“Now, everyone can write this down in your notebooks – cars and airplanes are driven by engines, and the principle of engines is mostly to convert fossil fuels and electrical energy into kinetic energy, thereby getting those iron contraptions moving.”

As a seasoned professor of what was practically Muggle Studies, Quirrell had never heard of an airplane being launched.

Obviously, either Mr. Weasley confused rockets with airplanes, or Charlie misremembered what his father had said before – pure-blood wizards usually have a hard time distinguishing between some Muggle creations.

However, such common-sense questions usually only appeared in children from magical families like Charlie.

"Muggle-born wizards" like Quirinus Quirrell, who grew up in the non-magical world, might not know some basic theoretical science, but as long as they know some knowledge, they can mostly deduce the correct conclusion based on experience.

"That's strange, Arthur clearly said he saw it with his own eyes..." Charlie sat down a little frustrated, muttering to himself.

"Oh, heavens, Weasley, didn't expect you to still be a gullible kid who listens to stories?"

The former Slytherin captain sitting next to Charlie said with a wink.

"Shut up! I might have misremembered it."

Charlie glared back at him, opened his notebook, and began to take notes.

Despite saying that, Charlie Weasley knew very well that his father had indeed said such a thing, and he would never misremember such topics about the sky – the only possibility was that the Ministry of Magic was indeed somewhat lagging behind in this regard.

...

Meanwhile, near Ottery St Catchpole, at the headquarters of *The Quibbler*.

"Achoo—"

Arthur Weasley rubbed his suddenly itchy nose.

"What's wrong, Arthur? Hmm, is the window open a bit too wide?"

Xenophilius Lovegood, sitting across from him, stopped writing and asked with concern.

As the editor-in-chief of *The Quibbler*, his work had become much simpler and more straightforward as the magazine's scale grew, especially when Heavenly Mandate Group and Gringotts had public relations articles to publish.

Whenever he had this free time, Lovegood always liked to get his friends to tell some wonderful stories.

The number of submissions for the "Lovegood Sees the World" section had always been low, and he had to put on different hats himself from time to time.

"Oh, nothing, maybe some pollen allergy."

Mr. Weasley waved his hand and then continued excitedly.

"Let's continue talking about that topic just now, where was I? Oh, right, airplanes – you don't know, those Muggles are really crazy, those huge steel birds weighing several tons are launched directly from ships like slingshots."

Arthur described with gesticulations, wishing he could directly demonstrate the catapult takeoff scene he had seen in the air.

Since completing that top-secret project in the former Soviet Union half a year ago, Arthur Weasley seemed to have opened the door to a new world.

Compared to that "Hyperion," the old Ford in his backyard was simply a crude toy.

Therefore, when he saw in the newspaper the direction of the educational reform of Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic, especially when he saw that "Muggle Studies" might become an important professional skill indicator, Arthur Weasley almost couldn't help but resign and return to Hogwarts to study again.

Unfortunately, Professor Dumbledore ruthlessly rejected his request.

However, as an alternative, Professor Dumbledore recommended a good place to find answers – near the Burrow, near Lovegood's house, in that emerging small wizarding village where *The Quibbler* headquarters was located.

Many foreign wizards there had lived in Muggle cities for many years and could still satisfy his curiosity.

The only requirement was that he had to obtain Mr. Lovegood's permission first.

After all, strictly speaking, most of these wizards were employees of *The Quibbler*. If he rushed to other people's homes to ask questions, he might be regarded as an agent of the Ministry of Magic or a commercial spy hired by other magazines and directly driven away.

And Xenophilius Lovegood's requirements were also simple:

He wanted to know more about the story of that "Hyperion" floating above Hogwarts.

...

On the other side, after being directly confronted by Quirrell several times, Umbridge finally settled down.

In the subsequent Muggle Studies classes, this senior investigator did not make any more noise. The students quickly forgot that there was still a reviewing professor and devoted themselves to the magical non-magical world Quirrell described.

After simply understanding the basic principles of steam engines, diesel engines... everyone began to bury themselves in taking notes.

In a sense, Muggle Studies was somewhat similar to Professor Umbridge's Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching style. Since there were no corresponding systematic Muggle Studies textbooks, when it came to basic concepts, Quirrell would post some non-magical documents printed by magical printers on the blackboard for the students to copy. These would be the main points of the final exam.

Having lost his magic, Quirrell had to start getting used to "Muggle" teaching methods.

He once thought this would be a very painful process, but less than a week later, Quirinus Quirrell was surprised to find that magic was not everything in life – when he knew how to use various tools, both magical and non-magical, teaching and daily life were still as calm as before, not as difficult as he had imagined.

The only trouble was that he might spend more time on personal hygiene and organizing lesson preparation.

However, with the meticulous service of Hogwarts house-elves, these troubles were hardly a concern.

As the head chef of Hogwarts, Elena could mobilize four or five house-elves to serve Quirrell closely, provided that Quirrell had to be more attentive in the remaining courses this semester and cooperate with her to complete the pilot teaching of the new version of Muggle knowledge.

This time, Hogwarts was truly studying Muggle civilization and science, rather than spreading sensationalism and estrangement.

Quirrell walked back and forth between the desks, checking the students' notes while explaining the corresponding knowledge.

"Because they have no magic, Muggles have to consider various natural interference factors... from shape contours to energy utilization, these are all details that Hogwarts, or rather the magical world, has neglected... still the overview before the start of this course, the civilization process of the non-magical world is moving forward by studying how to boil water faster, boil more water, and how to throw stones farther..."

The dismissal bell had rung for a while, but the students still hadn't left the classroom.

This knowledge was much more valuable than magical skills. The students knew very well that this might be the reality of the world.

"Okay, class is dismissed. Each of you write a paper and hand it in to me before class next Friday. The content is how to use the knowledge studied by Muggles in the magical field. This topic should be at least... half a sheet of parchment, right. Okay, now get out of here quickly. Enjoy your time on the weekend – you haven't watched Quidditch in a long time, have you?"

Urged by Professor Quirrell, Elena and the other students left the classroom together.

Soon, only Quirrell, who was organizing lesson plans, and Umbridge, who was sitting in the corner, remained in the classroom.

When everyone had left and could no longer be heard, Umbridge stood up and looked coldly at the young professor.

"Professor Quirinus Quirrell, I must warn you, the reason why Muggle Studies exists is not to let wizards learn from Muggles, but to better hide the existence of magic, to implement the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy."

Umbridge said with a smile, the threat in her tone particularly obvious.

"Have you ever thought about what the original intention of the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts in offering this course was? If this course has the possibility of exposing the magical world in subsequent evaluations, it may not be solved simply by stopping the course – at least one-third of the wizards in Azkaban are there because they violated the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, do you understand what I mean?"

"I don't understand," Quirrell said calmly, "but I look forward to you making me understand, after all, you are a big shot..."

Five minutes later, Umbridge left Hogwarts in a huff, with an exceptionally grim and angry expression.

"It's simply, simply too arrogant—"

She muttered in a low voice as she returned to her office, spread out a stack of parchment on her desk, and quickly drafted documents.

Since being promoted to Senior Undersecretary, Umbridge had never been subjected to such sarcasm. Her mind was filled with the fearless and sarcastic words of the Muggle Studies professor.

"Quirinus, Quirrell! An ignorant and arrogant young man! Do you think that finding Dumbledore as your backer will allow you to do whatever you want in Hogwarts? Sarcasm towards senior officials of the Ministry of Magic, even in front of so many students! Even planning to directly humiliate... very well, I will definitely let you know what the rights of a Senior Investigator are..."

She was panting with anger, her fists clenched tightly, her veins bulging.

"The most important course in the magical world in the next ten years, debts must be repaid, huh? I'll see..."

Although Umbridge had always claimed in public that she came from a pure-blood magical family, she was actually a witch with wizarding and Muggle heritage. In her eyes, so-called Muggle enthusiasts like Arthur Weasley were no different from clowns.

However, it was precisely because of having half Muggle blood in her body that Umbridge hated Muggles even more.

The backward and uncivilized non-magical world was simply no match for the noble magical world.

Perhaps other wizards easily made jokes when facing Muggle Studies because of their limited understanding, but this definitely did not include Umbridge – as a mixed-blood wizard, she knew very well how to deal with Quirrell and this ridiculous course.

Of course, the first step was to fundamentally defeat what Quirrell called the "new era mission" of this course...

...

The clash that might occur between Umbridge and Quirrell did not affect Elena's mood at all.

On the contrary, as the third-generation Dark Lord born in Hogwarts, Quirinus Quirrell's satisfyingly blunt remarks in class made Elena quite satisfied. She had long wanted to clean up that disgusting pink toad.

Unfortunately, due to changes in the world line, there were too few handles she could use to attack her now.

According to the original plan, Umbridge was still in the early stages of absorbing hatred and becoming a sacrificial target.

And Quirrell's decision to take the initiative to attack at this time, although it had some flaws in the plan, was undeniably a pleasant behavior. Moreover, on the other hand, she was also taking this opportunity to examine how much potential this young wizard, who had once been entered into the body of the second-generation Dark Lord, had.

At last night's "Tarot Society Regular Weekly Meeting," she had clearly expressed her views.

*This chapter is not finished, please click on the next page to continue reading!*

How to harmoniously present the knowledge of the magical and non-magical worlds in the classroom, and find the critical point that can attract wizards while accurately and equally conveying knowledge, this was Quirinus Quirrell's probationary mission.

It should be known that behind Quirrell, there was now almost half the civilization of the non-magical world providing off-site assistance.

If Quirrell couldn't even pass Dolores Umbridge's test, then there was no need for further in-depth training.

According to the rules set by the "Tarot Society" before, members involved in such top-secret research projects, once determined to abandon, must undergo at least one or more memory erasures, and if the member's level was lower than C-level, they might be physically eliminated.

"I don't understand, can't you use your hands or other methods? And—"

Quirinus Quirrell said perplexedly, his eyes fixed on the wizard who broke into his bedroom, his tone a little annoyed.

"Don't I have any privacy in Hogwarts? If I remember correctly, this should be my room, right? Why are you here at this time?! Respected, Professor Gilderoy Lockhart?!"

It was still very early, and it was pitch black outside.

Quirrell glanced at the alarm clock by the bed, half past five, this time was too outrageous!

And the most important thing was that he was "awakened" by Lockhart with an Enervate Charm, which meant that even if he wanted to sleep in or get angry while still sleepy, it was a luxury – and he couldn't continue sleeping anyway.

Because...

"Now is not the time to dwell on these small problems, Professor."

Gilderoy Lockhart smiled slightly, and under the weak candlelight, Quirrell noticed that Lockhart was now wearing a pure black turtleneck trench coat that was completely different from his usual style of dressing, as if he were another person.

"In another hour and a half, *The Daily Prophet*, *The Wizarding World*, *The Quibbler* and other mainstream publications publishing the first week's 'Hogwarts Course Review Report' will appear in front of most people in the magical world, and before noon, many reporters will arrive at Hogwarts – under the pretext of interviewing the Quidditch match – but you are also one of the targets."

"Therefore, considering the potential risks, and some meeting processes that cannot be told to you..."

Gilderoy Lockhart grinned, his white teeth shining in the candlelight.

"From the current results, dear Mr. Quirrell, I am very happy to inform you that you have been sentenced to secret execution. After all, having completely lost your magic, once you become the focus of society, your exposure may be too high."

"Of course, as your guide, I helped you fight for it a little, so you don't have to execute it immediately."

Lockhart raised his finger and winked affectionately.

"The execution time has been postponed to after breakfast, that is, before the reporters arrive at Hogwarts..."

————

————

Yay! Happy New Year's Eve!! I wish everyone a great year of the Ox!