A Professor of Magic at Hogwarts

Chapter 90: Classroom Clarifications

Felix Harp remained in Professor Snape's office until the conclusion of the first afternoon class before hastily departing to teach the seventh-year wizards.

Standing at the podium, he gazed down at the young wizards from all four houses.

Less than twenty in total. "Tsk tsk! Truly too few."

Since the beginning of the school year, Felix had already discussed with Professor McGonagall about "reasonably" relaxing the students' grades, allowing some of the 'Outstanding' students to join his advanced class.

He did this with the thought that "every additional student counts." Perhaps he could use his strong charisma to convince one more young wizard to join the scholarly family of ancient magical texts.

However, this subject had been lukewarm before his arrival, with very little enthusiasm. Except for those aspiring to study ancient literature or aiming to work in the Department of Mysteries or the Ministry of Magic's Archives, few others showed interest.

In his seventh-year class, there were either the top students who pursued perfection relentlessly, striving to select every available option, or the underachievers who luckily snagged an 'Acceptable' grade in Ancient Runes.

For example, Marcus Flint was the epitome of an underachiever, having only chosen two courses in his seventh year: Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes.

It was only through a loophole created by Felix that Marcus even managed to get into the Ancient Runes class; otherwise, he would have had just one course.

As Felix knew, the seventh-year Care of Magical Creatures class involved extensive knowledge about the care and breeding of rare magical creatures, requiring students to study and memorize a vast amount of material. Considering Marcus Flint's brain, equivalent to a troll's, Felix couldn't fathom how he passed.

From the podium, Felix waved his wand, causing a dozen rolls of parchment to flutter about and land before the corresponding students.

He commented, "Overall, your performances are steadily improving. However, I must remind you that according to the usual NEWT examination standards, you'll need to translate an entire ancient manuscript."

"This means that during the exam, you might encounter exceedingly obscure ancient runes that you won't find covered in your five years of coursework."

"Professor, how should we deal with that?" a Ravenclaw witch asked, sporting a pair of distinctive, thick glasses.

"Miss Veela, this involves a bit of exam strategy, such as inferring word meanings."

"Inferring word meanings?" Veela pushed her glasses up and asked with confusion.

"In the sixth and seventh-year Ancient Runes curriculum, a considerable portion is dedicated to explaining the evolution of ancient runes. Take Eoh, for instance; it underwent seven versions, each with slight differences in meaning and script."

"However, if you understand its evolution logic, you'll discover its core meaning hasn't truly changed."

Veela nodded, well-acquainted with this knowledge.

And Professor Harp continued, "Hence, as long as you know one version of an ancient rune, based on its core meaning and the context, you can make reasonable inferences."

"Even for runes you've never encountered, you can make logical inferences based on the word forms. This requires utilizing about 27 common evolutionary forms..."

"Of course, magical runes that have unique powers aren't included in this range; they require separate memorization, though their numbers are small."

Beside her, Marcus had a look of despair, wondering what on earth they were talking about.

Why do I recognize every word, yet when they're strung together, it's like reading gibberish?

"I understand, Professor Harp," Veela said excitedly.

In this class, she was the only one with a genuine passion for ancient runes. She aspired to tread this path, with her research focus being on translating ancient texts.

This inclination was influenced by her family—her grandfather was the Vice President of the Ancient Runes Association.

When she returned home for the Christmas holiday and mentioned that the new Ancient Runes professor at Hogwarts was Felix Harp, her grandfather's amused expression was truly entertaining.

He simultaneously cursed Felix Harp as a "heretic who had strayed from the path," yet on the other hand, he bashfully admitted, "He does indeed possess genuine talent. You might reluctantly consider learning from him." This internal conflict elevated Professor Harp in her mind, placing him on the same level as her own grandfather.

"Let's continue—" after addressing routine questions, Felix's gaze fell upon Marcus, "Flint, your grades have been hovering around 'Acceptable,' which worries me greatly."

Marcus wore a mournful expression. He had indeed put in considerable effort into Ancient Runes, even keeping an Ancient Runes textbook in his bag while training on the Quidditch pitch—even if he had only opened it once.

At least he showed the attitude, though he never cared this much about other subjects. Unfortunately, he wasn't cut out for it. Marcus wanted to quit, but whenever he saw Felix, he trembled uncontrollably, lacking the courage to act on his intention.

"P-professor, I'll work hard." Marcus stuttered.

"Very well, come to me with any questions."

Felix began the formal class. In this relatively small classroom, the top students and the underachievers were clearly demarcated. The top students grew more engaged as they listened, while the underachievers grew more bewildered. Marcus stood out as an anomaly—he was an underachiever, yet he forced himself to exude the appearance of a top student.

The class rushed by.

With a stack of parchment in his hands, Felix left. It contained the seventh-year students' assignments.

Today, he received holiday assignments from three different years. Felix planned to fully harness the enthusiasm of his assistant, allowing her to excel by handling the third and fourth-year assignments.

In the evening, Felix absentmindedly perused Professor Flitwick's Christmas gift—a manuscript on ancient magic.

The parchment bore two types of handwriting. One was extremely ancient and distant ancient runes, while the other was Professor Flitwick's additions and annotations, containing his research insights into the magic.

Very insightful.

However, as per Professor Flitwick's admission, he didn't possess any particular talent in ancient runes. Thus, this incomplete ancient magic was a collaborative effort between him and the previous Ancient Runes professor, Professor Babbling. When Professor Babbling left Hogwarts for a vacation, the research stagnated.

Sending this manuscript to Felix also extended an invitation for collaborative research.

Felix waved his wand, and a faint blue light akin to a river of stars swept through the air and landed on a quill.

This brown quill transformed into a toothpick, then rapidly expanded to the size of a wand. As Felix infused it with magic, the quill grew to around seven feet and remained stationary.

"Hmm, the effect seems akin to combining the Shrinking Charm and the Engorgement Charm, yet fundamentally lacks the high consumption, danger, and intensity of ancient magic."

"Instead, it's more akin to modern simplified magic, with both power and magical energy consumption having a limit."

"Could it be that completing its parts is a simplification magic approach?"

Felix wrote and drew on the parchment, preparing for a long battle. Reconstructing ancient magic wasn't an easy task.

"I truly wish I had a teacher." He pondered somewhat wistfully before going to sleep.

And there's the third installment. Working hard on typing more.

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