Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 569 The Dark Magic Class Opening Exam
Harry handed his course selection form to Professor McGonagall.

"Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbalism, Transfiguration... all good. I must say, I'm very pleased with your Transfiguration grades, Potter, very pleased. So why didn't you choose Potions? I remember you aspired to be an Auror, didn't you?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes, but you once told me that I had to get an O, Professor."

"That's what Snape stipulated, but Professor Slughorn is quite willing to accept students who get E's. Are you going to choose Potions class now?"

“Yes,” Harry said, “but I didn’t buy Potions books or materials…”

“I assure you Professor Slug will lend it to you,” Professor McGonagall said. “Alright, Potter, here is your timetable. Oh, and by the way, there are twenty applicants who want to join the Gryffindor Quidditch team. I’ll give you the list in my class, and you can select them at a later time.”

"Okay, Mai..."

Before Harry could finish speaking, Professor McGonagall strode hurriedly toward the next group of students.

There were so many students enrolled this year that Professor McGonagall was already overwhelmed with work, and everything needed to be done as quickly as possible.

“My course selection form…” Ron said, staring blankly at Professor McGonagall’s retreating figure, “I haven’t submitted it yet…”

A few minutes later, Ron jogged over and handed his course selection sheet to Professor McGonagall before leaving the table with Harry and Tyrell.

“Look!” Ron looked at the timetable happily. “No classes now, not even after the morning break… and still no classes after lunch… That’s great.”

They returned to the college common room, where there were hardly any people except for a few seventh-graders.

“Um…Tiera, I remember…I remember you had classes in the morning,” Harry said.

“You don’t necessarily have to go to class, right?” Tiera sat on the sofa, with many notebooks and draft papers floating in front of him. He seemed to be calculating something. “Anyway, as long as I finish my homework on time and do well on the final exam, I can always get an O.”

“I think you deserve this, well done,” Katie Bell, a veteran Gryffindor player, said, pointing to the badge on Harry’s chest. “Tell me when you’re going to start selecting players!”

“Don’t be silly,” Harry said. “You don’t need to participate in the selection. I’ve been watching you play for five years…”

“You can’t start that,” Katie warned. “You know, there are people outside the team who play better than me. If the captain keeps using veteran players or his friends, a good team is doomed…”

Ron looked a little awkward as he started playing with the fanged flying saucer that Hermione had confiscated from the fourth-year students. It hovered around the room, screeching and trying to bite the tapestry.

Crook Mountain's yellow eyes followed the UFO's movements, hissing as it approached.

An hour later, they left the Gryffindor common room and arrived at the Dark Arts classroom on the third floor of Hogwarts Castle.

That place was originally Myrtle's abandoned girls' restroom, but Tiera made some minor modifications and turned it into a dark magic classroom.

Compared to the old and abandoned washroom, the space in the Black Magic Classroom seems to have become much larger. The two rows of toilets and cubicles on both sides have all disappeared, and the small tiles on the floor have been replaced with strips of wooden flooring.

The classroom was filled with tables that looked like lab benches, except for a small space at the far end of the classroom next to a huge, round lab bench.

When Harry, Ron, and Tyrell arrived, Hermione was already seated in her classroom. Professor Tyrell was also already standing by the circular lab table, seemingly waiting for everyone to enter.

Soon, the entire classroom was full, but the flow of people entering from the entrance did not stop.

Tiera, standing on the podium, waved her hand—

The classroom was expanded and enlarged again, with rows of lab benches and seats sprouting from the floor like plant buds breaking through the soil, until every student who entered the classroom had a seat.

"Very good, welcome, my dear students, welcome to the Black Magic class." After seeing that every student had a seat and no more students were entering the classroom, Professor Tierra stood on the podium and slowly began to speak, then Tierra raised her hand and gently clenched it in mid-air.

A list appeared in Tiera's hands, which she casually flipped through.

“There are a total of 187 students officially enrolled in the Dark Arts course,” Tierra said slowly. “This includes all the students who enrolled in all seven years, but it’s clear that there are far more people sitting in our classroom right now.”

Obviously, most wizarding families forbid their children from taking this course, but they themselves cannot resist their curiosity about dark magic or their desire for power, so they sneak into Tiera's class, hoping to take advantage of the chaos and listen in.

But to my surprise, there were so many people trying to take advantage of the situation that in the end, we almost didn't have enough classrooms.

“But it’s alright, it’s alright,” Tiera said with a smile. “The door to knowledge is always open to you, and even students who haven’t chosen this course are welcome to attend.”

“But students who haven’t selected this course on their course selection schedule cannot earn credits,” Tierra said with a smile. “To put it bluntly, you can’t take anything with you except knowledge.”

“Our course doesn’t divide students into classes based on grade level. Instead, we divide them into slow classes, regular classes, fast classes, and practical classes based on each student’s level of magical knowledge,” Tierra said. “After all, even students in the same grade have different levels of magical knowledge. Some students have already mastered most of the spells that Hogwarts graduates can master when they first enter the school, while some students still only know the Forget Charm even after graduation.”

“So we’ll start this course with a short test…” With that, Tiera waved her hand, and six sheets of brown paper appeared on each student’s workbench. The brown paper was covered with questions, with only a small portion being multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank questions, taking up about two sheets of brown paper. The remaining four sheets were filled with all sorts of calculation problems, proof problems, and essay problems, with enough space left for them to write out their work.

“The time limit is four hours,” Tiera said with a smile. “This exam will not be included in the final grade, but your class placement will be determined based on your score.”

“But, Tiera…” Ron said, raising his hand.

“It’s Professor Tierra!” Tierra, standing on the podium, corrected him casually, then gestured for Ron to ask his question.

“But Professor Tierra… it’s lunchtime in an hour and a half…” Ron muttered.

“There’s no need to rush that.” Tierra reached out and pressed his left eye.

Time in this classroom began to turn at a steady, accelerating pace, like gears.

“While you are taking the test, I will make time in this classroom pass by faster,” Tiera said with a chuckle. “When you leave after the test, you will find that you have only been in this classroom for a quarter of an hour.”

"Alright, now... the exam begins!"

(End of this chapter)