From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

Asking a group of fifth-grade students to choose a career is even more difficult than asking them to choose a major after the college entrance examination.

"There's still a month until the exam, so there's room for improvement. You can't expect everyone to have all twelve certificates like Percy..."

"And... it's ridiculous that not many industries need the history of magic... not even magic item shops—as long as they're good-looking? What do you think of Hogwarts' five years of nurturing? Besides, how can you make up stories for those items if you don't know anything?"

...

Despite his complaints, William still managed to create a whole table. Although it took more time than creating four sets of test papers, he felt he had gained a lot.

-

"I don't recommend it—why would you even consider hanging out with those Gringotts guys?"

William looked at the cautious student opposite him. "Your practice and exams on things like dispelling curses are clearly insufficient. Those guys are mostly recruiting people for the cursed gold... If you insist on going to Gringotts, I suggest you try this. I remember it's a cooperative department of the Ministry of Magic, and they help audit Gringotts' tax issues, so it's somewhat related to Gringotts..."

...

"Of course you can, but you need to adjust to the wound—"

William looked at the student who was planning to go to the hospital and said, "Why don't you go to the kitchen and watch the slaughtering first? If you're not comfortable with it, you can go to the hospital to get some magic potions to calm yourself down. It won't take too long."

...

Nearly half of the fifth-grade students came to William's office before making the decision—which exhausted William.

The professor, who rarely smiled, was giving his evaluations, and I felt as if he knew everything about our other subject scores as well.

'Exactly, it's good to hear the professor's comments; it's rare to see someone with a stern face like in class...'

……

By the time the online comments reached William's ears, the entire student body had already completed their initial career planning.

This gave William a new nickname in the faculty lounge, but it didn't really matter.

The important thing is that as the weather gets warmer day by day, the exam time is getting closer and closer.

In the faculty lounge, the professors in charge of the fifth grade were exchanging ideas more and more each day, and everyone gradually stopped assigning homework, including William—although he only left the test paper in class.

"Focus on your test, and don't forget about basic magic. We'll have intensive basic magic training next week—students who feel they have extra capacity can apply to practice alone, but they must first pass my test!"

William has given up on some of the fancy tricks, and we'll leave the bonus questions to the kids to figure out on their own. He doesn't intend to let these kids lose a single point on the basics.

"Also, the use of self-proclaimed memory potions or any other random homemade medicines is strictly prohibited—trust me, if anyone tries to sell one and gets caught, I'll make them cry while they finish their exam in my office!"

William menacingly threatened the students before leaving the classroom—the final lessons of seventh grade were yet to come, another daunting challenge…

Chapter 230 The Exam is Coming

As the OWL exams approach, fifth-grade students are starting to go crazy.

Students began to believe in all sorts of amulets from around the world and try all sorts of things that supposedly improve memory—William had to arrest three idiots who defied the trend to copy information before he could finally put an end to it.

Not to mention the other strange behaviors: nail-biting, pica, changing clothes several times a day...

Even William's office started to see an increase in students—you know, because of the reputation he had for creating exam questions, not many students were willing to come to his office.

But at this moment, whether they are seventh graders or fifth graders, everyone hopes to be able to talk to the professor.

"Have something to drink first, child."

William prepared drinks for the students in front of him, then used his wand to change the sign outside the office to "busy" before settling down and looking at them.

"Professor, thank you."

Nancy politely expressed her gratitude, but her voice broke into tears before she could finish speaking.

The students who came to talk to him these days, whether they were in fifth or seventh grade, were mostly under a lot of pressure, and it wasn't uncommon for them to cry—but it was still quite surprising for William that a student like Nancy, who was basically number one, would cry.

He didn't say anything, but started pulling out prepared tissues from the drawer—leaving these out in plain sight could easily make students come in and start crying.

After crying through about a dozen tissues, the child finally calmed down a bit, and William then began to hand out candy from his stash.

“Eat a little bit, crying is quite tiring,” he pointed to himself. “When I was learning potions, it was really tough. I was crying while looking at the cauldron... Back then, I just wished someone could give me a piece of candy.”

This empathy made Nancy quickly accept the candy, and she put it in her mouth.

"Yes, look how great this is," William praised with a smile. "Exams are always a headache, no matter where you are..."

"I'm just... just under a lot of pressure..."

“So it’s actually good to have a good cry. Who hasn’t cried?” William said in a gentle tone. “Don’t put so much pressure on yourself. I’ve looked at your grades every time. Not many students can get money from professors based on their grades during their school years.”

"Professor, you deliberately made the questions too easy..."

……

-

Time flew by during the conversation, and once Nancy had calmed down, she said goodbye to William apologetically, stuffing a bunch of candy into her pocket.

'The professor really is, um,'

She tried hard to recall the conversation, 'Where is the best listener?'

Aside from the first few sentences, she did all the talking while the professor listened attentively.

'But what about the candy? I accidentally grabbed a whole bunch—I can't eat it all, I'll get fat!'

She touched the candy in her pocket, felt a pang of distress, and then her gaze fell on the paper bag that she had picked up in her right hand at some point.

I remember now!

"Well, actually, you're still a little unsure of your abilities. I have a set of mock exams for all subjects that I just made for fun. You can practice them a bit when you get back—they're not very accurate, since there are many topics I haven't covered. Just do them for fun."

The professor said something like that, and then handed the conversation over to her—smoothly handing over the paper bag in the middle.

-

No matter how students make the most of their remaining time, and no matter how professors try to cram the last bit of knowledge into students' heads, the magical world's exams, like those in the Muggle world, show no mercy when they come crashing down on them.

The OWLs and NEWTs exams are coming up.

The former tests fifth-grade students, and the latter tests seventh-grade students—the two exams are conducted almost simultaneously.

The test will last for two weeks, with written tests in the morning and practical tests in the afternoon.

William felt even more nervous than the students—although he had figured out the exam process long ago, he still couldn't sleep the night before exam week started.

'I should have warned them not to cheat; they really could end up in Azkaban!'

'The dean should have given them a good warning; my going again would only increase their anxiety!'

'William, you need to go to sleep!'

...

Amidst these chaotic thoughts, William eventually fell asleep.

'Damn it, I thought about it for ages yesterday, but forgot to check if the examiner had changed last night!'

William, who had just woken up, began to have doubts—he was quite at ease with the seventh graders, believing that he had reached the average teaching level of all previous professors, and that he had simply encouraged students to think about other things, so the grades were still guaranteed.

But he's being given special attention in fifth grade...

"Don't worry, you've broken down almost every test point. Unless the examiner suddenly switches to something unrelated like advanced mathematics, they can't change the subject!"

With confidence in his students and himself, William arrived at the auditorium with enthusiasm—although the first exam was always a spell class, that didn't stop him from observing what a real OWLs exam was like.

"Good morning, Professor William, you look good."

'That's because I dressed myself up very well—if my students found out I had insomnia, they would lose confidence in their exams…'

"Yes, because I think my answer sheet this time was very good."

“I think so too. Mock exams are really effective—by the way, Professor William, have you met the examiners?”

"I haven't had time yet. I didn't come to dinner last night because I was researching a little magic."

“But it’s no use seeing her,” Professor Taylor shook his head. “Professor Marchban never shows any favoritism. She’s too senior, and the Wizarding Examinations Authority doesn’t even pay attention to the Minister of Magic.”

"It's not a good thing if they fight each other. I'd rather my students learn more than have poor grades."

“Yes,” Professor Taylor agreed, “the problem is that they’re not learning anything; some of their papers are simply…”

He shook his head and swallowed the rest of his words—with exams approaching, it was best to avoid such discouraging remarks.

-

After the meal, the examination room was quickly set up.

William was amazed by the strictness of the examination supervision—the examiners almost tirelessly cast spells on every part of the room and set up various monitoring incantations.

"William?"

As William left the examination room, Adams called out to him.

"So, can you feel the OWL atmosphere yet?"

“I felt it,” William replied earnestly. “I think if I had come to Hogwarts to study, even if I had sat next to you, you still wouldn’t have gotten a high score in the Self-Defense course.”

"Hey, I showed you the mandrake—why can you say something even more hurtful than the mandrake's cry?"

"Is it ripe?"

"Of course, it's perfect, just waiting to be used to prepare the potion!"

Adams looked proud.

Chapter 231 Exam

The mandrake maturing is a good thing, as it means the potion to lift the curse can begin to be prepared.

However, this has nothing to do with William—the best potions master at Hogwarts is Professor Snape, and he would never be the one to prepare Mandragora potions.

But the morning exams were really not very interesting, and mandrakes are quite rare, so William happily followed Adams to the greenhouse.

"William, have you ever boiled mandrake?"

“I’ve heard of it, but I’ve never touched it,” William said quite honestly. “That stuff used to be a key ingredient in many recovery potions, but the formula was later modified—for reasons you know.”

“Of course, I’m an expert on this,” Adams said confidently. “Mature herbs are too dangerous. They have high environmental requirements, short shelf life, low survival rate, and high mortality rate. They simply cannot be widely used, so we have to use other herbs instead.”

“Let me tell you about William, that thing is as delicate as a child—I was rushed out to make a bunch of socks and scarves when it snowed just now, otherwise those mandrakes would have frozen to death.”