Chapter 198: Chapter 198: Return to Hogwarts (Edited)
On another channel they were broadcasting the Finance Minister's speech and Hermione was about to change the channel when Tom stopped her: the man who had just been there looked familiar and, on reflection, Tom realized that he had actually appeared in Chris's memory.
He saw that the news headline read Eric, the Minister of Finance, and Tom's gaze turned dangerous.
But that's when Hermione changed the channel.
"It's all boring shit," she said as she changed the channel again and, seeing nothing to her liking, she just turned off the TV.
"What should I do?" She was bored for a while, but when she saw Tom her eyes suddenly lit up, "Let's go fishing!". she suddenly suggested.
"I remember when I first met you, you used to go fishing in that lake."
Hermione said, and Tom remembered when they first met.
He sketched a small smile, "It's not very good for fishing in winter, and it's a bit cold outside."
"Never mind!" Hermione jumped up from the couch, ran quickly to the third floor storage room and brought down a fishing rod. Then Hermione and Tom went out together.
In this part of London, while it is rainy and wet all year round, there are still very few temperatures below freezing, in December the average daily minimum temperature is 3°C and the average daily maximum temperature is 8°C. It wasn't cold, but it wasn't comfortable either.
On the way to the lake, Tom gave Hermione some insights into winter fishing.
Winter in general is not a good time to fish because the water is so cold that the fish become inactive and unappetizing due to the low water temperature. They don't want to eat the bait, so they won't take the bait. However, it's not impossible to fish in winter, you just have to do it the right way, and there are plenty of anglers who go out fishing in winter.
If you open your mouth on a frozen lake, for example, the fish will gather around you for air. Or the weather can be an important factor, on a cooler day the cold air will pull heat out of the water, causing the top layer of water to cool and the cold water to sink, creating convection with the warm water below, when the fish in the water will feed and store their energy.
Tom and Hermione arrive at the lake. It was a time when everything was dying, the shadow of the lake was gone and the grass was yellowing. Tom was in no hurry to stop and fish, but walked around the lake.
When fishing in winter, it is also important to choose a place with stable water temperature.
Finally, he settled on a place where the sun was falling and where there was one more notch in the lake, where the water was almost still.
Here Tom sat down and cast the bait. Hermione sat beside him, the tip of her hair sweeping her nose in the wind, tickling him. She shook her head gently, resisting the urge to sneeze. It was a little uncomfortable, but Hermione's shampoo smelled oddly good.
Blue skies, a quiet vacation, a peaceful lake and a lovely girl, if only time could freeze at that moment....
Life at the Granger home was pleasant, although Tom felt a little uncomfortable the first day when he met the Grangers directly, but gradually relaxed. During his stay at the Granger home, Tom even became an "other people's child," which was an unusual experience for Hermione.
"Hermione, you're in bed again..."
"Hermione, look at Tom, he's studying early in the morning..."
"Hermione Granger-!"
Hermione: ((((;???;))))
Seeing Hermione's expression, Tom thought it was very likely that he would not be invited next year.
As the days passed, the Christmas holidays disappeared in a flash and it was as if they had never existed. After the Christmas vacations, the calendar jumped to 1993.
Four months had passed since the Battle in the Common Room and life at Hogwarts was back to normal. In March, the mandrake that Professor Sprout had been cultivating for almost half a year had a lively, noisy, and dangerous dance for the humans in the third greenhouse.
The mandrakes were approaching maturity and their scream was deadly.
By the time they wanted to move on to other pots of mandrakes, they would be fully mature. At that time, the petrified "Tom" in the infirmary will be revived.
Along with April came Easter.
There are two major vacations in the school year at Hogwarts: the Christmas vacation and the Easter vacation. Easter is a major holiday in the Western world, falling on the first Sunday after the full moon of the vernal equinox, and since the date of the equinox varies from year to year, the exact date of Easter is not certain.
In 1993, Easter fell on April 11, which is a Sunday.
During the Easter vacation, all the teachers would give homework, except Tom, who had exams after the vacation, so all homework was waived and you just had to review. To be honest, most students would rather have a paper foot or so left for them than face an exam.
Second-year students have to think about one more thing than the rest of the year: choosing their classes. The Hogwarts curriculum is somewhat similar to that of other British schools. There are only seven compulsory classes: Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Herbology, History of Magic, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Astronomy and, of course, one compulsory class: Flying, which is only open at a certain time. In the third year, students also choose at least two of five electives: Divination, Arithmancy, Muggle Studies, Ancient Runes Studies and Care of Magical Creatures.
In the 5th year, after taking the O.W.L. exams, students can take the subjects of their choice from the teachers, as well as special subjects such as alchemy.
Young wizards, including Tom, had to choose their third year courses, something that Hermione felt needed to be done carefully.
"Really, you'd better keep Lockhart's identity and keep teaching." Hermione gave Tom an unreliable suggestion as she studied the new curriculum.
"Forget it, I'll send this year's students to their exams and quit." Tom was determined never to teach again as Lockhart, not to mention the curse and the impending maturity of the mandrake, just the stress of the job left Tom breathless: a veritable 24/7, seven days a week almost without a break! If he became dean, he'd be James Bond: Professor Snape doesn't even have time to wash his hair.
"I've looked into it, and this election will, of course, affect our entire future." Hermione said seriously to Tom, "What do you think? what classes do you want to take?"
Chapter 199: Chapter 199: The Elective Equivalent of a Required Subject (Edited)
To which courses do you want to apply? This is a good question.
The average grade depends on one's effort, but it often takes some skill to get close to a four. Some professors are sick in the head, and it's hard to fail 30% of your students, so giving them an A is like taking a life, so avoid their classes.
Tom was sure that if Potions were an elective, Professor Snape would be the least busy teacher in the school, with Professor Binns, who taught History of Magic, being the second least busy. But if Tom kept up with his exams, he would probably be third.
Hermione studied the list of new courses carefully, noting them down and ticking them off. She had consulted several seniors and had a general idea of the new curriculum.
Tom thought for a moment, "I'll definitely take Divination and Arithmancy, and I'll also take Care of Magical Creatures and Ancient Runes."
Tom felt that he lacked effective divination methods at the moment, so some professional knowledge of divination was necessary. And Tom thought that Professor Trelawney might have some notes from her ancestor Cassandra Trelawney or something that he thought he could borrow.
The Care of Magical Creatures class, which would help Tom learn about the various magical creatures, was also necessary to gain some knowledge. As for Ancient Runes, it was for interest. Tom thought it wouldn't hurt to know some of the ancient runes of wizards, even if they were just "words" now.
"What do you think of Muggle studies?" Hermione nodded, noting that Tom had chosen four of the five classes, except Muggle Studies.
Tom: ...
"I'm a Muggle! Why would I have to take a class like this? Isn't this class for free credit?" Tom was rather dismissive of the class. Mr. Arthur, as an employee of the Department Against the Misuse of Muggle Objects, must have taken the class, but he doesn't even know how to make a phone call or take the subway!
What the hell was this class teaching? what's the point? It's a waste of time. The proper use of this class would be to focus on teaching young wizards how to dress like Muggles at certain times of the week, and then taking them on "spring outings" and "walks" to really get them into the Muggle world, instead of looking at textbooks from over a decade ago and making assumptions about the Muggle world.
"But, I'm curious what the Muggle world is like from a wizard's point of view, so why don't we take that class too?" said Hermione.
"Also?"
"Yes! Also!" Hermione picked up her quill and signed all the subjects with ease.
The advice she had received from the seniors was to choose their classes based on their plans for the future. If she wanted to work in a job with a strong Muggle connection, such as the Incident Reversal Team and the Department Against the Misuse of Muggle Objects, then Muggle Studies was the course to take, as the N.E.W.T. certificate was required to apply for the position. If the chosen career involves the outdoors, it is best to take the Care of Magical Creatures course. If the career involves archaeology, then ancient runes such as divination and arithmetic are required.
Despite this advice, Hermione had her own ideas, and she wanted to do it all! She wasn't one to chew more than she could chew, but because she needed to make her own judgments.
She felt she had to be careful with each course, as it involved a future career choice, and she couldn't rely on the words of seniors, she wanted to take a year's worth of classes herself before making her choice.
"You...," Tom said as he watched Hermione cross off five classes at once: that would mean twelve classes a term for Hermione.
"It's going to be exhausting."
"No, I'll be fine with less sleep, are you sure you don't want to take Muggle Studies?" Hermione looked up expectantly, "This way, if there's a team task, we can team up too, and we don't have to go to the trouble of finding a reliable teammate.
With group work, sometimes it's more nerve-wracking to have a stupid partner than to do it alone.
Of course, Hermione could work alone on all the tasks the teachers gave her, but... if she could do it with Tom, why not?
"Besides, it'll be a lot easier for me if you help me. Of course, it's fine if you don't want to, I can work with someone else..."
Tom looked at Hermione's eyes, which seemed to be talking, and decided it was almost too good a request to turn down, so his hand followed Hermione uncontrollably as he ticked five boxes on the application form.
"Actually..." he said haltingly after signing off, "There's no need for you to take Divination, I don't think you and Professor Trelawney get along very well. It's a class that really requires talent."
"But you signed up for it too!".
"Because I have a real talent for Divination." said Tom weakly, as if remembering something unpleasant.
Hermione: ???
"Then make a prophecy for me!" She said with an angry.
"I predict that you will leave Muggle Studies and Divination after third year" Tom said.
"Hmph!" Hermione rolled her eyes, but at the same time made up her mind to never drop those two classes and annoy Tom. Hermione believed there was no class she couldn't attend.
As she put away her list, she glanced into Tom's office and was drawn to the piles of parchment.
"What are these?" Hermione walked over to the pile of parchments, resisted the urge to grab them, and turned to Tom to ask.
"The exams for after Easter."
Hermione's look became complex for a moment, she really was super anxious to see him! Tom sensed Hermione's desire and was amused.
Hermione looked at the papers and felt conflicted: she didn't want Tom to give her the answers to the exam, she just wanted to do the series of questions in advance.
The exams, for Hermione, were a deadly temptation. Exams, the test of her learning, were like a lottery prize, and she was obsessed, addicted, and unable to stop.
She looked at Tom with a longing look in her eyes, waiting for him to invite her to take an "internal" test, to see if the difficulty was up to par, if there were any controversial questions, and to test herself and see if there were any problems in her work.
But it was as if Tom had suddenly gone blind, unable to see what was in Hermione's mind and ignoring her eyes. Hermione was a little anxious, hesitated for a while and finally said in a voice no louder than a gnat's, "That paper... can I take it and do it?"
Tom looked up, "What did you say? I didn't hear you."
Hermione's face flushed instantly, coloring her pale cheeks with a hint of red, and she raised her voice, "I, I want to...do that test set..."
"Oh-" Tom interrupted, "Is that the test set?"
Hermione nodded.
"Well, why should I give you this test set?"
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