Miranda Goshawk was born in 1921 and entered Hogwarts in 1932.
During her time as a student, she discovered that the "old-style textbooks" used at the time were filled with obscure explanations and complicated concepts that were extremely difficult to understand. This left her deeply confused while learning magic. To make matters worse, her sisters often deliberately taught her the wrong incantations while she practiced spells, which caused her no small amount of trouble during her student years.
However, after she invented the Bat-Bogey Hex, things improved considerably.
After graduating, Miranda Goshawk sadly realized that the kind of help she had needed during her youth simply did not exist. Because of this, she began making a living by writing school textbooks. She worked hard to ensure her works were both theoretically accurate and academically valuable, while also making them easy to understand so that students encountering magic for the first time would not struggle with them.
In this way, her first book, The Book of Spells, became a massive success. It was translated into seventy-two different languages and became a textbook used by many magical schools around the world.
Later, Miranda Goshawk went on to write the Standard Book of Spells series, which eventually became the official textbooks used at Hogwarts. Due to her outstanding contributions to magical education, she was even featured on a Chocolate Frog Card.
In other words, even until the middle of this century, wizarding society had not possessed anything resembling a proper standardized set of textbooks.
That alone demonstrated just how slowly magical society had developed.
Therefore, after analyzing the life of this educational master, the honors she had received, and the Bat-Bogey Hex she had invented to deal with her sisters—and considering that the Nobby Leach University she now led was a powerful and ambitious organization—Avada had always imagined Miranda Goshawk as a sharp and capable witch with formidable political skills.
However, when he actually met the great educator, he was surprised to find she did not match that image at all.
Whether in appearance, posture, or demeanor, she seemed more like a kindly old grandmother.
By now their conversation had already been going on for some time, and they were currently discussing the structure of Nobby Leach University itself.
"Haha, that?"
Miranda Goshawk shook her head and laughed, the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes bunching together.
"Those professors all have grand ambitions. As for me, I truly just want to live peacefully as an educator—writing books and collecting a few awards along the way. In fact, I plan to compile a full set of textbooks for every academic discipline. If you're interested, once you officially join the faculty you can come take a look."
"Of course," she continued, "this university was founded by a gathering of elites who all wish to improve wizarding society. I happen to qualify as one of them. And since I'm old and knew the previous headmaster well… somehow I ended up becoming the new Headmistress."
"But don't think I'm just a figurehead."
The old woman proudly pointed at herself.
"All the textbooks used at this university are personally organized by me. Of course, I don't possess that much knowledge myself. The professors summarize the material they want students to learn, and then I compile it into proper textbooks. It took quite a bit of effort."
"Impressive."
Avada cooperated politely with a compliment, though in truth he genuinely admired this pioneer of magical education.
Without her, it was hard to imagine what the average level of wizarding knowledge might look like today.
"Thank you for the praise."
Headmistress Goshawk smiled warmly.
"Now then, which subject do you plan to teach? Professor Benjamin Baker told me you're highly skilled in Charms, mental magic, combat, spatial magic, and Muggle Studies. But he also mentioned you wanted to assist Professor Belby with the matter he's handling… which means you're also quite capable with curses and potions?"
"I wouldn't say skilled, Professor—just a little familiarity."
Avada paused before asking, "Among the subjects you mentioned earlier, how many currently have vacant professorships?"
"That depends on what you choose."
Goshawk replied, "Due to our limited manpower, professors here usually hold several positions simultaneously. And sometimes they must participate in special research projects or missions, so we're always short-handed."
"If you choose a subject, the professor currently responsible for it will probably be thrilled. So you can pick freely—though I recommend not exceeding three subjects."
"In that case…"
Avada thought for a moment before answering.
"I can start as a professor of mental magic. If other professors are too busy and need someone to substitute, I could also cover life-force studies, spatial magic, alchemy, or Charms."
"Mental magic? Wonderful!"
Goshawk brightened immediately.
"That subject is currently handled by Professor Trimb as a secondary duty, and he's also one of the professors who spends the most time on field operations. He'll be delighted."
She quickly pulled a document from a stack of papers beside her desk and handed it to Avada.
"Professor Baker has an excellent eye for people, but procedures still have to be followed. You'll need to pass an assessment proving you're capable of teaching the subject. If you want to teach additional subjects, you'll need assessments for those as well—though the standards will be slightly relaxed."
"This is the reading list for the mental magic textbooks. You can review them in the library beforehand. As for the assessment time, you may choose whenever you like."
"Will the assessment involve material from these textbooks and educational theory?"
"Partly. But the requirements in that area are not strict. As long as you possess normal communication skills, that's sufficient."
"That's good…"
Avada began examining the reading list.
Psychodynamics.Analysis of Common Mental Magic.Psychopharmacology.Guidelines for the Use of Mental Magic.Imaging Analysis of Mental Instruments.Interpretation of Mental Spectra.
"I'll probably need half a day to familiarize myself with these textbooks. Headmistress, I could take the assessment this afternoon."
The other books were manageable, but Imaging Analysis of Mental Instruments and Interpretation of Mental Spectra were things he truly knew nothing about.
After all, he had always observed mental power directly through magical perception. Why would he ever need to analyze instrument imaging or spectral data?
So most of that half-day would be devoted to those two books.
Still, he wasn't particularly worried. His foundation was solid, and his enhanced mental strength allowed him to memorize and understand written material with ease.
In short—no problem.
"Then come find me when you're ready. I'll personally arrange your assessment."
Goshawk smiled again.
"Also, if you truly are highly skilled in mental magic… there happens to be an urgent matter that might require your help."
"Oh?"
Avada felt a surge of excitement.
Being assigned a task perfectly suited to his expertise right after joining—what kind of heavenly development was this?
"And it's also related to the matter Professor Belby is handling."
Goshawk's expression turned slightly serious.
"We need several mental magic specialists, along with experts from other fields, to infiltrate Azkaban. Our target is a prisoner held there."
She paused.
"Gilderoy Lockhart."
(End of Chapter)