Chapter 985: Dumbledore's Gift
Chapter 985: Dumbledore's Gift
After the opening ceremony feast, Professor McGonagall, in her role as Headmistress, invited several professors to join her in the Headmaster's office on the eighth floor.
First was Professor Saxia, followed by the remaining three Heads of Houses.
Although Professor Slughorn hadn't received an explicit invitation, his thick skin ensured that no one would dare turn him away.
"Oh, and Kyle and Conna," McGonagall said, turning back to them as she walked towards the office. "You should come along too. As new professors, it's essential to familiarize yourselves with the specific work involved."
"Headmistress, I'm no longer a new professor," Kyle replied.
While the Ancient Runes course was limited to just one class per week, it was still a part of his teaching responsibilities.
"But this is your first time teaching Alchemy," McGonagall pointed out.
"Well, that makes sense," Kyle said, immediately turning to follow her.
Since the start of the school year, the Headmaster's office had undergone a significant transformation. Most of the mysterious silverware had been removed, along with many of the cabinets, making way for a large bookshelf.
The shelf was filled not only with books but also with numerous rolls of seven to eight-foot-thick parchment, mostly professional newspapers and magazines like Today's Transfiguration.
Overall, the office now resembled a more traditional Headmaster's office.
The only constant was the presence of the sleeping portraits of past Headmasters.
Upon entering, Professor Saxia immediately located the portrait of Deloris Dervish and greeted her warmly.
"Believe me, coming to work at Hogwarts after retirement is a great decision. I'm glad I made this choice," Dervish said with a smile.
Both Saxia and Dervish had been Healers at St. Mungo's before joining Hogwarts as Headmistress, sharing a similar background.
"I hope so too," Saxia said softly. "I just wish the students wouldn't be so mischievous."
St. Mungo's also had portraits of Dervish, Phineas Black, Armando Dippet, and Dumbledore, all of whom Saxia was familiar with. This reunion of old friends was heartwarming, especially for Armando and Dumbledore, who were close friends with Saxia.
"Honestly, why couldn't you accept my invitation when I was Headmaster?" Dumbledore sighed. "Before that, I had invited you countless times."
"Because I sensed that you didn't genuinely want me as your Potions professor. Perhaps, in your eyes, Slughorn was a better fit," Saxia replied, waving her hand.
"I'm just joking. I couldn't leave during the crisis, abandoning young Healers to face Voldemort and his Death Eaters.
"Someone had to stand in front of St. Mungo's, and I was willing to be the first."
A moment of silence filled the Headmaster's office.
Professor Slughorn, mouth agape, seemed about to speak but stopped. Professor Flitwick couldn't help but wipe the corner of his eye.
Few knew that St. Mungo's was one of Voldemort and the Death Eaters' targets. Its peace was maintained not only by Dumbledore's aid but also by the efforts of Headmistress Saxia.
"Why are you all looking at me like that?" Saxia asked, seemingly unbothered by these matters. She took the initiative to change the topic, "Minerva, what brings us here?"
"I'd like you to take on the role of Head of Gryffindor House, if you don't mind," McGonagall said.
Since assuming the role of Headmistress, the position of Head of Gryffindor House had been vacant. McGonagall had been fulfilling both roles, which consumed much of her time.
The title of Head of House carried significant responsibilities, handling countless tasks daily. These tasks might not be crucial, but they were undoubtedly time-consuming.
For instance, dealing with students breaking school rules, roaming the castle at night, staying up all night, or first-years challenging trolls...
These were all the responsibilities of the Head of House, who would then inform the Headmistress. In other words, whenever a student broke the rules, the respective Head of House was responsible for handling the situation.
And in the case of Gryffindor House, due to reasons everyone understood, Professor McGonagall became the busiest Head of House.
In contrast, Professor Sprout was the least busy, enjoying as much free time as the other professors, tending to the delicate plants in the greenhouses.
This year, Hogwarts had returned to normalcy, but with the additional role of Head of Gryffindor, Professor McGonagall felt overwhelmed.
In fact, she had wanted to pass on the Head of House role last year but couldn't find a suitable candidate.
She had initially thought Professor Slughorn would be a good fit, but he declined, citing his non-Gryffindor background.
She turned to Professor Sylva and asked, "I remember you were a Gryffindor graduate, weren't you?"
"That's right," Professor Sylva nodded, "I did attend Gryffindor."
"Then it's most fitting for you to take on the role of Head of House."
"Yes, yes..."
"The Headmaster was right about that."
Professor Sylva was still hesitant, but the other professors around her began encouraging her to accept the position.
Aside from some reasons she preferred not to disclose, Professor Sylva was indeed qualified for the role of Head of House.
"But I don't know what I should do," Professor Sylva said.
Although she spoke the truth, the others didn't seem to mind... Could the former St. Mungo's Headmaster be stumped by the role of Head of House?
It was obviously impossible.
"Don't worry, I believe your assistant and our new Alchemy professor will be more than willing to help," they assured her.
Kyle and Conna, standing at the edge of the crowd, instinctively looked up, seemingly surprised that they were part of this discussion.
Conna snapped out of her daze first and nodded.
Although she didn't know what a Head of House should do, since Professor McGonagall had suggested it, she decided to agree for now.
She nodded, and Kyle naturally didn't refuse.
After that, they didn't pay much attention to them.
This time, Professor McGonagall seemed to have organized a meet-and-greet, allowing the new Gryffindor Head of House to meet everyone.
Additionally, a new class schedule was created.
This was an annual process, and last year, due to Dumbledore's sudden return to a century ago, this process was completed in Professor McGonagall's office at the time, so Kyle wasn't aware of it.
When the new schedule came out, Kyle took a glance. Unintentionally or not, his Alchemy class was scheduled for the last day.
However, this gave him some relief.
If the class were to start tomorrow, he might not have been fully prepared. Now, with this arrangement, he had ample time to prepare for the first lesson.
Professor McGonagall mentioned a few things to keep in mind, and the professors prepared to leave.
Conna stayed with Professor Sylva.
The relationship between the two was somewhat similar to that of Kyle and Newt, in the sense that they were teacher and student in a certain way.
After they left, Snape followed and walked towards the door. However, when he passed by Kyle, he suddenly stopped.
"Good luck, Professor of Alchemy," he said, his voice trailing off with a hint of mockery. "I hope you won't be too disappointed when you see the empty classroom."
"You must feel honored to have surpassed Professor Babbling," he added.
Kyle rolled his eyes but didn't respond.
He understood what Snape meant. Because it was a new course, the number of students who chose to take Alchemy this year was pitifully low. When all the grades were combined, there were only fifteen students, compared to sixteen in Ancient Runes.
In other words, Alchemy directly broke Ancient Runes' long-standing monopoly and became the least popular class at Hogwarts.
However, Kyle didn't find this strange. As a new course, students in the fourth year and above would definitely not sign up, so those fifteen students must be from the third year.
But Ancient Runes had five grades, so it was normal to have more students.
Seeing that Kyle wasn't responding, Snape, feeling a bit foolish, didn't continue. He shook his head vigorously and strode towards the door.
Kyle remained unmoved.
It wasn't until all the professors had left that he looked up at Professor McGonagall.
"I know what you want to ask," Professor McGonagall smiled. "This was Dumbledore's idea. He seemed to want to give you a surprise."
"This can hardly be called a surprise. It's more like a shock," Kyle complained. "Fortunately, I guessed it in advance from Hagrid, or I wouldn't have been able to react in the Great Hall."
"Perhaps that's the effect he wanted," Professor Armando Dippet's portrait spoke up.
(To be continued in the next chapter)
"Headmaster, has Professor Dumbledore returned?"
"Impossible." McGonagall waved her hand and took out a letter from the drawer. "All that just now was content he wrote in advance in this letter."
"Has the letter... always been in the Headmaster's office?"
"Not exactly." McGonagall shook her head. "To be honest, I only received this letter a week ago, along with a massive brass furnace delivered to Hogwarts."
"A spinning furnace?"
"Substance Conversion Furnace." Kyle stood up abruptly.
This was exactly what he had been concerned about. The curriculum was manageable, and the content to be taught was simple. The only thing to worry about in Alchemy class was the Substance Conversion Furnace.
Especially for a young wizard with almost zero mastery of magical scripts, this was an essential tool.
To be fair, he had hesitated many times. Hogwarts had very few students studying Ancient Runes, so would they really choose Alchemy?
After all, the magical scripts required for alchemy were more intricate and complex.
But now, Dumbledore had made the choice for him and even sent the conversion furnace.
"That's right, that's the name." McGonagall said, "I'm sorry, I'm not particularly familiar with alchemy, and I've never heard of using a brass furnace to make magical items."
"Most people haven't heard of it." Kyle smiled, "This can replace magical scripts and greatly reduce the difficulty for beginners."
"Sorry, Headmaster, may I ask where it is?" Kyle asked eagerly.
"On the third floor, near the staircase... Forget it, I'll take you there."
The two left the Headmaster's office and went to an empty classroom on the third floor.
This was where Lockhart had previously taught Defense Against the Dark Arts, and now it had been transformed into an Alchemy classroom along with the adjacent room.
After removing the middle wall, this became the largest classroom in Hogwarts.
The brass furnace was placed on the left side of the classroom.
Kyle opened the door and walked in.
"How does it feel?"
"Exactly the same."
"What?"
"Oh, it's exactly the same as the one I saw in Beauxbatons."
"In fact, it was sent from Beauxbatons."
Headmaster McGonagall couldn't help but recall the scene when she received this item.
Five enormous Thestrals descended from the sky, creating a massive pit upon landing.
Such a heavy item could only be delivered by the unique Thestrals of Beauxbatons.
"Beauxbatons..." Kyle was stunned.
He had always thought that the Substance Conversion Furnace was made by Dumbledore himself, but now it seemed that Dumbledore had commissioned someone to make it.
"Headmaster, did Professor Dumbledore's letter mention anything else?"
"No." McGonagall took out a piece of parchment from her pocket and opened it.
The content was minimal, only requesting confidentiality and giving Kyle a surprise.
Kyle looked at the envelope again. There was only the address, and he couldn't tell if it was recently written.
"Is there a problem?"
"No." Kyle shook his head, coming back to his senses.
In any case, Dumbledore had helped him solve the most troublesome issue. With this Substance Conversion Furnace, teaching the class would be much more convenient.
Kyle circled the furnace for a while, touching and examining it until curfew, before leaving.
Headmaster McGonagall had left at some point, and Kyle was alone in the dark corridor.
As he walked towards the castle's exit, he pondered how to teach this Alchemy class.
The furnace sent by Dumbledore could help with the magical script issue, but learning magical scripts was essential for Alchemy students.
Even in Beauxbatons, only lower-year students could use the furnace as a transition period for learning magical scripts.
But in Hogwarts... there were notoriously few students studying Ancient Runes.
Kyle walked towards his cottage, gazing at the castle in the moonlight, and suddenly thought of the Hogwarts map he had once made.
Perhaps he could seek help from Fred and George in Hogsmeade.
The biggest difference between alchemy and ancient runes was that alchemical items were extremely valuable.
Compared to exam scores and a certificate that might be unnecessary, the allure of shiny Galleons seemed more appealing and could provide young wizards with more motivation to learn.
(End of Chapter)
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