Hogwarts: A Chinese-Style Professor

Chapter 270 Students Who Don't Want to Go Home
Dumbledore ultimately decided to wait.

Apart from Professor McGonagall, no one knew that Dumbledore had returned—just as no one knew that he had left the castle again.

But even if they knew, I doubt anyone would care.

After Snape changed his appearance, the entire Hogwarts seemed to come together as one – the last discordant piece of the puzzle was filled in after the transformation on the students' path of learning and life.

Hogwarts today is spinning rapidly, like a fully wound-up toy.

Students in each grade know exactly what they are supposed to do each day.

We learn through classes and some practice, eat and chat in the auditorium to replenish our energy, and then go to the Duel Tower to verify what we have learned.

The students were either rushing to the next venue or immersed in the knowledge in the handbook and the information flow in the chat group.

What amazed them even more was that this busyness did not generate anxiety, but instead fostered a reassuring, fulfilling, and exhilarating tranquility.

Everywhere I look, there are fellow travelers who are on the same path as me.

Whether going to the library, the common room, or the Duel Tower, students who made eye contact along the way no longer started dueling, but instead exchanged knowing smiles.

Focusing becomes effortless, and happiness becomes purer as a result.

When everyone around us is running toward the starlight, even the journey itself becomes part of the celebration.

Students from different colleges started greeting each other on the street, and everyone's face was beaming with a warm smile.

The fourth-grade students had been learning formations for a month, and everyone was walking hand in hand just like last year—even though they had seen this scene countless times, when the new class started doing this, the students who saw it couldn't help but whistle mockingly.

The crisp whistle sang melodiously in the air, transforming into a gentle breeze that swirled on the waves that led everyone.

This wave will eventually lift all students up, propelling them toward their own shining yet not-so-distant goals.

December.

A new set of Snape emojis has been released—this time his image is handsome and dashing, with his straight eyebrows slightly furrowed and a look of disgust on his face, accompanied by the text "Troll, stay away from me."

This emoji, designed by upperclassmen and created by seventh graders, wasn't very popular when it first appeared.

But as Slytherin students continued to use this expression, people gradually realized that Professor Snape seemed to possess a unique, almost demonic quality.
You know he's disgusted with you, but when you use this emoji, it's like you're projecting his feelings onto you.
Soon, this emoji became one of the new most commonly used emojis and was widely used by students.

When Snape learned of this, he outwardly said "boring," but secretly he stayed in the basement watching the students use that expression and grinned foolishly.

Hmm~ As expected of his students, their elegance and creativity are quite good.

Snape scrolled through his fingers and saved the emoji to the top of his favorites.

Two weeks before Christmas, Professor McGonagall began compiling a list of students to remain on campus.

Unexpectedly, the number of students staying on campus this year has surged, not just several times more than in previous years, but the complete opposite.

Last year, only about 10% to 20% of students stayed on campus, and those were mostly older students. Most students would have chosen to go home and spend time with their families.

However, this year, the number of students who chose to leave school and return home has become a minority.

The list of upperclassmen was astonishingly long, with almost all of them choosing to stay at school, giving the same reason: "We need to focus on exam preparation and can't afford to miss any practice time in the library and the Duel Tower."

Moreover, once they return home, the online community will lose its internet access, meaning they'll be unable to chat in group chats for two weeks—the only solace in the students' otherwise arduous lives. Even if they were allowed to go home and spend time with their families, they wouldn't be happy without it.

Because everyone began to realize that their relationship was becoming closer and closer—the school seemed to have become a warm family, the barriers between high and low grades were broken down, and there were no longer any barriers between the four colleges.

You rarely see older students on weekdays, but you can find them everywhere in chat groups—they're like a treasure trove, a few of them enough to make a small group a treasure.

Chat, brag, answer questions, and share exciting and wonderful experiences.

After the four colleges began to merge, in order to distinguish them, and also because of Professor Li Wei—

The educational principle is: "It's not enough to learn it yourself; you must be able to teach others to truly master it."

The class leaders of each college also devoted more energy to taking special care of the students in their respective colleges.

As a result, apart from the upperclassmen, the first-year students became the second wave of the main force who were most unwilling to leave.

The senior students are all talented and have pleasant voices.

They love it here!
Going home? They really didn't want to.

The thought of his 'opponents' on the dueling and problem-solving leaderboards staying at school to study after he went home made him realize that many young wizards had already written to their families, hoping they would allow him to stay at school to continue his studies.

Although we can't beat the overall rankings, becoming number one in the first year would be a tremendous honor!

Moreover, the seniors said that it is easier to compete in the lower grades—although they have seven years to strive for the title of first, honors are definitely better to be obtained as early as possible!
If you wait until seventh grade to get first place, all the older students will have already graduated. You'll only be able to wait for your peers to show off, and there won't be anyone left to learn from. What's the point then?
Professor McGonagall put down the list and could even imagine the recent bustling activity at the Owl Shack:

Countless letters flew to various places, and the children persuaded their parents to stay at school with unprecedented enthusiasm and logic.

Or perhaps they had already been writing to their parents to tell them about their recent lives? Is that why Hogwarts is receiving more and more affirmation from various parties? Professor McGonagall thought it was all thanks to Levi.

Professor Flitwick slid into his office carrying a tall stack of student-submitted holiday practice plans, exclaiming in a shrill voice:

"Minerva! Did you see that? They even spontaneously organized a weakness-finding team and a tactics workshop!"

Merlin, in all my years of teaching, this is the first time I've seen so many students stay at school on Christmas to learn! They're actively learning!

Before long, Professor Sprout also walked in, his round face beaming with a warm smile:

"The greenhouse reservations are already booked until the New Year. The children say they want to observe the magical fluctuations of magical plants in winter and combine it with spell practice."

Even Mischievous Ghost complained that there were fewer and fewer students to play pranks on, and he was almost out of a job.

Professor McGonagall took off her glasses and gently wiped the lenses, perhaps also wiping away a barely perceptible amount of moisture from the corner of her eye.

“It seems,” she whispered to her two colleagues, her voice tinged with pride, “that we’ll need to double our workload for house-elves.”

Hogwarts will be very lively this Christmas.

Outside the window, snowflakes fell silently onto the frozen surface of Black Lake.

Beneath the calm surface of the water, a giant squid lazily twirls and dances.

(End of this chapter)