From Azkaban to Hogwarts.

She even felt a little short of breath—when the professor on the podium finally announced the end of get out of class, Nancy felt the breath that had been pressing on her chest finally escape.

At the same time, she could hear countless heavy breathing sounds.

-

"get out of class dismissed."

William put down his textbook and announced to all the students.

Watching their languid movements, as if they had relaxed their adherence to the law, William couldn't help but glance at his thick paper bag.

"Here are four sets of test papers. All students who get an A should go back and complete the test papers on their own, and write a paper on the fifth-grade content, which should be no less than two thousand words. The three students who get an E do not need to complete the test papers, but they still need to complete the paper."

William looked at the students who no longer had the energy to object and gave them a relaxed smile.

"If your foundation is weak, you'll have to train specifically for it; there's no other way. Okay, go prepare for the next lesson."

William pulled the remaining test papers out of the paper bag, tucked the empty bag under his arm, and waved cheerfully. "The prefect is handing out the test papers, students—see you next week!"

As William strode out of the classroom, the students, who had just recovered from the terrifying lesson, finally realized what had happened.

"Four exam papers, one thesis, two thousand words!!!"

A boy let out a sound that was comparable to being under a spell, the echo so loud that it startled everyone out of their relief at the end of get out of class.

"Two thousand words?"

"Two thousand words!"

The person asking the question fell silent—in the past, papers were measured in feet, because this made it very convenient for professors to calculate the length of the paper, and it was immediately clear whether it was long enough or not.

However, this writing style allowed many people to find ways to be lazy: increase the word count and line spacing, reducing the content of a paper by as much as one-fifth. But now that word count is the standard, cheating is almost impossible.

"Four exam papers, is the professor trying to murder me?"

"It's not murder, but if you study harder, you won't have to do E."

"Look at who got E's! Can you really get an O on that test? Nancy—"

The person talking asked the prefect from a distance.

"I'm here, what's wrong?"

"If you could do it all over again, could you get a zero on that test?"

"I overlooked too many details. If I could do it all over again, I think I could."

……

The two looked at each other and fell silent.

-

'These kids seem to be able to adapt to rote learning, but rushing things like this isn't good, and magic is different from regular exams; it involves practical application.'

Inside the library, William moved piles of materials while planning his upcoming course schedule.

"Considering the professor's previous class schedule, and adhering to the principle that 'sharpening the axe before chopping wood', the ideal ratio of theory to practice is three to one. Furthermore, practice classes can incorporate a large amount of already mastered spells for review, preventing students from feeling defeated due to the tedium of spellcasting failures. Therefore, the workload for practice classes can be increased further—spells that cannot be completed in class can be assigned as homework."

"Speaking of which, fifth-grade students are easier to educate—after all, they have the OWLs exams, so you can just overwhelm them with practice questions and not worry too much about motivating them. Plus, they have two years in advanced classes to develop their understanding of the magical world, so you don't have to worry too much about teaching them things outside of their curriculum."

……

By the time William had almost finished revising the new teaching plan, the bell rang to signal the end of the second long class.

'It's strange, really. Is the Hogwarts school bell rang by physics or magic?'

With these doubts in mind, William arrived at the restaurant.

Adams had arrived long ago and was now giving William a wicked grin.

"Speak, what bad news do you have?"

William asked quite frankly—he was so familiar with Adams' smile; back in the day, when someone was called to the teacher's office, he would announce it with the same smile.

Adams raised an eyebrow. "Guess what new nickname the fifth graders gave you?"

"tyrant?"

“You’re overthinking it, William. Unless Dumbledore announces that Hogwarts is canceling its holiday this year and making up for it, this title will not appear at Hogwarts again.”

"So you mean the principal has the potential to be a tyrant?"

“No, I mean, Professor McGonagall, who issues the order after Dumbledore makes the decision, will receive the title.”

"Pfft, hahahahaha..."

William didn't laugh, but Professor Kettleburn, the professor of magical biology next to him, burst into manic laughter without any regard for his image—even though he was usually quite unconventional.

The old professor's voice was so infectious that it caused a burst of laughter to erupt in one corner of the faculty's dining table.

While Professor McGonagall turned her attention to the group of professors and stopped their unseemly behavior, William still hadn't figured out what his new nickname was.

But just as he was about to press the matter, Adams' ears turned red.

Before William could turn his head curiously, Professor Lockhart's distinctive, magnetic voice rang out.

"Professor William, it seems you're having a great time here. May I join in?"

“Of course, Professor Lockhart, please make yourself at home.”

After a few pleasantries, William quickly figured out why the professor, who usually sat in the middle of the dining table, had come over today—he had heard that William had created a set of exam questions for first-year students, which were being discussed a lot among them.

"You know, Professor William, replying to those fans takes up too much of my time. Although I am capable of teaching, I simply don't have enough time to create a special exam for them."

Well, Professor Lockhart, you don't need to explain. The whole school knows now that you don't really have any talent for teaching. You are a great explorer, but teaching doesn't seem to be a good fit for you.

However, William did not refute it at all, but instead happily handed over the test paper.

Since it was just a test paper for students and didn't involve money or anything, he looked at it casually. Besides, there was a reason he was actually a little embarrassed to say—to be honest, he was envious of the adventurer's chest.

At least three SR cards, right?

Chapter Ninety-Two: Pranks Targeting the Professor

"Fourth graders, what exactly are we gathered here for?"

"Come on, George, there are only a few of us—where did all these 'everyone' come from?"

Lee Jordan looked at the indignant twins and yawned to cool them down.

They had attended three long classes on Tuesday, and were just on break when they were dragged to this empty classroom—aren't the chairs in the break room soft?

"The situation is urgent—Li, do you think we would joke about such an emergency with you?"

"Of course, George. The school year has just begun. I've already registered with Filch. You two are under house arrest, and the other two have had at least ten points deducted from their college."

Lee Jordan didn't hold back in dismantling the argument.

They were a small group who had formed a deep friendship in Filch's office. They were all good brothers who had been locked up together, so they naturally didn't need to hide anything from each other.

“You don’t understand—Lee, the situation is more urgent than solitary confinement. Even the secret passages of Hogwarts can’t save us.”

Fred put one arm around Lee Jordan's shoulder and solemnly announced it.

"I have some unfortunate news to announce: Gryffindor's fifth-year students have received their second exam in just two weeks of school, along with an unprecedentedly dreadful amount of homework, all thanks to the new professor—we must find a way to save this school from the shadow of exams."

"Fifth grade is OWL's year! Although there are more tests, there's nothing wrong with that. Besides, aren't sixth and seventh graders treated pretty well?"

A Ravenclaw student scoffed at the Weasley brothers' alarmist talk—how could doing some practice tests become a nightmare?

"Exactly, exactly. You two know perfectly well that black magic—well, the new name is still a mouthful, Wizarding Magic Self-Defense Course, or something like that—has never had a professor who lasts a full year. By the time you two are in fifth grade, the professor will have been replaced long ago, and we'll probably have to get a new one in third grade too. What does doing tests in fifth grade have to do with us?"

"Yes, and besides, our professor this year is Lockhart. Although the entire course has been changed to drama imitation, which is incredibly boring, what does the exam have to do with us?"

"Do you really think those theatrical performances will last for a whole year?"

George scanned the crowd, his gaze becoming extremely aggressive. "According to reliable sources, Lockhart obtained a stack of parchment from the new professor this afternoon—do you think it's the script for a new play?"

"Don't be so nonchalant! According to fifth-graders, this exam was entirely based on first-grad material. Do you think a professor would only prepare first-grad questions when reviewing for students?"

The group, who had been laughing and joking, immediately stopped. The exam papers were nothing more than a grain of sand when they were a mountain on the heads of the fifth graders, but if Professor Lockhart went to ask for them back, then the problem would be serious.

"Then, we should go after the new professor? But there's no reason for that—besides, you're both in solitary confinement, are we going to cause trouble for the new professor?"

The twins being dragged to copy books was a laughing stock for a long time, but if they were to actually go to that ruthless professor who would even drag people who weren't his students back for solitary confinement, they really wouldn't have the courage—they'd rather just hang a bell on the cat and listen to it than actually go to hell.

"No, he really dares to do it!"

The twins issued warnings almost simultaneously—the professor had a whole drawer full of their violation records, and how could Filch, at his age, not even be able to keep an eye on a drawer?

"Find Professor Lockhart—tell him to stop being so bored, get him out of the mind about exams. We already have enough final exams every year; we don't need any more!"

"Not so boring?"

"Aren't we putting in enough effort in the play? I feel like the points I've earned from him are enough to keep me from losing for half a month!"

"If Professor Lockhart thinks the play is enough, why does he need exams? Is it because exams generate more discussion among students than his plays? What a joke—we need to keep Professor Lockhart so busy that he doesn't have time to think about exams!"

A professor's energy is limited, especially when teaching four grades at once. If he finds that he simply doesn't have enough time to grade papers, then he won't organize an exam at all.

"A letter purportedly from a female fan?"

"He already has enough fans—Professor Lockhart has asked students who have made mistakes to write back to him more than once. There's never a shortage of owls in his room!"

"Yes, I agree. I saw it when I replied."

……

Are people who are put in solitary confinement really that small-circle?

The group exchanged glances and found nothing amiss.

"Send letters to the newspaper criticizing his book, and then provoke a confrontation?"

"Professor Lockhart has too many fans, there's no need for him to reply—besides, these days no newspapers openly criticize university professors."

"What should I do?"

That's when everyone realized they were helpless against a professor.

So everyone's attention quickly turned to the organizers of the meeting, the Weasley brothers—who were now recognized as the best pranksters in the castle.

"Release magical creatures or prohibited items? No way, that professor is an explorer, he can easily crack the students' traps, those pranks won't work on him—and I don't think they'll attract his attention."

"Making a scene won't work... Replying to fans won't work either... I've got it!"