From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

[You have gained the approval of a magical creature and received a treasure chest x1]

The system notifications kept coming in, and if William wasn't mistaken, they should be the two people in front of him.

"History of Magic, you're something else. I wonder if Professor Binns would mind if you included his share as well." Adams feigned admiration.

“I don’t think so—Ever since I came to Hogwarts, even as a student, Professor Binns has stopped caring about anything; he’s more concerned with keeping the schedule.”

"Don't try to be too good. I'm afraid you'll have to take on the role of professor of the history of magic, which is currently the only subject in the school that doesn't have a second professor. But I don't think that no matter what you do, those two students won't like your history of magic course."

Adams was earnestly offering his advice, but he couldn't help but blurt out the last sentence.

So Professor McGonagall looked over again.

Chapter 71 The Antarctic Sun is So Bright!

"Professor William, are you really not going to give the seventh graders another exam?"

“I assure you, Professor McGonagall.”

At the faculty and staff dining table, William solemnly assured Professor McGonagall.

This morning was supposed to be William's first lesson for the seventh-grade students, but during breakfast, Professor McGonagall, unusually, sat down and chatted for a while before finally getting to the point.

In any case, the situation where all fifth-grade students fail their courses cannot be repeated with seventh-grade students—fifth-grade students have a whole year to adjust, but seventh-grade students do not!

Although Hogwarts is primarily an educational school, the employment of seventh-year students is an exceptionally important matter for the school.

Every Hogwarts student receives a career counseling session in their fifth year to help them plan their future careers.

All professions have more or less specific requirements for OWLs exam certificates and NEWTs certificates for advanced courses, but finding a job is not something you can start talking about right after graduation.

That's even more outrageous than the strict prohibition against dating in school, or the demand that I get married and have kids immediately after graduating from university.

For most students, after obtaining their OWLs certificates and completing a year of advanced courses, they can look for internships during the summer or even the new semester. Except for a few professions with particularly high requirements, such as Aurors, which require further training upon employment, most students spend half of their seventh-year curriculum on internships.

In theory, if you don't need the NEWTs certificate at all, sixth-grade students can even skip the rest of their studies and apply for a long leave of absence from the school—which is one of the reasons why the advanced courses are now offered by all four colleges together.

Of course, there are almost no jobs that only require an OWL certificate.

In this situation, it would be unwise to fail even one student, let alone all of them—it would seriously affect their attitude towards internships, and some students might even be sent back or give up looking for work altogether because they cannot balance work and study.

Therefore, Professor McGonagall, who was unwilling to interfere with the professor's daily teaching work, deliberately gave William this hint in a tactful manner.

"Seventh-grade students are facing the dual pressures of exams and job hunting, and they're on the verge of collapse. As professors, we shouldn't add to their pressure by arbitrarily failing them."

Professor McGonagall made her meaning quite clear, and William solemnly stated that, apart from the graduation exam and the NEWTs exam, seventh-grade students would not receive a single test paper from him.

He's here to be a serious professor, not to play around with his students.

Students who can get into the advanced class already have a solid foundation; they don't need to over-build their basics. Instead, they should broaden their knowledge to prepare for the tests from the wizarding community.

Although William never lived a proper life in the wizarding world, thanks to Azkaban, aside from his work at the Ministry of Magic, there was probably no place where the dark side of things was more brutal than his.

Sixth-grade students may need some advanced magic training, but for seventh-grade students, William is prepared to share some life lessons—cough cough, experiences—from Azkaban.

-

"You've arrived?"

"Right, it's the first class of the new semester, I can't exactly ask for leave, can I?"

Although they were not in the same college, the people who had been classmates for more than six years still became familiar with each other.

How's your internship search going?

"It's a bit difficult. The Ministry of Magic is still unsure whether to accept me. Hogwarts' Defense Against the Dark Arts course has been too weak in recent years, and they doubt whether I can adapt to the later studies after joining the school."

"Are you kidding me? Nymph, you had nine certificates back then, seven of them excellent, and you were recognized as the top student in your age group. Why wouldn't the Ministry of Magic accept you?"

"I have my own doubts. The threshold for Aurors is already high, and the attrition rate is frighteningly high. I think recruiting them is no problem, but getting them accepted is too difficult."

……

While the professor was away, the students began discussing job prospects. The fact that the new professor was terrible with directions had already spread among the students—if you can't attack him based on his behavior, finding fault in everyday life is a common human trait, regardless of whether he's a wizard or a Muggle.

But as they talked, they suddenly realized that the bell had rung long ago, but the professor showed no sign of showing up.

"Did we go to the wrong classroom?"

"There shouldn't be?"

"It's black magic—I mean, it's the classroom for a magic self-defense class."

"Has the professor gotten lost?"

This statement elicited knowing smiles from countless people—understanding is one thing, spreading rumors is another, and fifth-graders even created jokes about the new professor.

But laughter didn't solve the problem. After everyone stopped laughing, they all realized that they couldn't do anything but wait.

"Hey? By the way, Nymph, aren't you a prefect? ​​Why don't you go to the teachers' lounge and take a look, or ask about the painting?"

"Alright, you guys better not run around. If the professor comes, remember to explain for me. If he comes to the classroom and doesn't see me, I don't want to lose points for no reason in seventh grade—he's the one who failed the whole grade."

As soon as she finished speaking, a figure suddenly appeared on the podium.

“Tsk, Miss Nymph, it’s wrong to talk about professors behind their backs. I’ve told those kids many times that what makes them fail is their insufficient knowledge, not that I deliberately deducted points—five points for Gryffindor.”

"Professor, you did this on purpose!"

Although the prefect did not express his opinion, the students below stood up for him.

"Yes, I did it on purpose."

William nodded to the classmate, acknowledging his words, and then gave him a handsome smile.

"But what can you do?"

The classroom fell silent—even Professor Snape wouldn't dare speak like that in public.

Although Professor Snape was already quite arbitrary in deducting points, he at least had an excuse. Even if he deliberately provoked conflict, he still had a plausible reason.

"What are you standing there for? I think I've made myself very clear. I was just deliberately hiding over there to see if you guys would talk bad about me, and I was deliberately waiting for people to take the bait before I started deducting points. Now, can any of you tell me what you can do about it?"

William spread his hands out to all the students, giving them a look that said, "Come at me if you dare."

After a long pause, one of the students who was speechless finally managed to come up with a barely passable answer.

"Reporting to Professor McGonagall!"

"Professor McGonagall might have a talk with me at most, but afterwards I'll just change the method and still deduct points—for example, why aren't you wearing hats in class?"

Deducting points for not wearing a hat to class is something these kids have never heard of in their seven years at Hogwarts—even an unnamed Potions professor wouldn't be this heartless!

Chapter 72 Why are you wearing a hat?

While the group of students were shocked by his almost shameless remarks, William calmly straightened his robes, which had become somewhat disheveled due to the use of the Disillusionment Charm.

"Haven't you decided yet, kids?"

“I have reviewed the grades of all the students in your class and found that you have a very good foundation in the course of Wizarding Self-Defense Magic—but that is not enough.”

William wagged his index finger at all the students, his expression resolute.

"You've spent six whole years studying at Hogwarts, relying on professors and self-study—well, I think mostly the latter—"

Some people below chuckled secretly.

"Don't laugh, don't laugh, children. This is how the course is. You've been at Hogwarts longer than I have, so you know very well how it works."

But William himself laughed along with the students, and then made a very exaggerated pressing-down motion with his hand.

"Alright, in any case, you are all excellent students. You completed most of the course content on your own and achieved excellent results."

William scanned the students, looking at each of them with an approving expression.

“I dare say that some of you have even finished self-studying the seventh-grade textbooks in advance, and you could easily get an E or even the highest O if you took the NEWTs exam now.”

"I would also dare to say that at least half of the students have read through the textbook and studied more than one chapter on their own."

"This is a commendable act—of course, I don't say that because it makes my teaching easier or allows me to get some extra pay from Headmaster Dumbledore."

"Don't laugh, everyone. Scamming money from the First White Wizard is no easy feat, but considering I've only just arrived at the school, we'll set aside this for now."

Amidst the students' chuckles, William placed the textbook he was holding on the podium.

"It seems that no one has any objection to my opinion that you have studied on your own."

“Very good. It seems that we can learn some content in this lesson that is not related to the textbook but is still relevant to the course.”

"You left your families at the age of eleven to come to Hogwarts, and now you are seventeen and have been studying in this castle for six years. In the coming year, you will begin your final sprint according to the career path you chose in your fifth year—leaving school, finding jobs, applying for internships, adjusting your study and internship schedules, and finally passing the NEWTs exams and successfully getting a job."

"This is the process that most Hogwarts graduates need to go through, of course, we do not rule out exceptions - there are always some people who find a different direction in their sixth or seventh year."

William couldn't help but think of the prisoners in Azkaban who left Hogwarts in their sixth or seventh year for various reasons—many of them had become criminals because they failed to pursue their dreams and were struggling financially.

But these things are irrelevant to what he wanted to say.

"Although some of you have been bullied in the castle—well, I'm still not entirely sure about that, because generally speaking, the students who excel in this class are so good at fighting that they don't suffer much."

“School bullying definitely exists in this castle, and I can say with certainty that bullying still exists to this day.”

"But I think the prefects and professors have done their best to balance this injustice. I'm not here today to deny their efforts without understanding the situation. To be honest, the castle is too big and there are too few professors. It's already quite good that it's maintained as it is today."

"What I'm saying is that you can still avoid most of the bullying on campus with the help of professors and prefects, but after leaving Hogwarts, it will be very difficult to find someone to take on this responsibility."

"Although everyone here is looking forward to their internship, I have to pour some cold water on that."

"Let me give you a very simple example, like what we went through at the beginning."

“I was the first to arrive at the classroom, and then deliberately delayed, which caused the students to complain behind my back, and I was deducted five points from my Gryffindor grade.”

William smiled, his gaze sweeping over everyone before finally settling on the face of the girl called Nymph.

"So, is this reasonable?"

With his encouraging gaze, the students responded quickly.

"unreasonable."

"Of course it's unreasonable—but at least I gave an explanation, like I said, we could have gone even further."

William crossed his arms over his chest and began searching for his target.

Soon, a child wearing a wizard's hat and about the height of a fourth-grade student came into his view.