students, but some with an eager curiosity remained.

"Yes, giant spiders indeed speak human language."

In their seats, Fred and George exchanged glances. They were among the few who had genuinely encountered giant spiders. They thought Professor Smith's words were a bit exaggerated. After all, the person next to them had single-handedly fought off hundreds of giant spiders.

"No, Professor Smith isn't wrong. Giant spiders are dangerous. Not everyone is as lucky as you," Albert agreed with Professor Smith. Dismissing the danger of giant spiders was undoubtedly a very foolish thing to do. When facing giant spiders in the forest, one had to be extremely cautious to avoid being ambushed.

Of course, if it was a face-to-face confrontation, Albert believed he could take on a giant spider.

"Alright, let's put an end to this topic," Professor Smith raised his hand to make a stopping gesture and continued, "Next, let's start today's lesson: getting to know a magical creature called Acromantula, magical classification level XXXXX."

"To be honest, Acromantula isn't very common in Europe. However, since it's mentioned in the books…"

In Albert's eyes, Acromantulas were like Japanese kappa, dwelling in shallow ponds and rivers. The reason for their magical classification level of XXXX was because Acromantulas fed on human blood and would attempt to strangle those who waded through ponds without being on guard.

By the way, the way to deal with Acromantulas was quite amusing – you could toss a cucumber carved with your own name to them, and they wouldn't harm you.

If you wanted to defeat an Acromantula, all you needed to do was trick it into bowing to you. Acromantulas had a hole on top of their heads filled with water. Once the water flowed out, they would lose all their strength.

Undoubtedly, these interesting pieces of knowledge amused many students.

"I don't expect those who haven't encountered danger to understand," Professor Smith frowned slightly as he warned, "What you need to do is to stay away from danger and be vigilant at all times."

"Stay away from danger, be vigilant at all times, understand?" Professor Smith repeated, "This statement is more effective than the knowledge I just taught you."

"Don't underestimate any magical creature with a classification level of XXXX. Otherwise, you'll definitely get into big trouble, and you might even lose your life."

The classroom fell into silence, everyone gazing at Professor Smith in bewilderment, not understanding why he had suddenly become stern.

Defense Against Dark Arts was still consistently interesting. Professor Smith was always able to vividly describe various subjects. Sometimes, he even brought magical creatures to the classroom, although today's subject was quite exceptional.

"Alright, after class, all you need to do is submit a paper about Acromantulas. Moving on, our next topic will be about how to identify and deal with werewolves. You can turn to page three hundred ninety-four."

"Professor..."

"In my opinion, the most important part of this book is the section about werewolves," Professor Smith raised his hand to interrupt, "Werewolves are very dangerous beings. Although the chances of encountering one are small, if you're bitten or scratched by a transformed werewolf, your life will be completely ruined. It's a torture more painful than direct death."

"In the magical world, most werewolves, due to being oppressed and discriminated against, begin to resent wizards and intentionally attack others," Professor Smith explained, "Although not all werewolves are like this, never expect most of them to restrain themselves. Individual cases can never represent the entirety."

"During a full moon, werewolves cannot choose whether to transform or not. They'll also forget their identity after transforming, and might even seize the opportunity to kill those around them. So, you need to learn how to protect yourselves. This is very important."

In the classroom, everyone felt a bit confused, but they were still looking forward to this part of the lesson. In the magical world, wizards' fear of werewolves was as strong as their fear of giants and Death Eaters.

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(End of this chapter)