Hogwarts Raven's Claw

Chapter 454 Course Selection
The next day, when the first ray of sunlight shone from the distant mountains, Mike also opened his eyes.

This was his first night back in the dormitory after two months. Perhaps because he had expended too much energy the day before, he did not become accustomed to his bed and instead slept well.

He lay in bed for a long time, until it was bright in the sky before Mike finally got up and walked out of the dormitory.

The lounge, which used to be bustling with people, now only had a few people talking in low voices.

Mike was not surprised at all. At this time, all the lower grade students should have gone to the classroom to prepare for class, while these higher grade students had more important things to do.

Today is the first day of school and they need to re-select their courses.

This is a rather tedious task for Professor Flitwick, because unlike the third grade, not everyone can take the sixth grade NEWT course. Students must meet the requirements of the teacher before they can continue their studies.

To do this, Professor Flitwick must first confirm the students' past grades before deciding whether you are eligible to take the course.

"Mike, you got up late. Professor Flitwick asked me to come over and ask you to go over to select your courses." A black-haired boy came over and asked Mike with a smile, "By the way, have you decided which courses you want to take this year?"

He is the seventh-year head boy of Ravenclaw and this year's male student union president. His name is Clark, and he is a new friend that Mike met at the party last night.

Mike rubbed his ears and was about to speak when he heard the other party continue:

"I suggest you choose all the courses you can! You should know that this is very important for your career choice after graduation! If you can obtain newt certificates of excellence in all 12 courses, then any institution in the world will open its doors to you, even the most demanding Ministry of Magic!"

Mike yawned. Although he felt that Clark was talking complete nonsense, the other party was also doing it for his own good, so Mike decided to say something nice to please him.

But at this moment, another familiar voice suddenly rang out.

"Come on, Clark, Michael is not you. He doesn't need to find a job after graduation! In my opinion, he only needs to take Charms, Potions, and Defense Against the Dark Arts, just like me."

Mike and Clark looked over when they heard the sound and saw Franklin walking towards them holding a homemade simple hot dog in one hand.

Seeing Mike looking at him, the mocking look on Franklin's face disappeared, replaced by an attentive smile.

"Hey, Mike, you wanna have one?"

"Ah? Then let me try it."

Mike took a hot dog, tasted it and found that this simple hot dog made of sausage, bread and ketchup tasted surprisingly good.

"Oh, did you make this yourself? That's great, I didn't expect you have such a talent."

Franklin raised his eyebrows at Clark proudly, and Clark became even more embarrassed when he saw this.

Taking a deep breath, Clark said sarcastically:
"Do you think Mike is you? His grades are much better than yours, so he has the right to choose. As for you, I'm afraid it's not because you don't want to study that you didn't choose other courses, but because your grades are not good enough for those professors to accept you!"

"What did you say!"

"I said your grades are so bad that the professor wants you!"

"Can you say it again if you can?"

"Say it again if you want! Your grades..."

Mike frowned. These two were too noisy.

"That's enough, shut up!"

Following Mike's roar, the Ravenclaw lounge returned to silence again. Franklin and Clark, who were almost about to fight, now shut their mouths but continued to stare at each other.

"Well, you don't have to worry too much about this." Mike sighed and said as he walked out of the lounge, "I have already selected my classes this year. I'm going to submit the application form now."

"What courses did you take?"*2
Clark and Franklin asked in unison, but then they reacted and looked at each other angrily again.

Mike shook his head and stopped trying to persuade her. Instead, he continued,

"Charms, Potions, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Yeah, that's it."

Franklinton cheered, while Clark looked at Mike in disbelief:
"But why? You are clearly eligible to choose more subjects, why..."

"Why? There is no reason. I just don't want to be so tired. You know, I'm very busy. There are still a lot of things waiting for me to do at the Los Santos Group."

After this, Clark fell silent, while Franklin stared at Clark with a provocative look, and his smug expression looked as if he had just won the Second World War.

The three of them continued walking towards Flitwick's office. Halfway through, Mike suddenly seemed to remember something and turned around and asked:
"Franklin, you said you chose Potions, right?"

"Yes, what's wrong?"

"But I remember that your Potions score should be good, but the elective requirement for newt-level Potions is excellent."

"Oh! Speaking of which, I'm so lucky!" Franklin said with a beaming face. "The new Professor Slughorn is much better than that old bat Snape. He has relaxed the elective requirements for newt-level potions. Now, as long as you have a good grade in OWLS, you can continue to take potions."

"Haha, are you so happy?" Clark snorted at the side, "From what I heard, even Professor Slughorn required excellent owl grades to teach newt potions. I don't know why he lowered the requirements this year, but you are really lucky! I guess you must have stepped on dog shit!"

Hearing this, Mike smiled and nodded. The development of things was not at all beyond his expectations. Harry's performance in Potions was good. In order to fulfill his wish of becoming the savior's teacher, Slughorn indeed lowered the elective standards for newt Potions. This also meant that he would have to face more newt students in the coming year, which was not an easy task for an old man of the same age as Dumbledore.

In this light, Professor Slughorn's sacrifice was indeed great.

Thinking of this, the corners of Mike's mouth began to rise unconsciously, while Clark and Franklin behind him were about to fight.

After stopping the two again, Mike led them directly into Professor Flitwick's office.

At this time, the office was already full of students like Mike who had come to submit their course application forms. Professor Flitwick sat on a chair padded with books, wearing glasses and carefully reviewing the forms submitted by each applicant. He moved very quickly, and basically gave suggestions after taking a look at each reviewer's form. It can be seen that he was in a hurry.

With such work efficiency, it was soon Mike and Franklin's turn. The moment Professor Flitwick saw Mike, his eyes lit up and a smile appeared on his originally serious face.

"Oh! Mike, you're finally here! Please give me the elective form. I'm about to go to teach the first-year wizards. I'm going to be late."

Seeing this, Mike and Franklin looked at each other, quickly took out a stack of application forms from their pockets and handed them to Flitwick.

Professor Flitwick glanced at Franklin's form and announced that it was passed, but when it was Mike's turn, he looked at it carefully page by page.

After discovering that Mike had only taken a few major courses, Professor Flitwick finally frowned.

"Mike, are you sure you only want to take these few courses?"

Although McKibben had chosen all the basic major courses, these courses were still too few in Professor Flitwick's opinion.

As Clark said before, the number of subjects will directly affect the outside world's evaluation of the student. You should know that when others ask about your grades, they will not ask you which courses you have chosen, but only ask how many NWET certificates you have obtained.

Mike's face flashed with helplessness when he heard this. He naturally couldn't tell the truth to Professor Flitwick, so he nodded and said:

"Yes, professor. Because I found that I am not actually interested in other subjects, and a person's energy is limited. Instead of spreading my attention to learn more and more miscellaneous courses, I would rather take the specialized route and devote all my time to the subjects I like and have more talent for, such as Charms."

Clark on the side had a strange expression on his face, because that was not what Mike had just said to him.

But he did not expose Mike, but watched the situation from the sidelines.

Professor Flitwick's brows twitched when he heard this. He could tell that Mike was making an excuse, but there was no doubt that he felt very comfortable when he heard that Mike liked his charms the most.

"Ahem!" Professor Flitwick coughed twice. "Well, you've passed!"

Mike's face lit up with joy, and he said quickly:
"Thank you Professor!"

After saying that, Mike turned around and was about to leave the office, but was stopped by Professor Flitwick.

"Wait, Mike, I have something to tell you." Flitwick looked at the other people in the office and said, "You guys go out first."

Clark, Franklin and others looked at each other, and finally slowly left the office, leaving only Mike and Professor Flitwick.

"Teacher, do you have anything to tell me?"

"Don't worry, come and sit down first."

Mike came to Flitwick with some doubts and sat down. At this moment, Professor Flitwick had a strange expression on his face. He rubbed his hands and asked tentatively:

"Slughorn has already approached you, has he?"

"Yes, Professor," Mike said, "He invited us to lunch while we were on the train."

Upon hearing this, Professor Flitwick immediately became furious. He jumped onto the table and kicked over the ink bottle on the desk, roaring:
"I knew it! This old fox must have come to please me because of you! This bad guy!"

Mike dodged the splashing ink with a tactical backward move, and looked at the furious Professor Flitwick in confusion. After he calmed down a little, he asked curiously:

"Um, what happened? Didn't Professor Slughorn say that you had a very good relationship with him?"

"Aha! A very good relationship? This is ridiculous! That guy has never looked up to me! Do you know what he called me at the beginning? Huh?" Professor Flitwick roared, "He called me a 'brainless dwarf'! Oh! It really pissed me off! If Dumbledore and the others hadn't stopped me, I would have smashed his bald head with my wand!"

As he spoke, Professor Flitwick was still pumping his fists as if Slughorn's head were right in front of him.

"Slughorn! This guy is the most vain! What he likes to do most is to promote and curry favor with those talented and powerful students, hoping that those people will repay him after they become successful!" Professor Flitwick gritted his teeth and said, "He must have discovered your talent, so he wants to recruit you!"

Mike had a strange expression on his face. He really didn't expect that Slughorn and Professor Flitwick had had such a grudge before.

But he was not stupid. Seeing that Professor Flitwick was really angry, he quickly stood up and said:

"Don't worry, I didn't know about the relationship between you and that old bald man Slughorn before. Now that I know, I will go and make it clear to him. I will always be your student, and you will always be my most respected teacher, no doubt about it! Also, I won't go to that Potions class anymore!"

As Mike turned around and was about to leave the office, Professor Flitwick's expression froze. He stared blankly at Mike's back, and after a moment's pause he hurriedly shouted:

"Come back quickly!"

Mike turned around and looked at Flitwick in confusion.

"Don't worry!" Professor Flitwick's tone softened a lot, "You still have to take Potions class."

"I know you're doing this for my own good!" Mike said righteously, "But I can't stand you being wronged!"

Hearing this, Professor Flitwick finally smiled again. He nodded with satisfaction and said:
"Please listen to me first. Although the old fellow Slughorn is hateful, his teaching level and connections are still very good. In addition, since he wants to gain your gratitude, he will definitely try his best to please you and throw sugar-coated bullets at you, so you just have to..."

As he spoke, the expression on Professor Flitwick's face became more and more cunning, and Mike understood what he meant, and followed Flitwick's lead and said:

"Eat the sugar coating and shoot the shells back!"

"Right! That's right, your description is so apt!"

Professor Flitwick and Mike, one old and one young, looked at each other and both grinned wickedly.

(End of this chapter)