The Shopkeeper of All Worlds in the British Wizarding World

Chapter 492 Advanced Class (Please subscribe, please collect, please vote)
The weather was very good the next day. There were only one or two broken clouds in the blue sky. The sun was high in the sky, emitting light and heat. The cool air with a slight smell of sunshine blowing on people's faces was refreshing. As the beginning of a new semester, this was undoubtedly a good sign.

After breakfast, they still sat in their seats and did not leave as usual, because today the deans of the four colleges would collect applications for advanced classes from students above grade six and provide them with guidance services.

All Gryffindor students waited for Professor McGonagall to come down from the staff table. This semester, the work of distributing the course timetable was much more complicated than usual. Professor McGonagall had to make sure that every student's OWLs scores met the requirements before he could continue to study the NEWTs advanced course he chose. Of course, if a student's OWLs scores met the requirements but he felt that he did not need the NEWTs certificate for a certain course, he could not take the course. Because the content of NEWTs courses is more difficult, and the homework is more complicated. Not everyone can guarantee to complete these course contents.

Hermione's courses were immediately decided. She would continue to study Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Herbology, Arithmancy and Potions. She originally wanted to take all twelve courses, but after Ryan reminded her that she would have enough time to learn any knowledge she was interested in in the future, she reduced the number of courses she wanted to take.

"You don't want to learn Ancient Runes? I remember you were quite interested in Ancient Runes, and you got an O in OWLs." Professor McGonagall paused as if she had thought of something. "That's right, Ryan's knowledge in this area is much deeper than the professors in the school. You really don't need to spend too much extra time in this area." As a member of the Order of the Phoenix, Professor McGonagall naturally knew something.

Next was Neville. Although Neville's academic performance had improved significantly through the reading club and he did well in the exam, Professor McGonagall still had her own opinions on Neville.

"Mr. Longbottom, your Herbology grade is O, very good, I think Professor Sprout will be happy to see you back. Defense Against the Dark Arts is also excellent. The problem is that your Transfiguration and Charms grades are both E, Longbottom, I am curious why you don't choose the advanced class of Charms? With all due respect, your talent in Transfiguration is not as good as that in Charms. I am worried that you may not be able to keep up with the progress in Transfiguration. And I noticed that you don't like Transfiguration very much, why force yourself?"

Neville seemed a little uneasy. He lowered his head and said something that sounded like "My grandma asked me to learn this."

"Oh, is that what Augusta meant? But I noticed that the career you chose in the employment consultation last year did not require a NEWTs certificate in Transfiguration. I think you should focus on your strong subjects."

"I thought so too, but my grandmother thought taking Charms was an easy option," Neville muttered.

"Then you should choose Charms. I will write to your grandmother. Just because she failed her Charms OWLs, you can't assume that this subject is not worth learning. You have made great progress in your studies in the past few years. Your grandmother needs to realize that her grandson is much better than she thought, and he needs to have his own path."

After hearing what Professor McGonagall said, Neville took the new schedule that Professor McGonagall had just created with an expression of disbelief and joy on his face. At this time, Professor McGonagall had already turned to look at Parvati, who soon left in frustration, because this year the handsome centaur professor only taught Divination classes for grades one to five.

After almost everyone at the table had finished, Professor McGonagall walked over to Ryan and said, "Mr. Liang, your course selection can only be put last because there is a little problem with one of the courses."

"Is it the Alchemy class?" Ryan guessed the problem immediately. After all, except for this class, his test scores and course selections were exactly the same as Hermione's. If there was a problem with a certain class, it would only be this one.

"Yes." Professor McGonagall seemed a little helpless when she said this. "Because this course used to require students to get O in Transfiguration, Ancient Runes and Divination in the OWLs exams to apply for the exam, and the learners also needed to pay for part of the raw material costs. So in the past ten years, no one at Hogwarts applied for this course." Professor McGonagall lowered her voice when she said this. She felt that as the best school in the UK or even Europe, it was a bit embarrassing that the school could not provide the corresponding education even though the students could meet the requirements. "This year, due to well-known reasons, we couldn't recruit an alchemy professor at all, so the headmaster came up with a compromise."

Ryan listened quietly to Professor McGonagall's speech. He also knew why the headmaster couldn't invite a professor to teach alchemy: Alchemy itself is a profession sought after by all wizards, and as long as you remain neutral, you can live a good life. Joining Hogwarts as a professor at this time is equivalent to declaring that you are on Dumbledore's side, which is obviously not worth it for those alchemists. Not to mention that there is only one student studying this course, and it is estimated that the school directors don't want to pay too much.

Looking at Ryan staring at her seriously, Professor McGonagall felt even more guilty. "Dumbledore and the school directors have discussed that you can study this course on your own, and when the exam comes, the Ministry of Magic Examination Department will send someone to take the exam for you. As compensation, you can use the alchemy laboratory in the school."

This answer made Ryan very happy. Anyway, he could read the huge amount of information hidden in the school and get Luo Zhen's guidance on alchemy knowledge. It would be better for him if there was no professor, as he could spare more time to do interesting things.

"Well, thank you, professor." Ryan took the new schedule and the key to the alchemy laboratory with a smile, and Professor McGonagall patted his shoulder and said seriously, "I believe you will achieve great success in alchemy in the future. Also, thank you for your help to the Order of the Phoenix."

Ryan also smiled friendly. The reason why he gave priority to selling discounted magic defense items to the Order of the Phoenix was to strengthen the Order of the Phoenix to resist the Death Eaters. Now it seems that this kind of funding plus his indiscriminate attack on the Death Eaters is quite effective. At least the number of ordinary people killed in the newspapers these days is much less than that in the novels of the previous life.

There happened to be no class in the first period of the new schedule, so Ryan took Hermione to see the alchemy laboratory assigned to him this year.

The laboratory was on the west side of the fifth floor of the castle, near the Ravenclaw Tower. The corridor looked empty, without even a painting, not to mention the sculptures or armor that were common in other places. The most exaggerated thing was that there was not even a door in the corridor. Only the sunlight from the window on one side illuminated the entire corridor.

"Isn't it said that the alchemy laboratory is in this corridor? How can I get in?" After walking around the corridor twice out of curiosity, Hermione finally gave up looking and turned to ask Ryan.

"This place is actually similar to the back wall of the Leaky Cauldron. To be precise, the way to open the back wall is learned from this place." Ryan said as he walked to the wall corresponding to the third window from the entrance in the corridor, and then searched carefully close to the wall. Finally, he found a slightly blue brick at waist height and knocked on it with the bronze key given by Professor McGonagall.

The brick he knocked on began to shake and move, and a small hole appeared in the middle. The hole became bigger and bigger, and soon a stone door appeared with a relief carving of an eagle holding a star on the lintel.

"Are you from Ravenclaw?" Ryan took a look at the Ravenclaw-style relief on the door, then pushed the door open and walked in.

(End of this chapter)