Poor Harry

"Why? Where is Professor Lupin?" Harry demanded in a sharp tone.

"He's been under the weather these past few days, and he can't give you lessons…" Snape explained, then sneered. "And… Potter, you'd better get this straight. He's the one who's been begging me to fill in for him!"

Harry didn't believe a word of it!

Everyone at school knew that Snape had always wanted to be Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts, and that he was at odds with Lupin.

For example, Neville once dressed Boggart in women's clothing during one of Lupin's classes, winning his admiration.

Harry, believing Snape might hold a grudge and murder Professor Lupin in Dumbledore's absence, insisted that Snape tell him how Professor Lupin was.

"I will only say this once: he is alive and well, and his life is not in danger!" Snape's face showed his annoyance as he stared at Harry with his empty eyes.

"It's class time. Sit down, Potter!"

Harry, however, showed no intention of moving, and was more worried about Lupin than about Snape's punishment.

"Ten points are deducted from Gryffindor! If you don't sit down in three seconds, I'll deduct another fifty points!" Snape enunciated each word clearly.

Harry was furious, but he had no choice but to sit back down, as Snape had already started counting, knowing full well that Snape was a man of his word when it came to taking points.

"Don't worry, Harry, Professor Lupin will be fine…" Ivan, who was sitting nearby, tried to calm Harry down when he saw how upset and worried he was.

Ivan was well aware of Lupin's condition, and knew that it was due to the effects of the Wolfsbane Potion that he was feeling so weak and ill.

Ivan was puzzled when he remembered that the Wolfsbane Potion he made according to the recipe given by the system did not have this defect.

It is unknown whether this flaw existed because Snape did not crack it thoroughly enough in reverse, or whether he deliberately wanted to screw with Lupin.

"Have you seen Professor Lupin in the past two days? How is he?" Harry asked anxiously, keeping his voice low. He wondered if Lupin was seriously ill, or had been targeted by Snape.

Ivan could not bring himself to tell him that Lupin was a werewolf, so he told him that he had seen Lupin yesterday and that he was fine.

Harry let go of his worries.

Snape's Defence Against the Dark Arts class was very different from Lupin's; it was less fun and laughter, and more of cold, hard knowledge, to give Gryffindor the occasional demerit.

Not only that, Snape ignored the lesson and had everyone turn to page 394 to learn how to identify and kill a werewolf!

"Potter, will you tell me how to spot a werewolf wizard hiding in the crowd?"

In the middle of class, Snape suddenly questioned her.

"I don't know, Professor! We haven't got to where we should be, according to the curriculum…" Harry began to explain.

"It's my class now! I don't need you to tell me what to do!" Snape interrupted Harry and then glanced around the classroom, looking disappointed.

"I really didn't expect a bunch of third years to be unable to tell a werewolf apart.

It seems that when your Headmaster Dumbledore returns, I will have to stress to him that our new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor is not quite as competent as he thought!"

The young Gryffindor wizards looked indignant, and even a few Slytherin students disagreed with Snape.

It was not Professor Lupin's fault that their lessons were slow.

This was entirely because their first two Defence Against the Dark Arts professors were so bad that Lupin had to give them cramming lessons.

There was also information on werewolves, which was supposed to be on the last page of the book and would not be taught until the end of the term.

Ivan, on the other hand, was shaking his head to himself. Snape had really gone out of his way to target Lupin. He had learned all of this in the hope that someone would be able to use it to break Lupin's status as a werewolf.

"Quiet!" Snape shouted to stop the young witches and wizards whispering to each other.

Snape then proceeded to ignore Hermione's raised hands, and proceeded to teach them how to differentiate a werewolf from a normal human.

It emphasised the cruelty of werewolves, even going so far as to state that there were regular attacks on the wizarding community, and that some of the less courageous young wizards thought they were listening to a horror story…

"In addition, one of the most important differences between a werewolf wizard and an ordinary wizard is that, at the full moon, they are forced to transform into mindless werewolves, causing a lot of damage."

Snape paused for a moment before continuing. "Some werewolves, in order to hide themselves, regularly drink a potion called Wolfsbane Potion, which allows them to maintain a certain level of sanity in their Transfiguration…"

Wolfsbane Potion?

Many young wizards turned to look at Ivan when they heard this name. If they remembered correctly, Ivan was awarded a Second-Class Order of Merlin last year for the invention of the Wolf Venom Potion.

"Oh, I almost forgot, we have an expert on werewolves here…" Snape's gaze also fell on Ivan, disappointment on his face.

"Unfortunately, our experts don't seem to know as much about werewolves as reported…"

Snape was extremely upset with Ivan for not being able to reveal Lupin's identity for several months, suspecting that Ivan had in fact seen through Lupin's cover, but not revealing it for some reason.

The wizards below could not understand a word Snape was saying,

Only Ivan knew what Snape was getting at, and he wasn't going to do it.

He didn't even try to get up for the lesson, fearing that if he said too much, it would increase the likelihood of Lupin's exposure.

A Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson was soon over with Snape's gloomy voice.

After class, as Harry walked down the corridor, he could not help but vent his pent-up anger.

"Why do we have to learn to tell the difference between a normal wizard and a werewolf? It's not a lesson we should be taking right now, and it's ridiculous that Snape expected a werewolf to be lurking around!"