"Professor William, please wait a mont."
When William was about to leave the dining hall to continue preparing for his first class, Professor McGonagall, surrounded by a group of students, noticed him.
"Is there sothing you need, Professor?"
Professor McGonagall pushed through the crowd and quickly approached him.
"I'm sorry, Professor William. Could you make so adjustnts to the enrollnt restrictions for your advanced class?" she asked in a low voice, using a consultative tone.
"Adjustnts? Isn't 'Exceeds Expectations' the traditional standard for student enrollnt, set by previous professors?"
"That's true. However, in the past, the professors for Defense Against the Dark Arts were often under a lot of pressure, so…"
William imdiately understood what Professor McGonagall ant.
The sixth year at Hogwarts was quite different from the other years.
In the fifth year, students underwent a series of examinations called the O.W.L.s, administered by examiners from the Ministry of Magic. The results of these exams were archived with the Ministry, the school, and the professors themselves.
Before the sixth year, all courses were either electives or required subjects without prerequisites. However, starting in the sixth year, professors were allowed to refuse students based on their O.W.L. results. Students, in turn, could choose their courses based on their scores. Theoretically, if one didn't care about future results, they could completely skip all classes during the sixth and seventh years and still graduate.
In reality, however, most career paths required specific grades. Simply having O.W.L. certificates wasn't enough; one also needed N.E.W.T.s with corresponding scores.
If William refused to accept students with weaker grades, they wouldn't be able to acquire the advanced certificates they needed.
"In that case, let's lower the requirent to the bare minimum. 'Acceptable' will do," William said magnanimously, lowering the admission threshold to the Ministry's lowest standard. After all, whether he dealt with one or many, the effort was the sa.
"Thank you so much, Professor William. The foundation for this subject at the school is terribly weak, and unfortunately, many careers require the corresponding certificate. In my house alone, there are seven or eight students stuck because of this course."
For once, Professor McGonagall showed an embarrassed expression. Her own advanced class required at least an E. Had the students' foundation in Defense Against the Dark Arts not been so abysmal, and had there not been so many students affected, she would never have asked another professor to lower their enrollnt standards.
***
When William arrived at the classroom, he realized how wise his concession had been.
Even with the additional students he had let in, the total number of sixth-year students eligible for his class barely reached twenty.
Not even enough for a Quidditch match…
He muttered complaints to himself as he composed himself.
The small number of students didn't faze him at all. The self-introduction he had prepared could easily be saved for another occasion.
"The number of students is a bit smaller than I expected."
William smiled as he walked up to the podium, placing the textbook he had brought with him on the desk.
"To be honest, this scene isn't quite what I envisioned. I had planned to wait in the classroom and et each of you as you walked in, but the layout of Hogwarts turned out to be more complicated than I imagined."
"Professor, have you never been to Hogwarts before?" A surprised voice erged from the group of students.
Using his peripheral vision, William noted the speaker's appearance; soone with a lively mind. If they beca too disruptive, they'd be perfect for setting an example.
However, William hadn't intended to hide this fact. He looked too young, and the older students would quickly figure out that they'd never seen this Professor at Hogwarts before if they asked around.
"No, I haven't. Before Hogwarts was established, wizarding education was passed down through ntors or families, and that tradition never completely disappeared. I was taught using that thod."
The students imdiately began murmuring among themselves.
Ignoring the noise, William continued, "Hey, have any of you seriously studied the history of magic? Here's a simple question; Does anyone know how many wizarding schools exist besides Hogwarts?"
"I know, I know!" The sa boy who had spoken up earlier raised his hand.
"You, go ahead."
"Durmstrang, Beauxbatons, Ilvermorny, Castelobruxo... um…" He stumbled over his words, unable to na more.
"Mahoutokoro, Uagadou, Koldovstoretz… Including Hogwarts, there are eleven magical schools in total." A petite, confident-looking girl supplented the rest of the nas, then glanced around at her classmates with the pride of a little rooster.
"An excellent addition. Ravenclaw?" William clapped his hands as he asked.
"Yes, I'm Charlotte, a sixth-year student in Ravenclaw."
"Ten points to Ravenclaw," William declared decisively before turning to the boy who had spoken first.
"Gryffindor?"
"No, Professor, Hufflepuff."
"Oh, my apologies. Five points to Hufflepuff. And your na is?"
"Bell Turner, Professor."
"Very well, thank you for your answer, Mr. Turner." William picked up a piece of chalk and turned to the blackboard, writing down the nas of the eleven schools.
"As you can see, a total of eleven schools. The magical world is surprisingly vast. However, I'm not here to introduce these schools to you. To be honest, my understanding of them is likely the sa as most of yours; limited to what I've read in books. Of course, just that information could probably sustain for half a sester. But these details aren't really relevant to our course. I've never t the History of Magic professor, but it's clear I'm not about to compete with him for his job, am I?"
The students chuckled softly.
"Alright then, this is our first class, so let's use it to discuss what we'll be learning."
"Discuss?" As the previously praised student, Bell instinctively played along.
"Yes, discuss," William nodded approvingly and erased the nas of the schools from the blackboard.
"I suggested a slight na change for this course to the school, though the general content remains the sa: Wizard Self-Defense Magic. Honestly, even I find that na a bit clunky."
"Now, let's talk about the concept of self-defense."
As he spoke, William turned to face the blackboard again. "Protection of physical safety, protection of property, and, if we break it down further, there are really four types."
"Preventing harm from other wizards, preventing harm from magical creatures or dangerous plants, safeguarding oneself in ergencies, and protecting one's property from loss."
When he wrote the fourth point, the students burst into laughter.
William shrugged. "You might think the fourth point seems out of place, like it's been shoehorned in, but its importance is undeniable. In fact, it might be the most crucial of all four topics."
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