Sometimes just a small accident can bring about huge changes.
Because Hermione did not help Neville find the toad as in the original book, she did not get to know Harry Potter and Ron. Now, for Hermione, it was the girl who disappeared after coming to Hogwarts with her that made her more worried.
But since Professor McGonagall said it was okay, then it should be okay... and if Hermione remembered correctly, the girl also said that she was "invited".
But it's still weird...
With doubts, Hermione walked into the cafeteria, which was already full of students. Hermione hurriedly put away her thoughts and began to think about the next issue of sorting.
Soon, Hermione and other freshmen were brought to the podium in front of the restaurant by Professor McGonagall like ducks to chase. At this moment, Neville suddenly came to Hermione and pulled her sleeve.
"Hey, look, isn't that the girl sitting over there?"
"Why?"
Hearing Neville's question, Hermione quickly collected her thoughts and looked in the direction Neville pointed. Then she widened her eyes in surprise - she saw a girl with long white hair and bright red eyes sitting at the long table next to the podium. She was wearing a big tricorn hat and a black cloak, and she sat quietly in the chair like a puppet, not moving at all.
Eh? Eh?!
Fortunately, Hermione remembered her current situation and did not scream out loud, but even so, she still widened her eyes in surprise and looked in the direction of the girl.
Yes, that was Ai Li... But why was she sitting there? No matter how you looked at it, it looked like a teacher's seat. Could it be that Ai Li was also a teacher? How could it be possible? She was just a kid the same age as me...
Hermione's mind was so confused that she didn't even hear Professor McGonagall calling her name. It was only after Neville beside her pushed her that Hermione reacted. She sat down on the chair with a red face, and then put on the Sorting Hat - and as expected, she was assigned to Gryffindor.
The subsequent assignments were no different from the original book. Everyone was assigned to their respective colleges. It was not until this time that Dumbledore stood up and, after saying a few meaningless words, he changed the subject.
"Today, I have one more thing to inform you all - Professor Quirrell, who was originally in charge of teaching the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, has resigned for personal reasons. His replacement as the teacher of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class is this... Miss Ellie."
Following Dumbledore's introduction, Ellie stood up from her chair and nodded silently to everyone.
Upon hearing this, the students from the four schools suddenly fell silent, and then the next moment they suddenly became noisy like a flood.
Some people screamed, some shouted, and some whistled. For a moment, the scene was in chaos. Dumbledore just laughed, said something casually, and sat down. Then, the dinner officially began.
The delicious food quickly attracted the attention of many students, but the petite figure on the podium became the topic of their attention.
"Is it really okay for a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher to have a little girl like that?"
"How do you know she's really a little girl? Maybe she's a vampire or a succubus."
"By the way, I saw that girl sitting in a box with her earlier!"
I don't know who said this, but immediately the Gryffindor people turned their eyes to Hermione who also looked confused.
"You are Miss Granger, right? Are you acquainted with Miss Ellie?"
“Eh? No no no…!”
Hearing the question, Hermione waved her hand hastily.
"We didn't know each other before. I only saw her after I got on the bus. And I didn't know who she was. I thought she was also a freshman..."
"Is she really not a vampire?"
"I saw her sunbathing...vampires shouldn't sunbathe, right?"
Hermione was so confused by the series of questions that she didn't even know how she went to the dormitory and lay down to sleep under the guidance of her class leader after the dinner.
But whether Hermione believed it or not, the little girl seemed to be the teacher of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
In fact, since she woke up early the next morning, Hermione had been listening to the students next to her discussing the girl. Some of them were even more enthusiastic than Harry Potter - this was normal, after all, Hermione herself had seen the name Harry Potter several times in the books and knew that there was such a person, so even if she met him in person, it would only be the level of "the character in the book finally appeared in front of her".
But Ellie is different. This girl is extremely mysterious and no one knows who she is. But since Dumbledore believes that she is qualified to be a teacher of Defense Against the Dark Arts, it means that this girl must be very strong - but what is the truth?
With this thought in mind, Hermione and other classmates welcomed their first Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
"Hermione, do you have any good suggestions? Weren't you in the same box with her before? You must know her personality well."
"I don't really understand..."
Faced with the questions from her classmates, Hermione was already a little annoyed, but she still explained in detail.
"But she gives me a very cold and introverted feeling... Anyway, I advise you not to think of anything weird. It might be bad if you make her angry."
"Huh? Is she going to cry?"
Hearing this, Ron Weasley couldn't help but interrupt.
"That's interesting. If we make the teacher cry, we'll be in trouble..."
Although he tried to look serious, his funny eyes had obviously betrayed his thoughts, and Hermione just glared at him coldly without answering. She had had enough of Ron's funny thoughts and actions. He was as unbearable as his two brothers... At least Hermione didn't like them at all.
“Squeak—”
While the students were talking, the door of the classroom opened, and Ellie, dressed like a witch, walked in. She pushed the door open and slowly swept her eyes across the classroom. For some reason, the moment Hermione felt Ellie's gaze, she suddenly felt a chill on her back - it was like being stared at by some terrifying beast. Other students seemed to have similar feelings, and soon, the originally noisy classroom quickly became quiet.
At the same time, Ellie also withdrew her gaze.
"Now we will start the roll call."
While speaking in a clear, indifferent and somewhat childish voice, Ai Li picked up the student list and began to call the roll.
This made Harry Potter somewhat uneasy. During the few days at Hogwarts, he had discovered that people here seemed to have some kind of craze about his name. Some teachers would scream and faint just by calling his name, and some teachers would call him up and introduce him to the whole class like crazy fans - of course, there were also people like Snape who disliked him and wanted to beat him to death.
I wonder if this girl will be like the other teachers...
Thinking of this, Harry felt somewhat nervous and uneasy.
But to his surprise, when she called the name "Harry Potter", the girl didn't show any expression, and didn't even pause for a moment, just like she was reading the name of an ordinary person, and she just called it directly. This made Harry Potter somewhat relieved, but also a little disappointed...
That’s why people are difficult to please.
"Okay, let's start the class now."
Of course, Ellie didn't care about the feelings of a little savior. After calling the roll, she clapped her hands and spoke.
"I think you all know that the Defense Against the Dark Arts class is mainly a course that teaches you how to resist various dark magics and dangerous creatures. But first, I want to explain one thing, that is..."
At this point, Ai Li's bright red eyes, which were devoid of emotion and light, looked at the students in front of her as if they were dead.
"You have to remember one thing, that is... wizards are weak."
"……Why?"
Hearing what Ai Li said, the students present widened their eyes in surprise, but Ai Li completely ignored the students' hesitation and continued to speak.
"Perhaps in your opinion, wizards are very impressive because they can call the wind and rain. But in fact, wizards are a group of fragile and dangerous creatures. They always think they have supreme power. Unfortunately, even so, they still don't know what humility and pride are. In fact, the power they possess is meaningless - even an ordinary person can easily destroy them."
"Please forgive my rudeness, Teacher Ai Li."
Hearing this, a boy couldn't help but stood up and retorted.
"No matter what, we wizards will never lose to those Muggles."
"Yeah?"
In response to the boy's rebuttal, Ai Li glanced at him indifferently.
"You are Draco Malfoy... Well, I can understand your idea. In that case, let's give it a try."
"Try...try?"
"That's right."
As she spoke, Ai Li walked to the open space under the podium.
"As a member of the Malfoy family, you should already know how to use witchcraft, so let's do an experiment. I allow you to use witchcraft to attack me, and I will not use any witchcraft to defend or counterattack. As long as you can hit me, you win. How about it?"
"Of course."
Hearing this, Malfoy's eyes suddenly lit up, and then he walked to the podium in full view of everyone and stood not far from Ellie. Seeing this, Hermione couldn't help but clench her hands and looked at Ellie anxiously. She didn't know what Ellie was going to do - she had already seen the mystery, horror and power of witchcraft, and if she didn't use any spells, then how would Ellie deal with Malfoy?
"Teacher Ai Li? Are you sure any witchcraft is fine?"
Looking at Ellie in front of him, Malfoy was eager to try, and Ellie nodded.
"Whatever you want."
"very good……"
Malfoy nodded, then he raised his wand sharply and pointed it at Ellie.
“Mac…!”
However, just as Malfoy opened his mouth, Ellie suddenly threw the book in her hand at him. Faced with this sudden change, Malfoy was also shocked, and hurriedly shook his head to avoid the book that was thrown at him, but just as Malfoy turned his head, Ellie rushed in front of him, stretched out her hand, covered Malfoy's mouth, and at the same time clenched her left hand into a fist and punched Malfoy in the lower abdomen.
“Woo!!”
Malfoy, who was hit, began to tremble all over, but the next moment Ellie came behind him, and then she lightly tapped his knee, and Malfoy fell to the ground immediately. Then Ellie pressed his head down with her right hand, and with a "bang", Malfoy was knocked directly to the floor.
Just as Malfoy screamed and wanted to recite the spell again, a sharp knife suddenly appeared and pierced into the gap between Malfoy's fingers holding the wand with a "swish".
Feeling the cold and sharp touch, Malfoy was so scared that he even forgot to chant the spell.
“…”
At this moment, the whole class was in dead silence, and everyone stared at this scene in amazement, and they couldn't believe their eyes. Especially when Ellie took out the knife and stabbed Malfoy, they really thought that this girl was going to kill Malfoy!
"As I have shown, wizards are actually very fragile."
Ai Li stood up as if she had done nothing and looked at the other students.
"If their vision is blocked, they can't cast spells. If their chanting is interrupted, they can't fight. If they can't use mysterious powers to fight, the threat posed by wizards is basically non-existent."
"This, this isn't fair!!"
Malfoy now got up in a panic, yelling with a red face.
"This isn't a battle between wizards at all!"
“It’s certainly not, and it’s certainly not fair.”
Ellie looked at him silently. The chill in her inorganic red eyes frightened Malfoy so much that he shut his mouth.
"Fairness? There is no fairness in a fight. Kill or be killed, die or be killed, that's all. Fairness is an excuse for the weak. It is meaningless and worthless. When you encounter werewolves, vampires or other dangerous creatures, they will not choose to fight you fairly. They will try every means to kill you. Of course, you can complain, you can also angrily curse and scold them for their actions - but in the end, it is you who become the corpse, not those dangerous monsters."
“…”
Perhaps frightened by the chill of death implied in Ellie's tone, no one dared to speak for a moment.
"Okay, let's start the class."
At the same time, Ellie also withdrew her gaze.
"Open your textbooks... let's start the first lesson."