What truly caught Douglas off guard was how many Slytherin students' Boggarts had transformed into Professor Snape. He'd have bet on Gryffindor having the most, but apparently, Snape's strictness spared no house—not even his own.
To avoid drawing attention, Harry told everyone he'd faced a giant snake with glowing red eyes. This delighted certain Slytherins, who immediately started plotting to conjure up another snake to give Harry a scare.
But in Potions, any Slytherin who let slip that their Boggart had turned into Snape—and then bragged about it—found themselves treated no better than Neville. Regardless of their grades, Snape punished them by making them slice ingredients alongside Harry… and prepare potions under his eye.
For once, Harry had the rare pleasure of supervising Slytherins in Potions class. Even as he endured Snape's snide remarks and relentless targeting, he'd turn right around and dish it out to the Slytherins practicing beside him.
"Goyle, seems following your precious Master Malfoy around all day hasn't taught you the difference between dicing and chopping. Do it all again!"
"And what are you staring at? Want me to ask Professor Snape to come over for an inspection?"
After class, Harry couldn't stop telling Ron and Hermione how satisfying it felt.
Compared to the fun and games of the lower years, fourth and fifth years were in for a rough ride. When Douglas entered the classroom carrying their test papers in the second week, it felt like the temperature dropped several degrees.
"Look at these answers! Most of you only bothered with the multiple choice and true-or-false questions—not a single essay question attempted… Not enough time? Then why did some students manage to answer at least part of the short-answer section, and you couldn't?"
"You're the worst year I've ever seen!"
"Time's running out, everyone!"
No one dared talk back in class; the room was silent with fear. But outside, complaints flew thick and fast:
"Has the professor gone mad? Hundreds of questions in two and a half hours—who could possibly finish?"
"Hasn't he only ever taught our year?"
"Oh, so he said 'seen,' not 'taught'… but we're only fourth years!"
"I suddenly think Professor Snape is friendlier than Professor Holmes!"
"No way, the fifth years say Snape is even scarier than Holmes!"
Mid-January arrived.
Professor McGonagall called a staff meeting to discuss the previous term's exam results. She asked Douglas to explain his teaching philosophy and approach to setting questions, since Defence Against the Dark Arts had seen a remarkable boost in both classroom atmosphere and academic performance.
Even Professor Cuthbert Binns—the only ghost professor at Hogwarts and usually not a fan of Douglas—attended. The meeting stretched to three hours. While the professors kept their reservations about Douglas's teaching style, they were all deeply interested in his exam-setting methods. Even the most reclusive faculty joined in the heated debate.
Afterwards, when asked by students, Professor Flitwick hinted that Hogwarts would soon see a major revolution in its approach to learning.
On the last Friday of January, Hogwarts announced that all seven core subjects and five electives for O.W.L.s would implement monthly exams for fifth and seventh years, from late January through May. These students could also practice in the magical study rooms until ten at night.
"Are the professors mad? There's still over a hundred days till exams!"
"I just hope Professor Snape doesn't lurk around me during Potions!"
"I wish Professor Holmes would only test fifth and seventh years, like everyone else…"
Douglas was a bit disappointed that the school-wide monthly exams couldn't include both morning theory and afternoon practicals, like the real thing. Professor McGonagall was adamant that other years' lessons wouldn't be disrupted for the sake of two grades' monthly tests.
Monthly exams were routine for Douglas by now, but for the other professors, it was a nerve-wracking change. They were used to just one big test per term; now, the pressure was on every month. Even if poor student results wouldn't get them in trouble, the stress was real. Even Professor Snape seemed more irritable than usual in class.
February 1st, 1993, 12:00 a.m.
Douglas opened his system panel.
[Scholar Development System]
[After each class, points are awarded based on student satisfaction, homework completion, class participation…]
Satisfaction:
9+ points, 10 classes—20 points.6–9 points, 10 classes—10 points.Below 6, 1 class—0.5 points.
Homework completion: Student progress: Class participation:
[Scholar Development System] [Monday's schedule: Not conducted…]
…
[Total Points]
Student Satisfaction:
435 classes above 9 points: 870 points;210 classes 6–9 points: 210 points;75 classes below 6: 37.5 points.
Homework Completion:
509 classes above 9 points: 1018 points;142 classes 6–9 points: 142 points;69 classes below 6: 34.5 points.
Student Progress:
535 classes above 9 points: 1070 points;130 classes 6–9 points: 130 points;55 classes below 6: 27.5 points.
Class Participation:
555 classes above 9 points: 1110 points;150 classes 6–9 points: 150 points;15 classes below 6: 7.5 points.
Monthly Teacher Composite Score: 9 points, 1000 points awarded (total: 5000 points).
(*Monthly score above 9: 1000 points. 6–9: 500 points. Below 5: –300 points. Score includes teaching routine, methodology, effect, teacher quality, and attendance.)
Academic Year Exam Results:
Outstanding: 0 students, 0 points.Pass (including Good/Pass): 0 students, 0 points.Fail (including Poor/Very Poor/Abysmal): 0 students, 0 points.
(*Outstanding: 1000 points per student. Pass: 500 points per student. Fail: –300 points per student.)
[Once 10,000 points are accumulated, the shop unlocks. (Already unlocked)]
[Due to an unknown curse on the host, set to activate in seven months, you may spend 10,000 points to remove it! (Removable)]
Seeing that final, bright-red system message, Douglas was beside himself with excitement.
A quick tally showed that after five months of hard work, he'd finally scraped together 10,017 points.
He didn't rush to lift the curse, though. First, he opened the shop.
He browsed the categories:
[Knowledge Books], [Potions & Alchemy], [Summoning Contracts], [Mystic Arts], [Treasures & Artifacts]…
The [Knowledge Books] section was truly encyclopedic. Douglas skimmed through, finding not only works from the wizarding and Muggle worlds, but even magical theory tomes from his previous life—cultivation manuals and treatises like: Compendium of Demons, Advanced Elven Potion Theory, On Bloodlines, Basic Miscellany of the Cultivation World, Speculations on Qi Refinement, Encyclopedia of the Tribulation Stage, Notes on Lightning Magic Practice…
Some of these might be useful, but others were clearly point traps—he was a wizard, not a cultivator! And the more advanced the knowledge, the steeper the price.
The same was true in other categories. In [Potions & Alchemy], for example, a simple Body Tempering Pill cost ten thousand points—the same as lifting Voldemort's curse!
After a quick survey, Douglas realized that anything related to magic or wizardry was reasonably priced, but items from other systems—no matter how basic—could easily drain a year's worth of points, with no guarantee they'd even work in this world.
Still, hope was better than nothing.
Douglas exited the shop and stared at the "Removable" notification beside the curse, lost in thought for a long, long while.
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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