From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

Just like how students who have endured military training look forward to sunny days the following year, sixth-grade students show no sympathy for the plight of fifth-grade students; in fact, they wish there were even more tests.

"When is the professor coming?"

Cheerful sounds erupted from the crowd; everyone was eagerly anticipating the second class.

However, when class finally started, they all stared wide-eyed.

Professor William's hair was a bit messy, and he didn't look very energetic. He looked like he had just woken up and rushed over.

This idea was quickly dismissed by all the students; they simply couldn't believe that Professor William would come to class so perfunctorily.

They glanced instinctively at the paper bag the professor was carrying under his arm, and breathed a sigh of relief when they found it wasn't very thick—but soon everyone tensed up as the professor suddenly placed the bag on the podium, opened it with one hand, and strode towards the center of the podium.

Good morning, everyone.

William walked up to the podium, smiled at all the students, and said, "It's been a week since school started. How are you all feeling?"

"Excellent, Professor!"

The bolder students have already started to chime in—something they would never have dared to do when they were in fifth grade last year.

However, immediately after that, he looked at the paper bag on the podium, trying to use his eyes to prevent the contents of the bag from coming out.

“That’s good,” William smiled at the child who answered, then pulled a piece of parchment from his bag. “I suddenly had a wonderful idea while I was catching up on sleep, and then I spent more than half an hour writing it down. Now I can share it with you.”

Because he was busy taking notes after waking up and hadn't had time to groom himself, and it was time for class, William could only quickly use magic to deal with the situation before coming over.

However, he had no time to dwell on those things. During the brief break, perhaps influenced by Professor Taylor's words, he suddenly had an excellent idea. He had just finished organizing it when it was time for class.

“We originally had some very important material to discuss in this lesson,” William nodded, “but the current theory is so interesting and amazing that I can’t help but share it with you.”

Almost everyone perked up – although the professor liked to set exams and deliberately made the questions very difficult, they had extremely high trust in a professor who could lead them all to OWLS.

Under their inquisitive gazes, William tapped the chalk with his finger, and the chalk immediately flew onto the blackboard, writing rapidly.

"The study of wizarding self-defense magic, that's the name of our class," William said, his eyes fixed on the parchment without even glancing at the chalk. "At least that's what it was called when I was working at Hogwarts."

“I have told you before that the so-called self-defense technique is to try every means we can think of to protect ourselves, our loved ones, and our property.”

"Of course, I still hold this view now."

A soft chuckle came from the students below, and William laughed along with it, then continued to describe his point of view to the students.

"However, after two consecutive days of reflection over the weekend, and with the reminders of many professors, I have a new idea."

"So, what kind of magic qualifies as a proper self-defense magic?"

"Of course, according to my previous view, a good spell is one that can provide protection, regardless of its power or its applicability. As long as you can use the right spell at the right time, it is a perfect self-defense spell."

William repeated this point to his students many times, and everyone remembered the theory.

"But this is too rough."

William shook his head at everyone. "Without sufficient experience, a wizard simply cannot judge whether a spell is strong enough; it's too easy for problems to arise."

"I think everyone remembers the 'hair-bubbling spell' from last class, right?"

"Of course, Professor, my hair-bubbling spell is much more powerful now, and the situation like last class will definitely not happen again!"

A child who had messed up in the last class shouted that his "bubble head curse" had been broken in the last class and he desperately needed to get revenge.

"That's great! Can we try it out?"

William asked the child who had spoken in a kind manner.

The child blushed slightly, then pulled out his wand and cast a Bubble Charm on himself in front of everyone. Although it looked ridiculous and funny to have such a Bubble Charm on his head in everyday life, William still nodded.

“Excellent spell. It looks like you’ve practiced a lot in private. Hufflepuff gets two points. Please have a seat.”

"Yes, Professor!"

The child's face turned bright red, but with a hint of excitement. Although he sat down, his eyes kept drifting towards the next room, clearly unable to resist showing off.

William didn't point it out, but smiled and looked at everyone, "Well, if we continue practicing like last time, we can definitely withstand the head-bubbling curse just now."

"But what if the situation is even worse? For example, what if you try to dive into the sea, or what if you try to find valuable materials in the toxic fumes of a volcano?"

"The head-bubbling spell we just used was obviously not enough, so I took into account the OWLS exam results and slightly adjusted the strength of the spells."

“OEAPDT, these are the six levels of the exam, and also the six levels of my tentative curse.”

"Okay, excellent, the best level. Let's set a small goal for now—for example, the strength of a spell after Headmaster Dumbledore casts it?"

William made a little joke, which made everyone laugh.

"Professor, if there's an O+, that might be suitable. This goal is by no means small."

The students below laughed and chimed in.

"But it is absolutely convincing."

"And so on, 'exceeding expectations' is 'e,' 'passing' is 'a,' 'poor' is 'p,' 'very poor' is 'd,' and 'extremely poor' is 't.' This is your most common grading method, and it's also excellent for distinguishing the strength of spells."

"Professor, what is the strength of our magic?"

"p+".

"what?"

All the students gasped in astonishment—after studying for over five years, they only got a P+? That's just too much…

“What are you thinking? I’m referring to the Bubble Head Curse,” William explained unhurriedly. “It’s barely usable. If you’re going to say it’s passable, you’re underestimating what’s passable.”

"The so-called passing grade means being able to use the spell in a basic way and to use it to complete all the functions in the original design concept of the spell. Based on my previous requirements, how many of you do you think can meet this standard?"

The students looked at each other, completely stunned—based on William's description, A was indeed a bit difficult.

"And what about e, Professor?"

"e? It can use spells flexibly, develop variant spells of this spell, and even make it play a new role."

William pointed his wand at himself and cast the Bubble Head Charm. The simple fish tank turned into a thin film that covered his body—something William could have done with a single gesture if it weren't for demonstrating the transformation.

"Oh, Professor?"

The students, after expressing their admiration, asked further questions.

“How would I know? I’m just an ordinary professor,” William pointed to himself. “You can’t expect a professor to be as skilled in magic as the headmaster, can you?”

The students below burst into laughter—even the most arrogant wizard wouldn't boast like that.

“However, I have a guess,” he paused, letting the students laugh it off before continuing, “According to what Professor March Ban has always told others, Dumbledore is good at creating miracles, so perhaps the so-called O is a miracle?”

This spell mastery level was part of what he had come up with over the weekend, and in fact, it wasn't fully formed until this morning.

But the professors' conversations about the club reminded him that not only did the club not have to be confined to the classroom, but innovative thinking also played a role.

As Professor Taylor said, the club is about sharing what you like and expanding its influence—so his suggestion of a spell level classification is certainly valid.

Although there are still areas for improvement, it would be excellent for use in advanced classes.

It can't always be like, "Oh, you can cast a spell now, oh, you can't cast a spell now," what kind of situation is that!

While you either have mastered a spell or you haven't, and the strength of a spell's casting might even be related to mood and magic in some random way, there are indeed fairly clear distinctions in how you master a spell.

Learning magic, mastering magic, understanding magic, and improving magic are all gradual processes, so it's not surprising that they've been systematized.

Although the student didn't ask, he planned to set the minimum level t for successfully casting a spell once, set d for guaranteeing the success rate of casting a spell, and set p for being able to cast spells proficiently, and then just list them in a row.

Chapter 291 The Theory of Magical Equality

"Professor, since you have classified the strength levels of spells, do the spells themselves also have levels?"

After a moment of surprise, the students below accepted William's theory, and some immediately offered their own new perspectives.

Although Hogwarts' self-defense education was terrible, the systematic education in magic still gave them enough knowledge to understand new things.

"Excellent question, Slytherin, two points."

William nodded to the child who asked the question. Although it wasn't hard to make that connection, only the children in Slytherin who had studied diligently could do it so quickly—compared to other houses, Slytherin placed more emphasis on rankings.

"Although I really want to tell you that there are, in my personal understanding, magic does not have an absolute difference in degree."

"No?"

The students were thrilled. Compared to the previously accepted theories, the professor's new ideas completely overturned their previous understanding.

"Yes, no."

William repeated with a laugh, saying that the professors' remarks about the club were as enlightening to him as a precious book of black magic.

“I don’t think you’re all used to this—after all, you’ve all been learning year by year, and the magic you have to master is getting more and more difficult each year. Even the basics of the later spells are very difficult, let alone how to use them.”

"Or perhaps you've already privately categorized the spells yourself, with first-year students having level one spells and second-year students having level two spells?"

He smiled at the students, many of whom looked hesitant—clearly, this was how they might have divided themselves in private.

"It seems to make perfect sense that difficult spells are high-level magic, while easy spells are low-level magic—but is that really the case?"

William looked around at all the students, who returned his gaze with bewildered expressions.

"Can someone tell me what spells were taught in the sixth-grade spells class recently?"

"Clear Water Like a Spring Mantra, Professor."

A Gryffindor boy rushed to answer the question, and then realized something was wrong.

The spell "Clear Water Like a Spring" would obviously be a standard Level 6 spell if categorized by grade and learning difficulty—but how could that be possible!

The surrounding students were also stunned. They had all learned the same magic from the same professor, and some of them hadn't even mastered the magic yet. But to ask them to believe that Clear Water Like a Spring was a level six spell was a joke.

Even for the most outstanding students, the effect of using this spell is merely to summon a spring of water—it has no offensive or defensive capabilities, and no special function. It cannot surprise people like a transformation spell, nor does it possess the miraculous effects that are considered extraordinary in the magical world, like those complex potions.

If this kind of magic is considered a level six spell, then what about the rest of the spells...?

"Then, Professor, does that mean all magic is equal?"

With the example of clear, spring-like water in mind, one of the Hufflepuff children reluctantly asked the question he didn't want to answer.

"I wouldn't say it is, but apart from a very few types of magic and black magic, most other types of magic are not as different as you think."

As William spoke, he pulled out his wand. "Come on, raise your wands, let's have an interesting experiment."

Although they didn't know what the professor was planning to do, everyone suddenly became excited—they had done so many tests throughout the year, a class where they could use a magic wand was a good class.

"Move the table aside first. We don't need notes for this class. I need time to refine my immature theory, and you also need time to find evidence to refute me."