Chapter 6. The Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor's Major Crisis
Lynn, barely suppressing the urge to smash his beer over the old man's head, pulled up a small stool and sat opposite him.
Professor Fawkes, seemingly oblivious to Lynn's resentment, eagerly snatched the beer from his hand.
"German dark beer, huh?" he smacked his lips.
"Tsk tsk tsk, I don't really like the taste, but it'll do."
He cracked open a can of beer and tossed a can to Lynn.
Lynn caught the beer and rolled his eyes.
"I'm still a minor, I can't drink."
Despite saying this, he still pulled the tab; today's events had been a bit of a mess.
Professor Fawkes chuckled at Lynn's insincere actions.
His laughter was very similar to Lynn's, both unconsciously squinting.
"Such an old man, still always squinting like that, no wonder you have so many wrinkles around your eyes, hmph."
Lynn also grabbed a pair of chopsticks, dipped them in the broth in the cauldron, and tasted it; the flavor was familiar.
Professor Fawkes took a swig of beer and said smugly,
"You're in for a treat today.
This is a delicacy I brought back from Chengdu during my trip to China. Just dip the ingredients lightly in the boiling broth, and you'll experience unparalleled deliciousness.
As for those five-star hotels, they're just fooling foreigners. The real delicacies of the East are hidden in the backstreets and alleys; they can't fool me.
You provide German beer, I provide Chinese food—you've hit the jackpot."
It's just hot pot, isn't it? It's like nobody's missed out.
Although there was hot pot as compensation, Lynn was still irritated. He stared at Professor Fawkes's unusually pale face and scoffed.
"If you're not feeling well, eating spicy food and drinking beer might just kill you."
Fawkes waved his hand dismissively.
"Don't worry about it. I'm just a little afraid of heights. Besides, didn't I ask you to buy me some medicine?" He smiled and raised his beer. "This is the cure-all."
Lynn looked at him suspiciously, wondering if this unscrupulous professor was trying to fool him again.
"Wizards can have acrophobia?"
"Of course they can." Fawkes had already eagerly picked up a piece of hot mutton and put it in his mouth. He used chopsticks skillfully, as if he had eaten a lot while traveling in China.
"Wizards are human too, and humans can get sick."
"Don't be so resentful, Bellok.
Do you know how much I suffered to come here?
Because I've never been here before, I couldn't Apparate, so I had to run to the Leaky Cauldron first.
I didn't have a single Muggle coin on me, and it would be too much of a loss to exchange money with those goblins at Gringotts. I couldn't take Muggle transportation either, so I had to fly over on a broomstick.
But my acrophobia is severe, and I couldn't control that damn broomstick. I couldn't hold on for more than ten minutes, so I fell from the sky. But at least I got to my destination."
Fawkes took a couple of sips of his drink and began to pour out his grievances to Lynn.
Hearing this, Lynn was truly speechless.
This guy had come all this way just to help an eleven-year-old like him get acquainted with the wizarding world; what was a little treat?
Having come to terms with it, Lynn happily ate hotpot, drank beer, and chatted with Fawkes.
"I heard you teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor?"
"That's right." Fawkes shook his beer can. "I originally applied for a position as a professor of Runes and Magic. If I didn't owe Dumbledore a huge favor, I wouldn't have taken this extremely risky and arduous job. Now I can only pray this year ends well."
"Why? Is there any danger in being a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor?" Lynn asked knowingly.
"Dangerous?" Fawkes chuckled, downing half a can of beer, then looked at Lynn. "Do you know how many Defense Against the Dark Arts professors Hogwarts has had since 1956?"
Lynn shook his head blankly.
"21, with 12 years without the position. Guess how many of those 21 died during their tenure."
"Ten?" Lynn tentatively offered a compromise.
"Guess again."
"…13?"
"It's 14, a mortality rate of over 60%. Of the survivors, one is bedridden for life, and two are permanently disabled."
Lynn gasped. He knew being a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts was dangerous, but he never imagined the mortality rate would be so high.
"Then… other wizards aren't stupid. With such a high risk, who would want to apply?" Lynn voiced his doubts.
"Do you think Hogwarts would release this data? Even I only found the relevant files in the Hogwarts library and compiled them after I was confirmed as the professor this year."
"Luckily, I still have some conscience." Fawkes picked up a piece of meat from the pot with his chopsticks. "If it were anyone else, they would be scared away by this data."
"Then what is the source of the danger?" Lynn asked cautiously.
Fawkes raised his glass and clinked it with Lynn's, then downed the beer in his can.
"Who knows?" His eyes were deep, as if he was thinking about something. "There are rumors that this position was cursed by a man called the Dark Lord, some say it's all Dumbledore's conspiracy, and others say it's just a coincidence. But who can say for sure what the truth is?"
Lynn thought Fawkes was worried about his safety for the next year, so he comforted him.
"Professor, you're lucky, nothing will happen to you."
Fawkes opened another can of beer.
"Let's not talk about that nonsense. Let's talk about you. Minerva wrote to tell me you're incredibly shrewd, and now it seems your mannerisms are indeed quite unusual for your age." Lynn shrugged, feigning casualness. "The more you receive, the more you give. I don't think that's a good thing."
Fawkes didn't doubt it much, nodding in agreement. "Being mature beyond your years isn't exactly something to be praised. I heard you even paid for your adoptive father yourself?"
"Not really. I just signed a non-legally binding agreement with him, promising to give him one-third of my parents' estate as a reward."
"He actually agreed?"
"Of course he didn't want to," Lynn said, taking a sip of his beer and shaking his head. "Who would make a fair deal with a child?
He tried to trick me into not signing the agreement, to actually adopt me, and to become my guardian, so that all the money my parents left me might be his in the future.
I'm not stupid. It was during a magical upheaval, and since he thought he had me figured out and didn't take me seriously, I used some tricks to get hold of him embezzling public funds, and semi-coerced him into signing a conditional adoption agreement."
Fawkes looked at him in astonishment: "How old were you then?"
"Around ten years old, I think." Lynn thought for a moment, "I think I just turned ten not long ago."
Fawkes was stunned for a long time before he chuckled.
"It seems Minerva wasn't wrong, you really are a clever little devil."
He put down his chopsticks and beer, and suddenly looked at Lynn with a smile.
"I think you're very much to my liking. Are you interested in accepting one of my investments, Mr. Bellok?"
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(End of this chapter)