Chapter 194

Hogwarts has started its school year.

Professor McGonagall found Murphy once again to ask how he intended to arrange the teaching sequence for the first through seventh years.

Only then did Murphy realize that the students he had to teach were not just the first-year freshmen.

And if he followed his initial idea of completing all teaching tasks in one class per week, he would have to summon students from all four houses and all years into his classroom.

This was clearly impossible.

McGonagall's initial arrangement was about an hour of class per year, so that three or four classes could be arranged in one afternoon on Friday, and a teaching cycle could be completed in two weeks.

Murphy exploded upon hearing this; teaching three or four years in a row for an entire afternoon?

That was too much trouble, and it completely deviated from his original intention of maintaining his health.

"Professor McGonagall, actually, my course is more inclined toward practice, somewhat similar to Care of Magical Creatures, and does not require increasing difficulty year by year. In fact, this course has never been offered before, so all students are at the same starting point, and teaching by year is unnecessary."

Professor McGonagall was a bit puzzled, "Pardon my presumption, Mr. Darkholm, but what kind of content do you actually intend to teach?"

This stumped Murphy.

What, wouldn't it be fine to let the students have free activities?

His so-called practical course was just a front; he hadn't thought at all about what specifically to teach.

However, if he dared to say that, Professor McGonagall would have to write to the Board of Governors and the Ministry of Magic that very night to question Murphy's teaching level and work attitude.

Murphy thought for a moment and began to spout nonsense: "I opened the practical course, in fact, to address the problem that 'the content learned by Hogwarts students is disconnected from the requirements of real work'."

"The main purpose is to allow students, in addition to mastering theoretical knowledge of magic and some necessary spells, to adapt to the development needs of the magical world, master more necessary skills for future survival, establish correct life and values, be able to live and work better, and contribute to the development of the magical world."

The intent was suddenly elevated, leaving Professor McGonagall stunned.

Should one say he is worthy of being a school governor? These words really sounded a bit like a Ministry of Magic official.

However, having been a deputy headmistress for so many years, Professor McGonagall was not so easily fooled, "What kind of course does that specifically refer to?"

"I intend to adopt a more flexible curriculum setting and make mobile arrangements based on the students' needs. For example, for seventh-year students, due to the pressure of employment, I think that instead of studying in school, it is better to give them more opportunities to come into contact with society and work."

"I intend to sign internship agreements with the Ministry of Magic and several shops, allowing seventh-year students to join the departments or shops they want to go to for internships."

This way, the seventh year wouldn't need to be taught, saving one-seventh of the workload.

Moreover, the departments and shops that the graduates would go to were naturally the parts where Murphy had influence, which was equivalent to indirectly bringing these graduates under his command.

"Oh! Those children will surely be very grateful to you," Professor McGonagall said, "This is truly a remarkable initiative."

Because there was only one official magic school in the UK, Hogwarts, and there were no competitors at all, the professors naturally had no KPIs to complete, and the employment pressure of the graduating class could not be passed on to the professors.

But being able to let the children who had followed her for seven years have a good place to go, as an educator at heart, Professor McGonagall was still very happy to see it.

"This is what I should do as a professor and school governor," Murphy said.

"For fifth and sixth-year students, the Ordinary Wizarding Level examinations and the future Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests are the biggest challenges they face, directly affecting their future work and life, so they must be taken seriously."

"I intend to establish tutoring classes for each subject for them, with some of the most outstanding students in each subject acting as tutors to guide the remaining students in self-study."

"Of course, as a reward for voluntary labor, I think it is reasonable to award them a medal and a letter of recommendation for work."

This way, the fifth and sixth years wouldn't need to be managed either.

Professor McGonagall nodded; medals and letters of recommendation were not worth mentioning, but if it could help the vast number of young wizards achieve better results in the level examinations, it was indeed worth a try.

"For first to fourth-year students, I intend to divide them into two batches, first and second years in one batch, third and fourth years in another, one class every Friday afternoon."

Hogwarts had about a thousand students, and the first to fourth years were about six hundred, so two years would be about three hundred.

This number was indeed not small, but it was just the level of a public class in a university, not too exaggerated.

"As for the course..." Murphy thought for a moment, "I want to let them decide for themselves."

On the second day of school, practical course professor Murphy Darkholm, after receiving the headmaster's approval, announced a notice.

All first to fourth-year students must form groups with students from other houses in the same year.

Each group should have about three to five people and must include students from at least three different houses.

Murphy required all students in the four years to complete this by Friday and submit the group list to him.

Those who had not formed a group before class on Friday afternoon would be randomly grouped by Murphy himself.

The role of this group was currently limited to Murphy's practical course, which was also Murphy's opinion: the practical course could be treated as a teaching experiment. New changes should first be verified through experimental courses before deciding whether to further promote them.

This was an improvement plan that did not overturn the existing framework, was very gentle, and easily received Dumbledore's support.

On the other hand, Harry looked at the notice and naturally thought of Tom and Hermione, whom he had known before enrollment. After all, as a freshman who had just enrolled, they were the only students from other houses he could come into contact with.

After entering the school, Murphy found that he had a lot of leisure time.

Unlike other professors whose schedules were almost full, he only had one class on Friday afternoon and didn't need to prepare for lessons at all, suddenly becoming the most leisurely professor.

He developed the habit of running by the Black Lake early every morning, and even once, when it was just dawn, he was almost entangled by the tentacles of a giant squid reaching out from the lake.

However, after being taught a lesson by Murphy's electric shock, that squid never dared to trouble him again.

His route generally started from the boat dock, along the Black Lake, passing through the castle outer wall and several jungles, until near Hagrid's hut.

As a result, Murphy became familiar with Hagrid. Basically, every day after running, he would use a cleaning spell on himself, and then he would come to the vicinity of Hagrid's hut to have a cup of tea with a strange taste with Hagrid before going to eat breakfast.

Murphy's running was not for exercise. With his current physical condition, this amount of exercise could not achieve any exercise effect at all, and it was also difficult to improve his health condition.

But exercise could still bring good emotional rewards, allowing him to start a day of leisurely life with a good mood.

In the morning, he would generally study the wand-making manual obtained from Ollivander, preparing to find time to make a wand for himself to try.

After lunch, he would choose to take a walk most of the time, and sometimes he would invite Professor Flitwick to discuss topics such as spells and dueling techniques.

In the afternoon, he would choose a place to sketch. He had recently been learning to paint. According to those medical experts, immersing oneself in an artistic activity helps to calm the mind and stabilize emotions.

At night, sometimes he would briefly listen to reports from the Magic Research Institute and Barty Crouch Jr. through a crow, but most of the time, he would choose to enter meditation.

On one hand, the experience of using meditation to perform wandless Apparition made him very curious about the realization method of this magic; on the other hand, this was also a way to stabilize the mind recommended by medical experts.

He had even recently started learning Zen, spiritual practice, mindfulness, and even a lot of Buddhist knowledge.

Nothing else, just too idle.

After less than a week of such life, Murphy felt that he was almost going to grow mushrooms all over his body from being idle.

Therefore, when class was finally about to start on Friday, Murphy was actually a little excited.

Afternoon.

All students in the first and second years of Hogwarts came to an open space by the Forbidden Forest one after another.

In the center of the open space, there was a white stone. The ground in front of the stone had been leveled by magic, and a fan-shaped carpet was laid, on which hundreds of round cushions were placed.

The students had not seen such a scene much and were a bit at a loss. Some students even used those cushions to play a throwing game.

Suddenly, with a boom, a bolt of lightning struck the white stone, and Murphy was already sitting there, not knowing when.

He held a group list in his hand and glanced at one of the lines.

Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Lucas Brightson.

Very good, great.

"You all have your own groups, sit with your group members."

When most of the students were sitting on the cushions, Murphy suddenly snapped his fingers, and suddenly a huge question mark made of gas appeared in front of everyone.

"Today is the first lesson of the practical course, we only solve one problem."

"See this question mark?"

"You came to Hogwarts to learn magic."

"But I really want to know, what do you want to do with magic?"

"Or rather, why do you want to learn magic?"

(End of chapter)