Chapter 107: Reliable Professor

The figure was unfamiliar, but from the silhouette, it appeared to be an adult male.

Hogwarts, the permanent pool, male characters.

It seemed like...

"Severus Snape from Knockturn Alley, as promised. I'm not here for small talk. If you're interested in the mysteries of potions, I might be slightly interested."

Severus Snape!!!

This time, it wasn't a guaranteed pull, and it wasn't even the great divination expert, Sybill Trelawney. Tom felt this was incredibly unbelievable.

It felt like the sun rising from the west.

[Talent in Potion-Making +1]

Indeed, Snape added a talent in Potion-Making.

Now, Tom's Potion-Making talent was at 6 points, still within the range of innate talents. The fifty pulls earlier had reduced his Magic Stones to 27,000.

Tom was conflicted. Should he use a strong pull on Lockhart? Lockhart probably couldn't grant him any talent points, only the Forgetfulness Charm. Obtaining that would be a bit of a waste. After all, Lockhart was in his hands now, and learning the Forgetfulness Charm from him was quite simple.

Tom had thought it through. He would only release Lockhart when he learned the Forgetfulness Charm and returned the stolen memories. Lockhart would serve as a test subject to evaluate the effectiveness of his learning.

Tom was still contemplating when suddenly, there was a knock on the office door. Tom, disguised as Lockhart, opened the door and found Dumbledore standing there.

Upon seeing Tom, Dumbledore smiled with an expression Tom couldn't read, "Professor Lockhart, I didn't expect you to arrive today. I thought you would need a few more days to recover."

Tom put on a standard Lockhart smile, "If I take more leave, you might start deducting my salary."

Dumbledore chuckled mischievously, "Let's consider this week as paid leave for you. When can you start teaching?"

Normally, anyone would have one answer at this point: as soon as possible. However, Tom hesitated for a moment and then applied for an additional week of leave, citing the need to find "teaching materials."

Although Tom's first day on the job had been interrupted by a police summons, and he had already taken two weeks of paid leave, Dumbledore was surprisingly lenient. He not only approved Tom's leave request but also offered to assist Tom in capturing dangerous magical creatures if needed.

However, he subtly hinted that Tom couldn't take any more leave after this. After all, the young wizards at Hogwarts had been studying Dark Arts Defense on their own for two weeks.

After a brief conversation, Dumbledore took out a piece of parchment, "Let's sign the contract to make you the Dark Arts Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts."

Tom took the contract and examined it carefully.

The title of the contract was "Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor Employment Letter," with a small note below it: "1992 School Year - 1993 School Year."

Tom looked at Dumbledore, "Aren't you going to make any modifications to the contract? Does this mean that new professors are automatically limited to one year, or is it because of concerns about the penalty for breach of contract?"

Dumbledore cleared his throat, "This is just a probationary period. If you still wish to continue teaching after a year, you're most welcome..."

Tom raised an eyebrow.

He continued reading the contract. There were very few constraints on the professors, and there were no restrictions on the content of their teaching. Professors had the authority to award and deduct points, but each class had a limit of ten points for both addition and deduction.

Without external interference, this was the limit for a new professor.

Tom carefully read through the contract and found nothing problematic. So, he pricked his finger and pressed a bloody fingerprint on the document.

As soon as the contract was signed, Tom felt a subtle connection between himself and Hogwarts.

Furthermore, Tom's system displayed a message:

[Quest: Wander the Mortal Realm. Objective: Explore the magical world.

Fourth Stage Progress: 8/8 Unlock your own office at Hogwarts.

Quest Reward: Five-Star Skill - Legilimency Clues]

Tom found the reward quite interesting. He had previously completed check-ins in the Forbidden Forest, Hagrid's Hut, and Knockturn Alley, and this office became the eighth anchor point.

Tom claimed the quest reward and also accepted the fifth stage of Wander the Mortal Realm.

At this moment, Dumbledore had already put away the contract and walked to the office door. But before leaving, he said something that made Tom's hair stand on end, "The ring looks quite nice."

As soon as Dumbledore left, Tom immediately examined the ring on his finger. He realized that this ring might become his Achilles' heel.

He took out his wand and attempted to change the appearance of the ring, but the Transfiguration charm had no effect. Tom stood there, deep in thought for a moment, and then took a small piece of gold and flattened it, wrapping it around the ring. The Horcrux ring now appeared to be a rough gold band.

With these matters sorted out, Tom finally had time to investigate the so-called Legilimency clues.

Tom opened the clue, and it stated that there were three ways to obtain the five-star skill, Legilimency:

Learn from Severus Snape. Learn from Albus Dumbledore. The Chamber of Secrets.

Tom immediately ruled out the first two options. How could he approach them and say, "Professor, I want to learn Legilimency"? It was absurd. They would likely use Legilimency on him first. Learning this spell was just as suspicious as an engineer wanting to learn how to build a 2nm lithography machine.

Although Legilimency wasn't one of the Unforgivable Curses, it had an oppressive aura comparable to them. The Killing Curse took lives, the Cruciatus Curse tortured the body, and the Dementor's Kiss distorted one's will, while Legilimency invaded the privacy of one's mind. For some people, there were certain memories they would rather die than let others glimpse.

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(End of this chapter)