From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

Just when William thought the broom was almost dry, a voice suddenly rang out.

"You skipped class too?"

What do you mean by "you also"?

Furthermore, my reputation among students is already quite low. Can you students who have violated the rules go and report to Mr. Filch yourselves instead of coming here to ruin the still good relationship between me and the students?

William grumbled as he turned around to see which unlucky kid was so blind as to skip class and end up here with the professor.

However, this was one of the few times he was tricked. When he turned around and found that no one immediately pulled out their wand, he realized that the person who had spoken to him was just staring blankly at the skewered bass.

He wasn't very tall, probably a first-year student. At that moment, the little girl was staring intently at his bass, her expression a little sad.

'Could it be that he/she has become friends with the fish?'

A strange thought suddenly popped into William's mind—he knew from preparing his lesson yesterday that some people could communicate with specific magical creatures. Although this bass didn't seem to have anything to do with magical creatures, who could say for sure about magic?

Are you going to bake it?

'Not quite dead yet, just had his guts ripped open. He can still live if a precious potion is used—'

William immediately had this thought in his mind—his ordinary method of killing fish, without being harmed by black magic or special magical creatures, meant that losing any part of the body would be a big problem, but it was only a solvable problem.

It's a bit of a waste to waste it on a fish, but it's okay to save a new student's friend—after all, he's a professor.

"This is a sea bass! It should be steamed!"

click-

William clearly heard a breaking sound.

Before he could react, the first-year student in front of him skillfully pulled out a pot, knife, cutting board, various seasonings, and finally a chef's hat and apron from a small bag.

'That bag is full of kitchen utensils?'

While William was wondering if this new student was a transfer student from New Oriental to Hogwarts, the student had already set up a pot, started cutting the sea bass, and started salting it.

“Hufflepuff, fourth-year student, Selma Liang.”

Fourth grade?

William glanced at the other person's height and shook his head almost imperceptibly.

Also, skipping class and daring to do it to the professor? Are you sure you're not a Gryffindor student? Even their students don't have that kind of courage!

Besides, I did show up at the opening ceremony. I wouldn't say I ate in the cafeteria every time, but I could at least eat there twice a day. It's been a week, girl, how come you still haven't recognized me?

Perhaps because she didn't hear William's reply, she curiously raised her head and quickly glanced at the flying broom.

"Are you Ravenclaw? Sixth year? Fifth year? Seventh year is also possible. I know all the Hufflepuffs. Gryffindor only added new members in the lower years last year. Only Ravenclaw would skip class these days to practice flying and wait for the house team to recruit new members."

She didn't mention Slytherin—because most Slytherins were alright in their lower years, but in their upper years they stopped talking to people from other houses.

"The water has boiled, it's been about ten minutes, it's ready to be steamed."

Without waiting for William's reply, she started stuffing the fish with ingredients: ginger, garlic, and cooking wine, then put it in the pot.

“There’s nothing wrong with liking Quidditch, and secretly practicing is also a sign of hard work. Look at me, I like cooking so I went to Hufflepuff and studied the menus for a long time. Now I can’t help but want to cook when I see good ingredients—so, there’s nothing wrong with me taking half, right?”

"It's only natural."

William nodded affirmatively—all he knew was grilled fish; he really didn't know what kind of fish to cook well.

"Sure enough, it's easy to talk to Ravenclaw students."

She spoke in an adult tone, which made her sound like a fourth-grade student—anyone older would refer to themselves as "this baby."

Seeing how outgoing the girl was, William couldn't bear to let her experience the harsh realities of life.

But she soon became arrogant—as the sea bass was served, she couldn't suppress the pride on her face.

"Right now it's just a fish in Black Lake, but before I graduate, I'm going to grill that octopus from Black Lake! Even if it's just one leg!"

That's a valuable asset of the school, saving countless people from drowning every year!

Why did you give me a reason to put you in solitary confinement?

Chapter Ninety: The Fifth Graders

“Selma, it saves a lot of people from drowning every year. It’s not fair to it if you’re still trying to take advantage of it.”

William decided to give her one last chance—it's better to educate her with words than to punish her without teaching her anything.

"I know, otherwise I would have done it already. Although I probably won't in the end, we still have to have ideals. Maybe one day I can convince it to give up a leg."

Are you referring to using a magic wand to persuade someone? Why would it give you a leg out of the blue?

While William was pondering whether to deduct points or put him in solitary confinement, Selma had already cut up the sea bass and handed it to him.

-

The eighth day at Hogwarts

clear

The flying broomsticks were truly amazing! Although there were some unexpected incidents during the test flight, it didn't diminish the charm of this flying sport at all. When I returned the broomsticks to Mrs. Hooch, she was very happy and said I could borrow the school's broomsticks anytime—'They may be a bit old, but I guarantee they'll work just like new.'

She is truly a generous person.

Buying my own flying broomstick should be on my agenda. This thing is even more useful than I thought; in special situations, even Apparition isn't as convenient. Looks like I'll have to pick up my old cooking skills again.

Oh, right, we also let a Hufflepuff who spouted nonsense off the hook today. The fourth-year student may have had some skewed ambitions, but she was still quite remarkable—mainly because she disappeared rather quickly.

Yes, the sea bass is delicious. I specifically asked Bart, but he said the cafeteria sprites don't know how to make it, but they can try.

-

"A new week, a new beginning. Long time no see, kids."

On Tuesday morning, William stood on the podium and gave all the students a genuine smile.

While it may not have the same captivating smile as Lockhart's that could be voted the most charming smile, this smile is brimming with confidence and a love for life, capable of freeing anyone contemplating despair from the predicament of giving up on themselves.

Unfortunately, none of the students present paid attention to the smiles; their expressions even carried a hint of fear and unease—and all these negative emotions stemmed from the thick, mountain-like paper bag on the podium.

'goo'

The sound of swallowing saliva was quite noticeable in the classroom, making Nancy wish she could immediately lower her head and hide herself.

Fortunately, everyone's attention was drawn to the thick bag on the podium, and no one noticed her embarrassment.

'Another exam question, and another one that's so difficult?'

Although fifth-grade students like her had been working hard to improve themselves for a whole week, the fear from the test a week earlier was not so easy to dispel.

"Alright, I think you've all guessed what we're going to do—that's right, an exam. But this time the content is very simple. I can guarantee that everyone here will pass smoothly. After all, this is a first-year exam."

As William finished speaking, a chorus of heavy breathing filled the classroom.

The test papers were quickly handed out to the students. Nancy didn't rush to do the test; instead, she unfolded the test paper and began to quickly review the questions.

Yes, these are indeed first-grade exam questions, and not even all of the first-grade content. These questions are far too easy for fifth-grade students—and this is in the case of testing theory. If it were a practical test, it would be considered no challenge at all.

"Did the professor think the last question was too difficult, so he came this time to give us some confidence?"

"Hurry, hurry, students! This is a first-year exam. You don't expect me to be generous enough to give you half an hour or even longer to finish it, do you? If you're thinking like that, I suggest you transfer to the first year. Although there's no precedent for this at the school, I think if I speak to Professor McGonagall, she'll probably agree."

The professor urged them on from the podium with a smile, but Nancy didn't see anything wrong with it—did they really want fifth graders to spend the same amount of time as first graders?

As for enrolling in a school outside of school, what a joke! You'd be laughed to death by first graders, wouldn't you?

Retracting her thoughts, Nancy picked up her quill and began to write quickly, while the professor's voice continued on the podium.

"Twenty minutes, do as much as you can. If you take too long on first-grade questions, how do you think the first-grade students will evaluate this exam?"

"Professor, shut up!"

While complaining, Nancy quickly scribbled on the test paper with a quill pen—twenty minutes didn't seem like a short time. The test paper didn't have long essays, but rather multiple-choice questions with half the answer given and the other half filled in the blanks and a few essays.

-

'If we had made them do first-grade tests from the start, they definitely wouldn't have been so obedient. But now, they're enjoying the first-grade questions. Even though they can cast spells, students are still students—besides, it's just casting spells, I can do that too.'

William smiled and opened his textbooks—he was going to teach the first-grade material, and he couldn't possibly give up on the fifth-grade curriculum.

Every little bit helps. These kids have finally become less averse to knowledge. Anyway, they'll study extra hard after the exam, so there's no need to worry about their ability to understand the questions.

After all, the test is easy at the beginning, but there are many more tricks to play at the end.

He had heard it before—'Huang Xing fired three shots, thus beginning the Huanghuagang Uprising.' Can you guess how many multiple-choice questions could be asked about that one sentence?

However, he controlled the difficulty of the test this time. Unless someone was just wasting their time and had been close to failing since the first year, they should be able to pass. But if they wanted to get a high score, William would really dare to give them the right to study on their own without having to come to the classroom.

Twenty minutes passed quickly, and William received the exam paper.

"Study the material in the book, read twenty pages, then we'll go over the test paper and review the material for the next grade, and then we'll continue with the new lesson."

William patted the thick stack of test papers in his hand and gave instructions to the quiet students.

The classroom was eerily quiet, with only the sound of turning pages. There wasn't a single whisper. Some students were still questioning their lives, wondering why the questions on the same test paper were so different – ​​the first few were as easy as if they'd been given a freebie, while the later ones felt like they'd never learned them before.

The exam papers were not difficult to grade; William finished them easily in less than half an hour.

"I have good news and bad news—which do you want to hear?"

William placed the exam paper on the table and tapped it lightly with his knuckles.

"Nobody's talking? Fine, I'll speak then."

"Everyone passed, no one failed, which is a good thing compared to the last exam. However, there were only three E's (good), and the rest were all A's (pass), but this was a first-year exam!"

Chapter 91 Professor Lockhart is here

Nancy was lost in thought.

The professor on the podium was going over the test paper at an extremely fast pace, and the automatic writing chalk on the blackboard was wearing itself out at an incredibly fast speed, making a lot of knowledge that Nancy had already mastered reappear on the blackboard.

She paused for a moment, then quickly began copying the knowledge into her notebook—in the past, she would have simply glanced at it and ignored it.

'It's just first-grade material, so why are there so many things I didn't notice?'

The classroom was completely silent, with only the scratching of the quill pen against the paper and the squeaking of the chalk providing background to the professor's voice, making the class seem exceptionally serious.

Nancy had previewed the fifth-grade course over the summer, but the new professor lectured exceptionally fast, without even planning to ask questions—those difficult points, which should have been points of extra credit for top students, were swept up by the professor's extensive explanations and examples, making the whole lesson move at an unusually fast pace.